My eternal quest for a hobby: October 2006

Monday, October 30, 2006

I'm Slightly Bored

So I'm blogging - yes it is for people with nothing better to do. Today Ellis slept till 9 - only because we put our clocks back (it was really 10). He got up, we played a bit and then yes - it was exciting grocery shopping time. Off we went, Ellis got to shop in the bjorn - he had a great time staring at all the exciting products. His little arms and legs were pumping like crazy and he was chatting a fair bit. Then we came home, sat around a bit trying to kill time till storytime at the library. I couldn't take that very long so we decided to go downtown and run and errand and then go to storytime. I picked up some lightbulbs for Cyp's special lamp and then walked to the library. Ellis and I killed some time in the library looking at books (actually Ellis was sleeping in the sling) until it was time to go to Storytime. At 15 minutes to storytime, I went to the designated area and woke Ellis up. We had a prime spot as there was no one else there. Ellis was looking fairly adorable and was staring intently at the sling - he was actually staring and touching! A new skill - touching with the intent purpose of seeing what something feels like. At about 5 to 1, one women roamed into the storytime area with her stroller - I asked her is she was here for storytime, she said no - she was just wandering. Hmmm. Where was everybody? She went to ask and came back to tell me that there was no storytime for 2 weeks. Well, at least it got us out the house. I quickly walked to the bus stop so I could catch the bus on my old transfer and we went home. This was the first time Ellis was awake and not grumpy on the bus. He was fairly intrigued by the moving room. At one point, the bus stopped for a bit and the driver sat (as I guess he was ahead of schedule). I always find this extremely annoying and I guess Ellis takes after me another way because he started to scream his little head off. I think everyone should have thanked Ellis cause the driver started to drive as soon as Ellis started to scream. Ellis promptly stopped screaming when the bus started going again. Yay Ellis. We picked up some vap milk on the way home and I made pumpkin pie with the pumpkin that I cooked last night. In the middle we had a visit from the roots of empathy coordinator who came by to meet Ellis. Ellis is going to be the star of a grade 3 classroom for the next 9 months. Then I got dinner ready and I'm waiting for Cyp to get home - hurry up Cyp, I'm hungry and bored.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Ellis is Helping with this One

So it may be short as he wants to go play and doesn't want to sit in front of the computer. Yesterday we went to visit Elizabeth, Graham and Justin (actually, Ellis might be getting into this blog thing as black squiggles are appearing from no where, which is quite exciting). It's amazing how much a kid can change in 5 months - Justin was completely different and a very good dancer. Ok, now Ellis is dragging things off the table and chucking them on the ground - he is gifted! Ok, he's in the swing now. After Liz's house we came home - I was going to go for a run, but for some reason it didn't happen. I think it was cause I had to entertain Ellis while Cyp napped. Then we went for chinese food - dad asked about high speed internet - DSL or cable? Is it going to actually happen? Today we went for breakfast at a new place - pretty good, slightly more reasonable than where we have been going (our old greasy spoon got replaced by a shoe store). Then we hung out till 1 which is when we went to the botanical garden for a halloween scavenger hunt. I think Ellis was the smallest kid there, but I had fun. We collected stamps at different stops. It was another beautiful day, if slightly blustery. Cyp was grump again about not being able to complete any work tasks, but afterwards admitted that he'd had a good time. Hmm. Now he's getting lots done and I'm cooking a pumpkin so I can make pumpkin pie or maybe pumpkin pecan torte. Might be the torte as I have all the ingredients. Ooh - I see Ellis passed out in the swing! It was an exhausting day (I think I'm going to wear out the exersaucer pretty darn quick - I also discovered it's an excellent laxative.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Edie

Edie died last night at around 6 pm. She waited until mom and dad got home from Portugal before dying so they got to say goodbye. It's funny, up until the end I kept thinking - she'll be fine, she always bounces back. I believed her when she said that she would be around for Ellis's first birthday. I feel guilty of course for thinking that she was not all that sick - she kept saying though, I'm perfectly healthy, there's just something wrong with the old system. It turns out her willpower was amazing as she had renal failure, congestive heart failure and a massive, bowel, stomach infection which is probably what overcame that will to live. She did want to be carried out of her house in a pine box and she nearly was - in the end, she only had to spend about 24 hours in the hospital. She was one week shy of her 94th birthday. I think Ellis was rather upset - he seemed to take a liking to Edie - he didn't even seem scared in the emergency room when she had tubes sticking out all over her. Tracey, Ellis and I kept her company all day yesterday - she was sleeping, but I guess she could hear us as she did die just after mom and dad came to say goodbye. We had told her they were on their way. Ellis got rather upset when she died - it was probably the atmosphere in the room, but I wonder. I tend to think babies still have a link to that other world where we come from and where we go to. He wouldn't go to sleep last night till about midnight - probably because he'd been up till 2am the night before in the emergency room. This morning he kept sleeping and I eventually had to go wake him up at 10. He's been pretty cranky though and has mostly slept the day away. I hope he hasn't caught something from the hospital.

