Little Baby Churchill

Holden and me

2012-01-06T12:10:00.000-05:00

It's always nice to get a great photo of yourself with your kid. Usually I'm behind the camera, so it's great to have this picture. This was taken by a friend of mine at my "mommy group"'s Christmas party.

Holden starts skating lessons!

2012-01-06T08:41:00.000-05:00

Holden started skating lessons this week. It was his first time ever on ice! It started off rocky, and we were prepared for resistance and a not-so-great experience, but it turned out GREAT. He was very wobbly at first, but by the end of the class he was able to shuffle along a little by just holding John's hand. Unfortunately I didn't get a video of that, I was too busy beaming ear-to-ear!

Here is a video of John helping Holden skate.

Christmas Pageant - Junior Kindergarten

2011-12-20T09:14:00.000-05:00

Holden had his Christmas Pageant at school yesterday, his class sang "J'habille le Père Noël" and Holden was one of three kids dressed as Santa. Holden said "it felt good" to be Santa :)

In the group photo, Holden is on the far left.

Holden turns 4!

2011-12-05T12:15:00.000-05:00

Halloween!

2011-11-23T10:51:00.000-05:00

Holden was a Nightmare Dragon for Halloween (from How to Train Your Dragon), and even got a "best costume" prize!

Show and Tell

2011-10-20T14:55:00.000-04:00

Holden had his first ever "show and tell" at school yesterday. He decided to bring his T-Rex dinosaur. His teacher said he did GREAT and that he even did it in french!!

Holden's First Day of School

2011-09-02T08:55:00.000-04:00

Holden starts maternelle today (junior kindergarten). We're all excited and a bit emotional. Our baby is growing up so fast!

Holden is 3 years old!

2010-11-20T19:18:00.000-05:00

Holden turned 3 on November 19th.We had party at Little Ray's Reptile Zoo with Holden's friends from daycare and other close friends. He had a BLAST! In fact, everyone did. Holden was very brave and touched ALL the animals. here are some pics from this great day. Thanks to everyone for celebrating with us.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-20T16:44:00.000-04:00

Random photos

2010-07-29T18:21:00.001-04:00

Fathers' Day

2010-06-28T15:45:00.000-04:00

This was taken on Fathers' Day a couple of weeks ago. Aren't my men handsome?!

Holden Goes Bowling!

2010-06-28T10:27:00.001-04:00

We went bowling for the first time this weekend. They have bumper bowling for little kids, where they put up bumpers down the sides of the alley so kids don't get gutter balls. We had lots of fun, except Holden had a meltdown when it was time to go, he didn't want to give back the rental shoes!!

Holden and his cousins

2010-04-29T08:24:00.001-04:00

Cutie patootie

2010-03-30T10:00:00.001-04:00

Cereal

2010-03-16T13:35:00.002-04:00

Jungle Boogie! Get down!

2010-03-12T09:00:00.002-05:00

I spway Mommie? I spway Holden?

2010-03-12T08:40:00.003-05:00

Cool dude

2010-02-09T12:24:00.000-05:00

Holden turns 2!

2009-11-30T12:56:00.002-05:00

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T05:47:00.003-05:00

Daytime costume:

Trick or treating evening costume (easier to put over his jacket!):

Pumpkin carving, Part 3

2009-11-01T05:46:00.003-05:00

Pumpkin carving, Part 2

2009-11-01T05:44:00.000-05:00

Pumpkin carving, Part 1

2009-11-01T05:43:00.002-05:00

Apple picking!

2009-10-15T16:02:00.002-04:00

Thanksgiving crafts

2009-10-15T15:49:00.002-04:00

Holden painted for the first time this past Thanksgiving weekend. He loved it!

St Sauveur

2009-09-30T09:05:00.003-04:00

More photos from Aunt Paula and Uncle Jeff's

2009-08-26T15:11:00.000-04:00

Trip to See Aunt Paula, Uncle Jeff and the Toronto Zoo

2009-08-26T15:07:00.002-04:00

Splish! Splash!

2009-06-25T11:10:00.002-04:00

Crazy hair!

2009-06-08T13:55:00.001-04:00

No more egg allergy!!!!!

2009-06-06T13:55:00.003-04:00

Holden had allergy testing for a suspected egg allergy (he was throwing up when we introduced it several months back).

