It's You It's Me, it's life in the crazy tree!

Bless you tight, AA and many many stars,

2007-11-01T20:21:00.000-04:00

There is never a dull day in the life and times of a Mother of a Twoddler and a baby boy.
It is always a learning experience. Whether it is discovering that every phillips screwdriver in the house is the wrong one to access the neurological system of Potty Elmo, or that batteries come in even numbers and toys come in odd. What's with that anyway? Are the two manufacturers in cahoots? Screws and nuts are the same. Damn industrialized nation we live in.

I guess with the Canadian dollar reaching an almost all time high we can afford to be purchasing extra packages for that one extra battery or nut.

I learned a new phrase recently as well.

Bless you tight!
Any thoughts on the circumstance provoking such a response from a twoddler?

Y

2007-10-22T21:02:00.000-04:00

Because it was about time.

I, err we all, joined the Y last week.

Today was day 1 and my hip flexors are already regretting it.

But it feels great!! I missed the solace that you find in exercise and the high that you get from running.

I jumped up in the treadmill and wanted to run full out... i only warmed up for 4 minutes ( bad bad bad) and then went for a run, I am regretting it completely now since I feel as if my legs are going to fall off! I am going to do it again tomorrow! Childcare and up to 2 hours to myself uninterrupted with my I-Pod and a healthy sweat! Worth every monthly penny that they want to suck out of me!

Exercise is good!

15 minutes

2007-10-17T20:30:00.000-04:00

It's simple... 1/4 of one hour. 15 minutes, 900 seconds...

Nothing new there, but oh how in accurate a statement can be.

As a Mom 15 minutes is an eternity!

It can mean enough time to do the following:

Prepare and administer one bedtime snack,
wash 1 sink full of dishes
brush one jumping up and down two-dler's teeth
change 2 diapers
hug kiss and put to bed one bouncing two-dler

15 minutes, the time that by noon each day I wish I could have to myself in silence.

15 minutes, would be a super long shower now a day.

15 minutes the time it took to blog this!

Where grey hair comes from!

2007-10-08T11:13:00.000-04:00

A year ... WOW!

A lot has happened and after much procrastination I HAVE BLOGGED AGAIN!

I had coffee the other day at the new Starbucks on Highbury and the blogging (or lack there of) conversation came up, since I said I wanted to and I should get back to it I figured I would come true with my intentions.

I am completely dumbfounded that the last time I posted Hannah was barely a year old and now she is over 2, has a little brother that is almost 3 months old and is taking the world by storm.

So much has changed, she runs and jumps and pees on the potty( when she is so inclined). She tells us what she wants, she loves her brother and her Mommy and her Chris, err Daddy, and tells us all the time. She keeps us on our toes and makes us think before we speak. She is the joy that makes every sleepless night completely worth while! Yes I said sleepless nights. Cameron her handsome little brother thinks that sleeping is the shiznat! He sleeps through the night only waking once after 8 hours for a snack then dozes off again for another 3 or so hours. Hannah on the other hand wakes up if the wind changes direction and thinks that 6 am is sleeping in. I now understand where grey hair comes from.

The past year has seen so many changes in our life, new friends for Hannah means new friends for Mommy. New jobs, new Jeeps, new pant sizes... not the kind of new I was looking for, but all part of the grey hair. Old friends with new babies and new jobs and new adventures feeding their passions. It is amazing how old is new but new never becomes old. Everyday is something new in the life of a parent. Even the format of the blog is new!

I promise to keep tabs on all things new and all things old, and that is what the new blog is for!

Cheers again!
L

I need to blog...

2006-10-11T19:52:00.000-04:00

I will soon, hopefully this weekend. Life is insane when you are a full time parent and a full time 50 hour a week employee of another company, by another I mean other than my home. I wish I could blog more but fact of the matter is that I have 2 hours a day where I am not at work or caring for Hannah and in that 2 hours I need to take care of everything else that does not fall into the previous 2 categories.

As a teaser update...

Hannah is now 13 months old (as of tomorrow) weighing in around 18lbs. She is walking/running and trying really hard to talk... her vocabulary includes, Mum, Daddy and sit which we hope is sit not shit! She has 9 teeth including a molar and another that is on it's way. She is energetic and inspiring. Her current favourite things are hugging all her stuffed animals, playing with all her really really noisy toys (especially the ones that still have live batteries in them....lol yes we are cruel parents) an playing chase with Mommy and Daddy. She loves Daycare and my provider is FANTASTIC!!!! She actually has 2 spaces at the moment( very rare occurrence apparently) so if you know of anyone that is in need of fantastic affordable daycare, in my area, send me an email.

That is all for now need to take care of my random domestic duties.

Check flicker regularly... I post there as often as I have the chance.

Holy Cow Your 1

2006-09-02T08:31:00.000-04:00

Happy 1st Birthday Amanda :)

2006-08-27T22:04:00.000-04:00

New Pics on Flicker :)

The Daily Walker

2006-08-20T00:10:00.000-04:00

Volume recommended ;o)

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Sorry...

2006-07-26T21:17:00.000-04:00

I know it has been too long, no excuses, just life!

Firstly a couple of hello's to those of you using MSN spaces since for some reason I am still unable to leave comments...grrrr!

Karen... You have a gorgeous head... Your fortunate! I am glad to hear that the chemo is going along as smoothly as it is. I always knew you were a strong woman, now this just goes to prove it.

Randi... Man he is a cutie amazing how fast they grow eh!?

Now onto my life.

Hannah as usual is growing like a weed, she is not gaining as much weight as 'they' would like to see but she is getting tall. As of last Friday she was 15 lbs 13oz and 28 inches long. She grew a whole inch in 3 weeks! She has grown 2 shoe sizes in a month and is currently shoeless in a 3. Shoeless is actually her preference, she hates having anything on her feet, socks, shoes or otherwise. I guess she takes after me in that respect, I too prefer to be barefoot.

We ventured out on vacation to Chris's Mom's trailer in Buckhorn about a week ago, Hannah had a blast, as did Chris and I. The trailer was 5 days full of many firsts for the little munchkin:
1. First Fall out of a trailer( typical childhood accident complete with blood a couple scrapes and a lot of tears... Nothing permanent though)
2. First swim in a big pool... She loved loved loved it!
3. First time climbing stairs.
4. First Camping experience ( I prefer to call it famping( fake camping) since there was no tent and the trailer had A/C, but she will experience the tent next weekend)
5. First time eating BBQ... chicken and taters, yuuuummmmmy!
6. First time being towed. Chris hooked up the remote contol jeep to the jogging stroller and towed her around the campground, she loved it and was a huge hit with the spectators!
7. First bug bite... A mosquito got her on the bottom of the foot, of all places!
8. First Power Outage... We got caught in a horrible storm that sprung tornados in a few places and actual killed a woman camping in a park only about 50 km from us.
9. First Visit to the family nurseries.
10. First Look at the Jeep Jamboree... We didn't actually go to it but we did go see all the jeeps venture off to the trail.
11. And of course her first summer vacation( first of many I am sure).

I am stunned how fast she is becoming a little person. She has discovered her voice, she has a few words like Mum and Baa and Rarrr, but does she ever love to squeal and shriek. It is as funny as it is annoying( only annoying when you are on the phone or trying to put her to sleep). She it getting close to walking and easily saunters along while holding onto a finger. She has also discovered that the water cooler is both shocking and funny. Especially when she empties a large quantity of water on the floor via a stream down her belly. We are at 7 for a tooth count and 8 is fast approaching. She has also discovered that there is water in the toilet and it is hilarious to play in, and equally as fun is the toilet paper roll. Now she is not like the Cottonelle kittens where unraveling it is the entertainment, she is more of the pull it off the roll and eat it type of girl. Needless to say both events have resulted in a permanently closed bathroom door!

Next weekend we are off to the annual Tillaart Family reunion in Prescott. I am completely excited for it this year since this is the first time that a lot of the family members have had the chance to meet her. Hard to believe that she will be almost 11 months old by then!

Well that is all for now... Sorry for the long gap in posts.

Enjoy what summer you have left.

L

Oh ya, all was clear with the tests in the last post... end result she has big tonsils! Thanks for the concerns and well wishes from all those who left them.

X - Rays...

2006-06-21T22:02:00.000-04:00

So Hannah went for her 9 month appointment with the doctor on Tuesday, and the news was mixed. She is doing good weight and height wise but has fallen a bit in her progression. Her official by the doctor 9 mos stats are...

15lbs 4 oz( take off 7 oz for their scale and the diaper)
26 inches
head circumference 43cm

She is quite impressed with her physical development especially her curiosity. Dr. Malik had a hard time with her stethascope because Hannah kept grabbing it and trying to put it in her mouth. Ahhh teething is great :)

Now for the other news... Her lungs sounded wheezy and raspy. She sent her for a Chest X Ray today. Lets just say there was an archaic nature to the procedure today. She had to sit on this table with a bicycle type seat and a hole in the middle, then a tall acrylic, clear cylinder was wrapped and secured around her. Her poor little arms were straight up in the air and all that I could hold was her little fingers :( Apparently this 'device' is designed to evoke a crying response in order to get them to take a deep breath. Well, I could have gotten her to do that without the acrylic tube! Poor little girl looked so scared and confused.

We will have the results tomorrow, and then she has to see a specialist to have her lungs checked over and allergy testing done. Fingers crossed that it is just an allergy that is easily eliminated. I really hope that she didn't acquire Asthma from the 2 of us.

