About a boy...

Ian is such a bundle of joy. So much joy! I had no idea before I became his mother that my heart could even hold this much joy. Everyday I find some reason to delight in him. That's not to say he doesn't ever inspire frustration, come on now, he's TWO, let's be realistic. But for the most part I find him quite delightful.

I love how he prays. Every night when we tuck him in he asks "Jesus?". He lets us do the talking but he closes his eyes and gives a resounding AMEM at the end. And before meals when we say grace I confess to peeking at him a lot, because he's just so cute the way he folds his hands, bows his head and keeps his eyes closed the whole time and never peeks himself. I might just have to take a picture of it some time. Would that be sacreligous?

I love how he comes up with new words and phrases that we don't mean to teach him, but he just picks up. He's become quite good at detecting my emotions and if I show any distress, say from stubbing my toe, he'll ask, quite concerned, "OK Mommy? OK?" and offer a "Big hug? Kiss?". It's a fairly accurate immitation of what I do when he gets hurt.
Another recent new phrase is "Mmmm. Taste gooood." The inflection and spacing of his words just about kills me. It's so hard not to giggle at everything he says.

The other day he was jumping over Jayden who was playing on the floor. Something we've been trying hard to discourage. And he tripped on the baby and landed on his face flat on the hard wood floor. Jayden started to cry, and Ian was obviously hurting and crying too. I immediately launch into an "I told you so" type lecture about not jumping over Jay-Jay. As I'm talking sternly and practically shaking my finger at him, his cries intensify and suddenly a drop of blood forms on his lip and threatens to fall to the floor. Out goes the lecturer and in rushes a very sympathetic and caring mommy who scoops up the poor, hurt little boy and tends so carefully to his cut lip that puffs up noticeably right before my eyes. ((sigh)) Sometimes life is hard.

I really like this picture. I took it myself and it took about 4 tries to get the right angle and for both of us to be smiling. I won't be showing any of the others.

Ian really LOVES to "play soccer". Here he and Rob are at the school ground behind our house. According to Ian's rules, his opponent (Rob) must be "away away" at the opposite end of the field standing in goal. Then Ian starting at the other goal starts dribbling the ball down the field until he shoots and "SCOSE!", with much applause and praise. Then the ball is turned over to his opponent who must wait until Ian is back in position at his goal before advancing with the ball to score in his turn. And so it went back and forth. I got some of it on video from our balcony.

Ian attended his cousins 6th birthday party at a gymnastics place. The kids were supposed to decorate their goody bags. Here Ian is decorating for about 30 seconds before heading back to play. He even turned down the cake in favour of jumping around on the trampoline.





So much joy.

About a baby...

So it's been ages since I've posted and believe me I have lots to post about. I'll just give you the high-lights. The main reason I haven't been on blogger, in fact not even reading others blogs much either, is Jayden. The last few weeks we have seen a different side of our baby. And it's not been so pleasant. There has been lots of fussing and crying, a LOT of nursing, mainly to stop the fussing and crying, and quite a bit of sporadic sleeping schedules. Before the May long weekend he was such a great sleeper, went down easily, slept 6-8 hours before needing another feed, sometimes would even just take his soother and sleep another few hours. Then he mutated. First he stopped taking his soother, and I mean absolutely refusing it. He would scream in rage at the notion that I would want him to suck on that instead of on me. Because really, all he wants to suck on is ME. We've been attempting to get him to take a bottle every now and then. It's not going so well, in fact it's not going at all. Early on, I followed the bookly advice to introduce a bottle between 4 and 6 weeks of age so he would learn to accept it. He did ok. But since then he's had maybe 2 or 3 bottles, each one harder than before. I guess I should have been more consistent, but formula is expensive, and a can of it would expire before we'd use it all, and I don't have the time, energy, or such prolific supply to express milk for bottles, and it was just so easy to breastfeed exclusively. With Ian it was so easy to get 4 oz every morning that's how over-flowing with milk I was. This time I think my body just is more regulated, Jayden's a little bit better at nursing well at each session than Ian was. Needless to say it's been rough. And I really want him to last an evening without me. At the end of July I have a 10 year high-school reunion and a wedding that would be much easier if Jayden could be away from me and still get nourished. ((sigh))

