Monday, June 12, 2006

Things happen in threes, right?

Ben had a bad day today. We went to visit Grandpa Bill and Grandma Joan, and while there, he suffered injury after injury.

Injury #1 - "The Fall"

Ben was standing on one of the dining room chairs, playing with the curtains in said dining room. Beside his chair was a wrought iron wine rack. Yep, he fell into it, giving himself a gash above his left eyebrow and a little cut on his eyelid. Why one of the 4 adults in the room at the time didn't stop him, well, we'll have to live with that. Ben was mighty upset, as were Mommy and Daddy.

Injury #2 - "The Bite"

He must have been bitten by a bug or something behind his left ear (what is it with his left side?!) 'cause I noticed a little dark spot under his ear lobe. I went to see what it was, and here he had blood all behind his ear.

Injury #3 - "The Burn"

He shoved a mouthful of hot wild rice in his mouth at supper and fuh-reaked out. Grandma graciously allowed him to spit it out into her hand. Thankfully, Ben wasn't turned off the rice for the rest of the meal...he loves the rice!

I'm exhausted from this day. Over and out.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Only Pics...maybe I'll post later...

Checking out Grandma Joan and Grandpa Bill - who are these two?!


Getting her beauty sleep...


Snuggling with Grandma Susan!


Ben loves to cuddle with Ella!


Showin' the love!


Ben built (with Mommy's guidance!) a very elaborate bridge and tunnel system for Thomas and Percy!


I don't think she knows what to think!


Bro and sis chillin'


Communal tummy-time!


Is that a...smile?


Yep, definitely a smile!

Ben's happy face!


Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Rhetorical question of the day:

If your 2-year-old knows the phrase, "...supersized with a coke", does that mean that you eat too much fast food?

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Come again?!

Today at lunch (Ben was eating Alpha-getti):

Ben: "What's that letter?"
Gord: "That's a P!"
Ben: "Yeah...Beef!"

Friday, May 26, 2006

What day is it?!

Okay, I'm sorry that our posts are few and far between - I'm losing track of days over here!

Yesterday was Ella's first monthday! Yay baby girl! She is amazingly wonderful and beautiful and we can't get enough of her. She smiles here and there, the best ones being in her sleep, as all babies do. I've really noticed that she's grown - must be mommy's yummy milk! - this past week or so. She's wearing mainly 3-6 month clothes - some 6 month sleepers - depending on the brand. It's quite funny how your child can fit a 3 month size from one store and a 6 month size from another. I always found this with Ben too...he still wears 18 month clothes from Please Mum, but from the Gap or Old Navy, it has to be 2T.

I'm totally going to jinx myself when I make the next statement - Ella's been sleeping through the night! Not every night, but 5 out of the last 9 nights, from 11:00 pm to 5:00 or 6:00 am. I still have my doubts that it's okay, but I called the breastfeeding hotline and they said that as long as she's still eating 8-12 times a day, I can feed her when she wants to be fed. kellymom.com said the same thing. So, I'm going with it.

Ben is a riot these days. He talks so much (just like Uncle Chris) and we can't get anything past him. Ben can also be a real handful - when he doesn't want to do something, he really lets you know.

Here are some random stories from the last week or so...

Ella is a poop machine. One evening, I had to change her sleeper and undershirt THREE TIMES after changing her out of her "day" clothes. All this in less than an hour. Less than half of an hour, even. I am spending a fortune on Baby Oxy-Clean! (But man, does that stuff work!) I'm sure she'll love these stories when she's 16.

Ben had a chocolate milk in the car the other day, while we were on our way to visit with some of my family. Next thing I know, he's puking it up all over himself! Yikes, did it smell! He'd had strawberry yogurt for breakfast too, so imagine a vomit smell tinged with strawberry and chocolate! Blech! He bawled his eyes out. I had to pull the car over to clean him up, and then drive home to do a full wardrobe change on him (and a partial wardrobe change on Ella, the poop-o-matic) before we headed to my cousin's house. What a morning! And it was a hot day, so when we left my cousin's house, the car REALLY stunk. Double blech!

I went to a book party the other night. I spent a small fortune (for us!) on Usborne books, but I can't help myself when it comes to books! I want my kids to have every book I or they see! Is that a crime?

I was a neglectful mommy this morning - when Ben woke up, I put a video in the VCR and gave him a glass of milk and a yogurt-covered-granola-bar so that I could go back to bed for a while (Ella did not sleep through the night last night). Tsk tsk tsk...

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Random cuteness

Ben was eating his lunch today, which consisted of Ritz crackers, cheese and yogurt, and as I was finishing my soup, this is what I heard:

"One...two...three...good counting Ben!" (He was counting his crackers.)

