Life with Avery and Alex

Approaching another milestone

2010-03-07T12:22:00.003-05:00

It has been a terrible few days, all the more compounded by the realization that in just a few days it will be the one year anniversary of Ryan's passing.

I was telling someone else the story, and realise that it was never put here, maybe too close or real for anyone who actually reads this, but here it is (from my personal and selfish perspective)

Avery and I went to the Dominican last year for March break - we left on the Wednesday before and we to be there for 8 days. We left Andrew home with AJ and planned on some quality girl time. So we got to the resort (the same one I had been to 7 years earlier when pregnant with Avery) and checked in to our room. I knew the hotel had an internet cafe, so we went and bought an hour of internet time and let everyone know we got in safely. Avery and I booked out à la carte dinners and set about securing prime space by the pool - she is a little fish, so she was fine to be in the pool without me, she'd just check in every few minutes. On Thursday we just lounged, and on Friday we decided to head back to the room a little early to get out of the heat and play checkers. Friday (the 13th!) was Andrew's birthday, so we had planned on going to the internet cafe to send him an email wishing him a happy birthday before our dinner. As fate would have it, we tried to leave our room 7 times before finally succeeding (I forgot the towels, the internet access code, the reservation ticket, Avery had to go pee - you name it) so finally on the 7th time Avery told me she could do it by herself, so I gave her the key and she opened the door, then yelled back to me that the phone was ringing. I told her she could answer it as she speaks Spanish as well as I do, but then heard her yell Daddy!. I took the phone (and as is a trend in our life) gave him grief asking him if he was so desperate for birthday wishes that he tracked us down in the Dominican. He told me to sit down, then said he and AJ were ok - to which I asked if he had driven the van in to the house (he had several stupid car accidents in the preceding months). He then told me Ryan was dead - I was hysterical, Avery was hysterical, and I had to get home. We pulled it as together as best we could and went to make arrangements to get home - it was 5 pm or so on Friday. The tour operator was really helpful, but thank god I am bilingual! She managed to get us on a flight leaving Saturday landing in Montreal, so I went to make the arrangements with Andrew on getting me from Montreal to Ottawa or Woodstock. I also sent the worst (strangest?) facebook message ever telling all my friends my brother was dead - but it was the only means I could think of to get the word out as far away as I was. We got back to the tour operator room, and noticed that they had posted a notice about the flight to Toronto being delayed until 9pm that night, so I asked (frantically) if I could get on that flight. It all worked out, and they got us on. I was a disaster and proceeded to throw up the whole way to the airport (with my normally car sick 6 year old rubbing my back and telling me it would all be ok) then explaining to all the people around me who were trying to get as far away from me as possible that I had just suffered a loss and wasn't contagious - I was offered all kinds of drugs! I still do not think I actually had a ticket or boarding pass for that flight, but they let us on. I was sick the whole flight too - then started to be concerned they might quarantine me at the airport But somehow we got through (though the customs guy wanted a letter from Andrew saying that I was permitted to travel with Avery - and I thought geez! i am bringing her back to the country!) Andrew had called my best friend from high school and she met us at the airport at 4:30 in the morining and brought us to her apartment in TO.

The next morning I was traumatized to realise I had nothing to wear suitable for March in TO - and ended up having to wear a spring dress with black socks and running shoes. I was mortified, but also needed to get out just to be busy until Andrew got there. So Andrew gets there with Mister and we head to Woodstock. I get in and in my role as middle child, take full control of the situation - I call his friends, I picked out the urn, chose flowers, found a minister (who was ok with him being gay), wrote the death notice, and made sure everyone had what they needed.

Another aside - if you ever have to tell someone that someone else has died, be direct and say they died. My brother died as a result of a precision fall that had him hit is head on the edge of his bedframe, breaking off his nose and then landing on his face and suffocating. My dad found him. After calling 911 and being taken outside (the house was a crime scene until cleared) my mom came home from the gym. Dad is standing on the driveway waving his arms and tells her "He's gone" she says "Gone where?" to which he replied "We've lost him!" to which she replies "Lost him? He is 6 foot 4 and dresses like a pylon" (his favorite colour being orange) So really - if you ever have to bear that message, direct is better. :)

My brother worked at East Side Marios as the bar manager and was loved by all who knew him. He was that guy that had a key to every bar n Woodstock because they all knew they could depend on him to help them out. His staff at ESM were devastated, as were so many of the customers - it ended up being a weekend of mourning at the restaurant. To show their support and respect the ESM owners' daughter bought a spool of orange ribbon and the staff at ESM wore them - that spread like a crazy wildfire in Woodstock and everywhere we went we would see people wearing an orange ribbon. I put the call out for pictures and was inundated with hundreds, and videos and music and stories... so we put it together and had a great slide show at the funeral home. We ended up having 3 visitations before the service - seeing well over 400 people - for my little brother! The funeral itself was standing room only (my father-in-law asked if he was in the wrong place as he could not believe Ryan was so loved).

We debated about the reception, thinking the Legion would be good, but then got a call from the owner of the ESM who also owns a bar, he offered (maybe even insisted) that we hold it there. the funeral and reception were on St. patty's day - which seemed very fitting for my beer loving brother. So we had it there, and many of the food making establishments provided the food. It was crazy.

I went to leave the funeral with Ryan (who was cremated and much easier to carry than his body would have been) and the funeral director told me that my mom did not want him coming to the bar. I felt a little bad, so I put him in the van and we went to the bar. Shortly after I got there, the owner came over and asked where Ryan was, and I told him in the van (I also was not sure if you could bring a dead person in to a bar - health code violation?) But he said to me "Do you know how upset Ryan would be to be this close to a bar and not be allowed to come in?" So I cleared it with my mom, and in he came. People bought him lots of drinks, and would come by and 'cheers' his urn. We sat around and laughed and told stories, and it was amazing. (though both my sister and I tried to figure how to lose 30 pounds in 2 days before having to see everyone we ever knew...)

Most days I smile when I think of him, and even if it makes me cry, I end up laughing at one of the stories - but am a little anxious about the anniversary - and Andrew.

So that is the story. March 13 marks the 1 year mark, and I am crying even as I type this. I miss him so much. And I hate that Avery only has a few memories and AJ has none.

Another year bites the dust

2009-12-30T21:29:00.002-05:00

Amazing how time passes... approaching 2010, which I am sure once seemed so very very far away. And yet here we are - definitely settled in our new home, with NO PLANS TO EVER MOVE AGAIN! AJ has no recollection of a world before this house. Avery has had a few play dates, so I think she has overcome her deep missing of her friends back in Orleans. Andrew has been at this job for over 4 months now, and really likes it, and I have been at my new gig for a couple of months and truly enjoy it.

We made it through Christmas with out a terrible amount of excess, Santa seemed to have slightly more restraint this year than any previous year, however Mom and Dad did their best to make up for that... I mean seriously, a laundry basket full of presents for 3 kids! It was so nice to be within an hour of all our Christmas visiting - no need to pack for overnight stays, and we got to spend quality time with all of the family.

So that is all for now - just an end to 2009. A beginning to 2010.

One month down!

2009-09-28T18:42:00.005-04:00

One month down. It seems like we have always been here (expect for the remaining basement boxes) Andrew even hung some of the art yesterday, so the walls look like ours too. Andrew is enjoying his new role and has been impressed that people are starting ask things of him. Avery is enjoying her new school and has made a few friends. I am a little miffed at the French immersion program at her school -she had so much more French in Orleans, but I guess it is what we get here. AJ has fully integrated in to his new daycare and has a couple of new best friends.

Things worked out well for us furniture-wise as my gramma (or Super G as she is known) sold her condo to move to one of those cruise-ships on land and as such no longer needed her dining room set, side tables, or a variety of other pieces. I have a fully furnished house! if not too furnished.

Long time coming

2009-08-18T16:01:00.002-04:00

How has nearly a year gone by? I new I was delinquent, but I never realised how much so. Big changes are afoot - in just a few days, Andrew and I are packing up our life in Ottawa and moving back to South-western Ontario. Just shy of 5 years since we left, and we are moving to within 500 metres of our first house.

Beach party was a great success this year - many nice memories were shared about Ryan - and a few tears, the party will never be the same without him. The kids are having a good time and we are all getting a few days of much deserved rest before the chaos of September hits.

September

2008-09-14T10:28:00.002-04:00

How quickly we go from summer to fall - it seems that we had the best 2 weeks of the summer this year at the cottage - minimal rain, and warm enough through the day to have us down enjoying the water, but cool enough in the evenings that we could sleep. We got to spend some nice quality time with Stacey and Ramsay, we had a good turn out for the beach party, and even fit in a trip to the Toronto zoo - which was very nice - however we did miss the polar bears.

And now, here we are mid-September and it seems so long ago that I was sitting on a beach chair watching the kids in the waves...

Since Avery is now in full-time school, it was decided that we would no longer have a nanny and instead have the kids in daycare. So AJ started at his new centre on September 2 - which when we registered him in July was almost at capacity - to find he was one of 2 kids in his age group! Apparently the centre had a significant subsidy program, but with some of the city budget cuts they were no longer supported for the spots, so some 100 kids were daycare-less - and they are now building the centre from scratch. The first day there were maybe 20 kids in the whole centre! He seems to like it, and has not had problem napping in a group setting, and eats well for them. No great luck on the potty-training front - which I would really like to move on since it is costing us $49 per day until he is trained - then he can be moved to a higher ratio room and reduce my costs to $35 per day. (that difference over a month almost covers the cost of our dinner out last night!).

Avery is enjoying school - she is in a 1/2 split and is not with any of the girls she played with last year. She claims there are only 4 girls in the whole class - 3 gr 1's and 1 gr 2! She has already decided she is done with sandwiches for lunch, so we are experimenting with hot meals in a thermos, but I can see that wearing thin shortly too. She is also attending an aftercare program run by the city which she really seems to enjoy.

Both kids needed an almost full wardrobe replacement - Avery needing size 7 or 8 and AJ needing 3T. Yesterday I bought their snowsuits - an expensive undertaking when doing both at once, but since I bought 3-in-1 jackets, they will start wearing them likely before the month is out.

Mister is now in a big-boy bed! The move was uneventful and incident free. I had really wanted to get him bunk beds that I could not justify the cost for the sets I really liked, and I really disliked the ones in my price range... so a normal bed it is.

Updates

2008-07-23T22:59:00.003-04:00

Somehow it is nearing the end of July - seems like I was just putting away the snow stuff, and now I see back to school things all over the place...

So, Avery has turned 6 - she looks 8 or 12, I don't know! She "graduated" from Senior Kindergarten and will be starting her full-time immersion in September for grade 1, with twice as many kids in her class - a slight adjustment I imagine. She is getting better at reading everyday, and has taken an interest in the Disney Fairies chapter books - no longer requiring there to be a picture on each page!

Our nanny will be done working with us at the end of August, so we have found daycare for Mister - it is in a centre, which we have never done before, but I just think he needs that kid of structure and environment, more than he needs to be in a home-care setting - we'll see, if we hate it, it is possible that our neighbour will take him in once she is settled after her pending birth.

Mister has quite the vocabulary now, and is SO polite "dank you mama", "uppy please mama", "bye-bye work mama" and he has such a cute little voice! He says "A-dee" now for Avery, and calls himself "A.J!" He calls the cats by name too "O-bo" and "Hzl-B". He loves "chclte milk" and "chclte bread" - which is the chocolate-chip banana bread I have been buying at market for them.

We did have a little excitement around Avery's birthday with Mister - he stole a piece of peanut-butter toast from Marilou one morning, and immediately swelled up - Marilou called Andrew who rushed home - who called me - who rushed to the hospital. Alex went by ambulance with Andrew - and all turned out ok - we left with a prescription for an epi-pen and to get rid of all nut products in thehouse. Andrew went a little crazy and took out everything, then proceeded to bleach the cupboards, but better safe than sorry I suppose. Mister had an appointment with an allergist a few days ago and is now a confirmed anaphylactic reaction to peanuts and peanut products, but is clear for other nuts and legumes. An epi-pen now lives in my purse.

Avery has passed her level 2 at swimming, which apparently is quite impressive, since most kids require 2 or 3 attempts at it. So far we have not signed up for any more lessons for the summer, but I still might. She is playing soccer every Friday with her dad as 3rd coach, so she is still doing something. It is almost decision time for her fall activities - I think she wants piano lessons, so it may be piano and skating - but she also wants to do gymnastics and swimming- but I stand by my 2 activity limit.

Alex is considering potty training, in that if you ask him to go, he will, but I swear he just pees all day long.... We would love to see it taken care of by the end of the summer as the cost for the toddler room is $14 per day more than the preschool room, which he otherwise qualifies for. Potty training is our only barrier.

We spent Canada Day weekend at the beach, which was nice, and since the weather was a little crappy on June 30th , we drive home and got to spend Canada Day in Ottawa - so we took the kids to Petrie Island and went on the rides, then biked home.

Not that we are moving any time soon, but I found our dream home - which was only made better by the day Andrew and I drive past it and the garage was open, and Andrew noted the floor-to ceiling shelving unit full of shoes - really - those people have designed a house after my own heart!

Avery got a new pair of glasses at the end of June as well, since Alex got a hold of htem (right off her face) and broke the arm off. So now she has a very cute pair of Barbie glasses.

And in other news, Andrew finally got the big promotion he had been seeking, so we are all very happy that it worked out for him.

Ok - seems like a lot of rambling going on, so I will end it for today.

Ciao!

2 posts in one day!

2008-05-25T11:55:00.002-04:00

I just got home from taking Mister to swimming class, and on the way home, stopped at Tim Hortons, then got gas, then proceeded to rear-end a nice gentleman in his 2008 Honda Accord! No one was injured, as it happened from a full-stop - I can't even really explain what happened - I had Mister in the car, we were stopped, he said something so I looked back, I guess I noticed the cars moving, so I accelerated - right in to the car ahead of me. My hood buckled and my license plate fell off, his pristine bumper was scratched - possibly only needing body work, possibly replacement - I don't know. I called Andrew from the accident and he was almost ok with it, since he assumed I had the van - which has been in need of body work since he drove it in to a pole at the mall in December - but no, I for some unknown reason decided to install a car seat in the car and take Mister in the Saturn. So now to deal with the insurance - did I mention that the cheque from our basement claim was just processed.... just trying to make a claim against each of our insurance policies... grr....

He is SOOO Big!

2008-05-25T08:36:00.003-04:00

A.J. had his doctor's appointment last week and not surprisingly, is HUGE! The nurse thought she was reading the wall chart wrong when he measured 3 ft 2 inches - once again over 97th percentile - but they don't go any higher! He is only 85th percentile for weight - weighing in at 30 lbs even.
Following his doctor's appointment, we stopped by my office so my colleagues could meet him, but he hid behind me with every new face he saw. He did make quite the impression though, most all of them have since been by to tell me just how terribly CUTE he is - like I didn't know...
Yesterday I took the kids to the farm for an hour or so while Andrew worked to lay the floor in the nanny's room. A.J. was impressed by the size of the horses, was a little scared of the volume at which the ewe was bleating, and was very brave when petting the 4 day old calf. Avery was happy to see all the baby animals - piglets, kids, calves.
Since the basement is still a construction zone, we are opting to host Avery's birthday party outside of the house - what a racket! I think she decided on Cosmic Adventures (for a cool $180 - loot bags not included!) - the other contenders were the Superstore for a cooking birthday ($18 per child, minimum of 12 kids - plus $6 for the loot bag) or Midway Family Fun Park for $180 - up to $260 for unlimited "fun!"
Well - time to get ready for Mister's swimming lesson - I'll try to not let months pass before I update again.

Mister turns 2!

2008-05-20T06:50:00.005-04:00

I officially no longer have any babies - Mister turned 2 yesterday - with much less fanfare than Avery's 2nd, but he turned 2 all the same. We had some fun this weekend - the little fair came by the rec complex, so we went over on Sunday for an hour or so of rides - Mister went on all the ones he was big enough for - except the Raider's of the Lost Arc maze- which he made it to the rope ladder and turned around. Avery went on the "spider" ( which I always recalled as the Octopus, but whatever) with Andrew - she enjoyed the thrill, but said it made her tummy hurt a bit.
I attempted to make mini Dinosaur cakes for Mister, but they didn't work out as well as I had hoped - so much so I did not even take a picture - and true to form anyway the kids mostly ate the icing.
We planned on a trip to the farm, but it was a little chilly and rainy this weekend, so perhaps we will go next weekend. We did get Mister a sandbox for his birthday, but gave it to him last weekend as Andrew and Avery were planting the garden, and Mister likes to dig - so to alleviate the concern of him digging in the garden, we gave him his own place to dig. Both he and Avery seem to enjoy it.
We finally got our new driveway - what a difference it makes - the only trouble we have now is that in leveling out the driveway with the garage ( there was a 9 inch drop) we now have a huge drop off the drive way to the stepping stones along either side of the house. Andrew has a plan to build a frame and raise the whole lot of stones up,but I think we should seek counsel of someone who knows a little more about such things - I am just afraid if we don't do it correctly, the stones will shift in the snow.
Andrew also did some minor renovations downstairs in anticipation of the insurance company getting back to us - we had a flood 3 weeks ago,and while the insurance people were fairly quick on the demolition, they have been entirely too quiet about the renovations, and since the nanny lives down there it is completely unacceptable to me that it has been left this long. Andrew claims he will start putting the pressure on them today.
Other than that, Avery is doing well - we went for a 5km bike ride yesterday and she held up just fine. She is a video game freak - totally loves the Wii - preference for Mario Party 8, but likes Wii Play and Wii Sports. This past weekend we rented Catz for the Nintendo DS, and aside from the issue of her limited reading ability, loves it too "meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow, I am just a kitten, hardly fit my mittens..."

Happy Easter!

