Three weeks already??

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Today at 5:52 pm will mark little Juniper's third week in the world. Unbelievable! It might be difficult to tell from the photos, but she has grown significantly over these three weeks... we had a midwife appointment yesterday, and she is now 9lb 8oz! That means that in a week and two days, she gained one whole pound (she was 8 lb 8 oz at last Monday's visit). Mom and Clark and I had been marveling over how much she had grown, and how much chubbier and older she looked, but when we took guesses as to how much she had gained, none of us guessed that much (for the record, mom came closest at 9lbs 5 oz). So much has happened since the last post, I don't even think I'll remember half of it, and certainly won't be able to comment on everything. But I'll do my best, and let the numerous photos that we'll post fill in the rest of the blanks. 1. Important visitors... As I mentioned in the last entry, Juniper had some important visitors over the weekend. She met her first set of great-grandparents (Ron and Elizabeth Wybou), her grandmother Deborah (Clark's mom), her aunt Liz (Clark's sister), and her aunt Faye (my youngest sister). What a wonderful visit! Juniper was dutifully passed from one willing set of arms to the next for lots and lots of snuggles. Clark and I were well taken care of, having our suppers made for us, laundry hung on the line, and lots of other nice perks. There are lots of photos from that trip (see the picasa album in the "links" section), but here are a couple. On Monday, Juniper also also met her honourary auntie Erin, and her new friend Zack (Erin's 7 month old cutie). Erin and Zack live in Ottawa, but have been visiting Fredericton for the last couple of weeks, and made a day trip up so that we could visit and meet each other's respective children. We also got to visit briefly with Erin's parents, which was great. Then, this afternoon, we had a wonderful surprise visit from her honourary cousins, Simon and Noni, and of course their lovely parents, Agi and Josh. We also had some nice visits from Haligonian friends (Martha, Lisa and Ben)... everyone wants to meet beautiful little Juniper! This morning she had her morning snuggle with her grandmother Mary (mom came back on Tuesday, and will be staying until Sunday morning). And tomorrow, my sister Andrea will be flying in all the way from Vancouver just to hang out with Juniper for the weekend. Juniper won't know what's going on when it is eventually just me and Clark hanging out with her during the day! 2. A breath of COLD air It has been HOT in Halifax. Really, really, really hot. On the one hand, it's hard to complain - we've finally had a stretch of what can legitimately be called summer. On the other hand, it can be impossible to escape the heat in this old house - especially as the heat accumulates day after day. Poor little Juniper has had heat rash on her little bottom - so much so that we decided to temporarily switch back to disposables to see if that makes a difference (at least until it cools down a little bit). I don't know if they are really any cooler or not, but there is certainly less fabric. She also has some baby acne on her face (breaks my heart!), which becomes incredibly hot and angry looking as the heat of the day progresses. We had just been trying to tough it out, turning on fans where and whenever we could, and finding coolish breezy spots in the backyard for some diaper-free time whenever possible. The worst, however, was always going to sleep at night - our bedroom is on the upper floor, where the heat is at it's worst. Then, our lovely next door neighbours (/landlords), Erika and Wesley, suggested that as a gift celebrating Juniper's arrival, perhaps they should get us an air conditioner. Oh. My. Goodness. You can't even imagine the difference it has made!!!! We installed it in the bedroom, and it has meant that we don't die of heat in the night, and also that we have a place to escape to if it gets too hot during the day. Such a thoughtful, wonderful gift! I already notice a difference in Juniper's little face. They also bought it on just the right day - when Clark and Wesley were installing it (at like, 9pm at night), it was over 30 degrees in the bedroom, and this would have just gotten worse as the days progressed. I think I'm tired now... we would have been absolute sleep-deprived zombies at this point if we hadn't had the respite when we did. 3. Food, food, food! We've been sooooo lucky... basically ever since Juniper was born, we've had people cooking us some amazing meals every day. I kind of forget what it's like to cook our own meals :) In the beginning, Zsofi cooked up a feast of various different culinary delights, and left it for us to eat in the days to come. Then, while my mom has been here, she has made us supper and put together lunches pretty much every single day. And on the weekend, Deborah and Liz and Faye all pitched in to cook for us. Now my mom is back, and the goodness has started all over again. The problem had always been that there just simply wasn't enough freezer space to actually store anything for when everyone has left, and it's just the three of us. Consequently, I've been researching small chest freezers, but not wanting to shell out the money, or to pay for something potentially old and sub-standard from Kijiji. Magically, it would seem, our problem was just solved... as it turns out, Deborah had an old freezer taht she was willing to part with, and it fit in mom's vehicle, so she brought it with her. And what's more, it (JUST) fit through the door and into the basement. So this afternoon, mom and Carroll have been slaving away, making a bunch of freezable food to leave with us (now that we have a place to put it). How wonderful is that? I hope I have the chance to be so wonderful to someone someday! 4. Some more firsts... a) Poop. Well, although it has been well established that Juniper immensely enjoys being able to pee and poop while her diaper is off (especially if she can manage to get it on someone in the process), the other night was the first time she was actually able to shoot poop across the room. I'm not even joking. Her timing was impeccable... it was in the split second between when Clark had one diaper off and the other about to go on, and *boom!* out it shot. It hit the wall a few feet away, managing to get the change table and everything else in it's path, and then dripped its way down the wall and onto the carpet. I really wish I'd gotten a picture, but at 3 am, I was mostly just doing damage control and trying to clean it up. Ah well. You'll just have to picture it for yourselves. b) Restaurant! So, last night marks the first time since Juniper is born that we went out to eat. Clark and mom and I headed down to Jane's on the Commons for a delicious meal, with Juniper in tow. It's a very small space at Jane's, so I wasn't entirely sure how I would deal with the whole breast feeding issue if it arose, but I was determined to give it a go none-the-less. Up until our food arrived, Juniper lay happily in her sling that Clark had carried her in on the way there. Then she started to get a bit fussy, and woke up just as the food was arriving. It looked as though I would have to make some snap decisions about how to feed everyone (Juniper included) all at the same time, but as it turns out, all she really wanted was to snuggle into her mom - she wasn't as starving as she had originally made us believe. So I held her against me with one arm, and ate with the other, an she snoozed happily until we were finished eating. What a doll! And even though she certainly was hungry by that point, she remained very good-natured until right before we got home. You couldn't ask for a more well-behaved little girl than that! (she then made up for it by not letting us sleep last night from 3am onwards, but you got to take what you can get, right?) Well, that's all I can think of for now - I'm sure I'm missing lots, but it's hard to remember everything. "Update the blog" seems to be on our to-do list every day, and obviously it's never as easy to find the time to do it as we think it will be. I'm always shocked to look at the clock and see how much of the day has gone by!