Greetings from "The Happiest Guy In Town"

b&w glee
Originally uploaded by MamaT

Declan is a very jolly baby - as you can see.

crisis averted?

hrm...cops have ceased stopping traffic, but the marked cars continue to tour the 'hood. Wonder if the punks escaped? I should check my garage...

damn kids these days....

I was going to blog about our great weekend and how much Mika loved riding the LRT and stuff, BUT...

I noticed a cop outside my house a little while ago stopping all traffic, including pedestrians. His unmarked car is parked in the middle of the street out front. I went outside to satisfy my curiosity and was told that there is an armed standoff about a half a block away. Officer Dan advised me to stay inside with the doors closed and to stay away from windows as much as possible. They plan to "make a call and try to get the people out without an incident soon enough here". Basically, there are some teenage punks with guns holed up in a house up the street from me. Not sure what they are wanted for - aside from questioning regarding the allegations of illegal firearm possession.

Ah, good old Edmonton. The train stopped on the bridge during our LRT ride on Saturday so that the passengers could witness the cops hauling a red sports car out of the river. The driver must have bombed down the trails just below the High Level Diner to hit the water at that particular spot.

Sheesh!

Secretly loving lolcats

like this

Loving the beco

After Declan's appointment, we went and met Kristeen, Saoirse, and Brighid as they were out and about yesterday too. Saoirse showered Declan with kisses - I think that made up for having to endure the doctor. We shopped around a bit and then went to get Mika. Saoirse came up to the daycare with me and within seconds had settled herself at a table and made a couple of friends. She's so cute! I love that kid...
ANYWAY - we must have been feeling brave because we hauled all the kids onto the bus and over to WEM. I irritated Kris by offering Saoirse all manners of pink shoes. :)

Declan rode in his beco carrier all day. He was happy and my back was in much better shape than had I been pushing him in a stroller. He's still too small to sit in a stroller, which means he has to be in his car seat if I am not carrying him. Oh, how I wish I had been smart and picked up one of these carriers when Mika was a baby. I feel bad now thinking of all the times she was strolled around all day in her car seat, save for feedings and diaper changes. aH well. Live and learn.

My poor little guy...

Declan's pedi checked him out yesterday. The doc could see some sort of major blockage in the right side of Declan's sinuses. The doc sent us for xrays immediately which also showed some kind of blockage. (go figure!) Poor little Declan - getting his wee head zapped already. He had to wear a little lead cape on which the techs had drawn a Superman logo.
Anyway, the doc was unable to tell what on earth this blockage is and is sending the xrays to a specialist to check out. We have to go back in two weeks. In the meantime, I'm to spray cortisone in Declan's nose once a day and he is going on amoxil. The doc is hoping that the blockage is "just an infection", hence the antibiotic treatment. If it isn't an infection, the little guy will probably have to have surgery to remove the blockage or otherwise open up his sinuses.

Declan handled it all rather well. He weighed in at 17 lbs, 7 oz..

Still sad...

It was a year ago today that we lost our 'G' at 104 years. Still miss her like mad.

bits

- when Mika is particularly happy, she gallops around rather than walks.

- If I were to practice EC with Declan, I could never leave the house.

- Mika enjoys being a goof. Nature, nurture; she gets it from both sides. A current fave is to push her lips out in an exaggerated 'O' to talk. She absolutely delights in being indulged and have someone play that name call-out thing that toddlers love while making the fish lip face. If you walk by my house and the windows are open, chances are good that you will hear "Moh-Moh" answered by "Mee-koh". I think I'm developing a wrinkle on my upper lip from making that face so much. If so, it will be a good prop for later "See kids? Your face kind of DOES freeze in place if you goof around like that!"

- Declan is starting to grab onto things and put them in his mouth. He still stays scrunched a lot of the time, so we tend to underestimate his reach. The kid has long arms when he needs to...like to grab utensils from the bin on the dining table when he's sitting in his bumbo being our centerpiece.

- Mika loves to go outside. We have a lot of traffic going by the house. She's scared of "big noisy trucks". No amount of assuring her that the trucks can't get her when she is in the yard can make her stop freaking out when they go by.

- There was a garage sale at the other end of my alley this weekend. I wandered down with Mika and we picked out a few things. I ran back home to grab money and drop her off so I could carry the stuff back. She flipped. Even though her treasures were placed at her feet, it wasn't good enough. She cried and cried and cried some more about going back to the garage sale. We attempted reasoning with her that it was probably closed now (that bit o news intensified her tears ten-fold, of course. Seemed like a good thing to say at the time.) and that we already had the stuff that we wanted. After about 45 mins, Daddy took Mika back to the damn garage sale. He sort of looked around pretending that he actually *wanted* to be at a garage sale while Mika stood frozen on the driveway just staring at the folks and not saying a word. The most frustrating part was that she would not tell us why she needed to go back to the garage sale. Usually she explains her meltdowns like crying for 30 minutes because she didn't get to carry a particular bag or tear the straw from the side of the juice box. So it goes!

- Mika can actually dress herself! I witnessed her put on a pullup diaper, pants, and a shirt. She doesn't often do it without any help whatsoever.

- Today is picture day at the daycare. That reminds me that I should haul Declan in for some too.

- The organic produce at our local bigbox grocer sucks. They are also inconsistent with their supply of organic cow's milk. We're going to try a weekly delivery service instead. At least I keep saying that I am going to call and set it up....hrm...I should go and do that.