2008-03-25T20:44:00.003-04:00

Happy Easter! This is the first year since we moved to Ottawa that we did not make it out to the Central Experimental Farm for the annual Easter egg hunt - but honestly with the 6 feet of snow outside, it just did not seem like the right place to be - I told Avery we would go once the snow melted, but at this point we hare having a little difficulty imagining that will ever happen! Alex enjoyed his first Easter egg hunt - he was quite surprised with every egg he found - and loved his new "Neigh Neigh" to go with the growing collection of horses. Avery also enjoyed her hunt and the mini My New Little Pony "Shoe shopping with Tulla Rulla".

Mister had his first Level 5 Gymboree class on Saturday - he may be the youngest, but no where near the smallest! I just can't wait until he gets a bigger vocabulary - he has lots to say - just can't get most of it! He learned "monkey" which comes out like "mun-K", he finally has called his sister - but he calls her "sissy" which is what she refers to herself as. We are still working on "munchagega" I can't wait to find out what that one means! And he says it for lots of things. Tonight he said "there" meaning "that one" but it worked me "this one?" him "no - there"

Mister is caught between his love for his horses and the Little People farm and his Thomas trains - but you can really see the imagination at work with both.

Avery is now a video game addict - I bought us a Wii with my Shoppers Optimum points, and Andrew rented us Mario Party 8 - and Avery LOVES it! No longer do we get asked to watch tv, it is can I play Wii? She is getting pretty good at it - but I am not sure that is a skill I should be bragging about.

Avery got her first SK report card, all good - the only negative or criticism I could find is that Avery is a "very sensitive girl" which I am sure is the teachers' way of saying she cries all the time - over everything - just like her momma used to - so what can you do? She is excelling in math concepts and language, and apparently is very expressive in drama - oh the world of senior kindergarten!

Ramsay is one month old today! Happy 1-month Birthday Ramsay!

Say "CHEESE!"

2008-03-02T19:58:00.003-05:00

Amazing how different one year can be to the next - last year Mister was starting to crawl and Avery was getting tape on her glasses (that one truly shocked me when I just read it - it seem so very long ago that we were dealing with the taped lens). I was still on maternity leave, and the house still had the nasty carpet. There are entries on March of us riding our bikes to the library - a thought I can;t even imagine now as we have 7 ft snowbanks out front - I think even if it gets very mild, we will still be in to April before all the snow is gone - and now with my Ottawa humour I joke about shovelling the lawn on to the driveway like those crazy people in Barrhaven... I drove from my new office building to home today to get a sense for it (we don't move until April 18) ad I did the trip in under 20 minutes - on Sunday afternoon - so I think 45 minutes should get me there most days - now to find a convenient Tim Hortons to pass...

Mister - as all my recent photos show, has taken to fake smiling when presented with a camera - oh, how I just want a picture with his eyes open and a normal facial expression.

On a completely different note - we welcomed Ramsay Linda Westgate to the world on Monday, February 25, 2008 - she opted for the ICU post-birth route, that I am sure we all would have rather she didn't, however it all worked out in the end, and she was home in Stacey's arms a mere 2 days later. Avery and I will be making the trek down the 401 for March break to meet her. We are very excited!

That's all - just thought I should write for a bit - and I will try to be a little more regular about it - I enjoyed going back and checking out the last year.

Fussy eater!!!

2008-01-29T18:42:00.000-05:00

I feel like I need to begin with an apology to all parents who have fussy eaters - I truly did not believe the condition existed, and that it was the parents' doing. I am sorry. My experience with Avery was that there was nothing you couldn't get her to try - you might have to give her ranch dressing with it, but she would always eat it. But Alex! That kid only eats cereals bars "ba! ba!", applesauce, raisins, and hot dogs. We always serve him whatever the meal of the moment is, but he almost inevitably ends up eating one of the above. We've tried ranch, we've tried ketchup, we've tried cutting it up, leaving it whole - I really don't know what else to do - I have upgraded to chicken dogs (although I think the current pack are all beef) but I am not sure that I want to only feed him hot dogs - actually I am exaggerating - he eats most fruit. And lettuce. Sort of vegetarian with hot dogs as his sole source of protein. That's all. Just thought I should apologise.
Avery is growing everyday! Seriously! I just bought her a new size 7 wardrobe. And she eats! I think I get an idea of how a teenage boy eats - today for dinner she had oatmeal (pre-skating meal) then came home and ate a bowl of lamb stew, a chicken sandwich, 2 yogurt tubes, an orange and a snack.
Otherwise all is good. Andrew and I both are well entrenched in our new roles at work. Andrew installed the laminate on the main floor, so I am no longer horrified to have people in the house.
Mom was involved in a nasty car accident - hit by a few (reports vary from 5 to 7 ) transport trucks - and walked away with a hurt knee - so we are very thankful!

Trials and tribulations of a sick Mister

2007-12-06T08:30:00.001-05:00

Mister has been waking up at night on and off for the last few weeks, so yesterday i told Andrew we (I mean he) needed to stop going in to check on him - it is only making it worse. So last night, right on cue at around 11:30 Mister started to cry - and it would peak then fade - but finally after half an hour I decided I should go check on him (the wails of Mamaaaaa! Mamaaaa! were starting to get to me). So in I went, hell-bent to not pick him up or anything - until I opened the door and was accosted by the nasty mix of vomit and that acid-poo that burns. Bad Mamaaaa! So I get him out of his crib to change his diaper - and sleeping bag, and lovey blanket... I called Andrew to come change the bed (or the baby - his choice -he chose bed). We got the place cleaned up, and Mister cleaned up, and I was going to sit with him to help him back to sleep - so I sat on the la-z-boy and reached for him, but he would not come to me - he wanted his dada (so why can't he call him at night?) So off to bed I went, and Andrew managed to follow shortly thereafter. Mister pretty-much slept through the night and woke up a bit early ( a little after 6) seemingly happy - but once again full of acid-poo.
He did not eat a single thing for dinner last night, but was in good spirits, so maybe he knew something was off - in any event I hope he feels better soon.
Avery was invited to join the advanced figure skaters with her skating club - she apparently "shows potential in the sport of figure skating" - so we asked if she wanted to skate twice a week and she said NO - so potential or no, it won't be this year.
We have parent-teacher conference tonight, I sure hope there are no surprises - she seems to like school and have friends, so I am not sure what else there is in kindergarten.

Winter Wonderland!

2007-12-03T10:48:00.000-05:00

It is like the winters of my childhood right now - snow banks 4 ft high - snow everywhere! It is fun to watch the kids and the sheer joy they get from being out in it -too cold? nonsense! I am home on a snow day today - apparently half the city is as well since the traffic reports all noted lighter than usual traffic flow on the major highways - but since I work in Quebec, and the Gatineau boards apparently not only cancelled buses, but closed the schools, I felt that perhaps it was a sign that I should stay closer to home. (But of course now I have that itch to get out an finish the Christmas shopping - I deserve it don't I? ) After Andrew so nicely shovelled the driveway, I went out to look at something, just as the city plow came by and created a 2 1/2 foot high snowbank across the driveway! So i just came in from my own hour of shovelling, and it is still coming down - possibly another 15-20 cm before nightfall! And really, toys r us isn't that far away...

Alex slept like a dream baby on Saturday night - apparently the sitter had him in bed around 6:30 and he didn't get up again until 7:30 - so of course last night Andrew wanted him in bed around 6:30 - and he woke up at 11:30, then 3:30, then 5:00, then 5:30. I took Mister (begrudgingly, since at this point I knew I was not going to work and wanted to lounge in bed a little longer) but made a deal with Andrew that he then had to shovel.

We had a first with Alex on Saturday night - Andrew and I went to leave, and Alex threw a fit! Clinging on my legs, crying - I don't remember Avery ever doing that, so while it was a little sad, I was also a little (selfishly) happy that he loves me.

No more biting. Yeah! He does, however, have a fascination with my belly button, and my boobs - lots of fun when we are in public!

Avery is obsessed with Santa - she is drawing pictures and writing stories - so cute! I told her we should make her list to send to Santa - the first thing on it? A gravel cleaner for the fish tank. What a kid!

I attended my first school play on Friday - Avery's class did their best dramatic rendition of the Three Little Kittens (Les trois petits chats) - Avery was narrateur nombre 3. I walked in to the class behind a bunch of Grade 1's and somehow Avery missed me - so I was sitting there for about 5 minutes before she saw me, got up and yelled and hugged me - I am not sure how she missed me though - I am nearly 6 ft tall and was wearing a puffy white coat...

And for posterity's sake -a rough daily routine in our home:

between 5:45 - 7:00 Alex wakes up - depending on when modifies the routine a little

7:00 - Avery wakes up - I try to leave for work

7:15 - Andrew comes down and I actually can and do leave for work, Avery gets breakfast, Alex might eat

8:00 - Marilou starts work, Andrew passes off control of AJ and takes Avery to the bus, then continues on to work

8:30 - Marilou takes AJ for a walk outside

10:30 ish - AJ takes a nap - we are trying to push it later since he only takes one, but we can;t seem to get it out of the morning

11:10 - Avery gets dropped off by the bus

11:30 - Lunch for Avery

12:30 ish - lunch for AJ when he wakes up

4:45 - I get home from work and start dinner

5:05 - Andrew gets home from work and wrangles kids

5:30 - dinner

6:15 - tubby for AJ

6:45 - bed for AJ, tubby for Avery (although often now showers!)

7:30 - bed for Avery.

Ahhh - except now I go to the gym Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 8 for an hour, and Avery has skating on Tuesday's at 5:30 for a n hour, and Andrew curls on Tuesday's with alternating early (6:45 start which means I have to take both kids to skating) and late (8:45 - which means I stay home with Mister) starts. Saturdays are filling up too - Avery will be starting gymnastics and AJ have Gymboree - and I think I need to sign him up for swimming lessons.

And did I mention my latest Avery run-in? A few weeks ago I sent her up to get ready for bed, I asked her to brush her hair and teeth, and put her pj's on. I told her I would follow in a few minutes - so about 7 minutes pass by and I head up - only to find Avery still dressed, teeth and hair not brushed, playing with her toys - I demand to know why she isn't even started getting ready - and her response? "Mom, you asked me to do those things, and when you ask someone to do something, it means they have a choice, and I am choosing not to do them! If you really wanted me to do them, then you should have told me to do them!" SHE IS ONLY 5!!!!!!!

GRRR!!!

2007-11-14T21:55:00.000-05:00

So today I got home from work a little late - no big deal though since I had the forethought to make a crock pot meal - Andrew just needed to add the finishing touches when he got home - so I get home and Mister runs and gives me a big hug - nice. Time passes, and it ends up that we aren't eating until about 5:45 - well the kids have started to get crazy - too far past dinner time - so I ask Mister to come up on my lap - he gives me another big hug, then BITES ME! I have a little lump where he got me - I am not impressed.
We have dinner - which is a flop - but I enjoyed it, so we had to try to feed Mister something else, but he wasn't that interested. Avery ate a cereal bar, Mister just pulled his apart then threw it around the dining room. It is not getting better. We finally free mister from his chair and he and Avery run around. Then Mister comes up for more cuddles - and BITES ME AGAIN! I dropped the laptop and nearly tossed him in a reactionary measure. So fine - Andrew takes Mister up for tubby, I ask Avery to do the homework I set up for her (pattern recognition - and she is quite a smart one, if I do say so myself - she got ABCcbaA_C_ _a and 1.2.1.3.1.4.1.3.1._.1.2._._) but of course she complained that it was not the homework she wanted to do. So then I ask her to help clean up as I am trying to prepare the menu and grocery list for the next two weeks, and then if she would please feed the cats - 20 minutes later still not done - and I am now upstairs and AJ is done his tubby - so I call her up. She yells up that she is still busy cleaning the house. I ask her to come upstairs - then she yells "Some help please!" she decided to go with canned cat food instead of the easy open bag food. I again tell her to come upstairs RIGHT NOW - so she stomps over, picks up a pencil and PROCEEDS TO DRAW HER WAY UP THE STAIRS! She gets upstairs, I am now full on yelling - I make her give me the pencil, which she tucks under her arms, so I grab it - breathing breathing - then I (very sternly) tell her to get undressed and ready for her tub. She is crying in that howling/sobbing kind of way that is only aggravating me further and I tell her to get in the tub. She collapses on the floor in tears. I end up having to physically lift her in to the tub - where she looks up at me with the saddest eyes. Then I go back to her room to get her clothes out for tomorrow and guess what? She has also written on her bedside table! I go back and ask her if she has written anywhere else, since she is already in trouble, she may as well fess up now so as not to get in trouble at a later date - she starts bawling and howling again - and I am going to lose it! So I decide I should go grocery shopping now - but she is done her tub, so I go in to say goodnight, she gives me a big hug and then asks if I am "sorry for yelling so loud". GREAT. I got home from grocery shopping and Andrew advised me that it took a long time to calm her down, and that she told him that she likes old mommy, the one that loves me. Then she showed Andrew a picture from the 90's of Andrew and I and said the this was a picture of when mommy and daddy loved each other. Andrew told her "it is over - you had a bad day" to which she replied "Yeah, and a bad life too!"
Ah Calgon, take me away!

It's been a long long time...

2007-11-11T20:47:00.000-05:00

Let's work backwards - yesterday Avery lost her first tooth. Last week, Andrew and I spent a week in Hawaii - without the kids - so Grandma and Grandpa Butters came and spent a week with the kids - incident free from all accounts. that was by far the most time we have ever spent away from them - and by far the furthest we have ever been away. Mister has branched in to talking - a little - we figure he is up to 14 words - including a repeated use of "un, deux, trois." (mind you, he cannot count in English, but since it has happened at least 3 times that I have heard, it gets on the list) Mister also has a new appreciation for books, and will actually sit through most of his for a read. Avery has taken right back up with skating and can go really REALLY fast - she is working on stopping - but considers it optional to stop. Andrew feels that part of her speed comes from her need to be first - if they start a game, she needs to be first in line.

Alex's new favorite toy is the classic Tupperware shape sorter - although his preference is to put the little yellow balls in to the circle spot.

Things have been fine with the nanny - I really like having her around - just the simple fact that she washes the dishes after dinner so we don't have to is amazing! The fact that I rarely, if ever have to vacuum is another bonus.

Avery has taken to French immersion really well - she is doing very well in school - and it is nice with her having only 10 kids in her class. She gets to bring home Patouffe, the class bear once every two weeks, and thinks that is amazing.

That's all I can think of for now - I will try not to let 3 months pass before I write again...

Stats

2007-08-21T20:07:00.000-04:00

Both kids were at the Doctor's today for check-up - and shots. Andrew came as the Doctor insisted that she cannot do the two of them together, so he got to go in with Mister and I got Avery.

Alex came in weighing 25lbs 4oz (65-70th percentile) and measuring 33 3/4" - which is still greater than the 97th percentile. He is no longer supposed to drink even the very diluted juice we give him, and is to be on straight homo milk. One of the questions we had for the Doctor was whether or not we can drug him in the car as our last bit of travelling wore on the 3 of us who weren't screaming... apparently we can give him benadryl but not gravol - so we shall see in a couple of weeks when we make the trek back up to the cottage.

Avery weighed in a 46.8 lbs, which was almost exactly 60th percentile, and of course measured above the 97th (like her baby brother) coming in at 47 1/4 ". No concerns with her, aside from the nasty wart on her foot, but we shall keep working on it and hopefully it will go away.

We spent a week at the beach, and had a great day for the party. It was lovely to see all our friends, with a few notable exceptions. Lots of kids, mostly mobile ones - and a whole crew of expectant mothers, for next years' party.

It was a pretty good week - the wind picked up a little more every day, so by the end of the week the winds were nearing 40 km/hour, which made going down tot he water out of the question. We took a trip in to Collingwood one day and went to the "Splash" pool at Blue Mountain - a little pricey for our family's needs, but a nice distraction none-the-less.

Saturday we went to TO and had a short visit with GG. Sunday we headed over to Kari's for a brunch get-together (Thanks again Kari!) to celebrate the August birthdays (mine, BL's and Matt's). I made Andrew go swimming with the baby in hopes of tiring him out, but alas it was to no avail - he stayed awake the whole drive home - all 6+ hours of it!

Work is going well and whatever hesitations I had seem to have disappeared -for now - we'll see how busy the roads get when the kids get back to school... but I think I have created a nice role for myself and can see myself being very busy for the next few months, and busy is good.

So we have the September long weekend back in Wasaga, with a day-trip to Southampton to see the Tomkin clan; then assuming I get on the ball, we are going to try to book some cottages in Bobcaygeon for dad's 60th birthday - just like when we were kids. Then fast-forward to the end of October, and Andrew and I will be on a flight to Hawaii for a week - woo hoo!

Thinks with the nanny are fine - she decided not to join us for our beach week, but she stayed here and cleaned the whole house - which was really nice to come home to.

Avery bought a scooter with some of her birthday money and is now a scooter queen! Man can she go on that thing!

That's all for now folks!

Mister Mister!

2007-07-17T08:47:00.000-04:00

We have had many discussions over the past few months about when to drop AJ to one nap - but he really seems to enjoy and need 2 - he still naps for nearly 2 hours most mornings and then again for more than an hour in the afternoon - and still sleeps for 11-12 hours at night. But now that I am back at work, his waking at 7am is causing Andrew some concern - he can't ease in to his mornings anymore because he has a screaming hysterical baby banging his head in the playpen while he tries to shower. (Those of you who know Andrew - he tends to take a 20 minute shower on his fast days!) So now the question we are pondering is "If we take away a nap, will he in fact sleep longer, or just become a grumpy baby?" It is kind of risky to change what is working well as far as behaviour goes - I mean he truly is a delightful baby - should we mess with that so Andrew can have a slightly more relaxed morning? According to "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" (our favorite book on sleep) most kids by 15 months are down to 1 nap (something like 84%) - and that is but one month away... can Andrew make it? And the second issue with all of this is that now the baby screams when he sees the playpen - I am not sure what that means for our upcoming road trips - will he in fact sleep in it or is it now so tainted from the daily morning screaming sessions that we will need to try to find an alternate sleep option for him?

Week one in the bag!

