January 29, 2008
Napping for Dad
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Archived Posts from this Category
January 28, 2008
Tonight after dinner Emma and Leah decided they were Jack (Leah) and Jill (Emma). Claire was their kitty - named kitty. For an hour they ran around downstairs herding their kitty and going up the hill to fetch a pail of water… As usual we were not allowed to call any of them by their real names.
John brought them up to bed and they decided that Jack and Jill had to sleep in the same bed. They have slept in bed together before, but this is the first time it has been premeditated. There was no talking them out of it.
Jack and Jill
January 15, 2008
John and I went to see a taping of Rick Mercer Report last Friday. I took an early train into the city and we went for a nice meal and then to the taping. I had been looking forward to my big night out in the city since October and it didn’t disappoint.
It’s on tonight if anyone is interested. There was a funny segment on him doing the Polar Bear dip in Lake Ontario on New Year’s Day. It was at the park on the lake in Oakville where we take the girls in the summer.
January 14, 2008
Claire was one last Tuesday. We’ve had a busy week celebrating and enjoying her…and taking my usual 400 pictures that now have to be sorted.
My mom is here so on her actual birthday we decided to take the three of them to Ikea. It was a nice warm day so I didn’t start the van before loading all three of them. It wouldn’t start. I called Ford roadside and 45 mins later the truck arrived and revived the battery. As instructed, I let it run for 30 mins then turned it off since we weren’t ready to go. We then loaded up the girls again (do you see where this is going?) and of course it didn’t start again. I spent the afternoon of Claire’s 1st birthday getting towed to the dealer and then begging them to fix it quickly so we could take her out. No luck, it was in overnight. They had no car that could take 3 carseats so I got a loaner Focus, picked her up a birthday cupcake and then went home. Thankfully she had no clue. Her sisters were a little bummed they didn’t get an Ikea cinnamon bun but the excitement of Mr Ford coming to wake up the car and then tow it away was enough to keep them laughing.
When John got home from work she got her cupcake. She enjoyed smearing it in her hair more than eating it. Leah and Emma then helped her open and play with her gifts. She refused to go to bed at 7pm and was up til 10pm with what I thought was a sugar rush.
The next day she had her 1 year appt. She got weighed (just over 19lbs) and measured and then he checked her over before giving her the shot. Turns out she had an ear infection. It explained a lot of her recent sleeping and clingy habits. Poor thing. She can’t get her shot until her ear is cleared but she screamed bloody murder just getting looked at. Even the dr commented on how she was out of sorts compared to her usual sunny disposition. I think he remembers her from when she tags along for her sisters appts. Claire has never liked that paper they put on the examining table.
I had my internal debate over antibiotics for the usual 3 mins and then picked up the prescription. She’s still pulling her ear alot and is not entirely back to happy. We’ve figured out pain meds wind her up so she gets them at dinner time rather than before bed.
We had a small family party for her on Saturday. She did really well. I remember when the girls were one I was so worried about them missing their nap and being disasters. Claire got a bit tired after lunch but she had a bottle and rallied. She finally passed out around 4pm for an hour and then was right back into party mode.
Her 1 year update is first on my list.
She’s really interested in standing on her own and taking steps.
Bye bye van.
Smearing cake
Great Auntie Bonnie’s cake
Party of five
Claire and the fam
Starting to work out this present thing
December 24, 2007
It’s the mad dash out the house so only pictures for now. Merry Christmas everyone! Leah and Emma are over the top excited. Rumour has it Santa has secured the Dora Mermaid, baby doll and stuffed dog for Claire.
November 30, 2007
Things are looking up since my last post. Leah was not good for most of this week. The whining and crying was out of control. Very similar to what she was like for the 4 months after Claire was born. Hmmm…is it obvious what might have been wrong? Yes, she was constipated again. The screaming over having a bath should have tipped us off but seriously she was so disagreable that it just got lost in our frustrated sighs of exasperation. Finally it dawned on me to think back to her pooping. I’ve been so good at keeping track but I guess I got lazy because she’s been so good. So yeah some Senokot and some cleared out bowels and our happy go lucky Leah is back just in time to enjoy the weekend.
