Recycling restitution

The crazy massive recycling bin arrived yesterday.  Why they felt the need to put it directly in front of my front door when I had eight moms coming over with babies in the next 10 minutes is beyond me.  But it arrived, I am not as life incompetent as I thought.  Apparently I ordered a bigger recycling bin then slacker neighbour did.  Of course I did, I'm a better recycler and therefore better person then him!! :)  Hah!  Or it could be that we're a family of three and he's a bachelor of one.   Are takeout boxes recyclable?

Here's the promised pic of the babe on Ms. Julia's beautiful quilt.  Yesterday it was christened by eight puking babies.  I think that we'll be testing it's laundrability today!

Eye Candy

Too tired to post. Here's some eye candy. Adara has learned how to roll onto her belly consistently now. Too bad that she can't remember how to roll back!

Stupid life stuff

Today the garbage men delivered new garbage bins that we are to use... except to us.

 Apparently we were supposed to order one online before the end of 2007.  Apparently we were supposed to know this and received some kind of notice in the mail.  In my past life I would have said indignantly that "No, I did not receive a notice" and "Yes, I'm sure; I have an excellent memory!  Where's my freakin' bin???"  But, due to my darling babys' arrival, I have no idea if we received this notice or not.  It could have arrived and I could have done what I was supposed to and the city might have screwed up. Or, it could have arrived I might have lost it, or put it in the wash or stuffed it in a drawer, or any of a variety of things, under which case I have no right to be annoyed.  Or, it might never have arrived; dumb metro city, blah, blah, blah.  Strangely, every time that we call the city they hang up on us.  Do they realize how tenuous my grasp on patience is???  Even stranger, our super organized, mega annoying, noisy neighbours didn't get their garbage bin either.  But our 25 year old slacker neighbour whose mother comes to do the gardening and Len does his shoveling: his garbage bin arrived.  I'm tempted to steal his, 'cause there's just no way in my world that Eric did what he was supposed to and I didn't!! :)

Here's a pic of the babe to sweeten the above rant.

Practice makes perfect

Here's a pic of Adara with her baby group that public health put on for six weeks. We finished last week.
The little boy to the left of Adara in the picture is William. Throughout this photo op they were tormenting each other. There are several pics where William is twisting Adara's ear in his hand and she is thwacking him in the belly. Ah,young love!
In our dance class, sometimes we dance in partners with the babies. This means that the babies are quite close together in their packs. Adara faces out in hers while most babies face inwards. She usually takes this pairs dancing as a great chance to kick the other woman's baby in the bum. Very fun, if not very nice!
This week Adara is determined to crawl. Early I know, but clearly it was on her "To Do List" for this week. She lays on her belly, picks up her head and feet and kicks like mad (as if swimming) while making a lot of noise. Then she drops her head onto the ground, sticks her bum in the air, puffs like mad, and pulls her knees under her. If she'd just put her hands under her too, she'd be on all fours. If we try to put her on her back to give her a rest, she flips back over to her belly and starts again.
She practices this move obsessively right now until she completely exhausts herself. It took her two days to teach herself to suck her thumb with this kind of intensive practice. Wonder how long it will take her to get onto all fours? I'll keep you posted.

Argh!

Can't talk... (puff, puff) baby eating every 45 minutes... (puff, puff).  Body sucked dry.... must eat...

Buttons

Why is sewing a button on a winter coat so hard?  I bought a lovely coat in November and two buttons fell off it before I got home.  Because the baby was only three weeks old and I was completely overdone, I begged Jenn to sew them back on so that I could attend a funeral the next day.  She did, 'cause she loves me and can't stand to see me cry over buttons.  Over the next five weeks six buttons fell off and were sewn back on.  I figured out that the problem was steel shank buttons (clearly the devil made these nasty things) and replaced them with plastic buttons.  Another fell off today. If winter doesn't end or my buttons don't stay on I'm going to go and move in with Jenn!  :)   

Here's a fun pic of my baby who learned from another baby today how to blow raspberries. 

Happy Five Months Baby Girl

Dear Adara: Happy five months my sweet baby girl!  Daddy and I are so proud of everything you've learned this month and the sweet little girl that you're becoming. 

