Good news?

I just found out today that my maternity leave doesn't actually end until October 4th.

I had been thinking all year long that I had to return to work mid-September. But then today I called the EI office to confirm when my last payment would be (is $ getting a little tight as my 'year-off' is ending? In a word, yes), to make sure I didn't have to go back earlier.

Instead, I find out that I don't have to go back until 2 weeks beyond what I had originally thought.

Part of me thinks, whatever, what's 2 weeks - daycare is set up for then, work is expecting you back then ... just stick to the plan.

But then another part of me thinks ... yaaaaayyyy another 2 weeks with my bubbas!

I We haven't decided yet what I'm going to do (change my return date or go back as planned). But I know which way I'm leaning!

xxoo.S

PS - Maddie now gives kisses upon request. As in "Maddie, give Daddy a kiss!", and she leans in to do it. How cool is it that she understands an instruction now? I think it's possibly the coolest thing ever.

By george, I think we've got it...

Or at least we're on the right track. It must seem like I'm constantly blogging about sleep, but if you had spent the past 10 months without longer than a 4 hour stretch, you'd be obsessed too!

Last night Maddie woke up for a nursing session at 12:30 and then went back down until 8am. She woke up a few times throughout the night and cried a bit, but really not much at all before she fell back asleep - so much so that I didn't even get out of bed (heck, I don't think I even really woke up as it's all a bit of a blur to me in the light of day).

So whatever we've been doing, we seem to be on the right track. Finally. Thank. God.

Now our next challenge seems to be getting the Little Miss to take a bottle from someone other than me. Everything I read had warned me that she would probably not want to take a bottle from me, possibly ever, because she associated me with nursing. And yet, here we are, in the situation that she will take a bottle, but only from me. Again - not really helping me with the whole 'weaning' process. The point is for her not to need me around.

Sooooo - here's my question for you experienced mamas out there... Have you heard of this happening before? Or did it happen to you? Any suggestions on how to get Maddie comfortable enough to take a bottle from someone other than me?

xxoo.S

Maddie bits

• After bragging about Miss Thing sleeping through the night, we had another sleepless night - but then followed that up with a *real* full-night of straight sleeping. That's right - Wed night Seth and I decided to take advantage of my mom up visiting (read: babysitting) and we left right after Maddie's bath to see a movie (Dark Knight - so good - see it). Mom had to deal with her crying a bit, but after only 10 mins she was out like a light. And stayed out until I finally went in to check on her at 7:15am the next day. You read right, dear readers, she actually slept all the way through! Bliss. Too bad it didn't happen last night. And I don't have much hope for tonight. Maybe it's just the magic Grandma touch...
• As I mentioned, my mom was visiting for the week, as of last Saturday - which meant I got to get a lot done around the house. My main project was getting her advice on pruning, and finally getting my gardens under control. It went quickly when we finally got it started - on the only day of non-rain this week (tuesday). What is with this weather this summer by the way? Bananas.
• Aside from household chores, we also did a lot of shopping with Grandma. Hit up our fave store, Once Upon a Child, and picked up a tonne of fall clothes for Maddie. Between that and what she already had - I'd say her wardrobe is complete.
• She also got a new fall jacket from Grandma (and matching rain boots - too cute - seriously) at a new store we discovered, Please Mum (which I also just discovered, you can shop at online - very cool). It's a Vancouver-based Canadian store and had a better selection of fall merchandise than Baby Gap, so they got our business. I will definitely be revisiting that store as soon as I get back to work and start making $.
• Between finally getting the bookshelf delivered that I ordered months ago (from a US-based online store), and getting the toybox from Ikea this week, I can finally say (after only a year from starting it) that Maddie's room is finally *done*. I will post pics soon - it finally looks organized and I'm really happy with how it looks now.
• Lastly - Maddie has gotten super-vocal lately. A lot of "DA" being shouted at us. As in, pointing at things and saying "DA". Wanting you to stop feeding her and saying "DA". Playing with her toys and just shouting "DA" at no one/nothing in particular. I'd love to know what's going on in that little mind of hers. I have a feeling when she finally figures out the art of language, we're never going to hear the end of it...

xxoo.S

She slept through the night!!!

Yes - you heard right. For the first time in I don't know how long (ever, maybe?) - she slept all the way through the night. Well, all the way, meaning she woke at 11pm for a feed, and woke up crying at 1:30am, but put herself back to sleep before I could get in there.

So yeah, I'm calling it all the way through the night. Woo hoo!

xxoo.S

Dear Miss Madeleine,

Mommy is one day late writing you this happy birthday letter, but that's because MamaHat is visiting and we've been busy!

You are now 10 months old. I know I say it every time, but wow - where has the time gone? You are a little person now - certainly no baby. Although you still like a snuggle every once in a while, you really do like to just be down exploring the world on your own (well, on your own with Mommy or Daddy within reaching distance).

We had a busy July and spent a lot of time with family - which is a bit bittersweet, as in just about a month, we won't have the luxury of spending all that time with everyone, as Mommy has to go back to work. And that also means that we've been busy trying to enjoy ourselves and visit people in these last few weeks we have 'off'. And enjoy ourselves we have!

You've been in your baby pool a number of times, taken a dip in a 'real' pool, and dipped your toes in a lake twice! You seem to like the water, I just wish we've had warmer (non-rainy) weather lately to get you in the water more. We've got lots of swim diapers to get through before the end of the summer, so let's hope for a sunny forecast for the month of August!

And the biggest milestone... you finally got your teeth!!! Yaaaaayyyy! You now have both bottom teeth and they are growing crazy fast. Kind of ironic that they take forever to finally get here, and then once they are, they come up so incredibly quickly. So now we brush your teeth every night after your bath with a little nubby baby toothbrush. You seem to like it.

Another big milestone (but admittedly, not as big as the first toothers) - we've started to wean away from breastfeeding. You fought me on this initially - actually pretty much for the entire month of July - but I blame that on the teething (haha - those poor teeth, they've been blamed for so much these past 6 months!). But you are starting to take the bottle pretty regularly and that means we've already officially cut out one feeding (the post-morning-nap feed). We're working on the afternoon feeding now, which only leaves us with the morning and nighttime nursing sessions. Not sure when (or if) we'll wean away from those sessions - let's just focus on the daytime feeds for now, okay? You may be taking the transition like a pro, but Mommy is already getting nostalgic about it.

And last but not least - Daddy and I spent our first night away from you this past month, monkey. That's right, you stayed overnight with Grandma Vallier while we spent the evening at Uncle Greg's cottage. We had a good time, worried about how you were doing constantly, and I was very very happy to see you the next morning. Apparently you didn't miss us much at all and behaved yourself quite well. Of course you did!

What else to say? You're pulling up on everything and everyone these days and walking around using the furniture as support. I suspect you'll be trying your first steps in these next couple of months, as you're already trying to 'stand' on your own (you let go of the couch for a second or two, just to see how you can balance - it's cute and not just a little bit scary!). You also really get around quickly these days. Our lives have been invaded by baby gates, and even with all those, you still manage to get to places you shouldn't be, fall or stumble into, over, onto things you shouldn't. But you're a tough cookie and seem to be getting used to the rough and tumble.

This coming month will be a fun one, as I'm determined to enjoy every minute of it with you. I don't think I'll ever get bored just spending time with you and watching you play. You are a funny little monkey, Mommy's little buh-buh-bubbas, Daddy's little sugar-pop-muffin-tart. Love you gorgeous girl...



Love,
Mommy

Those are the things that I will miss...

I can't remember (and can't be bothered to check back through old posts) if I've posted about the issues we've been having, trying to get Miss Thing to take a bottle. Yes, she was an old pro at taking the bottle up until about a month ago. She would take a bottle from anyone, anytime - whether it was expressed breastmilk or formula - she didn't care, she'd just suck it back.

