Ada and I have been keeping ourselves out of trouble this holiday season. Perhaps that is why the media has created this necessity to run around like our hair is on fire while attempting to buy just the right present for everyone we know - to keep us on Santa's Good List.

Last weekend we rented a car to go to a Christmas party in Brampton, so we took advantage of the wheels and headed to Newmarket to visit Jonathan's cousin Chris, his wife Pam, and Ada's adorable second-cousin, Ethan. It's fun watching Ethan and knowing we're seeing what Ada will be doing in a few short months. After our visit, we dolled ourselves up (see above picture) and drove our rental (an SUV - fitting since we were driving around the 'burbs) to Brampton to Mashaal and Melissa's annual Christmas party. Mashaal is a friend of Jonathan's from university, and when we entered the house, Mashaal immediately took Ada and played with her for a good part of the first hour. He said hello to the arriving guests, but then explained that he wouldn't be able to socialize since there was a baby to play with right now. He won her smiles by giving her "zerberts", and she loved every minute of it. Here is a photo of Ada and her new best friend:



We spent a hectic few days avoiding malls, so we visited my seniors and I ran a Christmas sing-a-long while Ada dazzled everyone with her presence. One of my gentlemen was so moved by seeing Ada, and so happy about her being my baby, it actually brought him to tears, and he is not usually an emotional man. It is amazing what emotions a baby can induce in people. Young or old, male or female, she affects people in a way that I would often not predict.

Ada has been reacting and interacting with her environment a lot more this past week, and even laughs at stuff she finds funny. She has been reaching out to touch her toys, and likes to watch and smile at the people we meet when we're out. She believes the sole purpose of the subway is to smile at strangers. I love watching people light up when she smiles back at them. We attended our Moms & Tots Christmas party yesterday, where Ada wore her new Christmas onesy from our friend Cat. Here she is looking all casual as she looks over her shoulder to see the other babies playing. It won't be long before she'll be on the floor crawling around with them!



Happy Holidays everyone! I'm looking forward to seeing the family and friends that we haven't seen for a while. It's my favourite part of the holidays!

Ada's bouncy chair has an attachment which is an arch that goes in front of her. There are little bouncy animals and hanging toys, as well as a feature where music plays and lights flash when she kicks her feet. There are large buttons underneath the material which, when properly pushed by a baby's kicking feet, will start the sound and light show. Ada quickly figured out this cause and effect, and since she loves flashing lights, she was eager to put it into practice. The problem is, she now thinks that in order to have something done that she wants, all she has to do is kick her legs! While on her change table she wants her elephant mobile to dance, so kick your legs! After filling her diaper she wouldn't mind a diaper change, so kick your legs! Mommy or daddy was singing a song she likes and wants them to keep singing, so kick your legs! She believes that she can control the universe by kicking her legs! In the following video, you can see that as soon as she sees her arch, her legs get going. I deliberately dressed her so that her lovely pudgy legs were visible for those fans of Ada's thighs. :) Can you imagine how incredible chubby those legs would be if she wasn't getting all this exercise?



Ada had yet another breakthrough yesterday, but noone got to witness it in person. While going into the kitchen to put something away in the fridge, I had put Ada down on her front to get some more tummy-time. When I got back 10 seconds later, she was lying on her back(!) upset because she had rolled herself under her chair and she couldn't see anything above her. Later that day she was desperately trying to go from her back on to her front, but only got as far as her side. After watching her get progressively madder I eventually tipped her onto her front, and she gave me a HUGE SMILE in gratitude. I didn't want to tell her that I had made it possible since she looked so proud of herself. My little girl is growing up! :)

Today is Ada's Aunt Melissa's birthday, but Ada will have to give birthday kisses to her in 2 more weeks when we see her since she's not in the country right now. :) Happy Birthday Melissa!

Ada had her own birthday celebration last week, celebrating her 3 month birthday with a beer, as usual.



Jonathan and I had our first night out just the two of us on December 2nd. It was Jonathan's work Christmas Party, and my lovely friend Pamela offered to babysit for the night. You know you have a good friend when she offers to babysit your 3 month old for the first time while simultaneously putting her 17 month old to bed on her own. And since Ada recently went funny about taking her milk from a bottle, Pam couldn't even use milk to keep her happy. But Ada was (thankfully!) a good girl and didn't make it too hard on Pam. And Jonathan maintains that I was also a good girl and managed to have a nice night out. I didn't realize how much we needed a night to ourselves until we went out, even though we missed her like crazy the whole time. And to prove that Ada didn't scream the whole time we were gone, Pam made a video of Ada happily kicking away on the floor to show us when we got back. Thanks to Pam for being such a wonderful babysitter!

Ada and I have joined another moms group through the internet, called the New and Expecting Toronto City Moms Meetup Group. So far we have went to two demos - Salsa Babies and Wee Hands. The Salsa Babies was a lot of fun. I strapped Ada into her Baby Bjorn and I learned Salsa steps for about 45 minutes. I'm hoping to join up to a 6 week course in January. The Wee Hands demo was also very interesting. Jonathan and I are planning on going to an 8 week course starting in January where we learn some signs to do with Ada so that she can communicate with us before she is able to talk. Signs such as more, please, milk, change, all done, etc. The demo was great, so hopefully the classes are good too.

And we've had a breakthrough today - Ada has finally accepted a bottle and nipple combination to take her milk! Hooray for Playtex Orthodontic Nipples! Cross your fingers that she continues to like them! It just goes to show that she can go from beer bottle to milk bottle. That's my girl!