end of July

Daddy and his girls - a little cuddle on the couch. Sarah's now sure of her role of big sister - she's all hugs and kisses for Margot (and everyone else). So far so good...

Our neighbours a couple of doors down must be cleaning out their closets (they have three girls who are much older than Sarah - the youngest is probably 5). They brought the cool costumes that Sarah has been using so much and now - shoes and some winter hats and a scarf. The shoes will fit Sarah next year (they're sizes 10-13) and the winter stuff will work for this winter. In keeping with her dress-up theme, here she is sporting as much of what came in the bag as she can. :o) She's either funny or frustrating - the mantra of a 2 and 3 year old.

Sarah's new glasses

Sarah got her new glasses today. Dale took her to the doctor this morning while I took Margot to her 4 week appointment with her pediatrician.

Sarah's very excited about wearing glasses and we think she looks pretty terrific in them. Now if we could just convince her to keep her fingers off the lenses! :o) When she's wearing them her eye is barely crossed at all and it looks like she's using the eye, so that's very exciting. I sure hope this works so we don't have to go to patching the good eye or surgery. Fingers crossed.

Small Margot update - she's now 8 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long (she was 7 lbs 4oz and 19 inches at birth) - that's more than an ounce a day for the past 2 weeks. To think that weight loss was a problem when she was born! She's working on her third chin right now and slept for a 6 hour stretch last night. Sweet! Let that continue, please! She's still suffering a lot from gas, though. I guess I better start that food journal to see if I can pin point what it is that I'm eating that's bothering her. Chocolate? Maybe. It would sure suck if I have to ditch that.

Life after Margot arrived

Sorry its been a few weeks since the last post. Life's been a bit hectic around here. Imagine that, eh? :o)

Margot has already graced us with a few smiles and once (while she was awake!) she did a deep laugh for me. Hilarious!

She's now starting to track light and dark and movement and is enthralled with her big sister (no surprise there!) who loves to get too close to her, touch her constantly, wake her up when she's sleeping - you know, the usual excited to be a big sister stuff!

Below is a picture of Sarah and Dale watching Margot get some stimulation (she only lasts 5 minutes before she loses it).

Sarah's been full of accidents lately. This could be due to a growth spurt and because she does everything at a dead run, but mostly because she's developed a lazy eye over the past month or so. We took her to the eye doctor last Friday and we have glasses on order for her. Her eyes are both farsighted (no surprise considering both her parents are as well) but there is a major difference between the sight in both eyes so her brain has 'dumped' the weaker eye because its too much work to get it to work properly. So - she has lost her straight ahead vision but still have some peripheral vision in her left eye. The hope with the glasses is that it will correct the problem (she'll wear them until she's 7 years old or so) and we won't have to go to patching her good eye or surgery.

Below is a picture of Sarah soaking a sore toe (stubbed it) and eating her dessert at the same time. As far as she's concerned she's in heaven! :o)

One of the terrific gifts that we received for Sarah (thanks to everyone who has sent such wonderfully thoughtful gifts - a thank you card with pictures will be the mail soon!) from Yves and Amanda is sidewalk chalk and paint. Below is an original Sarah Arndt called 'Storm'. It disappeared in the next thunderstorm (how appropriately named!) but we saved it forever in a picture.

The day that I went into labour I found the outdoor patio set that I was looking for - wood and it folds down to store in the winter - it took us another week to get back to the store, but we have it now!! Now we just need to find an umbrella!

Sarah loves to play 'Dr. Steve' (our chiropractor) with her Daddy. Her newest thing, though, is hairdresser. Below Dale is washing her hair before her haircut. In case you're wondering, I have hidden the kid scissors in case she gets any ideas!

Sarah loves veggies from the garden (raw!) but won't eat them cooked. Here's a picture of her eating a new carrot straight from the garden (with a bit of a wash). She eats strawberries with the tops on them too. Yuck!

Dale's sister, Kelly, jetted in from Calgary to visit for two days last week. My mom left on the day Kelly arrived! We were so blessed with visitors (aka helpers!). Thank you. Thank you!

Kelly and two of her many nieces. Can you see a resemblance between Sarah and Kelly? I can! Can't tell about Margot yet!

On Saturday we went to see the Marine Museum of Manitoba in Selkirk. The pictures below are from that little jaunt. Margot travels like a dream - car seat or sling, she's a sleeper!

Sarah's giving out food and taking money - that's her thing these days. Must get her a cash register at the next yard sale that I get to.

Sarah loves fishing!

This picture illustrates Sarah perfectly at this stage of her life. She loves adventures and throws herself wholeheartedly into them. Boats are so much fun! Staying at home, however, isn't exciting enough and we end up in tantrum land. Below she's curled up on a bunk of a ship, pretending to sleep (and sucking her thumb). Note the spill from lunch on her sweatshirt and the band aids and various scars and bumps on her knees. :o)

I'm telling you, she's a natural at the helm! She's throws it around like she's been doing it all her life!

Margot's first week

When we brought Margot home from the hospital last Sunday we had just learned that she was jaundiced and had lost a lot of weight (8% of her birth weight). We were lucky to be able to bring her home. We decided that we'd supplement with formula that night because my milk hadn't come in. So - we fed her about 1/2 an oz every feeding with a little egg cup. It was painful but we thought we were doing the right thing. On Monday the public health nurse came to visit and it turned out that she'd now lost 9% and we were close to having to take her back to the hospital. Yikes. So - the finger/syringe feeding began. We stuffed her full for the next twenty four hours. She was so full that even after burping she'd ooze milk out of the side of her mouth!

We lost a lot of milk down inside the folds of her neck and in the shot below, apparently down her back as well!

She was such a sleepy baby from having lost so much weight that we had to strip her down, burp her a lot and use all the nasty tricks like cold wet wash cloths to keep her awake. Sometimes it was a lost cause.

First bath. Sarah's being super helpful by squeaking Sophie le giraffe constantly.

Have you ever met a baby who liked being bathed? Margot certainly didn't appreciate it!

Back to sleep after the bath. She's been trying very hard to get a thumb or two fingers into her mouth all week. I think she'll be able to manage it soon.

Margot and her big sister Sarah having a cuddle. There are many of these every day at Sarah's request.

Grammie taking her turn at finger feeding. We were all exhausted after a few nights of doing this routine, let me tell you!

On Canada Day we went for a walk in the Corydon Village area. Dale got a book called Winnipeg Walks for Father's Day so we tried out one of the suggested walks. Its a book of walks with the historical information of the area in it. It was great fun! About an hour of walking was the right amount of me right now with baby Margot in a sling. We found a park for Sarah with swings and a slide so everyone was happy.

Sarah was given a couple of costumes by a neighbourhood family and this is her favourite - the cat.

Sarah likes to do some rearranging in her bedroom in the wee hours of the morning when she gets up earlier than us. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of cleaning up - this morning it was pretty tame - just some shoes lined up in a row. She'll be all set for basic military training when we ship her off on her 18th birthday! (kidding!)

Our visit with the public health nurse yesterday went well. My milk was in and Margot had gained 2 oz of weight back and she now has some fat on her. No more supplementing! Hooray! Unfortunately she spits up a lot, but I guess you can't have everything. The few summer newborn clothes that we have are being pressed into service. I guess its time to get to the second hand store and get more clothes for her.

Margot with a double chin!