Snow Day

When the subject of Montreal parks comes up, iconic Parc Mont-Royal (a.k.a. the Mountain - ha) is always at the top of the list. Then probably fancy Parc Lafontaine deep in the Plateau. But our neighbourhood happens to have one of the greatest parks in the city and it's only about a 15 minute walk from our house.

Parc Jarry is the original home of the Expos, it's where the Rogers Tennis Tournament happens, it's where I do my Cardio-Poussette workouts and it's where they have recently constructed a perfect-for-big-and-little-kids toboggan slope.  It was perfect outdoor winter weather yesterday, so we bundled up the kiddos, loaded up the stroller, grabbed the sled and strolled on over to my favourite place to sweat.  

The intrepid mountaineers

OK it's hard to see but the hill was really slippery.  Liliane's enthusiasm was not dampened. 

Surprise surprise.

I jumped out of the way of the speeding sled after snapping this. 

Not pictured: Gales and gales of laughter immediately followed by "AGAIN!"

It looks like it's crazy cold outside but it was maybe minus 3 or so. Stunning winter day. 

The tandem slide. Husband later admitted to me that he had his hands on the brakes the whole time.  I'm telling you, it was icy man. 

The future's so bright, etc, etc.

After the sliding was done we wandered over to the frozen pond where Alice and I watched the skaters while Stéphane and Liliane hiked the peaks of piled up snow.  It was pretty much a perfect outing. We all got fresh air and exercise, cabin fever was banished and I got a blog post out of it.

Awesome.

I do have one more thing on my mind that I will share. Due to my newfound addiction to Oprah's Behind the Scenes show (and subsequent addition of the Oprah Network to our cable lineup) I am paying more attention to The Mighty Opes (as Lainey would say). Hello, welcome to the party 25 years later! 

I watched her interview with Whitney Houston and I have to say they both inspired me. Not with their success or ambition or lovely outfits, but with their spirituality. Yep, Whitney and Oprah talking about prayer really made an impression. Mainly it made me think, why am I not spending more time in prayer? I haven't found the answer yet but I'm working on it. 

In the meantime, I will take a page from Oprah's book (or magazine or whatever other empire she currently runs) and tell the people I love that I appreciate them now and not save it for their eulogy.  Example: if I had actually met Whitney Houston, I would have thanked her for being the soundtrack of the year I got a bra. For articulating so perfectly that adolescent longing to be With Somebody Who Loves Me. For being a part of that time in my life.  Voilà.

Now I have to go do something nice for my husband because he's next on my list.

Funny Valentines

Cute baby outfit: check 

Sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles: check.

Preschoolers hopped up on sugar: check.

Goofy decorations: check.

Check.

Aaaand check.

Fancy colour-changing candle: check.
(We seriously stared at this thing changing colours for like 20 minutes en famille. Excellent entertainment, and only $10!)

Homemade cards from daycare (awwwww): check.

Poopy diapers: check (what!?)

I made this for dinner but threw in some pancetta, used bowtie pasta and swapped out the chives for cilantro and it was delish. With salad of course. 

In other news, I took the ladies to see the ophthalmologist and their peepers are all good.  TRIVIA: 

I was actually born with a cataract in my right eye and had to have surgery on it in 2006 so EXCUUUUSE ME if I'm a little paranoid about my kids.  (Because can I tell you something? Having surgery on your EYE pretty much blows. Like, I would happily give birth without drugs ten times over than do that again. Three words: STITCHES IN PUPIL. Amirite?

Anyway,  I didn't pass it on so we're in the clear. (ha ha, get it? CLEAR? Like, my vision is CLEAR? I can see CLEARLY now? Forget it.)

It took about 3 days for Liliane's pupils to go back to normal. Not sure why she looks so traumatized. Probably because her parents kept asking her to "look at me, look at me, hey, what's wrong with her eyes?" 

Oh, how is the sleep going?  Notice how I didn't lead with that? 

We've had a few, um, setbacks. Alice likes to wake up at 2:30 or so for a little snack and while I've let her protest for about 45 minutes or so, Liliane tends to wake up then we have TWO whiny babies to put back to sleep. Sigh. I've pretty much given in and just fed her already at that point (usually around 3:30) and she goes right back to sleep until about 7:30. Whatever.  The other night she didn't wake up at all so I'm taking that as a good sign for things to come. 

What  IS working is having both kids in their beds asleep and us actually having time in the evening to HAVE A LIFE. Which right now means watching Walking Dead and/or Downton Abbey before falling asleep but still. It's heavenly.

Did you all get spoiled and/or spoil yourselves on Valentine's Day? I hope so! 

Speaking of chocolate: I signed up for the spring session of cardio-poussette. Get ready for embarrassing fitness related anecdotes!

Pillow Talk

Hi Maman!

Alice, we need to talk.  This waking up all night thing has got to GO. 

*blank stare*

Oh phewf! For a minute there I thought you were serious! Good one, milk lady.

Wait, why aren't you laughing?

