Leah, Emma and Claire (and Jen and John)

We’re back. We’ve actually been back since yesterday afternoon but I’ve been adjusting to reality which means I fully appreciate any downtime I get.

Our week was really good. The weather was all over the place but it was warm enough to enjoy being outside and swimming so it was a nice break from the heat the city has been getting. The best part was the cool nights for sleeping.

It was a really relaxing week for us. The girls slept in the basement with John’s parents so we went to bed late and slept in. We even got earplugs from Drew which I must say are wonderful since I have some terrible baby spidey sense.

Our days were spent relaxing in the cottage, on the dock and in the water. John’s uncle Van baby proofed the deck down by the lake so the girls were contained and happy. They weren’t super excited about swimming (the water was deep and way cooler than the bath water they’re used to). They flat out refused to come in with anyone but they would let us hang them down into the water. There was a beach we went to by boat and they got a little more adventurous. I’m thinking we’re going to have to suck it up and put them in lessons again so they stay used to the water…although they were blowing bubbles and kicking after they stopped screaming “TOOO COLD” so our bathtub swimming lessons have paid off

Emma’s favourite thing was going in the boat with John’s dad. First few times she started off on his lap but then she insisted on sitting by herself in the passenger seat. She loved every minute she spent on that boat and I think she suckered her Papa into many more rides than he expected to take. Leah wasn’t overly excited about the boat and insisted on laying on someone and closing her eyes.

For the most part the girls slept and ate well. We had a ton more drama than we ever have at home and it was a bit frustrating at times. Leah had some pretty high drama days but we know how Leah likes her schedule so all in all she did well from being far away from her usual life. The change in Emma’s surroundings didn’t really change her behaviour but she got really constipated and she had a hard time. She likes her privacy when she poops and I think she started holding it in because there were always people around. For once my theory was correct - the minute we walked in the door yesterday she went into the living room and filled her diaper without crying. Same thing today.

Lots of pictures in Flickr.

For as long as I can remember John has been teasing me about how I was born to enjoy my 30s. My excitement over getting married, having kids, settling down and becoming very boring have all been pretty strong indicators!

A couple of  months ago John asked me how I wanted to spend my 30th birthday. I was lucky enough to have it fall on a Saturday night (a party girl’s dream!). After about a day of thinking about it I decided I wanted to see the girls then have them go away so I could spend the day with John and just relax and do whatever I wanted. And that’s what I got. It was perfect.

John’s parents, his cousin Steve and the girls left for the cottage yesterday morning. We walked back into the house and both agreed it was a very strange feeling to not have them or their schedules ruling our day. We have never been alone without them for more than a few hours and to have a whole day was very exciting (we sound like horrible parents!). 

So the day was spent eating, sleeping and relaxing. We went out for a very nice meal and then we saw the new Pirates of the Carribean movie. On the way out of the movie the bar across the street was in full swing including a line up of hundreds of people. I was very happy we were going home to bed and not there but in a slick move John declared that I could still hang out at the bar if I wanted - I didn’t quite look like a cougar yet…

So needless to say I am not taking turning 30 hard at all. Besides countless wisecracks by John it was just another day. A day which I really enjoyed.

The girls left no problem yesterday and John’s mom called to report that they were both angels in the car and having a blast at the cottage. I am very thankful that they leave us willingly - both of them smiling and waving goodbye. It makes it much easier to leave them. 

We are heading up today whenever we are ready. We’ll be back next weekend. Have a good week!

Leah has been pretty sick for the past couple of days so we’ve stayed home. It all started on the weekend with a couple nasty diapers. I now realize they have never had real diarrhea before! Kathleen and Mark arrived Sunday night after the girls were in bed. Leah was out of sorts on Monday but managed to get through the day. Tuesday morning she woke up a little after 6 and threw up. She was very lethargic and just wanted to be held. She threw up again mid morning so I gave her some Gravol (a really big bonus to being 2 is they can have Gravol!). It settled her stomach and she was able to keep some food and water down. She slept from 1pm - 5pm and woke up feeling a bit better.

