Blogs, Boo Boos and Burns

It's been one of those days.

First, we're suffering from Blog Design Indecision. An affliction that causes sufferers to have serious commitment issues towards any one blog design. This means whenever we view our blog we feel the need to change it but as soon as we change it we feel the need to put it back!

Thankfully we also suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder so this affliction is almost ov....oooh....what's that shiny thing?

Next, Wonderbaby is in boo boo mode. He's hurting himself everywhere he turns. Now that he's mastered the art of pulling up he's testing out this new skill on anything and everything. If we don't reach him fast enough he pulls on top of himself whatever prop he's using to stand. His poor little head is covered in small red bumps.

We either need to bolt all our furniture to the floor or find Wonderbaby a crash helmet! You can see him try out this new trick in the clip below.

And lastly, our little guy had a more serious boo boo today - he burned his little hand. After a trip to the store for supplies it was time to wash hands with soap and warm water. (The swine flu has put us all in a pickle about picking up germs.) So the tap water was running and the soap was frothing but before the temperature was tested Wonderbaby flung his little pink hand underneath and yelped.

The water was boiling! In a panic his hand was retrieved and submerged quickly in a cup of cold water. The skin was red and puffy and his bottom lip pouted and quivered.

Our poor little Wonderbaby!

Thankfully, after cooling for half an hour, the pain disappeared. His little hand was wrapped in a bandage, he was given a dose of painkiller and he drifted off to sleep for a good two hours.

Of course he woke as though it never happened. The same can't be said for his mummy!

Does anyone know if its illegal to bubble-wrap a baby?

The Towelhead Terrors!

And no, we don't mean the offensive term used to describe persons of arab descent. We'll leave that version for Prince Harry to throw around.

We mean the state of disarray Alana (aka: Mummy) finds herself in when she emerges from a shower and wraps a bath towel around her sopping wet hair.

This Towelhead fills Wonderbaby with terror!

Now, we'll be the first to admit that viewing either of us bare-bottomed and dripping from a shower is not for the faint of heart. However, seeing your baby's bottom lip quiver when you do is hardly an ego-boost.

But that's exactly what Wonderbaby did today when he spotted his mummy smiling at him from the steamy bathroom wearing nothing but said towel. He stared, then pouted...then SCREAMED!

Needless to say, both sets of nerves were rattled! Only immediate removal of the evil bath towel and a cuddle could calm Wonderbaby's nerves.

It looks like there are some bad hair days ahead.

Belly Laughs

Here's Wonderbaby having a great hearty belly laugh with Daddy who is playing with one of his toys.

If we could, we'd bottle this sound!

Finger Food and Freaky Weather

Wonderbaby is slowly being introduced to the joys of finger food.

This weekend we let him gnaw on some fresh fruit, starting with blueberries and strawberries. A little pile of the blue and red fruit was positioned on his high-chair tray - his blue eyes bright with excitement at the sight of the sticky berries.

Until he popped a piece in his mouth.

The photo says it all! Wonderbaby was NOT impressed! He promptly pulled the blueberry out of his mouth and threw it to the floor. The strawberries didn't fare any better. What didn't end up on the kitchen tile was tossed either down his high-chair or directly at Mummy.

Up next? Some broccoli florets. We're thinking of buying hazmat suits for protection!

As for this weekends weather, well it was positively freaky. It started out a hot and humid twenty six degrees, we had all the windows open and Wonderbaby sat and played for hours in his little wading pool.

Then the thunder came.

We watched with amusement as neighbour after neighbour abandoned their barbecues and dashed inside to shelter from the downpour. Thankfully we were already there. We knew better than to attempt a barbecue, even on a twenty six degree day. Having lived here for almost five years we know better than to annoy the weather Gods like that. This time last year it snowed!

The one good thing to come from these rainy days is the green green grass. Everything was brown and dry and dead but now life is literally teeming around us.

Sadly with life comes death. Our feral cat is slaughtering baby bunnies and dragging them down to his lair (aka - our basement) to chew and chomp their poor bunny heads off. We are mortified! He's been dangling from a very thin thread for a while now. What with shredding furniture, attacking our legs, eating everything that moves (who knows what diseases he now has) and fighting every cat he sees, we've had it up to HERE with our white feral cat. The bunny eating is the last straw. Its like living with Hannibal Lector.

