Saturday, December 31, 2011

see you next year

What I did on the last day of 2011.
-Julia and Travis visiting us from Vancouver
-I made breakfast (bran muffins), lunch (chicken soup) and dinner (pot-roast and pumpkin pie) all before lunch. (Julia did help in the making of the soup)
-Timo did lots of sleeping. I did a lot of leaking.
-Ami worked on the house he is making in the back yard (spending quality time with Martin)
-Mimi played with Travis a lot! (puzzles, drawing, giggling)
-Got my hair cut (what a relief! makes me feel much better) at the salon at 14th and Grand (3 min walk from our place).  It is a "non tipping salon" have you ever heard of such a thing?!?!
-Martin got his hair cut too.
-Started in on getting more boxes out of my office- put some in the attic thanks to Ami and Martin.
-Looking forward to NOT moving for a while although I am not inspired to unpack boxes lest we end up needing them packed some time soon (feel a bit burned by all the moving in the past 6 months...)
-I am officially no longer Ami's favourite parent (he announced this fact yesterday but told me today that he doesn't want the baby around anymore because he takes up too much of my time... does he like me or not, I'm getting mixed signals)
-Took Julia and Travis to Trader Joe's.
-Martin will preach at the New Year's Eve midnight mass and we will watch fireworks and drink champagne from the "chapter room" at the cathedral this evening
-Thought about how crazy 2011 was which makes me even crazier just thinking about it.
-Glad to be in a leap year next year.

Happy New Year!!!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

3 kids at Christmas

A happy day that included opening stockings from Santa (stuffed animals = big hit!) and a walk in Manito Park. You will have to trust that Timo is in the stroller! Later in the afternoon we went sliding on the hill in Manito Park. It was perfect sliding conditions and elicited many infectious giggles.

bath time

Warning: The cuteness is overwhelming.

I can't seem to remove this non-video, sorry.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve widow

I suppose it will be like this from now on. Sitting at home alone on Christmas Eve. Holding down the fort.  New understandings about my own childhood and my Mum's life. Listening to the "neighbor's" carillon belt out the (hopefully) last concert of questionable christmas music.  Have Mercy Please! Stockings are hanging by the fireplace (empty) as fussy baby has not fallen asleep (woken up by belled "Away in a manger" ironically), gifts not yet wrapped, house is a mess, dog hasn't been walked...
3 kids finally asleep (at least I hope). Time for me to write this moment down.
Pray there is no "after-midnight-mass" "music".

Best moment today - seeing Timo fall asleep in Mimi's arms at church. Oh for a camera. She was so proud.


Tuesday, December 20, 2011

8 Weeks/2 months

Timo is now 8 weeks and a day. Well he was when I started this post. Now he's closer to 2 months.... Hard to believe he is growing so fast and the days just keep ticking by. He is doing a LOT of cooing and conversations these days, his little mouth is just so darling when he is talking. The video shows the lip-smacking he has been trying out. I am so glad that I caught these few seconds before my memory card ran out of room. He was doing this the other day but i really haven't seen him smacking like that for a few days now. . . too cute!!

He still screeches like an eaglet sometimes- mostly when I am trying to brush my teeth at night and he is in bed with his dad- torture i tell you!!! He seems to need to scream a bit before he falls asleep and nursing seems to still be his preferred way to start his night time slumber. His morning naps are aided by a dog walk or a trip to take Mimi to school in the car.

Timo is now sporting cloth diapers- three kids definitely makes the investment in the diapers even more glorious. He seems way bigger, longer, and he's getting chubbier. He is solidly in 3-6 month clothes (probably aided by the bulkier diapers!) He has had his first cold with lots of snotty noses but he's not too stuffed up which is nice.

I got him a little bath called a wash-pod (here's a picture of it from the internet- none from my camera yet....) I got it from "Other Mothers" which is the Abra'kid'abra of Spokane with better prices!
 
He LOVES having a bath in this thing. It feels so much safer to me than the traditional "bathtub shaped" baby baths. He feels so relaxed in it and he is highly alert.  I love it that he can have a bath in front of the fire in the living room- just like "old-fashioned" days!!
Mimi is Timo's best friend. She hauls him around as much as she can get away with and she is pretty good at putting clothes on him and is very interested in putting diapers on him too. Our diaper change table is quite high so I don't think it will be happening for awhile! She has graduated to carrying him around a bit (when i am feeling zen about it all). She burps him and says all the things I say when I do that- "there's a good boy" or "that's what we are looking for" etc etc. I get to find out what i say!

We are starting to get a nice rhythm to the day and surprisingly he has decided that sleeping during dinner preparation is a good idea. Of course I am jinxing myself for writing it here. Or maybe by purchasing all sorts of preparation-time-saving dinners. Or maybe I am just lucky so far.

He definitely does not get attended to at the first squeak or even the 5th which I am choosing to believe will make him a stronger, more independent soul!