Day 6 of the Visit (as requested!)

OK, so I'm lacking a bit in the picture department...everyone else has been taking pictures, and I haven't thought of grabbing my camera. I did take this one this morning:


I love Fiona's "cheese" face! (She's in the back, wearing the blue sweater.)

And I took this one later on when my kids were watching Ella's water video:


We've just been busy visiting and eating and visiting some more. It is so nice to see all the kids playing together. Fiona and Ruby are much more comfortable here now, so they go off exploring with Ben and Ella. They are all so cute, and when they're together, the cuteness grows exponentially!

I think when the visit is almost over, we're all going to pool our pictures and then each family will have a complete photo collection of our time together. I can post more pictures then!

The Visit...Day 3

Ottawagonians arrived safely. Stop.
Babies are cute. Stop.
Last week was nicer than this week. That sucks. Stop.
Salmon Armenians arrived safely as well. Will see them tomorrow. Stop.
Here are some pictures. Stop.

She's sooooooooo cute!

I made a quick trip to Brandon today, and am I glad I did! Sari is such a cutie, as you can see in the following photo montage:

I couldn't wait to get my hands on her!




You mean this guy is my DAD?!


Warning - Dad on diaper duty:


What more can I say? She's adorable and Chris and Sheri are so overjoyed. They make a beautiful little family!

There's a New Kid in Town!

Chris and Sheri had their baby early this morning. The baby weighed 9 pounds 6.8 ounces and was 22.5 inches long. What a whopper! Anyways, mommy and baby and daddy are all great, tired, but great!

What? What's that? I didn't mention what SEX the baby was? Oh, silly me...

































It was a GIRL! Surprised the heck out of me, as I, along with most people, thought boy. Of course, Gord thought it was a girl, so now I'll never hear the end of it.

Her name is Sari Heather Potter.

Ah! I can't wait to see her. We are beyond overjoyed at this little (or not so little!) addition to our family. My brother has his little 'daddy's girl', and Sheri has a little girl to teach all that makeup stuff to!

Admit it...

after seeing the new DQ Flamethrower Burger ad on t.v., you tried to talk like the people in the ad, didn't you?

If you haven't seen it, here's a link.

Movies, first steps and more!

Gord and I went out on a bit of a date tonight - we went to see 'Reign Over Me' (with Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler). It was an amazing movie - very well-acted, painful, sorrowful, uplifting, and a million other things. We both would highly recommend it.

And onto other things...

Have I mentioned that we were being driven crazy by Ella's refusal to walk? She wanted to so so so badly, but refused to try. Well, under MUCH diress, on Friday, I got her to take 4 steps. She wailed the whole time. Whenever she wanted to walk around, I'd make her try it herself. She wailed some more. It really was a test of wills between her and I. I win though! She is taking more and more steps, and is very proud of herself when she does it. No more wailing. BIG sigh of relief. She'll be walking around on her own in no time now! Our baby girl...11 months old today...she's growing up so fast...

Speaking of babies...Chris and Sheri's hasn't arrived yet...we're on pins and needles, as the due date was last Wednesday. But you know first babies - they usually make you wait! Send all positive labor vibes Sheri's way please!

Oh, and Ben really enjoys being naked. He'll run around and yell, "NEKKID! NEKKID! NEKKID!" It's a hoot, alright. We have to make sure the blinds are closed...

6 more sleeps until our visit from K & G & R & F...and 2 more after that until Grandpa & Grandma from B.C. get here! Woo-hoo!

Behold the Art of Ben!

In order to keep Ben out of my hair this afternoon, I suggested to him that we bring his easel into the kitchen so that he could paint some pictures, like at Moms & Twos. He thought that was a great idea! Here is Ben's art, in all its glory:


There are EIGHT pages of essentially the same thing - lines, in every color on the watercolor palette. I actually think they're quite modern and minimalist, maybe like his interpretation of rainbows. He had a great time - he'd paint his lines, and then ask for a new sheet of paper. And he'd paint his lines again, and ask for more paper. I had to re-sneak into Ella's closet to the big roll of paper twice to replenish his stock.

Ella is totally into finger foods and self-feeding. She loves to smush her food around and then plaster it all over her face. Here are more pictures of her self-feeding efforts:



And lastly, here are my two Baby-Einstein-lovin' kids:


Do ya think they're related?

; )

This one's for Garth

Back on March 12th, 2005, I posted a picture of a monkey riding a dog to maintain our high level of readership on the blog (1 - Garth).