Other than that things are good. She has finally started cruising the furniture, and anything else she can grab onto.

Nothing at knee is safe!!!

I will keep you all posted.

L

Sorry I am not home please leave a message

2006-06-16T23:17:00.000-04:00

on the fridge... he he he

On the move...

2006-06-14T09:36:00.000-04:00

First off I would like to start out with a quick messsage to all my MSN Spaces friends.... grrr I am still unable to leave messages on it so I give up.

Karen... You are the strongest woman I know I swear...my thoughts will be with you through this adventure. I am scrabble fan too... what a great way to pass the time. I love the fact that you are empowering you potential future baldness... you will save a fortune on shampoo for a while, don't forget to sunscreen though.

Randi... damn he is cute. Sorry about your freind, that has to be tough. I know a couple people with MS and it is a horrible disease. I hope he has found peace in his decision.

RebSteb... I am worried about you... are you OK? Oh and would you be interested in playing on a Tuesday 3 pitch league team? Nothing too competative but we are good... 2 and 1 so far.

So now on with the Hannah updates...

As of her 9 month weigh in she is officially 14lbs 11oz and 26.5 inches long.
She is now standing and moving between furniture, no cruising yet but she is close. She crawls like everything is a race... it is too funny. She has 6 teeth, 4 on the top 2 on the bottom and she is now chewing on everything she can get her hands on...errr mouth on. She is finally starting to get more vocal and has several 'sounds' in her repitoire... including but not limited to Braaa bra bra, and Mum mum mum mum, and then of course the various high pitch squeels and the fake coughs!

Well that is all for the moment, here is a video for your viewing pleasure...

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Victoria Day Post

2006-05-22T12:21:00.000-04:00

So it is a stat and I am not getting paid for it ... Weird! I have been off work for almost a year and I am still not used to it.

So last night we went to the May 2-4 BBQ and fireworks extravaganza in Lawrence Station at Bill and Mary's and despite the single digit temperature we had a great time. The bonus to it being so friggen cold was the fact that we didn't need coolers for the food or the drinks :) We did however cut the fireworks short because it was getting too close to freezing for all the kiddos. The main downfall of the evening was the fact that Daquiri decided that she needed to roll in something dead... So she is now carrying the beautiful aroma of death... Disgusting!

This was the first year of the fireworks when everyone had a kid... I guess that means that we are all growing up.

So I made a new Potato Salad it was awesome... Highly offensive but damn tasty... If you are interested you can find the recipe here.

So there are a few new milestones this week on the Hannah front, Thursday she cut her 3rd tooth, front top left, and the front top left eye tooth is right there as is the front right, needless to say she is not the happiest camper. Infants Motrin is the shit though... After days of battling with Tylenol with no real success one does of Motrin and she seems to feel better, and I think she may have actually slept a bit last night. She is also standing and pulling herself up on things... Mostly her toys, a box and the coffee table( which looks hilarious since her armpits are level with the table... This makes the clean and sweep a much easier task). We tried meat for the first time... Well lets say that didn't go over so well... We will try it again in a few weeks.

If you are staying up to date with the pictography of all things Hannah you will see that she got her first set of wheels, she is much more enthralled with the box at the moment , but she is finding the car more entertaining everyday.

Other than that things are typical in the day and the life of new parents...

It's my first Mother's Day!

2006-05-14T13:13:00.000-04:00

Mommy and Hannah doing the Britney on Mother's Day

So far so good :) I received 2 e-cards, one from Hannah and one from my Mom, and I got to sleep in until 11:15!!!!! Holy crap I haven't had that much sleep in ages.

Road Trip!!!
Whooo Hooo!!!
Niagara Falls here we come!

Now Stop taking my picture and drive!!!

Chris took us to Niagara Falls NY yesterday to do some spring shopping at the outlet mall. Holy crap was there ever a lot of Canadians there! It was fun and I finally have some new clothes that fit. My favourite purchase was a green t that says... "I want to be a truck driver!" I thought it was appropriately hilarious, hence the purchase.

8 months old and already plotting world domination!

So what's new... Hannah is now officially over 14lbs! As of Friday(her8 month b-day) she was 14lbs .5 oz and 26 inches long. She is motoring like mad, and new this week is the get up on hands and feet and attempt to crawl/dogwalk. I think she is spending tooo much time with the dog :) For her 8 month birthday she got a swing for the backyard.

Swinging in the Backyard on Mother's Day

Well that is about it for the update... Hannah has just awoken from her nap(on me... you really think I would have time to blog otherwise?).

2 days till Uncle Pat comes home... and only 1 until Auntie Toad Comes home :)

L8R!

Weekend Visit with Grandma and Grandpa F

2006-04-30T11:08:00.000-04:00

Grandma and Grandpa F came up for a visit this weekend and of course there were a few pics taken and even a video of Hannah's first attempt with Cherrios. Enjoy!

Hannah and Grandma notice the dirty knees!

Cheerios!

What?

Hannah and Grandpa

Cheerios the video!

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing

A dedication to the Cookie Lady

2006-04-25T22:31:00.000-04:00

mkuiack

He says it so eloquently.

If I could comment on MSN spaces you would have read...

"You will make it through this I am sure. You are a strong strong woman and this is not strong enough to beat you. Your optimism will get you through this. If you need anything please don't hesitate to ask.

Some Firsts

2006-04-20T09:02:00.000-04:00

Post hair cut pic, playin in the bathroom.

It is amazing how many firsts a person goes through that you forget or take for granted once you are an adult. Take for example yesterday Hannah had her first Hair Cut. Not the professional, go sit in the uppy downy chair kind. More like the "Mommy is sick of me having a mullett" kind. I trimmed the back of her hair and now it is even and looks more babylike and less redneck yokal like. Hannah also wore shorts for her first time yesterday, and real shoes too! She is officially a size 1 shoe at the moment. One, the # where I all begins! So from this point on she can have a shoe addiction like her parents. She has also surpassed 1 and is currently enjoying her second tooth which made an appearance yesterday.

Hannah got a jogging stroller for easter so we have been doing tonnes of walking, approximatly 7 hours since Monday! She loves to be moving and this is making life a lot smoother for her.

Yesterday I took Hannah to get fit for custom earplugs so that we can take her for rides in Daddy's Jeep. We have no intentions of taking her off road yet, not at least for another year or so but this will allow us to take her on road trips in it, like to the beach and such.

We are progressing along on the solids path and have discovered several that either she refuses to eat or loves to eat but she doesn't respond well to. Apples and avacodos she loves but they don't like her very much. Then there is the green team... if it is green Hannah refuses to eat it... no peas no beans... yuck!

Big girl bath at Grandma's

Hannah now takes big girl baths, no more baby tub and she prefers it this way. Only a matter of time and she will be basking in the chill of the great lakes.

Life is good and moving at a crawlers pace, which you would think is slow but oddly enough it is far to fast.

New pics on flicker... enjoy :)

Hannah Crawling

2006-04-16T23:22:00.000-04:00

ON VIDEO :)

for all of you who are not here to see it... here you go :)

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing

and it finally fits

2006-04-06T13:29:00.000-04:00

So almost a year ago Chris, Aimee and Bill and I were taking New York by storm, celebrating my 30th in style. Well on our adventures we made Hannah a build a bear and got her a matching onsie( she was still known as peanut then and her gender still yet to be determined). Well today she met the the bear and wore the shirt for the first time.

Look Grandma...I can Yoga too!

Hey, wanna get into some trouble with me?

Ok, one pose!

What? I wasn't eating his foot, I promise :)

Sorry there have been less pictures lately... she is on the move now so there are a lot of shots of her ass...lol.

Houston we have a tooth!

2006-03-26T18:14:00.000-05:00

For the past 2 days Hannah has been down right crotchety, and today out pops a tooth! It isn't all the way through yet but it is there and it totally explains why she has been so cranky!

I cannot believe it..

2006-03-12T12:16:00.000-05:00

6 months ago today I was doing this...

and this morning I was doing this...

It is just awesome what can happen in 6 months! As I sit here and type this I am a little teary eyed. Tears or joy and pride of course, but tears none the less. When I got up this morning( Chris let me sleep in) Chris asked me a simple question... "How's it feel to be a Mom after you thought you couldn't be one?" My response... "Great!"

I am dumbfounded by how much she has change, how much my life has changed and how much I love her. It is completely unexplainable to a non parent. There is nothing big enough to contain how much love I have for this 12lb 15.5 oz 25 inch little bundle of energy. It amazes me how much she has learned in the past 6 months. She went from being able to do 4 things eat, sleep, cry and create dirty diapers to rolling, standing, laughing, smiling, shreeking, playing, babbling, bitting and so many other little milestones. I could go on forever but instead I am going to take my beautiful little girl out for a walk in the gorgeous 12 degree weather.

Go kiss your kids if you have them, or at least call them and tell them you love and appreciate them. they grow up way to fast!

I Hate HATE HATE MSN SPACES!

2006-03-08T10:45:00.001-05:00

Fiirst off did I mention that I hate MSN spaces.

I have been trying yet again to leave comments for eons but alas no dice!

Kris... you hair looks awesome! I love it straight and Jordyn is gorgeous she looks so happy and alert.