And then TWO teeth popped out on the same day (June 2), and I thought "Great! Now we can get back to normal and he'll take his soother again, and he'll eventually get used to the occassional bottle and his sleep will get so much better." HA! Things just got worse. Even though he's on oatmeal, he INCREASED his nursing. Anywhere from 6-8 nursings a day now. Sometimes he'll want to eat an hour and a half after a feeding. It is now normal to have him wake up an hour or two after going down to eat some more, and he rarely goes more than 4 hours at night. And just getting him to sleep became torturous, for everyone. It's always worked to just put him down after a feed, while he's still awake but drowsy and then just leave. Why doesn't that work anymore? I've toyed with the idea of letting him cry it out. I just can't do it. He just increases in volume and hysteria. He cried for an hour and a half the other night before finally drifting off attached to me, because of course I caved and let him nurse to sleep. He's been doing so much nursing that it's beginning to feel sore, reminiscent of that first week all over again. I'm hoping that this is just a phase, a growth spurt, a bizaare side effect of growing teeth.

On a positive note he's rolling all over the place. He's become compulsive about it. I think perhaps some of his sleep issues are due to the fact that he can't help but roll over onto his tummy as soon as he's laid down, but he doesn't really like that, and because he gets a little wrapped up in his blankets he can't get back over and then gets cranky about it.
And he's almost sitting totally on his own. He lasts upright for a few minutes before flopping over, and then straight to his tummy, and then the complaining begins anew....

We introduced carrots for the first time. It was a disaster. First there was face making, then shuddering, then gagging, then choking, then NOT breathing, and then I was holding him upside down and finally there was puking of carrots all over and lots of crying. So we stopped the carrots.

We've started bathing the boys together now that Jayden's more sturdy in the seated position. Sure makes getting them both clean more efficient. It's fun too!


Jayden sure is happy when he's with Mommy ALL the time.


And then we tried peas. Wasn't too much different from the carrot episode. It's like he forgets how to eat when faced with something distasteful. Doesn't spit it out, but also doesn't swallow it, so it sits in his mouth gettng more spitty until it trickles down his throat triggering the gagging and choking. We ended the session before there was any puking.

And the cherry on top is that it's been difficult to coordinate the kids naps with Jayden being so fussy and nursing all the time. Consequently, I've been missing a lot of my daily naps. With our nights not going so well I've been feeling more tired than usual, hence the lack of blogging time. Any free time I get I spend vegging.

The last couple of days have seen an improvement. Here's praying this trend continues...

One exciting thing though. We're having Jayden dedicated to the Lord this Sunday at church. I like to think of it more as us as parents dedicating ourselves to praying for Jayden and asking for God's help to raise him in a loving home, knowing that we love, and rely on, Christ for our lives. Then we're having a bunch of family over for lunch. It should be fun.

Would you like to know a little more about me?

I saw this on Karen's friend Angella's blog and since I can't think of anything else to blog about, here's my answers. If you have a blog and feel like answering them, go ahead, if not, that's ok too.