2007-07-15T10:08:00.000-04:00

Well, I have now finished week one of being back at work, and the kids don't really seem to have noticed. Yesterday Mister was fussy going down for his nap, which I honestly cannot recall the last time that happened - so I hypothesised that he was just happy to get to spend some time with me and did not want to waste it napping. He ended up napping for more than 2 hours though, so I guess he forgot about how mush he loves me....

Avery had a good week, but when asked about how she was doing with Marilou, she said "I really prefer it when you and daddy are home" - very sophisticated answer from my 5 year-old, no? But when pushed she said she was fine, and that sometimes she just tells Marilou to go away and that she needs her privacy. Avery had her first week at bubble camp at Gymboree on Wednesday and she seemed to enjoy it - they played with the parachute, played with Ethan and Gracie on "Ethan mountain", played with a little baby who was just learning how to walk and lots of other fun stuff - we figured it would be a nice break for both Avery and Marilou.

Avery and I went to market on Saturday in Cumberland - it is just a small fresh produce and craft market, but it is a nice outing.

AJ had his 2nd week of Gymboree and of course loved it, so that was nice. He was very intrigued this week by the slant board with the holes in it where he was to push the airbags through and they fell on the floor - he was truly amazed every time one fell! It took about 10 minutes after we got there to get him to leave the balls - but with so many balls around, he has a hard time knowing where to go!

And finally, last night Andrew and I tag-team cut Mister man's hair - we just used the clippers, but he looks so cute and we can see his eyes. I debated for weeks about cutting his hair since everywhere we go, someone always makes a nice comment about his hair, but it needed to be done.

A slide, A Stool, A Flight of Stairs and a walking baby

2007-07-11T07:52:00.000-04:00

Well it has been a busy few weeks - the nanny started with little fanfare and seems to have settled in to our crazy household almost unnoticed. Mr. Man finally decided to walk - a few weeks ago I took both kids to Gymboree for a play hour, and Mister saw a bucket of balls and off he went - 10 steps across the floor. It took him a few days to replicate the event for daddy - who I think was starting to think we made the whole thing up - but finally he was walking.

We slowly transitioned the nanny in to full time care for the kids over 3 weeks, and I had my first day back at work in over 15 months on Monday.

So now - the slide. Avery was invited last-minute to attend one of her friends' brothers' birthday party at Cosmic Adventures last Saturday - it was much fun for her. I received a phone call from the friends' mother about an hour after they left that started like this "Avery is okay..." turns out she somehow managed to flip around in a slide and somehow cut her head near her right eyebrow - little cut, but lots of blood - which resulted in a free Cosmic Adventures t-shirt - so really she was happy. She stayed for the rest of the party and had a blast.

After she got home, being the ever-so-helpful big sister that she is, I had called the baby to come over, so she decided she would just pick him p and bring him over - when she put him down he was not quite balanced and he dropped - hitting his right cheekbone on the way down - nice big bruise there! He also has a tiny bruise on the outside of his right eye, but for the life of me I have no idea where it came from.

And now, the flight of stairs - so as if being at work all day wasn't enough, then I had to go for a mammogram (nothing to worry about - just with the family history and all we figured I should have a baseline one done) - and if that wasn't enough of a crappy Monday, while waiting around to ensure the films were good my cell phone ran - and it was Andrew, calling to me the baby had just fallen down the ENTIRE FLIGHT OF STAIRS TO THE BASEMENT - and he seemed a little upset about it. The nanny had already gone out with the van, so Andrew was home alone with no vehicle. I told him to call the nanny and ask her to bring the van home and that I should be home shortly. By the time I got home, things seem to have settled down, the baby was a little fussy, but fine, Andrew was a bit freaked still (apparently hearing your child bump him way down a flight of stairs is a little traumatic) and Avery was fine. The van was in the driveway, so we decided we should take him to the clinic - which I did, and upon arriving was informed the wait was at least 1.5 hours. This was not okay with me - I had not eaten, I did not have anything to entertain Mister with, and really - he was fine. SO I called Andrew and advised that I was not staying, and since dinner was not ready, should I just pick up a little chicken on my way home - Andrew really wanted him to be seen by a Doctor, and told me I could register him at the clinic then leave and come back closer to the estimated intake time - so I went back. The wait was now at OVER 2 HOURS! SO I registered the baby, picked up a chicken and went home. After dinner I called a couple of clinics and found that one that was just a little farther than the original one, had NO WAIT! So I herded everyone in to the van (Avery whining that she had not yet finished her milk... the cats salivating at the prospect of chicken being left unattended on the table...) There was one person in the waiting room before us, so after registering the baby I took Avery over to the drugstore to buy a few things I had been meaning to get anyway, then headed back to the clinic. No sign of Andrew of baby, so I figured they were being seen. We waited, then since the promise to keep Avery in good spirits was for ice cream, and it was now quickly approaching 8 pm, I offered to get her a slushie in lieu of the ice cream, with a promise for a trip to "Basket Robbins" later in the week. Finally around 8 Andrew and Mister emerged from the clinic, Andrew looking much relieved that there was nothing wrong with the baby, but under instruction to check on him every couple of hours through the night, and to watch for any bruises that were not yet visible. Andrew kindly volunteered to do the checking since Tuesday was only my second day of work, and I probably should not take a day off already - even if it was for a my baby - so I got to sleep. The baby is fine - a little freaked out by the basement staircase, but fine.

We took the kids swimming last night, and Mister behaved as he always does at the pool - with lots of laughing, smiling and splashing.

So work is work - a little slow seeing as it is summer, and the whole office just moved - in fact Monday was everybody's first day at this office, so I did not stand out not knowing where anything was. I don't think I am going to want to do the drive to get here int he winter if Monday night's rain was any indication - people suck at driving. So we'll see - maybe I will try to find something back on the Ontario side - although my boss has said he is fine with me working from home as needed.

The Fairy Party (rocked!)

2007-06-16T15:01:00.000-04:00

Well, I can only hope the girls had as much fun as I did at Avery's Garden Fairy Lunch Party. She ended up having 4 girls over, as the 5th invitee was unable to attend at the last minute. The weather was amazing - a little on the warm side, but really when you have a sprinkler to take the edge off there really were no complaints!

We gave the girls their goodie bags when they got here, as I had gotten an amazing deal on fairy costumes at the Superstore after Christmas (did you know that Tinkerbell has friends?!) so the girls all changed into their fairy costumes for the day. They started playing in the basement until everyone arrived, then we headed out for some outdoor fun - we had "pin the tail on the unicorn" which went over well - Abby walked away with the big prize from that game. Next we ate "fairy food" I made egg salad sandwiches cut out with flower cookie cutters, jam sandwiches cut out with a heart and cucumber sandwiches cut out with a star - as well as 2 trays of fresh cut veggies and fruit. The girls grazed and played - taking turns on Avery's trampoline and playing with the ridiculous amount of backyard toys we have. Then, since I was melting, we came indoors for cake - I LOVED how these cakes turned out, but the girls didn't want to eat them - lesson for next year I guess, but I even used a new fondant made with marshmallows and I thought it tasted pretty good - well, like marshmallows, but whatever.

After lunch, Avery opened her presents - we played a game where I wrapped 4 presents together and they played hot potato with the package, when the music stopped, the girl holding the package got to give Avery their present, and they got to take a layer of wrapping paper off and keep the little present inside. She got lots of Barbie stuff, a purse to put patches on, a sun catcher to paint, and a magic kit.

After presents I had planned on another game, but the girls were quite content to run around in the sprinkler and play their made-up fairy games, so I left the alone. That pretty much took us to the party's end.

It was fun, but I am glad we're done with the hosting side of parties until next year.

Sunny days

2007-06-11T09:05:00.000-04:00

We were the picture postcard of Ottawa life yesterday - we went cycling along the Ottawa river on the Rockcliff Parkway - Andrew had Avery attached to his bike with her bike trailer and I had the baby in the bike stroller. We passed multiple people who had these 2 contraptions set up in tandem - in fact one guy had 2 bike and the stroller - pulling a total of 4 kids! After about 1/2 and hour of biking (and Avery losing her pedal 3 times!) we headed back home. Lunch and nap time followed (everyone but me napped) then it was off to the outdoor pool. What an awesome pool it is! There is a wading pool that is about a foot deep with a little slide bolted in the middle of it, there is a spray pad, and the big pool has a shallow ramp to access it and has a slide and diving board - Avery was in heaven! There is even a fenced off grassy area - with a little water patch to cross through so you don;t bring grass in to the pool - they really have thought of everything! I am certain we will be getting value for our city memberships now that we have this pool.
Last night Andrew and I set up Avery's birthday present - a Dora trampoline - it is only 8' round and good for kids up to 150 lbs, but it will serve the purpose. Avery was up when i came down this morning and greeted me with "Can I see my present now?!?" So off she went and pulled over the curtain - then she unlocked the door, ran outside, kicked off her crocs and got right in. Right now she is trying to get dressed so she can go bounce some more.
We are gearing up for Avery's birthday party - I am getting excited for her - I just wish the mothers (or fathers!) would RSVP to let me know if their little girls are coming - so far I have only had confirmation from 2 of the 5 invited. It was just such a stressful thing for Avery to decide which 5 friends to invite - so if any of them can't make it, she would gladly invite one of the girls cut from the original list, but I need to give the parents notice... We went to the dollar store to get a few more things - I forgot i needed prizes for games - and games for that matter, so we found a few items that keep with our fairy theme. I also found the DisneyFairies.com site - where you can make your own fairy - so I am going to try to make a fairy for each girl that sort of looks like her. I have great plans for making each girl her own fairy cake - but i may need to get a babysitter to look after the baby while i get them done - I don;t think I will be able to wrangle him and properly decorate the cakes, but we'll see.
Busy week ahead - Avery has cooking class tonight at the Superstore (Berrylicious!) - Thursday is Avery's actual birthday, so I need to make cupcakes for school. Thursday night we have Avery's photos, then she gets to pick where we will go out for dinner. Friday is swimming lesson day and Friday night she has soccer and I need to prep for the party. Saturday at 11:30 the girls should arrive for the party, and Sunday is father's day.
The laptop crashed a few days ago, and it has been kind of like losing a limb - I will often go and plop myself down in the chair and reach over to grab it to check something, and lo - it is not there. We are hoping to get it fixed, but part of me thinks it might be better for us if it doesn't get better... I am sure my legs don;t need the radiation they were getting daily... NO new pictures today, since they were all on the laptop, but fear not, there will be more shortly!

She shoots! She scores! (on her own net!)

2007-05-26T14:50:00.000-04:00

Avery started soccer last night and LOVES it - as she said "Mom, I even scored a few goal, some even on MY net!" I guess the finer points of opposition have yet to be clearly explained to her, but hey, if she had fun that is all that matters. She was quite excited to come home and show me her new jersey and matching shorts and socks! And she got a bright yellow soccer ball to practice with - I am sure the baby will try to eat it, but what can you do.
I took Ms.Pants out shopping today to run a bunch of errands - we needed cat food and a new algae eater, she needed a haircut, I had a coupon for Please Mum, and Avery has been asking for a new Canada Flag baseball hat, so I figured we could go see what they had (they haven't got any Canada Day stuff yet, neither did Children's Place) and it was a 20x the points day at Shoppers, so I needed to pick up some stuff there too - she was a trooper through it all. We even went out for lunch, just the two of us to Kelsey's - she ate her whole lunch - I think I sense a growth spurt in the near future... When we were at Please Mum I had her try on a couple of outfits for her birthday photos and I think we got a cute one. She really wanted the pink dress, but I could tell by touching it that it would need to be ironed, and honestly, clothes for a 5 year old should never need to be ironed, so I had to tell her no.
Mr. Man slept in until nearly 8 am this morning - I was up sporadically all night because it was so darn hot - we cannot seem to find the right temperature with the air conditioner - so even though I got to sleep in, I am still exhausted. Andrew had to wake him from his nap to make it to swimming lessons (that start at noon!).
I have been contemplating toilet training the little guy - I figure if I do it now he won;t know any different, but if I wait much longer I will have to wait until he is ready to do ti himself - I had a mini success today, but I am sure I need a lot more of them before I can start to think I am on to something. But he clapped for himself, and that was cute!
Andrew built us a planter box to make a little garden in, so I need to go get those seeds planted. Hopefully this garden will be a little more successful than last years'.

Baby stats

2007-05-24T15:21:00.001-04:00

Mr. Man weighed in at 24lbs 11oz and measured a whopping 31.75 inches. He is not the biggest baby Dr. Joly tends to, but she definitely considered him to be a "healthy" size. he got 2 needles and didn't make a peep - maybe there is something to be said for that does of Tylenol before the shots? I never gave Avery any - but I think by a year we were using those Emla patches.

Apparently I was nursing him too much - which I am so confused about since when last we were there I wasn't nursing him enough, but whatever - so now he is nursing twice a day - morning and bedtime, and drinking homo milk (like it is going out of fashion) at lunch/dinner. He is supposed to have about 16oz of milk a day - and since my boobs don't have gauges on them, I shall assume he is getting what he needs. I am also supposed to keep feeding him baby cereal, but since he doesn't like it very much, and he does love Eggo's, I think I will disregard that bit of advice. I know Avery never ate baby cereal this long, and look at her.

Well, Avery is out int he mini pool we bought yesterday -i was against having a pool with the baby around, but it is 38 degrees here today (Celsius in case you are American and think I am crazy for needing a pool in that kind of weather!) so I bought one - and the baby splashed in it for about half an hour while Avery was at school - so I think it was a good buy. The outdoor public pool opens on June 10 - and i am sure we will use it tons. Can;t wait for summer, but that also means I am about to go back to work... bittersweet really. But I will have an awesome tan when I get there.

Home is where the heart is

2007-05-22T08:53:00.001-04:00

Today I should be back at work, but I'm not - I am staying home for a few more weeks to see Avery thorugh her first year of school - I figured what is an extra six weeks really going to cost us in the long run - and this way I didn't need to get her taking the bus, or have the nanny start - but I'm not getting paid either - and that sucks a little.
AJ has his 1 year doctor's appointment today, so I'll post again later with is stats.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

2007-05-20T15:19:00.000-04:00

Well, he is baby no more - a solid 1 year old little boy now. He even stood unassisted for a few seconds yesterday, so it may be sooner than expected that we can officially vault him in to the world of "toddlers." His birthday was a busy one around the house, but not for him - we started the day with a garage sale - a rather successful one. That wrapped up around 12, then there was lunch and nap time; plus the hockey game (GO SENS!!!!!); then off to Sears for some pictures - AJ's 1st birthday, as well as a bunch of family shots with my parents and Super G. Following the pictures we went to Boston Pizza for the slowest service ever - then home for cake. We happened to see Tonia, Keiran and Matt walking past our back gate just after we finished cutting the cake, so I called them it to join us. After the got in I realised what a disaster the house was - oh well, what can be done?

Fast forward to around 1:45 am to Avery coughing and whining - so I send Andrew to give her medicine - assuming he would address the cough that is keeping her up - but no he gives her a gravol as she felt sick. 2:00 was my turn, and luckily I made it in enough time to get the bucket in front of her... then Andrew's turn, then around 2:45 my last turn - when I gave her some cough medicine, and she fell right to sleep and slept through until 7:30. She still wasn't feeling great this morning, but seems to be better now.

Did I say he wakes up at 6:30?

2007-05-16T16:32:00.000-04:00

I should know better than to actually write these things down - for the past 2 days he has gotten up shortly after 5 am - that is WAY too early! So today he had a nap around 8, woke up around 9:30, had another nap at 12:45 and woke up at 2:15, and now I just put him down again - he was already getting grumpy and I really did not want to listen to whining baby for the evening - so we'll see what a 3rd nap does to my little boy. Will it mess up his bed time? Will he sleep in tomorrow? Could I be so lucky?
I really need to get to work on the basement, but today I think I fell asleep for a bit this afternoon as I have no recollection of about one hour in the middle of the day. I made a list of what still needs to be done in prep for this weekends' visit and garage sale - to which Avery added her own touch of interpretive spelling of "pineapple juice" since she thought it was a grocery list, and she was "just reminding [me] that we are buying pineapple juice at the grocery store this week" - she sampled some on Monday night when she attended her cooking class for "Aloha" night and now it is her favorite.
Ah - that nap was short-lived. Must go rescue crying baby.

Sunny days

2007-05-14T06:49:00.000-04:00

Spring has officially arrived - we have had almost summer like weather for the past couple of weeks and we are LOVING it. Avery is now a bike-riding pro! She has even ridden her bike to school a couple of times. It took a couple nights of practice to help her figure out how to get started on her own, but now there is no stopping her. And she is tough as nails! She falls off or gets herself in the leg with the pedal, and she pauses, wipes herself off, and gets right back on. Yesterday she was outside riding up and down the street or well over an hour while I worked on organizing the garage for the garage sale next weekend. She put one of her dolls in her basket and gave her a ride,but was a little disappointed that she could not fit 'noisy puppy' in her basket to give him a ride too.

And writing of next weekend - Mr. Man will be 1 on Saturday! In just 5 short days Mr. Baby will no longer be a baby, but will officially tumble in to the world of toddlers. He still isn't walking alone, but loves to get out and run when his hands are held. And he cruises all over the place. And oh, how he loves his big sister! (which sometimes makes her a little crazy!) As soon as she walks in the room he stops what ever he is doing and tries to get right over to her - and she humours him, letting him play with her toys and climb all over her (until it makes her angry and her shoves him over and he hits his head, but that is another story.)

For anyone who is interested, here is our schedule in brief:

between 6:30-7:30am A.J. wakes up

7-8 am - Avery wakes up (she is not allowed to get out of bed until the clock starts with a 7)

8 ish - A.J. has breakfast - baby cereal or a Chocolate chip eggo; fruit (jarred or fresh depending on what we have on hand) ; and cheese (mini-go or marble) He can feed himself his whole meal, which can be nice, but when he is done he starts throwing his food everywhere.

8:30 ish Avery has her breakfast, which she often makes herself - she gets her bowl down, pours her cereal or puts in her toast, gets a cup of juice and some fruit - entirely self sufficient. The only thing she doesn't do is get her vitamin, but that is because she is not allowed.