We are now relocating Feral Cat. Matt is furiously searching for a cat friendly farm, one where bunny killing is appreciated.

So stay tuned for the new and improved Lynch Mob - just a Guy, a Girl, a Wonderbaby and Two Fat Spaniels.

The Crib Stand-Off

We use a groovy little gadget to monitor Wonderbaby while he is sleeping. A camera is positioned in his room and pointed directly at his sweet sleeping head, while downstairs we watch a video monitor tuned into Wonderbaby's channel.

Well today the monitor caught our little guy red-handed. He was trying to escape!

The cameras beady eye captured him as he woke from his nap, hammered on the crib like a confined inmate and then pulled his little body up into a standing position.

Which is fine and dandy if the mattress is on the lowest level. Of course it wasn't! Thankfully he stayed put long enough for adult supervision to arrive.

You can catch these cheeky antics on the video clips below.

Iggle Piggle

Meet Iggle Piggle.

This funny blue fellow is Wonderbaby's latest love. On a recent shopping trip to purchase groceries he was sitting contently in a cart watching the produce roll by when all of a sudden he let out an almighty squeal.

Row upon row of Iggle Piggles' lined the isle before us! Reed's little pink face was flush with excitement as he giggled and squeaked at the fuzzy blue toys.

Of course we left the store with a brand new Iggle Piggle in tow. We had no idea who or what he was but we knew Wonderbaby liked him. A quick Google revealed he's a cute but clumsy character in a very popular BBC childrens show - 'In the Night Garden'.

We're guessing we won't whip out the Visa quite so quickly when he's seventeen and squealing at a big blue motorbike!

At Last....SUCCESS!!

Sitting bootcamp has finally worked!

We admit we were worried. Despite our efforts Wonderbaby was still wobbling forward whenever we placed him tush-side down.

But we worry no more. Today marks the official day he sat unaided by us or any other prop to cushion a fall.

Wonderbaby is officially sitting on his own!

When the Stars Align

We both believe that things happen for a reason.

During the decade we've spent together we've always listened to that little gut reaction that follows any event or decision. The few times we've ignored it regret has soon followed.

So when time and time again we had Los Angeles in our grasp only to watch it slip away, we kept reminding ourselves there must be a good reason.

Well today is Matt's first day at his new position with Spin but it is also karmically the first day that SAG (Screen Actors Guild) have finally come to a temporary agreement with the studios. An agreement that has taken over one year to reach and stifled the industry in the interim.

So the fact these two events occured within mere hours of each other once again confirms our belief that nothing ever happens without a jolly good reason.

Back to Cuba...

...well not exactly. Sadly its only a virtual trip. We have some short video clips we thought you all might enjoy.

This first video is Matt looking very pretty wearing the traditional hibiscus flower in his ear.




This video is a clip of Matt and Wonderbaby acting up on the resort beach.



And this last video was filmed outside our little bungalow on a warm breezy day when Matt wandered to the open bar to bring us each a very tasty Pina Colada.




Aaaaaah....laaaaaazy lazy days.

Ba Ba, Bubbles and the Big White Doorstop

Its been an interesting few days.

Firstly, Wonderbaby has started babbling his first baby word. We're not sure exactly what it means. He says "ba ba ba" all day long, especially when he sees something that intrigues him. He wakes up saying it. He goes to sleep saying it. He says it while jumping in the activity gym. We love hearing him babble but we'll also confess we look forward to the day he says something coherent - like ma ma or da da!

Secondly, the weather here has been lovely. For two days straight it has been twenty degrees and sunny. So we've spent some time reuniting Reed with the great outdoors. This time we introduced him to bubbles. Matt purchased an enormous bottle of bubble-maker, dunked in the circular stick and blew a billion bubbles around the yard. Wonderbaby found this very exciting. He squealed as the the shiny spheres blew over his head and floated away. He even popped a few with his sticky little fingers. Bubbles it seems are a baby favourite.

Lastly, we had an extremely funny clothing mishap. It was early evening and bedtime for Wonderbaby. We were both getting him ready by bathing and changing and dressing him in his nightwear. As we sat in his room - Matt fighting to dress our wriggly wee baby - Reed fidgeted and rolled his little body towards a white rubber doorstop plugging the door. Clutching it in his hands he chowed down on it like a teether. At this point we didn't mind and in fact took advantage of the distraction and continued dressing him. One of us pinned him down while the other pulled on the sleeper. Reed grizzled and whined and tried to escape but we persevered and finally he was dressed. We sat feeling smug. We had outsmarted our acrobatic baby.

