28 March 2007

Solids and Giggles

The milestones are starting! Ria is still not rolling over, or sitting, or speaking....but the 1st major milestone is upon us.....SOLIDS!

The little monster has been growing like gangbusters (yay!), but its exhausting her poor mommy who has been her sole source of nutrition. We saw her pediatrician at 5 months for her RSV prevention shot (a preemie perk, expensive though), and the doctor asked, "Um, have you considered starting solids for her?" So we did! and here is a picture of Iain giving her her 2nd spoonful of rice cereal (he was going to do the 1st, but Daddy needed to show him how.):

She is very much enjoying her solid foods, though she (of course, they're different kids) attacks them in a very different way than Iain did. Iain was an explosion of movement, the food went everywhere as he grinned in delight. Ria is very focused and will typically only let the spoon in her mouth if she can do the maneuvering, which needless to say is messy too, just messy in a different way (a smaller radius, for one thing!) than it was with Iain. I put the spoon maybe 1 cm in front of her face, and her little fists curl over the handle, and she pulls it in and mutilates it for a bit, until I show up with a new spoonful.

In other pictures....I got my hair cut, so that now i no longer look like an overgrown weed that went and clippered off all her hair in December. Now my hair has an actual shape. I think i will allow more photos of me now! I don't think i could ever have handled this haircut before the clipper cut insanity (it doesn't look at all like the "me" i've been used to) but now that i've experienced Extreeme Hair, i must say it looks darn good! Here's me and the kids. (Ria's looking cranky due to hunger, not just because her brother insisted that she wear a ponytail. Yes, its a very silly ponytail, but Iain loves it ;-)

And, finally, the promised giggles. Can't actually put movies on blogger, so here's the movie thumbnail picture....click on it for a link to the video of Ria giggling.

11 March 2007

Iain and Ria grow!!

Iain is now 3.5 years old, and Ria 5 months! Here they are in their official growing shots:


Daddy and Ria looking cute:and Iain working on his cool new Tinker Toys, that the binkie fairies gave him when he gave up his binkies on his 3.5th birthday!

09 March 2007

Grandpa visits

Grandpa John visited from Toronto, and fun was had by all!

(The photo of John and Iain is from our friend Debbie who was visiting, also from Toronto.)

07 March 2007

happy kids, again...

The kids still seem to be doing great....here's Iain with his 1st art project kit...he's quite proud of his cool castle:
Ria would like to inform you that she has a lovely fist:
...and doesn't she look cute in one of my favorite hand-me-downs from Iain:
meanwhile, Iain and Daddy work on the computer:

09 February 2007

4 months old!

Whee! Ria is 4 months old!

4 months is when they start to get more fun ... unfortunately Ria's only 3 months adjusted age (from her due date), so she's not quite there yet, but she's calmed down a lot, is starting to giggle when we tickle her neck or underarms, and is getting very interested in things outside of arms range (so she must be starting to focus her eyes and get some more distance vision). I'm looking forward to the changes the next 1 or 2 months will bring!

Iain has been building crazy block towers lately (spurred on by some hand-me-down blocks that showed up from his Stenberg cousins) and been building lots of fun train track setups with Daddy (which Ducky has been messing up daily, so that they have to be rebuilt constantly).

At her 4 month visit, Ria was 14#11 oz (6662 g), 24.5" long (62 cm), and head circumference 41.3 cm. That's over 75%tile in weight, ~65-70%tile in height, and ~65% in head size. If we adjust for her prematurity in that, she's an amusing 95%tile in weight. Strange, with such a munchkin mom, but there you are! No wonder she came early!

03 February 2007

What's up

Various thoughts:

Finally, Ria's been un-sick for a full week. Its nice to not need the humidifier every night and a tilted bassinet. She seems quite pleased too ;-).

Today we're going on a snail hunt at the Cuesta Park Annex....I'm hoping we'll find some. What a beautiful day! We're not scared! http://www.amazon.com/Were-Going-Classic-Board-Books/dp/0689815816

Ria's 4 months old next week (photos will be up promptly, i promise!). she's almost 12 weeks adjusted age, 1 week from 3 months. I can tell. She's mellowing a lot, and generally being lower maintenance....a true sign of hitting that 3 month mark.

that's all. (actually, there was something else, but i just can't recall it. maybe next time!)
mona

27 January 2007

Busy kids

I'm getting bored with seeing words instead of pictures on my blog. Here's some pictures of some busy kids.


13 January 2007

Just chattering

William pointed out to me that, although he's officially got the "words blog", and mine is the "pictures blog"....since i'm the one at home all day in my domestic bliss/turmoil, i'm the one with the day to day stories. So i suppose i ought to do some words too ;-).

We've certainly found, over the last few months, that doing the 3 year spacing with the kids has made it much easier than a 2 year spacing would be. Iain doesn't seem to be jealous of Ria, really at all. He's disappointed when i have to carry her for a nap, rather than her napping in her bed, as i can't be physical with him....but he waits paitently when i have to nurse her, he understands and can deal with delayed gratification (once she eats, i'll be able to put her down on her playmat and we can have "fun play"), and he will turn the pages of the book we're reading when my hands (et al) are full with Ria. He calls her "my baby", he periodically pets her and comments on how soft she is.

