And that was July....almost

I turned 31, and Jesse (the captain of my heart) threw me a surprise party.

Wacky guests and all.

Babcia Libby, Nina, Max and Angie came to visit us. It was too short. Libby always made sure we had healthy snacks. Bless her.

Max and Angie

Nina painted UV's toenails red.

Violet pointed her toes out to everyone, everywhere, until I had to force her to let me remove the few tiny flakes still clinging to her toenails yesterday.

Sandcastles.

The rest of July will follow in another post.

Too hot and pregnant to continue.

Summer hours

Life and work have been so busy, I haven't had a chance to write.
Oma back in Killaloe for the summer (sad!), Parties, family visits (Nina! Libby! Max and Angie!), and extra design work on top of my full time job are keeping me from blogging.
Things should be settling down after next week (I finally get to stop working so I can waddle around at home). I will update the UV Report for real then.
Till then,
Nadia

Oh, just quickly:
She's been very loving lately. Yesterday morning she woke Jesse up by saying "Wake up Daddy, my darling". She's also been giving lots hugs and kisses, saying "I love you so much". I am overwhelmed with the sweetness.
She also exclaimed "holy jumpin'!" when she saw a big spider web.
Jesse taught her that.

Way Cute

Violet with her friend Sabrina in the photos below. Such different personalities, but both so easy going that we can leave them to play together without fear of shrieking or tantrums. In a few years we will realize that they have snuck off behind the garage to smoke pot-pourri, but until then, it's adorable.

Less adorable:

Good heavens! What is that giant orange blob taking over the photo?

Oh, that is my stomach.

The Big Two Weekend

Jesse and I started the Toronto weekend ( a.k.a. 'Nanafest') by taking Violet to the zoo on Friday morning. We were so excited. Tigers! Monkeys! The Zoo! Violet was going to love it!
As it turned out, not so much.

SHE WHINED THE ENTIRE TIME FOR COWS.
“Where are de cowwwws?”

Couldn't have cared less about the leopard 2 feet away.

It wasn't all ambivalence though; she did like the fish, that crazy black and white striped horse, and had to admit the giraffe was cool....eventually.

Anyway, in retrospect, she might be too young to appreciate exotic zoo animals fully. She also had one of her first really loud public tantrums (a transcript follows)...

“Drink water!”
I offer her the water bottle
“No water!”
I take it back
“Waaaaaterrrrrr!”
I offer it again
“NOOOOO!”
I take it back
“Wanna water!”
I offer her the water. She takes it this time! Then tries to pour it out all over the stroller.
I take it back.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”.

Time to go home! We'll try again next summer.

The rest of the weekend went more smoothly. Nana's backyard turned out to be more to her liking. She sat amongst the foliage with Teta Peach, discovering pine cones and eating grass.

Violet had a marvelous party with adoring guests, lovely presents (even her own little guitar), balloons, party hats, and tons of yummy food.

Her overwhelmed but happy little face while everyone (20 people!) sang Happy Birthday to her made me tear up. She loved it.

Jesse helped her blow out the candles on her smartie cake .

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

In other news:

In honour of Father's Day and our anniversary (10 years together, 6 married) I had been meaning to write a little about what a great husband and father Jesse is. Instead, since he was completely annoying last night after consuming a caffeinated beverage, I will leave you with this anecdote and photo.
The man spent an alarming amount of time filling a bottle with exactly the correct amount of water, that when attached to Violet's birthday balloons, would cause them to hang suspended in mid-air. Look at his face when it finally worked.

Love you, nerd.

interlude

I do have a big post full of wonderful pictures from Violet's birthday weekend brewing.

Have to quickly share just one little story though:

Violet slapped my arm in frustration this morning over something I can't remember now (oh, yes, she's TWO for real now). I said "Violet, it makes Mama really sad when you hit me". She looked around, grabbed the nearest National Geographic, dropped it into my lap and said

"here, have a magazine...happy now?".

