First Overnight Visit

Yesterday was our first trip with the kids where we were all staying overnight. This trip demonstrated why minivans are good vehicles for families with small children. Because we had the space, we brought the play yard & exersaucer for Jason. We could have gone without the exersaucer, but it entertains him (which makes moments easier for us) and when you have the room why not bring the things that will make your life easier?

We were staying with my Mom & she has a crib, so it was Sydney's last sleep in the crib at Nana's. We are making motions towards beds, so once the switch is made there will be no turning back. The one thing we did forget was the bath ring for Jason. My mom's tub is VERY slippery, but we put a towel in the bottom of the tub for Jason to sit on & eliminate the slip & he loved it. He was much more animated in the tub than he is at home during bath time so I think it is "bye bye" bath ring.

All in all it was a very successful trip. We had a nice visit & Jason cooperated by only waking once to be fed, so no one was subjected to his cries during the night.

Life Lessons Learned on the Playground

Since yesterday was such a beautiful day we wanted to be sure to get the kids out in the fresh air & we ventured to the playground. Although there was still snow at the park it was VERY wet underneath, but that was of no concern to the kids.

Sydney learned an important lesson on the slide. Wait your turn. She did not wait for Ellie to get off the slide before she went down. The result? Crashing of heads at the bottom. Ellie looked back to see Sydney come & then conked heads. No major injuries though. The event actually might have helped instill the lesson of "waiting" in Sydney's head. I sure hope so.

The second lesson that I believe Sydney is learning is the value of friends. In the last couple of days I have heard her refer to her "friends" in a different way. She has used the word before, but it seems in the last couple days she has really started to use it in context and actually mentions who her friends are without prompting. Her and Ellie were playing "restaurant" at the playground & when Evelyn showed up later, Sydney could not wait for her to come up into their "restaurant". Of course, all of this was so much fun that the two-year-old behaviour was displayed when it was time to leave. Both Ellie & Sydney were taken away with tears on their faces.

Ellie & Sydney in their restaurant.

Unfortunately for Jason it was so wet that he did not get to "play". Trying to help all the girls who are mobile does not make it easy to play with a baby at the park.

Katie too was there, but she was rather limited in her play. Trying to master mucky snow in rain boots when you are new to walking is not an easy task.

The beginnings of sibling play

Last night Jason was playing with the drum & his sister came to join him. Instead of playing with him she of course started telling him what he should do & then just took the drum sticks away & started doing it herself. Not only did she get corrected by both Mommy & Daddy, she also got a reaction out of her brother. He was not happy she took it away & let out a squeal.

It may be easy for her to get things away from him now, but in a couple of months he is going to have even more to say & do about it.

Sometimes you get what you give

In my life I have caused many people, especially my mom, much grief with my picky eating habits. When I was young the only cooked vegetables I ate were corn & potatoes (but not whipped or mashed potatoes). I would eat raw veggies, but not cooked ones. In my youth I caused my Dad great heartburn that I would not eat a hamburger like all other kids. But give me a steak any day! At family functions my loving Aunts would leave some potatoes out for me before they mashed them.

In my adulthood I have made a very conscious effort to improve my eating habits, but to this day I still do like ground meat. I know now that my issues with food are texture issues. Well, my texture issue may also be an issue with Jason. I have started to make his vegetables for him rather than depend on jarred food. I gave him carrots yesterday & they were not a smooth puree. Well, he threw a fit! I mean FIT!!! In hopes that maybe it was due to him being tired before fed, I tried again today at lunch. Well, as soon as they hit his tongue he started to gag & then started to cry. Getting him to take anything else into his mouth was a challenge because I think he was afraid I was trying to give him some more of that lumpy carrot stuff.

I asked Mom a little while ago if she hoped Jason was a picky-eater so that I would get some payback for the grief I caused her. Her response was that she would not wish that on anyone- that it is awful when your kids won't eat. I sure hope that this was just off timing for Jason & not a reflection of our movement forward in eating.

I Survived...

I did manage to survive my night away from Jason & was relieved to learn that things went well for him & Daddy.

