As a side note, it's very hard to concentrate with the LOUDEST CHICKEN EVER announcing her egg right outside the front window. Why must she lay her egg in the harvested garlic/onion basket? Only she knows.
Gabby's nap times have been spent either in a frenzy of tidying/getting some task done outside or else lying down and recovering the endless energy that taking care of a small human uses!
Let's do a point form catching up of the last few months since I posted:
July:
-took a wonderful girls (plus Loic) weekend trip to a beach house a few hours north with Erika and her kids, Jess and my sister. We were in the sweet spot of Gabby sitting well but not moving around, and not eating enough solid food to have to worry about 'meal times' yet. A large blanket kept her from ingesting too much sand...
-We took a trip to the mainland to visit Grandma and Grandpa (we do this every month or two).
-Gabby tried her first pizza crust. Yummy. During July she hadn't really perfected her pincer grasp so I was still cutting her food into strips. She ate some of it, but a lot of it was accidentally dropped (and became chicken/pig/dog food).
-We took lots of hikes to the river that Gabby either slept through or, if she was awake, she got to splash and dip her feet in the water.
-Our friends came to visit with Gabby's bff, Bailey. This was the visit where they started interacting more and, even though they are 9 months apart, they have started to seem closer in age.
-Gabby started really showing how much she loves Juice:
August:
-we went to a Mother Goose music class series at the library in July and August. Gabby loved bouncing to the songs and watching the other kids, and sometimes screeching with excitement!
-we went on vacation to LA. We spent the first few days with Grandma and Grandpa, and then Erika, Loic and Jess came for a week. We had so much fun going to all different beaches and swimming in the pool!
-at the beginning of the month, Gabby started getting up on all fours and rocking. Crawling was imminent!
-by the end of the month, she was crawling! Before LA, she was belly scooting on beds but not really able to move on the floor. Just after we got back and started really moving!
-her sitting was stable enough to not need a pillow behind her anymore for the 'just in case' topples
-Gabby started ingesting a lot more solid food. Her pincer grasp all of a sudden got a lot better so I started cutting her food into smaller pieces. She was and still is nursing just as often (when she wakes up, before and after naps, and bedtime - so 6-7 times in a day but who knows how much milk she actually ingests total).
-Gabby started taking 3 solid/predictable naps in August. For the most part they were 1.5 hours in the morning and after lunch, and then a 30-40 minute nap around 4:00.
-Gabby got her first tooth! Bottom right. She also started waving, clapping, pointing, and getting into any position herself (from lying to sitting to pulling up standing, back to sitting, etc.).
-Molly and Poppy came to visit for 3.5 fun weeks!! We got a lot accomplished, as per usual. The main big project was that we redid the basement stairs. They are now less steep, super solid, and much safer for trips up and down for laundry and wood stove refuelling (did I mention our new wood stove??? We shall be warm this winter!).
September:
-Gabby started the transition to 2 naps a day. We are still sometimes needing a third nap now, depending on whether they were two long naps or not.
-The day after Molly and Poppy left, our friends came to visit for almost a week. We took a day trip to Saltspring and hung out on the farm the rest of the time, with a few hikes thrown in.
-The day that they left, Gabby and I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa and picked up my friend Ffion from the airport on the way there!
-When we got back from the mainland, Ffion and I took Gabby on her first camping trip to the wild west coast of the island. It.was.stunning. We got back yesterday.
PHEW. All caught up in baby land! If this post doesn't have all the photos, it's because Gabby woke up from her nap and I decided to publish it rather than forget about it.
In less point form and more thoughtful writing, this has been the best year of my life so far. I never realized how having a baby could make you feel so nostalgic each and every day. I love nothing more than seeing all of Gabby's new skills, but at the same time I look at her standing and playing and she looks closer to toddler than to the tiny baby that we brought home 9 months ago. It isn't like each day disappears in a blink, but somehow seeing her change so quickly makes time feel way too fast. I think the part that really gets me is that I can already tell that I'll be looking back at this time when she is 5...10...15...and yearning for it in some ways. Taking care of a baby is a lot of work but I haven't yet found myself wanting or needing a 'break' (except during the time when I chug my coffee while Nathan takes Gabby to do chores, and during her naps ;) ).
Farm updates:
We have a freezer full of pork and chicken, as well as so much tomato sauce and relish and zucchini cake (thanks Molly!!). We will have lamb back soon (one ram and two ewe lambs). Nathan and his dad built a removable box for Nathan's truck so we could finally take the lambs in without using dog crates (and these lambs were huge!). It looks like Amelia's daughter is going to give birth soon...the ram lamb was born January 1st so I supposed he could have bred her in May.
In a month of so we will process our 4 turkeys and 3 drakes for sausage. Our pork sausage this year is the best we've had yet. Maybe tonight for dinner we should have something other than pork...we've been eating it non stop since we got it back last week!
The garden is doing well (thanks to Nathan!). We still have lots of tomatoes and zucchini but everything is slowing down. Gabby and I might go to some gardening when she wakes up.
And she's up! I'll add photos to another post later on...
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