8:30-9:30 - AJ goes down for his nap, which lasts anywhere from 1-2 hours; Avery gets herself dressed, makes her bed, brushes her hair and teeth - then when all that is done, she disappears to the basement to play with her toys and watch some of her maximum 4 shows.

9:30-11:30 - AJ wakes up

11/11:30 - Lunch - Avery is not much for sandwiches, so lunch is fun - we tend to eat a LOT of KD...

12:15 - take Avery to school - either walk, bike or if we're late or it is crappy out, or AJ needs to be in bed for a nap, then we drive

12:30 - 1:30 - AJ takes a nap, if he isn't down by 1:30 then we hold off and he goes down at 3 after we pick Avery up

2:55 - pick Avery up from school - we normally play "race the bus" to get home trying to meet our neighbour Tonia at the corner of our street while she waits for her bus kids - I don't think the bus has ever won.

5:30 - dinner - both kids eat whatever is served, so we only need to prepare one meal - with some exceptions where AJ eats toddler baby food

6:30 - we try to get out for a walk or to play outside

7:00 - every other night is tubby night, but Miss Avery is suddenly all about showers...

7:15 - AJ goes to bed

7:30 - Avery is in bed, but gets 2 books (unless she has stayed up to watch hockey with daddy)

And now that I mention books - Avery has started reading. I brought down a couple of books that used to be used by the Woodstock Board of Education, just to see, and Avery just read it - it was very bizarre. She read the first 25 pages with very little difficulty - so I guess all those bedtime books have paid off...

2007-04-30T14:32:00.000-04:00

So Andrew had to tell Avery that she can't touch other peoples' private parts because she was in the tub with AJ and just reached over and grabbed his dink - now I laughed more at the retelling of the story and Andrew's choice of work "dink" than I did at her curiosity.

Things I should probably document

2007-04-27T09:55:00.000-04:00

I was upstairs with AJ the other day and he found a stray pacifier, which he picked up (a little dust-bunny coated, but that is what happens when a soother lays in wait under the bed for a couple months) and looked at it like was an alien - he had NO IDEA what it was. He has been off the soother for almost 2 months now -we stopped giving it to him around 9 months when it occurred to us that he didn't really need it, but we kept sticking it in his mouth anyway. And it really was no big deal to stop it - I mean we literally just stopped - I don't think he even noticed. And he has not [yet] taken to thumb-sucking, so we'll see - maybe we handled this one alright. He does have quite an oral fixation though - anything and everything goes in his mouth - in fact just this morning he took the dials off the receiver and had them in his mouth - and yesterday he could not stop eating my pants.
His favorite room in the house is definitely the bathroom - any bathroom will do, but right now he prefers his/Avery's. It is a fairly small bathroom so he crawls his way in then stands up against the nearest object (normally Avery's step stool) then proceeds to cruise his way around - pulling out as much tp as he can, and of course, eating some if he can get it into his mouth. Then he makes his way over to the tub where he pushes anything on the outer ledge in - quite a noisy endeavour, but then he looks so proud!
We have removed the nipples from his bottles and replaced them with the sippy-cup spouts (we have Avent bottles, so they are all interchangeable) and he is fine with that too - so it looks like we may have beat two battles already - no getting him off a bottle or a soother. Yeah for us. Andrew will have the big test on the bottle front next weekend when I leave him alone for 30-odd hours with the kids - while AJ may decide not to drink formula that whole day, I at least know he will drink water or very diluted juice from a sippy cup or drink box, so he won't be dehydrated... I on the other hand may have exploding boobies, but that is a whole nother issue...
Avery has ridden her bike [sort of] without training wheels - the sort of part comes from the fact that the training wheels are on the bike, but they are too small for her new bike, so if they actually hit the ground, she'd be falling over already. So I had her out last weekend, running behind her while holding her neck (I know I see people holding the seat, but he got really wobbly that way, whereas with the neck she was fine) and then I let her go - and off she went. She still doesn't believe she can do it, so it may be a little while before we can actually go biking, but soon.
OH, Mr. Baby is now up to 8 teeth - he has had them for a while, but I don't think I mentioned them - they are taking their sweet time getting down, but that is ok.
OK - that is all I can think of right now, but I am sure there are other big things that have happened in our lives, but nothing is coming to mind.

Avery and the "disappeared fairies"

2007-04-24T16:25:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure I've ever recounted Avery's stories of her friends, the "disappeared fairies." They are her friends, they come over so Avery can take care of them while their mom's and dad's are at work. They tend to sleep a lot, but are always around when she needs them - there is Daffodil, Alicia, Avery, and Talia - she is new - she came today with a barbell? Oh, and apparently now there is one named Tata. Who knew - but they lead quite an elaborate existence. So far Avery has not tried to blame them for anything, but I sort of feel like she is just developing the story so that soon she will be able to say "See mom, it was Daffodil - you remember Daffodil, my disappeared fairy?" I was hoping I could get her to draw me a picture of them, but she said they were too shy and did not like having their pictures drawn, so I guess I will need to try again another day.

And I hope I am not jinxing myself, but AJ has been sleeping for more than 12 hours at night! I figure it has something to do with all the fresh air we have been getting, and possibly a growth spurt, but in any case, I haven't had to get him from his crib until well after 7:00 in the morning - this morning it was after 7:30! (I am sure you will see a new blog entry at 5:30 for tomorrow since I am being so cocky...) He has been in good spirits, and aside from a little drool rash, in good health too.

Just a couple more weeks and he will be 1 - I was trying to day to remember being pregnant, and I can't - not that I miss it - but I just can't put my mind back to that icky sick, fat, yucky feeling - probably a good thing with my choice of descriptors though...

So the basement renovations are now in our hands - Andrew needs to install the new lights, then we need to paint, and voila! new 4th bedroom - just in time for the nanny to drop her stuff off (we told her she could bring her stuff here before she heads home to the Philippines for a visit with her family).

Well I hear Mr. Man rustling - I guess I should go rescue him from his crib and get Avery ready for skating lessons - skating lessons when we are wearing shorts just seems so wrong!

Head shaving debaucle

2007-04-16T11:34:00.000-04:00

So, what should you do when your very active 11 month-old needs a hair cut? The answer is NOT try to clean it up on your own at home with your husbands' beard trimmer.... I am normally pretty good with the clippers, so I figured I would try to get AJ a little less shaggy with the beard trimmer - so after his bath on Saturday I had him sitting on the floor playing with his ducky and I started to trim - unbenounced to me, the attachment had come off, so the first swath came off right down to the scalp! he has a nice little bald strip at the back of his head - thank goodness his hair is so fair that unless you are looking it is not that noticeable, but I can see it. I can also see the two puffs of hair right at his neck line that apparently were missed... maybe I'll try to clean them up tonight, but with Andrew there to hold his head still... Will I ever learn?
AJ is now a cruising machine, and man, is he fast! He is also standing progressively longer unaided, and sits down very deliberately - which is good, so it unlikely I should have to rescue him in his crib in the middle of the night.
Avery is testing us a lot lately - I think in part because her private play area has been destroyed, and she still can't go downstairs to play - so she is stuck on the main floor with us, under our supervision. We must tell her at least 10 times a day that the baby is not a toy/doll/plaything when we catch her picking him up and dragging him around the house. She also is having a hard time keeping her little toys out of the baby's reach - and even though we stored them all in the garage, they keep appearing in my living room. She does play nicely with AJ most of the time - she loves showing him how to do things, and reads him books. She is also crazy for drawing lately, so my house is full of Avery masterpieces.
Well - I should go feed Mr. Man his lunch.

Baby in motion

2007-04-11T16:51:00.000-04:00

So he is cruising - and has even stood unassisted for about 1second on a couple of occasions - it is entirely possible that he will run in to his first birthday - a little more than a month from now. He is a crazy monkey! He is in to everything! He loves to climb up on the tv unit and chew on his angelcare monitor. He has discovered the VCR, so I am sure it is just a matter of days before I find a little person or block stuck in it. He loves to pull on power cords - and has disconnected the wireless internet and power source to the laptop on a near daily basis. We have had to set up obstacles to the fireplace, and will be purchasing a gate in the near future to keep him away from it. Such a little monkey! Oh and he likes to put everything in his mouth - and I mean EVERYTHING! Heaven forbid we leave the kleenex box in reach, or any cat food... He has sprung a few more teeth, so we are up to 7, and I think the 8th is right there.
And Miss Avery. She is getting bigger and smarter everyday. I am trying to teach her to ride her bike without training wheels, but she says she is too scary. I keep telling her she can do it, and yes, she may fall and hurt herself, it is all a part of learning. We'll see - apparently it is going to snow tonight, so we may be a few days away from biking again. I have also added the bike trailer to Andrew's bike, so she can practice riding that way.

The basement renovations are well underway - we are in the throws of construction, but we have walls, kind of, and pending the electrical inspection, we will have full walls, mudded, taped, sanded and primed - ready to go once the new window is installed. So Maylou may have a real room to call home when she brings her stuff by at the end of April. And I get to buy a new bed.

Another month bites the dust

2007-03-31T21:07:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe March is over already. One year ago today was my last day at work. Crazy.

So yesterday Andrew came home early so I could have some alone time - apparently I needed it, since Avery made Andrew a secret note that was for him because I yell at him too much. So I went to the spa and Andrew took the kids to the park. Have I mentioned how much I love having a park in our backyard? It is great! Andrew took Avery's training wheels off, on my insistence, so hopefully she will take off riding any day! She is a little hesitant right now, but there is a new bike and the opportunity to ride to school when she has mastered it - which I know she can.

I took the kids to the park today since Andrew is at his end of year bonspiel - Avery made a couple of friends - it amazes me the number of kids at the park that I have never seen before - but I guess it is in an area that has several schools it only makes sense. I got the Cozy Cruiser out of storage int eh garage and pushed the baby in it - he seemed to like it, and had one hand on the steering wheel and one arm hanging over the side - very relaxed. He went on a swing for nearly half an hour, then went down the big slides with Avery a couple of times - but I am not sure he really understood what had happened - he was at the top, then suddenly he was at the bottom.

I took the kids to McD's for dinner (yuck) which they both seemed to enjoy - and Avery got to play in the massive play structure. I am sure she was in there for 45 minutes - minus the emergency "I gotta go to the bathroom!!!!" But she was still disappointed when it was time to leave.

I tried to give the baby a bottle at bed time, but he was not interested. Oh well, I guess Andrew will be up with him early tomorrow.

Enjoy the silence

2007-03-26T13:59:00.000-04:00

Avery is at school and the baby is napping, it so nice and peaceful now with just the hum of my laptop and the rain on the window - so I just enjoying the silence as I know it will be short-lived.

Every seems to be all better, AJ still has a runny nose, but it doesn't slow him down any, so I guess it doesn't really matter. Andrew is still sick - sick enough he thinks he should go to the Doctor, but I am not sure what he hopes to accomplish there since they will simply confirm for him that he has a cold, but hey, if he wants to go, I am not going to stop him.

Avery, AJ and I went for a little bike ride to the library yesterday. I had Andrew put the baby bike seat on my bike, which I hate as the baby is right against my butt, but I still think he is too little for the trailer - in a couple of months maybe, but not just yet. So we biked over, which went well, except Avery kept stopping at random causing me to break suddenly and jump off my bike to avoid hitting her. On the way home though, her pedal fell off, so I tried as best I could to reattach it, but I didn't have a wrench handy, so I couldn't get it very tight - so it fell off 3 more times before we decided to just walk the rest of the way home. Andrew was supposed to fix it last night, but I am not sure he did -no big deal anyway since it is all rainy here today. I told Avery we would get her a new bike, which she really needs since this one is a 10 or 12 inch, and she needs a 16, as soon as she learns to ride without training wheels - so this week we are just going to do it. I know she will be able to, but I am also sure she will fall and hurt herself a few times in the process, but right now she relies on the training wheels and ends up leaning to one side or the other. The baby seemed to enjoy the wind in his hair, but not so much the massive helmet on his head.

Sick Kids

2007-03-20T20:37:00.000-04:00

Well Avery was not quite right all day today, but I figured the luster of having Zoe over had worn off. She didn't eat much lunch - which was KD as per her request, so I should have known something was up with her - but I asked her several times if she thought she needed to stay home from school, and every time she said "No" so I sent her to school. Well when I picked her up at 3:00, Mrs. Impey told me she was sick all afternoon - and that she needed to lay down at 2:30. When I got her home I took her temperature, and she had a fever of 103.4 - so maybe she really is sick. I gave her some Advil and it brought her temperature down to 101.4, so we have another dose ready to go if she wakes up tonight needing some.
AJ had his 10 month well-baby check up today. He weighs 23Lbs2oz (75th percentile) and has apparently stalled out at 31" (97th percentile). He had a yeast infection, which explains why the Desitin hasn't cleared up his bum, so now I need to find the canesten I bought for him when he was a baby. He is also running a slight fever, about 101.7, but I am not that worried about him yet. His cheeks were pretty red at bed time, so I gave him a shot of camillia, just in case. He did not want his bed-time cereal, which sucks for me, as that bowl of cereal pretty much guarantees me that he will sleep until after 7 - but I couldn't have force-fed him it, so after a couple of mashed spoonfuls on his face, I left it.
Andrew thinks he may have strep throat, which pretty much means I will have it by weeks' end - yeah.
One of the moms from Avery's class is a Running Room instructor and offered me a free session if I take on the group leader position. I am just debating as it 9 am Saturday mornings - which would mean I lose my sleep in day, and I really like my sleep-in day, but I also really want to start running again, so I guess I have a couple of days to decide what I want more.

There's no place like home, except maybe a full service hotel...

2007-03-17T17:21:00.000-04:00

We're back! Avery's first March break went well - we took a road trip, just the kids and myself to Woodstock, Burlington, Etobicoke, and Thornhill. For having to do all the driving myself, it was a pretty good trip - both kids did exceptionally well in the car - Avery wasn't even sick, though she did have her face in her bucket a few times. We spent the most time in Woodstock visiting my family - even my sister and Gramma came to visit, which was nice. Mom took Avery to the library to get a few books and a toy for AJ, which was great, until we read the books! Mom assured me they were all on the top of the shelves, I guess signifying good books, but the first one "I love you when you whine" should be hidden from all children - for things like "I love you when you put crayons in the dryer" and possibly, "I love you when you shave the cat" In one of the other selections, the story starts in a pub over ale. She is only 4! So mostly I think we stayed in - I believe I only went out to get my daily 'roll up the rim to lose' cup from TH. Oh, I did take the kids swimming at Southside Pool, which was weird, because that is where I swam as a kid - and it was pandemonium. Way too many kids for the number of adults. And they have an odd rule about not letting public swimmers use the facilities' pool noodles or life jackets - which had been my plan as this was the first time I have ever taken both kids swimming - so I just had to hold the babe. Avery was very cute on her second jump off the diving board - she got to the end, then took a breath, then plugged her nose, then covered her eyes, then covered her ears - she just couldn't decide what needed to be protected!

On Thursday we decided to take a few road trips - we started with a trip to Burlington to see the Rudd's. I don't think I even had my shoes off before Avery and Dahlia had disappeared in to Dahlia's room to play. You would never know they only see each other a couple of times a year - I can only hope it lasts. Iza and I took up like no time had passed, but then we also speak at least once a week, so no time really had. We ended up spending the whole day there and left for my friend Casey's around 5:30. Apparently being on maternity leave has made me forget what Toronto area traffic is like, but luckily, with it being March break the roads weren't too bad. We made it to Casey's just moments after she got home for the day - oh how I don't miss working in Toronto and having to make it across the city everyday! So we got in a bit of a visit with Casey and her kids, ordered a pizza and caught up. Her husband arrived shortly before we were set to leave, so it was nice to see him too - and I even managed to get him to put a cottage visit in to his blackberry for the summer! I realised it was already nearing 9 pm and I hadn't spoken to Andrew's mom, so I called to say we were on our way. We made it to Thornhill around 9:45, and kids went right to bed. But of course the baby, who had slept fairly well all week in his playpen, slept fitfully all night and woke up enough that I needed to pick him up at 5:15 - he stayed in bed with me until nearly 7:15, but he never really went back to sleep. We visited with Andrew's parents for a bit in the morning, then "hit the dusty trail" as B.L. taught Avery - and now she insists on saying it EVERY TIME we get in the car - but only after first verifying with me that the roads are in fact clear of snow (dusty trail) or, if the roads are snowy, then she has put her own twist on it and says "hit the snowy trail!" The roads were good, and we made it to Belleville before anyone needed to stop - and while it was only shortly after 11am we opted to stop for lunch. I needed to get some baby food, so we went to the mall in Belleville which has both a Shoppers Drugmart and an Eastside Mario's - so we dined at ESM. Minutes after we got our food, the Oshawa Generals OHL team arrived, so the place was abuzz with girls who like hockey players. We had a leisurely lunch, wandered around Toys R Us and Old Navy, then left the mall to get gas. Avery ended up losing her tv for the rest of the trip home after a weird outburst in Old Navy were after walking through all the girls clothes, she asked if we could look at the girls stuff - I told her we just did and she off an hit me - well my jacket, but I am pretty sure I was the target, and we have a strict no hitting rule - so right then, the only punishment i had was to take away her in car entertainment. We got out to the van, and after getting her buckled in, I turned her tv off, thinking that in the event she was to be sick,she may need the tv as a distraction, but as I was getting in my side, I noticed her flicking her tv back on - well that was it, it wouldn't have mattered if she threw up on herself, she was not getting it turned back on! The baby then enjoyed a couple of episodes of "Baby Einstein", and Avery worked on some colouring and a few sticker books. Then since I had not yet had my TH fix for the day, decided to get a coffee - which was an adventure in itself as I missed the driveway for TH and, as many other people, pulled in to the next driveway to get turned around - left across 3 lanes of traffic, then a quick left in to the TH parking lot - but we did it and I was happy. We made it to Prescott in good time, and since there is really nothing on the 416, I decided to stop at a TH there, change the baby, let Avery go pee and get another beverage (I finally won a free coffee!) Rather uneventful, except that the semi-toothless woman behind the counter actually put her hand in AJ's moth to look at his teeth - I was too shocked at the time to say anything, but about 5 minutes after we left, I finally realised how odd and gross that was! Who does that!?! So we mafe it home around 3:30 - about 6 hours after we left Thornhill, but no one was stressed, and I don't think the baby cried even once.