Jason slept until 4:15 am for Brad & Brad was back in bed by 4:27am. I am very jealous of the good night's sleep that he got because mine was anything but restful. Although I did not have to get up in the middle of the night to feed Jason, I was sleeping (or trying to sleep) in the same bed as Sydney. This was also Sydney's first experience sleeping in a bed. The first issue was she refused to keep blankets on & since we were sharing, this meant that I had trouble keeping covers on. The second issue was that she kept inching her way up on the bed & eventually bonking her head on the bookcase headboard. The biggest issue was that she seemed to always be moving. Even though when I check on her at home she seems to be sleeping peacefully, this was not the case when we were sharing.

I greeted Sunday morning very early & with bleary eyes.

Regan's 6th Birthday Party

The big finale. Cake & ice cream.

Today Sydney & I are in the big town of Tottenham to celebrate Miss Regan's 6th birthday. It is Regan's first "friend" birthday party & things went very well. My hat is off to Kim who unexpectedly had to do ALL the preparation on her own since Pete is stuck in the Maritimes due to his flight being cancelled last night & he cannot get another until Monday night.

So, to give these guys some company, Sydney & I are staying overnight. This is my first time away from Jason for more than a few hours & it is an overnight to boot. Hope him & Daddy are doing well at home.

Miss Sydney was playing shy for the camera. Too many new faces at once.

Craft time. Picture frames for all.
Luckily Sydney was not so sour at this point that Regan can have a nice picture of her friends.

Stick the horn on the unicorn.

Apparently "pin" is too dangerous that they now have a sticker version of the game.

Sorry you missed a good party & cake Uncle Pete.

This morning was a step backwards

Sydney has done so well with using the potty for the last couple of weeks that we rarely have to "check in" with her. Well, obviously this morning I should not have left her to her own devices. We went through 2 pairs of underwear & pants this morning because she was too immersed in what she was doing to be bothered to go to the bathroom. The first "accident" made me mad because she was watching t.v. & in my opinion knew she had to go, but did not want to leave the program. However, the second accident made me raise my eyebrows & wonder if there was something else going on. She was just playing with her friend Ellie when she had the accident & that is completely unusual.

She has been coughing through the night (although last night seemed better) and now has a runny nose, so maybe she is not feeling quite up to snuff. This may be the reason for the two accidents. Right now she is napping, so hopefully things will go better when she gets up (although the dogs barking their heads off next door are probably going to wake her up). I really want to get new carpet in the basement this year, but kids peeing on the carpet does not really inspire me. If we get new carpet, it will need to be the pee-free zone.

Ellie & Sydney were playing with the dollhouse that has pretty much sat in the corner & looked pretty for 3 years. Now that they are getting old enough to play with it we are going to have to work harder at filling it up with furniture.

Mmm, mmm prunes.

New Friend

When I was on mat leave with Sydney I made a lot of great friends through a Parent Link group that we attended on Wednesdays. I have also been fortunate with timing that some of these friends are also home with their new little ones & we have been able to spend some time together. However, because of these established friendships I have not been motivated to attend Parent Link for the purpose of establishing new friendships. The "problem" is that these friends each had a little girl & Jason has not had much exposure to little boys his age.

Parent Link was great to go to & meet moms with babies around your child's age, but Jason is almost always napping at that time & I have not been motivated play with his schedule to get out there to meet some new moms. However, this means that I am limiting Jason's social circle to only include the siblings of Sydney's friends.

Well, this morning we reconnected with someone I met last fall at Baby Rhyme Time & she (Kelly) has a little boy, Graham, who is only 3 weeks younger than Jason. Graham also has a big brother who has shared many colds & even the chicken pox with Graham, so the last couple of months have prevented us from getting together. Hopefully now that each household is healthier & the boys are getting older & interested in playing with toys & people besides their moms, we can get together more often.

This way hopefully Jason will develop a friend that exists outside his sister's social circle.

Oh, what a night

Night before last Jason woke up around 2:30 to be fed- a trend I am not enjoying- and after I put him back to bed I could not sleep very well because of Sydney. She has a cough that sounds like she has a tickle in her throat & she was coughing intermittently throughout the night. Therefore, last night I was very tired & was in bed shortly after 9pm.

Good thing I went to bed early, because Jason woke at 12:30 am & was awake off and on until 2:15am. He then slept for a solid hour before waking at 3:30am to be fed. He then slept through until 6:45am, but Sydney again was coughing a lot through the night & was up at 6:15am. She said she wanted to come sleep with me- but I know that never works, so I was not counting on getting much more sleep. To her credit she did just lie there with me for about 10 minutes before she started moving around & talking, but there definitely was not sleep to be had. Once I heard her Dad in the kitchen, I sent her to him but by then Jason was awake.

