22 weeks - 5 months

Ambrose was 5 months on Monday, August 30 which technically fell at the tail end of his 21st week (weeks run Tuesday to Monday) but whatever.
I weighed him at the Wednesday mom and baby group and he is 20 pounds 14 ounces!

Highlights
-making borscht and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies on a cold late summer night
-hanging out with Jenna Claire, Janine and Moog
-dinner with the girls (Ang, Tamara and Janice)
-visiting with nana and papa
-quick visit with Christoff (who rescued injured merlin - a small falcon- from our yard (see pics)
-big walk in Assiniboine Park with Christy and Samuel, and Tamara and her nephew

Observations and milestones
-moves from sitting position to lying on tummy
-crawls/climbs out of laps onto tummy and crawls/climbs into laps (or onto bolster or pillow) from tummy

-has experienced a few head bumps from active playing :(
-Ambrose loves mom! If someone else is holding him and he is crying for me, as soon as I take him he screams or laughs in delight and smiles back at the person who was just holding him as if to say, ha ha I am with my mom now. What a stinker!
-if babes is upset or cranky, speaking in a sing song voice or singing seems to soothe him
-loves to have his tongue out and to blow bubbles
-gets visibly excited when daddy takes out the guitar (or any other musical instrument)
-loves touching the cats
-doing this new thing of grabbing me on both sides of my face or holding onto my neck and giving me an open mouth if drool-y kiss or hug. so sweet
-not so sweet is when he grabs at my face and pinches. ouch!
-seems to recognize his name (we think) he will look at person who has called his name
-will "sing" himself to sleep when tired (typically when he is in his car seat or stroller).

click here for photo gallery

21 Weeks

highlights of the week
-visiting nana and papa (and Auntie Brooke too)
-Baby shower for Christy, Karel and baby Samuel
-beach time at Birds Hill Park with Michelle, Christy and Samuel (way to go Christy!), Viv, Reegan and Jaelyn, and Kiri, Finn and Ember. It was an awesome day!
-dinner party with Collin, Natasha and baby Luna (note to self: risotto bad idea to make when have guests)
-spending time with Sheryl and Eva, who were visiting from Toronto
-lazy Sunday with Gody and cousin Emma. Renee and Dan popped over too.

check out the photo gallery

milestones and observations
-has taken standing to a new level
-very very very active
-sounds like a puppy with all of his heavy breathing while playing or testing his strength
-lunges forward when sitting (occasionally while standing too, which is frightening)
-scoots around using arms and legs but with his tummy on the ground (not crawling yet thank goodness!)
-very strong

20 weeks continued

Highlights:

-We bought an area rug (larger version of the one we bought for Ambrose's room). It looks fantastic in the living room and allows us to better get on the floor and play with the babe. We now have a more welcoming space for play dates! If you can believe it, we brought the rug home in our Honda civic! Check out the pics in the picture gallery  - you might need to see it to believe it!

-Ambrose and I picked up Breanna and we headed to the beach for a late afternoon swim on Sunday. Miss Beans slept over and helped me with Ambrose while I got some tasks completed.

-Ambrose and I enjoyed a long walk today with Tomoko and Ren. We successfully registered our baby boys in swimming lessons for the fall. Earlier in the day Christy and I registered for a baby and me fusion boot camp class.


Observations and Milestones:
-Ambrose loves loves loves textures. For some reason, he really loves to touch wicker furniture. We discovered this at the cabin.
-He loves to sit and play independently with some of his toys (but he prefers a nice lap to sit in or stand on). He particularly loves his stacking ring.
-Baby and I decided wearing the water wrap is a much safer way to shower together.
-He likes to reach out and grab hair or pinch faces (something I'll have to curb asap!)
-He wants to have the remote controls, cordless phone, cell phone etc
-I love it when baby wants to sit quietly on my lap or cuddle.
-Ambrose has separation anxiety (sigh)

Click here for the picture gallery.

19 and 20 weeks - visit to The Pas and Clearwater Lake

Ambrose enjoyed his first visit to The Pas and Clearwater lake. We started our adventure by having to buy a new car seat (he exceeded the weight limit for his infant seat).

