Long time no type...

Well, I've been planning this post for weeks. I was going to blog more about our adventures while my Mum was here, but her visit flew by and before I knew it we were packing her back on a plane. After she left I had no hope of finding time to make a post because suddenly it was even crazier than before she arrived. I really got used to having an extra pair of hands for that week!

So now, finally, I have a few minutes. Adele is sleeping on my lap, and I have until I accidentally elbow her in the head to make this post.

Having my Mum visit was wonderful. We had a lot of fun. One day we visited the Children's museum... Fiona had lots of fun doing all her favorite things...

Sliding...

Looking at stuff...

Doing some very serious shopping... she refused to smile, she was very busy.

And one of her all-time favorite things... drying her hands!

They also had some cute rats to pet. Fiona really liked this, and even gave the rat that was still in his box a kiss...

We had a lot of fun, and the girls were so tired that they both fell asleep on the way home...

We had a lovely time with Granny!

Since she left we've been working and going to daycare and hanging out with our friends. It's getting warmer so we've been spending more time outside. Adele has been sleeping well about 3 nights a week and poorly for the other 4, and usually refuses to nap unless someone holds her the whole time. Occasionally we manage to put her down, but for this to be successful we need to turn her into a baby burrito first...

Notice that she still has one eye just a little bit open to make sure we're not getting too relaxed. As soon as she notices we're trying to watch tv or maybe eat dinner she wakes right up. Keeps us on our toes!

Fiona's newest obsession is planes, buses and trains. Whenever we go out in the car she starts yelling for them, and when she spots one she gets more excited than I thought was possible. She spots planes that are just tiny specks in the sky and announces very loudly "PLANE!! UP HIGH!!". It's really funny.

She recently discovered a book we have about trains. Here's a video of her reading it with Daddy. It makes me smile.

And yes, she's kissing the trains. I don't know where this desire to kiss things came from, but I sincerely hope it doesn't extend to boys at daycare. Better keep our eyes on this one...

Granny Visits!

My Mum came to visit on Friday, she'll be here for a week. It's very exciting! The excitement began when I checked her flight status an hour before she was due to arrive (planning to then clean the bathroom and vacuum before leaving to pick her up) only to find that she'd already landed! Panic! Then the best part was, after she got here, she cleaned the bathroom for me. I wish she was staying for a month! ;-)

Fiona talks with her regularly on Skype, so she already had an idea of who she was. In the car on the way to the airport all I heard was "Granny, Granny, Granny... Train... Granny', then when we met her, Fiona was very happy. Fiona has been favouring her ever since, going straight to her when she needs help with something and demanding that she follow her around and sit in her house.

On Saturday we all ventured out for lunch. We rarely take Fiona to places where you have to wait for your food because her attention span is a little short, but she did very well and mostly sat on her seat and ate and coloured.

After that we had to have some exercise so we took a really long walk around where we live. Adele hasn't recently decided that she likes the stroller so I carried her in the Moby. It was a workout!

After that we were too tired to do much else!

Today is Mother's day in Britain, so to celebrate Mum and I are going to have lunch and Ben's going to hang out with the girls. Hopefully my next post won't be telling of the disaster that results from that experience :-)

I'm not counting any chickens...

I don't want to get too excited, and I know it's only the beginning of March, but we've been having some lovely days in the 30s and 40s recently and after many frozen solid months, the world has finally begin to drip. Drip, drip, drip, drip.

On Friday after I picked up Fiona from daycare I thought we should celebrate the blue sky and dripping water and go for a walk. First we had to go home and feed Adele and give Fiona a snack, and then we'd be on our way. After an hour or so, some projectile vomiting (Adele), some howling (Adele and Brodie), and some clean pants (Fiona), we were ready to go!

Yep, Adele was overjoyed to find herself in the stroller. After about half a block I put her back in the moby and just carried her, and that was much more peaceful.

Brodie was beside himself with joy because he hasn't been on a walk in months, so at least someone was happy, though as the snow melts it reveals all kinds of things that have been frozen underneath all winter and he spent most of the time straining to get away to sniff the various dead squirrels/leaves/mcdonalds wrappers that are magically appearing.

It was funny to take Fiona on a walk after a few months of not going out. When she'd ride in the stroller in the past I'd provide a running commentary on the events... "look, there's a doggie... do you see the trees? That's a duck, it says quack..." etc., etc. and Fiona would just listen (or ignore me). But a few months have passed, and Fiona has developed into a child who responds and provides answers to questions and points things out to me! So we chatted to each other about the things we saw and it was very pleasant.

We passed by the lake near our house and although it was still frozen, we did find some trees nearby with the beginnings of buds on them. Thus, I hereby announce the beginning of budwatch 2010. I am looking forward to seeing some juicy green bursing out of the little brown nubbins!

The high is 43 today, so who knows, maybe we'll all change out of our pyjamas and go on another one... we really should, because knowing Minnesota next weekend we'll be in the midst of a blizzard.

The internets are trying to tell me something...

I know it's been a long time since you all got an update. We've been doing things, but mostly we've been going to the doctor, so there hasn't been as much fun to share. Fiona has had the cold non stop since she started daycare in January, and in February she stepped it up and had two ear infections. Last Saturday she got a high fever and has been complaining of a tummyache, resulting in a trip to the emergency room on Sunday. They didn't find anything wrong with her that could be causing it, so we're just waiting it out. She seems better today, so hopefully she's getting over it. Adele has been back and forth to the doctor for various reasons... not pooing, conjunctivitis, general weigh checks. I think on average we've seen or spoken to some kind of healthcare provider 2 or 3 times a week since mid-January. ROLL ON SPRING!!

In happy news, Fiona LOVES her little sister.

As soon as Adele starts grumbling or crying Fiona starts looking for her sucky and yelling 'sucky, sucky'. She loves to give her kisses too, and sometimes will ask to hold her.

Her favourite thing is to help with diaper changes, which mostly involves climbing up on the changing table and poking at Adele's bellybutton. She tries to encourage me to change Adele so she can have access to the bellybutton by pointing to Adele's diaper and saying 'poo' or 'potty'.

Fiona has become endlessly entertaining. She talking a lot now, and is working on learning her alphabet, colours, and counting to 5. Every day she does something new and goofy that makes me laugh, like chasing Brodie around for hours draping towels on him...

Or clumping around in my fancy shoes...

Adele is 3 momths old today (but 3 weeks adjusted) and is now sleeping better at night. Last night she slept from 12-2, then 3-7 which was by far the best night's sleep I've had lately! Somehow the internets seem able to sense my tiredness because today on facebook they were trying to sell me "nuvigil" which is "a prescription medicine used to improve wakefulness throughout the day" and is targeted at adults with excess sleepiness. They have a quiz on their website to assess your level of sleepiness, and after admitting that there is a slight chance of me dozing in my car at a stop light, they told me I scored a 19. Apparently 10 or more means you should hit up your doctor for a nuvigil prescription, which does sound totally awesome. But really, who doesn't fall asleep reading, watching tv, at movies, in meetings, in the car, and during conversations?

That's all for now. I've been sitting down for more than a few minutes and I'm falling asleep...