Fredericton, Part 2: All the other stuff

So, apart from all of the new important people Juniper met in Fredericton (see the previous post: "Fredericton, part 1"), this trip was noteworthy in many other respects as well. This was in large part because it was our first real trip... that meant the first extended time for Juniper in the car, the first time we slept away from home, the first time we had to pick and choose which clothes and baby stuff that would be necessary to have with us... obviously a big deal for all of us.

Packing was a wee bit chaotic. There were multiple lists involved, WAY more bags than I even considered possible, and by the time everything was packed in, you could hardly see Juniper. (that's maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much). Finally, we strategically fed Juniper, then got into the car, started on the road, and held our breath. We needn't have worried; she was a perfect angel. She didn't even sleep the whole time - in fact, for half of it, she was wide awake and just keeping herself amused, either by talking to her friend, Mr. Lion (the following picture captures them mid-conversation), or sucking on her thumb and checking herself out in the baby mirror.
We made it to Sackville, and then stopped to see Clark's sister, Theresa, and have a late lunch. We spent a couple of hours visiting, Juniper ate again, and then we hit the road for another completely serene stretch from Sackville to Fredericton. Amazing!

Very shortly after arriving at my parent's house, however, Juniper finally had a meltdown. You could hardly blame her... she was a perfect angel for the whole day, and the at the end of it, instead of being in her own house and her own bed (with all her own smells), we were in this completely strange environment. Very unsettling! Finally, however, she settled down, and we all collapsed into bed. We set up camp in my parent's room (they were still in Vancouver), with Juniper between me and Clark in her little co-sleeper bed. We had opted not to bring Juniper's bassinet, as it took up too much space, and figured it would be fine for a week of all three of us in the same bed. That first night proved us wrong. We had used the co-sleeper pretty regularly up until that point, but only in the mornings, for the hour or two between when Juniper was not interested in going back into her own bed, and we weren't interested in getting up for the day. We had never used it for the whole night. So, while Juniper slept relatively well, Clark and I tossed and turned, trying not to fall out of bed.

We were unsure of how to solve the problem, but Clark's step-mom, Barb, saved the day by suggesting we borrow their foldable play pen. We set it up at the end of the bed, and put Juniper's little co-sleeper in the bottom of it. Although I had to get over the initial weirdness of not having Juniper directly beside me, we ended up all sleeping very well from that point on. Luckily for us, even after my parents got back from BC, they let us stay in their room, as we had everything set up so nicely, with a change station in the next room over, so it all worked very smoothly.

As was evident from the last post, much of our Fredericton time was spent taking Juniper around to meet people, or having visitors come over to my parent's place to visit us. I had planned on taking Juniper out for lots of beautiful fall walks (one of my favourite things to do in Fredericton), but alas, most days were cold and rainy. Faye joined the three of us on one of the rare nice days, however, to go apple picking, which was a very nice fall-y thing to do.




We also ended up having relatively decent weather for our trip to Clark's grandparent's farm, as well, which meant that Clark and his dad were able to go for a sail, and Juniper and mom and I were able to go for a leisurely walk along the grounds (mom came with us, mainly, I think, so that she didn't miss a day of Juniper time. She and Juniper chatted the whole way there and back in the back of the car).


The other highlight of the trip was the shower that Sue McLeod threw for us, mostly with women from the neighbourhood - some of whom I've known my whole life; others that had moved in since I had moved out, and therefore I was meeting for the first time. I was apprehensive about how Juniper would behave - it only started at 7pm, which is pretty late for her, and I had this vision of her being a real crankypants the whole time. But I dressed her up in her nice party dress that I had been saving for the occasion (a beautiful gift from my supervisor, Diane), and put on her teal blue ruffled leg warmers, and we set off.


Almost immediately upon arriving, Juniper started to howl. I could hardly blame her - it was a huge influx of noise and energy (directed almost entirely at her) as soon as we opened the door. Mom took her to another room to try and quiet her down, but Juniper just screeched louder. So I came in to intervene, and I swear, it was like magic - only a couple of minutes of walking around with her snuggled in close to my chest, and she was happy. We returned to the party, and after having a bit more snuggle time with me, she was a perfect angel for the rest of the night. She was even fine with getting passed around to everyone at the party. I was amazed!

While Juniper was getting passed around, I opened gifts. I was just blown away by everyone's generosity. We got some absolutely adorable clothes, most of which she will have to grow into , which is great. The 12 months and beyond range is where her wardrobe is the most sparse right now, so this filled in the gaps nicely. Cathy Baker made a beautiful quilt for Juniper - apparently, she had made a boy's one first, and then had to start a girl's one as soon as Juniper was born! (for the record, I had told her my motherly intuition was pointing towards girl, but apparently she didn't trust my intuition!)

We also got some beautiful Waleda bath and skin care products (the only products I trust on Juniper for now, so that was great!), some nice books (always a welcome present), a great warm zippered thing for the stroller, which will be perfect for this colder weather, and various other wonderful and useful items like toys and a sippy cup and bath stuff. A really neat present from Sue were these labels with Juniper's name, that I can put on whatever I'd like, and are dishwasher safe etc. Very neat! One particularly thoughtful and wonderful gift was from Kathy Hicks, who got us a Juniper tree! This was something I had been wanted to get ever since Juniper was born, but of course never got the chance. I am so thrilled to have it! My mother planted it in her garden for now, and we will unearth it and plant it whenever we are someplace a little more permanent.

Anyway, I'm sure I could go on and on with other details, but this post is now ridiculously long, and I'm tired (and fighting off a cold, I think), so I will leave that as the end of our Fredericton chronicles. Stay tuned for more (non-Fredericton) stuff, coming at you soon! Also stay tuned for a Fredericton Picasa album, which we'll post in the next day or two.