Not only did eggs come back NEGATIVE (yippeeeee!!!), but we also got the all-clear on all other common food allergens, including peanuts. Holden is free and clear to eat anything!

Drawing

2009-06-06T13:54:00.002-04:00

Valleyview Farm

2009-06-03T13:24:00.003-04:00

We went to Valleyvief Farm last weekend when Grandmaman came for a visit. Here are some hilites:

Feeding the goats:

Curious!

Walking with daddy to see the ducks (Holden LOVED the ducks!)

Peacock close up!

Sliding with daddy:

Fun with Grandmaman:

and with Mommy:

The ducks that Holden loved:

On the tractor:

2 random photos

2009-05-21T15:15:00.002-04:00

Gardening:

Bathtime!

Holden and his best buddy

2009-05-08T06:49:00.003-04:00

FLOPPY!

Dirty baby

2009-05-07T15:11:00.001-04:00

Holden is supplementing his diet with dirt.

Splashing for the very first time

2009-04-13T13:20:00.004-04:00

Holden discovered splashing in puddles for the first time on April 1st. We caught it on film.

Caution: very adorable video!!

Shadow!

2009-04-11T10:30:00.003-04:00

Holden discovered his shadow for the first time yesterday. I managed to grab the camera in time to snap a nice shot.

Photos from today

2009-04-09T12:29:00.001-04:00

Hair

2009-04-08T10:36:00.002-04:00

Picture update

2009-03-26T08:37:00.002-04:00

Happy Family Day!

2009-02-16T14:03:00.001-05:00

To celebrate Family Day, we went for a walk in the woods near our house.

Holden loves his buggy

2009-02-16T09:44:00.003-05:00

Non-smiling baby is not smiling

2009-02-16T09:02:00.005-05:00

We went to Winterlude to go down the iceslides this weekend with Jason, Theresa and Bo. We had a great time, although Holden was very unimpressed with the slides. We thought he would either hate them or love them. Were we ever surprised by his complete lack of emotion. He seemed to much prefer when daddy carried him on his shoulders.

Here are some pics of Holden being very unimpressed:

Getting ready for the tube slide:

Down they go!
Holden's buddy Bo (what gorgeous eyes!!)

Bo & Holden:

Going down the slide with daddy:

Still not impressed:

New photos

2009-02-01T09:33:00.002-05:00

Psyche!

2009-01-08T21:14:00.007-05:00

Holden has discovered that food is as fun to play with as it is to eat. Just a few of his favorite games are:

- Hide the food I don't like behind my head game

- Throw the food I don't like on the floor game, which includes his first real context sensitive communication - 'uh oh!'

- Spit food out of my mouth and make face paint game

- Psyche! It's mine! game

Here's a video of Holden playing his psyche game with Mommy

Is your refrigerator running?

2009-01-08T14:55:00.006-05:00

If you receive a phone call from our number and hear nothing but jibberish on the other end of the line, its probably Holden crank calling. He LOVES the caller ID and the phonebook buttons on our phone and he often manages to make phone calls.

The first time we learned of this was from Uncle Gerry who informed us that Holden had called. That same morning I caught Holden dialing Grand Mamman, but she didn't answer because she was visiting us and was asleep upstairs.

I haven't managed to catch Holden calling someone on video yet, but here is some video of him walking around in my ball cap and holding the phone.

He often puts it up to his ear (usually backwards) and says hello.

Holden learns to gargle water after seeing Daddy do it

2009-01-08T14:04:00.003-05:00

... and finishes strong with a cute noise at the end.

Holden celebrates Christmas

2008-12-29T06:04:00.006-05:00

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T07:45:00.002-05:00

Deuter, deuter!

2008-12-15T12:22:00.003-05:00

For Holden's birthday he received this great Deuter backpack carrier from Nanny & Grandmaman. After a week of Holden being sick and then a week of me being sick, we were finally able to go out and give it a whirl.

Here are my 2 favorite guys out on the track:

Belly Laugh

2008-11-26T12:14:00.003-05:00

A few nights ago I squirted Stephanie with one of Holden's bath toys and Holden laughed harder and longer than we have ever heard him laugh before. It was hysterical. A good knee slapping, body trembling, belly laugh is the only way to describe it.

