Some Violetisms we can't forget

When trying to get involved in an adult conversation... "Hey guys, do you want to go for some hot make-up soup?"

I show her a picture of an ambulance and ask her what it is.  She says: "Um, a Band-Aid Truck."

Happy Days

I wonder each morning what is going through little Greta's mind as she wakes up to the 3 faces of her immediate family smiling and cooing at her, waiting for (and expecting) her first smile of the day. Greta is usually the last of us to wake up (keep it up lovely girl) so when she rouses in her quiet and happy way, we want the good stuff, a big open mouthed smile from Greta and some cooing soon after if you please. Even on fast paced mornings, this seems to be a small moment in time that our household takes to marvel at our new arrival and compete for her attention for it feels so incredibly good to be on its receiving end.

Violet is still unfailingly happy to be a big sister and couldn't be happier to share her parents with baby Greta. She does feel a bit jipped of mom's attention from time to time but she is just so grown up and understanding for her age (in many ways but in others she is still very three - we have had some whopper tantrums lately).  Preschool is great for her, she loves the routine and the social interaction. Violet LOVES the art table which has a different activity each day and baking once a month. The art table only has 6 seats though and there are 14 kids so if she doesn't get there quickly (which means taking off her shoes and coat and getting into her indoor shoes) she is out of luck and has to play something else for a while until its her turn. There have been many tearful mornings when she thought she was going to miss out but she is now the fastest shoe taker offer and putter onner in the class - she just has to yell across to me to ask "is this the right foot or the wrong foot mommy?"

Greta is growing and changing so quickly it is just astounding. The human body is an incredible thing. At 10 weeks, Greta was just under 13 pounds and 24.5 inches, four inches longer than she was a birth. She is just the cutest little chubster, she is managing to store fat on her little body in ever nook and cranny and we love it! She is so strong and eager to get moving. She started rolling from her belly to her back at 7 weeks and is very close to rolling from her back to front.

We had a great visit with Nanny who was here for about 10 days in October. She (thank you mom!) took the morning shift with Violet who woke her up instead of us which was so very helpful. V is now trained not to get out of bed no earlier than 7:00 (thanks again mom) which makes the morning after a bad night so much more bearable. Violet's little battery operated clock is always in her bed with her now. We had awesome warm weather for mom's visit which made it possible to include some beaching and playground time which Violet really enjoyed.

We have also taken the girls on a couple of little trips to Vancouver and Saturna Island. Both were fun getaways which means they were a change of scenery and a 'little adventure' which we are happy to accomplish at this stage in the game.

Getting things done around here is pretty hard these days with the 2 girls but life is blissful. Greta is currently asleep in her car seat and Violet is in quiet time so I had just enough time to catch up on capturing some memories here :) Best get on to the Christmas list, at the rate I accomplish things these days time is already running short!

Check our fall and winter photo album for updates.

Month 1

Well, we are at 5 weeks now actually but Greta, you are a second child so I'm afraid these details don't get dealt with as speedily as they did when your big sister was born. Don't feel slighted my love, its not because we aren't excited about you. We are amazed every day by you and at by just how much love there is to go around in our little family. Violet is always saying "what a wonderful family" and "we are so lucky".

We are having so much fun with these girls. Greta started smiling just before she turned one month. We weren't sure it was really smiling at first but she quickly convinced us by smiling more often and when she was being smiled at. She is also trying to mimic other facial expressions. It makes our hearts sing when she smiles, it is so perfect and innocent. She currently only smiles at the faces in our household, other faces are for studying at this point.

Violet has only become more enamored with Greta as time has gone on. She hugs and kisses her constantly and talks to her all the time. Mom and Dad are no longer the focus of her attention when she first wakes up, its all about baby sister.

