Just had to share a few pics of me and the kids from this Mother’s Day morning at my parents place…

A big smooch for the boy who made me a mama

Schnuggles with my babe

Two of my very favourite people in the world

It was a fantastic day, albeit exhausting. Brunch was a lot of work but delicious and totally worth it. (Recipes are on the way.) I had to have a nap before I could drive the two hours home. Those of you who know me know that I never (never!) nap. I didn’t nap once while pregnant either time, and I didn’t nap when I had newborns. I can’t bear the thought of missing anything. After 20 minutes of shut-eye my headache was gone and we packed up the van to head home. Primo was SO excited to get home to see his Daddy. (So was I!)

The house was clean (which lasted about 7 minutes after we got home), we ordered dinner to be delivered (got ripped off the creamy dill dressing we paid extra for, but other than that it was great and we ate after Primo went to bed so I could relax) and I got DDR for the Wii! I’m so pumped to try it! It was even all wrapped up in actual wrapping paper courtesy of the BG. My Mother’s Day card made me cry (God, I’d better not be pregnant) and now I’m snuggling a sleeping (4 month old today!) baby and we’re about to head to bed.

Life is good.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I’m in the midst of preparing a huge brunch for my mom, mother in law and sister in law (and all of the men except the Big Guy who had to stay home and work). After brunch, we’re driving the two hours home. I’ll be exhausted, but I spent the whole weekend with my mom and kids and it doesn’t get better than that. Unless the BG was here - that would be better.

My mom snuggling the kids last night before bed….

Remind me to share the recipes for the quiche and blueberry french toast we’re having this morning. Mmmmmmm…

Hope you all have a fab day and are sufficiently spoiled!

Tell me what you did today…

We received some samples of Ocean Spray Cranergy energy juice drink from Mom Central. I love cranberry juice and so does Primo so I was excited to try it.

From the Ocean Spray folks:

Do you need a little help to get through your busy day? We sure do, which is why we created Cranergy™, a delicious and naturally energizing juice drink. Cranergy™ is made from our refreshing cranberry juice, which we’ve enhanced with natural energizers like green tea extract and B vitamins. Made with Splenda® brand sweetener, Cranergy™ has only 35 calories per eight-ounce serving, 50 percent fewer calories than other leading energy drinks and traditional sodas. Cranergy™ is a “good for you” kind of energy that helps you get stuff done!

We received both an original “Cranberry Lift” flavour and a “Raspberry Cranberry Lift” flavour.

The Good:
+Green tea extract (Mmm, green tea…) has tons of benefits
+B vitamins. They’re called “the energy vitamins” and are a perfect addition to an energy type drink.
+Vitamin C. It’s a strong anti-oxidant and bonds with free radicals to prevent many diseases.
+Only 35 calories per eight-ounce serving. With almost everyone watching their weight these days, the fewer calories in your drinks, the better.

The Bad:
-Made with Splenda® brand sweetener (also known as sucralose). Some would think of this as a good thing because it’s 600 times sweeter than sugar so adds no calories in the small quantities in which it’s used. I, on the other hand, debated putting it in the “ugly” category. Anything un-naturally sweet like that can’t be good. Either way, it tastes bad. I couldn’t drink these samples because of the horrible aftertaste. I had a mouthful of each and that’s all I could stand.

The Ugly:
-Nada.

The Verdict:
If you like Splenda, you’ll probably like Cranergy. I know lots of people who love Splenda and use it in everything. This is for them.

I’d much rather some straight juice. If it needs sweetening (which it doesn’t) toss in half a tablespoon of organic sugar and I’m sold. Ditch the fake crap and let’s leave our “food” tasting like the food it’s supposed to be.

I thought for sure I’d have a few minutes to blog while I’m away. I mean, I’ve got two grandmas, two aunties and several friends here, right? Turns out, many of them actually want to talk to me and not just chase my kid around. Harumph.

-We’ve been visiting, eating, swimming, visiting and eating and my time here is more than half gone.

