Late, but Still Grateful.

You know, maternity leave is not just lying on the couch, occasionally breastfeeding and otherwise eating bon bons. No sir, it's a complicated race against time to get all the things done that you think you SHOULD have time to do while spending quality time with your newborn.

And watching daytime TV.

Ahem.

This is why it has taken me all week to post about our spectacular Thanksgiving weekend. Can I get a holla for the weather in Montréal? 24 degrees and sunny all three days. Makes up for the ridiculous amount of time I had to spend trying to find a half-decent turkey in this town. (Maxi & cie, I will start with you FIRST next year, promise.)

My Dad came in to feast with us and meet his newest granddaughter.  As you can see, Liliane was, you know, kind of excited to see him. Whatever.

 Heck even Alice was excited. I thought her face was going to split in half from all the smiling. Of course I don't have photos of THOSE moments, but this will have to do.

This is what our weekend looked like:

 Oh and Stéphane introduced my Dad to instragram. Nice, right?

Those are the pies he made (my Dad is a brilliant baker of pies, frankly the reason we invited him) - one apple and one pumpkin. We used the apples from our trip to Oka last month and I don't think I can describe the deliciousness of that pie without salivating all over the keyboard.  Ridiculous.

I will note here that my Mom is also a brilliant maker of pies although she is a Tenderflake girl while my Dad is all about the Crisco.  I know, no wonder they aren't married anymore, right?

Not pictured are Pierre and Ariel and Remy who also came for dinner. I would have loved to get a photo of  us all around the table but just as we were sitting down to eat, Alice pronounced that she was thankful by performing an epic diaper blowout, the kind that involves a two-parent cleanup. At the same moment, Pierre and Ariel were trying to get Remy down to sleep in the other room so Dad and Liliane were the only two to actually eat a hot meal. 

When we were all finally back at the table, we each came up with one thing that we were thankful for (a family tradition that I force request our guests to engage in when they come for Thanskgiving), my Dad said he was grateful not to have any children under the age of 2.  The rest of us laughed and then immediately gulped our glasses of rosé. 

The rest of the weekend was spent watching movies and marvelling at Liliane's proficiency at finding clips on Youtube with Grandpa's iphone. Also preventing her from calling Japan.

Speaking of Liliane, it's her 4th birthday on Sunday and I promise I will bring the camera and even take pictures. She and a bunch of her friends are going to have all kinds of gymnastic fun at Club Gymnix, then we'll do cupcakes (chocolate with pink icing as requested) and presents in the birthday party room. The best part is that it's a) not at our house and b) over by 5! 

In baby news, Alice is still sleeping through the night and then some. She has started to swing her legs around so turning over on her own is in her very near future.  She smiles all the time but when she's frustrated, she has very particular, squeaky cry. Breastfeeding is going well although there were some concerns that she's not gaining enough weight due to her long sleeps.  Her pediatrician assures me that it's fine but we're keeping an eye on it. 

Does this look like a kid who is not getting enough to eat? 

Am also thinking about doing NaBloPoMo. My SIL has been doing it for the last couple of years and it's such a treat to have new content every single day! Plus it would be good exercise. For my brain I mean. I'll get back to you on that.

Back next week with a full report on the birthday festivities.

UR Doin' It Right

My favourite time of day is actually at night. It comes when I am lying in bed and in the soft glow of the nightlight I can see Alice's dark little head in her bed beside me. Stéphane is sleeping and so is Liliane. Is there anything more delicious than sleeping kids?

I cherish that sensation. The feeling of utter satisfaction, of gratitude that we have a cozy home and a healthy family and a full fridge. Despite my issues with hearing the neighbours occasionally stomping around upstairs, it's almost always completely silent by midnight.  Sleep in heavenly peace. And I do.

The first time I felt this way was when Liliane was just around a year old. It had been a warm fall so the heat wasn't on yet. One night Liliane kept waking up. We ruled out all the usual stuff but nothing helped. Finally I realized the poor kid was COLD. The nights were suddenly cooler and her room was chilly. I turned the heat on, but since it would take a while to warm up, we brought her her into our bed.

Now, let me remind you that Liliane slept exclusively in our bed for the first three months of her life because she would not sleep anywhere else. She slept in our bed, stuck to me. Which meant that Stéphane and I went through some pretty major sleep deprivation.

Once we got her out of that habit, we were always wary of bringing her back to our bed, partly because of flashbacks to those first months but also because once she started sleeping in her crib, she was happiest there.

But on this night we tucked her in between us and she immediately went back to sleep. No squirming, no wiggling around, no dread in the pit of my stomach.  I lay there, listening to her breathing and to the clock ticking in the kitchen and I had an epiphany. THIS is what it's like! THIS is what it's like to be perfectly content, knowing that you did something right for your child.  I hadn't felt anything like it in my parenting experience up to that moment and I go back to it often when I need to keep anxiety at bay.

