9 Months Old!

Ol' sawbones is definitely having more fun than the LM
Isaac tipped the scales at 22 lbs 3 oz. The best part was no vaccinations. It'll be a different story when he turns a year!

June City Adventures

Erin O'Ray came to visit from Pettawawa with her sister and three kids (Maeve 4, Dan 2, and Bronwyn 9 months). Here we are waiting for the subway to take us down to Center Island, with neighbours Minna, Max and Armaus. Our day at Centerville was one of my favourites ever... the older kids had so much fun on the rides - their joy was unbelievable thrilling!

First Mother's Day

We're catching up on some old posts here.... Isaac and I celebrating our first Mother's Day! Lovely shirt from Nadine, thanks Nadine!

Montreal Day 3

We took in the ambience of Old Montreal and prepared for our journey back to Toronto, under the cover of night so that Isaac would sleep in the car.

Day 2 in Montreal

We managed to fit everything in today that we had planned.
This means two things:

[1] We've become pros at moving at baby speed
[2] Isaac was a champ today

Feeling crowded in Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges
Admiring the goldfish in Lac-aux-Castors
Rejuvenating in parc du Mont-Royal

After grabbing lunch at a bookstore/restaurant (and a book in French for Isaac), we headed out for a stroll through the cemetery to Mont Royal. It's amazing to have this green space in the middle of the city - such a great way to get a break. Toronto gives you a taste of this in its ravines and on the Torotno Islands, but it could use so much more.

On the way back to the apartment, we made a point to stop by the Cheskie Heimishe Bakery to pick up some fabled chocolate babka:

A little bit of yeast and chocolate heaven

Day 1 in Montreal

Jen & I decided to head out to Montreal for a few days seeing as we had the time. Being off with the two of them is great. It's the weekend all week long! Today called for a trip into the downtown and a bit of shopping. The weather is quite nice as we are well into spring. Given that Isaac's hair is slowly coming in and mine is slowly going out, we have to make sure that everyone is properly covered up :-)

Metro just arriving
Beer for us; Sealed water bottle for Isaac
Keeping our noodles out of the sun

We're staying in a small apartment in the Côte-des-Neiges area which is around the south side of Mont Royal from the downtown [Map]. Tomorrow, we're hoping to head out for a bit of a walking tour. Maybe a picnic in the park!

More swimming lessons

Isaac is doing pretty well in the pool. I just keep telling him that it's nothing more than a bigger bathtub.

Showering in the pool

The main point of these lessons is to teach parents how to teach babies to swim and to also get the babies used to getting wet. It will be fun giving Isaac lots of practice this summer!

Crossing the Rubidon

Jen and I headed out yesterday and crossed the Don Valley. After a stop on the way at the Distillery District, Isaac was in need of a nap so we went to the Leslie Spit for a walk. It is a human-made finger of land that juts out into Lake Ontario. No surprise that it also doubles as a clean-fill dump and is still growing.

concrete and re bar beach
Eying mommy's sandwich from the couch

We wound the outing down with lunch at Toast on Queen in Leslieville. It had a glorious couch that allowed Isaac to lounge around and generally kept him out of arms' reach of our plates. Very handy!

G(r)O(cery) Kart riding!

After carrying Isaac around for a while we decided to give our tired backs and arms a rest. Isaac had no complaints as he got to ride around in style :-)

The LM is all smiles while riding shotgun
Note the steadying presence of the oranges and the melon. Tipping over and getting a mouthful of grocery cart was a distinct possibility. No sense in letting those two teeth get knocked out just as they are starting to come in!

Teething starting to bear fruit

Or teeth, as it were.

For the last little while, Isaac has been pretty irritable. We've been passing it off as teething, but couldn't really be sure. For the longest time, we could see the shape of some teeth underneath his gums, but they just seemed happy to stay there.

Two little rascals competing to emerge first

A few days ago we could see two little white dots. Today the tops of the teeth are poking out. It's pretty amazing to feel the enamel!