 

It's been a challenging month for mommy and you, feet and feet of snow have fallen in Toronto and we've been trapped in the house a lot.  We also both got sick together for the first time, but I'm sure not the last.  But we came through it, and you're good natured smiles and giggles helped mommy and daddy persevere.

Speaking of those giggles; this is a skill that you've mastered now!  You giggle when we make high pitched noises, when we blow kisses on your belly and when we pretend to nibble on your fingers and toes.  

You're also all about chewing and putting things in your mouth this month.  You lay and sit around the house much of the time now with a washcloth hanging out of your mouth like a little puppy with a chew toy.  Adorable!  

You've also developed a real personality this month.  You manage to tell us with your little grunt and squeals, the direction of your eyes and the quirk of your eyebrows, if you want to eat more, play with a certain toy or be picked up.  You've mastered the "flick the eyes to mommy's breast, quirk your eyebrows and smile manouver" that clearly says "I could have a little snack please".  

At night, you hardly ever cry now.  You roll over, grab your soft yellow duck blanket, rub it between your fingers, stick your thumb in your mouth and drift off. On the sleep front, you're a real chameleon.  Sometimes you sleep 12 hours straight through, sometimes you're up three times in the night!  We have no idea what you're up to, but are pretty confident that you'll work it out in your own sweet time. 

You've also developed an odd relationship with the frog mobile in your room this month. You're fascinated by it, love it and are utterly terrified by it all at once.  During the day you love to bat at it, look at it and watch it swing over your change table.  At bedtime you have to be held in front of it for a good minute or so before you can establish that the frogs are not going to attack you and that it's safe to sleep.

You and mommy have mastered the subway this month. It's not always easy, but we're managing to get around using a combination of the stroller, side pack and sling.  People love to coo at you when you're in the packs, and you're quite fascinated by the veggie vendors on the corner.

You're also all about food this month. Mommy and daddy can no longer eat in front of you because you're so truly hurt that we wouldn't offer you any.  You're managing rice cereal every day now, but the sweet potatoes definitely did not agree with you, and you're not even willing to try the oat cereal. 

Baby girl, I can't even explain to you how much we love you.  We are both fascinated by your beautiful face and smile, your happy kicking legs and your efforts at sitting up, rolling over and holding on to toys.  You grow more lovely and intelligent every day and I truly can't remember what life was like before you.  

We love you so much, happy five months Bella, 

love mommy and daddy

OH, the mice!

So, we've taken care of our mouse problem.... kind of.  I am so happy that we got rid of all of the large mice and I no longer have to close up all of Adara's toys in tupperware containers to protect them from pests every night.  However, after we terminated two large mice and three small ones, we've found two small ones in the basement this week.  They were barely crawling around and were, in fact, starving, because we killed their mother.  That's right we killed their source of food.  I am horribly wracked with guilt about it and was almost in tears when I found the first little starving baby mouse.  I managed to put it out of my head,and now, have found another in the same state.  Being a mom makes me far too empathetic towards all moms and babes of all kinds.  

We returned the two broken strollers today and found out from the store that the company has recalled all of these strollers as they all have a bent front fork.  So, now I feel like it's safe to say it DO NOT BUY A GRACO ELFE stroller.  They are broken; the company has admitted it.  Buy a Phil and Ted's they're three times the price but look cool and run sweet!!!!! 

Ms. Julia Hale came to visit this week and brought our baby quilt that she made.  I shall post a pic later in the week.  It was lovely to hang out with her, eat bad food, drink wine and talk about babies and work; my two favourite topics.

The Mommy Series

Thanks for the New Clothes!

Hey check out my new duds!  The hat and jeans are from Auntie Kristen the ebay queen.  The monkey (orange) onesie and little shrug sweater (very stylish) and from my buddy Griffina  and his Mamma.  Thanks guys! love,

Adara

The Daddy Series

So much going on...

Life here at Adoring Adara has gotten strangely crazy recently.  Betwixt choosing new strollers, seeking for highchairs, car seats and jumperoos and feeding and caring for ourselves; we've been busy.

The Stroller Saga:  So we currently have four strollers in our house. The peg perego that I initially bought second hand is a great stroller, but sucks for the snow and doesn't work for jogging and rollerblading which Len and I are hoping to do soon. It will be kept for car runs and subwaying.  The jogging stroller (which shall remain nameless due to libel possibilities...) that we purchased a month ago, had another sent when that one was broken, and now have two broken versions of; is still waiting in the house to be returned.  In the way of all new parents, we have lost the fax number where we have to send the receipt to!!! Dear new parents (there's a lot this week: Andrew, Joel) find a place to store important baby stuff now, and stick to it!

