Momma's got a brand new 'do!

Guess who snuck out today for a wee bit of pampering at the hair salon? It looks like motherhood suits Felicity just fine, don't you think?

Gwendolyn was none the worse for wear after an hour or so in Daddy's care, although it's clear from this photo that she was ready for some cuddle time when Mom got home.

Just a little smile?

Phew -- we're posting a lot today! We've been trying to capture evidence of Gwendolyn's smiling ability on film for several days now. So far, this is the best we can do: a cute little (11 second) film for your viewing pleasure.

It seems that most of Gwen's smiling episodes happen after her feedings, no doubt the result of a nice full tummy.

Many Faces of Gwendolyn -- Take 2

Here are a few more close-ups of Gwendolyn taken on January 29th. It's fascinating to compare these with those photos we posted on December 24th.

Notice the very pudgy cheeks...We can confirm that she's filled out this same way all over.

Cozy bear feet

Continuing the tradition, here's another photo of Gwendolyn's cute little feet, this time dressed in her fleece teddy bear sleeper. We love the way she relaxes and crosses her little legs when feeding, like she's settled in her favourite chair.

I'm ready for my close-up, Dad

We're always enthralled by Gwendolyn's beautiful, bright and alert face. We literally could stare at her for hours...

We know we're awfully biased, but isn't she a real charmer? And boy, has she changed since we first brought her home!

Welcome, Mémé!

Felicity's Mom Cecily arrived a few days ago for a short visit, and she and Gwendolyn have quickly become fast friends. We're learning many baby care tips from a seasoned veteran, as well as enjoying some lovely home cooked meals and a few recharging breaks away from our little one. Thanks, Mom/Mémé!

UPDATE: Mémé returned home to the cold of Ontario on Tuesday, but not before an early morning photo shoot that produced this cute picture. Fast friends, indeed!

Hooray for the Kermis Family!

It's time to take a break from celebrating Gwendolyn to recognize a long awaited milestone in the family of Felicity's sister, Haley.

In April of 2007, Benjamin and Claire Kermis were born quite prematurely, and have spent significant time in hospital care. Claire was able to leave the hospital a number of weeks ago; after much perseverance, love and prayers, we're very happy to report that Ben has finally joined his sister, his older brother Matthew, and Mom and Dad at home. We understand that the nurses at the NICU were sorry to see Ben go -- apparently he's quite the little charmer!

Congratulations and much love to you, Kermis family!

Hands Up, Baby, Hands Up!

Here's Gwen, surrendering to the bliss that is nap time. Or maybe she's dancing in her dreams to that corny Club Med song...?

Tale of the tape

Gwendolyn had her final visit today with Courtney, a member (along with Erin) of our dynamic midwife duo. We're happy to report that Gwen received a clean bill of health and is growing nicely: she weighed in at a hefty 4904.5 grams! That's 10 pounds and 13 ounces for those of you "old school" types.

Here's Gwendolyn getting the once-over (lovingly, of course!). We planned to take a few photos of Courtney and our babe, but our camera didn't cooperate. That's OK -- it gives us an excuse to drop by another day and visit with the fun and caring folks at the Midwifery Group.

Big K and L'il G. WITHOUT Mom??? Yes, it's true...

This morning, Dad and Gwendolyn gave Mom the opportunity for a little "me time" -- a walk in the beautiful sunshine and a wee jaunt to London Drugs. For the record, this is what K. and G. got up to during that time:

• Listened (and danced) to a bit of Bach
• Looked out the window
• Read 1 1/2 stories (all of "Barnyard Dance" and a bit of "Just for You")
• Enjoyed some time in the shaky chair while Dad downloaded some photos of you-know-who and sent an e-mail or two
• Talked over the issues of the day
• Changed a wet diaper
• Worked out a teeny bit of the "fussies"

Dad was very positive about the whole experience, and gave it a 9.5/10 -- 1/2 point lost for the short fussy time, but otherwise a brilliant performance.

A visit with Patricia

Our doula Patricia came by yesterday to check in on the Ronaghan family. While it was her last "official" visit with us, we definitely plan to stay in touch. Patricia was a wonderful part of our birthing team, and Mom and Dad have greatly valued her wisdom and encouragement as they embark on their parenting journey. We can highly recommend the doula experience!

