An event-filled week!

K-diggity had a very eventful 11th week (not in terms of developmental milestones...which we haven't really been sufficiently focused on yet...more on that soon!). Here's one "milestone" she has, however, reached! (Or maybe this is what she thinks of all this talk of milestones!)



That's right, she flipped her first bird! Hee hee...I'm a bad mommy...but she did this on her own while she was eating...and it was too funny not to take a picture and send it to Prof-Man! This is actually from months ago...but it still amuses me...I know that doesn't say much about the maturity level of my sense of humour!

Kennedy finds it funny too...so there!



Okay, one more photo sitting up so cute!



We did the regular activities (Mommy and Baby Fitness and the public health nurse group) -- nothing too exciting there (though we did learn about baby temperament which was actually quite interesting and helped me to realize that Kennedy has certain traits that really seem to explain most of her behaviours -- for example, she's a very "active" baby -- which explains her sleep pattern (i.e. not sleeping during the day, but having excellent sleeps at night).

On Wednesday, we took Kennedy to her 2nd hockey game. This was a much more successful outing (in my opinion) -- she sat on my lap facing out (her preference) and actually looked like she was watching the game (my guess is she was interested in the bright flashing lights on the screen). Everyone around us loved her (even had a weird comment from some drunk fat guys behind us asking if they could hold her...and keep her!?). Almost got her on the big screen -- but while the cameramen were waiting for a stoppage, she got hungry (read: starting wailing) -- so we had to run out (I then proceeded to sit on a dirty toilet seat and feed her in the most awkward fashion ever -- I really need to learn how to feed her in public!). :)

Got some cute pics again...







Then on Friday, I took her to work with me to see everyone! It went really well...no huge breakdowns (though she did wail a little towards the end, but thankfully it wasn't in front of anyone...just my tax-law-friend, so it wasn't too bad! This is the outfit she wore...so freakin' cute!





On Saturday night, she had her first overnight sleepover at Grannie and Grandpa's without Prof-Man and I! She did very well -- slept something like 8 hours (my mom was shocked -- I don't think she really believed me when I told her that Kennedy was already sleeping through the night and has been doing so since week 9!). Apparently my mom tried to pick her up because she was still awake after being put down for her nighttime sleep, and Kennedy got pissed (she tends to just soothe herself to sleep after the late-night feeding)! She cried until my mom put her back into her basinette for sleepy-time. She likes her sleep -- do not disturb! :)

Got some cute email pics on Saturday night of both of my parents with Kennedy sleeping in their arms -- I'll post those soon (have to pull them off my phone).

Weeks 7 - 10: A New Year for Our New Baby!

Week 7 (December 27 - January 2).

On the 29th, my parents, Grandma and Auntie Holly came over for a visit for my 32nd birthday (where did the last few years go!?). Delicious pizza, pasta and cake (none of which were made by me -- new baby=takeout!).

Here she is with her Grandpa and Great Grandma...



...and here she is enjoying her Mommaroo!





Prof-Man's parents came over to our place to look after Red Dragon on New Year's Eve so that Prof-Man and I could spend a couple of hours with friends. We came home around 11 and rang in the new year with Kennedy! It was a very different way to ring in the new year and I really loved it (glass of wine with my hubby and my baby...well, she didn't get to enjoy any wine, but Prof-Man and I did!).

We went to Kurt's parents on January 2nd for my birthday dinner. Here's a picture of Kennedy all dressed up and ready to go!



Week 8 (January 3 - 9)

Kennedy had her last midwife appointment this week. Nothing special...she's doing great (she weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs, 10 ounces and measured in at 22.5 inches). Here are some pics of her all dressed up for her appointment!









We also started mommy and baby fitness classes -- she wailed through most of the first class...I almost didn't go back (didn't get much of a workout in and really ended up feeling like a tool because I don't give my baby the boob as a soother (she had just eaten before we went -- I knew she wasn't hungry)...which was apparently what most of the moms expected)!

Week 9 (January 10 - 16)

I decided to show my face again at the mommy and baby fitness class...and I was glad that I did! Had a much better time and actually managed to get a good workout in! Also met some nice moms...hopefully end up fostering some mommy friendships out of this!

Kennedy and I also went to "Mommy and Me" group that the public health nurses put on...it was okay...tons of moms, but that actually kind of made it tough to meet anyone. We'll see...

Got some really cute pictures in week 9...Kennedy is really starting to ham it up for the camera -- love it!











Week 10 (January 17 - 23)

Almost caught up!!!

Had coffee with a friend early in the week -- it was so nice to get out and feel human again! (Not that I don't enjoy conversations with Prof-Man, but it was nice to get out of the house and talk about random stuff with a friend!)

