We Illin'

I had meant to post pictures of us decorating the tree, but I accidentally erased them all. Even the one were Jesse had to strip down to underwear and wrassle that bear!

We're all sick. Bleh.

I feel the worst for Jem, he is so stuffed up it's hard for him to breathe and nurse. Then I feel sorry for me, because I have to try and nurse him all night.

Violet had the worst of it last week. She's feeling a lot better now, but is having a hard time shaking off the demanding and whining groove. We indulged her last week (what else is there to do with a sick two year old?) and realized perhaps I had gone too far when she crawled into bed with us at 5:30 this morning, told me to massage her feet and then asked to watch "too much TV". Yes, definitely feeling better.

Well, aside for the illnessessess, we are excited for Christmas!

This morning was 4-wheelin' madness. Jesse had brought 'Trixie' in to school to work on, so we piled in the car and went to his school. He got it almost a year and a half ago and has been working on it since then, perhaps a little obsessively. It was too icy to really tear around, but it was fun anyway.

Then is was home to do a little gingerbread house decorating!

UV was the model of concentration when it came to applying candies.
So, family arriving for dinner tonight. More family coming tomorrow. MORE family arriving a few days from now. Then we are off to Toronto in the new year.

In case I don't blog at you in the next few days, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

NJVJ

Poor Sick UV

As I was putting Violet to bed this evening she began a conversation that was clearly fever induced. You have to imagine that the whole time she was looking at me with unfocused bleary red eyes. Kind of like that earnest drunk guy at the xmas party.

Violet: "Remember when I went to the hospital and they put the blood on my arm?"
(she recently had to go for a blood draw)

Me:"Yes, you were very brave."

Violet:"I didn't like the smell."

Me:"I'm sorry to hear that..."

Violet:"What am I talking about?"

Me:"I don't know...smells?"

Violet:"What happened to Princess Jasmine?"

Me:"I wish I knew..."

Violet:"What am I talking about Princess Jasmine?"

Violet is always extra special, but she is at her cutest when she is ill.

Jesse

Where are we going?

NOWHERE!

Jesse, Captain of My Heart, did manage to brave the snowstorm and go and get a tree. This is our first tree in this house, and we're going to decorate it this afternoon.
Last year, we didn't get a tree, as we were getting ready for our BIG TRIP to Qatar. Can't believe it's been a year. This year, the fine folks from Qatar are coming to visit us, as well as some very good looking people from BC.




In other news:
Violet came up to me and said "My feelings hurt. Please put some massage on my tummy".
I did.

How many couples can say that they have both broken eyeglasses by driving over them with a car? Just another sign that we were meant for each other.

Jem and Frog

I was showing Jem a little frog this morning. He reached out his chubby little fist and grabbed at it. I gave it to him. He looked at me for a while, then realized he had something in his hand! Then he realized he could move it closer to his face! Then he went cross-eyed with the effort, but hey - first time he's done that. He's three months old today, my lovely little Jembon.

In UV news:

Jesse and UV were on an errand last night, and drove by a MacDonald's. Violet pointed at the golden arches and exclaimed "A funny M like for Mama!". Smart, and still oblivious to that particular brand, it warms my heart.

In other news:

I think we're going to be able to fit all our guests in over the holidays with a few minor changes to the sleeping arrangements.

Jelly Star

Violet ate a jelly star sticker on Monday morning. We were playing, sticking them on the window, and I left her alone with them to answer the phone. BAD MOTHER. When I got off the phone, Violet ran past me into her room (the telltale sign that she's up to no good) with something in her mouth. I did a quick star count, and one was missing.

I freaked out - don't swallow that! bad for you! toxic chemicals!

Aaagh she swallowed it!

In retrospect, I might have overreacted, but the package said Made in China, and DO NOT EAT! So, my first instinct was to make her throw it up. It wasn't successful, and for the rest of the day she would look at me strangely and ask "what you do that to me in the bathroom for?". Anyhoo, spoke with the fine people at TeleHealth and Posion Control (while Violet was actually whining for more stars), and it turned out not to be toxic. She has suffered no ill effects from the star.

