Maybe its a guy thing,

I don't remember Amelia's hands ever getting in the way whan I changed her diapers...

they woke up before 5:30 this morning...

 

siblings

 

Lights up the room

We finally caught that smile on camera. Burke likes being right in the bath better than the little tub. It makes him harder to wash, but if we get laughs like this then it's worth it! 

children can be handy to have around

Mia, Burke and I were at the library the other day, and I went to the bathroom. There I was, Burke strapped to me, Mia waiting to flush the toilet after me and I found out there was no toilet paper. What to do, there was no-one else in the bathroom, then I realized that Amelia could probably help. Why not try, there was nothing to lose, so I opened the stall and she went to the next stall after only a little prompting and came back with one square of TP. And I only had to ask her once to go and get me some more. Problem solved, yay for the set of helpful, if distractable, set of extra hands!

"Int you"

Mia's been saying thank you complely unprompted and unexpectedly when I get something for her. It's not something I've trained her to say to me, we do get her to say it to other people. She's not too obvious about it either, it's just the way anyone would say it, as a matter of course. Now I'll do almost anything to hear that little off-hand "Int you, mommie."

Pink! and Green!

I had a little shower for a dear friend who is expecting her second baby anytime in the next few weeks. I made these little bags and painted blocks with each guests initials. I felt very Martha to have this all done. I am very excited for her baby, and really can hardly wait.

I was thinking last night as I watched my two sleeping babies. I had worried while I was pregnant with Burke how my heart could stretch to hold him too. I knew it would and that i was being silly, but there it was. Of courseeverything was alright as soon as I held him. But last night it occured to me that while I have less one-on-one time with him, the time that I do have with him is not (as it was with Mia) coloured with the novelty and adjustments of being a mom too. I'm not going through an identity change at the same time this time. It also helps that he is such a calm, accepting little guy... 

Mia: "Trust me," Burke: "Help me."

reading

Mia asked if she could read to Burke. 

Birdie-monkey hats

Thank you Amanda!


These hats and the basket, along with lots of stickers

afbfb dbbbbbb snsss zzzzzzz s b zzzzzzzzz xsas (Amelia's bit while I went to look after Burke)

and an alpaca activity book arrived in the mail today. It's hard to see in this picture, but the hat looks like this.(scroll down a little) Her two little pony tails will fit perfectly...

This is Burke with the sling that I just made for him. It is not a hard piece of sewing. it it just a lenth of fabric 6 metres long, and about 1/2 metre wide. I love this fabric, it is a twill. I bought 3 metres of it, cut it in 1/2 lengthwise and sewed them together and voila. The fabric is courtesy of their great-grandmother- thank you!. And when we are done with it as a sling I'll be able to peice it to use as the back to his quilt that I will hopefully have started...

Also, this is Burke after I fed him, and I have to say, I love watching as he starts to wake up when he's hungry and starts searching around for the nipple. The little hmph, hmph noises and trying to get anything, his hand or blanket, into his mouth.

And a note on the pic of Mia with the book on her face. Of necessity, I have started letting her read on her own at naptime. I thought she would get up, but she doesn't, so now this is our new naptime routine and she falls asleep by herself after about 30-45 of quiet time. And at night, she is still awake when I leave the room and she stays in bed. So nice, I really got frustrated with waiting until those little eyes closed, but she wasn't ready until now for me to leave her awake. We had tried the cry-it-out once or twice, but she outlasted us.

naptime

 

8 weeks

He's getting so big 

And people tell us she's cute...

 

Carabeth is coping

I've been doing a fair bit of contemplating lately about my life as a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM). I am so grateful for the opportunity, but I've realized that I haven't been taking my self seriously. That is, that when I would think of the role SAHM, my mind would picture the idealized version that we see in the media (movies & cleaning product ads) and I projected that image onto other mothers and assumed that I was the only mother who didn't clean my bathroom every other day, for example. I felt vaguely guilty when people complimented me for being able to do certain thing, because they said I must be so busy with two children now. Guilty because I don't feel busy. I realize the reason that I don't feel busy is because I'm not spending my days working.

I'm starting to see now that part of being a SAHM is the time spent playing with my children, walking with them or just hanging out talking, reading, whatever. That is being a parent as much as having a clean house or a nice dinner. This is what I've been doing, I just have started giving myself credit. I didn't understand how I could be tired at the end of the day. I know from experience in customer service that just being available to people all day, answering questions in a pleasant and thoughtful way is draining and really parenting is the same sort of work. And the only way to see the result of that work that I do every day is not whether the laundry is folded, it is to see how the children are growing and learning. (hard to put into words without resorting to cliches). 

she's finishing my sentences

While making diiner tonight, Amelia was on her stool, doing her dishes as usual. I left the kitchen for a few minutes and when I came back, she had her little fingers in the flour and cornmeal
I had started for the cornbread and was eating it. "Oh," I exclaimed, "you..." "cheeky monkey" she said. Yeah, that fits.

mia and burke

 

no pics

Our computer isn't speaking to our camera right now, so the cute picture of Burke lying on Amelia's belly will have to hold...

Four weeks in, and all is well. for the past week or ten days, Burke has been cluster feeding and fussy from somewhere between 4:30-6:00 until 8:00 or 9:00. really not too bad considering Amelia's fussy time was from10pm-2am. the only problem is that Amelia doesn't go down on her own, I need to lie with her until thos eyelids fall. This all means that I get through my days fine, but then the evenings do me in, and by 9:30 I am exhausted, especially if Lance has had to work late.

Some little things about Burke; he's got tufts of hair on his ears, its very cute and Hobbit-ish and I've got to get a picture before it falls out (for blackmailing purposes 15 years from now!), he gets grumpy and does this growly, complaining noise if one tries to move him or even put a blanket on him while he's asleep. Now, of course, I can't remember the other things I was going to write about. Next time.

And Amelia is so sweet with him. she loves to help with diapers and clothes. And when her bedtime is going smoothly, it involves me nursing Burke, and Amelia lying with her head on my shoulder, stroking Burke's head.

Ooops, naptime's over now, bye!

Family picture

Here we all are, in our backyard. Burke is now three weeks old! I will write more soon, but it's almost bedtime and Burke is getting ready to wake up for the next meal... 

oh, the cuteness!!