Went out to our friends' place on Friday to see everyone -- it was great to get out! Kennedy was going to get all dressed up for the occasion, but I got lazy...she ended up wearing a hand-me-down Pooh Bear outfit (which was still really cute!).





My parents came over on the 22nd for Prof-Man's birthday dinner. I made crab enchiladas, baked black beans, and two kinds of fresh salsa! Also baked a delicious chocolate cake! It was a good day (I found out that Kennedy is pretty content to hang out and watch me cook!).

We gave Kennedy a bath after dinner so that my parents could see how cute she is in person (we had shown them a million pictures from the week prior)...



I'm going to stop with the historical updates now...we're at week 11 now, so I'm going to do the next post of current stuff! Woo hoo!

Okay, one last picture for this post...Kennedy and her friends in the crib!

Week 6 (December 20-26) - Part 2: First Christmas!

Okay, on to cheerier things...like 6 week old babies dressed up in adorable Christmas outfits!



Whoops -- looks like she didn't like that one...okay, here she is after she's done yelling at us for dressing her up like a little Christmas terd! (For the record -- I adore that outfit!)



Christmas in the Lady-Lawyer/Prof-Man household is pretty much the same every year. The 23rd, we do doggy Christmas (cancelled this year for obvious reasons -- though if you want to see last year's happier times, there are a few pictures in an old post), the 24th is Prof-Man's side of the family, then we go to my parents' place for the night and spend Christmas day there.

This year my Aunt and Grandma came to town for Christmas and Kennedy got to meet them! It was great to see them (Grandma is looking fantastic after battling lung cancer this year!)...We got some great pictures of Kennedy with her Great Grandma and Great Aunt! I'll have to post those when I get to the other computer though. Which actually means that I have next to no pictures to post!? Hmmm...maybe I should put this post on hold and move to the other computer...to be continued! :)

Okay, I'm back...and I've got a stupid amount of pictures to post. If I had any new followers, I'm sure I've lost them by now with my shameless Kennedy plugs! Sorry -- I can't help myself! Eventually I plan to start actually writing (and maybe even entertaining) again...eventually...

Okay, pictures.

Great Grandma and Kennedy (I think this was Christmas Eve)...



...and Grannie with Kennedy...



...and a huge shot of my cleavage...errr...I mean Kennedy! Yikes!? Okay, the only reason I'm posting this one is to show off another one of her costume changes! :)



Here's the same outfit with the hat on (but the colour is all off -- stupid lighting!)...



This was one of my "moments" (had a few "sneak upstairs and have a little cry over missing Malcolm" moments)...this time I did double-duty getting Kennedy and Jackie to have a little nap as well...(yes, Jackie's wearing a sweater...but it's only because she was too fat to fit the coat my mom bought her! Hee hee...I'm such a loser!)...



...here's Grannie looking adoringly at her Granddaughter (sniff sniff...she doesn't look at me like that anymore...ha!)...



Group shot (okay, not the whole group...but we don't have any of those...and the ones with more people have at least one person with their eyes closed!)!



...Auntie Holly with Kennedy (and yet another Christmas outfit!)...



This was her official First Christmas Dress (a plaid dress with black crinoline underneath, a white sweater and white tights with Boston Terriers on them!)...





...and because it makes me giggle...here's another shot of her wailing in her Christmas tutu outfit!



Here's proof that at some point she was content in the outfit (of course, it's Grandpa holding her at the time...he's got the magic touch!).



Okay, I'll try to slow down with the pictures in the next posts (though I make no promises that I'll follow through on that!)...but I do want to leave you with two last ones (showing two of her Christmas gifts -- the Mommaroo (from Grandma and Auntie Holly!) and her first Canucks jersey ("Go Burr!" -- from her Grannie and Grandpa!).

Week 6 – Part 1: A painful loss.

Kennedy’s sixth week of life was filled with mixed emotions. It was Kennedy’s first Christmas! I’ll talk about that in a separate entry because it seems to weird to write about such a happy thing with such a sad thing in the same entry.

I’ve been putting off writing this entry, because I do so with a heavy heart. It’s been just over a month since we lost our sweet little Malcolm. So here it goes…I’m going to try not to bawl while typing this…so I’m going to focus on the happy thoughts that I have about my first “baby” (furbaby) instead of the awful few days that we had leading up to his death.

I know this blog is supposed to be about Kennedy, but Malcolm was a huge part of our lives, so I feel that the least I can do is share a few memories of him.

(Shit, I’m never going to get through this entry…I’m already sobbing and trying to do so quietly so that I don’t wake the baby.)