This morning started off pretty rough for her as well. She woke up and we brought her in our room and she fell asleep in our bed (a first for Leah). She slept through Emma reading Curious George and singing “Happy Birthday to you GEORGE!!” over and over again. She ate a bit for breakfast and then lay on me until she threw it up. I gave her Gravol again and she just lay on me pretty much all morning. She had another long nap this afternoon and woke up feeling much better. By the time John got home I would say she was pretty much back to herself - she was running around singing ABCs and trying to get us to sing her Farmer Brown. Hopefully she’ll wake up better tomorrow. Her appetite isn’t much but both days she has asked for oatmeal over and over again. She’s a little trooper when she’s sick and this is by far the sickest she’s ever been.

Thankfully Emma doesn’t seem to be suffering any ill effects. I’ve got my fingers crossed that this will be the first time they haven’t shared an illness. Today was their daycare day but we had to miss it. Emma probably could have gone but I would have had to bring Leah in with me to drop her off and somehow I didn’t think me saying “this one is pukey but this one is fine so she can stay” would go over to well with the other parents. It’s time like these that I really wonder how we would function as productive employees with the two of them in daycare.

The girls realy enjoyed their visit with Kathleen and Mark. They were really good with them and the girls were quite taken with the both of them. Kathleen was here for some of the barfing and it was nice to have someone to entertain Emma while Leah needed me. It can get challenging trying to juggle them both when one needs so much more attention than the other. Luckily Emma was really good today and played and read her book while I sat with Leah.

So that’s what were up to. We are off to the cottage this weekend for all of next week and I’m really hoping we’re all healthy and able to enjoy a relaxing week.

My cousin Kathleen and her boyfriend Mark are on their way and I want to watch Big Brother before they get here (priorities!). Everything is good. The girls had a nice week in the hot summer weather. Weekend was good - we got the 12 batteries (not 18 like I thought) to make the lifelike kitchen sounds. They love it.

I’ve posted some new pictures on flickr to make up for my lack of update. There are some pictures of Brandon’s Christening which was today. I am his Godmother and it was too bad I couldn’t zip over to Ireland to celebrate with everyone.

Brandon with big sister Abi and cousin Terry

John and Emma

John and Leah 

I had a post all ready to go yesterday afternoon while the girls were napping and then I hit send and the internet was down so it got erased. Very annoying. Not nearly as annoying as our internet being out from 4:30 yesterday afternoon til around 10am this morning. And since we have voice over IP our phone was also down. Although that I can suffer through - I still don’t regret sticking it to Bell

The remainder of our long weekend was good last week. We had Coby, Carrie and Ronan over for dinner on Sunday and then Troy, Jessica, Sarah and Brennan on Monday. John and i have become very lazy about entertaining since the girls were born but we had two nice visits. For the first time the kids played while we sat and had adult conversation. It makes entertaining a much more appealing!

The short week went by quickly. We registered the girls for the daycare program at the Early Years Centre. It’s on Wednesdays and we managed to get 5 days for July and August. I drop them off at 9 and pick them up at 11:30. Two and a half hours completely to myself! Wednesday got off to a horrible start though. As we were leaving I opened the front door and herded the girls out. They are usually very careful on the stairs but Leah got excited and ran towards the step. She tried to stop but lost her balance and fell down the cement stairs. Scary moments that I will probably be able to replay in my mind for the rest of my life. Somehow she managed to tuck and roll and escaped with only a scratch on her nose and forehead. All four of us were pretty freaked out but she recovered quickly. They are both a lot more careful on the stairs now.

The daycare went fine. Emma was a bit sad to see me go but she settled fine. Leah was doing her usual tired cry when I went to pick them up. They got really tired when they were in the daycare room when I took that course so I knew they would be cranky. I brought them home, fed them and they napped for 3 hours. All in all is was a nice relaxing day for me. I can see why people put their kids in nursery a few days a week while they are still at home. It’s a nice break.