I definitely feel like I am dragging right not, but I hope that a half hour on the elliptical will give me a boost. Both kids seemed to wake up in good humour & Jason just went down well for his nap- which will hopefully last long enough for me to workout. Brad also must have slept well enough because he still got up to workout at 6:15am and was in good humour.

Why is it that I am plagued with the inability to block out noise in the middle of the night in the attempt to get a good night's sleep?

Seven Months Old

Wow, what a difference a month makes. In the last month you have become a remarkably happier little boy. Although I would still call you a Mommy's boy, you are definitely content to be with other people now too. When we are out, you are now trying to attract other people's attention so that you can smile & show off. You are so happy when you succeed in getting them to fawn all over you too.

As you can see from these pictures, you are still quite a wiggle worm & do not like to be still in one place too long. You have mastered the art of sitting & we credit this development for the improvement in your mood. Although your disposition is generally happier now, you can still switch moods on a dime. When you are unhappy about something, you can switch quickly & your face goes very red in a matter of seconds while you choose to scream.

This switch is often related to food. You love your bottle & now that you are having solids, you have a whole new reason to become very impatient with us. The introduction of solids was a fun one. At first you were very uncertain, but you quickly decided this was great stuff & did not want us to finish. We have now learned that we have to warn you that it is the last bite & then say "all gone" as soon as you are done to prevent one of your little tantrums.

This was a big month for you in the dental arena too. In twenty days, you got four teeth. Last week your top two teeth came through & thankfully they did not seem to cause you as much pain as the first two seemed to. With your first two there were a few nights where you woke up in the middle of the night & had trouble returning to sleep. You still get up for a feeding in the middle of the night & you have actually changed this time to be closer to 2:30 to 3am. I much preferred when you were sleeping through until 4am, but I am thankful that you eat quickly & go back to bed. You have also decided to wake up very early now. We can hear you gibber jabbering in your crib many mornings at 6:15am, but I refuse to get you before 6:45 am. You are taking 2 or 3 naps now during the day & you do not protest very much anymore. At bedtime you go down with hardly a whimper.

You are becoming a very chatty little fellow & as it gets close to nap time or bedtime, you are definitely a vocal one. I think you want to be sure that you are keeping up with your sister. Hopefully soon the weather will warm up & get rid of this snow so that we can get out for more walks. You seem to really like to be outside. Besides playing, our only regular outings right now are errands & Diaperfit (you seem to be enjoying the pool).


Some people are saying that they can see a lot of Sydney in you from when she was your age. Looking at these two pictures, you can definitely tell that you are siblings. I do think the two of you have similar smiles & foreheads. However, although your cheeks are getting chubbier, they in no way compare to your sisters.

Nothing...then lots

Why does it always seem that you have many weekends where you have nothing going on, or very little, then on one weekend you have lots. This past weekend was very busy in the Taylor household & here are a few shots.

Saturday
Here are Brad, his brother & their cousin Scott with their respective children. We unfortunately started this photo session right before we put Jason to bed, therefore he was not in the mood for "look here, say cheese!". On top of that challenge, try to get 5 kids ages 3 & under to all look at the camera.




Sunday

Sydney & I went to Toronto to see Mom at her hotel to have a swim with Aunt Kim & Regan. Mom flies out today for Panama & is definitely leaving a snowy winter day behind. Last night our drive home was an hour & an half, compared to the 45 minutes it should have been. There were no snowplows in sight & the cars on the road were responsible for deciding where the lanes were. Kim & Regan's drive home involved a jerk rear-ending them & then taking off. Both are fine, but may be stiff today.

Monday
I took Sydney to Little Goobers today to play with her friends. Grandma & Papa stayed with Jason & thank goodness for that. Sydney had a blast at the playground, but her height deficiency did require assistance for some of the climbs.

Very Early Riser

Wanna see my teeth???

Too late.

