Pictures

Maizey GAGa.

We've been trying Maizey on some purees since she turned 6 months, maybe a little bit earlier, because the doctor told us to. First we tried meat, but she gagged, and it smelled terrible (pre-made baby food) so we skipped meat. Although the doctor told us to do meat first, we just went to veggies. She liked the pre-made sweet potatoes, and carrots, but won't eat a lot. We've since tried the different fruit. She will eat it mixed with her cereal, and will eat some banana and pears on their own. She is just picky i guess because sometimes she will eat them sometimes she won't.
She LOVES to eat the foods she is not supposed to eat. Like off our plates.. sometimes we squash it all up until it is mushy and let her try some. I know, not the best idea, because of allergies etc, but she eats it that way.
Today, I tried making some homemade sweet potato. She gagged. I don't understand. I am worried that she won't eat solids. I am trying to keep the thought that she will eat when she's ready. She does love the cereal though, but again will only eat it when she is the right mood.
I will just keep trying her with foods, to see if she will get use to it.
Funny thing, she will eat crackers, no problem.
She's been drooling up a storm, but still no teeth. I think it's coming though, her gums are all hard.

Busy Days

Yesterday we went to the Toronto Zoo. It was really a lot of fun. It's a lot of walking, but I didn't mind. Of course my favourite animal was the giraffes. I was a little sad that they had them in small cages. Usually they are out in a big grassy treed area but I guess they had put in new sod or something and had to keep them in the cages. Maizey was good. I think she saw some of the animals. Angela, Maizey and I went with my best buddy Jo and her son Aiden. Aiden is about 19/20 months old now and he was really liking the animals. He got all sad every time we said "goodbye" to an animal, but was very excited to see the next one. He liked the monkey's and he liked the zebra`s. Maizey has been extra tired today though.
Tomorrow we are going to Marineland. We wouldn`t be going because we wouldn`t spend the money on it (not worth it in my opinion), but my work has the annual summer company picnic there so we get everything free. We are taking my nephew and my mom with us. My nephew is really excited because he has never been on a roller coaster before. He is looking forward to the ladybug ride.
We have finally decided we will be going camping with Angela`s sister, brother in law and their kids. They have 4 (2 months to 10yrs). I am a little worried about Maizey and the bugs, but we`ll deal I suppose.
We really enjoy the camping atmosphere. We have decided that we will probably end up buying a small trailer. It would just be a lot easier then doing the tent. We spend a lot of money renting cottages every year and that only gets us a week. We figure that if we get a trailer we can go more frequently than just a week a year. We headed down to a local trailer dealer, and fell in love with one. Our goal is to have one by next spring. The thing is though, that we will have to get a new vehicle too because neither of our cars will tow the trailer that we like. It`s ok though because we were figuring we needed a bigger vehicle anyway. With the baby stroller and everything, we can hardly get anything else in the car. We`re thinking probably an SUV or crossover.
We`re really very excited.

Empty bed..

Angela is at the general hospital for the night. Nothing too serious. She has gained a significant amount of weight in the past year. (give or take a little time) when she sleeps, she snores, and sometimes she stops breathing, so she's gone for the sleep study test to test for apnea. I am alone for the night. At least I'll be able to sleep though. I don't know if any one else has this problem or not, but sometimes Ange gets watching tv at night (we don't have a tv in the bedroom) and I come to bed at the usual 11pm or so. Well she stays up watching stuff until 2 or 3 in the morning. That's fine, she is a big girl, only it causes me problems. I don't know why, but I don't sleep well when this happens. I don't know if it's because I'm waiting for her to come to bed or what, but I just don't really sleep until she's in bed. The past two nights she's come to bed at 2 and I'm exhausted, as I also get up in the night with maizey on nights that Ange works the next day.
I hope she sleeps well tonight and I don't have to get up too much. I put her in bed awake tonight. She banged her legs on the mattress for a while, (something she always does in bed) but eventually went to sleep.

Ok I'm falling asleep now too.

