Well, we enjoyed it while we could.

Yesterday and the day before we enjoyed some AWESOME January weather...I think it was -6 or something like that? Anyhow, Ellie discovered the joys of winter outdoor play for one of the first times.

Gathering 'tones' under our patio. Ellie prefers to wear her pumpkin hat when outdoors. :)

I took this picture before I realized what the child was doing...she found an old dirty popsicle stick and used it as a tongue depressor. hehe. You know...that whole doctor obsession.

Upset that there's dirt on her 'dubs' (gloves).

Giving pail and shovel a ride in her 'wagon'.

This smile was taken before I announced it was time to go inside. :)

Oh. Yeah. Today it's -45 with windchill and schools everywhere are cancelled. Gotta love Manitoba!

Our bipolar home

Bipolar:

adjective

Having or relating to two poles or extremities.

You know, I could fool you all into believing that everything around here is daisies and roses by posting photos like the one above.

Or even this one.

But that would only be half the story, you see. Take Friday, for instance. Ellie was running around having a jolly old time when suddenly she stopped mid-tracks, grabbed her diaper and began to wail! Repeat this four more times during the morning and we're pretty much convinced that there's a bladder infection happening...which there was. (Ellie had the sympathy of the whole walk-in clinic who could hear her SCREAMING as she tried to pee into a hat on the toilet). Here's a photo of Daddy convincing Ellie that 'red juice' is as yummy as apple juice (cranberry juice takes away the burning, apparently).

Add to that one very gas-trapped baby, and you have the other side of bipolar. Our house is not a very quiet place on days like Friday. Note my tired eyes. Note Joshua's unhappy face.

My favorite quote these days? "This too shall pass!" Amen to that.
p.s. I'm off dairy, citrus, spices and most other foods. This is not why my child is gassy. Just in case someone wanted to mention that.

Some hobbies are cheap...

And in Ellie's case, some hobbies are free. Toe jam, anyone?

Our Little Peanut (3 weeks old)

This is what we call 'milk drunk'.

Pigtails

Being the camera crazy person that I am, I declared Ellie's first day wearing real pigtails (none of this half-pigtail on-top-of-the-head business) as something that needed to be captured. Here she is watching a show (that's how I get her to sit still.) Note the pigtail perfection:

Now here she is in the morning:

(Um yeah...I don't know what she's doing here either.)

I guess I'll have to stick to giving Ellie braids for a while longer. This mama ain't got time to deal with that kinda birds nest!!

A miracle in my house.

It amazes me that Joshua used to be only a thought in God's mind.

Peas pass the peace!

Here's an excerpt from a prayer time Ellie and I had before bed the other night:

Mommy: "Thank you Jesus for all our friends."
Ellie (interrupting): "Doee, Simmy, Andoo, Roose, Dedan, Tarya, Hayen, Toad, Feesha...." (all her friends)
Mommy: "And Jesus I pray that you'd give Ellie a great night's sleep tonight. I pray your peace would be in this room and in Ellie's heart."
Ellie (interrupting): "Peas, wami (salami), mato (tomatoes), cheese...."

Hehe. Amen.

Joshua: 2 weeks, 2 days

He's pumped about getting out of the house (oh wait...maybe that was me).

Discovering the joys of contrasting colors (i.e. staring at the bars on his swing.)

I feel the saaaaame way, Joshy.

Is it just me, or does it look like he's smiling? I think he's smiling.

Okay, this photo puts all arguments to rest: he looks like his mama!!

More Ellie Adventures

Today I removed all the sharp objects from our cutlery drawer and got Ellie to help me put the cutlery away...another activity to occupy her when I have to tend to Joshua and something that 'helps' me out, too (assuming she figures out where stuff goes). So she looked like she was really getting the hang of it, putting the spoons in the spoon spot, the forks in the fork spot, etc...

....but this is what my drawer ended up looking like in the end. :) Everything was in the sink. Oh well...a good excuse to wipe the drawer out. HA!

Joshua got the onesie Ellie is wearing for Christmas (before he was born) but it fits Ellie so I thought we'd take a matching father-daughter shot. Too bad about the Jets. I loved the Jets. Note Rob's sleepy eyes. Poor Rob. (Please note: he IS getting a full night's rest every night. It must just be empathy for his wife.)

Rob and I were chatting in the living room the other night when Ellie came marching in dressed like this. As much as she dresses up, I still find it hilariously cute to see the outfits she comes up with.
No comment necessary.

Presents from Grandpa and Grandma

A big thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Balfour (or Gamma Fafoor as Ellie likes to say) for the gifts we recieved in the mail this week.

Ellie was so excited to open a present that was actually for HER (not Josh!)

You can't tell by her face in this photo, but she was literally bouncing up and down saying, "Baby! A baby!"

She's been enjoying the wallet, too. Loves to put "mommies in 'ere". (money in there).