Just to show our loyalty, check out this link from Reuters:

http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=20366

p.s. If you go into the archives to look at the pic on March 12, 2005, scroll up to the post directly above it (March 14, 2005) and read the post about Ben's eyesight. Creepy!

Double Tub Bath!

When child #2 looks like this:


And it gets worse as the meal goes on:


It's bath time! Since our sink was full of dirty dishes, we headed to the tub. Of course, if bathing child #2, child #1 MUST be bathed too:


For those who are interested (and you know who you are!), neither child pooped in the tub.

Notice Ben's eye crossing inwards in the tub pic? THAT'S what the glasses are for. Here he is modeling his newer glasses:

Why?

Why write about the Wii? Me writing about it is not going to change the fact that we are not getting one anytime soon, Gord.

Zoo or no zoo - that is the question!

We headed over to Pan Am Pool today for our last aquacise class. Ben, as I may have mentioned before, goes to the nursery at the facility while Ella and I swim. Ben was very sweet as I was getting his jacket on to leave - he looks up at the ladies who car for him there, and says, "Thank you!" (I've been getting him to do this whenever we leave there, but today was the second time that he said it all on his own!) They 'ahhh-ed' and said they were going to miss him. He's such a charmer!

Since it was supposed to be nice today, I had packed a lunch so that we could go to the zoo afterwards, for something different to do. However, it was very foggy and pretty breezy out, and not the +8 degrees they were talking. So we came home. Much to my dismay. I was looking forward to it.

I meant to blog big HUGE birthday wishes from our family to Ruby & Fiona yesterday - they turned ONE whole year old! I hear that they liked the icing on the cupcakes...

Ella woke up last night crying, so I went in to soothe her. Now, usually when I go to leave her room, she'll start wailing again and continue until she's too tired to go on. But last night, she didn't cry when I left her room. What a nice change...

That's all I can think of to write about today...maybe there'll be more later...

#7

Ella has cut tooth #7! Perhaps that's why she was up SCREAMING from 1:09am to 3:00 am. Actually, I had a little break from her screeching from 1:50am to 2:30am, but Ben was up twice during that time. I dread how Ella will be when she's cutting her molars, if her "easy" teeth are this much trouble.

http://www.anbesol.com/teething/chart.asp

According to this chart, she now has her lower right lateral incisor. Go Ella!

She's hiding...

Where's Ella?










Oh, there she is!










Hmmmm, what's been happening? Ella will do the sign for milk now, with some prompting. For "more" of something, she'll clap her hands. Close, but we're still working on it!

Ben is adjusting well to his specs. He keeps them on pretty much all the time, and if he does take them off for some reason, we just have to remind him to put them back. We have noticed that as soon as the glasses come off, his eyes cross. So with them off, his eyes are REALLY trying to correct themselves so he can see as well as he can with the glasses on.

Ben recognized an ampersand on a van today. "Hey, look! It's an ampersand! It means 'and'!" What a smartie-pants. There is an ampersand between the authors' names on the cover of his favorite-book-du-jour, a Curious George collection.

Other random pictures...










Ben with his buddy, Diego, in the background...

Naps and bedtime

So Ella does this very cute thing when I put her in her bed for a nap or for bedtime. She has two blankets that I lay on top of her - first, her pink afghan that Grandma Susan knit for her before she was born, and then on top, my blankie from when I was little. What happens is that I lay her down on her back and put the afghan on her. She'll grab it and pull it up over her head, so that it's laying on her face. And she just lays there like that while I put my old blankie on next. I'll leave the room, and she's still got the blanket over her face. It makes me laugh. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow and post it.

Gord went to play bridge with his 'ladies' tonight. That means I'm on solo parent duty. Ben refused to eat his supper tonight -well, not refused, but just wouldn't. Even after we offered him Jeanne's Cake if he ate the chicken and carrots only. So Gord left. Ben came to me shortly thereafter and asked for cake. I explained to him that he did not eat his supper so he could not have cake. I also told him that we eat supper as a family and that he's not going to be allowed to take hours to eat his supper. So guess what? He bawled. And bawled. He sat in front of me and wailed. I did my best to ignore him. Ben climbed on my knee, put his head on the arm of the couch, and cried some more. He quieted down and next thing I know, he's asleep. At 7:20pm. I guess he got pooped out helping Daddy shovel the driveway after work!

I put Ella down at about 7:50pm 'cause she had nodded off while eating. And she was grumpy grumpy grumpy. So now I get the whole evening to myself!