-Primo’s been saying “Daddy’s a’ work!” approximately 8614 times a day to everyone he sees. I think he misses him. He has said it so much that my niece started copying him by the end of tonight.

-Tomorrow morning I’m dropping Primo off at my mother in law’s for a few hours in the morning to play. I hate leaving him anywhere and I just might have an anxiety attack. She’s fabulous and cautious and loves him more than life itself, but I hate not being with my kids. Hate. A lot. I need therapy, I think.

-Tonight after putting Primo to bed I went to visit a friend in the hospital. She’s 17 for a few more weeks so she’s on the pediatric ward. There were so many sick babies in there…it made me feel like throwing up just thinking about it. I take for granted having healthy happy kids, and I shouldn’t. (She’s okay - she has a kidney infection so needs IV antibiotics and will be out Monday.)

-I desperately need to go for a run. I am getting fatter by the minute here.

-My mom is a great cook. We had the most melt-in-your-mouth ribs and rice pilaf tonight. Mmmmmm. My sister in law and I ate until we couldn’t stuff another bite in. Sooooo good. Hence, fatter by the minute.

That’s all I’ve got. It’s after midnight and I’m fading over here. Happy weekend!

We’re in the process of packing up the van from floor to roof, all for a 5 day trip just two hours away to visit the Grandma’s for Mother’s Day. God, kids have a lot of crap. Playpen, suitcases, diaper bag, stroller, tricycle and helmet, toys, books, snacks, gifts, water bottles…and I’m not even bringing the Big Guy or the animals! Good thing, too, or they’d have to ride on the roof.

I’m just taking the kids and I’m sure it will be busy busy busy with visiting friends we don’t get to see very ooften, playing with cousins and grandparents and the usual routine stuff. Time always flies when we go home. I think we’ll be on the road for over half of the weekends between now and the end of summer so I’d better get used to it. Maybe I’ll have nice biceps from lugging all this crap in and out of the house.

I am loving the suggestions in my Skribit box and I hope to have a bit of time to blog while I’m away so keep ‘em coming!

Thanks for your tips on finding the numbers. I’ll check Ebay and watch Kijiji for some. He has enough number toys that I’m not terribly concerned, but he’d like them so if I find them I’ll buy them.

What are your plans for Mother’s Day weekend? (And have you entered to win some cool Mother’s Day technology yet?)

What a gorgeous weekend! The weather here was perfect. Cool mornings, hot afternoons, blue skies…

It was filled with walking dogs, playing in the yard, going for bike rides, drinking margaritas* on the deck with the family. And, of course, the requisite trip to Toys R Us.

As I’ve mentioned before, Primo knows all of his upper and lower case letters and also knows about 20 of the letter sounds. He plays with his Fridge Phonics every day so we wanted to pick up a Word Whammer to step it up a notch. (We also wanted numbers to add to the Fridge Phonics but they didn’t have any and nobody had ever heard of them. We can’t find them online either but we’ve seen them at friends’ houses. Any tips on where to find them?)

Anyway…the kids and I left the Big Guy at home and headed down there to make the purchase. We also bought a ball glove & ball and a foam bat while we were there - I can’t refuse a kid asking for sports equipment! When we got home and tore in to the Word Whammer, it was love at first play. He had a blast, until we started moving letters around. Primo put a “T” in the 3rd place, and the Word Whammer sings “X says ks, X says ks…” Huh? My kid knows his letters, thank goodness, or that would have been really confusing! He just moved it and said “Silly toy!” A little while later, we put a “B” in the first spot and it thought it was an “S.” After a few more such incidences, we took it away and today we’ll be heading back to the store to try again. Hopefully the next one works properly because he really likes it.

We’re also heading to a rally to advocate for provincially funded midwifery services. The BG and the kids and I will be picnicking in the park and enjoying subs and snackies while showing our faces for a good cause.

How was your weekend?

Don’t forget to give me your input and enter my giveaway!

See, over in the right sidebar, the little widget asing what you’d like to read here? It’s a cool thing I stumbled across called Skribit, with which YOU can tell ME what you want me to write about. Give me a topic, ask me a question…anything!

