My Baby is Free

Today, Baby Girl, you turned free. Free years old! I can hardly belibe it.

Three years ago you came bursting into our lives, like the star of a play bursting onto stage, smiling and singing -- and you've managed to shine in your own spotlight ever since. Despite making us wait for your big entrance, we enthusiastically cheered your arrival on stage.

You are the missing piece that we didn't even know was missing until you filled it's spot, completing our family puzzle perfectly, as you do.

You do things your way, in your own time, just like how you came into our family in your own good time. Refusing to be told how and when, you basically potty trained yourself in a few days, when you were good and ready. In just the last week you learned how to dress yourself. It seems every time I turn around you are mastering something new, on your own (being the third child means fending for yourself a lot more). Rather than try to keep up with you, I find myself sitting back and just observing you, watching you grow your wings and fly...

You are fiercely independent and you have a mind of your own, which you love to share if people around you would just listen. I do love listening to your chatter and stories, except maybe at 8:30 pm, when it's time to sleep and you have to tell us just ONE more thing, or do one more thing, or read one more book, "I promise just ONE more and I'll NEVER ask again". Mm hmm.

You love to be our special helper, whether it's cooking (trying to keep your little hands off hot burners while you sample everything), or laundry (matching socks or throwing folded clothes in the air); if you see a job being done you're the first to say "Can I help?" while pulling a chair behind you, not waiting for an answer.

You are sunshine and thunderclouds. You give the BEST hugs and kisses, and the biggest smiles, even (especially?) at 6 am when it's still dark out. You can throw the most epic tantrums. Go big or go home, right? You may be the littlest but you won't let that stop you from making the biggest impression. You're tenacious, and spunky, and you give mommy more gray hairs than anyone. You've found yourself in plenty of sticky situations, but you just shrug and smile and hold out your hands (for mommy to wipe). You've got a sparkle in your eye that makes it impossible for anyone to be mad at you -- and I think you know it. ;)

I love you Lolo Bird. Thanks for letting me watch as you fly.

Love, Mommy Bird

What really terrifies me, as a parent

As a parent in today's world, there are certainly a lot of things to be scared of. Kids getting hurt, contracting an incurable disease, the threat of the ever-ubiquitous Boogeyman, the worry that kids will grow up to be ax-murderers, or worse: garage band drop-outs. All things that will keep anxious parents up at night.

But what really terrifies me is none of those things. Maybe because they are all unknowns: you have no idea if any of those really scary things will touch your family in some way.

No, what really scares me is something that I know without a shadow of a doubt will affect my kids in a profound and unpreventable way.

DIY: An Easy, Fun, Meaningful Family Gift

It can be hard to come up with gifts for grandparents who seemingly have everything, and really just want a piece of the grandkids anyway.

With this in mind, we recently made this canvas for the Nonna in our life (hi!) and I think it turned out great! The bonus was that we were all able to participate, and in years to come it will server as a reminder of how small (and messy!) the kids hands were at this age.

Cool huh?

We started with a blank canvas from the Dollar Store, and painted the background all over. Then I added the brown tree shape - you could make it as realistic or whimsical as you want, with as many branches as there are family members. The kids chose their own colours for their hand-prints, and those become the 'leaves'. It just so happened they ended up making a rainbow of colours... that was a total fluke (but neat, right?).

The phrase we went with - you could put anything, this was inspired by how the tree came out in our case:

Family
   a little messy
      a little off-centre
          lots of love

What can I say... I was thinking on my feet! ;)

In any event it was hung at Nonna's house almost immediately and the kids are so proud to have been able to make something so neat for their grandmother. (I am annoyed that the lettering at the bottom ended up crooked... next time I'd put down some painter's tape to help guide me!)

Stop it, stop it, STOP.IT. Just STOP.

 - Gretchen Rubin

"Please, please just stop growing up. PLEASE. STOP."

This was me pleading with my 14-month-old this morning, after she had lovingly placed a drooly kiss on my cheek, and then slapped me in the face with both hands. As you do.

Despite the slapped cheeks - or possibly because of them? - I found myself looking at her with tears in my eyes and trying to stop time by hugging it out of her: if I hold on tight and squeeze, maybe I can stop the growing up. Please, honey. Seriously - please stop.

That goes for your brother and sister too.

I see them changing before my eyes and I don't like it. Not one bit. They're getting bigger. They're getting those "big kid" eyes - the ones that one minute are laughing because you said "boogie" (I didn't mean THAT! Oh nevermind.), and the next they're looking at you sideways because you said no treats after supper. The big kid eyes that tell you they know stuff. They're starting know some stuff that I don't know. The balance is shifting. I don't like this growing up business AT ALL.