Then I decided that I needed to start weaning her in preparation of heading back to work, and Miss Thing decided that she HATED bottles. She'd push them away. Scream. Cry. Look at you with terror filled eyes that minute you moved one towards her. Seriously kid. How do you KNOW what I'm trying to do?

I had thought perhaps her newfoundlove of breastfeeding had more to do with teething than anything else (although it seems that teething was the excuse we would use for any different behaviour, and still no teeth)... but then! We had teeth! Two in fact! So I thought, maybe she'd start taking a bottle again.

We've given up on the formula route. I've tried it. It DOES taste horrible. So we're not pushing that anymore. I've got enough breastmilk in the freezer to get us through the month anyways - and we've been slowly (with Dr's permission) introducing cows milk to her as well - mostly through a sippy cup.

At any rate, she has started to take a bottle - slowly. She only takes a couple of ounces at a time (most being about 3 oz) ... and apparently a baby 10 months old should be taking 6-8 oz in their bottles. But she still nurses throughout the night, and she's tiny - so maybe expecting her to take 6 oz at a time is too much? This is what I'm telling myself anyways...

The other challenge of bottle-feeding (eventually an added bonus, but challenge initially), is that it's more a scheduled feeding routine. I guess if you expect a baby to take 6-8 oz at a time, you have to space the feedings out. But going from breastfeeding, where she definitely was a snacker - feeding up to 10 times a day ... well, that's tough to transition to. So not only am I introducing a bottle to a reluctant audience, I'm also having to semi-starve said audience to try and incorporate some type of schedule.

Luckily we've made a bit of headway this week, and I'm hoping by the end of next week to have her cut down to breastfeeding only first thing in the morning and in the evening. And we'll stick with that routine for a little while - at least as long as my milk holds out. Sorry - this may be TMI for some readers ... should I have labelled this blog post with a disclaimer warning? Some content may offend? :)

Anyways - that was a very long preamble to my original thoughts that inspired me to write this post. For mothers, weaning always comes a bit of nostalgia I think. And as I've been nursing these past couple of nights, lots of thoughts of how incredibly quickly a baby grows up in their first year have passed through my mind. Just how far she's grown already just blows me away - and knowing the next few months are going to bring more and more changes - it does make you a little melancholy for your little peanut.

So I wanted to memorialize a few of the cute-as-pie things that she does - that I know she won't do forever - and that I know I will miss very soon...

• The way she rubs her feet together when she's nursing. It's such a blatant "tell" of enjoyment that I've never seen before - I love it.
• The "breaks" from nursing, where she reaches up with both hands for my face to give me a big wet baby kiss (this one is new and possibly the most adorable thing she has ever done in her lifetime - I will definitely miss those mid-nursing-kiss-breaks).
• Watching her go from agitated/revved up/hyper to a calm/dozing/blissed-out-baby, after a long nursing session. Just last night I told Seth how much I was going to miss nursing after I finally got her calmed down from a big temper tantrum/crying mess - just by putting her on the boob for a bit. It's not just for hunger, it's also like the baby chill pill. I dread the day that I can't make things all better just by 'whipping it out'.
• The phantom sucking, when she's nursed herself to sleep and I'm about to put her down in her crib. She's laying there, with her little tongue stuck slightly out, doing a sucksucksuck motion every few seconds. I need to get it on video as it's one of our favourite cute-isms that she does, and she's down it since birth, and we still don't have it documented.

There's already so many things that she no longer does that I already miss...

• Top of the list definitely has to be the "milk drunks". That drunk, dozy, half-asleep state that she would get into after nursing. This was really only a newborn thing - lasting about a month, and it would usually only last for like 10 minutes - back when that was the length of her naps! Hmmm, maybe I don't miss that so much after all...
• The ability to nurse her anywhere! I really miss that - when she was just all about food and had no concept of the outside world - nothing distracted her and I could actually just walk around with her on the breast (with the help of a baby sling) and she'd just nurse away.
• The snorting-snuffling-little-piggie sounds she used to make. Definitely a newborn thing. I used to call her my little piglet. Another thing that I wish I memorialized on video that I didn't.

But, what list would be complete without "those things that I WON'T miss"...

• The D.R.A.M.A of trying to nurse her while out and about now. If she's not able to lay down, on a bed, with no sounds/distractions going on, then she just won't nurse. Yeah - I won't miss having to ask anyone and everyone if they mind if I "use their bed upstairs to feed her?" ... some people gave me looks that blatantly said "what the...?". The spa-style nursing sessions won't be missed. Well, except for the right before bedtime ones...
• The teeth. 'Nuff said.
• Her random preferences for 'sides'. She will sometimes fight fight fight me, and then I'll just switch to the other side and she'll nurse away like it ain't no thang. So I walk around for the next 4 hours completely lopsided. (I know, I know! Stop reading if you're grossed out!)
• The sleepless nights. My unofficial poll has shown me that formula babes (on average) sleep through the night by now. And breastfed babes don't. Trust me - I know this...

Wish me luck this week and next. I hope by this time next week, I'll be able to report that we are down to 2 feedings a day, and 2 bottles a day. Hopefully...

xxoo.S

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

I heart Little Feet

Yesterday Maddie and I met up with the Babyville girls at Little Feet. It's kinda like a Gymboree (I think, having never been to a Gymboree, I don't really know for sure).

As I explained to Seth last night, it's like baby heaven. There's a big open room just packed with different types of exersaucers, bouncers, big bouncy balls and moveable mats that come in all shapes and sizes - like stairs, slides, little houses to crawl through etc etc etc.

Maddie spent the afternoon just crawling, pulling up, standing, climbing, playing. In a nutshell, yeah, I think she liked it. It will definitely be our place to go on those really hot or rainy days I guess - at least until I have to (sniff sniff) go back to work.

It was so funny to watch her interact with the other kids there. She LOVES little kids. Large, small, younger, older - she doesn't care. She just wants to be where the kids are, doing what they are doing. And if they'll let her - kiss them all day long!

Yes, my daughter is quite free with her kisses to other kids. Mommy has to beg for a kiss, but random babies with drool and snot all over their face? Yeah, they get more kisses than they could ever want. In fact, I had to pull Maddie off one baby yesterday because she was making the little girl howl from her over-zealous-kissiness.

Cute, but also a little strange (in an adorable, funny, kids-do-the-darndest-things kinda way).

And last but not least, I'm happy to report that last night she was only up ONCE. That's right. ONCE. I know it's probably a culmination of a week of not sleeping due to teething and then one really tiring day - but I don't care. We all got 7 solid hours of non-stop sleeping last night (as the once that she woke up was midnight - to nurse and then out until 7:30 this morning).

Hopefully this is the beginning of a (much-needed, much-wanted) sleep trend. And hopefully I didn't just jinx it...

xxoo.S

So much news!

The weekend before last we spent in Kingston, attending the Vallier family reunion. We didn't drive down until Saturday morning, and after a few attempts, finally made it to the right location! It was ridiculously hot and muggy that day, so Maddie only lasted a couple of hours before she was begging to be taken home and put to bed.

Here's a pic of Seth and his cousins and his nanny:

Last week was a busy one - on Monday Maddie and I headed to Vone's house for a playdate with her little ones (Isla and Lilo) and Deb, Austin and Alex. We were there for the latter half of the morning into early afternoon and the kids played played played. It's so funny to see Maddie interacting with kids - she's so interested in other children. Not necessarily babies, but little kids that are older than her - she LOVES them. So Maddie spent the playdate crawling around the backyard chasing after Lilo and Austin, trying to play with them and with the ball getting tossed around. It was cute and very exhausting for her. She fell asleep within minutes of being strapped into the car seat and I was, for once (miraculously), able to get her out of the carseat and into her crib without waking her up. She ended up sleeping for 3 hours that afternoon!

Tuesday we spent at the zoo with the Babyville group. I'd say we're getting good use out of our zoo membership - at least we've officially gotten our 'money's worth' by this point. Maddie doesn't really notice/see the animals through the cages, but she loves the watching the people. I think as long as she's getting pushed in a stroller and is outside, she is a happy camper.