On the Hannah front... according to my doctor she is spoiled and I pick her up too much. Well you know what I would rather her be spoiled by my attention than be neglected! She rolled over front to back for her first time yesterday and is now eating cereal daily. She has been on rice cereal for a week now and really likes it in the evening but couldn't care for it in the morning. Last night she had bananas with her cereal and loved every second of it.

My theory on Crying it Out! It is torture and I will not participate in it. Thanks for your advice everyone but it will not be happening in my house, I cannot tolerate listening to Hannah cry for 30 to 45 minutes until she makes her self puke. I will find another way to get my kid to sleep on her own and crying it out is not an option. Sorry a little vent thread, just frustrated with too much advicce lately.

That is all at the moment. As of friday the little munch was 12lbs 9oz!

An exercise ball and Daddy

2006-02-27T19:48:00.000-05:00

... These seem to be the only two things that have gotten Hannah to sleep today. She is currently asleep on my lap but only as long as I keep bouncing on the ball. Since Daddy left almost 3 hours ago I have spent the better part of an hour on this ball... The last nap only lasted 10 minutes! Lets hope this one last about 5 times that!

So what's new... Well Hannah is officially over the 12 pound mark she is 12lbs 4 oz as of Friday, she has mastered the art of sitting, well for almost 5 minutes anyway. She has discovered several new ranges with her voice all of which require a tremendous amount of slobber to spew from her lips while simultaneously making various high pitch noises! She has also discovered that her toes will reach all the way to her mouth! A few other things that she has recently realized are that phone books, sears flyers and tupperware plastic bags are all amazing to suck/chew/slobber on while under adult supervision. Although life as a parent can be rather mundane as a Mom it is moments like these that make it all worth while.

Formula feeding is a challenge to say the least, Hannah never used to mind a bottle until it came with formula in it, now it might as well be filled with Buckley's!( oh how I cannot wait for the day that she gets a taste of it). In one respect the challenges that we are facing with formula( we are onto Soy now) she is sleeping a wee bit better during the nights. We are going to try sippy cups to see if there are any better results there.

We have had several visitors in the past few days, Grandma Joan was here as was Uncle Pat, Auntie Melissa, and Faunt Danielle. Hannah loves visitors! I have pics and will download them soon.

Chris and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary this weekend. Grandma Joan watched Hannah while we went out for dinner. We intended to go to a movie too but we were both so damn tired we were afraid that we were going to fall asleep during it, so instead we went to the Casino... broke even then went out for dessert and coffee. The best part about the evening was the fact that we got to read the paper uninterrupted! As much as I have wanted a night out I missed her the whole time I was gone and all I wanted was to be at home to put her to bed. I got my wish because she fell asleep on Grandma and still needed a bottle before bed. It amazes me how much I love her.

Well that is all for the moment I am gonna go try and lay her down in hopes that I might get a shower in before the season premiere of the Apprentice!

Cheers!

UFC updates

2006-02-17T14:56:00.000-05:00

So as you all know my old personal trainer Rob was on the Ultimate Fighter series last season and ended up wrecking his shoulder and went home early. Well I got an email from him today and this is what he has to say....

"Just to let everyone know that my dream has come true and I am fighting in UFC 58: USA vs CANADA on march 4th live from Mandalay Bay Casino in Vegas. Two other very good friends and teamates of mine Sam Stout and Mark Hominick are also fighting so make sure you watch it and show these two your support they are absolutely amazing athletes. Dont miss it."

So Show your support for your country kids and watch it live!

V-day and an update

2006-02-16T08:47:00.000-05:00

Well Hannah has had her first V-Day and it went off without a hitch. She got Daddy a "Worlds Greatest Daddy" Beer Mug and a big bouquet of balloons and a Teddy bear from Grandma and Grandpa F and Auntie Toad. Chris got a vise that he wanted and he bought us matching rings. A simple Titanium band... Finally an affordable metal that has no nickel in it that I can wear all the time. I am pretty sure that it will piss a certain person off that we are wearing rings without a wedding but screw him! Anyone who knows us knows that we do things all ass backwards! I am amazed at how light titanium is... It doesn't even feel like metal... I now understand why airplanes and top of the line mountain bikes are made of it.

Hannah has not been sleeping for shit! Nothing new there, so I finally went to my doctor, thinking I have PPD but she thinks I am just exhausted, so she recommended a few things. First off she thinks maybe the reason that Hannah is not sleeping is because she is hungry so she recommended a bottle of half breast milk half formula before bed and cereal in the morning once her system gets used to the formula. Well I tried the formula last night and all I have to say is UGH! She was up every 30 minutes screaming for 3 hours and then I think she finally slept, but I am not sure since Chris came home early from work and took baby watch to let me sleep. I got up with her around 6 and she has been up ever since. This is exactly what happened with cereal. I think my poor little girl has a sensitive tummy. I am at a loss. I am gonna try it again tonight if the results are the same then I am defiantly not going to put her through that again. Alas exhaustion is the parents call signs!

Well here are a some new pics for your viewing pleasure... Hannah had Bananas yesterday :)

More new pics on Flicker Enjoy !

The internet is great!

2006-02-13T00:33:00.000-05:00

For making picture flash :)

New Stats...

2006-02-10T12:27:00.000-05:00

So Hannah is officially 11lbs 12 oz as of this morning and is now 26 in long!!

Long time no post

2006-02-08T13:16:00.000-05:00

Life has been a little hectic here. Hannah has been cutting teeth (we think), which has resulted in a sleepless Mom and a cranky Hannah! No fun here. I at least had a little bit of help the past 5 days. Toad was visiting and by the looks of the pics you would never know she doesn't like babies! Other than that things are great. Hannah has had a bunch of firsts ... rolled over from back to front a couple of times, first time in the high chair, first time with a pen, first time being fed by Auntie Toad, first time to see a bunny and a horse( we went to Auntie Aimee's barns and met all her horses). She has also had her fist time with rice cereal( not a good thing) and her first Superbowl which she slept through a bunch of. She has become very vocal lately and loves to scream and shreak and giggle... she is a total ham. Minus the extreme lack of sleep life is golden. Enjoy the pics pop on over to my flicker to see more.

Ohm!

Smile for the camera :)

First time Auntie Toad fed Hannah

Flying on Mommy's legs :)

Video

2006-01-31T23:19:00.000-05:00

of Hannah.... of course!

Create your own video at One True Media

MSN Spaces SUCK!

2006-01-29T12:23:00.000-05:00

Karen and Kristine... I am trying to leave comments on both of your sites but no such luck... arrrgh!

Kris... time to get out hun... you are so much better than that place it is squishing your spirit... another employer would be lucky to have you. Have you tried applying to the upstairs firms?
Feel better soon... I had it last week... a hot bath with bubble bath helped me. ~HUGS~

Karen... you are one of the strongest women I know... you go girl! Joanna Rachel and Amanda are so lucky to have such an amazing woman as a roll model!

On another note Tupperware should be in this week to all who are waiting... I will call you when it is in then do the rounds!

There are new pics on flicker... sorry I have been blabsent... haveing a 4 month old and a house consumes almost every waking moment of the day. Here is a comparison pic for you all though. Same outfit... Day 1 and yesterday! It is amazing to me how much she has grown but how little she still is this is a 0-3mos Baby GAP onsie

4 month Shots sux!

2006-01-16T23:28:00.000-05:00

Hannah had her 4 month check up today!
The official #'s per the doctors office are...

weight: 11lbs 4 oz with diaper (5lbs 13oz @ birth)
length: 23 .50 inches( 19.25 @ birth)
She did awesome with the shots... fell asleep only cried for 5 minutes. The terror didn't start until she woke up from her 1:30pm nap. She woke up crying and continued through until 9:30pm when she fell asleep on my lap. I feel so bad for her, seeing her tiny lips quiver, the look on her face screamed..."Why did she do this to me!?" She sobbed all night... less about 2 hours( thank you Bumbo and Teddy's Choice Acetaminophen) My heart ached everytime I watched a tear drop slide down her cheek. It was as if nothing I did made her feel better.

I finally wrapped her up snug as a bug in a blanket and put her to bed at 11:01pm. Fingers crossed she sleeps for the night.

I did however get a few pics of her tonight during a cry free moment ...

or two!

Time for bed myself.

L

Holy growth spurt...

2006-01-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

... well both Chris and I thought Hannah was feeling heavier... I guess so she went from 10lbs 9oz last Friday to 11 lbs even today!

4 months old

2006-01-12T23:09:00.000-05:00

Well she has hit another mile stone, today Hannah turned 4 months old. She spent the day sleeping...
She also hung out with her Daddy ...

and played with the remote control Jeep and even went to the park! (where she cried the whole time, apparently 4 months old is not old enough to appreciate +7 in January). All in all she had a pretty chillin day. This evening she got a visitor, Karen came over(Amanda's Grandma) and Hannah loves Karen so she was almost on her best behaviour, minus a few screams and a super puker episode... But hey at least she turned her head so we could see the whole process...LOL. I have given her a new nickname Pukearoo!

All and all things are going pretty well in our new house. Hannah and Daquiri get along great, and things are sorta getting unpacked. I have ventured into domestic goddess land head on with a sewing adventure on my new handy blue sewing machine. I currently am 45% of the way through one panel for the curtains for the livingroom window. Lessons learned so far...
1. Start with a smaller window
2. Patterns are for rookies( I should be using one!)
3. Sewing around an infants schedule takes forever.
I am sure there are many more lessons to be learned before I am done.

