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!