Our last feed

I can't let another moment go by without writing about something that took place this week.  It seems I've breastfed my last child for the last time.  Weaning Henry has been a drawn-out affair.  The boy likes his booby.  A lot.  He got to the point of pointing at me and saying "dat milk!" (as opposed to the milk he gets out of a cup).  I still enjoyed nursing Henry, for the most part, but I was also done being pawed at and having my shirt lifted up over my still clinging-on baby belly, sometimes in public.  And yes, there was still milk.  Our bodies produce milk as long as milk is still being taken out by a searching little mouth.

My last few feeds with him weren't great - it hurt.  The guy has powerful suction and a lot of teeth.  But the last feed (or what I assume was the last one as it was about 72 hours ago), was lovely.  Exactly what I wanted it to be.  As he snuggled up and fed, I rubbed his head, caressing his soft curls, just like I've done hundreds, nay, thousands, of times before.

I've spent countless hours feeding my babies.  I don't feel sad that this era has come to an end in our lives.  I still nourish them on a daily basis in so many different ways.  I'm happy to be leaving this behind now.  And I'm so glad to have taken this journey with them.  It was hard.  I really struggled with feeding Emily and Hope at the beginning, not because of a lack of milk supply (I had an over-abundance) but because of engorgement, cracked and bleeding nipples, blocked ducts, a baby (Emily) with a tiny mouth.  It was so hard but so worth it.

And it will stay with them, and me, for the rest of our lives.

Breastfeeding Emily for the first time with the help of my amazing midwife, Sarah.

Breastfeeding Hope on Day 1 or 2.  Hope was born at home and with a toddler around there were few chances for photos.

Breastfeeding Henry for the first time with the help of my other amazing midwife, Mina (different midwife because Henry was born in Kitchener).

Spring back: photo look-back Part 1 - May 2012

The last couple of months have been filled with sports, end of school events, outings, travel, baking, get-togethers, gardening, and general (good) busy-ness.  Over the next few days, I'm going to take a photo tour, month-by-month, of what we've been up to this spring.

My 40th birthday bling bash was totally fun and rocking (well, as much as a group of 40+ women can rock it out when we are tired from kids and work and the usual stuff at the end of the day).  We met at Sassy Bead in The Glebe (one of my favourite stores of all time - and sadly, now closed) and made jewellery, ate, drank and laughed and talked until we exhausted our creativity and our store hosts.  We were planning to head to a pub after that but instead, a few of us who still had energy, albeit waning, went back to mine and finished the evening over tea and raspberry cream cake.  A fitting way for the 40-crowd to end an evening, dontcha think?

The birthday girl... ready to par-tay!

Ready to get our bead on

Finally a shot of the photographer (Pam, middle)

Meredith and Julie in deep concentration

Andrea made the most complex jewellery of the evening

So many choices, so little time!

Isobel and I looking fab!

A final group shot (minus Pam)

Spending an evening with a group of women like this, all close friends, who I've known for a long time or come to know in the last few years or even months, is the best way to welcome your forties. It was a really special night.

And then only about a week later (on May 19), Henry turned two.  No kidding!  The tantrums, screaming fits and general grumpiness on his part leading up to this birthday gave us a clear indication of his age and warning of more fun to come.  Man, this kid has a temper.  Still wonderful and tons o' fun though (she says through gritted teeth).

Happy to get a sandbox for his birthday (truthfully, we already owned the sandbox - it had been in the garage - we just filled it with new sand - can you say frugal and awesome!?)

Could this be the last Dora cake I every make? Please make it so.

Filling his face with Dora at Pam and Jim's.

And that, my long ignored friends, was our May (for the most part).  Stay tuned for a June round-up!

40 eve

Tomorrow I turn 40.  I'll have more to say about that tomorrow, for now I just want to say: Hi!  How've y'all been doin'?

It's been a while.  A LONG while.  So sorry.

I've been preoccupied with selling 105 cases of Girl Guide cookies.  I was starting to dream about Girl Guide cookies although, ironically, I can't even eat the damn things since they're chalk full of gluten.