Last night the girls and I got a special treat. John came home from work and took us out for dinner. The girls do really well in restaurants now and it is much more relaxing and fun. After dinner we headed over to the park and tired them out before bed.

Today they slept til after 8 and then we all got up and the girls helped me make pancakes for John. They like to sit on the counter and watch and then when the pancakes are ready they ask to sit in their chairs and eat. It works out well. Tonight we went over to Jeff, Alicia and Amelia’s for dinner. It was so enjoyable having dinner cooked for us. As I’ve mentioned before, they are really into cooking and it is fun trying new things that I probably would never think to make (or have the energy) myself. I am very full! Jeff took me on a garden tour and I can’t wait for all the fences to be sorted out so we can start more gardening. Oh how domesticated we all have become!

The girls are doing fine. They are still peeing in the potty a few times a day. Emma asked to go to the potty once yesterday and once today so there is some progress. Leah is also a lot more patient. She used to sit down for 4 seconds then say she was all done and that she didn’t have to pee (basically go away mommy I have things to do…). She seems to get it now and she puts a little more effort in. They have both started taking their diapers off in their cribs. With one kid this might be an issue but the screaming fits of laughter and the descriptive conversation when they do it has given them away every time so far.

Emma has started to stutter when she talks but just at the beginning of her sentence. Things like “Em Em Em Emma wants to go on the swing”. Her words and thoughts are coming in quickly these days and I think that’s all it is but I will do some research just to make sure. Leah is also saying a lot more but she doesn’t speak as clearly as Emma. I understand most of what she says but I do a fair bit of translating for others. They say that’s normal and I do see progress with the pronounciations of words as she uses them more. She can say “Come Mommy, I want to go outside” no problem.

I uploaded some recent pictures to Flickr. I’ve been bad at taking pictures lately.

Brandon Patrick Kieran O’Brien

Canada Day makes me miss Ottawa. Every year my dad and I would bike downtown and take in the celebrations and have some poutine for lunch. As I got older I would go see the night show and fireworks with my friends. It’s amazing how much they put into that day and as usual I didn’t really appreciate it until I moved away. This morning while John and I were deciding what to do I told him I had zero desire to go down to lakeshore where they’d closed a couple of streets so I could eat crappy hotdogs (because they don’t do chip wagons in Oakville) and maybe find some random petting zoo for the girls. Oh yeah, I’m a true Canada Day snob now!

So this morning we took the girls to Coronation Park in Oakville. It’s a nice park on the lake with a ton of grass, a good size playground and a splash pad. The girls had a blast and we will definitely go back. It’s nice being by the lake although it’s sad you can’t swim in it. Lake Ontario - the big tease!

The girls are still using their potty some of the time. We offer it up when they wake up and before their bath as well as a couple of times during the day if they’re interested. Emma pees pretty much everytime, Leah sometimes. I have no idea if this relaxed method will work but it’s working for now and I’m hoping they’re getting used to the idea rather than me doing it boot camp style. We’ll see. It has been my experience so far that playing things by ear work with the girls and hopefully this applies here. I have made no real plans for the diaper money!

Bed time is going really well. Tonight Emma ASKED to go to bed. John and I were both floored. They really love books but are getting bored with their board books so we are letting them read their good books unsupervised. I was completely against letting them have their nice books in bed (we have had some unfortunate book shredding incidents) but John convinced me. It is amazing to see the change in how they treat their books. They are both very gentle and careful. Emma loves her Curious George book and has been walking around with it for the past week. Leah’s current favourite is Where the Wild Things Are but she changes on a daily basis. So anyway they ask to go to bed then ask for their books and then say “bye bye mommy, bye bye daddy…see you later” as we leave.

More baby news! My cousin Kieran and his wife Sandra had a baby boy named Brandon yesterday. I think back to our wedding when we had no kids and now between the four of us we have four. We’ve officially doubled!