Then he started counting his fingers. "No, this one's seven. No, it's this one!"

After lunch, Ben was playing in the living room, and I heard him saying, "He went that way. (points) And he said he went that way! (points in opposite direction). That's coming from Sesame Street - specifically, Journey to Ernie. Big Bird tries to find Ernie, and always runs into the two-headed monster. Big Bird asks them if they've seen Ernie, and they each say yes and point in opposite directions. It's amazing what sticks in his little head!

He has also mastered the perfect hug, and he likes to give tons of them! What a sweetie!

And, might I say, you are all lucky to have gotten back-to-back blog posts from me!

Monday, May 15, 2006

Where does the time go?

Holy crap, time is flying!

Ben seems to age more every day - the things he comes up with! Right now, things are "interesting" to him. And he plays so actively - he likes to head-butt and climb all over us. He likes to jump on the couch, or be thrown onto it! His new favorite book is one called "I Love You Through and Through" and he'll read it to himself in bed, after we say good-night. Adorable.


I can't believe that Ella is going to be 3 weeks old tomorrow. She's awake more and more during the day, but she still stays up really late - like midnight. Last night was her first real night in her crib. Until now, her and I have been sleeping in the living room, her on my chest or nestled in the crook of my arm, while I lay on the couch. Whatever gets her and I some sleep, right? But we decided to give it the 'ole college try last night, and she did pretty good. We swaddled her up (which ALWAYS worked with Ben, but she wasn't a big fan of when she was first born) and tucked her in under another blanket, and she stayed asleep. I put her in there at 1:00 last night (give me a break, we were watching the Survivor finale on time-shift!), and she woke up for a feeding at 3:00, and then woke up for the day at 8:30 or so. Not too shabby! We'll see how tonight goes...

Ella will smile here and there, but so far, we're associating it with gas. Hopefully she'll smile for us soon - she looks sooooo cute when she smiles (has gas)! Imagine her this way, only cuter:


And OMG, can she poop. She's going to cost us a fortune in diapers. And water and laundry detergent to wash all the clothes she dirties. Today, I went to change her diaper. I get it all changed, and she lets another one go. So I grab the next diaper, and as I'm taking the now dirty one off, she starts to pee. So I get her into another clean diaper and threatened her growing wardrobe. She wised up and held it in, until the next feeding anyways! I asked Gord if Ben was this bad, and maybe our memories are a little foggy, but we really don't think his timing was as bad as Ella's is!

Here are some other random pictures of visitors we've had:

Great-Grandma Lil (my dad's mom)


Cousin Ian, who is only four days younger than her:


And to finish off the post, we could not be prouder!



Thursday, May 11, 2006

Ella is growing!

We took Ella to her first pediatrician's appointment today. All is well! She weighed in at a healthy 9 pounds 12 ounces, exactly one pound more than she was at birth! Go Ella - what a breastfeeder! She also measured in as 20 inches, which is bizarre 'cause she apparently was 22 inches when she was born. Whatever...we don't know which one to believe. She already can't wear a couple of sleepers 'cause they're too short for her, so I'm leaning towards 22 inches. She also has some baby acne on her face - it looks a lot worse than it really is. Doc said it'll clear up in a few days.

Today was also the day we took Ella to our respective places of work to show her off. Everyone was very impressed with her cuteness. My co-workers also gushed about Ben. He was in rare form today! He was jumping from square to square (the pattern in the carpet) and wow-ing everyone with his verbal skills. He was telling the ladies "I'm Ben!" when they asked who he was. Very charming! He also got to eat two pieces of cake at 10:00 in the morning!

Then at Daddy's work, he got to "play race" on the computer - we go to the Thomas the Tank Engine site and let him play games and do puzzles. Ben LOVES it.

That's all for now. Sorry we don't blog much - Gord usually takes the computer to work with him, so I can usually only blog in the evening, and the evenings are pretty lazy around here. I'll try to do better...and post more pictures.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Pics and a wee update.

Well, we just had a wonderful weekend with our little family. Not much happened (except for the trip to Grandma and Grampa's - see below) but we just had a nice time hanging out together. Some pics:

Ella being coy:

Little Ella Bathtime:

Our little Ray Charles:

So this weekend we decided to take the plunge. With a big thank you to Grampa Ken and Grandma Wendy, we decided to get a Digital SLR camera. I assume it will just start taking beautiful pictures by itself. Seriously, I like it for the speed at which it can take pictures. (Turn on, press button, WHAM. Picture.) We still like our lil' digital, as the SLR is a little bulky to just tote along for candid shots. Here is a picture of our newest baby:

And some of the amazing pictures it took while we were visiting Grandma and Grampa Potter this Sunday:

Grandma and Ella:

Ella loving Mommy:

Some Brother/Sister Love Time:

Our Little Sweetheart:

We'll keep posting as stuff (or pictures) happen!

