Winter Day in the Life 2014

It is time again to join Laura over at Navigating the Mothership for a quarterly DITL post.  You can find Summer 2013 HERE and Autumn 2013 HERE

January 24th 2014

Joss is 3 years 6 months

Jasper is 8 1/2 months

Sometime shortly after 12am Philip comes up to find me asleep with my earphones in attached to my iPad.  He unplugs the earphone bit and moves the iPad over to the bedside table.

2.30ish Jasper is fussing I wake with earphones in my ears and pull them out.  Jasper has been unsettled all night and figure he will need feeding to resettle so move him in the bed with Philip and realize no one brought a bottle up so head downstairs to grab a bottle.  By the time I get back up they are both asleep taking up the majority of the bed so I throw my pillows to the bottom of the bed and decide to top and tail it.

Sometime after 3am Jasper is awake and this time he wants food.  I sit up and manage to nudge Philip over enough to sit and feed Jasper.  We both fall asleep in the process and I only wake when the empty bottle falls on my leg.  I nudge Philip over some more and lay Jasper in the bed with us.

3.58 Jasper is awake again not sure how I get him back to sleep as I am so tired but apparently I do.

6.50 Philip gets up and heads for the shower

7.04 Jasper is up and in crawl all over mama mode so I put him in his cot with a bunch of toys and txt yes you read that right txt Philip to come and grab Jasper when he finishes with his shower as he is on a late and has said he will let me sleep in this morning. At some point he collects Jasper.

7.30ish I hear Joss calling to Philip from the top of the stairs but he grabs her quick before she comes in to me.

Just before 8 Joss gets impatient with Philip who is feeding Jasper and comes upstairs to get dressed on her own.

8am decide I am really awake and should get up but want to avoid the circus downstairs for as long as possible so sit  in bed for 10 min sulking about a project at work that fell through yesterday after 3 long hard weeks of planning by me.

8.10 Stumble down stairs do the rounds of good mornings Philip is working on cleaning the kitchen, Jasper is working on killing himself (this is not a dig at Philip, Jasper actively tries to put his life in danger most of ever single day.  I don't really believe in playpens but this one is so mobile at 8 months hello crawling and climbing up on furniture and pushing stuff over to help him climb on stuff that is too high.  I don't make babies who sit and play with toys apparently) and Joss is watching some programs as she is completely ready for school.  I mention to Philip they screwed up my January pay as there was a problem with one of my time cards that was fixed but not until the cut off date so I may need to transfer money from his account this month.  I grab a bowl of shredded wheat then take Jasper upstairs to help me get dressed and sort some laundry.  I start a load of laundry and try to get Jasper to finish his bottle.  Philip talks to me about a job he is interested in and we discuss what it would mean for our long term goal of moving back to the US.

8.45 Philip get Joss finished and ready for Preschool I hear a melt down about shoes and jumpers he wins on shoes I tell him to wave the white flag on the jumper as she has long sleeves on and it is not that cold.  She gets her own coat on.

9.00 Philip is out the door with Joss and will be back for a ride to the train station.  I make some phone calls in regard to the project that fell through at work and call to check the amount of a final payment we are making this month.

9.20 Philip is back and I drive him to the train station I jibe him about enjoying his last day in his thirties as tomorrow is his birthday and this gets us reminiscing about the fact we met 13 years ago.

9.30 drop Philip off at train station and head to the grocery store to buy the last bits I need for his birthday cake.

10.15 Home again I leave the groceries in the car as Jasper is desperate for a nap so do the whole nap routine and he settles on his own in his cot.  I bring the groceries in and leave them on the counter while I weigh out and start the frosting for Philips cake on the stove as it will need to chill before I can finish it.  Once that is going on the stove I put the groceries away.  Decide I want to make egg salad sandwiches of lunch and have to go look up the timings for hard boiled eggs as it has been so long since I have made them and get those going.   Frosting has all melted and I set that to the side to cool and eggs are finished.  While that has been going on I have been checking some bits for work as I need to make some calls but can't remember who I need to call.

11.00 make some calls for work and catch up on some work e-mails.  Weigh out the ingredients for the cake as the butter needs to soften.  Make up the egg salad sandwiches but with Greek Yogurt instead of mayo and add some fresh dill.  Super Yummy!  Have a look at Facebook while I am eating lunch then I change over the laundry.

12.15 start making the cake wondering if I will make it through with out Jasper waking as it has been almost two hours which is super long for him.

