Blackberry Face

This is the purple blackberry girl who will not go to sleep on summer nights. Not without a fight anyway. This is the girl who thinks it's funny to keep Momma occupied until she has to go to bed. Maybe all the summer sounds of kids and dogs and trains and boats and watering and conversations make her think she's missing something. How could she miss anything when she's the centre of it all?

Summer BBQ

Here's little A at a BBQ earlier tonight. My friend took the photo with her excellent uber camera. A is quite the party girl. I get that horrible song in my head "my girl likes to party all the time". I think it was Eddie Murphy in the 80's. It's true though. I put a dress on her and let her see herself in the mirror and she goes mental. She loves the outfits and she seems to get that a dress means a party. This one is a little pinafore for that sophisticated casual look.

It takes her ages to fall asleep on party nights though. It's tough to wind down. Like mother, like daugher.

I've gotta keep this short. I'm stealing time from sleep myself.

Hair cuts

The boyz went to the barber last weekend. Here they are in all their newly revealed handsome-ness. A and I are lucky ladies. Happy May. It's raining here.

Birthdays

So, this post is about 2 months late. The kids were born 4 years minus one week apart so there is alot of birthday activity in early March. When T turned 1, we had a big bash to celebrate. It was more about us getting through that first intense year than about fun for him. Subsequent birthdays have been all about him. This year it seemed fitting to celebrate the two big milestones so we had another big bash. It was great, we may never do it again but it was super fun and a lovely way to celebrate our lovely girl's first year and our young man's fifth.

As in the past, we didn't get any pictures. We were too busy talking and dealing with cake and food and coming and going. Fortunately this time I handed our video camera to a friend and asked her to get some footage. It has taken me a long time to get any time to put this together but here is a little taste of birthday week 2010. The song in the video is Kooks by David Bowie. My friend S reminded me of this song just before A was born and it has been her best lullaby ever since.

A year ago we were leaving for Kamloops, shifting out of the shock of A's diagnosis and trying to find a shaky footing on the road to acceptance. We were also rejoicing at her new found successful breast feeding latch after a 6 week odyssey of trying everything. She has lead us on quite a journey since then. I have big hopes that she will continue to teach us and show us what really matters. Happy, happy birthday to both my magic love children and thank you both for landing on our little planet.

Crackers

I've been slammed by lack of sleep for awhile. Little A's patterns are all over the place and I can't seem to find a way to surf it. Anyway, the upshot is, no time for computer or anything really. It will pass. In the meantime, here's a shot of our lunch picnic in our yard this week. Finally some sun.

What a couple of hams.

This is the first we've spent time in our postage stamp sized front yard. We had a tenant up until Jan and he was a grumpy guy. It didn't feel private enough to hang out in our own yard but now we can! It's great!

Super model

A turned 1 last Saturday. We had a crazy big bash and when I get time (ha!) I'll post some video. In the meantime, A has been scouted for her first modeling job. My friend L, is the mastermind behind Green Bean Baby. Her stuff is all organic cotton and she designs it all. Little A is her Little Bean of the month. Here is her bio in the latest newsletter.

LITTLE BEAN OF THE MONTH
A, 1 year old A is a magic little sweet pea who loves to play peek- a- boo and steal mama's glasses. She loves books both for looking at and for gnawing on. A spends time watching her big brother everyday, (taking notes for future mischief making!) She hopes to be able to keep up soon but it's a lot of work. For now she is content to mug at the camera with a sparkle in her eyes.

She's back!

Well, almost back to normal. Baby A is the tiniest bit cranky but overall it's smiles and chuckles again. I took her to the doctor yesterday and he pronounced it a nasty flu / cold combo and nothing serious. She gave him the lower lip and hauled me out of there relieved but still exhausted from my week long stint as nurse. You would think I would be used to this but t has only been sick about 3 times in 5 years.

We're lucky with him and we're really lucky this is the first big one for A. We're also grateful it's all cleared up before the upcoming birthday celebration.

Thanks for your prayers, concern and good thoughts.