It's the little things:

I no longer need to unfold The Girl's socks for her, or button up her one pair of button-up PJs. I don't know when this started.

I pull jeans out of the dryer and don't immediately know whose they are - mine or theirs?

The way The Boy asks if I can play Mario Kart with him, and when I tell him I can't right now, he shrugs and says, "That's okay." Wait - what? It's okay? Like, that's cool. Whatever mom. I'm cool. *shrug* No whining? No tantrum? When did this start?

The way The Girl brushes her hair away from her face while she's drawing.

The way Baby Girl nodded and said "Yes." when I asked her if she wanted another cracker. Excuse me? Since when do you nod and say "yes" like you're a teenager or something? (I was so distracted, I didn't even do the requisite parental "Yes... please?")

The time The Boy was telling a story and added, laughing, "It was so random."

You don't even notice these things evolving, just one day they are happening and it's all around you - your kids growing up, having the knowing eyes and shrugging and tossing of the hair - and you can't stop time the way you'd like. They just keep doing their thing and getting bigger and it's just... it's not cool, okay?

So, I'll take those slobbery kisses (baby drool does have that faintly sweet smell that you never thought you'd love, but you do...) and even the double chubby-hand face slaps. And I'll just keep trying to hug the growing up out of them. It's worth a shot, right?

Baby Girl is 11 months old!

Seriously? Eleven months?? Ack! No!

Alas, it is so. The baby is growing before our very eyes... Opa says she is smart, "No, like really smart." Here's a short list of some of the amazing things she is doing lately... It's literally something new every day... I can barely keep up.

- signing 'milk', 'more', 'eat', 'all done', 'water' (with one finger), 'owie' (sortof), 'book' (sortof), shakes her head no and waves hi and bye.

- says dada, mama, more, hi, no, wow/woah, 'ah-ah' (my sound for stop/don't do that), na (Nonna), pa (Opa), ba (ball), and be-a (bear). She also makes a 'tte tte' sound and sortof tickles her own belly when she's being tickled or wants to be.

- growls like a bear - most animals in her world growl, apparently! - and sometimes says 'at at' when you ask what a duck says and 'fff' for a dog.

- crawling everywhere! Can't do steps yet so she's still contained to the Family Room (for now!)

- she will stand up holding onto furniture if you put her that way, and has started pulling up onto her knees 

- plays peekaboo (with her hand on the side of her head, haha)

- says 'brrr' when driving a toy truck/car

- still loves to dance, starts to boogie anytime music comes on, and has added a few moves to her repertoire (like shaking her hands in the air)

- starting to open and close doors (cabinets and big doors that aren't latched). Tricky when she crawls into a room, closes the door and then gets 'stuck' behind the door which has happened a few times!

- can roll a ball and chase after it.

- happiest if she can hold more than one toy in her hand at a time.

- started dropping food from her tray and will smile and say 'ah-ah' and shake her head no. Stinker.

- loves to read books before bed. She will be almost asleep nursing but if I say "Book?" she will pop right up and reach for the books on her shelf.

- fake coughs for attention and will 'laugh' when others laugh

- can point to her toes when asked and tries to put on her socks and shoes.

- sprouted her four bottom teeth all on the same day about a month ago (that was fun...), and is working in a few top teeth now.

She is such a joy. Happy 11-month birthday not-so-little one.

One word: toes!

All About the Baby Girl - 9 months

So, it's been nearly nine months since this baby girl came into our lives. Nine months... As much time OUT as IN. Unbelievable. Even more unbelievable? The fact that I haven't made a single post about her yet! Kicking off the Third Child Complex right from the start.

In any event I felt I needed to make a few notes about her, so when she asks later I'll have something to refer to (you KNOW my brain will be complete and utter mush by the time she's able to talk and ask questions about her infancy...).

Baby Girl:

- she loves to babble (dadada, bababa, nana, buh etc)... Still refuses to say Mama though. Stinker.

- she can clap - real claps that make sound!

- she's able to sit up and play for a good long while. She's starting to voice her opinion when we (I) walk away from her, but unless she's tired or hungry she basically shrugs and gets back to playing.

- she loves to dig in baskets or containers of toys and take them all out

- she loves anything that makes noise (rattley toys are the best!)

- she loves music, and dancing. She's even started to "sing", which sounds just like babbling except she dances while she does it. Too cute.

- she WAS sleeping 10-11 hours/night for a few weeks, until about a month ago... Now she typically wakes up 1-2 times a night for smiles, kisses and general merriment. She did sleep an amazing 12 hours last night (hallelujah!) but I'm not banking on that being a trend - though this tired mama would LOVE that.

