Update on the Paci

Sebastien really didn't take willingly to the paci - grudgedly accepting it only if he was really in pain and nothing else was forthcoming - so I guess I shouldn't be surprised to find that he really doesn't take it at all now. I probably could go out and buy a lot of different types to see if he'd take one, but I really couldn't be bothered (maybe I'll change my tune at 3am one morning when he just can't be calmed...). The more perturbing trend is his starting to refuse the bottle. A more recent occurance, Brett and I are wondering if he will wander down the same path as Alex and refuse bottles unless desperate. We had thought that we wouldn't face that issue as (opposite of Alex) we introduced him to a bottle before a month old and have been giving him at least a bottle a day (thanks daddy for those early a.m. feedings!) whilst with Alex we'd waited until 3 mths to do that. We're waiting to see how the coming week goes...

Been a bit slack...

Wow, the month is almost gone and I see that the last time I posted was the 4th...all I can say is that it's been quite a month! I've just sat down to catch up on my posts having seen my mum and dad off at the airport this afternoon. So bear with me as I post to my heart's content this evening...I'll try to make them bite sized posts but there will be many photos!

To Paci, or not to Paci...

That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer...sorry old Bard. I've just been pondering the question lately. As a NON-paci provider (sorry Grandma) to Alex, I figured that the same would be the case for Sebastien. Well, to date Sebastien has proven a "gassier" baby than Alex, with some spit-up moments after horrendous amounts of time spent burping him. This meant that not a lot of sleep was happening - for him or his Mummy!

A friend mentioned using a pacifier to help, and in sleep deprieved desperation I threw my preconceptions out the window and broke out the only pacifier in the house (one to administer medecine that we had been given before Alex arrived) and he used it, grudgingly, that very same night. "Eureka!" I thought. But it turns out that more often than not, he declines the pacifier when offered it. I'm not about to go out and buy different pacifiers to find one he may prefer - his sleep pattern is settling down and when he is truly gassy and miserable (as am I) he accepts the pacifier then - say every 2-3 evenings.

Anyway, just wanted to put it down in writing that I'd broken down and offered Sebastien a pacifier - just for Grandma to read!

Here's something I prepared earlier...

Ahh, Grandie and Poppie sent a wonderful box of goodies all the way from Australia - and included was an Alex-sized apron. So as Alex is now in the "very helpful" stage (when she isn't perfecting her "I'm a terrible-two-toddler" tantrum) I decided we needed to start cooking together on a more regular basis. I'm trying to find toddler friendly recipes that she can help me with.

Here are a few photos of our latest cooking adventure - Alex's favorite "cupcakes" cornbread.

First of all, we stand on our special step that lets us get into all sorts of things in the kitchen (and yes, that is our very sharp knife knifeblock on the bench). Then we smile at the camera, show off what we are making and say "cheese".










Then we very carefully pour our ingredients into our bowl, mix it somewhat erratically and make sure Mummy puts the correct amount into each muffin paper.







Finally we hide as we start a long-putoff tantrum instead of smiling for the camera with our finished product.

All in a day's work, really!

Shrek 3...Shriek!

No photo with this post - today we decided to take in a free movie (Shrek 3) at Savoy Theater before heading over to Parkland's Dodds Fields to watch Daddy play his final game of soccer for the season. Well, we were a little late and so arrived after the movie had started. No sooner had we sat down, than the action on the big screen (for those who've seen the movie, when Shrek and Princess Fiona get all dressed up for an event and the costume's they're in spring apart) proved too much for Alex and she started crying - a lot - and asking to leave.

So we ended up sitting on the carpeted floor just outside the theater with Alex on my lap, Daddy next to us and Sebastien...still asleep. Much discussion ensued about what exactly made her cry ("I'm scared mummy" and "What was Hector doing?" - she confused Shrek with a storybook character she had previously read about) and whether she wanted to go back in - "No". It seems that with a lack of tv etc, she can't discern the difference between real and pretend. That not having seen cartoons or their equivalent before, she fears that what she's seeing is actually happening to people (and that they're suffering). We're not sure whether this is a good thing or not...and I really wanted to see the movie! Instead we hung out at a park - much less threatening!

Orange and Blue Scrimmage

So I guess I'm pretty good at answering quizes. Brett has won once (Panera Bread $10 gift card - which he kindly allowed me to use :)). For the second time this year I won a radio station prize (the first time was a pool party - not the swimming kind - at a local bar) with the prize being 4 tickets to the Orange and Blue Basketball Scrimmage at Assembly Hall. So Brett and I took Alex and Sebastien to see his first Illini sport. Alex loves to wear her Illini headband. Here are the three of them - btw Sebastien slept through the entire game.

She was pretty good and lasted the whole hour and a half (with the help of some snacks).

