May long weekend

We headed up island for the may long weekend, our first trip since I went back to work.  We went up to visit family.

The trip was really almost perfect from start to finish.  We decided to make it easier on ourselves by coming home from work, having supper, bathtime, baby jammies, etc and then instead of putting her to bed, we put her in the car and headed for Campbell River.

It worked great.  The holiday weekend rush was over, and there was a Canucks play off game on, so the roads were beautifully deserted.  The trip took just over three hours, we got to my Dad's, unpacked, and got a decent night's sleep.


Saturday the weather wasn't wonderful, but we still had a great time playing at the park. It was the same park I used to play at when I was a little kid - though it's had a complete change in equipment since then - so it was really fun to go there with my Dad and Jo and see Tabetha playing there, too.  In the summer I want to take her to swim in the outdoor pool, but it wasn't open yet and it's much too cold yet anyhow.

That was pretty great, but I think my favourite part of Saturday was after supper when Chris and I went to the movies to see Thor, and Tabetha stayed home with Grampa Gord and Grama Jo.  She had a nice bath, looked at books (Apparently she spent some time looking through a song book and singing and dancing to herself) and by the time we finished watching the movie and came back, she was happily asleep in her lovely new Valco playpen, which seems a whole lot nicer than the playpens available in Canada.  If they ever release it here (we bought it second hand from a family who brought it over from Australia) I think they'd make a killing.

It was awesome.

Sunday had two main adventures, starting with brunch at the Kingfisher Resort which I recommend VERY highly.  The food was wonderful.  I'll probably forget something, but Tabetha ate:

• scrambled eggs
• cheese omelet
• blueberries
• blueberry muffin
• quince
• canteloupe
• smoked salmon
• prawn
• crab
• sunomono salad
• cottage cheese
• hummus
• watermelon
• bocconcini
• tomato in pesto

I can't even remember what else.  She was an eating machine, and she was storing up energy for...

Her first steps!

It was so exciting.  Finally!  She walked!  We were all very proud.  Of course, her current attitude seems to be that she did it once and therefore doesn't need to ever do it again, but hey.  We know she'll get there, and Daddy captured it perfectly.

Sunday also involved music and a trip out for some mexican food.  Tabetha enjoyed some refried beans, quesadilla, enchiladas, guacamole and rice.  How did I give birth to such a culinarily adventurous child?  I won't even eat half the stuff she ate that day.

The trip was much too short.  Monday we headed back for home.  We set out from Campbell River around 11 am.  We were fortunate in that Tabby fell asleep before we even made it to the highway, which was fantastic.  We stopped in Nanaimo for lunch and a trip to the park to burn off some baby energy.

Tabetha enjoyed colouring on the table mat (though we sometimes had to stop her from eating the crayons) and she enjoyed her glass of milk and her grilled cheese sandwich, and she warmed up to the grapes by the end.  

The park was super, though I think she'd've liked to have stayed longer - I was pretty sunburnt from the day before, though, and we wanted to head home.  We had to stop again in Duncan because she had just had it.  A snack and a drink and a few times walking around the Dairy Queen set her to rights again, though, and eventually we made it home.

I could certainly have used a day to do laundry and rest when we got back, of course, but it wasn't as much work as I was afraid it might've been.  It was great.

Review: Valco Astro high chair

We have had high chair woes since Tabetha became old enough to eat.  We ordered a high chair in September, it never came, finally in December the store lent us one (see Pali Pappy review) and then finally a couple months ago we gave up on it and ordered something else.

It arrived last Thursday and I was VERY excited.  I hated that wooden one, couldn’t wait to return it.  We had supper, I gave it a good scrub, and we took it back to the store to pick up our lovely new one.

I was tempted to review it after just a day or two of use, but I decided to wait a little longer, see if the infatuation wore off.

I know it’s only been about a week, but...

I love it.

LOVE.

The Valco Astro isn’t an expensive high chair.  It retails at around the $160cdn mark, which is pretty similar to the price of a Graco or similar high chair at Toysrus.  What you get for the money, however, isn’t very similar at all.  The quality of the materials and assembly is much higher – other than the tray you don’t see a lot of plastic, you see a lot of fabric and metal.  It has a wipeable fabric seat (I chose the cirque pattern and I’m very happy with it) a nice big tray, a reclining seat back, a five point harness, and the ability to easily fold it quite small either for storage or transportation.  Tabby obviously finds it very comfortable.  I like that in addition to the 5 point harness there is a broader piece of fabric that keeps her from being able to slide onto the floor even if I don’t take the time to do up the harness. 

I also find that we lose a FRACTION of the food onto the floor that we did with the loaner.  The cats are sad, but the vacuum is happy and so am I!  Our enterprising black cat used to stand up with his paws on the seat and steal food right out of her lap; now he can’t. 

The high chair we had borrowed didn’t have a tray and it didn’t stay together particularly well; this one does, on both counts.  The last couple of nights I’ve moved it into the kitchen while I cook and let Tabby munch on raw veggies and grated cheese etc while I cooked.  It kept the hungry girl happy, I enjoyed being in the kitchen, and Chris was able to be out running errands. 

 

We did find it amusing one meal because we had her dressed in a black and white top, and against the patterned fabric it looked like she was wearing stealth baby clothes.  Bonus!

What I love about it:  almost everything.