On another note, when he's awake, he loves to play in the exersaucer. It's amazing really - he can now use his hands to spin the toys on the tray and can almost drag himself around from toy to toy. It's is so cool to see his brain working to move his hands - he's turning into a real person.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Aunty Tracey Came to Town

Riding on a ferry. Tracey and Emilie came to town this morning. We got to granny's house just after Rona had gone off to take her break. Poor Rona did not get any sleep as granny had been calling her name all night. Poor girl. Very capable Tracey got granny up and into the washroom and then into the kitchen while I stood around trying to corale Emilie. Granny ate a bit of lunch and then she went back to bed while Tracey, Ellis, Emilie and I had a bit of a visit. Tracey decided that Edie could not be along even for the 3 hours that Rona had off for her break so phoned the manager of the Home Care Support place and asked if they could also provide someone for those three hours. She also phoned our aunt Susie to ask when mom and dad are coming home - Thursday - phew. Edie was not doing well and was hallucinating a bit - thought i was the tea lady and was ordering tea from bed, but would have coffee if we had it. I politely told her I would bring tea and then left the room. We left when Rona came back and I headed home and Tracey went to go shopping. I had another concert (which went well) but Ellis was not a happy camper again. Cyp had to take him for basically a two hour walk to keep him calm.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Granny Not Doing so Well

Got a call from Mary this morning - she was wondering if we could come look after granny while she got some of her own things done, so Cyp, Ellis and I headed off (with our laundry as we might as well multitask). Granny was in bed so we sent Mary off. I puttered around for a bit, Cyp took Ellis outside and then decided to go get Nando's for lunch, I managed to get granny out to the kitchen so we could eat and when we were done, Rona (new HCW) came over and so did nurse Eva. Eva changed Granny's dressings and was quite relieved that she now had 24 hour care. Eva also told me about a great baby carrier (so I don't have to break down and get a stroller), called a Mei Tei. We left granny in Rona's capable hands and came home where I whipped up some garlic bread so we could head off to Barb and Ross's for dinner. We had a great time (a much needed break for Cyp who got to let loose a little and talk with Ross). Sue and Bob were also there and it was great to see Esme running around - I can't believe how much she's changed, she was running here and there and seemed like a little girl as opposed to a baby. Sue and Bob also kindly lent us Esme's exersaucer - yay! Another toy to placate Ellis with. Ellis amazingly slept most of the night - how unusual, maybe he's turning over a new leaf, or maybe it was the before dinner glass of wine.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Punkin Patch

It's choir concert day so I had a rehearsal in the morning at 10. It's another gorgeous day and I would have liked to walk downtown over the bridge, but it didn't happen as I had to move the car so Anita could park and I was basically feeding Ellis up until it was time to go. Rehearsal was good and ended early, although I stayed to hear a bit of what the second half would sound like - Vaughn Williams - something about Talis. It was pretty - should think about going to get it. I was antsy though and got up before they started playing the Part. I got home and Ellis was sleeping - darn! Should have stayed to listen, but we had other plans, so that was ok. We headed out to the Pumpkin Patch and met up with Sue, Bob and Esme and their mommy friends. It was a zoo but a fun zoo, got to go on a wagon ride and pick out some pumpkins. Even got to nurse while sitting on a pumpkin. Must be nice to have food appear magically whenever you want it. Got a call from HCW - nurse had said that granny needs 24 hour watching, so I said yes please can you find someone to do it and got a call from HCW manager who was going to find someone. Anita brought over dinner and I went to concert, which went well, came home and Ellis was resting - Cyp walked Anita to her car, I fed Ellis a bit and then we went to bed. You can probably tell from the way this one is written that it was a fairly hectic day.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Birthday Party

