Jack and Jill

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

 

Claire - 1 year

I can’t believe how fast these kids grow. It seems like just yesterday that I was 37 weeks pregnant and coming back from my ob appt with a scheduled c section. I still find myself saying her birthday is Jan 9th - I don’t think I ever quite wrapped my brain around that last minute change of dates. I will never forget that feeling of panic that came over me when the nurse called at 10pm on Saturday night to tell me they’d changed the date to Monday morning. It is nice that all three girls were born on Monday mornings within 2 hours of each other. It will be easy to remember in my old age!

I also remember the drive to the hospital that morning. It was warm and pouring with rain and I was relieved that it wasn’t snowing. John and I were nervous but still talking about names. I knew it was a girl and I had been waffling about Kate for months. We both really liked Kate but there was some concern over our last name. The week before we were back to Claire and on the drive it was decided. For boys I agreed to Lucas. The other name was Aidan but I thought it was too popular. 

Then there was that lady in labour in the assessment room, me puking during the spinal and finally the somewhat surreal section birth of Claire. After that we spent our 4 luxurious days enjoying a full term baby at what we called the North York Hilton and then came home to our family of 5.

Having a full term baby brought many experiences we never knew we’d missed with her sisters. I know I’ve said this before but I remember a NICU nurses telling me that the one nice thing about preemies is that they’re babies for a little bit longer. This is definitely true with Claire. I look back at the pictures and she’s always looked the same. I had a hard time ordering her pictures for her 1 year album! She did everything (except eat…and sleep) when she was supposed to and it has all seemed to go by so quickly.

This coming year will bring about many more changes. I am starting to realize that we haven’t yet experienced what it will really be like with three kids quite yet. Once Claire can talk and have an opinion (…and whine), things are going to be interesting for everyone. Here’s hoping she’s an easy going toddler!

Hair:
Light brown with lots of copper in it. Getting longer and scruffier. If I had to guess, she’ll have wavy hair like Leah’s.

Teeth:
She got two more bottom teeth this month for a total of 8 - 4 on the top and bottom. She does pretty well with teething and once again I didn’t even know she was teething til they were cut. She does get a diaper rash when her teeth come in.

Size:
Weight: 19lbs3ozs
Height 28.5 inches

Eating:
She continues to be on the schedule I posted last month although her bedtime is sometimes a bit later depending on her naps. The antibiotics she was on and the pain meds tend to wind her up so we have to make sure we give them to her well before bedtime or else it can be a late bedtime.

She is still taking 2 bottles through the night but every so often she only has one and we get our hopes up. She can’t seem to go more than 8 hours without food and I’ve tried giving her more during the day or settling her without a bottle in the night but no go. Maybe if it were just Claire I would try harder but she gets very angry and I start to think she’ll wake the neighbours up nevermind her sisters.

She is still not overly excited about food. She’ll eat up all her mush now but she’s very skeptical of anything solid that isn’t bread and will just sweetly pick it up and drop it on the floor. Her 1st bday cupcake and cake were dropped on the floor even after she tried the icing.

Sleeping:
Well she made it to a year without sleeping through the night. Her longest stretch was 7 hours and required soother help.

She is an extremely light sleeper. I’m not sure how that happened since she slept in the middle of the action for the first part of her life. She can do without sleep and if there’s something better going on she wants no part of sleeping.

She is geting better about settling at night but we have to wait til she’s tired. If she plays happily on the ground then she’s not ready. The minute she does the stiff leg when you try and put her down or crawls after you trying to climb your leg you know she’s ready.

She’s usually pretty good about settling after she eats in the night. Every once in awhile she’ll be up for 2 hours in the night (yes, it’s always 2 hours). She is happy and wants to play but usually she poops or teeth come in a couple of days later so there is usually a reason. She’s just really not a whiner about not feeling well - if only it lasts into her toddler years. 

Napping is going well in the morning. In the afternoon she naps when we’re in the car.

She is still in our bed although don’t worry Mom, things have changed in her 13th month.

