#75- We're waiting for spring

Generally I never like to push spring, it comes when it's good and ready. It always comes. Last year it came a bit too soon and we didn't get any apples; so I want to be sure we'll get apples this year. As well, it helps that it is still snowing so I can keep my gardening ambitions at bay. Another mistake from last year:)
Meanwhile; we have been keeping entertained indoors.
Here's a few pictures of just a normal day...of cuteness.

And heres a tip to having a better day:
-Check your attitude often: your thoughts become your attitude become your action.

With cousin Avraam:)

#74- 2 and 18 months

Oliver went for his final checkup today (FINALLY) At nearly 9 weeks he is a little overdue! I felt a bit funny carrying in my giant baby to the midwives, heehee, but of course he is very interactive and adorable at this age so as my m/w said, "We should delay more final visits! They're just so cute at this age."

True.
So Oliver weighed in at a gorgeous 14.5 lbs, healthy as a bumblebee in spring. He's just over 2 months old.
He's such a sweet and content little boy, so very smiley now and Eric got his first laugh out of him today! Which I got to witness and just melted:)  He is 'sleeping through the night', bed around 8 then waking up to eat between 12 and 3, then sleeps till 6:30 or sometime after, depending on the night. I'm not banking on this being a consistent routine (although I could be very fine with that!:) but it's working for us for sure right now!
He's getting very strong and wiggly, loves to be naked of course, now is quite fond of baths. He loves being held alllll the time still, by far my most snuggly baby!  I'm wondering if he might get some early teeth as he's drooling like an Isaac at a buffet table and chewing on his little hands all the time! My other two were early teethers as well so it's very possible, but probably at least a couple months away.

 Rosalie will hit the milestone of 18 months tomorrow! Honestly, Eric and I just can't believe how big she has gotten. She is such a sweetheart, lately has become quite the chatter box, she has a few sentences now and loves babbling away whether or not we can understand. Her personality and charm are just irresistable.

One of her new-found favourite things to do is colour!! I tried to get Isaac into colouring but he never had any interest, still doesn't really, but will do it once in awhile. Rosie however, once I introduced her to the concept, hasn't stopped colouring, she has a little chalkboard and loves to just scribble away ever so carefully on it, her favourite currently is to walk around with a big crossword book and a pen and every once in awhile stop and start drawing in it then walk off again then stop and repeat. It's so cute. 
She also loves her naptime which is always funny to observe, if we miss it or it's late she covers her eyes with her hands and starts crying and walks to her room where her bunny is to initiate quiet time. 
She has started up a bit of an attitude now, (hellooooo year 2! We're ready for you. ...?) And that is strange to see from her. but also sometimes amusing as she doesn't let Isaac walk all over her anymore but starts sassing him right back. 
The two of the ultimately are getting along very well and enjoy each others company
She has her 18 month doctors appointment next week which I'm sure she'll ace! 

Isaac will be 3 in a couple months...and I'll have an update on him then! He gets his own entry!:)
Grow, little ones, grow! 

#73- Snowman fail

Joy of joys; snowman building with the children, run inside to grab my camera to take beautiful pictures of them and the snowman and all the fun we have together, "don't knock it down!!" run back out and this is what I see:

"Children!! What happened to the snowman??"

#72- you put the heart in community

What better way to start a Sunday than breakfast with dear friends? I would like to make this into a poem but I am lacking the creativity at the moment. Anyway; I'm ever so grateful for these wonderful people:)

#71- Don't bug the baby

It's taken 3 newborns to figure this one out; my two oldest children slept beside our bed for the first 3 months (with Rosalie, nearly 4) of their lives. This, we thought, was easiest. 
They wake up, I don't even have to get out of bed to feed them, we all go back to sleep, everyone is happy. Or at least I assumed this was the best possible scenario, often I would find myself feeling frustrated at the baby having a 'rough' night where he or she was waking up 5 or more times during the night to eat and being impossible to put back down, but I would tell myself that it could have been so much worse if I had to trek across the house to retrieve the little one and sit in a cold rocking chair to feed for 20 minutes.

