Hola Ottawa!!!

So this Sunday was Denise’s Father’s 90th birthday so we all headed to Embrum for Sat lunch.  All of Jeff’s family was there and it was so nice to see everyone.  It was a lovely party.

Saturday night Julie, Denise, John, Jeff, Meals and I went and stayed at the Chateau Laurier for the night.  It was so beautiful and decedant.  Amelia was so excited cause we would let her walk down the loooong by herself, she would walk along squealing away. so funny.  On Sunday morning we went for a walk around ByWard Market and then down Sussex.  We came back Sunday in time for dinner at my parents, any amazing weekend which topped off the weekend of glutany.

 Meals is back to her normal veracious eater self again but with a twist she will eat anything as long as she gets to feed herself, a very messy proposition especially seeing as her favourite food is baked been right now.  She also won’t let us brush her teeth, it is her way or no way, BAH!!! I think 2 is just around the corner but the terrible part got a head start.

14 month Pic

14 Months

This month has been a big change for me but Meals seems pretty unfazed so far well except the hunger strike.  She won’t sit in her chair or eat for my brother, poor Rich mind you he just started and I am sure they will sort it out.

We spent the first part of this month in Vancouver visiting with Poppy, Sami and the rest of the west coasters.  This trip out west was plagued with colds (for Meals) and her first bout of clinginess.  Amelia played very shy in Vancouver and it even continued once we were home, she is still very happy to flirt with people but more from the comfort of my arms, I like the snuggles but sometimes I just want to be de-leeched.  I was pretty surprised by Amelia playing shy, up until our trip Amelia was pretty outgoing.

Amelia continues to be a very good sleeper and try as I might she had no interest in being reduced to one nap a day and I was punished quite thoroughly for even trying.  She is still a pretty solid two time a day napper with a 7:30-8pm bedtime.  She eating is still up and down some days she inhales everything (like a whole tuna melt) and sometimes it is “na na na” shake shake to everything.  It is abit frustrating cause sometimes when you are you just don’t want a fight and you want to bring something you know she likes and will eat but with Amelia other than yogurt it is pretty much a guess. She does have a couple more teeth to put to work now though, I think the molar has been causing her some strife but it does seem well on its way in now.

Amelia’s speaking in coming along but in bits and pieces.  She knows a lot of words but doesn’t like saying them and if she does say something she refuses to repeat it. The other night at the Cuban restaurant she was sitting on my lap and I was talking and not paying attention and she turned to me and pointed at my glass and said “water”.  According to Denise she also told Dexter he was a “bad boy” (and yes it was in context cause at the time Dexter was being a very bad boy and Denise was getting very mad with him).  Of course she is very good at “no” which for her is more like “NA”.  For the most part Amelia just likes getting by one gestures, mind you she is pretty good at it so…

This month Denise has taught Amelia to dance, she has this little piano that she can press the demo button and get it to play a song, she squats in front of the piano with her finger on the button ready to press it again as soon as it stops or she will stand up and flap her arms around and shake her booty. Very entertaining but since we have started trying to get her to dance the amount of dancing has dropped severely, I think she enjoys watching us make fools of ourselves more.

The best part of this month was when she started giving snuggles, I love it (Jeff teases me), Last night it was so hot and after about an hour of sleep she woke up crying, seeing as this doesn’t happen that frequently we brought her down and she lay on me on the couch and snuggled till I took her back up.

Going back to work has made me appreciate the time I do spend with Amelia that much more, it makes me abit more of a lax mother but it also makes me play more when I am home. 

Sorry no pics yet, I will try to remember to take some tonight.

All Better

Another week of work and we all survived.  Amelia is feeling much better now, ironically the worst day was the one that Denise took her into the doctor since then she has been getting better.   I have recovered from my hysteria and am back to enjoying work (as much as one can).  I think Amelia has enjoyed her time with Denise, in that time she has learned to dance, VERY CUTE I must say and started to give snuggles, the highlight of my day.  The snuggles are ADORABLE,  I guess when Jeff and I try to sooth her we hug her and pat her on the back, now when she gives us hugs she pats us on the back, it is so gorgeous!!! 

In the last few days we have also discovered that she has a new bottom tooth and a new top molar coming in, I think this my have contributed to the fever and congestion problems.

This weekend Amelia, Denise, Julie and I went to the Distillery District and looked around, the weather was amazing but SOOO hot!!!  In the afternoon we came back to our place so Meals could have a nap and we played cards in the sanctuary of our coolish basement. For dinner we tried Julie’s Cuban on Dovercourt, it was way fantastic!!! Amelia also enjoyed the Cuban food and ate everything from the coconut shrimp to the black beans.

Today we did abit of shopping and a lot of cooking and prepared for Daryl’s birthday party.  Although our house was BOILING hot and we were opening sweating while not even moving, we did survive. 

Yesterday my brother got back from uni and tomorrow he dives right into his “Manny” position. I hope all goes well for him.

This week Amelia has become very interested in what is cooking in the oven, when we turn the light on she likes to look in the window.

