Cousin playdate

With all the sickness that's been going around Kieran and his cousin Vanessa hadn't seen each other in 5 weeks but we're slowly making up for lost time. We had a visit to their house on Sunday to celebrate Catherine's birthday and then Vanessa came over here today while her mommy had her shoulder tended to.

Despite the 19 month age gap, they really seem to enjoy each other's company and play pretty well side by side if not together. Vanessa's a little more possessive of some of her toys but when she first got here this morning, I could perceive that Kieran wasn't too sure about her playing with his things. He seemed a little bewildered that she was taking over his turf!








It was a beautiful sunny morning so we then bundled ourselves up for a walk to the park. Vanessa helped push Kieran in his stroller and pushed the crosswalk button. I thought Kieran might settle down for a snooze but there was too much excitement with all the kids from the daycare running around. He sat in the stroller for a little bit while Vanessa roamed around and swung and slid then we got him out so he could take part in some of the fun. He's not walking yet so it's hard to let him loose in the park. We sat him in a swing and we also went "bouncy, bouncy" on the teeter-totter.











Then it was time to come home for lunch. Vanessa has been potty training and we had a successful trip all the way upstairs (with a pit stop first to play with the ball popper game) to the bathroom. I didn't have any chocolate to reward her with but she didn't even ask for any.

We had egg salad sandwiches and cucumber and Kieran had strained carrots along with his egg and bread. Vanessa took great pleasure in helping feed Kieran his lunch. She also took great pleasure in eating his raspberries. She first started giving him pieces then she took half for herself then the pieces started getting smaller and then the whole raspberry was for her alone! Luckily Kieran was pretty much done by then! And luckily he is a very patient boy!

Catherine had arrived by this time and unfortunately doesn't yet feel the benefits of her massage. Let's hope this "pain in the neck" doesn't linger for too much longer...

The kids played for a little while more and then it was time for Vanessa to go home for a nap. It took a little coaxing and a few tears were shed but they got out the door without too much of a fight.

Kieran looked pretty wiped out himself so I brought him upstairs and rocked him and held on tight while he squirmed and struggled and he eventually actually fell asleep! Even with being able to hear Holden crying away next door. (We live in a row house and Kieran's bedroom wall adjoins the 15 month old next door's bedroom.)

I heard a few peeps out of K a little while ago but he's been sleeping for an hour and 40 minutes, yesssssss!!!

Yesterday he napped for over three hours but that was after swimming, nursing and being bundled up in the stroller.
This afternoon nap is a breakthrough!

Happy Birthday Kieran!

We celebrated Kieran's first birthday twice on Thanksgiving weekend with turkey dinners and cake and cupcakes.

AAAchooo!

Kieran and I both have colds. His nose started to run (quick, go catch it!) on Sunday and I woke up every hour between Sunday night and Monday morning with my nose running or a sneezing fit. On the plus side, Kieran slept until 8:35 yesterday and 9:35 this morning and napped throughout the day. But he's had a fever too which has made the poor kid unlike his usual self. He's had no appetite and has been quiet and clingy especially this afternoon when he would start crying if I tried to put him down. So I enjoyed cuddling my baby and singing to him and taking it easy myself. Though I could have done without him throwing up both last night and tonight just before bedtime, especially since Daddy wasn't home to help clean up.

Being sick meant skipping swimming class this morning so hopefully we'll be better and be able to make it on Thursday. K & I have been going to aqua-poussette classes again but this time we're going to the pool down in Little Burgundy. It's about a 25 minute walk from home but the class is at 9 am so we're a little rushed in the mornings we go. I know, you people are scoffing at the fact that we have a hard time making it for 9 but Kieran usually wakes up around 7:45 and we have to leave the house by 8:15. Which wouldn't be a problem if he didn't need to nurse and eat breakfast! Even on mornings when he wakes up earlier or I have woken him up, he can take an hour to eat a meal so there is no getting out of the house quickly. And waiting until after class to give him breakfast worked a few times but not always.

This class is a good workout for me but this is no interaction with our babies like the other course we took. But I always take Kieran out of the floater and spend the last 10 or 15 minutes with him in my arms in the water and let him do his thing. He enjoys sitting on the edge of the pool and letting himself fall into the water. It's fun to see the difference in what he does since he was last in the water back in June.

Yup, 4 months make quite a difference. He wasn't even sitting up very well on his own back then. Now he's crawling a mile a minute, standing and walking with help, balancing for a few seconds on his own. He's not really saying any words but he babbles convincingly as if he's really speaking just in some foreign language. He sort of understands "no" and gets upset when you turn him away from where he shouldn't be.

