Eleven days until we leave for our Caribbean cruise! I know we’ll miss Justin, but I’m just really looking forward to having a holiday where I can do what I want (perhaps even sleep past 6:30 a.m.) without worrying about him. The fact that he is absolutely not a cuddler actually works in our favor — I think that may be part of why he never shows any signs of stranger anxiety. He’s an independent type.

I turned 29 last Thursday and the celebrations went on for about four days, which was nice. I went out for dinner with a couple girlfriends on Friday, one of whom is due to have a baby in about three weeks, so the conversation mainly focused on all things pregnancy- and baby-related. The people around us probably lost their appetites, but oh, well. It was fun.

I realized last week that we hadn’t taken a single picture since Christmas, so we finally got a couple shots of Justin crawling around. Enjoy!

We were starting to think Justin was going to have his adorable toothless grin forever, but last night we noticed a bit of pearly white showing through his gums. He’s 10 months old, so it’s about time. That plus the fact that he’s getting over a cold might explain why he’s had a few fussy evenings lately. But things are looking up!

Our holiday in Saskatoon went pretty well overall. Justin handled both the travelling and the hordes of relatives way better than his dad or I did, and naturally he was pleased to get a whole load of new toys. He was even more pleased that there was always someone (Grandma, Grandpa, an uncle) around to do his bidding.

For me, the “holiday” felt like a whole lot of work, and I wasn’t even hosting. I didn’t sleep well the whole week, which didn’t help, and the parade of relatives got to be pretty exhausting. There were some fun times, though: going to a movie with Rob, Janet, Dave and Chris; going watersliding; playing mini golf, etc. It just would’ve been nice to have more time to chill.

It’s just over a month until we leave for our Caribbean cruise — I can’t wait!

Thanks to the fact that he has grandparents in two different cities, Justin gets to have two Christmases, the first of which was yesterday at Grandma and Grandpa Lee’s. He seemed to enjoy the festivities (he especially liked the wrapping paper with snowmen on it). He ate well, played lots and entertained everyone — in short, he was an angel.

We leave for Saskatoon on Friday. I’m looking forward to the trip, although I have doubts about whether Justin will manage to nap on the plane. Whatever was bothering him last week appears to have vanished — no more unexplained vomiting or early morning wakeups — so life seems to be back to normal. He’s still toothless, however, and we’re crossing our fingers that he doesn’t start cutting his first tooth the minute we get on the plane. Nothing like sharing the misery with a few hundred other people along the way, hey?

Happy holidays everybody!

Two items to add to the list of Things Justin Has Never Done Before And With Any Luck Will Never Do Again:

1. At a friend’s potluck dinner on Saturday, Chris was holding Justin and we were all standing around in the dining room chatting when out of the blue, Justin threw up most of what he’d eaten that day. Chris took the biggest hit, but it was all over Justin’s clothes and the floor as well. The thing is, he didn’t cry or fuss either before or after. It was like it never happened. Bizarre.

2. He woke up screaming at 4:45 this morning. Chris and I both went in to calm him down and none of the usual tactics worked, so finally I sat with him in the rocking chair for a few minutes, and that seemed to relax him. I got him back to sleep at 5:00, thinking he’d likely sleep in after the interruption. Nope. He screamed again at 5:45 (this time I just had to rub his back a bit) and then again at 6:15. It’s gonna be a long day.

I finally had to give in and set up the gate at the top of the stairs today. Justin is three days from his nine-month birthday and technically he isn’t crawling, but he does get around pretty well just by pulling himself with his arms, and I was tired of trying to make sure he didn’t take a header down the stairs. He’s already discovered the forbidden electrical wires behind the TV and pulled over a large plant (artificial, thankfully) in the living room, so the mischief is underway.

A couple weeks ago I did a happy dance when I realized I’m back to my pre-pregnancy weight (that’s still heavier than I was when I got married, but we won’t dwell on that). I guess that’s what happens when you spend your days lugging a 22-pound infant around.

I have plenty of pictures to post but our hard drive died (again) yesterday, so those of you waiting for more baby photos (yes, Grandma, that means you) will just have to wait until Chris gets everything straightened out.

Justin was so cute during his swimming lessons that I really wanted to get some photos of him in the water, but I only have two arms. So Dad came along today as our photographer. The pool opened right around the time that Justin should’ve been ready for a nap, but he always perks up for swimming, and I figured he’d have a good long nap afterwards. I was right: he was out for two and a half hours. Gotta love that.

Meal preparation has never been my forte, mainly because I lack creativity and I like plain food that can be ready in 20 minutes or less. So when Justin started on solid food, everything I fed him came out of a store-bought jar. But today I finally got him to eat some regular table food: chicken and mashed potatoes. I’m so proud!

On an unrelated note…the company says I can’t come back part time. Why is beyond me, given their financial woes, but that’s the official word. So now I have a few months to ponder my next move.

I had two wisdom teeth taken out this morning, so I’ve been high on drugs all day and things have been a little weird. Chris took the day off to stay home and look after me and Justin, which was great. I’m supposed to be on a liquid diet, but that’s not especially filling, so I swallowed my pride and ate some of Justin’s strained chicken and sweet potatoes. Hey, don’t knock it til you try it.

We’re just starting Justin on some finger foods and it’s cool to see him learning how to pick up bits of bread and put them in his mouth. So far he’s handled bread and oranges. I keep feeling inadequate as a mom because everything I feed him is out of a jar, but I guess he’ll eat Mom’s cooking soon enough.