Hippity Hop

Easter came for two little girls this year. While Katie (obviously) didn't participate in the egg hunt this year - she loved watching Maddie (her favourite past-time anyways) and I had visions for next year's Easter already. Maddie got her "little Rapunzel" she so desperately pined for this past month. Katie got a new ball for the backyard and some Crayola baby markers to call her own.

The Easter Bunny even set a tea party to create more ambiance! What a clever bunny!

 My childhood dollhouse has a little balcony on one side - from which "little Rapunzel" hung her hair all morning.

Matching dresses and white cardis - I love Easter. Also - say hi to a random Seamus pic - we took several "family" pictures before I thought about including the poor little scruff.

Hope your weekend was just as enjoyable!

xxoo.S

Resemblance

This was supposed to be a Wordless Wednesday post - wherein I posted a bunch of baby pics and sat back and relished in the feeling of proving once and for all that at least one of my daughters actually looks like me... and well... well, here you go...

 The Hubs - looking all smiley and baby-like...

 My ladybugs - also looking all smiley and baby-like

And then there's me...

(can you hear the sad "womp womp" trombone sound?)

xxoo.S

Legacy

You taught me how to hammer a nail. Install drywall. Cut miter joints and install trim. I knew how to use a drill before I could drive. Your motto was, "Why pay for it if you can build it?" I'm so glad I got to share with you my most recent project - even if you did laugh at me for using a bowl to make my corners, instead of your proper-angle-measurement method!

I remember winter weekends at the farm. Sledding down the big hill, you always took pity on us and towed our sleds back up the hill with your Arctic Cat so our bodies didn't tire out before our appetite for fun did. Learning how to tap a maple tree - making toffee in the snow - drinking sap for weeks later. I still have the last bottle of maple syrup you gave me in the fridge. You're right - it is so much better than Aunt Jemima.

I remember summers spent in and out of the pool. BBQ'd lunches and dinners. Learning to swim. Learning to catch a baseball. Learning to fish. I was never really any good, but I was always happy to join in on the fun with you and Derek.

You introduced me to Elvis. Roy Orbison. John Fogerty. I remember dancing silly sock hop dances in our basement rec room while the greatest hits of the '50's played on the record player.

You taught me how to train a dog. You taught me how to shoot a gun. You taught me how to plant a vegetable garden. To use a Q-tip to fertilize the cucumber plant so the bounty was plentiful. No, I didn't do that this year. Yes, I'm sure that's why my cucumber plants sucked.

So many things learned and I never said thank you. Perhaps that's the last lesson.

You died last Tuesday and you will be dearly missed.

Love,
Sara

Let the planning begin...

Maddie's birthday comes in about a month, which means of course it's time to start planning! We all know how much I love to plan a good birthday party... Yay to decorative cakes that take 4 hours to ice! Yay to matchy-match plates and cups and napkins and invitations! Triple Yay to themes!!!

So this year (if indeed we do have a party, as her birthday always falls on Thanksgiving weekend, so we always have to send out an informal save the date email to gauge potential attendees before actually planning the party) the party will be a Princess Dress-Up theme.

Sidebar: I'd like to totally give props to my brilliantly crafty friend Vone, who I am completely stealing this idea from.


And now that Maddie is OBSESSED with dressing up (current fave? a ballerina-firefighter-with-glass-slippers), it's an ideal time to have the party.

Since it's a birthday party anyways, and everyone is (likely) bringing gifts, the invites will encourage people in lieu of gifts, to instead bring dress up items to fill her dress up trunk... This is a great way to build up a wardrobe of fun dress up items for your child, and at the same time - have fun things for all the kids to play with during the party.

We've got our eye on a set of 4 Disney princess dresses from Toys R Us (yes, totally taking the easy way out) - but I'm also pairing that with a custom-built dress up box for our little miss. It's essentially an open box with a garment rod at the top (inspired by this post I saw on another blog ages ago), this will be perfect for her closet and a great way to keep all dress up items in one spot, nice and organized! Love it...

And since we LURVE Disney Princesses at our house right now, the cake will be made using again by renting a cake pan from Bulk Barn (love this service!)... iced within an inch of it's life and hopefully looking like Cinderella...

Will post pics of the party when we finally have it!

xxoo.S

Weekend wisdom

I think I can honestly say, this is the first weekend of "two" where I didn't feel stressed out the entire time. Clearly the key to toddlers is to get them the 'eff out of the house. So that's what we did - both mornings.

Saturday was a standard random Ikea visit. You see - I'm not sure if you've noticed or not - but I'm a touch crazy. Which sometimes manifests itself in random proclamations of things THAT WE MUST BUY. BECAUSE WE NEED THEM. DESPERATELY!!! OH HOW HAVE WE LIVED LIFE THIS FAR WITHOUT THIS MUCH NEEDED ITEM??!?!?!

Enter: my insistence that we visit Ikea. On a Saturday morning. To buy a step stool. A small, two-tiered step-stool that was ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for Maddie to be able to wash her hands (because she's a shorty and all kids stools are about 1 inch too low for her to really get in there at the sink. You know what I mean?). Clearly this was a necessity.

I'm still not entirely certain how or why the Hubs agreed to this (looking back now) ridonkulous request. Saturday morning? Ikea? Yes, I'm an idiot.

But off we went - battling crowds. Looking through the children's section, then through the kitchen section, then through the dining section (every Ikea personnel we asked about said stool seemed to think it was in a different area of the store). Turns out there were NONE on display, but according to their handy-dandy inventory count - there were 2 in the warehouse. So down to self-serve we went. And looked. And yes - just as you may have suspected, 2 in inventory at Ikea means ZERO on the shelf. So two hours later, stomachs full of nasty Ikea food (seriously - my first time eating there - it's bad. Like, REALLY. BAD.), we left the store empty handed...

Hubs told me he was certain he had earned a lot of "points" that morning...


However - that managed to kill a full weekend morning. And guess who thinks Ikea rocks the large one? Because she can run around like a deranged monkey, play on random couches and underneath random tables and essentially be the bane of every other shoppers existence? Miss Madds of course. Ikea is like a playground to her - and she was d.o.w.n.

