Adventures in Calgary

Today I took Molly to Riley Park with the play group. I remembered to bring a camera. I even took it out to take some pictures of the kids all having fun on their blankets in the park...but the camera's battery was dead. DOH! These are some pictures of Molly before we left for the park. This new outfit comes from Alison in Nova Scotia. It's a bit big but the hat is the only one she currently owns that fits so we went with it. Lori (another mom from playgroup) was nice enough to scout out a sun/bug tent for babies at a garage sale near her house. She brought it for us today and it is awesome. It's a giggle chair (complete with vibrations), it's got dangling toys and it keeps Molly bug free in the shade...I'd show a picture but like I said the batteries were dead!

Tonight Noel and I went on our first real date since Molly's arrival. I say "real" date because while we did go to Walmart when Mom was here watching Molly and we even attempted to play a game of tennis but the courts were closed...neither consitutes a real date in my books. Tonight Noel's aunt Cori watched Molly (along with her own 2 kids) so that we could go out for dinner. It was so nice. I was kinda worried we'd have nothing to talk about or that we'd be stressed the whole time but it was great and relaxing and just what we needed.

Thank you so much Aunt Cori - you ROCK!!!

Molly is 3 months old today. To celebrate we're heading to Canmore so that Noel can do a bike race.

In honour of this special day, here is a list of all of Molly's current tricks:
- pulling herself up to standing
- grabbing at toys and putting them in her mouth
- licking anything and everything that comes near her mouth
- blowing so many bubbles that she looks like she's foaming at the mouth
- moving all limbs at once in crazy excitement
- screaming when she really, really wants something (like the boob!)
- shaking a rattle
- turning herself towards something when she's on her stomach
- holding her head and chest up off the ground when on her stomach

She even cooperates with me sometimes when people come over and I make her run through all her tricks for them. Michelle found it quite amusing when she was over the other night and I rolled Molly onto her stomach and said "do it!" which was followed by Molly demonstrating her kicking and attempts at crawling.

So Happy Birthday Molly! You're 1/4 of a year old and counting!

After hanging out with Elliot and Angus this week- two big boys, Molly has decided it's time to get bigger. She's been a feeding machine today. Luckily I'd declared today PJ day so her hunger didn't wreck any plans. It's funny, whenever she has one of these feeding frenzies, I end up going hungry...hmmmm. I just hope this is a one day thing because we're off to Canmore tomorrow and I'd hate to have to keep up this pace on the road.

I am so glad that Noel and I chose to do private birth classes instead of the ones through the Calgary health region. Not only did we get great advice and instruction from Tania (who was also our doula), we met some pretty cool people who all now have babies Molly's age. Yesterday Molly and I went out on a date with Elliot and Angela. Angela was nice enough to make us a delicious (and non-dairy) chili for lunch, then we went on a nice long walk along the river downtown and then just had a great visit back at her place. It was so great getting to know her better and sharing information and stories about our new lives as 'MOMS'. Today we're off to see Molly's first beau...Angus. He was born the same day as Molly. Corrina and I are meeting at Cadence Cafe for lunch. Hopefully Molly will cooperate and let me eat and visit without too much fuss.

I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Molly was thinking this morning when she woke up and found out that Grandma Cookie and Grandpa Jim had gone. We had such a great visit with my parents. It really is awesome whenever they come. I think we nearly killed dad with all the house projects but then again...he loves to have stuff to do! Some of the highlights of the visit were learning some new things to make on the BBQ like rotissery chicken, turkey, and bacon wrapped salmon...yum...finishing and filling the front flowerbox with dirt and manure...sweet sweet manure...and organizing all my nails, screws, and drill bits in a brand new organizer my dad got us.

We had a great family dinner Sunday night. Dave and Heather came for the day to help us out with the ceiling fans. Then Noel's mom and Andrew and Jess came for dinner. We even got to eat outside in the backyard for the first time this season. It was great.

Molly is getting more fun by the day. She's loving the new ceiling fans that Uncle Dave and Dad installed in all our upstairs rooms. She sits and stares at them with awe. She's also getting better at grabbing things and interacting with her environment. She's getting much more enjoyment out of the playmat with hanging things. She was having a ball punching the crap out of the octopus yesterday. She loves playing with Aunt Jess's long hair. And I think she's going to start crawling any day now. If she's awake and on her tummy, she's scooting along the whole time. She can't go in a straight line yet but she's getting better and better at going around in circles. We think she might be teething already...although I pray we're wrong. She's been sooooo drooly lately and she has been gnawing on my knuckles, fingers, and arms. She even gave grandma Cookie a hickie!