Of course, we did not catch it on video. We tried to recreate the scene the next night on video and while the laugh doesn't quite compare to the one from the night before, its still a pretty good one. There is no better feeling than having your child happy and laughing.

My favorite part is around the 20 second mark.

Holden took his first steps last night!!!!

2008-11-26T07:07:00.005-05:00

Last night Holden took his very first steps. The last few days he has started to stand on his own unsupported for a couple of seconds at a time. Last night, he got up and stood there for about 3 seconds, then came barreling into my arms, about 4 steps!!! He was soooooo excited and had the biggest smile on his face. Both John and I were there to see it, which made us both so happy. I had a nice little cry after that. My baby is growing up so fast!

Happy (early) birthday Holden!

2008-11-16T19:00:00.007-05:00

Holden had his birthday party today (his birthday is actually this Weds). The whole family showed up!* We had a little party to celebrate this big milestone.

It was a great day. Holden had lots of fun. He loved having everyone around and was full of smiles and laughter all day.

Here's who was there:

Nannie (Danielle)
Grandamaman (Nicole)
Grand-daddy Zadie (Barry)
Uncle Gerry
Aunt Lisa
Cousin Cole
Cousin Keira
Paul (2nd cousin to Holden... or 3rd?)
Kay (great-great aunt to Holden!)

and of course:
Mommy (Steph)
Daddy (John)
and HOLDEN!

* Aunt Paula and Uncle Jeff couldn't make it down from Woodstock. We really missed them! Can't wait to see them soon.

On with the pictures!

Steph designed a Wall Juice tattoo to decorate. Here's Holden the morning of his party showing off the tattoo:

Let the party begin! Holden gets a kiss from Cousin Keira:

Holden gets his first gift, a great wooden activity center from Aunt Lisa, Uncle Gerry, Cole & Keira. Cole drew Holden a beautiful card too!

Aunt Lisa and Holden called each other in the morning to make sure they matched:

Cake time! Steph made great vegan chocolate cupcakes. They were amazing!

Holden's first true taste of sugar... he liked it! Ate the whole cupcake in 3 minutes flat!!

Playtime!

Holden gets a bouncy spinny zebra from Zadie. He loves it!

Bouncing:

First snow

2008-11-13T07:28:00.003-05:00

This is from a couple of weeks ago at our first snowfall.

Holden was not impressed.

New photos

2008-11-07T12:19:00.002-05:00

*nom nom nom*

With William the bee:

Holden was a turtle for Halloween!

2008-11-02T19:15:00.002-05:00

Holden walking...... sort of..... with assistance

2008-10-01T15:32:00.008-04:00

We apologize for neglecting the blog lately. So as a special treat, here are some videos of Holden playing with his walker. He just started using it for its intended purpose, rather than bonking his head against it from a crawling position - something he had been doing for the last couple of weeks. Special thanks to Aunt Lisa who provided the baby walker.

Here's Holden walking:

Another video of Holden walking:

Wipeout

Attack!

Holden swimming

2008-08-25T20:25:00.002-04:00

We took swimming classes this summer. Holden had a great time. Here we are doing a front float.

"Free time" with Curtis at the end of the class

... and with daddy in our fabulous baby pool.

Holden at the park

2008-08-25T20:14:00.002-04:00

Rest in Peace, papa Churchill

2008-07-03T13:57:00.003-04:00

John's dad passed away on July 1 after an unexpected battle with cancer. We miss him very much, and will love him always. Holden will miss seeing his "papa", who loved him so much. We wish we had had more time with him.

Prunes!

2008-06-12T18:43:00.004-04:00

We tried prunes today. More gagging, but he seemed to like it anyway. At least, he didn't complain and opened his mouth. But he still gagged!!

Gagging:

In other news, I'm well on my way to converting many of my playgroup friends from disposable diapers to cloth diaperers. Some were already there, and since hanging out with those of us that do it, most of the others are starting the switch. Yippee!! Cloth is awesome! It's great for the environment AND saves you oodles of money!!

