I know, I know, I’m behind

I have said to Chris a number of times, “I should update the blog” and then I don’t. I blame it on the fact that I update from the laptop where all the photos are kept and I’m mainly on my iPad. Oh, and that I’m busy watching the girls cuz that’s what I’m supposed to be doing while on mat leave right?

May 2012:

We went to African Lion Safari on May 4. Aurora loved the animals!!! She and Chris were egging the monkeys on, both of them saying “come here monkey, come here” to try and get them onto our car. I was hella nervous they would climb on (the car infront of us had 3 monkeys on it and 1 peed) but luckily we got out of there unscathed. We’re pretty sure that Aurora’s favourite animal is the elephant so it was no surprise that she talked about the elephant show for weeks afterwards. Even still she’ll talk about an elephant painting because that’s what 1 did. I’m pretty sure she thinks all elephants paint. The trip would have been made better by some warmer weather, no tantrums from Aurora, and Sophie’s silence in the car but what can you do?

For Mother’s Day I got a new pair of running shoes which I desperately needed. I got the ones I wanted too, how did Chris know? Of that’s right, I went shopping for them :) We went out to dinner which was a disaster with a baby and toddler and no reservation but in hindsight I appreciated the efforts Chris made.  And spending time with my little family is always nice.
















On May 23 Sophie participated in her first (and second) research study for the University of Toronto, Mississauga campus, in the Infant and Child Studies Centre. Aurora has participated in quite a few of these studies as well. She even got a certificate deeming her a Juniour Scientist as well as a toy.

May 31st marked mine and Aurora’s birthdays. We went out for lunch, ordered dinner in, and Aurora and I both got to open a present. I got an awesome, totally over-the-top, new camera (you’ll see a difference in the quality of my photos from this date forward) along with a carrying case for it from Chris and the girls, and Aurora opened Sophie’s gift which was a Zooble. We left the rest of her gifts for her party, which was on June 2. And this is a perfect segue into June.

June 2012:

June 2 was Aurora’s 2nd birthday party. Our theme this year was Elmo, as she’s absolutely obsessed with him (or was. She seems to have moved onto Toopy and Binoo, or as she calls them “Toopys and Binoo”). We had an Elmo balloon, Elmo banner, Elmo crackers, Elmo plates/napkins/tablecloth, Elmo fruit and veggie bowls, and the best of all, Elmo cupcakes. We played a few Elmo’s World inspired games for the kids, had pizza, ate our cupcakes (Aurora did awesome blowing her candle out!), and Aurora opened her presents. As always she was spoiled; money, doll house, clothes, Leap Pad, Zoobles, and a bike (from Mommy and Daddy). She had a great time, as did her cousins who couldn’t stop talking about the party. Happy 2nd birthday Aurora, you’re such a big girl and loved very, very much!

June 10 was our 6 year wedding anniversary. Keeping with the traditional gifts (candy or iron for 6 years), I made Chris a candy bouquet and he got me a giant personalized cookie. What a sweet anniversary!!! My brother and sister-in-law, Randy and Alex, watched the girls and we went to a movie (Snow White and the Huntsman – very good!) and dinner.  It was nice to spend the time alone as we don’t get to do it often.














On June 11th the girls and I went with my sister, Danna, and nephew, Zachary, to the Toronto Zoo. Aurora absolutely loved it!!! She is very interested in animals lately. Again, her favourite was the “ephelant” but she also talks about the polar bears a lot (maybe because 1 is named Aurora???). She recounted all the animals she saw that night to Chris before bed, and even still asks me what we saw. Sophie did amazing and was probably the best behaved out of all the kids. It was a long day but well worth it to see how excited the kids were. And I was pretty darn excited to see the polar bear cub, the white lions (although I couldn’t differentiate them from the regular ones), and the penguins!

On June 16th Aurora and I had a Mommy-Daughter date and went to the Flower City Parade (aka Brampton Parade). Aurora thoroughly enjoyed all the flowers on the floats, as well as all the bands. She waved at everyone that passed. At the end she asked for more music. We finished the date with some ice cream – yum!