12.40 cake is in the oven just as I close the door to the oven I hear Jasper stiring on the monitor

1.15 Jasper is fed and changed and cakes are out of the oven.  I answer and urgent email then shut down work stuff probably till kids are in bed. I chill out with Jasper for a few minutes until the cakes are cool enough to take out of the tins.

1.40 Cakes are out of their tins, swapped another load of laundry and put away a load of dry laundry.  Decide while Jasper is happy playing with some of his toys I will catch up on Instagram and blogs but as soon ans I sit down I realize that I haven't given Jasper any lunch as he was sleeping while I ate.  I put him in his high chair with some veggie sticks and some fruit wedges and let him enjoy while I chat online with another woman who has the same role as me but in a different area.  Good to know that she is facing the same issues as I am.

2.15 decide the weather is so nice that I will walk the school run so quickly get us organized and suited up.

2.30 leave house to pick up Joss

2.40 arrive at preschool and chat with mums while collecting all of Joss's bits

2.45 Joss is out of Preschool and is none to happy that I walked instead of drove as it has been a while since we have walked home from preschool (it has been raining since before Christmas, it rains in England instead of snow). The first 5 minutes of the walk home is solid whinging and then she is excited because she realizes she can carry Buzz Lightyear on her shoulders like daddy carries her.  The walk home is an endless stream of chatter about everything from tomorrow being a Daddy's Happy Birthday day to how many more sleeps till gymnastics.

3.10 Home again I set Joss up with a snack and settle Jasper for a nap.  I fold some laundry upstairs while I wait to make sure Jasper will settle on his own.

3.30 Decide to let Joss watch TV for a bit while I decide what to do for dinner, Jasper isn't settling so I go up to resettle him and realize he has had a blow out.  I change him and lay him back down in hopes he will nap.  I empty and reload the dishwasher.  I get Joss set up to colour Philip's birthday card which she does for all of about 15 seconds.  It is not going to be a good day for independent play today.  Joss plays her game of "Big Jump" where she jumps off the step stool then demands a high five.

4.00 I give up on Jasper settling for nap and go up and feed him then sing songs with Joss and Jasper which is one of Joss's favorite things to do.

4.30 We make the daily daddy call followed by more singing and me refereeing them while I try to make dinner.

5.00 Dinner followed by cleaning up all the toys. Joss has announced she wants some yogurt with a crushed up biscuit(cookie) for desert and I bribe her by saying all the toys have to be picked up first.

5.30 Joss is in the bath while I get Jasper changed for bed and this is the face I get every night when we change into PJs, since he is already so angry I decide to wipe off all the dried snot on his nose making him even angrier if that is possible.  I then help Joss get ready for bed and set her up with her episode of Max and Ruby so I can finish feeding Jasper and get him settled

6.00 Jasper is settled and while Joss finishes her program I run down stairs and finish off the frosting and start to frost and decorate the cake.

6.20 Joss keeps pushing buttons on the computer and so I turn it off and get her settled and lay down with her for a few minuted before saying good night.

I head down stairs and finish frosting and decorating the cake then upload the last photos to our 2013 photo book and add all the journaling that still needs to be done.

8.20 book is done I just want Philip to have a look before I order it so save it and head up for a bath

8.45-9.15 read some old blog post especially the DITL post and have a laugh at things I thought might never end and less than 6 months later we have moved on to bigger and better problems

9.15-9.45 work on blog post until my eyes start to go funny and decide it is time to head to bed

10.00 In bed catching up on social media

10.20 decide to head to bed but as I am drifting off remember that I left Joss's card to Philip out so run downstairs to grab it.

10.30 head to bed

11.45 Jasper decides he needs to be resettled

Oh Help! Oh No. . .

It's a Gruffalo!

This was our first year Trick or Treating though I have dressed Joss up in years past. I wasn't sure how it would go down but spent the day talking about Halloween and Trick or Treating with Joss. I choose her costume in as much as I picked it up around Easter time on sale for dressing up but it has never really gotten used as she as of yet is not really interested in dressing up.

To be honest if we hadn't been meeting up with a friend pretty sure she wouldn't have put the costume on. It took some convincing that the only way she could go trick or treating was to have a costume on. 

Once she had done the first house with her friend who is 3 years older she was gung-ho and had a brilliant time. We just hit about 5 houses on the street that we know well and she was pretty happy with her haul of candy. 