Since our Saturday road trip went so swimmingly, I made the suggestion that we try to do something Sunday morning as well. So to the Zoo we went. Getting there just past 9am we beat the crowds, beat the heat and managed to do all the "interesting" animals before lunch time. We hightailed it out of there just as the crowds closed in, threatening to send Hubs into ultra-moody-mode, and even managed to grab lunch at home instead of succumbing to a $12 hotdog.

I'd love to share pictures of our first full-family-attended trip to the zoo, but someone forgot the camera in the car and we didn't realize it until we were about a mile away from the entrance. That someone may have forfeited some of his "points" from Saturday on that move.

So that's that - we kept our sanity this weekend by simply not being at home. Doing stuff entertains your cranky toddler. Imagine that...

xxoo.S

One week old

Only a week old, and already Katie is her own little person. She looks less scrunched, less red, less comatose. She looks more and more like me as a baby girl. She has my chin and my lips. Definitely has my eyebrows and my toes. And yet, with all these differences, she still looks remarkably like Miss Maddie did as a newborn too. My girls.

We call Katie our little squeaker. She is the loudest sleeper I have ever heard. Snorts and snuffs. Squeaks and squeals. It's amazing she doesn't wake herself up.

Tonight we leave for our first road trip to Kingston to visit family for the long weekend. I feel brave and I feel stupid. I remember my first trip down to visit the grandparents when Maddie was almost a month old and I hated it. It took over 4 hours (on what should be a 2 hour drive) because she needed to eat twice and cried so much I kept pulling over and trying to make her more comfortable. I remember thinking I would *never*ever* do another trip with such a young baby again.

Make me proud with your sleepiness Katie...

xxoo.S

Peeking out from the cocoon

As I'm sure you've guessed by now, we have our new little addition to the family. Katharine (Katie) Jeananne was born on her due date - June 23rd at 10:22pm. Weighing in at 7lbs 12oz and a shorty-short 19-inches long. She looks like me, she looks like Maddie, she looks like her Daddy. She's ours alright...

It all started the day before with what I kept calling "pre-labour" pains. Crampy, irregular and nothing to write home about - but I did decide to start putting the Maddie babysitters on call, in case something did start to get a bit more advanced. After being in labour with Maddie for over 3 days, I figured I had some time to work with.

Turns out I was right - and got to enjoy full-on contractions (that weren't progressing) all through the night. By the next morning everything was about 10-12 minutes apart, so I told the Hubs to plan on working from home, but I expected we had until late afternoon or so. By about 11am everything started to go a little pear shaped - contractions got stronger, less tolerable, and faster in timing. At this stage, the Hubs was frantically trying to put out a few work fires that had cropped up, and I was unsuccessfully trying to "distract" myself with bad daytime tv.

A call was put in to the midwives around 2pm and based on what they could tell over the phone, they decided to forgo the at-home check-in visit and just meet us at the hospital for 3:30pm. I wish I could tell you that I got there and it just popped out like a greased watermelon - but yeah, I already gave away the time of birth. So fast-forward another 6 hours of labour - I did my best to go "au natural" but 7 centimeters and 4 hours later I broke down and begged for drugs. The epidural went in around 8pm, my water broke while the anesthesiologist was still in the room and I was ready to start pushing just before 10pm.

All in all? If I can compare labour with Maddie? It was same-same but different.

Long pre-labour contraction lead-up in both cases (granted it was much longer with Maddie, but I'm clearly not one of those girls that wakes up in the middle of the night, gently wakes the Hubs with a whispered "It's Time.").

With Maddie I got the epidural right away and spent almost 12 hours of labour laying on my side on a hospital bed, with a pitocin drip while everyone closely watched the fetal monitor which was slightly freaky. But painless. With Katie - well I tried everything humanely possible to get through labour without the epi - shower, jacuzzi, massage, walking, not walking, laying down, sitting on labour ball, nitrous oxide gas... only to breakdown and ask for it because I hadn't progressed a single centimeter in an hour and that my friends, is hella-deflating when you've battled through what you thought was "transition".

With Maddie, by the time the "pushing" stage got there, my epi drip had run out - so I did that part "au natural" and damn - it was painful. With Katie I was so numb that I had midwives on either side of me holding my legs up so I could actually attempt a push. I didn't feel her come out at all - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think that part could have gone faster if I could actually feel what I was doing at that stage. Not that I'm complaining...

Maddie came out not breathing, had to be suctioned and was whisked off to the warming tray before I could barely glimpse her. Katie came out wailing, was immediately put on my chest and started rooting for the breast almost immediately.

Hmm, now that I explain it like that, I'd say less same-same and more different-different is really how the two experiences stack up.

Big kudos go out to the midwives - if you are considering a pregnancy and haven't thought of a midwife - I would highly HIGHLY recommend it. They're not an added cost - completely covered by OHIP, and they're not all granola-touchy-feely. But it was really a more personal, private, considerate experience than I had before - which was a lot more "medicalized", I realize now.

And the bonus with midwives? You can check out of the hospital as early as 3 hours post-labour. We were home that night by 4am (because it took me 2 hours before I could pee on my own - and that is apparently a pre-requisite to get out of the hospital). It didn't feel strange to leave so early - in fact it was a relief. I got to sleep in my own bed, see Maddie before going to daycare that morning, eat my own food (and not have to eat hospital food!) and did I mention sleep? In my own, comfortable bed? Yep, that was sweet.

Katie has been a darling so far - she slept a tonne when we first got home. And then she wanted to eat. And Eat. And Eat. Andeatandeatandeatandeat. It got a little hairy and scary and teary and hormonal. And then I broke down and let the Hubs give her some formula... and that didn't make a difference. So she and I took to my bed and just ate and slept and ate and slept as much as she'd let me.

I realize we are making all the same mistakes we made before with Maddie - and we really do plan on getting her in her crib and sleeping on her own... in a week or so... Yes, I'm a total sucker...

I'll leave you with some pics. I'd love to show you the classic post-push baby shot with Mama, except the Hubs didn't notice my nipple-slip in every.single.shot. Classic.