Food Update & Bathtime Fun

2008-06-09T14:21:00.005-04:00

We are continuing to try feeding Holden his sweet potatoes. Today we had a bit of a breakthrough and he ate a whole icecube size serving. He didn't love it, but he ate it!! It's the most he's had so far. Usually he only took half a teaspoon before freaking out. We think it may be a texture thing. We bought an avocado to try next and as soon as it's ripe that's what he'll be eating!

Holden finally showed some interest in the bath! Usually when we take a bath, John hops in with Holden and holds him while I wash him. He usually has no reaction to this. Not happy, not upset. Just... bla. Yesterday we put him in the tub on his own and he seemed to have fun! Here are some pics and a video.

Fun with Food. And tears too!

2008-06-06T09:23:00.005-04:00

Holden tried something other than breastmilk last night! Sweet potatoes! At first he seemed intrigued by the whole thing, but by the end of it, it was tears. I think he needs some time to get used to it. Most of it ended up on his face and clothes, and not much went down his throat, and there were a couple of gags in there *ha*.

This morning we tried again, and it wasn't much better.

Hopefully he'll get the hang of it and start enjoying it soon.

Here's a video before he started getting upset:

6 months already!

2008-05-27T10:48:00.003-04:00

Holden turned 6 months May 19. Time sure does fly!! 6 months ended up being quite a milestone... Holden has started sleeping well during the day (2 naps a day over an hour long each! And a third "cat nap"), he is showing signs of starting to crawl (pulling in his knees and balancing for a couple of seconds on his hands and knees), and he got his first cold! Thankfully it was a teeny tiny cold.

Holden likes:

sucking on his fingers (ALL the time!!!!!)
being carried is his sling, which I love as well!!
naked time!
being tickled
being bounced
rolling around on his playmat with his toys
jumping in his jolly jumper
his carseat
sucking on tags
big hugs
raspberry zerberts
when we sing

Holden doesn't like:

getting his clothes on after naked time
getting his nose aspirated when he's stuffed up
being tired
being hungry
... that's about it! He is generally very very happy!

Tulip Festival

2008-05-08T10:33:00.002-04:00

Monday Holden and I went for a fabulous walk around the Tulip Festival with our playgroup. Here are some pics from it.

Weekend visit

2008-04-30T10:28:00.002-04:00

My old friend Miko and her new husband Michael came for a little visit over the weekend. They are from Toronto and came to Ottawa to visit family and dropped by to meet Holden for the first time. Holden really liked them, he loves being the center of attention!!

Playdate

2008-04-24T21:26:00.003-04:00

We went to an awesome playdate today. I got to hang out with lots of friends and all the babies were cute and happy. Holden saw his usual friends as well, and met some new friends too. Here are some pics.

Quel beau weekend!

2008-04-21T08:19:00.003-04:00

What a great weekend. My mom and my aunt came to visit, and we had a fabulous time. Holden LOVES his grandmaman and he LOVES my aunt. He was showing off, smiling and flirting all weekend. On top of that, he slept 10 hours STRAIGHT Saturday night!!!

The weather was fabulous so we went for a couple of walks. Holden was born in November, so I'm used to always dressing him warmly before leaving the house. It's a very odd feeling to go outside without bundling him up! These pictures were taken after the morning walk, when it was still a bit chilly, but the afternoons have been crazy hot the last couple of days! We've gone from putting winter jackets on him to needing a sun hat in the course of 2 weeks! This country is so weird.

John wasn't here for the weekend, he was in Montreal at the UFC event. George St-Pierre won in his hometown! Wooohooo!! He was very excited to be there.

Photos from the weekend:

Holden has a giggle with daddy

2008-04-11T15:47:00.002-04:00

Holden sleeps!!! Really well!!

2008-03-28T14:32:00.002-04:00

Last week we decided to stop co-sleeping and move Holden from our bed to his own crib. The decision was a sad one, but I was just not getting any sleep. Holden was constantly comfort feeding all night long; often every hour and sometimes even more; and he was very fidgety, which left me exhausted most days. We thought it would be a really tough and long transition, and we braced ourselves for a long couple of weeks of slow transition (we're against letting him cry it out). Turns out it was a piece of cake!! The first night he woke up only 2 or 3 times, and ever since then he's only been waking up once or twice!! He usually gives us at least one 5-hr stretch! I'm sleeping again, and Holden is also having more restful nights.

Here are 2 pics of him from last weekend (we really love thsi outfit, as you can tell!)