We woke up this morning and decided we better go check on granny. So we got absolutely everything ready that we needed for the day and were off. I packed some lunch fixings for granny as she did not seem to have much at her house. We got there just as the nurse was leaving thank god as nurse was most reassuring. Yes, granny is not doing well, but nurse would send other nurses on the weekend to check up on granny. Granny seemed better to us. She had just finished breakfast so I told her that I had put some mixed up salmon in the fridge and had put bread out on the counter for a sandwich and then we sat and talked for a bit. Granny then decided she wanted lunch now (basically the point when Ellis was starting to get grumpy). So I managed to cobble together sandwich and tea while Ellis wiggled and squwacked. Then we were off after giving granny instructions about what to do in an emergency (please not to call HCW). It was Genevieve's first birthday (man time flies) and we had a great time - who wouldn't when there is chocolate cake involved. It was another beautiful sunny day and it was nice to have an afternoon party. We were next off to Ihli's house (gotta entertain little Ellis when dad is out of town). Went for sushi and rented V for Vendetta - not at all what I was expecting and we didn't get to see the end anyway.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Camera Broken

So I can't take pictures even if I wanted. It's been a busy couple of days and I think I'm starting to pay for it. We got a phone call from grandma's home care helper on Thursday morning asking if we could come stay with grandma as she was feeling panicky (her legs were leaking). I had already made some plans for the day but said I would go over for a bit. So I woke Ellis up, packed him into the car and we were off. We got there and knocked on the door for a bit and grandma finally answered. She did not seem that well and couldn't hear anything i had to say. I stayed for a bit - just as we were leaving, her home care worker (HCW) called me and asked if I could basically stay all day - I said no, I couldn't at which point the knocker on the door went and Ellis started screaming. I asked home worker to wait, I went to the door, it was the gardener - here to trim the trees. He needed me to move my car - I looked at Ellis, I looked at the gardener, I put a screaming Ellis on the floor and went to go move my car when I remembered phone - ah yes. I went to talk to HCW who asked me if I could at least make Granny lunch so that when she woke up she might not be as disoriented as usual. I said yes - I should have cancelled my plans. I quickly hung up on HCW and went to move my car. Then I came back, put Ellis in sling and walked around outside with gardener while he went over the trees he was going to trim - as if I had any clue whatsoever. We stood near granny's bedroom window and discussed the dead tree just outside it. We decided to leave it for privacy. When I went back in, the first thing granny said to me was "make sure the gardener doesn't cut down the tree outside my window. I have a sneaking suspicion that granny heard us talking (after spending the morning not hearing anything I said). I assured her he wouldn't, then I went and looked for lunch fixings. Couldn't find much, so I hacked up a cantaloupe, some grapes and found half a two day old sandwich (I took out the wilty lettuce) that I arranged on a plate and then I was out of there. Drove home, grabbed everything from the car (including Ellis - no I didn't forget him) and ran for the bus. I was only 5 minutes late for my lunch date with Deirdre. We ate and then I was off again to mommy drop in. Ellis hadn't eaten in a while and the bus ride back was touch and go, but I managed to distract him just enough so he didn't have full on wailing (I'm still not at the stage of breastfeeding on the bus). Ellis weighed 15 pounds 14.4 ounces (I guess he hasn't slowed down). He was pretty well behaved until the speaker started to speak - then it was lose it time. I didn't stay long at drop in, I went and got curry in our tiffin for dinner and walked home (where we almost got squished by a car). Got home just as Cyp did - he didn't have time to eat dinner as he had to go the airport. So we were back in the car again and off. On the way home, Ellis and I stopped at granny's where we fed her a tin of soup and put her to bed. I noted that she didn't eat her cantaloupe or grapes. Then we came home and ate our curry, watched Survivor and Grey's Anatomy and went to bed. Phew.

I'm Going to Have to Get Better at Taking Pictures

You'll note that there is a lack of pics on our blog - that is because I cannot handle all the crap I have to take with me and manage to take pics too. I guess if I had a stroller...

I may have to break down and get a stroller, my back is not very good. I blame the baby bjorn which Ellis seems to now love, so not sure if I could put him in a stroller even if I wanted. In fact, when I try to take him out of the bjorn and put him in the car seat he screams bloody murder. He used to like the car seat. I also have to admit that I haven't been tightening it as much as I should as the slightest tightening usually triggers the endless wailing. I do find if I crank the music that he will stop crying.