The house was reasonable clean when we got home, but that lasted for all of about 5 minutes until I started bringing in all our stuff from the van, and the kids got to play with their own toys. Both cats and all the fish were still alive, so that was good - and I think Andrew only broke the little blinds on the door sidelight - so his damage for being home all week was minimal. The carpet didn't get cleaned, but I guess I didn't really expect him to. He was happy that he finally remembered to "get the mail" - reminded him that we have home delivery, so all he had to do was open the lid to the box - but apparently that evaded him all week. He also forgot to clean the cat litter, but Oliver sat at the door waiting for him on Thursday, then meowed and made Andrew follow him to the basement to the litter boxes, then sat and watched him clean them. But we are home. And home is good.

She doing just fine

2007-03-08T20:26:00.000-05:00

It is funny, but really the adults are all more "concerned" then the kids are. Honestly, I think some of them think I didn't realise that she has tape over the lens of her glasses! But all-in-all, she seems to be doing just fine. Every once in a while, when I ask her about it, she gets a little quiet and drawn-in and says, "Mom, I really don't like it, it bothers my eye." But then it is over and she goes on doing what ever it was she was doing - lately that seems to involve tormenting her little brother. She thinks he is doll, I think. She likes to sit behind him, then fall back with her arms around him, then roll from side to side. So far he doesn't seem to protest too loudly, but I keep thinking she is going to break him.
He is becoming a much more proficient crawler. This evening after his tub, I dressed him then set him on his bedroom floor and went in to check on Avery - suddenly the baby was in the bathroom with us. He still does a lot of side bends while crawling, but it seems to work for him. He is also much stronger sitting on his knees, and while I haven;t seem him pull himself up to his feet in a while, his core strength seems to be there to be able to support him.
We told Avery she is going to have a babysitter on Saturday night as Andrew and I are going to go out to dinner to celebrate his 33rd birthday - well the tears welled up! I don't know where this comes from - she used to love having a babysitter. Maybe it is because the sitter has to spend so much time with the baby.

Poor little Monkey

2007-03-06T10:42:00.000-05:00

Avery went to the optometrist today, and while her eye has improved, the Doctor wants us to cover over her good eye to work her weak one a little more. So when we got home, I got out the opaque scotch tape and covered over the lens of her good eye - she is miserable! She has been on the brink of tears all morning, and when I asked why she was so sad, she replied with "I don;t want the other kids to make fun of me" It just breaks my heart. I was hoping we would only need to do the cover a few hours a day, but no, it needs to be nearly all her waking hours. We go back in 3 months to have it re-evaluated, so hopefully by her 5th birthday she will be back to normal - or maybe even glass-free. My daughter who started wearing her glasses with no issue, is now suddenly wanting to take them off at all opportunity - I guess that is just an indication of how much weaker her eye is. The Doctor also said that we are lucky it has been caught now, because with the right treatment it can get completely better, but if it were even a couple of years from now, it would be way less likely. So we will suffer through. I just hope the kids aren't mean - I may need to beat them up.

Avery's food dance

2007-03-05T18:59:00.000-05:00

So Avery was just downstairs with Andrew, and she did a little dance - now I will do my best to describe it, but seriously, she re-interpretted it and I laughed and laughed.

It all started with her lying on the floor, in her interpretative dance style, as a chocolate bar, then, she jumps up and does a hand wiggly motion, and then she says "I'm melting" but not in the Wizard of Oz way, but rather, like a 4 year old melting an ice cube. Then she moves her hands up along her body and then out over her shoulders - because now she is a "blooming daffodil!" This was quickly followed by her scrunching down in to a ball then springing up and saying "I'm a blooming rose!" Ah interpretative dance.

He crawls! He bleeds!

2007-03-05T10:50:00.000-05:00

Yes, it is true, we have a crawler. I will try to post the video as it is a little funny the way he wiggles to crawl. But my, how this new found mobility is already wreaking havoc on our house! We can't leave anything on the tables as he now has some need to pull everything down, and eat it. Yesterday he ate a couple of kleenex, some styrofoam, some construction paper, and maybe some random food. He also managed to split his lip open when I, for a minute, went in to the kitchen to get something (His lunch if I remember correctly, but really who knows, or cares). I heard the "thunk" then the "wa-a-a-h" then the silence - silence is not good after a "thunk". So I come running back in to find hyperventilating son, I pick him up, and the blood starts dripping from his mouth. Luckily we have a teether that is shaped like a soother, so I gave that to him to suck on. Turns out is was about 1 cm long on the inside of his upper lip. I don't think he hit his new teeth, and the bleeding stopped shortly after we iced it. He seemed a little bothered when sucking all day yesterday, but not enough that he couldn't do it, just enough that he would complain while eating.

Andrew and Avery made the baby the best toys ever - I made some for Avery when she was about this age too - those little filler plastic eggs that are everywhere for Easter - they filled them up with a variety of things - sugar, coffee beans, candy hearts - then Andrew hot glue gunned them closed, and voila! perfect baby-hand sized shakers. He loves them!

We picked up AJ's 9 month photos on Saturday - look at his cute mohawk!

So it was 5:34....

2007-02-27T06:25:00.000-05:00

Did I write of the wonders of formula? It seems that it was a fluke. Or maybe the baby doesn't like me. In any event, at 5:34 this morning he woke up. And he is still awake- I am barely awake. Oh, and he got a few more teeth - yes a few. It looks like he has 4 new teeth. The whole top row. But these ones came in so much nicer than the first two - other than seeming a little off, you'd never know he was sprouting razor sharp shards out of his gums.

So today was BEAUTIFUL in Ottawa - although Avery was not happy that we walked to school. Since it has been so cold lately we have been driving, but now that it was so nice today we walked. Snow was melting, the sun was shining. It was so nice. In fact the baby and I walked around for a couple hours, came home just long enough to unload the groceries, then we walked back up to the school to get Avery.

Avery got home and all was well, then she kicked the cat. For no reason, she just kicked him. This is not the first time I have caught her doing this. I don't even think she knows why she does it - but she was sent to her room - where she wailed! And wailed! Finally she stood at the top of the stairs and in a quiet voice said "Mommy, I am really sorry, may I please come down now?" I asked her why she kicked the cat, and she said he was looking like he wanted to get her toy. I just don't get it.

Andrew took Avery and the baby to skating tonight so I could go and enjoy a massage - which I almost did, but the working out of all the knots in my back took a little more effort than a simple massage, so while my back feel sway better now, getting there was no field-trip.

We have a new tooth!

2007-02-23T13:55:00.000-05:00

So quite accidentally I discovered AJ's 3rd tooth - which is really exciting, since he hasn't been nearly as much of a pill this time as he was with those last 2! He has been a little sucky, and I said a couple of times that I think he isn't feeling well, not really sick, but just not well, like if I could have given him a gravol or something he would have been better. But there is was, peeking out of his gums, that front left tooth - so I expect we'll be seeing the right side shortly.
He is just getting so big - he claps all the time now - in fact it is a good distraction for him - if he starts getting fussy we just say "Clapping!" and he stops what he doing, puts on a big smile and claps! His signs for more and ball (both of which look remarkable like clapping) are in use daily - and while some my say he is just clapping, I think he gets it. And he stops clapping and waves his hands for "All done" - so he must be getting it. And today he was just standing there holding on to the trunk, with a ball in one hand, smiling. He is just so big!
We took the kids swimming at the wave pool yesterday, but since the wave machine is still broken, it was really just oddly shaped pool swimming. Avery went down the big slide a few times and impressed all the people with her front crawl. AJ hung with me in the big pool for a while until he started to shiver, so then we went to the warm swirl pool, but it was really crowded.
I am debating with myself about giving up nursing at bedtime and letting him have formula - he sleeps a full hour longer when he has formula, and I really like sleeping. I've pretty much stopped pumping as I was only managing a few ounces a day - which is funny since with Avery I could have fed a small country, but of course she didn't want a bottle.... AJ could care less.
Avery has her second PA day of he month on Monday, so it will be a long weekend. I think maybe we'll go do something on Monday - maybe we'll take in "Bridge to Tarabithia" or go to the Children's museum. We'll see, maybe we can just sleep...

It's all about me!

2007-02-22T10:32:00.000-05:00

No really, I think this post is all about me. Last night Andrew and I went to the BNL concert and had a really good time - it is nice to go out just the two of us and be able to talk, since when we normally go out it is to a movie, and really, you can't just talk. Mind you, we were singing along most of the night, so not really a lot of talking while BNL were on stage, but before and at the intermission. And on the long drive home! We are SO Ottawa now! I mean it took all of 25 minutes to get home from Kanata, and it seemed like FOREVER! I remember when that was my drive to Milton to get on my train for the hour train trip and then 15 more minutes of walking to get to work! But everyone in Ottawa is so close. I remember when we first moved to Kanata and our friends lived in the Glebe - which might have been 20 minutes away - and the big deal it was for them to visit because we were so far away - and we laughed, as we were from South-Western Ontario where nothing is close and 20 minutes is like going to the corner store. But now, just a little more than 2 years later, we have that mentality - Kanata is just too far - you'd have to really love people to go that far to visit them - which we don't, so we have no old friends from our last house....
Anyway, the concert was really good, and it made me laugh - remember when you'd go to a concert and people would wave their lighters? Well not anymore - I hope it is a sign of fewer smokers, but really it is likely just that everyone has a cell phone! That's right, nothing like a nice slow song to the brilliant blue hue of open cell phones and blackberries all over the place. This is just another one of those things that our kids are never going to get - they'll be all "What do you mean, lighters!" Just like Avery will never remember a time that she could not just pause the TV to go to the bathroom - because heaven forbid she miss some of Hi 5! or Magic School bus.
Mom said the kids were good last night, but Miss Avery was worried - which she always is about something, but last night she was worried that if she got sick, Gramma would not know where her medicine is or how much to give her. Not that she was sick. And Gramma is a nurse. But she worries none-the-less.
In other news that nobody but me will care about - my friend Steph has re-appeared after about a 6 month disappearance - apparently she decided to up and move to PEI and I never got the message - but anyway she is back, and now 5 months pregnant. Good to have her back.
Alright, I have indulged myself enough for one day - and I need to get lunch ready for the monkey since I have to take Gramma to the train station.

Avery got her first skating badge!

2007-02-21T09:44:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what it is for, since Andrew does skating, and of course would not think to ask, but Avery came home from skating last night with a Red 1 badge from skating - I shall assume it means she has met the requirements for Level 1 in the Can-Skate program, but maybe it is for preschool skate? Anyway she was very excited and wanted to stick it to her coat, but I told her "No" I figure I should get some sort of sash or something?

The baby was "off" all day yesterday - just a little out of sorts. I don't think it was his teeth, I felt like he had a headache or something the way he was behaving, but he finally settled down last night and slept until 6:30 this morning, so I am hoping whatever it was has passed. I keep debating about the baby shoes on e-bay - like maybe he doesn't need shoes yet, and I am just so afraid that by the time they get here, they will be too small - am I crazy? I bout a pair of cheap shoes at the Bay for $5.99 - really, you have to love the Bay and their clearance shoes - and then an additional 40% off... there was a cute pair of Madeline patent red pumps that I really wanted, but they didn't have my size - but I think they would have cost $18.00 or so - I digress.... so he has one pair of shoes that are sturdy, but flexible. I think once he starts cruising I will invest in the good ones - right now, though it is very funny to see him in the shoes - he rolls himself over in a weird way to get back to sitting and without shoes often gets his one leg caught, with shoes it was nearly impossible for him to figure out how to lift his weight off the leg and swing that foot out. So I don't put them on him unless he is standing at the table.

The picture of Avery's hair is a Hairigami demonstration (thank you Stacey!) - we have been having much fun creating wonderful hair styles - and now I can;t wait for my original Hairigami bands to arrive - I will be wearing serpentine buns in no time!

The Children's Place apparently loves me - they mailed me 2 10% off discount stickers for this year, well before meeting the required 250 points on my card. So of course I went in yesterday when I was out with the baby - they have lots of gorgeous spring stuff, but we will wait for a few weeks before buying anything, except maybe another bathing suit for the baby. I just think he should have 2.

Baby Shoes

2007-02-20T09:57:00.000-05:00

So now that the little monster is starting to pull up to standing (not so consistently, but it is happening) I figured I should get him some shoes. He has only worn Robeez since he was born, which is funny because by this age, Avery likely had about 20 pairs of shoes - she was very coordinated! So I figures that I should go to Kiddie Cobbler and have him sized, and maybe buy some shoes - knowing they were a little more expensive there. Well he needs a size 5 - size 5! I don't think Avery wore size 5 until she was almost 2! So we tried on a few different shoes, and I chose a pair that I liked, but alas they only have a 4.5 M or a 5W - he needs a 5M. But the shoes were $59.99!!!! And the sales girl advised that they should fit for about 3 months. If I have to buy new shoes every 3 months at that price, that'd be nearly $240!!! Even with Avery's 20 pairs of shoes, I am certain I have never spent $240 for shoes in a year for her - I don't even think I have spent that much on shoes for me - and we all know how much I love shoes! So I came home and checked out E-bay (Gotta love e-bay) and I found the same shoes for $12.49US with $7.50 US shipping - and yes, the shoes are new - so for less than half price I can buy them - now I just need to decide if I want the brown ones, or the sporty ball athletic ones.
I am a little grumpy today, since that baby woke me up at 5:04 this morning - for no reason that I could find. So I tried to feed him back to sleep, but it didn't work, so I brought him downstairs - we watched my PVR'd "Friends" and "Arrested Development" (Andrew doesn't understand why I record these shoes, but it is for exactly this reason) then he seemed ready to go back to sleep - which he did - for 45 minutes. You see, Avery woke up, and decided that she really needed to make a Kool-Aid single - which involved her opening and slamming the cupboards to get herself a cup and the kool-aid. Kool-aid singles are just new in this house - Avery has almost exclusively drank bottled juice her whole life, but the dentist mentioned the fluoride in our water here,and I have been noticing that she doesn't drink enough during the day, so I thought maybe we'll try kool-aid singles. Well, she can't get enough - I am sure she would drink 2 L a day if I'd let her. So maybe I need to relax and let her drink kool-aid. I do have the juice pitchers...
My mom is on her way here today to help us out with the kids tomorrow night while Andrew and I attend the Barenaked Ladies concert - what a good gramma to come so far for us!

Winterlude fun for all!

2007-02-17T19:53:00.000-05:00

We took a family trip downtown today for Winterlude - this city seems to have a horseshoe strategically placed as we have had freezing cold weekdays and balmy weekends - perfect for the thousands of tourists to town. The canal was packed - I am sure in the 1.4 km we skated, we intermingled with nearly 100,000 people - it was insane. Avery was a little skating whiz - this is the first time I have seen her skate up close, and she is really getting good - she is already better than me - not that that is hard to imagine.

We started out and she was whining that her foot was really itchy and bothering her, but we told her to suck it up. Finally at the rest-stop at 1.4 we stopped to get a little treat (Beavertails) and to let her go pee - well she came out and said that her foot was itching so bad and she just couldn't take it anymore - so I told her to take off her skates and she could walk back. Instant relief - turns out Andrew did her skates up too tight and the itching feeling was that horrible sleepy tingling. I was pushing the baby in his stroller, and about here he woke up and started screaming so I knew we needed to get back to base and head over to the mall so I could feed him. Avery is not the fastest walker on dry land, so you can imagine her record breaking speed on ice - so Andrew picked her up and piggy backed her. That was fine until about mileage marker 0.4 when Andrew went down. Hard. Luckily he had the sense to go down face first and to roll Avery off, so other than being a little surprised about being on the ice face first she was fine. Andrew is a little sore, but I imagine it will really catch up with him tomorrow. We made it back to base, got our skates off, and the baby fell asleep. So we walked over to the mall and walked around a little. We went to Second Cup and got hot chocolates (which we had to wait about 7 minutes for!) then the baby woke up. Conveniently we were right beside Sears, so I took him in to nurse while Andrew and Avery finished their hot beverages. It worked out to be a good day, and we finished it off with pizza, so really, who can complain.

What a busy baby week!

2007-02-16T13:41:00.000-05:00

So the baby has been learning new things everyday! This week he mastered going from laying down to sitting up - but to me it looks like he is being broadcast in rewind - just the clumsy way he pushes himself back - maybe I need to video it so people can see what I mean? This morning he waved, and waved and waved at his Daddy - he was so happy! He is getting a little more consistent with giving kisses - but he is little too open mouth for most of us.... His other new trick is signing "more" - although he ends up clapping most of the time - but it is just because he is so adamant about wanting more. Today he slept in until 8 am! So his nap schedule is all messed up - he finally had a nap at 12:15 - who knows when he will wake up.

Avery has crazy hair day at school today - so I put in some hot pink hair gel. She Loves It.

And the van plays on...