Getting Around:
She is really steady on her feet now and can bend over and pick things up as well as get back down gracefully. She can stand on her own and clap and dance without losing her balance. She can’t stand up on her own, she lets go from a standing position. She has taken a couple of steps but she’s not steady enough for walking solo. She can walk holding on to just one of your hands and when you give her both hands you can feel she’s just using your fingers for comfort rather than for balance.

I finally let her on the stairs and now she’s a speed climber. She loves stairs and we have to be very careful about the gate because she’s quiet until she gets to the top and starts giggling.

Things she’s saying:
It is safe to say that she can say 5 things and her mom won’t be getting her put into speech therapy. Actually, I am thankful for the experience I had with the NICU follow up clinic with Leah and Emma. I feel totally confident that I could flag an issue for the first 2 years of development. Unfortunately, I don’t have the same confidence in the 2 min checkup we get at the doctor but then maybe that’s because they also get the sense that I know what I’m doing.

My favourite thing she does this month is sing (ahhhhhh) on command. It’s pretty cute. She also started calling John’s mom Nana over Christmas and then called my mom nana as well when she was here. She also says Emma but I don’t think it’s specific - she yells it when she can hear her sisters but can’t get to them. She can say backpack (E and L are always talking about backpacks) and baby (baba) and dance (dan dan). She just comes up with random things everyday like ny ny for good night. So far it seems the constant chatter is helping her rather than hindering her speech.

Fun things she did this month:
-taking care of the baby. Giving it the soother, hugging and kissing it, and patting it to comfort it.
-Dancing. She gets pretty into it and bops up and down if she’s on her bum or bounces if she’s standing. She waves her hands and squeals “dan dan”
-trying to walk and taking a couple steps. She is so proud of herself and loves the attention we all give her when she tries.
-talking on the phone, pointing the remote at the tv before she presses all the buttons
-There are so many things she can do now. It’s like she just went from baby to toddler all in one month.

Personality:
One year later and Claire is still a happy and easy going baby. She has started the frustration cry but it passes quickly. We are now also able to hurt her feelings - if my tone is too sharp with her she pouts her lip and starts to sob. It’s hard not to laugh at her.

She is a very social baby and adjusts well to new people and surroundings. She continues to go into her weekly 2 hours of daycare with no issues. They love here there and they are always saying what a nice little baby she is.

She is extremely stubborn and hard to sidetrack. If we are somewhere that has stairs she will be on them or trying to get to them for the entire visit. She gets increasingly annoyed when I move her but then she figures out that silently finding the stairs is the best strategy to try and trick me.

She loves her sisters and they continue to be very good to her even now that she really messes with their stuff. They sing to her and try and make her laugh. We have had no jealousy issues and if all goes well we can keep this streak alive. The will say things like Daddy will play with them and Claire can play with me so that might be interesting. I am still number one with baby Claire…I think I might have another couple of months tops until the daddy adoration starts.

 

Rick Mercer

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.

 

Happy 1st Birthday Claire

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

 

Happy New Year

Being the boring parents of three that we are, John and I decided to invite a few of our university friends over for New Years Eve celebrations. We had planned on spending the evening with Coby, Carrie and Ronan and I waffled on inviting our other friends. My main sticking point was that I had no intentions of being awake as the clock struck midnight. Finally I just sent out an invite and with brutal honesty told our friends they had to be out of our house at 10pm so I could go to bed. Surprisingly people came and those that didn’t were either out of  town or suffering from pink eye.

We had a nice and relaxing evening. At some random time just before 8pm we put on a fake New Years for the kids. They all thought it was fun.

I have written a few of these New Years posts. Every year I go back and look at my resolutions for the year before. This time last year has some good reading as we were exactly one week away from Claire’s arrival. There wasn’t any snow on the ground, I was getting anxious and I was starting to wonder how we were going to manage a baby with 2.5 year olds. It was the calm before the storm that didn’t turn out to be that bad.

And I actually did quite well on the resolutions part. I did breastfeed Claire, I did buy a treadmill (and ran my first 5km), I did start to take better care of myself and take the time to enjoy my children more.

We are very lucky in that again this year we have a lot to be thankful for. Last night, after I kicked all our friends out, John and I had a quick year in review. The highlights from the year  - Claire, my section recovery, John going back to Deloitte,the second car which gave me some freedom, preschool, Drew and Jen getting engaged,toilet training and the end of the afternoon nap come to mind. John’s addition of his TV made me laugh.