Seth was on the road for work the rest of the week - which was sad and tough - it's hard to be a single parent, even just for a few days! Liz came over on Wed night for a visit - we ordered take out steak salads from Shoeless Joes and she enjoyed a visit with Maddie. Thurs was spent running errands and Friday was spent getting stuff done around the house. We now officially have all our paint touch ups done, and most of the pictures/wall hangings hung. Wow, we've only been here for a year, and it's starting to look like a decorated house. Imagine that...

This past weekend Seth and I took it easy - getting things done around the house, watching a few movies and spending time together/with Maddie. She showed off her new standing abilities to him all weekend. In fact, if she had the option, she would spend all day climbing on her Daddy!

And our biggest piece of news - last night while getting her ready for her bath, I felt inside her mouth and felt a hard little pointy ridge poking through! Miss Madeleine has finally cut her first tooth!!! That explains the nightmare sleeping habits since Wednesday - she was way worse than usual and very cuddly during the days. I was thinking it had to do with teething, but since I had thought it so many times before I was still doubting myself. But apparently my gut instinct was right - and so she is now officially no longer a little gummy bear. It's her bottom left tooth, and she spent all day rubbing it with her tongue.

So now that it's here, does that mean we're going to get a bit of sleep? Even if it's just one night?

xxoo.S

PS - have updated our Flickr page with pics from June and July - take a look here.

Another milestone

She pulled herself to standing today! She's been trying to do this for a while now, but hasn't really made it past the knees - today she managed to do it at her activity table.

She's growing so fast - it's bananas.

xxoo.S

I give it to the end of the month

If I don't see at least one of her teeth by then, I'm going to get a pair of pliers and rip one of the suckers to the surface myself.

Or shoot myself.

I haven't decided which yet.

xxoo.S

PS - before you get offended by this post, I dare you to spend the next 9 months without getting longer than a 3 hour stretch of sleep. Once you've done that, you will see just how much sense the above sentences make.

First swim

As promised, here is the vid of Maddie's first try in her baby pool (it's not that pretty, but I do promise you that she enjoyed herself immensely about 5 mins later when Liz tried her in it again)...



xxoo.S

Dear Miss Maddie

You are 9 months old today! Wow - you still seem like a baby at times, so it's hard to believe that 9 whole months have gone by. Then again, you also are constantly reminding us just how quickly you are growing, as I feel like you are adding something new to your repertoire every day! Just yesterday I realized that you can climb stairs (and caught it on video), which means we really need to get more baby gates for the house!

This past month has been a bit bittersweet, as it's been spent doing (A LOT) of interviews for daycare. I dread the day that I have to leave you with someone else munchkin, and it's very quickly approaching. I keep telling myself that it will likely be harder on me than it is on you - that you'll probably really enjoy being around other kids and getting outside and playing, doing crafts - all that fun stuff, but you still seem like such a little baby, that I can't imagine someone else doing what I do all day long. That's just silly sappy mom stuff though - let's get into more fun and interesting stuff...

Some of the more memorable moments of this month include:

• your mastering the quick crawl (that's the crawl towards something I don't want you near when you think I'm not looking - like the cat's food dish)
• learning to clap (the CUTEST thing ever - and I love how happy with yourself you are whenever you do it!)
• starting to feed yourself - you've had Gerber puffs, Cheerios (you LOVE cheerios), broccoli, potato and banana
• you're trying your best to learn how to pull up and stand - you plant your feet, lock your knees and stick your bum up in the air a million times a day, but still haven't mastered that standing position - which is just fine with me! I'm still getting used to you being mobile, you don't need to learn to walk just yet!
  

You also are going through a more 'difficult' stage that means you don't like to be alone - ever. So if you are playing and look up and I've moved the kitchen, you crawl your way over to me. Or if we try to put you to bed in your crib, you are fine until we go to walk out the door. It's not fun and it's made bedtime a bit more challenging these days. You need sleep monkey - stop fighting it!

But in the end you are our pride and joy - we love you very much and can not even begin to imagine life without you now. Just try to give Mommy and Daddy a bit of a break and start sleeping through the night though, okay?

Love you monkey...

Mommy
xxoo

Camping and other updates

It was just as rainy and soggy and wet as was forecasted. In fact is was so wet on Saturday night, that many of the campers had to abandon their tents and headed to Rob's sister's house in Huntsville for the night.

We were in an older tent, and perhaps on slightly higher ground, so while soggy, we weren't entirely rained out and decided to stay. Yes. We are troopers.

Overall the trip was lots of fun, lots of kids playing, enjoying themselves in spite of the crap weather. The bugs were pretty terrible - but we had a net for Maddie, so she pretty much lived in her monkeywrap, attached to me, with a mosquito net over her. Sounds ridiculous? Well, she's the only one of us to come back with nary a bug bite on her, so I guess it worked.

The food was fantastic, the company was fantastic, it was just mother nature that didn't want to cooperate. I decided that camping wasn't all that enjoyable with an (almost) 9 month old - she couldn't crawl around and therefore was frustrated much of the time. Oh, and she refused to sleep in her playpen. So we are now officially cottage people, with the potential to go camping again when she's 3 yrs old (and as long as it's in a tent trailer).

Life since getting back has been hectic - but here's a synopsis...

• Tuesday was spent in our backyard enjoying the sun and warmth as much as possible. We had Greg and Liz over for a bbq and Maddie tried out her pool for the first time. We have it on video - will post soon.
• Wednesday was Maddie's 9 month check up - she's doing well, hitting all her developmental milestones on time, but she dropped in height and weight down to the 10th percentile (from the 25th) ... nothing the doctor is worried about, but we just have to make sure she's eating until she's full every time she eats. Which now means I feel like if she's not sleeping, she's eating.
• Wednesday also saw us do the last of the 2 daycare interviews ... I think we found 'the one'. We'll see when I call her on Monday.
• Thursday brought Grandma and Grandpa Vallier to visit for a few days - they just left this morning to go to a family reunion of sorts near London, and will be stopping back in on their way back to Kingston tomorrow. Somehow they restrained themselves and only brought one toy for Maddie with them this time, it's shocking.
• Last night we went to G&L's for dinner - and to check out their new outdoor fireplace/pit-type-thing. Fun, except Miss Maddie was grumpy so we had to leave earlier than anticipated.
• Maddie is now eating Cheerios. She loves picking them up and feeding them to herself thankyouverymuch. No, she doesn't need help. No, she doesn't want help. She's a big girl now, you see...
• I have finally uploaded all of our Ireland pics to Flickr, and written descriptions for everything so it makes a bit more sense. Click here to take a look...
  

Well, lunch is being made for me, and the weather beckons, so I'm off. Have a good weekend!

xxoo.S

And the forecast shows...

RAIN. All. Weekend. Long.

How lame is that?

I guess we'll see how fun our first camping experience with Maddie will be. Soggy? Check. Wet? Check. Irritable? Likely...

xxoo.S

Getting to know her

Now that Maddie is mobile, it seems like we're learning everyday more and more what truely interests her (because this is the stuff she crawls for when you put her down). It's very rarely her toys, unless you're sitting with her, then she'll play all day. Instead it's...

• kitties
  
• cat food
• dirt, lint or any other spec of anything that the Swiffer Vac missed on it's daily pass through the house
  
• door stoppers
• me
  
• vent covers
  
• tv remotes
• anything that sings or talks to her (or plays music in general) - including, but not limited to: her singing Elmo, her stand-up piano, and her Leap Frog fridge farm. I didn't realize just how much she loved this thing, until she could crawl and often makes a beeline straight for it when left to her own devices. Hmm, maybe it doesn't hurt that it's right beside the cat food as well.