2007-02-12T14:08:00.000-05:00

Andrew made the long round-trip to Whitby on Friday to get our van back - it has a whole new transmission now! Let's hope that is all with our cars for a while...
AJ is still really working on growing those next 2 teeth - and by really working on it, I mean waking up at night screaming, but they have to come in eventually, don't they? He is so close to crawling - in fact, he does crawl, just backwards. He hasn't quite mastered getting in to a sitting position from lying down, but he has really good recovery when sitting and leaning way over to get something, so I expect int he next few days he will be able to bring himself to sitting - then watch out - he already loves to stand holding on to things.
And Avery. She has recently become very fascinated with her computer games - games we have had for a very long time, but only in the last few weeks will I come down stairs and find her on the computer - but maybe that is because we moved the PC to the kitchen so it is more accessible? Anyway, since she has been playing so often, I downloaded her a new Putt-Putt (Putt-Putt Travels Through Time), which she used to have, but not in at least a year. Anyway, I started it up for her, and with in 3 hours she had finished it - all by herself. Now I don't know how many of you play Putt-Putt games, but they aren't that easy - you need to use logic and sequencing to complete the tasks. What a smart monkey!
Today we baked egg-free sugar cookies for her class for their Valentine's Day party - she had lots of fun using my plethora of heart shaped cookie cutters, and now that they are cool,we shall ice them. I thought I was being so smart, finding the egg free recipe, so I followed it exactly (I may mess with it later, but on a first go, I always measure and do just as it says) well it called for Almond Extract, which I had, so I added it. Guess what - Almond extract contains almond oil. Almond oil is a nut product - see where I am going with this? Great for the kid with the egg allergy, but so long to the kid with the nut allergy.... I think I may make another batch tonight and omit the Almond Extract. Then I was about to make cupcakes, again eggless ones - for which I found a recipe that 25 people have said is good - but it calls for 3 tablespoons of vanilla, and I just ran out - so I need to go pick some up. I did at least buy a Royal Icing mix that doesn't contain egg whites, so the decorations on the cupcakes won't kill the egg allergy girl either...

The Long and Winding Road

2007-02-06T10:07:00.000-05:00

So we are back from week-end road trip (I was going to say from Hell, but really only yesterday was bad...) We were in SW Ontario for my Aunt Linda's memorial service - but since we were there we did some whirlwind visiting - and one unscheduled visit. Avery was too cute - her school is having a dance-a -thon to raise money for gym stuff, so we practised her asking for support - she did fairly well, and I think may have come in with close to $100. She even managed to get some American $$ (which we will be exchanging for CND to save for our trip top Hawaii) - she hit up everyone! Sunday morning she went to church with BL and on their way out the door she asked grandma "How many people do you know at your church?" to which BL replied "All of them!" - so Avery grabbed her baggie with her fundraising in it and stated "Then you can tell me their names, and I can get them to write it down!"- how entrepreneurial of her to think of hitting up the entire congregation for her fundraising efforts!
AJ was his typical self - all smiley and cute - except through the night,when he would wake up every 2 hours, cry out (just enough to wake me up) then fitfully return to sleep. I was exhausted! He seems to be coming down with a cold or something, so I need to keep my eyes on him. He is getting closer to crawling - he maintained the all-fours position for a good 5 minutes this weekend.
Now for yesterday - it started off well, we were all up and ready to be on the road from Kari's by about 9:30. We decided to start off on HWY 7 to see how it was, knowing we could get down tot eh 401 if needed. It wasn't bad, but we got behind a couple of trucks and realised that this would happen for the whole trip and decided that maybe the 401 would be better. After consulting my trusty map we headed down HWY 12 towards Whitby - a total 23 km to the 401. On our way, we drove past a little community called Brooklyn, which Andrew recalled is where one of his old colleagues lives. Convenient. About 5 km past Brooklyn, just inside the Whitby boarder the van suddenly stops driving - we still had full power, just no gears. Andrew managed to coast the van across the 2 lanes of traffic to settle on the side of the road while we tried to get the car to drive - it wouldn't. I then, being so car knowledgeable stated that it was the transmission (I was right by the way - at least partially) - so thank goodness for Ford Roadside assistance and our extended warranty - but we called a tow truck - who, given the weather, advised that it may be HOURS until we get towed. Enter Andrew's acquittance in Brooklyn - Andrew called him, and he happened to be working from home (first time in weeks he said) so he offered to come pick me and the kids up and take them to his house while Andrew waited with the van for the tow truck. The tow truck actually beat Rob, so Avery, AJ and I went and hung out at a near-by Coffee-time (did I mention it was minus 30-something with the wind chill?) Rob arrived shortly there-after and we managed to pile in to his Outback - but of course Avery was too big for Zach's car seat, and AJ's base did not fit in Amanda's base - so we had to re-arrange the seating. Andrew called just as we were about to leave to say that Ford said it would be a couple hours before they could even look at the van - so Rob again graciously offered to pick up Andrew - who we wedged between Avery and AJ in the back seat (his butt is much smaller than mine!). We made it to Rob's, where his wife Ann was home with their 4 month old and 2 year old, and she made us lunch, and we all just chilled. At 2:30 the Ford courtesy shuttle arrived to take us to the rental place, since it looks like the van won't be fixed until Friday. We finally got on the road at about 4:00 and then arrived home at 9:47 - more than 12 hours after we left!

Off and ... rolling?

2007-01-31T21:35:00.000-05:00

That baby is really working on it - he can get up on to all fours and even rocks a little, then he rolls away. He is really rolling - and he loves to roll over to the cat and then torment him in his basket - and the cat, for the most part, just lets him.

We bought the baby a new car seat today, since when I was cleaning the "old" big seat I saw that it expired December 2006. We are heading to Woodstock this weekend, but I think we will keep him in the carrier since it is easier to handle in and out of truck stops if he is sleeping.

Avery jumped off the high diving board again - but tonight we went to Walter Baker (oh my goodness, it took almost an hour to get there!) and she got up there, looked down, tried to jump, then climbed back down the ladder.

Tomorrow Avery has her 2nd cooking class - the theme tomorrow is "Rainbow Blue" and she is so excited!

Sleeping - things (knock on wood) are going very well - in fact we have found that if the baby goes down at 7:45, he will sleep until about 6:45 - I'm loving it!

Oh - and that baby LOVES to play ball! We just sit him on the floor with a few balls and he picks them up and knocks them together, chews on them - and if someone will sit with him, rolls them across the floor. Avery played ball with him for almost an hour on the weekend.

Statistically he is ... HUGE!!!

2007-01-22T15:22:00.000-05:00

So weight wise, he is 21lbs 9 oz (If you previously read this - I made a mistake - he is 21 lbs 9 oz NOT 31 lbs 9lbs) - putting him in the 80-85th percentile range - great. As for his height - he is 30 3/4" - off the charts!
My hair dresser recommended this stuff called Camilia for teething (I bought it at Shopper's for a small fortune) - since we are desperate to maintain our sleep, I mean, ensure the baby is happy and healthy, we decided to try it. It is MAGIC!!! I mean in an instant he went from screaming, chewing off his hand, to this calm, happy baby. MAGIC!!!! And since he was at the Doctor's today anyway, I thought I had best ask about it, since it seemed too good to be true - and she said it is MAGIC! - So I can keep these magic vials around. Do you get how amazing this stuff is? Our Doctor used to work for the company (Boiron) testing this stuff - oddly convenient.
Other baby news - just this morning he got up on all fours and rocked - briefly, but intentionally. And has also taken to creeping backwards - so it is really great that Andrew got the big baby gate up and baby-proofed most of the kitchen.
We are also signing with the baby - he seems to have "more" (as in food), "all done" and "milk". Avery however, has taken right to this sign language thing and can sign "cat", "dog", "I Love You", "airplane" , "Please", "baby", "cookie", "mommy", "daddy" - and probably lots more. I accidentally found a show called "Signing time" on PBS - and it is fabulous - really easy to learn from and a nice song at the end to put the signs from the lesson to use - apparently I can also borrow the collection from the library, but for now I have it set to PVR every time it is on.

Other exciting Avery news - on Friday at her swimming lesson she jumped off the 3m board. She is so fearless! They did the whole lesson in the deep end - which was great because it forced them to swim.

AJ and I went to mommy and baby spinning class on Thursday - and aside from my butt not liking the bike seat at all - I think it will be a good outing. I am optimistic that in the not-too-distant future I may be able to sit on the seat without whimpering! Andrew and I are seriously discussing getting a membership with the city as he has recently renewed his interest in playing squash - and conveniently there are squash courts at our local rec centre - and swimming, skating and spinning - so I think it will be worthwhile. I have been debating between the city and Goodlife, but since none of the Goodlife's in the area offer afternoon childcare I am not so interested. The rec complex doesn't have afternoon childcare either, but it does have a pool and lots of fitness class options.

AJ is a really big eater - today for lunch he had almost as much KD as Avery, plus he had fruit, puffs, gators, and a Mini-go. Today was the first time I gave him actual KD and not just the noodles - and of course he loved it. The Doctor said I need to keep giving him cereal of the iron in it - but he really doesn't like it - he screams when we try to feed it to him - even when we hide it in the fruit now - so I am not sure how to do that. She said if he gets meat at lunch and dinner then he only needs it for breakfast - but we'll see. Maybe he can start eating chicken for breakfast? We gave him an egg yolk on the weekend, and I think he may have reacted to it was moments later his cheek right by his mouth was bright red - but it could have been his teeth too. We'll wait a couple weeks and try again - maybe after 9 months (which is apparently when I was supposed to introduce cheese and plain yogurt - but since we've been on those for a week or so with no noticeable side effects, we'll just keep on with them). Tonight we'll try meatloaf.

Crashed-up car, and baby feeds himself people food

2007-01-16T20:20:00.000-05:00

I was planning on just writing about the baby's exciting dinner - he had people chicken and a pear. He fed himself the entire meal! And he only choked once - to where I had to whack him on the back and he spit out a big hunk of pear - apparently when I cut the little pieces, I missed one. But then, after I got him in his pyjamas, Andrew called to tell me the car (thank goodness the car and not the van) was hit while he was with Avery at skating lessons. It was hit bad enough that it can't be driven - so I had to go rescue Avery. She was very upset and wanted to know how long it would take for the police to catch the person who did this. I told her that she just needed to be happy that no one was in the car when it happened, so there were no injuries.

Maybe this time won't be so bad...

2007-01-15T09:20:00.000-05:00

In case any of you were feeling bad that we aren't getting any sleep - don't be. AJ has actually been OK - on various levels of medication, but OK. Aside from the 5:17 am wake-ups, he is still sleeping through the night. And he is such a happy baby in the daytime - no one believes us when we tell of the screaming through the night - he just smiles and coos at them.

Avery has yet another cold - ah the joys of public education! Too bad too, because I am sure she would have enjoyed going skating with her dad on the weekend - she can go for free on Sunday's with her skating club for practice.

AJ had his first swimming lesson on Saturday - it's nice at the Orleans Rec Complex as they have a small pool that is kept about 86 degrees - so he just lounged, and kicked, and splashed, and chewed his hand... the lesson was at 8:30, which should have been nap time, so he made it through the lesson OK, but was fast asleep before we even got to the parking lot, and was so asleep that I managed to transfer his from his car seat to his crib without him even stirring. I remember the first time we took Avery to swimming lessons - at 6:30 in the evening I think - and she fell asleep in the car on the way home and then slept straight through the night until 7 the next morning - her first 12 hour sleep stretch! I guess it must be exhausting all that lounging and being sung to.

We had the Follis clan over last night for dinner - nice visit, and it is amazing to see how much Finn has changed! He just turned 6 weeks and is starting to solid-up - but he is still so much a baby-baby. AJ looks like a full-blown toddler next to Finn.

AJ is working his way to crawling - kind of. We is really capable at moving and grabbing things when seated - he can now lean over, get his bum off the ground, get what he was grabbing, and return to sitting. And when he is on his belly he can do Upward Facing Dog so that his hips are off the ground and he is balancing on his (meaty) thighs and hands. We just need to work on a little more hip-flexor strength and he will be off - so Andrew really needs to get the baby-proofing done. And since he can almost push himself up to sitting from laying, we also need to lower the crib mattress. How quickly the time has gone!

Well, Avery is crazy-excited right now as we are getting some good snow - the likes of which we have hardly seen this winter, so she is itching to get out and play in it - so I had better go find my long-johns.

More GD teeth, and Jesus

2007-01-12T08:33:00.000-05:00

So it appears that I have the worst teether ever! Thank goodness for our 10 day reprieve of sleeping all night because he is apparently cutting a new tooth,and likes to tell us about it in the middle of the night. As much as I hate to do it, we are keeping him on a steady supply of Tylenol and Advil and oragel - which seems to help some - last night he went down around 7 and woke up at 4:15 - I re-medicated him, and he went back to sleep until 7:10 - so at least we are not up with him screaming - yet. He has chewed his index finger and thumb raw on both hands. Poor little guy - but I have to say that it seems boys are wimps - all the moms of girls I have spoken with said their girls barely complained at all, but all the boy-moms rolled their eyes and said, oh I remember that - up for weeks! Please let his teeth all come in now so we can return to our pleasant world of sleeping.

And on Jesus - we went to the mall yesterday to pick out a present for a birthday party and since we were running late we got food at the food court for lunch. I put down the bag with the present in it when I was purchasing my Tim Horton's and apparently forgot to pick it up - so I had just got everyone bundled in the van when I realised, so out we go and sped back in to the mall. We found the bag, so all was good, but as we were walking back towards the elevator, Avery said "Jesus" - which I thought was her sort-of cursing me for forgetting the bag, and I was about to tell her she shouldn't say that, when she followed up with "Mom, is that baby Jesus?" and sure enough, there was a nativity scene still set up in a store window - I just laughed and laughed. Jesus.

So much better now

2007-01-08T16:07:00.000-05:00

I love how baby-time warps your brain. I mean when we were in the middle of the, what, 3 weeks, that AJ wasn't sleeping well it seemed like it was never going to end and that we had been dealing with it forever, but now, more than a week of really good sleeping has occurred, and those sleepless nights are but a fuzzy memory. He is going down for naps and bedtime with minimal fuss (funny to be writing this right now as he is upstairs screaming - but it is my doing - he really should have been in bed around 1:45, but knowing we had to get Avery I played with him until 2:30 and then put him in the car seat, hoping he would fall asleep in it and then I could just put him on the car-seat chair until he woke up, but no, he did not sleep and now he is really over-tired, but he needs a nap, he would fall asleep in his dinner otherwise.) I LOVE his sleeping bag, I think I am going to have to start thinking about getting him the next size up - you know, the 18-36 month size - for my 7 month old!!! He is just so big, not fat, just BIG. But I love that he know when he gets snapped and zipped in to it, that it is bed or nap time, and within 5 minutes (normally) he is asleep - it is like his off switch. He has also been taking really LONG naps - over 2 hours each, and sometimes he takes 3 a day. He must take after me and his love of sleep, ah sleep... I digress.
I have been very busy for the last couple of days 'ripping' all our CDs on to the computer - I am at the "i's" now and have already put 19 GB of music on - now if I can just figure out some half-decent play lists for when I am out walking.
Avery enjoyed her first day back at school, even if we were 2 minutes late getting there...

Ah the screaming!!!!

2007-01-04T22:50:00.000-05:00

I can't go to bed as the baby is upstairs SCREAMING in his crib. He went down ok, then started crying while Stacey and I went out - and apparently cried for a while, but Andrew had the volume down on the monitor, so he wasn't really sure how long it lasted. Then we came home, and he woke up again. I might have made a bad call as I went up to put him in his sleeping bag (it was in the wash as the time he went to bed, and I thought maybe that was the problem) so he cried for a few minutes when I put him down, but he seemed to settle and go back to sleep. Then Andrew had the audacity to say "Where am I going to go if the baby wakes up? I guess I'll have to come down to the couch." (because my sister will be sleeping on the pull-out) and not long after the SCREAMING started...
Andrew thinks the baby was clapping today - I am not so sure, but we'll see. We were out for a nice walk today, since it is January 4, 2007 and +7 degrees - in Ottawa!!! Apparently we are heading for +11 by the weekend. I know I am supposed to be upset about global warming, but I am really enjoying the mild weather.
Ah, I think it has ceased. I will go to sleep now.

More sleep, yeah!

2007-01-03T20:28:00.000-05:00

So we had another relatively successful evening - he was tired early as he napped like crap, so Andrew put him down around 6:45 and we only had one wake up around 7:15 when Avery flushed the toilet (she did apologize, and suggested to Andrew that if she needed to pee again in the night she could just not flush and take care of it in the morning), but it was short-lived and we didn't hear from him again until 5:17 am. Now 5:17 was a little early for me, so I brought him in to bed to try to feed back to sleep, but it didn't work, and he sounded congested, so he was quite noisy - so around 6:00 I brought him downstairs and we watched the news.

Oh a developmental note - he rolled consecutively today about 6 times from his pile of toys over to me - but when I tried to get it on video he just sucked on his toes.

The picture of Avery is her with her make-up on that she got from her great aunt Heather. Avery thought she looked beautiful. I got the baby wipes and cleaned her up.

12 hours...

2007-01-02T10:46:00.000-05:00

....of sleep! Well, not really, if we have to count the 40 minutes between 9:05 and 9:45 that he was screaming (without getting any attention from us) but then he slept until 7:15 this morning - a full 12 hours after I put him in his crib last night! I feel like a new person having got a full night's sleep.
I am downstairs in the basement with Avery playing "camping fort kitchen" which basically involves Avery piling pillows on the pull-out (I guess Andrew finally decided that if he was going to banish himself to sleep in the basement, he might as well sleep in the bed rather than the couch) and feeding her Cabbage Patch pony "Butterscotch" some cookies - but you know, she is the wildest pony in the world!
The baby is sitting on the floor beside me smacking Little People together - ah to be a baby!
I don't think I mentioned our latest construction requirements - in order to have a legal bedroom in the basement (for the nanny) we need to have a bigger window. In the current office, the only wall where a window could go, the outside is against our big concrete slab of side steps, so we need to re-jig the basement in order to facilitate the window. I think it will look really good - and probably a better lay-out in the end anyway, so we are going to knock down the one wall of the office and basically flip it out across the basement so that when you come down the stairs you will have the option of going straight into the new bedroom, or turning into the space that currently is the office, and it will be the playroom. We have already moved the computer up to the kitchen - which honestly, I like better, and now Avery can use it when I am getting dinner ready - we just need a desk that will fit as I am not sure that the round glass table is the best set-up for the computer station. I figure we can handle the wall knock down and the installation of the new one, but we will need a contractor to do the window as it involves cutting into the cinder block.... And if we get it done early spring, we will have a spare room for a while if anyone wants to visit us!
Last night Avery said to me, 'Mommy, since you didn't do my tubby, I would really appreciate it if you would read my books' - Andrew was standing behind her biting his tongue to not laugh - she is just getting so sophisticated with her language it makes me laugh.
Ok - I really should go be a mom and play with the bug, so I am off. Here's hoping we get another good night - although everything I have read suggests nights 2-4 are often worse than better...

