Oliver is 3 months old today. According to Boots and Tesco parenting club stuff I got in the post this week, that means he’s not a newborn anymore. Well, he’s certainly very different from that teeny mewling thing we brought home from the hospital 13 weeks ago!

This month, he started to laugh (at the beginning of the month), particulary for me. In fact, he can’t stop smiling, which apparently is hilarious for the both of us, plus helps me get through the day. He’s so insistent on standing or sitting and staring at things with the widest eyes, with our faces, Piper and the colour red being the current favourites. He doesn’t know what Piper is yet, but he knows she is around and he’s trying to figure it out. He also started going for about 6.5 or 7 hour stretches through the night most nights, which is fantastic. Except of course when sleeping in a hotel room but I forgive him for that.

On Tuesday, he got weighed at baby clinic after his second set of immunizations, and he’s up to 14 pounds. And I’m not in trouble for that like I thought I would be. My health visitor happened to be hosting the clinic and it was really nice to catch up with her as she hadn’t seen us since about 6 weeks or something.

She was pleasantly surprised to hear that I was still combination feeding him, as I don’t think either of us thought that I would still be breastfeeding at all this far along. I think I gradually came to terms with it, though never enjoying it – the combination works because it means that when he’s hungry I don’t have to be around (someone else can do it) or I don’t have to breastfeed him in public, yet he’s still getting the benefits of the breastmilk. I’m always slightly paranoid, however, that it’s just going to run out one of these days as I clearly don’t have buckets of the stuff in reserve, and he’s going longer between feeds (particularly at night), but it’ll be okay when it does happen as he has had a good start.

For the third year in a row, we’ve gone away for the weekend for a function of Mark’s. Last year and this year were at this fantastic hotel in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight – there’s a good photo of it on my blog from last year (when it was sunny and nice as opposed to this year’s rain). The hotel is one of the nicest places I’ve ever stayed at. The food is absolutely incredible – I’ll even eat things there I don’t normally like as I know it’ll be good, and the service is impeccable. Too bad we won’t be here to go again next year.

This function also means that I have to dress up. So, once a year I bring out the old high heels. They really are old heels as I bought them about 5 years ago for about 4 bucks at a Zellers or something in Sudbury with Jean and Michelle. And have literally worn them about 5 times. I can’t do heels. But interestingly, I did notice on Saturday night when I had to wear them that they actually seemed kind of comfortable. So I suppose I am finally breaking them in and perhaps if I find a reason to wear them for one night in 2007, they might feel pretty good.

Forgive me for this photo. Feet are pretty yucky.

While we were there, we did a little shop at the Garlic Farm, a haven for foodies. I put together a gift basket of local shortbread (not garlic) and chutneys (containing lots of garlic) for Chula and Elaine who were dogsitting for us, and we also got some garlicky sauce for Mark’s mum. We took home an oak-smoked garlic which I am planning to use in some nice recipes they provided for roast chicken and mashed potato. I’d seen them at Borough Market before but this is the first time I have bought one. It was a nice little diversion and something to do in the rain. Thankfully last year was very sunny and we did lots of sightseeing on the island then.

We are back from our weekend away and we survived. Oliver definitely reacted to being in a strange environment all weekend and being put out of his quasi-routine (I hate to use the word routine as I haven’t yet pulled out the Gina Ford and let him cry himself to sleep – though I probably should – but I digress…) but overall it was okay. It took like 8 hours to get home though (including stops) so I think he was pretty happy to be out of his car seat when we got in.

Hanging out in the hotel room:

Lessons:

• Mothercare inflatable bathtubs are evil and can not be easily inflated or deflated without injuring ones’ self. This is good to know before I take it to Spain.
• If you pump the kid full of food at about 6pm and then take extra formula down to dinner with you, he will cooperate and sleep through a whole function with about 60 people sitting down to dinner, speeches and dancing.

We ended up bringing half the house with us, or I suppose just half the nursery as there was very little room left for any parental items.

I keep meaning to say that I have put a whole load of photos on flickr and so you should go here if you want lots more of the kid. And Mark’s dad has put a bunch of stuff on his website.

Bought even more stuff for him as we waited for our ferry time and did a quick Matalan shop. I couldn’t resist these for Spain!!!

Happy birthday to Tate Vargo who turned 2 on Sunday. Can’t believe you are 2 already! At least I’ve gotten to meet him before, unlike some other kiddies of good friends. Don’t get home enough.

Oh, and apparently it was Mother’s Day here yesterday or something? Hope other mums had a good day.

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Originally uploaded by emmabean.

Congratulations to Jen and Bill on the arrival of Jaden Kai on Sunday! I just heard and we are very excited about Oliver having a friend relatively close in age. I’ve now known Jen for 10 years (and Bill almost as long) and we had some excellent times together at Ottawa U. So I hope him and Oliver will be great friends too. Jen and Bill made it over for our wedding in the summer, which was fantastic, and I got let in on the pregnancy news then.

Awwww. So small and cute. Jen, they grow quick.

Random thoughts post number 2:

• Oliver is having a weird day where he’s much more interesting in looking at our faces and the tv than eating. He’s not even really been interested in napping either so hopefully a nice long sleep tonight. Except not if he’s hungry.
• When Mark talks baby talk to him, he sounds exactly like David Walliams doing Emily Howard on Little Britain (“I’m a laydeeeeeee”) and I find it very disturbing and want it to stop.
• I’m already getting sick of the various songs that play on his swing and other toys. And it’s very early days.
• He got weighed at baby clinic last week and was somehow already 13 pounds, which is like twice his birthweight, which he isn’t actually supposed to be yet. Oops. Until a health visitor yells at me, however, I’m not going to stop demand feeding him. It’s not like I am pushing it down his throat or anything. But if this curiosity instead of eating phase keeps up, maybe he’ll lean out anyway (he sure doesn’t have those skinny legs anymore – they are replaced with pudge).