Well that is it for tonight... New pics on flicker.
Until next time... Enjoy and please do a few random acts of kindness.

Oh Pleeeeease...

2006-01-09T00:03:00.000-05:00

Oh Pleeeeease...
Originally uploaded by Leanne aka Red.

go look at the new pics of me on flicker :)

Trying Something New

2006-01-08T15:52:00.000-05:00

Check this out

Random Acts of Kindness...

2006-01-05T08:19:00.000-05:00

When was the last time you did one?
Have you ever done one?
How'd it make you feel?

I'll start...

Yesterday while on my way to the fish store to replace the fish that I successfully killed during the moving process; I noticed that the homeless teen that stands at the lights on Wellington and Commissioners was there.
His sign simply says... "Homeless and hungry please help."
Now I have seen him there dozens of times before and have given him the odd granola bar or two... I often wish I could do more. Well today I did! It was miserable out, raining and plus 4 and he looked drenched to the bone and freezing cold, so I went to DQ and got him a double cheeseburger with fries and a coke. He seemed so surprised and thankful when I handed it to him from my warm Jeep. He wished me a good day thanked me very much and hurried over to the bus shelter to eat. While I sat at the lights he devoured every morsel and then disappeared. Again I wish I could have given him more but it's a start. I wonder how long it has been since he had a hot meal or a shower for that matter? What about clean clothes and a warm bed to sleep in?
After the year I have had( the most amazing one of my life so far) my heart aches when I see people suffering. I wonder where his mother is? I wonder if she is worried about him? I wonder what his name is?

I vow to be more generous this year, hopefully I can spread some of my good fortune around and brighten a few people's days this year.

A quick post while Hannah naps...

2006-01-03T15:16:00.000-05:00

I feel like I am so out of touch with blog land. It has been a mad house around here lately... Still unpacking and putting away all of Hannah's Christmas stuff (she got spoiled rotten), not to mention holiday entertaining. It is strange how quiet my house is today. No guests, no commotion, no more holidays! Finally the house to myself again! I love having company but I also love the quiet.

So in summation since I hear the little one stirring...

Our first Christmas was great... Too much traveling though. I generally find the trip down east exhausting, but when you do it with a 3 1/2 mos old it brings a whole new meaning to exhaustion.

New Years was quiet but perfect!

Hannah is growing like a weed and has had a bunch of firsts that I will post soon.

We now have a dog... Daquiri is her name.

Gotta go sleeping beauty is now screaming beauty.

Sorry I missed the holiday wishes...

2005-12-29T19:57:00.000-05:00

Things have been nuts though, and it is still not over, hopefully I will be able to post more next week.

Merry Belated Ho Ho to all and Happy New Year!

Until then there are a few pics on Hannah's Flicker!

Cheers, until the New Year.

Leanne and Hannah

2005-12-24T00:45:00.000-05:00

Leanne and Hannah
Originally uploaded by W4B Photography.

Mike took family pics yesterday for us. We both have some posted on our flicker sites.

Thanks for the awesome shots Mike, the memories will now last forever in print.

Hannah and Santa

2005-12-16T13:13:00.000-05:00

Ho Ho Ho!

A Quickie from the new house

2005-12-13T07:45:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted, things have been a little nuts.

We are aboout 90%, moved and only about 50% unpacked, hence my absence.

The new house is awesome, I love it, love it, love it!

I will post more soon, sleeping beauty has awoken.

The Big Day

2005-12-05T09:54:00.000-05:00

TODAY IS HOUSE DAY!!

Yes I am yelling, whooo hooo! I cannot believe that the day has finally arrived, I am no longer a renter! We still don't have the keys yet but it is only a matter of time... probably around 2ish.

So a quick update before I head deep into move and pack land.

1. Hannah is doing great, on the mend with no complications.
2. She is sleeping through the night, between 7 and 8 hours a night, in her cradle all by herself :)
3. I am no where near packed, but that is ok since we have both places for the whole month.
4. Snow... damn did we ever get dumped on! For those of you readers that are not in London, we have about 8 inches or so here... packed down now to look like a solid 6, but it is there and doesn't appear to be going anywhere soon.
5. Hannah is over 9lbs now! 9lbs 4 1/2oz as of Friday.
6. Went to the InfoTech Kids Christmas party on Friday... it was a blast, even got a pic of Hannah with Santa.
7. Hannah got a bumbo!
I know there is more but it is slipping my mind at the moment.

I will post again soon, from the new house though!

Cheers!

There ya go...

2005-12-04T20:56:00.000-05:00

There ya go...
Originally uploaded by Leanne aka Red.

Surgery Day

2005-11-30T13:47:00.000-05:00

Well we are home from Hannah's operation, everything went well. She ended up having a small hernia on the otherside too so Dr. Girvin repaired it as well. She is groggy and in pain but I am sure that with some TLC she will be fine.
Thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and well wishes.

Wow 9 days since last my post

2005-11-28T08:13:00.000-05:00

Brunch with the Family Yesterday Morning
L: My Cousin Jason and his Daughter Madalyn(18 mos.)
R: Chris and Hannah(11 weeks)

Sorry all :)
Things have been a little hectic in my world in the past 9 days so this will be a short point form post to bring you all up to speed then I will head back to my insane life...lol

1. 1 week till closing... Finally started packing last night.
2. Hannah has to have a hernia repair surgery Wednesday morning... I am freaking out!
3. Lawyers are assholes! See item 1.
4. Tupperware parties are great... yeah for adult conversation.
5. Baby showers and Family Christmas in November are great... again more adult conversation.
6. Swings possessed by the devil suck! Hannah's currently is and it only works when it feels like it!
7. Snow Ugh... 4x4 Jeep makes snow fun!
8. Hannah has started giggling and laughing outright... it is hilarious.
9. Bumbo seats are cool... thanks to Sinclair for letting us try hers out.
10. Tiny Love Gymini is as good as the swing if you want your child to laugh, smile and nap!!! Thanks Auntie Aimee.
11. Creepy ADT sales people with Austin Powers teeth hang out at the laundromat.
12. 2nd Flicker site since I post too many pics for only 1 free one!
13. Strike averted for those of you who were following Chris's work saga... hmmm weird happenings there!
14. Labatt Honey 25 bucks for 24! Great beer!
15. Patrick is Mr. Plow!
16. Who knew that an 11 week old baby can have more clothes than a set of parents!
17. Hannah is 9lbs as of Friday!
18. For those other London Parents out there... Once Upon A Child is having a huge sale December 9th... up to 50% off!!!!
19. Who knew that when a fish dies it will get sucked into the filter and then when rigamortis sets in it will fall off curved!
20. Leafs beat the Habs Saturday night, Muhahahahahaha!

Now if this isn't a true Canadian Icon!

2005-11-19T09:32:00.000-05:00

Towards Pt Dover 09
Originally uploaded by W4B Photography.

Taken by my friend and serious phtobug Mike... aka work4bandwidth. He also did my prego pics and one day will do awesome shots of Hannah too. Until then you can find his great work on his flicker page where I found this one.

Sleepy...

2005-11-18T14:39:00.000-05:00

Leafs Fan!!
Thanks Uncle Pat

A view from the porch...( right now)

2005-11-18T12:31:00.000-05:00

AHHHHHHHHHH...it has happened, the first snow fall!

Well it has finally happened...

2005-11-16T20:46:00.000-05:00

We have hit zero degrees celcius here in London.... I guess winter is upon us!

Stolen from

2005-11-16T17:59:00.000-05:00

RebSteb...

How is your Canadian trivia?
Being a proud Canuck I sadly only got a 4! Boo to me!

Big Night...

2005-11-16T09:48:00.001-05:00

Hannah slept through the night!!!

She slept from 11:15pm until 5:45am then I fed her and changed her and she went back to sleep until 8am!!!

The trick will be to see if she does it tonight too or if it is just from the residual Tylenol in her system from her shots.

Fingers crossed that this is her new thing!

Parenting 101

2005-11-15T22:01:00.000-05:00

So I discovered today that there are cardinal rules of parenting that no one told me about. I have decided to compile my own list starting with this one...

Cardinal Rule of Parenting #1

If one of the objects in your child's life becomes integral to their happiness and your sanity, and it is battery operated, make sure you have plenty of spare batteries on hand!

Case in point...

Hannah had her shots yesterday as you are all well aware, however what you are not aware of is that her swing is her favourite comfort spot, next to Mommy. Well this evening she was super fussy(I suspect due to sore legs from the shots) so I gave her some Tylenol and cuddled with her until she fell asleep. I proceeded to put her in her swing so I could make myself something to eat. In theory the swing should have bought me a minimum of an hour possibly as long as 3 hours of free time. So I head into the kitchen and commence dinner preparation, grilled cheese and tomato soup were on the menu. Now anyone who has prepared this meal knows that it needs to be tended to and that there is a very small window of opportunity that can turn this into a tasty comfort meal or into a huge mistake. As I am getting ready to assemble the grilled cheese, and the soup being about half cooked the swing suddenly comes to a stop, promptly followed by Hannah screaming! Now keep in mind that there is one piece of bread in the frying pan and various other portions of the soon to be grilled cheese, in various stages of readiness, sitting on the counter! Not the best time to walk away from this delicate and very comforting soon to be meal. What choice did I have though my poor daughter is screaming and my heart is breaking a little more with every cry, so I rush to her side after turning off the burners. I pick her up hold her close and rock her until she is calm, and then proceed to make and eat my comfort food single handedly. After consuming lukewarm tomato soup and half melted grilled cheese I strapped her in her carseat and headed out in the pouring rain to acquire myself four 'D' batteries. The things we do for our child's happiness and our sanity!