Greta and Violet are also good at sharing. They are currently sharing their first cold. Violet brought it home from preschool last week and quickly gave her sister a dose. So far, neither are suffering too badly, they have runny noses and coughs that I hope will be gone soon. Greta is not sleeping so well with the congestion. I was a little panicked at first when I realized (in the middle of the night) that our 4 week old was getting a cold but so far she is showing that she is tough and game for getting her immune system kick started early.

Violet is really becoming a creative gal which she is really showing in her independent playtime/quiet time that she has instead of a nap.  She usually chooses to do a craft or colour or to have tea parties and conversations with her animals during that time. The other day she appeared from quiet time with 2 small paper bags that she has turned into puppets. Her drawings were adorable, one was a nice monster and one was mean. She also created a leaf collection in an old journal by collecting a big pile of leaves and gluing them into the book - oh boy what a mess! She was so pleased with herself and so proud of her creation, it was worth the clean up. She also loves to make up oh so silly songs which she sings constantly. Its mostly hilarious but it is a challenge to get her to stop singing long enough to eat meals with us and have a conversation.

Her most recent creation that kind of blew us away was a book. She took a notebook and drew about 30 pictures, mostly people who I would say resemble the little miss and mister characters from the books that Violet adores. On some pages she drew letters or symbols to represent letters. When she finished quiet time she presented the book to me and proceeded to walk me through the story page by page. This piece of artwork is a keeper!

Greta has had her on month check up and it turns out that she is quite accomplished in gaining weight. She is now 10.5 pounds - 2 pounds heavier than her birth weight - and is gaining an average of 2 ounces per day. The human body is an amazing thing.  She is obviously a good eater. She is not just getting round but long and has outgrown the length of her first set of clothes already.

More pics and videos have been added to our fall/winter 2010 album.

Hi I'm Greta

Well, its been 3 weeks since I made my escape from the cramped conditions of mom's womb (even though I did make a fair amount of space for myself in there!).

Things on the outside are pretty cool but there is so much to take in! Apparently I have a mom, dad, big sister, dog and a whole lot of other people in my life. The mom seems to be the one I see the most. She feeds me the milk and gets up with me all night. She seems pretty relaxed about the sleep thing though, she keeps telling dad that she is tired but 'functioning tired' because apparently I am a pretty good sleeper. I was having sleep stretches of 7 hours or so but now 4 is the max. Mom still isn't complaining because I just eat and go back to sleep, generally, and I seemed to come out of mom knowing my days and nights which apparently is extrememly helpful. I like to be helpful.

I am over 9 pounds already and going through my first growth spurt. I love to eat but these days I love to eat more than usual, thankfully I am starting to figure out this whole nursing thing so I don't have to work so hard at it (and scream my little head off) and mom doesn't cringe every time I latch on for some food. I am also getting very long and have long feet and hands with toes and fingers to match!

They say I'm easy going, so far anyway. I like to be held a lot but I'm also cool with hanging out in my crib to watch the lights on my turtle and play with a black and white toy. Mom is actually getting showers and eating (though quickly) without too much trouble.

Everyone keeps saying they don't know who I look like. Not as easy to figure out as my big sister apparently. Speaking of her, she is great. I do get a little smothered in kisses and hugs which I enjoy and only sometimes find a little too much. She makes sure my music and lights are turned on to entertain me in my crib and she stands on her step stool next to me when I'm in there to read me books or sing to me. I bought her a princess dress and some sparkle shoes when I arrived - she loves them apparently. Rarely takes them off and plans to wear them for halloween. She talks about halloween a lot, and christmas and easter - the girl seems to like special occassions.  She started school this week and loves it, can't get rid of mom and I fast enough when we drop her off. She also took Dad camping last week - she loves smores.

I gotta say, I'm having a pretty good time on the outside. I love an opportunity to pee or poo when I have no diaper on - so liberating! - and I'm very bright eyed and nosy for several hours a day. I've also been spoiled my my family, friends and neighbours with so many well wishes, gifts and food for the family - which is nice seeing as my parents don't really feel the need to buy me much since I'm the second daughter around here. Call me the hand-me-down kid. Oh wait, I did get some of my own sleepers in size newborn which didn't exist in my sister's wardrobe but I've pretty much grown out of them already.

