HAPPY anniversary

A year ago this past Monday, my sister had her liver transplant. A hard year of adjustment for her but like the tropper she is, she does it with a smile on her face always looking for that silver lining.  Her ordeal makes me realize that there are "extra pregnancy weight and sleepless nights" problems and then there are REAL problems.  Makes my whole rants on my blog so trivial (not that it's going to stop me though :)  ).

Anyway, I just wanted to mention her today because she deserves the recognition for being the best sport I have ever met and a hero I'm sure to many. xxx

Dish full of sinks

"Now we've got a show" Marcus says to me this morning at some god awful hour as both kids are screaming, a dirty kitchen with a "dish full of sinks" (as marcus says, clearly half awake) and to top if all off
Lui barfs all over the floor.  All we could do was look at each other and laugh.  Still laughing now.
Between "dish full of sinks" and luis barf I wish we had video sometimes to document this stuff.

I've got a random thought on the side as well.  Why is it that the slightest creek of a floor board will wake both my kids yet they will each sleep through each others glass shattering screams. hmmmmm

Marcus and I figured out this weekend after my blog about what a cry baby Hayden is, is that he's going through a growth spurt and he needs to eat and sleep more than usual.  We tested this theory yesterday and I have never seen that kid in a better mood. Nothing, I mean nothing got to him. hmmmmmm

In the words of Janis Joplin

"Come on and cry, cry baby cry baby, cry baby"

That's myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Hayden! I think I'm officially loosing my mind. I documented how many times my child cries in a day.  Keep in mind I see Hayden for 2-3hrs in the morning (if he decides to get up at 5:00) and sadly only 1.5 in the evening.

Anyway, here is how today went.

5:15 -5:30: Wake up cry baby cry
5:17: Marcus puts Hayden down cry baby cry
5:25: Hayden wants his cup cry baby cry
5:35: Lui tries to take Haydens food (or shall I say walks into the room) cry baby cry
5:50: Change his bum cry baby cry

a spell of silence

8:00am: Putting on his shoes cry baby cry
8:02am: Putting on his coat cry baby cry

a day of silence (in my house at least)

5:35: Change his bum cry baby cry
6:05: Wants down from chair cry baby cry
6:40: In the tub cry baby cry
6:55: Diaper on cry baby cry
7:15: Book time over door shuts: cry baby cry.

All that noise, whining and crying and one "mama" with a smile when he sees me trumps it all.

go figure.

breast milk, fatigue, bunny cup and the heart of life

Long stories cut short and away we go....
1) Hayden gets a strange eye "situation" going on (oozy eye) so I squirt breast milk into it -that's right (bc it seem to cure everything else) and over night its' better. I just want to run around now and heal the world! Scraped knee? - breast milk, sore throar? - breast milk, peeling wall paper? breast milk.

2) So I'm sitting in between my two babies tonight feeding hayden sweet potatoes on one side and rubbing Alex's sore tummy on the other side. Things are going smooth until I realize I tried to serve Alex the sweet potatoes. If it wasn't for the look on his face like I served him poop on a spoon I would have continued. I would like to thank the sleepless night, the night before for that one.

3) As I type this I'm sipping a lovely and full bodied wine on this chilling eveing...out of a bunny cup because it was the first glass I could find after a long day.

"The heart of life" is my new favorite song. I sing it to Alex as I rock him through his little tummy aches.
Makes me smile "love turns the whole thing around, knowing it would all go the way it should, I know the heart of life is good"

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD day

#($*%($%()#$(@(#$*(#%$*(%$*(^(%)(#$)%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that feels better.

multitasking

Solutions and Thanksgiving!

There are solutions to every problem. For example...
I have a new way to deal with Haydens whine....WINE.  Wine for Whine.

Also, I have figured out a way to deal with his 9:00am "I'm bored and will rip the house apart
if we don't do something soon". - 9:00am get togethers with friends that have babies. We're all up at
6:00am and go to bed at 10:00pm so why not? So coffee and chaos is our new Sat morn routine.

This past weekend was Thanksgiving... lots of food, walks, and fresh air. The pics say everything.
I'm still waiting on pics from Franks and Claires but here are some from mom and dads.

