2 for the Show

It feels like a circus show around here sometimes now with our little family of 4 - 5 if you count Jake which Little E definitely would.

I am finally feeling like writing again after a very long slump. Getting settled in a new place, having a baby, looking for a house to buy - all very time consuming things; emotionally and physically.
Anyway, I feel like my experiences as of late are worth documenting and since we're being entertained and challenged to no end, I thought I would get some of them down.

Little E has a new brother! J-bird we'll call him, but his resemblance to a bird is fleeting. He is a gassy, sturdy, serious little boy with a gentle aura albeit a strong set of lungs when said gas won't properly exit his body.

We are settling in to the new dynamic after 6 weeks of a bit of a struggle. Little E is very sweet towards him, tickling his toes, pinching his cheeks and mimicking my coos, "oh little guy", "hello Mr." in her squeaky little voice. I had a hard time with the drastic change to our relationship when he first arrived. "No mommy, just daddy"! I got the cold shoulder for quite a while along with some waking in the night again. But things are starting to come back around, and luckily the potty training was not affected.

Two things that I haven't forgotten Little E saying since J-bird's arrival:

Little E had a great time acquainting herself with J-bird on his first day on the outside. But as it wound down and bedtime drew near, Little E, positioned on the couch with Daddy C and J-bird reached out her foot and pushed her baby brother saying "I don't want that baby any more".

Daddy C had gone to get her room ready for bedtime after setting Little E up with a bedtime snack. Suddenly she realized he was not in the room and called out "where are you Daddy? You're not with that baby are you"?

All in all we have been pretty lucky with the change and thankfully Little E is pretty independent so her play can take place during my running around. The adventure begins again.

Three for tea

We have been spending the past few Fridays with Great Grandma having tea parties.
Little E likes to play with all of the treasures around Great Grandma's house, like her hats and purses and pretty pillows.

Then once we've had a sufficient tour we sit down for tea. And I mean a proper tea with saucers, pretty cups, tea and cakes. Little E has learned (by watching intently before diving in) to hold her small sized tea cup with one hand by the handle and sip…photos to follow.

Once we have had a civilized quantity we dress for the garden and view all of the magical little wonders around the back yard.
The first time we went, Little E really let me have it when it was time to leave. By the third time I think she realized this would be a regular occurrence and she was just so tired she welcomed her car seat. What a pleasure to have Grandparents (great and regular) around for occasions like this.

Sweetness

It's been such a long time since I've written, I don't know if anyone even reads this anymore!

Anyway, I have a few great little tidbits I will share over the next couple of days regardless.

There has been an explosion in Little E's communication lately - baffling me every day.
The other day we were taking Jake for a walk. Little E likes to hold the leash and walk while I push the empty stroller. It can be a little hairy juggling all of the moving parts (especially near roads) but it's pretty cute to watch.
When we're walking I tell Little E what a good job she's doing walking the dog. The other day after I had praised her efforts, she said "good job mommy, good job strollie (stroller)".

Today at lunch Little E offered me a sip of her water. I said "that's nice honey, thank you". Then when she ran out I added some of the water from my cup to hers, she said "that's nice mommy".

Wow - little sponges is right.

Snow Bunny

I have been a really lazy blogger lately, yeesh.
It's not that we haven't been busy doing fun blogworthy stuff - we have! Perhaps it's the change of scenery, or maybe it's the movies after dinner. Anyway, here is something pretty cute and definitely worth posting.

Little E had a snow day with her Daddy and Granny. In fact, her whole weekend sounded pretty action packed. Mine was too! I was in Vancouver with GG and Auntie Soph, it was an amazing break from my usual routine and a fun visit to the city. I'm going to have to figure out how to do that more often ;)

A moment of pride for me was hearing that stringing together 3 and 4 words into a sentence is unusual for a 2 year old (usually just at the 2 word sentence by that age) and Little E is a little chatting wonder. 12 languages here we come, or at least perhaps French Immersion.

The weekend

Well the weather was too crazy to head to Vancouver this weekend. It was disappointing not to see Little E's friends and of course Auntie Soph, but better safe than sorry as they say.

We had a great day today - although another wake up call that we're no longer city dwelling. We had planned to go swimming today, only to find out that the pool didn't open to the public until 1:00! Where are we?? Instead we spent the morning at the market, snacking on home baked goodies and listening to a band called Celtic Cargo Cult and watching Little E clap and shake her little booty.