Yesterday was a nice productive day, I got a birthday present for Genevieve, went to mom postnatal class (and learned about the evils of acetominophen - oh my god, I've poisoned Ellis's little liver, it will never be the same), did the grocery shopping, went for a walk and made turkey dinner. Also, Ellis slept most of the day. That was a good day. I hope we get as much done today - I think it should be good as it is mommy group day.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Another Way Ellis Takes After Me

Perhaps this is a case of too much information, but Ellis is now seeming to store up his poops so he can have a massive blowout after a few days. I was starting to get worried again as he hadn't gone in a few days and he had very stinky bum burps (this is apparently the non-rude way to refer to farts). He also seemed a tad crankier than normal, so I was thinking he was a bit constipated. As I was nursing him last night, he let out a very stinky bum burp (at least that is what I thought it was until i noted that the bum burp had leaked onto my hands). I passed him off to daddy who was now in high alert mode and he rushed him to his change table where I heard lots of groaning and ewing. I went to investigate and it was indeed a massive blowout and slightly more like brown paste as opposed to runny mustard that it has been in the past - perhaps Ellis's digestive system is getting to be more efficient. Not sure if that is a good thing as his poops certainly stink more. Ellis was much more happy after this and smiled a lot last night.

Night followed a fairly good day. It started out kinda dull as our plans to meet up with Tracey and Emilie fell through and I was at a loss as to what to do. I started cleaning things that normally do not get cleaned (the swinging saloon doors in the dining room) so it's fairly evident I was bored. I knocked on NB's door and thank god she was in as it was nice to talk to an adult. Ellis started to crank though, so I had to bring him home for a nap. At this point Gaby called (yay Gaby) as I was starting to go nuts and was thinking I was going to have to find another new hobby. Ellis sleeps too much (I know I'm going to regret that statement). Ellis and I then went to great grandma's for lunch, but got kicked out after short order as granny was tired. As I was driving home though my spirits started to lift as it was another gorgeous fall day - the mountains and city looked spectacular so I decided to detour to the beach to go for a walk. I had the cursed baby bjorn in the car, but I figured my back could take it as it was feeling better. Ellis and I got out and I can tell he was pleased with the spontaneity of his mom - his little arms and legs were wagging. I quickly got him into the bjorn and off we went. He loved it - I wish I could have seen his face, but he kept making little squealing noises and waving his arms and legs. He got lots of smiles from the people walking towards us. I did not want to come home but the sun started to go down so I knew we should head back. The trees and Ocean were sending endorphins through both me and Ellis. We got back to the car and I put Ellis in the car seat - he was not a happy camper now - he did not want to get back in the car and screamed the entire way home. The screaming continued basically the rest of the night - Cyp got to take care of him as it was choir night. I got Ellis settled down before I left and then passed him off. I came home two hours later to a frantic daddy running the baby bath and an equally frantic Ellis laying on the bath mat screaming his little head off. I took Ellis off Cyp's hands and nursed the extremely frantic little guy whose body was literally heaving with sobs. Ellis had gone for a walk with Cyp and a friend that night and confirmed to friend why she didn't really like kids. I don't know - it really is true what they say, it makes a difference when it's your kid. Even when I came home and was walking outside our place and could hear screaming coming from within I still couldn't wait to see little Ellis. It made my heart break and soar at the same time to see him sobbing on the bath mat with that look on his face - mommy save me. Poor daddy - Ellis will soon be looking forward to seeing his dad too.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

We Don't Like Mondays

I don't know how he knows, but little guy does not like Mondays. I guess he knows as daddy is not there and he is stuck with me all day. I'm not much for Mondays either - that's the day everyone is back to work and there is no one to play with. So, I did laundry for a while, got bored and racked my brain for something to do, which is when I remembered that it is storytime day at the VPL. Ellis had been screaming and I'd managed to get him calmed down with Mozart and swing (Mozart is amazing, although I could be wearing it out) so when I went to get him to go out he was asleep. I changed him (he slept) and we went out and got on the bus (he slept), got to the library, sat down with the other mommies and babies and watched the librarian do storytime (he slept). There were all these participating songs, hokey pokey, I'm Toast, hickory dickory dock etc and Ellis and I couldn't play as he was sleeping so I just sang along and felt like some kinda of poser who dragged in a doll just so she could join storytime. One mom pointed out that he could probably hear what was going on. I'm not so sure. It was a great storytime though - we'll be back. We left and he slept all the way home too. Of course he then woke up and wouldn't be put down for the rest of the day and night. He did get me to go out for another walk, which was a good thing as it was another gorgeous fall day and we collected some pretty fall leaves, which I note are a lovely shade of brown this morning.

