Walk this way...

A few days after her first birthday Rose decided to walk full time! Before that she was taking steps here and there, but was using crawling to get from a to b. One day she just took off and never looked back. Now she pretty much walks all the time, standing up if she falls. She can even stand up right in the middle of the room. This makes playing in the backyard super fun (although it has been far far too rainy), and trips to the park more enjoyable (ditto on the rain). The short video above is of Rose having fun in Home depot. When I see it now I notice she can walk even better 3 days later.

Birthday fun at the farm and morning gift opening...

After our Easter egg hunt this morning, we ate some breakfast, and then proceeded to take a quick break to make some coffee before opening Rose's birthday presents. I set the presents on the table and went into the kitchen. Shortly after this Paige yells, "Rosie's opening her presents!".

She didn't help open many of the gifts, but Paige had fun helping, or opening the the other ones.

Rose in her jammies. One of her solo walking moments.

As Rose's birthday fell on Easter Sunday we were able to take advantage of the Springridge farm Easter festival in the morning. Fun for the whole family!

Paige participated in an Easter Egg hunt. You searched for plastic eggs and then exchanged them for a pack of mini eggs at the end. The eggs were all mixed in with the hay and the employees somewhat unsurreptitiously dumped more in the mix every so often.


Rose's first pony ride! She actually really enjoyed it!

Paige on "Dragon". How awesome. She loves dragons.

5 day old ducks.

Pedal tractors.

Early morning Easter egg hunt!

We had a lot to fit in today with it being Rose's birthday as well. The Easter bunny left eggs in the living room and kitchen again this year, although Paige was certainly a lot quicker in spotting them this time. Maybe he'll be a bit stealthier next year. Rose played with her birthday balloons while Paige went on her hunt.

Rose's first birthday party!

Rose's birthday party was a fun lunch at our house with the whole family. The day was beautiful, so the windows were wide open and we enjoyed food and cupcakes, champagne and orange juice, and gifts. Rose couldn't get enough of her cupcake and wasn't bothered by her headband and little tutu that I ordered specially a couple of months ago for the occasion. Thanks to everyone for celebrating with us!

Happy 1st Birthday Rose!

It's so easy to remember, as if it were just yesterday, the moment I sat alone in the dark at 3:00am with Rose in the hospital. Mike had gone home to get some rest and the nurse had taken Rose for a couple of hours so I could also attempt to get some sleep. I remember getting a tiny amount of sleep, waking up, and then waiting both anxiously and nervously for the nurses to bring her back. I worried that I would feel scared to be alone with my teeny baby, as I did when Paige was just born. After 2 days of no sleep, Rose was born at 7:11 am the day before, and we'd enjoyed a peaceful day with our quiet, sleepy baby. We were much more confident and capable. I, from the confines of my hospital bed, was more relaxed with nursing and holding her, and Mike taking the lead on getting her settled into her bassinet and changing her diapers, was completely at ease. But in the night time, I was hesitant to be alone with her in case she cried inconsolably I guess. But in the early hours of that night when they brought her back and I sat with her in my hospital bed alone in my dark room with the moonlight shining in, there was instant love. I held her tiny body and looked at her dry little hands and squished nose--evidence of all that time inside my body and was so grateful to have her in the world. It didn't matter that I'd had about 2 hours of sleep in 72 hours, or that I still needed help to get out of bed. We bonded in that moment, and as I sat there with her in the room, I felt her connection to our family instantly.


Fast forward to her 1st birthday and we can barely remember life without her. Rose enjoys chasing (super fast crawling) after her big sister, playing with her big sister's toys, and laughing and watching her big sister's every move. She is still cuddly and enjoys quiet time with mommy and daddy. Her cry still sounds like a tiny baby, and she often screams when getting her diaper changed. She sometimes sleeps through the night...like once every 4 months, but has been sleeping better this week. She is far too active and exploratory to bother with too many naps, so she dropped down to 1 nap all on her own a couple of months ago. She's only had about 1 bottle ever, but enjoys her big girl princess cup full of water. Bath time is one of her favourite times, and she loves to crawl around playing with our hundreds of bath toys. She can totally walk (up to 10 or so steps), just chooses not to most of the time, as crawling is the much faster option. She has always been an easy to read baby that is rarely fussy. However, she saves her big smiles for people she knows and shys away from strangers, giving them a blank expression. She can say Mama and Daddy, Baby (day-dee), and hi. She has also said Paigey a couple of times (Dee-gee).


I doubt Paige can even remember what life was like before Rose entered into it. Paige loves her sister so much and is excited each and every time Rose comes into Paige's room in the morning, or wakes up from her nap. When she sees a picture of video of Rose she can barely hold herself back from kissing and hugging the screen. There has been no jealousy, and Rose has only made Paige's life more exciting and fun.