This afternoon we drove around scoping potential neighbourhoods for a home.
When we got home Little E had just woken up and was hanging out with Granny - man is she cute - Little E I mean. Besides her dancing and singing and obsession with certain events, some of the words I love to hear from her are:
Vack-e-tume - vacuum
Mussis - muffins
Tee too - thank you

Our Routine

We're feeling so much more settled now.
We have a routine and we're starting to get to know our way around now - things are feeling more familiar. One of the ways I can tell I'm becoming an Islander again is the reluctance I now feel to leave the Island.

Little E is making some new friends here too. We have a music class every Monday (that a girlfriend of mine just happened to sign up for with her kids) and a play gym class every Wednesday. I will take some photos of the play gym tomorrow - it's amazing!!! The first time we went, I could barley get Little E's coat and shoes off before she was running into the middle of the gym to dive (literally) into a soft container of balls.
I start prenatal yoga tomorrow night and choir next Thursday - hopefully I can keep my food down during all of that deep breathing.

There have been some impressive new developments in Little E's activities. Tonight she made a salad - I mean while Granny was on the phone and I was out she tore up the lettuce and put it in the bowl making sure she tore off all the brown bits and put them aside! Brilliant!

She has become aware of the need for privacy during her bowel movements. She makes her way to the broom closet and proceeds to poo in solitude.

She dwells on and recites major events - I fell on the stairs while holding Little E and now she reminds me to be "careful mommy - ankle" on our way down, Granny broke her planter pot and Little E will not let it go! "Boom - pot broken", and finally the other day she was up on the counter while I was cooking and decided to taste the pretty hot pepper sitting on the pretty red dish. Hmm she points at the offending location and says "spicy"

Today Daddy C bought Little E a remote control car her own size. He is now the most popular person in the house.

These photos are entitled blueberry face and princess plays hockey:

Strong start

We've been touring the Strong Start programs at the various elementary schools trying to get a feel for the schools and the neighbourhoods. They all vary in their attendees and play supplies / programs and judging from Little E's reaction the Comox school Brooklyn is her favourite so far.

Little E is behaving differently towards the other kids and I realize that it's because they are all new and unknown. She still asks for her friends in Vancouver and I suppose I underestimated the depth of her relationships. After reflecting on a drive to Nanaimo and back (dropping off Daddy C to head over to the mainland to work on the house) I realized that she would be feeling the same as me right now.
I miss my friends and sister, I'm nostalgic for the city and my home and everything here is new again. Except that it's old because I grew up here. Anyway, we're just getting settled I suppose - this is life.

We've Landed

Whooee my writing fingers are a little stiff, hopefully this all makes sense ;)
So far so good!
It's really comfortable here at Granny's house, and Little E especially loves the chickens in the backyard. She greets them with a "good morning girls" when she walks the doggy with Daddy in the morning and helps Granny feed them in the afternoons. They won't replace her friends and rellies in Vancouver but they sure do a good job of keeping her interested here.

It seems like Little E is settling in quite well. We have her room all set up with her crib, toys and books. And she's getting to know Granny's neighbourhood going on walks with the dog. She's talking about Granny, GG and Great Granny a lot with them around more now (although Parker, Maddie and Izzy still make regular appearances in her stories). I am looking forward to introducing her to some new little friends - and meeting some myself.

I am enjoying the short distances to virtually everything and the ample parking once there. The extra pair of hands on Little E is pretty fantastic too. We have been touring the house inventory and haven't found anything promising yet, although there seems to be a lot on the market with more promised now that the new year has rolled around. Now we just have to get ours on the market…

Here are some photos of our Christmas excitement over the past week.
Happy New Year!!

A Farewell Ticket

Arrrgghhh
What a send off. Yesterday when I was shopping for the one present (other than Little E) that I am required to buy this year (thanks to a present swap) I naively parked on West Fourth along with a row of other suckers and came out to an empty strip and a tow truck loading the last of us onto his lift.
One hundred and fifty dollars later (not including the gift money) I was right back where I started. The second most painful part of the scenario was the fact that I had arranged childcare for Little E in order for me to do some running around. At the end of the 2 hours the only thing I had managed to do was stop at a grocery store to pick up more boxes - ooo fun.

Today turned out to be more productive. I dropped Little E off at our friend Kate's house where she played with little Hannah. I packed 2 boxes, did 2 loads of laundry, vacuumed the house, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher and still had time to sit down and eat.

I wish I would have arranged some more play dates with Kate and our neighbour Sarah. Little E had so much fun with their little girls - once home, she said their names for the rest of the day.
I'm sure we'll meet some new friends in the Comox Valley too. Gulp.
Here's a cute little video (thanks to Parker's mom Donna) from Little E's play date last Friday.

Emotional Work

We are in the thick of packing right now. The only reason I have time to write this is because Daddy C has gone out to get more boxes.