Very Observant

This morning, I came into UV's room in my bra and undies to get her up (she doesn't get out of bed before I open her door...yet). She looked up at me from her pillow and said "that's a biiiiig tummy!".
Yes, I think I have officially passed the cute belly stage of pregnancy. It sneaks up on you, like the moment when you realize no one expects you to carry anything anymore, or get off the couch to get your own ice cream. Yessss!

I am going away for a conference for a few days early next week. All I can think about is this little face missing me...and a room all to myself with cable tv.

Pool Party

Pool party at our place!

Sure, the pool may only be a few feet in diameter, 5 inches deep and warm like bathwater after being in the sun for a couple of days, but man does UV like it! We got it on the way home from the museum on Sunday morning, filled it up during her nap and she spent the time she woke up until dinner in it (even eating her snack en pool). Because Jesse took the 'pool photos', there's not a shot with the acutal pool in it.

Before her little eyes fully opened this morning, she was already asking "swim in da poooool!".

In other news: Sometimes when they wander away and are quiet for too long, it's a good thing.

When Two Blogs Collide

As the parental units sat chatting and sipping coffee after brunch, Margo and UV sidled up to the bar, chugged from their sippy cups and shared "they wrote that on your blog?!" stories.

Morning

The cardinal singing for love at 4:30 am, the cat walking all over me at 5:00 am, and UV whining "maaaaamaaaaaaa" at 5:30 am – will we ever sleep in again?
The answer is NO!

We do have a nice morning routine though. Violet climbs into bed with us at around 6, has a bottle of milk, and snuggles for 2 peaceful minutes.

Then she starts talking at full volume, squirming around, standing up to look out the window for birds and telling me “wake UP mama!”, her hands holding my face to look straight into hers. Just so I really get it.

I always ask her if she had dreams while she slept. She always says “yes”. I ask what about, and she always answers “mama”. I ask what I was doing in her dream, and she always says “dishes”. Funny. I never do the dishes…ever. That sounds like a dream Jesse would have.

Jesse gets up and makes oatmeal. Violet stays in bed with me until she hears Oma in the kitchen making coffee, “OMA’S HERE!”, at which point she slides off the bed and runs to see her. Yesterday morning I noticed a star sticker in her hair (her reward for using the toilet). The light was perfect, the kid is beautiful, so I grabbed my camera.

My little ally

Jesse was making intermittent chirpy noises at Violet during dinner last night.

Violet turned to me and said "Daddy's annoying".

Big Girl Bed

On Saturday morning I was sitting with Violet in her room, cleaning up and going through her dresser again to remove clothes she has outgrown. I feel like I have to do this every week.

She wanted to jump around in her crib, so I put her in.

Jump, jump...jump...climbing out and about to fall on her head! Woah! I had no idea she could do that. So this weekend quickly became the big-girl-bed switcheroo weekend.

We all headed out to Ikea, where Violet cheerfully called out "Buenos dias!" and "De nada!" to everyone. I don't think anyone realized she was speaking Spanish (I had to restrain myself from telling them that what they were taking for toddler babble was really the smartest toddler in the world speaking Spanish perfectly).

Jesse and I have a powerful curse on us that makes a quick trip to purchase one thing turn into a 3 hour marathon of stress...and maybe if we are lucky we actually get that one thing. This time we were lucky! We opted for a twin bed and didn't put the legs on it. It does look like she is sleeping in a box though. I was nervous about the switch, but it was no problem. Jesse and I peeked in on her last night around 10, and I couldn't resist taking a photo of her first night in her big girl bed. She looks so very small in it. And Elmo is a total pillow hog. Jesse and I got all teary about it.

This morning she woke up calling out as usual. When I went into her room she was sitting up and yelled "big girl bed!" when she saw me, arms stretched above her head. She also realized that the bed can be used for much more then sleeping. Like jumping!

Some other things:

-Toilet training is picking up again after a few weeks of lackluster interest. Yesterday Jesse was changing her diaper before bed, and she asked to go pee on the toilet, so Jesse sat her on it. Nothing. He took her back to her room, finished changing her and started the bedtime book. She asked to go a second time, so he sat her on her the toilet again. Nothing. Jesse asked "Don't you have to pee?" and Violet said "No. I'm sorry Daddy, finish the book now". So, this is a new thing, the apologizing when she hasn't done anything to apologize for. She'll be sitting next to me, then snuggle over and say "I'm sorry Mama". I ask her why she is sorry, but I don't think she understands why she is saying it. Just likes the sound of my heart breaking I guess.

