Holden starts skating lessons!

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.

Cereal

Splashing for the very first time

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

Caution: very adorable video!!

Holden loves his buggy

Psyche!

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?

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

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

Belly Laugh

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

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!

Food Update & Bathtime Fun

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!

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:

Holden has a giggle with daddy

Holden gets an Exersaucer

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.

Everybody misses John!!

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

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!!!

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!

HELLO WORLD!!!

Holden Smith Davis Churchill was born on November 19th @11:35 PM 7lbs 12 ounces and 52 cms long.

He is a beautiful and healthy baby boy. We've been staring at him in awe for 3 days straight now.. While he's been an absolute dream since coming out, he didn't make it easy on his Mommy during labour. He was a posterior baby and that made his Mommy's labour very difficult - 26 hours! After 26 hours of labour and 3 days of no sleep and Holden resisting every effort to turn him, our midwife had to transfer care to hospital staff for a c-section. The c-section went very smoothly and both Mom and Holden are very healthy and happy.

I want to say how incredibly proud I am of Stephanie. She really rose to the occasion and worked so very hard, going above and beyond everything the midwife, nurses and doctors asked of her. She was far tougher than I could have been in that situation and I really admire her. Holden is lucky to have such an amazing Mommy.

Because of the unexpected c-section, we were at the hospital a little longer than expected. We returned home Thursday night and introduced Holden to his home.... and convince ourselves that this all really happened. Wow, what a surreal experience!













































And here's a video!