Yeah, crawling is fun so far. And it's helping me keep my floors cleaner...

xxoo.S

Clap clap clap

Chalk another one up for Maddie's milestones. Just before Grandma Thompson left yesterday, Maddie started clapping. She loves to clap at her various musical toys, especially her signing/dancing Elmo doll. He gets many encores.

So we had Grandma Thompson visiting for the weekend and it went by so fast! We did a bit of shopping on Saturday, Sunday we watched Daddy play baseball in the morning and that evening we cooked a turkey for dinner and had Greg and Liz over to share with us. Monday we did a bit more shopping and then Tuesday I made my first pie. So I guess I reached a milestone yesterday as well! It's strawberry/rhubarb and I don't know if it's any good yet as Seth hasn't been home long enough for us to share a piece (and I don't want to eat the first piece of my first pie all by myself!).

This weekend we're going camping. I've been told several times just how crazy people think we are for taking an 8 month old camping. My response has been, if I can survive Ireland, I think a little bit of camping will be just fine. We'll see...

Now we're off to the zoo (fun!) and this afternoon we have another daycare interview (not so fun!).

xxoo.S

Daycare nightmare

This week has not been fun so far. I think I'm only starting to realize what kind of nightmare trying to find daycare is going to be. Yes, I know that I should have added our names to lists, like, 6 months ago. Yes, I realize that this should have been a priority of mine, back in January. Yes, I realize I'm an idiot for leaving it for so long.

I actually did contact a number of daycares back when I was six months pregnant, (while working in the office and had all the time in the world to research places online and take care of errands). But contrary to popular opinion, daycares don't really want to hear from you quite that early.

So I've gone on 2 interviews. Neither really seem like a good fit. And everyone else I call on the lists I've found are full. Um, nightmare.

And I don't think I really appreciated just how hard it was going to be to find someone to keep her until 6pm - which is honestly the earliest I can expect to be home from work. Most of the home daycares close at 5pm. Who the heck is done work that early?? And can I have a job??

I know we'll end up finding someone/somewhere that is suitable - even if it's only temporary until we find a *fantastic* place. But it still sucks. And it's making me so sad, thinking that I only have a few short months left with my little girl. As much as I like the idea of her hanging around other kids and having structure to her day, it still just makes me so sad.

So not only am I stressing about finding a spot for her that I can approve of, I'm also feeling sad/guilty/sorryformyself in the process.

Everyone said that the year would go by in the blink of an eye, but I just didn't realize how quickly. And trust me, I never thought I would be saying this, but I'm gutted at the idea of returning to work.

Sorry, a bit of a downer post. And really, I know it will all work out. It always does, right?

xxoo.S

Dear Miss Maddie,

Well this post is long overdue - exactly 9 days overdue in fact. But my excuse is that we were in Ireland for your 8 month birthday. How cool is that, little one? You are not even a year old yet, and you've been overseas. My little world traveler.

Aside from that major milestone, you've managed to accomplish so much this month. All month long you were pushing up on your knees, rocking back and forth, and actually getting quite adept at crawling backwards. You took your first lunge forward in Ireland, and I was able to get it on video so Daddy wouldn't feel left out. And you're still taking your time getting from place to place - you're no speed demon yet, which is probably a good thing, as I just went out and bought the baby-proofing gadgets the other day.

What else can I tell you about you? You love to play. You're obsessed with your singing Elmo. Really, you like anyone or anything that sings to you - you've definitely taken after us in your love of music. And you've started doing this hand-banging-arm-movement that I'm thinking is a form of interpretive dance. :)

You started waving bye-bye this month. It's still intermittent, and often happens long after the person has actually left the room, but as a concept, you get it. Which I think is totally cool.

Oh, and you high-five like a pro. In fact you're far more into high-five-ing than waving good-bye (which I, as a regular high-fiver, totally understand).

You've learned the "milk" sign and use it all the time now. You seem to think it also means hello, eat, happy, sleep - a lot of things. But it's cool to see 2 months of my efforts finally realized. Now we're working on "Mommy", "Daddy", "kitty", "eat" and "more" ... you seem to know the signs, but haven't figured out how to do them back to us just yet.

You are a happy little girl that wakes up smiling, rarely cries, is so curious and interested in just about everything that I wonder how we're going to keep up with you in these next few years.

I love watching you do something you've set your mind to (like getting to the tv remote from across the room), because you look so proud of yourself once you do it. And it seems like your little brain is working overtime lately with all the things you're learning.

I catch you smiling at the cats when you think I'm not looking. I can't imagine what they're in for now that you're mobile.

You are a charmer with that gummy grin. You charmed an entire rugby team on the flight over to Ireland, you charmed every single person you met while over there, just like you charm every single person we happen upon when we're out over here. People just gravitate to you, and you, Miss Thing, love the attention!

And last but not least - you are turning into a total daddy's girl. You only have eyes for Daddy once he gets home from work and you love that play time with him. You squeal and giggle and laugh when he swoops you around, and he's the only thing you want to look at while you sit in your highchair. It's okay - I don't mind. Especially as it makes him so happy.

You are very loved little munchkin. I can't wait to see what this month brings.

Love Mommy
xxoo

PS - nope, you still don't have teeth. I've given up thinking they are ever going to get here. Oh, and Hyland's homeopathic teething tabs are the best thing in the world.

And she's crawling!

As promised - here's the video of our little Miss Thing taking her first lunges forward in Ireland!





xxoo.S

And we're back (oh, and she's crawling!)

Yes, we made it home safe and sound from the green isle - still pretty jet-lagged and I promise to post pics soon, but in the meantime...

• Maddie is an excellent flyer. As in Rain Man excellent. I can just hear her saying to people as she's grinning and waving and doing her happy little screech, "I am an excellent flyer". On the way over she made friends with a rugby team (lots of large men cooing over her and passing her around - too adorable for words really). And on the way back she was kidnapped by the air hostess for a bit and taken up to first class to hang out. Yeah, I was jealous too.
• We visited West Cork and Co. Kerry (doing part of the Ring of Kerry - all on the seaside - gorgeous), we went to the most southerly point of Ireland (Mizen Head - beautiful cliffs), stopped in Killarney to shop, kissed the Blarney stone, visited the Cobh (Cove) Heritage Museum which was the last port of call of the Titanic, did the Cork City bus tour and rang the bells at Shandon Church (we rang Maddie's fave song - You Are My Sunshine), went to a real farm and saw cows, and watched all the latest episodes of Corrie!
• Maddie charmed absolutely everyone she met. I'm still not sure how my daughter is so amazingly good natured - must take after her dad in that sense! But seriously, I think her head may have grown an inch or two with all the compliments she was getting.
• We are now in full-on, official teething territory. She's had diaper rash, green poops, rosy cheeks, mild fever, pain, drools (gross, stringy drools) and chin rash. Still no teeth - but it HAS to be soon as this point, right??!?!
• And the BIGGEST news of all - Maddie is now a crawler! Yep, she started crawling on Tuesday night to Louise (of course, right?). Luckily I got it on video - which I will post soon.

It was a fantastic trip, gorgeous company and scenery, but we're both very happy to be home. I'm in a state of fuzzy-headed tiredness but wasn't able to sleep later than 7:30 this morning (which is really past noon for me with the time change), however Maddie seems to not have that problem. She's currently on her 3rd hour of a morning nap as I type. And lucky me has a besotted daddy to take care of her for the rest of the day while I take a long hot bath and maybe an afternoon nap. Fabulous.

I will post more soon I promise - but for now we're just going to enjoy Father's Day weekend and laze about. Bye for now...

xxoo.S

Wanted to post, but...

I wanted to post a happy birthday message to Miss Maddie before we left, but I'm quickly running out of time and still have a lot of things to get done, so I guess it will be post-mania when we get back from the land o' the green.