Monday, October 16, 2006

I'm Stubborn

I know it. Today we woke up to the sound of downpouring rain. In fact, it seemed like it poured all night. Needless to say, Sue called to say that she and fam were going to pass on the Apple Festival outing that we had planned for the day. I agreed - it was too wet. So the morning passed by, I puttered but soon got kinda bored (I think Ellis did too). We got two movies from NB to watch, but this did not make me happy. I needed to get out, so at around 1:30 I suggested that perhaps we could drive over to the apple festival, walk around a bit just to get out of the apartment for a while. Cyp agreed and we gathered the enormous amount of stuff that we seem to need when we leave the house these days and set out. Cyp didn't bring the camera, so I should have known he was not happy with my plan. We got to the fest, I parked and we slung Ellis in the sling and set out walking. Ellis started screaming his head off and was furiously munching on his fist (I had asked him if he was hungry before we set out and he emphatically screamed that he was not, but now it appears he was). So, as soon as we set foot on the festival grounds, we turned around and headed back to Cyp's office. Ellis had passed out by the time we got to Cyp's office so I then wondered if I should wake him up to feed him. I decided yes, but I didn't really have to, he nursed while sleeping. Cyp furiously pounded away on his computer - I asked what was wrong and he said "I have a lot to do, I have a presentation on Thursday." Why he didn't mention this before we left the house, I'll never know, but he calmed down when I pointed out that I don't get out of the apartment much anymore so I really need to get out on the weekends. He agreed that the apple fest had always been in our plans, so we decided to head back for a bit before heading home. I'm glad we did. Ellis seemed to enjoy it and I did. We got to have hot apple cider, apple pie and we even taste tested a few apples before deciding to buy the Elstar variety. Sonata was all sold out for this year. Too bad we didn't have the camera - Ellis was extremely cute.

We got home and relaxed for a bit before heading to Grandma's for dinner. Ellis was highly entertaining. At one point, Cyp was playing with him on the carpet and then got up to move away. Ellis yelled "hey, where are you going?" in Ellis speak, Cyp went back and Ellis smiled. This sucked Cyp in so much that he kept going on about it all night. This morning, Cyp did not want to go to work - he wanted to stay and play with Ellis.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

A Day for Cyp

Today we went to the Reifel Island Bird Sanctuary. Whenever we're wondering what to do on the weekend, Cyp pipes up "we could go to the Reifel Island Bird Sanctuary." I'm usually unwilling to go as it is a fairly long drive, but Ellis was starting to fuss today and the thought of putting him into a car seat and not having to hold him for a while sounded good. I'm a mean mummy. My back is killing me though. I didn't realize hauling the 15 pound tubber around in the baby bjorn would have this effect, but one shoulder is no longer functional (or so it feels). It was pretty cold yesterday and Ellis did not seem to be enjoying the birds. I was basically running to find the next bench to sit on so I keep feed him while he screamed his head off. Finally, I was sitting at a bench and the ducks found me. They were making a racket so Ellis pulled off and had this inquisitive look on his face - what't that? He then started to smile, yes, dogs barking and ducks quacking seem to make him smile. So I pointed his face in the general direction of the ducks and I think he saw them. This seemed to make him forget that he was cold (and therefore wanting to nurse for comfort) and we managed to go for a bit of a walk and Cyp could take some pictures. Ellis then decided he liked the tress better and stared upwards for the rest of the walk (the trees tend to grow over the path at the sanctuary). I think he did see some little chickadee type birds though and his little face was saying "what the heck was that?" On the way home we stopped at fruit winery and taste tested some fruit wines. Of course, we then had to buy some - white current and blackberry. They will probably sit in our cupboard for years. We went of for dinner with Nick, Sharon, Imogen and Genevieve. We went to a little sushi takeout place that had been recommended to me as our normal place was closed due to a fire. The place was a little more takeout than I thought it would be, but it was actually pretty good sushi wise (at least I thought so, but Cyp was annoyed he couldn't get sake or a beer) and as we were the only ones actually eating in the place, we could make as much noise as we wanted. We walked home, watched a bit of tv and passed out again by 10.