Giving into the Mess

I have to admit that when I chose to do BLW part of my decision was based on laziness. The last thing I really wanted to do was sit and shovel spoonful after spoonful of food into Madame’s mouth. I would rather put it out for her and let her do the hard work. Yes there is TONS of mess to begin with but I also looked at it as an investment, hoping that it would improve her fine motor skills and with any luck learning to use utensils sooner, which is still to be seen. However when starting out I also knew I wanted Madame to allow me to spoon feed her when necessary, this quickly turned into a big fail. I am not sure if this was due to what I tried to start Madame out on with spoon feeding (quinoa cereal) or just the fact that Madame is terribly independent and was not going to have the whole being fed thing when she thought she could do it herself. After a few weeks of failed attempts I pretty much gave up on things like porridge and soups and anything Madame could not easily pick up herself.

Someone suggested letting her feed herself by putting a bowl on her tray with a spoon and while I did not mind the mess all over her I knew it would be all of 10 seconds before Madame had the bowl up in the air and on the floor and I really had no desire to constantly be cleaning up porridge or soup off the floor. Today the answer became clear as I was grocery shopping. A bowl that suctioned to her high chair tray, I suctioned it close enough for her to use a spoon (not that she does hands are much easier) and let her go to town.

I am happy to say that Madame is terribly efficient at using her hand to scoop porridge into her mouth and towards the end even perfected a technique to scoop up the porridge with rice cake. Way to go Madame!

Pancake Day

In honour of Pancake Day Madame used her teeth to pick the blueberries out of some pancakes (see if mom ever makes her pancakes again!)

Madame's Monday Update

Sideways because she can

Dear Jocelynne,

So no new teeth this week I think that is a first for you at least in the last 6-8 weeks. Don’t feel bad or like you are falling behind really 9 teeth is plenty for the moment. I finally looked up how many baby teeth you will get and it is 20 so we are not even half way there. Seems like a lot of work to not even be half way there. Not that I am in any hurry for you to get the other 11 you have plenty of time really most of your friends your age only have 2-4 teeth.

You have made up for your lack of teething this week with a lovely runny nose. It is never ending I feel bad that all I do is wipe your nose. I turn around for two seconds and you have two huge ribbons of snot running down your face. Sometimes you blow the hugest snot bubbles it makes me laugh. Yup I said it snot bubble, said it on my blog for posterity to read hundreds of years from now, that’s right your great great grandchildren are going to know that you blew really big snot bubbles. On the not so funny side those snot bubbles turned green and you got a fever and started to pull your ears so we got to do our first round of antibiotics. They are fluorescent yellow and imitation banana flavour and you love them. I feel like the last two months of feeding you wholesome food is flushed down the toilet by how much you like your imitation banana flavoured antibiotics.

Speaking of wholesome food I have now realized that when I give you blueberry pancakes you put the whole pancake to your mouth and use your teeth to pick out the blueberries and leave the pancake untouched. I don’t know if I should be impressed at your skills to pick blueberries out of pancakes with your teeth at less than 8 months old or if I should be insulted that you are leaving the perfectly good pancakes I laboured to make you untouched.

You slept from 6pm to 3am last night without waking. I was so excited when I realized that you had slept for 9 hours without waking I almost woke your father to tell him. Luckily just before I did I realize he might not be that impressed with the news at 3am. I am hoping this was not just a fluke but will now become a habit.

Love you much,

Mummy

Madame's Monday Update

Madame attacks a blueberry pancake

Dear Jocelynne,

It has been another crazy week with teething, you have two more new teeth number 8 and 9. We also had two trips to the doctors this week one for a cough I was worried might be a chest infection (turns out your fine) another for really bad diaper rash which turned out to be a yeast infection. The rash was the hardest part as your cried and screamed ever time I tried to change your diaper, it made me feel like the meanest mother in the world.

The teething has made sleeping a little interesting, Tuesday night Daddy took you and Mama for a long drive to get you to sleep and after you had been asleep for over an hour we brought you home but you decided to wake up. Mama was so glad that Daddy took over and got you to sleep because she was so tired at that point she pretty much passed out on the bed and fell asleep herself.

Grandma Kay watched you for the first time on Saturday so Mama and Daddy could go out for a bit. It only lasted for about an hour till you woke up and decided that you were not going to be soothed by Grandma and Mama and Daddy came home luckily we had not gone far so we go back in ten minutes.

You have become so vocal and in addition to random shrieks and gobbledy gook you now make repetitive da-da-da sounds and every now and again ma-ma-ma sounds.

Fingers crossed now that those teeth have cut through Mama and Daddy can get a few nights of sleep.

