alana eats and hendrik.... moos?!

family updates

This'll be an update sort 'o blog, so I'll just start with Hendrik, since he's 2 1/2 today!

This kid loves playing with cars. And he likes cake and ice cream and caves and books and everything that has anything to do with construction sites. Pointing out diggers and excavators has increased everyone's awareness of vehicles of all sorts, and I have to admit that I have never been more excited about an oversized vehicle than when, the other day, we saw a knuckleboom loader, in action. I had to laugh at myself a little bit but whatever... it was kind of cool. We're trying to teach him a bit of french, since we've been wondering whether or not we should all be taking advantage of this opportunity, living in Quebec (albeit temporarily), to learn francais. He can count from 1-5, say "comment ca-va?" and respond ("ca va bien!"), and we're working on the quel age as-tu? He can also count from 1-5 in Chinese and Italian, and I often ask him if he understood in Italiano ("hai capito?"), and it's the cutest thing when he responds - "si mama, ho capito"; I must get all of this on film. Hendrik also loves pretend play, and takes on the same, high-pitched voice regardless of whether he's a fish or a frog or a flamingo... it is tres cute. Potty training has been a bit more successful since I last posted - for each potty chart he finishes he gets a Hot Wheels... so that's a pretty good motivator. I'm sure there's more (like how he asks me, "mommy, are you a kitchen worker?"), but I have more people to write about before my time runs out here....

almost nine months!

Alana! Alans. She's sleeping much better than she was a few weeks ago - no more night wake-ups! Or, at least, no more night feeding sessions. Some nights she'll fuss a bit, but usually settles herself down within 10-15 minutes (yay!). She has that baby radar for things she's not supposed to get into - Hendrik's cars, outlets, vents, anything with small parts, anything remotely not-for-baby. She likes her food, and likes feeding herself; most of her meals are pieces of chopped-up whatever-we're-eating, and like I said, she feeds herself. We're still in the trial and error stage (so to speak), where we'll feed her a new food and just wait and see if there are any adverse reactions - and so far so good. She gobbled down Halibut Florentine the other night (one of my go-to dinners), and ate salmon and broccoli tonight. And why she loves doing this I can't say, but she'll squish her food up in her hands and then rub it on her ears and in her hair behind her ears... ugh! And of course she hates it when I try to clean it off afterwards. Not a big deal at dinner, since a bath follows close behind, but breakfast and lunch.... I definitely notice dried chunks of food, earring style, stuck to (or in) her ears now and then, especially when we're out in public. She's getting more and more into books, and turns the pages of her before-bed reads - my go-tos are Goodnight Moon, Eric Carle's Polar Bear one, A Book of Sleep and Ten Little Fingers. I need to rotate a few more in there to mix things up... those have been on repeat for a week or two. She can get up on all fours, but is still doing the commando crawl thing... but man, she's fast. I zip down the hall to do something and then just see two little legs poking out of the bathroom - she likes the dots on Hendrik's Ikea stool that sits at the sink. And (this is funny), since Hendrik sees me scoop her up and peel her out of the bathroom (I'm somewhat afraid of finding her with her mouth all over Hendrik's potty), the other day he took matters into his own hands and dragged her out of there, one arm to one leg... it was fu-nny (she didn't seem to mind). She makes constant noise when she eats, but otherwise doesn't babble too too much, and mmmm there might be more BUT .... mmmm... yeah. Onwards!

I ran as Jeffrey Carrier. I got a medal!

Me. I ran a 10km the other day! I mean, a race! It was my first one and it was as last minute as decisions come. I bought the pinney off of Kijiji at 2:30 (from someone just down the street) - the race started at 6:30. And how's this for timing: I fed Alana at 5:15 and then left the house, ran the race in just under 55 minutes, and was back in time to feed her at 8:00, just before bed. Kapow! I pretty much ran through the finish line, walked to the car, drove home and walked in the door to feed baby. Like I said, it was my first race, and it was really neat to be a part of an event that involved more than 10,000 people. I have that half marathon in mind too, which is at the end of August. Yikes, I'll have to amp up my training at some point and get in some longer runs. But as long as my body holds up (knees), it should all be enjoyable! What else - I have a few crafty crafterson projects that I want to get to and finish - updating (sparsely) Hendrik's baby book, doing Alana's, putting together an Italy frame (pictures and maps from last year in Vela/Trento), and doing the photo book thing (as seen on Young House Love). I also found a job I want (this one), a blog I'm in love with (I'm obsessed with children's books) and currently have a bazillion tabs open in a bazillion windows. Not much new there.....

young Steve, circa 1999

Steve... is knee deep in volleyball. He's been training like crazy in preparation for this weekend's World League matches up in Quebec City - they play the Netherlands on Friday at 7pm and then again on Saturday at 4pm, and both games are live on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific (National), so tune in if you want to catch the best of the best. Because this paragraph is so short I just asked Steve if there are any other updates he has, other than life-dominated-by-volleyball, and he flexed his bicep (I rolled my eyes), and said, "Playin' volleyball, feelin' young." So that's pretty good, right?