I am sure you can see how Cardinal Rule #1 would have been very helpful in this situation! I now have 10 'D' batteries to prevent this same scenario from repeating itself.

Talk about learning from your mistakes!

A few big events!

2005-11-15T13:56:00.000-05:00

Lots of big events in our lives...

Hannah had her first set of shots yesterday, she was not a huge fan of it but slept most of the day thanks to her friend Tylenol!

My Mom has officially been a non smoker for a year! Congrats Mom! Good for you I know how much of an accomplishment this is.

We are down to 3 weeks until we take possession of the house and I have not packed a single thing!

Hannah is starting to pull herself up when she is on her stomach, and she is easily holding her head up on her own. My big strong girl!

When Hannah got weighed yesterday the scales said 8lbs 10oz!!! If that is correct then she put on 6 oz in 3 days! I personally think that it is just the calibration between the two different scales but we will see on Friday when I get her weighed again.

Uncle Pat bought her a Leaf's outfit that might actually fit her in the next month or so... Stay tuned for pictures!

Well that is all that I can think of at the moment even though I know there is more.

New pics on Flicker.... Check em out!

Cheers!

P o n d P e r s p e c t i v e

2005-11-13T13:26:00.000-05:00

P o n d P e r s p e c t i v e

A must read for all parents or parents to be!
Cheers!

2 month old!

2005-11-13T09:59:00.000-05:00

Well yesterday Hannah turned 2 months old!

I cannot believe that just over 2 months ago I thought I was going to be pregnant forever.
I would have to say that these have been 2 of the most amazing months of my life to date. I have never experienced so many emotions in such a short period of time. Every Mom I knew told me how the amount of love that you instantly have for your child. This type of love is incomprehensible until you are there, wow were they ever right!

I never imagined that I would feel such sadness when she cries and I don't know why, or so much joy when she smiles when I walk in the room. I still love the way she smells (even the not so pleasant smells), and the way she smiles when her Mommy or Daddy walks in the room. I am totally amazed by how she is different every single day and how she does something new everytime you look at her. The exhaustion isn't even really that bad, and for me it is self inflicted most of the time. I am so afraid that I am going to miss something with her that I rarely take my eyes or ears off her for more that a minute.

She is growing so fast and it is hard to believe that only 2 months ago she could do absolutely nothing on her own and was never happy unless she was laying on one of us or sleeping right beside us. Now there are times in the day when she wants nothing to do with us and is more content to lay on the floor in her hippo and play. It is bittersweet, I am so happy that she is growing and is becoming more independent by the day and I love to watch her learn and grow and see all the amazement in her eyes, but I already miss the days of endless cuddles.

Motherhood is such an awesome experience, nothing could ever compare.

Controvery over at Michele's blog

2005-11-12T09:23:00.000-05:00

So I was just reading my daily blogs and came across an extremely interesting topic at Michele's blog. Pop on over, tell her I sent you and put in your 2 cents worth!

Cheers!

Happy Weekend!

Whooo Hoooo!

2005-11-11T11:13:00.000-05:00

I just got back from gretting Hannah weighed and she has broken another weight category, she is now weighing in at a heafty...

8lbs 4oz!!!

Go breast milk! That's 6oz in 7 days! 11 in 14! I am so proud of my baby girl!

SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

2005-11-10T09:08:00.000-05:00

One of the joys of being a new parent is that you get the see the sun rise everymorning, along with the sunrise this morning came snow! I thought it was just the lack of sleep playing tricks with my eyes but then I looked a little closer. Sure enough those were snowflakes floating through the street light glow, falling ever so quietly to the street, and then melting as if they had never even appeared.

I really hope that the first real snow fall holds off until we move. We have been really lucky with the past two moves and the snow waited until we were in our new dwelling. This being the last move that we will do for many many years, I really hope that mother nature complies with our wishes.

Nothing too new in my world, still waiting for a certain work4bandwidth perpective on the years most interesting events, I guess he does have the better part of a month to comment though..lol

Cheers all!

World Happenings 2005 update

2005-11-06T08:12:00.000-05:00

Ok so far this is what we are up to...
1. The Pope Died
2. Rosa Parks Died
3. Katrina and other hurricanes ravage the states.
4. Gas 1.38/l... ouch!
5. Peter Jennings Dies of lung cancer
6. Prince Charles and Camilla
7. Hussein on Trial
8. Martha goes to jail
9. Trump gets married again and wife gets prego!
10. All the star stuff
11. Iraq... ugh
12. Jolly Green Giant guy(Elmer Dresslar) dies of cancer
13. Bought our first house

Anything Canadian?
Anything not American?
Like what happened significant in other countries?

Here are a few of my own:
1. Canada makes same sex marriage legal.
2. Lance Armstrong wins 7th TDF
3. The hockey strike ends, salary cap begins and the shoot out happens!( and the Leafs win the cup... sorry that's me dreaming again!)

Hey Mike and Aimee and Bill and John, I know you 4 will have an up to date perspective on the world... anti up!

Ok fellow members of blog land need your help...

2005-11-04T09:19:00.000-05:00

I have been working on Hannah's baby books( in the best procrastinating fashion I know how) and one of the sections is important things that happened the year I was born. Since everyone that pops by here is unique and has different interests I thought this would be the best spot to dig up stuff from the year. So please add your comments as to a few things that you found important or interesting this year, I am gonna print them off and add them to her baby book. She will always them have an insight on all things interesting from 2005!

Thanks

Leanne

Things that make you life easier as a parent

2005-11-01T18:42:00.000-05:00

1. Windows Media Player graphics( and the Rolling Stones!)
2. Baby Einstein... everything the books the DVDs the toys
3. Classical Music
4. A really good baby monitor( this allows you to have a shower that is longer than 5 minutes
5. The Jeep!

All of the above things have had a huge impact on my quality of life in the past few days. I never thought that I would be the type of parent to plunk my child in front of the TV, but I have no guilt when I need a few minutes to myself and it is a Baby Einstein Educational Mind stimulating DVD that she is watching. Plus she loves it!

For Auntie Aimee... this is one of the pics Chris took when he was half listening to you.

New Pics from the weekend

2005-10-31T09:17:00.000-05:00

So my free flicker space is up for the month so here are a few favs from the weekend with Grandma Joan and Grampy Nat. More can be found on Hannah's flicker page.

Oh and btw the house is officially ours :)

Congrats Meghann and Chris

2005-10-31T09:13:00.000-05:00

A beautiful baby girl!

Dakota GeGraw (middle name still undecided)

Saturday October 29th at 7:54 a.m

6 pounds 10 ounces 20 inches

Enjoy every moment of her you will cherish these moments forever.

Quick Update

2005-10-29T07:31:00.000-04:00

Sorry it has been a couple days, life has been crazy wrapping up the house stuff and such.
Hannah has officially been discharged from Midwifery care. I say this with mixed emotions. I am glad that I no longer have to go to the office almost weekly, and I am elated that she has had good enough progress to be discharged, but I am sad for as many reasons. I will miss all the ladies at the office and the fabulous care that Hannah and I recieved in the past 9 months. I will miss seeing all the other pregos and babies that are healthy and well, and I will miss all the constant encouragement. Poor little Hannah is now released into the world of Western Medicine and doctors offices full of sickos. Ugh... reality!

So the numbers....
At 6 weeks 3 days old Hannah was 7lbs 9oz ( a 5 oz gain in 7 days) and 21.1 inches long ( almost a 2 inch gain in 6 weeks). Her heart and lungs and tummy are clear and functioning well. Her reflexes and reactions are right on pace for a little girl her age and her head control is awesome. Her head grew too, but I can't remember the numbers for that. How weird is it that at 6 weeks old she is only 1 ounce smaller that her Daddy when he was born and at birth she was 1 ounce bigger than me when I was born. She is our little girl that is for sure.

Well back to reality, Hannah has visitors this weekend, Grandma Joan and Grampy Nat are here this weekend, we also have to do a house inspection and sign the rest of the house papers this weekend.

I will post again soon, till then, who the hell ordered the minus anything weather? It was -2 when I started to post and it's -3 now! I am already hating winter!

how much?

2005-10-25T19:01:00.000-04:00

My blog is worth $3,951.78.
How much is your blog worth?

New things...

2005-10-25T14:05:00.000-04:00

Well I made the cake from Michelle's blog and it was awesome! I highly recommend it! IT did however take me the better part of 3 hours to make it and that was not including the 47 mins to bake it. Hannah was having no part of Mommy baking yesterday! I would feed her she would fall asleep and I would lay her down, head to the kitchen and get a single ingredient into the bowl and she would wake up and we would repeat the cycle! When Chris came home I finally got to concentrate on it because she slept for almost an hour on his chest!

I posted a bunch of new pics on My Flicker recently!

I am on a baking frenzy right now, all things apple! In the past 2 weeks I have bakes an apple pie, 24 apple tarts, applesaue a couple of times, apple crisp and most recently apple cake. Chris is loving it and my house smells so tasty :)

I am really enjoying being a domestic goddess however the pay sucks. I get to cook and bake and lounge in my jammies till noon if I want to. My house has never been cleaner and I have never been happier. I only wish that it was a little bit warmer so that we could go out for walks everyday. With Hannah being so small she doesn't fit into any of her really warm clothes yet. I think that the stroller has been used maybe 1/2 a dozen times at this point and both carriers have about the same amount of miles on them.

