Weekly Update - Weather/School/HalloweenCraft

Unseasonably Warm. The weather went from being winter-coat cold to t-shirt-and-sandals warm last week. What a treat! We took advantage of it as much as we could by heading to the park (sometimes twice a day), going for walks, and playing with the leaves. I wish the weather could be like this every day of the year!

School Break. Things have not been going well with Emily's school visits. She's not clicking with the teacher, but the teacher keeps pushing and trying to connect. Emily just ends up in tears for most of the visit even though Steve is with her. Pressure and proximity are not the way to Emily's heart! (She needs time, space, and understanding). Anyways, Steve and the teacher agreed that we should take a break from school for now, which is fine considering Emily still has a long way to go with potty training. We've started looking into other options to see if we can find a better fit for Emily.

Peter Pumpkin Head. Here's a fun Halloween craft idea I got from Amy's blog. Using just orange and black felt, scissors, and some cookie-cutter shapes, I made this pumpkin head for the girls to "carve". They love making faces or just silly random designs on their pumpkin head. I even bought some extra felt to make a Christmas tree version for Christmas time. Yay!

Weekly Update - Stickers/Candy/March/Golf

Sticker Reward. Aside from the RestoraLAX that our doctor recommended for Emily's constipation, there's something else that has helped her get back on a regular schedule: stickers! Each time Emily has a BM, she gets to pick a sticker and put it in the calendar. She loves this. She gets so excited about the sticker and starts talking about it as soon as she goes. If she's still excited about stickers in a few weeks then maybe we'll use it for potty training too.

A Lesson on Halloween Candy. We've learned a valuable lesson this year: don't buy Halloween candy too early. Steve and I bought a giant box of candy at Costco last week and have just been munching on candy non-stop! Poor trick-or-treaters will have to settle for the leftover sour skittles...

March 2013. We will have a lot to celebrate this coming March! I will be celebrating my 30th birthday just two days before our new home's estimated closing date. And right around then we'll be adding two cousins to the family. My sister is expecting her first baby mid-March and my brother in law and his wife are expecting their fourth baby then as well. Such joy and excitement up ahead!

Golfing with the Girls. We decided on a whim to take the girls to the local driving range the other day. Steve and Emily had been talking about golf a lot and Emily said she'd like to see Daddy golf. So I grabbed the girls' play clubs and we headed out, just for fun. The girls swung their clubs, played with balls, watched their Daddy, and wandered around. We had a blast and I would definitely want to do it again (if only the weather wasn't getting so cold).

 

Weekly Update - No-Moms/Constipation/Sleep

The No-Moms Club. One of Emily's favourite activities lately is to invite her little sis and Daddy upstairs "to the golf course" (her room). They turn on some music, strip down to their diapers (Daddy excluded), and dance, sing, laugh, and play. The funny thing is that I'm not invited to this event. If I go up to her room, she specifically requests that I leave ("Mommy should you go back downstairs?"). I try not to take it personally and just enjoy that the girls are playing happily together (but secretly it hurts!). It does give me the opportunity to get things done around the house which is pretty nice.

Issue with Number 2. Emily's been struggling with a bad bout of constipation over the last couple of weeks. After our zoo trip (which interrupted her "schedule"), she had a painful BM and since then has been withholding her poops. She's gone 4-5 days without a BM, which then causes more pain, more problems, and more withholding. It's a pretty vicious cycle! We've talked to her doctor about it and we're working hard to try to get things back on track.

Sleep Tables Have Turned. Jessica's sleep has been steadily improving. She's no longer waking up in the middle of the night and she sometimes manages to fall asleep without my help. The only thing I've changed about her bedtime is her pyjamas; it's possible the ones she was wearing were too hot. It gets very tricky this time of year because one night it's hot and the next it's freezing. The tables have turned, however, because now with Emily's BM issues, she's the one who's struggling to get to sleep and crying out in the middle of the night. We'll get it right one of these days!