And it’s not just because I can’t think of anything to write about.

Nope, not at all.

Give it a shot and let’s see how it works! Just click on the “What would you like to read…” at the top of the widget and let those ideas fly.

Janice tagged me for the four things meme so let’s see if I can come up with anything you don’t already know. I’ve done this meme before, but I’m pretty sure it disappeared in the great Jesus-freak debacle of 2007.

Four Jobs I’ve Held

* Lifeguard (Janice too!)
* Fitness Instructor
* McDonalds Flunkie. (Shut up.)
* Shoe salesperson. (Again with the shut up.)

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over

* Sorry, watching movies over and over drives me crazy.
* I can’t sit for two hours to watch a movie once, let alone a second time.
* When I watch a movie, I scrapbook, blog, sort pictures, fold laundry or do other busy work.
* If I didn’t, I’d eat.

Four Places I Have Lived

* A place named after a large horned animal’s body part.
* A Canadian military base
* A city with a very ugly and huge landmark along the Trans Canada highway.
* A very windy city with lots of mormons in it.

Four TV Shows I Like
* LOST (another ditto to Janice)
* The Office
* Heroes
* Jericho - best show on TV and cancelled again!

Four Favorite Foods

* Fresh fruit - pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, oranges, kiwi…
* Dairy - cheese, ice cream, fresh whipping cream
* Anything my mom cooks
* Organic beef tenderloin steak with all the trimmings

Four Places I would Rather Be

* I actually love being right where I am!
* But if I had to pick…as long as I had my whole family with me…
* On a beach, playing in the sand, maybe in PEI?
* Anywhere that someone else did the cleaning and cooking!

Anything in there a surprise to you?

It’s the weekend! Yay! We, for once, have absolutely nothing planned. It’s going to be very nice. Hopefully some walks, a little yard work and a lot of play time. Enjoy, everyone!

Primo and Bella received a copy of That Baby CD and That Baby DVD courtesy of the company and MotherTalk.

I have heard nothing but good things about these, so was eager to check them out for myself. As most of you know, my kids are not allowed to watch TV yet (except hockey, because…duh, we’re Canadian) so DVD’s are our only option for that type of entertainment/digital babysitting.

The company is everything you’d want in a place to spend your money. They manufacture using recyclable materials, have a “no questions asked” return policy and even offer free replacement of “discs that get scratched, fingerprinted or smeared with peanut butter.” They say “We have kids too. We know how it is.” It doesn’t get any better than that.

That Baby CD and That Baby DVD were created by a mom and dad, Lisi and Rob Wolf, in Mercer Island, Washington. They also own OyBaby, a brand made especially for Jewish babies and kids.

Honestly, Primo didn’t like the DVD the first several times I put it on. Every time I tried to play it for him, he said “Turn it off. Watch ABC’s.” (He’s completely addicted to this movie and that’s why he’s known all of his upper and lower case letters since he was 18 months old.) That said, I actually really liked it and I have a feeling Bella will too when she’s old enough to watch it. Even Primo will likely come around when he’s tired of Meet The Letters. That will happen, right? Please?

It really is a good DVD. Don’t listen to him.

Edited to add: I tried again on Friday, the day after writing this post, and he loved it. Watched the whole thing, danced along with it and wanted to watch it again after. Yay! We now have an alternative to Meet The Letters!

The CD, however, was a completely different story. He loved it, I loved it, Bella loved it (well, she smiled while it played…) and even the Big Guy didn’t hate it. From him, that’s good. The tunes are awesome of the stick-in-your-head variety and they’re great for all ages.

Enter the coupon code “MotherTalk” when purchasing and save 20% on your entire order! From now until May 18th, all orders using the coupon code “MotherTalk” will be entered in a drawing to win a new iPod nano.

I shamelessly thieved the husband meme from Chelle in desperation…

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How long did you date? Just about 3 years. We met in September 01, moved in together in February 02, got engaged December 02 and got married in July 04.

How old is he? 33. I’m 32, but I always forget.

Who eats more? Him, most of the time. I have portion control issues, though.