After I hung up the phone, I broke into tears. That (and only that) upset Violet, who ran into my arms and wouldn't look at me until I was happy again.

Now she tells people "I ate a jelly star, and Mama was angry, then she cried and I hid, and then I peeked and Mama was happy again".

Jem slept through it all.

That was Monday, and things have looked up since then. The laptop is back. I started a mommy boot-camp spinning class. We set up the Christmas lights and have made a dent in our first box of brandy beans and bottle of Southern Comfort. We have our traditions here.

Family Portrait

I set up the camera and tripod today to attempt to capture the elusive and shy Family portaitus. Out of one billion shots with wiggling children, here is the best. I might try again another day, or just photoshop our best faces together from the various shots. And YES, Jesse is growing a beard. It will be mighty.Violet then asked me if I would take a picture of her and her doll Baby-Baby. This is what happened when I asked her to look and the camera and smile. It really reminded me of a Calvin and Hobbs strip...

The laptop broke. Rats. I was just getting used to the art of nursing Jem and shopping on ebay at the same time. It's in for repairs, but that might take a long time.

A couple of mornings ago we woke up to a fantastic winter snowfall. Jesse and I looked at each other and both knew we couldn't wait to show Violet how everything outside had changed. We brought her into the living room and pulled back the curtains from the big window. Her face lit up and she breathed "snow!". Then she wanted to go play in the snow, but it was only 7 am, so for the next hour and a half we had to deal with "can I go play in the snow now?...now?....now?" until Oma was ready to take her out. All she wants to do is eat the snow. I even caught her picking up snow that had fallen out of the tread of my boots inside in hopes of eating it.

She eats cat kibble too.

Since we're on the subject of Violet being weird... she likes to play with stickers by sticking them one by one on to her forehead. For what reason, I do not know.

She also likes Jesse to sing Guns'n'Roses by glowstick as a bedtime ritual. It was cute until I heard her singing "Daddy works in porno now that Mommy's not around" (from the song My Michelle). Oh, I guess that's still cute, as long as no one else hears.Then there's the boy. He had his first doctor's appointment and shots yesterday. As expected, his sumo wrestler lifestyle (without the wrestling part) has put him in the 99th percentile for weight, height and head circumference. Huge, but healthy and sleeping like a champ at night. Hooray Jem!

One Liners

I wish I could record all the hilarious things that Violet thinks up to say. She keeps up a pretty steady chatter about anything that pops into her head. She'll even be talking about something before her nap, sleep for 2 hours, and immediately pick up where she left off. Here are a couple one-liners from the last few days that we're still laughing about.

Grandpa Santa Ralph came for a short visit last Saturday. You can probably guess what kind of facial hair Grandpa Santa Ralph has from his name. Violet exclaimed
"you're all covered in moustaches!"

While on a walk after dinner Violet looked up at the moon and called out "Hey! You got any sandwiches?"

For Libby

Jem turned two months old a couple of days ago. He can hold his wobbly head up for longer and longer. He likes to eat. He is easy going, easy to please, and smiles when I sing this little Ukrainian song to him.

In the background is Violet, who cannot tolerate a camera being pointed at Jem for too long without asking to see herself too. When Libby was here last summer we taught Violet to say "redrum" in that creepy voice, and Libby thought it was pretty funny. Also, she hasn't met Jem yet, so this one goes out to her special.

In other news:

Violet was drawing at the living room table yesterday evening. She stopped and whispered (in her theatrical whisper kind of way) "I'm going to go drink wine in my room", and left.

Hilarious!

The Long Car Ride

Driving home from Toronto this afternoon, we stopped at McDonald's for a snack. I told Violet I was going to order her a Happy Meal and she said "No! I want an angry meal!".
That was the kind of car ride it was.
Glad to be home!

Hawawe'en (UV pronounciation)

The more time that goes by since updating the blog, the more posts pile up in my head until I don't know where to start anymore and it seems overwhelming. Then I avoid writing.

The good news is that I now have a laptop on loan and wireless Internet upstairs so updating the blog will be much easier.

So can we start fresh here? Yes?