Peek! What IS this thing, anyways?

Oh man, she loved it when she realized what it was! Thanks mom and dad.

p.s. we'll post pictures of Josh in the clothes you sent once they fit him. He wasn't completely thrilled about the taste of his hat. :)

Betcha didn't know you had buns on your back!

So as I've previously mentioned, one of Ellie's all-time favorite toys right now is her doctor's kit. That, along with her "Elmo goes to the Doctor" movie and her "Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor" library book, you have a downright doctor's obsession happening in our home (too bad she still hates going there in real life). Anyhow, for the last couple days Ellie's been putting her 'eh scope" (stethescope) on her heart, her face, etc to check and make sure she's okay. But I was always very puzzled when she'd proceed to put the stethescope on her lower back and say, "Buns". For one, there are no 'buns' in that spot, and for two, even if she was meaning her BUM, we never use the term 'buns' in our home. I was confused. So this morning I paid closer attention to her 'Elmo Visits the Doctor' movie and sure enough, at one point Ellie starts saying, "BUNS! BUNS!"

LUNGS.

Of course! Buns...lungs. How could I have missed THAT? :)

Curdled milk and stuff

To all of Joshua's British Columbian Family Members Only Fan Club I apologize that there haven't been any new photos in the last three days (though I promise...Joshua looks pretty much the same as he did on Sunday :) Now that Rob's back at work, I'm finding that spare time doesn't belong in my vocabulary any longer. If, on any given day, I decide to do the dishes and a load of laundry (which I always do) and to nap when the kids are napping (which I grudgingly do) I find myself with approximately 30 seconds of free time every 24 hours. Okay, maybe a little more. The reason I'm typing this now is because I'm not sleeping....because Rob's not at home to tell me to go to bed. :)
ANYWAYS, this morning I was giving Ellie her cup of warm milk (she always starts the day with one) and for some reason (maybe because the milk expired today? I tasted it...it was fine, honest!!) was thinking, "I wonder what it would be like if Ellie threw this all up while Joshua was screaming his head off wanting to be fed?" Random thought, right?
Not even half an hour later, Ellie coughed. And a little white curdle came out. And then she coughed again (mostly just because I had a concerned look on my face and she loves to be dramatic). And another little curdle came out. So I brought her to the washroom and said, "Any more in there?" And the whole cup of milk came out...in curdles, of course. It was quite a sight. :) But hey, it was on my linoleum! Ellie was a trooper. I just held her leaned over and said, "See? It's just like when Joshy throws up! Keep coughing till you're all done! Good girl!" And in between coughs she'd say, "Spit out like Joshy!" (with enthusiasm like this was a treat) and at the end, "All done!" And she marched off and asked for a waffle for breakfast. Hehe. So anyhow, that was kinda weird. Josh was sleeping, though, so the screaming-his-head-off part of my premonition didn't pan out. And she's absolutely fine. And ate and drank like a horse the rest of the day! Go figure.

Let Chaos Reign!

So yesterday when Rob went out to a meeting I had my first real run at a lunch time on my own with two kids. I realize that a lot of you out there have done this whole two-kid thing for a long time, or maybe even a three-kid or twins or triplets thing! But for me this is a whole new ball park.
So here I am. We just got home from grocery shopping. Joshua was hungry. So I set some water on the stove to boil for KD (yeah, resorting to KD already!) and sat down to nurse him. During this time Ellie pulled out two boxes of cereal to munch on (thankfully no upside down boxes...this time) emptied out most of my Tupperware cupboard, and dumped her entire box of alphabet magnets on the floor. In the kitchen, of course. Where I'll be cooking next. I tried putting Joshy down in his bassinet, but he was gassy, so I continued to hold him upright as I cooked our gourmet lunch. Everything was going quite smoothly (I didn't trip on anything or burn anyone) until it was time to put the drained noodles back in the pot. Yeah, I mostly missed the pot. Ellie, bless her heart, thought this was awesome. She crawled up to the mess chanting, "MMMM! Noonoos an' cheese!" and I said, "Ellie, you go for it. Can you help mommy clean up the mess?" And she was delighted to help. And proceeded to eat half her lunch off my...relatively clean floor. :) My mother-in-law has kindly told me before that the average kid eats at least a couple pounds of dirt before they're grown. Or something like that. Ellie is now has a good head start.
So tomorrow is my official first day on my own. Should be exciting. Any tips from experienced parents out there??

There Mommy goes again....

Whenever I'm in what the experts call the 'quiet alert' state between feeds and napping, Mommy pulls out the camera and goes totally nuts. I'm happy just as long as I get to stare out the window. Everyone seems to be pretty excited about the fact that I have been "delivered" and can now wear the shirt that Auntie Leila bought me for Christmas, before I was born. Thanks Auntie Leila for buying me boy clothes so I don't have to wear pink!

Life