Granny's Here!

My mom arrived here to a snowy Abbotsford afternoon on Saturday. Thankfully the snow has melted and we should be getting a bit of sunshine this week. Mom and I were both happy to see that Micah seems to remember "Granny" this time and is willing to sit with her and play with her rather than crying for Mommy & Daddy all the time. It's nice for me that Micah has someone around who's willing to watch The Doodlebops or Boowa & Kwala on the computer with him...


And here's a picture from the other day. We were washing bedding and after Micah "helped" me make our bed again I rolled him up in the duvet like a burrito. Yum!

3 Months

Keziah Katherine is 3 months old today!

Keziah is becoming more social all the time. She loves to sit up in her bouncy chair and watch her big brother playing. She hates being held like a baby now and wants to face out and look around. One major difference that I've noticed between her and Micah is that she rarely wakes up crying. She often greets me with big smiles when I go to get her from her crib. And she "talks" a lot, too - sometimes she talks the most when she's starting to get sleepy. It's very cute :)

I haven't had Keziah weighed for about a month but I took her with me on our bathroom scale this morning and I'm guessing she weighs about 14 or 15 lbs. She's well into 3-6 month clothes already! (At this age Micah weighed about 13 or 14 lbs. )

As I mentioned in my last post, her nighttime stretches are getting shorter instead of longer and we've been averaging around 4-5 hours for the past week and a half. She's also more difficult to put down to sleep than Micah was. She constantly fights her sleep and will practically squirm right out of my arms when I try to rock her. I remember that I started letting Micah cry at around 4 months and within a couple of days he went down with barely a fuss. I'm planning to do the same with Keziah and hopefully it will work for her too.

Now we are looking forward to a visit from my mom. She'll be flying in from Manitoba on Saturday and staying for 10 days. We decided that she will sleep in Micah's room, so today I made a big deal of making Micah a special bed on Mommy & Daddy's floor. He was really excited about it and he went down for his nap in there today with no problems!

Going in Reverse?

Our little girl is growing up - almost 3 months already! She is such a little blessing and full of smiles for mom and dad. But in the last week she has decided to revert to newborn sleeping habits again. Last night she had me up every 2.5 - 4 hours. After experiencing such great sleeping from her the first couple of months I'm frustrated with this turn of events! I'm really hoping it's just a growth spurt. This is yet another prime example of babies switching things up on you just when everything was going so well...




We also seem to be back-tracking a little in the soother department - but I'll admit it's partly my fault! I used to keep Micah's soothers up high on a shelf and only give them to him for sleeping, but after awhile I figured he knew the rules and I started leaving them on his dresser. In the last couple of weeks he's started "self-medicating" when he gets cranky or hurt. He'll tell me he's "really sleepy" and then head to his bed for a few minutes to have his nukies. I admit I appreciate the moments of quiet and the fact that he comes back out feeling happier. But in the last couple of days it's gotten a little excessive. He's a soother ADDICT! I think those soothers will have to go back up on the shelf again...

Kittens & Snugglies

A couple days ago, Erik's sister Kristi came home with an adorable little kitten! For those of you who don't know, Erik and I live in a ground-level suite and his parents and younger sister live in the main part of the house. So, it's like a new pet for us, too!

I've always had a soft spot for cats and on our farm growing up we were always allowed to keep at least one cat in the house. Erik's family has also had cats for house-pets in the past, but the two that I've met have both been a little psycho. The first one, Jasper, gave me a rude welcome the first time I ever went to visit Erik's family in Calgary. I was up early and I went downstairs and decided to introduce myself to her - up to this point I had never met a cat I didn't like. Well, she didn't like me. First she cornered me in the kitchen, hissing and swatting mean paws at me and when I finally escaped she chased me all the way up to my bedroom where I stayed until I knew someone else was up in the house to protect me! Then there was Toby - the cat Kristi got when they moved here to Abbotsford. This cat was a little more friendly but incredibly hyper! When he was hungry he would chase after you and claw at your bare legs - so freaky! And he was a vicious killer - dragging poor little dead animals to our doorstep nearly every day.

