A Successful Visit to Santa?

Well, as you can see below Sydney would not sit on Santa's knee. The Santa at the mall was really good with her, but she was playing Miss Shy and would not go closer than a foot. We had a lot of time to sit & chat with him before her picture because the printer shut down just as it was our turn. Even though Sydney had the opportunity to get used to him, she would not sit on his knee so Santa asked her if she would drive the sleigh. So that is what she is doing, standing at the front of his sleigh.

I realize it looks like she is superimposed on the picture,
but truly she is standing right in front of Santa.
I sure am glad I did not attempt a picture with her & Jason together.

A Successful Trip to See Santa

Today I again ventured to the mall with Jason & must say it was a rather successful journey. Since he only napped for 15 minutes this morning, I figured I would try a car ride to see if I could get him catch a few extra zzzz. He clocked in an extra 30 minutes before waking. He was rather calm while I made some purchases in Old Navy & then was happy to be fed. I figured we better hit Santa while his belly was full & he was content. I must say, I am pretty pleased with the picture. Although I am wishing I adjusted his pants prior to taking the picture.

Tomorrow Sydney & I are going to see Santa after we meet Daddy for lunch. She has been once with her cousin & it is not a pretty picture. She did not want to go see him tomorrow either, so I am bribing her with ice cream. Wish me luck.

Not exactly what I wanted to hear...

Dr. Koole just called to inform me that Jason's x-ray results did not show signs of pneumonia, but bronchialitis (sp?). Which is good news & bad news wrapped in one. Since bronchial infections tend to be a trend in an individual it means that it is very likely every time Jason gets a cold he will also get cold-induced asthma. This means he will need an inhaler. Great.

Dr. Koole said we will just have to wait until he gets his next cold to see what happens. When I said "Hopefully that won't be this winter" she said, "Yeah right, you just keep telling yourself that. Better yet, add that to your Christmas list." I'd like to be optimistic, but she definitely thinks I need to be realistic.

Oh brother. On top of this information, last night I was watching the news and they were talking about the unnecessary exposure of children to radiation through x-ray. Wasn't that exactly what I wanted to hear a few days after our son has an x-ray?

Santa Claus Parade

This year Sydney experienced her first Santa Claus parade. She fell asleep in the car on the way there, so it took awhile for her to get into it- but I think she did quite enjoy it. She was being rather shy & would not pose for a picture with her cousin Max & his friend Tennison.
I barely got a picture of Santa Claus going by before my battery died on the camera.

The long trek for the christmas tree

Again this year we walked to the local nursery with Sydney's wagon to get our Christmas tree. I stayed home with Jason & Sydney went with Daddy to pick the tree.
This year Sydney also got to try her hand at decorating too. She didn't last too long, but she did a pretty good job.

Four Months Old

Unfortunately on your four month birthday you are suffering from your first sickness. We went to the doctor Friday for your "well baby check-up" where we learned that you weigh 14 lbs 8oz and are 67cm (about 26.5 inches) long. Because you are sick we did not get your shots, but you did need to have a chest x-ray to rule out the chance that you are suffering from pneumonia. You seem better today (Saturday) than you were yesterday, so I think it is safe to believe that you are just suffering from the terrible cold that your sister gave you.

As we started your fourth month, my hope was by the time you turned four months old we would have eliminated that very angry cry of yours- I call it your rage cry. When you are tired, you no longer like to be held & any attempt to put you to sleep resulted in you arching, twisting & turning while you demonstrated your rage cry. Well we have not eliminated it, but we definitely do not hear it as much as we used to. You are getting pretty good at settling yourself to sleep, so the crying typically isn't for very long. However, with you being sick this past week you have started to wake again in the night & we often hear the rage cry at that time- you don't seem to want us at that time, you just seem to be mad that you cannot get back to sleep. I am really hoping that this too will pass & we will all have a more peaceful night's sleep.

For sleeping patterns, you are very regular about your bedtime. We are often working pretty hard to stretch you until 7pm for a bath- you are often ready a half hour to an hour before that. You are typically in bed by 7:30pm, wake once in the night for a quick feeding (prior to this past week around 4am) and then back to bed until around 7:30am. Napping is still all over the map, but again you are much easier to put down for a nap than you used to be- now we just need you to work on sleeping for the length of time you need to feel rested- at least an hour please!