This morning we had a very early bird. Jason started his chatter in his crib at the dark hour of 5:45am. I did not get him until 6:30am & even then I still did not want to get up, so I brought him to bed with me. He was like a baby on speed, he was so hyper. Squealing, lunging, & just not being calm at all. I am glad he wakes up so happy, but wish he would do it around 7am. I have told him repeatedly that if he is not going to sleep through the night, he is not allowed to start the day until at least 7am. Some days, he refuses to listen.

Right now it is nap time & he is sleeping, Sydney is not. She has been in there for about an hour & has not slept yet. He is now waking up & only slept an hour. He is teething again & I believe that is our culprit that is ruining his sleep.

Pretty in blue. Not my first choice to use, but was the only quick-drying polish I have.

Bundled up & ready to go.

Big girl bed is on its way...

Yesterday Jason & I went to Sears to have his portrait taken. I was a little nervous about how our photo session would go considering he did not have a very long nap in the morning & when we arrived for our appointment we had to wait for almost 20 minutes. But, he did pretty good & we got some good poses. I knew the chances of me getting him back home without falling asleep in the van were not great, so I figured we might as well head to Oakville afterwards to order Sydney's (/Jason's future) bed.

I had packed Jason's lunch & we headed to the food court in the mall to feed him & me. Although he is sitting, he is not necessarily very good in a high chair so I was not sure how our lunch session would go. But, he sat way better in the mall chair than he does at the one at home! He was very busy looking around, so I got to eat first (which is a rarity).

The decision about what type of bed to get for the kids was not one that was made quickly. The biggest question was do we get a bed made out of wood & particle board for fear that the kids will destroy it with jumping, markers, stickers, or whatever they can come up with or do we pay extra for one made with real wood. I think Brad's fear of destruction has been somewhat alleviated & we ended up getting one made of real wood.

One of our biggest considerations for the bed was storage options. This bed will go into Jason's room when he is big enough for a "real" bed & his room is much smaller than Sydney's so we wanted to have storage underneath. The next challenge was getting one that doesn't look too much like a kid's bed because hopefully Jason will be able to use it until he leaves for college. So, below is our final choice. The top picture shows the bed & the bottom picture shows what the drawers underneath look like.


It should be delivered in the next 6 weeks, so now we have to get: mattress, bed rail, & sheets. Looks like I have more shopping to do. On the sheet front however, Sydney keeps saying she wants Cinderella sheets- so I may not have too much say there.

Sydney's Children

This is the scene we found yesterday. Sydney informed us that she was feeding her children. If you look closely you may be able to see that they each have food in their lap. We are often telling her to not leave her toys on the stairs, but this one time was too cute to give her that lecture. She is quite the little mother.

Things that make me smile...

Jason's first kiss. Katie is making her move early- get him while he can't get away.

Jumping bean.

Sydney laughing with Logan, rather than telling her to get away.

Sydney doing crafts.

Jason loves his toes. Hopefully soon it will be warm enough that he can see more of them.

Jason moved up to the bath ring last night.

I found Sydney on our bed this morning reading a book to her baby.
Apparently "Baby" is her sister.

Dear Sandi...

Sydney opening up her Valentines in her mailbox.

Sandi, I read your blog yesterday where you wondered if your Valentine's Days will change when you become married. Well, truthfully they will always be what you & Curt choose them to be.

If you are anything like me, once you have kids you will be planning the day as much for them (maybe more) as you are for your husband. If you read Carrie's entry, you probably saw that the same applied to her "plans".

Taylor Valentine's Recap

Brad & I have not bought gifts for Valentine's Day for a few years. Really, what do we need on Valentine's Day that we shouldn't be getting any day of the year to show how much we love each other? We do however make a point of going out for dinner- but not on Valentine's Day. On this particular holiday the restaurants are too busy & often have a "special" menu that you can't order whatever you want anyway. Now that we have kids, this also creates another hiccup in going out. Who do you get to watch the kids on a "school night"?

Romantic dinner set for three.

So, in planning for Valentine's Day I figured we would have a special meal at home. Since we are going out on the weekend, I wanted the meal to be something special for Sydney too. Rather than waiting until the kids went to bed to have a nice meal together, I opted to plan on us all eating together. I figure for as long as the kids will permit it & not think it is too corny, we will have a dinner lit by candlelight. We all really like crab legs, so for the occasion I figured this is what we would have. I should have remembered that I am usually eating dinner with Jason on my lap since he is often very tired at this point in the day & never lasts through our meal on his own. Since crab legs cannot be eaten with one hand, it was not a very relaxing dinner.