Who said “I love you” first? He did. Actually, what he said was “Would you think I was a freak if I told you I think I love you?” I didn’t. Not at all. I loved him already too.

Who is taller? Him. Tall, hot, and smart. I lucked in.

Who sings better? We’re both very not good, but we sing anyway. We serenade our kids in unison at bed time every day. Poor little darlings.

Who is smarter? Him, but don’t tell him I said that.

Whose temper is worse? Me. He doesn’t have a temper at all. He balances me out nicely.

Who does the laundry? I do. He occasionally puts it away but can’t fold to save his life.

Who does the dishes? We both do, but I do it more. Since I cook, he’s supposed to clean but he’s been slacking.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does.

Who pays the bills? He does, for the most part.

Who cooks dinner? I do. He can’t cook AT ALL, but he rocks the barbecue. (As long as I prepare all of the accompaniments!) Actually, he’s very intelligent and could totally cook if he had any desire too. He really hates it, so I do it.

Who drives when you are together? I drive my van. On the rare occasion we leave the house without the kids, we take his (sports)car and he drives.

Who is more stubborn? Me. Totally me. It’s genetic.

Who kissed who first? He kissed me. I think? BG - want to comment on that one?

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Neither of us. Usually if we realize we’re wrong we just pretend that the other person misunderstood us and we were right all along. It’s pretty funny.

Whose parents do you see the most? Mine, because they are able to come see us quite often. But we see his a lot too. Everyone’s only 2 hours away.

Who proposed? He did, right before we were leaving to head home for Christmas, 10 months after we moved in together. We were still in school, but he figured if they could do it while they were in school, we could too. He sold his RRSPs to buy my ring.

Who is more sensitive? Me, but he’s a big softie too. I just cry a lot.

Who has more friends? He has the lifelong kind. I have a few of those, but lots of the ‘probably wouldn’t see each other if our kids didn’t play together’ kind. My good friends are really really good. Amazing, really.

Who has more siblings? We both have one. I have a brother and he has a sister.

Who wears the pants in the family? Ummm…we both have our areas.

The Big Guy is an awesome friend, an awesome husband and an awesome father. I loooooove him a lot and I know I’m incredibly lucky to know him and to be married to him. When my mom met him, she said something like “Oh, thank GOD!”

How is it possible that breastmilk poop (which currently smells very similar to caramel pudding) can leave such a permanent reminder of it’s presence?

Bella has some very nice and rather costly clothing, much of which is now poo coloured.

When you go eight days between ‘movements,’ there’s a whole heck of a lot of it.

Have you ever had any luck with removing infant crap from clothing? (Or blankets, bouncy chairs, carseats, swings, intellitainers…it’s everywhere!)

Share your secrets.

Dear Primo,

Dude – you’re two! I can’t believe I’ve been a Mommy for two years already. You will always be the person who made me a mommy, and that’s the best gift I’ve ever received. You and your sister are the most special people in the world to me and it’s an honour to be your mother. I have loved every moment of the past two years. Even the not sleeping, the tantrums and the mundane parenting tasks because they are all part of spending my time with you. When you’re not sleeping, it’s a chance to snuggle you in the dark of night that I don’t get very often any more. When you’re throwing a rare tantrum, it’s my chance to teach you new words to express your frustration and show you acceptable ways to handle your stress. When I bath you, change your diaper, get you dressed and make your meals, it’s a chance to play with you and teach you that though we all have responsibilities they can be a lot of fun if you smile while you do them. I’m not perfect, but I promise to always do my best to make like fun while we learn.

Grandma J bought you a new tricycle before Christmas and you’ve finally been able to ride it somewhere other than the garage. Bike riding is now one of your favourite hobbies, and you look so stinking cute with your little helmet on! You don’t use the pedals yet but you move like a bat out of hell. You run along with your butt on the seat and lift your feet to glide once you get going. In just a week you went from having to stop and turn your bike every few feet so as to not hit the street to steering while you run along. It’s going to be a fun summer out there!

