Tuesday 29 April 2008

Barely holding it together.....

I'm well into my last week with my babies! It just really hit me around noon today when we returned home from our last Tuesday morning playgroup. I SO don't want to go back to work!! I wish there was a way I could stay at home with them, but there just isn't....

At least Jean-Paul will be staying home with them and I don't have the added anxiety of leaving them in a daycare. Alex would be fine, but I'm not sure about Zach. So we're very lucky that way.

The "Please don't leave me, Mom!" certainly doesn't help. Alex has been used to having me around now for over a year. I've been with her full-time for half her life! And ALL of Zach's.... I'm not sure who this is harder on!!

Not as good as night one, but not bad...

So, the second "crib night" wasn't quite as easy. Zach wasn't as dead tired when he was put to bed, so it took longer to get him down (probably about 45 minutes - not constant - but still...). He was asleep until about 5:10 and it took about 40 minutes to get him down again. (According to Jean-Paul because Alex and I are still camping in the playroom). Then we had to wake Zach up around 8:15 because we needed to be ready in time to head out for playgroup today.

Monday 28 April 2008

I feel itchy already!

I have an interview with Abell Pest Control on Thursday for their new sales trainer position. (Comes with a company car - including gas card and maintenance card. Not bad!)

Wish me luck! (I think)

So far, so good...

As mentioned in the previous post (OK. Almost two months later! TONIGHT is the night.) last night was get-Zach-into-his-crib-if-it-kills-us night. It went WAY better than we anticipated! Jean-Paul put him down around 8:30 or so (later than we would normally do it) and it only took about 10-15 minutes to get him to sleep! AND he slept until 4:30 when a coughing fit woke him up. Jean-Paul only had to pick-up/put-down about 4 times!! That was it until 7:20 this morning.

We'll see how "night 2" goes.....

Sunday 27 April 2008

OK. Almost two months later! TONIGHT is the night.

Here we go with the crib again. As mentioned in these posts:
Tonight's the night - March 4
Wasn't last night. Won't be tonight - March 5
The crib plans are completely derailed - March 6
I can't believe it's been that long since the last planned attempt!!

We're going to try to get Zach sleeping (continuously!) in his crib tonight (and tomorrow night and probably the next night). Jean-Paul is doing all the hard work. It's suggested the non-main caregiver (i.e. Mommy) be the one to do the pick-up/put-down method. It's also wise only one person does the deed. If you change the person part way through it's apparently like starting over.

I did this with Zach when he was 1 1/2 months old and it took an hour and a half. He was fine from that point on. Now that he's one - and way more aware of things - it's NOT going to be that easy. I really feel for Jean-Paul.

Unfortunately we don't have the benefit of having Alexandria elsewhere this time. Alexandria and I are setting up camp in the playroom. At least we'll be farther from the crying.... I'll still be able to hear it - and will probably have silent tears streaming down my face....

Saturday 26 April 2008

Our Little Radio Star

Alexandria was on KoolFM yesterday for donating to their Poster Boy campaign (a fundraiser for the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre). She brought a toonie to donate. When we walked into the trailer they have set up in front of the hospital, Alexandria's eyes went wide and she said "wow.....". She thought it was pretty cool. If you ask her, "It had couches and a bathroom and a kitchen and a bedroom. And it was on wheels! It was a house you could drive!!"

Anyway, they thought she was too cute for words and put her on the air. Here is the clip. Alexandria on KoolFM. Alex's part is about 55 seconds in (or about half-way through).

Enjoy!

Thursday 24 April 2008

Alexandria's first "Jell-o shot"

Looks like she'll be pretty good at this by the time she gets old enough for the real ones!

The teeth!

Here they are! He got his top ones first, then the bottom two came in. He got 4 teeth in the span of 3 weeks! Poor little dude!!

Mommy by Alex and Alex by Mommy




Playing with Daddy



Maple Syrup Festival

(Yes, it was 3 weeks ago. I'm a bit behind!)

Grandma watched Zachary so that Mommy, Grandpa and Alexandria could go to the Maple Syrup Festival. We had a great day!

Not sure if you can really tell by this picture, but the trailer was held on with DUCT TAPE! Not a safety chain. Nope. Duct tape.
Enjoying the tractor.
Hee hee. Chickens.
This was her favourite part, by far! She got to milk a fake cow! Who wouldn't love it!?
Milking the "cow"

Did I mention she loved the cow?!Riding "Horse Grandpa"
I think that might have been the line up for the washroom. Not sure. There were a lot of lines!Helloooo baby goat!What better way to top off the day than ice cream! Thanks for the treats, Grandpa!Playing on the firetruck while Grandpa waits in the line for the hayride back to the car.

Wednesday 23 April 2008

I hate doing taxes....

That's pretty much all there is to this post. Not much else to say. (Except - every year my refund looks so good until I do Jean-Paul's taxes!! Grrr!)