The trip to The Pas took a very long time because the weather was terrible with gusty cold rain. The trip back, however, made up for it: blue sky and warm. Ambrose was a very good traveler. A bag of baby toys and Rockabye Baby music came in handy. 

We missed the heat wave and were unfortunately treated to autumn-like weather which did not bode well for my plans to sun myself on the dock. But we had excellent conditions for visiting. And visiting we did. 

Here are the highlights of our trip:

-cabin time with nana and papa

-dinner party potluck at Tamsin and Kurt's place at Rocky Lake with Meaghan and Steve. yum!

-fabulous sauna at Meaghan and Steve's (it was exactly what I needed) followed by spectacular aurora borealis (sorry no pics)

-Auntie Judy and Uncle Al's anniversary dinner

-afternoon bevvies at Auntie Wendy and Uncle Gody's

-play time with cousins Tamara and Marek 

-visited some of nana's friends

-Ambrose was whisked around the hospital by nana and shown off to colleagues and anyone else who was in the vicinity!

-Ambrose met great grandma Cloutier

-Dutch drive in treats!

-Ambrose dipped his toes into Clearwater lake for the first time

Click here for photo gallery

Observations and milestones:

-mastering sitting on his own

-has always loved to stand on laps but now wanting to stand on his own holding onto furniture (ugh)

-experimenting with his vocalizations

-loves to be pretend tickled (kushies) He screams and squeals with delight

-really into sticking out his tongue and blowing raspberries
-appears to be a ladies' man Ambrose gives easy smiles to and flirts with women but makes male admirers work for his attention (Nana Shirley saw this in action)

-now has a Pediatrician

19 weeks

At the beginning of the week we went to Birds Hill park with Michelle. I took Ambrose 'swimming' for the first time (the water was incredibly warm) and he enjoyed it. I can't wait to take him to a 'baby and me' swim class in the fall.

I went into work last Thursday (hiring for the office) and my mom looked after Ambrose with help from Breanna and her friend Jasmine (the teens slept over the night before). I had to go in for the last interview on Friday and my boss offered to look after Ambrose - thanks Lynn!

On that Thursday we discovered that Ambrose does not like to be away from me for any extended period. He was okay for the first 3 hours but then cried for over an hour and a half (I was gone for 5 hours) until I arrived home. Sorry mom! Apparently he took the bottle initially but refused it later. Hmmm we will have to work on getting baby used to being away from me. He must have remembered this long absence from me because when we were in The Pas (see next post) he lasted only 45 minutes when I left him with poor nana Shirley.

Click here for picture gallery

18 weeks

Guess who's sitting unassisted?
Guess who's 20 pounds at 4 months old?

Ambrose had his 4 month check up and immunizations. He is 20 pounds 3 ounces (97th percentile), 25 3/4 inches in length (75th percentile) and his head circumference is18 inches (I believe off the charts)!


Click here for picture gallery.

17 weeks (4 months)

Ambrose was 4 months on July 30th. Wow, we can't believe how quickly time is flying!

Highlights of another busy week:

• Had a visit with neighbours Tomoko and baby Ren (7 months). We did a temporary swap - my jolly jumper for her bumbo and bouncy chair!
• We had a nice visit with Nana and Papa Streit who were in the city for a short period of time.
• Road trip to Erickson and stayed for two nights with Great Grandma Johnson with Nana and cousin Jessie. Got to see Auntie Darlene and Uncle Brian on the first night. Had a nice day at Clear Lake, sat at the beach. On the way home we were able to sneak a quick visit with Great Grandma Usick in Minnedosa.
• Spent quality time with daddy while he was home in between trips.
• Visit with Uncle Gody and cousin Emma.
• A couple of visits with Nana and Papa.
• We bought an area rug for Ambrose's room, the only area rug in the whole house. We love it and wonder why we don't have more rugs in our home...

Observations and milestones:

• Ambrose loves to play with his toys and is mastering the excersaucer.
• Screaming! High pitched squeals of delight!
• He is very interested in colours, particularly green and red. 
• You have to watch where you hold him or what you hold him close to because he is quick to grab things. 

Click here for picture gallery