I think that I am going to go back to the gym tomorrow. Chris usually lets me have a couple hours to myself everyday so that he can spend time with Hannah, tomorrow I think I will go back to the gym on my free time. All this baking is not helping me lose the baby weight. Since I am only into 2 of the 14 pairs of jeans I own I think I need to get my butt in gear.

That's it for now.

Li'l Goats

2005-10-24T11:11:00.000-04:00

As I am sure I have mentioned before I have found a wonderful line of baby products that work miracles on Hannah's sensitive skin. She was fortunate enough to inherit my fragrance sensitivity which has made bathtime and diaper changes a bit of a crap shoot( no pun intended).

Well the line of products that I have found to be saving grace is Canus Li'l Goats Milk!

The weekend of Hannah's first road trip I didn't their line of zinc cream with me substituting it for a small container of Penatin that I had in the diaper bag... Well that was a HUGE mistake! Hannah's poor little bum became red and raw after only 1 diaper change with Penatin. I had some Sudocreme with me too and the same results occurred. Needless to say I had one cranky passenger on my hands all weekend. As soon as I got home I changed her and slathered on the Li'l Goats Milk Zinc Ointment, by the next diaper change her bum was back to normal!

Now any of you who have kiddies know how ear piercing a sore bum cry is, so this product not only helps her bum it also helps my ears!

So after that weekend I decided to send Canus a quick email stating how I was thrilled with the product and how I have since then recommended it to several friends and even given it as gifts. I received a response from a lovely lady named Ann thanking me for my email and requesting my address so that she could send me a parcel of samples. I so obliged and it arrived today. I am now sitting her with a full size bottle of the Li'l Goats Milk Moisturizing Lotion and a sample size of the Shampoo/Body wash. Due to the excessive handwashing associated with having a baby the lotion was much appreciated and used immediately. It too meets the same product excellence as their Zinc Ointment, not only great for babies but great for Mommys!

I just wanted to give credit where credit is due, it is so rare in today's day and age to find great customer service coupled with great products. Way to go Canus!

The Baker's Rack

2005-10-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

The Baker's Rack

For the baker in all of us! I found this site by way of Carmi.

I will let you all know how the apple cake turns out, I intend to bake it today if my darling Hannah will nap for a couple of hours.

Speaking of napping, Hannah has slept 6 consecutive hours in a row 2 nights in a row, from 9ish to 3:25am. Now if only we can get her to move that from say 11pm to 5am then sleep would not be such a novelty for Mommy!

Hannah's First Dress

2005-10-23T15:09:00.000-04:00

Today we went out for Sunday breakfast before everyone headed out Jeepin and I made sure that Hannah was dressed appropriatly in her best Sunday dress. It is hard to believe that she will be 6 weeks old tomorrow and she is still comfortably fitting into preemie clothes. She has however graduated into the next size of diapers and is starting to be able to wear a few of her 0-3 months sleepers. She may actually get to wear most of her 6 snowsuits this winter.

Holy Crap

2005-10-21T12:45:00.000-04:00

WE got it!
WE have a house!
WE have a yard!
WE have 2 bathrooms and a washer and a dryer and a fridge and a stove and 4 bedrooms and NO LANDLORD!!!!

WOW, amazing what can happen in your life in 24 hours!

So as of December 5th 2005 we take possession of this house!

I am completely dumbfounded!

Huge day in my world

2005-10-20T22:44:00.000-04:00

Well it started with a visit to the midwife... Hannah is back on the gaining path and is finally over 7lbs! She is up 7 oz in 7 days and is now 7lbs 4oz! Go boobie moo!

Then the 3 of us went out looking at houses today... (another arson fire in the neighbourhood tonight, just pure coincidence)... and actually put in a conditional offer on one the agent took us by on his hunch that we might like it. The first 2 we looked at were dumps with great lots the second is a gem with a pretty good lot in a better neighbourhood... check it out!

OH AND

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY BIZ!

Whooo Hoooo!

2005-10-19T09:13:00.001-04:00

We woke up yesterday morning and Hannah's Red Rash of Baby has cleared up! We are back to beautiful clear baby soft skin. After talking to my midwife about the rash she figured it was a reaction to something that she was around. Since it was only on her face and neck and upper chest the first thing I eliminated was Bounce sheets from mine and Chris's laundry. She is always rubbing up against our clothes so it was worth a try. It seems to be the culprit. So Chris and I will suffer through rough jeans and staticy clothes because we love our daughter. A small price to pay to enjoy her beauty.

Blog , Blah, Blah

2005-10-16T11:07:00.000-04:00

Hannah Yesterday in a brief break from feeding.

Thank you to Heather for writing this blog entry and thank you to Carmi for writing about it and sending me down the path to reading it.

For those of you who know what has been going on in my life as a new Mom since my last entry you will understand how important Heather's entry would be to someone like me. For those who don't know the deal I will explain.

On Thursday last Hannah and I ventured to the Midwife for our 1 month appointment. Now Hannah being such a little tyke at birth it is really important that she gains weight well, this unfortunately was not the case. Due to her size they would like her to put on 2/3 oz. or more a day. In 16 days Hannah only put on 8 oz... That breaks down to 1/2 oz per day and clearly below the minimum requirement. After discussing her behaviours over the past 2 weeks, my midwife and I devised a plan. I will spare you the details but lets just say that it has resulted in Hannah cluster feeding for anywhere between 2 and 4 hours at a time. This has resulted in one really tired, sore and stressed out Mommy and one very irritated Daddy. For all the reasons Heather mentioned in her blog and for several of my own ( convenience being the #1) I am determined to breastfeed until Hannah is 6 months old. Well last night in one of her many stints of incessant feeding the thought of formula entered my head. Maybe it was the delirium that is brought on by sleep deprivation, or maybe it was the whole idea of someone else getting to feed her without me having to bruise my breasts with a pump( I have a new one in transit as I type this to solve the bruising issue), or maybe it was just me forgetting all the excellent reasons why breast feeding is a superior method over formula feeding. Needless to say Heather's entry has put me back on the path. Like every other tough moment in life I am sure that this too will pass.
For those of you who are pregnant or are trying to get pregnant, please do not let this sway you from breastfeeding. It can be very difficult to get the hang of it, especially if Mom is a control freak and baby is very tiny. Believe me when I say it will get easier, there is a huge learning curve with having a newborn that no book can prepare you for. Baby's and Mommy's are like snowflakes no two are alike and no two present themselves in the same manner twice. Patience and persistence will get you through this. Your baby deserves it.

So now that I am revitalized and back on the determined breastfeeding path, I again want to thank Heather and Carmi and Tess from Positively BreastFeeding for helping me through this bump in the road.

For those of you following the numbers these are them...
Hannah @ birth 5lbs 13 oz
Day after birth 5lbs 9oz
Day 5 5lbs 12 oz
2 week visit 6lbs 5 oz
4 week visit 6lbs 13 oz
5 week visit ... shooting for 7lbs 2 oz at least!

Stay tuned.

Following mkuiack's lead

2005-10-13T10:05:00.000-04:00

mkuiack

Top Ten Reasons I Love My New Job
aka Mom!

10. A year off of my other job.
9. Shopping for little girls is so much fun.
8. The look in her eyes when she looks at me.
7. The look in his eyes when he looks at her.
6. The freedom to nap, repeatedly!
5. The peacefulness of a baby's sleep.
4. The smell of her.
3. Bathtime Smiles.
2. They said I would never be one, but love brought her.

and the number one reason why I love my new job.....

1. Because it is the hardest job I have ever had with the crapiest pay but the biggest rewards, no other job could match unconditional love.

Hannah is 1 month old today

2005-10-12T11:07:00.000-04:00

Hannah and Mommy had a chat about hockey and such today, since Hannah is a month old now she understands the importance of being a Leafs fan and this was her response when we discussed the Habs and what she should think of them!

What you mean the Leafs won last night! Well it is about time!

Sleep....

2005-10-11T19:04:00.000-04:00

It's A Daddy and Hannah thing!

Hannah's First Thanksgiving

2005-10-10T09:41:00.000-04:00

Well there was another roadtrip this weekend, this time east to Grandma and Grandpa Fenton's.
They had an open house for everyone in the family to come and meet Hannah, Grandpa John and Step Grandma Debbie were there too. Hannah got to meet lots of people, Great Aunt Lori and Great Uncle Paul, Cousins Jason and Dawn and their daughter Madi, Great Aunt Janet and Auntie Janet(aka Auntie Toad), Great Grandma Andrus and various other drop ins over the course of the weekend. It was a quick visit, again Hannah was really fussy since pass the baby game was being played and she hates it.

There were some great pics taken though...

4 Generations
Hannah and her
Mommy,
Grandma
and
Great Grandma

Close up of Hannah
and her
Great Grandma Gladys.

More on My Flicker page. Saturday night we all watched the Leafs get squished by the damn Habs. So far Hannah has not seen the Leafs win... 0 and 2, stupid shoot out!
Well that is all for now enjoy the pics.

Bathtime smiles

2005-10-06T18:49:00.000-04:00

Hannah is starting to Smile :)

Maybe it's a birthday smile for her Auntie Melissa... Happy 21st Melissa!