The thinker (or the couch potato):

Holden got an Easter present from his cousin Cole:

And it was Keira's birthday! Happy 2nd b-day!!!!

Holden rolls over!

2008-03-21T09:38:00.004-04:00

Yesterday (March 20) Holden and I went to a baby playdate. It was lots of fun, all the babies were about the same age (there were 7 babies and 7 moms!). In the middle of it all, Holden was on a blanket on the floor and rolled onto his side, a somewhat normal occurrence. One of the moms asked if he's rolled over yet, "not yet!". Then I started dangling a toy just out of his reach, and what did Holden do??? He rolled over!! He got a huge round of applause from all the ladies, and lots of kisses from mom. He has yet to repeat this magical moment though :)

Here are some pics from the playdate:

Love this outfit!

2008-03-21T09:36:00.002-04:00

We received this outfit from grandmaman a couple of months ago and it FINALLY fits him! It's sooooo cute that it gets a whole post all to itself.

Snow fall

2008-03-21T09:33:00.003-04:00

We had a HUGE snow storm a couple of weeks ago. here are some remarkable photos from the day after:

Before shoveling:

After shoveling:

Snow angels in the middle of the street:

Not snow related: grand-daddy with Holden!

Holden gets an Exersaucer

2008-03-12T14:06:00.006-04:00

Yesterday Holden got his first shots. He cried and cried, it was kinda sad. As a reward for being stuck with needles, he got an exersaucer from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Gerry. We tried it out this morning, and he LOVES it!! Here's some video.

Holden takes a bottle!!! And other news...

2008-03-08T16:05:00.005-05:00

On Friday, March 7, 2007, Holden Smith Davis Churchill officially took his first full bottle for the first time (and it's a glass bottle). Do you know what this means for me?!? A little bit of FREEDOM!!!!! *squeeeeeeeeee*!!! We can use those gift certificates to Le Nordik (thanks Lisa!!)! An extended brunch with Theresa! Shopping! A haircut! The possibilities are ENDLESS! Before you all start thinking I can't wait to leave my baby, well, you're right, but just for a couple of hours :)

Here's a photo of the blissful event:

"Look, mom, I'm all done!"

Last weekend was Jason's birthday (close friends of ours). We went over to celebrate. Bo is their totally awesome son who turned 1 year old February 27. Here's a pic of them together.

Later when the babies were asleep, we had cake: Jay & Tee:

Random photo from last week: Tummy time!

New pictures... and apology

2008-02-28T08:33:00.002-05:00

Sorry we haven't posted in a while, we've gotten a few comments from friends and family about it! Time is short when you have a baby that only naps in half hour bursts!! At least he sleeps well at night (this is our new mantra)...

Here are some new photos:

With grandmaman:

Tummy time (sorta):

With Aunt Paula:

Bumbo!

2008-02-12T21:29:00.001-05:00

A few pictures of Holden in his Bumbo chair!

We also have some pictures of Holden in his Senators jersey coming soon. Holden wore his Senators jersey for the key matchup against Montreal on Saturday - obviously it was effective since the Senators won 6-1 !

New photos!

2008-02-08T14:39:00.000-05:00

From yesterday (baby toes!!)

From today:

"Playgroup"

2008-02-05T16:13:00.001-05:00

I hosted my first playgroup today! 4 moms came with their babies, all of which were born in October or November (other than Lauren who is 3 yrs old). I met some of them online, and the other is my neighbor and she brought along a friend. Here are some pics from today's playgroup:

Amanda with Kurtis (our neighbors) with her friend Vanessa and Ella:

(from top) Holden, Evan, Aureane:

Lauren:

Aureane & Holden (born the same day!):

Shoveling & Winterlude!

2008-02-04T11:46:00.001-05:00

Friday brought us a TON of snow, so John and I spent a couple of hours shoveling Saturday morning. We bundled up the baby and he slept soundly in his stroller while we got some exercise (that snow is heavy!!). It was really nice and mild out, so we didn't mind too much, plus John had a blast throwing me in the snowbanks a couple a times.