Proud Daddy

Swaddled

Family shot (yes, she's totally on my boob in this picture)

Nekkid baby bum.

Me - looking like I've had zero sleep. Oh wait...

I will do my best to keep the pics and updates coming... we're still feeling very "new" over here and the days are still a bit of a blur. All the Grandparents have come for their visits and we are now on our own... luckily they left us with a rather massively-packed fridge. Which I am doing my best to currently eat my way through...

xxoo.S

I get to bring my kitty home today

I got the call from my vet today that Si's ashes are ready to be returned to me. Yes, I paid extra for that. Yes, I'm a little bit crazy.

And yes. This is a bit of a macabre post.

But for the first time in almost a week, I feel like my family will be whole again. Even in a sad, sitting on the mantel, kind-of-way.

So, instead, I'm labeling it a happy day.

Smiley-face.

xxoo.S

Big fella

I met you when I was in my early 20's. You were a little con-artist, even then. I walked by your cage, looking for a kitten that would make my then-boyfriend happy. You reached out your paw and grabbed my scarf. I chuckled at your sass, and moved on down the line. You meowed louder and louder the further away I walked. Intrigued, I moved back to your cage. Crouching down, we met eye-to-eye. You reached out to bat my scarf again. I opened your cage to pet you properly. You practically jumped into my arms.

Really, you picked me. I may have signed the paperwork and paid the fee to the Humane Society. But I always felt like you chose me.  You saw a "dog-girl" at heart and decided to be the exception to the rule.

So that week after Christmas in 1998 you came home with me. An unexpected Christmas present to myself. We didn't get my then-boyfriend (now-Hubs) a kitten until the following year.

You were never really his cat. You had a preference for women - even my mom, crazy allergic and a cat-dis-lover for 50 years could not be immune to your charms.

You were a big kitty. Friends jokingly called you part-jaguar. Half-racoon. "The biggest cat I've ever seen."

You were my gentle giant. Tender-hearted, you let the new crazy orange kitty we brought home maul you and kick your ass all over the apartment.

Many years later, you let our little girl do the same thing. You didn't mind. You never once hissed. We almost suspected you liked the attention, since you'd always plop yourself within her reach, even before she could crawl.

Your love of a good snuggle was only surpassed by your love of food. Ideally shrimp straight from the platter, but soft cat food was more than acceptable. You could hear a can opening from anywhere and you'd always made an appearance, just-in-case.

The outdoors beckoned you and our moving to a house with a yard was like a type of Shangri-la, I suspect, the past few years. The minute the snow melted, you wanted outside. Not to roam. Not to adventure. Just to lay under the tree, in the cool grass.

You were a terrible pushover. My big lug. Kind-hearted and mellow. Beyond friendly and personable. You taught me what cats can be. Thank you.

Good-bye Simon. You will be missed, but not forgotten.

xxoo.S

Maddie turns 2

Don't you hate it when you mean to post something, and you don't do it right away, and then time gets away from you and next thing you know it's 3 weeks later?  Isn't it awesome that you can just post-date your post and in the future, anyone reading will just think you posted on that day?  I do...

So it was the weekend that Maddie turned 2. And since I'm (apparently) determined she grow up to be a total diva, yes, we called it Maddie's "birthday weekend". Because in the Vallier house, if you have a vagina, you get more than just a day for your birthday. Just sayin'.

Friday was still a daycare day for Miss Madds, so I sent her with some cupcakes to share with the gang, purchased from Brooklin Bakery (no, I didn't make them - but before you roll your eyes at my laziness, read on to the Dora cake adventure).  Fri night dinner was our mainstay Fri night dinner: fish & chips a la Krispy's (another Brooklin fave - look at us supporting the local biz!) - joined by Gramma V who came up to visit for the weekend.  With cupcakes for dessert, Maddie enjoyed her first rendition of "happy birthday". Then it was off to bed so I could finish the Dora Cake!

*sigh* Yes. The Dora Cake. This monstrosity took away close to 6 hours of my life, when all was said and done.  I think because the Elmo head of last year's bday party ended up being so easy, I may have bitten off more than I could chew.  Followed the same steps - rented the pan from Bulk Barn ($2 a day - such a steal!), purchased cake mix, icing and icing tint.

We made the cake earlier in the week (actually fun as Maddie was totally into making her DORA cake - and we got some good pics of her first baking experience).  So that was f.i.n.e.

Really, it was the icing. So much colour. So many different steps to follow. So many intricate little spaces to get the star shaped icing globs into. It was like drawing Dora all freestyle, yo!  Nothing a little wine couldn't help, right?

Yeah - I fully blame Dora's eyes on that wine.  As a good friend stated, she looks like Lisa Simpson when she was the Lizard Queen (Simpson's reference that makes me sound super old).  Or as the Hubs commented - "Why did you make Dora look like she was beaned with a 2x4?"

Whatever - it's an A for effort, right?

Sat was actual party day - so we decorated and laid out all sorts of food and awaited the guests. Maddie was super-excited for her "Dora Party". That is, until the guests arrived. Maybe it was too many people? Maybe it was that I had wake her up from her nap to attend her own party? Maybe she doesn't like seeing all these other kids playing with her toys? I dunno. But she was s.u.c.k.y. the entire time. Like Gramma/Mommy/Daddy (whoever will pick her up and carry her around) sucky. Which, well to be honest, made me a little sad - but you can't force it, right?

Cake time was a bit disastrous as well - I forget candles (so she had tea lights on her birthday cake - I'm seriously a contender for party-planner of the year). Maddie hated all the people singing (as in, looked absolutely terrified the entire time). And she didn't even notice the cake. The 6 HOUR CAKE. Wouldn't even really look at it, acknowledge that it was Dora, nothing. Although in retrospect, perhaps she didn't recognize cracked out birthday cake Dora as the Dora that she idolizes on tv.

The rest of the weekend flew by - contrary to all my claims in the past, I actually attempted to cook some turkey on Sunday. There was way to many dishes and pots and pans and time spent over a steaming oven to convince me that this effort will ever be worth it again.  Sorry mom - I'm not like you...