Here are some pics and videos.

Later, Greta

Greta Robyn - her welcome to the world

I've been trying to publish this for about 5 days now so here we are. I am going to post regardless of wether or not I've finished because I just want to move on to new posts about our family :) Obviously, despite the fact that Greta is a dream baby, so far, life with even a dream baby and a big sister is very busy and very fulfilling...
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Well we are 5 days in to life as a family of 4. We are so happy to have a happy healthy girl to love and cherish along with her wonderful big sister.

Greta was born on Monday the 23rd at 4:30 pm. It was a trying day despite the scheduled c-section which we expected would make it all very stress-free but it ended in the best possible way and everything went smoothly with the surgery.

We were told to be at the hospital for a 6:00 admission and that the surgery would be at 9:30.  We arranged for our friend Kym to keep to keep Violet for the night so that we wouldn't have to disrupt her morning on the day she was to become a big sister. When we arrived at the hospital, we were sent to the wrong desk 3 times and finally arrived at the mother-babe unit to the surprise of the nurses who weren't expecting us until 9:30 as it turned out the surgery was actually scheduled for 1:30 in the afternoon.  After a quick discussion with the nurse, we found out there was only one private room left and if we decided to leave we would probably not get a private room which was a major priority for us. As we couldn't really go home without completely confusing Violet, who would soon be at home with our babysitter Laura, Jon negotiated with the nurse to hold the room for us while he took me for breakfast as I had been fasting all night. After some oatmeal at whitespot and picking up some magazines and a little something for Violet from the new 24 hr shoppers drug mart, we were back at the hospital for 7:30 and the wait for baby Greta began.

Jon and I spent the day in the hospital room, waiting, planning and anticipating. The nurses were wonderful and they came and went as they got me ready for the surgery. The IV part of the preparations was a bit difficult as I am squeamish about big needles and it took 3 tries for the iv to work - the first 2 times the iv drip went into my arm and made the arm very hard and swollen which was really painful.

After all the preparations, we tried to relax by watching some bad movies and eventually the clock hit 1 pm which is when they told us they would come to get us for the surgery. 1pm came and went and we eventually realized that we were not going to surgery on schedule and that no one knew when we would get there.  I had mentally prepared myself to be a mom again by about 10 am and the wait was starting to make me more and more anxious to meet our daughter. Finally at about 3:00 the nurse came to the room and said they were ready for us in the O.R. We had almost resigned oursleves to the idea of not meeting baby until Aug 24th and it came as a big surprise to have no warning, but away we went and I immediately got a little stressed and excited.

As I sat outside the O.R. waiting to be wheeled in, Jon took a video of me because he thought "your daughter would love to see your raw emotions about her birth". I was not so sure but I didn't really have a choice about it. Instead of being wheeled into the O.R. we were sent back to our room due to a half an hour delay. There are more videos of that too.  Half an hour turned into an hour and a half but finally we were wheeled back to O.R. and the fun began. Videos are online here.

There must have been 9 people in the room, I don't remember there being so many last time but I don't remember a lot about the last time. There was the OBGYN, Dr. Cooper who we have met with on a couple of occasions and who did the surgery. There were at least 2 nurses, of course I forget their names already but one of them was focussed on my care during and after the surgery and she was awesome. When they put in the spinal, she held me in place and talked me through it like a friend would - she knew I was scared. There was an anesthesiologist, a pediatrician, another random doctor and I forget the rest. It certainly makes a person feel well cared for and that they are not just having a minor procedure when there are that many medical professionals in the room.

It all got underway pretty quickly, as soon as Jon was in his scrubs by my side, they started and it was so weird. I could 'feel' nothing and everything at the same time. I really couldn't wait for it to be over for so many reasons.