Until then - enjoy the latest pics I've posted on our Flickr page - that's May in a nutshell. And yes, I know I was a little photo happy this month - what can I say... I am an artiste! ;)

Speak to you when we get back - until then, lots of xxxxxx' and lots of oooooooo's ...

xxoo.S

The countdown is on

In just over 24 hours, Maddie and I will be packing up the car, picking up Auntie Liz and heading off to the airport. I'm trying to pack us both into one suitcase (well, not us literally, but our stuff). It's proving difficult. I know that I'm a bit of a clotheshorse. And we all know Maddie is TOTALLY a clotheshorse ... but to be fair, it's a bit difficult when the place you are going could be very cool, or very warm ... depending on wether the sun is shining that day or not.

I feel bad for Louise's mom. She's picking us up from the airport, and I expect she won't love to see the amount of baggage that we will be carrying. I'm sure she'll be wishing they let us take the train down to the city...

Wish us luck - I will try to post tomorrow - lots going on though, and it really depends on my success at packing today, just how much free time I'll have tomorrow.

xxoo.S

A garage-sale weekend

We actually hosted a garage sale this weekend - Saturday morning, bright and early. I can tell you it was no way near as fun as going out to the sales, but I was happy to get the stuff out of the house (and the money into my pocket for our upcoming trip - woo hoo!).

Seth's parents came up to visit for the weekend, so aside from the garage sale we got lots done around the house as we often do when they are around.

Friday night they kept him company while I went out with the girls for dinner/drinks and the Sex and the City movie premiere. I had an absolute blast out at dinner, enjoyed a few cosmos (mmmmm - alcoholic goodness) and the movie was okay. (They didn't screw it up totally, but it was a little less cheeky and sardonic than the show - which made me a little sad). Oh, and can I just say - a woman brought her 3 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER to the show. The 10:30pm show. The movie that used the word 'fuck' as a noun, adjective and verb. And had several full frontal scenes. It pissed me off (and distracted me) the entire time. Wow, I've turned into a judgmental mother...

In other news - Maddie (as of this Wednesday) is now waving goodbye to people (when she feels like it, not always on cue, but still...). She also gives out high-fives. Very rarely leaves you hanging. I love it.

We also think she is working on her first word (no, not dada). Kitty! Except it comes out sounding more like "it-theeeee". The. Cutest. Thing. Ever.

That started on Saturday and now it's a running battle over what she says more, 'dada' or 'kitty'. That's right. Still no 'mama' anywhere near her vocabulary. I'm so being shafted.

Four more sleeps until we board the plane for Ireland. I'm starting packing tomorrow. My goal is one suitcase for both of us. One big-ass suitcase, but one just the same. Yeah. We'll see how that goes...

xxoo.S

It definitely IS getting better

This weekend was one of my favourite kinds. Spending lots of time around the house, getting things accomplished, working (and playing) outside - pretty much up there with my definition of a perfect weekend. Although I did have a bit of an epiphany this weekend - I realized that while getting lots of tasks checked off the 'to do' list is a relaxing weekend for me (I always feel more relaxed and energized if I'm plugging away at getting something done - sounds counter-intuitive, but it's the way I am); however Seth's idea of a relaxing weekend is spending it actually 'relaxing'. Luckily I was good at the sweet talking and he was enjoying just being home that I was able to cajole him into working through the weekend. And it also didn't hurt that his 'job' most of the time was to hang out/play with Maddie, which gave me free time (and hands) to get the things done that I wanted to do.

Aside from finally getting our front and back lawns in order (all weeded, fed, cut, watered and gardened), we also managed to watch 2 (!!!) movies this weekend. It was like we were living a close semblance to our old life. Maddie's sleep is getting back to normal (meaning only up 1-2 times a night, not 4-5), so after getting her down on Friday and Saturday nights we enjoyed watching an uninterrupted movie. Bliss.

It's funny what you envision your life to be like once you have children. We've had this discussion a few times, and a while ago Seth nailed it when he defined it as, "I thought it would be pretty much like this, but less hectic, less stressful, and with more time to just enjoy stuff." So as we sat in our backyard on Saturday afternoon, leisurely enjoying the weather and eating BBQ'd hot dogs while Maddie napped for another 2 hours, I turned to him and said, "So THIS is what you thought it would be like." He was like, "Yup... well, it's definitely getting better."

It SO is getting better. I think this is going to be a fun summer...

xxoo.S

Garage sale bonanza

I think the best way to explain my love for garage sale "season" (as I call it), is to compare it will Seth's obsessive love of football. Anyone of you that knows Seth, knows how he gets excited like a kid in a candy store as the weeks to football season approach. That's pretty much how I feel about garage sale season. It's short - starting mid-April (depending on weather) to mid-June, it's competitive (gotta get there early or the best stuff will be loooooong gone), and it's so satisfying (if you like getting great deals that is).

Today I was still too sick to contemplate heading to my regular class at the gym, and so, without guilt, I headed out to the sales instead. Armed with $60 and a Timmie's double double, I started to work my way methodically across the village of Brooklin.

Oh - it was a garage sale diva's heaven today. I think I hit more than 20 sales. And 5 of those were street sales - which means a tonne of houses offering up their wares all at once. So many deals to be had...which I of course had to take advantage of. I picked up a walker for Maddie (that has the 2 legs push together and becomes a little riding scooter thing for when she's older - hard to explain, but multi-functional nonetheless). I picked up some Weebles (these toys are SO cool! I haven't seem them in stores, so I guess they're another one of those items like the peek-a-boo blocks that she likes, that can only be found on ebay and at garage sales - I'll definitely be looking for more - they're like the Playskool answer to Fisher Price Little People, which we also love). I picked up some baby gates, a mirror toy and a wooden block set that I've already ruined by letting it soak in the water too long while I was cleaning it (the paint started to chip off ... oh well).

So there you go - more garage sale success stories from the Vallier household. If I had realized what I know now, I would have bought all my baby stuff last year in the garage sales leading up (strollers, playpens, excersaucers, swings, bouncy chairs - they seem to be at every single sale I visited). Oh well, I will just have to be happy with all the toys I can get now (and will continue to get for many years to come I expect).

Yes, it's been a favourable season thus far...

xxoo.S

1 down, 23 to go...

No - not pounds. Items on my "project list" that I wanted to accomplish while I was off work... It's all going a heck of a lot slower than I ever really anticipated. Let's face it. It hasn't gone at all until just recently. I guess 7 months is when it finally got easier for me. That's not so bad right? (Yes, I can hear the snickers from the peanut gallery - for your information ladies, you are all like supermoms, making exclusively homemade baby food, baking pies and cakes from scratch, entertaining large groups of party goers while your babe(s) sleep soundly upstairs and you stress not one little bit. That's great for you ... but I am not that talented!!) Okay, rambling tangent over.

So I decided to put my list of 'to do's here. I figured that it would accomplish a few things. Namely, 1) helping to get rid of some of the clutter in my scatterbrain and 2) I've always been more motivated when I publicly announce a goal.

1. Paint and hang the letters for Maddie's room
2. Build toy box/organizer in Maddie's closet
3. Buy or build bookshelf for Maddie's room
   
4. Organize photos cronologically, add notes and put into albums
5. Re-organize spare room to make more 'guest-friendly' - get rid of second dresser
6. Take boxes of old stuff to goodwill
7. Post and sell not-so-old stuff on kijiji
8. Organize underneath stairs in basement - storage area
9. Repaint bedframe in spare room
10. Repaint dining room chairs
11. Re-uphoster dining room chairs
12. Refinish cradle in cherry stain for Maddie's room
13. Refinish bedside table in cherry stain for Maddie's room
14. Build workbench and shelving in garage
15. Clean out and organize garage - move tools, Christmas boxes etc. out to garage
16. Touch up paint on walls in house
17. Put up wall hangings
18. Put up knife rack in kitchen
19. Choose and print photos for empty frames
20. Hang collage of frames over sofa
21. Put up under the cupboard cd player/radio
22. Get Guinness posters professionally mounted
23. Unpack the rest of the moving boxes in basement
24. Plant herbs in large wooden planter in backyard

Well, at least it will be fun to come back to this list every once in a while and scratch off another item. Hopefully I can get through the majority of it before September. That's only 3 months away...

xxoo.S

Maddie stuff

This past Sunday we were at a friend's BBQ and there were 2 one month old babies there, and as much as I tried, I really couldn't remember when she was like that. I mean, I remember when I see pictures. But I don't really remember what it was like to have a little quiet (for the most part) blob that would sleep anywhere and not really notice all that much around her.