Other things have been going on in my life as well.  I've done some stuff, learned some new things, made some decisions, done stuff with the kids.  Such as:

I'm learning to do this:

First try.  Not bad.  Will get better.  Homemade fondant.

And yesterday I did this:

Definitely good for a first go.  Too sweet though.

And last week I did this:

Major cutbacks happening in Ottawa!

After previously looking like this (it was actually a few inches longer than this even):

Major improvement.  Who's the hippie?!

And a few days ago I made this:

It's time to get fascinating.  This will be my headwear at a tea in June celebrating dear Liz's long reign.

 

 

This week I also attended (and helped with) Hope's first t-ball game and Emily's first baseball game of the season.  I also watched Emily rule the stage during the talent show as she showed off her made hooping skills.  I'm planning my birthday shindig for Saturday.  Eating too much of that darn cake above and making promises to get outside and move my jiggly butt more.  I've been gardening and redesigning the garden and loving every minute of it.

And now, it's time to say goodbye to my thirties.  Tomorrow I wake up 40 and fabulous!

No pushing

I've learned a lot from my years as a parent... mostly I've learned from the many mistakes I've made over the years.  Here are two important things I've learned that I wish I knew way back when:

(1) kids will figure out how to do things on their own time
(2) don't apply (1) to every situation

Which further feeds into something else I've learned: you'll be faced with a lot of different situations.  Even if you're dealing with the same kid, the same rules may not apply.  For example, I totally pushed Emily into toilet training before she was ready.  MAJOR mistake and thus ensued months of pain and torture and poop.  That did not often land in the toilet.

Next example, I did push Emily to learn to tie her shoes during the summer between SK and Grade 1.  I knew she could do it if she just practised.  I was right and she was tying like a pro before the first day of Grade 1.  Goodbye velcro loser shoes.

Next example, riding a two-wheeler.  Emily is a scaredy-cat cautious kid to put it mildly.  She can't watch movies.  Period.  Because there might be something scary.  Or emotional.  She has trouble with change.  She doesn't like loud noises or crowds.  She's generally just sensitive.  So when faced with getting rid of her training wheels, she loved the idea but was scared of even trying.  I knew that if pushed, this could be really bad.  But I also knew that it really didn't matter when she got off her training wheels.  I don't care when she rides a two-wheeler.  However, she'd become embarrassed by her training wheels and was refusing to ride a bike at all last summer.  So a little research by me discovered that a bike too small can yield great results by acting like a push bike and feel stable because the child doesn't pedal until she has the balance figured out.  So Emily tried it a couple of days ago on a neighbour's bike.  She realized that she might actually be able to do this.  So, when Anna pulled her bike out again today, Emily got on and WITH NO INVOLVEMENT OR PUSHING (literally) BY ME AT ALL (in fact, I was on the phone while all this happened), this was the result:

Score one for this lazy yet seasoned parent! (Oh, and score one for Emily too.)

Up and At 'Em

I'm not a natural morning person.  If it were up to me I'd be in bed until about 8:00 and later on weekends.  But, being a mother of three forces you out of bed with the roosters.  Especially when one of your children is a very early riser.  

Henry got up this morning at 5:15.  On the plus side, he only got up once last night, at 11:30, and it was clear I hadn't dressed him well enough so a quick change and then he slept until the ungodly hour of 5:15.  Up and at 'em, boys!

But it sure gives me a leisurely morning.  I get a shower before the craziness starts, I get lunches made, I get breakfast ready and I can even have some tea or my own breakfast.  On some mornings, the dishwasher is even unloaded.  (Not today.)

Or blog!  (I can't guarantee that I'll be coherent though.)

So, that's one in the plus column for this morning.

Another tick mark is that one of our Brownies, who is the age to move up to Guides for next year, is planning on doing so.  That makes me very happy.  I didn't know if she would but she's "super keen" I'm told and that is a huge testament to the Brownie program we've run this year.  I'm really pleased for her and what this will hopefully mean for her for the coming years.

And another tick mark (Brownie-related again) is that it looks like I've found another Guider to join us next year taking the pressure off if one of us is sick, and taking some of the work off our hands.  Huge tick mark!

As I said to John, everything is coming up Karen!