Sleep and other stuff

We've been sleep 'shaping'. I suppose some would call it sleep training but as you know I cannot do the cry-it-out thing. I physically can't do it. Sometime just after Christmas, A went from waking once per night (manageable) to three times (not). If she would co-sleep, it might have worked but I had to get up, go down the hall and often it takes me a very long time to get back to sleep so I wasn't doing very well. Anyway, our new plan was to try to eliminate the 2am feeding by sending in T with water. She wasn't crazy about it but she adapted pretty well. Everyone was worse off for a week or two but things are moving in the right direction. That's the main reason it's been quiet here on the posting front. I really should be sleeping now. That's the daily choice; get to bed right after the kids do or have a bit of adult time. Too often, I let sleep lapse and well.... this blog has its name for a reason.

A is doing well. Lot's to talk about there but that will have to be another post. We had her 2nd physio session (we go every 2 months) on Thursday. We're working on the hands and knees position and teaching her to get from lying down to sitting up. Eating is going very well and she's mastered clapping. There's nothing better than coming into her field of vision and getting a round of applause just for showing up. (I apologize for my annoying voice but she likes it)

Here she is at a party, trying to grab her Dad's wine glass. Are we in for trouble or what?

In little t news, there was a fall down, head bump with stitches adventure. It was a rare sunny day and I struggled to get outside with both kids between naps and feedings. It took about 20 minutes of uphill battle to get them both ready to get out. We walked along together breathing in some fresh air. I was so excited to leave the building. Tor ran ahead a little bit and A was on my back in the ergo. We were heading to a trail but while still on the road, I looked back to ensure an approaching car was not heading our way. I kept walking with my head turned and tripped t who had slowed to wait for me. He fell headfirst to the pavement and it wasn't pretty. Lots of blood and tears. We weren't far from home and we rushed back to clean it up. Luckily T was there and he helped me. Thank God for skype. We skyped my mom, Grandma R, a nurse and she advised us that he needed stitches or at least a steri-tape thingy so we headed to the doctor. He was very brave and it's healing up nicely. We have been very lucky. We hardly go to the doctor at all.

It has been a bleary-eyed month so far but I've had a few moments of clarity. One of them came on a day where I had had a good sleep the night before. Little t and I were playing soccer in the downstairs room while A was napping. Suddenly it hit me. These days I am spending with both kids are so fleeting. In September he'll be going to school everyday possibly for full days. I'll miss him so much. I must do my best to soak it all in even when I'm so tired I could collapse. My official maternity leave is done in March but I will try to take the summer off as well. How could I miss it? Yes, it will be tight but these times are not coming back.

Happy New Year!!! (better late than never)

Here are a couple of shots of our New Year's Eve plus a little movie of moments. I'll keep it brief because little A's sleep has been rough on me lately and I'm tiiiiiiiiiiiiired. But I can't let this opportunity pass to say that 2009 was the craziest year of my life. I'm inspired and impressed by the introspection and thoughtfulness of many of the New Year posts I've read. I would like to reach that same level of profundity but it's beyond me. I'll have to settle for knowing that 2009 has changed me irreversibly for the better and we're all entering 2010 with love, hope and more faith.

Our evening was low-key with just the 4 of us. We had a wonderful dinner of bouillabaise (sp?) preceded by a Skype to my brother and family in the middle of the country. After dessert (pie and ice cream) we looked at pictures of 2009 and years past. Then fireworks, sparklers and bedtime. Little A was asleep pretty early but Little T's head was just hitting the pillow at midnight.

King of New Year's Eve

And the Queen

Festive Table

Mmmmm dinner (is this starting to seem like a food blog????)

Some highlights... more experimentation with iMovie

Happy 10 months old

Our lovely A is 10 months old today. Alot has changed in those 10 months. My physical labour morphed into a labour of the heart. We went through a tunnel of fear and grief out to a great view with lots of giggles and love. Happy 10 month day little one. You are some kind of magic.

Love Mom

Christmas Update

I hope all of you had a great Christmas. Thank you to everyone who came by, thank you to everyone who hosted, thank you to well-wishers who drop by this blog and a huge thank you to everyone for the insane amount of presents for the kids. There is enough stuff here for another two Christmas's. We know we are lucky and we are striving to pass that message on to the kids.

