Meeting Damian For the First Time

Of our many friends in the neXus crew, Philip had yet to meet Damian since he moved to Japan before he was born. However, on Wednesday night, we went out for wings at Gabby's and Philip and Damian got to meet for the first time. They hit it off quite well, even wearing matching colours! Welcome back to Toronto, Damian, and we hope you enjoy your holidays here before heading back to Japan in the New Year!

Merry Christmas!

It was Philip's first Christmas and he had a blast. He opened all his presents bright and early this morning and was overwhelmed with lots of toys and clothes from friends and family. Thank you everyone for the extremely generous gifts! For dinner, we had Paul's family over and dressed him in his Santa outfit so he could sit on everyone's laps instead! He had so much fun that he was tuckered out before everyone even left! From Philip, Paul, myself and Patch (the 4 P's):
We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and we wish you all the best for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! :)

Liam X 2

Lisa, Jeremy and Liam met up with us again at our place on Thursday for lunch and to exchange gifts for our little guys. The big boys Paul and Jeremy got to catch up and joke around while the mommies watched the little boys play with trains and peek-a-blocks. Once again, Philip and Liam had a great time interacting with each other and sharing their toys, especially the Incrediblock. Unfortunately for Philip, Liam then tried to take a bite out of his bald little head! My poor baby got beat up twice in the same week, first by a girl twice his size and then by a boy twice his size. Philip definitely needs to have a growth spurt to catch up with them! I won't hold my breath, but in the meantime, he'll have to learn how to hold his own somehow. Thanks for the great books and toys and we hope the boys see a lot more of each other in the New Year! :)

My First Playdate

Chloe, Olivia, Liam, Delilah, Philip and Lexi

Lisa and Jeremy invited us over to their house for Philip's first playdate on Tuesday! It was great sharing baby stories with all the other moms and I really enjoyed watching Philip interact with other kids in his age group. He was the second oldest of the six babies, but unfortunately the second smallest. Paul says that it looks like he'll have to rely on his wits and his smile to get by! hehe. Actually, Philip did try to impress Delilah by caressing her head and arm repeatedly but he got hit on the head with a drum stick multiple times in return! Lesson learned? Women are evil! haha. Other than that, Philip seemed to really like the overall experience and we look forward to the next time all the kids meet. Thanks for the invite, Lisa! :)

Eight Months Old

Wow, Philip is eight months old today. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. He is still a featherweight at 16 lb 4 oz and 73 cm tall. He isn't gaining much weight but fortunately he is very active and healthy and has a huge appetite (with great metabolism too I might add) so the doctors have convinced me that there is nothing to worry about. At least I can say that I don't have any back problems to report! His accomplishments this past month are: he has four teeth (two top, two bottom) and a couple more top ones coming soon, he loves to mimick sounds like "ba-ba-ba" and "mum-mum-mum" and make lots of strange "raspberry" noises, he smiles and chuckles all the time, he can pick things up with just his fingers, he loves to pull on strings and zippers, he reaches his arms out when people want to hold him, he can play on his own for hours on end as long as he has lots of toys around him, he loves to bang things together, he has started eating dairy and meat and can feed himself (albeit very messily), he's a great kicker, he can stand up from a kneeling position and can stand on his own with minimal support, he can sometimes wave goodbye, and he still loves to pester Patch whenever he can. Here are some pics of him in his holiday outfits courtesy of Auntie Eileen and Auntie Joanna. Philip approves of the outfits and he is definitely ready for his first Christmas. Thanks for the really cute Santa suits, you two... sisters rock! :)

My First Santa Pic

Happy holidays from Philip to you! :)

The Baris Join the Rest of Us

Eban and Biba came over for dinner tonight and shared the great news that they're expecting a baby in July! I'm really excited for them and look forward to sharing all the wonderful stories of being a parent. They also let in that a couple of our friends are expecting soon as well. I guess it really isn't surprising since we're all at that age now... Congrats to the Baris and may the baby factories begin!

I Still Hate Tummy Time

You can't blame a mom for trying, but boy does my son ever hate tummy time. He's hated it since birth and I've tried it almost every single day. Actually, there was a very short time when he first learned to raise his head that he was alright with it, but once he realized he was on his tummy again, he was an unhappy camper. Sometimes he's able to free himself by rolling over, but he hasn't quite mastered the belly to back roll yet. He's great with the back to belly roll, but then he cries 'cause he's on his tummy again! It's the only real time Philip can let out the loudest wails, and when my kid wants to, he sure does have a great set of lungs! I haven't completely given up tummy time yet, but at this rate I highly doubt Philip will be a crawler anytime soon. Paul and I are predicting that he'll be walking before he can crawl and so far he's proving us right!

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200

As Philip gets older, we need to come up with more and more places around the house for him to play in. His recent favourite place is his playpen, or what we affectionately call his "jail". He can easily sit and play there for long periods of time without having me worry about him. I can get all my chores done and still come back to a happy baby! Even better, it's incredibly easy to pack up so I can bring it with us to grandma's house or when we travel. What would I do without all these wonderful gadgets these days? The playpen is a definite plus in this household and I highly recommend it for parents everywhere! :)

Sunday Brunch with the Sartorios

Karen and Kevin are getting hitched next weekend so Winston organized a Sunday brunch for us to get together this afternoon. The destination was the Bloor Street Diner with an all-you-can-eat breakfast/lunch buffet, including a great dessert table with a chocolate fountain! It was Karen's first time meeting the little guy and we think Philip liked her a lot as he spent a lot of time happy in her arms. Practice, maybe?? hehe. We had a great time and Philip enjoyed being held by the neXus crew. Congrats to the soon-to-be newlyweds and we look forward to the Ng-Sartorio wedding this Saturday!

Christmas is Coming!

We've already put up the lights outside, put up the Christmas tree and decorated the entire house, so I thought it was the perfect time to whip out all of Philip's cute holiday outfits! Here he is in a sleeper he got from cousin Brandon. Poor Patch has become Philip's favourite toy these days. Philip watches him all the time and reaches for him whenever he can. To be honest, I think Patch is actually afraid of Philip now since he is always pulling on his ears, tail or hair. Poor doggy... thanks for being such a good sport, Patch!

I Love My Jolly Jumper

I've mentioned how Philip loves to stand and jump but I've never posted a video of him jumping before. Here he is last night on his jolly jumper doing his usual 20-minute exercise. He really loves this thing and it allows me to rest for awhile too. Yay for the jolly jumper! :)

Doing Things On My Own

Philip has decided that he wants to do things on his own now. When he's sitting in his rocker or his swing, he always wants to rock himself instead of having one of us do it for him. He even pushes our hands away so we can't help him out! Since he hates tummy time (again!), it looks like he might completely bypass the crawling stage too. He's very eager to stand when people are holding him and can stand by himself against a couch. He even tries to take a couple of steps but falls over since he isn't strong enough yet. When it comes to feeding, he loves to take a spoonful of food and shove it in his mouth. The only problem is he doesn't like to give the spoon back for more as he treats it like a teether! He is now eating three meals a day on top of the usual breastfeeding and loves every minute of it. He especially loves his rice crackers because he can crunch away on them all by himself. He really likes drinking out of his sippy cup now too, although he treats it more like a toy and gets water everywhere. You would think with all these feedings, he would gain a lot more weight, but it doesn't seem to be happening fast enough since he's such an active baby! Needless to say, Philip is keeping us on our toes but we're having fun every step of the way!