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.

Happy Halloween

Brad took today as a vacation day so that we could go out for lunch to celebrate our upcoming wedding anniversary & pick Sydney up early from daycare so that she could enjoy the trick or treating part of Halloween.

She now has a pumpkin full of loot, more than she will ever eat & we have lots of leftover candy in our pile as well. Our trick or treaters are done & we only had 32 kids. I believe that we do not get a lot of kids because our street is not right within the survey & we are not an efficent use of their time with the goal of getting as much candy as possible. Therefore, with all the chocolate sitting around I think that I will be waiting to focus on those pounds that I want to lose because I know with the "junk" that is in our house that I will be continuing to indulge.

For Sydney's first trick or treat experience we took her to see Grandma & Papa (who were also watching Jason for us) and also to see G.G. Taylor and Great Uncle Jim. On our street we also went to our neighbours that know Sydney. Although it was only 10 houses the little girl has a lot of stuff!

On Friday Sydney was Cinderella, but today she was a ladybug. Jason was sort of a mummy for his first Halloween, but he really only was dressed for the trip from the grandparents. Max came over to see us too & this year he was dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Three Months Old

Well, we made it through another month & we are definitely getting to figure each other out more & more. You are becoming a very smiley baby, but you will still often make people work pretty hard for it before you give them out- even Daddy. In the last month you have been called a "Mommy's boy" by more than one person, but really you spend 99.9% of your wakeful time with me so why wouldn't you be??? You really are getting to be a chatty thing when you are awake, but those wakeful periods are still pretty short. After being awake for only an hour you often show signs of being tired & in need of a nap. In the last couple of weeks you have had a nap each day that can last up to 3.5 hours, but getting you settled into that nap is still a bit of a challenge. I think I have accepted that for whatever reason you have to have your little cry before you will fall asleep. Hopefully this is just a temporary thing until you learn to fall to sleep on your own. You are also napping in your crib now, which is great except when we are out you do not always sleep well because you want to be lying down on your own. At night you are typically in bed at 9pm & sleep through until 4am-5am. Lucky for me you are very quick when you feed in the night & are usually back in your bed within half an hour & then sleep until around 8:30am. You are really starting to check out your hands & like to get them in your mouth. However, your control is still not the greatest & you sometimes punch yourself in the eye. Because you have been sleeping so much during the day, it doesn't seem that we have been out & about as much in the last month. I have ventured to the mall a couple of times with you & that is not a successful outing if you are awake- you do not like to be confined to your carseat & you let anyone who is listening know it! If I carry you, you are just fine- so I am not sure how easy Christmas shopping is going to be with you. We don't go to the doctor this month, so we will have to wait until next month for your growth update. However, I would guess that you probably weigh about 14 lbs & I am starting to wonder if I will last carrying you in your infant seat...you are getting heavy!!!

Happy Belated Birthday Uncle Robb

Congrats on your new job with Mississauga Fire Department...hopefully you get to the fire before the houses are this engulfed with flames!!!

Check out the smoke created by all those candles!!!

Also, happy 7-year anniversary to Robb & Michele.

How time has changed

I remember the days when turning the clocks back meant an extra hour of sleep. This was obviously the days before having young children in the house. I love sleep, so I used to look forward to making this change even though it meant that the days were turning dark much earlier.

This year I was a little anxious about making the hour change. I have a friend whose little guy never "time changed" last year & she spent every morning waking up at 5am until the clocks changed again in the spring. I have heard other people also complain that it takes their kids a couple of weeks to adjust to the time change & as a result have a lot of early mornings. Last week Sydney was waking earlier than usual & I was fearful that this morning with the time change she would also be up well before 6am. Our friends Laura & Patrick were over with their kids yesterday & I was hoping that playing with Morgan & Marley would sufficiently wear
Sydney out & result in a longer than usual night sleep. But she slept her "usual" meaning that she slept until 7am which with the change was 6am. We actually should be thankful that she did sleep that long because sometimes if she goes to bed too late, she will wake up even earlier. Thankfully that didn't happen. I say thankfully, but really I was in bed for another hour & a half after she got up. Her Daddy is an early morning person & he was up before her- had to check where he was in the hockey pool. Therefore, I got to sleep in until 7:30am & got up when I heard them getting Jason up.

She is down for a nap now, which was accepted without too much resistance. Jason is also napping right now, so it is nice having a quiet household...if only for a few moments.

Some shots of Sydney & Morgan dancing last night...too cute, I think.

A Dour- faced Princess

Today Grandma & Papa came over to watch Jason so that I could take her to a Halloween Party at a nursing home with her friends Ellie, Emma & little Katie. Well Sydney loved dressing up in her Cinderella costume, but sure played shy the whole time we were out. I expected a little shyness with the residents, but even trying to get her to smile for the picture with her friends was obviously not successful. Then of course after I pack the camera away, Sydney starts laughing & talking to Katie- but alas no photo of the smiling princess. Hopefully we will have more luck on Tuesday.

Emma the Catepillar, Sour Cinderella, & Puppy Ellie

Even a group hug from her friends didn't illicit a smile

Before we left for the party she was a happy girl holding her brother

Not the type of alarm you want to wake up to...

This morning the alarm on the smoke detector in Sydney's room went off just before 6am. Not exactly the sound you want to hear, especially in your child's room. The culprit??? The vapourizer that we had running for her cold. The night before she was up coughing from 4am to 5am & yesterday didn't really nap because she kept coughing. So, last night we put the vapourizer in. Brad hates using them because he hates the moisture they create in the room & create mold concerns. I must say that the alarm did nothing to add to his interest in using them, but until the alarm went off Sydney had a good sleep!

Of course, Brad & I go running in to her room & she looks up at us & says "Mommy & Daddy in my room!" I am not sure if she was really aware of the loud beeping coming from her room before that or not. She then wanted to lie on the couch with me, rather than going back to sleep. We compromised with me lying down in her bed while she was supposed to go to sleep in her crib. Of course, that didn't happen- she just sang & talked until I finally relented & figured we might as well get up. I sure hope she naps at Jo's today!!!

Thankfully Jason did not wake up to the alarm, which is pretty amazing since I had just put him back to bed 20 minutes before the alarm went off. He slept until his current "usual" of 8:30am. For the past 3 days he has gone down for a nap a couple hours after getting up & slept for about 3 hours which has been so wierd for me. Of course each day I spent each minute expecting him to wake up & never really got into anything major. Today I had my little list prepared for what I was going to do while he napped, but today has not gone as smoothly as yesterday. He is still napping, but he keeps waking up & needs some "SHHHHH" whispered in his ear to get him settled & back to sleep. I think he too has caught Sydney's cold (how could he not when she talks to him about 2 cm from his face) and as a result breathing is a little more challenging for him.

Tomorrow Grandma & Papa are watching him in the morning while I take Sydney to a Halloween party with her friends, so I really hope he naps for them & doesn't wake up freaking out because his Mom has disappeared.

(If I can convince Brad to ever use the vapourizer again, I think we will take the batteries out of the smoke detector in the bedroom so that we do not have a repeat performance of this morning.)