Weekly Update - Preschool/Sleep/Food/Lot

Emily's School Visit. Like I mentioned in my previous Weekly Updates post, Emily had her first preschool visit last week. It went well, but not great. We stayed for about an hour. Emily impressed me right away with her desire to play in the park (surrounded by the other kids), following everyone inside, listening to directions, and sitting with the children during circle time. One boy even took her hand and showed her the class pet fish (which is huge considering her apprehension with physical contact). She definitely seemed nervous, but she held it together so well. Once circle time was over, Emily's teacher took her and tried to show her how to do one of the activities. By that point, however, she was completely overwhelmed and started to cry. She calmed down with me in the Peace Corner (a place by a window with pillows, books, etc). She tried one more activity (drawing) before she cried again and headed back to her resting spot. We decided to leave soon after that, although not before playing in the park again (which made her very happy!). She came home in a good mood, told Daddy all about her day at school, and requested that he go with her next time. Her next visit is tomorrow with Steve! I'm hoping she'll feel a bit more comfortable with the teacher and activities the second time around. 

Sleep Issues. Before Jessica's wrist injury, her sleep was pretty ideal. We had a nice bedtime routine, then I would put her in her crib, sing her a song, and leave her to fall asleep on her own. She would sleep through the night without a peep. I definitely expected sleep issues to arise when she had her cast since it must have been harder to get comfortable and all. But even with the cast gone, her sleep is getting progressively worse. She has lost the desire to fall asleep on her own and wakes up several times a night calling out for Mommy or Daddy. At bedtime she cries until we are in the room singing to her, at which point she eventually falls asleep. I find it hard to pinpoint the problem/solution (are you too hot? too cold? hungry? scared? lonely?) -- but one thing's for sure: we're all tired and we need more sleep!

Sing me a song, Mommy

Looks as Good as it Tastes. Emily's in a picky food stage again, where she rejects all the healthy foods she used to love. In order to get her interested in more foods again we've been experimenting with presentation... Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't ;).

Extension #7. In case you were wondering, our lot still hasn't closed. Back in September I was optimistic that it was closing in about a week, but the closing date keeps being pushed back, one week at a time. It was supposed to be tomorrow, but unsurprisingly our lawyer called today to extend it another week again. The delays have something to do with the process of having the lot plans registered with the city. There's not much we can do other than wait...

Weekly Update - Fall/Preschool/Phone/Shows

Hello Fall! The weather is really cooling down lately. If the sun is out then it's not so bad, but when it's behind the clouds the air is so chilly. We're down to daily lows around 10 C (50 F), with an average around 15 degrees. Personally I'm a fan of hotter weather and hate it when it's time to put away the sandals and pull out the coats! We're thinking of planning a trip to the zoo this week -- we might have to pack hats and mittens!

School Visit. Tomorrow morning Emily and I are going to visit her preschool! She's still not ready to go (not potty trained), but the teacher suggested we take a tour and participate in the activities to see if it piques Emily's interest. I wrote a book for Emily about our upcoming visit, including pictures of the school. She's definitely prepared; now it's just a matter of whether or not she'll enjoy it.

On the Phone. Up until just a couple of weeks ago, Emily was always afraid of the telephone. Maybe she didn't quite understand how it worked, or the voice on the other side freaked her out. Regardless, she would refuse to talk into it or even listen to a conversation. The other day while we were playing around I asked her if she wanted to call Grand-Papa on the telephone and she said yes! She ended up having a cute chat with him and since then has called him a few more times. She usually speaks pretty softly and says random things like "Here's Hatty. There's a ball over there." (She must think my dad can see what she sees). It's super cute to watch!

Season Premieres. There were a couple of season premieres last week (The Office and Parks & Rec). It's nice to finally have something to watch on TV! I'm looking forward to getting back into weekly shows and date nights with Steve.

Weekly Update - Colds/Words/Fair/Delay

Colds for All. I caught a cold late last week and despite my best efforts to keep it away from the rest of the family, all three of them woke up sick on Sunday. It's been an exhausting couple of days, filled with sleepless nights, crying girls, aches and pains, medicine, runny noses, humidifiers... It's also worth noting that Emily is not a happy camper when she's sick. She just cries/shrieks non-stop, probably worsening all of her symptoms. She refuses to tell us what/where it hurts, doesn't want our help, refuses medicine, and answers every question with a firm "NO!". We initiated "sicky picnics" all over the house since it's the only way to get her interested in eating, and you know, eat. Is anyone else's child similar when sick? I always assumed I would get to snuggle, comfort, and care for my sick babies, but it's definitely not the case with Emily.