We had a fabulous Sunday here in the Nation's Capital! We went to Winterlude ice slides with the Churchill family, then back to Gerry & Lisa's house for a fabulous brunch. Here are some pics from our day:

Keira saying hello to a sleeping Holden:
The Churchills at the top of the slide... :

... the middle of the slide... :

... and the bottom of the slide! :

Keira looking adorable:

Cole looking slightly mischievous:

Back at Gerry & Lisa's, Holden finally wakes up and hangs out with his cousin Keira:

Welcome home Bo!!!

2008-02-02T12:36:00.000-05:00

Holden's buddy Bo was released from CHEO on Thursday, so he could finally go home!!! He fought through a really tough case of croup, but now he's home and doing much better.

We're all really happy for Bo and his parents who have had a challenging first year.

We're all looking forward to seeing you soon.

BTW, Bo's blog is here - http://bohawley.blogspot.com/

Sleepless..... days?

2008-01-30T14:41:00.000-05:00

So our nights are still fairly good. Holden goes down around 9 (we're working on getting it earlier!) and usually only wakes up to eat twice, occasionally we're really lucky and he'll only wake up once to eat! Then we're up at 7:30.

But our days have gone in the crapper!! My little buddy refuses to nap properly, and it turns him into a cranky pants by the end of the day. He'll sleep great as long as he's in our arms, but it's time to break that. I can't have him sleeping in my arms for two or three 2 hour naps a day, he's getting heavy! So now he's having about six 20 minute naps a day (it's horrible!!) instead of 3 nice 2 hour naps. I feel like I'm spending my entire day trying to get him to sleep!!

My objective is for him to have at least two naps a day that last 1.5 hours or more, and for him to fall asleep on his own and not in my arms.

We've got a new book "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" which I'll be putting to the test. I still have to finish it, and it'll be a couple of weeks of lots of repeat repeat repeat, but hopefully some of the tricks will work.

If any of you moms have any tricks out there, write them in the comments!!!!!

On a different note, we went for a nice winter hike on the weekend and brought Holden along in his sleigh. He's still a little small to put him in it directly, so we rigged up his carseat to fit in it. Here are some pics!

Motor Mouth!

2008-01-27T11:45:00.001-05:00

Holden had great visits with Grand Daddy and then Nanny and Pappa yesterday.

First up was Grand Daddy where Holden introduced Grand Daddy to his newfound talent for high volume drooling and willingness to share. Grand Daddy was unfazed, in a good way, by Holden's generosity. Barry's dog Ralph broke the cold war and was the first to ackowledge Holden. He gave him a few curious sniffs and when Holden remained indifferent, swatted him with his tail. Holden probably deserved it for being such a snob.

We then visited Nanny and Pappa. Holden was a little fussy for the first little while, but once he took a relaxing snooze and settled down, he had loads of fun. It seems he had a lot to share with Nanny because he was talking to her non-stop. We weren't smart enough to understand what he was saying, but he remained patient and continued talking with us all the same. He was so talkative that Mommy got a little teary eyed at that special moment!

We've been taking Holden for daily walks, often more than once a day and he LOVES the outdoors. This afternoon we plan to take him hiking in the woods where we will use our wooden sleigh for the first time. The sleigh was a gift from Grand Maman's friends Pierrette and Claude. Its exactly like a sleigh I had when I was a kid and I'm really looking forward to using it today!

Best wishes Bo!

2008-01-25T09:10:00.000-05:00

Holden wanted us to wish his buddy Bo all the best. Bo came down with Croup and was admitted to CHEO on Wednesday. He may be there until sometime on the weekend. Holden wants everyone to send Bo positive energy - Holden's all newage like that.

Holden really admires how strong Bo is. He's been through a lot and always fights through it. Once Bo's all better, Holden is going to drool all over him. He's been practicing tons and is really good at it.

We love you Bo!

Everybody misses John!!

2008-01-19T14:58:00.000-05:00

But we still had a great brunch without him. John's parents came over as well as his sister Paula and her main squeeze Jeff. What a feast!! We had my mom's famous tortière (meat pie, for you anglos), homemade baked beans *drool*, baked veggies, Montreal bagels, fresh fruit salad, butter tarts, carrot cake, fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee... it was a true feast!!

