Ingrid Nora Echo Hemming is the daughter of Astra Leona Hemming (née Ozols) and Matthew Frederick Davis Hemming. She is named Nora in honour of her maternal great-grandmother.

Birth date: Monday 20 January 2003, 14:45 EST
Birth place: Willowdale, Ontario, Canada
Birth weight: 8 lbs., 3 oz.
Birth height: 54 cm
Head circumference at birth: 36 cm
APGARS: 9 / 9 / not measured




State of the Baby - 20 August 2003 (author: mommy) Ingrid continues to learn new and even neater tricks. As you come into our home you are bound to hear our little smiling wonder shouting at her daddy or humming and whining (at the same time, somehow!) to get mommy's attention. She will knock down her stacking toys (thanks Vilis & Andra) as she shouts with joy and rubs her little feet together frantically. As she watches the little ball roll around the couch you will be able to tell by her scrunched little face that she is making a decision. Quickly she rocks her chubby little torso forward while pulling her right leg under her body to help push her more forward, ta-da, Ingrid can crawl! This little bean is moving forward and getting faster every day. She loves anything on the ground that can be put into her mouth. The fun ensues.

Ingrid has so many fans and she loves them all. Her grandparents continue to shower her with enough affection and gifts for at least two babies. Ingrid gets more outfits from her grandmas then you can shake a stick at; and they are all adorable. It is nice that Ingrid now knows her family and smiles happily when her Auntie Em or Vecpap (Latvian word for grandfather) come into the room. Although Ingrid loves all of her fans she has a very special place for her daddy who, in her most difficult teething times, is the only one who can make her smile, and likely even giggle. For me it is also very cute to see Ingrid's personality coming out. Her confused and thinking faces are identical to her daddy's. Seeing Matthew's face somehow squished into her little tiny girl face is one of the neatest things about being a parent.

We now look forward to Ingrid standing up and then cruising around. She already pushes herself from crawl to sitting, and from sitting to sitting up on knees. I have to lower the crib and babyproof the house. We continue to enjoy our little baby who is turning into a toddler too quickly.


State of the Baby - 2 June 2003 (author: mommy) Ingrid is now in her fourteenth week of life and she continues to grow by leaps and bounds. She has three teeth which have grown in nicely on her bottom and two new eye teeth peeking out today from the top gums. Poor little pickle has been having some hard teething times but, with true Ingrid tolerance, she continues to be a trooper. Although we have all heard Ingrid cry (and actually scream now), her babysitters seem to get the brunt of it, due to their lack of lactating breasts. What can we do. Now that Ingrid has started eating some real food, (if you can call the mush of starter cereals real) perhaps the babysitters will have an easier time. We will soon see as mommy and daddy will be having a baby free day on their anniversary on June 15th and Grandma Laurie will have to contend with the little munchkin and her stubborness.

Muffy (one of mommy's pet names along with Pickle and Popsicle) is still the same delightful little baby she always was. Even though her teeth have been bothering her she is trying to smile underneath her annoyance. When her teeth aren't hurting her, which is sometimes days and some days only hours, Ingrid is a delightful giggling little girl. She is now grabbing out for items and trying to put them into her favourite orifice, the mouth. When she is thinking you can see her pulling at her ear, reminicent or her daddy sitting at his computer. Ingrid loves to ride on her daddy's head and this often makes angry shouts dissapear, as does a visit with the "mirror babies" in the bathroom. We couldn't possibly love her any more and seemingly neither could her fans. Yes, she has fans. These fans are non-family members who love her enough to have her picture on their desktop. How cute is that! We try to make rounds to keep them happy and shell out a little bit of adorable. With all of the new outfits coming to her from adoring fans we are able to astound all with even more pictures to keep you hooked. Enjoy our darling as we do.


State of the Baby - 27 April 2003 (author: mommy) Here we are at the three month mark and Ingrid continues to change daily. We were very surprised a week ago to find that Ingrid had a little hard bud of a tooth under her lower gums. The drool has increased exponentially. Ingrid now also has a habit of aiming her head at any object she would like in her mouth and sort of leaning heavily towards it. Things which she currently enjoys leaning towards include mommy's arm, daddy's fingers and her little piggie teether. Her tooth now juts out proudly, its little white serrated edge glinting brightly with its healthy coating of saliva.

Our books tell us that at this age Ingrid may be beginning to experiment with putting a little weight on her legs. Of course she is a little standing girl all of the time. She can hold herself up very well for extended periods of time. She really enjoys standing and being made to bounce, as do most babies. You can see a delightful version of this in the newest video clip. It includes Ingrid giggling happily, the sound of which is like crack for anyone not made of stone. Matthew and I have already watched the clip about twenty times today. That laugh could stop wars if we could just amplify it enough.

