Fun with Auntie Em

We've had a fun-filled few days with the Higginson clan as both Lee and Emily celebrated birthdays this week. We had a great dinner last night, and then more fun today.

Here are a few pics of Evy abusing her auntie Emily and playing with cousin Sam (who is only 4 months older, yet looks 4 YEARS older!)

Cousin Sam teaching Evy to crawl

showing Em (aka auntie yumyum) the hand

sitting pretty with cousin Sam

two pretty girls

mister Samsam

We've also been busy getting ready for our trip to Florida. Rob is already there - he flew down yesterday for a conference for work and Evy and I are joining him on Tuesday. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly we need to bring to survive 12 days with a very active 9-month old.

Rob actually has two conferences for work, so he won't be around every day, but Evy and I figured it'd be much nicer to be alone in Florida than it would be to be alone in Millbrook! We're staying near Orlando for the first night, then in Cocoa Beach for 3 nights, then we're driving across to the Gulf Coast and are in Clearwater Beach for 7 nights, and finally back to Orlando for our final night before flying back on Easter Sunday. Phew!

Fingers crossed that Miss Evy continues to sleep as well as she has been. We're sharing a hotel room with her for some of the nights, and I'm really hoping that it doesn't cause her to regress back to the 'waking 13x a night phase'. Because that wouldn't be much of a holiday at all. And we might give her away to manatees. And that would be sad.

more tubby time

Here are yet more bathtime pics, this time from last night. She is just so funny in the bath - makes me wonder what she'll think about the ocean when we get to Florida next week! A very big, chilly and salty bathtub! (Still WAY better than the over-chlorinated Millbrook water!)

Here's the funny little miss last night:

little crazy girl, splashing in the tub

miss funny face

p.s.

Forgot to mention in my 'Perfect Sunday' post that Saturday was pretty good too... hit the first garage sale of '09 and got 4 sterling silver spoons for $1. Got home and found them in the Birks website for $149 each. Yeah! Bring on the bargain hunting!

A perfect Sunday

Gotta love a day like today. The sun is out. The sky is unbelievably blue, and life is good here in Millbrook. (Ok, well, I've still got my cold, but other than that, life is gooooooode.)

Here's the recipe for a perfect Sunday:

Begin with french toast with this year's crop of maple syrup

Add some sparkly sunshine

Throw in a husband outside doing chores

Finish with a happy baby who's been sleeping well

See? Bliss! Hope everyone else had a good Sunday too!

Summer's comin'

Another nice day here today - it gives me hope that winter is actually over. Nevermind the forecast that it's gonna get REALLY chilly again for a few days - surely that can't last.

We've been busy thinking ahead to spring - and summer - and have been planning our holidays. In the middle of June, Evy and I are going to New Brunswick to visit Granny and Poppa's new house there. We're overlapping with Lee and the boys' visit, and can't wait to explore the beach with them!

We're also planning when we'll be at the cottage - we can't wait to get up there and remind miss Evy about it. We hope to be there for her 1st birthday, where we'll take a new picture to replace this one, when she was 7 days old:



I imagine that she'll be a bit bigger this July, especially because she's been quite the little muncher lately. Cheerios and yogurt seem to be her favourite foods. Plus, the ever popular chicken & sweet potato blend (gag).

Here she is, enjoying some yogurt. (Yeah, she REALLY likes to feed herself.. it makes it slightly more messy than necessary).

Big girl bathtime

Miss big girl (aka the wonder baby who only woke up ONCE last night!!!!) had her first big girl bath yesterday evening. (She's had a few baths in the big tub, but always with mom. This was her first solo mission!)

lookin' pretty tiny in a big bath!

little lady and her toys

And a movie: (Excuse my voice... I sound like a heavy-breathing weirdo, mainly due to my cold, which still isn't any better....bleh!)

We're off to enjoy the day - is too nice out to be stuck inside writing a blog!! Happy Sunday everyone.