These are why

2005-10-06T09:39:00.000-04:00

She needs
slippers!

For the Little Leafs Fan

2005-10-05T23:23:00.000-04:00

These would be a great gift for Hannah for Christmas or for any other reason someone may have to purchase her a great pair of booties. They can be found here!

Big Weekend

2005-10-03T17:05:00.000-04:00

Well Hannah went on her first road trip this weekend. She is not much for the car seat but loves the Jeep once it is moving. We house hopped all weekend, started out at her Great Uncle Peter's, just north of Pickering where we stayed the night. The next afternoon we moved on to Oshawa to her Great Aunt Betty's, then to Whitby to her Great Aunt Lucy's then all the way to Beaverton to visit Grandma Joan and Step Grandpa Nat. Once we got to Beaverton we had an early Thanksgiving celebration complete with Uncle Patrick, Aunt Melissa and Turkey :)

I love Turkey! Probably since I never got it at home when I was growing up. My Mom doesn't like it and would not cook it, I would eat it once a week if I could.
I also got carrot cake :-p Yummy! Joan makes it just right, 2 inches of cake and half an inch of icing, it was awesome, and still is(there is a bit left in my fridge).

Grandma Joan gave Hannah a bath which she loved! She was pretty good all weekend but really fussy, she is really not a big fan of pass the baby, the game that everyone loves to play with a newborn.

Finally got home last night around 7 after making a visit to the Vaughn Mills Mall. Nno really great deals to speak of for me but Hannah got a new denim dress for 8 bucks and Chris got a sweet Quicksilver snowboarding jacket for 91 bucks tax in!

As for today... Hannah is officially 3 weeks old! She is growing like a weed. This weekend she grew out of her first set of preemie outfits and is now wearing some of her 1 month stuff. Only a week ahead of schedule. Actually it is her length that has forced her out of the preemie stuff, she is still skinny enough for them, but she still looks pretty damn cute in her pink jailhouse stripes that she got from her Great Aunt Peggy and Great Uncle Richard.

I celebrated her birth today in 2 ways... First I went for a bike ride! OMG was it awesome! The freedom that I missed so much since about 20 weeks pregnant. That was the point that I had to retire the bike to the basement until I could handle a seat again. Next summer I will be back at it full time with a baby jail in tow! The second thing I did was let Daddy feed Hannah for the first time. I was really afraid of nipple confusion but since she has taken a pacifier without any ill effects on breastfeeding we tried a bottle out today with pumped milk and everything seems to be fine. She ate a whole ounce for her Daddy then came back for more to me. Oh my little piggy. He was such a proud Daddy, she was a bit confused though not quite sure what to think of a hairy shest complete with food. Now that we know that she will eat from a bottle that means that I will actually get to learn how to snowboard this winter. Grandma Joan will get lots of Hannah time since she lives near the ski hills!

Well that's all for today folks.

Hearing Test Results...

2005-09-28T22:07:00.000-04:00

She passed :)

For those of you who are expecting you may not know that your little one will get their hearing tested when you are in the hospital if you so choose to stay overnight or for a couple days. It is a simple test, non invasive, but if your little one does not pass(very probably if done under 48 hours) then you get referred to get one done outside the hospital. That is what happened with Hannah.

Hannah's little ears were full of gunk when she got tested at the hospital and only passed on the right ear so we had to go get retested today. After a pretty trying time( she did not like being a test guinea pig and cried and fussed a lot) we finally got a pass.

Advice for those of you who are expecting:
1) Don't be alarmed if your little one gets a referral to have another test done, little babies get more referrals and the test is supposed to be done after 48 hours(post birth) but sometimes they jump the gun, hence the referral.
2) If you have to get a referral test done, try and make sure that your little one is asleep for it, it will make your life a lot easier.
3) If you have to get a referral test done, bring comfort measures in case you need to settle him or her down. Even if you have just fed him or her make sure that you bring a bottle if you are using formula or have a boob ready if you are breast feeding. The only way that we could get Hannah to calm down was to feed her, again, I had just fed her not even an hour before. Once she was being fed she aced the test.

On a non Hannah note:

Congratulations Mr. Kuiack on your escape!!

Maybe it's because...

2005-09-28T10:27:00.000-04:00

I have a baby in the car now, or maybe it's because all the students are back in the city, or maybe it's because I am getting older, but damn is there a lot of bad drivers in the City of London. I can't count how many times in the past 2 weeks I have encountered a horrific driver. Why isn't there a website that you can go to that will allow you to post the make model and liscence plate number of all vehicles that contain bad drivers. Then of course a description of the bad driver too since we all know that cars have many drivers. I think that this would be an excellent contribution to society.

So now that I have a child, there is endless amounts of paperwork that needs to be done in order to register your child as a human being ( I should have tried to register her as a puppy to see if it was any easier). I have even made it into City Hall to give them money so that Hannah can be officially born (who would have thought that there is a $30 fee to be born)! Dealing with the city of London has been the least painful portion of the government to deal with so far. I mean I have dealt with the Provincial divisions with the maternity leave (PIA), Federal divisions with child tax credit (bigger PIA) and now municipal for the record of live birth. The lady that I dealt with @ City Hall was pleasent and I even got to use interact( holy crap the government made something convenient!), I would say the whole process took less that 3 minutes. It actually took me longer to ride the elevator up and down, and took me 10 x a long to fill out all the paperwork. Way to Go City Hall for doing something right!

Now can you try and clean up the riff raff that live in my neighbourhood?

As for my neighbourhood, last week there was a shooting about a block from my house, and 2 nights ago Chris was outside working on the Jeep and two grown men, in their 40's, decided that our intersection was the perfect place to start a brawl. Chris in all his manly stature walked over with the handle to his jeep jack and promptly told them to leave the neighbourhood before he ended the fight... LOL, go figure they left! Within minutes half a dozen cruisers showed up (of course the involved men had already bolted). The response time for the cops in this area is impeccable since we are only 2 blocks from the cop shop, and pinched conveniently between a Country Style and a Timmies! As terrible as the neighbourhood sounds, I feel ridiculously safe here due to the fact that I am so close to the cop shop.

Still, I can't wait to move. We really want to buy a house, hopefully in the spring, definatly before I go back to work. At this point I don't even care where we move to as long as we have a yard for Hannah so she can play in the grass and so we can get a puppy for her to grow up with. I also require high speed internet and Chris requires a garage, other than that our requirements are pretty minimal. I look forward to having a home, a place that I can paint or renovate ordo what ever I want without having to worry about a landlord.

Well that is all for now, need to get ready Hannah has a hearing test today.

The Verdict

2005-09-27T15:44:00.000-04:00

Hannah is officially 6lbs 5 oz! She has put on 9 oz in 10 days!
Celeste (my midwife) gave her a clean bill of health :)

2 weeks old today

2005-09-26T13:28:00.000-04:00

4 days old
5 lbs 12 oz

14 days old
weight ??

Can you see a difference?

We have a 2 week follow up appointment tomorrow with the midwife and I am guessing Hannah is close to 7 lbs now.

What do you think?

Drunk Baby

2005-09-25T19:47:00.000-04:00

For those of you who are familiar with the look on a baby's face post breastfeeding session this should look very familiar to you. For those of you who are not familiar I like to coin it as milk drunk. It is a sight that no mother can describe without a picture.

When will...

2005-09-24T17:40:00.000-04:00

Babies come minus the smell of dirty diapers?
It is amazing to me how fast you become desensitized to the smell of them, yet as soon as you leave the environment then come back you are rapidly reminded about what you had so eagerly forgotten.

One day in the future do you think that they (the creative geniuses of this world), will develop a diaper that will eliminate odours as soon as they are filled with baby by product. They can create cars that have a byproduct of water and an oven that will clean itself so why not a diaper that smells awesome as soon as it is soiled!

One day!

Better Mr. Kuiack?

The Saturday visit...

2005-09-24T11:41:00.000-04:00

Hi this is Hannah... Today I had new visitors... Grandpa Ken and Auntie Toad were here as you can see by the pictures. They came with Andrea the baby nurse(aka Momma). Unfortunately there are no pictures of Andrea holding me on Mommy and Daddy's camera but Auntie Toad got some so I am sure that they will make it to the blog at some point. Momma changes my bum and showed Mommy lots of stuff, like how to take care of my blocked tear duct and how to make a homemade sling so that she can carry me around the house and still have her hands free. It was a great visit and everyone loved me. Momma also brought presents for me and Mommy, thank you the running suit is great, not sure how many marathons I will be doing in it but I promise to keep Mommy running in circles everytime that I have it on.

Well that is all for today, time to get some food and then we are gonna go to the park apparently, not sure what this park thing is that Mommy speaks of but I guess I will find out. Oh before I forget, thank you to Momma and Auntie Melissa, Momma for the trick that you told Mommy about how to make the carrier work for my little body, and thank you to Auntie Melissa for buying Mommy and Daddy the carrier. Mommy and I went for a huge long walk last night, she got exercise and I got to sleep in the fresh air of the outside world, it was great!
Time to go, more later after the park.
Smiles and Kisses
Hannah

I have rocker hair!

2005-09-23T12:07:00.000-04:00

Bath day means that Mommy gets to make my hair look like I belong in a rock band!
Ya I know I don't have a lot of hair, so I belong to an aging rock band who wear diapers and crap themselves, what's your point?