Night night.
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Cranky Days

I don't know what is up with Maizey these days. She is especially cranky.
Tuesday was an especially hot day here. It was 29C (84F) but because of humidity, it felt like 37C (98.6F). Considering it has been raining for two weeks straight, we were happy with the warm temperatures. Maizey and I spent the day at my friend's house, it was her day off of work, and she is a sun worshiper. While she sat under the sun, we sat under the sport-brella. (We are not sun worshipers). Maizey was surprisingly content with this. I think she was just enjoying the fresh air and the different (not in the house) view. After about 3 hours, she became too hot and too cranky, so my friend took Maizey in her son's blow up pool. I didn't think she'd like it much because it is much colder than her bath, but she did like it. She loved it in fact. She was splashing around and talking up a storm. After that, it was time for us to go home, so I packed her up into her infant carrier car seat and went home. All of the fresh air and swimming excitement must have wore her out. She had a two and a half hour nap. Usually she only naps for about half hour at the most.



Yesterday she was cranky all day. I am thinking it is either, she was too hot, or gassy, or introducing new foods is causing the crankiness. The other thing is teeth. I still can't see or feel any, but she is six months now, so it is likely. She really wasn't happy with anything yesterday. She was quite gassy, and pooped 3 times, which is more than usual. I tried everything to make her happy, but nothing worked. Here she is in her exersaucer just before a melt down.



It's been a long and hard couple weeks. Angela has been working 12h days for the past week and a bit. Normally I would not encourage this, as I like to have time for us to spend as a family, and be together, but vacation time is coming up, and we could use the extra cash. By the time she gets home at night, I am ready for bed. Man, I feel like I am ready for bed now.

Today, she was offered some overtime, but she just couldn't do it. She misses us too much. She was looking forward to coming home at 1 to be with us, and so she declined. That's ok with me. The thing is, Maizey is going with her dad this afternoon for a while. So it won't be family time after all. It's ok though, I am looking forward to some much needed couple time. We've been seeing a marriage and family therapist for a while, to keep our relationship in check, as we don't always communicate that great with one another, and she would definitely approve of this time.

I don't know, I guess a lot of people wouldn't really want to talk about seeing a Therapist. I think it comes with the connotation that something is wrong in your relationship. But I guess we see her as more of a prevention, before something goes wrong in our relationship. I mean, Yes, there are things that have caused much stress on the two of us in the past 6 months (baby, mom's sick, mom dying, mom almost dies, lack of support from people we thought we could count on, a trip for a funeral etc.), that we have discussed. There are also more intimate things that have created stress on our relationship for longer periods, things that we just can't seem to work out between the two of us, things that are dwelled upon and we need help with that. We need someone from the outside to help with those things. Maybe I will get into that more another day. It is a post I have been considering for a long time. I guess though, I want to appear as though we live in this perfect little world, and have a perfect relationship, so it is hard to actually put it down here.

In a week, we will be back to Toronto for some child free couple time. Maizey's Papa will be babysitting overnight while Angela and I along with some friends go to the NKOTB BSB concert. Yes, we're crazy. LOL. We've decided to stay the night in a hotel and make a mini couple night out of it. Our seats at the concert suck, but it should be a good time anyway.
I contemplated using the iron on t-shirt decals from my many concert programs from back in the day to make some stylin new t-shirts, but changed my mind.

I think I could go on an on today. But, I will stop here for now, and save some for another day.

Wow!

Maizey is 6 months old! Already... Before I know it, we'll be celebrating her first birthday and I'll be going back to work. I better get signed up for daycare. Daycare seems like an impossible task. I mean with Angela working such random hours and me working the 3-11 shift some times. I guess ultimately we'll need 4 days a week, 3 of 8 being afternoon shifts for me, and one weekend a month. Maybe my mom will be willing to help with the afternoons and the weekend if need be. I am willing to pay her daycare rates. I was hoping that she would retire in October and be able to be the daycare. I would totally pay her. I don't expect my mom to raise my kids. Thing is, now that my mom is recovering from her ostomy, she can't do that much physically without getting tired.
The other thing is that we're hoping to be in a new house, living with angela's dad by then, so maybe he could help out too.. I don't think he has much experince with little ones though. If we are in a house, Angela is going to give up one job and work part time hours only, so that could help too.
HA! I just thought of something funny! If we do try for a second child... Living with ange's dad... Lol what's he going to think when our guy comes over to make and leave the specimen !!!