Home again

We had a great trip to Toronto. We spent time with Emer and Brad and Bernadette (and of course Lulu). Evy got to play with Auntie Ellen and Jen too, and had a Indian Buffet lunch with Elle and Anne! So much fun! (Note to Ellen and Anne - did you two stink like tandoori for the rest of the day? Evy and I both smelled like curried pepperoni - gross - talk about a vegetarian's nightmare!)

Was great to be back in the big city, and to do some shopping. And miss Evy seemed to enjoy herself. She made dozens of friends since everwhere we went people stopped to talk to her.

At the Riverdale Perk with mum and Emer:

Bonus points for those of you who

noticed the expression on the face of

the woman behind Evy.

Unfortunately, I managed to be in Toronto for two days, and didn't actually get a picture of Bernadette! Doh! I blame it on having yet another cold. The sneezing has obviously affected my brain.

Got back to Millbrook last night, and have been trying to recover from said cold. I don't know how I can be on my 2nd cold in two weeks... it just doesn't seem fair. Though I suspect it's something to do with my immune system being as hale and hearty as a wet paper bag, all caused of course, by lack of sleep.

BUT, there's even good news on the sleep front - Madam Evy only woke up THREE TIMES last night! Maybe she knew that if she woke me up more than that, I'd sneeze and cough on her. I am delighted, but can't pinpoint why she was so good last night - all we can do is hope it continues!!

Here's the madam this morning, lookin' cute in her green shirt:




Hope you're all having a great weekend! Weather is DREAMY! Might actually go outside and try to do something about the poor neglected garden to get it ready for Spring!!!

Off to the tee dot

Evy and I are heading to Toronto tomorrow for a visit with the chums. I hope the wee madam behaves herself or our poor hosts, Emer and Brad, will NEVER invite us to stay again. I've warned them that the tyrant wakes frequently, and I really hope her crying doesn't disturb the Benson/Kelly household. One idea might be to let Lulu the wonderpug sleep with Evy - then she wouldn't feel so lonely.

Doesn't Lulu look like a trustworthy babysitter?

We're back on Friday night, so will hope to update then with some pictures of the fun with the friends. I'm going to cram in as much as possible, and considering our pathetic restaurant selection here in Millbrook, I'm hoping to partake in some Greek (from the Danforth, of course) and some Indian... yum yum! And of course, a latte or five! This little country mouse and her squeaky country-mouse-baby are hitting the city for some culture!

In the meantime, here's the little mouse earlier today:

Trying on the shades, getting ready for our trip to

Florida at the end of the month.

(Thanks Meadow, we really love them!)

And little chipmunk devouring her rice biscuit.

Looks like styrofoam, but she loves them!

And, in case you're wondering what the sleep deprivation level is here, let me just say, it's more of the same. After another 13 wakings last night (10 when one of us had to go in to her). SURELY FOR THE LOVE OF GORD, it can't get any worse ...right? ....RIGHT?

You'll be the first to know when there's any improvement... Ta ta for now.

Eleven

The tiny tyrant was awake 11 times last night. Thank god for Rob who took over in the wee hours of the morning, as I was physically unable to get out of bed anymore.

Last night I read this article on the Sick Kids website:
http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/News/Infant-sleep-habits-are-learned-early.aspx?articleID=8037&categoryID=news-type

It made me feel better that she's apparently still young enough that her sleep habits aren't fully entrenched. And, I'm taking the advice and stopping bringing her to bed with me. (Many nights, by 4 or 5am, I'm so so so tired that I just cave in and bring her into bed until morning, but obviously she's now associating crying with getting to sleep with mum).

So, that's the (very basic) plan. I'll keep you posted.

And Tyler, don't let Jordie read this blog, or she won't want to have babies. I have read the 'Happiest Baby' book and already do the five suggestions, so thanks! For sure the swaddling helps her, and if I still need to swaddle her when she's 15 years old, then so be it.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

reality

Here are a few pics from Jimmy's birthday party on Saturday. A good time was had by all - and the cake that I made was a great success - thanks for the recipe peepee!

smiley sisters

scary sisters...

we were having a contest to see who could open their eyes widest.