Up at 4:00am for a "midnight snack". 

Luckily she went back to sleep afterwards!

A Few New Words. As usual, Jessica is on a roll -- learning new words every day. Some of her cutest ones are "yummy!" (everything she eats is yummy), "some!" (she'll say this when she sees a food that she wants), "sissy", "baby", "mommy" (basically any word that ends in "ee"). A cute game that Emily and Jessica play together is that Emily will say "cookie cookie cookie starts with..." and Jessica will shout "C!"  (They got it from the Sesame Street video "C is for Cookie"). It also means she now refers to cookies as "c". :)

Going to the Fair. We checked out the local Fall Fair on Saturday. There were rides, games, farm animals, tractors, among other things. The girls didn't end up enjoying the fair too much -- they preferred the nearby park. They didn't want to pet/see any of the animals and Emily wanted to get off the merry-go-round the second it started moving. I had to take her off the horse and hold her until the ride was over. Haha, maybe next year, Emily!

Can you see the uncertainty in her eyes?

Playing at the park with Grand-Papa is way better!

Yet Another Delay. Our lot was finally supposed to close at the end of last week, but they asked for a one-week extension. Rumour is that it's actually going to close this week so that's good! We've been very patient and are eager to get the house started! Hopefully the 2-month delay doesn't affect us too negatively. Good news is the floor plans are in their final draft so I'll be posting about them soon!

Weekly Update - Cast/Checkup/Painting/Gardening

Living with a Cast. Thanks to everyone for your kind words and thoughts about Jessica's injury. Her cast comes off tomorrow! She's actually doing really well with it. She points to it often and says "boo boo". She can do almost anything she did before, including getting up to standing, climbing stairs, drinking from her sippy cup, and playing with her toys. She's becoming quite proficient at drawing and using utensils with her left hand. Wearing the cast has also encouraged her walking since walking is easier than crawling at the moment. Some things I'm sure she's missing are reading books and playing in the sink. What's nice for me is that bath time has been simplified -- she's back in her baby tub (with a plastic bag around her cast) which is much better for keeping her safe and contained.

15-Month Checkup. Speaking of Jessica, last week she had her 15-month checkup. She weighs 19 lbs 7 oz, is 30 in. tall, and has a head circumference of 46 cm. I can't remember the percentiles, but she's still small and tall. She's right on track with all her milestones. She didn't like her shots one bit, but other than that she was pretty content, especially when it was just me and her in the doctor's office (she wanted to explore/touch everything!).

Artist At Work. Emily loves painting wooden objects! It started a month ago when I bought some wooden frames at Michael's for $1 each. Emily loved painting them and has them proudly displayed in her room (with pictures she picked out). It was such a success that I went back to Michael's and got all kinds of things to paint, including a bird house, Halloween masks, her birthday frames, etc. Emily has been painting up a storm!

The Truth About Gardening. In my last Weekly Updates post, I mentioned the bountiful amount of home-grown tomatoes we've been eating. The truth is I've been extremely lazy about my garden this year and it shows. I often forget to water it -- many of the plants are yellow or dying. My cucumber plant is attacking (growing on) my tomato plant and I've done nothing about it. Despite my cucumber plant growing like mad, it's only produced two cucumbers so far (and the girls won't eat them -- they prefer store-bought). I'd love to enjoy all of my juicy red tomatoes, but half of them are being eaten by a chipmunk. The other half are being plucked by Emily (which she loves), but often before they are ready so we end up eating orange tomatoes. Gardening is a lot of work and sadly sometimes it doesn't seem worth the effort!

Weekly Update - Mornings/Eh/House/Tomatoes

Early Mornings. Jessica is officially sleeping through the night on a regular basis. Yay! The only problem is she's waking up early in the morning. She goes down around 8:00pm and has been consistently waking up at 5:30am. Sometimes she dozes back to sleep for a bit, but more often than not she's up for the day at that time. I'm not sure if this is just a phase that's going to pass or whether I should do something to "train" her to sleep longer. I'm thinking I might send Steve in there to tell her to go back to sleep (because it doesn't work when I try).