The best pic yet

2005-09-22T10:44:00.000-04:00

I love black and white photos.

Sleeping on Mommy's Lap

2005-09-21T09:53:00.000-04:00

Means that Mommy has 2 hands free to blog for a bit.

It amazes me how as soon as you become a Mom this innate ability to do everything with one hand magically appears. Now typing for example is usually loaded with typos and grammatical short forms but for those of you who know me best this is not that different from my typing regularly. However, this morning I astounded myself with my ability to make toast single handedly, the PB was a little tricky but the jam was a breeze, for future mommy's the trick is use a spoon! I have even managed to wash my hands using soap and water single handedly... That was a trick in its own right, would love to see that on playback.

Mommy had a rough day yesterday ( sorry I missed your birthday Kris ) Hannah cried most of the day, I know that this is my fault since I am trying really hard to keep her awake during the day a fair amount so that I can get at least 4 hours sleep in a stretch at night ( she has her days and nights mixed up). Even though the crying is due to my doing it is still very trying, made me feel so guilty. I don't know what I would do if it were not for my wonderful boyfriend, he called me at 9:30 to tell me that he was only going to work a half shift so that he could come home and watch Hannah and give me a break and some sleep. Bless him! Sleep is glorious, I got almost 6 hours( split up of course). I feel way better today.

Hannah has had a really big week so far this week, lots of new faces in her world. Monday Uncle Patrick and his ex- girlfriend Priscilla( I wish she was his current girlfriend, she is awesome) came for a visit first thing in the morning and then a bit later Amanda and her hubby Jay came by. Thank you for the gorgeous keepsake photoalbum guys, it will be treasured forever. In the afternoon on Monday Mommy and Hannah escaped from the world for a couple hours and went and visited the people at work. Of course she was a hit, but we didn't stay long because the 2nd floor was sick. I never thought I would say this but, I miss work. I miss the energy, the people and the excitement of the hunt and kill. I am sure that I will be good and ready to go back by September of next year, especially since I will be going back as a level 3 agent :) I found that out when I popped in on Monday, just goes to prove that those who work hard are rewarded accordingly.

Tuesday we had no in house visitors but Grandpa John was on his way through London so we went to the Flying J and met him for a few minutes so that he could see Hannah again. She looks totally different to him now since the last time that he saw her she was only a couple hours old and all bundled up in blankets, yesterday she had on pretty pink velour overalls and looked like a doll :) After a quick visit with Grandpa we went over to visit Auntie Aimee, Uncle Bill and Caelan. The cats and Brynn(the dog) we so curious of Hannah and Auntie Aimee was totally in love. Uncle Bill didn't get to spend much time with Miss Hannah because Caelan was in no mood to share his Daddy with anyone yesterday. When we were getting ready to leave Caelan finally acknowledged Baby Hannahpan... Soon I am sure he will be all over her, until then we will patiently wait for him to come around.

Tuesday was huge milestone day for Hannah though, she lost her stumpy :) Daddy was changing her diaper while Mommy was trying to nap when it came off. Daddy of course had to come in and wake Mommy up to tell her, he was so excited and proud of his little girl. It was cute.

Well today is the last day of Summer/ first day of Fall, and so far I am not sure what the day will entail, when Daddy gets up Mommy is gonna go have a couple hours of Mommy time, wash the Jeep and do some groceries, you know adult things but after that who knows what will be on the agenda.

Time to go steal a quick shower while sleeping beauty is still sleeping.

Mother hood still rocks BTW, I love it, even when she cries all day.
New pictures on My Flicker Site too.

A week already

2005-09-19T09:26:00.000-04:00

Can you believe that Hannah is already a week old!

I put her in her little chair this morning which only 3 days ago she hated and now she loves it, even with the vibrating on.

I love being a Mom. It is the greatest feeling in the world to know that everytime those little eyes look at you that you are the most important person in her universe. It amazes me how absolutly in love with her I am.

Here is Hannah on her week old birthday :)

Hannah had a visitor today...

2005-09-17T22:44:00.000-04:00

It was Auntie Melissa, she drove all the way from North Bay to see her. Since Mommy is healing really fast and feeling much better she is lifting the 7 day visit rule a few days early. So let the visiting begin folks.

Remember cookies and carrot cake are perfectly acceptable gifts for mom, not that there is any need for gifts of course, but mmmmmm cookies and cake :) need I say more. So if you want to visit just give me a ring, after 12 noon is best for us, but we can come to you too if you prefer.

On a somber note, one of my bestest friends in the entire world lost his best friend yesterday.

Dempsey(aka Mr. Snuffer) took his last breaths yesterday and fulfilled his long boxer life. He outlived the average boxer by two years, but will be deeply missed by all of us who knew him.
This boxer had character like no other, and gas to surpass his character. He is the only dog I know that could clear a room in 2 seconds flat, make your eyes water and make you run all at the same time. He lived for his red thing(aka Kong) and his Brynn(his doggy best friend) and his family. He loved his Max and Gypsy( his 2 feline friends) but mostly he worshiped his Bill.

May you enjoy all the red things in the big doggy park in the sky Dempsey.

My heart goes out to you Bill, Aimee and Caelan, we all loved him.

The time has come to...

2005-09-16T17:28:00.000-04:00

Get the funk off :)

Well actually,
Hannah peed
all over the
couch and
Daddy this
afternoon,
resulting in
her first bath.

In other news, Motherhood is awesome, tiring but that is a small trade off for what you get in exchange. Yes, to all of those you know me, I hated being pregnant( yes really, close your mouth) but had I of known that this was going to be the end result I might have not been so grumpy all the time. Maybe next time it will be different.

More Hannah and her

2005-09-16T00:42:00.000-04:00

and her
Uncle
Patrick

Daddy
and her
Grandpa John

1st outfit
that Daddy
bought,
I wear a
preemie
size!

1st sleep in
the cradle
with her
blankie from
Great
Grandma
Grace

Hannah and Her..

2005-09-15T10:22:00.000-04:00

Daddy

Grandma
Joan

Grandma
Phyllis

Mommy

Hannah Elizabeth Grace

2005-09-14T00:42:00.000-04:00

Well folks she has finally arrived.
Labour was really fast, 7.5 hours in total, I had to be induced and was 12 days over due by the time she was born.

Here are the stats
Hannah Elizabeth Grace
Sept 12th 2005
7:57am
5lbs 13oz
19.25 inches
No drug delivery(other than the induction)

Here are a couple quick pics, of our little ham, she is an awesome baby, so quiet and calm. I never knew that it was possible to love someone so much at first glance. We are both so totally in love with her it is by far the most amazing feeling ever.

I need people to promise....

2005-09-07T22:30:00.000-04:00

So everyone who knows me and knows that I am pregnant also know that my wishes for this delivery are to go 100 % natural.

Relax I am not saying that I am in labour!

I am of 100% sane mind and body right now and pain free!

The reason for this entry is to express a wish that I am vey firm on.

Since I want to do this 100% natural and I want to leave the hospital ASAP after the delivery I will be doing all of my recovery at home.

It is very very very important to me that I do what is best for the baby and me in the first 7 days! This means rest, and calm. This means no visitors for the first week please!

I know that there are a few of you who think this does not include you, you are wrong this includes you! The only exception to this wish is my mother, and that is because she is coming to take care of me, ie: cook, clean, do laundry and such.

I know a few of you think that this is rude, or think that you have the right because you are family,but I encourage those of you who have had children to look back to the first week that you were a parent. You were tired, you were in awwww, and not to mention this was a completely new experience that you needed time to figure out how to do everything.

I know that you all will want to see the baby, I understand this, believe me no one wants to see this baby more that Chris and I. Of course we want to show him or her off to the world as the proud parents that we will be, but please respect my wishes. Stay away for the first 7 days. This baby will be around for a long time, and you will have plenty of opportunities to meet and great the little one, so all I ask is of this one little example of respect. This is the best gift that you could give us.

I am going to breastfeed without supplementation for hopefully the first 6 months and the first week is crucial to establish good feeding patterns, not to mention I will be sore and tired and Chris will be tired from the major adjustment in our lives. Due to the fact that I am adamant about breastfeeding without supplementation, this means feeding every 2 hours around the clock to establish a pattern. No one other than me will be doing this, as you can well imagine, so that means that I will be more tired than anyone else and will want to sleep when not nursing.

If you need documentation to prove to you how important this time is for us check out this article... or this one.

My midwife has also recommended this time and is not afraid to kick people out if they show up... Yes she will be here on day 1, 3 and 5 after the birth.

People may think that I am being selfish, go ahead, I am! I will only have my first baby once, and this is 7 days that I want all to myself, just me the baby and Chris.

Please respect my wishes. Please!

Don't....

2005-09-05T22:27:00.000-04:00

Go out and eat 25 hot/suicide wings in hopes that it will put you into labour. All it will do is give you a mean case of indigestion.
Ohhhh my aching belly!
I should have known better, but at least I found a Shoppers that was open to get some Rolaids from.
Phew.

I want these...

2005-09-02T21:58:00.000-04:00

Attention parents to be or potential gift buyers...

This site has the coolest baby clothes... ummm can you say, mullett, or stinger, or slammin the president. All kids need one of these shirts or one of these! Ok maybe not the kids but the parents, aunts, uncles, and other sick minded adults in their lives need the kids to wear them. Entertainment value alone is priceless.