And that's a wrap! Life is good......

photos photos photos

Sleep training? Yeah... we tried. We're trying it. We are trying to get Alana (8 1/2 months) to drop the night feed(s) and get to sleep on her own if and when she wakes up in the night. The first night of said training she cried for two hours, no exaggeration. It was horrible, for everyone; her sheets were soaked with tears and snot and I felt just plain mean. But then the second night she cried for just 10 minutes around 10:00, and that was it! Magical, yes... but since Hendrik was up in the night, I still didn't get that elusive uninterrupted sleep. (It's been 3+ months.) And last night she cried for 30 minutes at 4:30 - and Hendrik slept. SO! Fingers crossed that BOTH of them sleep their little hearts out tonight ... and the same goes for me.

Skating: It was the first class for me (third for the boys), and Hendrik indeed made a little bit of progress - he shuffled. Apparently he just lay there on the ice in the first class, and did a lot of the hunched bunched crab-elbow thing - albeit standing alone! - this time around. So yes, progress is slowly being made (we think). There was zero progress in Toilet Training 101 - he peed and pooped his pants at Milestones afterwards, and seemed completely unperturbed (un-pooterbed) by pants full of mess; we left extras in the skating bag in the car, so we had no other choice. Bleh... After two days of full-time diapers (wait, make that three days) and confusion and frustration for les parents, we had a stellar day today - dry pants, no accidents! We big time talked it up last night, and talked about perks and the possibility of a party, and there was one. Gangnam Style and dancing followed by cupcakes (this recipe) and ice cream and a candle - we made a big deal and I'm really hoping it'll pay off.

getting ready...

...for this!

at Milestone's after for a Sunday brunch-lunch

On holiday Monday we drove out to Nepean to visit Valleyview Animal Farm, and nope, there were no huge crowds or lines - just lots to do and see and play with - it was great! We'll definitely go back for more fun; there were several different play areas, structures galore, trucks, tractors, baby animals, train rides and sheep shearing... sha-bow! It was good times.

tractors, swings, animals...

forts, tunnels, bridges...

and a construction site = kid heaven

We had our family opener Chelsea Pub dinner on Tuesday evening, and Hendrik did this:

"I'm a bird! I'm in the tree! I'm in my nest!" he said, in his high-pitched I'm-something-else voice. It was cute, but then he didn't want to get out of the tree, you know, since he was a bird. And then, when faced with the decision of stay in the funny house (he started calling it the bunny house - ?) or get ice cream, he chose to STAY IN THE HOUSE! And since both of us wanted ice cream and thought it irresponsible to leave him, we had to cajole and coax him TO the ice cream shop. Seriously. I mean, I get it, just a little bit... this is a pretty cool little house.

he LOVED it in this house... loved. the glee! it was adorable...

Up next: bath, beauties, and playing together... love it all!

recap-o-the-week

This week has been busy and good and tiring. Despite a fairly decent night's sleep last night, I'm feeling pretty beat; I could blame the weather, or the accumulation of a week of high-energy-output, or no-naps, or the up-at-night nights... but I'll just hope for better - for some good rest tonight and another good day tomorrow.

I'll break this down day by day:

Sunday: Mother's Day! I love this day for a few reasons: I feel special, as a mom - and I love my kids and I love being their mom (and I get to love them forever and ever and ever)! And I know that this is how my mom felt and feels about all four of us, and it's pretty special really, to get a better understanding of your parents and to think that the everlasting, all-consuming, unconditional feelings that we have for our children are the same ones they had (and continue to have - right?) for us. Am I talking in circles? I hope not. Anyways, Happy Belated Mother's Day! Moms, you make the world go round.

Oh, and skating happened for the first time last Sunday, and I have no pics. We are all planning on going to tomorrow's class, so stay tuned.

Monday: Swimming in the morning with Hendrik, and construction site visit (up-close action! diggers! front-end loaders!) and Walmart and gym triple-combo-pack-trip in the afternoon. If only we didn't have to drive to this construction site, we'd be camped out there. I'll take pictures next time....

Tuesday: AM visit to the Children's Museum at The Museum of Civilization. Hendrik was into stamping his "passport", but we left it somewhere and that was that. Pretend food play at the cafe, driving cars, playing on a big boat, more cars, stamping, cutting - these were a few of his favourite things. In the afternoon, I have no idea what we did.

