My Friend Liam (and a Few Others Too)

Here are a few more shots taken by Ashley over the course of our weekend together...

Empty House Syndrome

The house is quiet now. Super quiet in fact. We had a house full with Dawn, Rob, Ashley, Trevour and Liam visiting all at once. It was a tight squeeze and the house was upside down and filthy thanks to the dog hair and paw prints but, it was a blast. I am now suffering from "Empty House Syndrome" and slowly adapting to my old lonely stay-at-home-mom lifestyle. I wonder if Rowan notices the difference now that we are down to 3 again? He hasn't put his hands over his ears since everyone left which I think is quite funny. I can't believe he is sensitive to noise given the fact that he is constantly surrounded by loud, energetic people (like his dad and aunts), but he is. He was especially sensitive to Ashley's singing and Dawn's booming enthusiasm this weekend. But, despite his sore ears, he seemed to truly love the guests and they of course, enjoyed him too. Rowan made us very proud by being his usual calm and content self amidst the chaos that we 3 women have a tendency to create when we are together. I have to say that this weekend was definitely a lot more civil than what it use to be like though-- I guess age and kids have tired us out because Dawn and Rob were snoring on the couch by 8:30 every night and the rest of us weren't far behind them. Long gone are the moshpit, drinking game, waking-to-Ani-morning and naked men-running-down-the-street days...

Here we are all enjoying Winterlude and our first together-visit in over 10 years (minus poor Trev who got stuck taking the picture).

Wall of Pictures

This is one of my favourites and will be making an appearance on the Wall-of-Pictures where it will stay.

Jenn Time

Rowan absolutely loved Auntie Jenn. I am not surprised because I love her too. She is one of my oldest and dearest friends and although I was really sad to see her get on the bus to go back to Toronto (and then Halifax), I know that we will see her again soon. We are praying that she finds a job in Ontario (maybe even Ottawa) so that we can spend a lot more time together in the years to come.

Here they are together. Two of my most favourite people in the world:

Rowan Learns Vowels

The little one has had a bit of "sleep regression" these past couple of weeks which I think we have under control now (how you ask? It's called not running to his every call and call he did 3 or 4 times per night). I read recently that babies will often have difficulties sleeping because of developmental and physical changes. Apparently, there is a big change around week 19 which just so happens to coincide with Rowan's return to newborn sleeping habits. I think it is absolutely fascinating that they practice their new skills at night while they are supposed to be sleeping even if getting up several more times per night was slightly inconvenient. I would find Rowan sleeping with his head where I am sure his feet were when he went to bed. He now also gets his feet out between the rungs of the crib. I am sure this is where he learned to roll so well. I am also certain that it is in his crib that the connections between his neurons were made to allow him to start spitting vowels today. His little voice is the sweetest sound I have ever heard. Listen...

A Month of Friends

Our Month of Friends began when Auntie Nicole, Uncle Darren and Carys arrived on January 22nd. We were all looking forward to their visit and even though the daddies had to leave us early on Sunday, Nicole and I had a wonderful time just hanging out in the house for the week with the kids. We didn't really do that much but here is what went down:

• we had a wicked stuffed pork dinner with extremely large flights of good red wine (we were being deliberately pretentious and it was fun). Hanan and Dave joined us and I am not quite sure how the babies slept through the hysterical laughing that went on. We finished the night off with the homemade coconut ice cream mentioned in one of my last blogs. It was a big hit.
• we had Sara over for dinner on Saturday night. I laboured over Asian cuisine and, well--let's just say I won't do that again. It is much easier and more enjoyable to make something like the pork when you are having guests. Things that require perfect timing are very difficult to juggle when you want to socialize with friends. I didn't burn anything even though the smoke alarm would beg to differ (it went off many many times while the babies were in bed. And yep--they slept through it).
• we went to swimming lessons which really only last 5 minutes because the water was freezing cold and Rowan was very unhappy. So was daddy.
• we tackled Coras with 4 adults and 2 babies and 2 strollers. It must have been entertaining to watch us trying to squeeze in to the booth and then leave making sure we had all of the soothers, the clothing etc. Going out has never been so much fun!
• we drank a LOT of coffee.
• we did a LOT of dishes.
• we fed a LOT of food to the babies but forgot about ourselves almost every day.
• we sang "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom" so many times that it is permanently etched in my brain.
• we laughed so hard that no noise came out.
  
• we cried a bit too. Motherhood has made blubbering mushies out of Nicole and I.
• we had a visit from a ghost.
  
• we went to Chapters where poor Carys almost boiled to death.
• we made homemade pizza and devoured the entire thing. Partly because it was delicious. Partly because we were starving.
• we talked to Jenn P sitting in Toronto and to John in Bath over Skype which inspired Nicole to go out and get her very own webcam. We plan to have coffee together sometimes. We'll probably sing "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom" the entire time.
• we had a day of barf.
• we sat in amazement of the kiddies and talked about everything baby just like all new moms do.
  
• I taught Nicole to cast on and to read a pattern (sort-of). When she asked what she will do when she gets to the next part of the bunny hat and she is stuck I responded: "We'll Skype!". Ha! I bet those crafty people who invented Skype didn't intend it to be used for knitting instruction.
  
• I finished a toque for the "cause". That's a scarf and a hat done and added to the pile-that-will-be.
• we played with so many baby toys and somehow invented new ways of doing so every day. Who knew playing could be so much work!
• we made gross looking baby food. We learned that Rowan adores mango (yes, I know--he isn't supposed to have it until after 6 months or so) and Carys loves this disgusting concoction of pasta, sweet potato and cottage cheese. Thank god I am not a baby anymore.
• we watched as Carys went from pulling her self up and standing for a few seconds on her own to walking around the ottoman. Okay, we actually missed the walking part the first time she did it because we were busily typing away on our laptops. When we looked up she was at the opposite end of the ottoman! She also went from fairely quiet and content to a little angel with a mind of her own when she was here. It was fascinating to watch her take the toys away from Rowan and to get upset when Nicole had him on her lap. She knows exactly what she wants and she demands it. Stimulation did wonders for the babies. It made me feel a little better about the idea of daycare oddly enough. I think Nicole felt the same way.
  

Wow, now that I think about it, we had a pretty full week. Rowan and I were sad to see our friends go but we know we will be seeing them again soon. Next up-- Auntie Jenn arrives on Monday! And then Dawn, Ashley, Trevour and Liam arrive on Thursday for a few days. What fun!! We'll see what kind of trouble we can create with them at Winterlude. God, I can't wait to be able to feed Rowan a beaver tail and see the jam all over his face. I bet Liam LOVES them...stay tuned.

Here are a few photos of Rowan and Carys "enjoying" each other. Sadly we didn't get a photo of all of us together.

The Day of Barfing and Poop Explosions

It's 3:40 pm and so far today we have cleaned up at least 8 piles of puke out of Jenny, Bailey, Carys and Rowan. Rowan has also had 2 very big poops full of fruit. Needless to say, it has been a very messy day. Luckily, the puke is not because of illness. Instead, it is entirely food related. We caught Jenny who was freely eating out of her dog food bin last night. She had a disdended tummy that couldn't take it anymore. Bailey barfed because he ate Jenny's puke (or so we think). And well, the kids just can't seem to go a day without throwing up a large portion of undigested milk or food. I'd say they too are overeating. I didn't know life could be so messy!