You just have to look at Claire to see how much can change in a year. She has gone from a tiny baby to a fully functional member of our family. Sometimes it just floors me that we are a family of 5 and other times I can’t remember a time where she wasn’t around. Leah and Emma turned 3 this year and became big sisters. They are growing up by the day and I am getting more and more paranoid about losing my digital memories of all three of them.

2008 is shaping up to be another exciting year. Leah and Emma will start school in September and Claire will learn to walk, talk and, if we’re lucky, sleep through the night. Hey, I can officially say I didn’t sleep for 8 consecutive hours in 2007!

My resolutions for this coming year are both new and old. Here they are in no particular order:
-Exercise, eat right. 2008 will be the year of no excuses
-I will take time to enjoy the things I used to enjoy before I got sidetracked by being a mom.
-go on a vacation with John
-I will stop using tired and really tired as reasons for not doing stuff
-I will take my children to Centre Island on a day where it is operational.
-I will be a better cook
-I will try and be upbeat when I put my girls on a bus and send them off into the unknown.
 

Wishing you all a happy and most of all healthy 2008.

 

Christmas 2007

Leah and Emma really got Christmas this year and it was a lot of fun. They have had an ongoing holiday theme at preschool so there was no way that Christmas could sneak up on us this year.

The official holiday started on their last day of preschool. They had a holiday party where their families were invited. For 45 mins they did crafts then sang us all the songs they’d been taught (including my favourite, Feliz Daddydad). Claire really enjoyed the singing and was clapping and rocking away. At the end of the party I got two really nice (I’m serious) wooden trees that they’d worked on. The whole day was really nice.

The build up to Santa was pretty fun. We drove around admiring xmas lights and the girls really got into it this year. Last year they’d point them out but gradually lose interest. This year they were directing John down the street and squealing with excitement every time we found a good house. Unlike their neighbours, 3 year olds really appreciate those houses that really do it up with blow up Christmas characters and as much tacky crap that you can shove on your surburban postage stamp lawn. At least we had lots of snow to brighten it up.

They also learned all about Santa this year and were very excited about Rudolph and Christmas Eve. They settled on their gift from Santa in early December. Leah wanted a Dora Mermaid doll, Emma wanted a baby doll, and we were told Claire wanted a toy dog. Easy enough for Santa this year. They even told him he could find everything he needed at Costco.

Christmas Eve we went to Aunt Bonnie’s in Whitby to celebrate Great Grandpa’s 95th Birthday. The girls helped him blow out his cake and open his presents. We left there just before 8 and headed over to Great Grandpa’s house to get ready for Santa. They put out cookies and the reindeer food they made at school. They were easy to get into bed and Emma fell asleep quickly. Leah was up til 11 and kept on telling us she’d heard Santa and couldn’t sleep. Way too much excitement for Leah! John took 30 mins off their clock.

Christmas morning they woke up at 7:24 (6:54 their time) and sat in their room and talked. At 7am they started calling for us. They were super excited to see that Santa had delivered and were really excited about their stockings (which I had nearly forgotten about). They played with their Santa stuff and when everyone else was up we started to open all the presents. Needless to say they had lots of fun opening presents.

We all did really well with them this year and they loved everything they got. The biggest reaction was when they got a Dora DVD. They did a little touchdown dance and started screaming with excitement. It was funny.

Claire was really good and let everyone pass her around. She even managed to get a new tooth while we were in Oshawa and I didn’t notice til we got home. She really likes music lately and the maracas and drum set she got are a big hit.

All in all it was a very relaxing holiday. The girls enjoy seeing their family and we are happy to share them at a time of year that really is fun with kids around. 

 

Merry Christmas

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.

 

Daddy - by Leah

 

Snowed In

Today was Patrick’s birthday. They had been predicting a snow storm of ‘bring in the army’ proportions all week but I wasn’t worried. The party was maybe 6 blocks away. We are Canadian - we can drive 6 blocks in the snow.