You are really starting to use your hands more now. You are trying to reach for things that are hanging in front of you & if you can get ahold of a toy you are trying to bring it to your mouth. You are getting strong on your legs and really like to stand so we have tried you out in the exersaucer for brief periods & you seem to really like it. I think that you are a bit like you Daddy & being home is your favourite place. You still are not very "portable". You often fuss in the car, stroller, or out in general. I am hoping that as you get more "social" that this will pass, because Mommy doesn't like to be home all the time.

You tolerate tummy time, but don't seem to be making too much effort on trying to figure out how to roll off your tummy. On your back you sometimes try to roll onto your side, but not too often. This is probably a good thing for Mommy & Daddy because you are always moving when we have you sitting in the bouncy chair or trying to hold you- so once you figure out how to move around on the floor- there may be no stopping you.

Still snuffly

Thankfully Jason's throw-up session before bed last night was a one time only affair. I also think he had a better night's sleep, I think the vapourizer helped. Instead of calling out on an hourly basis he only woke 2 times before waking to be fed at around 2:30am. Although, the mid-night feed also involved an extended rocking session before he was ready to go back to his crib. The result of consecutive nights of poor sleep resulted in me waking this morning feeling a little rundown, so I did the "rest when the baby sleeps" thing today.

Jason & Sydney are now in bed & hopefully tonight will be a better night for all of us.

One on the mend, the other sick

Well, Sydney returned to daycare today after being sick since last Thursday. I figured it was a good sign this morning when I could hear her jumping up and down in her crib saying, "Mommy what are you doing?" She still has a cough, but she definitely appears to be over the worst of it. Now I am just home with a baby that has a really bad cold. Thankfully Jason never got the fever that Sydney fought for so many days, but the poor little guy has quite the cough & a runny nose. I subjected him to the nasal aspirator this morning to see if that would help him & he was not impressed. It wasn't overly successful either. Not sure if his nasal passage is still to small or there just wasn't enough juice to squeeze out at that moment.

Last night he was up once an hour for 5-10 minutes "talking" and/or moaning in his crib. I think tonight we will be putting the vapourizer in for him, but will be sure to take the batteries out of the smoke detector first so that we don't have another loud wake-up call in the middle of the night.

Blue Eyes or Brown?

In grade 11 biology I learned that brown eyes are the dominant gene. Although I trust this to be true, it has not demonstrated itself through the Bowman grandchildren. Even though my Mom & Dad both have brown eyes & my siblings & I each have brown eyes- there are no brown-eyed Bowman grandchildren. Mom & Dad obviously passed a blue-eyed gene to us which we in turn are passing on to our children.

Jason is my Mom's last chance at a brown-eyed grandchild & the jury is still out on whether or not she is going to get it.

Jason is starting to get better use of his hands,
but he can't quite figure out how to reach the "lollipop"

If you zoom in on this picture, they look like they might be brown & today for the first-time someone thought that his eyes were brown (until they looked closer).

Then if you zoom in on this picture, they are blue.

I think that the best my Mom can hope for is that maybe they will be hazel so that on some days they will appear brown.

One Month Until Christmas

Tonight was our local Santa Claus Parade & we hummed and hawed about whether or not we should keep Sydney up much past her bedtime to go to the parade. Now that Jason too is demanding a bedtime of about 7pm, we had pretty much decided that we would wait another year- however I was still on the fence. I figured one of us could stay & put Jason to bed & the other could take Sydney to the parade with the rest of the Taylors. However, Sydney took the decision out of our hands. She is on day three of a fever of about 102 degrees. She has been in pretty good spirits, the fever just keeps fluctuating a lot during the day. I thought for sure this afternoon we had finally got rid of the fever, but it was back in full force by suppertime. So yet another year goes by without Sydney enjoying this parade. We plan on taking her to a daytime parade next weekend, so she doesn't miss out completely.