Hmmmm - disastrous cake, disastrous turkey meal. Sounds like I just described a pretty shitty weekend - but we had fun. Honest!

xxoo.S

The weekend, the battle of wills, and an evening sans bebe

We spent the weekend in Kingston - visiting the grandparents, including spending a day at my dad's cottage (which is actually a house, as it's winterized and is where he lives, but for some reason is still called the cottage, and anyways.....).

The day at the cottage wasn't as warm as we would have liked, but it didn't rain - so that was good. We spent the day outside - Maddie playing with all my old toys. That was a bit trippy, as I had barely remembered the toys - until of course I saw them again! Vintage Fisher Price is awesome - they just don't make toys so compact (choking hazard?) or with so many little pieces and bits (again, choking hazard?).

There was the classic A-Frame house with all sorts of little bits and pieces included.

And (this was the biggest hit with Maddie) there were Sesame Street Little People .... including her fave - ERNIE!

I was a bit nostagic seeing Mr. Hooper again - because, sad right? He's been dead for a while I think...

And then there was the pull horse - another big hit with Maddie.

She was pushing herself foward and backwards up and down the deck. And we adopted a bit of a vintage parenting attitude for the day - letting her just roam around instead of hovering over her to ensure she didn't push herself right off the deck (she didn't, and she had a blast - so lesson learned? Lighten up a bit and just let her play.)...

There were tonnes of other toys, puzzles and dolls that they had kept in storage as well. It was fun to pick through and go down memory lane a bit.

The only stickler to the visit to Kingston was Maddie's reluctance to take an afternoon nap. And by reluctance, I mean full-on army-trained resistance to the Nth degree. She sobbed and cried everytime I tried to put her down - regardless of how tired she was. I'm really hoping she's not trying to drop the afternoon nap, as um, she's not even 2 yet.

Since we had to work Mon-Tues of this week, but were coming back down to Kingston to spend a few more days with familly for the holiday and remainder of the week, we decided to leave Maddie down with her grandparents, while we enjoyed a few days sans child. We're working, so it's not too exciting, but we did hit up dinner and a movie last night. Movie = The Hangover, possibly the funniest movie I have seen, ever, in my lifetime. So do I recommend you go see it? Hell, yes.

Tonight we have plans to do a BBQ at a friend's house - hopefully anyways, as long as the rain holds off. It's funny how easily you can fall back into the pattern of free-wheeling, come-and-go-as-you-choose behaviour...

Life is a lot easier to manage without a little ankle-biter running around, but I keep getting a little pang of loneliness when I walk past her empty room. From all accounts though, she's having a blast at Grandma's, and I (hope) will be very happy to see us on Wednesday morning...

xxoo.S

PS - Canada Day pics will come tomorrow - she has the cutest damn dress you ever did see - let's just hope it doesn't rain...

The partaaaayyy

So we had Miss Maddie's birthday party on Sunday - and it was a success to say the least.  My main concern was how Maddie was going to weather all the attention and people, and I'm glad we kept it small, as I think she was close to the breaking point a few times.

Everyone was very generous and there were lots of presents to open.  And Maddie was actually pretty interested in the opening presents part (with the help of her cousins, of course!).

After we finished opening presents and Maddie got a chance to play a bit (and the grownups got to eat a bit), we moved on to cake!  We stripped Maddie out of her party dress, down to her diaper, for the cake eating event - there was no way I was letting that pretty dress get ruined by the red icing!

I was pretty happy with the cake, and it was so worth all the work it was to see Maddie's face when I showed it to her.  She loves her Elmo!

We let her get a taste of icing before giving her a piece of cake with most of the icing scraped off (yes, mean Mommy) - she liked the cake, but not as much as the icing!

She had a great time at the party - and when everyone left - slept for almost 2 hours that afternoon!  

Thanks again to everyone for making the drive up for the party - it was definitely appreciated!

xxoo.S

PS - I can't believe I forgot to tell you how she looked like she was going to cry while we all gathered 'round and sang Happy Birthday.  She just kept staring at me the whole time, like "what the heck is happening mom?  please make it stop!" ... I guess it's hard to understand what really is going on at that age - luckily she got her mind off the attention by digging into the cake as soon as the singing was done ... here's a video of the action...

Been a while...

Wow - where did July go and how did August get here so quickly? I am officially on 'countdown' as the summer slips away and the days bring me closer and closer to heading back to work. To say I'm looking forward to that would be an outrageous lie, but you can't dread the inevitable, so I'm just trying to enjoy these last few days as much as humanely possible. Which also means we've been incredibly busy lately...

The weekend before last, my step-brother and his family came to visit us for the weekend. My nieces were so revved about getting out to Canada's Wonderland for the day - actually, I think the adults were just as excited to take them!

They arrived on Friday afternoon and Seth and Derek headed into the city to watch a Jays game, while all the 'girls' stayed home, ordered pizza and layed low. Saturday morning we were awokened by thunderstorms - not a great start to our Canada's Wonderland adventure... fortunately we decided to risk it and headed out anyways. Lucky for us, the rain tapered off just as we arrived at the park. We spent the first half of our day in the kids area, watching the girls ride (Auntie Sara joined them on a few rollercoasters). Even Maddie got to take a ride - we took her on the carousel!

The rest of the day was spent in the waterpark - really shows how long it's been since I've been there - I'd never seen it before and it's huge! We headed home late afternoon and bbq'd hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner. The girls watched some of the Hannah Montana concert (in 3D no less!) while we finally got Maddie down to sleep.

The Thompsons left us just after breakfast on Sunday morning, and we spent the rest of the day trying to relax and recoup from all the activity. On Monday I headed out with Maddie for a visit to Kingston - we spent the week there visiting with a tonne of family and friends. Tuesday morning we headed out to my Dad's and Maddie took her first official dip in a lake!

She was enjoying herself until a boat went by and the waves kind of scared her. We visited with Stef and her little boy, Quinn on Wednesday afternoon and headed to Picton on Thurdsay for a craft show. Friday was spent shopping with Gramma Vallier (Maddie and Mommy got spoiled!).