The girls have not recovered from the clocks changing and 6:30 is the latest they sleep in these days. Three mornings this week Leah was up before 5:30. Knowing what we know now I might have been a little less frustrated, but all three mornings it just about put both of us over the edge. Yesterday she had us up at 5:09am. Last night John put a clock in their room and told them they could not come out til it said 7. They were up at 6:10 this morning but willingly sat in their room and talked and read when we reminded them about the clock. At 7 they started giggling and screaming that they could get up now. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. And no, I am not above messing with their clock once they get the hang of this.
In other news I am sick. Just a cold but my streak of good health is over. For the first time in nearly 2 years I can take good drugs. Unfortunately I don’t think me taking somethng that would make me even more tired than I am would be a great idea. John also has a sinus infection. He is booked in for sinus surgery in the spring. Claire is also stuffy and was really bad one night (I forget which one) at the beginning of the week. Emma and Leah have a bit of a runny nose but that’s it.
The title of this post was inspired by the song the girls sing at school. “E is for Emma, that’s good enough for me. L is for Leah, that’s good enough for me”. I think it’s a silly song but I can throw out any letter and they know who in their class it belongs to. They have also started the holiday stuff at school. They really like Feliz Navidad - and they are about as good as their mom at mumbling the spanish words to the tune. I’m sure Dora can help with this one.
While I’m thinking about it I should write that the girls are obsessed with Tim Hortons. They are going to be lifers for sure. They call it Timportans though. It’s cute.
October 21, 2007
This time last week was the beginning of the first cold to really come through our house this year. Sunday Leah went down, Monday Emma went down, Tuesday was John’s day and Claire took Wednesday. Thankfully John’s parents were here til Tuesday morning when they went home - and got sick.
After much observation, John and I decided that life as a sick person is quite possibly at it’s best when you’re 3. There is no school (real school anyway) to worry about missing and you’re at an age where you understand that when you’re really sick you lay on a couch and drift in and out of conciousness, only awakening to drink the offerings and open your mouth for medicine. Emma and Leah lay on the couch for two days and then I took them to the doctor where I lost a debate and put them on antibiotics for double ear infections and a very bad cold including sore throats and 5 kleenex boxes worth of snot.
At the total other end of the spectrum is a sick baby. Claire has been congested for about a week now but she was completely down from 11pm Tuesday night right through til late Wednesday night. In that 24 hour stretch she didn’t sleep for more than an hour and she didn’t sleep unless she was on one of our chests. When she was awake she wasn’t happy unless she was being held. One nice thing that came of all this is that she now likes to lay on her chest on you - a position she has squirmed out of since she was days old.
Next we move to the working adult. Fortunately this one is easy to analyze since one of John’s single coworkers came down with a similar illness and also took two days off work to recover. I’m sure it is obvious what the recovery consisted of for a man with 3 sick daughters vs a man with nothing but Benylin and a bed. Needless to say, single friend went back to work with 36 out of 48 hours of sleep while John is still sick.
Then there is me who is half happy and half bitter that I never seem to get sick. Just for fun on our Friday night, John and I debated which was a better deal in our house - sick or healthy. On my side there is John sleeping in til 9:30am every day that he hasn’t gone to work. For John there is being ill and only getting to sleep til 9:30am. It’s actually a pretty pointless debate since in reality they both suck. I just get bitter because I have all these grand ideas of lying in bed sick all day - John has shown me that it is impossible. No matter how snotty they are - they will find you - and make you play playdoh.
The recap of the last little bit:
- John parents were here (and in Guelph) for 10 days. We got a lot done around the house and John and I went out for dinner on night and to Ikea on a Saturday. I’m not sure if I ever mentioned that the girls are still too short to go into the playroom at Ikea. I can’t wait.