And finally, our new purchase today; a Phil and Ted's sport stroller.  I think that this is pretty ironic.  This is the stroller that my mother mentioned that she'd read about and thought sounded great when I was six months pregnant.  I said "too expensive, too big, won't go well on the subway, not what I need, blah, blah, blah".  Turns out, I'm wrong about my mom life.  I don't go on the subway that often.  I do however, walk everyday.  Sometimes for an hour and a half to get to local stores and friends and back again.  I do, in fact, need a silly expensive stroller that will do for my kid until she's four.  Cause it turns out that i walk more then I think I do.  So, there ya go, mom's right again.  Why do I fight the inevitable? :)

Highchairs, and Jumperoos and Carseats, oh my:  Adara has suddenly gotten really large all at once, and has been trying some solids out.   So, now we need a highchair, a jumperoo (standing jolly jumper, we have no reliable doorways to hang a hanging one that's why we're paying an architect $10,000!) and a new carseat cause she's about to outgrow the bucket one.  The highchair and jumperoo I want to find used, cause we're poor from the delux stroller (see above).  The carseat we just have to choose what we want.  All of this takes time. Hey moms, when do you give up on a new food?  She's been bringing the sweet potatoes back up pretty good and I don't know when I decide that that isn't working.  Talk amongst yourselves...

Feeding and Caring for Ourselves:  I finally feel up to cooking lovely meals again, especially now that Adara's bed time is pretty reliable.  So Len and I last night made Salmon, gnochhi with tomato basil pesto and a lovely salad.  We finished off in a glorious heap on the futon in front of the tv eating dark chocolate and drinking beer.  It was a good night of taking care of ourselves.  We finished the night with doing a crossword together and staying up far too late cause we were into it. Yep, we're old geeks from way back!

Other News: All this past week people keep stopping to look and coo at Adara.  Two old gentlemen actually crossed the street to have a look at her.  It's probably just that people are feeling more optimistic about spring coming... but I'm going to choose to believe that I have the most beautiful baby on the planet.  Except for Griffin, Kaia, Alex, Sasha, Liam, Blair, Lana, Dylan, Cameron, Tristan, Phelan, Laura, Lisa.... etc, etc., all of whom were very beautiful babies too! 

Stroller Woes

So, our replacement jogger stroller arrived today, just in time for the big snow storm. I was so happy, thinking that maybe I would manage to make it through the snow this weekend. But, no. The ridiculous company sent us a replacement stroller with the exact same problem. What kind of stupidity does it take to send a replacement item out with the precise same problem??? And then they were surprised when I informed them that I would not be waiting three more weeks to have yet a third defective stroller sent to me. So now we have to fax them the receipt, wait two weeks for a refund code, go back to the original store, show them the refund code, give them back the TWO strollers and get our money back. I don't even know how I'm going to get two strollers and a baby into the car!!
That combined with some news that we would have to spend $10,000 pronto on our house sent me a bit over the edge. Add to that a plague of mice (four running around the living room yesterday) and I had a minor fit. The lovely Len gave me the afternoon free and I went for a swim and am feeling a good bit cheerier now.
Now I'm looking for a new jogging stroller (preferably under $250), so moms; send me your recommendations. We arent' huge joggers, just need a stroller big enough to go through the snow and that Len and I can lightly jog and roller blade with.
At mom group yesterday Adara gave a great big yelp and literally threw herself from her back to her front. She temporarily got her arm stuck under her and had a very funny moment of nose to the ground, legs frantically kicking at the floor, arm stuck underneath... but she worked it out. All the moms gave little shouts of joy for her. Very exciting!
Alas,no pics again today. Silly iphoto is all messed up. Ironic to buy a mac and have only the media functions be all messed up. Anyone noticing a theme of broken stuff, I shall rename this blog entry "Broken Bits"! :)

Take that Cold! Hiyaaaa!