I love you so much

Mama

Madame's Monday Update

Dear Jocelynne,

You never slow down these days, you just go go go. Whether you are rolling all over the living room trying to find something you shouldn’t to get into (amazingly you can do this is less than two seconds) or shovelling food in your mouth, or learning new skills it is non stop with you. You love everything that is loud or lights up or flashes or moves. Mama has a hard time thinking of new and fun things for you to do and tries her best to rotate your toys over a few days so things seem new and exciting. I have resorted to pulling out cooking ware just to keep you occupied.

Sometime I think you should have been a younger sister as you love to watch older kids play and love it more when they entertain you. You love to go to Lynda’s house and play with Issy who is four and Amelia who is two months older than you. You also love going to Grandma Kay’s house and playing with your cousins who are eight and five. This weekend we took you to Daddy’s best friend Tina’s house for the first time in a long while and her girls Holly four and Shauna almost 11 had a great time with you.

Not only do you stand now but you have in the last few day started to stomp your feet and today while at your friend Ivy’s house you started to take a step or two going forward while holding Mama’s hands I was so proud of you.

Our nursing relationship is changing as well you are learning to eat so well and have started to nurse less. It is bittersweet in some ways I am ready to start getting my body back as my own and in other ways it is hard knowing this is the beginning of a still long road to the end of nursing.

I love you

Mama

7 Months

Dear Jocelynne,

What a month it has been in some respects I think it has been the hardest month that you and I have faced. You had a really hard time adjusting to the time change when we got back from the US and this stressed Mama out because she adjusted faster so we were on different schedules. Mama was not getting enough sleep which is never a good thing.

Just about the time you started settling back into a decent nap and night time routine you decided to start teething. You went from no teeth to cutting seven teeth in just over two weeks. I guess you decided you needed seven teeth when you hit seven months you have four teeth on the top (the front two and one either side) and three on the bottom (the front two and one to the right side). It looks like your eye teeth are also close to coming through on the top.

Needless to say the teething really messed up your sleep again and also made you grisly during the day which was not the best combo when I was sleep deprived. We made it though some days we both cried. What helped me get through was the fact that even in the worst of the teething you would have some of the happiest moments, you would start laughing at something and you would just get hysterical with your laughter, big huge belly laughs while you kicked you feet.

You also finally decided you were ready to sit with out throwing yourself backwards after 30 seconds. You love to sit now and will happily sit and play with you toys on your mat for long periods of time. Within days of picking up sitting you decided you wanted to stand and now you want someone to help you stand ALL the time. You like to stand holding onto the furniture but are not really steady enough yet to do it safely so you and I spend a good portion of our day working on your stability.

You love to give kisses which are actually more like being slimmed but I love the fact that you love to do it. You have a new trick if I am holding you but not paying you enough attention, you reach up and gently pat my face until I look down at you, and then you smile at me and tell me a “story”.

You are getting so good at eating food you love pears, rice cakes, rusks, oranges, courgette (zucchini) fritters, cucumber, carrots, cheesy vegetable nuggets, potato wedges, sweet potato wedges and ham egg and cheese omelettes. I love watching you learn to eat; it makes me so happy that other than bananas you have not really refused any food.

This may have been the hardest month that you and I have faced so far but in some regards it has been the happiest too. You know when I need to see you smile, and you have decided you are a daddy’s girl and are quite happy to chill with Daddy for a few hours on his days off so Mama can head out for some me time. You are becoming more independent every day and while most of the time you would rather be down on the ground creating havoc than having a kiss and a cuddle it makes me proud to see you entertaining yourself.

You teach me to chill out all the time. Like giving up your pacifier cold turkey at less than 5 months old, even though I worried we would have to have it surgically removed when you went to college. I can’t tell you how much I worried about giving up the pacifier and all for nothing. Now that your teeth have come through you have decided that you will go back to decent naps and with a little guidance from Mama are back in your cot and starting to settle at night better, so I guess the hours of worry over the last two weeks that you might never go back to your cot and that you were going to wake every hour all night until you were 12 years old were useless as well.

I am so glad everyday (even the ones I cry) that I am your Mama and each new trick you come up with delights me beyond belief I hope that 7 months will be just as good or better than 6 months.

Love,

Mama

6 Months

Jocelynne you are six months old today I have not idea how we have made it through half a year as it seems both just like yesterday they laid your squishiness on me moments after you were born and also like a life time ago.

You gained 4lbs in the six weeks that we were staying with Grandpa and Grandma America (I think they were sneaking you pork pies while I wasn’t looking!) and are up to 18lbs 6oz. You have jumped from the 50th percentile to the 90th percentile for weight but I am not too worried once you figure that crawling out you will probably slim down again!