This is the first year that Violet understood what Hallowe'en was about, so we were really excited about taking her around the neighbourhood...and then raiding her candy stash. She wanted to dress up like a fairy princess, so we got her a little costume at the mall that included a tutu, wings, crown and a wand for whacking lamps off of tables. As the salesgirl was showing us how to attach the wings on Violet, she said "so I can fly!" in total seriousness. If I could bend the rules of gravity for this child, I would.

I was expecting Violet to want to go to a few houses and then home, but we stayed out for an entire hour. Every time we left a house she would call out "I want to go to another place!", and so we would. Jem was happy to come along in the stroller.

Brandishing the wand

About to hit up the first house

Candy gettin' face

Finally had enough. Check out the death grip on her bag of candy. We pull the bag out after dinner, and she gets to have one treat. So far, it's been all about the lollipops. More chocolate for me! This was a really fun Hallowe'en.

Jem is 7 weeks old today. I can't believe he's only been here for such a short time. It feels like he's always been here, sitting around looking at us and farting lots. He started smiling a few days ago!! The biggest, gummiest smiles ever. He is such a lovely and easy going boy.

In other news: Jesse, super-husband and captain of my heart, surprised me with tickets to go see Cats! last Friday. Oma and Grandpa tag teamed to look after Jembon and UV. Now I know why Jesse had been strongly encouraging me to pump milk and get Jem used to an occasional bottle the last couple of weeks. It was wonderful to get out, just the two of us.

In sadder, yet still cat related news: Rusty has moved on to the Heavyside Lair. Rusty had a long and fulfilling country life.

Best news ever: both kids go to bed at 8 pm.

The Love

It's pretty hard to get a video of Violet because the second she sees that you have the video camera in hand she wants to see herself.
This time, I was sneaky! Violet was busy being a sweet big sister, and didn't hear the camera turn on. You can see how much Jem loves looking at her.

I survived L2K

L2K = Lumina with 2 kids.

We didn't just survive, we had a super fabulous time! Even the long drives went well (with a little help from Raffi). Algonquin Park is always beautiful.

I really love Thanksgiving. We had a little cabin with a fireplace that was really cozy. I was really excited about waking up in the morning and having a fire before it was time to go for breakfast at the main lodge. It was a rainy weekend, so all the wood was wet. Jesse tried his manly best, but all we got to enjoy was a 10 minute cardboard box and kindling fire. I loved every minute of it though!

We snuggled and slept late in the mornings, then headed over to Nana and Cha-cha's cabin to wake them up.

Jem was introduced to a few of his family members and friends for the first time. One of them is due with her first in November, so we loaned Jem out as 'demo baby' for burping and diaper changes. We tried to lend Violet out as 'demo toddler', so people could try and get her sit for meals, poop in the toilet and get her down for a nap...but no takers.

Jem was such a super baby that strangers came up to me and told me so. Violet was also showered with attention and presents. A book full of Winnie the Pooh stickers kept her busy for hours. The boots were a gift for Jem in Violet's current size. How smart is that!?
I didn't take a lot of pictures; either it was raining or I was carrying Jem.
Here are a few:

Violet teaching Jem how to text "I love boobs" on my phone. Jem is currently in his molting-pizza-face phase. But still so handsome!
Mr. Chins trying to eat his own chubbalicious cheek.

Hope you all had a great weekend too. I don't think I've ever had more to be thankful about.

First Outing

I'm not sure what came over me when I decided to take my two week old and two year old to the park by myself on Saturday. Thirty minutes after our arrival, we were all in tears and headed home.

Jem wanted to nurse as soon as we got there, and Violet wanted to swing. I couldn't do both at the same time, so Violet stood alone beside the swings, looking neglected and melancholy, pushing the empty swings, while I sat and tried to nurse on an uncomfortable park bench. I tried to rush Jem back into his hippie sling, but didn't get him in properly. I couldn't figure out how to fix the problem without taking all my clothes off and starting again. I pressed on with getting Violet in the swing, with Jem squirming and starting to cry. I think I pulled some stitches. When I finally gave up and decided to go home, Violet fell to the earth and screamed like I was killing her. I had to drag her by the arm halfway home. Everyone was looking at us.

