Another Belated Post: Gwen and the Squirrel Monkeys

So waaaay back in February (holy crap it's April already???) we went out to Abbotsford to visit family and friends and show off the new baby.

Well, we took Gwen to the Zoo because she just can't get enough animals. She wasn't all that impressed with most of them, because, like these large cats here, they kinda just lay around. The lemurs, however, were pretty cool. They ran around their winter enclosure and were all crazy. And the owl was cool because well, owls are cool, but HOLY COW THE SQUIRREL MONKEYS WERE AWESOME!! Enjoy the video at the end :)

March Happenings

Spring seems to have arrived and this sunshine sure is nice! Just the other day we were at the park and we didn't even need our jackets! It was lovely, I can't wait for warmer weather when we can spend most of the day outside.

Eowyn is doing great. Or a lot better anyway. When we went to get her two month shots we realized she wasn't really gaining any weight. Apparently she sucks at breastfeeding (or doesn't suck as the case may be) which I kind of knew, but I didn't know it was starting to be such a problem. So I started pumping and giving her a bottle and she gained a whopping 10 oz or so in 5 days. Now she is really packing on the chub, and I feel like a jersey cow.

She still drinks from the breast at times, but then she gets lazy and I have to give her a bottle. But I really don't mind as much as I thought I would. I like the fact that James can feed her now too.

We also found out she was tongue-tied and that may be the cause of her poor latch and even poorer ability to suck, so we got it clipped as well. I know that just sounds like the most horrible thing in the world to do, but apparently they don't have many nerve endings in that little bit of skin that holds the end of the tongue to the mouth. As it turns out she was more upset about laying flat on a table with a bright light in her face then the actual snip. It was way more traumatizing for me. But it was quick with hardly any blood and it healed up within the day. It will still take her a little time to learn how to suck with her new tongue, but I think she is already doing better.

And she is sleeping longer hours now that my milk supply in back up and I can feed her with a bottle before she goes to bed. She is starting to get more 4 hour stretches, so yay for that!

Other then that she is doing great developmentally. She is smiling and cooing and doing all the things a three month old should be doing. We've even been able to get some little giggles out of her lately. She can be such a goof.

Gwen still loves being a big sister too. She wants Eowyn to able to play with her so bad. I can't wait till she is bigger and more interactive.

Gwen is doing more and talking more everyday. It's amazing to see all the new things she is learning so very quickly. I love just watching her figure stuff out on her own. It's really amazing.

She is turning into a bit of a fearless climber too. In not too long I'm sure I'll see her up a tree.

She started climbing the big kid ladders and monkey bars at the playground and now she can do most of them all by herself! (with my spotting her of course) I've seen kids two years older then her be afraid to climb them. And she much prefers the big kid slides as well, like the steep 'Yellow Tunnel' and twisty 'Pink Slide'. She just can't get enough.

She's now mastered climbing the steep hills and banks as well.

It's still been a little cold to go to the beach, but we did manege a little trip out to Cluxue a few weekend ago. Gwen, of course, had tons of fun throwing rocks in the tide pools. Her and daddy even found a dead crab that she thought was pretty cool and carried around for a while. Then we searched from little crabs under rocks and found some star fish. She found a little six lagged one and carried that around until it stuck to her hand. I love watching her discouver new and exciting things.

I can't wait until the warmer weather really kicks in so we can have more days like these.

Gwen's 2nd Birthday

Ok, this is super late, but I started it weeks ago, so I better just post it.

Yes, Gwen's birthday was on Jan 16th and it is now March 7th. James' Birthday! Happy Birthday Love!

But here are pics of my dear not so little girl :)

So Gwen turned 2 two days after Eowyn was born. She is growing up so fast!

I can't believe that two years ago she was just a little squirming cute thing. Now she is a bigger squirming cute thing that can run around and talk.

I'm so proud of myself. I made her a chocolate wafer cake the day after I had a baby. Go me :p

Opening her pretty greed kimono dress I bought her off etsy.

So cute! And it will last her a while because it's too bi

g

Not sure what to make of the candles

Opening her table and chairs from Ama and Gumpa Lindsay

She thinks its awesome :)

A Brief Baby Story

Ok, so Eowyn is actually one month old now, or was as I write this. Who knows, she is happy cuddling on my chest right now and the rest of the family is still in bed, but that may all change in a minute.

In other words, I have a heck of a lot catching up to do and little time to do it. So I will make this brief and to the point.

I had a baby girl on January 14th, 2011.

She was 8 lbs 11oz

She was a week late. Just like her dear sister.

So after a week of bouncing on the yoga ball, going for walks, jumping down the stairs, drinking heaps of raspberry leaf tea and then finally resorting to some "intimacy" this kid decided it was time to meet the world.

Labour was pretty good, only about 4 - 6 hours of really active labour. So yay! Also, I love the fact that we just walked across the street to the hospital.

My parents were over waiting for this baby to come, so after watching Project Runway through most of the labour, at 6pm James and I headed out the door. Gwen stayed at home with Ama and Papa.

Baby was out at 9:35pm.

The actual delivery was not so great. Had to push a bit more then with Gwen, and she came out with her shoulders squared. Yeah. Ow (understatement).