Ha! So, when I started getting the cold on sunday, I ate a raw clove of garlic before bed. Yep, just stuck it in my mouth, chewed it and swallowed it on sunday and monday night. Disgusting? Yep. Effective? You bet!!! By tuesday I was so much better that you could hardly tell I had a cold. Score one for the mamma!
There was 15 cm of snow here again today. Adara and I went out for a walk, but couldn't take the stroller as our little stroller won't handle this much snow and the replacement jogging stroller hasn't show up yet. So, I put her in the hip carrying pack in her snowsuit and off we went. It went fantastically, we walked to the local deli and visited with the owner there who I've been wanting to go and see since Adara was born. I had a lovely conversation in there with her a couple of times when I was very pregnant, but hadn't been back since. She remembered that Adara was breech and asked how it had all turned out. This was a conversation that we had five months ago... in Toronto, where no one listens to anyone. I was pleasantly surprised by her memory and interest. Smart woman, all of my deli needs will be met by her instead of Sobey's from now on!
In other news, Jenn was here yesterday and this morning. It was lovely to see her and catch up. My friend Lisa's mom, Lolita, came over to babysit. It surprises me that I can shout out to the universe that I need a babysitter for that night and for free and that one shows up. People like babies, I think.

The Blog that is (or isn't) me

Blogs are funny things. I've found mine to be a wonderful vehicle for self expression and a way to decompress at the end of a long day when I have no adult contact. For those of you who don't know, I see my husband each morning, but am asleep when he gets home near midnight each night. So, blogging has provided me with an outlet.
What I've come to understand in the past few months is that blogs have their own personality. Several months ago I hadn't been talking with one friend very much, just reading her blog. I became concerned that perhaps this friend was drinking and partying too much. When I talked to her, she pointed out to me that that is the character of her blog; a party girl. What gets posted on her blog is the party details, because it's intended to be fun and light. The daily grind of work, clean, sleep etc. doesn't get recorded on her blog. Another friends blog is all about her baby; you'd think that she was obsessed.
My blog is about the difficulties (and sometimes joys) of being Adara's mom. It's personality is that of a slightly harried mom trying to figure out how this parenting thing works. On occassion, I'm sure it sounds like I'm ungrateful for this beautiful baby or unhappy in my life. This is not the case. The blog is a selective slice of my life; not my actual life.
What didn't get recorded in this last week of sickness and such, was me getting out of bed at 2 am to stare at my baby for 10 minutes and marvel at her little sleeping face. What didn't get recorded was the lovely old gentleman on the street who stopped to tell me how beautiful my baby was. What didn't get recorded was watching how startled she was when she rolled over against her will last week.
Blogs are like snapshots, there's no way to know what happened just before or just after...

And now... a bleepin' cold

Yep, that's right, now I have a cold!!!!! For #$%&* sake!  it seems that the gods are punishing me for some pretty serious crimes.  I have a feeling that this will be followed up with Adara getting a cold now too, but we'll see!  For those of you who don't have children, before you have them seriously consider this scenario. You are sick as a dog and just want to sleep and feel sorry for yourself and read magazines, but guess what?  Forget it!  The babe is sick too so you get to get up more often for more feeding and changing in the middle of the night!  Yes, I'm feeling very negative about this, cause this is the worst of being a parent.  I think... perhaps my mom will enlighten me that there is worse then the sick mom and babe scenario.  If so mom, actually, just don't tell me this week, I don't wanna hear it! :)

Crazy Eating Machine!

So, that crazy baby decided today that at every feed she was going to eat double. So, every breastfeed today was both sides. When I went out for a couple of hours in the afternoon and Cynthia took over, she drank two bottles. 12 ounces!!!! She usually takes five or six! Crazy baby, what are you up to now??
In good (but humbling) news I finally started a bedtime routine. I didn't think that it was possible with her but decided to give it a try. Instant success. After four days of the routine, she went to bed tonight without even a cry. Victory! What's funny about it is how certain I was that a strict bedtime routine was unneccessary and cumbersome. I'm a stubborn fool sometimes; I should just listen to the veteran moms and stop arguing. Sorry Jenn, Kristen, mom, etc, anyone else who ever tried to tell me anything about anything parenting wise.
Mystery solved about the package; it's from Auntie Kristen via ebay. She's totally the ebay queen! Greg (Kristens partner) says that it's cheaper to let her go crazy buying clothes for Adara then for them to have another baby. True enough, buy on Auntie, buy on!