Dr. Cooper talked me through the surgery without too much detail. Jon stood up to look over the barrier when the head was delivered and took a picture. "I've got a picture of the head, do you want to see it?" he asked. "Uh, no" was my response, not sure I could have stomached that one as anxious as I was to see our baby girl.

Soon she was out and crying - loudly. What a beautiful sound to hear! The nurse who was taking care of me said she sounded like a teradactyl and I think she was spot on! Greta had a lot of mucus to get rid of so she did a LOT of crying right off the bat which at first was reassuring and then had us thinking we were in trouble with this loud and unhappy baby.

The Drs and nurses remarked on baby's huge umbilical cord and set about checking her out. It is so frustrating to not be able to see your newborn for her first 5 minutes of life but luckily Jon was able to be with her right away to check her out (reassure me) and cut her cord.

I finally got to have a look at our little beauty and couldn't wait to be stitched up so I could get her in my arms.  We were both shocked that she didn't look like Violet did when she was born (we both assumed those Gleed genes would be prevalent - still not sure who she looks like!) and that she was smaller than Violet was - we could tell even before she was weighed. With the count'em 45 pounds that I gained during this pregnancy and the ENORMOUS belly I grew, we were sure that Greta would be a very big baby - no question she is still bigger than average and a very strong and healthy girl. She was bright eyed, nosy and lifting her head from the moment she was born.

Getting that girl in my arms was a dream and we couldn't wait to introduce her to Violet. In the next couple of hours, we got settled back in our room, got me eating chicken broth and jello - the only food allowed after surgery and brought big sister in for a visit. It was so sweet to see Violet immediately hug and kiss Greta - no hesitation at all, she has immediately taken on her role as guardian angel of our little baby and has only had the most slight hints of jealousy when she wants the undivided attention of one of her parents - even that is just a small request to maybe put the baby down while playing with her. We are so proud.

After spending a whole day in a hospital room waiting to give birth, I was ready to leave the hospital asap! I had my healthy baby and as soon as I shed the catheter and iv I was ready to go. We stayed monday night and tuesday night and managed to convince the Dr we were ok to go home wednesday morning (I even got dressed and put on makeup to make the Dr impressed by how well we were doing :). Our stay was as good as any hospital stay could have been, private room, great nurses and excellent care but there is only so much stale air, nurse pop-ins at 3am and horrific food one can take.

Greta so far is a sleeper, I'm amazed at how much work it still is to take care of her, I am having trouble remembering what it is like having a baby that struggles with sleep. Dear Greta - please keep it up little darling :)

Almost there

Well its been 3 weeks now since we started thinking we could have a baby at any minute and still no baby! :) I am 3cm dilated, fully effaced and having lots of pre-labour signs including non-stop braxton hicks contractions which I don't remember having at all with Violet. Unless baby decides she wants to be born this weekend, we are scheduled to meet her at 9:30 on monday morning.

I think its a very good thing for all of us that we have had this time for me to nest, for Jon to get all the major projects off his list and for Violet to have some bonding time with mommy and daddy before her life turns upside down. I think we now have everything in order for the baby and many, many other projects have been ticked off the household list so we are ready to receive.

I am so ready to meet this baby. I have started aching a little to have her in my arms, not to mention the aches that makes me feel 'finished' with being this large and heavy and ok with the thought of not be pregnant anymore. I will be sad not to have baby all to myself anymore but I am guessing she and I will have quite a lot of togetherness after her arrival too.

We have generally been managing to get some sleep around here but it is certainly not a sound night of sleep for all of us every night. Between multiple trips to the bathroom, middle of the night worries and a sometimes busy baby, I have been losing a bit of sleep, but I think I'm doing better than average. I even managed to sleep well during the recent heat wave with the exception of one night - thanks to Jon. Jon, of course is disrupted by all my activity and likes to get some middle of the night worry/anticipation in there too. Violet is doing well but has had a few disrupted nights for no reason other than the likely one that she knows she is about to deal with a lot of change.  She thankfully is a heavy sleeper.