You are really an outside kid. You also love to play hockey in the driveway with Mommy, go for walks, play at the park, play in your sandbox , stomp in puddles or just run and wrestle in the yard with Thai & Mavi. It’s so fun to experience the wonder of the outdoors through your eyes. You get excited every time you see a pine tree (“pine tee!)” or the train bridge (“tain birge!” and it just never gets old.
You love to go shopping with Mommy, especially anywhere with a cart. We go to Costco every Friday with your friends Liam and James, and to Safeway and Save-On most weeks too. We have our playgroup Thursdays with many people from your original baby group and some new ones too, often go to Rhyme Time Tuesdays or the library Wednesdays to sing. No matter what we do, you love it. You have a zest for life and for learning that is truly awesome.

You do occasionally like to play inside as well. You like to play with your trains & tracks, build and crash block towers or mega block towers, crawl in the dogs’ kennels, watch hockey with Daddy, throw balls for Mavi, and watch your “Meet The Letters” DVD. You love to help Mommy clean and cook. You vacuum your own room and Bella’s room too, and love to wash the walls and windows with water and a cloth. You like to stand in your learning tower and help me bake banana muffins or whisk eggs. You’re a great helper! You have friends over often and love to share your toys with them. There’s something inherent in your personality that enables you to share without freaking out like many kids do. So far, anyway. In addition to your generous heart, you show more empathy than many two year olds. When you see someone crying, you day “She’s sad” or “He’s crying” and “Iss okay.” Often you’ll rub or pat their back if they’re close to you.

You love to throw things in the garbage. You’re the diaper man of the house and you throw out all of Bella’s and your own. Sadly, you stopped saying “garmer” and started saying “garbage” last month. It was so cute, but it’s also great that you’re growing up. You like to recycle too, and now call it “recyc-ing.”

In the past three months you have excelled at speaking more than ever before. You’ve always been well ahead of your age but now you’re nothing short of amazing. What 22 month old can say “hippopotamus” and “chiropractor?” You! You also know all of your letters, both upper and lower case and can count to 10. You also know many of the numbers up to 100 because you recognize the patterns. You know most of your shapes, but especially love stars, hearts and circles. We count and do letters all the time and you love it. We count to 30 twice a day when we brush your teeth, sing the alphabet before naps and bed, play letters in the tub, read many many books a day and are generally immersed in literacy much of the time.

You spent your first night in your big bed (which you called your “good boy bed” for several weeks because you misheard me when I told you what it was and then you insisted) on Friday March 7 – the same day you fell out of your crib trying to reach something because you’re so tall. It took you a LONG time to get used to your bed. For the first several weeks Daddy or I had to lie with you for at least an hour to get you to sleep, and then you’d freak out every time you woke up and we weren’t there. It was like a flashback to your infanthood! I did try leaving you in there to play but you started to cry and promptly learned to open the door. You challenge my problem solving skills endlessly! Then we moved on to “quiet time” in your room with a baby gate across the doorway so you couldn’t escape. I needed a break and you really needed a nap, even though you refused to admit it. You went over a month without a nap. It was awful. Your molars were bothering you at the same time and that didn’t help. Then, all of a sudden (well, three and a half weeks later…) you napped one day and started sleeping through the night again. At this time you’re doing fabulously and love your bed and your room. Your bedtime routine is a lot of fun. You pee on the potty, have a bath with either Daddy or I in there to play with you, pee on the potty again, run around naked for a few minutes, get your jammies on and come out to show the other parent which jammies you have on (which is VERY exciting!), read a bedtime story with Mommy and Daddy and then we both serenade you with a list of songs…

1. The ABC’s
2. Twinkle Twinkle
3. Row, Row, Row Your Boat
4. The Itsy Bitsy Spider (which we have to do twice with the actions because you love to be tickled.)
5. Prayers
6. Mommy’s “I love you” song or another made up song that’s just for you