Gordo

Sunday, April 30, 2006

We're home and settled in!

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone! We're so happy with our new addition!

We came home on Wednesday, and it's been kind of a blur since then. Our days have been crammed full of playing, cuddling and nursing! Ella is a good baby so far - she pretty much just sleeps and eats. She's spending more time awake now, which is nice. She spent the whole time Grandpa Bill held her on Saturday staring at him! However, Ella is not a fan of her crib. Ben was in his crib from night #1 - we'd swaddle him and tuck him in, and he was fine. Ella likes to be cozy - she is a cuddler - so I'm putting her in her car seat/bouncy chair to sleep in at night, and that seems to be working. We'll make an effort to get her into her crib in a couple of weeks, but for now, we all need our sleep.

Ben is adjusting very well. He always asks to hold her, and will give her kisses and touch her cheeks and ears very gently. Ben is also concerned when she cries - "Why's he crying?" or "Ella crying!" And he wants her to wake up when she's sleeping - I'm trying to get him to stop that! All in all, he's being a great big brother and loves her so much already. It is so special to see their relationship starting!

Here are some pictures:



Enjoying the bouncy chair!


Daddy, Ben and Ella


More excitement in the bouncy chair...


Big brother Ben holding his baby sister Ella!

OK, that's all for now. I'll try to start posting stories and such, but no promises just yet!

Carrie

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

A picture is worth 1000 words.

They better be. I'm too tired to be witty and verbose. Here ya go!

Just born (about 5 minutes old):

Cute Little Bum:
Daddy gets in close:

The reaction to seeing Daddy from that close up:


Practicing the lip to melt Daddy's heart already:

Really seeing Mommy for the first time:

Ben delivering his baby:

And lastly, a size comparison. I guess I have to stop calling Ben my 'little' bug. I thought he was still tiny until I saw tiny Ella in the flesh. I forgot how small they are! Ben is telling us in this picture "His name is Ella!" We'll work on the pronouns.


Thanks for all of your good wishes. We'll start making phone calls when we're less tired (around the year 2015).

Gord and Carrie

p.s. Carrie is the Bestest Baby-Making, Kid Loving, Mommy-Type Person and Wonderful Wife Ever (BBMKLMTPWWE). Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sacrificing yourself to attain this wonderful result. Love, Gord.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

She's Here!!!

Little Isabella Grace Sheppard. Born: April 25, 2006 at 3:55 a.m. 8 pounds 12 ounces. Some number of centimetres long (less than 1000). Cute as a little peanut. Here is a cute picture of her and Ben:


Carrie and I were pleased with our 'reception' at Children's hospital. Here's us, 30 minutes after the birth:


More pics of our gorgeous family to come!

Gordo

(Sorry, I forgot the camera at the hospital)

Monday, April 24, 2006

Well...

Just a quick update. Carrie and I were in the hospital for a few hours today - everything is all right! Carrie was (is) having a weird pain on her right side, and she hadn't felt the baby move all night Saturday night. So...in we went to the hospital this morning to get things checked out. The baby is fine - it's moving fine and the heartbeat was really good. Carrie was (is) in low level labour, but still not dilated more than about 1 cm. So, we wait until tomorrow for the fetal assessment and Doctor's visit. There is some talk that they might induce her then.

I'll post more when I know more. For now, I'm off to bed.

Gordo

p.s. A BIG thank you to my Mom for coming out and taking Ben. She was instrumental in making today bearable.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Nope...

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and there was absolutely no change from last week. Bummer. I am now 4 days overdue. Not much else to say. They won't induce until I'm at least 10 days overdue, so I guess we wait. My OB told me to walk for a couple hours yesterday - so I did. And another hour today, with an upcoming hour after I'm done this blog entry. My feet are sore. I have contractions when I walk, but they stop when I'm done walking.

Gord and I were talking tonight about general stuff, when Ben walked up and said, "Daddy, it's complicated!" We stopped talking (obviously, as a 4 syllable word was just spoken by our son!) and just looked at each other with puzzled expressions. I asked, "Where on earth did he get that from?", and then answered my own question. He has this book called "What's inside?" and it talks about what's inside Mommy's tummy when she's having a baby. But it starts out asking "what's inside the suitcase?...what's inside the present?..." and in the middle, it asks "what's inside the television?". They then show a picture of the inside of a TV, with all the wires and switches and stuff. The text says "oh, it's complicated!" So THAT is where he got it from. But still, we were stunned that he just came out with it for no apparent reason. What a kid!