Ingrid is also working hard towards being able to turn over from her tummy onto her back. She pushes herself up with her arms to look around when she is on her stomach but she hasn't gotten quite to pushing her chest up yet. We continue to watch excitedly as she bumbles around on the bed, hoping to see the magical moment. Until that happens we are happy to talk with her, wipe her drool and enjoy her magical sparkly demeanor.


State of the Baby - 19 March 2003 (author: daddy) Ingrid had her first check-up with her MD today. She has grown to 5.5 kg (or approximately 12 and a quarter pounds) in weight, and almost 60 cm in length/height. Dr Poldes checked the rotation and flexibility of Ingrid's limbs and hinges, and peered into her various apertures, ultimately declaring everything to be in ship shape. Ingrid bravely took a shot in the thigh as a part of her first innoculation series, and we've given her some Tempra as a prophylactic against the mild fever and/or pain she may experience tonight as a reaction to the live virus elements. Right now, Ingrid is sitting in Astra's lap and cooing back and forth with me, saying "Wharrrrllllll" over and over again to get my attention -- when I look at her, she giggles. "Wharrrllll" is Ingrid's replacement for "b'huh-huh" (also known as "the goat noise") which we now hear infrequently.


State of the Baby - 9 March 2003 (author: mommy) Ingrid had her last visit with the midwives this week, as she is now six weeks old. How time flies when you are watching someone's forebrain develop. Ingrid weighed in at 11 pounds and 8 ounces as she continues to expand. The midwives all love her, and who can blame them. She is so good whenever we take her anywhere. She makes me look really good and I don't even have to do very much. I continue to be a proud parent.

We had a baby photographer come in to take pictures of our little one last week. That was a very interesting experience. The guy who came was pro, he was in and out of the house (having to both set-up and then tear-down a little set with backdrop) in 30 minutes. He had props for Ingrid to wear for pictures in the Anne Geddes style as well as some regular set ups. So, we get pictures of her in a basket with a cabbage leaf hat, in butterfly wings and with a fairy skirt on. They were damn cute.

The people came with the shots of Ingrid on Saturday. The pictures are very cute and we bought some, but man, were they ever expensive. I had to listen to a half an hour of sales pitch and go through 6 different packages, the most expensive being 800 dollars and the cheapest 400. It was insane. I finally said I would just get singles and then I was introduced to a second, cheaper set of packages from which I chose. They did not include montages, which I really thought was okay.

Ingrid is full of smiles whenever she is well rested these days. The morning, late afternoon and early evening are her cutest times. She also likes to sort of sing to herself and try her vocal chords out. This is pretty funny to listen to and I hope it gets on the next video. As of yet Ingrid can't really do anything interesting like grab or put her hands together. We don't mind, she's getting by on looks right now.


State of the Baby - 22 February 2003 (author: mommy) Ingrid is a month old! She is growing by leaps and bounds. Having just been to the midwives I have some updates. Ingrid now weighs 10 lbs and 8 ounces. I suspect it goes up every day because she really likes to eat. Matthew has taken to calling her "Boss Hog" because of her two, fairly generous, chins. Also she has grown from the 54 cm she was at birth to 56 cm in length. This must have something to do with her legs straightening as well, cause that certainly is noticeable.

She seems to be doing stuff that books say she should be doing. She also does a lot of stuff that they say is possible but not to be expected. We are proud parents. It is also good because some of things have to do with her holding her head up and I enjoy not having to think about that all of the time. Not only that, but it is really cute to watch her looking around at stuff she finds interesting. She is more and more seeming like a little person.

We have been seeing signs this week that Ingrid has started smiling in response to stimuli, even almost giggling at times. How exciting this is. It gives us, and everyone who visits with her, the ability to play the "try and make baby smile game". It's very fun. I'm sure soon it will be nothing to see her smile and giggle, but as of today it still feels like you've been given a special gift when you get one.


State of the Baby - 6 February 2003 (author: daddy) Ingrid was last checked out by the midwives on February 3rd. At that time she weighed close to nine pounds. She has settled into a fairly regular pattern of feeding and sleeping, interspersed with longish periods of being in a quiet alert state. Ingrid rarely cries, and when she does it is for less than ten seconds, which is something for which her parents are grateful. Most often she vocalises by making a low, stuttering groan noise that sounds remarkably like a small goat.