And everyone wanted to say hi to John:

Friday update

2008-01-18T18:02:00.000-05:00

Since John has been out of town from Tuesday until this Sunday, family has been kind enough to come by and lend a helping hand everyday. Tuesday night was my brother-in-law Gerry. He took Holden for an hour and a half walk!!! What a great break. I got to relax in a bath and get some chores done, and Holden had a nice nap in his stroller.

Wednesday my mother- and father-in-law dropped by and also took Holden for a walk. They also brought me dinner!

And finally my mom came Thursday and will be here until Sunday. Today was a nice day, Grandmaman held Holden for a super long nap and I got a bunch of stuff done. Holden even went 4.5 hours without eating today, a new record for daytime!! But he woke up so hungry he had a major fit *ha*.

Here's a video from today of Holden chewing on his hand. A new pastime of his, even when he's not hungry!

We miss you!!!

2008-01-17T15:18:00.000-05:00

John is in Toronto to promote Wall Juice at the Metro Home Show, and we miss him terribly!!!!!! Pookie, here are a couple of videos of Holden so you can see what he looks like today. He wasn't in the mood to smile *sigh* but he's super cute anyway!

More photos!

2008-01-16T14:58:00.000-05:00

As well as visiting my dad last weekend, we also visited Nanny and Papa. Danielle was nice enough to make us a fabulous breakfast including her fabulous quiche! Here are some pics from that visit:

Fun with the macro lense!

2008-01-13T14:47:00.000-05:00

We went to my dad's house for a little visit over the weekend, and he has a new macro lense for his camera. I couldn't help but to try it out. It's tricky! And the baby kept moving so all his pictures were blurry, but here are a few:

John:

Ralph the dog:

New title graphic!

2008-01-08T17:49:00.000-05:00

So I had a few moments to spare and designed a new title graphic. So cute! The animals are on his bedroom wall.

And finally, a word from Stephanie

2008-01-08T13:39:00.000-05:00

So this is my first REAL post since Holden was born, other than to post photos.

Motherhood is really agreeing with me. We couldn't have asked for a better baby (Murphy's Law, he just started crying *ha* feeding time!).

Alright I'm back. He's sleeping!

As I was saying, what a great baby!!!!! And I don't think I've ever seen a cuter baby! I can't stop staring at him. It's true love.

Yesterday we had our last midwife appointment. Holden got weighed and he now weighs 12 lbs 3 oz. Porker!

I'm adjusting well, and most things have come very naturally in taking care of him. Most things that I was really anxious about before he came are second nature now (changing diapers, breast feeding, even just holding such a tiny baby).

The days just fly by, he keeps me very busy, but it's an odd, quiet kind of busy. If he's awake, we're sitting on the couch cooing at each other or he's eating, and if he's asleep, I'm trying to get stuff done before he wakes up (laundry! oh my god, soooooooo much laundry, ALL the time!), or he's sleeping on my chest and I don't want to move so he'll get a good nap (the better he sleeps during the day, the better he sleeps at night).

And I've already lost a ton of weight, without even trying. It's so amazing. I've never heard of this happening to anybody. I'm literally 20 lbs lighter than BEFORE I got pregnant. C.R.A.Z.Y. I'm even 7 lbs lighter than at our wedding!! Honestly though, I was getting pretty chubby before I got pregnant and eating alot. Now, I have less time to eat AND breast feeding burns about 500 calories per day. So that must be it. I'm not really exercising yet (too cold out! and damp! and just... yuck!), so imagine how thin I'll be this summer when I can get out for walks! Booya! Can't wait. Who woulda thunk it that having a baby is the best diet EVER??

I also want to add that John is the best father and husband ever. He's great with Holden, and great at taking over and giving me a break. He's very supportive and patient with both Holden and myself, and loves us both very much, and we love him lottsa lottsa too! He's the best at walking Holden when he's fussy (it's practically the only thing that will calm him in the evenings) and does it without complaining, since I'll rarely do it. I hate doing it, Holden is such a porker that it hurts my back to walk him up and down the hall. He's also taken over the majority of cooking, which is FANTASTIC.

Every now and then Holden and I have a photo shoot. He loves the camera! Here are some from today. Today's theme was WHITE.

More photos!

2007-12-31T16:51:00.000-05:00

Now that we've given all the really good photos to family for Christmas as gifts, we can show them to the rest of you. We have the cutest baby in the world. I'm not biased. It's just true.