Instead we have this curious-cat little girl that is wanting to go-go-go all the time-time-time. Here's just a few of the things she's doing lately...

• Crawling! Albeit backwards - she hasn't really figured out the forward motion yet, but she is pushing herself around backwards all over the place. And she can pivot on a dime. Which helps when she finds herself in front of a toy she wants, and as she tries to inch her way toward it, she finds herself moving further and further away from it. So with enough turns and some rolls thrown in, she will manage to get herself where she needs to go. Or stuck under the couch - you know, either...or...
• Communicating! She does this high-pitched squeal thing whenever she sees one of the cats. Which I take to mean, "Kitty!" She really, really, really wants to get them. I kind of feel sorry for them when she does start to crawl.
• Understanding! She definitely understands some words + some signs (although not signing back just yet). If you ask her where Daddy is, she looks all over the room until she spots him. If you say, "There's the kitty!", she looks toward where you're pointing and then smiles the biggest grin. If you ask her if she wants more (this is a sign language thing) while she's eating, she groans/growls/grunts while slamming her hands down on her highchair tray and leaning forward - I think this is a yes...
  
• Playing! By herself!! Yes, she's a little Miss Independence. As long as she has interesting toys or things that make noise all around her, you can leave her for a while. Like 10 or 15 mins on her own. I think that's pretty good - and try to make sure I practice this a few times a day so she isn't reliant on us sitting with her and playing with her.

Other things include: saying 'dada' constantly (check out the vid of it on youtube); eating 3 meals a day (breakfast, lunch/snack, and dinner); trying formula for the first time (and liking it); eating her toes every chance she gets; going into the crawling position from sitting; pulling up on your hands from sitting to standing; screeching just for the hell of it; telling me it's time for boob+nap by turning toward me and pulling on my pant leg while we're sitting playing; looking for stuff when she throws it (hilarious to see her long-necking to see where the toy went); um, banging stuff against other stuff - A LOT; having giggle fits over the most ridiculous things; turning the pages of the book while we're reading....

I could go on and on and on - but you get the picture. It feels like she learns something new daily - and I know it gets even crazier as she gets older. Buh, I hope I have the energy to keep up...

xxoo.S

Update from the infirmary

We are both sick with a cold. Me more so (I think whatever antibodies my body is using to fight it off is passing along to her in the breastmilk, so she's not got it as bad) ... but it's been a rough couple of days.

Last time I was sick she was a lot smaller, and MUCH easier to keep entertained (read: happy). I remember that we spent one of those sick days pretty much in bed where she played while awake, but also happily took 3 hour naps with me a few times throughout the day.

Yeah, those days are over. I tried to get her to nap with me yesterday - thinking she might nap longer that way, allowing me to sleep longer (which did used to be the case). Well, I think she's gotten so used to sleeping on her own and in her crib, that it's the only place she'll really sleep now. So we napped at the same time, but separately yesterday.

And when she's awake she's ALL ABOUT the playing. Which means I need to be slightly more awake than just comatose to entertain her. Or at least feign interest while she entertains herself on the floor. Thank god for the new toys she got this weekend - new toys are far more interesting than old toys.

So that's it for us. I've been wanting to post and we've got lots of updates for you all - but it's taken all of my energy to keep pouring glasses of juice and putting the kettle on for tea. I do promise that I'll post more interesting stuff soon.

Until then - send me healthy, germ-fighting wishes and wish me luck in my attempts at unblocking her nose with that bulb suction thingy.

xxoo.S

Weekend in Bancroft

Well, this past Friday we packed up the car and headed up to Bancroft to visit with my step-brother, Derek and his family. Mom and Walt were up there was well, so it was a little family reunion of sorts.

We got there on Friday night around 8:30pm and lucky for us, there was shish-ka-bobs left over from dinner for us to eat. After a quick visit with everyone, Maddie was ready for bed - so we put her down and joined everyone out by the fire and ate roasted marshmallows (lots)!

Saturday morning the men got up early to go fishing and the ladies got up early to go garage-saleing! Well, Grandma stayed and watched the grandkids and Auntie Amy and I went to the garage sales. They were great - I got some toys for Maddie, Amy got a few things for Rebecca and Victoria, and I bought a couple of boardgames for the girls (note to self: don't buy toys like Mousetrap that have a lot of small parts from a garage sale - likely there will be a piece or two missing and/or broken - resulting in 2 very dissapointed little nieces).

Saturday night was a big feast of all the fish the boys caught while out that morning - then it was an early night for everyone.

Sunday morning the guys went out fishing again and the ladies enjoyed a leisurely morning around the house. I bounced in the trampoline with Rebecca and Victoria while Grandma and Auntie Amy fought over who got to spoil/feed/cuddle Maddie.

We left early afternoon on Sunday and headed back to Whitby (made it back in 2 hours - Maddie slept the WHOLE way - woo hoo!). After a quick unpacking and shower for Seth, we headed back out to our friend's, Rob & Vone's for a BBQ (well, they BBQ'd and we all hung out in the basement hiding from the cold weather). It was great seeing everyone, but by 10pm Maddie was at the end of her rope and it was time to head home for us.

Yesterday Seth went golfing with the boys, while Maddie slept the morning away (she took a 3 hour nap - yes, I think someone had a bit of a tiring weekend!). I cleaned up the toys I got her from the garage sales (she LOVES the activity table - yay!), cleaned up the kitchen and finished unpacking. When Seth got home Maddie was just getting ready to go back down for another nap - so he took the opportunity to lay down as well and enjoyed a Maddie-Daddy nap in our bed for an hour and a half. Too cute.

So that was our weekend in a nutshell. The fireworks last night woke Maddie up a few times, but all I kept thinking was how cute it will be next year to have her watching them. And I finally managed to finish painting the letters for her room (one more project to finally cross of the list) last night before I went to bed - so her room will now have a bit of decoration. Yeah, only took 7 months. Oops.

Here's a few pics from the weekend ... hope you all enjoyed yours!
xxoo.S

Princess Maddie

Meeting of the minds

Holy fish!

She likes chicken

As I was cutting up pieces of chicken to make dinner (mmmmm green curry!), I decided that it was a good opportunity to introduce Miss Maddie to another source of iron instead of always feeding her cereal. A few pieces were cooked without butter in a separate pan - then thrown in the blender with a bit of water. It took a bit of effort, but finally got it all pureed and mixed it up with some sweet potatoes. Mmmmm-mmmm!

Her first bite was a little trepidatious. But after that she was all for it - ate it all up like gangbusters.

So there you go - pureed chicken. Add to the "Maddie Likes" list.

xxoo.S

Asparagus and night terrors

Maddie has a new habit that is not fun. Waking up screaming like she's being bloody murdered.

She'd done it a few random times before - but only when something happened that scared her (for no good reason - like me going 'ewwwww' a little louder than usual at a poopy diaper - that has caused one of those freak attacks).

However while we were staying at my Mom's house during our visit in Kingston, she started waking up in the middle of the night like that. Screaming and taking a looooooong time to console once I picked her up. At first we thought that it was a teething thing, or because she was in a playpen (sorry, playyard) and that was new and different.

Then when we were at Liz and Greg's for dinner last Saturday night, she woke up and did the "I'm missing my binkie" cry, so I went up and found it for her, gave her a few back rubs and went to leave. All was good. Until I shut the door, that is. Then the screaming started. And really didn't stop until we took her into the lighted hallway.