Brad is very anti-decorations before December, but I did convince him to put the lights up today- but of course they can't be turned on yet. It seems silly to me to not do it on a perfectly sunny day that is well above zero. Who knows what it will be like next weekend! Also next weekend we need to get our tree, so there is already activity planned. We used to go out to a tree farm to get our tree, but requiring car seats in the vehicle has dampened that trip. So we now take Sydney's wagon to the nursery down the street & walk home with our tree. This way the whole family gets to participate & we don't need to clean needles out of the van or car.

Also today, to occupy Miss Sydney we decorated a gingerbread house. You can see by the picture that she is a little under the weather, she is awfully pale.

I think this is going to have to become an annual tradition to see how our decoration skills improve. We let her do as much of it as possible & I think she did a pretty good job.

Jason's First Visit to Santa

Yesterday I was briefly at the mall with Jason (because there is no other way to be there with him) & there was Santa sitting there all lonely. I figured since Jason was awake & there was no line-up I would try for a picture with Santa. Well he did not cry, but he didn't smile either. He did however spit up on Santa's leg!

I figure with still over a month until Christmas, I can get his picture done another time when hopefully his facial expression is a little more animated- even a crying picture would have beat yesterday's options. I am also trying to determine if we get a Sydney & Jason picture with Santa, but I am leaning towards individual one's still- especially since this is Jason's first Christmas. Also, I have a feeling that the picture taking with Sydney will not go as well as it has in the last couple of years.

Oh the reason I was at the mall? To find a shirt for Jason to wear in our Christmas pictures that we are going to get taken. Did I find anything I liked in his size??? NO! I bought a last resort option, but hope to get out today & find something I like better.

Night Wakenings

As inevitably happens when moms get together, they talk about their child's sleep habits (or lack thereof). So of course yesterday this was one of the topics of conversation with Stephanie & specifically "night wakenings". Now that Jason usually sleeps for about 8 hours his first stretch, I was saying to Steph that I need to determine when I don't go to him when he wakes earlier in the night. Last week he woke one night at 1:30am and another at 2am. I got him up & fed him because when I tried to settle him the first night, he just seemed to wake up more- that should have been my first cue. If I feed him we are both back to bed within a half hour, so it is faster than going to him & trying to settle him without a feeding. I am so concerned about Jason waking Sydney in the middle of the night that I have not yet adopted the same practices we had with Sydney when she was a baby. However Sydney has always been a very good "night" sleeper, so I should be focusing on repeating those steps with Jason.

Well, last night Jason was asleep before 8pm & woke at 12:30am. When I looked at the clock, I said to myself that there is no way he needs to be fed. So I sat there & told myself that unless he starts screaming, I am not going into his room. Brad stirred when I first got back into bed & I told him that I wasn't going to get Jason. He of course turned right over & went back to sleep. I didn't hear anything from Sydney, so I am assuming that she slept through it too. So, I think I have to stop worrying about interrupting Sydney's sleep because he probably isn't & I am preventing him from developing good sleep habits.

So after only 15 minutes of intermittent fuss, Jason went back to sleep last night with no visit from me. So I know that I learned a lesson last night & hope that Jason did too.

Steph, not sure if my story helps you make your decision in regards to Henry.

Successful Road Trip

Today Jason & I went to visit my cousin Stephanie & her little guy Henry. I was looking forward to seeing Steph & Henry but was a little apprehensive about the travelling. The last time we took Jason on a road trip he screamed for more than half an hour in the van & I was dreading driving in Toronto traffic with the same result. But, luckily there was minimal fuss today. Horray!!!

I must commend Stephanie on her culinary skills. Prior to them moving into the house, she commented that her and Mike often ate soup & did not really cook a lot of "meals". This is twice now that she has served me a meal & neither time did I eat soup & both times have enjoyed my meal.

The boys didn't do much more that just look at one another today, but Henry did seem particularly interested in Jason's ears. Although he got a couple of yanks from Henry, he did not really react. Maybe Sydney being in his face & poking him has some benefits.


I am sure that if a year from now we do another one of these visits that the boys will be a little more interactive.