I was doing ok emotionally, until we started taking all of the pictures off the walls. I think I am mostly worried about Little E. We visit the picture wall at least once a day, and already she has noticed that her favourite baby playing piano photo has disappeared. Her room is looking much more bare and there are boxes piled everywhere.

The only reconciliation is that soon we will be seeing a good number of the people in the photos in person. And I was thinking about it the other day, although I remember a number of the places we lived when I was little, I don't ever remember the actual move process. So hopefully this isn't as traumatizing for Little E as I'm imagining. It's probably harder for me.

p.s. Little E gave herself a porridge spa this morning. Perhaps a relaxing mechanism…

Bye Bye Parker

It was a bitter sweet day today.
We had to say goodbye to little miss Parker - it was the last day that I will be looking after her before the move.

Although they have their moments of feud and downright nastiness, Little E and Parker have become like sisters. Holding hands whenever we go for a walk, hugging and kissing and imitating each others emotions. Little E acts like the responsible older child (bossy? or perhaps leader is a nicer description) - reminds me of myself when I was little. She's always looking out to be sure that Parker gets a piece of whatever she has demanded, or retrieving Parker from the living room when I'm trying to suit them up and herd them out the door - "come on, come on Parker".

I wonder how long it will take to adjust.

Parker's mommy bought Parker and Little E matching leggings and tunics that they are sporting today.

At A Loss

I find it so much easier to write when I have some pictures to illustrate with. It's not like things haven't been happening, but the photos jog my memory.

Things are starting to feel pretty festive in the air. I have already delivered a Christmas present or two, and taking part in a bake exchange last night made me feel like someone out of Pollyanna (one of my favourite childhood movies) when I dropped off yummy treat parcels to my friends.

And probably my best news of all right now comes in pill form - 4 times a day. I have started taking Diclectin - a concentrated vitamin b and antihistamine - that seems to have seriously minimized my morning sickness. I am not one to jump quickly or lightly into taking medications, but this has dramatically improved life for me right now and I only wish I'd started sooner.

Other than that, Little E is as much fun as always and provides amazement every day. The latest is her willingness to scold herself when she does something we disapprove of. For instance, after ripping at Daddy's C's face with wild beast force he very sternly said "no scratching" she retaliated by biting at his hand. He quickly brought her up to his line of vision and said loudly "no biting". She instructed him to deliver her to her bed where he gave her a 1 minute time out. When he returned, Little E said "no scratching, no biting, sorry Daddy" and gave him a loud mwah - wet one on the cheek. Thanks for the discipline coaching Little E.

First Potty Pee

I forgot to mention in my last post how cute Little E and Parker were that day holding hands continuously.
Before we went to the mall for the missed photo experience, the girls were making their way round and round the house desperately latched on to each other and just carried it on to the mall. It was quite a relief actually because it was like monitoring one little unit instead of two opposite ions.
…photos to follow…

While GG was here we had a spontaneous invite to Shannon's house to hang out with her and Jude, our friend Kiki and her son Esa and our friend Liz and her little companion for the day Quincy. There was an ultra cute moment where the four babes were being read to on the couch cuddled in - obviously Little E needs to become better acquainted with Thomas the Train.
…photos to follow…

Ah yes, and the highlight of the post - Little E had her first pee in the potty last night. She got out of the bath proclaiming her nakedness and streaked off through the kitchen. Daddy C asked her if she had to pee and invited her to sit on the potty, she invited him right back and the two of them had a tinkle together. It was a triumph!!
…no photos of this, sorry…

p.s. Thanks to my book club mate Alexia we had a delicious salad using fresh Kale tonight. Hard for some to love fresh Kale, but I tell you this concoction with a tahini lemon dressing had us both wanting more…healthy and delicious.

Scary Claus

Thank goodness for GG. She has been making us dinner and helping with the girls, making me lie down and keeping me from breaking down. It will be hard to let her go tomorrow.

We had an interesting day today that turned out so much differently than I'd anticipated.
I had plotted a surprise gift for Parker and her parents for weeks and had finally worked up the gumption and secured the back up to execute. Unfortunately the girls did not behave as I'd hoped.

We made it all the way to Oakridge mall barf free (on my part). We walked past the kids play zone and numerous stores with fancy flashing windows; waited a good 15 long minutes in a line with other fidgety, dressed up little kids, only to have the prize at the end squandered from my grasp.
The girls hated Santa.
It was fine to watch the other kids move ahead and climb onto his lap smiling perfectly for their photos. But when it came to our turn, Little E and Parker cried and screamed and clawed at my neck. They didn't want to be anywhere near him. Even when I sat with him and GG sat with him and we talked to him and peeked in his toy bag, they would not be convinced.
Santa was scary.
So, no photos with Santa this year, though we did manage to get some of the girls with the festive backdrop.