Here are a couple of pictures, for your perusal...

Saying "cheese" last night while having his bedtime snack of Cheerios!



A pic from tonight - in his cool "Mr. Men" shirt!


Saturday, April 15, 2006

No news...

Nothing yet. A few contractions here and there, but nothing to write home about (or blog about, as the case may be!). Due date...come and gone...

We headed back to the dog park this morning. Ben did not get wet, except at the end when he was stomping in the puddles. Charlie was soaked to the bone, as per usual. Ben and I came home and went for a three hour nap. Nice.

I know there has been tons of stuff Ben has been doing that I could write about, but I'm drawing a blank.

Oh, we have some friends whose son Zack is Ben's age. Ben and Zack have a bit of a love/hate relationship. They talk about each other all the time, but when they're actually together, it can get kinda rough. Different personalities, ya know? Anyways, Ben's latest thing is to say, "I be Zachery" and then proceed to scream at the top of his lungs. Very shrill-ly. And the kicker is, that's what Zack does. A couple of weeks ago, they were fighting over a toy and Zack took it from Ben. Ben started to cry, and Zack gets up in his face and screams. And Ben only started doing this the past couple of days. How does he remember that?

Ben also loves to play kitty. He'll come up to you and say, "be little kitty" and then meow and meow and meow at you until you pet him, scratch him behind his ears, and tell him what a cute kitty he is. What a character.

Did you know that Ben has a baby in his tummy too? He likes to tell you that while he's lifting his shirt up to his armpits. Mommy does not do that.

That's about all for now. As always, I'll keep you blog-readers posted.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Mommy's update!

OK, I had a doctor's appointment this morning (which turned into the afternoon - one of the rare times my doc is running late!). Baby is still just fine - the head is low. She gave me an internal exam too - I'm only 1 cm dilated. But it's a start. And as she said, it doesn't necessarily mean anything - they don't know what causes labour to start. So I came home and walked 2 miles on the treadmill to get this kid to drop and get labour started! I had some contractions (or strong Braxton Hicks?) during the walk, but not really since. I was hoping for Friday or so, but that doesn't seem likely! We wait and see...

That's about all for my update! I'm tired now...

c

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

What a day...

...in a good and funny way!

The day started with us heading to the Pediatrician for Ben's checkup. His weight is normal for his age, but his height is in the bottom 25th percentile. Thanks mommy! Other than that he was declared healthy and in a very high percentile for cuteness.

After I came home, we had dinner (Ben is eating like a champion, by the way. Finally.) Usually when we eat dinner we turn on the stereo for a bit of music. After dinner is finished, Ben usually becomes a "Dancin' Fool" (that reference is for you, Garth). He INSISTED that mommy and daddy get up and dance with him. So we had our own pregnant lady, fat man, crazed kid and manic dog mosh pit for a while. (While Ben dances, he sings "Dancing, dancing, dancing..." over and over. SO cute.)

Speaking of eating, the other day Ben wanted some watermelon. He asked for some "watermelman". Hee hee.

We then decided to go for a walk. While we were getting ready, Ben said "Go walk dog park?" We figured that was as good a place as any, so we packed up the kid and the dog in all of our crappy mud gear and out we went. We weren't even 20 meters into the park when Ben decided to splash in the puddles. Splash splash. So, while he was otherwise occupied we turned around to watch Charlie chasing frogs in the flooded ditch. Then, (you know what's coming, don't you?) SPLASH! WAHHHHHHHH! Ben had decided to follow Charlie and he fell almost up to his neck into stinky, yucky, dirty dog poo runoff ditch water. Carrie took a booter while running to get him, and almost tumbled in herself. SO...5 minutes after the start of the walk we loaded up the stinky dog, the stinky kid (now sans all clothes except a partially soaked shirt and a completely soaked diaper), the stinky mommy, and the stinky daddy (I didn't fall in - I just smell bad) and we headed home - with a stop for slurpees of course. Ben got a grape slurpee. We asked him what it tasted like and he said "Tastes like purple." What a kid.

So, after a long bath for Ben and mommy it was time for beddie boo. I leaned over to kiss my sweet boy on the back of the head just as he whipped his head back to find a book - headbutt to the lower lip and teeth. So I left crying like a little girl - leaving mommy to fend with the book reading by herself.

I'll leave you with a pic of the bug playing outside. What a cutie!

Blog ya later!

Gordo

Thursday, April 06, 2006

A post about nothing in particular...

Life is chugging along at the Sheppard house. No baby yet.