Saturday was our big milestone day - I left Maddie for an overnight stay with Gramma Vallier while I joined Seth, Greg & Liz up at Greg's cottage for the night. From all accounts she was extremely well-behaved and while she didn't take a bottle, she did sleep pretty well.

On Sunday morning, Liz and I left the cottage and headed to Stefanie's house in Inverary for an overnight visit. It's so much fun to watch Maddie and Quinn play together - especially now that they're both mobile! We headed back out to the cottage Monday morning, so Maddie got to meet Greg's parents, and Maddie got to hangout in the sunshine and take another dip in the lake with her Daddy.

It was a busy busy week, and now we're just resting up in preparation for another busy week, as Mama Hat (Grandma Thompson) is headed up for a week-long visit as of this coming Saturday. August is going to be done before we know it!

I'll leave you with a few more pics of our roadtrip...

Maddie loves her rhubarb! Especially after a good dunking in the dog's water dish!

Me and Stef with our little ones!

After a dip in the lake with her Daddy. And check out the 2nd bottom tooth! (it made it's appearance on Friday)

There's lots more pics on our Flickr account - check them out if you have a chance.

xxoo.S

Gratuitous Kingston Pics

Maddie discovering her new best friend - Bailey the dog!

Maddie with Grandpa Burke

Maddie with her cousins, Rebecca + Victoria

Maddie with Grandma Thompson outside our new favourite store!

Maddie took her first bath in a 'big girl' tub while we were in Kingston (I forgot to bring the baby bathtub...)

Sleeping in her playpen at Grandma Thompson's

Playing with Quinn (Stefanie's little boy) - well, more like Quinn stealing her sippy. Stealing... playing... po-tay-to... po-tah-to

To see more of pics of our adventures in Kingston - visit our page on Flickr.

xxoo.S

Roadtrip weekend

Wow, what a week. It started off with a bang - knowing that we had our long weekend/2nd Christmas trip to Kingston starting this Thursday, I had about a million things on the 'to do' list for the week. And how did I get the week started? By busting up my back!

So here's a handy tip for all our readers out there - when you sneeze, don't turn your head. It puts all this strain on some muscle that I can't remember the name of, that runs from your neck down to your ribs. I learned this the hard way - standing there changing Maddie at 8am, I had the sneezes, and kept turning my head to the right to let these monster sneezes out. After I was all done sneezing, my nose was dripping, and while stretching my right arm above my head, I did an almighty sniff and all of a sudden my neck/back/shoulder seizes up. Luckily Maddie was still on the change table (at waist height) so I didn't have to bend to lift her - I carried her into the bedroom and deposited her down onto our bed (the first time I think I was thankful for our mammothly tall bed). As she was getting hungry, I knew this was going to get tricky and my back was continuing to spasm - yikes. I called Seth and left a desperate message on his phone and managed to get myself laid down beside Maddie to feed her before she really freaked out.

Seth called back a few minutes later, and I think, hearing the panic in my voice, made the decision to leave work (on a Monday morning - their busiest time) and come to help me, as I honestly didn't know what I was going to do - I had finished feeding Maddie at this point, and laid down on the bed on my side, could now not get up. Nightmare.

Luckily, while Seth was making the hour drive back home, I was able to 'shush' Maddie to sleep while I laid there in agony, using my labour-breathing-techniques to get myself through the pain of my seizing back muscles. Once Seth got home it took us almost an hour to get me up off the bed and into the bath (which I also learned is a bad bad thing to do for pulled muscles - ice people, you should use ice, not heat). Anyways, to make a long story short, I lounged in the bath trying to feel a bit better while Seth took care of Maddie and called his mom to ask her to come up and help around the house for a couple of days. Thankfully she was able to and she was at our house by 2pm taking care of Maddie, and Seth was on his way back to work.

I was able to get myself in for a last minute appointment with a Chiropractor here in Whitby that afternoon - and he actually really helped to get me on the road to recovery. I can say that I'm now a big believer in Chiropractors - the cracking of the back is still very weird, but I felt tonnes better even after just one appointment - really!

So the rest of the week I took it pretty easy while Debbie helped out tonnes with cooking and taking care of Maddie. I managed to get the rest of the Christmas shopping done (for my family Christmas we were attending that weekend) and get us prepared for our road trip. We left Thursday afternoon and were in Kingston by 2pm - Maddie slept the whole way - such a sleeper! Since Thursday was my bday, my mom came over that evening to visit us and we all had some cake - good times.

Friday was an early morning as we had plans to be at Stef's (in Inverary) by 10am - we visited with her and her little one, Quinn for a few hours that morning. Maddie had a blast watching Quinn play with all her toys (he loved the Glo-worm especially!) - here's a pic of me and Stef with our little ones. Quinn is 9 months and huge, especially next to our tiny little Madds - she looks extra tiny in this pic!

After leaving Stefanie's we headed over to my Dad's place where we visited for several hours and exchanged Christmas gifts. Maddie started to get pretty tired (and cranky) so we headed out around 5pm. We got to Debbie & Shorty's by 5:45 and after feeding Maddie, we let Grandma do some babysitting while we went out for a dinner on our own for my birthday. Ended up downtown at Megalo's - a restaurant that used to be one of our faves, across from the theatre. Dinner was good - we had a few seafood dishes and (with the exception of the paper napkins) it was really nice. Too bad when we got home Maddie was having a bit of a fit. Apparently she was good all evening and started to cry just 5 minutes before we got home. I wasn't too bothered as it only took me a couple of minutes to calm her down, but I think Seth was a little disturbed, he just kept saying "I've never heard that cry before." Oh well, I guess we have to realize that she is going to cry sometimes and while we won't like it, it's not always going to be something we can avoid. Especially when we're not around.

The next day was our big Christmas get together with my family - Mom, Walt, Aunt Reta, Derek, Amy and their 2 little ones. So we of course had to Maddie all dressed up for the occasion. Here she is in the crib at Grandma Vallier's right before we left - don't you just love the boots?