-Out of the blue one day, Violet started saying "ummm". All the time.

"Violet, what animals did you see at the farm?"

"Umm...cows...sheep...umm...piggies..."

-Jesse and I thought it would be fun for her if we sang some bedtime songs together. We started one, but I stopped a little way in because I didn't know the words. Violet's hand shot up from under the covers, she waggled her finger back and forth between Jesse and me, and said "together!". You have to watch when you start these things. Now we will have to sing a duet every night.

Note to new baby: your bedtime routine will contain no frills.

- I had a lovely Mother's Day. There was sleeping in, shrimp and a future date with a spa treatment. Perfecto!

Video Magic

My mastery of the internet is now complete. I CAN POST VIDEOS!

In the Garden

Ever since we’ve moved into our house I have been staring out of the living room window at my nemesis. The monstrous cedar hedge. Twelve feet high and twelve feet wide, running through the middle of the lawn. It makes it look like we don’t like people. We want to pretend like we do (and yet discourage Jehovah’s Witnesses at the same time).
“Just wait for spring, hedge” I would mutter, already feeling the saw in my hands.

Last week, we took it half of it DOWN. When I say ‘we’, I mean that I made Jesse do it (I’m pregnaaaaant!). It was so great. Then we went on a complete gardening bender which took us through till Sunday night, assembling the new patio furniture in the dark, using our hands to guide the allen key into the screws. We will need to put some lights in the backyard.

We all spent most of the weekend outside, and Violet loved every second of it. She watered the plants, made friends with worms, millipedes and mud (in her cute little gardening clogs, of course). I had always hoped for a nature-girl.

While we were in the backyard, she asked to run around naked. I thought it was fine, although the old-neighbour-lady seemed to look over disapprovingly. How long in life to you get to be so free and unselfconscious? Violet felt the breeze on her little naked bum and sighed “niiiiiice”.

In these photos Violet is wearing her longest running article of clothing, those adorable milk and cookie pants. My sister Alexandra made them for her when she was 8 weeks old. They might be starting to get a little short though. Sniff.

She also got her that cool tiger shirt.

Her First Dirty Joke!

Last night Violet and I were leafing through a National Geographic Magazine. She was really intrigued by a picture of bamboo. She asked what it was, and then repeated "bamboo!" several times, enjoying the word. Then she got this mischievous twinkle in her eye and said "bamboobs!", and then cracked up laughing.

Winding Down / Winding Up

Rhea and Israel are back in B.C.
Lauren is back in Kingston for the summer.
We celebrated Oma’s birthday yesterday at Grandpa’s house, who made a fabulous dinner. After dinner I asked Violet is she was still hungry (she is back to eating very little). She thought about it for a while, then asked for “ice cream, cake, water...and cookies!”
Bit of a sweet tooth there.
Apart from the birthday excitement, it’s been pretty quiet around the house...well, except for Violet, who pretty much talks constantly.
The weather was so glorious last weekend, Jesse finally put the summer tires on the car. Violet really likes to help, so we let her tighten the bolts.


















And then drive herself to the liquor store.












Violet in mid-sentence (drunk!), telling me she is going to walk to her friend Sabrina's house.
Stittsville is a long walk, baby.



















About me:
Yes, I look pregnant.








I have reached the half-way mark in this pregnancy. So soon! It’s like the last 4 months of exhaustion and constant nausea just flew by! I am feeling great now though.
I’ve been a bit stressed about deciding whether to birth this child the ol’fashioned way, or to schedule a repeat cesarean. My midwife gave me a lot of information and research about VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). I guess I should try it – VBAC has a good success rate.
BUT.
What if I’m one of those 2 out of 10 women it doesn’t work for? What if my uterus explodes? Why would I want to labour that long to end up in surgery, feeling defeated, again? If I choose to have surgery, then I feel confident about what will happen.
BUT.
I hated the c-section! It’s major abdominal surgery that carries it’s own set of risks and complications.
Then I think, who cares!? It doesn’t matter how it happens, as long I get another one of those things that asks you to read books and snuggle it lots. And whines for ice cream frequently.
And tells you she has to pee in the toilet, just to get you out of bed at 5:45 am (well, it seems like I don't have to pee after all, but since you're up, shall we play together?).