Wednesday: Gymnastics in the morning followed by a family trip to the pool followed by meet and greet with Steve's team followed by lunch at Moca Loca - this equals that two-hour+ nap I wrote about in the last blog. I went for a run, hit Costco and Bulk Barn. We had an early dinner and went to the Canada-Turkey match here in Gatineau, stayed for two sets and called it a night.

Thursday: We did an errand on our way to a friend's house for a playdate, and made it home in time for lunch and nap. We had another early supper and got to the gym in time for warm-up, meet and greet with the mascot (a huge moose), and national anthems. Again, we stayed for two sets and then wrapped things up before Alana lost her cool; at home I was all about business getting the kids into bed. Books of the week for Hendrik have been The Dinosaur Alphabet Book (I feel so-so about the illustrations) and The Construction Alphabet Book - this one gets an A+. They were both "surprise books" - rewards for being such a gooooood listener. Since Alana would just try to stuff both of these books in her mouth, she gets Goodnight Moon and a few other boardies.

dr.hendrik at work (in his office, with steve in the waiting room, and then doing some work on Steve's "cracked" elbow)

Friday: I had a meeting in the morning and bought a new bathing suit (avec a Groupon discount, yay!), and Shanti helped out with the kiddies (double yay). And with the hopes of getting back to a regular-ish bedtime (8:00), I decided to skip the nap thing (for Hendrik at least) - so we headed out to a fabulous park where there was mucho play - in the playground, the sand, the woodchips, the trees (Hendrik was "gardening"). I tried to do a bit of Baby Book catch-up in the evening, but ran out of glue - that was on my list of things to do this afternoon but we found something better to do.

Saturday: Steve needed to be at the gym this morning at 11:15 (they lost in 5 tonight in Kingston, vs. Turkey), so after blueberry pancakes and a half-cleanup, we made for the park, found some rocks and threw them in the water. Minus the mosquitos, it was sort of perfect: a bit spontaneous, simple, sunny and warm; Alana slept peacefully and Hendrik was smiling from ear to ear, looking for rocks and finding white dandelions, pointing out good skipper rocks and stopping to look at geese. It's these little things in life that count the most... no? I thought the same thought 45 minutes later when, after dropping Steve off at the gym and dropping in on the festival-y type thing that was happening across the street, Hendrik soaked himself bit by bit in a series of water fountains - drops in his hair, on his face, then a wet shirt, then splattered splashes on his pants, and then soaked - the whole time smiling and stomping in the sun and water, not noticing me notice him. It made me think: this is it, this is why we live... to notice and have and experience moments like this. It was perfection.

It's 9:40, and Hendrik is in bed singing - "outside outside outsiiiiide, window window windowwwww," and his little robin song ("little robin in the sky, when it's dark, when it's sleep time, you put your blankie on by yourself" - I love it). Hm... it's a bit late for singing, but I'm not going anywhere near the getting-too-old-to-nap thing; let's just chalk this one up to his two and a half hour nap this afternoon. Rrrrreally! I was running and Steve and Alana were sleeping, so he didn't get his usual 3:30 wake-up call. The morning was big - gymnastics, swimming, volleyball-watching and player-greeting, and then lunch out. I have to say that generally, I much prefer lunching out to dining (dinnering?) out - it's cheaper, I love sandwiches and the lighter lunch fare, and it works better with the kiddies - with bringing them along, I mean. Anyways, yadda - this post is supposed to be quick (I have offline things to do) - here is the trailer for the guys' World League stint that's starting soon... exciting!!!

Friday, May 10th

Things are getting out of control. Check:

Does this happen to other people? I have three videos of Hendrik up (from Italy), two net-windows with a total of 17 tabs open, Mail (no idea why), a playgroup schedule, iPhoto, Office, Finder, a photo info thingy and a brochure for a fly fishing clinic I'm going to tomorrow. Sigh. At least I can say that with this blog I'll be knocking three of five things off of my must-do-will-do-TODAY list which include blogging, making a potty chart and emailing a friend about sleep training (I didn't get around to going for a run or putting winter stuff away - which doesn't matter anyways because I wore a winter sweater this afternoon). Should I add computer cleanup to the list? Yes. Definitely.

looking for signs of spring

We went for a sweet walk in the "woods" this morning to look for signs of spring (inspired by Outside Your Window, a current favourite book), and then I escaped toute seule this afternoon to pick up some rubber boots and buy pajamas, something I've been meaning to do for quite the while. This fly fishing clinic - which will take me away from Alana for the longest time in her 8-month history - requires waterproof footwear, and with rain and chilly climes forecast for tomorrow, I'll be glad to have them. They were 40% off and are somewhat cute, despite being Men's shoes. Okay, they're not cute, but they're black and standard and cushy. I'm really looking forward to something just for me, that doesn't involve grocery shopping or errands on the fly. Alana, crowding night feeds closer and closer together, has been stretching her time between day feeds, so I feel okay about being away for four hours. And, if for some reason she isn't okay and gets cranky and whiney and needy-needy, I can be home pretty quickly. I'll bring my camera, and be sure to blog about it early next week. Yay!