So, that was fun!

Apart from that outing, my first day alone was fine. It did involve a full length Disney movie, but just one! This day is day two. So far so good. I have Violet on my lap, and Jem sleeping on the couch behind us. I can still blog!

The other day out of the blue Violet said "we're a family!", and it really feels like that now.

In other news:

Violet is back on track with the toilet training, thanks to Nana. She's wearing real underwear! However, it turns out her diaper was what was holding up most of her pants.

I am a terrible knitter, but I finally finished Jem's space invader sweater! Good thing, because it just fits him now.

Next: matching hats!

Jembon

Violet was an easy baby. People liked to tell us that the next one would be a handful and we were dooooooomed and all that. But folks, Jem is an even easier baby. HA! HA TO YOU ALL!!!

The boy sleeps, poops, eats, sleeps. That is all. Why has it taken me this long to hobble downstairs and update the blog already? Lots of good company upstairs! Nana was here for a week taking care of me, and now Oma is here. I am a very spoiled mama.

Anyhoo, Jem -

I was even a bit concerned that he was sleeping too much, but the midwives assured me that his 4 ounce weight gain in a day and a half is indicitive that he is doing just fine. He certainly doesn't sleep through a meal. I call him my Jembon (jambon is 'ham' in French). He is completely lovely and a good natured boy and we are just in total love with him.

Violet has been great. Really good, and very helpfull. If she's been outside for a while, the first thing she asks when she comes in is "How's Jem, Mama?". She hasn't had to share me too much though, as there has been someone here to dote on her since Jem arrived. The true test will be Thursday, when I am parenting solo. I'm thinking lots of TV that day.

Proof

At long last...that special time has come...

Wait for it...

Here he is!

We are back from the hospital! We are having a lovely sunday night family dinner!

Violet is being a super sweet big sister.

More later...

jesse

Jem...its a boy's name...REALLY!

Yeah!

Yesterday, September 13th, at 10:16 pm, a baby was pulled forth from Nadia's womb and when we saw those teensy little testicles, the long foretold name of Jem Roman Collins was thrust upon him.

Yes, it is a boy's name. It comes form "To Kill a Mockingbird", so there.

Jem was born weighing 10 lbs 10 oz. He is a big baby. He looks kind of like someone else's 3 month old. He kind of looks like he might be an Aztec.

Nadia is doing very well, she is a fast healer, and Jem is nursing up a storm already.

Unfortunately there are no photos available just yet...but hopefully by tonight there will be!

Nana is on her way, Nadia is at the Hospital with Jem, Oma is headed back home to look after her cat, Grampa is going home to drink an entire bottle of wine and Violet and Daddy are about to have some naps.

Zzzz,
Jesse

40+10

At 7 am Thursday (unless I am bumped by an emergency) I'll be donning that sexy hospital garb and we'll be getting this party started.
I just might have me my giant baby by tomorrow afternoon!

Jesse will update the blog for me if I have to stay in hospital for a couple of days.

Till then!

40+9

Welcome back, cervix!
It was in the lost and found at the Greyhound bus terminal, having been discovered trying to board a bus to Miami. And not behaving as a good cervix should, of course. Not dilated one little bit. This makes breaking the amniotic sac impossible.
Sooo, after weeping through my entire midwife appointment, I convinced them to schedule an induction within the next 48 hours (or face a duel with pistols at dawn tomorrow). It's complicated because I am not allowed to have a chemical induction, as this would put too much stress on my scarred uterus. The good news is they have a balloon they can manually stretch your cervix out with now.
Hey, balloons? Sounds like a party to me!

I'll let you know when the party starts. Just waiting for the hospital to call me back with a time.

40+8

Seriously.

Today I had the ultrasound, and I'm happy to report that the baby is looking perfect and ready to be born. I had a short glimpse of a squishy face sucking on a fist (!).
The less super news is that they estimate the weight of the baby to be....
TEN POUNDS EIGHT OUNCES.
Good lord. That's enough for two babies!

Tomorrow, my last midwife appointment, as I'm not leaving until something invasive and labour inducing happens. Or plans to do it the next day.

