Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
32
We had fun on the playground equipment on our own, but the real fun began when Cindy's van rolled in. I hadn't even told Liam she would be there, but he went nuts when he saw it. Having the other kids to play with definitely made his day, and they spent the vast majority of their time on the splash pad. He glommed onto their group like you wouldn't believe - even helped himself during her snacktime (even though we had just finished snacks of our own right before they arrived) and plunked himself down at her picnic table for her lunch. Luckily she had enough food and was very accommodating (we probably deserve to be billed for today!)Mallory slept through most of the morning, which made for a perfect excursion. I plan to be out at the beach (this one or another of our 2 local favourites) once a week all summer, weather and behaviour and stamina permitting (mine, not the kids'... the packing up that's required is unbelieveable!!) Unfortunately Liam turned into a little monster for most of the afternoon, refusing to nap and generally being miserable. Luckily we did all eventually get a bit of shut-eye, and then Chad took me out for a great dinner, with Gramma and Grampa Cook corralling the kids for us so we could get out. I was also treated to a very cool and fun birthday gift... something that will hopefully make its debut here on the blog one day soon. :)
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Going home again
With that... a few more photos from today:When Mallory was first born, we had a FedEx truck come to the door one day with a huge box. Upon opening it we found the biggest new baby gift basket we'd ever seen, but rather than being in a basket, the whole thing was piled into a Bumbo baby seat. (The gift was from some of Chad's customers, and prompted both of us to say, "We're going to need to report this!") I can't say I would have bought a Bumbo on my own, since we have a bouncy seat contraption that serviced Liam just fine and frankly, who needs more baby gear at this point?... but I have to admit... it's pretty cool. Mallory is just about ready for it now. Also, I can't get over what a ham she is... so unlike Liam!... and I am loving using the nursery rug as a backdrop these days.
Love this
Monday, May 28, 2007
Lookin' a little like Suri Cruise
How do you like the 'hawk? :)
Seven weeks
This morning I almost made it through the weekly grocery shopping excursion without incident. Same as the last few weeks, Mallory was in the Snugli, Liam in the cart, and the logistics of who was to be moved where when were nailed down. Everything sailed smoothly along until we got to the checkout line, and an elderly couple we'd seen down an aisle earlier were checking out beside us. They finished right around the same time, and came over to ask whether I'd like any help getting my groceries out to the car. Sweet of them, yes, but a big blow to the ego; I thought I'd finally done a good job of looking like I was holding things together pretty well. Apparently I still have that deer-in-the-headlights look about me. Will have to work on that. (I also think it says a lot that these really-very-elderly people keep being the ones to offer assistance. They are a dying breed, the courteous people of this generation, quite literally. I don't think I'd ever have someone of my generation make the same offer.)
Sunday, May 27, 2007
It seemed like a good idea at the time
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Reason #103 why digital scrapbooking rocks
Friday, May 25, 2007
On vacation
*sigh*
I'm starting to miss him right now, but... thank you, Gramma and Grampa... we have enjoyed our break!!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Needing about 4 more hours per day
...but only if my kids, husband, and, yes, cat spend those hours asleep, so that I can hoard them all for myself!
I also need to figure out how to catch up on everything I've been meaning to post. Just a few months ago, I wondered how I could stretch a few photos out to post over the course of a week. Now, I have about 20 I want to post every single day, and a huge backlog of shtuff I have been meaning to get to... but not enough time to do it... one of these days you will log on and just find a string of about 100 or so pictures!
Anyway, yesterday was a busy day. Aunty Jenn came to spend the day with us, something that we will have to keep up for the next several months that I'm not working and she has some free weekdays. (Only next time I'm thinking we should do it in London... at Storybook Gardens and the new Hyde Park shopping areas, perhaps?? :) ) She helped me take a few photos of me and my girlie - something I have not had much of a chance to do yet - so you know I was all over that! Thanks Jenn, there are definitely some keepers!
We also had a visit from Uncle Ron and Aunt Anne, and then Megan took some time off work and we went out for lunch while Gramma and Grampa came to babysit and the kids ran them ragged. However, I think Gramma and Grampa ran Liam ragged, too. As soon as I got home from lunch, he came in from being outside, took off his shoes and hat, and asked me to pick him up and take him up to bed for a nap. Like that happens very often!!
To wrap up a busy day, I had book club last night... and Mallory came out to it, too.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Playing catch-up
I have schwacks of long overdue stuff to post this week... mostly photos (surprise, right?) I'll start with some hospital photos. Most of these were taken by our doula; I just did a B&W conversion. You might want to stop play on the Death Cab for Cutie track before hitting play.
Friday, May 18, 2007
New wheels
We first saw a Phil & Ted's E3 when we were at the zoo last summer. It seemed like a cool, compact little thing. We actually approached strangers to ask about the make and model of their stroller, and looked it up when we got home. The Children's Furniture Gallery in London was carrying them, so we made a trip up to the store to take a look and take a test drive. Even though I balked at dropping the cash on it, I am so glad now that we went with this model. It's no bigger than our single stroller. It drives so smoothly, and manoeuvres like a dream - I can push it single-handedly, even with both kids loaded in. For now, Liam sits up front and Mallory rides in the bassinette in the back. When she's a little older, the bassinette pushes up to form the main seat for Liam, and the seat Liam is in now mounts on the back of the stroller to form a second seat for Mallory - a change that can be accomplished on the fly in a matter of seconds. I like the fact that, with or without the extra seat removed, it becomes a compact little ride for 1 - perfect for those days when Liam decides to walk more than ride, or when he outgrows a stroller altogether.