Although you weren't meant to take in food and drink, the security guard let me - I mean, the concessions stands weren't selling yoghurt, apple slices and cheerios for young kids so we weren't about to buy from there! The tattoo on her cheek was from a week before when Brett took her to watch a women's soccer match. The "Illinois Fever" tattoo was not allowed to be washed all week. We're not sure what sport we'll see next, maybe wrestling or gymnastics.

Trick or Treat!!

So friends had a Halloween party (part of the Econ/baby crowd) which we went to. Trick or treat hours were 6-8pm tonight so the party started at 5pm. Everyone bar me dressed up (don't ask - it was a horrible, horrible afternoon - I went as a mummy) and it was so cool! Lisa and Jason had gone all out on the decorations and food plus "potion" beverage which were great. Here are more photos - Daddy as a werewolf (long black nails and fangs plus overcoat), Sebastien as an imp and Alex as a bumblebee - yes, we got her back into that costume! Though she really wanted to wear last year's lion costume (too small) or the rabbit again.








Then everyone headed out to the neighborhood at around 7pm to trick or treat. It was quite the crowd from our party - here's Alex getting candy whilst Tigrin, Zaruhi, Arthur and Monica look on. Alex pretty soon got the idea of what trick or treating involved tonight - and immediately ran off (literally) to the next house, and the next house, and the next house...and refused to return to the party because there were still houses to visit! A pretty good neighborhood for trick or treating as most of the "loot" was chocolate.



One of the trick or treaters - Max - in his Elvis impersonation. His mummy is very talented and spent the week making his, his daddy's and her costumes. Very cute!










After Trick or Treating, we headed back to the party for some Pinata Fun - pull a string and see if it opens the pinata. Alex wasn't successful, but she did manage to get even more candy...enough to last until Easter!
















We headed for home at 8pm. Given Alex hadn't had a nap, had had an energetic playgroup that morning (see post about the leaves) and had really withheld badly that afternoon (to the point where I rang her doctor for advice), she was in quite a good mood - blame it on the sugar fix! And she hadn't even touched her "loot".

She didn't want to head home though and wanted to go and trick or treat some more. When we got home, she went to bed whilst her daddy and I sorted the "loot" into "daddy's pile" and "Alex's pile" - pretty much gum and lollypops for daddy and the rest for Alex. She is sharing her "candy" with her daddy for dessert at the moment. The bag on the left is the one she decorated with stickers and gluing on pictures at playgroup the previous week.

Truly Fall Weather and it's Halloween!

OK - Blogger is not spacing how I want it to and I'm deleting photos each time I try to edit it. So I'm leaving it however it turns out.

We had an excellent playgroup at Jen, Anna and Olivia's house with pretty much all first-born girls there (sorry Nicholas!). At the end, Jen got out the rake and raked a pile of leaves together for some traditional "jump in and throw them around" autumn fun. The girls (and moms) had a ball! Here are some photos of them: L-R Kaelyn, (mom) Mary, Kylie, Alex and Sarah.





L-R Alex, Sarah (back) and Anna enjoy a stomp in the leaves.








The girls check out the pumpkins (remember our visit to the pumpkin patch?) L-R Kaelyn, Kylie and Alex.

Check out those scary pumpkins! L-R Sarah, Kaelyn, Anna, Alex and Kylie.




Needless to say, Alex didn't want to go home...as usual!

More pre-Halloween

Here are some more friends who attended the Tuesday Tea Halloween-style before Halloween. The children had just been dancing round and round singing "Ring a Rosie" and we managed to get them to sit still to take this photo. L-R Ivan, Alex (Rabbit), Anna (Minnie Mouse) and Lukas (teletubby).

And then the following Tuesday we had another Halloween parade at a nursing home/retirement home. Here are the babies of the group, Sebastien is in the back with Alex just behind him. By this stage, Alex is starting to get the hang of Halloween - you walk around saying "Happy Halloween" and "Trick or Treat" and then at the end you get candy. At least I didn't have to coerce her into this costume!

Thanks, but no thanks!

Imagine spending time to write thank-you's to all the generous people who had made your family meals or given your baby a gift. Then imagine seeing how that ended up - after just a quick trip across town via USPS. I shudder to think - must have been a pretty rough trip to end up torn in 3, and put into a plastic bag...no thanks! (Thanks to Jen for the photo - otherwise I may never have known!;))

The leadup to Halloween 2007

Warning - lots of photos!

Well, it's almost Halloween and Daddy (who once famously said "I won't take 'em trcik or treating until they can at least say 'trick or treat'") is contemplating being a werewolf - surely to avoid shaving again...

