Infant massage class

Tuesday was our last infant massage class. Finn and I had a great time meeting lots of other Moms and babies. Finn isn’t really the “relax and enjoy a massage type baby”- yet. He is rather squirmy which makes it really difficult to do much massage while he is on his back. He loves to roll around so he can check out all the other babies – who all seem to be lovingly looking into their mother’s eyes and enjoying their massages. Luckily Tuesday we sat next to another baby who just wouldn’t lie still so Finn seemed less out of place. During class Finn started babbling away and impressed everyone with his Mamama babble – I am pretty certain he wasn’t referring to me as he was staring at the instructor while he said it.
After a recent few sleepless nights (please let him sleep better tonight) I went back to reading some of our baby raising books to try to figure out what could be going on. I didn’t find a solution but did discover that Finn’s holding of hands in front of his chest – which I thought was just his worried personality coming through – is actually one of his developmental milestones. Yay for Finn! He is working really hard on rolling over and has almost managed it on several occasions- mainly naked during massage class (perhaps just to impress the girls?). So today we had some naked time in hopes that a complete role-over would relieve the pent up milestone anxiety that is obviously keeping him awake. We had a great big pee and spent a lot of time with our neck craned a la exorcist so as to get a better view in the mirror – but Mum had to step in and nudge Finn over. Let’s hope he feels a sense of accomplishment and can rest easy.

I'm 3 months old

Things I love:
Sucking on my hands
Mummy singing to me
Daddy pretending I’m superman
Playing with my best friend nagenniF in the mirror
Staring at other babies in massage class

Things I don’t love:
Falling asleep
Long car rides
Daddy’s loud nose blowing
Sneezing milk out my nose

Leaving Day

Grandparents and the cousins

The cousins hang out together - if only we could understand baby-ese we might be able to figure out what Ishani and Finn were plotting....

Turkey Day in Perth

Samarra and her daadi's banana (banana's are a private joke for daadi (paternal grandmother in Hindi))

Swinging away in the sunshine while the turkey roasts

"Finn squishes his cousin Ishani" - or "What happens when you leave men alone with babies"

Samarra read her favourite book to Finn who, being restrained in the bouncy chair, listened attentively to Blue's Clues- the one book that always mysteriously disappears to the back of the closet

Happy family on the swing (Finn doesn't look happy- he was just concerned that his hair looked okay)

Saturday in Orleans

Chillin' with Adriana

Finn plays with Mummy and Oliver

Hooray for babies!!!

The whole family: Karl, Caryn, Adriana and Oliver

Finn's big road trip

Thanksgiving weekend we traveled back to the Ottawa area – Finn’s first big road trip. Trip through Toronto was awful – entire drive took us 2.5 hours longer than pre-baby. Finn did not really enjoy it- neither did his parents. On an up note – at a gas station in Whitby while filling up the tank of a car we rented, Finn picked up and shook his rattle with intent. He used a real pincer-type grip and, rather than just hitting himself in the head accidentally as he normally does, he shook the rattle several times. We were thrilled.
Spent time relaxing with the grandparents and excer-saucering in Perth on Friday.
Saturday Finn, Andrew and I traveled into Ottawa to do some cloth diaper shopping and visiting with our Orleans friends – Karl, Caryn, Adriana and Oliver. Last time we saw them Oliver and Finn got into a tussle so we were eager to see how the newly expanded Finn would fair. Turns out Oliver still has a sizable weight/height/age advantage.
Sunday was meet and greet with cousins Samarra and Ishani who last saw Finn when he was just 3 days old. He has changed significantly and is now quite the conversationalist. Yummy turkey with trimmings for all with teeth and then to bed hoping that the tryptophan would pass quickly into our milk.
Drive home was thankfully not as long (although traffic was horrendous- where was everyone going from Belleville onwards?) and Finn figured out how to play on his own so the howling was cut down to a bare minimum. All in all a great trip.
Cooking with Nana and Poppa
Finn checks out the grandparents exersaucer