Then the lightbulb went on, so to speak. She has a nightlight in her bedroom at our house - there was no nightlight at either my Mom's or Greg & Liz's. So she must be afraid of the dark.

At least that was the theory until last night. She woke up at 10:30pm and I finally got her back down to sleep an hour later. (Yes we gave her Motrin, but after seeing the doctor today, she said that she did not have an ear infection, no signs of a cold or swollen glands, and that she saw no signs of teething --- ummmm, shiiiiiiittt. When the hell are those teeth going to come??)

So now we don't know what it is. My doctor theorized that she just wanted attention or to see me, and this was her way of making that happen. I tend to disagree - she's clearly freaked out, and me picking her up doesn't calm her down immediately - it takes a while. So I don't think it's just a matter of wanting to see Mommy in the middle of the night.

I wish I knew what it was - not only for her sake, but mine as well. Trust me, there's nothing that gets your heart racing better than to awaken to your screeching baby.

On a happier note - we had a yummy dinner (cedar plank bbq'd salmon, rice and asparagus) and Maddie joined us in eating some asparagus. I didn't need to add water - just pureed some of the steamed tips in the blender. She made a few faces, but ate it. Unlike the avocado experience. So we have another vegetable to add to the freezer now. Cool.

xxoo.S

In a month...

...we'll be flying back from Ireland. That means in less than a month we are flying to Ireland. Scary. I think I need to start a packing list now!

xxoo.S

Flying bullets

It's been a busy day and am just about to make dinner - but wanted to post quickly...

• I just used my new jogging stroller for an hour long walk (yay, me!) ... so maybe I'll actually start losing weight now. (goodlordIhopeso)
• Maddie's one ear is completely filled with wax. I'm not even sure if I can describe just how gross it is. And everything I've read online says not to do anything, it'll work itself out. Um, okay. But in the meantime, gross...
• We have an ant problem in our kitchen. We just discovered this over the weekend (think it was because Seth filled in the sand in our interlock brick in the backyard - he filled in their home, so they infiltrated ours). Ants are gross. And the ant traps don't seem to be working - at least not fast enough for me. So I keep spraying them with Fantastic. That's right. Fantastic.
• Tomorrow is our last Babyville group meeting - I really like the moms we met through this group and hope that we all do manage to keep in touch. At least over the summer, while I'm home and bored and (ALWAYS!) looking for something to do...
• Lastly - random thought: Have you ever noticed how potatoes will just randomly start growing on their own if you leave them long enough? Like start growing little arms and legs (sprouts?) with no help or outside intervention. Don't you think that's just weird? I mean, seriously - does any other food item do that? Just start propagating itself?
  

xxoo.S

Mom Test

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! I had this emailed to me today (thanks Deb!) and thought I'd share, enjoy...

I was out walking with my 4 year old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that.

"Why?" my daughter asked.

"Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty, and probably has germs," I replied.

At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, "Momma, how do you know all this stuff, you are so smart."

I was thinking quickly.

"All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mom Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mom."

We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information.

"OH...I get it!" she beamed, "So if you don't pass the test you have to be the dad."

"Exactly," I replied back with a big smile on my face.

Tee hee...

Dear Miss Maddie,

Wow - you are seven months old today. Seven months! We're past the halfway mark to a year and we've both survived (barely) - yay!

It seems as you get older, you start learning things at such a faster pace, I'm not even sure where to begin...

You sit up by yourself without any help now - only fall backwards and bonk your head every once in a while ... that still breaks my heart when you do it - but falling has made you learn to start putting out your hands to steady yourself, so I guess that's the silver lining.

With sitting by yourself comes playing by yourself. If I pile a tonne of toys around you, you're happy as a clam to sit and play for a half hour. Although you prefer it if I'm sitting with you. But you'll be satisfied with a quick 'check in' from me every 5 mins or so - which lets Mommy get more stuff done around the house - yay housework! (*sarcasm*)

Just this past weekend, while we were visiting with family in Kingston you learned to stand up (holding onto the couch), crawl backwards (kind of a shimmy that takes you further and further away from what you're trying to reach, which is frustrating, I know), and you had this squeal/laugh/shout thing you did every time you saw the dog - so I guess you've learned to try and beckon animals too!

One of the coolest things you started doing this month is all your babbling. You talk to yourself, to me, to Daddy, to the kitties, to your toys, to the tv ... pretty much to anyone and anything. It started out with the ayayayayya that I first heard while we were in the grocery store. Then you added a bububububabababba to the mix. Now your new favourite word is "da-da". You say it. All. The. Time. Seriously kid, couldn't you throw in a "ma-ma" every once in a while?

We aren't calling it your official word yet though, because I think you need to be looking at Daddy and saying the word specifically at him before we call it your 'first word'. And that gives you more time to figure out 'ma-ma'... :)

Along with the babbling, you also sing now too. I'm sure a lot of our readers are rolling their eyes right now, but I don't care. I know you're trying to sing. You say "aaaaaahhhhhhh" and raise and lower your voice while doing it. You 'sing' mainly to your toys (like I sing to you), and sometimes to yourself while in the carseat right before you fall asleep. I haven't gotten it on film yet, but I need to make sure I do because it ranks right up there with one of the cutest things of all time.

I wish I could say you have poked your first tooth through, but we're still waiting on that one monkey. Still. Waiting. I know it's hard. I'm tired of giving you Motrin at night and ensuring you always have a cool teether available. And I'm pretty sure you're tired of being in pain. I know I would be.

I also wish that I could say you were sleeping through the night regularly - but that's still seems to be a way off for us. You like at least one feeding during the night, and sometimes it seems like you just wake up so you can hang out with me for a bit. While I'm flattered, it's a bit tiring...

We both love the little girl you are turning into Madeleine. You are always just taking it all in. Lots of people think you're so 'serious' all the time - but I can see that you're just trying to figure it all out. And we get lots of smiles and giggles at home - which is what I try to explain to the strangers in the mall, and give up because I don't really care if they believe me or not. You don't smile or giggle on cue, you wait until something strikes you as funny. You already have your own mind and I love it.

You prefer Daddy to give you your bath. You prefer Mommy to chase away the tears in the middle of the night. You like when Daddy reads you a book. You like when Mommy dances with you in your jumper. Daddy likes to walk you. Mommy likes to rock you. It's so cool to see how you like certain things about each of us and how (I think) you're already figuring out that Daddy is the softie.

We have a fun month ahead of us monkey. The weather is getting nicer, so we can go outside lots. And we're going to Ireland in a month - you are going to be a world traveler at less than a year old! I can't wait to show you how beautiful that country is, and for you to meet Mommy's friends. Please just be nice to me on the plane ride over...

Love you monkey - lots and lots and lots and lots.

Love Mommy
xxoo

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

Scary

We had our first choking experience today. While at Shoppers Drug Mart, Maddie started coughing, spluttering and gagging. I instinctively knew she had something in her throat (don't worry - she was breathing fine - when I say choking I mean having something caught in her esophagus, not her airway).

I grabbed her out of the cart, turned her over my knee and started patting her on her back. This of course attracted the attention of the pharmacist, who nicely came over to try and help. He too could see that she was gagging on something, but we couldn't figure out what. He suggested we try giving her some water - which she took fine - so we concluded that if anything had been there, it wasn't anymore.

We proceeded to check out and as I'm pushing the stroller out to my car, she starts gagging and foaming at the mouth. Saliva and bile I guess is what was coming out. I pulled her out of the car seat again, she vomited all over me and I pulled a piece of cellophane out of her mouth.

I had put a few items in her stroller while I was shopping, but none of them had a missing piece of cellophane on them, so I'm not entirely certain where she could have gotten this small piece from. Regardless, I've learned my lesson. Not only do I have to watch her even more carefully to see what she's putting into her mouth (because she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth nowadays), but I also can no longer throw the odd thing in her stroller while I'm shopping - it all will go in a separate cart or in the basket below.