For Father’s Day I made a DAD photo collage for Chris, and took a photo of Aurora holding a “D”, Sophie holding a “D” and both of them holding an “A” and then assembled it in a frame. It’s now proudly on display on his desk at work. The girls also got him a Toronto Blue Jays hat. We ordered dinner in that night.

Sophie continues on solids and has only turned her nose up at mashed potatoes. How is it that both my kids don’t care for potatoes??? She gets upset if we’re eating at the table and she’s not, so I’m back to eating my food cold once I’m doing feeding her (really enjoy that Aurora can feed herself now).  She’s in the 90th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight, as of her 6 month check on June 4. She can move backwards and in a circle and can get up on her hands and knees, but hasn’t figured out forward motion yet. She can get from her tummy to sitting and uses that as a mode of transportation.

Aurora’s vocabulary astonishes us on a daily basis (just the other day I said to Chris “I didn’t know she knew that word” – it was ticklish). The terrible 2s started even before she turned 2 and I deal with tantrums pretty much on a regular basis. They’re worse if she doesn’t nap, and she’s never been a good napper, so some days are pretty tough, but then she does something cute or sweet and I forget about it. She’s between the 90th and 95th percentile for her height and 75th percentile for her weight as of her 2 year check up on June 4. Yup, we have some tall girls on our hands!

Just a quick video

Here's a video of Sophie's first time trying rice cereal.

April update

Look at me, updating a month later! I said I would try. And as I type Sophie is napping and Aurora is supposed to be napping but is whining instead. Sigh. So I’m taking this moment to get my second wind before I go and get her. Or for her to fall asleep, whichever comes first.

At the beginning of April we celebrated Easter. Our first Easter activity was seeing The Easter Bunny and getting photos with EB at the mall. Aurora was excited to go but once there didn’t want to get close to EB. So we had Sophie sit with The Bunny and tried to get Aurora to get in the photo that way but no luck. We bought Sophie’s photo and thought that was all we were getting this year. But then Aurora got more and more brave, and kept watching other kids, and finally got close to EB. She didn’t want to sit on The Bunny’s lap, but once I sat beside EB she sat there and then I made a smooth escape. She was fine sitting there by herself, even gave EB a high-five, and we got a great photo! 

Our next Easter activity was an Easter Eggstravaganza playdate on Good Friday, complete with a potluck brunch and an egg hunt for the kiddos. We hadn't seen a lot of the kids in our playgroup lately since the majority are over 1 year old and therefore their moms are back at work. They're all so grown up! And it's always nice to get together with the moms and have adult conversation (and 15 other moms to watch your kids for you!)

Our last Easter activity was Easter Sunday at my brother and sister-in-law's, Randy and Alex. We had a BBQ lunch, the kids had an egg hunt, watched the movie Hop, and had dinner. I love getting together with my family, watching the kids play, and just enjoying family time.

We didn't do anything until the MS Walk on April 22. Aurora, Sophie, and I, aka The Sherwinators, walked 4km (well Sophie sat in the stroller and Aurora sat in the stroller for most of the walk but did walk a few times, including crossing the finish line where Daddy was waiting for her) in honour of my mother-in-law and Chris. It was a cold day, there were even some snowflakes, but we perservered and completed the walk in just under an hour. We raised $1100 (give or take a few bucks). I was very proud of us, and appreciated the support of everyone that donated to our team.

 





















In terms of development, Sophie started rice cereal on April 27, just after she turned 1 year old. She's ok with the first spoonful or 2, but then she's not too sure about it. I'm not sure if it's the texture or the fact that it doesn't stay warm like breast milk, or that it's on a spoon that's throwing her off, but I'm continuing to give it to her once a day at lunch. She also has been trying to crawl; she will get her knees up and push and has inchwormed forward. Aurora didn't start crawling until 7-8 months so this is new. She also moves in a circle pretty quickly.  I've figured out a trick to extending her 45 minute naps; I go in around the 35-40 minute mark and pat her bum and shush her and she gets passed her sleep cycle and doesn't wake and sleeps for about 2 hours. Now if she could figure out how to get passed that sleep transition on her own.  As for Aurora, she got another tooth at the end of March, another at the end of April, and another 2 days ago, bringing the count to a whooping 11 teeth. That means she still has 9 more teeth to go. Sigh. Teething sucks! It causes a diaper rash, a tantrumy toddler, a decrease in appetite, and messes with her sleep. I hate teeth and wish babies were born with them.