On the Monday before Christmas, I took little t out to buy something for someone else, for someone who may not get any presents. Our local Christmas Bureau accepts new gifts for kids. Families who need the service can come and 'shop' for what they need. Little t busted out his piggy bank and put in some of his own money and I made up the rest. He chose a Nerf sword which he wanted to play with. It was interesting. I could see he really wanted it but he understood the whole exercise was to give it away. Thanks to friends N & L for coming too. I'm glad we did it. We need to do alot more of that I think.

Baby A proved herself to be a real party girl. She would not settle down for bed on Christmas night because there were new people around. When I went to pick her up, instead of rooting for milk as she would normally do, she pulled her whole body (and mine) toward the door and toward the party. She can't stand missing anything. I took her to the pediatrician for a check up on the 29th and she thought the waiting room was another party. Why not? There were kids, toys, books and a nice lady greeting everyone. When she's excited she lets out a James Brown yelp and that's what she did all week. Party, party, party.

I'm pretty exhausted so we're keeping things low key for New Year's Eve and Day. There will be a good dinner of course and hopefully a walk or two. We will also look through our pictures of 2009 to reflect on the year and share our hopes for 2010.

Here are some shots of our fun times. Up above, the kids are wearing their nisser hats. Nisser (pronounced something like Nissa) means elf in Danish. Down below we see baby A eating a good book in front of the Christmas carnage. Mmmmm book.

Here's little t on Christmas Eve in front of our tree.

Finally, here is baby A on her first Christmas, playing mostly with wrapping paper. This is my first experiment with iMovie. She normally smiles more than this but I didn't get nearly as much footage as I would have liked. Anyway, despite her serious intent, she's having lot's of fun.

Christmas Parties

December has been a busy month for everyone here. I suppose that applies to everyone who will read this. We're still putting the final touches on Christmas here. FF and FM are in town as well as Auntie A and Uncle V and we will have a wonderful dinner for Christmas Eve with riz a almande for dessert, followed by songs and gift exchange. The adults drew names this year to keep things under control. Christmas morning we'll have breakfast and then open the gifts from my family. Christmas dinner will be pork roast with crackling and red cabbage (very Danish). We've invited a few friends over for that so things should be lively.

We will miss you all greatly.

Here are some festive events we've been to recently.

All four of us at LS & WH annual Christmas fondue. It's rare to get all of us in one shot. Time for a professional I think. Check out baby A's YSL dress. My friend got it at a thrift shop. What a little fashion plate. She loves parties too!

Arrrrrggghhhh, Little t with pirates at the Science Centre's Christmas party.

Little t with Santa at the Science Centre's Christmas party. After hanging with the pirates he couldn't resist having his face painted as a pirate. Hard to believe.

Little t's pre-school Christmas party. He hasn't asked why Santa doesn't always look the same but then again, Santa is not the main event at our place.

Little t 'singing' along at his school party. The kids are all wearing reindeer hats they made.

Feed Me!

A is no longer a vegetarian. Well, I suppose she wasn't really a vegetarian since I was feeding her mama milk and I eat meat but as of this week she has tried turkey and chicken directly from the baby jars. She loves it. It's like we've been starving her and she was already eating well.

Here she is trying to eat her brother's shoulder.

We continue to be grateful for everything that works. Feeding is one of them.

How's she doing? 9 months old!

You would be forgiven for thinking life revolves around little t around here. However, baby A certainly directs her share of traffic. Being a baby is pretty involved and although she is far more even tempered than her older brother she certainly expresses herself and ensures her needs are met. In fact, our days are structured around her needs as much as possible with interuptions for big brother's school and swimming lessons.

So for everyone who asks, "How's she doing?", here's a summary.

Food: She's loving it. We're adding more texture now. She still favours zucchini and other squashes. She also loves swiss chard of all things. She likes carrots, turnips, lentils, green beans, peas and most other veggies. When offered apple or pear, she screws up her face and looks completely disgusted. It's quite funny. She does like sweet potato so I don't think it's an aversion to sweetness. Not sure what's up there. We are offering finger food too. She still grasps with her whole hand so it's more of an exercise than an actual nutrition input.