So, now we have "Rusty". We are hoping that she will be a much more mellow cat than the last two... Micah hasn't had much experience with kittens or any pets at all, so it's fun to watch him. The best part is, we don't have to take care of the cat, but we can play with her anytime we want!


On another subject, I was forced to put Keziah in the front carrier for her nap this afternoon. She still naps in 45-minute intervals but is often still cranky and tired when she wakes up. When I try to put her down for the 2nd half of her nap she sleeps a lot more restlessly and I often find myself holding her just so that she can get enough sleep. So, finally today I figured I would use the carrier I have even though it's not really easy to use - nor is it comfortable. I'm still wearing her right now and my back and neck are killing me. Not to mention the fact that when she sleeps her head bobs back away from me and I have to cram blankets behind her so I don't feel like it's swaying side to side when I walk!


Several times I've debated investing in something a little more comfortable/easy to use, but each time I consider it I decide I can do without it. Will I use it enough? Will Keziah get so used to being "held" all the time that she'll never sleep on her own? Will she grow out of it before I can get my money's worth?

But, if I have any more days like today, I may have to look more seriously at the Coastal Sling website...

What do you all think?

Happy Valentine's Day!

To my husband, Erik, who...

- works hard every day so that I can stay at home with the kids
- was brave enough to start his own business and is doing an amazing job!
- makes me laugh every day
- is such a hands-on parent - Thank you!
- loves the Lord and surrenders each day to Him
- is pretty hot stuff for a dad!

To my son, Micah, who...

- amazes me every day with the things he says and does
- loves the Brian Doerksen song "Holy God" and asks for it anytime we're in the car
- makes me smile and laugh constantly
- loves to read books and has some of them memorized!
- blows me kisses and helps me sing the Veggie Tales "I love you" song...

To my daughter, Keziah, who...

- greets me with a smile every time she wakes up
- is the most beautiful baby girl!
- trusts me implicitly just because I'm her mom

I love you!!

"Baby Za-Ziah"

That's the name that Micah affectionately calls Keziah. Sometimes he adds some extra za's and it turns into "Baby Za-za-za-ziah!" :)
I took a couple of videos on the weekend of Keziah talking (baby-talk that is...) She's getting really vocal and really smiley. I love it. This first video is of both of the kids - Keziah talking and Micah jumping around and just being silly. I'm trying Google Video instead of Dropshots to avoid the sound delay, but the videos may not work right away. I'm trusting Kelly that they will work eventually so you may have to check back to try them again a little later...



And here is Keziah on her changetable. You can tell there's a tickle in her nose and she finally sneezes it out right at the end!



Here's our all-Canadian boy wearing the Oilers jersey he got from Uncle Joel & Auntie Laura. We had some nice weather this weekend and him & Erik had fun playing hockey out on the driveway.

Today Micah and I baked some Valentine's Day inspired cookies. Micah mostly licked beaters and ate sprinkles, but he was happy!


Keziah fell asleep in her bouncy chair while we were busy in the kitchen. She has a really cute habit of sucking on her fingers and in this picture she had found her blanket and shoved it in her mouth before dozing off...

I was so excited to get two packages in the mail today. I've been doing a little shopping on ebay lately (who knew it could be so addicting!) and I found these two pairs of crib shoes for Keziah. They're Robeez knock-offs from Gymboree and they are SO cute! The pink ones will fit her right now and the blue ones will fit her in a few months. I bought them from two different sellers but happened to get them BOTH in the mail today - SO exciting!!

Thursday

Last night I left Erik at home with both kids for a couple of hours. He admitted he was kind of nervous to be alone with both of them and asked me how I did this all day long! He did fine, though and Keziah took her bottle like a pro. When I came home, Micah ran to me to show me a band-aid on his chin. I guess he wanted to be just like Daddy and had been wearing it all evening :)

Keziah has seemed to settle into a consistent 7-hour night stretch. She has done up to 9 hours in the past, but lately no matter how much I try to feed her in the evening, she won't go much past 7 and a half. I'm satisfied though, especially since she goes back down easily after her night feed and sometimes sleeps for another 4 hours. I still swaddle her tightly for all of her naps and bedtime. She takes a soother for sleeping and we've also found that she falls asleep much easier with a light receiving blanket over her face. Here she is yesterday during a late afternoon nap: face half-covered under a blanket and one arm escaped from the swaddle...