Maybe he shouldn't of had that last slice of pizza...

2006-12-31T10:36:00.000-05:00

Well last night was the worst one yet. We went out to our friends Sean and Carolyn's (Andrew was supposed to be helping Sean install their new stove, however about 50 metres from their place he realised he forgot the tools Sean needed). A nice visit and the baby was very happy - I started thinking maybe we were going to have an OK night. We ate dinner and the baby was babbling and generally enjoying his cheerios, so then I thought, why not give him a little pizza crust - he LOVED it. AJ fell asleep in the car on the way home, and even made the transfer from car seat to crib with minimal fuss - it was looking good. Then it hit about 10:00 and he whimpered - so Andrew went up to re-apply the plug, and he said the baby was flailing - but he went back to sleep, just really flinchy. About 10:30 it happened again, and this time I don't think he really settled - at midnight Andrew brought him to bed, but that didn't work either - so Andrew brought him downstairs as the baby seemed to do best being a little more upright. At 5:00 I woke up and noticed that Andrew had still not come to bed and could hear the baby, so I got up to relieve Andrew. I fed AJ a little, then he slept in my arms, a little fitfully, but sleep none-the-less. He slept with me until about 7:30 then we both sort of decided it was time to get up. He had a good breakfast (no wheat!) and then played by himself on the floor for almost an hour. Sean came over to get the tools Andrew was supposed to bring over last night, and Avery finally woke up - and then around 9:45 I brought the baby up for a nap, and an hour later he is still there. I hope the New Year brings re-newed sleep.

And Miss Avery... she and Andrew went tobogganing yesterday, and she had a blast! She only landed on her head once (no helmet though - I was not too happy to hear that!) But apparently the fresh air did her good as she slept until almost 9:00 this morning (normally she is up around 7). And I swear she grew an inch last night - she came down in her pj's and the pants are full-on capris now - but not by design - she just keeps getting taller and taller. I also learned that she really isn't that much of a skinny-mini, as I bought her some jeans from Old Navy and went with the slim cut, but she can't even get the button done up on them, so I guess she just needs the regular cut - I am certain she doesn't need the husky fit....

Oh, the screaming

2006-12-28T20:38:00.000-05:00

For the last 2 nights, AJ has been up - screaming for over 3 hours in the middle of the night. Last night I am sure he passed out from exhaustion since I had to just leave him in his crib - I was so angry that he had me awake and wouldn't settle that I just had to leave him there. I took him to the Doctor's today to confirm that he isn't sick (he's not) and that it might be his teeth - and the Doctor said, with a shrug, that I might need to just let him cry it out. I confessed that I put in ear plugs last night, so that was the game plan I had in mind. Andrew went to the basement to sleep as he cannot sleep when the baby is crying. That is making the whole "cry it out" plan a little more difficult since I don;t even want to go in and check on him unless he sounds sick or in pain - I would say that he has been sounding more ticked off and lonely than in pain. We never had to do this with Avery, so I just don't know how we are going to handle much more of this.

Christmas has come and gone, with only a bit of excess. Avery got the kitchen of her dreams - and every small appliance to go with it, as well as lots of clothes, more toys, a couple books - really it was excessive. The baby got a few neat things too - and he has tried to eat all of them.

I went out today after the Doctor's appointment to St. Laurent mall and was very pleased to walk in to the Children's Place and found a pair of size 6 pink snow pants - since I am fairly certain Avery will get another year out of that winter coat, but am skeptical about the pants - but now we are all set for next winter too - and they were 40% off too.

I think my level of tiredness is showing by the even more rambling nature of this post, so perhaps I will say goodnight.

Let it be coincidence

2006-12-23T12:47:00.000-05:00

So last night, after nearly a week of being awake in the middle of the night for a couple of hours, the baby finally slept. Sort of. We had a babysitter over so we could go to a movie and she said she had some difficulty getting him down for the evening, and that he didn't get to sleep until nearly 9 pm - 2 hours later than normal. Then, around 10:30 he woke up, Andrew went up and settled him, but then he slept from 11 until 6 - so we're getting better. My fear now is that yesterday I did not allow him any wheat products - no cheerios, no breadsticks, no mixed cereals. I hope it is just a coincidence.

Avery is coming down with something - her poor eyes keep watering and her nose keeps running, she is so frustrated by it. She had a Christmas party at school yesterday, and wore her cute Santa dress - Mrs. Impey said she is such a party girl!

Food log

2006-12-20T09:36:00.000-05:00

I have decided that maybe the baby's tummy doesn't like something we are feeding him - for some reason I have a strange fear he can't eat wheat, but I have no idea why I would think that. So I am going to log all his foods and his nap and sleeping behaviours to see if anything becomes clear. I was up with him for over 2 hours last night - he just couldn't settle, so he finally succumbed to sleep around 11:45 and then was up for the day at 5:50 this morning - not enough sleep for anyone, let alone a 7 month old.

Go Sens, Go

2006-12-19T20:51:00.000-05:00

Andrew is attending a Sens game right now, so in honour of the game, I put the baby in his Sens jersey (a gift from Andrew's co-workers) - good thing I did too, since it barely fit him - I mean it is only a 12 month size...

Today the baby is 7 months old. Where did the time go? We were driving home from the mall (I needed baby food, and since Heinz gives Kidsfutures points, and the Loblaws chain stopped carrying it, I had to go to Zellers) and Avery asked if it they had to cut my vagina to get the baby out (No) so then she asked if it really hurt to get him out (yes) and if I cried (no) - to which she said she asked me before and I said yes (I cried at home before I left for the hospital, but was too busy to cry in the delivery) then she said it was a good thing that Iza, Dahlia, Joey and Trevor were over.

Tomorrow I get to go to school with Avery and bake cookies with her class - we are going to make Roly-Poly Santas - fun.

He had us fooled...

2006-12-18T18:23:00.000-05:00

We have had a good week for sleep finally - until last night. Last night, my cute, sweet, handsome little bugger woke up at 2:13 and didn't go back to sleep until 4:27. I am exhausted! And then he woke up for the day at 7:20 ish, napped for an hour and half at 9:00, then took a mini nap in the stroller coming home from dropping Avery off at school - so now he is up for bed at 6:25 as he is exhausted! I hope this doesn't mean he will be up at 5:00 for the day!
On another note, I was over at my neighbours yesterday to pick up some mail she got for us accidentally, and I met her husband for the first time in the daylight. It was a little weird because he looked freakishly familiar, so of course I thought about it during the 2 hours I was up with the baby - and it turns out he is Matt, friend of Brad of Jer from university - I went downstairs and found a picture of him sitting on my couch from Avondale. Small world.
Avery had a play date today with her friend Zoe - they helped me make shortbread then played house in the basement. Hopefully we can get together over the holidays for the girls.

This is for you, Iza

2006-12-13T16:25:00.000-05:00

Upstairs (you will have to wait for our living areas, still too messy to be photographed)

It was a better night, and I remember the swiss cheese

2006-12-13T15:17:00.000-05:00

So he slept - all night. Sort of. He went down around 7:15 as per normal, then slept soundly until 10:45. We tried to wait it out, but then at 11:00 when he was still crying I allowed Andrew to go in and settle him. But then he slept until 7:45 this morning! Now our naps have been a little erratic - he fell asleep at gymnastics, but needed to be fed in order to finally succumb, then he only slept about 45 minutes. It worked out though - we got home a little late and got Avery fed for lunch, and since the baby was awake, he had lunch too - I even had time for some tasty pizza pockets! Then, since we were running late, I drove Avery to school, getting there just in time, and then since the baby was awake and fed, I decided to go tot he grocery store to get the 2nd week grocery stuff. Oh my goodness the grocery store toy aisle was crazy - I could have easily bought the place out! And the sales! I kind of wish Avery was still in to her Little People as they had such cute accessory packs for such silly prices! I need to keep reminding myself that I am done Christmas shopping - although Ms.Avery has been reading the Polar Express with me and now wants to ask Santa for a Silver bell...
The Swiss cheese comment - maybe because we had some with dinner last night, I don't know, but I was up in the dark with the baby and I suddenly had a very vivid memory of the Swiss cheese climber that I used to play in at the YWCA preschool.

Cry it out...

2006-12-12T08:59:00.000-05:00

So last night I pulled out my trusted "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" book for some inspiration or explanation as to what is up with the baby. Dr. Marc states plainly that teething does NOT cause night waking. Andrew thinks he is full of it. So then I read the two personal accounts dealing with night wakings and the sleep deprivation of the parents, and was inspired to try to let him cry it out. It worked. Almost. He started crying about 45 minutes after he went down (possibly due to Andrew setting off the fire alarm with the fireplace) and then was up every hour and half. So at 10:30 Andrew went to him and got him settled, but I said I am not going to get him unless he is in pain. So at midnight he started crying, and I held strong and stayed in bed - and about 7 minutes later he was asleep. At 2:30 ish the same thing. At 4:00 I woke to him whimpering and just lay there awake - waiting for it to stop - but it just escalated. At 4:21 I finally gave in - I didn't want him to wake up Avery. Then I tried to settle him with out picking him up. Fat chance! So at 4:40 I picked him up and danced a little - still no luck, so then I fed him. All was good - he ate and relaxed. The when I lay him down, he woke right up again. I told him I was going and left. Then 10 minutes later, I went back in, because I thought that maybe he had a dirty diaper and that was the problem - it wasn't. So finally around 5:20 I left him - still awake, and he whimpered every 15 minutes, but then slept until 7:45. So we will try it again tonight, and maybe he will stop waking up in the middle of the night.

what is this?

Home again, home again, jiggity jig...

2006-12-11T14:05:00.000-05:00

So we are home now. Finally. I am SO glad our holiday travels are over. I feel like we have been on the road for weeks, but we are finally home. We spent the last weekend at Montebello for Andrew's work party. It was a fabulous time. Andrew's parents came with us to look after the kids, so we got to enjoy ourselves and not worry about the kids. AJ's tooth is still bothering him - he still hasn't slept a full night in a few nights. It seems like much longer. I want to sleep. Last night was rough - I think he was up every 2 1/2 hours - I am so hoping tonight goes better.
We went out yesterday and met Finnegan Follis. What a cutey! Avery wanted to hold him - which just at the end of the evening she did. So funny to see my monster sized baby next to a newborn.
Alright - still doing laundry from our world voyages, and now we have to go get the bug from school.
And D'Arcy - we'd love to see you - maybe you want to brave winterlude with the kids?

what is this?

Houston, we have a tooth!

2006-12-07T07:10:00.000-05:00

So even though the baby and I had an agreement for him to not get teeth until about 9 months, he went and sprouted one yesterday. He hasn't been too bad about it, but he did get up for the last 2 nights around 4. Oh, and then there are the diapers, but we were blaming that on the prunes, but who knows?
And yesterday we had Avery's first parent-teacher conference. Apparently we are doing everything right. I asked specifically what we should be working on with her, and Mrs. Impey said that she was already very advanced and she has some 5 year-olds and January birthday kids who don't have her skills, and oh her imagination... Apparently not only is she a creative little artist, but she loves to act and play at school - just like at home. The only criticism, and I don;t even think that is the right word, is that Avery needs to play with her friend Zoe, and if Zoe decides to play with someone else or want to do something different, Avery sulks - again, just like at home.
Our trip home was nice - except for that horrific drive around the EX in Toronto - a whole hour to make it about 1 km.... good thing we love Stacey. But travelling with the baby now is so much easier - we can feed him cheerios and give him a sippy-cup to appease him until we can stop - and honestly, if it wasn't for that silly delay in Toronto, I don't think he would have made a peep the whole trip.
Avery went to the mall with me yesterday to get to talk to Santa - and wouldn't you know it - the REAL Santa was there! He even let Avery pull his beard, and had a photo album with pictures of Ruldoph and his crazy cat. Avery was in heaven!
Andrew's parents are due here today so they can come and babysit at Montebello while we attend Andrew's work Christmas party.

what is this?

Avery's self portraits

2006-11-24T21:47:00.000-05:00

Avery got a hold of the digital camera, and along with these beauties, there was a serier of photos of the tv and fish tank.

what is this?

Weight Watchers cards

2006-11-23T21:15:00.000-05:00

So this has nothing to do with the kids, but I laughed the first time I saw them and found them again today, so now I shall share with you - which is apparently 3 people. Hi to all of you.

http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html

I broke the baby - he was sleeping all great with Andrew stuffing him full before bed with dinner and a big bottle. But last night I wanted to feed him myself - from its natural source - and he woke up at 4:40 - SCREAMING. So tonight, it was back to the bottle. I shall now go and use the uber-pump and make more for tomorrow.

We have started a new discipline/motivational tool. The idea - taken from a friend on another web-board - is that we have a jar or marbles and Avery gets them for good behaviour and loses them for bad behaviour. She had taken right to it - her first "prize" for getting 30 marbles in the jar is a trip to the mall to see Santa - sort of double banging the you must be good/nice as Santa is always watching, but it works. We started her with 5, so she only needs to earn 25 - I think she got 4 more today and she didn't lose any, so that is good. We should be sitting on Santa in a week or so.

what is this?

Porky Pig

2006-11-21T18:02:00.000-05:00

AJ had his 6 month Doctor's appointment today - he weighs in at a whopping 20lbs (90th percentile) and 29 inches long (greater than the 95th percentile). Even the Doctor commented on his thunder thighs! He did fine with his shots, but now is a little rosy in the cheeks and has been spitting up a bit more than normal.
And on today's sleep news... We have had a successful couple of nights of sleep. Andrew has been giving him a bottle at night, around 7, then he puts him down and for the past 2 nights he has slept until after 6 am. Daytime we are still on schedule - and his naps even seem to be getting a little longer - nearing an hour and a half for his his first 2, then a mini nap later in the day.
Avery's has been doing a lot of "it's not fair" - I am not sure where she got the idea that life was fair, but she seems to think she is under some great distress.
On another note, we will be interviewing a nanny in the near future - we had been talking about it a couple of weeks ago, then I arrived at gymnastics early one day and another mother was talking about her nanny - so I budded in and asked some questions. Well, it turns out that her nanny has a nanny friend who is looking for work sometime after April when her current employment ends. She is Filipino and is currently working on Orleans, so we can not only meet and interview her in person, we should also be able to talk to her current family. I understand she wants to go home for a bit when her current employment ends, so I may be able to hold her off until June - which would give us a month or so for all of us to get accustomed to her before I start my new job. I just hope if we like her and she likes us, that she doesn't mind sleeping in the tiny room in the basement....

Ask your Doctor about Celebrex

2006-11-18T15:31:00.000-05:00

So I was just sitting here on the computer and Andrew said - hey make yourself useful and type in Celebrex - and Avery who was working quietly at the table doing some crafts, turns to her dad and says "ask your Doctor about Celebrex"

That is all for now.

2006-11-16T16:15:00.000-05:00

So yesterday the baby nearly spit up in my mouth - I can't even begin to describe how gross that was - it just missed my mouth! Yuck!!! And he still isn't sleeping - he was up at 1 and 4:30 again last night. I am really hoping it is a growth spurt or something. He goes in for his 6 month appointment next week, so he is about on track for a spurt.
I took him to the office today and he was cute as can be - flirting with all the girls.

Sleep, glorious sleep!

2006-11-09T06:50:00.000-05:00

I am sensing a theme to this blog and my life with childres and it all seems to evolve around SLEEP! Well, last night AJ went to bed at 7 - awake and crying, fell asleep within minutes, and he didn't get up until 5:50 am. I even bit the bullet this morning and just fed him in his room, then at 6:30 when I was pretty certain he was not going back to sleep, we came downstairs. But I'm ok with that - and if I hadn't drank a litre of water before going bed last night, I probably would have had 7.5 hours of uninterupted sleep... The only thing with this 6 am wake-up is tht he moves to 1st nap before 8 am - up around 9, then is ready for 2nd nap around 11 - but we leave for school at 12:10 - and 2nd nap seems to last a little longer - like 2 hours, and if I have to move him from his bed, he wakes up.
His new thing - which started a couple of days ago is to play with his big pooh blocks - he picks them up, chews on them, then tosses them overboard from his exersaucer. Sometimes he even manages to stack one or two. He is also sitting up by himself for short periods.

A day in the life

2006-11-06T08:48:00.000-05:00

This is a typical day in our world:

4:00 am - AJ wakes up and thinks he wants to be fed, so inevitably I give in and feed him so I can go back to bed
4:45 am - I get back to bed
7:15 am - Avery gets up and goes downstairs to the basement to watch TVO, and might get herself some breakfast
7:20 am - AJ wakes up, so I kick Andrew out of bed to go get him and bring him to me so I can steal another 15 min of sleep while he eats
7:45 am - Down to the living room with AJ - he bounces in his exersaucer while I inhale coffee and oatmeal
8:15 am - Andrew leaves for work
9:00 am - I send Avery to get dressed and make her bed, and if not done so already, get the baby dressed for the day
9:30 am - AJ is ready for his 1st nap, depending on how he is I may or may not feed him
10:30 am - AJ wakes up from his nap
11:30 am - lunch time for Avery and AJ - who is now eating almost a 1/2 cup of cereal and 1/2 jar of food at a sitting!
12:10 pm - we walk Miss Avery to school
12:45 pm - AJ and I get home from walking Avery to school
1:00 pm - AJ goes down for nap #2
2:30 pm - (if I am really lucky) AJ wakes up from his nap and we get ready to go pick up Avery
3:00 pm - Avery is done school, if it is nice she may play for a bit, but she doesn't like to be on the climbers with the big kids, so it is often short-lived
3;30 pm - We are home
4:00 pm - I start to get dinner ready, and inevitably notice we are missing a key ingredient, so we either walk over to the superstore, or call Andrew to pick something up if it can wait
5:10 pm - Andrew gets home
5:20 pm - dinner time for the baby
5:30 pm - dinner time for the rest of us
6:00 pm - I do the dishes while Andrew gives the baby a bath
6:30 pm - Tubby time for Avery
7:15 pm - Book time, sometimes for both, sometimes just Avery if Aj s too fussy
7:30 pm - Both kids in bed

Wow! Now wasn't that exciting!

