From coast to coast...

Juniper just passed her 4 week milestone. That's almost a month... in fact, on Sunday, it WILL be a month. I have absolutely no idea how that happened. It seems that every time we go to change or bath her, she has gained an extra leg or arm roll, and her little cheeks go from chubby to chubbier. Add to that a perfect little curl that sticks up on the front of her head after her hair has gotten wet, and she is about the cutest little baby that ever existed. Not that I'm biased.

In the week since I last posted, Juniper has (as has become the norm) met a bunch of new important people in her life. (oh - I just heard some shocked sounds coming from upstairs - apparently, Juniper just managed to plop her entire foot in a fresh diaper of pooh. I bet she's pleased with herself).

Anyway, on Friday night, my sister Andrea flew all the way from Vancouver to meet her little niece, and was able to hang out here until she flew back again on Monday. A short visit for such a long distance, but she got some quality Juniper time, so it was definitely worth it! Also, this was all in the middle of hurricane Bill, so we were worried that Andrea wouldn't even be able to make it over here for hang-out time on Sunday (she was staying at Carroll and Stephen's), but luckily Bill's bark was worse than his bite, and we didn't even lose power. Juniper was like "this is a hurricane? Whatevs". (Although to be fair, much of Halifax did lose power, including almost every street around us. How did we escape? Who knows? We celebrated by doing laundry and watching a movie.)

Then, shortly after Clark dropped Andrea off at the airport on Monday, his brother Bradford arrived from Fredericton. Brad was the last of the Richards siblings to meet little Juniper. We all went downtown on Tuesday, and Juniper was the perfect angel, sleeping peacefully in her sling as we wandered around and poked into stores. I hate to get used to it (in case it changes as soon as I utter it aloud), but so far Juniper has, by in large, been a dream to take out and about - there is a definite sense of freedom to have such a well-behaved little lady when we have errands to run, or even just want to get out on a walk.


Brad left on Wednesday, and then that afternoon we had a lovely visit from my cousin Claire, and her husband Scott, and their little boy Evan, who is just over a year old. They have been vacationing in Lunenburg for the week, and made the trek in to Halifax to meet Juniper. It was wonderful to see them, and Evan is so grown up! I can't even imagine that Juniper will be that big some day in the not-to-distant future.


And what else is there to report? Well, my mom left on Sunday, but not before we were able to celebrate her 60th birthday with Carroll and Stephen and me and Clark and Andrea, and of course Juniper. Calling birthday dibs, no one else was allowed to hold Juniper for the evening, but it was her last chance to snuggle for awhile, after all.



On Wednesday morning, we took Juniper in for her hearing test (it is something, I think, that they routinely do before people leave the hospital after delivery, but of course we hightailed it out of there much faster than the norm, so they asked us to come in for the test). Her hearing, of course, is just fine. Then, because the test was so short, I figured we should take advantage of Juniper sleeping, so we went to my gym, and I got to hit the elliptical for a full 30 minutes! It felt wonderful to be moving again. Clark sat just outside the gym in the seating area of the Superstore, and I was on call in case she woke and was hungry, but she slept the whole time, and then even let us get some groceries before we went home. Amazing!

Also, Thursday and Friday of this week marked the first time since Juniper was born that it was just the three of us hanging out for the day. No visitors. It was a little surreal, but I'm happy to report that it was absolutely doable - we got on marvelously! This all changes tomorrow, however, when Juniper will meet her last set of grandparents (Clark's dad and stepmom, Bill and Barb), as well as her great aunt Anne. They are only here until Sunday (that is, if tropical cyclone Danny doesn't pack too hard a punch), and then I think that is actually the end of the scheduled visits from away. For now, that is. Juniper is obviously very popular.

Next week marks the first time we are going to try really integrating some reality back into our lives... that is, we will officially be on our own for the foreseeable future, and Clark is likely going to be going back into his office at school - at least part time. I'm nervous. We'll see how that goes!