Guess who won? Ole zombie eyes Emily.

Auntie Em, Evy and Auntie Mary

Unkie Ben and Evy

In other news, the sleepless nights continue around here. I've been keeping track so that I can let the pediatrican know how often she's up in the night. It's pretty depressing. You know how people say, "oh, my baby was up all night, but they actually mean, "oh, my baby woke up twice".

Well, for your information and to share the pain, here are the times Evy was up last night.

Bedtime: 6:55

Awake and frantic crying: 7:22, 8:42, 9:46, 10:36, 1:55, 5:01, 7:10

Time to get up: 8:20

Yep. Going into her room SEVEN times to console her and get her back to sleep. And people, believe me when I say that sometimes it's more than that. The other night she was up NINE times. And there were two stretches in there where she slept for over 3 hours - that too is an improvement. Luckily, she's cute, hilarious, and definitely worth it, otherwise she'd be cruising down Baxter Creek in a wicker basket.

Now, for my friends who are currently pregnant, or are planning babies in the future, I'd just like to say that Evy is NOT representative of most babies out there, so please don't freak out. And for my friends that do have babies who sleep through the night or only wake up once or twice, I have two words for you: zip it. I don't want to hear about it, lest I lose my mind.

What a looooong week

Happy Saturday! And, it seems like Spring is here! How deeeeelightful! (Yes, I know it's going to get colder again next week - just let me live in denial for now, please). Rob and I saw a bat (a freakin' BAT - it's MARCH!) flying around on Thursday evening, and then last night Rob saw a coyote in our ravine! I guess the animals are offically out of hibernation.

And, after going to vote on Thursday, we were very glad to hear that John Tory didn't win his seat in our riding. We don't need some fancy Toronto-pants around here! While I didn't agree with a lot of the news coverage that implied that this riding is filled with hillbillies and banjo music, there is a definite anti-Toronto sentiment here, and I'm pretty sure that's why we now have a Liberal MPP. (NDP would be better, but one step at a time!)

Poor Miss Evy is still dealing with the giant sore on her head. We've been to the doctor three times already and are going back on Monday. The topical antibiotics weren't doing the trick, so she's now on oral antibiotics, the poor madam. Hopefully this will help to heal it up, because sohelpmegawd, if I have to watch the doctor lance that thing one more time, I'm going to barf.

We're off to Alice & Jimmy's for lunch today - it was Poppa's birthday yesterday, so we're going to go and celebrate with the fam. Rob's staying home though because he's sick... he's had such a busy week and has been travelling so much lately, it's no wonder he's run down. Hopefully he'll have a nice quiet day here and will get rested up and feeling better.

Here are a few pics of the wee miss. Hopefully, soon I'll be able to post pics of her nicely healed forehead!!

"mommy, why do I need to have this washcloth on my head?"

Tiny turban lady

Lil' bandaid head

Lil 8-month old jumper

Madam Evy is 8 months old! (Ok, 8 months old and 4 days to be specific).

She's finally getting the hang of the jolly jumper... here she is having WAY too much fun bouncing the other day.

I put a few more videos up on YouTube as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qfLoMH_UZs

More Ottawa pics

Here are a few more pictures from our trip to Ottawa.

We had SUCH a good time, though we're feeling pretty bad that we seem to have spread germs across a mighty swath of Ontario. The cousins, Lee, Rob, and I are now all sick - most likely with the same cold that Evy had last week. Sigh. I guess neverending colds are part of having a kid.

Staring at Charley and his trains

Charley and Peepee reading a good book

Sam leaning in for some cousin-kissing

Miss Evy enjoying a basket of toys

For more hilarious pictures, including the three cousins in the bath together, check out Lee's blog.