This experience also made me realize that I'm going to signing up for the first available baby CPR/first aid course that I can find. I know I did everything right in the circumstance, but I hated the panicked-not-sure-what-to-do feeling. And for those of you that know me, you know my phobia about choking ... yeah - I'd prefer not to go through that ever again.

xxoo.S

Kingston visit

While Seth was away for his fishing weekend, Maddie and I travelled down to Kingston for a visit. We drove down Friday afternoon (I waited until she was ready to go down for her 2nd nap of the day - which meant she slept most of the way there - smart mommy!) - since we were a bit earlier than anticipated, we stopped by the gym where Grandma Vallier was working to visit with her for a while. Then headed on to Grandma Thompson's house where we would be staying.

I got treated to Capri pizza for dinner (yum!) and by the time we were done so was Maddie - she was pretty tired and was pretty easy to get down to sleep (too bad she didn't stay that way - but this isn't a post about sleep so I won't digress).

Saturday morning we tried our luck garage saleing - but were shocked to see that there was only one garage sale in all of Amherstview - dammit!

Saturday afternoon saw us heading out to Buck Lake to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Burke. It was pretty gorgeous out considering it was supposed to rain all day - so we took Maddie on a tour of the gardens. She loves it outside, and this was her first time seeing a lake - she kept staring at it, I think watching the sun make the water shimmer.

Here's a picture of her hanging out on a moose statue in the garden - look at that belly - she's getting so big! And yes, she doesn't look all that happy - but she does have a moose up her bum, give her a break!

We headed straight from my Dad's over to the Vallier's to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Vallier - until Maddie made it quite clear that she was tired, and hungry, and wanted her bath, NOW! So we left - and I addressed all of the above and a very tired little girl went to sleep (and slept well - must've been the fresh air she got!).

Sunday morning we were off again - this time out to Harrowsmith to visit with Aunt Reta, Derek, Amy and the girls - for belated birthday presents for the girls (they got clothes and seemed less than impressed). While Auntie Amy cuddled with Maddie, I went outside to skip with the girls - they don't know any skipping songs yet (and looked at me like I had two heads when I asked them if they knew how to double dutch - I guess they're still a little young for that). But as much as I racked my head, I couldn't come up with one skipping song - so I promised that I would remember some and bring some double ropes for a skipathon when we come to visit them in Bancroft for the long weekend. Umm, so yeah ... I need to find out some skipping songs - anyone remember any?

Seth met us at my Mom's house on Sunday afternoon and we headed back over to the Vallier's for a roast beef dinner that night. Grandma Vallier wanted Maddie to try the teething biscuits she had bought her. Within seconds she had bitten off a huge hunk, which I quickly rescued out of her mouth. I know they are supposed to dissolve quickly, but it was far to big for her to have in there. Too soon I think for those teething biscuits - at least for a nervous mommy like me.

Monday was our road trip day - we took Maddie down to Watertown, NY to hit some of the stores for some shopping. Oh and shop we did! We found amazing deals at Baby Gap, JC Penny had all their Carter's stuff on for 50-75% off, and then Target had about a zillion things on for $3.99. That's right - $3.99. You can't even get close to prices like that up here - so we were very happy for all the deals we were finding, and pretty much bought up everything we saw. Let's just say - Maddie doesn't need any more summer clothes - she's set.

And coolest of all cool things - coming back over the border, we didn't have to pay any duty. I answered the custom agent's questions honestly...
Her: "How long were you in the United States?"
Me: "6 hours."
Her: "What did you do while you were here?"
Me: "Shopped."
Her: "How much did you purchase?"
Me: "I spent $120 and my mom spent $80."
Her: "Okay, go ahead."

I was like, wha?? Just go? As in, don't pull over, show all the receipts (that we had all ready and in order), and pay through your nose in duty? Ummmm, this whole shopping in the States thing may become a bit of a habit for me now...

Oh and I almost forgot. If I only had a crush on Target before - well, it's a full-blown head-over-heels-in-love affair now. Seriously. The. Best. Store. EVER. Not only can I appreciate it from a business sense (amazing retail success story, department store with a twist, developing strategic partnerships with designers, offering interesting, funky products at value prices, clean and organized and eye-catching merchandising) - but I LOVE shopping that store. Seriously. It takes Wal-Mart and kicks its ass all over the retail arena. Prices are AMAZING. Products are fresh, interesting and BRAND NAME (seriously - I saw the Hot Sling I bought in Canada for $70 - on their shelves for $39.99). I CAN'T WAIT until Target comes to Canada. Can't. Wait.

Tuesday was a bit more low-key. My plan was to leave Tuesday afternoon, but I was so exhausted from my shopping extravaganza yesterday and the ensuing sleepless night I had endured, I opted instead to stay one more night and leave Wednesday morning. Maddie and I visited with my friend Stefanie and her little boy Quinn in the morning, then I dropped Maddie at the Vallier's while Mom and I did a bit more shopping in the afternoon and that was the extent of the excitement for the day. It was an early night for us all, thank god.

So Wednesday came and it was packing time. Maddie and I had a great time visiting everyone and enjoyed being cooked for, and looked after, and in general, spoiled. But we were also happy to be heading home - for some good sleep, some different toys, and to see the rest of our family (kitties!).

Today looks to be a quiet day. We may go to the movies this afternoon - Baby Momma is playing at the Ajax theatre - the movies change every week for the 'stars and strollers' option, so this is likely my only chance to see the movie in the actual theatre. We'll see how we're doing by noon today.

And I will post more pics of our visit soon - there's a bunch of good ones I can't wait to share!

Love to you all - hope you're having as good of a week as we are...

xxoo.S

Chalk one up for the...

..."Foods Maddie HATES" list:

AVOCADO!!!

Yeah, we tried some fresh avocado this morning. I had read about it being a preferred 'first food' for lots of people because babies usually love it, it has all those good essential brain-growing fats in it, and it's an easy 'mash-and-serve' fresh food.

Ummmm ... she HATES it. I mean, scrinkle up her eyes, scrunch up her nose, push it back out of her mouth, gag as she swallows, HATES it.

I was giving her sips of water in between as I thought maybe it's just because it's a little chunkier than she's used to having her food. Maybe that's why she's gagging.

Yeah, no. She was gagging because she HATES it. And she gagged so much she THREW IT UP. All over her bib, highchair and self.

And I don't mean spit up. I mean vomit. Like mucousy, stringy, avocado-y vomit. (Good morning!)

Okay Maddie, I get the hint. No more avocado. Yikes.

xxoo.S


PS - I gave her banana for breakfast instead to make up for it. She LOVES banana - so don't worry, she's not starving and is very happy right now.

Bad Mommy, Part II

I use the monitor every night because of the way our house is set up. Our bedroom is across the hall from Maddie's room, but because of the hallway in our room, I don't trust that I will always hear her cries between the doors.

Well, guess what happened last night? At some point during the night I must have turned the monitor off as I was about to go in to her, then fell back asleep. That's the only reason I can imagine anyways - because when I woke up at 6am (her new 'awake' time which I'm now trained to) - the monitor was off.

She had awoken at 11:30 and I had fed her then, and I know the monitor was on at that point when I went back to bed. So somewhere between 11:30 and 6 I turned it off. And I slept straight through. I highly doubt that she did (considering she never does).

Which means I guess we practiced some serious CIO (cry it out) technique last night. Seth thinks that if she was really crying that I would have woken up. I'm not so sure, considering I didn't wake up at all - which means I was in a deeeeeeeep sleep.

I feel guilty as all hell thinking about her laying in her crib crying out for me, and me slumbering away in my bed, completely oblivious.

But she's just as happy this morning as she ever is - so either a) she slept through the night as well, or b) she harbors no grudge against mommy.

So maybe I don't feel so guilty. Just a little guilty...

xxoo.S