We picked up an ice cream cake and headed out to my Aunt Reta's in Harrowsmith for the festivities. Gifts were exchanged, I played with my nieces a tonne with some of their new toys, and of course we all ate until we were ready to explode on all the nibbles and appetizers that Aunt Reta and Mom made. Maddie got a little cranky a few times, but hey this was her 4th major visit in 2 days so she was getting a little tired of all the attention I think. How priceless is this pic though, with her cousin Rebecca ...

We decided that we were going to head back to Brooklin that night instead of waiting for Sunday morning - so with a quick visit in with the Vallier's and one last stop at my Mom's house, we were back on the road and home by just after 1am. Thank goodness Maddie was out for the count and didn't wake up when we took her out of her carseat and into bed.

It was a great weekend and we enjoyed visiting everyone, but it was tiring for all of us - especially Madds. She's been sleeping a tonne ever since!

S&S

New Years and New Things

Well the weekend after Christmas went by in a bit of a blur. On Saturday Seth invited over a friend of his that he used to work at Enterprise with - he and his girlfriend live nearby in Whitby and also just had a little girl - so it was nice to sit down and chat with a couple of newbie parents and meet their little one. They brought Maddie a present (small toy) which of course made me feel like ass, as we hadn't gotten Farrah anything - how can you be THAT on your game right after Christmas, come on! I didn't even have cheese and crackers to put out, much less gifts to give. Oh well...

Sat night Seth and I just stayed in and cleaned up the house a bit - watched a movie and just chilled really. Sunday my mom arrived at noon (she had volunteered to come up and take care of Maddie so we could actually go out on New Year's Eve). Our friend Brian came over (in town from Alberta) to tour the house, then the boys left for Greg's to watch some Sunday afternoon football. Left to our own devices, Mom and I just relaxed and played with Maddie - not really doing much at all. On Monday Seth had to work until 3pm, so Mom and I headed over to Walmart to pick up a few things (including some yarn and needles so I can try to knit a little toque for Maddie). When we got home, Mom made a yummy Shepherd's Pie out of the left over prime rib roast that we had from xmas dinner - great pre-party stomach base!

My friend Sandra was also staying with us that evening - so we got Mom set up in the living room on the couch (her choice, we certainly didn't force her to sleep there - but it was easier for access to the kitchen for warming bottles etc) + the bassinet set up for Maddie. I showed Mom how we usually tucked Maddie in at night - swaddled and with another blanket tucked around her, receiving blanket up at her head for softness etc - she really does prefer a soft bed and most bassinets/cradles have such thin, hard little mattresses - no wonder she wasn't sleeping all that well in the beginning. And yes, I realize that you're not supposed to have "loose blankets" on a baby when they're sleeping anymore, but I guess we've found something that works - and compared to the sleepless nights (and days) we were having before...

Anyways, Mom patiently kept the eye-rolling to a minimum as I explained her bedtime routine, how to put her down, when she likes to eat/wake up etc. You'd think I was leaving her with a 12-year-old babysitter, not a mom (nurse) with years of practice...

Honestly though - it was hard for me to leave Maddie. I was feeling mainly guilty, but also sad that I wasn't going to be with her when the new year was 'rung in'. We gave her her bath before we left, so she was all swaddled up and ready for sleep and we were finally heading over the party around 8-ish. I think Seth would have liked to be heading to the party slightly earlier (to hang with the boys), but that was the earliest I was able to feel like I was ready to go - bedtime routine accomplished, we headed over to really party for the first time in almost a year (for me).

It was fun seeing everyone and letting loose a bit. We played some games, some guitar hero (that's me rocking out with Sarah Price - yeah, it's a video game, but you totally feel like you're playing the guitar, it's fun!) and had several cocktails (I did talk to Mom at midnight - to wish her a happy new year and thank her - and Maddie was up eating when I called - so she rang in the new year with Gram instead of Mommy). By 3am I was more than ready to get home, rounded up the troops and headed home (thank you DD Todd!). Maddie was asleep when we got home, and after pumping we headed to bed as well. A solid 3.5 hours of sleep for me and I was pack up Mom's car and get her on her way - with snow in the forecast, she wanted to get on the road early in the morning. So feeling a little under the weather (but not as bad as I expected - just tired really) I was back on parental duty, and our babysitter was on her way home as planned. With the snow worsening, I woke Sandra up to warn her (who had a drive to Mississauga ahead of her) - so she was gone by 8:30.

And Seth? Oh, he slept in until 3pm. Yes, you read that right. 3pm. He was feeling a little worse for wear you see, and still felt sick once he finally got up. Don't worry - he realizes that next time he gets the 3 hour sleep and I get to sleep in until whenever I want. At least I hope he realizes that...

So that was how we rung in 2008. And here we are with a little 12-week-old monkey. I can't believe how much she's changed over these 3 months - heck, I can't believe how much she changes from week to week! But with her 'official' 3 month birthday coming up in a couple of days here's a quick overview of her latest accomplishments (or quirks!)...