Lessons Learned

Erik had a crazy night the other night. It all started when he went to his regular Monday hockey game at 7 pm. Apparently about half-way through the game a guy from the opposing team high-sticked him in the chin. He started bleeding like crazy right away but figured he could keep playing. He would just rub some ice on his chin every few minutes but he said there was blood all over him. I think he thought he looked pretty tough or something...
After the game he quickly came home to see me and then planned to head out to a walk-in clinic for stitches. By this time it was 9 pm and he tried 3 different clinics that were all closed. So, that meant going to emergency. He said the place was packed as soon as he got there and the nurse warned him that it would be a few hours. Well a few hours turned into EIGHT hours! He didn't climb into bed until 5:30 am! The doctor who stitched him up said he hadn't ever seen the ER that busy in all of his 20 years.
The second problem was that Erik hadn't worn his mouth-guard. He usually wears it, but just didn't feel like it on Monday night, I guess... So, when the stick hit his chin he chomped his teeth together so hard that he cracked his front tooth. Yesterday morning after sleeping for a few hours he went to see the dentist who braced his tooth in the back with a tiny metal wire. There's a 50/50 chance that this will save the tooth, but if not, he will have to get a root canal. We have no extended health benefits now so the little wire cost us $430 and the root canal could be another $500. So, we're praying that the wire will work!

So, Erik admits that he's learned his lesson. Two lessons actually. The first: Don't try to be a man and play the rest of the game with a bleeding injury. If he would've left right when it happened, he would've been able to go to a walk-in clinic and be stitched up and at home by 9 pm. The second: Always wear the mouth-guard (and, in my opinion, a face mask, too)!

Weekend Project

This weekend Erik and I tackled a project that I've been wanting to do for a couple of months now - paint Keziah's bedroom! What other colour would be perfect for a little girl's room than PINK! Erik did all the work while I made sure the kids were happy and Micah stayed out of his way. Micah did get to help Daddy a little bit though :)

Here is the finished product. The pink is pretty dramatic actually but I wanted a warm pink rather than a cool pale pink. I think the room looks girly but also fun. I'd still like to hang up some things on the walls to finish it off. I'm not sure how well the bumper pads go with this new wall-colour (they worked better in Micah's room) but maybe I could cover them in a different fabric...

Me & Keziah in her new pink bedroom!

Yesterday we tried to get a good picture of me and the kids -- easier said that done!! This one turned out pretty good...

Well, Micah is hanging on my arms as I type, so I'd better go play with him for a little bit before naptime!

February already?

Yesterday Keziah had her first immunizations - 4 shots all together. She was already crying ferociously after the first one and then they just kept coming! She had a bit of a rough afternoon, but then appeared to be her happy & contented self later on that evening. Here she is with her legs covered in bright orange bandaids!

My big helper posing for the camera...

Sometimes things can get a little chaotic in the late afternoon - Micah is getting bored/tired/hungry, I'm trying to get supper ready and Keziah's just being a needy 2-month old. But, yesterday afternoon things were abnormally peaceful and quiet. I had to take a little video to capture the rare moment:

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Lastly, I was tagged last week by a new blogging acquaintance, Summer, to list 6 random facts about me. I'm finally getting around to it now. I've done this before, so it was hard to think of some new things, but here goes...

1) I LOVE microwave popcorn and could eat it every single night for a snack.
2) I am particular about keeping my kids noses free of boogers - I have to stop myself sometimes!
3) I still own and wear a bathing suit that I've had since high school (10 years ago!)
4) When I was younger I wanted to be an actress.
5) One of my favourite kids' TV shows is The Berenstein Bears and I've been known to finish an episode even when Micah loses interest :)
6) I've been to Peru twice.

OK, now I tag Renee & Erin - two more new bloggers that I've only "met" recently. Have fun!