- she recognizes the signs for 'more', 'all done', 'milk', and 'sleep', and does a sortof clap sign for 'more'.

- she likes to bang toys together, and will pass a toy from hand to hand and turn it over to study it.

- she's able to get onto all fours (in her crib), albeit sloppily, and will lean while sitting into a sortof yoga pigeon pose. I can tell she's starting to think about crawling, but we're not there yet (thank goodness...We're not ready for a little mover yet!). She does manage to move while sitting though, usually ending up a few feet from where I put her down.

- she's slowly sprouting a little blonde hair, though mommy keeps cutting her fuzzy Mohawk as we keep getting comments when we're out ("Oh I love his funny hair!"...)

- she shared her Cheerios with me for the first time last week. And I happily ate them, despite the fact that they'd already been in her mouth. :) You can never refuse food from a baby!

- she looooves to give kisses (open-mouth slobbers), and will now rest her head on you if you ask for a hug. Awww.

- her favourite game is peek-a-boo, she'll put a blanket on her own head and then kick and squeal until she pulls it off triumphantly. I was there all along, haha!

- we've already had her first visit to the IWK ER. :( She somehow dislocated her elbow a few weeks ago... Thankfully she didn't mind too much and we had an awesome triage nurse (shout out to the nurses! Holla!!) who clicked it back into place without any hullabaloo.

- she can high-five! The Boy wants to teach her to fist-pump now...

- she loves her animals, and gives big smiles to the bear, lion, and elephant on the walls in her room.

- she's taken to eating solid food like an expert from day 1 - there isn't much she won't eat! She's not a fan of baby cereal anymore, but gobbles up cheese, oranges, Cheerios, puffed wheat, salmon, rice, peas... Well everything really! Despite having...

- NO teeth yet... Not a single one. Thought I saw something happening in there last week but it seems they retreated? Gummy smiles abound!

All around she's a very easy going, happy, adorable, BIG, sometimes loud, always charming baby girl. Love me some Lolo.

It's Aliiiiive!

Wow. Just... Wow. What the hell happened to me? I am here... emerging from a pile of dirt and laundry and baby puke to bring you this post...

I've actually written a TON of posts in the past few months. In my head. It seems getting them actually written and posted has proven much more difficult! Instead I'll give the Coles Notes version of my life since my last update (38 weeks pregnant - whaaaat!), and eventually, someday, I will come back to write some more in-depth posts about various topics (like birth!)...

• Remember when I said I'd prefer not to give birth thankyouverymuch? Yeah, well I hit 40 weeks and waved the white flag... I.was.done. Isn't Mother Nature FAB, setting us up for birth like that? Lauren (Baby Girl) was born on Groundhog Day - at 40w 3d and a whopping 9 lb 3 oz. One word: OWIE. Beautiful, healthy, and perfect in every way, except for the lack of a neck (which we later found under several layers of chin). I will update much more on her later - I have nearly 5 months worth of poop and drool to post about! Ha!
• Winter gave way to Spring and I got to work on Garden 2.0. Being the seasoned veteran that I am, I started a ton of seedlings at just the right times, and then waited for the *perfect* time to put them all in the garden. And waited. And... Well that time never came, and I put them all out anyway, and they all died. The end. (Alright, all was not lost, but I'd be remiss if I said I didn't shed a few tears over those poor shriveled seedling carcasses. Fear not: there are a few green things out there. Garden update coming soon, I promise.)
• The Boy turned SIX. Six years old!! He's lost two teeth to date, and is barreling towards the finish line of his first year of Big School. He's still not interested in riding a bike, but has gotten reaaaally good at Mario Brothers and Skylanders. Sigh. His French is now much better than mine (not a huge feat mind you, but considering he didn't know ANY at the beginning of the year I'd say he's surpassed even my expectations).
• The Girl. What can I say - she is REALLY good at her job. Which is, of course, to torment her mother. She is spunk and joy and stubbornness and love all wrapped up and topped with a head of curls. Her newest proclamation: "If you don't let me _____ (have a freezie for supper / go to the store without pants / ride in the car without getting clicked in....etc), I will NOT LOVE YOU!". But I also get plenty of "Watch me Mommy! Watch me! Watch! Want to see my trick??" and she'll balance on one leg or twirl or jump off a huge rock and it's pure awesomeness.

And now, here we are on the first day of Summer. Life is good!! But ohh so busy. We now have THREE giggling children who just won't stop eating all our food and dirtying up the place... And lots of plans to keep us busy over the Summer. Now I really should get to one of the many baskets of laundry whispering my name... But instead I'm going back outside to make hay while the sun shines! Laundry can keep shooting me dirty looks all it wants. Ha! Take that, LAUNDRY.