The drawbacks? So far, only 1. On those days when Liam goes to Cindy's, and I take Mallory out alone, I like this stroller so much that I still use it, rather than reverting back to our single. And I get a lot of funny looks. Once I had a mildly alarmed bank teller tell me she thought I had forgotten someone somewhere. People don't even notice Mallory in the back - in an Emporer's New Clothes sort of way, they think I am pushing around a figment of my imagination.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Mallory goes to school
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Happy birthday, Henry!!!
This week also marks a milestone for me, but it's a sad one... I am a student again. I'm taking a strategic management course, which is the capstone course of my business degree. It's not offered very often, so I am gritting my teeth and taking it now... rather than waiting for the next time it comes up, which could be who knows when. My first assignment is due next week. I was full of good intentions, thinking I could tough it out and knock this course off without any trouble... well... Mallory is trying to prove otherwise. Normally she settles down for the night around 9-9:30. Liam went to bed early last night, and I was hoping to get Mallory down early too, so I could spend an hour or so getting my assignment started. Not so!!! Totally not so!! She was wide, wide awake from about 5 p.m. til nearly midnight last night, and up early this morning again, too. Arrrrghhh. So much for having time for schoolwork. I'm starting to worry I may have bitten off more than I can chew.
Speaking of which... that's it from me today... I'm going to see if I can't get a bit of work done while she's sleeping now. Who knows how long it will last.
(Forgive the wacky layout here. I'm not going to take the time to try to figure out how to fix it!!)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
It's a bird... it's a plane... it's a blue-hair!!
Yesterday I took both kids to the grocery store for the first time. Together. Both of them. Not a big deal for many, but for me, it took a lot of mustering up of courage to attempt it. The night before I even discussed it at length with Chad. Should I leave Mallory in her car seat and put that in the grocery cart? Should I use one of the carts with the built in baby seat, and let Liam walk? In the end, I decided to use the Snugli. Mallory really seems to like it, and I am all about keeping things easy these days.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Weekend wrapup
Anyway, it was a busy weekend... like, when is it not?... we were in Toronto on Saturday for cousin Henry's first birthday. I still have a stack of photos to weed through... these are just some of my favourites.Steph finally got to celebrate Mother's Day this year... she missed out by 2 days last year.I had a wonderful Mother's Day, and was spoiled rotten, but my very favourite gift of all was a pair of very cool rainboots that Liam gave me so we can puddle-jump together.
(I'm typing one-handed here, hence the brevity. I'm starting to realize I can't keep waiting for the opportunity to type two-handed... because it very often doesn't materialize!!)
We went out to the trailer for Mother's Day proper. Liam remembered it from last year and had a blast.
This one cracks me up... looking very ready for Top Gun, but wait... is that... a milk beard???
Friday, May 11, 2007
Tyrannosaurus Liam
Liam calmed down, some, in the exam room; but threw a couple more fits for good measure - one when Dr. Bailey took too long to come in after us, and Liam decided to try to make a break for it back to Neat and Tidy Room, and another when I had to stop at the receptionist's desk on the way out to book another appointment, and he tried to make a break for the parking lot. I was taken by surprise each time. It was so NOT like him, I was completely caught off guard.
Liam had been exhausted the night before, and slept terribly, so I was hoping to chalk it up to sheer exhaustion. However, today Chad and I attempted a family road trip. Chad needs a new passport and decided to apply in person at the Windsor office, and then we wanted to do some shopping afterwards. The passport part went OK and lunch went OK, but both kids were cranky by shopping time; and how much fun can parental clothes shopping be for kiddos, anyhow? So Liam pitched another fit or two today. This is either the Terrible 2's kicking in right on time, or perhaps some latent sibling-induced moodiness coming out in him. Tomorrow we have to travel a distance to a family birthday party, and I was really hoping he would be well behaved for it... heaven help us.
For her part, Mallory is deep in the throes of infant acne (a.k.a. A Face Only a Mother Could Love). She has it much, much worse than Liam ever did. I took this photo a couple of days ago, but it is so much worse now - this is just the tip of the iceberg (and she's showing her good side here, too):
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
One month
Something struck me when you were born… and that was how oddly familiar you were. There you were, a brand new person nobody had ever seen before; but you had Chad’s eyes and (we think) my nose, bits and pieces that we had seen before. On the one hand, we couldn’t stop checking you out; but on the other – you looked more or less exactly as we expected you to look. It almost seemed like we already knew you.
Oddly enough, I can say the same thing with respect to your personality. Liam has always been quiet and introverted and content. I half expected you to be the exact opposite, a little firecracker who was going to turn our world upside down. But, you seem to be a lot like Liam. You are generally very content. You only cry when you are (a) hungry or (b) set down somewhere against your wishes… like Liam, you want to be held most of the time. Unfortunately, because of Liam, we can’t always cater to your desires. I guess that comes with the territory for second and subsequent kiddos everywhere – eventually, their unattended-to squawking just becomes background noise. Lately I have taken to using the Snugli a lot, and thank goodness, you seem to like it… hopefully it will continue to be our happy compromise.
I do think you will turn out to be more social and outgoing than your brother. For a couple of weeks now, you have been flashing us fleeting smiles, something that took forever to coax out of Liam. Which reminds me… do fully expect to be compared to Liam for the rest of your life, or at least the rest of your babyhood. We have no other benchmarks to go by. He’s it.
You are eating well, sleeping well (settling into a routine of being up just twice each night, a welcome change from the early weeks of half a dozen wakenings), doing well with baths and diaper changes… the rather dull mainstays of your early life. We are looking forward to the days ahead when your repertoire expands a little. It’s hard to get to know someone when they have a boob in the mouth during the majority of their waking hours. There are still a million unknowns with you. Things we have yet to find out. Reasons each day to look forward to tomorrow.
At one month old, you weigh 10 pounds 10 ounces and are 23 inches long. Welcome to our family, Miss Mallory… we are very glad to have you!!