Stay tuned for next month's exciting update; Mother's Day and Aurora turning 2! (and me turning 32)

Family update

I really suck at keeping this blog updated. I had planned to update it once a month and yet my last update was at the end of December. Tsk tsk. I really will try from now on. I think it’s possible since now Sophie, at least for naps and the first part of the night, sleeps in her bassinet! *happy dance* At this age Aurora would only sleep in our arms or in bed with us. For those keeping score, that’s Sophie: 1, Aurora: 0.

So here are our January, February, and March updates. You’ll see that we’re a pretty boring bunch.

January update:

Chris turned 31. As a family we went out for Indian Buffet for lunch. I got Aurora the non-Indian foods (pizza, pasta, chow mein) as I wasn’t sure if she’d eat the spicier food and she kept wanting what was on our plate. She ended up not eating the pizza, which is 1 of her favourite foods, and loved the butter chicken! Who knew! Sophie slept through the whole meal. Afterwards we dropped the girls off at my sister Danna’s and went to see Mission Impossible 3. It was a pretty good movie. And the baby/kid break was nice. The next day we went out for Dim Sum lunch with our friends. Aurora loved the noodles and again, Sophie slept through the whole meal.

We finally took our Christmas tree down in late January and put up the ball pit/fort that we got Aurora for Christmas. She loves it!!! She calls it her house, and loves to hide in it. We need more balls though as 20 is nowhere near enough.

Aurora played in the snow for the first time. She was a bit apprehensive and didn’t want to touch it or sit in it. She did end up clearing some snow so she could go up the stairs to the slide at the park but still wouldn’t play in it. However she loves looking at snow out the window and has played in it a few times more (we haven’t gotten much snow here this winter) and just the other day said, “snow, I love it!”.

February update:

Aurora went on a trampoline for the first time. At first she was apprehensive, but once she started running around, she loved it. We’ve gone back to the indoor playground where it is and she always go to the trampoline first. And since going on the trampoline she can now consistently jump with both feet, and gets some pretty good air. Sophie likes going to the indoor playground as well; I think she likes watching all the kids.

Sophie sat in the Bumbo for the first time and didn’t hate it. She’s getting better spending more time in it which is a nice break for my arms. Did I mention she does not like being put down. And if you put her down and walk away that’s 10X worse? I go to the washroom to the sound of crying.

We continued to do tummy time which Sophie tolerates and she is now a rolling machine! She can consistently roll from her tummy to her back, but hates when she does.

Aurora got another tooth, making that her 7^th. 7 teeth at 21 months, what a slow teether. Tooth #7 is her top right first molar.

March update:

In the middle of the month we experienced some really nice weather so decided to go to a farm in Toronto. Aurora is really into animals lately and loved it! She wanted to feed a goat and ended up touching it's ear, and didn't want to leave the "piggies".

We also went to 2 birthday parties this month where Aurora experienced a bouncy castle for the first time (loved it!) and was petrified of a life sized Elmo (even though she loves watching Elmo's World and has 2 Elmos at home).

Aurora also got her 8th tooth, her right lower first molar.

Sophie giggled for the first time this month on March 4! It is the sweetest sound. Recently she has been having difficulty sleeping which I'm chaulking up to a 4 month sleep regression. Her naps have shortened and she wakes many times during the night. We're hoping that if we just keep doing what we've been doing that it'll correct itself.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas with an 18, almost 19, month old was so fun! Aurora loves unwrapping presents, and everything had to be immediately opened. It was fun to see which gifts excited her, which scared her, and which she didn't care about until the next day. She couldn't stop playing with her Littlest Pet Shop elephant from Auntie Amy, Uncle Todd, and cousins Lucy and Cole and wasn't interested in opening any other presents for a while afterwards. She was excited about her Cookie Monster toy while it was in the package but as soon as he spoke she got scared and ran away. It took Chris playing with it with the sound off for her to get relatively close. And yesterday was the first time she actually put the cookies in Cookie Monster's mouth; before that she was giving them to us to put in. She takes the puzzle pieces off her puzzles but gets frustrated trying to put them back and just leaves them lying on the floor. She's played cars, made music, pushed her babies around in their stroller and carried them in their carrier, and taken many pictures with her camera. We still need to blow up and assemble her ball pit/fort but I think that'll have to wait until the Christmas tree is gone so we have room.