Ben is good. His sleeping is better again - no more waking up at 5:40 a.m. He's sleeping in until about 7:30, which is MUCH more reasonable, even for Gord.

I figured that he'd sleep in a bit this morning, because I had him out late at our friends' house last night. We didn't get home until about 10:15, so Ben wasn't ready for bed until 10:45 or so. But nope, he woke up at about 7:40 - and REALLY wanted his mommy. I tried to explain to him, as I rushed around, that I had to go to work. Cue the waterworks. So I told him only two more days, and then I can stay home with him. For a whole year. I don't think he really got it.

It's funny...this morning he wanted only me - Daddy wasn't good enough at 7:40 a.m. - but last night, Gord worked a little later and picked me up from work. I went into the house first, and he came running to the back door, saw me, and stopped short, just staring. I said hello to him, but he just looked at me like I was an alien. Then Daddy came in the door, and he belts out, "DADDY! DADDY!" And for the next little while, he wanted only Daddy. Last week was great timing for the baby coming, 'cause it gave Ben and Gord some quality time together. They bonded. So when Mommy constantly has a baby attached to her in a couple of weeks, Ben has a back-up.

I had another prenatal appointment on Monday. All is well. I think the baby is definately lower now, which is a good thing! My OB isn't overly descriptive in what she's doing - blood pressure "great!", heartbeat "good", "moving at least 10 times a day?", "group B strep negative", "could be anytime now!" That was my appointment. But baby is moving lots, and I feel weird things at what I would imagine is the bottom of my uterus/cervix. But I'm speculating, of course. I'm no doctor.

One and a half days of work left. As of 5:00 p.m. tomorrow, I'm on mat leave. Can't say I'm not glad - I feel exhausted at days end. It sucks sitting in a chair all day too - when I get up to inevitably take a bathroom break, I feel like I have a medicine ball between my hips. Ah well, only a couple weeks to go, if that.

We got our new furniture on Tuesday night. It is soooooo comfy. Of course, the old furniture is still upstairs, so we are still reminded daily of what we had - it makes us appreciate the new stuff that much more! Maybe I'll get around to posting pics of the furniture and of the kitchen this weekend, 'cause there are some people out there who haven't seen either!

Uncle Chris moved out this week too. Ben will miss him. Gord and I, not so much. JUST KIDDING! I liked having him around. But now he's heading back up to Gillam for 6 weeks. Then he's done his stint up there. And he'll be posted permanently in Brandon after another 3 weeks of training or something like that.

OK, that's it. I'm going to eat my lunch and then go to the bathroom, again.

sheppard out

Saturday, April 01, 2006

No real news...

Nothing too exciting happening lately - sorry blogland!

Ben stayed at his Grandma Susan's last night. We haven't heard yet how he did sleeping - in the playpen to boot - hopefully, he was a good boy for her. He didn't eat a lot of supper last night, but he did eat TWO bites of chicken. Real roasted chicken. The night before, he ate a whole sausage. Dipping it in ketchup sure helps! He then proceeded to eat four or five whole baby carrots. Can Mommy say "Wa-hooooooo"?

Gord has had a good time with Ben this week - well, the last three days anyway! Once the napping issue was sorted out, things went a lot smoother. Apparently, the past two mornings when Ben went to "wake up Daddy", he climbed into bed, leaned over to whisper into Gord's ear, and said, "Sweet-heart"!

I really think Ben liked his week with Daddy! Yesterday, Gord set up the biggest train track yet and Ben played happily with his trains! He is really starting to play more independently now too. He'll play with his cars and trucks and trains all by himself. He'll jibber-jabber to himself, lord only knows where his imagination is taking him!

Baby #2 is good - still hanging in there! I have one week of work left, so the baby has to stay put until at least next weekend! My department went out to lunch yesterday, and I had the spiciest thing on the menu. Everyone was joking around that I was trying to get the baby out, but really, I just wanted the Kung Pao chicken! Nothing happened anyways... Two more weeks until I am officially due - and we've got the most important stuff ready - some clothes, diapers, the car seat. But I still need to pack a bag for the hospital...that's on this weekend's "to do list".

Our little nieces, Fiona and Ruby, went home this week. The new little family is coping well, from what we hear. We even got a little movie of the girls emailed to us yesterday...gosh, I wanna hold 'em, just to feel what a 4 1/2 pound baby feels like. Ben was twice that, for goodness sake! We've gotta get their little baby gifts sent...another "to do" this weekend!

Just as an aside, I just finished watching "Meet the Fockers" on TV. I love that movie. It is too funny.

later gators.

Are you proud of me honey?

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!