Half a month in St. Albert...

Can't believe we crashed in on the Pugsleys for half a month. They are well equiped though with having 4 bedrooms upstairs. We shared a room with Rose, and Paige slept in the craft room on an air mattress. Since there were lots of potential for noise in the night from most rooms we slept with a fan and the window open! The first couple of days we slept in our room with the door closed as well, but after 2 nights of Jen having to come in to tell us that Paige was calling us, we had to sleep with it open. And sleeping with the door open came in handy when there were 2 incidences where Lizzy was crying and Jen didn't hear her. I found myself plugging her with a num num and busting in on Jen and James in the night to tell them. So we were even.


We couldn't have asked for better weather. Not too hot during the day, and mainly sunny. The nights were cool and perfect for sleeping. There is no humidity there and the sky is blue and smog free. The water is cold and yummy and doesn't taste like chlorine. And after sitting in a water glass all night long, the water doesn't taste like dirt (trust me--the water is horrible here). The only bad thing about the environment there is that it stays sunny a lot later, and putting Paige to bed was a challenge. She could often see kids playing outside her window. We caught her looking out her window watching kids on a slip and slide one night when we thought she had been sleeping for a half hour. Another night she was calling to the dog, "Abby! Abby!" when she saw her in the backyard. Every night we would have to go in and out of her room a dozen times. "But Mom!" she would say when I would leave for the 11th time after doing odd things like tucking her blankets up over her mouth (?). But she did go to bed quite early there (from the time change) which was nice. Rose defnitely went to bed early--sometimes 7:00. Lizzy was a bit of a difficult sleeper though, so I would often find myself coming out of Paige's room at night saying, "Ok, glass of white wine anyone?....anyone?" and they were off to bed. But what we lacked in the evening in terms of socializing we made up for in the wee hours of the morning comparing sleep stories, or changing diapers together. Or even random passes in the hall in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom, make Lizzy a bottle, or take Paige to the bathroom. I hate to say it, but Rose slept quite well and often slept through the night. She would wake up pretty early, but I liked the time in the quiet house where I could make coffee and just relax for a bit.


It is really funny, looking back, at how crazy it was. Everyone would comment on the noise in the house...Paige running around screaming, Lizzy or Rose crying, Abby barking, random visitors coming and going, and that blasted train ripping through the town. In the 2 weeks that we were there, the babies changed a lot. Rose became a lot more active and sturdy. She enjoys playing with toys a bit now, and can be held outwards just resting on the hip of any female...a little more awkward for a man. She loves being carted around like this. And Lizzy went from having about 8 20 minute naps to having 3 long naps during the day. I think they both learned from each other! It was definitely hard for scheduling anything though, as when 1 woke up another would go down for a nap.


Some fun things we did with Paige were to take her to Galaxyland amusement park in WEM (west edmonton mall for you non-Edmontonians), go to Mike's and my old school playground, enjoy treats at the farmers market, and take her to a pool splash park thing (Mike did this a few times). Grandma Val went on an outing with Paige to another splash park as well. She really enjoyed all of the things St. Albert has to offer. There really are lots of things for kids to do just a short drive away. It's always really strange for me since we have moved away to take Paige to things that I used to do as a kid. I can picture my mom in my shoes watching me do the same things. It makes me feel older than I do here!

Because we couldn't bring many toys, Mike made Paige a house out of 2 Pampers boxes (picture below). I also made a run to the dollar store to grab a ton of crafting stuff, and a trip to chapters for some new "Little Miss" books which were small and easy to pack for the way home. Abby also kept Paige entertained, and we had to constantly remind her that Abby WILL bite her if she is not careful! At home Paige either watches videos or tv shows on demand, but at their house she just watched tv. She was introduced to a few new shows, so she was really happy about that. After watching Kung Fu Panda a few times there she now says "Focus Focus" to me with her hand facing me palm outward if I am talking to much.

Closer to the end of the trip we were at Walmart and Paige was whining. I was telling her that I don't listen to her whiny voice and that she had to talk normally. "I feel a bit roughie!" she says. I felt her head and the poor thing was burning up! She had a fever for the rest of the day and even agreed to have a nap. Not sure what that was all about, but it put a dent in the plans a bit. We were supposed to visit the Barr's and I had to go alone with Rose, Mike staying behind to take care of Paige. Poor Mike missed an excellent meal and great time. Poor Paige was sad to miss the night too and asked to go there the next day.

James' dad was nice enough to lend us his vehicle for us to use. It was great as it had a 3rd row for us to fit 3 car seats in it. That way, when James and Mike worked during the day, Jen and I could go places in 1 car.

For some odd reason I lost a pound while we were there, but I swear I didn't hold back on the brownies, cookies, etc. Jen and I spent a large majority of the time complaining about losing baby weight, and then drinking lattes and eating brownies. Hypocritical, i know, but we both knew that once we were gone we would definitely make the effort 100%. hehe

It's nice being there for so long, but at the same time it makes it a lot harder to leave. We all get used to being around each other a lot, and it's nice to see family and friends who we see so little. For me, who is used to little adult contact during the day most of the time, it was such a nice treat to have people to talk to. And when we left it was hard to think about missing out on seeing Lizzy grow up. I guess that's how they have always felt about Paige. I hope we can have some visitors soon, we just don't have much room right now. We need to renovate our basement to make a more suitable place for visitors to sleep! We may make it out there after Christmas, but will definitely be there in the summer again.