Sleep: This area has been quite a struggle but things are improving. I'm a believer in attachment parenting. I like to keep the babies close. A was in a co-sleeper in our room until recently but I noticed that she seemed to sleep more soundly when I wasn't there. It's almost as if she senses my presence and thinks it's party time. So with some reluctance, we moved her bed into the office. After a lousy week of adjustment, she is down to one waking per night which is much more manageable than the 3 or 4 that had been happening.

Elimination: No problems. She's very regular. We have started elimination communication (EC) which means we pay attention to when she's eliminating and we learn the signals and acknowledge it. Thanks to my sister for inspiring us on this project. When she's passing solids we bring her to the toilet right away and most of the time she finishes the job there. When she's peeing we make a sound and change her right away. Sometimes we catch the pee but that's pretty advanced and the goal is more to make her aware that we are aware and to get her used to the toilet early. We're using cloth diapers so that also helps her awareness.

Communication: Here is where she has surprised me. We've been using signs for awhile. Around two months ago, she started signing for milk! She is not consistent about it and sometimes when she does it, she really means she's tired but she is unmistakably following our lead and trying to communicate with her hands. The surprise is that she had made this connection earlier than her brother who is no slouch in the communication department. I'm trying not to get too excited because she doesn't do it all the time and she hasn't picked up any other signs but I still think it's pretty cool. She's pretty clear with vocals too when she's hungry.

Movement: This is probably where we see the most delay. She is certainly not as strong as her brother was or her cousin is but we do see good progress. She sits well. We are working on getting her to move from tummy to sitting and from tummy to hands and knees. She has started to scooch backwards on her tummy and sometimes gets some good distance if she's got a rug under her.

Overall, we aren't as concerned about each milestone as I thought we would be. We're seeing progress and a huge curiosity. She wants to grab everything (especially my glasses) and she's really interested in books. She knows who we are. I think she knows her name, her brother's name but not her parents' names yet. She hasn't had too many babysitters but when she does, she misses us.

We're all in love with this kid and super grateful that she eats well and has no health issues. We're just enjoying this age and this time and learning to trust that all will be well.

Here's A attempting to use the sippy cup. Still a work in progress but pretty cute.

4 is the new 13

I take little t to swimming lessons a couple of times per week. I've been determined to get him past the fear of getting his head wet. He's doing well and now he can stay with the instructor without me. I get a swim in and then we play afterward. A stays in the playcare during this time unless T is home.

The women's change room has an open shower. I usually wash his hair which he hates. Yesterday, I was proceeding with the dreaded hair wash when a little girl about t's age came in with her mom. Little t stopped his fussing and went completely quiet. I didn't have my glasses on but I could tell he was fascinated with the young lady. He started to pull away from me and then push me away. Finally he said, "Mom, move away from me!" I was biting back shock and laughter. The little girl rinsed her own hair with no fuss and moved on. I asked Tor if he wanted me to move away so he seemed like a big boy. He nodded.

We agreed to use hand signals next time.

...and since it's remembrance day, I hope you all had a chance to observe your moment of silence. We made it to the local cenotaph, late but in time to see the wreathes being laid.

Hallowe'en

It was cold and rainy the week before Hallowe'en so we were bracing for a showdown about wearing a raincoat over a costume but luckily the day was clear and brisk and the evening was beautiful with a spooky, cloudy moon.

Little t had two costumes. For months he had planned to be Spiderman but when he found out there was a no mask policy for his school party there was mayhem. He is very particular about his outfits. As you may know, everyday is Hallowe'en for t. He rotates between being a knight, pirate, cowboy or superhero. Most of these ensembles can pass for street clothes to the untrained eye but those in the know can see that his sweat pants with the special stitching at the knee are clearly for knights or ninjas. Anyway, we trudged up to the local charity shop and found a Superman costume for the school party. This worked well until his father brought him to school. He wanted to take his boots off but for safety reasons the kids need to keep them on throughout the program. He got quite upset that his 'look' wasn't right when T whipped out his handy new iphone and pulled up some pictures of superman with boots. Crisis averted. Whew.