Here is a photo of Patricia and Gwen enjoying some quality cuddle time.

A workout for those rods and cones

As with all babies her age, Gwendolyn will intently stare at objects offering a high contrast between light and dark: Mom's hairline against her forehead (a favourite pastime while digesting a meal), dark shadows against a light wall, and especially the back of her baby quilt, as pictured here.

Mom did a masterful job of choosing many black and white fabrics and creatively combining them to offer multitude of patterns and levels of contrast. The result keeps things interesting for Gwen while she develops those gorgeous eyes of hers. A bonus -- all that staring keeps her very calm, quiet and looking incredibly cute!

Major Milestone + Mom = Tears

We are delighted to report that Miss Gwendolyn graced each of her parents with a real, honest-to-goodness, non-gas-induced smile yesterday!

Mom cried. Of course.

We haven't been able to capture smiles in a photo just yet, so here's one to tide you over.

Tools of the Trade

Every parent has a favourite way to soothe a fussy baby – their “magic bullet”, if you will. We have two such wonderful solutions to the crying game:

1. The Shaky Chair: this little vibrating wonder seems to mesmerize Gwendolyn, giving Mom and Dad up to half hour or more of blessed, hands free time. Thanks, Annie, for passing this life-saver down to us.
2. The Bouncy Ball: This exercise ball was a God-send during Felicity’s labour, and it’s proving its worth once again. When Gwen is very fussy, only a vigorous bouncing session will do. Trouble is, we often get tired of bouncing before Gwen does, and if we dare end the session before she is ready, she LETS US KNOW. (And we usually have to start all over again. Sigh…)

Terms of Endearment

By now, you will recognize the nickname “L’il G” for our Gwendolyn. Fact is, we’ve come up with many terms of endearment for our precious babe:

• Bright Eyes (for those lovely times when she’s wide-eyed and alert)
• Grouchy Pants (for those not so lovely times when she’s scrunch-faced and yowling)
• Sweet Cheeks (both the top and bottom versions)
• Farty McStinkerson (or Stinky McFarterson; no explanation needed, we reckon)
• Broccoli Bum (see above entry)
• Little Cabbage (also related to above; do we see a theme emerging here?)
• Slow Leak (to describe a strange little sound Gwen makes when sleeping, like a bike tire with a teensy hole in it)
• Pterodactyl, or "Terry" for short (to describe another strange sound Gwen makes in sleep; think Jurassic Park, but much quieter. Her cousin Jack would love this one…)
• The Piddler (ANOTHER wet diaper?!?)
• Nature Girl (for those free and easy times between diaper changes)

We’re sure this list will grow as time passes and Gwendolyn continues to fascinate us with her baby antics.

How about this for cute?

While we think our Gwendolyn is the cutest thing ever, this little fellow certainly gives her a run for her money. Meet Miguel ("Miggy"), 14 month old son of our friends José and Juliet, with whom we visited yesterday. The last time we saw Miggy was last summer; how much he's grown since then! He's such a lovely, happy boy, and was very curious about our little babe.

We also visited again with Grandma Ronaghan, who commented on how much her grand-daughter has changed in the three weeks since our last visit.

It was a fun, busy day, and we were all exhausted in the end. Thank goodness for the sleep-in Gwen allowed us this morning!

The picture says it all...

There's NOTHING better than cuddle time with Mom!

A request for Gwendolyn

As some of you know, Felicity and Kevin are regular listeners of CBC's Radio Two. Kevin recently sent a request to "Here's To You" , Radio Two's listener request program, in celebration of Gwendolyn's birth. He has since heard that they will play his request on January 11th, sometime between 9 and 10 a.m. local time. So , if you're near a radio (or computer) at that time, feel free to tune in!

Update: Our techno-savvy friend Steve managed to record the request for us -- thanks, Steve! Click here to listen.

Steve, who is a very talented designer and all-round good fellow, also whipped up the personalized "Here's To You" title bar you see above.

Duckie Feet

You may notice a theme developing at this blog: bare or covered, there's just something about Gwendolyn's feet that we absolutely love. Check out these photos of her with some adorable duckie booties on. (Thanks, Auntie Jen!!)

Yes, her outfit is head-to-toe pink. Even her undershirt is pink. What can we say? She looks great in pink. And it's so cute!!!