You are getting to be a little bit more picky with food. You like noodles, rice, peas, corn, Grandma B’s buns, Grandma J’s hamburger soup, pickles, Dill Pickle Soup, cheese strings, grated cheese (NOT sliced cheese, heaven forbid), yogurt, cheerios and milk, plain toasted twelve grain bagels, toast and butter, cheerios and milk…and that’s about it. Well, other than ice cream, cookies, nachos and other crap that you get only occasionally. On days when you’re not eating much, you’ll almost always drink a smoothie or a shot of juice in your milk. You also eat more when we’re out and when you’re in the bath. Yes, that’s weird, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

You are still the best big brother imaginable. Bella smiles whenever she sees you, and you love her and would go to the ends of the earth for her. You love to fetch her diapers, put her dirty ones in the garbage, put her clothes in her laundry, hug her, hold her hands, burp her, rub her head and occasionally lie on her and try to feed her all of your foods that she’s not allowed to have yet. It’s so nice that you want to share! You offer her something and then you say “Onee bestmilk!”

You are SUCH a Daddy’s boy now. I will do just fine when he’s not home, but once he gets here I’m chopped liver and he has to be the one to help you with everything. You make him carry you around like you weigh ten pounds (you actually weigh 30.4 pounds!) and love to play with him and wrestle for hours on end. I guess you get a little sick of me by the end of the day!

This past weekend we had a party with some friends for your birthday. You had Dawson, James, Connor and Kaden over, along with their siblings and parents. Liam is in New Zealand right now so he couldn’t come. You had a great time, with a picnic on the floor and lots of cake. You were tired, but you were a trooper. The only thing you didn’t like was when I put a birthday hat on you.
Buddy, I have no idea how to sum up the two best years of my life, so the last three months will have to suffice. It’s been an amazing journey and it continues to be an awesome thrill to be your Mommy. You make me so proud and I hope you’re always as excitable, confident and exuberant as you are now. You are my best boy, my favourite little man, and I love you right up to the moon…and back!

Love you SOOOOOOOOO much!

Mommy

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Tomorrow we’re celebrating Primo’s second birthday. Hold me.

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Thanks to Mom Central, we recently received a box of the new Kellog’s Wild Animal Crunch cereal and the first season of Meerkat Manor on DVD.

The answer to the question everyone wants to know? (Well, okay, not everyone. But you do, right?)

What do DVD’s and Cereal Have in Common?

Kellogg has partnered with Animal Planet on Wild Animal Crunch cereal to provide children with fun facts and games on every box so they can learn how animals survive in the wild. In four different collector’s packages with real animal photographs, Wild Animal Crunch cereal also tells families about Animal Planet’s R.O.A.R. program (Reach out, Act and Respond).

WILD ANIMAL CRUNCH:

The Good:
+Yummy! It’s like the cereals that I wasn’t allowed to eat as a kid, but with whole grains!
+The first ingredient is whold oat flour, and the third is whole wheat flour.
+There are 14 grams of whole grains and 3 grams of fiber per serving.
+There are awesome wildlife tips and facts on every box.

The Bad:
-The second ingredient is sugar.

The Ugly:
-High fructose corn syrup.
-Palm oil.
-How the heck does corn contain traces of soybeans? Obviously this is not just plain old farm variety corn.

The Verdict:
-If you buy sugar cereal anyway, this is a great alternative for you. We don’t, and though it tastes good we’d never buy it because it contains HFCS.

The Rant: I wonder why companies haven’t figured out that people who want whole grains don’t want HFCS? People are becoming more and more educated, and major corporations seem to be trying to pull the wool over our eyes by making something unhealthy appear healthy at first glance. Don’t let it happen to you.

From the wiki: Blending more traditional animal documentary style footage with dramatic narration, the series tells the story of the Whiskers, one of over a dozen families of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert being studied as part of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, a long-term field study into the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of the cooperative nature of meerkats. The original programme is narrated by Bill Nighy, with the narration redubbed by Mike Goldman for the Australian airings and Sean Astin for the American broadcasts.

The Good:
Animals. Real live animals in their real live habitat. No fences, no drugging them to make them docile, no enraged PETA folks pounding at the door.

The Bad:
Ever so slightly annoying.

The Ugly:
Nada. While slightly annoying, my kid loves it, there are no commercials and there are lessons to be learned. A family friendly all around great show!