• Her favourite word is "Geeeeeeeeee" - said with a gurgle in her voice - it can mean, "I'm happy, you're happy, the world is great!" and it can also mean, "Geeeee - I'm tired and annoyed and you better cuddle me into a sleep very soon or I will get angry."
• She still hasn't rolled over again since that one time - in fact when we do tummy time she doesn't even seem that interested in putting up her head or trying to roll over all that much. But I guess that's what happens when they're growing or focusing on learning something else, they kind of have a one-track mind, so seem like they 'forget' the other things they were learning.
• And lately she's been focusing on...her hands! Chewing, sucking, looking at - anything to do with her hands, she's all about it. She holds her hands in front of her a lot (like she's praying) - especially if you're holding her in a cradle hold and she's sleepy. And she also is big into grasping things - like your hair if you're silly enough to wear it down, or your earrings, necklace, sweater, the edge of a blanket, Daddy's chest hair - really anything within reach she's grabbing at it and just holding on for dear life.
• Since she doesn't seem to love tummy time anymore, to help her strengthen her neck muscles we have started to put her in her Bumbo instead. She likes it (most of the time) and the gravity of sitting up seems to do something to her guts, because she LOVES to fill her diaper while in it, haha. Here's a pic of our big girl hanging out in her Bumbo, holding up her head like it ain't no thing...
• Her sleep at night is really great. We've gotten into the routine of giving her a bath around 8pm, swaddling her, feeding her and rocking her to sleep - so she's usually in bed by 9-ish and sleeps until 4 or 5am. Then she's up for a feed and back down to sleep until around 8:30am. The only bad habit that I've gotten into is bringing her into bed with me after that 5am feed - because she rarely goes right back to sleep and she will toss and turn herself right awake, but if she's laying in bed next to me, she seems to go right back to sleep so easily. We've been doing this for over a month now (when she's not sleeping well in her cradle, bringing her into bed), but as she gets older, I know we have to start really working at not creating bad habits ... so this week is our first attempt at stricter sleep routines. Meaning Mommy will try to put her down in her cradle for ALL her nighttime sleep and for her daytime naps. (Her daytime naps are often ON me, she sleeps for so much longer when cuddled in, but I know that has to stop as well - for both of us.) I'll keep you updated on our progress with that... we're hoping to have her sleeping in her own room, in her crib, by the end of the month.
• Lastly - she's still a huge morning smiler - LOVES to wake up and get changed and just sit and stare at you (while sitting in her sit-up pillow on the couch). And if she gets enough sleep during the day, her good mood/easy smiles seems to last all day. But to be honest, she's usually got a bit of a fussy period around 6:30 - just in time for when Seth gets home (poor guy). I think she's started to laugh - she makes the high-pitched sucking in breath noise that I think is a laugh, but can't really tell. Definitely no giggles yet - at least awake. This morning I woke up to her dreaming in her cradle beside me - it was around 6am (and yes, she was still in her cradle - I'm doing well so far!) - and she was making all sorts of noise, moving around etc. - but with her eyes closed. And then I see her smiling and making a 'hahahahah' noise which I have to assume is laughing. Who knows what the dream was about - but I'm glad it was a good one - she really seemed to be enjoying herself - it was the most priceless thing - first time I've really seen her dreaming like that (beyond 'sleep smiles').

So that's your Vallier update - gotta run as she's waking up from her nap - 45 minutes in her cradle - already off to a good start for our sleep routines in the New Year!

S&S

Our first Christmas

The week before Christmas was a busy one. Maddie and I spent a lot of time finishing up the shopping and cleaning up the house. On Saturday we headed to Ikea as a family to buy the bookcases for the front room - they ended up being a bit larger than we expected, so instead of piling the boxes into our car, we opted for the $69 delivery service - they arrive this Saturday - woo hoo!

After Ikea, we headed down to Rob & Vone's to wish them a very merry and drop off some xmas baking ... after a few hours visiting w/ the Emmy's, we headed back home with just enough time to get dressed, get Maddie changed and head over to Greg & Liz's for an early holiday dinner. Liz had her family visiting, an Greg's mom was there - so it was a full house. Maddie was passed around to many welcome sets of arms (here she is with Liz's dad - he was nice enough to hold her while I ate dinner!) and continued her streak of acting like a superstar - I'm hoping this streak never ends, it's always nice to have a non-crying baby when out visiting!

Here's a pic of Maddie with Mommy - taken before I changed her into her sleeper - how cute is that dress and the tights with the red shoes painted on?

Sunday was a very busy day as I went out to do some last minute shopping while Seth watched Maddie. Then after a quick dinner we spent the evening cleaning the house up to be ready for his parents who were arriving the next day to spend Christmas with us.

Poor Seth had to work a half day on Monday (Christmas Eve) and didn't get home until around 4 that afternoon. His parents arrived around noon - which was just before I was about to head out with Maddie to the butcher to pick up the roast (yes, we were blasphemous and had a roast beef for Christmas dinner, not turkey - shocker!). So Shorty and I headed out to the butcher and Grandma Vallier got some alone time with Maddie. Once we got back, I spent the rest of the afternoon getting the appetizers ready for the small get together we were hosting that evening - Greg and Liz were coming over with Greg's brother and sister-in-law, and his mom. Grandma V had brought a tonne of frozen appetizers as well, so it was a good spread. Everyone arrived around 7:30pm and we all enjoyed some "Christmas Cheer" and the munchies and chit-chatted until they left around 11pm or so.

Christmas morning came around 8:30 - Maddie's regular wake-up time and we got her up, changed and fed her as quickly as possible to try and give her the presents that Santa brought in her stocking before she fell asleep again (she likes to sleep in the mornings - A LOT!). Here's a pic of Maddie with her stocking - ignore the bedhead on the two of us! We managed to keep her interested in everything that Santa brought before she drifted off to sleep, which allowed us to open our stockings and have some morning coffee before she was back up. We unloaded the tree and then Seth went to make breakfast while I went to have a bath. After a late breakfast (brunch?) we all sat down to watch a movie and relax a bit. I put the roast beef in around 3-ish and got the potatoes and other sides ready to go.

After only a couple of hours, my first 'classic' roast was done to perfection - medium rare, just like a prime rib roast should be! Along with, we had whipped potatoes (thanks Debbie!), roasted asparagus spears with lemon, steamed green + yellow beans then sautéed with olive oil and slivered almonds, and last but not least, yorkshire puddings. I think for my first official Christmas Dinner, I did a pretty good job. Even got a Christmas pudding for dessert, in keeping with the apparent British theme to dinner - too bad that was kind of gross. Oh well, next year I will actually make one - didn't realize you needed to start it a month in advance.

Boxing Day was spent as many Boxing Days in Canada are I think - watching movies and the Juniors hockey. Grandma and Grandpa V left around 7pm and we gave Maddie a bath and then went to bed shortly thereafter - Seth had to work the next day, and to be honest we were all pretty tired.

So that's our first Christmas in a nutshell - it was enjoyable to finally be able to host a Christmas, and of course unforgettable with Maddie - even if she won't remember it, we always will!

S&S

Edited to add: Here's Maddie's pic of her with Santa - meant to scan this in a while ago - pretty cute for a 10 week old - she looks like she likes him - I'm sure she won't be so cheerful next year!