Oh, and I gave the nitrous oxide a go this time. Wee! I thought, I did the first labour all natural and shit, so why not.

Anyway, I couldn't be more happy that that is over. Makes me really wonder why women have more then one baby. Oh, right, we forget how much it hurts because now we have an adorable little squirmy critter to love on.

And speaking of more then one baby, we are done. Two is just the right number me thinks. Our family really feels complete now. I just love my girls :)

Even though I had originally wanted a home birth this time around (before we moved again) I was really pleased with my hospital experience. The nurses were really great, and the doctor on call was awesome. It probably helped he had nothing else to do really, as I was pretty much the only patient in the hospital at the time. And he sent us home the next morning :)

I don't know how coherent this post sounds, because i don't feel like going back and proofreading. So, moving on to pictures.

Gwen meeting her new sister for the first time. Mom brought her over the next morning and she had to show off her new "Boots! Pink!!" to all the nursing staff.

Baby is at home for the first time.

Ok, now posting before the morning gets crazy :p

Tummies and Tide Pools

Sorry, no Happy New Year blog here. I went to bed at 9:30. It's just a new calendar on the wall for me really (a lovely Sulamith Wulfing calendar from James ^_^)

But I would like to share things that aren't resolutions I didn't make. As most of you know by now, I'm sure, I'm pregnant with baby #2 who was due on January 7th, 2011 and is still not here! Last time I never got around to taking photos of myself all big and preggers, mainly due to procrastination, lack of planning, cold winter weather and the fact that most tummy photos I've seen just look so damn cheesy that I wasn't inspired at all.

However, considering this may very well likely be the last time I will be with child (yes, I am very happy with just two) I figured I'd better get my act together. So since the weather was lovely this last week, and baby could arrive at anytime, we opted to head to the beach and take some pictures. No, didn't really want indoor photos because they are never as nice, and no I wasn't going to be all covered up, because what would be the point to that? And yes, it was the end of December on a clear winter day at the beach with the temperature hovering around 1° celsius (for you fahrenheit weirdoes that is about 34°F).

Be warned, there is bare skin and partial boobs for those of you are have issues with that :p

Enjoy! The last one is my favourite.

A Quiet Island Christmas

Lets see, where to start....

Christmas and December have come and gone.

For the first time since we were married almost eight years ago, we opted to stay home for Christmas this year and not go anywhere. Due to myself being 8 1/2 months pregnant, and the fact that we always feel so rushed and overtired with all the hype of the holidays, we thought we'd try something new.

As much as we missed being with family and seeing friends, I'm really glad we stayed.

Mom and Lesha came up for a quick visit at the beginning of December, and James' dad and brother came up for the week leading up to Christmas, so we felt like we got to our time with family. But Christmas itself was spent just with our little family and it really felt good. The weather was crap, and the rained most of the time, but no rushing off to different houses, no schedule, no plan. Just a nice relaxing weekend.

We made a small ham dinner on Christmas Eve, and Gwen let us sleep in on Christmas morning to the point of us actually waking up before she did. I think I was more excited for her about Christmas morning then she was.

Anyway, I'll tell the rest with photos leading up to now.

Living where we do (North Vancouver Island

for those of you who are confused with our

seemingly endless moving) we got a Christmas

tree out of the bush.

Here's Gwen watching Daddy secure it to the car.

This is the first time we've actually put up a Chrstmas

tree too. So it was pretty exciting.

And here she is helping me gather

branches for our front door wreath.

Decorating the tree with her stuffed animals.

Cecil enjoying feeling like he's outside.

This being our first tree, I made (or bought cheaply) all the ornaments.

I couldn't figure out what to use for a topper for the longest time until I found my felted dragon laying around. I thought it was quite appropriate for our household :)

A very rare family picture taken at Telegraph Cove

We had a little gift opening when James' dad and brother were up. Gwen really enjoyed handing out the presents. So much so that she tried giving Grampa and Uncle Rob their presents to her back to them. Until she opened them of course :p

On Christmas Eve we let her open one present. We picked out the one from Old Mama and Papa (my grandparents).

It contained an adorable pair of pyjamas with "appies" all over them and one of my favourite books as a kid. Of course she wanted to put on the jammies right away and read the book, which we did before putting her to bed.

The perfect Christmas Eve present :)

Like I mentioned, we woke up before her on Christmas morning, which gave me plenty of time to make tea and throw some cookies in the oven. When she did wake up she wasn't quite sure what to make of everything.

She got over that pretty quick once she started opening gifts.

Here she is trying on her new shoes from Gramma Lindsay. She got two new pairs in the next sizes up and was very excited.

Opening her stuffed armadillo from Auntie Lesha.

Her and Daddy testing out her wooden xylophone from us.

Yes, James and I got presents too, but that's boring and of course we don't take photos of each other anymore, 'cause really, who cares about us? :p

On Boxing day we went for a lovely little walk up Marble Creek.

Gwen got some great practice walking on uneven ground and learnt a new word: "roots"

Well, there you have it. Our little, quiet, island Christmas. Stay tuned for news of baby and/or complaining that baby isn't out yet. After all, I am 39 weeks on Friday, and I really don't want this one to be a week late. Or late at all really. Just come on time, k baby? I'm sore. And you are taking up space, and making me waddle.