up-date

Some of the funny/cute things Hendrik has said in the past few days:

After a trip to Costco: "That was fun!"; and to his fussy baby sister: "What's the matter? It's okaaay."

pretending to talk on the phone:
Hendrik: "Hi. Oh, hi."
Me: "Who are you talking to?"
Hendrik: "Aunt. Aunt likes salad."

Later, on the phone: "Hi my name is Heather." (giggle) "Heather is mommmy..."

So yeah, he's pretty much the cutest ever. The not listening that is testing our patience does not fall under this cute umbrella, but since he's a toddler and since life as he knew it has seriously changed, we're trying to be a bit (more) flexible and understanding. But this is what I think about when he doesn't listen: the three of us (me + kiddies) out in Beijing in a busy busy place and the potential consequences of him not listening. It freaks me out, so we're working on it. Like potty training, it's an in-progress deal. Unfortunately we're not as far down the line as we were before baby sister arrived, but that's understandable, and really, he's doing an amazing job. I stopped by the Extraordinary Baby Shoppe this morning to buy a pair of Super Undies (to see if the pull-up by myself thing and the feeling wet combo might help - as an alternative to disposable pull-ups) and on my way out heard a mom asking about training pants for her four year old. So yeah, Hendrik is golden.

I've been asking Hendrik if he wanted to go to a playgroup this morning ("to play with other kiddies," he says), and he was into it... so I corralled both kids and we headed for an Ontario Early Years Centre playgroup at Mothercraft, only to be turned away. I have been way less emotional this time around (with Alana) but for some ridiculous reason I wanted to cry when we walked in the door and they told us that it was full. Ouf... So on we went to run errands: the baby shop and MEC - and it was successful; no one had any meltdowns (Alana tried). I had to feed Alana in the first store, which again, was awkward, but worked. Breastfeeding a newborn is intense... every 2-3 hours, around the clock? The bod is feeling it, but feeling a bit better now that we're 12 days in.

And lastly here - I've gotta run, as it's been 2 hours and the babe sounds hungry (again) - Beijing plans are coming together. Steve's flight is booked for next Monday (the 24th), and we're planning on heading to Bowmanville in a week. So we have a week to organize and pack and get our apartment ready for renters ... do-able, I hope. I'm hoping that we'll join Steve a month or so later, after a few weeks in both Bowmanville and some time in Vancouver; those plans are yet to come together, as we have to get the little miss a passport and the whole lot of us need visas and blah blah blah. Here, a few ah-dorable pictures from earlier today. Time to feed!

feeding baby timmy... so so so so cute!

yesterday, at 13 days old

my loves!