Friday, October 13, 2006

A Non Eventful Day

Today was another spectacular day. Ellis and I did not get up to much. He had a fairly long nap in his swing, swinging away to Mozart. We had a quick lunch at home and then headed out for a walk around GI with Barb. Ellis managed to fall asleep in the Baby Bjorn while facing out. Got home, took him out and he screamed his head off - I could not figure out what the problem was and finally ended up nursing him to sleep in bed. When he woke he was pretty unhappy again so we went out for a walk in the sling to get more dinner stuff. Cyp got home around 6 and we managed to eat dinner while Ellis played on the mat. Decided to go and see Suzy at work (which I thought would be a good walk for Ellis), but he screamed his head off. Cyp said "perhaps he's hungry." I said, no but he continued to scream, so I nursed him a school playground. He started to scream again and Cyp said "perhaps he has gas." I said no but then I put him over my shoulder and he belched a huge burp. Darn Ellis, already siding with his dad. We managed to get a movie while out and stopped by Suzy's work, but she wasn't on at that time - maybe we'll try again tomorrow. We watched Munich for a bit when we got home, but Ellis got to the point where nothing would console him, so we went to bed. I've turned into one of the moms that has to go to sleep with her kid to get him to sleep. This means pretty early nights for me. I may have to work on this if I ever want to stay up past 9:30.

We Made It

Well, we made it. One whole week without daddy. Phew - thank you NB and NK and the many others who took us out and met up with us so we wouldn't go crazy: Trish, Elizabeth, Aunt Susie and G. Dot and of course Sue (phone link). Last night was a miracle night. Ellis went to sleep at 10:30 (after saying welcome home to daddy) and slept till 6:30. Cyp woke up this morning and said "did Ellis wake up last night?" and I said "NO! - it's amazing!" and he's sleeping again in his swing. YAY!

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

What is With this Weather

Well, Ellis and I had a great day yesterday (as opposed to Tuesday, when he seemed a tad touchy). His personality is really starting to come out, although I still can't describe it. It does seem like he is a very keen observer. He's so busy looking around, he forgets to smile. Anyhoo, I woke up Wednesday morning on a mission - I was going to get my shower in (I had to, they were turning off the water to our building at 9 due to the construction going on across the street). So when Ellis woke up at 9, I was ready to get on with the day. We decided to go for a walk - Ellis went into the baby bjorn outward facing (a new experiment). I think he loved it, although who knows, I couldn't see his face, but every once in a while, I'd stop and look in a car door window and he would stare back. I think he managed to spy a squirrel, although he could just have been looking at the interplay of the light in the tree the squirrel was sitting in. He was very unhappy to come inside, but we were soon off again to postpartum class. Today's discussion was on "ECing" or Elimination Communication (i.e. going diaper free). Ok, call me crazy, but I might try it. She made it sound easy. Perhaps that will be next week's project. There was another nutty mom there who claims her 3 month old said mommy the other day. I really wanted to jump up and down and say "oh yah? well, Ellis here rolled from front to back twice two weeks ago!" but I kept my competitive mommy mouth shut. It was hard though. Man, I'm turning into one of those moms. We then went to see our hairdresser, Ian. Ellis, seemed to really like Ian and smiled a lot at him. This could be a turning point in the smile area as he also smiled a lot at NB later. Ian said Ellis had a very good hair line (what else is he going to say?)I think he also really took a good look at Stanley today - this was something I said I was looking forward to in the our class today and then he did it! Maybe it's just my overactive mommy competition gene again.
We were fed dinner by NB again and we went over to watch ANTM. Thanks NB. I woke up at 4 am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep so got some errands done. Ellis slept like a little angel in bed completely unswaddled and on his own. Another first. Perhaps tonight he'll let me try to sleep through the regular 4 am feeding again.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

A Quiet Thanksgiving

Today was a fairly quiet Thanksgiving. Ellis and I headed up to great grandma's this morning to take her turkey leftovers. She's doing well again today and was telling us about her latest project. When we got home, we phoned Nicole who wanted to check out the new store that had just opened near us. The music in the store was loud and obnoxious, but we managed to find a new shirt. We then came home to feed the little guy and then headed to GI for a walk. Another gorgeous day. Watched Project Runway at Neighbour Barb's (introduced to more tv favourites) and then headed home. Ellis was rather frantic, but we finally went to bed at 11. His little arms and legs just wouldn't stop going and he was kinda looking at me in bed as it to say "help me" I just calmly lay beside him and eventually the arms and legs came to a rest. phew.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Thankgiving Dinner

Ellis, grandma Anita and I went to Aunt Susie's for Thankgiving dinner. Had to make a stop on the way at great grandma's. There were 5 paramedics and 2 ambulances at her house when we got there. She had had a spell and her cleaning lady had called the paramedics. Great grandma refused to go with the paramedics and after proving she was fine by doing a couple of laps from her bed to the living room, we were all on our way with promises to stop back with turkey on the way home.