It sounds trivial, but as any new parent will tell you, the question of sleep (how much is the baby getting, how much are we the parents getting, why won't she fall asleep, is she sleeping too much, no sleep because of teething/bad dreams/gas/you name it, oh please for the love of GOD please sleep) becomes all-consuming. And when you throw some post-partum depression into the mix, LOOK OUT!

So that moment has stayed with me these past three years. That overwhelming sense of well-being. Of knowing my baby girl was right beside me, safe and warm. That we figured something out and fixed it. And what a treat to be able to experience it again so soon with sweet Alice.  My yummy babe that nods off after feeding around 11PM and wakes up about 12 hours later.

You know what this means though, right? We got off easy on the sleep so far, teething is going to be a nightmare.

And don't even talk to me about the teenage years.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Stéphane made this nifty video that pretty much sums up our whole summer.  An estival season greatest hits collection if you will.

The timing is perfect because if you googled "doldrums+definition" today there would be a picture of the view out our front window. It's a nasty, rainy day here so excuse me while I watch it a few more times to ward off the SADs.

Now before you start judging, note that the baby is still sleeping, (I won't say for how MANY hours she consistently sleeps overnight because I might get an envelope of anthrax from a fellow new Mama, but it rhymes with at least SHMINE), and there is a lot less butter involved than my usual "oh-no-summer-is-over-and-its-cold" go-to cure. (Hint: FOOD)

But sunny, cheery video aside, I can't guarantee that I won't bake something sinful today. #cardioclassSOS





Enjoy!

Wordless - um - Thursday?

Seven Years, No Itch.

It was our 7th wedding anniversary yesterday and I seriously feel like it was the best celebration we've had since the big day. I don't know why, but it was a kinda perfect. Kids and all.

We swapped fancy dinner out for brunch and thanks to Julie and Joyce (and particularly BFF Rosie), we went just the two of us while Alice politely slept through the whole thing.

Of course we talked about Liliane's birthday plans the whole time, but still! It was uninterrupted conversation! 

Afterwards we strolled along Park avenue and picked up a few things for dinner including a splurge bottle of Amarone for the occasion and soaked up the early fall sunshine.

After reluctantly leaving our friends and their lovely backyard (including an actual vegetable garden from which I scored BEETS, RIGHT FROM THE GROUND) we skipped off to the park.

I brought the camera because hey, this blog isn't going to write itself...

Our park view - so urban, so Montreal.

I love these crazy blue, super blue flowers. Name? No idea. But I love them.

Then of course Mr. Fancypants had to outdo me with his iphone and Instagram...

 Sigh. Gorgeous.

Anniversary dinner? BBQ mini burgers, green bean salad and Amarone.  With apple crisp for dessert.  Ha! We barely made a dent in our bounty from last week but I have a mind to make apple pie this week. I'll let you know how it goes.

Sorry for the lack of Alice photos, I'll get on that for the next post.  She is almost 12 pounds now and still sleeping like a champ.  Which means that I'm sleeping well and surprise! Life is beautiful :)

Don't worry, I'm sure teething will be a nightmare. Or something. But so far, so good.

I had my last appointment with my OB/GYN this week. She checked to make sure that I'm all healed up (I am), I weighed myself (35 pounds down, eighty bajillion to go) and generally wrapped up that whole part of my life.

You know what's weird? This time around I have total nostalgia for childbearing, even childbirthing.  But I'm looking forward to all the fun stuff to come now that our little family is complete.

You hear me ovaries? COMPLETE. DUNZO. NO MORE. So please stop calling me.

 Because I'm pretty sure it can't get much better than this.

An Apple A Day... (is what we will be eating from now until Christmas)

Alice does not enjoy the blog. She demonstrates this by waking up the minute I sit down to update. For real.

Alright, baby stashed with husband, let me make up for lack of posts with a  million photos of us picking apples this weekend!

This is where we went this year and it was brilliant.



These are the people we went with and THEY were brilliant. The usual suspects:

Manon and Luana

 Pierre and Ariel (Remy asleep in the red hood)

 And the rest is pretty self-explanatory...

Stéphane still on his Instagram bender:

Yes, I totally changed Alice in the trunk. There were approximately eighty bajillion little black flies around the car so believe me, it was for the best.

 Besides, she doesn't seem to mind...

Sleep is still going well, we have one feed around 5AM or sometimes we have nights of 8, 9 or 11 hours.  But if you follow me on Facebook, you already know that. And if you are a parent of young children, you might even want to punch me. Fair enough. Just know that we DID OUR TIME with Liliane and her wackadoo sleep issues so we really, really earned this.


I'm cute now, but wait until I want to drive your car!