Dear Bella,

You’re three months old and I can hardly believe it. These three months have flown by, as all the others will I’m sure. I can’t believe you’re already ¼ of a year old. That means ¼ of my maternity leave is over too. How sad. Though we hope to be able to extend it for an extra 9 months if we can swing it. We’ll have to see. At this point the thought of leaving you and your brother makes me very nauseous and teary.

You, my dear, have the biggest smile and brightest eyes of any little girl I’ve ever seen. When you smile it lights up your whole body and the faces of everyone around you. Your contentment is contagious! Primo loves to make you smile, and is thrilled when you look right at him and flash him one.
You’re vocalizing a lot now. You say lots of “Ahgoo” “Ahhhh” “Ooooh” “Ahooooo” and have even said “Maaaa” and “Mlaaaa” once or twice. I love hearing you talk. You look right at me and tell me the best stories, and then look at me to make sure I’ve understood. I have, of course.

I adjusted your vaccination schedule a little bit just to be safer. At 11 wks you had your two month shots and were an incredible trooper. You cried for about 5 seconds and then looked at your brother and smiled. At the appointment you weighed 12 lbs 9 ½ oz were 24 inches long.

We took you to Grandma B and Grandpa J’s for Easter and had a wonderful weekend. You didn’t care about the festivities, of course, but you did love all the extra people around to love you! Grandma B & Grandpa J gave you an awesome SPF 50 bathing suit, Grandma J & Grandpa R gave you a case of diapers (great gift!), Mommy and Daddy gave you a new toy and the Easter Bunny brought you two beanie babies – a lamb and a duck. I tell you this only so I have a record of it when you as me “Where did I get this?”

You’re still sleeping in Mommy & Daddy’s room and moved out of the Moses basket into the playpen bassinet after Easter so that you’d have a little more room. You’re doing great in it, and we’re glad because we’re nowhere near ready to move you to your own room. It seems way too far away. You still sleep incredibly well (knock on wood) – from about 11 pm until 9:30or 10 am with one nursing between 6:30 and 7:30 or so.

You and I spend as much time as possible cuddling in our chair after nursing. I try to take time to sniff your precious baby head and feel your amazingly soft skin to create permanent memories because I know before long you’ll smell like the back yard and have scrapes and bruises all over you from playing with your brother and your dogs. I’d give anything to bottle the smell and the feel of you right now. You are absolutely amazingly perfect and I can’t believe how lucky we are to be your parents.
Of all the little girls in the whole wide world, I got the very best one.

Love always & forever,
Mommy

Yes, I know I forgot to post her one and two month letters. I have them scrapbooked and have digital copies saved. Would it be silly to post them now?

It’s funny.

Eat nothing but hot lemon water for a day and your first cup of broth the next day tastes like the best food you’ve ever tasted.

Drink broth for a day, and adding a bit of organic crushed tomato to it (for fiber - needed fiber!) feels like a gourmet meal.

How’s it going for you and you? Have you felt anything other than hunger yet?

My first day, I was quite hungry but it was tolerable because my mind was set on doing it. That night, I felt almost hungover and a little woozy. Toxins swimming through your bloodstream in gallons of water will do that to a girl. My second day I was hardly hungry at all. Today’s my third day and I feel great.

Here’s where you may want to stop reading if you have a week stomach.

I wondered why I didn’t poo for the first two days, but figured I must not have had had enough fiber to expel anything that was left in there. Today? I made up for it.

Really - you might want to stop reading now.

I took a “foot plus” long crap! Whoo hoo! And then more, and more, and more again. As soon as I added some fiber my colon certainly started to cleanse! My first real meal was actually tonight because I tried to start over again a day late with Chelle but couldn’t make it a whole extra day. I had celery earlier, organic crushed tomato in my broth and then a delicious meal tonight.

1 chicken breast steamed with sesame oil
brown, red & black rice mixture with ground flax seed stirred in
Broccoli and beans stir fried in 1 t. grapeseed oil with hemp seeds

Mmmmm. So good!