Oops - late Mom's Day post...

For anyone who cares, we had a good Mother's Day. After many cards were opened in the early morning, we headed out to Baba's for brunch. Nana came with us! Jim, Angie, Alice , and Jamie were there too and the girls had a wonderful time. We came home and I planted a strawberry patch - and found space to throw a couple of herbs in the bed.
Mika made me a beautiful bookmark, magnet, and a decorated tin foil covered peat pot. She wasn't at daycare on the day that they actually planted the flowers in the peat pot.
Tuesday is picture day at the daycare. We're sending Mika in to see if her beloved caregivers there will be any better at getting Mika to pose for a photo than we are. The biggest challenge will be getting her to dress in something other than her snoopy shirt or her "girl n' boyn" (white tshirt with a screen showing a chinese boy and girl having tea or something). Then again, does it really matter what she wears?
Getting dressed for the day is always an ordeal now. No less than 2 ounces of tears.

Mika and Saoirse were set loose in Kingsway mall the other night. Kris and I were shopping in the store that Auntie Quin (formerly Auntie Kerry) works. The guys foolishly decided to wait out in the mall and let go of the girls' hands. Saoirse received an upgraded play kitchen setup and passed her awesome wooden play stove along to Mika. Thanks Saoirse!

Check In

Declan is in good health with the exception of his stuffed up sinuses. He's going to be referred to a Pedi for further investigation. His physician looked up his nose again and said that everything looked normal, aside from swelling that she thought would be attributed to dry weather. Hrm. I told her that I wanted to take him to a chiropractor, but she asked that I at least wait until we have a second opinion from another doctor. His stats were 16 lbs, 11 oz., 25 3/4 inches in length, and a head circumference of 42 cm.

Nana just got here - more later!

Happy Belated 3-Month Birthday, Declan!

Declan turned 3 months old this past Sunday. We planted some dwarf lilacs in the front to celebrate. They're Daddy's favorite and will be growing under our bedroom and Declan's bedroom windows.

I was so eager and excited for new developments when Mika was at this age - and she did very little until she was a bit older than Declan currently is. Now I want to enjoy every moment and keep Declan a baby for as long as possible and the kid is just forging ahead like mad. So it goes...

Declan loves to be a part of the family. He wants to sit at the table with us when we eat and has become our new centerpiece now that he can safely sit in his Bumbo seat. The smell of food still gets to him and he often ends up nursing while the rest of us eat. It's funny how the smell of food can wake this kid.

Now that Declan is alert, he loves to watch his sister bounce around and scream. You're guaranteed a huge smile if you let him jump on the couch with Mika - er, make that two smiles because Mika loves to jump with her brother too. I have a feeling that Declan will be really into the Jolly Jumper. I'm sure he'd love it now and honestly has the head control for it, but we will wait another few months, just in case.

Declan loves to chat already. He rolls from front to back, hauls himself into a sitting position when you hold him on his back, combat crawls, and walks when you hold him upright. He's also pushing his legs as if actually jumping when we 'jump' him on the couch with Mika. Oh, and is getting better at holding himself up in a sitting position. He'll be getting a driver's license next week, I'm sure.

He's still a very buddha-like baby. Full of smiles and rolls of pudge.
We have a checkup tomorrow. I want to bring up the topic of chiropractic care for Declan with his physician. The poor guy has the most stuffed up nose I've ever seen (or heard). Nothing is making a difference. On his last visit, he was checked and everything deemed fine, aside from some swelling due to dryness - or so I was told.

Declan loves being carted around in his Beco carrier. We went to cousin Lucas' birthday party at WEM this past Saturday. Declan went from his car seat into his Nana's arms for awhile and stayed in the beco for the rest of the time - except for feedings. (I did manage to feed him while carrying him in the beco once before. wasn't too bad, actually.).

We went out this morning to the office because I had yet to bring Declan in to meet everyone. I brought the stroller/car seat combo with me, but only ended up using it as a luggage cart. Declan sure loved being passed from woman to woman at my work. He's a shameless flirt and seems to prefer blondes - or any female with a large chest. If he wasn't such a nice sweet guy, I'd call him a typical male. We were there for almost 2 hours, even though it didn't seem that long. Declan didn't cry even once. In fact, he didn't even really fuss much. One minor whimper with a frown to indicate that he was overtired and needed to sleep - I put him back into his carrier and he was out. I had an impromptu meeting that lasted about 45 mins (oh yeah - that's why I was there for so long) and the lucky guy got to sleep through it. I was envious. He stayed asleep during the bus ride, slurpee stop, and a 7 block walk home.
I'm glad I have a windowless office at work. Makes private feedings easy. I have the only windowless office in the joint. All of the other inner offices have at least one glass wall.

I'm thinking of taking both kids to WEM tomorrow after Declan's checkup. Alone in the giant mall with a toddler and infant. I know Kris has done it...but she has also taken her girls out on the bus without a stroller or diaper bag. I don't know if I am that brave.

Oi..I had so much more to post about, but am too brain dead. Late afternoons seem to be the worst time for that - brain deadedness.

Nana snuck over while Declan and I were out this morning and cleaned up our side bed. It looks wonderful. Delphiniums, yarrow, daisies, poppies, jacob's ladder, and lungwort - at least that is what has been identified so far.