More photos from 3 days of Christmas

2007-12-27T10:35:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more photos.... and the steady flow of quality photos will continue because Barry, very generously, gave us the Nikon Digital SLR camera for Christmas! Thank you Barry!

Family portrait:
Keira playing with Beh-beeee!

Holden testing out his new car seat cover.... ooooooooo yeah!

This is Ralph, Barry's dog. Holden can't walk yet, but he's already riding dogs. Ralph was a good sport and hung out with us all day on Christmas.

Boxing Day

2007-12-26T22:14:00.001-05:00

Boxing day meant a visit to my Mom and Dad's house. It was a lot of the same people who were at our Christmas Eve get together, only fatter and with less energy a couple of days later.

More pictures coming soon, but our camera's battery has died from overuse so I will have to download the rest once the battery is recharged.

'Hey Papa, Got Milk?'
Hey, I'm so cute... look at me! Look at me!

Christmas Day

2007-12-26T22:06:00.001-05:00

Christmas Day marked the beginning of a new Christmas tradition in our new home and with our new baby Holden. Nicole, Barry and Ralph (Barry's dog) spent the day with us and we had a really great time with good food, great company and excessive gift giving.

Proud Grand-Maman:
Father and Daughter:

Hanging out with Grand Daddy

Dinner is served:

Christmas Eve

2007-12-26T21:48:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve has become the focal point of the Churchill/Davis Christmas celebrations over the last decade or so and this year we all gathered together at my brother Gerry's house. Stephanie's Mom Nicole is visiting from Montreal and joined in the festivities. While we have hundreds of photos - here are a few highlights....

The Big Line:

Nanny makes the blog AGAIN!

Two mothers hanging out....

Paula and Jeff.... foreshadowing?

Cole takes it to Daddy

Keira being Keira

Lisa finally gets a moment with Holden

Twas 3 days of Christmas....

2007-12-26T21:32:00.000-05:00

While we haven't been posting over the holidays, we HAVE been taking pictures.... lots and lots of pictures. Hundreds of pictures, in fact, so..... brace yourself. We basically had 3 Christmas celebrations:

the 24th with the Churchill's, Davis' and Nicole.
the 25th with Nicole and Barry
the 26th with Churchill's and Nicole

On the 24th, instead of completing my household chores in advance of Stephanie's Mom, Nicole, arriving to spend Christmas with us, I decided to go off script and build an epic snowman. Initially, my intentions were good. Some exterior work was needed due to all the snow and sudden rise in temperature. I had to move some snow around and clear some drainage to minimize the risk of water damage.... and suddenly realized that I could make a HUGE pile of snow on my back deck. Everyone knows that huge piles of snow are good for two things. Snow forts and/or snowmen. While I'd generally lean towards a fort, it was raining, so I opted for the less messy project and built a snowman. I even strung some lights on him so we can appreciate him out the back window at night.

Gerry and Cole dropped by to check him out, so I took a picture of them with Holden and the snowman.

Family Photos

2007-12-22T10:32:00.001-05:00

Here are some more photos of Mommy and Daddy with Holden.

Stephanie is looking extremely hot already despite the lack of sleep and bathing that comes with caring for a baby 24/7. She's a down 20lbs from her PRE-pregnancy weight and looking like a total MILF.

Holden is an extremely good baby. He's good pretty much all the time, with the exception of 7-10PM where he has a tendency to flip out. I guess we have it pretty lucky if he's difficult for only 3 hours a day.

Holden finished his Christmas shopping this weekend and is excited to share some presents with family on Monday and Tuesday!

Holden Climbs Mount Everest

2007-12-17T18:46:00.000-05:00

Okay... so its not Mount Everest and more like I threw Holden on top of our snowbank to take a picture. Yes, I suppose if you want to be a stickler, he's not *actually* on top. As cool as it would have been to have little Holden on top of that giant mountain of snow.... Stephanie pulled out her veto and we compromised by sticking him into the snowbank about half way up.

Isn't that snowbank crazy!??! Apparently we set a record for snowfall on Sunday and with a few other small snowfalls expected before the end of the week, we may have as much snowfall in December of this year as we had for the entire winter last year.

Oh yeah, we went to visit the midwife today and Holden is 10lbs 13 ounces!