Oliver was quite a noisy sleeper in his first couple weeks of life, grunting, sighing, sniffing, whimpering; we tried different things, thinking he was too close to the window, too sensitive to the light, in the wrong sleeping position, just wanted to be held, wasn't swaddled tight enough, didn't like swaddling, etc etc, it was also very difficult to get him to STAY sleeping once we got him down at night. Finally one night we decided to try and see how it would go to put him to bed in the crib in the toy-room.
BY HIMSELF.
We didn't hear from him after we got him down for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS (in case you have never been a parent of a breastfed newborn, this is a very long time) of course when I woke up and looked at the clock I completely panicked and ran to his room to see if he was still alive, which of course woke him up and I proceeded to feed the certainly starving little chubster, and ever so carefully put him back down and didn't hear from him again till morning, 3 hours later.
We thought we must have just gotten lucky, but it's been over a week now and he consistently has been sleeping at night for up to 5 hours straight at a time before waking up to eat.

And it has dawned on me; I think I was the one waking him up, not the other way around!
For the first few weeks, there is nothing lovelier -and definitely beneficial- as snuggling and sleeping with your baby, and being always very near. In fact, I think it's an essential part of a newborns development and creating a close bond and trust to you. 
However after the baby has regained his birth weight and then some, breastfeeding is established, and there is some kind of pattern to his sleep schedule, more often than not  the baby does not need to eat every 2 hours round the clock, especially if he is eating every 2 hours during the day. (this is not medical advice, only my experience with my children) with Isaac I automatically fed him whenever he seemed cranky and irritable, and at night it seemed the best way to get him back to sleep, which was true. but now I'm realizing that not every sigh and whimper through the night means hunger. I think I was afraid of moving Oliver sooner because I thought i wouldn't be able to hear him. Trust me, unless you are an incredibly deep sleeper, if you find yourself waking up to your baby snuffling and sniffling, you will definitely wake up to the sound of your baby crying because he or she is hungry. But often the baby is just sorting things out on their own before settling back to deep sleep. A healthy, growing baby will let you know when they are hungry!

So all this to say; we are ALL sleeping better, it's kind of sad for me because I did enjoy having Oliver so close to us during the night, but in my groggy states of waking up during the night and grabbing him and fumbling around to feed or comfort, I think I was really just bugging him more often than not and he just wanted to go back to sleep!

Of course I know there will be stages where he is up a whole lot during the night (I haven't forgotten growth spurts and teething!) and in those times we will keep the bassinet by the bed just in case, but for the most part, I think this has been the solution for us!:)
Good luck to anyone who wants to try this, and to new moms I'd say, if the thought of moving your newborn out of your room seems too much, maybe just try even moving them to the end of your bed instead of right next to you, or across your room, so they are still with you, but not 'cheek to cheek' so that you wake up to every grunt. Also as a sidenote; I know many mothers do co-sleep and everyone does just fine and sleeps even better! I am not condemning this practice at all, whatever works and keeps mom, dad (dont' forget about dad) and baby happy for the first while! But if you are having a hard time with a noisy sleeper, it can't hurt to try it one night! Your baby may surprise you!

#70- Be the boss of your breastfeeding

I recently saw a poll on the internet simply asking 'do you breastfeed in public?' with two options: YES or NO.
Not conditional; you're on one side or the other apparently.

I think the public is pretty well informed now that Breast is Best for Baby. Every single pregnant woman has this fact drilled into them before they have even conceived; and it's all well and good. I'm all for breastfeeding. But what has been really bothering me lately is the increase in pressure on how you go about doing it.

We all know the stories of women being told to 'please put it away' in restaurants and malls, causing an absolute uproar among the breastfeeding community, whom often respond by protests usually involving a group of women storming the offending location, whipping out their breasts and nursing their little nurslings in defiance.

We hear the slogans and posts and articles on breastfeeding not being a crime, not being shameful, how women have the right, it's feeding your child, no different than giving them a bottle in public, breasts are for the babies, etc etc.
And it's all well in good, if a lady is going to breastfeed in public, so she should, and how she does it, whether stark naked or in a burka is really none of my business. We are all well aware we live in a free country concerning our state of apparel.

But how about us modest mouses? Not all of us feel comfortable feeding our wee ones in certain circumstances. And we have the equal right to cover up as we see fit. However there is increasing amounts of subtle pressures to these women to feel badly about their levels of comfort. 'What, are you ASHAMED of your body? Don't you KNOW breastfeeding is BEAUTIFUL? Why are you letting the opinion of others keep you from feeding your child? They're JUST breasts. If someone has an issue with you exposing them in public, it's THEIR problem.'