Today is play group day...perhaps I'll remember to take some pictures this time!

This week we started going to a play group with Angela (friend from Toronto) and her friends. It was nice to spend the day with other mothers and children and see what I have in store for me in the months to come. I learned the magic of the "dream feed" and it's been allowing me to get at least 6 straight hours of sleep the last two nights in a row. I wanted to take pictures of the kids and I even remembered to bring my camera but that was as far as I got...so these are some pictures of Ang, Dwayne and Liam taken a while ago at our house.



Yesterday we also had a busy day. Adam (a friend of mine from University) was in town with his girlfriend Emma. They came for the afternoon with Ashley and Sloane. It was great to see him. I don't think I've seen him since we went to Homecoming years ago in Kingston. It was pretty strange though to see my past and present collide. Never in a million years did I think that Adam and I would ever be having a chat while he was holding a baby of mine...it's just something that never crossed my mind as a possibility when we were drinking our faces off at Clark or in Toronto. I guess we've all changed quite a bit since then.

My parents should be back in town tomorrow evening. I realize now that I did WAY too much physical labour and running around last weekend and I'm going to take it a bit easier this weekend. Hopefully we'll get some ceiling fans hung and my flower bed installed out front. We'll spend the rest of the time just relaxing and visiting!

Not only is Molly 11 weeks old today (where does the time go?) but our good friends Nancy and Roth are the proud new parents of a baby girl!!! I am so happy for them and I can't wait to see our girls playing together in the years to come.

A quick update on Molly's new tricks:

She loves to blow bubbles and does so all the time (much to Noel's chagrin)
She is getting squirmier by the day and now even squirms in her sleep (we put her down to sleep one way and then we find her turned 45 degrees when we come back)
She still loves when people sing or whistle to her
She likes being pulled up to a sitting or kneeling position because then she can push off with her legs and stand!

To celebrate Molly's 11th week birthday we had our first shower today. She was great - not too squirmy for a change - and afterwards she had a huge long nap.

CONGRATS NANCY AND ROTH! We can't wait to meet our new little friend.

Mom and Dad arrived yesterday morning. Mom has already gotten into the groove with Molly and Dad has already started on the long list of projects I have for him. I'm so glad they're here. I only wish we didn't live so far apart.

Today is pelvic floor day for me. BEWARE READERS...THIS MIGHT BE TOO MUCH INFORMATION FOR MANY...

Because I had such extensive tearing with Molly's birth, I have to go into the hospital today to make sure everything "down there" is in perfect working order. I was supposed to go last week but I figured I'd be better to wait until mom was here to help with Molly. First step...enema. Next step anal probing. Man oh man...natural childbirth gets better and better (ha ha...just joking I'm still very happy with how Molly's birth went).

Mom is going to look after Molly while I'm out. Hopefully Molly will cooperate and eat from the bottle for her.

The last time Molly had a growth spurt I ended up with fever and the chills and I thought I was going to die. She seems to be in another one now (she didn't have one at 6 weeks like she was supposed to! hee hee her first rebellion). Yesterday she was eating every hour or two all day. And today she is still feeding more frequently than usual. No fever or chills for me this time - instead I had a terrible back and neck ache from holding her so much. And I was incredibly dehydrated and hungry. No one tells you how hard these growth spurts are on you physically so I'm tell everyone - THEY ARE SOOOOO HARD! If there was a way to predict exactly when they were going to happen it would be so great because then you could arrange for someone to come and help out until it was over. It just goes to reinforce my theory that it takes 3 people - NOT 2 - to raise a baby. One to work, one to feed baby, one to feed other two and keep the house from falling apart. Luckily, mom and dad will be here in 14 hours and then we'll have one person who's working (Noel), one person who can look after the baby (mom), one person to feed the baby and the others (me), and one person to work on the house (dad)...it's going to be soooo good.

My dad and mom are coming this Thursday. It will be Grandpa Jim's first meeting with Molly. I can't wait for him to see her. I also can't wait for my mom to see how much Molly has grown and changed since her last visit. It is truely amazing how quickly babies develop at this age.

We've got a list of things to do around the house to keep dad busy and a list of food requests for mom...it should be a great time.

This picture was taken this morning as Molly waited patiently for me to free her from her crib after her morning nap. It's amazing how strong her neck is getting.