Other than kicking the soother habit, Violet has also had her guard rail removed from her bed - there is no question that the 'baby' in that girl is rapidly disappearing. Something has changed in her little head in the past couple of weeks and she is just more grown up in her language, her humour, her ability to pick up complex ideas and her ability to give us attitude like she is a teenager. V is also becoming a bit of an organizer, she likes to make statements like "ok let's get to work" when we ask her to help tidy etc. and she revels in doing a good job. She has started tidying her room and making her bed - and doing a fine job of it I have to say!

V is anticipating baby with excitement but we are starting to wonder if we have over prepared her for the role of big sister. Sometimes we get the sense that she thinks she has to become an adult overnight, like when she says (repeatedly) "Daddy/Mommy, make sure you don't give me beer or wine or soda water or coffee after the baby comes!" She has also started focusing a large amount of energy on her babies, playing a mommy that just had a baby and taking her role very seriously. It is truly adorable. It's also very funny, hearing my own voice/words coming at me as she soothes her little one.

One of our biggest gripes lately has been the dog. Oh that George! He has been using the house as a bathroom on and off for a couple of months now. We aren't even sure what makes him do it, it is not need, he's pissed about something. It may be connected to this pregnancy because it seems to be getting to him. He has been trailing me more closely than ever since I became pregnant but the closer I get to the end, the more trailing time I get from George. He follows me everywhere and whines at me to stop moving around because, I guess he finds it tiring, go figure. When I finally settle to bed he is right beside me on the floor, snorting, scratching, snuffing and eventually snoring which has reached a point of disruption that I can no longer take (for some reason I am not my usual patient self...).  He eventually leaves to sleep elsewhere in the house but likes to take a lengthy tour first to check things out as he clicks his nails all around. This tour can and usually is repeated several times in the early morning hours to see who he can manage to rouse to hang out with him. If he was a younger dog, we would be exercising him to the point of complete exhaustion, but alas, even though the old boy is holding up pretty well, he can't take on too much physical activity any more.

My darling husband is now confined George to the basement at night which would normally mean that George would whine at the gate but he has been tricked into thinking that Jon is also sleeping downstairs so it has worked so far. We have now dropped him off at the doggie place for a couple of weeks so we can focus on baby and Violet for a while. Hopefully he will adjust well to baby.

It's been a wonderful summer so far, hard to believe it is coming to an end but what a way for summer to end with the birth of our new family member!  Check out our summer 2010 album for some new pictures from the last few weeks. We have had some wonderful times, especially swimming at the lake and chilling out in the cooled down hot tub or the kiddie pool during the heat wave of last week. Now we are planning a quiet weekend to get rested up as much as we can and enjoy this time before baby arrives.

Next post - baby!

And now August

It's been a busy summer to say the least. We have had a lot of fun with our Ottawa guests in the month of July. Mark and Joy and their boys Alex (6) and Carter (almost 4) visited for 2 weeks. All the kids got along so well and had a lot of fun together. It was a great opportunity to catch up with our wonderful friends and get to know their boys. We spent time in Victoria, Mayne Island and in Vancouver. We were all very worn out every single day!

We also had a visit from Jon's sister Rachel and our nephews Ben (10 in a few days) and Sam (7). It was great for Violet to have some time with her cousins and her Aunt. She loved every minute, I think because she got totally spoiled and because the boys were so good to her.

So our guest accommodations have been well tested now and seem to do the job.

Here are some recent pics.

Jon worked like a mad man during the Spring to get the house in order before our guests arrived and to prepare for the arrival of our newest family member. Things are looking great and the house is really functioning well with all our new space and storage room! He still has an awful lot of projects on 'the list' but I think we are down to the kinds of things that are on any homeowners list now - phewf!