Ellis and I combined an errand on our thankgiving outing - we hid our big chair in grandma Doe and Neil's attic. They'll have a surprise when they get home! Aunt Susie did a fabulous job on dinner - she even branched out from traditional fare (i.e. brussel sprouts) and we had harvest salad, suffering succotash, and yummy squash (as opposed to yam). I managed to make pumpkin pie (actually, I only made the filling, pastry is not my forte). Ellis slept like an angel (literally, with his legs wrapped in a blanket and his arms straight out at his side) and when we got home, he pretty much went straight to bed. Must have been the trytophan in the turkey!

Should also mention that the backup problem that Ellis had was resolved today, in a big way! Yay!

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Last Day of Market

It was the last Farmer's Market for the year so off we went with Neighbour Barb and her friend Krista. It was another gorgeous fall day. I couldn't cope with the hordes at the market and didn't buy much but it was nice to observe the last day of market frenzy. Ellis took a disliking to Barb's car for some reason - I think he just wanted to be outside. We later went to change a lightbulb at great grandma's (she doesn't seem to be doing too well - her hip is bothering her) and then we went to hang out with Elizabeth - thanks Elizabeth - you kept us out and about during fussy time. We drove around the city for a bit while Ellis napped - Elizabeth's favourite pastime (going for a road trip that is). Managed to get Ellis to go to sleep at 8, but then I foolishly tried to read in bed at 9 which woke Ellis up. Got him to sleep again but then the darn phone rang at 10. It was great grandma with a silly question. Oh well, I was very annoyed at first, but he went back to sleep fairly readily. Dreamt again. Turns out hubby isn't bald - he actually shaves his head to prevent his fro from growing in and apparently, hubby has another daughter that he's been keeping from me. Hmmm.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

On our Own

Well, we're on our own for a week - this will be a challenge. Thank goodness for neighbour Barb. She allowed us to hang out with her for the day so that Ellis and I weren't just staring at each other all day saying to ourselves "now what?" We wandered down to the library today and got Ellis a library card and a great book - Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin. I realize that I do not have a life anymore when I was describing parts of the book to my aunt and grandmother - I was laughing, they weren't. We watched Survivor in the afternoon and had a photo shoot a la ANTM. All afternoon I was dreading Fussy Time (beginning at 5 and lasting till 11) so I phoned up G. Dot and asked if I could crash Friday night dinner with her and Susie. She said of course so just as Fussy Time was beginning, I packed Ellis in the car seat and off we went. This was new - going out at Fussy Time. I've decided we have to do this every night. Ellis stayed calm almost the entire time we were out. Darn, he must take after his dad - he doesn't like to stay at boring home for dinner, he wants to go out. I nursed him a bit at the restaurant and then he just sat on my lap and looked around. Later we went shopping with Aunty Susie and he just slept. He got a tad fussy when we got home, but it was already 9 so we managed to cope with each other till 11 when he went to sleep in his co-sleeper. Hurray. This week may be ok.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Managed to Get Enough Sleep to Dream Last Night

and I dreamed that I left Ellis at home alone to go babysit another baby. After I woke up from that nightmare, I fell back asleep and dreamed that I had a big cupboard in my room that I wasn't using - imagine that. It was huge, empty and quite a relief. A place to store Ellis's Toybox!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Ellis Intrigued by the Computer

Ellis Intrigued by the Computer,
originally uploaded by Renboo.

Ellis likes the computer and the TV - uh oh!

Our Second Trip on the Bus

Today we took our second trip downtown on the bus to open Ellis's RESP account. You never know, Ellis might choose to go to post secondary school someday and I hope this will enable him to afford it. If he doesn't want to go he doesn't have to. I'm slighly ambivalent about university these days. Sure it helped me, but I wonder how my life might have been different if I'd taken a few years off university - but then, I'd never have met Ellis's dad or had Ellis, so I guess university is ok.

I think he's going to be a musician though (I'm not one of those parents to put undo pressure on my kid :))

Of course, he got lots of attention on the bus and he was very well behaved (when the bus was moving). Unfortunately, I was on a slow trolley bus, so there were lots of stops - it was slightly tense - would he break out screaming? He didn't - we made it and he fell asleep fof the entire account opening process. We also saw Aunty Nancy and Aunty Lisa on the same trip. They were both amazed at how much Ellis had grown in two weeks.