Hannibal Meals

My poor baby!!!  So last week as I said I got sick and then Sunday and Monday Amelia started coughing again, early early Tuesday morning I woke up to the sounds of Amelia coughing and coughing away, it broke my heart. So Tuesday when I got into work I made her a doctor’s appointment for her and Denise took her in that afternoon.  I guess Dr. Vickers couldn’t hear what she needed because Amelia was so congested so she sent Amelia for an x-ray to rule out pneumonia.  Eeep pneumonia is pretty scary stuff and I was feeling like quite the horrible mom if I let it get to that stage. On a positive front her ears and glands were fine.  Denise took her down for her x-ray and it involved what Denise describes it as the body restraint from Silence of the Lambs followed by and head strapping in so that all you could see was her little face.  From what I am told she was pretty scared but Denise held her hands and talked to her and she calmed down.  Can I tell you Denise is the most wonderful mother in law I girl could have and obviously the most wonderful Grandmanam as well. At this point I am at work in blissful ignorance of what is going on thinking this going back to work thing isn’t so bad… well as soon as I found out what was going on the tears started (for me that is) and the feeling of guilt and that I abandoned her through this scary thing started.  Yes 7days into work and I am already crying, I can’t remember if this is sooner or later than the tears at AMEC started hmmm.    I was so upset for Amelia and the thought of how scary that must have been for her was tearing me apart, I think I am starting to understand what my parents have always told me about how hard being a parenting.

Jeff and I rushed home yesterday and I burst into the house half expecting to find this listless baby on the couch or in bed but no there she was toddling around playing with toys, I felt a lot better. 

I talked to the doctor this morning and it is just a cold, there isn’t much we can do but wait it out.  Amelia is still sick but she isn’t on her deathbed and I am feeling better today but now alittle more wary about this working thing, I am sure I will adjust this has just been abit of a road bump.

First Week of Work

I survived my first week of work and Amelia survived her week of pampering with Denise.  I really am enjoying my new job, I like the people and the work but I do find it hard to spend so little time with my baby.  Unfortunately for me my first day of work coincided with the first real cold I have had in over a year.  UGH!!!  I have been rather sick all week and it has really been sapping all my energy but after a week of going to bed pretty early by Friday I was feeling much better. By all accounts Amelia and Denise have had a very nice week together.  I had to have a laugh when we got home for the first day of work and Denise told us how she had had two naps that day.  Taking care of Meals really is quite exhausting….
Friday nice we went to the pub for dinner with John and Denise then home.  Saturday we worked in the backyard did abit of cooking then went to Emma and Leah's second birthday party, I was so stupid and forgot my camera but I am sure that Jen will have some pics up soon, http://jenandjohn.wordpress.com/.  We all had a very lovely time at the party, the girls were very cute birthday girls.  There were 6 kid under 3 there so it was abit of a zoo but what change from last year when Meals and Ronan were barely awake and Jessica was still pregnant with Brennan.
Today Jeff and I sodded the backyard, yippeee we have grass, I think Amelia would have much preferred keeping the dirt seeing as she seems to have a fear of grass but after plunking her down on the new sod with her snack she slowly got used to it but sure enough after she managed to get up and walk around she walked right over to the garden and started digging.
Tonight we are going for a picnic in honor of a early Father's Day.  John is away on a motorbike trip next weekend so we are celebrating early. Hopefully the wind won't be too bad at High Park. 

Back to work

Well I start work tomorrow, eep.  Craziness.  I think I am all set, I kinda feel like it is the first day of school, I have my clothes set out and well my lunch isn't made but it will be

We had a nice weekend.  Saturday we did some errands including getting Meals RESP set up, yipeee.  Saturday afternoon/evening we went to Leigh and Robs second annual lobster bash, yummmm.  The lobster were flown that day and Rob and his friend Adrian cooked them up to perfection, deelish.  There were 5 kids there ranging in age from 9months to 3 years so there was lots of chaos to be had.  Meals wasn't that into settling down in the playpen upstairs with all the other kids but after a slight reprieve and a little snuggle she went down so I could continue to knock back wine with Leigh. Jeff missed out on the lobster but sent to his friend Danielle's 30th birthday in Aylmer. 

Today we did lots of cooking for Sunday night dinner tonight and Jeff boiled up some lobster shells for some bisque, yummmm again.  We also got to go meet out friend Mark and Chelsea's new son Samuel.  What a handsome little guy, I think Meals may have found a new target for her flirting. 

Tonight we had a nice dinner here although we missed John who is off to Seattle for work.  Meals was alittle out of sorts cause she was tired but she toddled around and entertained us. 

Well off to work tomorrow, oh I am going to miss my little Meals!!!!

Last Day

Today is the last of the last week of my stay at home mom job, I can't believe I am going to back to work on Monday, eep!!!  How scary.  I am not sure how my postings are going to work now but I will try to keep up with my regular updates.

Nanny Rich doesn't finish university for another two weeks so Denise is taking Amelia for that time.  I am sure Grandmanam and Meals will have a wonderful time, apparently Denise already has a very full calender for them.  I am not nervous about work yet just kinda excited but I am sure I will follow my normal pattern of starting and getting freaked out cause everything is so differnet then after a week or two getting into the groove, at least I hope.

This week has been very nice the weather has been crazy hot so Denise and I went out for a few walks and yesterday Denise, Julie, Amelia and I went to Sherway for lunch, eye brow waxing and some shopping.  I took Meals out to Oakville to visit Jen and the Girls. Yesterday and today we are going to hang out with Leigh and Ronan. I have tried to pack all my favourite things of mat leave into my last week and for the most part the weather and Amelia have accommidtated.  The only not so nice thing of the last week was having to take Meals for a couple more shots on Monday, it was good to get them out of the way though.  She didn't seem to fussed about the shots, there was abit of a cry on the second one but the smile came back pretty quick.

This weekend was going to be pretty quiet but seems to be getting busy.  Sunday dinner is at our place this weekend and I am hoping to finally get this little fence started, we'll see though.