34 and counting!

Today was (is) Gord's birthday! His mom came over and we had a nice dinner (linguini carbonara with caesar salad and garlic bread) and Jeanne's cake (eat your heart out, former Winnipeggers!). Ben helped Gord open his birthday presents. He got some video games, a digital tire gauge, a CD and a t-shirt. Happy birthday honey! We love you very much!

Ben is adjusting pretty well to his glasses. We had them refitted last night, when we went back to order a second pair. He's barely fussed with them at all today. Hopefully, every day will be easier than the last.

I've got a headache and LOST is on, so that's all I'm writing...

Ben's alter ego...

We picked up Ben's glasses today...they are so cute (check it out for yourself below). However, we're thinking that we should have gotten a pair with nose things (what ARE those called?) because these ones move a lot on his face. And with a rambunctious 3-year-old, we are fixing them a lot. Gord thinks we should get a second pair, one with nose things, and then we'll also have a back up pair if one pair gets trashed. Which they most certainly will.

Here he is!




























P.S. Please note the other post today on good books to read!

My Book Report

Well, for a change of pace from the kids (and before the sure-to-be-cute pics of Ben in his new glasses are posted) I thought I would post about some books that I recently read and enjoyed. If you're looking for something to read, I would have to recommend the following:


Barbary Pirate: The Life and Crimes of John Ward
by Greg Bak

If you want thrilling passion, swashbuckling shenanigans, and exposed bosoms, don't look here!

If you do want a captivating read about a man who may (or may not) have been misunderstood, and a look at Government corruption and hypocrisy, this book is for you.

Please note, I am not biased in any way.

---

Hey Nostradamus!
by Douglas Coupland

I remember trying to read Generation X a while back, and not enjoying it. I was not sure what I would think of this book, but I really enjoyed it.

This book has four short stories, told in a rough chronological order, about four people affected by a high-school massacre - similar to Columbine. I found it an easy and quick read.

---

The Time Traveler's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger

This was an EXCELLENT book (in my opinion) which was recommended to me by my school librarian. (Go librarians)!

It is mostly a love story, with the unfortunate twists that the main character takes uncontrolled (and temporary) leaps through time backwards (or forwards) to places that he's already been (or will be). You need to read it to see what I mean.

---

The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear
by Walter Moers

This is a very thick (physically thick) book that I really enjoyed. Really, it seems that the authors vivid (and 'enhanced'?) imagination has been vomited onto pages and published.

This is a fun, light (not physically light) read.

(Sorry for the sad picture of this cover. That is a Bluebear in a boat with 3 mini-pirates.)

So there! Know any good books I should be reading? Let me know...IN THE COMMENTS!

Gordo

Check-ups...Check!

Ben and Ella had check-ups with our pediatrician today. Ben weighs 32 pounds (average) and is 36 inches tall (slightly below average). Our doc said he's the picture of health! He asked us about the crossing left eye, and we told him we were seeing an opthalmologist later today, so that's taken care of!

Turns out, Ben needs glasses. We sort of thought that he just had a lazy eye, but it turns out he's very farsighted in both eyes (he needs a +4.5 prescription in both). It looks like he'll need to wear glasses for several years. We've ordered him some preppy little square-framed blue glasses - I know he'll look cute with them on. I always think that kids with glasses are cute, but now I have to try to keep them on his face, and keep them from breaking!

And Ella is also a healthy little kid - she's 21 pounds (70th percentile) and 29 1/2 inches tall (90th percentile). No shots today!

Proof that they're related...

Funny, hey?

And some more pictures, just for kicks:

Mr. No-Naps decided to draw on himself, the carpet, his dresser and another book with a dry erase marker. Not what I expected to see when I went into his room...




















Playing the Elmo video game Grandma Susan gave him for his birthday:














Now that it's nicer, he can play in the backyard! (Any ideas as to what we can do, besides shovel?)














Our little darlin':

The birthday party...

We had Ben's birthday party on Saturday (yesterday) and, by all accounts, it was a success! Here are some random pictures:

The Diego Rain Forest Cake:


Baby Jaguar cupcakes:


Ben definitely approved!


The kids enjoying said cake and cupcakes:


Opening the loot!



I think that Ben had a really great time. The kids played downstairs (only a few minor scuffles!) and therefore the upstairs stayed fairly clean. Except for the wrapping paper fight that ensued while Ben was opening his presents (thanks for that, Uncle Chris!).

