Possibly the cutest thing ever...after Avery of course!

Have you seen this? It's a Puppy Cam of six Shiba Inu puppies - check it out. I'm not sure how it all came about, but it is pretty fun to watch. Even when they are mostly sleeping and they walk over each other to get the best spots, or nip at each other's ears just for kicks.

Yay to the return of Top Chef!

So I love the show Top Chef - if you don't know it, it is a Bravo show that is shown on the Food Network in Canada. It's a reality show where chefs compete against each other in a variety of challenges to become "Top Chef" and win some $ and cool prizes - as well as the bragging rights of course. What I love about it is that most of the "cheftestants" (their word, not mine) are trained, professional chefs and they come to win. There is also a healthy mix of personality clashes and personal baggage to round out the cooking action. It is nice to watch a reality show where the participants are skilled and not just fame-seekers. I guess that is also why I like So You Think You Can Dance...but I digress.

Unfortunately I wasn't aware that Season 5 started last week and I only caught part of the first episode, but no worries - I plan to be a dedicated watcher nonetheless. For anyone who is a wannabe chef and amateur foodie, this show is for you. It's on the Food Network Wednesdays at 10pm. And it is worth staying up for! :)

She's on the move!

Avery has officially started crawling. The first real crawl happened at 8 months and one week, just after we came back from Toronto. Too bad Grossmueti didn't get to see it in person, but I am sure she will get her fill at Christmas. Grampa Kelly and Cassandra will just have to come to Ottawa sometime soon to see it themselves.
So the crawling - she isn't too speedy, thankfully, and she hasn't gotten into much yet. But it really doesn't take long for her to move somewhere and do something you weren't expecting. We will be spending the rest of this weekend finishing the babyproofing we should have done ages ago.

Our trip to Toronto last week was very nice - more or less the same type of visit, visiting with a lot of friends and family. Had a fun fondue dinner with Avery's "Toronto aunties" - it was great to see everyone, especially Kate whom I haven't seen in 1.5 years, but I am totally over fondue. The cheese one was fine, but I no longer enjoy broth fondues. It takes too long to cook stuff, the sauces are always too far away, some people (Greg) are way squeamish about the raw meat, and I ended up walking around the table for a good part of the meal. The chocolate fondue was nice, but then, it has chocolate going for it.

In other news, we are still working on daycare options. We definitely have a spot at a daycare centre close to home if we want it, and I am fairly sure Avery will end up going there. In the meantime though, we are continuing to check out home daycares. The first one we went to was a bit of a shock to both Greg and I. I am sure the provider was great, but Avery just seemed so young compared to the other kids and it was hard to imagine this person coping with 5 kids at once. And one of the kids threw a toy at Avery's head twice while we were there - doesn't exactly inspire confidence. But we will keep looking, just in case the perfect place is out there. At least we know we won't have to scramble for something at the last minute!

8 months and counting...

As you may have guessed, Avery is now 8 months old. Honestly, could the time be flying any quicker??? Sure, there are still some days that seem to drag on forever, but mostly I can't even remember what it was like when she was really little. Thank goodness I have been using this blog to record at least some of the memories!

So - what is Avery up to these days? Well, push-ups, crawling/sliding backwards, turning in circles, sitting up and the occasional faceplant. So far there is almost no forward momentum. She crawled forward a couple of paces last Sunday at Gramma and Grampa's house, but has shown no interest in repeating the feat. None of her toys seem exciting enough for her to really work to get them. When she did crawl, it was because she was after my foot. So I imagine it won't be long, but then again, neither Greg nor I will be surprised if she skips real crawling and goes straight to walking. She loves to stand! She uses our fingers to pull herself up and each day she does more of the work herself. Her balance and core strength is not good, but her legs seem pretty strong. Must be all the jolly jumper workouts. They should make those for adults. :)

Eating is still going well and she has tried a good number of foods. Favourites are still the sweeter veggies, yougurt, most of the meats (she has tried beef, lamb, chicken, fish and pork), puffed wheat and cheerios. However, anything with texture that doesn't melt in her mouth is rejected after only a couple of bites. So far this includes cheese, tofu and grated apple. I am going to try pear with her next, but I am waiting for the pears to ripen a little more.

I am not sure about her height and weight, but I am guessing she's about 17.5-18 pounds now. I suppose I could measure her height myself - one of these days. Lately I have been getting comments that she seems delicate/petite or very small for her age, so I hope she is still on the right track. But she still has her thigh chunk and wrist indents, so I don't think she has become too skinny or anything. She seems pretty healthy to me!

Avery's first Halloween came and went and she dressed up as a turtle, courtesy of Aidan Ferguson. We took her around to a couple of houses, mama got a little candy, and then we came home to hand out our own candy. It was a bit complicated because Greg was at curling (he couldn't skip it as well, because we are half the team after all), so I fed Avery her dinner in the front hall, kept Trus on a leash so that he wouldn't jump up at the kids who came to the door and handed out candy until it ran out. When it did, I blew out the pumpkin candle thinking that would indicate to the kids that we were done for the night - but they rang the doorbell anyway. So I turned out the porch light as well, making it extremely dark on our walkway - and they still came. So I stopped answering the doorbell. But there was one persistent little trick-or-treater who rang the bell twice and then knocked. I answered the door and told him I had no more candy (because he obviously wasn't going away without a reason), and then he apologized and said he was sorry to have annoyed me. Ahh, kids...they'll do almost anything for a little candy! :)