-Emma is pretty much back to loving school. They missed picture day on Monday and are becoming part of a rare breed of 3 year olds that have never been professionally photographed. I was actually pretty disappointed. They both had a turn at being special helper this week and were really proud of themselves.
-Nevermind the princess crap, we are getting reports from the teachers (as well as countless mention at home) that the girls have crushes on two of the little boys in their class. It is comical (as long as you aren’t John) to see them talk about these two boys. Last week one of the boys drew them a picture - it is proudly displayed on our fridge. I will say that one of my daughters has waaaay better taste than the other 
-I got a new camera! The LCD screen on our old one broke and it was the push I needed. I am sick of delay on our old camera as well as the poor video. I’m still fiddling with it but so far I am very impressed. Here’s a video I took of Claire last night.
-I did my first 5km run….well we’ll call it a walk/run! It was interesting - much harder than I expected and my expectations were pretty low seeing as I’ve never been much of an endurance runner. John met me at the finish line and the first words out of my mouth were never again After some reflection I think I might try again in the spring. It’s definitely motivating when it comes to finding time to use the treadmill. I am in total awe of people that can run long distances.
-Emma started swimming last Saturday morning. Leah was too sick for her class on Sunday. We had this week off due to a swim meet.
-We went to the pumpkin patch with Coby, Carrie and Ronan and froze. We went again today just the 5 of us and it was much more pleasant in the 25C heat.
-Claire started pulling up to standing. She can also wave.
-We had John’s parents and Drew and Jen over for Thanksgiving. We thought about everything we had to be thankful for!
-Leah left Lambie sitting on the table in the sun today and she got a terrible sunburn. She was very sick and needed her Mommy and her Granny (me) to give her hugs so she could feel better.
That’s all that I can think of. I’m going to try and make an effort to update this more now that we’re all on the road to recovery.
October 2, 2007
Exciting times around here lately as we are now outnumbered by little people that can move. Claire is getting quicker by the day but she still hasn’t got into much trouble. Lucky for us, we never bothered decorating or buying living room furniture so Claire can pretty much do what she wants on the main floor. The girls have been told that if they want to do things that don’t involve Claire they can either go into the basement or take their stuff up to the table. End of discussion.
I am very grateful we have a finished basement. It boggles the mind how many little things we own.
Claire is doing better now. She had a really bad cold and wasn’t sleeping well so we have reverted to some of our old habits. I bought my first parenting book (The no cry baby sleep solution) and I relate to a lot of the things the author has to say. The one thing I have FINALLY realized is that it’s not at all fair for me to compare Claire to Leah and Emma. One day it just hit me that the girls weren’t born good sleepers/nappers/routiners - they spent 23 days all by themselves in an incubator to get like that. It’s actually sad when you think about it. Unfortunately this realization came to me after my second attempt to let Claire cry. Both times she cried for an hour. We won’t be doing that again. Call me soft but I think it’s mean to do that to a baby who we’ve taught the opposite. Once she learns how to sleep and then pulls no sleeping crap I will be mean - don’t worry I haven’t completely lost it!
Things are going better with Emma. She still gets very clingy when I’m dropping them off but I am able to talk her down. Yesterday Leah finally helped me out and put her hand on Emma’s chest and said “Don’t cry Emma, I’ll hold your hand.” They both ran off without looking back. I have noticed that Emma is also more assertive with strange kids at the park so I think she is slowly learning that she can speak up rather than getting scared.
Nothing much new to report with Leah except that she is a little bit obsessed with being a princess (a yellow one of course). I went so far as to buy her a truck this past weekend but no go. I’m sure there are women out there who would kill for a little girl that wants to be a princess. Too bad I’m not one of them. John and I have agreed to sit down and talk about our princess strategy going forward. And while some of you might think I’m joking, those that know me will know that this is serious stuff!
Life beyond kids is good. On Sunday night John and I played Scrabble. We have been trying to play Scrabble for 2 weeks.
I must also remember to say that John has taken full credit for getting the girls out of pullups at night. In a moment of genius he forgot to put them on the girls one night and they woke up dry. We’ve never looked back.