What's going well for you today?

He's a screamer

This little guy, while super cute, lots of fun and laughs, is killing me:

He's up too many times a night for his age but the problem is that he screams bloody murder VERY LOUDLY if left to cry, thus waking up both John and Emily who are both light sleepers.  Therefore, I'm in his room giving him a hug and putting him back down before I get to go back to sleep.  Yes, he still screams when I leave but it's a short burst and then done.  But I still have to get up and he still continues to do it nightly since his RSV rather than figuring out that he's not getting what he wants (BOOB).

I'm a bleary-eyed bag-eyed iron lady today.  I'm sure teaching Children's Hour at church is going to be AWESOME.  Thankfully we're doing The Prodigal Son with a theme of forgiveness which I plan to instill as any iron-lady would and force the children to forgive my lack of effort in the lesson planning. 

March Break 2012: Friday

Wow, March Break flew by quickly!  Too quickly, in my opinion.  The girls and I both have wished out loud that there was another week off.  That must mean that they've had a great time at home.  In other words: mission accomplished... and with very little stress or distress for me!

Yesterday was a day full of adventures.  We left the house by 9:30 to get to the giant Asian grocery chain near us, T&T Supermarket in order to get a few things for the pad thai I was making for dinner last night.  Unfortunately, T&T has a pathetic assortment of South Asian supplies, focussing more on Chinese and Korean products.  I had to get tamarind or the pad thai wasn't going to happen so I made the decision that we'd have to head to Chinatown at some point yesterday.

But first, it was time to make our way to the Museum of Science and Technology for the Franklin reading by author Paulette Bourgeois.  Pulling into the museum parking lot, it looked as though every other family in Ottawa had the same idea.  Turns out that most of them were there to see the usual exhibits and we were near the front of the line for Franklin and only had to wait about five minutes before they opened the doors to the auditorium.  We had second row seats, a perfect view of the stage.  We were all excited!

Hard to tell but I did brush her hair before leaving the house!

Old enough for his own seat now.

All ready for the big show.

Paulette's reading chair.  Reminds me of The Friendly Giant.  As you can tell, we were up close and personal.

And out came Paulette who does a great presentation about how she came up with the idea of Franklin, with an excellent slideshow to go along with it. And, unlike some authors who read their own work, she is GREAT at reading to an audience, doing different voices and adding little tidbits of information to the story. 

Smartly, they projected the pages of the book on a big screen.

Paulette laughing with big, creepy Franklin.  A girl behind us was in tears.

After her reading was done, she invited everyone to get in line for her to sign books (we brought a few with us) and to have photos taken with the giant Franklin guy (some guy in a Franklin suit).  The line was huge so we went into our favourite exhibit: the light tunnels, which have a better name than that but I can't remember it.  After a snack break, we headed back toward the line.  Still too long!  We decided to forgo getting the books signed and head to Chinatown for our ingredients (and maybe a fun lunch).

I parked right near the newish (okay, not that new... but new in the last five years or so) Chinatown gate which I love and reminds me of the gate in Edmonton.  Kowloon Market, our destination was very close as was the dim sum restaurant and an all-you-can-eat sushi place.  Everything was at our fingertips it seemed. 

Posing with the lions who welcome you to Chinatown.

The big newish gate.

Chinatown is a great mix of old standbys, like the place pictured above, and newer restaurants (none of which, thankfully, are chichi). 

Lots of this in the windows.

We went to Kowloon first.  I used to shop there semi-regularly when we lived on Preston St.  It was close and was the best Asian market in Ottawa, in my opinion.  But them we moved south and T&T opened closeby and I never go to Kowloon anymore.  I think that may change.  First, T&T is always so crowded and I find it so hard to find anything because there is so much product.  While Chinatown parking isn't always easy, the drive to get there is about the same and I can find everything I need, including lots of tamarind!  In different forms!  Even different brands of the same product.  Hooray!  And, for added entertainment, the live fish, clams etc are all at kid's eye level.  Everyone was happy! 