It's easier as a second time parent to remember and savour these moments of Rose's first year. They aren't so diluted by sleep deprivation--something we've become accustomed to in the last few years. There are so many things I forget about Paige's babyhood. I am infinitely grateful that I started the blog 3.5 years ago, so I have all the memories in writing. I feel like I will remember more about Rose as a baby, but that may not hold true 3 years down the road. Although Rose turning 1 is an exciting time, it is also a little sad. I'm not sad that she is getting older and bigger, as much as I am sad that I may forget what it feels like to have her as a baby. I wish I could bottle up all of these feelings and experiences to remember them when she has grown up. The baby sounds, the smell of her hair, the hesitant walk, the way she smiles underneath her num num, her attempts to make us laugh, the feeling of kissing her soft squishy cheek, the smoothness and chubbiness of her skin, and nursing her to sleep and carrying her in her swaddle or sleep sack over to her crib. I look forward to her growing up but wish I wouldn't have to forget anything about it. Now is the time that I get mad at myself for not taking much much more video. Maybe all the feelings of your own children as babies come rushing back to you when you hold another baby? Kind of like how touching a kicking baby through a pregnant stomach brings me right back.


This year has gone by so quickly. There have been many sleepless nights, countless hours of rocking her in her dark room in the night, many tears and poopy diapers, tons of colds and pink eye, and lots of running around. I probably didn't get out on my own as much as I should have, and spent a lot of time cancelling plans, or not making them. Rose is only a baby once, and if I had to sacrifice my own time to spend it with her, well, that's just what a mother does. It was all worth it to have her in our life.



Happy Birthday Rose, we love you! We look forward to all of the memories to come!

First taste of cupcake

Just a "taste" of her birthday party. More photos to come of course...

Walking

Rose has been taking a few steps here and there for the past month or so. It has never really progressed quickly like it did with Paige (a few steps and that was it, she was walking all the time), but she's definitely improving as the weeks go on. Today I managed to capture her best walking yet. I knew she was going to do it and luckily I had my phone with me. And it was really impressive as she was outside on unstable ground and wearing her shoes. She was so adamant about not touching the grass with her hands that it provoked her to walk from the slide to the sand box rather than crawling there. However, she didn't walk the rest of the day. So odd considering she did so well. You'd think she'd be more interested in walking in the house.

Conversation with Paige...

Mommy: Do you know who sings this song? ("Baby")

Paige: Um....Justin Bieber?

Mommy: Ya that's right.

Paige: He has a chipped voice though.

Mommy: What does "a chipped voice" mean?

Paige: He has a chipped voice because he sounds like a girl.

Appetite...

Rose has a huge appetite now. The only thing we have to feed her is cereal--good for iron, etc. Besides that, she's switched to small bites of table food that she feeds herself. Her 2 favourites are avocado and grapes. After she got over the illness we realized she didn't really like being fed anymore. She's fine with being fed her Gerber biscuit flavour cereal, but nothing beyond that unless she really likes it. Like if we smash up an avocado she'll eat that off a spoon. She has even successfully eaten fish and chicken in small pieces and little bits of bean and broccoli. This is a huge deal!! Since we eat dinner really late I feed her cereal around 5:30 when I start to prepare dinner. Then she gets out of her highchair to play, and joins us for dinner and finishes the rest of her meal which she can feed herself. It's working out really well.

I wish we had a dog though because some ends up on the floor. And when she's done eating she begins her spastic arm swiping motions to rid her tray of any and all food. I always noticed that Jen's floor was so clean, and that was because Abby was always hanging out under Paige's, and now Lizzy's feet cleaning the mess.

I've also began to introduce her to milk in her sippy cup. Full on cold from the fridge. So far she'll drink some of it. I have just been giving her a bit of it with her lunch. If I ever want her to drink more I may try to warm it a bit, but I'd prefer she enjoyed it cold of course! Oh--and yesterday I gave her peanut butter. I was 99% positive there wouldn't be an allergy, but I only gave her a tiny bit on bread to start. Paige has had peanut butter every day of Rose's life, and Mike actually gave Rose a bite of a peanut butter cookie by accident once.

Ugh.

5 horrid days....

The very short story is....

Rose pukes on me. She continues to puke for the night and then poo constantly for 4 days. She gets weaker and weaker and barely eats anything. Refuses to have pedialyte--even going so far as to puke it up out of anger and resistance. I try to bring her back to health by nursing her frequently. She seems to be slowly making a recovery, but continues to sleep like crazy from low energy. Just as you'd think she'd really recover, I get the bug. We are both sick. I have to try to keep it together to continue to nurse her back to health, but I become super weak, dehydrated, and low milk supply. Rose then needs to eat a lot to keep up the milk and fill her tummy. I have to get up 5-6 times in the night to feed her. I become exhausted and drained and we are in a huge cycle that we can't get out of. Eventually we reach a turning point and we just get better. Maybe the antibodies from my illness went through the milk and healed her enough to let me heal. I dunno. It was pretty bad though. We just couldn't win. Luckily for the 3 days that I was bad Mike stayed home, then Maura came, and then I was sick but well enough to manage as Rose was better--we just watched a lot of tv.

Poor Paige started to come down with it too--sore stomach, fever, no appetite--but had a good sleep and woke up recovered. THANK GOODNESS. We'd had enough!!