canucks fan in cowtown

All of stuff arriving at our new house

It’s been about 3 weeks since we made our big move. We’re getting more settled in now, and I finally have some time to write. Murray has taken the munchkin to have some baby and daddy time – I think they’re going to Rona or Home Depot. Our house is coming together really well. We worked like crazy to get unpacked and settled as quickly as possible. Within just a few days, we were mostly set up, with pictures hung and all the rooms we use on a regular basis were all set. Our basement is the only thing that still looks like we just moved in. Having Mom stay with us for a few days so soon after we moved was a major help, and we could not have possibly accomplished as much as we did without her.

Last Huskies game

Moving day ended up being “moving days” since it was actually a Friday to Monday process. On Friday, Feb 25, the packers came in and packed up our entire house. That night we played our last hockey game with the Huskies and then moved in to Murray’s Dad’s house for the weekend. On Saturday, the movers came in and packed up everything, including our cars, into a huge trailer. I felt bad for the animals since they didn’t know what was going on. It was a bit upsetting for them to see people taking all of furniture away. On Sunday, Murray’s mom and big Mur picked us up from Dad’s and took us to the airport. It was harder than I thought it would be to say goodbye to Maureen, but she’s been so good to us since Maddy was born and I feel closer than I ever had to her. Being at the airport was pretty crazy… It wasn’t us just going on a trip this time – it was us really leaving. I called my mom from the airport for a tearful goodbye, and of course more tears again saying goodbye to Mum and Mur. I think I was a bit numb, I couldn’t believe we were really leaving our family and friends. I took a picture from our seats on the plane as our last view of BC. (At least our last one for awhile…) We moved into our house on Monday – which happened to be the coldest day EVER. It was -23, but felt like -35 with the wind chill. And yes, there were definitely a few thoughts of: what have we done!?

Fortunately, the weather improved quickly, and I experienced my first “Chinook headache”. Chinook winds come in to Calgary every couple of weeks during the winter and bring up the temperature drastically and suddenly. It can go from -20 to 0 in a day, and the sudden change of high pressure can cause headaches. Once that subsided, the weather returned to typical March weather, just below 0 degrees and sunny. What’s funny about the weather here is that it can be -2 and feel warmer than it does in Vancouver at +8. It’s because it’s gorgeous blue sky and sun, and the cold is brisk and dry, while it can be grey and rainy in Van City. I won’t miss that.

We miss our Canucks a lot. Even though we subscribed to Sportsnet Pacific, they black out the Canucks games!! It’s brutal to see all these crappy Flames games that we don’t care about. And of course, the Canucks haven’t been on TSN or CBC since we moved. Luckily, we scored some tickets to the game when the Canucks were in town last weekend. We proudly donned our Canucks jerseys and kissed Maddy goodbye as we left her with our new friend Tara. She’s our real estate agent’s wife and one VERY brave woman to look after miss Mads. I gotta say – the Saddledome sucks. Yeah, we had crappy seats waaaaay up top, so high up, in fact, that we couldn’t see the fans across from us because of the dip in the middle of the saddle. We are spoiled with Rogers Arena being such a new building. Murray teased a Flames fan and very good sport sitting next to us, asking if the city was thinking of building a new arena once they got an NHL team. It was a tough start since the Nucks went down 2-0 within the first few minutes, but it was sweet to cheer loud and proud when our boys came back to beat the Flames. The ride home on the C-train was pretty amusing since there were many fellow Canucks fans on board, and some poor Flames fan actually got booed when he got on wearing the home team’s jersey.

Hello kitty

As for me, my big priority has been to meet people. It’s a bit different for Murray since he’s got his new job and has met a ton of new people. I think his depot has over 400 staff, so he has gotten tons of interactions with new people. After mom left, I have pretty much been on my own, so I’ve been spending a lot of time in malls just to get out of the house. I gotta say, though, the malls here rock. Cross Iron Mills is HUGE and amazing, and Market Mills is also really nice.  Unlike home, where programs seem to be ongoing drop-ins, here I’ve had to wait and try to register for stuff. I have Mar 28 and 29 highlighted in my calendar to be on the computer at 10AM sharp so I can get one of 15 highly coveted spots in some baby storytime programs. This week I finally found a drop in program that I could check out on Tuesday. I met a really nice mom who invited me to a playdate at Coffee and Scream on Thursday, where I met another mom that I got along with. I also found out about a website called Meetup.com from another mom at the Tuesday drop-in, and through that I’ve found a lot of other mom groups.

So, I guess things are starting to feel more like home now, and it’s a lot better knowing that I have places to go and not just stuck at home. Maddy has adjusted like a champ and is doing really well. She has been getting so strong and can now stand up for several seconds while holding herself up on a footstool. She is also eating plenty of solids now and has tried banana, avocado, pears, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, oats and rice. Next up is some meats like chicken and beef! It’s definitely messy, but we have our Canucks bibs to keep her looking good 🙂

Maddy standing on her own

surprise surprise

Madison eats her first solid food! Yum yum!

Madison knows what she wants. She’s stubborn. Based on our experiences with her so far, it’s no wonder we thought starting her on solids was going to be an adventure, to put it lightly. Imagine my surprise when she took to this new experience so well!

Much of what I’ve read suggests that parents should wait until 6 months to start their babies on solid food. However, some babies can be ready as early as  four months of age. Some of the signs to look for that indicate that baby is ready for solids are:

• able to hold head upright
• can sit with assistance
• shows interest in parent’s food
• loses tongue thrust reflex (so baby doesn’t automatically push food out of her mouth)

Madison seemed to have all of these, but I couldn’t tell about the last one until we actually gave solid food a shot. Next up was deciding what to give her. It was between Heinz or Gerber rice cereal and decided to go with Gerber since it had less salt and sugar. Yup, mama is checking food labels already 🙂 I chose the type that you can mix with either breast milk or infant formula. I figured this would be the best choice since it would at least be based on something that tasted familiar to her.

I had waited about half and hour after I had nursed Madison, so that she was not hungry, but not too full, either. Grandma came over to help and we got all of our stuff ready. The Bumbo seat was set up, bowl and soft-coated spoon ready, bib selected, camera nearby…. I mixed the rice cereal with some milk that I had pumped the day before so that it was thin and close to what she was used to. I wasn’t sure what to expect – I had prepared myself for some fussing, crying and protesting, but none of that came to fruition! Instead, Madison opened her mouth willingly and took the first spoonful with no problem at all. She moved the food around in her mouth a little, then swallowed and looked at us, ready for more. Spoon after spoon went down and Madison really seemed to love it. She closed her mouth around the spoon and would swallow well. Several times, she even tried to hold the spoon herself so she could be in charge.

Oh miss Madison, you never cease to amaze me.