When scooping with your finger is too slow, stick your whole head in the bowl.

For dessert, a heart-shaped chocolate brownie with ice cream was on the menu. When Sydney got up from her nap she helped me make it. As you can see, she was very interested in taste testing the product before it went in the oven. Since the pan would fit I thought I would bake it in the toaster oven & then I didn't need to worry about Sydney getting to close to the hot oven. Unfortunately I learned that the toaster oven is not the best place to bake something & our heart broke coming out of the pan.

Broken heart on Valentine's Day

Brad & I did wait until the kids were in bed to exchange our cards & have our dessert. We did need to have some time alone to celebrate the "romantic" holiday. However, to top off the evening, I went to bed early because the wine we drank at dinner gave me a headache. Poor Brad.

I tried to get a nice picture of Sydney & Jason. Jason was cooperating with a smile, but Sydney was too tuned into DORA. It was a longer episode about Friendship bracelets. I am assuming it was because of Valentine's Day.

Winter Wonderland

Sydney & I did not make it out to shovel yesterday afternoon, but I did go out to take a picture to show how much snow we have. Before "the storm" hit, we maybe had a foot of snow on our front lawn. Well, that has all changed.

I don't think I will be getting into the passenger side of the van for awhile.

Happy Valentine's Day

Well, it sure is a winter wonderland outside. Perfect weather to cuddle up before a roaring fire & spend the evening with your Valentine. Problem is we don't have a fire, but I am sure we can make do with something else. Although, Lost is on tonight. Would it be terribly unromantic if we cuddled up with a glass of wine & watched Lost?

Sydney went to daycare this morning, but I picked her up before lunch. While Jason was napping I shovelled the driveway & sidewalk. Even though Brad had shovelled only two hours before there was another 4 inches of snow. I wanted to get a couple of things at the grocery store for our Valentine's dinner & figured I was only going to clear the way & bundle Jason up once to go out. I don't think Sydney minded coming home early & thankfully was well behaved & Jason also seemed thrilled to have her home to entertain him too. They are both in their rooms right now & hopefully will each have a decent nap so that our afternoon goes as smoothly as our morning did.

I think Jason is cutting teeth again. He has woken up a couple of times in the last two nights. I looked at his top gums & think I see something white under the surface. Although, I may "want" to see it so that I have a reason in my head for why he is waking up again. I guess we will have to wait & see if anything pops out in the next couple of weeks.

I told Sydney that after her nap we would go outside & shovel the snow...AGAIN! However, I think I better go now & remind Sydney that we are only going outside after she has had a nap. I can hear her moving around upstairs & not working too hard at going to sleep. When I picked her up at Jo's she looked like she could go to sleep right then, but of course when I put her down for a nap she decides to play. GRRR!

If we make it outside, I will post some pictures later of our winter wonderland.

A Day at the Mall

On Saturday we met Kim, Pete, & Regan at Upper Canada Mall for lunch. Since we knew we were going to be spending the afternoon at the mall we were trying to coordinate our travel with Jason having a nap. Of course, Murphy's Law, he had a long nap in the morning & we knew that putting him in the van an hour after he got up was not going to result in a nap on the way to Newmarket. So we called Kim & Pete and asked if we could meet up an hour later.

On the way home from Newmarket we were going to stop at a furniture store to look at one more option for Sydney's big girl bed before making our final decision. So to be sure that we still had time to do it we decided to stop on the way. After the furniture store we were going to find a Tim Horton's (not a difficult task in the Golden Horseshoe) so that we could feed Jason before heading out for Newmarket.

Well, our little pit stop turned out to take a little longer than planned. Miss Sydney was drinking her milk & tipped it a little too far resulting in a spill that mainly landed on her pants. She of course started to freak, because this is what she does when she gets her clothes wet (unless of course she is playing with water in the sink). Brad took her into the bathroom to see if he could get them a little dryer using the hand blowers, but of course that was pretty much a wasted effort. When he brought her back out to the table she was still upset about the state of her pants & proceeded to try & take them off! Thankfully her Pull-up provided some resistance so she did not get them down before we could explain to her that she can't take her pants off in public. I thought this little "obsession" only applied to wet socks, but apparently it is all clothing. We told her that when we got to the van we would take her pants off & Mommy would hold them over the vent during our drive so that they would be dry by the time we got to Newmarket. Thankfully this worked.