1. What curse word do you use the most? ~Damn. It's the only one I use besides shoot and occassionally crap, and I know it's bad and it only happens during the MOST frustrating moments, and I'm really working on stopping it before Ian starts paying close attention.
2. Do you own an iPod? ~No
3. Who on your MySpace "Top 8" do you talk to the most? ~I don't know about MySpace
4. What time is your alarm clock set for? ~I don't set the alarm unless I have someplace to be before 10am. The kids usually wake me up around 8.
5. What colour is your room? ~Sort of a neutral, off white cream-like color. I'd love to make it more dramatic like an orangey-gold.
6. Flip-flops or sneakers? ~Hmm, tough one. Flip-flops in summer, sneakers in winter.
7. Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture? ~Take the picture, in it only if I'm with other people.
8. What's the last movie you watched? ~Failure to Launch at the drive-in. I've probably seen the occassion movie on TV since then, but never all the way through so I can't remember anything specific.
9. Do any of your friends have children? ~ Yes. More and more all the time.
10. Has anyone ever called you lazy? ~Oh yes! Almost everyone in my family and a few of my friends. It's true.
11. Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep faster? ~No. The occassional alcoholic beverage works just fine. (Not while pregnant, and rarily while breastfeeding though)
12. What CD is currently in your CD player? ~ ABBA. Ian and I were dancing in the living-room today.
13. Do you prefer regular or chocolate milk? ~Both!
14. Has anyone told you a secret this week? ~No
15. Have you ever given someone a hickey? ~No. Gross.
16. Who was the last person to call you? ~Rob, today from work, just to say hi.
17. Do you think people talk about you behind your back? ~Probably, about my laziness? ;)
18. Did you watch cartoons as a child? ~Once we got a TV, of course! Looney Tunes!
19. How many siblings do you have? ~2. One sister Heather, one brother Blaine.
20. Are you shy around the opposite sex? ~Not anymore.
21. What movie do you know every line to? ~Princess Bride and Mary Poppins. LOVE them!
22. Do you own any band t-shirts? ~ No, I'm not that cool.
23. What is your favourite salad dressing? ~Jamaica Mistake
24. Do you read for fun? ~ Oh yeah, every chance I get!
25. Do you cry a lot? ~Hormones get me every time. Movies, books, A Baby Story, arguments...
26. Who was the last person to text message you? ~Don't have text-messaging.
27. Do you have a desktop computer or a laptop? ~Desktop. Would like a laptop though.
28.Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos? ~NO! Have you heard about my fear of needles?!?!!!
29. What is the weather like? ~Cloudy and showery and SOOO humid.
30. Would you ever date someone covered in tattoos? ~I don't think I'm allowed to date anyone except Rob, and he only has one tatoo.
31. Is sex before marriage wrong? ~The Bible says so. From personal experience, sex within marriage ROCKS, and I wouldn't want it any other way. (Is that TMI?)
32. When was the last time you slept on the floor? ~A few years ago, when we were living in Alberta and came home for Christmas and slept on my parents livingroom floor.
33. How many hours of sleep do you need to function? ~At least 6, prefer 8 or more.
34. Are you in love or lust? ~Love!
35. Are your days full and fast-paced? ~Well they're pretty full, but not too fast-paced. I move slow.
36. Do you pay attention to calories on the back of packages? ~No, life's too short, but I like to read the ingredient list.
37. How old will you be turning on your next birthday? ~29
38. Are you picky about spelling and grammar? ~Yes, and it bothers me when I see a typo in my blog, but I'm too lazy to go back and edit after it's posted unless it's a really bad one.
39. Have you ever been to Six Flags? ~Yes, Magic Mountain in California with Rob. I LOVE roller-coasters.
40. Do you get along better with the same or opposite sex? ~Both I think
41. Do you like cottage cheese? ~Yes, but Rob doesn't so I don't eat it much.
42. Do you sleep on your side, tummy, or back? ~Usually side unless I'm having trouble falling asleep, then I go to my back. I can't breath when I'm on my tummy and it hurts my neck.
43. Have you ever bid for something on eBay? ~No, I'm not that computer savvy.
44. Do you enjoy giving hugs? ~Yes! I love hugs, but I'm kind of shy about giving them to people I'm not sure will like them, so I REALLY like it when they initiate the hug (and I'm always a bit worried I might have BO).
45 What is your favourite TV show? ~Pick one?...Star Trek varieties, CSI, Amazing Race, Survivor, MASH, cartoons...
47. Which celebrity, dead or alive, would you want to have lunch with? ~I'm really looking forward to meeting some great composers, Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, if they're in heaven when I get there.
48. Last time you had butterflies in your stomach? ~Sometimes, when Rob's been at work all day I still get those excited butterflies when I know he'll be home soon.
49. What one thing do you wish you had? ~More time to enjoy my kids babyhood, it's disappearing way too fast.
50. Favourite lyrics? ~I don't know, I've always been partial to Simon and Garfunkel songs. Maybe Song for the Asking.