So this past week has been hectic! Between a halloween party for a Moms group I belong to, an afternoon tea in costume at a retirement home, a Halloween playgroup followed by pumpkin hunting at a pumkin patch and a Halloween parade at the county retirement/nursing home, it has been busy, busy, busy!

Some pictures from the past week:

Alex and Andie - Bumblebee and Ladybird. Alex was so unimpressed by her costume - it doesn't have a zip and so has to go over her head which for some reason really freaks her out at the moment. She hadn't wore her costume up until this photo and the only reason she decided to wear it was because I told her only kids wearing costumes got given Halloween candy...

Sebastien, on the other hand, was asleep the whole time in his 'My Little Pumpkin" suit.

After the moms group party, some of us headed out for lunch - aptly described in one of my friend's blogs as "a restaurant patron's worst nightmare" we were seated in s nice section to (almost) ourselves and had a pretty enjoyable time.

Here's Alex, on the big kids table, with Anna, Brynn, Evie and Brayden...

...And here are the rest of us - six mummies, eleven kids (five in infant car seats) - fun all round!

Playgroup saw Alex and Anna squeeze into an armchair to read together (Anna is in her Minnie Mouse costume - Alex's rabbit costume, thanks Aunty Lyndall and Uncle Pip, is in the stroller).

And off we go! After Playgroup, Jen was kind enough to get directions to a local Pumpkin Patch to go get some Halloween pumpkins! Here are Alex and Anna ready to go for a ride in the wagon.

One for you and one for me...some of the smaller pumpkins on offer - actually Anna was choosing a pumpkin for her little sister Olivia.

Alex taking our pumpkin up to pay the man - not bad for $2!

Then we headed home - but not before getting a shot of the girls with the biggest pumpkins I'd ever seen for sale! They're as big as the girls!

Look for the posting of next week which will have Halloween trick or treating itself!

Sebastien hits the big ONE MONTH!

Can you believe it?! We can't (perhaps we're too sleep deprived) but it's been a whole month since Sebastien joined us. So in the same tradition we had as with Alex, we're taking an anniversary photo of him with his own "Council of Friends" - though his is significantly smaller than his sister's! Alex was just so excited to see Great Nanna's quilt being placed on the ground with Sebastien's toys, that she wanted to joing right in - and here's the result!

How many balloons are enough?

Ah yes, the philosophical questions that arise from attending a birthday party...and we're all about the BIG questions!

It takes a village

The saying goes that it takes a village to raise a child, but in our household - once there's "mummy's milk" in the fridge - it just takes one very independent 2 1/2 year old!

Visitors from Australia!

How busy our lives have been! We've been very excited to have had Granddad and Grandma visit from Australia. They visited the week after Sebastien was born and spent a week here during their grand 'round world holiday. We spent time at a Hayrack ride picnic, Monday Mania, and generally running around to make sure we got out of the house each day (for Alex and mummy's sanity). They also bought Alex a pair of red sparkly shoes that have only been off her feet for baths and bedtime...very much loved shoes!

There's no place like home, there's no place like home...

Anyone reading this blog should know all about Alex's shoe fetish (no, I'm sure she's adopted - no wait, I have stretch marks to prove she's mine...) and this fetishist has her very own enablers. No, not her mummy, but everyone else in her life. Having just had a visit from Grandma and Grandad, Alex is now the proud (very proud) owner of some red sparkly shoes a la Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

She has worn them at least every other day ever since she got them. To be fair, Grandma did try to steer her towards the BLACK sparkly shoes - but I figure that's just because I happened to be there - Grandma looked like she was having way too much fun!

I'm feeding him mummy!!

These were the words (very delighted and excited indeed) that I heard as I brushed my teeth, leaving Alex and Sebastien alone in the living room...can you imagine the 101 things that immediately flashed through my mind?!

As I raced into the other room I was greeted with this image - so I had to take a photo. Alex has absorbed more of her brother's arrival details than we'd thought! At least it was an unwashed finger and not the contents of the fridge or pantry (or toybox)!

Alex's new trike!

So, Alex's reward for going 7 days without wetting or dirtying her pants or nappy was a trike - strategically placed in her room up high so she could see it but not play with it. But it's taken quite a while to get there - and we're not completely there yet. But she did do 7 days and now is a proud trike owner, "parking" it next to Daddy's in the bike rack. We were getting a little worried that it'd snow before she got the chance to ride it, but here we are at the start of Autumn and all's well.
Her legs are only just long enough to reach the pedals - she can pedal along the flat but if there is a bump, she just can't make it over it. She just needs an extra 1/2 inch in her legs and she'll be right as rain. But she is very proud and happy with her bike - it even has a registration sticker just like Daddy's!

Oh, and this trumped Sebastien's arrival - at least for the moment!!