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So frustrating

Ughhh... I have been trying to publish a post for days now. It is stuck on my phone on the blog press application. Everytime I try to publish it is comes up with "it seems your network is not ready to publish" or something similar to that.

Breifly it was an update on us surviving the cold. After Maizey had it, both Angela and I got it. Mother's day, I got a fever, and Ange had to drive her dad to the airport, and well, I just put Maizey to bed, and went to bed. She must have known that I wasn't well because she slept through the night for me that night.

She doesn't sleep through the night often. She usually sleeps for 3 or 4 hours, wakes to eat, then sleeps again.

So, the $1 millon cottage that we were planning on staying in this summer got sold. We've had to pick a new one. It is not quite as nice as the first one, but it is nice still, and a little bit cheaper. The beach at this one is a lot nicer too. That will be nice for the kids.
I am really looking forward to this vacation!
I'm also hoping we can move out of this ghetto sooner than later. I'm just tired of coming out of my house to find a wal-mart shopping cart on my front walk way, or laying in bed listening to the neighbours have some very colourful conversations in the middle of the night, while I inhale the smoke from their ciggarettes that they smoke under our bedroom window. It's not so bad in the winter when no one is outside, but in the spring and summer, it's almost every night.
I'm also hoping to go camping for a few nights in June some time. The only thing holding us back is a lack of dog sitter. Usually ange's dad watches them for us but he's away until july. We'd take them, but that'll be too much. Especially since it would be our first time camping with Maizey.

Maizey's First Cold.

Maizey woke at 2am last night for a bottle and a diaper change. She is all congested and coughing, I can hear the mucous loosely in her chest/throat. She hasn't yet a fever. I will see how she is when she wakes up again. I was dreading this. I have a pretty good idea where the cold came from as my nephew (4) has been with us for the week, and he is constantly blowing his nose. He told me yesterday that he thinks he caught his brother's cold.
This is a first that I was not looking forward to. Poor little girl. I don't even know what to do. Do I take her to the doctor? or only if it gets worse? I hate that these things always happen right before the weekend.

We've had a busy but fun week.
Monday we met up with some friends at the indoor play gym. That place can really tire you out. After that we went to Wendy's for lunch (by request of Zach) and then did some shopping.
Tuesday we met a friend for Lunch at our favourite restaurant, and just hung out there for a while. There is a "race car" arcade game there, so Zach was entertained by that. I can't believe how quickly the time went by.
Wednesday we went to a "stars and strollers" showing of "Rio". It was really a cute movie. It was my first time going to one of these and Maizey was really good. I can't imagine she would be every time, but that was encouraging.
I am not sure what we are going to do today. We will only have a short day today compared to other days. We will be dropping Zach off at his mom and dad`s work at about 2:30, because we have an appointment to go to at 3.
Friday, still not sure what we are going to do. I was thinking about going to one of the indoor water parks in Niagara Falls, but now that Maizey has a cold, I`m not sure that`s such a great idea. Who knows. I am sure we will find something.
Tomorrow is my birthday.. Whoopee. LOL.