We went to mom and baby drop in today too and got to see some of our new friends. Ellis started screaming half way through (actually when it got kinda quiet). I tried to nurse him and that just made him mad mad mad. Today's topic was a round table discussion on how one's life changes with a baby, and the difficulties etc. At that point I piped up and said - "well, I can't tell the difference in my babies cries - they all seem like hunger to me and I'm starting to feel like a bad mom as everybody asks me if I can tell the difference yet and then look slightly horrified when I say I can't". At which point the community health nurse said it was a lot of hooey that babies have different cries - that is apparently a myth, but she said, moms do learn to pick up on cues eventually. I had figured out at this point that Ellis was tired and he wanted me to pick him up and rock him to sleep. I also figured out another cue - pushing me away means he's not hungry.

Today he was very interested in the computer and I think he even recognized his picture on the computer!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Day Two of My Newly Revised Blog

So Ellis seemed much better today after having shots yesterday. He had a good nap - although maybe it's just sleeping in. He slept from 6 am till 10:30. At which point I started going into his room and opening the curtains in the hopes that he'd get up cause really, we have to get on with our day. As he was kinda smelly, I decided to give him a bath. He's started sucking on everything in the nearby vicinity, which is usually his hands and arms so they tend to smell like sour milk. He also gets milk all over his face and then likes to rub his face all over my shirt, so I end up stinking too. While I'm getting things ready for the bath, I stick him in the baby bath (dry) as it is a good baby holder. He chose to poop at that point, so it really was quite necessary for the bath.

He didn't manage to roll over today after his bath (he did this the last two days). Maybe his legs still feel kinda woogy from the shots. We headed out to our postpartum class and saw Andrea and Madeleine (Madeleine looks less like Ellis now and more like her mom) and Tannis and Caina (sp?). The topic today was breast feeding and as we went round the room and everyone talked about their issues/problems, I realized how lucky Ellis and I are as we've not had to many problems so far - touch wood.

Then we went shopping, where he screamed his head off, so I nursed him in the car and continued on and then it was home for dinner. Dad tried to give him a bottle tonight and he might have taken some - but not enough! We're going to have to work on it some more. He was not happy with the bottle situation - I think he's more aware and realizes that it is not mom.

So I found my hobby

I'm not sure if he'll appreciate being called a hobby though, I had a kid 2 months ago. Even though he may not like being called a hobby, he is the best one ever and I know I'll never get bored with this hobby!

It's taken me a while to decide if I wanted to blog about Ellis, but I was reading my friend's blog yesterday that documents her daughter's life and realized how wonderful her blog is. I've been keeping a journal so I will try to go back and document what has happened in the first two months, but I'm not sure if I will ever be able to catch up. Every day is jam packed with events and firsts that are worth documenting.

Yesterday (Oct 3rd), Ellis got his first shots. We walked to the doctor's office (she's moved even closer, which is great). We managed to get ready and out the door by 10:15 which is a minor miracle. It was another gorgeous fall day and Ellis poked his head out of the sling and was looking around the whole way there.

I hadn't been too worried about his shots although I've been told by many that it is a very traumatic event. It went down like this - he was pretty happy, there were lots of black instruments hanging on the wall that were very interesting to Ellis, however, when it happened, I was nursing him. The doctor swabbed his leg with alcohol and he started to protest (I guess it stung a bit on his dry skin and I started to think, uh oh, if that was bad...). She then stabbed the first of four needles into his small little leg. I must say - the needle seemed ginormous in relation to his tiny (if somewhat chub) little leg. His face turned red immdiately and he let out a huge wail of protest that then turned to racking sobs. Of course, mommy started crying too and the pain and torture continued three more times. Finally we were done, I nursed him a bit more while he whimpered and I managed to compose myself before heading out. We hit the drugstore on the way home to get the baby acetominophen and then went home to recover. It was not a very good day. Ellis managed to sleep for a couple of hours but then woke up and nothing would console him. Every time I touched either of his poor little legs (which is pretty unavoidable when trying to comfort and cuddle someone) he would cry and scream. I was finally able to give him his second dose of baby tylenol and put him in the swing (so his legs wouldn't rub anywhere) and he slept for hours. He only woke up after I had gone to choir and poor dad had two hours of screaming unconsolable baby. He wouldn't even take his bottle. Poor little guy. I managed to get him consoled when I got back from choir and we both crashed around 11. We both slept pretty well last night...

My eternal quest for a hobby