Our week - what did we do? Gymnastics, doctor's appointments, brunch with my cousin, hockey and more hockey... and ? Photos can tell the story:

hendrik wearing a hat that belonged to my paternal grandfather, and working on his sherlock holmes face

who are we cheering for?

peek-a-boo!

i am SO in love with this girl. what did i do without her?

hendrik putting on a show, complete with high-pitched monster voice... captivating!

sitting on his eggs. (there are two mallard nests on our property)

Two things I was thinking as I was driving home this afternoon: I LOVE Sirius XM (and I love that we still have our free subscription) and, despite the fact that I really should have gotten used to this by now, I can't get over how many people I see throwing garbage out of their cars here. And running red lights - running actual red lights. Is this the Euro influence thing going on in Quebec? Or is it a Gatineau thing? I don't know, but I don't like it. I like that Spring is here, I like that the desk I'm sitting at is organized, and I don't like how stressed out my husband is right now, sitting through the third period of Game Five of the Toronto-Boston series. I should go - and make sure he's breathing. From today:

last night, today

And today:

mini golf! not to be confused with mickie golf, something that hendrik says we'll do some day...

ice cream after, yum!

the best part of the weekend so far...

alana!

Alana is 8 months old today! And - AND! - it's supposed to get up to 26 today. 26! Is this weird weather or is that just how it is here - one week of sort-of spring and then BAM! humidity and hot hot heat - ? Not knowing. Anyways, the AC is on and I have to dig out/find/shop for some summer clothes. That being said, I suppose that it is possible that we get some cooler, more spring-like weather before summer digs its heels in (just like our prairie friends, right?). Okay, so back to the more important info-du-jour, our oh-so sweet and wonderful Alana. Who is not sleeping. Well, she is sleeping, just not very much. Up until a month or so ago, people with kids were telling us that this is the toughest stage - a young babe and a recalcitrant two year old - and I thought to myself, You know, it's not that bad, really! And it isn't - not every day. Yesterday was a tough one; we were running on fumes with a total of five hours sleep at max, all of it very interrupted. I think it's teething, and maybe (?) growing pains? We're hoping that this stage will be over relatively soon, because Hendrik's afternoon nap just might be phasing itself out - rare are the days that he's asleep before 9:00. Blah blah blah whatever - parents with young kids are tired! And not all kids are all the best sleepers, so we'd better just get over it and on with things.

crawlin' through the e-saucer

So, what's Alana up to these days? She's crawling, but commando style; this means that she's not the fastest mover, but if she spies something that she wants (she loves going after the memory cards, and Hendrik's cars, with their teeny small parts), she'll get there. She's eating little chunks of solid food now - Cheerios, pear, banana and Grana, and with three meals a day (plus five or six milk sessions), she's getting lots to eat. Her favourite things to do: watch Hendrik, eat memory cards, clap, wave, smile, put things in her mouth, chill in her exersaucer... and more? Sure. She naps in the morning and afternoon (sometimes for 20 minutes sometimes for 2 hours), and is in bed before 8:00, and then up around midnight or 2:00 or 4:30 or ... yeah, you get it.

Yes, Alana's birthday was in fact yesterday. And here I am a day later, trying to wrap this up on precious little sleep. The fact of the matter is that I could write a blog every day - I mean, if I had the time. There is so much going on (so much besides sleep) and the kiddies are so cute and entertaining that I have non-stop things to write about, but not non-stop time to actually do the writing. I do have to write about Hendrik getting me to get in his bed and call for him (this afternoon): I had to call "Hendrik! Hendrik!" and then he came running and told me that it was still sleep time. Then I asked for a story and he told me one, and then a song, and he sang me one; and then I asked for the blankie on, and he tucked me in. Then I asked for a kiss, and he dished one out. There might have been more but really... it was the cutest, ever. And my favourite part of the day with the Miss, was chilling on our bed with The Very Hungry Caterpillar; she was giggly and into looking at the sun and the wee little creature, and happiness oozed out of her like sunlight... and that was the best too. So, despite very little rest, there is a great great amount of love and happiness in my life, and for that, I'm willing to give up some sleep.

pre-nap tiger stories

have I posted a pic of Hendrik with his garage? this is it, and I'm not sure he can imagine life without it. he LOVES it!

dinner with friends - so good to have everyone back here!

Team Canada DADS! Steve and Dan and the babies, William and Alana

Hendrik being a "towel monster"