What I don’t love about it:  it’s nitpicky, but I wish it was a tiny bit lower – I would like the option of pulling her up to the table instead of using the tray, but it simply doesn’t fit.  Frankly, though, that’s pretty minor.

All night? Really?

Two nights ago something magical happened.

unrelated cuteness

At 8pm, I put Tabetha in her crib.  So far so normal.  We headed up for bed at 9pm (the wild life of working parents) just as Tabetha woke up.  I nursed her back to sleep, we brushed our teeth and crawled into bed.  Around 9:30 or so, Chris went in because she was whimpering a bit; he patted her on the back for maybe 15 seconds, and he came to bed.

And we didn’t hear from her again until 6.  In the morning.  As in, eight and a half glorious hours during which she did not cry or whimper or fuss or even start giggling and playing with her feet.  As in, my first uninterrupted night’s sleep since well before she was born.

what, like I was going to take a picture of her sleeping for this?  get real!

It was so unexpected and so wonderful, I forgave her for waking up at 6 when we didn’t need to get up until 6:45.  It was so surprising and discombobulating, I forgot to pack fresh diapers in her bag before sending her and Chris off to daycare, and I had to run quickly home at lunch because she didn’t have enough to get through the whole day.

It didn’t repeat itself last night, but that’s okay.

I know she can do it.  And I’ve had a taste of sleeping without a baby calling for my attention or jabbing feet into my face.  And I liked it.

Gat!

Tabetha has indisputably said her first word, and it is "cat!"  We know that's what she means, despite the lack of clear "c" sound because she then proceeds to squeal and chase the nearest four legged animal.  It's pretty wonderful.

Review: iCandy Pear

I don't actually own the iCandy Pear.  It would be a bit silly, in fact, since we have only one baby and the Pear is a double stroller.  But I did borrow it and take it on vacation, which is always a good way to get a really good sense of a stroller.

We had it for 5 days, during which time we used it in both single and double mode.  This was in November, and apparently I didn't take any pictures!

It's a big stroller.  There's no getting around that.  But because it's an inline, it does manoeuvre around racks and through doors really well, and in fact it steers beautifully.  In fact, the more you weigh it down, the better it steers!  In duo mode we would put the baby in the top seat and then use the bottom seat to hold coats and shopping - it wasn't uncommon for it to be carrying 4 adult winter coats plus a myriad of shopping bags without becoming difficult to push.

The Pear carries up to two kids in a LOT of different combinations - for each kid, you have the option of putting in the seat, a bassinet, or a car seat adaptor.  The top seat is larger than the bottom, and if you have two kids of different sizes, the heavier child goes on top.

At the time, Tabby was 8 months old, and went a fair job to filling the top seat, and that's the biggest downside to this stroller:  despite the fact that it's big and strong and can carry a LOT of weight, it won't carry a larger toddler at all, let alone two.

I loved: the lovely british style, the easy manoeuvring, the strength of the chassis, the easy conversion from single to double.  And the price is a lot less than I'd expected, too!  Plus you can get what they call "flavour packs" that consist of a cozy seat liner and canopy in yummy juicy colours.

I didn't love: the small seats, the slightly tricky fold.

All in all, a great stroller - especially if you make smallish babies!

Review: Pali Pappy high chair

When I first saw the Pali Pappy high chair, I didn't have a strong opinion one way or the other.  It's solid wood, made in Italy, and highly adjustable (I think the max weight is something ridiculous like 300lbs) but it costs over $300cdn, doesn't come with a tray (??) and some of the colours are well... a bit eye searing.  I also think the teddy bear cut out is ugly.

We've got it on loan while we wait for the one we ordered, and we've had it for almost six months.  (long story.)

My opinion?  Overpriced.

All the good points I mentioned above are still true, but here's the thing that's the dealbreaker for me:  over time, the hex bolts holding it together gradually loosen.  In fact, if not tightened regularly, the whole thing WILL just come apart.  And I know it's not just mine because the floor model at the store is doing the same thing.

Bottom line, I'm glad it's a loaner because if I'd paid over $300 for it, I'd be pretty unhappy.  I wonder if that's why they've taken it off their website?

The secret joy of the sick baby

Tabetha has been sick since wednesday.  When I picked her up from daycare that afternoon she was a bit warm, and I was informed she'd been really clingy and cuddly all day, which is not her usual behaviour, so I wasn't surprised that thursday she was feverish and miserable.

Now; of COURSE I would rather she were healthy and bouncy and happy.  However.

There is something about a sick, clingy baby who doesn't want to play or crawl or wiggle, who just wants to be held and sung to and cradled and nursed that's like a return to the first couple months of her life. (only without the blood loss, stitches, hormones or shellshock!) I have to say, it's a pretty good feeling.

Of course, today she is still feeling unwell but has chosen to express that with a sleep strike.  She's been awake for probably around 10 hours, which is NOT normal!  Normally she takes about three hours of naps a day, and today none of the magic tricks have worked.  Not nursing, not going for a walk in the stroller, not going for a drive, not white noise or even listing to "Cecilia" at top volume on endless repeat.

All she wants to do is play and wiggle and crawl - but she's very cranky and annoying.

Clearly this is my payback for luxuriating in my snuggly baby yesterday and thursday!  (though frankly, I thought having her vomit down my shirt was payback enough....)