Baby update

I feel huge :) Our latest doctor's appointment gave us some indication that baby might decide to arrive earlier than the scheduled date of Aug 23rd, but then again maybe not. This coincided with a terribly painful night when I had thought several times that I might be going into labour. As a result I left work a couple of days early and have been on mat leave now for about a week. The painful night was caused by a combination of baby 'dropping' (which was pretty painful in itself as it felt like she was making room for that larger than average head for about a week!) and my hips beginning to separate which somehow involved a nerve that ended up feeling like cyatic nerve pain. OMG! What a night. I ended up doing a lot of things that I would have done if I was in labour like yoga poses and a soak in the not-so-hot- hot tub. I eventually felt good enough to go back to sleep, after about 3 hours, but woke up convinced that I was done with working. I think all this hip pain was probably exacerbated by the fact that I've gained 40lbs already. I am 'big all over" this time around :) I'm really hoping that there is a LOT of water retention going on in this body.

I have been looking back at our blog from my pregnancy with Violet and her early days and realize that this baby might start feeling like the typical second child because we have written so little about this pregnancy. There is no doubt, I truly get it now, that pregnancy and I'm sure parenting when you already have another child is just a completely different experience. We just don't find much time to write down what's happening with the pregnancy, Violet or life in general. I love being able to look back and remember in detail all the little things that make our family life so special and valuable to us so I am hopeful that I will manage to find the time to write things down here more often - our new second computer should help I hope.

One of the major differences with this pregnancy is that I have slept a lot more (and I'm bigger - have I mentioned that already!?), oh how I hope this is a sign of things to come! I'm not sure if its me or baby but I manage to sleep most nights these days. I only have trouble if I can't get right back to sleep after going to the bathroom (currently only 1 time per night!) or if Violet wakes up for some reason. Then its my head that keeps me awake and baby usually joins in for an early morning visit that can last for quite a while. I have been really enjoying having this little being inside me and as much as I am starting to feel like I'm losing my mobility and want to meet her soon, I kind of like having her all to myself for the most part.

We have finally put the name search to bed...but we aren't telling yet!

Our baby room is ready now as well, just missing a piece of artwork from big sister Violet. We will take some pics and post them.

Violet update:

Violet accomplished a major milestone in the past couple of weeks. She finally gave up her soother "soosie". We tried at Christmas and lost her voluntary participation at the last moment and for some reason we just haven't had to gumption to push the issue again until recently. We did start to push it though a couple of weeks ago and she decided to have a few practice nights without the soosie before officially letting the soosie fairy come to take the soosies away for little babies. She got along great and only had a few nights where her settling down to sleep process was longer than ususal but we also had guests at the time so we weren't surprised. Finally she thought she had enough practice to let the magical fairy some to our house. The trade, of course, was well thought out by Violet. She wanted the soosie fairy to leave her a scooter, in a box, with a gold ribbon. Her wish was granted and now she is the proud owner of a 5yr+ Razor scooter complete with girly kneepads, elbow pads and gloves. She woke up on the big day and immediately put on the safety gear and took her new scooter for a ride around the house. Of course, as she likes to sleep naked these days (no its not our way of saving on pj costs!) it was quite a sight!

Violet is very keen to be the centre of attention and really is experimenting with being funny. When we were in the car with Rachel, Ben and Sam during their trip, Violet piped up with several stories that all ended with "a man getting covered in goo"! We all did think it was pretty funny and induldged her for about 5 minutes. Then Sam said "Violet do you want to hear something really hilarious?" To which she responded with perfect 3 year old comic timing "no thank you!" Many more laughs ensued.

Some favourite words and phrases are "actually", "but mommy or but daddy" and anything with 4 or more syllables. She really likes Fancy Nancy books which include a lot of 'fancy' words so I think this is where she is picking up a lot of her words. She loves to learn and is really keen on learning her letters and how to write them - patience is not always with her to make it happen but she is still keen to keep trying.

V is so excited about the baby - hope it lasts when baby is actually here. A few weeks after baby's arrival she will be starting preschool so we are hoping it will be good timing for her to have her own special thing starting.