I have no idea how much snow we got. I did wade in some stuff that was well up to my knee. I also have no boots - I threw my old ones out in a tidying fit and it’s been on my list since October.  So anyway I got all three bundled up while John cleared the driveway and warmed the car. He was taking a really long time so I brought the girls out myself one by one. He was pretty skeptical that we’d be able to even get out of the driveway. I wasn’t. He was right. We got stuck half way out the driveway and then about 10 more times on the 100ft journey to the end of our street. Before the last push that got me on the more travelled road, he told me to wait for him once I got going. I was all set to stop but there were 2 more stuck cars and I thought I should keep on moving and save John having to dig us out again. I  went what I thought was really slow but still John wasn’t coming. Finally he appeared in the rear view mirror running in the snow. As he approached I yelled out the window for him to jump in the passenger side so I didn’t have to stop. He then disappeared from my sight and I had a moment of panic where I thought I’d run him over. I stopped the van I found out he had just stopped running in exhaustion. He was not impressed that I hadn’t stopped. I couldn’t stop laughing.

So we got to the party and had a good time. It was fitting that Patrick (the true Canadian) got a blizzard for his birthday. The girls had their cake and played with the other kids. Claire crawled around after Patrick but thankfully only tried to tackle him once.

So then we had to get home. We borrowed the Dempster shovel in anticipation of another rough drive. We didn’t even make it out of their driveway. With the help of the neighbourhood we were on our way again until we once again got stuck in the 100ft drive to our house. This time our neighbours came to our rescue and we were finally home. They still haven’t plowed and it’s safe to say we’re not going anywhere until they do.

Emma and Leah thought the whole thing was a very funny adventure. The highlights were when John and I watched in horror as a tandem plow blocked our way in and Leah piped up with ‘That truck is clearing a path for us’. We then did a family cheer when John got up enough speed to blast through the drift. And then with John and two neighbours pushing, the girls were chanting ‘Go Mommy Go!!’ at the top of their lungs. It was a tiring but entertaining day.

Yesterday we were in Sarnia celebrating Christmas at John’s Aunt Tina’s. The girls were really excited to go see Jeff, Tom and Steve and they had a lot of fun. When we got there Steve asked if they wanted to go play downstairs and off they went. We didn’t see much of them for the afternoon.

Last weekend we were also busy. John’s parents came down on Friday night so we could go to the Umbra sale early Saturday morning. We got there early this year and we had a lot of fun and got a ton of nice stuff. Saturday night we went to a Christmas party with my bookclub friends and then Sunday night we went to dinner. Monday we went to see Golden Compass.

The weekend before that we had John’s children’s Christmas party at the Science Centre. Emma and Leah really enjoyed the party and they got to sit on Santa’s lap. Claire was on his lap for a second but then started crying. After the party we went to the children’s exhibits which they loved. On that Sunday Drew and Jen came over to watch the girls while John and I did some shopping and then went to see a movie.

Those are the highlights of the past couple of weeks. December is always so busy. Next week the girls finish preschool til the New Year with a class party on Wednesday. They are teaching them all about different holiday traditions and they are really enjoying it.

Claire is eating well and sleeping well. Leah had another ear infection but it’s all cleared up now. All I want for Christmas is 3 healthy children and maybe some sleep!

 

Claire - 11 months

Hair:
Not much change.

 Eyes:
Same.

Teeth:
Still no more teeth. 

Eating:
I guess the big news this month is that I weaned Claire. The night time wakings were getting a bit out of control so I just stopped. Going into Baby C I was pretty worried about breastfeeding and I am happy that it was such a positive experience in the end.

So now she still gets up twice in the night but now she gets bottles. John and I have worked out a system so that we don’t have to go downstairs and make/heat bottles. She is consistently eating in the night around 11pm and 3am. Usually settles right back to sleep after eating but she went for a week this month of being awake for 2 hours in the middle of the night.

She is more scheduled during the day and it goes something like this (I was writing this out a lot sooner for her sisters!!)
7am - wake up
8am breakfast (fruit and cereal)
9:30am - 6oz bottle
11:30pm Lunch - whatever I can get in her. Veggies on a good day, yogurt on a bad day.
2:00ish - 6 oz bottle
5pm - dinner - see lunch comment!
7:15pm - 6oz bottle then bed
11pm - 6oz bottle
3am - 6oz bottle

What she eats is still all over the place. She had another cold this month and completely lost interest in everything except yogurt and formula. When all things are going well she’ll eat most mush and try table food. Bread is her favourite but she also ate chicken, sweet potatoes, pasta and grapes. The rest was methodically deposited on the floor.