Oh, Happy 7th Anniversary Hunny Bunny.

Daylight Savings Sucks! (or maybe green beans?)

2006-11-05T13:53:00.000-05:00

So it has been a terrible week - the baby has only slept throught the night a couple of times. At first I figured it was the time change - which let me tell you, sucks- but then he slept on Thursday night, and I thought we were all better - but then Friday night happened - he SCREAMED for 2 hours - and I remembered that Andrew gave him green beans for dinner - and I recall there being green beans earlier in the week too - so maybe it wasn't really the time change, but perhaps a sensitivity to green beans.

Avery got her school photos back - she is very serious in them, but cute none-the-less.

I went to a baby shower for a friend yesterday, and made the cake - so I chose to make those cute baby cupcakes. Aren't they adorable?

That's all for now.

And now for something completely different...

2006-10-30T21:13:00.000-05:00

So I used to live with this girl http://livingdeadgirlz.com/SWATgirl.htm . That is all. I think it says enough.

J.

Sick kids, sewing maniac

2006-10-30T14:11:00.000-05:00

So AJ has his first cold - it isn't too bad, but just enough that he is all stuffed up and not sleeping. (As I write that he is still taking his 2nd nap - which has now lasted more than 2 hours...) but last night he slept in spurts of a hour or two then was awake equally as long. I had to hold him upright while sitting in the lazy boy (Boy, am I glad I asked for that to be put in his room!) from 3 is to 6:30 when I was finally too exhausted to continue, so I put him in his crib, and of course 5 minutes lasted he started to cry so I did as any good mother would do, covered my ears with the pillow and left Andrew to get him.
I have been sewing like crazy for the past 3 days (I guess that I haven't gotten over that university procrastination) to get Avery's Snow White and AJ's Dopey costumes done. Snow White was finished last night - and I am actually quite proud of the job I did - it isn't perfect, but this was not a simple pattern - I of course went for the difficult one, because I thought it was prettier... I just whipped the Dopey costume up since the baby went down for his nap, and aside from being a bit big (I think - I'll have to try it on him) it is pretty good for not having a pattern.
Ah I think I hear him rumbling ....

12 hours!!!

2006-10-24T10:34:00.000-04:00

My dear sweet little boy slept for just shy of 12 hours - meaning he went to bed just before 8pm last night and didn't get up until after 7:30 this morning! And oh, how I needed that full night's sleep. And Avery slept all night too... now if I could just figure out how to fit in some exercise to my day I'll be all set.

It's all good

2006-10-23T13:22:00.000-04:00

So the baby seems to have remembered what it is to sleep through the night, yeah! But Miss Avery has taken to waking up and screaming. But I might be to blame for that - last weekend we watched Beetlejuice... However she really only screams at the cat. I need to get the cat declawed, but I feel bad - I mean he is almost 3 and has been used to having them, but he gets Avery, and I am afraid for the baby... So Andrew will have to take him to the vet and get it done. Miss Avery is at a pumpkin patch today, and I am home with the slightly grumpy baby - who thankfully is napping now.
We took the kids to visit our friends Sean and Carolyn yesterday - they are expecting a little one in a few weeks - and Avery just went right over and lifted up her shirt - ah the cooth of 4 year olds!
Mr. AJ is HUGE (those of you who see him regually know this!) I mean he is well in to the 9 month and some 12 month clothes... Thank goodness we spent the little more and bought the 30 lb car seat or he would already be out of the infant one. We gave our friends the swings as he is too big and heavy for them - and he is really working on sitting up unassisted, which was making them a little risky. So new we are all about the exersaucer. Oh, and he is eating like a champ! He is eating about 1/2 cup of cereal and 1/2 a jar of baby food - very soon I will get down to making some babyfood from scratch - I mean I bought those tupperware ice-cube trays for a reason! but for now, he gets the PC Organics - and a few Heinz ( I get kidsfutures points on Heinz)
I added that picture of me too since everyone tells me I look so different with my long (for me anyway) hair and bangs...

Butterflies

2006-10-08T20:26:00.000-04:00

We went to the Carleton University butterfly garden today and Avery LOVED it! AJ was a little indifferent, although he wasn't sure how he felt about a big Owl butterfly sitting on his head. We are preparing for Thanksgiving - we will be eating turkey for weeks... Avery missed school on Friday as she might have pink-eye - but I am still not sure - I mean, yeah, it's pink, but not goopey or gross, just a little itchy - could be allergies.
Andrew hung most of our wall-art, so this house is looking more and more like a home. I really like this house.
Oh - and Andrew bought his 42" plasma tv - it is HUGE!
AJ has once again forgotten how to sleep through the night - last night he was up at 12:00 and 4:00. We started him on pablum yesterday and so far so good - but it hasn't helped him sleep - silly myth.

37:30

2006-10-04T09:26:00.000-04:00

I did it! I ran (walked) the CIBC Run for the Cure 5km race. My time was a little slower than I had hoped, but given that I had a migraine and felt like I was going to be ill, and it was raining and windy... and oh my goodness, when 2000 people start "running" all at once no one moves very fast - I think it took 5 minutes to cross the start line - and even then we weren't really moving. But I did it!!!
We tried some rice cereal for the baby, but we don't think it agreed with him as he was up most of the night and had thrown up all over his bed. So maybe we will wait a few more weeks.
Today I get to be class mom in Avery's class - I am hoping the baby will cooperate and sleep most of the time, but I am not holding my breath. Speaking of the baby, he seems to be telling me he is hungry, so off we go....

BIg baby, broken glassses

2006-09-21T17:52:00.000-04:00

So Avery has had a full week of school under her belt, and she seems to love it. She has made some friends, and conveniently one of her friends goes to daycare 2 houses down from us. Her friend takes the bus, so we race the bus everyday - so far we have won everyday. And Avery got her new glasses finally - I am a little ticked withthe optometrist's office since I had to call on Wednesday to ask about the status of her glasses, to which I was advised hey were there. I aksed why I wasn't called - and the receptionist said that I probably was. I wasn't. I have call display.

So I told Avery not to wear them at gymnastics, since they were new I didn't want her falling off the balance beam or anything - so she started wearing them at around 11:30 am - and she managed to break them at 3 pm - so broken I need to buy new frames!
And the chunky one - weighing in at 17lbs 6oz (90th percentile) and measuring 27 inches (97th percentile). That is one big baby.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig

2006-09-13T16:30:00.000-04:00

The kids and I took the train to Woodstock last weekend for the Wilks family reunion - as far as travelling goes the train was awesome - the only stress was getting on and off the train - with a stroller, suitcase, diaper bag, Avery's backpack, the baby in a car seat and Avery. But we made it and no one was left behind! We had a lay-over in Toronto both ways - on the way to Woodstock, we stopped by to see Aunt 'tacey at her work for lunch - which Avery thought was the coolest! The kids were both well behaved and the trip was a success - I even managed to hit up may relatives to support me in my CIBC Run for the Cure fundraising. It was nice to be home again though - and while we were gone Andrew got a bit of work done around the house.

Houston, we have sleep!

2006-09-04T16:39:00.000-04:00

Not to jinx it, but we have had a couple nights of 6+ hours of sleep. Just in time to screw us all up with our week-end trip to Woodstock...
Andrew has been busy around the house all weekend, and it is slowly coming together - he even cleaned off the kitchen countertops! (Now if I could just get him to clean the bathrooms....) You can even see floor in the garage - there may still be hope for me to park the van in there before the snow comes.
Avery is super excited to meet her teacher tomorrow afternoon. She has already picked-out her clothes that she wants to wear, and today I painted her nails to match it.
AJ is getting smarter everyday - it is so neat to watch him learn new things - like now he can grab things - sort of on purpose even.
I LOVE our new house. It is the perfect size, and has the right funtionality to it. I love that Avery can go out and play in the backyard by herself if she wants. Now I just need to take down the wallpaper trim in the kitchen and choose a paint colour. I may need to buy a new a new kitchen table, but I don't know what I want yet. We need to totally re-do the main floor bath, but I think that will be an after Christmas activity. No real rush - we are supposed to be here for the long haul.
The baby calls...

Update

2006-08-31T17:06:00.000-04:00

Somehow another month has gone by - where does the time go? We' re gettign a little more moved-in everyday, but I still have so many boxes to unpack, and sort, and sell... we figure it should be a pretty specatacular garage sale! So what has gone on? We spent our cottage week up at the beach - pretty good weather, but I didn't get to see much of it as the baby prefered the great in-doors - oh well. Avery LOVED it - she was swimming and playing the whole time - she loved being on the beach with the sand and water. Until the beach week AJ ws sleepign for 10 hours at night - then we got to the beach and he started waking at about 4 am - that was nearly 3 weeks ago and he still isn't back to sleeping through the night. I had hope 2 nights ago when he went to bed at 11pm and woke up at 6am. But alas last night he fell alseep at 8pm then awoke at 12, 4 and 7...
Avery has been having a blast at summer camp at a near-by gym - she loves it! And the instructor told me she has gotten better at listening too! I can't beleive Ms. Avery is about to start school - we have our family meeting on Tuesday afternoon, then she has a "normal" day on the following Tuesday, then starts school that Friday.
So here's hoping the baby remembers that he enjoys sleeping through the night.

New house

2006-07-28T15:15:00.000-04:00

So we got possession of the house, no problems - yeah ;-) Yesterday we moved over a ton of boxes and I unpacked some of the kitchen. Andrew ripped up the carpet in the basement with a couple of the guys - apparently it was glued right to the concrete - so tonight the laminate goes down. My brother and I removed the wallpaper in Avery's room - and now we just need to prime and paint - I don't know what to do about the nasty fake wood-grain closet doors. The baby slept the whole morning, so we got lots done. After we left I went to the Running Room and signed Andrew and I up for a Learn to Run running clinic. We moved the move date to next Wednesday, but I could not move up the phone or satelite - so we will be tech-free for a couple of days, but since Andrew and Avery are moving in on Sunday, I have it easy.
Today is Avery's last day at Debbie's - she was little emotional this morning, so we'll see how she is when I pick her up tonight.

Porky Pig?

2006-07-24T21:33:00.000-04:00

So I brought the kids to the Doctor's - I thought they were goiong to get a check up with their shots, but apparently not. I had to ask to have AJ weighed - a whopping 14lbs 7 oz! Both kids got their needles and did very well with them. I however am looking for a new doctor for teh kids anyway - and possibly both of us. Apparently there is a Dr in Orleans who is accepting patients, so maybe he'll at least take a minute to deal with the kids - or maybe they should see a pedaetrician.
Sleeping. Andrew broke the baby on Sunday - so I've had a couple days without normal sleep, but I am optomistic that we will get back to normal shortly. (and by that I mean, I really hope I get a full night's sleep tonight!)
We get possession of the new house tomorrow - after a little fiasco with $$$ - thank goodness we have lots of credit!

Sleep, Glorious Sleep

2006-07-16T11:39:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe AJ is now over 8 weeks old! Where does the time go? He is settling in to a nice schedule - or maybe I just started paying attention to his schedule? Anyway, we are pretty good with getting up between 6:30 and 8:00 - then about 2 hours later, he goes down for a good nap - about 2 -3 hours - and I even seem to be able to put him to bed partly awake - something I didn't master with Avery until she was 9 months old. We eat, then he goes down again - but I am normally mean mommy for this nap and am out and about - so the sleep happens in the car or stroller. My biggest issue is at about 5:20 everyday when I need to be getting dinner ready and he goes crazy - doesn't matter if I just fed him, he gets crazy - so I try to make dinner while he screams - then of course he calms down minutes before Andrew walks in the door, and Ii just seem like a frazzled freak for no reason. He stays awake until about 10:00, with little 15 minute cat naps, then Andrew gives him the bottle I pumped at some point in the day, and then he goes to bed - another thing I never managed to do with Avery - how liberating it is to be able to go to bed whenever I want (or better the idea that we could go out for an evening and someone else could feed the baby - Avery started to refuse the bottle around now, so I am hoping AJ doesn't do the same - but he seems to really like it).

It's been a while...

2006-07-05T14:11:00.000-04:00

So, what has happened? Alex (or AJ as I am trying to call him) had his last midwife appointment on June 29 - one day short of 6 weeks old, and he weighed in at 11 lbs 14 oz! He has also taken to pooing only once every 2 to 4 days... I am always thankful if it happens when we are at home. Avery is still doing well with life with AJ. I am gearing up for the move, and so looking forward to it! Well not the actual move part, but the being at the new house, and having Andrew just around the corner.
I was offically offered a PE-04 with Health yesterday, so I had to call and ask what the deal is about the job with the Public Helath Agency. I am apparently still the #1 choice, but she hasn't finalized anything, and since there could be appeals she suggested it would be prudent to accept the PE-04, so I did. And PHAC is moving to the Hull side... that sucks.

A weekend alone with the kids

2006-06-25T20:32:00.000-04:00

I made it! Andrew left early Friday morning and only got home around noon today - but we managed. This was my first time alone for an extended period with 2 kids - I am certain I never had Avery alone until she was a year old - and me with Alex at only 5 weeks! Yesterday we took a long drive to the Metcalfe farmers market - not really worth the drive, but at least we have been there now. Alex slept the whole time - nearly 3 hours in total. Then we came home to feed the baby and get some lunch, then it was off to the splash pad for Avery. We stayed there for a few hours then went to Farm Boy to get a little chicken and some fresh peas - yummy!
Today was nice as well - after Andrew got home we all went to the outdoor pool - even the3 baby went in, although I am not sure he liked it as much as the rest of us.

Sleep? What Sleep?

2006-06-21T20:12:00.000-04:00

So Alex has taken to being a crazy thing from about 6:00 until 11:30ish - not too bad as long as he is held, but man, it makes getting dinner ready a real challenge. Last night I fed him and fed him and fed him, then finally around 10:30 Andrew took him so I could got to bed - apparently he finally sucummed to sleep around 11:30, and stqayed that way until 2:00 - not bad since I last fed him around 10:00 - so it looks like we may have a 4 hour stretch to count, lets make it 5....

The LONG LONG Road

2006-06-20T13:29:00.000-04:00

Well we managed our first big road trip this past weekend - to Toronto Friday night for a zoo trip on Sunday (and on the hottest day of the year - at one point the stroller read 44). We left Friday around 5:45 and made it all of 45 minutes to Perth where we stopped for pizza hut and some boob for Alex. By 6:30 we were back on the road and got to Tweed before needing to stop again, this time for Avery, but I decided to feed the little man too. I fed him them we tried to do a bottle as he seemed a bit peckish still. Anyway we made it to Toronto at 11:05 - not bad as it is normally a 4 hour 15 minute trip, and we did it in 5 hours and 20 mintues with a stop for pizza.

We made it to the zoo for Avery's birthday and spent a good 6 hours there - my sister and Rick and the boys met up with us. But oh my gawd it was HOT - but both kids didn't seem fazed at all. We got to see the polar bears, and Avery says her favorite thing was the kookabura. We left a little after 4 and headed to Woodstock so my dad could meet Alex - that 2 hour drive went fairly well - I did have to try to feed him a bottle in the van, but that one didn't go as well - he was soaked! We made it to Woodstock and went to East Side Mario's for dinner so Uncle Ryan could see the kids.

Sunday Avery, Alex and I walked to Vicki's parents to see Vicki and Brayden. They have one of those inflat-a-pools and Avery jumped in in her panties and swam like a fish! Other than that we just hung out. Super G came down for dinner as did Stacey.

Monday morning we headed out around 10:00 - made it all of 5 minutes away before needign to feed the monster, but conviently we had just picked up our McDonald's breakfast, so we just sat in the van and ate - all of us! Then finally around 10:30 we hit the highway on route to Thornhill to see GG before heading back to Kanata. That leg of the trip went well - we stopped once for Avery to go the the washroom, but minimal stopping. We made it to GG's for a little after noon, Subway sandwiches in hand, and had a pleasant visit. Avery got yet more birthday presents, and we all had lunch. By about 1:30 we were ready to hit the road again. I don't really know how often we had to stop to feed that baby, but we didn't get home until 7:30 - a normal 4 hour trip - and we didn't stop to eat or anything. We did finally make it to Marmora to the park that I always want to stop at, but never really had a reason, so at least Avery got to play while I fed Alex. It was a LONG LONG trip, but we learned a couple of things - hopefully the trip toteh cottage in a couple of weeks goes a little more like the trip to Toronto as opposed to the trip home...

Woo Hoo! He's back to birth weight!

2006-06-13T20:19:00.000-04:00

So we had another midwife appointment today and Alex has regained his birthweight - once again narrowly avoiding a trip to CHEO to have him checked out. As per the midwives college guidelines, if by 3 weeks he had not regained his birthweight, it is a level 2 consult, but today at 3 weeks 4 days he weighed 10lbs 10 oz, and apparently measured in at 25 inches - that'd mean he grew 2.5 inches since birth.
He hit the 3 week growth spurt right on target and has been eating every 2 hours, but today finally has let up a bit - about every 4 hours, but then he feeds for an hour, piglet.
Tomorrow is Avery's 4th birthday - I can't believe she is 4 already, and such a big girl! We are having her portraits done tomorrow night and then she gets to pick the restaurant - she suggested Boston Pizza, but we'll see if that is still her choice tomorrow. On Thursday we will have her friends Connor and Seamus from across the street over for a barbeque and cake. On Friday we are going to attempt a trip to Toronto. We will stay at Andrew's parents house then hit the zoo on Saturday. I am hoping we can visit GG, but she doesn't normally do so well in the mornings, so we'll see. Then Saturday night we will drive to Woodstock and stay at my parents'. So everyone will have met the babe, and we continue with the tradition of the Toronto zoo for Avery's birthday.