Mirror Mirror on the wall

I just looked in the mirror for the first time in a month.  What used to be the "whites" of my eyes are now the "pinks" of my eyes from lack of sleep.

This kid does not want to sleep. On average we are up every hour and if I'm lucky he'll give me two hrs at a time. 

He's also REALLY gassy and pukes and fusses way more than Hayden.  Or have I forgotten already? I can't remember! My posts back then were way more polite than they are now.

I also noticed that during child birth this kid actually gave me a grey hair in my eye brow. He aged me in five hours!

Somewhere under my pj's, pinks of my eyes and grey eye brow hair (not to mention new wrinkles), nursing bras and thrown up on shoulders Joanna is under there.

Somewhere....

I have to say though, with no time on my hands I seem to be getting more done around the house than ever before.  I have also seemed to master the art of multi tasking. I can watch cartoons, breast feed, pat Haydens head and keep him from falling off of the couch with one leg all at the same time.  The old Joanna could not do that.  The old Joanna had no clue.

Despite the pinks of my eyes, I feel stronger than ever before.

Bring it on!

(next week I'll be putting my foot in my mouth, watch).

Does this disturb anyone else?

So I'm sitting in the Dr.s office the other day for my weekly check up. I get to chatting with the nurse who tells me about her son in med school. Digging deeper into the conversation I learn that he's studding overseas and of course this tweaks my curiosity as to why he decided to study outside of Canada. Her response? "The admission standards are not as strict". Long drawn out pause and hopefully a convincing poker face. Should the standards for admission not be equal across the board? Does this sit funny with anyone else? How do we know if our Dr. was the A+ graduate or the C- guy? I don't want the C- guy messing around with my charts. I need to find out where my Dr. went to school STAT!
(3.5 weeks from giving birth and just a liiiiiiittle nervous, can ya tell?)

Professional Decision Maker

I've decided that I want to hire a professional decision maker. I'm tired of making any decisions for me, Hayden, our family, etc and wondering if I made the right choice. I think I would like to put the responsibility of wondering and researching on someone elses shoulders. How nice would that be? You would never ho and hum between vitamin brands, job opportunities, what to wear in the morning, what to eat etc etc etc.
Love it! I wonder if I can find one on craigslist.

Little Old Ladies

I just have to say that I love little old ladies. More importantly... Little Old ladies with accents. It doesn't matter what kind of accent, but an accent none the less. Reason being? They are the only people that a) can predict just by looking at me that I'm having a boy and b) are actually thrilled when they find out how close in age the two boys will be. "Oh how wonderful sweetheart" was the line I received this morning. "I see you are having another boy" As I carried Hayden into day care I was stopped on the street by these two little ladies walking arm in arm, probably just going for a morning stroll.
There is a wisdom about these little old ladies (with accents) and why wouldn't there be? Years of experience hidden behind those eyes.

A few simple and kind comments from a stranger can do wonders! Maybe I'll take the day off of work and track those two ladies down. I'm sure they have a thing or two they could teach me and god knows I'm willing to learn!

Random Deep thought

OK,
I have come to the conclusion that our soul purpose of parenting (besides food, shelter and love) is to stop our children from making a series of stupid decisions in life which could lead to them hurting themselves in the end.

For example:
Putting your finger in a light socket... stupid decision
Eating dog poop... stupid decision
Setting your hair on fire... stupid decision
Marrying a hooker... stupid decision.

I guess it becomes tricky as the babies grow and options become more complicated. My question being... how long is it acceptable for me to assume I know what's best?

Until I die? That's what I thought!

These words sum it up!

To both of my babies...

May the good lord be with you
Down every road you roam
And may sunshine and happiness
Surround you when youre far from home

And may you grow to be proud
Dignified and true
And do unto others
As youd have done to you
Be courageous and be brave
And in my heart youll always stay
Forever young.

May good fortune be with you

May your guiding light be strong
Build a stairway to heaven
With a prince or a vagabond

And may you never love in vain
And in my heart you will remain
Forever young.

And when you finally fly away
Ill be hoping that I served you well
For all the wisdom of a lifetime
No one can ever tell

But whatever road you choose
Im right behind you, win or lose
Forever young.

Li'l piece of history...

Today Hayden and I watched the inauguration of Barack Obama.  

A little piece of history I was proud to witness and happy Hayden was around for it!