Besides, that tricky baby turned into the world's best big sister who looks ridiculously adorable in her new ballet ensemble. Oh my, she is having fun.



I am working on a resolve to blog more (hey, I'm actually exercising these days so anything is possible!) so don't give up on me!

Not Eating Deep Fried Butter Plus Alice is 6 Weeks

We hit the Brome Fair on Sunday and despite my craving for artery-clogging fair food, I managed to get by only eating one hot dog, one fried-onion-smothered cheeseburger and a bag of mini donuts. Even *I* would have trouble rationalizing funnel cakes as an acceptable snack even though I'm BREASTFEEDING and always SO HUNGRY.

My reward? As I type this, I am wearing my REGULAR, PRE-PREGNANCY, NON-MATERNITY JEANS.

Not a single elastic panel in sight. BOOYAH!

Anyway, I know you're not here for me, let's just get to the pictures already:

I believe I was promised a corn dog?

She loved the fair, mainly because when it got dark there were lots and lots of lights for her to be all mesmerized at.

Photos courtesy of my husband and his newfound love of Instagram:

Otherwise, we're all doing well aside from a little thrush that Alice and I are working on getting rid of.

Alice at six weeks is a smiley package of chubby yumminess. She is spending more and more time being awake and goggling at whatever is around her. Lots of oooh and aaahhs.

Her most favourite person is still her big sister:

Although Stéphane and I have both been treated to a grin or two.

Her sleeping patterns are pretty clear at the moment and (attention: I have turned into that annoying mother re: sleeping through the night) this weekend we got three nights of 8+ hours of uninterrupted sleep. HELLO - what? Maybe I dreamed that whole giving birth thing and she is actually adopted.

Ha ha - oh right. I haven't shared the story yet! It's on my list, I promise.

Still not ready for the end of summer, but fall IS a great time of year (she said begrudgingly). Although now that I have jeans to wear, I'm not dreading it so much :)

How are you all doing with back to school/summer's end?

Four Weeks, etc.

Of COURSE Alice smiled for the first time for my Mom.

Of course she did.

It's our first week home with no one else around. My Mom was here for 10 days and it was so easy. Alice spent most of her visit like this:

Oh, yay, it's Grandma! Hi Grandma! I'm not tired, really I - zzzzz......

It was great.

Otherwise, Alice is now just over 4 weeks old. She's sleeping 6 hours at a time overnight (okay now that I've written that, buh-bye sleep) and getting bigger by the day. She sleeps in her co-sleeper beside our bed, she sleeps in the vibrating chair, she sleeps in the Baby Bjorn carrier and she even sometimes naps in her crib.

She started smiling two weeks ago (when my Mom got here - surprise!) and continues to express total delight at all kinds of awesome things - the pattern of the couch, Winnie the Pooh, any kind of light, and anything Liliane does. She's not so much smiling at ME per se although her frowny face softens a little when I coo at her.

Our windows rattle regularly with her mid-feed burps. Truly impressive. We have a bottle of gripewater at the ready for her cranky evenings and it seems to help.

She gazes adoringly at Stéphane when he carries her around in the evening. She likes to have a warm tummy at all times. She doesn't hate having a bath but her favourite part is having her hair washed. She is fascinated by her reflection in the mirror.

Not sure why it's taking so long for me to pen the story of her arrival. Maybe because I don't want it to all be over? Or something? Not enough brain cells right now to analyze so I'll just concentrate on writing something coherent.

Remember my fears about adding a second kid to the mix? So far so good. Liliane has been pretty good about accepting that I can't do things while I'm feeding Alice and we manage to clean up the kitchen after dinner either because Alice has been considerate enough to sleep or we just get it done with her on our shoulder or in the carrier.

Speaking of Liliane, in case there was any doubt, she is still the resident princess:

I'm reading Dr. Dobson's Strong Willed Child right now which has been helpful if for no other reason because I feel pretty grateful that it could be SO MUCH WORSE. Yes, Liliane has some very definite ideas and is about the most stubborn being I've ever encountered, but at least she has lots of moments of sweetness and a spirit of cooperation and obedience that gives us hope. We're going through an adjustment period right now so we've got some things to figure out re: discipline, but it's coming together.

As for me, I signed up for Cardio-Poussette (Cardio-Stroller) class starting Sept 12th so here's hoping that motivation to get some semblance of my pre-baby body back will kick in before then!

Also - as per usual at this time of year, SO NOT READY FOR THE END OF SUMMER. Is it just me?

Babymoon

We're all good over here. You know, hangin' out.

Occasionally bathing.

Trying to do as much of this as possible.

Bonding. Lots of bonding.

Working on the birth story post. Sorry it's taking so long, but here is a spoiler: 9 pound baby, stuck shoulder, NO DRUGS. See what I did there? SUSPENSE. Now don't you want to come back and read all the (loud) and (unheroic, really not) details?