He seems to understand and accept that she is going to get more fun later. the other day he commented to me that it will be a long time before Ria can walk. I said "yeah. Who's she going to chase when she can walk?" He brightened up and squealed out "ME!!!!!" He's excited for Ria to get out of the blob phase, although bored waiting for it to end. you can almost see the words in his head asking "when does the fun part start?". I think he's turning out to be a really wonderful big brother, and once she's sitting more and interacting more i think he's going to have great fun making her laugh, and then later crawling around with her and letting her chase him.

My experience....
Well, on a good day I feel like a God-Parent! I can do ANYTHING! of course, good days are defined by whether Ria naps well, whether she naps on me or in her bed, and if she is contented.
On a bad day, life sucks. Mostly in an existential way, i guess: i feel like a really crappy parent to Iain when ria is so needy that i have to ignore him a lot. Then he is obviously bored bored bored bored bored. As a "mature" 3-year old, he is OK when bored: he amuses himself, but he is obviously wishing for more fun. ...and the house becomes a severe wreck when he's bored. I haven't yet figured out how to maintain Iain's interest with projects when i 'm dealing with a time-sucking Ria. It'll only be a few more months, though, before we hit that fabled "honeymoon period", and this particular version of pain will end (to be followed by new issues, of course!). Once she hits toddlerhood I think it will be in some ways easier, as she'll eat at the same times (and at the table) with us, and she'll want outdoor play like iain does.

Luckily, we have more good days than bad days, by far. Couple that with Ria sleeping really well at night, and for the most part our 2-child parenting experience is quite good, even pleasant and fun(especially when both of us are home!).

Time to go, ria calls.

mona

09 January 2007

3 Months Old!!

Ria is 3 months old!!!

She's mellowing out of the evening screamy bits....in fact i think she's totally over them. Greatly improved versus Iain, who screamed wholeheartedly through to 4 or 5 months before the gas demons were vanquished. She's a mellow chick, who likes to quietly whap at things, and she smiles when i tickle her behind the ears ;-).

(You can compare that to the picture of Iain at 3 months: http://www.flopcat.org/gallery/album08/IMG_0554 but that was on a different chair.)

Shamefully, in the quest of a picture of Ria smiling, I have failed to take a picture of Iain since Christmas. So here's one from 2 weeks ago:

06 January 2007

Smiles!

Hah!!! we got proof!!!

27 December 2006

Christmas with Iain and Ria

Happy Christmas!!!

This year, Iain did 90% of the tree decorations all himself! We had to move his chair around the tree so he could decorate all sides, but he put up almost all the ornaments.

Here is William and Ria, enjoying the fire on Christmas Eve.

Then came Christmas morning....and the BIG GIFT!!! Iain sat on his bike for 10 minutes before he was willing to move off it.....then later in the morning we went out and he did a great job pedalling all on his own.

Mommy and Ria were there too ;-)

21 December 2006

awwww.....

We were listening to the song 'Kinda Kute' by Joe Jackson in the car on the way home from Ikea....

Mona: Are you kinda kute?
Iain: No!! My baby is kinda cute....Ria is kinda cute.
Mona: [sniff!]

Just this weekend (12/16-17) we've gotten our 1st smiles from Ria, but they're very fleeting, and try as I may, i haven't managed a photo of one of them. I'll have to post a photo without a Ria smile, i guess.

So.....here's the photo du week!!

new baby
new couch
new.....haircut!

I've always wondered if i had a good shaped head.....

13 December 2006

I will kindly not give you a photo.....

We have achieved....

POO IN THE POTTY!!!!!!!
WOO WOO!!!

This means that our promised end to cloth diapers ("day diapers"....we'll still have "night diapers") won't result in 2 weeks of hellish cleansing rituals!!!

(aren't you pleased i haven't posted a photo?)

10 December 2006

2 months old

Ria is now 2 months old! whee!... and Iain enjoys the pleasures of playing outside alone after dark!

30 November 2006

Almost 8 weeks old

Iain's been playing with our 2 camera tripods, and one came downstairs. its amazing how you can make a non-flash picture all non-blurry when you use those things! (also helps if the subjects aren't moving.)

Ria is in her usual "I'm gassy" posture.

23 November 2006

Hah Hah!!! I've caught up! Pictures from this week

HAH!!
now i no longer need to annotate when the photos were taken, as they were taken this week. I'm all caught up! Hope everyone (in the US) had a lovely Thanksgiving.
In the above picture you can't see Ria well, but Grandmother looks fabulous!
Below: my Life Magazine style photo of Iain "helping" William bathe Ria...

Ria's 6th week: Nov 12-18

Grandmother was visiting, we went out for our 1st walk with our cool new stroller, and later in the week went to the steam railway in Felton.

Ria's 5th week, Nov 5-11


Ria's 4th week, 29 Oct - 4 Nov

20 November 2006

Homecoming! 28 Oct

Homecoming, 28 October 2006