You roll all over the place like you have always done it. You can sit on your own but fail to see the point as it means you have to be stationary so Mama has to watch you like a hawk until you learn how to safely get out a sitting position and back on the ground. Grandma America taught you to blow raspberries while we were in the US and you do it constantly now. When I go in to get you up in the morning the first thing you do is look up smile at me and then blow a raspberry, then you giggle to your self almost like you know you have done something funny.

Nothing is safe from your grasp of death! If you can reach it you grab it and if we are walking by something you want you make a lunge for it, sometimes getting lucky and sometimes just keeping Mama on her toes. You are trying your best to throw yourself off your changing table at every change, it is like you get a bout of the wiggles and CAN NOT stay still every time I go to change your diaper. I don’t mind the wiggles so much I just don’t want you to find a way throw your self off the table.

Your sleep is a mess since we have come back from the US but it has only been a week since we got back and last night we had a small victory in getting you to sleep the whole night in the crib and from midnight you only woke to feed so I am hoping it is a break through and not just a fluke.

You have started Baby Led Weaning and so far you have had potato and sweet potato wedges, rice rusks, oatmeal, cucumber, sweet pickles, bananas, and carrots. You were not a huge fan of the bananas but I think that was more that they made your hands sticky than the taste.

You are pretty much out of 3-6 month clothes and have started wearing 6-9 month clothes and some 9 month stuff from the US. It seems like we just managed to get your 0-3 month stuff stored away and now I need to pack up all the 3-6 month stuff.

You make me laugh every single day (although some days you make me want to cry as well). You will look up at me and give me the world’s largest smile and then go back to what you are doing. I still can’t believe I am your Mama. I love you so much!

Madame's Monday Update

So Madame and I made it home in one piece though we are still trying to get over jet lag who knew it could be so bad! Jocelynne was so excited to see her Daddy and has been bonding with him since we got home.

Mama has been back for her first weigh in since we got home. Some how miraculously I managed to loose half a pound over the Christmas holidays and will be back with Fitness Fridays this week.

Merry Christmas from Madame

I could show you how darn cute Madame was in her Christmas morning PJs before we opened Christmas gifts

Or her mad unwrapping skills (pretty impressive considering that she just shy of six months)

Or true to form the box is ALWAYS more exciting than the present.

But the photo that will define Jocelynne's first Christmas?

Turns out sweet pickles seem to be Jocelynne's favorite food. No making gross faces, no throwing it on the floor just gnawing on it for a good 5-10 minutes till it was too soft and she wanted another one. Yeah trust my kid to be strange like that.

Merry Christmas Jocelynne

Dear Jocelynne,



A little note on Christmas Eve for my dearest Madame.



Today you mastered rolling from your tummy to your back. Unlike when you learned to roll from your back to your tummy almost two weeks ago you just up and decided to do it. No teasing us for weeks being close but not quite, no only doing it when no one was watch for the first week, nope you just flipped over like you had been doing it all your life right in front of the whole extended family the first time. Then the second third and fourth time in rapid secession.



You are working very hard on sitting. Your not quite sure how this is going to come in handy yet and every time I put you down on the floor in a sit you look at me like "but mom rolling around on the floor is MUCH more fun" Your learning seems to be exponential and each thing you pick up faster and faster. Just remember while I am so proud of you there is no rush you have your whole life ahead of you, you can stay my baby for a few more minutes.

I am so impressed at how social you are, you have been so excited to meet the extended family and love all the attention you get from them.

Chilling with your Uncle Gabe.

Getting some luvin from Great Auntie Net

Meeting Great Grandma Anderson for the first time a few days ago.

You with your Uncle Camron.

Finally on Christmas Eve we know Daddy is missing the fact that he can't be with you even though he loves you very much so we thought we would wrap him up a special present and send it his way.

Love,

Mummy

Getting to know you

The best part of being home this holiday season is that Madame has been able to meet so much of my family. My mom was kind enough to take us up to meet up with my cousin Tiffany who is visiting her in laws not far from us and her little boy Lucas who is six months older than Madame. Not only did Madame get a kick out of sitting in a high chair for the first time, but she could not get enough of her new friend. She loved to watch what ever he was doing and would hold her hand out and Lucas would take it and hold on to it. They even swapped toys for a while, very cute to watch. Afterward Madame was well and truly worn out and slept for the over an hour drive home.

Madame's Monday Update

Dear Jocelynne,
I took this photo to send to daddy (to show your true allegiance was still with him of course) and two minutes later after I had finished I came back to this
Yup we have a roller, you could have waited for mama so she could see it in person!