Sophie slept through the entire gift opening process so we opened her presents for her. Although she may not appreciate what she got, Chris and I sure do!

We have no plans for New Years Eve/New Years Day. There are fireworks at both 9pm and midnight in downtown Brampton so I'm thinking of keeping Aurora up for the 9pm fireworks cuz we should be able to see them from our apartment (our window faces downtown and we were able to see them last year).

Sophie sleeping on some presents

2011 Sherwin family Christmas morning photo

Bambie and the girls

Aurora opening a present

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, and all the best in 2012!

Happy New Year!

Our newest family member

Just when I thought November was pretty uneventful for us, my water broke on November 25 and our second daughter, Sophie Laine Sherwin, was born on November 26.

I set a deadline for myself to have my Christmas shopping done by Dec 1 (my due date was Dec 7). I was Christmas shopping, alone, on November 23 when I felt a gush. I immediately thought, “oh no, I think my water broke”. I called Chris to let him know what happened and that I was going to find a washroom to check. I slowly walked through the mall (nervous that if it was my water breaking I’d end up with a huge puddle at my feet) and finally found a washroom about 10 minutes later. It turned out to be my mucous plug. With Aurora I lost my mucous plug when my water broke so this was new to me. I called Chris back to let him know, and that night we researched what that meant in terms of the onset of labour. I read it could be hours to weeks, and I was 38w so wasn’t as anxious as I was in that washroom.

In the middle of the night on November 25 I felt a gush when I changed positions. Then that morning I felt another gush while standing holding Aurora. I was concerned my water was leaking slowly. Luckily I had an OB appt early that afternoon and the OB checked to see if it was amniotic fluid; it wasn’t. She said it was normal discharge for that point in pregnancy (38w2d). At about 5:45p I had another gush while cooking dinner, followed by another, and another. I told Chris I thought it was my water breaking but didn’t want to seem like the boy that cried wolf as I thought it was that just 4 hours earlier and it wasn’t. He asked if I wanted to go to the hospital to have it checked and I said no, I’d wait it out. I continued to make dinner all the while the leaking increased in frequency and amount. I knew at this point it was in fact my water breaking. I used the trick I used with Aurora and put a size 5 diaper in my underwear so I could somewhat function while this was going on. I called my sister Danna to give her the heads up as she would be taking care of Aurora while Chris and I were at the hospital, and she was also my secondary couch if need be (and then my sister-in-law Alex would have watched Aurora). I decided to eat dinner, call the hospital, then call Danna back to giver her an update. When I called the hospital around 7pm contractions still hadn’t started. The triage nurse told me to go to the hospital around 9:30/10p if nothing happened, but in the meantime to do a lot of walking. By the time I got to my Danna’s house it was close to 9pm. I still hadn’t had any contractions. I put Aurora to bed and decided to go for a walk with my sisters around the neighbourhood to see if the contractions would start on their own as I didn’t want to be induced like I was with Aurora. I was angry at my body for not starting to have contractions on its own since it seemed I was going down the same road as I did with Aurora. I decided to do lunges while walking which seemed to only cause muscle soreness and fatigue. Finally at 11:20p I had my first contraction. After that the contractions came sporadically and the duration and intensity varied. Sometimes they were 20 minutes apart, sometimes 7. Sometimes I could talk and laugh during them, other times I had to tune everyone out. I called the hospital again around 1:30a and informed them of what transpired since my first call. The nurse actually got angry at me that I hadn’t gone in like she told me and told me to go in then…so I did. My sisters drove Chris and me to the hospital and we arrived around 2am on November 26.