Sweetheart, it's time for you to go back to sleeping through the night. In your own bed.

Let me reflect on how I feel about that idea...  

I think my opinion of your plan is best expressed like THIS!

--- 4 nights later ---

Well kiddo, you're doing 12 hours a night (with a quick 7AM feed), sharing a room with your big sister, sleeping in your cozy crib. How do you feel now?

Yeah, I thought so.  Me too.

THE END.*

*Until more teeth start in or who knows whatever other baby-foolery comes along. But you get the idea.

Since My Last Post...

Number of:

Crappy sleeps: 158493
Espressos consumed thanks to Alejandro: 158493

Parental discussions regarding sleep: NOT ENOUGH (update: we are now formulating a plan)

Dinner parties: 4

Recipes made for guests:
Chicken Spaghetti
Perfect Pot Roast
Grapefruit Yogurt Cake  
Roasted Mushrooms 
Almond Biscotti 
Pavlova with Lemon Curd


New wines tasted: 1 (delish BTW)
Bottles consumed: 2

:

Visits to Ikea: 1
Disagreements at Ikea: 1
Cranky wives: 1
Furniture assembled: 1



















Visits to Home Depot: 1
New chandeliers installed:1
Incredibly happy wives: 1

Times we thought we might have to call the fire dept: 1 (don't ask)

Dollars spent: STOPPED COUNTING

Inches of snow: 12+
Inches of ice rain: TOO MANY

Dance classes: 3
Playdates: 3
Sickness after playdates: 1
First attempts at ice-skating: 1 (yay Liliane!)

Babies that turned 6 months old: 1

Days at home with both kids because it's crappy outside: 3 

Days I thought I might just have to throw in the towel: 3 (SAHMoms, HOW DO YOU DO IT?)

Times I desperately wanted to blog but was too tizzzrrrrffffarg: STOPPED COUNTING

Also - fridge is now repaired (nothing $139 couldn't fix!) and we have now watched ALL the episodes of The Walking Dead that are available and are dying for the rest of the season to start later this month. Ha ha, get it? DYING. Like ZOMBIES.  Never mind. 

Trying to keep my head above water these days (translation: trying not to go crazy and take the rest of the family with me) so sadly I don't get to blog the 3 days/week I badly wanted to. 

But check back for more news about how the whole sleep thing is going! In short, Alice has discovered the joy of waking up at night and Hey! Look! Boobs! I'll just get me a quick milky snack before going back to sleep. Rinse, repeat EVERY TWO OR SO HOURS. HELP.

In the last 4.5 years we have discovered that so much of parenting is about what you are willing to put up with. What your own personal limits are and which hills you are willing to die on.  So while I admire those hippies Moms who can tough out this not-sleeping phase, it turns out I'm not so good at it.  Aside from the sleep deprivation, there is the whole specter of PPD hanging over my head, (for the record: I AM OK - no need to worry) so sleep training begins this weekend. I think we'll set up Liliane in the sofa bed (Look! Just like a sleepover! Only with more crying babies!) and just go for it. 

Thanks to Facebook friends,  we have lots of suggestions and encouragement. And yes, I will make sure she has been well fed (3 meals a day now thank you very much plus an extra cereal before bed if Maman is organized) and dosed with Tylenol if I think her teeth are acting up. 

More suggestions are welcome!

Back (and hopefully rested) soon.

Clever Title - FAIL

I seriously spent a good ten minutes trying to think of a punny title using TEETH but I'm giving up.  

Sorry. It's her fault.

Who, me? The world's easiest baby? Surely you jest.

Or I should say, the TEETH's fault.

2 down, 18 to go! (*sob*) 

Gaze into my eyes as I beguile you with my ridiculously long eyelashes...  Who needs sleep?

We are currently working on the perfect homeopathic-teething-liquid/Tylenol/Advil cocktail so that Maman over here gets at least three hours of shut-eye in a row. Last night we were down to 2 wake-ups instead of 4 so I call that a WIN.

In other exciting news, Liliane split her lip open last night! Poor kid. WAIT- before you rev up the sympathy clucks, note that she injured herself while flopping in the throes of a freak-out because we wouldn't turn on yet another light in her room. One we have NEVER turned on for her before.  It was all fine, lots of blood but she's A-OK. And bonus - husband turned it into a lesson!  The consequences for having a meltdown and not listening to your parents WILL MAKE YOU BLEED. Or something like that. She got it and once we fixed up her Diego doll who had also apparently hurt his lip, she was out like a light.  Ha ha - get it? Light? That we did NOT turn on, blood be darned. Parents: 2 for 2.

And yes, call me Mommy Dearest, but I sent her to daycare today anyway. Hey - this blog won't write itself plus having her here would seriously cut into my lounging-on-the-couch-eating-bon-bons-and-watching-soaps time.

HAHA. Although that does sound like fun.