Lately, whenever I am trying to do something like get off the couch, put my socks on, or breathe, this song keeps popping into my head. I have to share it with you. The artist is a schizophrenic street person named Wesley Willis (sadly, now deceased). An odd sort of genius. It's called "I'm Sorry That I Got Fat, I Will Slim Down". The video was not done by Wesley, and I don't think it does the song much justice. Just close your eyes when listening. Please enjoy.



I WILL SLIM DOWN.

40+6

Still here.
Doing....stuff. Do you like stuff?

Cervix still AWOL (not dilated, although that was my sincere hope at the time it went missing).

Hey, Violet gave herself a huge purple bump on her forehead from falling into a shopping cart at the grocery store today. We put a bag of ice from the fish counter on her head and gave her a popicle. She's fine, my tough girl.
This will be excellent for upcoming family photos!

Ultrasound on Monday to make sure my placenta hasn't shrivelled into a prune or joined my cervix on holiday (leads seem to be pointing to Centretown!).

Thanks for checking in and waiting with me.

40+4

I had an appointment with my midwife today, who was going to stretch my cervix
(called a 'stretch and sweep') to see if that could get labour started.

She couldn't find my cervix.


I'm making missing posters right now to post around the neighbourhood.

Anywaaaay, here is cute picture of Jesse and UV.

40+2...nuthin'

The best kind of help you can get is naked toddler help.

40+1

Well, all quiet on the uterine front so far. I will post as soon as something birthy happens.
If you are wondering what the 40+1 means, it's 40 weeks pregnant +1 day overdue.
To keep us all occupied....

Short and sweet, Violet sings "Twinkle, Twinkle".

Dido and Babcia Libby gave us a handycam when they were here visiting in August! It's pretty much the best thing ever. We've been taking videos steadily, but only until today have I managed to get all the correct software loaded and 700 videos transfered to the computer. Last time I posted a video, it was through YouTube. This time, I'm trying out the Blogger option. Let me know if it works as well.

A Totally Momentous Occasion

Today, for the first time, on request, Violet got me a drink out of the fridge all by herself. Jesse and I have been waiting a while for this 'having a kid' thing to pay off.

And, for a special request, a photo of me from a couple of days ago. Shandy and Violet are in the background, being monkeys at a school were I'm doing some landscape design work. As fast as I possibly can, as explosion seems eminent.

Ugh.

Summer of the Popicle

Violet pronounces popsicle "popicle". She is obsessed with popsicles. It's the first thing she's been asking for in the morning, and then whines and bursts into tears when I tell her "only after dinner". She then asks sweetly "have dinner?".

This is mostly a pretty rosy blog, but I have to be honest and say that August has been a trying month with all the constant whiiiiniiiing. It's pretty funny sometimes when you think how ridiculous it is to be caring for a miniature person that whines for Turkish delight (tukish denight!) like it's their birth right.

I know it will pass. Hopefully in the next week or so, as I'm due in 4 days!

Of course, she's still the sweet, smart and snuggly girl she's always been. Because it's my blog, I can boast about her all I want. I took her to the doctor last week, and she benchmarked her language and comprehension skills above a 3 year old level. The girl can talk! Too bad she's only using it mostly for evil these days.

"Mama, you getting a popicle for me? I want a green one! Mama, you have a popicle also. Let's go sit on the front porch together. Bring a tissue, my popicle gets drippy".

Her First Haircut

It was a spontaneous event (hence no pictures of the actual cutting) during an errand run a couple of mornings ago. Violet won't tolerate a ponytail for more then 3 minutes, and it was getting pretty long and tangly. Sort of a feral child look. I was concerned she would be upset/restless during the cut, but she totally enjoyed it.

Before:

After:

And just in case the sweetness of the above photo is too much,

I present The Face of Two, or, Prelude to Wailing and Tears. Your pick.

This is the face we've been enjoying more often these days. I took this one while Jesse was trying to get Violet to stop bouncing on the edge of the couch.

Jesse got his haircut too! Sorry, hippie-minded members of Jesse's family.

I think he looks very handsome.