Well there is my epic update. Let's see what news the next one includes... :)

June already

Here are some pics from May - the belly has developed A LOT since these but the photos haven't been downloaded yet.

Our not so little baby is having lots of fun in the womb. She is pretty busy but (knock on wood) she is letting her mother sleep through the night most nights but if mommy can't sleep for any reason other than a busy baby, she will happily wake up and join the party. Her kicks are plenty strong for her big sis to feel these days. Violet is being so loving and caring its really sweet. I can't leave the house (or the room) without baby getting a kiss and hug first and she has taken to caring for me, following daddy's lead. Tonight after work I was sat down at the table to put my feet up while Jon made dinner and Violet brought me a blanket to cover my legs (though I wasn't cold, she wanted me to be cozy...) Then she told me the only thing I was allowed to do was read her some books. ok, I can take an evening like that when its possible.  The doctor has me 'taking it easier' at the moment so my lovely family are making sure I do just that.

Jon is still ticking pretty major projects off the list around the house, tonight it is tearing down the shed in the back yard. I THINK when this is done, that will be most of the big stuff finished but I could be wrong it never seems to end. Let's just say a lot has been accomplished around here. Baby's room is almost ready, she and Violet have some lovely flower murals that Jon painted and there is a new closet organizer installed as well as curtains and a whole bunch of other stuff. In an effort to darken Violet's room, we bought her some pretty ugly blackout curtains, still working on making them prettier, but she also chose some incredibly girly decorative sheers to go with them - she loves them, daddy doesn't.

We were tourists in our own city on friday, we had dinner downtown and then walked along the waterfront taking in the buskers, the market and all the activities. Violet, who was wearing a particularly outrageous outfit she had chosen, was grooving to a steel drummer/guitarist who was playing a lot of reggae until her parents tore her away finally. When we told her he was playing steel drums she looked at us thoughtfully and said "yeah, the man steals them and then he brings them here to play music".

2 Girls!

It's probably not news to anyone now that we are expecting another baby girl (its been ALL over facebook :). We are so excited and Violet is over the moon at the thought of a baby sister.  We had an ultrasound last week and everything is coming along as it should. Baby is healthy and BIG. She is in the 90th percentile for the measurement of her head, length of her legs and size of her tummy (actually a little more than 90th on this measurement). This has pretty much solidified for us that I will have a scheduled c-section for this delivery. I was seriously considering a VBAC to try and have a natural delivery but these babies of ours with the big heads aren't really great for that option.  We have already met the obstetrician that will do the surgery and he seems great so we will see him again soon to have the delivery scheduled.

Jon has had to repaint the baby's room as two of the walls were messed up during our reno. Its a fresh start with a sunny yellow colour and plans for a flower mural.

Here are some recent pics which include visits from from Nanny in March and Grandpa in April.

Violet's been really focussed on her friends lately. She has playdates with Jeremy (2) and Samantha (3.5) every week, they are kids who live on our street and we try to get her to see other buddies, especiallly her friend Quinn as often as we can as these two girls LOVE playing together. It's really fun watching her young relationships bud, Violet is so content when there is another kid around to entertain her.

She is also really using her imagination a lot which is quite fascinating to watch. She uses her stuffed animals to hold tea parties, play games and dance around the house. She has lots of conversations with them and likes to treat them like they are friends or babies - some interesting conversations are occuring.

Jon and V finished swimming lessons this week. Jon is going to teach her himself for the summer and then look at lessons again in the fall. We gave up on gymnastics in after 3-4 classes. It was a bit of a gong show. She was spending half the class either confused or waiting in line - which no one in the class really knew how to do. She did learn some things so its too bad but now its warm outside so we would rather spend time at the playground on a saturday morning anyway.

I am feeling a big large but otherwise pretty good. Baby is very busy but not making me uncomfortable - just busy hands that tickle all day and a few kicks at night. Jon has felt her kick a few times but she is generally  elusive when there are hands on my belly. I like having her to myself while I can...