Drama

Recently, I blogged briefly about some drama in our lives. I'm happy to say that the drama is over. I'm not happy that we've lost some friends, but it really is what is best for everyone involved. The friendship was broken for a long time, and well, I was too afraid to say anything. I kept ignoring the bad parts, and the flaws and faults of my friends, as I am sure they did ours as well, in hopes that the good would continue to shine through. As time went on, the good got fewer and the bad-well, it became the focus.
I can only give my side of the story, and so, won't be sharing much of what occurred, as it is unfair.
I do have to say though, it really bothers me that these friends, continue to hold onto their perspective that they are completely innocent in all of the break down. It bothers me that I am the kind of person who wouldn't tell them what they did that hurt me. It bothers me that they can't see past their self righteousness, to admit that half of the things if not more than that, that these friends accuse us of, they themselves were too blind to see themselves doing the very same. (one small example- Angela was upset when she was not asked to hold a significant role in this particular friend's wedding, this friend proceeded to point out that was selfish of Angela and that HER wedding was not about Angela. When we had our miscarriage, this very same friend expressed her upset in the fact that Angela never asked her to come and be with us during a difficult time, making it about her own feelings, instead of supporting Angela the way she needed. Is this not human nature? to want to feel included and important?) It bothers me that they will forever deny this, because their ego is too big to allow them to admit that they are not perfect either.
Maybe Angela and I are not 100% innocent in this falling out, but we are not 100% of the problem either. We at least we're willing to talk about it, and take responsibility for what we had done to wrong them or hurt their feelings.
I will mourn the loss of what I wanted these people to be for us, but will not mourn what we have actually lost. With that being said, I will miss the fun and the good times we did have. As I said before, this is better for everyone.

Moved her

Well, the doctor reccomended that we keep Maizey in our room until she is 6 months old. We decided to move her back to her own room now. She's 5 months. Angela snores. Loud. It doesn't bother me at all, except when I lay awake worrying that it's going to wake Maizey. So, I continually nudge Angela all night to minimize her snoring, so she doesn't sleep well. Also, when Maizey moves at all in the slightest, I hear it, and again, lay awake listening for any indication she's waking. It's a nasty cycle. Not to mention angela's alarm in the morning for work waking all of us. So, in an effort to get better sleep, we have moved her early.
She's been constipated again, so I am likely going to put her back on the Good Start again, provided she will take it now that she's so in love with the Kirkland.
We will be starting her on proteins in the next couple weeks as reccomended by our doctor. Then we'll do vegetables and then fruits. I'm hoping she likes them better than the cereal. She eats the cereal alright, but sometimes it takes her longer or she gets fussy. We don't press her to eat if she's not in the mood because we don't want her to associate eating with unpleasantness at this point.
Angela's sister is having her 4th child tomorrow (3rd biologically) It will be a c section as her first was a section. Her second was a VBAC and it was very difficult and traumatic. They aren't going to take a chance with this one. I'm very excited! We will be going to meet the new little one around 3pm.
Next week, I will have my nephew all week, his daycare provider will be on vacation. Should tire me out really well! I better start thinking of things I can do with him and maizey. I know one day we'll hit the indoor play gym. Other than that, I'm not sure. Maybe swimming one day (if Angela is off one day). Maybe indoor golf, I can put Maizey in the baby bjjorn. We'll see.
So, finally, I can see slight resemblance. Here are Maizey and I making a similar face.


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She jumps herself to sleep!

Maizey has been wearing herself out at night in her jolly jumper. She absolutely loves the thing. She'll jump untill she falls asleep. It's the funniest thing ever!





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Do do

Maizey started her cereal at 4 months as per the doctors orders. She seems to enjoy it. We have also started her on a different formula. She LOVES the new formula. It comes in a can twice the size of the can we've been using and only costs $23.00. I know cheaper isn't always better, but she is eating this stuff so much better than the other. The only thing we have noticed is that her poop is harder. I might even say she is slightly constipated. She has been having bowel movements every day since the switch, but sometimes she only has a small (grape sized) poop nugget. I'm not worried at this point because she doesn't seem to be uncomfortable, or refusing to eat at all. Her abdomen isn't hard or bulging.
I saw a 4 week old today while out shopping, and I was a little sad. Maizey is getting so big. So sweet though. She really has a special temperment.
Things around here have pretty much been as usual. Nothing much to report. Gawd, we're boring. Hopefully once the weather gets nice I will have more adventures to post about.
Maizey and her biggest fan...Tanner.


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