Our little drama put us behind schedule & we had a couple patches of freaky weather that slowed down the driving- therefore we arrived late. I don't think Kim & Pete minded too much except that Regan was getting rather impatient for her cousins to arrive. We had a very nice lunch (although the service wasn't impressive), I got to exchange some Christmas presents, found something for Jason to wear for his 6 month portrait, and Sydney & Regan had fun playing on the indoor playground. The Dads also put the girls on the mechanical rides that they have for kids & we learned that those rides "soak" you even more now than when we were kids. It was a loonie per ride & the ride lasted for maybe 45 seconds. Brutal!

But, all in all, it was a nice day at the mall with family.

Picnic in February

Sometimes you need to do things to remind you of nicer weather. Although today was not the blistering cold that we have been experiencing lately, it was still winter & made you wish for warm, sunny days. On warm, sunny days it is nice to go on a picnic so why not pretend & have a picnic indoors with your friends?

Sharing of the horse has resulted in tears before, but not today! No Sydney is not wearing a belly shirt, she just doesn't have her pants pulled high enough.
Although, the sweater could be a little longer.

Today had its trying moments with Sydney, but thankfully she played well with her friends, shared her toys, & did not cry once (during their stay). Jason had a great day & made me almost forget the fussy days he has had of late.

Since it wasn't too cold we made sure we got outside for a little bit & did Sydney's favourite outdoor task...shovelling.

Jason watching Sydney & I shovelling.

Off to pick up the mail.

First Pearly Whites

Well Jason has cut his first teeth & they have not come quietly. Like his sister, the bottom two teeth have cut at the same time. Unlike his sister, he has not handled them coming in that easily. The last few days with Jason have not been a treat. He has either been OK or the very opposite of OK. I don't think that I can think of a time in the last three days where I would describe him as "happy" for a length of time greater than 20 minutes, but he has not always been miserable either. When he is miserable, you are constantly being his taxi & it doesn't necessarily do much to improve his mood.

Surprisingly enough though he did not wake to be fed until 5:55am this morning!!! He woke up about 3 or 4 times through the night, but I would hear him just talking to himself & then either he or I fell asleep after about 10 minutes. So maybe there is hope that by 7 months he will be going through the night consistently. I talked to the doctor yesterday about his night feeding & she said that until 9 months it is normal...so hopefully he drops it before then.

He was weighed & measured for his 6 month visit yesterday & weighs in at 17 lbs 4 oz and is 67 cm long (approx 26.5 inches). I am not confident in the length being correct since we wouldn't straighten his legs out for the nurse.

Content may not be suitable for all readers

The last week has been a trying one in the Taylor household. The week started with Sydney's fever last Monday & she just wasn't herself all week. Jason treated us (me- I seem to be the only one who cannot sleep through it) to three nights in a row of an hour's crying around 1am. I am thinking that his pain tolerance is not what his sister's was & the teeth that are starting to push up were causing him some discomfort.

On Friday, Sydney finally had a physical symptom that confirmed our beliefs that she just wasn't feeling well. Diarrhea. Brad unfortunately learned of this condition the hard way. This is the scene, I am in the kitchen getting dinner ready, Brad is in our room changing his clothes & Sydney starts crying out in the bathroom. Brad yells from the bedroom for Sydney to use her words to tell him what is wrong. Meanwhile he has finished getting dressed & heading to the bathroom to see firsthand what is the matter. Sydney had to go to the bathroom, but didn't quite make it & he found a foot diameter of poop on the floor (not counting the splatter as he would tell you).

She had done so well all day getting to the bathroom in time, but this one time she just wasn't quick enough & Daddy was the lucky one to help her out. I was really impressed with how well she did Friday, because with that nasty condition it can be difficult for an adult to make it there in time let alone a little girl. Saturday she was a bit better, but she essentially laid around all day & would eat nothing but dairy products. Therefore, when she went to the bathroom last night & had a banana-shaped poop (her words, not mine) it was also the colour of a banana. I have never seen something so disgusting.

You probably didn't really want to hear about that, but I thought it was at least humourous enough to share. When you have kids, your topics of conversation often change. However, I know of many guys that have poop conversations well into their...adulthood.