Quiet Days

Posted by: Jennifer

 

This has been a very unusual week for our household. On Friday, we went up to Calgary to visit. My Granny was visiting from Prince Albert, SK and we couldn’t miss the opportunity to catch up. This was Julia’s first trip! She did very well overall, but had some tummy upset on Saturday, probably because her schedule was all out of whack. Jose went and got some Oval and she was immediately fine (man that stuff is miraculous!). Sammy didn’t come because we were going to go to the zoo and leave right after, so we didn’t want to leave him in the car. Jose’s dad took him to Medicine Hat on Thursday – we performed Operation Dumbo Drop in Grassy Lake (halfway point).

While in Calgary, we had quite the busy time – we visited with my Granny, dropped Catherine off at her CPR course ’way out in Boonieville, then stopped in to see my dad on the way back to my mum’s. We also got to see Adriana, and of course, all my siblings and my mum. We didn’t, however, get to go to the zoo on Sunday. It poured rain, and it would have been absolutely miserable. I have to admit, I did a fair amount of sulking that afternoon. In Lethbridge, we finally got rain on Thursday (real rain, not just 5 minutes of spitting) after an entire summer of no rain (I mean it – the last time it truly rained was the beginning of June). I didn’t feel it was fair that after a summer of watching our lawn slowly bake, the second rainy day was the one where I actually wanted sun! Oh well, there will be other times.

Jose, Julia and I went home Sunday evening. James stayed behind with Nana. He stayed with her last summer when Jose had his eye surgery, but we were in the same city, so it doesn’t quite count the same way. We weren’t sure at first if he was going to stay because when we first asked him and told him that Mummy and Papa were going home, he wanted to go home too. However, when we asked again later, he was having a great time dancing with Uncle Paul and Hummus, and decided to stay. He’s been doing great. We’ve talked to him several times on the phone, and he’s very cheerful and happy. Auntie Claire took him to the zoo on Tuesday, and I’m not sure who was more excited about it, Claire or James! I’m going to pick him up today after Julia’s and my baby class.

Sammy eventually came home too. We did a reverse Dumbo Drop on Tuesday evening. Monday and Tuesday were incredibly quiet! No Sam, no James – very weird. So Jose and I took complete advantage and went to a movie on Monday. Jose’s been dying to see “Transformers” and we finally got to go. Julia slept through the first bit, then ate, then didn’t want to sit still anymore, so I took her to stand at the back. It was fine, actually because it was a little quieter, and I stood right in the middle because there’s a break in the wall for a wheelchair to fit in the middle of the seats in the back row. My back was stuck, and my arm quite cramped by the end, but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I’m still finishing my popcorn!

So that’s about it for the excitement! Julia and I have done some running around – we went to school and Wal-Mart on Tuesday, and grocery shopping yesterday, and we have our second baby class today. It’s kind of funny taking the class again, because I’m not a brand new mom like most of the others. I don’t think I was ever as uptight as some of them are though! “We can’t go out anymore!” “Our social life has totally changed!” “I don’t have time for myself!” I just thought it was amusing because with James, our social life didn’t really change at all at first. That’s the easy stage when they’ll quietly sleep in their car seat the whole time! It’s when they’re more alert and able to move around that it becomes difficult. Plus, I found I’d never had more time for myself! Yay! A chance to read!! Even now, I’ve been devouring books like crazy. There’s not much else to do when you’re nursing.

Well, I think this post is quite long enough. Keep checking the photos website – I update it more frequently than the posts.

 

Never Self-deprecate Around a Two-Year-Old

Posted by: Jennifer

 

Well, I’ve learned yet another bitter lesson about watching what I say. Quite some time ago I made a comment about my “big fat bum.” I can’t remember if it was in regards to food going straight to it or the fact that I didn’t fit a pair of pants. Regardless, James picked that up and stored it away for future use. There have been a couple of times when James has seen me getting dressed and has asked about my big fat bum. It’s so devastating to hear his innocent little voice politely asking about mummy’s big fat bum. It all came to a head last night. I had been changing Julia, and James mentioned that Julia has a tiny little bum. Knowing what the response would be, I asked, “What kind of bum does Mummy have?” The immediate response was, “A big fat bum.” Jose was cleaning up in the kitchen, and couldn’t hold in his explosive laughter. I then asked a few more questions about the bums in the family. As a result, here are the bums in order of size from smallest to largest:

Julia: tiny little bum
James: little bum
Papá: big bum
Mummy: big fat bum

Moral of the story: If you don’t want your own suspicions confirmed again and again, or if you are in the least bit sensitive about your appearance, DON’T mention it around a two-year-old.