Baby A calmly and happily consented to wearing the bunny hat. She's so great.

The evenings festivities consisted of a trip to the local kiddie train which was set up for a spooky ride. A and I went home after that. T & t went trick or treating with t's friend L. After only a few blocks they had more candy than they could carry. They went to L's house where the tradition is to dump the candy on the floor and eat as much as they can. This would normally horrify us as we have been careful to keep candy almost completely out of t's diet. However it turned out to be a stroke of genius. When he came home excited, hyper and happy he also had a stomach ache and hasn't really been too interested in the rest of the bag. Yay!

There's no party that can't be improved by a wig. Here's the family trying out some looks. T actually did wear that ensemble out and scared a few kids.

It's been about a month since A started eating solid food. Her first meal was mashed up organic carrots from our CSA farm. I used the hand blender to mash them and they were still a little lumpy so it was a hesitant start. Since then she has tried the commercially prepared carrots and other vegetables which she likes much better. Still we persevere making our own stuff. She has also tried squash, beets, zucchini and sweet potato as well as apple, pear and both rice and oatmeal cereals. Of all these fine offerings I was expecting her to gravitate to the fruit or beets because of the sweetness but no. Her absolute gobble- it- up favourite is............. zucchini. What???!!!! Yes it's true. She can't get enough of it and luckily the harvest is just full of the stuff and it's really easy to make it smooth. So we've had lot's of fun and surprises trying new things and we continue to introduce more each week. She likes grabbing the spoon and trying to feed herself although she often wacks herself in the face. Here are a couple shots of her first meal.

Summer Fun

We've been having a lovely summer here. The weather is good and since we've discovered the really big deserted beach, we've spent more time in the sand than any summer I can remember. To be fair, I can't remember much these days with the interrupted sleep but we are definitely getting our beach fix. Our local park also has a wading pool and an activity coordinator to help entertain the kids. When T. is busy, we usually manage to spend time there having fun.

When I can manage not to worry about A. and the future, which is surprisingly more often than not, things are really lovely and fun these days. She must be working her magic on me already.

So here are a few shots of some fun we've been having, in no particular order.

Beach time on Canada Day


Windy Ferry ride

A. wondering how she's going to escape this crazy family.


No running on the pool deck!


Beach Ball

Visit to Farfar and FarMor

There are many days when I'm way too tired to write anything. Other days we are way too busy. That was one of my hesitations in starting a blog but I'm still glad I started because I've felt more in touch with all of you and I've met a few nice people from around the world besides. I still haven't joined Facebook though. I can't imagine having time for that too.

So, a few weeks have passed since we visited Farfar and Farmor (father's father and father's mother in Danish) on the island but it was great fun and it's worth posting a few pictures. As usual we feasted like royalty. They always put on a huge spread of delicious food. We also visited a local beach which we had never seen before and the fisherman's wharf. Little A enjoyed being held and loved by her grandparents and t as always, enjoyed being a big ham for everyone.

Here are FF and FM on the beach


Here are t and FF showing off their belt buckles.


Cowboy t found a good horse


Cuddles with FM


Story time with FM

Boys Fishing Trip

Well, I have a backlog of material from weeks past but I can't wait to post events chronologically.

Big T and little t just got back from a super luxe fishing trip arranged by T's buddy who has a lodge on the west coast of the island. They had a wonderful time and caught a coho to boot. This photo was taken from an iPhone (not ours) and sent to me in near real-time. How exciting. I could almost feel the sea spray. t was very reluctant to leave me at first but of course once he was there he was reluctant to come home. He seems to take a developmental leap each time he takes a trip. Once again, he is cranked up to 11.


In the mean time A and I had lots of fun hanging out at home, hiking with Auntie M, baby VV and doggy T, visiting Auntie S and Uncle B and more visiting with Auntie L. We thought we'd be cleaning house but it's way more fun to be with friends. This photo was taken from my new Nokia 6301 2 mp camera. Not too exciting for a phone but a huge improvement over my old one.