We left Kowloon with our purchases and looked at the menu at the sushi joint and decided to try it.  I'm so glad we did.  The food was great, ordering easy and delivery fast, the kids all found something they loved (even Hope who decided that she loves plain old cucumber rolls while Henry ate his weight in edamame).  Emily and I snarfed lots of different kinds of sushi.  Ye's Sushi in Waterloo is still my favourite all-you-can-eat sushi but this is at least an Ottawa replacement.

Henry trying out his chopsticks.

Hope found spearing the sushi was the best way to do it.

The afternoon consisted of cleaning and preparing dinner.  We had some good friends and their kids over last night.  Fun had by all.  And the pad thai was spectacular!
It really was a great March Break.  We did a lot but didn't break the bank and the kids were really happy to stay at home this year.  Hope was not interested in reliving the barfing-in-the-car-travelling-to-Papa's experience this year.  And neither was I.

I think you can call it a successful break if everyone is left wishing for more.

March Break 2012: Thursday

Yesterday was largely another at-home day. I spent the morning doing some cleaning and allowed the kiddies to lounge in front of the t.v. for a while.  After I put the kibosh on that, it was craft time and play time.  I continued to clean while the kids played.  In fact, I did a major spring clean project: I took everything out of the front hall closet (I should have taken before and after photos), mopped the floor inside the closet, cleaned the baseboards, sorted through things and reorganized.  It felt so good to have that done.

Soon after that, John came home and I packed up our swimming stuff and put Henry to bed.  Turns out that he wouldn't nap at all and John had to eventually retrieve him and bring him to the basement to watch a little b-ball.

Meanwhile, the girls and I headed to Splash Wave Pool for some super-duper wave action fun.... along with every other family in Ottawa, apparently.  I have never been to that pool when it was so busy.  Even over Christmas holidays it wasn't as busy as it was yesterday.  It was total insanity.  Which meant the wave pool was a mixture of squeals of delight as we were lifted up high by the waves and annoyance as people rode on top of us with their foam surf thingies. 

Our system was to rotate from wave pool to water slide (super fun!) to warm pool and back to wave pool again.  My personal favourite was the water slide.  I could have done that over and over again but I could only convince Emily to do it once so we had to take that out of our rotation.  Boo.

The girls had a great time and felt going to Splash was the big outing of the week, making up for the decision to not go to Cosmic Adventures (a huge indoor playground).  I'm so glad I opted for this instead as it saved a bundle of money - Cosmic would have cost about $60 not including snacks while Splash cost $14 plus about $8 more for a stop at Starbucks after for some warm drinks.  Value for money!  And who can really put a price on being swum over again and again?

I have no photos of our adventure yesterday.  My camera is not waterproof and change-room photos are just creepy.  So, today's post is a photo-less update but tomorrow!  Stay tuned for photos of Paulette and Franklin!  Today's the day!

March Break 2012: Wednesday

There is always a day in a week like this where things don't fall into place as you planned.  Wednesday was that day.  It was still a good day and we had lots of fun but it didn't turn out as we expected.

Our plan was to go to the Science and Technology Museum to hear Paulette Bourgeois read from one of her very famous books, specifically Franklin's School Trip.  Apparently there would be a person dressed up in a Franklin costume, too.  The girls picked out a few Franklin books to have the author sign.

Just before heading out the door, I went online to confirm the time the reading would take place: 10:30.  On Friday.  Oops! 

New plan: Little Ray's Reptile Zoo!  Not far away and I had a Groupon. 

I went online again to retrieve my Groupon only to find that it isn't valid during March Break (of course, should have known).  Oops again! 

Discussion: what should we do today?  Not surprisingly Emily voted to stay home for the day but I insisted we leave the house (for my own sanity).  We settled on something simple: go to The Glebe and check out the chocolate shop, Truffles and Treasures, that I went to the other night with friends and on the way there or back we'd finally drop off all the stuff that's been crowding the car at Salvation Army.

We parked the car and started walking down Bank Street towards the chocolate shop when we found a new-to-me bike shop that seemed to focus a lot on kids and family bikes.  We popped in to look at their helmet selection and left with a very cool new helmet for Hope.  The shop was called Joe Mamma and I will definitely be going there again.  The staff was really friendly, knowledgeable AND there was adog in there that kept Henry so distracted that he didn't knock any bikes over.  Miracle!  I'm thinking we may get Henry a scoot bike for his birthday and I'll definitely be getting it there.