Tuesday 15 April 2008

The government part III

Back in January and February I blogged about the government wanting some money back from my LAST maternity leave with Alexandria. Well, turns out they're just taking it off my current benefits..... I was hoping to pay it with an income tax return (yet to be determined if that's happening anyway), but nope. To (sort of) quote Queen:

"They want it all (give it all) they want it all
They want it all and they want it now.
They want it all (yes they want it all) they want it all (hey)
They want it all and they want it now"

Sunday 13 April 2008

Should be rockin' out right now...


Yup. Jeremy, Mary and I should be, at this very moment rockin' out, old-school-style, to Styx, REO Speedwagon and Def Leppard. But no. Joe Elliott (lead vocals) had to go and get an "upper respiratory infection", thus "postponing" the Canadian leg of their tour. Who knows when they will reschedule.... Looks like their North American tour winds up April 27 and their Asia/Europe leg starts May 16. Wonder if they'll put it in between those dates or wait until their whole tour is done July 17 and tack us on the end... We'll see!

Friday 11 April 2008

One more sleep until Movie Night!

It's upon us once again. Annual Movie is less than 24 hours away! It should be lots of fun. Alexandria is very excited that she gets to sleep on her Bob the Builder couch/bed in Mommy and Daddy's room tomorrow night!

Thursday 10 April 2008

What is up with SOCKS?!

Where do they go? What happens to them? How do they escape? Is there an underground railroad for socks that want a better life?!


For a good month or so there have been two widowed socks sitting on Alexandria's dresser, no matches to be found. When I was putting away Alex's laundry the other day BOTH matches suddenly appeared! Then to balance out the sock karma, FOUR more socks were missing their mates!! FOUR!! Four different socks! What the hell!?

I have no idea.....

Wednesday 9 April 2008

More drugs....

After a VERY restless night last night, Zach and I went to the clinic again today. He's got pink eye in both eyes and the ear infection's back. He's also running like a tap and coughing. And you can tell he feels super crappy, too. The eyes started yesterday, so I knew I was going to the clinic today anyway, but after last night we went immediately in the morning. Got there at 8:02am just as they were opening the doors. There was still about a dozen people ahead of us! We were back in the car by 8:37am. Not bad. I had to chase the doctor down to finish asking my questions. He was literally standing at the door shimmying his way out as I was still talking and asking him things. We left with a double prescription - for the eyes and ears. I filled the eye-drop prescription, but was really conflicted about another round of antibiotics. I went to a homeopathic store and I'm trying an alternative first. We'll see how that goes...

Poor little baby boy.... :(

I hope tonight is better than last night! I'm not sure it could be much worse! (I know I just jinxed it). He didn't fall asleep for any length of time until 4am!! (And then I had to get him up to see the doc....)

Tuesday 8 April 2008

Goin' Green

Alexandria's oh-so-blue eyes seem to be changing. Some days they look quite green now. (Apparently Auntie Michelle's eyes did that when she was 3, too).

So it begins....

I have an interview with a placement agency tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. That should be a quicker route to finding work than looking through ads on the internet and newspaper. Most jobs aren't advertised that way anyway!

Guess I'll have to pretty myself up..... Shave my legs. Find some decent shoes. Lose 20 pounds. Put on makeup. Maybe even brush my hair ;)

Monday 7 April 2008

Don't think we'll try watermelon again for a while...

Why? Well, I'll tell you.
We went to Barrie yesterday for Diego's 3 rd birthday. The kids had a blast. There was fun, merriment and yummy food. Amongst that yummy food was a fruit mixture (pineapple, grapes, melon, watermelon). We gave some to Zach. He REALLY liked the watermelon, so he ate quite a bit of it. As Jean-Paul was feeding him some baby food and more pieces of fruit, Zach's little body decided it didn't want that food in there anymore. So, while sitting on my lap.... it all.... came.... out! So, we changed Zach into the only change of clothes we had for him - sleepers. (Note how I said it was the only change of clothes?)

He seemed fine. He was a happy little guy and he was hungry again. Jean-Paul started giving him watermelon again. I said, "Maybe that's not such a great idea." He gave Zach the piece he was holding and then cut him off the watermelon. We opened up the baby food fruit. Zach downed one container in a hurry and we were about 1/3 the way through another one when Jean-Paul (who was holding him this time) felt that surge coming again. Sure enough the floodgates opened again... There was MORE this time.. All over the table, the floor, Zach and Jean-Paul's leg and sock. I have never seen SO MUCH come out of something so small!!

Remember how I said Zach was already in his change of clothes? His sleepers were a complete write-off, so I put him back into his long-sleeve onesie, socks and shoes. Ang (Diego's mom) was very kind and ran back to her house to grab a change of clothes for Zachary. (She also has a little girl who will be one next month). So, Zach got to wear a cute little jogging suit for the rest of the party (as well as home). We'll see Diego and his family next week at movie night, so we can give the clothes back then. Good thing they lived close by to the party (which was at an indoor playground).