I realize he did not understand a thing, but one day he will look back and read this and know

that he was around for the inauguration of the first black president.  Baby steps, but the world

has come so far....

Firsts...

This week Hayden experienced a few "Firsts"

He started eating solids for a first time, used his exisaucer and he saw his first snow fall.

This got me thinking about all of the firsts hes going to experience and how lucky we are that "firsts" never really stop for us no matter how old we get. Hayden was our first child, a first cousin, grandson and nephew. Marcus and I are going to Quebec City for our anniversary in Dec for the first time and every new year is the first we have seen of it. I remember the first time I walked, the first time I saw Katharine and the first time I thought I heard Santa on our roof. Life can be exciting no matter what age we are if we re-appreciate our firsts like we did when we were children. Deep thoughts by Joanna at 8:00am!

Random Thoughts...

Is it wrong that I am now against the mom group? After all I said about understanding why mom's needing to get out, I no longer want to get out.  Reason being, Hayden generally naps during the group and I don't have the heart to wake him.  I've received multiple suggestions to just wake him anyway but it's just not me.  Happy baby means happy mommy. Unhappy baby, means unhappy mommy.  Pretty simple logic to get, not sure why I'm getting so much slack?

I think I may be more of a loner than I thought.  I enjoy socializing, don't get me wrong but not to the point where it's going to make my son miserable.  So once again, my mind has changed about something else..... and we continue to learn.

I forget what it's like to sleep through the night.  I literally have no idea what it's like to lie down, sleep and wake up for the day... strange concept. Things are progressing at a rapidly fast pace though!  Nap time is like night and day.  He pretty much can put himself to sleep now, which is great!  We are still doing one night feeding with a few random night stirs here and there.  He wakes for the day at 5:30 still which is just not sitting well.  Come on kid... give me 6:00...6:00! 

All of my boys are sleeping right now here on  a rainy Saturday afternoon. Maybe I should join them!

This is how I feel sometimes

Irony at it's best

This week has been the week of ironic events.  Irony makes me laugh, no matter what the situation.  For example.....

The other night (god love Hayden) I really needed to just get away, take a breath, take a break and de-stress from a somewhat stressful day.  So when Marcus suggested we order take out I was more than happy to be the one to go and pick the food up!  Now....seeing my day was a crazy one I didn't have time to change out of my pjs from the moment I woke up. Soooo being over tired I really didn't mind going out in my pjs to pick up our sushi. Yes I went out in my pjs, but really what is the worst that could happen. I would run in and out and nobody would even notice! Well I ran in and out and no, nobody noticed.  All went well until i tried to start the car and it was dead! So there I am on Queen street during rush hr holding my sushi in front of my dead car in my pjs. Nice plan...nothing stressful about that!  One tow truck boost later and I was home...laughing at the irony.

This last weekend I decided to experiment and only give Hayden formula for 48 hrs.  Reason being...he is up every hr during the night with gas. On top of the whole thing he eats every hr so basically there is no sleep for either of us these days.  Anyway, as I was saying I fed him formula only and learned within hrs that it's mommy's breast milk which is giving him such bad gas! So now at three months breast feeding has come to an end.  How ironic that what is apparently the best thing for my baby is what is hurting him the most.  With that said we are now both happier waking half the amount as we were three days ago.   Now...if I could just get this kid full.....

Just sitting here thinking

So it's a Thursday afternoon in May. Alexandra has just had her second baby and I'm sitting here feeling fat and sorry for myself and jealous that she has moved on to the next phase. My feet are swelling, I can't bend over and I just generally feel like a cow. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere like I needed to be reminded I get this little foot stuck up in my ribs. This tiny little foot with tiny little toes just moving away to remind me that right now it's just about me and him. I think I need to stop for a min and realize that this is my own special time alone with him and I should enjoy it!
So hurray to swollen ankles, a big behind and a great big belly. This is MY time with my own special little secret (well ok, not so much a secret) but my own special moments with this special little guy. I know I'll look back and miss this time so here's to the here and now. The next phase will come soon enough......

Thought of the day

7 months and ready to pop. I'm ready! Let's speed things up...just saying.

P.S the Dr. tells me he is "bigger than average" FANNNNNNTASTIC.