I can't believe he's 3 in just a couple of hours...

For those that are interested in Ella's sleeping progress, she slept right through the night on Friday, from about 10pm to 8am. Last night, she woke up at 5am-ish, and cried for about 25 minutes in total. I went in after 20 minutes, rubbed her back a bit, and left. Gord said she cried for about 3 more seconds and then she quieted and went back to sleep until after 9am. (I, of course, sought refuge in the bathroom.) We'll see how tonight goes!

Update to training:

It seems to be working. Ella was up only once last night, at 2:28am. I went in at 2:38am for a couple of minutes, then left. I hid in the bathroom (playing solitaire this time) and at 2:57am when I came out, she was quiet. She's just waking up now, at 8:30am.

However, now that I've blogged about it, the "curse" will take effect and she won't sleep through the night until she's 15.

Let the training begin!

Sleep training, that is. Last night, Ella went to bed at 8:30pm. At 10:00pm, she was up crying. So I went in and laid her back down. She wailed and sat back up. Now, imagine doing this about 30 times. Finally, I left her room. She cried and cried some more. An hour passes and she is settled down, back to sleep. So I go to bed. At 2:08am, she wakes up again. I go in and the process begins again, but I figure out (after 20 minutes or so) that I upset her more by doing this than I would if I just left her alone. So I leave and go to the bathroom, where I can turn on the fan and play some Kakuro in peace and quiet. I come out, and she's quiet. It's 2:42am. At 3:00am, she starts back up again, and who comes wandering into our room? Ben. So I take him back to his room and lay down with him, while Ella cries. She finally stopped around 3:20am. And she didn't wake up until 8:30am.

I wasn't quite prepared emotionally for this. Gord was reassuring me last night that it worked for Ben, and it's time for Ella to sleep through the night, and that I was doing the right thing. It's just that I started last night 'cause it had only been an hour and a half since she was last fed, and I didn't want to just stick the boob in her mouth to put her back to sleep. And then it just snowballed into letting her cry it out. Oh well, it's not like I'm weaning her. She still gets lots of boob time during the day.

I'm sure I'll get over it pretty quickly the first night she, and I, get a full night's sleep.

And now, for some random cuteness from the Sheppard kids!

She loves mealtimes!


And Cheerios...


Taking his turtle for a walk (he made the turtle at our playgroup):


Mmmmmm...chocolate...(she got a hold of Ben's ice cream sundae spoon when we weren't looking!)


Sleepy baby.


A nap is a nap.


When asked what the label said, Ben's response was, "B-E-N 5".


We are really working on the letters with Ben right now. He and I were doing a Dora puzzle yesterday and I asked him what the letters were. "D-O-R-A" he said. "And what does that spell?" I asked. He said, "D-O-R-A spells Dora and Boots!"

That's my girl!

Ella has been obsessed today with my earrings. My diamond earrings. What good taste she has!

What the...?

So Ella doesn't like fruit (she's slowly learning to like it), but avocado? The baby bird loves it. I give up trying to figure her out.

The order of things...

After letting Ben play with the beads we got Ruby & Fiona for Christmas, I knew I had to track some more down. And I did. Ben loves them! He likes to pile them all up, and then make a snake out of them. And do you want to know what? His snake is ALWAYS in the same order - all 4 yellow beads, then all 4 red, then all 4 green and then all 4 blue. If you try to mess with "the order", he gets uptight and wrecks whatever you've done to do it his way. Sometimes, he'll then make them into a necklace for Mommy to wear. But it usually breaks and then he rebuilds his snake - yellow, red, green, blue.

I really should have got 2 sets, 'cause he won't share with Ella. Poor girl.

Today, I was in the car doing some errands and listening to Gord's Arrogant Worms CD (it was the one after the Barenaked Ladies BLAM CD). A song came on with a verse that pretty much sums up the way I feel about Ella at 5:00 am every morning. Here are the lyrics to the verse:

As a small baby Each time I cried
My mother came to me
To ease my worries and calm my fears
with a sweet melody

I remember hearing The sound of her voice
As I screamed in my drool and my pee
She'd slug back some whisky
light up a smoke
and gently sing to me

Go to sleep little leach
You sucked mama dry
Made her more crazy
With every cry
Why weren't we more careful
that night on the beach
Go to sleep
Go to sleep little leach 

I love her to pieces, but having to get up 2 to 3 times a night can be a little much. Anyways, I had a good chuckle when I was listening to the song.