Big Girl, more than ever

I'm not sure what made 3 the magical age where your child gains so much independence all at once but all of a sudden Violet is now in classes BY HERSELF!  And of course she loves it - this week was her first swimming lesson without one of her parents in the pool. She didn't hesitate to go with the teacher into the pool and hung on every word she said,eager to learn all the 'moves' she had to teach her.  Today is her first gymnastics class which she will also attend by herself, even though her mother is really wanting to be a fly on the wall at least for a little while to see how she interacts with the teacher and the other kids.

V is going through some shyness these days but it isn't preventing her from doing anything yet. We are hoping to give her the confidence to go for it instead of being shy. Yesterday at the playground she asked Jon how she could play with another girl (about a 7 year old) and once given the instruction to just say hello she was on her way and ran around the playground with a whole group of older kids for an hour.

She's also riding her bicycle with a lot of confidence these days - so much so that its scary to watch her go down a hill :) She has a peddle-free bike that she pushes with her feet. The idea is that she will gain balance faster than on a tricycle because she can lift up her feet and glide when she gets going - she is just starting to pick up her feet and is having so much fun.  This has come after quite a lot of time spent with Violet and Jon slowly walking around the block as Violet got up her nerve.

We are very excited about our next baby Gleed - baby has started kicking, so far only hard enough for mommy to feel. The attached ultrasound photo is pretty unsatisfying but its all they could capture at 12 weeks because the little monkey was so busy jumping around in there. On the theme of babies, I came across this article on baby names this morning and thought there were some pretty funny ones coming out of Alberta.

We are nowhere near the atge of picking names though if our last experience is any indication we should get started because it is SUCH a hard thing to do!

Happy Valentines Day

Lots of updates from the Gleed clan, Violet as a 3 year old is, well Jekyll and Hyde basically. One minutes she is the sweetest, funniest, smartest little thing and we just can't get over how much she is developing and changing day by day. The next minute, she is in a full-on screaming, kicking tantrum about a tiny little thing that didn't go her way.  Case in point was her first experience at preschool at the open house this week. She was having SUCH an amazing time but then got quite upset when a BOY (yes - it would have been ok if it was a girl apparently) came to play beside her. She recovered from that and played happily with the other kids for another 20 minutes or so until one of her parents made a minor suggestion to correct something she was doing - tears again. And the finale, despite 5 minute warnings for about 20 minutes that we would have to leave soon, she through a total wally when we attempted to remove her play clothes and get ready to leave. This was perhaps the worst tantrum she has ever thrown, we were so proud :)

Here are recent pics from our ski trip to Mount Washington and around some others. Jon had Violet in a lesson then took her on lots more runs after that, he skied backwards all afternoon so they were both completely exhausted at the end of the day. The girl has absolutely no fear and loved the slopes. She is a bit of a speed demon.

I'm trying to type this with Violet on my lap, she has a new love of computer games ( she has mastered using the mouse and is pretty independent playing games on treehouse and Nick Jr) and is currently demanding either to type or play a game - this post will not be much longer...

To keep the whining at bay a little, here are some words from Violet. bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbcccccccccccffffffffffffffffffffffhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhdddddddddddddddddddllllllllll

I've just asked her what she is excited about these days and she said her potty. She has been fully trained for a while now and has only ever had a few accidents. She also kicked the diapers at night time.

She says she is also excited (still) about her birthday - she is already planning for next year I think.

She is most excited though about being a big sister! We are expecting a baby on Aug 31. I am feeling pretty good (and large), looking forward to the second trimester when I hope to have a little more energy and don't have to send my husband out on shopping missions for my cravings.

In looking back at the blog, we realized that we thought there were more photos and videos from Christmas and  V's birthday here are some more.

Happy Valentines Day!

Sorry this took so long. Christmas and V's birthday is a very busy time for us.

Here are few pics during and around V's birthday. Click here.