The saving grace of the day was a double fire truck push car that we strapped the girls into to get them back to the car, oh, and frozen yoghurt.

Holy Cow.
I hope you'll forgive me while I have my head in the porcelain bowl these days, I have not been getting to my writing…

We had a very busy weekend, perhaps that's why I was feeling so sick again. There were some major highlights including GG (Grandma Gail) arriving for a visit, meeting baby Beatrice, Dress shopping for Auntie Soph and a special author conference call for our book club.

The excitement continued with Parker's first day back today after a weeks holiday in Ontario. The girls were really cute about seeing each other, hugging and holding hands. Little E "encouraging" Parker to follow her in a stroller derby and squeeze into the cardboard house that's barely holding together.

I'll elaborate on the weekend too. We got to meet Little E's little cousin Beatrice for the first time at 2 weeks old. She was so tiny and sweet, sleeping the whole time on a little satin pillow on her mommy's lap. It's amazing to think that Little E was ever that delicate! And to think we'll have another one soon. Yeesh.

The wedding dress shopping we did for Auntie Soph was fabulous despite my cracker crunching through the appointment. I was just lucky not to unload my snacks on any of the dresses. They were gorgeous. We only went to one shop called Frocks, but already there is a strong contender. I will say no more…

We had an amazing send off book club (my last official hurrah before the move) with a call in to the author (who just so happens to be my step-brother-in-law). We read Brian Payton's exciting, moving and inspiring Shadow of the Bear: Travels in Vanishing Wilderness. The discussion was excellent of course, but was made that much more meaningful with the opportunity to ask Brian some questions. Our meal topped it off and the whole experience got us talking about creating a book club cook book, listing the books that inspire the feasts.

Last but far from least, we have GG here for a few days. She is taking full advantage of the city, slotting in a pedicure around the corner and a performance of the German Requiem at the Orpheum with Auntie Soph. It is like old times having her here, cooking and cleaning; it's reminiscent of Little E's first few weeks.

Dill Pickle Chips

It's been way too long!! Again!

I do have some pretty exciting news to report though…Little E is getting a sibling!
I am nearing the 12 week mark and counting down the days. I have been so sick with this one, throwing up 1-3 times a day for the past few weeks, living on toasted bagels with cream cheese, cheerios and soda crackers. When I mentioned the "infliction" to my friend Julia (who just happens to be a midwife) she asked if there were twins in the family….thank goodness no! Well, not the immediate family anyway.

The babe is due at the end of June, just a couple of months after Little E's second birthday. I am just hoping we are all settled in to our new digs by then.

Here is a photo of Little E helping me season the chicken I made for dinner tonight. I had turned around for a moment only to turn back and see her elbow deep in my first food craving - dill pickle chips.

Sunshine Coast

We spent the weekend on the Sunshine Coast and it was as wonderful as always.
Other than today, the day of our departure, the weather did not hold up to the destination name. It was stormy and wet and very romantic.

It's fun having an American in our friend group because it means we get to celebrate another thanksgiving. We had a fabulous turkey dinner last night complete with 3 desserts. Little E got to meet another little baby called Naomi - 7 months old. Little E was thrilled! She walked around Naomi pushing out a funny little laugh that I haven't heard before and sat down to stroke her hair. Despite delaying her bedtime she was not thrilled to leave.

Jane treated me to a wreath making workshop and I made a beautiful wreath that I'm pretty sure will sell the house.
The only downside of the weekend was sleeping in the same room as Little E on Friday night. She woke up at 3:00am and would not go back to sleep. We were reminded of the very important lesson that we cannot sleep in the same room as her, she thinks it's playtime (or boob time). Saturday night we slept upstairs and got a glorious sleep in until 7:30am. Amen!

Here is one super lazy photo of the weekends affairs (taken upon our return no less)...

Thankful

After the past few days, I was so thankful for the girls attitude today!
Monday is always so hard, getting back in to the swing of being "sisters" for the week, Little E and Parker fight like crazy. But come Wednesday, they are the best of friends.
Today they brought each other their water, broke pieces of fruit bar in half and shared it, gave back toys that the other had first, it was a little piece of heaven with two angels in my living room.

I took some photos of them cuddled up with Jake today...

Also, I just want to make a plug for some English books we've been loving lately.
Each, Peach, Pear, Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
Bathwater's Hot by Shirley Hughes
Both have delightful illustrations and great stories (we have a couple of other books by these authors and you can't go wrong!)