Random thoughts post number 1:

• They have come out with a KitKat Chunky with Peanut Butter here, here in the land where they don’t believe in chocolate and peanut butter but gross things like chocolate and orange instead, and it’s good. I have already had 2 and it might be my new downfall.
• On a related note, I just impulse-purchased the You Are What You Eat meal planner, and I am completely puzzled as to why it seems to have nothing to do with Dr (but not really Dr) Gillian. And it includes red meat and goat’s cheese in some recipes. It looks like more low GI than her complete ban of any nice tasting food. The recipes look really good actually and we intend to start becoming more virtuous very soon as my appetite has returned with a vengance and it’s going to kill me.
• I have lost my ability to spell on my blogs and when posting comments on other blogs, so please excuse me if you have noticed this. Actually it’s not that I can’t spell, it’s that my fingers try to move even faster than before so I can manage to write a post or a comment before I hear a wail. Thankfully right now the boy is grinning at me so I should be able to look this over before pressing ‘publish’.
• It’s Spring today and it’s only one week till the clocks go forward an hour, hurrah for British Summer Time. Yesterday on a glorious long walk with the dog, the sun was shining and the breeze was almost warm. We have a plan that now the nights are going to be lighter, if it’s not raining we are going to take the dog out every night all together as everyone needs the exercise.

Bye bye, Grandma.

We dropped my mother off at Heathrow early this morning, which brings to an end 2 weeks of fantastic help. I now think that all new parents should have a built in third party which will enable things such as house cleaning and party organising to proceed almost without any stress.

She was a huge help. I barely had to do anything for Oliver for the past 2 weeks except breastfeed him. And she managed to do some UK shopping which she loves, and saw some of her and my dad’s family so I hope she thinks it was a successful trip too. Hopefully grandson and grandmother (and grandfather too) will see each other again relatively soon.

While she was here she spoiled him to death with loads of presents from Canada, and then bought more clothes and a swing here. Actually his room is now overflowing with presents as I’ve bought him a lot of stuff lately (like a cool floaty swimming seat for Spain, and a cheap stroller for the airplane) and he received so many nice gifts on his naming day like more clothes, piggy banks and other mementoes. (Note to Lisa: meant to tell you that the greeting card industry has caught up with naming ceremonies and we received loads of different cards!).

We have another fairly busy week ahead (which is good, ’cause then they go really fast and I don’t have to dwell in daytime television hell). On Monday, Mark and I are both doing an infant first aid course. Tuesday is post natal group and I think this one is on weaning which I am getting excited about (only 5 more weeks till we can start experimenting with baby rice!!). And Friday is our big first trip away, to the Royal Hotel at Ventor on the Isle of Wight. Testing ground for Spain in only a few weeks’ time, and for any other trips we want to go on anytime soon (weekends to see Mark & Emma in Wales, and northern France spring to mind).

We’ve just FINALLY finished Mark’s sponsorship application for Canadian residency, and it’s ready for my parents (kindly) to post to Mississauga when my mother goes home this weekend.

It’s 60 pages of forms, and includes great details about our relationship to prove it’s legitimate – first dates, engagement, wedding photos, copy of joint savings account statement, receipts of holidays we’ve been on. Mark had to get a medical and police clearance and all that is in there.

We would like to think that they won’t find anything fishy about the application, particularly as we now have a kid together and it wasn’t a wedding that no one attended but us in a dark room somewhere, but who knows. It took AGES for it all to be done, however. Glad that’s over.

And hopefully his documents should come right on time for an autumn move to Canada.

Today we drove down to Hastings/St Leonards on Sea, to see my great Auntie Edith and stopped at the service station on the M25 that sells Tim Hortons.

“Sorry madam no one working there today.”

GRRRRRR.

You know, it’s getting harder and harder to blog about things not relating to a baby. This two-blog system, perfected by Lisa, isn’t working out so well!

Crazy few days…but Oliver’s naming day turned out to be a good yet low-key party attended by about 50 people in the end. It was a bit manic as we set up the hall, did the catering and cleaned up (along with some help from my mum and Mark’s parents and the celebrant Elaine) but in the end it all worked out. And we got rid of some more wedding leftover booze (the whole point of the celebration, in my opinion).

These were Mark’s and my promises to Oliver:
MARK: Oliver, as your parents, we promise to protect and nurture you, but also to encourage your independence and development of your sense of self.
EMMA: We promise to teach you the values of honesty, generosity, respect, humility, and forgiveness. We also promise to teach you the best about both England and Canada as your two nationalities are an important part of who you will become.
MARK: I will teach you the importance of pre-flight planning, even though I don’t know how to do it myself, and your mum will teach you to how to become a master chef in your spare time. We will allow you the freedom to follow whatever path you choose – as long as you become a doctor, dentist or lawyer.
EMMA: Whomever you turn out to be, Oliver, we will always love you and support you (even if you do wake us up at 2am).

I got to hang out with my friends from work, and Oliver got passed around to I don’t know how many people so I barely even saw him all night. But he was good. He even lastest until we all went to bed at 1am and slept in the next day.

Me, my Grandma Bowman (my dad’s mum), my mum and Oliver:

The cakes:

The matching shirts (poor embarrassed child):