Three become Four

The new family - just before we head for home.
I'm a big sister! I want to hold him "by myself"! He's looking at me!
Mummy, Alex and Sebastien - let's head for home.
Father and son. Taking a break on the couch/bed in Carle Foundation Hospital.

Sebastien Nevin Graham...Come on Down!

At 14:04 on Sunday September 23 2007, Sebastien arrived to join our family. Although the labor was only a little shorter than it had been with Alex, at least this time round there was no drip and hardly any electronic fetal monitoring to tie me to the bed.

Vital Statistics: length 20 inches, weight 8 pounds 7 ounces

What to do with 5 minutes alone and a pen...

Well, give Alex sufficient time and an available pen, and she tattoos herself! Yep, both arms and legs - I guess I should be happy that the shirt missed out on some pen action...

She even added "nailpolish" on all her fingernails - ever the girlie-girl. So here's a photo of her looking proud as punch about her activity - I asked her daddy to get the camera once she'd come in to show me her efforts (I was napping - good thing too cause Sebastien arrived the next day).

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

And the third bed was just right...

Nothing much to this one, Alex's bedtime routine includes a story and she's taken to asking Daddy to read to her in bed. A mean feat given her bed is a toddler sized one! She's aware that Mummy is "too big" to read in her bed so instead we read on the Mummy's "animal chair" - a recliner with an Ark theme quilt (made by my grandmother) on it's back. Note the princess quilt on the bed - we're still very much taken with princesses...especially Cinderella!

Career Matchmaking

Try this out:
Go to www.careercruising.com, enter user name "nycareers" and password "landmark". Then go to Career Matchmaker and see what comes of it.

My top ten, based on my answers, were:
1.Plumber
2.Furniture Finisher
3.Picture Framer
4.Bicycle Mechanic
5.Musical Instrument Builder and Repairer
6.Massage Therapist
7.Glazier
8.Sign Maker
9.Electronics Assembler
10.Upholsterer

But once I chose a level of education (university) that I was interested in (because I already had) they were:
1.Human Resources Specialist
2.Midwife
3.Occupational Therapist
4.Foreign Service Officer
5.Probation / Parole Officer
6.Clergy
7.Auditor
8.Speech-Language Pathologist
9.Special Education Teacher
10.High School Teacher

Then I cleared it back to the original and answered additional questions, it became:
1.Foreign Language Instructor
2.Translator
3.Naturopath
4.Paralegal
5.Editor
6.Adoption Counselor
7.Certified Public Accountant
8.Human Resources Specialist
9.Communications Specialist
10.Writer

This last list is probably most what I think of. Out of the 10, I think I've thought about pursuing 6 of them - not bad really. The second list I'd thought about 3 of them, certainly better that the first list of which I thought about zero!

What about you?

Preparing for a little brother

Part of helping Alex with the imminent arrival is her helping us prepare - folding clothes and working out which drawers are Sebastien's, bringing out special baby toys, getting his bed ready etc. So this morning Alex and Daddy spent some time putting the pack'n'play together, complete with bassinnette and change table. Alex immediately wanted to get in it and needed to be convinced that it really was just for babies and not for little girls.

38 weeks and counting...

OK, so I'm over the "no photos" thing and decided to post this last photo of me pregnant. I just asked Alex where Sebastien was and she told me my tummy - and Brett caught this photo. I'm really impatient now, as Alex was 12 days early which means in 2 days time for Sebastien - but he looks like he's way too comfortable there and looks to have no intention of following his sister's eagerness to "escape"...here's hoping!

Turkey Run State Park - More time off for good behaviour

Today Lys got more time off for good behaviour as the impending arrival of Sebastien approaches. Alex and I took the bus to Turkey Run State Park in Indiana early in the morning to experience some 'nature'. After the 90 minute bus ride we were ready for a 'little walk'.The day started off well, enough, overcast and warm. Perfect for a stroll in the 'Spooky Forest' with our new new friend - 'stick'. We chose a walk that Alex could get her teeth into with lots of stairs to climb and even a ladder or two.
However, by the start of the second hour the heavens opened and the rain coat had to come out. For someone who likes pink though this was more a cause for celebration than sorrow. It also created lots of muddy puddles to 'avoid'.The raincoat did a great job of keeping her clothes clean. Now I just need something for the rest of her.

30 Months Council Of Friends

So we've graduated from taking the "Council of Friends" photo monthly (up until HRH Alex turned 2) to six monthly. Here is the most recent one taken on 2nd September 2007 when Alex was 2 1/2 years old. We find the most fascinating thing about the photo now is the number of friends she's accumulated over the time - and the fact that we haven't bought any of them ourselves! Of course, we used to measure her against "Big Bear" to see how big she was getting, but now it's more a case of how much bigger than him she is!