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Well, it finally happened… I bought something really girly for my precious little girl. Before she was born, we made sure everything was gender neutral. Even after she was born, we still made a conscious effort to keep things gender neutral for any other babies that might happen to come along (no plans yet), except for her clothes, which are all pink or flowery and girly.

I thought we should buy her a mobile because she would make a fist, move it around above her head and stare at it. This is the first one I found on Craig’s list. Poor, deprived child no more.

Speaking of depriving children, we bought her a soother after she had a few rough days. Never did figure out what was upsetting her so much but did find that a soother can be helpful when she is crying intensely. It was a totally new experience for her, though she has sucked on my pinkie to get to sleep before. Leah figured the soother out very well. What is there to figure out you may ask? You can teach a baby to keep a hold of their soother when it is falling out by gently pulling it partway out of their mouth so they learn how to suck it back in, thereby preventing umpteen trips to plug it back in. She did figure that out on her own. I still can’t get over how different she looks with a soother in my mouth. To be honest, I don’t like that look at all, but it sure beats crying. She uses it when she is tired and fussy in her crib before she falls to sleep. When she done with it she spits it out and sucks on her hand till she is soundly asleep and her hand falls out of her mouth. You know she is soundly asleep and can start vacuuming or putting the dishes away when both arms are above her head in an ‘I surrender’ pose.

The last picture is of glittery flowers and hearts that we will hang on her wall one day when she has her own room. (So she still may be a little deprived) I bought them at a store called Off to Bed which is owned by a parent of twin preschoolers that I taught. My preschool class gave me a gift certificate there and my sister and I had a good time admiring all the goodies there. The store is full of amazing finds to make any child’s bedroom their dream room. Check it out at offtobed.ca. Whoever thought my little girl will have a very pink and girly room.

Leah is slowly discovering more of her world. She likes to grab whatever may be near her, not purposefully but whatever may be in her grasp. Most commonly she grabs onto my hair, my shirt or her receiving blanket but the other day, she grabbed a hold of her rattle.

I put a rattle around her wrist the other day and went to do some laundry and she was still shaking it. I was so proud. Nothing like motherhood to make you go gaga over everything.

Her new thing to comfort herself when she is going off to sleep with one hand on her head and the other in her mouth. Looks pretty chill!

On Saturday night we went out to dinner at Crescent beach at a nice Greek restaurant. Afterwards, we walked along the beach with Leah showing off her cool sun hat.

On Wednesday night, I spontaneously decided to go to Oroville with Leah. My parents were up there for the whole week and had left an open invitation. After watching Morgan play soccer, I packed everything in the car so we would be ready to leave whenever Leah woke up the next morning. Leah woke up at 5:15 and I quickly fed and changed her before loading her up in the car seat. We wanted to miss the heat of the day as my car does not have air conditioning. It was a great time, though we did have to leave Morgan at home to support the family. Don’t worry, next time we will bring him along.

I don’t know if two and a half month olds can miss people, but Leah sure did give Morgan a lot of big smiles when she saw him on Sunday afternoon.

I finally caught some of Leah’s smiles on camera. It doesn’t sound hard but smiley times come in small doses throughout the day and when they are, we are usually too busy enjoying and encouraging her that capturing the moment on camera is not on the front of our minds.

Last Friday, we went out to Abbotsford to see Morgan’s cousin, Brennyn who is visiting from Grand Forks. We decided to go mini golfing at Castle Fun Park. While I fed Leah, Morgan and Brennyn tried out various games winning us enough tickets for four candies. Once Leah was satisfied, we ventured into the deep, blue ocean for a round of golf. I tried to golf with Leah in the snugli. My beginning points reflect my difficulty in golfing with one hand. I tried with two but then I couldn’t see the ball. We kept passing Leah around, which she didn’t seem to mind. Brennyn loved holding her while Morgan diligently kept score. Apparently being passed around is pretty exhausting as she fell asleep around the ninth hole. Morgan tried out the snugli with better success for the last half of the course and still beat both Brennyn and I.

We decided to try out the batting cages before we headed out to Dairy Queen where Leah could experience her first chocolate dipped cone. Staring at it was as close as she got before Daddy and I ate it up.

On Friday of the long weekend, Leah and I picked up Morgan from work and after running a few errands, we were off to my parent’s place to hitch a ride in their nice, air conditioned vehicle to Oroville. My parent’s have a cabin on Osoyoos Lake in the US that is a great way to spend summer holidays.

We took our time driving up, with my parents and Morgan exploring random roadside terrain whenever Leah decided she was hungry. Actually, she timed it pretty well; a gas station in Abbotsford, Manning Park Lodge and Keremeos. The thermometer was reading over 30 during the day so we spent a lot of time inside with the air conditioning so Leah wouldn’t melt. Morgan and I did get some watersports in with the help of some babysitting by Grandma.

Leah was pretty spoiled. From her bed (her all new packn’play), she had a lakeside view while also getting in on all the action in the cabin as well. Mommy was also pretty spoiled as well. There were lots of hands willing to hold Leah and play with her, the play mostly involving talking in high pitched voices about lots of nothingness trying to get a smile out of her. Even a few hands willing to take on diaper changing. Here is how she spent one morning.

My parent’s large SUV was packed to the max. It is amazing how much luggage Leah had packed for this weekend. She insisted on bringing her stroller, chair, snugli, multiple changes of clothes for each day, bed and bedding. Leah does create a lot of laundry.

I was fortunate enough to use my mom’s washing machine and clothesline to help get all the laundry done while Morgan was at the berry farm helping my dad with the Canada Day pancake breakfast. We walked over to visit with Uncle Trevor and they quickly put us to work. Leah supervised from her stroller.

Leah and I ventured out to Aldergrove to meet up with my grandma and mom for breakfast on Monday at one of grandma’s favorite hangouts, White Spot. It was great to spend some time with grandma before heading over to my mom’s house to freeze fresh, juicy strawberries. First, there was some potato digging. While they were busy working, I had Leah in her new car seat. Actually, it is a cardboard box from forty years ago they gave out at Langley Memorial courtesy of the Women’s Auxiliary for new parents to bring their infant home in. Off to pick up our strawberries and raspberries at the farm. After a little bit of showing off, we decided to weigh her. She’s gaining fast with some nice rolls on the legs. That weight is only her (the scale was zeroed with the box on it) all 13 1/2 lbs. Yes, we actually did get some work done. We made two batches of jam, one strawberry and one raspberry and the rest of the berries we froze for pancake sauce all winter.