 

Week Long Post

Posted by: Jennifer

 

Ok, not a word of a lie, I've been working on this post for over a week! I started it on August 2nd, then decided to scrap it after working on it for 3 days and start again, I started again on the 9th, and here it is the 11th, and it's still not up. The trouble is, I have too much to say, and I never get finished before I'm called away to other things. So, I will try to compress things, and although it may not be as rich in colour, you'll have an idea at least of what's been happening in our house since the last post (July 22nd - yikes there's lots to say!!) I think I'll go person by person and give an overview of their life.

Julia:
Julia is continuing to flourish. She just had her doctor's appointment Thursday morning. It was a couple weeks early for her 6 week check-up, but the doctor is going on holiday, so we did it early. She now weighs 8lbs 10oz and is 21" long. The doctor is really pleased with her growth and development. She's in the 25th percentile, which doesn't sound great, but what's important is that she's staying consistent with her curve. We don't want her to suddenly just drop or leap in weight and height. Her ear tag has fallen off (she had a little extra skin right by her ear when she was born), this is good because sometimes they can get bigger and have to be removed. Julia is a really content baby, and very easygoing. She hardly cries, but rather squeaks when she's having a little fuss. She's rolled from her tummy to her back a few times during tummy time. Usually when she's on a soft surface like my bed. I thought it was a fluke at first, but when I kept putting her back on her tummy, and she kept rolling over, I figured she was really rolling. We are very lucky parents to have been blessed with two easy babies! On Wednesday night, people I work with had a really nice shower for Julia and I. It was so nice to get out of the house (read on for the reason why).

James:
James and I are riding the potty training roller coaster together. Jose too, but he's at work all day, so I get the privilege of the majority of the work. We're making progress. There are times when it seems like it would be easier just to keep him in diapers for the rest of his life, but we're plugging along. I've tried a few times before to train him, but he just wasn't ready, and I admit, I gave up fairly easily. Last week, though, I was determined to get this over with. We got some real underwear - not training pants or Pull-ups - and we made it clear that he's not to pee or poop in them. The first couple of days were a little rocky. I had the pile of underwear just in the bathroom, and I think James just saw an unending supply - why would it matter if he peed his pants? There were more underpants just waiting for him! So I put the underwear away in his drawer, and became even more vigilant about putting him on the potty at critical times, and he's only had a couple of accidents in the last week or so! Poop is another story. I hate poop. With a passion. I didn't used to really care about poop too much one way or another. That was before potty training. James knows he isn't supposed to poop in his pants. He knows the poop feeling when he needs to go, but he's still working on the timing. He was saying he needed to go, but then nothing happened, or there was just a smear in his crack (you know you wanted those details!). He still sits for quite a long time without anything happening. Then we get his pants back on and 2 minutes later he says he needs to go again. I've been spending A LOT of time in the main floor bathroom! He was getting a little backed up with nothing happening, so on Wednesday I gave him a scoop of bran mixed in with his porridge. That got the poop moving! He was still doing lots of just sitting (every 5 minutes or so), but then he managed a little wee plop in his potty, and that just opened the flood gates. Instead of just sitting every 5 minutes, now he was pooping his pants just a little bit every 5 minutes!! Now do you understand why it was so nice to get out of the house? We went through about 8 pairs of underwear in about an hour!! Right around the time Jose was due to get home, I was feeding Julia when James made the announcement that he was pooping. I told him to run to the potty and get his pants down, which he did. Then he informed me that he'd "poop-ed" his pants, and there was poop on the floor. I was expecting Jose any minute, so rather than pull Julia off, I told him to stand still for a minute and just hang on (am I a horrible person?). Sure enough, Jose walked in and I called to him to go into the bathroom and help James. From the living room, I heard James tell Papa that there was poop on the floor, and had to have a wicked little giggle to myself. While I was out at the shower James poop-ed in the bath and Jose had to clean it up. Heehee! On Thursday at supper time (the pooping hour) James managed to have a nice big poo in the potty, and I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Since then, we still working on control, but yesterday, he was completely accident free!! Poop and pee! He pooped about 50 times, but it was all in the potty. So we're getting there. I think part of the problem is that he focuses too much on his pooping, so after supper, he and Julia and I went to Dairy Queen and met up with my friend Kristy and her son, Grant who's about 5 months younger than James. The two of them had a great time, and Kristy and I enjoyed the chance for some adult conversation, and venting about potty training! It got James' mind off pooping, and we all had a good time. Jose was out golfing, so he didn't partake.

Jose and I:
We're doing quite well. Considering we have a new baby, we're not doing too badly for sleep. We've been looking after my mum's dog, Garbhan for the week because she was out of town, and he's got some bladder or kidney issues or something so he pees a lot, so with Paul and Catherine working, he wouldn't get out enough. He's been doing pretty good, and I think Sammy likes the company. Gev will be going home on Monday. This is the first weekend in about 6 weeks that we haven't had company. The house feels a little empty! Jose's been going to the gym again, and I'm practicing deep breathing - potty training takes all my reserves of patience! So far today, James is accident free. It sure helps having Jose at home.