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I had hoped to post about our trip to Oregon, but I ran out of time, so here are a few photos of our trip!
Sunday, June 05, 2016
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Eight months!
This week Maren turned eight months old. I can't believe how quickly time is going by. In three months, I will be headed back to work. Here is a snapshot of Maren at eight months:
She has really started to get into eating food. She eats everything we give her, though not every time we give it to her. One of her favorites is yogurt, but she is very ambivalent about spoons, so this sometimes makes for very messy times :-) She is sitting up and rolling around and sort of climbing all over, but hasn't started crawling yet, so we are still able to be fairly confident that she will stay more or less within certain boundaries. We have a baby gate installed at the top of the stairs, and are ready to baby proof things when necessary, but so far we haven't had to.
She is busy busy busy all the time, and loves to jump with a little help. When she isn't jumping, she is often babbling, screeching, or shaking a little shaker that is currently her favorite toy. In general, she is full of energy and full of joy.
Here is a video taken the other day in the morning not too long after we got up. What you don't see is Jeff dancing around in his pajamas, so you will have to imagine it:
She has really started to get into eating food. She eats everything we give her, though not every time we give it to her. One of her favorites is yogurt, but she is very ambivalent about spoons, so this sometimes makes for very messy times :-) She is sitting up and rolling around and sort of climbing all over, but hasn't started crawling yet, so we are still able to be fairly confident that she will stay more or less within certain boundaries. We have a baby gate installed at the top of the stairs, and are ready to baby proof things when necessary, but so far we haven't had to.
She is busy busy busy all the time, and loves to jump with a little help. When she isn't jumping, she is often babbling, screeching, or shaking a little shaker that is currently her favorite toy. In general, she is full of energy and full of joy.
Here is a video taken the other day in the morning not too long after we got up. What you don't see is Jeff dancing around in his pajamas, so you will have to imagine it:
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Much to say, little time
It seems that as Maren gets older, I am less able to find time to do things like blog. She is busy busy busy, always doing something. Also, she has started to stay up a bit later, but this has only translated into a slight change in her wake up time. She is going to bed more like 8 PM, and waking up around 5:30 AM or so. This means that I have less time in the evening to do things, but I am waking up at the same time (because Jeff is still getting up with her early in the morning and I am sleeping in for another hour or so).
I have been almost exclusively talking about Maren on this blog, but there have been a few other things going on in our lives :-) We took a trip to Oregon last week, and saw many wonderful friends, and spend time with family. I will post some pictures from our trip when I get a chance.
But the big news here all relates to security and permanence: both Jeff and I have been awarded tenure (meaning that our positions are truly permanent, unless we really mess up), and have been promoted to the rank of associate professor. It is early in our careers to get tenure and promotion, and it feels like we have really "made it."
The second piece of news is that when I re-entered Canada after our trip to Oregon, I "landed" as a permanent resident. It took what felt like an eternity to get this status, and then the actual process was fairly anti-climactic – it involved having an immigration officer ask me whether I had ever been arrested and whether I had any additional dependents that I had not declared, and both of us signing a piece of paper. That was it, and suddenly I was entering Canada with a new status. So at some point soon, Jeff and I will have to have a big party to celebrate!
I have been almost exclusively talking about Maren on this blog, but there have been a few other things going on in our lives :-) We took a trip to Oregon last week, and saw many wonderful friends, and spend time with family. I will post some pictures from our trip when I get a chance.
But the big news here all relates to security and permanence: both Jeff and I have been awarded tenure (meaning that our positions are truly permanent, unless we really mess up), and have been promoted to the rank of associate professor. It is early in our careers to get tenure and promotion, and it feels like we have really "made it."
The second piece of news is that when I re-entered Canada after our trip to Oregon, I "landed" as a permanent resident. It took what felt like an eternity to get this status, and then the actual process was fairly anti-climactic – it involved having an immigration officer ask me whether I had ever been arrested and whether I had any additional dependents that I had not declared, and both of us signing a piece of paper. That was it, and suddenly I was entering Canada with a new status. So at some point soon, Jeff and I will have to have a big party to celebrate!
Sunday, May 08, 2016
Sunday, May 01, 2016
Outdoor fun
It is finally spring/summer in Saskatchewan. The weather has been warm and sunny, and it is projected that we will have more of the same - even getting hot - in the week to come. We have been doing lots of outdoor activity. This is partly just related to the weather, and partly related to a new sleep strategy we are trying.
It has been difficult (especially for Jeff) having Maren go to bed so early and get up so early. Jeff has been getting up with her at 4:30 or 5:00 am everyday. So we are trying to keep her up a bit later in hopes that she will start sleeping a bit later. Instead of letting her determine bedtime, which has lately been around 5:00 pm, we are trying to keep her up until at least 6:00 pm. In order to accomplish this, we are spending time with her outside close to bedtime. She has also started getting really into music, and will "dance" along to anything that has a good beat. So after outside time, we have been having a pre-bedtime dance party every night. It's hard to say whether it is working, but we did have two days in a row where she slept in until 5:40 am, and that was a sign of possible success. We are going to keep trying, and hopefully there will be some lasting change. Fingers crossed.
One of the outside activities we have been doing is carrier bike rides in the recumbent. I know that all the experts say not to bring a baby on a bike until after age 1, but after thinking about it, as long as I don't go too fast, it's no different than pushing her in a stroller. So while I can't go for long walks in the stroller, I am able to cover that kind of distance by riding with her on my tricycle. We have so far gone to the park and taken a trip to the local library branch. I am looking forward to many more trips in the months to come!
It has been difficult (especially for Jeff) having Maren go to bed so early and get up so early. Jeff has been getting up with her at 4:30 or 5:00 am everyday. So we are trying to keep her up a bit later in hopes that she will start sleeping a bit later. Instead of letting her determine bedtime, which has lately been around 5:00 pm, we are trying to keep her up until at least 6:00 pm. In order to accomplish this, we are spending time with her outside close to bedtime. She has also started getting really into music, and will "dance" along to anything that has a good beat. So after outside time, we have been having a pre-bedtime dance party every night. It's hard to say whether it is working, but we did have two days in a row where she slept in until 5:40 am, and that was a sign of possible success. We are going to keep trying, and hopefully there will be some lasting change. Fingers crossed.
One of the outside activities we have been doing is carrier bike rides in the recumbent. I know that all the experts say not to bring a baby on a bike until after age 1, but after thinking about it, as long as I don't go too fast, it's no different than pushing her in a stroller. So while I can't go for long walks in the stroller, I am able to cover that kind of distance by riding with her on my tricycle. We have so far gone to the park and taken a trip to the local library branch. I am looking forward to many more trips in the months to come!
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