Xmas baking and shopping

The rest of last week went by in a bit of a blur. Wednesday we made a trip to Markville Mall to exchange Maddie's xmas dress at the Children's Place - they didn't have her size in the plaid one so we exchanged for an adorable little red dress w/ a white bow - she looks quite cute in it. We popped into Baby Gap and picked up white leotards with little red shoes painted on them - instead of wearing actual shoes. Doesn't sound that good - but honestly, I can't believe these weren't invented before.

Thursday we were back in the city - I had a doctor's appointment and then we met Rob for lunch. It was Maddie's first real restaurant meal - she was so well-behaved (as usual - honestly, she's so easy to take anywhere, I'm spoiled) - and we got all sorts of compliments from the older women at the tables next to us - how beautiful she was (of course!) and how she's so sweet (again, natch). Since we were at the Eaton Centre, we did a bit more xmas shopping there before we left - didn't get much except some cute stocking hangers from Pottery Barn - to go on our fireplace mantel.

Friday night our friends Greg and Liz came over for some socializing and drinks - didn't stay that late, but long enough to make some plans to head to the States in January to take advantage of the strong Cdn dollar and do some after xmas sale shopping at the outlets. Should be fun...

Saturday morning we were up super early to head into the city to meet my friend Tracy at the Umbra factory sale. The lineup was incredibly long - even at 9am - but luckily she had gotten there earlier and was saving us a place in line. She also gave us the CD of photos she had taken the weekend before - which were absolutely amazing. She was also sweet enough to bring Maddie a gift - the "Night Before Christmas" book - and told us how a friend of hers had a family tradition of reading that every Christmas Eve. It will be interesting to see what kind of traditions we start (and keep) now that Maddie's here...

So after buying a tonne of frames and photo albums (only $10 each!!!) at the sale, Seth and I drove Tracy home and headed back to Brooklin as my mom was scheduled to be there by 1pm. Once she arrived that afternoon we visited with her and then we all took a nap before getting ready to go out for dinner for Mom's birthday. We ended up going down to Jack Astor's - which was good food, but incredibly loud for us (god that statement makes me feel so old!). Here's a pic of Maddie in her cute H&M dress she wore for Gram's birthday dinner.

This week, Mom and I have done the Christmas baking - although even with two of us, it was still difficult to be productive with Maddie around. But we managed to make 4 types of cookies, 2 types of fudge, chocolates, turtles and 2 types of balls over the past four days - so I guess we did alright.

Today we went to the Pickering Town Centre to do some Christmas shopping and to get Maddie's picture taken with Santa. As always, she was a super-star while we were out and the pic w/ Santa is adorable.

This weekend we have a Christmas party to attend on Saturday night and hopefully will finish up our shopping on Sunday. That's the plan anyway...

S&S

Model behaviour

The end of last week was busy for us. On Thursday Auntie Liz came over to visit with us girls while Seth went out with Greg to watch the football game. We went to the nearby Thai place to pick up dinner, chatted for a bit while Maddie gave Auntie Liz all sorts of cuddles - to the point of falling asleep - until bathtime that is.

We spent Friday evening cleaning up and preparing for the weekend - my friend Tracy was coming over Saturday morning to take some pics of Maddie. The "photoshoot" went really well - no big surprise what everyone's Christmas gift is going to be this year! Here's a sample of some of the shots she took - they look so good, I'm really happy with the results. We're getting the full CD of all the shots next weekend, so I'll try to get them uploaded to Flickr soon.


Saturday night we were invited to Rob & Vone's for dinner - along with 2 other couples - it was a blast and was my first 'official' night out with drinks involved. I ended up having 5 beers (don't worry, Maddie had some bottles, I wasn't feeding her alc-milk) and definitely was paying for it the next morning. After 10 months of tee-tolling, that many drinks can really hit you hard - especially when you have 7 week old waking up every 2 hours in her cradle beside your bed.

But regardless of the hangover - it was a blast to be out and 'social' again. And Maddie was so well-behaved (again! always such a star when we go anywhere, I love it!) - she got all sorts of compliments.

Sunday morning came early though, with Grandma and Grandpa Vallier arriving at 10am for their visit. They were nice enough to bring the Christmas tree and decorations that my mom gave to us (she's downgrading her tree this year, so we get the big tree - saves us buying it - woo hoo!) ... so I spent the afternoon decorating the tree while Seth and his dad shovelled the driveway (lots of snow overnight) and put up the outside lights (and Grandma held Maddie - she liked her job!). I would say that we are officially ready for Christmas now - well, decorated for it already anyways. I can't believe that I haven't got any of my shopping done yet - it's not like me to leave it so late - that is my mission for this week, to get some of it done finally.

Today was Maddie's 8 week doctor's appointment, which included her first immunization shots. She weighed in at 10 lbs 1/2 oz (which seems down from last week's weight - but that was at a different doc's office on a manual scale - so I'm going to chalk that weight up to an anomaly - different scales probably are a bit different) - she also grew some more in length - she's now 58 centimeters long (almost 23 inches). That wasn't a shocker as she's grown out of so many sleepers already.

She took her shots like a champ - a little bit of crying, but calmed down pretty quickly as soon as they were over. We left the doctor's office to do a bit of shopping and she was great in Ikea, but when I got to the mall she started to get a little whiny. I thought maybe she was hungry, but she didn't want food - she just cried and cried and cried. I guess it was a delayed reaction to the shots - the doctor warned me she might be a bit grumpy for the rest of the day - she didn't say that she would be inconsolable for almost an hour. I finally got her chilled out a bit and hunted down Shoppers Drug Mart to get some baby Motrin - that seemed to do the trick, she's still a bit whiny, but definitely not in pain anymore. Poor thing.

So the plan for the rest of the week is to get some Christmas shopping done, get her picture with Santa (after finding a Christmas dress - Grandma Vallier got her one, but it's too big and so we just have to hunt down the right size to make an exchange before we go see Santa). This weekend Grandma Thompson is coming to visit for a few days so we can get our Christmas baking done - that's pretty much the plan for the coming weekend and next week...

I'll leave you with a pic of Maddie with Grandma Vallier in front of our Christmas tree...

S&S