Report to Baby Central: 4-week follow-up

MEMO

TO: Baby Central
FROM: Gwendolyn Sarah Ronaghan (fka Baby #11122007)
RE: 4-week update report

Parental Units (hereafter referred to as "Mom" and "Dad") adapting well to my arrival and overall requirements. Dad is excellent at detecting requirement to change wet diapers and Mom responding well to hunger cues (note: food is delicious).

Challenges presented to Parental Units per Baby Central requirements:

• "blow-out" poopy diaper necessitating full wardrobe change;
• regular resistance to diaper/clothing changes (e.g. legs gathered up or stiffened, flailing arms etc.), particularly for night-time diaper changes;
• "fussy" evening/night (numerous) to test Mom and Dad's patience/sleep requirement;
• addition of tears feature to crying episodes to enhance emotional efficacy of same;
• limited differentiation in crying styles forcing Mom and Dad to hone crying analysis skills.

Grade (pass/fail): PASS

COMMENTS:
Overall, Mom and Dad coping in a satisfactory fashion. Have accelerated schedule for non-gas-caused smiling as reward. These smiles (and hints thereof) extremely well-received (Mom cried on more than one occasion).

CONCLUSION:
Final report. I conclude my choice of Parental Units is highly satisfactory.

Who's a little sleepy-head?

This (10 second) video clip tells all...

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting....

As these fast-as-lightning hands show, we think that Gwendolyn received some martial arts training at Baby Central. Could come in handy at the playground if another kid tries to muscle her out of the sandbox....

Wardrobe Malfunction

''Uh...you guys? This doesn't really fit me all that well...."

Yeah, yeah we know. But it keeps her warm when we use the Baby Bjorn. Plus? She looks adorable in it!!!

Baby's First Bath

We've given Gwendolyn a few sponge baths prior to today, but this afternoon marked her first dip in the bathtub with Mom. As you can see, she wasn't too impressed, but we made up for it by giving her some quality "free time" sans diaper/clothes, as well as a blissful post-bath massage from Dad.

GO CANADA GO!

Gwen, wearing her lucky red sleeper, is ready to cheer on Canada's Junior Men's hockey team tomorrow as they go for gold for the fourth straight time. Good luck, boys!

UPDATE: Hurrah! Canada wins 3-2 in OT. Dad says the winning goal was vintage Canadian hockey: dump it in, cause a turnover and crash the net.

Unfortunately, Gwen slept through the game and had to rely on Dad's post-game report...

Gwen @ Work

Gwendolyn went on a wee road trip today to visit with Felicity's work colleagues. Dad wasn't there to observe first-hand (and the camera was unfortunately left at home), but by all reports our baby was an angel, charming her hosts with her myriad facial expressions and crazy tai chi hand movements in her sleep. Dad got an hour or so to himself which he happily used to putter around Home Depot.

We can't have a posting without a photo, so in the absence of any pictures of today's adventures, here's one from a couple of days back showing Mom and Gwen enjoying a little play time on the couch.

Like father, like daughter

Well, we know one thing Gwendolyn seems to have inherited from her Dad -- sleeping with her mouth wide open.

Thanks to Felicity for the lovely photo. After three years, we may finally be getting the hang of our little digital camera!

2008 Family Portrait

With these photos, we've started a tradition of taking a family portrait on January 1st of each year. Making the picture was a wee bit challenging -- Gwendolyn wasn't really interested in being photogenic, as you can see in the second "take".

Oh yes -- today is also Gwen's three week birthday! It's hard to believe how much time has gone by already... Rest assured that we're savouring every moment with our little miracle.

Happy New Year!

Gwendolyn celebrated the coming of the new year quietly with Mom and Dad, and friends Lisa and Bobbi. Here's Lisa getting up close and personal with Gwen, who looks to be thoroughly enjoying the attention.

The adults had a nice dinner of take-in Thai; Gwendolyn had a good feed as well, courtesy of Mom. After their guests headed home, the Ronaghan family went for a short walk in the brisk night air (here's Felicity and a well-bundled babe admiring the view of downtown Vancouver from Choklit Park), and Gwen finished the year off right with -- you guessed it -- another good feed.

All good wishes to you for a happy, healthy and peaceful 2008. What an exciting year it should be!