Let's be frank; if breasts were not a big deal, it wouldn't even be an argument on when, where or why you're exposing them in public, but because it gets everyone as giddy as gummy bears to see someone breastfeeding openly, it's natural that some women would rather not breastfeed in public all together, or at least cover up. It's not like some young fellow walks by and thinks "ooooooh, a breast. Oh wait, that's not a breast, it's a natural feeding device for that young human child. Interest lost. Carry on!"
Haha, but seriously.

Again, I personally am not bothered or in the least offended by how other women choose to breastfeed, I myself prefer to have some privacy in public, and even in the company of friends and family feel more comfortable with a blanket or scarf on hand (or on chest, ta ha ha) It's nto because I'm ashamed or embarrassed, it's just my comfort level.
So come on, this really shouldn't be such a big issue, I mean why make a poll about it? I'll be a voice for the ladies out there who are feeling a little put down by the pressures of some of the more liberal; Let the girl be!
'Nough said.

#69- one month

I think I can officially state my experience of 'the transition' from what 1 to 2 children and 1 to 3 children has been like. 

Most people told me that 1-2 was the most difficult, but almost the same amount told me the 3rd was the hardest. 
Oliver is a month old now and for me, going from one child to two was definitely harder! I think all of it really just depend on age, personalities, etc. I'm pretty sure the fact that the kids are born so close together in age had a lot to do with the difficulties I had with Isaac and Rosalie; there was simply no way to explain to him what was going on other than what he saw and felt for himself. I think Rosie would have reacted quite similarly to Oliver had she been the eldest and he the second. She doesn't give much of a toot about him now though, other than the odd time she'll toddler over singing 'Oldi-ba!'and squishing his face and then promptly losing interest. While Isaac sometimes obsesses a bit over getting to hold him and tend to him, which is usually terribly adorable:) Either way, they both don't seem to mind too much anymore when I am feeding Oliver or carrying him around. 

Oliver is a little snuggler! I suppose most newborns are, but he in particular just loves snuggling, I love seeing him snuggle with Eric especially, he calms down right away and will just lay head to chest with his big blue eyes staring into space completely at ease.
He's growing like crazy, I need to do some shopping because he's out of pretty much all his clothes right now and fits comfortably into 3-6 month! We have a midwife appointment tomorrow (second last one!) And i'm looking forward to seeing how much he's grown, at his 2 week appointment he was over 10 lbs so I'm putting him most definitely at at least 12 by now!
He had a bit of trouble getting his nights and days in the right order at first but we have it down now, he was also going to bed reeeeally late, and like we did with the other two, we eventually just starting putting him 'to bed' at a more decent time and he sleeps from then till morning (well, obviously between feedings, which is still every 2-3 hours, occasionally 4, and the odd 'fussy' time where he's not really awake but just trying to fart or something, he makes enough noise though!) Eric and I try to make sure we are both getting adequate rest, downtime is rare time so we treasure it when we get it!
I also recently invested in a double jogging stroller from kijiji, which I am yet to get to use, it's been so darn cold! but I'm pretty excited about it, I think I would like to start trying to make library trips part of our weekly routine, it's really not THAT far, I just haven't had the motivation to go with the wagon, this new stroller rides like a dream though, (however, I doubt I will be doing much jogging with it)
We've been trying to make the most of the cold days, sometimes I do go to all the effort to get them all dressed (Rosie and Isaac at least) and out the door even for 10 minutes just because from start to finish the whole process takes up about an hour which is an exciting activity for everyone...isaac does enjoy being outside more but Rosie gets sick of it pretty quick. Oliver is usually sleeping nice and warm inside during these romps and the fresh air does everyone SOME good at least. and is a great excuse to come back in and have some tea or hot chocolate, a 'special' treat for our adventures.
If we can't get outside we try to be creative indoors, my recent ideas have been attempts to nudge the kids in the direction of helping around the house in ways or general life skills, most recently Isaac and I baked cookies together and Rosie and Isaac gave all their toy animals 'baths' in the kitchen sink- great fun for everyone! And the end result was clean toys, clean sinks, AND a clean floor because I had to mop it up after we were done:)
Anyone else have great indoor activities for toddlers that you have used recently? Im' always looking for more!