A Wise Friend

Before having Jason, my friend Wendy advised that any resurrection of a toy that was Sydney's should occur a week before we plan on Jason using it. Well, on the weekend we tested Jason in the exersaucer to see if he was getting anywhere near ready for it & he did OK. So, we stripped it for the wash & set it up to be cleaned. Last night Sydney was downstairs with Brad & saw it there & of course wanted to get in. So, thank you Wendy for the advice. We will try to get Sydney's curiousity cured before her brother is sitting in it with any regularity. However, this like any other activity that Jason does will likely be done under the close eye & direction of his big sister.

Yes we see how dirty it is.
Not to worry it will be clean before he can actually play in it.

There are moments when...

There are moments when you would like a break from being a parent. Like yesterday when we went shopping for a "play" winter coat for Sydney & both kids screamed in the backseat on the way there. Sydney told Jason to stop crying because she was crying. I guess she figured that since he ALWAYS cries in the car that she should get this moment.

Then there are moments like these when you really enjoy being a parent.

I love kids in p.j.s

Storytime with Daddy

Two more Sydney classics...

On Monday her classic moment that we want to remember is her getting her head stuck under the couch.

Tuesday, she fell in the toilet. On Monday I bought her a stool so that she can get onto the toilet without our help. Last night before dinner she climbed up but did not have her little seat there, so she fell in the big bowl & Daddy had to pull her out. Let me tell you, there were tears after that trauma! Thankfully she was willing to get on again once her seat was there.

Wednesday- This morning before leaving for daycare she was dancing in circles in the kitchen to her alphabet song. When she stopped dancing she starting saying, "Stop floor, stop floor". We tried to explain to her that the floor wasn't really moving that it was just because she was dizzy that she felt like it was.

I can't wait 'til Jason is joining in & doing things for us to gather these funny little memories.

What a night!!!

Jason went to bed last night at 8:45pm & slept until just after 6am this morning!!! I think we will try for a repeat performance tonight!!!

In a Jam

Yesterday Sydney was at Grandma & Papa's & her and Max were playing their little "Mouse House" game which involves the cushions from the couch. Sydney stuck her head under the couch when she was lying on her side, but before pulling it out rolled onto her back therefore her head would no longer come out. Well, I guess the crying started & Papa had to save her. When she got out, all was fine & she kept saying, "Papa got me out".

When Daddy heard the story he asked if she was going to do that again & her answer was "no". Let's see if she remembers her lesson the next time her and Max are playing Mouse House.

Long Road Home

Technically the title should be the "Long Road to Mom's" since Brad always corrects me when I refer to it as home. Our visit was very good, but the drive there was not. Jason cried with great enthusiasm for the first half hour to forty minutes of our drive. It was nap time for him, so he should have fallen asleep & been asleep for the duration, but that did not happen. Finally he did fall asleep & woke when we were about 15 minutes from Mom's place. Unfortunately for him, we had to make a pit stop because we forgot his food in the fridge in our rush to get out the door. Moments like that really make you appreciate one of the main benefits of breast feeding.

Although I love the little guy a whole bunch, he makes it very hard to not get frustrated or stressed during our outings!

Tyler was also at my Mom's and Sydney was thrilled to have her cousin for a playmate & was cozying up to him at dinner.

Personal Space

Friday morning I came into the living room
& this is how I found Sydney & Jason.

How do you teach a two-year old about personal space??? Jason was born a snuffly guy & now is even snufflier due to a cold which he was bound to get because his sister does not understand the concept of "not so close".

We keep telling Sydney that when she was a baby, if anyone got in her face as much as she gets in Jason's she would FREAK OUT. To a certain extent she is still that way, but she is very much a "do as I say, not as I do" kind of girl. Thankfully Jason is not rejecting his sister's close-ups.

Jason's thinking, "Back off sister & give me some space"

Tonight we had the second candy apple that Brad's mom made for us for Halloween. Last night it was a "Turtles" apple with caramel (that nearly pulled our teeth out), chocolate & pecans. Besides the difficulty eating, it was very good. Tonight our treat was covered in caramel, chocolate, and crushed Oreo cookies. It was even yummier!!! Sydney calls them yum, yum apples & as you can see she enjoyed every bit of it. Well the candy at least, the apples were still sitting in her bowl once she picked all the goodies off of it.