She also rarely finishes a bottle. She gets 5 bottles a day totalling 30 ozs. I’d say she drinks closer to 20ozs now. I’m supposed to be putting her on whole milk next month - we’ll see. I’m not convinced she’s eating enough yet.

Sleep:
Except for her week of midnight partying, she has been sleeping really well…well, really well for Claire. She goes to bed right after her sisters and she is much more settled since I’ve weaned her. She usually wakes up once for her soother before we go to bed and maybe 3 or 4 times in the night she’ll settle again with her soother. You know when she’s hungry because she gets insulted when you try and give her the soother.

She does really well at napping if we’re home. If we stayed home all day long (which we don’t do much anymore), I know she would nap at 9:30 and then again around 2. Instead she tags along with her sisters and naps in the car. It used to be that I could get her inside or into the stroller without her waking but the cold air wakes her up everytime now. Most school afternoons are spent with me reading my book in the car while she naps.

Getting Around:
She is now pulling up on everything and getting better at balancing. She can stand up without pulling herself up but she needs something for support (like the wall or my leg). She isn’t steady enough to stand on her own yet but she’s getting there. She is walking along the furniture and can walk holding on to your fingers.

She is now really good at crawling and can pivot etc with ease. She is just all around more steady.

Things she’s saying:
-She now says dad dad dad for John…and squeals with her sisters when he gets home from work.
-hi and bye have been separated.
-she says mmmmaaa when she gives or blows kisses
-she says fsssss for fish
-she is babbling a lot and likes to talk. I am sure she’s saying other stuff that I’m just not connecting.

Things she’s doing this month:
-she loves playing peekaboo and now puts things over her head in addition to using her hands and poking around corners
-she does the sign for milk.
-she watches and learns how to play with toys - like dropping balls in a hole
-she loves baby dolls
-she loves other children and can be quite aggressive in trying to touch (maul!) them. Just ask Patrick!
-she blows and gives kisses
-she shakes her head
-she can be very interested in the tv.
-she pulls up and looks out the side windows of the front door, waves and says bye bye
-if she can hear but can’t see her sisters she goes looking for them
-she loves putting her hand in the toilet and is there in seconds if you don’t close the bathroom door.
-remembers things you teach her and can do them again later. Things like showing me where Dora’s eye is on the bath toy or getting me a fish.
-checking everything out. She isn’t scared of anything and she loves it when I use the dustbuster to clean her tray off.
-flipping through books more than chewing them
-scribbling on the drawing boards
-she likes to pass you something then take it back over and over again
-singing her abcs - just kidding.
-she is now completely comfortable when I drop her off at the Early Years Centre. They really enjoy her there and I know she is spoiled with lots of attention for 2 hours.
-she is getting more social again and will smile and laugh at strangers.

Personality:
Her easy going personality is really starting to show. I often call her tag along Claire because she gets dragged everywhere and thankfully rarely complains. She is happy to play and follow her sisters around and we only hear from her if she’s tired and hungry - both which are easy to anticipate.

She definitely has her mommy suck moments but she has recently started making eyes at John (and so it begins…). She willingly goes to most people once she has warmed up and doesn’t miss me as long as I’m not around. The only thing I think she prefers me for is getting to sleep. I can get her to sleep in minutes - it’s not so easy for others.

She is still very interested in her sisters and they continue to be very patient with her. They are always looking out for her and recently their stories have started to include things that Claire will do with them when she’s bigger. They still remind me of all the things that Claire can’t do because she’s a baby. They are always watching out for her - opening the basement door can send them both into a panic if Claire so much as makes a move towards the stairs.

With the last month of her first year coming up, I find myself full of reflection. This time last year I was very pregnant and very ready to have Christmas over with and to meet our new baby. This year I’d like the month to slow down so we can enjoy it.

I’ll get her 11 month picture up asap!