Oh and our fridge is dripping. Only on the inside, but I'm thinking that the vegetables drawers aren't meant to be floating. Sigh.  But wait!  Did I mention the weirdo rash I have on the inside of my left wrist? Nowhere else, only there. An allergy to small babies with button noses who like to use me as a human pacifier all night long? Sounds about right.

But the good news is that we're all otherwise healthy, Stéphane and I are officially addicted to The Walking Dead (yay Netflix!), it's Friday and we have a fun-filled weekend ahead of us. A weekend that includes a trip to Ikea which will hopefully not end like the last one. Although in my defense I was pregnant last time. Hmmmm... already working on my excuse for bad behaviour for this trip - lack of sleep perhaps?

Happy Weekend everybody!

My Baby is Trying to Kill Me (Ha ha just kidding - HELP)

So the world's easiest baby has her two front teeth and I sure hope she's working on a lot more because this waking up three times a night to feed and be cuddled is not working for my, you know, MENTAL HEALTH.

Yeah, go ahead. Laugh all you want. Pretend to be sympathetic but I know you are secretly gleeful that the baby who started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks is actually now sleeping less than your average crankypants newborn. And possibly breastfeeding more. It's OK. Checks and balances, checks and balances.

So anyway, baby issues aside, we got back last week and have been busy overcoming jetlag (3 hours, just enough to junk everybody up) and doing laundry and putting away decorations and dealing with all the new stuff that needs a home now THANK YOU PÈRE NOËL. Oh and can I just say that coming from plus 10 degree weather to snow snow snow and heck yeah, it's COLD HERE is not easy.  

We took this picture the day before we came home. It was GORGEOUS. Now of course Vancouver is covered with snow so looks like we got out just in time but it's nothing like the Winter Wonderland we have goin' on out here.  

Somewhere in there I managed to load my 700+ pictures and picked this one to share with y'all:

These are the matchy-matchy PJs that all the cousins got this year and Liliane wore hers 24/7.  She wore them on the plane to come home, she wears them every night to bed.  I will post the obligatory "all cousins in their Christmas PJs" photo as soon as I can find it.

So that's it. I'm still here and really REALLY looking forward to finding a rhythm again that doesn't involve me mainlining caffeine to stay conscious not to mention actually WRITE something.

If I'm not back by next week, send in the Marines. Preferably with supplies of Tylenol and espresso.

Of Pyjamas and Prunes

DAY. INT. - Grandma's Living Room.

Pink snowman pyjama-clad 4 year old lounges on the couch watching Thumbelina on the iPad. Her similarly pyjama-ed mother is curled up beside her, alternately checking Facebook and reading a book while sipping coffee.  Husband is away at London Drugs and the baby is asleep. A last round of Christmas music plays softly on the stereo even though it's well into the new year.  

MAMA

(contented sigh)

4 Y.O.

(contented sigh)

THE END.

Yep, we're still on vacation and I am soaking up every lazy, relaxing moment. I am relishing each day that I don't have to be anywhere at any time or bundle two kids up for minus 25 degree weather. 

Rest. What a treat.

Alice and I aren't getting a lot of sleep per se due to her NEW TOOTH and newfound habit of waking up twice a night to feed. Suffice it to say that I have finally mastered the lying down/dozing off position for nursing. I didn't really have time for it when she was first born since she started sleeping through the night so darn early....  Ha ha, cry me a river. I know.  Sorry.

True to form, the teething version of Alice is only a little droolier and occasionally crankier than her regular "easiest baby EVER" self.  As my Mom commented this morning, she is the perfect size for snuggling so she gets a lot of that from her west coast family.

On the subject of milestones, she turned over all by herself on Christmas Day. We're still working on sitting up without faceplanting but she's almost there.

She has also started eating a couple of different cereals, loves sweet potato, banana, peaches and now prunes. Her introduction to solid food was a little haphazard (hey, try this banana that I'm eating and see if you like it!) but we're settling into a sort-of routine.

And Liliane, LILIANE. We all had a rough first week or so (thank you jet lag + random cold germs) but she has completely adjusted to our new "schedule" of spending most of the day in pyjamas and doing fun stuff like going to the Aquarium or Science World and hanging out with family and friends.  She's had the best time with all her cousins and bonding with her Auntie Jaime. I overheard her teaching my Mom words in French and asking my Dad to speak to her in English please. She's at the perfect age to enjoy all the magic of the season and she only recently stopped asking me if we were going to open more presents today.

Speaking of which, I may need to buy an extra seat on the plane to go home to accommodate my beeeehind. Hoo boy! This year I didn't come across a single Christmas cookie or mince tart I didn't immediately stuff into my treat hole.   I'd have to be breastfeeding quintuplets to make a dent in my daily calorie intake. 

Sorry, no pictures to share right now because my camera is all the way upstaaaiiirs and as you know, I'm here, all comfy on the couch. 

Back to the East Coast next week where normal, haphazard, hopefully 3 x per week blog posting will resume. 

In the meantime, happy, happy New Year everybody!

Wordless Wednesday: Tiny Dancer