It's a baby!

To not keep anyone waiting...I had the ultrasound this afternoon. ONE BABY! One beautiful perfect little person, arms crossed behind it's head like it was lounging poolside in a hammock. I say 'it' because we are not finding out the sex. If it had ever been twins, this one must have eaten the other, as the baby was measuring 10 days ahead. Enough of a difference to perhaps move my due date up. I'm more inclined to believe I am going to have another large baby.

As such, I might have to revise my non-medicated natural birth plan in the future. I have a pretty cynical view of birth plans anyway, as Violet's birth deviated from the script wildly.

Sorry about the lack of updates , but I was in Florida with Nana!

One week with just my Ma, spoiled rotten and totally relaxed. We flew back into Toronto on Good Friday, meeting Jesse and Violet who had driven in that morning. Violet was way more excited to see Nana! then mama.

We had a great Easter in TO. Violet even got a keyboard from Babcia. Violet loves her 'pinano', as she calls it. She's been playing and singing along since we plugged it in. She very quickly figured out how to make the thing play all the tacky pre-set songs.

Since our return, first Violet, then I, have been felled by yet another cold. Urgh. Lots of hanging out and reading lately.

There was an excursion out with Oma this afternoon, even though it looked more like Christmas then spring outside. I love this froggy hat.

Family Times

It's happened a couple of times now. It has just happened again.

It freaks me out. I can only stare, which must concern her a little.

I take Violet out of her crib in the morning and she looks like a

totally different girl. Literally, her face looks different.
Where is my baby?!

Who is this big girl; Practising jumping, walking backwards and

shuffling sideways. Reading books to me. Singing songs,

and making up her own nonsense to tunes she already knows.

Looking to me for laughs at her silly jokes, or just chuckling

to herself about something. Telling me in almost full sentences

what she plans to do,

"I'ma go sleep in the tent, sleeping bag is comfy!"

She's extremely intelligent, aware, sensitive, tenacious, independent,

affectionate, and looks really cute in her new orange running shoes.

Violet is a whole 21 months old already.

I think it's the pregnancy hormones getting me all teary here.

Everything is fine on the pregnant frontier...except for a bad joke

the midwife made the other day about hearing a third heartbeat

with the doppler (mine, baby's and...?). "It's highly likely it's just

an echo of the ONE baby that is in there" she said quickly, after

I almost had a stroke. Ha. Ha. Ultrasound scheduled for April 16.

Bad joke.

Anyhoo, we're obviously all about family here. Rhea (Jesse's eldest sister)

and Israel (her boyfriend) arrived from a 6 month bouldering adventure

in Spain and France last week. Violet took one look at Rhea, and fell in love

with her aunt. She remains shy with Israel, however. Here he is planning

his next Columns (a video game) strategy against the master Jesse.

All I'm saying is that MY man got 48,000 points.

Violet looks at him and says "funky hair!"

He's slowly winning her over with his amazing skill at contact juggling

and wooing her in Spanish, the language of Dora.

They are staying with us, and in and around the Ottawa Valley, for a few weeks.

It's nice with all the reunions and beautiful people.

And eating cake and whipped cream without proper cutlery.

Gratuitous Nudity

For a long time, Violet would get really excited about having a bath. So much so, that we always had to spell the word around her. As time has marched on, however, the truth about her eagerness to bathe has been revealed. She really only likes the nudity before the bath. Now when we say "bath", she yells "nay-kid!".

No one could possibly like being naked as much as this girl.

Her two favourite things to do when naked (besides joking about peeing on the floor), are running and reading.

A Polite Bather

As the water drained from her bath last night, I asked Violet "where does the water go?". She looked at the drain for a while, then called out "Bye water!....See you later!....Thank you!...Kiss!".