Until Matt mentioned that he thought something was wrong. Wonderbaby was still very grizzly. Puzzled we studied him a little closer. Then Matt started laughing. It soon became apparent what the problem was. A triangular shape was poking out from beneath his little blue sleeper. It was the doorstop! At some point during the dressing commotion Reed dropped it down his back and we unknowingly covered it up. The poor thing had been trying to tell us! While we tried very hard to act upset and comfort our unhappy little boy we will also admit we laughed until we cried. It was very very funny.

Thankfully Reed has a good sense of humour and eventually forgave us. We had hoped he might learn from this incident and realize there are consequences to 'crying wolf'. If Wonderbaby didn't cry every single time we dressed him the doorstop incident might never have happened. However judging from the wailing coming from the living room where Matt is changing Wonderbaby's diaper its looking doubtful.

So it has been an interesting and fun few days. Even our spaniels are enjoying themselves, the sun appears to be lifting their spirits too. The poor things have been sick so its nice to see the wag back in their tails.

In fact, if we had tails we'd wag them.

Perhaps spring is finally here.

Little Squeaky Chatterbox!

Check out our cheeky squeaky little fellow. :)

A Quiet Easter

Spring is slowly coming to Canada. The air is cool but there is warmth in the sun and the days are bright and long. Its not the thunderous roar towards summer we would have liked - we had visions (or delusions) about stepping off the plane from Cuba into balmy summer days. But its getting better.

Its been tough though, being back in Canada. Cuba was just so pleasant. With LA on its way we feel positive but impatient. Its like a sweet treat dangling in front of a hungry baby. We want it NOW! Thankfully there is alot to organize so we will keep ourselves distracted with packing and re-packing and perhaps a spot of househunting. Redfin has become the website of choice.

Meanwhile, Easter has been nice and quiet - just a relaxing lunch with friends on Friday. Jill and Stu are from Capetown so feel our pain about the Canadian weather. Reed of course put on the schmooze. He flirted and giggled and attempted to crawl down a flight of stairs (Daddy put a very fast stop to this!) while the rest of us discussed life in Canada.

So its been a very pleasant few days. Matt has five days left at his old job before he embarks on a new journey with Spin. Reed is growing like a weed - weekly shopping trips are required to keep him dressed in clothes that fit. Alana has five months before the official toddler years begin.

Life after Cuba carries on.

He Came...He Saw...He Conquered Cuba!!

Well, Cuba was completely amazing. The weather was spectacular (the temperature never dropped below a balmy 30 degrees), the resort had stunning grounds brimming with palm trees and hibiscus plants, the sky was every shade of blue and the entire area was surrounded by hills.

Our room at the resort was a quaint little bungalow that was comfortable rather than luxurious but one that had the best view in town - the beach. Luxury would have been wasted on us anyway as we tipped the room upside down and filled it with sand and toys in a matter of minutes! For one whole week we did nothing but relax, swim and play. The Cuban people were friendly and kind.

But the real star of the show was Wonderbaby. He managed to wow everyone! He wowed the people travelling on the plane and bus as he never made so much as a peep, he wowed the resort staff and guests who fell completely in love with his cheeky smile and chubby cheeks while the Cuban locals were just plain wowed at how gorgeous he was. He even drew a smile from the ultra serious Cuban customs department by giggling at a very inappropriate moment.

Everyone was in awe! Along the way he earned himself some surrogate grandparents as many of the guests were sun-seeking retirees. The lovely gentleman in the photo below said he had a granddaughter due in July and if she was even half as wonderful as Reed he would be an extremely happy man. It was very very sweet.

Our lovely little Wonderbaby now has a rosy glow to his cheeks (so too does his very tanned Daddy!) and he has fallen in love with the great outdoors. Having spent his entire seven months inside it was very nice to show him that sun and fun really do exist. After all, his mummy is a self-confessed beach bum! The smiles and squeals that came from Reed as he stood in the ocean were truly priceless.

So thank you Cuba - we will treasure these wonderful memories forever.