I am still nursing him 3 to 4 times a day which was fine until this weekend when he started biting. His first 3 teeth have only come out in last month or so and now he's using them! I guess I was kind of tired when he decided to take a chunk out of me and I started crying pretty hard and said something along the lines of "OWWWW, THAT REALLY HURTS" and with lots more uncontrollable bawling. Well, poor Kieran. At first he was laughing but then when he realized I was crying, he started to cry too! We were literally a sad couple. I'm just glad Tim wasn't here to witness my patheticalness! Maybe if he had been here, I would have controlled my emotions a bit better!

Today

Yes it's been a while since my last post and lots has happened but I'm not going to try and play catch up today. I'll just ramble on about how uneventful the day was...
I've been having what I thought were allergies the last couple of evenings. Sinus pain, sneezing, itchy eyes. But then last night I woke up a few times with sneezing fits. So I gave in and got up to take some Advil. Except I didn't want to blind myself in the middle of the night by turning a light on. So this morning I realized I had taken Benadryl instead of Advil. No wonder I didn't feel any relief. So I woke up feeling so-so, well enough to decide I would go for a run. Then I got out of bed and stood upright. Sinus pain, ow. Not to mention the tightness in my calves from my aquaform class yesterday. So, yeah, great start to the day. I spent the morning blowing my nose and wishing I could go back to bed all the while feeding and entertaining my napless baby. Honestly, all I wanted to do was lie down and all I can recall doing is feeding Kieran and reading the newspaper. Oh, and eating. I've been so hungry all day. Feed a cold?
The Advil kicked in pretty well and I was feeling better by late afternoon. Still tired but I got a little reprieve on the couch around 4 o'clock. Yeah, cos Kieran napped in his high chair half-way through lunch. So of course instead of napping myself at that time, I checked my emails and probably tried to satiate my appetite. Anyhow, I decided we had to get out of the house and enjoy some of what was left of this nice day so after nursing K for like the 5th time today, we headed over to the Greene Centre for a community corn roast. Kieran might not have any teeth but he sure enjoyed me plucking kernels off a cob and finger feeding him. Kinda messy but it did the trick. From there we went for a little walk over to the park behind the high school and Kieran went for a swing. Then it was back home for more food. We're so done with baby mush. This means more planning when it comes to meal time but I'll try and make stews and slow-cooker recipes that will be easy for Kieran to eat. He so needs to sprout some teeth. He's just got a top one that started protruding about 3 weeks ago. Anyhow, he stills manages to eat chunks of meat without choking on them so I guess it's ok.
Tim was out this evening, curling for the first time this season so I got Kieran ready for bed and he was out cold by 9 o'clock. I'm not looking forward to weaning this kid. It's just so easy to get him to fall asleep by nursing him. Unfortunately that's not always the case when it comes to daytime naps. He usually falls asleep in my arms then wakes up as soon as I try to move him to the playpen. That's probably why he falls asleep so easily at night, he's just plain exhausted! At least he hasn't started having complete breakdowns during the day when he's tired. He does get a little whiny sometimes but I'm not sure what my strategy should be for naps. Right now, if he naps, all the better and if he doesn't, well no big deal. I know if I really wanted him to go down, I could bring him upstairs to his crib and pull the shade and he'd fall asleep, eventually. But our daily routine isn't always the same so I figure why tie myself down with trying to do things a set way and have him completely melt down if we go beyond the predictable. That and I just don't like the idea of having him upstairs and having to have the baby monitor on to hear him. I'll just go with the flow. So far that's pretty much what's worked for us. We're just lucky to have such a good baby. Which I realize he's becoming less and less of ( a baby , that is) as the days go by. Sniff, sniff!

If you want it to be your first and only anniversary...

I was looking for gift ideas for our first wedding anniversary and I think I'll stick to the traditional paper instead of the modern plastic gifts...here's some suggestions that will surely get you in deep doo-doo if you were to get them for your spouse!

Tupperwear (can't even spring for TupperWARE, hun?)

Household items (Rubbermaid garbage can anyone?)

Sunglasses (prescription, UVA or UVB protection?)

Sports gifts (lawn darts maybe?)

Yoga mat (is there any other way to say I love you?!)

Luggage accessories (what, like a name tag holder?)

Adult gifts (I'm not even going to touch that one...)

Although here's a few suggestions the same site gives for traditional paper gifts:

Cigars

Book of floor plans (if building a house soon)

Life insurance

Yeah, sure.

Blueberries are yummy...

But they make a heck of a mess!

You know there's a nursing shortage when...

The other night I dreamt I was in the hospital for some reason I can't remember but I also had an eye infection. One of my old co-workers was taking care of me and she stuck some kind of IV in my eye that looked like a battery tester. But all was good because she had learnt how to use that kind of machine back home in Romania.
I was then sent out to the waiting room while the antibiotics were to take effect.
When I came back 10 minutes later, Ryan Seacrest was there and removed the IV for me with much fanfare.

Bizarre.

Kennedy out.