We got Malcolm almost 6 years ago. He was actually a wedding gift from Prof-Man’s parents. I remember Prof-Man calling me and telling me to come over because he had a surprise for me. When I got there, he was cradling the tiniest, most adorable little puppy in his arms! I was instantly in love. We weren’t even married yet, but Prof-Man, Malcolm and I had already become a little family.

As a puppy, Malcolm was a huge part of every part of our lives. He drank beers with the boys (he literally used to come running when he heard the sound of a beer being cracked open!), cuddled with his mom (I remember having great naps with him curled up in whatever nook and/or cranny he could find on my body). Malcolm lived with us in each of our three apartments in Kitsilano. He made friends everywhere he went. The one person he never be-friended was his trainer. We enrolled Malcolm in obedience training, and while he did great in the end (finished 3rd in his class!), I can still remember a particularly bad day when he was not willing to heel. The trainer tried to take over, and when he did so, Malcolm literally tried to climb up the leash to get to the trainer. I swear he would have taken his head off if he could have! It was totally embarrassing – but hilarious in hindsight!

(There, I’ve stopped crying – hard to cry when you’re imagining a dog writhing around howling at his trainer!)

Malcolm was a huge Canuck fan (yes, he even had a jersey – I somehow became one of “those people”)…we spent many evenings on the couch together watching games.

Malcolm was also a big fan of hiding things. Unfortunately, he always seemed to do so in plain sight. He literally would take his bone, wander around trying to find a great hiding spot, and then would drop it in the corner of the room as if no one would find it there. When Prof-Man or I burst his bubble by walking over and picking it up, he would get all huffy, take his bone and try to find a better spot (the bone would often end up on the bath mat as if things would magically disappear when placed on the mat). Silly boy. That was seriously one of my favorite games (and despite his frustration with it, I think it was one of Malcolm’s as well).

When Malcolm was about 3, we got him a little sister. Jackie. When we brought Jackie home, Malcolm couldn’t stop drooling. He was so excited and instantly in love with her. It was so cool to see how much fun he had with his sister. They were definitely best friends (I was even a little jealous at times when they preferred to play with each other than with us!).

Over the last year or so of Malcolm’s life, he slowed down a little and got a little more grumpy every day. We’re not sure if it was age or whether he was actually showing signs of whatever it was that took his life in the end. He was always a dog with attitude, so it’s hard to say if the grumpy factor was just his attitude developing with age. In the last month of his life, his body started giving out on him. Like I wrote before, we had to pick him up for stairs or to get on or off of the couch or bed. He was still pretty content (he got lots of snuggles that way!), so we figured we’d just do that as long as he was happy with it.

On the morning of December 23, something changed. Again, the vets weren’t sure (every one that he saw thought it was something else), but the concensus was that there wasn’t really anything that could be done for him. We tried a cortozone shot and some pain meds, but on December 24, we had to make the hardest decision we’ve ever had to make. He was only 6 years old. Hardly seems fair...but I guess that's life.

(Crap…now I’m a wreck again.)

I’m going to stop writing now, because you know the rest of the story. I’m completely heartbroken and miss my boy every day. Our family will always have a little hole in it, but we’ve got so many things to be thankful for that I have to try not to dwell.

Anyways, sorry for the total downer post…I’ll leave you with some great pictures of my sweet Malcolm.

Here's Prof-Man with Malcolm and Jackie...



...and Malcolm back in the day (taken years ago -- he was so slender -- this was before he "filled out")...



...Here he is looking annoyed that I'm taking a picture instead of playing tug-of-war...




...Malcolm and his mama...



...Malcolm doing his idea of fitness/yoga...



...and finally a hilarious example of Malcolm's idea of hiding...Jackie's in the foreground, and Malcolm is "hiding" under the bed! :)

Born a Canuck fan (Week 5)

During her fifth week of life (December 13-19), Kennedy took in her first Canuck game! Prof-Man and I were a little leary of taking her for a few reasons:

(1) we weren't sure if it was safe (despite the gigantic earmuff things that we put on her tiny little head);
(2) we weren't sure if she'd be too cold (hence the ridiculous snow suit type thing she ended up wearing); but mostly...
(3) we weren't sure we'd get to see ANY of the game (if she spent the whole game crying etc.).

All in all, our first attempt was pretty successful. Red Dragon shed a few tears (mostly around mealtime) which meant that I spent about 10 minutes of game time strolling the concourse and bouncing her (which she quite enjoyed). Got a "ohh my goodness, isn't she adorable" comment from a lady in the women's washroom while I was changing her and she was wailing like I was beating her (yeah right lady -- she looks like a little angel when her face is purple from the shrieking...thanks for the lie though!).

The game was versus the stinkin' Toronto Maple Leafs (on Decemver 18)...which upped the entertainment factor (particularly since Vancouver laid a beating on them!). Final score: Canucks 4 - Leafs 1.