Henry took an immediate shine to Hope's helmet and wore it like a uniform for the rest of our time in The Glebe.

This is Henry's usual pose for having a photo taken.  Don't know why but it's darn cute.

All read to try some chocolate.

We finally arrived at Truffles and Treasures.  The kids were mesmerized by the chocolate-making video that was playing.  I was taken (yet again) with the colours, smells and displays. 

Not only does the place smell sensational but it's a feast for the eyes as well.

These are the chocolate pieces they use to make hot chocolate... my neighbour comes here just to buy them to make hot chocolate at home.  It's that good.

I bought the chocolate-dipped marshmallows last time I was in and the girls claimed they were homemade marshmallows and the best thing ever.

Next time, I'll be trying this...

....or maybe this... if I have a team to eat it with me.

The colours of the Turkish Delight were gorgeous and reminded me of Spring.

We ordered hot chocolate from their amazing list of hot chocolate offerings, deciding to split them between us (the cups are huge).  Hazelnut for Hope and Henry and peppermint for Emily and me.  Emily also chose out some chocolate-covered gummie bears to share (ew).  And I bought a Nutkin to share also.

Look at those choices!  So hard to decide.

I did try one.  My verdict was "weird."

The truffle case... I could spend a lot of time taste-testing.

By the time we were done, Emily and I had stomach aches from the sweet richness but we were fueled!  They honestly have the best hot chocolate in town... a bit rich, but a decadent treat.  I highly recommend the peanut butter hot chocolate I had last time.  Although the pepermint was great also.  I also recommend sharing.

This map by the cash shows all the place people have sent or eaten their chocolate.  Wow!

After that little adventure, we headed home with a quick stop at Salvation Army for our drop-off. 

Soon after we got home, it was time to walk across the street for the girls' haircuts.  A woman on my street has a mini-salon in her basement and does great work (and very reasonably priced).  Henry was again entertained by a dog and the girls are neat and tidy for a while now.

During Henry's nap, I sat down with the girls to work on some of Emily's Brownie badges and had Hope do them too, just for fun.  We made time capsules and book posters.  Two more badges completed!

Hope's time capsule.  Seems fitting to use a Girl Guide Cookie box.

The contents of Emily's time capsule.  She had a hard time choosing what to put in there.

After that, it was outside play time.  The girls scooted, I started supper and then brought Henry out after he woke up.  I showed him his new-to-him bike helmet (I know, I know, you're not supposed to transfer helmets from one kid to another.  Moving on....) and he went bananas for it... as you'll soon see.  He was also MILDLY taken with his first ride on the tricycle, throwing a minor fit when I told him I had to go in to cook supper.  Today there will most definitely be more tricycle time.

And for the rest of the day, Henry insisted on wearing his helmet.

While he watched shows on the iPad.  While he ate supper.

Wednesday nights are John's night class.  So, given that it's March Break, I declared it a movie-and-supper-in-the-basement-night.  We watched Barbie Princess Charm School (sounds horrible, I know... but not nearly as bad as I thought... I liked the attempt to focus on character over looks, although there was still a lot of hair, dresses and shoes going on) on my computer as I couldn't figure out how to burn it to DVD, which I've done MANY TIMES so don't think I'm a total computer loser... I just couldn't get it to work last night.  I think my Mac doesn't like the discs we have.   Anywho....

The sweetest moment came when Henry got in trouble for trying to yank Hope's cookie out of her hand and after crying on my lap for a few moments, ran right over to Emily (who wasn't involved in the altercation as victim or disciplinarian) for comfort.  It was so cute.

And that was our Wednesday.  It's funny how things turn out.  I was slightly concerned in the morning that it would turn out to be an "I'm bored!" kind of day... but it didn't at all. 

Today we'll be home during the morning and then I have a surprise planned for the afternoon.  John's coming home early to stay with Henry while I take the girls to the Splash Wave Pool. 

Hopefully it will actually happen!