I was checked by the doctor in Labour and Delivery around 2:30a and was 1cm and I believe the baby was high. I was moved to a birthing room at 4:30a. My nurse asked me if I wanted an epidural and at what point and I told her yes but wanted to be checked to see how far along as I was as I didn’t want to get it early and seem like a wimp. At that point the contractions were painful but manageable. I was 2cm and 60% effaced. The anaesthesiologist was next door doing an epi and I was given the option of getting it then. I agreed to that because really, why be in pain if I didn’t have to be? I got the epidural at 4:50a, and I did not remember it being that painful with Aurora. The pressure was incredible. I had a contraction while getting the epidural and tried my hardest not to move; it’s hard to say which hurt more, getting the epi or the contraction. Once I had the epidural I was in heaven! I couldn’t feel a thing. The epi took better this time than it did with Aurora as with Aurora I was still in pain and pressing my top up button fairly frequently. I was given oxytocin at 5:20a because my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart and they wanted them to be 2-3 minutes apart. At this point I tried to sleep but feel I really only rested and closed my eyes. It certainly didn’t feel like I slept. Around 6a I was experiencing a lot of pain. It started on my left side and moved to my entire lower abdomen as well as my thighs. I was having difficulty breathing through the contractions, and felt it would be helpful to kick my legs whenever I was having a contraction. Chris had to keep reminding me to breath through the contractions. At some point I was given an oxygen mask because baby’s heartrate was extremely affected by the contractions. My nurse said to give my top up button some time to kick in and if in half an hour I was still in pain she’d get the anaesthesiologist. She also checked my progress and I was 4cm dilated. My nurse ended up having to get the anaesthesiologist and around 6:45a my epi was increased. I was in heaven again once that kicked in. At 7:30a I was told I was fully dilated but they wanted my freezing to wear off a bit for pushing. My nurse also left at this time as her shift was over; I was disappointed she wouldn’t be there for the birth as we got to know and liked her. Very shortly after my nurse left, the doctor came in and told me to hold my legs and start pushing. I couldn’t feel a thing and so just told myself to push like I did for Aurora At 7:43a, after approximately 5 minutes of pushing, second daughter was born! Chris watched the whole thing and once the baby was out he looked at me and said, in a shocked voice, “it’s a girl”. My response: “really?????” I was so sure we were having a boy. I tried looking through my legs to make sure he was right. We hummed and hawed over her name for a bit as it was between Sophie and Madison, and ended up naming her Sophie Laine. Sophie weighed 7lbs 13oz (heavier than Aurora), measured 19.5” long (shorter than Aurora), and her head circumference was 35cm (slightly bigger than Aurora).

When Aurora met Sophie that morning, she was instantly in love. She was very excited and giggling, beeped her nose a lot and asked for “up high”s (high 5s), and even sang Happy Birthday to her. She calls her “Dophie” which now seems to have become a nickname for her. It was great to see Aurora so welcoming of her little sister. I can’t wait to watch them grow up together and hopefully be the best of friends.

We had a few issues during the first week, breastfeeding, possible jaundice, but all is going well now. In the first few weeks Sophie was a very sleepy baby and rarely cried, which is the opposite of Aurora, and I often had to wake her to nurse (which contributed to the concern about jaundice). After visiting a breastfeeding clinic (three times) things are going better with breastfeeding and Sophie had passed her birth weight by the time she was 10 days old. She’s also more alert now and while she still sleeps a lot during the day she does have long wakeful moments in the middle of the night (which I'm not fond of).

It’s been a big adjustment going from a family of 3 to a family of 4. I find it hard to divide my time between both girls, and decide who to go to when they both need me at the same time. Getting out of the house in a timely fashion is a rarity. And I have to do most things, baby-wise and in general, due to Chris' health. I'm exhausted. But luckily Aurora is quite independent and not at all jealous of Sophie, and she loves to read so we snuggle and read a lot while I’m breastfeeding (or watch Yo Gabba Gabba).

And now for photos:

Our first photo with Sophie

Peeking over my shoulder

Sticking out her tongue

Our first family of 4 photo


Fast asleep and swaddled at the hospital

Going home

Sporting a handmade knit hat by a friend of mine (I tried to knit one as well but that didn't go so well. It's still not finished.)

Aurora and Sophie holding hands while both having a drink

Going to see Santa on December 2


Belly progression collage

Fast asleep

Our pretty girl

(Christmas post to come)