(her new "trick")

My Canadian Girl, Eh? I noticed that Emily's been sounding very Canadian lately! Yesterday while we were in the car she said "The music is pretty loud, eh?". She's added "eh?" at the end of a few other questions and I think it's the funniest thing!

House Update. It was a stressful week house-wise with the news of the one-month delay, some pricing that came back higher than expected (changes that I thought were going to save us money ended up costing even more), and some issues with determining the property lines (this topic deserves a post of its own). Needless to say information needs to be gathered, decisions have to be made, and we need to keep the big picture in mind!

Tomatoes Galore. It's tomato season here and we're enjoying our juicy garden tomatoes! Both girls love tomatoes and we often joke about how maybe one day we could live in a tomato house (a house made entirely out of tomatoes!). "But Daddy would have to live next door in a banana house because he doesn't like tomatoes"... ;)

Weekly Update - Anniversary/Potty/Music/Blogging

Our Anniversary Day. Steve and I had a nice, low-key fourth wedding anniversary celebration. In the morning we watched our wedding video with the girls. It was so sweet/sad because Emily was genuinely sad that she wasn't there. She kept asking where she was and why she didn't get to be there. Anyways, it was fun to watch the video to remind how special that day was. Other than that, Steve and I spent a nice evening together at home. On all three of our previous anniversaries we drove up to The Waring House in Picton (where we got married) for a dinner date, but we didn't have the chance to do that this year. I'm hoping we can head up there sometime this week.

Potty Break. Emily's taking a break from potty training in that she's completely lost interest in it. Soon after her first pee in the potty, she had an accident (the messy kind), and it really upset her. The next day she kept holding her pees/poos in, which became a huge struggle all day. It's like she didn't want to go in her diaper, but she didn't want to use the potty or have accidents. Since then, she's been all-diapers except in the evenings before bedtime (at which point she still won't use the potty). So that's the update, and we're fine waiting until she's ready again.

For the Love of Music. Emily's third birthday is coming up very quickly so we've starting to do some planning. I don't have a theme in mind yet (I always wait until the last minute), but we have a few gift ideas. The main (big-ish) gift that Steve wants to get is a digital piano. Emily's been interested in the pianos at my parents' and her cousins' house, so we're thinking it would be nice to have one too in case she wants to learn how to play. Steve said he's always wanted to know how to play the piano, so he might even try to learn a few things. 

I Need Time! Sometimes I feel like I could get so much more done if I didn't blog. Blogging takes up quite a bit of time with taking pictures, writing, and editing 3-4 times a week. But then I know that I would regret not having a record of our life at this point. So here I am! And other things (like laundry and house stuff) are left undone.

Weekly Update - Vocabulary/Sleep/Nightmares/Cousins

Expanding Vocabulary. Jessica is learning words at lightning speed. Some of her latest words are hat, pat, cat, done, off, sis, and even backpack (although it sounds more like ba-pa). It's so cute to hear her talk. And while Jessica is busy learning new words, Emily is busy learning the definitions of words. She's at the fun stage where she listens a lot and asks about each word that she doesn't understand.

Sleeping Through the Night. Speaking of progress, Jessica has slept through the night three of the last five nights! Hooray! Now she just needs to do it consistently so that my body doesn't keep waking up in the middle of the night out of habit. It's hard to believe that I'm finally at the point where I might be sleeping through the night again (It's been 3.5 years! Pregnancy, then Emily, then pregnancy, then Jessica).

Let the Nightmares Begin. Like during all major events (school exams, pregnancy, weddings, etc), I'm beginning to have nightmares. This time it's about our house-building project since it's always on my mind. The nightmares are not scary per se, just stressful building-related stuff. The other night I had a dream that I walked through my partially finished home and the kitchen was all wrong -- ugly cabinetry, the wrong counters, weird layout... I was explaining to the builder "This is not what I wanted!" and then they showed me papers that I had signed saying it was. I remember feeling completely discouraged, like "Really? This is my home? I just spent a ton of money on this?" Eek.

Cousin Love. How cute are these cousins? We are loving all this family time!