Aloha Friday

Over at Kilani's blog she started the Aloha Friday, in honor of in Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that they take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So she thought that on Fridays she would take it easy on posting, too. I thought this is a great idea so therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

Today's question came to me after writing my post yesterday about nursery rhymes.

Today's question is: What is your favorite Nursery Rhyme?

Hope everyone has a great Aloha Friday!

Thank you Great Granny England

Here I am Great Granny in the beautiful sweater that you knit me. I just wanted to show you a picture of me in it and say thank you. It fits perfectly! Thank you - sending you hugs and kisses.

And here is a face, just for you - to show you how nosey I am. I am trying to see what toy mama has and see if she will give it to me..Here I am with the toy!Again - thanks for this sweater! I love it!

The Oddity of Nursery Rhymes

Have any of you ever notice the real strangeness of the sing-song rhymes that we sing lovingly to our children.
How about this one common rhyme that we sing to our children...


'Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon.

The little dog laughed to see such fun, and the dish ran away with the spoon.'

Okay - first of all - who is Diddle Diddle? And why is he hanging out with the cat and the fiddle? And was it the cat and the fiddle that made the cow jump over the moon? Was the music that bad?? I have to admit that I have seen a dog smile - but never heard him laugh. But I have never seen a dish run away with a spoon. Okay, if they were going to run away it would be nice if they could run away to get clean together. Even as confusing as this first nursery rhyme is at least it doesn't get overly crazy like this one....

'There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, who had so many children, she didn't know what to do. She gave them some broth without any bread, then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.'

Strange. Because she had too many children she gave them broth and whipped them all. Strange is all I have to say.

Then there is Ryan's favorite... Goosey Goosey Gander

'Goosey Goosey Gander, whither shall I wander? Upstairs and downstairs and in my lady's chamber. There I met an old man who would not say his prayers, so I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.'

What a magnificent goose that had the power to throw a grown man down the stairs by just his left leg, not his righ, but his left! And the knowledge to know that he wasn't saying his prayers.

Even though I have touched on the strangeness of these nursery rhymes I must admit that when Lyla's CD of nursery rhymes come on she gets a big smile on her face. I must also admit that I sing these phrases to her daily and even though they are odd, they amuse and make Lyla happy, and that is all that matters. Let's just hope she doesn't ask me how to explain them.. I guess I have a couple of years to figure out what to say....

I figured it out...

Today, Lyla had a GREAT time at Gymboree. Because of the winter weather conditions, there were only 3 kids in the class, usually there are about 10. So, it was kinda a really nice class though where the instructor was able to interact with all the 3 kids during circle time. But, I had an Ahh-haa moment today when it came to the parachute. Every time we get that parachute out Lyla becomes a little apprehensive. We go underneath the parachute and we sing songs. At this point, Lyla looks at me somewhat wearily, but does not cry. We then leave the little ones under the parachute and raise it up over their heads and then down to their heads. This is when Lyla gets upset, and today I figured out why. She wants to grab onto the parachute, and we keep pulling it away. I think at first she was scared of the parachute because she used to cry and reach for me, but now I think she just wants to hold onto it. So, I think we are making progress because she only whines when the parachute goes up but stops and reaches for it when it comes back down. Anyways, it was quite nice today at Gymboree. She got to interact with Lina and Preston - the two children that where there. They giggled and talked and touched each other. Very cute, and us moms got to talk as well which is nice. Lyla very much enjoys being around others. She loves watching children and being with them. She spent a lot of time today on her belly and didn't complain about it. Her instructor even praised her for how good she was on her belly, seeing that last week she hated it. Anyways, I am so glad that we are going to Gymboree. It has been a great thing for both of us, and it is definitely the highlight of the week for both of us.
Anyways, what else is new with us?!? We went and bought Lyla a new car seat last night, and we are looking forward to trying it out. She is so frustrated with her infant car seat. She cries when we put her in the car seat. She is getting too tall for it, and when we adjust the straps she gets mad because it pulls down on her shoulders. I am going to miss the ease of taking her into places without unstrapping her from the infant car seat, just putting her in the stroller and being on our way. We had to go to Target today for one last hurrah with the car seat/stroller combo. Here is Lyla in her new "Evenflo Symphony" car seat. It should last her forever - it can go up to 100 pounds and turns into a booster seat.

We finally got some "Baby-yo", yogurt for babies and she had some tonight, and she absolutely loved it! She almost ate the entire container, after eating her meal. She is a really good little eater.
Lyla has started to enjoy Cheerios. Although most of them end up on the floor. She really concentrates on eating them, which is pretty cute, as you can see from the following photo sequence..

"Hmmmm... what are these little round do-hickeys that mama just put on my tray??"Well, like anything new or interesting I guess I better put it in my mouth and see what this is all about.""Hey Mama! These are pretty good! Look at me with my teeth and Cheerios!""I'll take some more... only a couple of these 'Cheerios' left. . The others are either on the floor, on my lap, on my chest or in my belly! These things are a tonne of fun!"
She has continued to sleep well, which has been a blessing. I find that even though Lyla sleeps well, I am still waking up which sucks. I guess I am use to her old schedule both physically and psychologically. Here is my little babe after her afternoon nap today. She has shimmied herself down to the bottom of the crib, can you see the mischief in her eyes. When we went up to get her after her later nap, she had again gotten herself down to the bottom of the crib. When I said her name, she just giggled mischievously as she had her face covered with the blanket and she thought she was hiding and being funny. What a girl!
When we went out on Saturday to price shop for car seats I bought her a couple of things, one being a set of cups that she can play with in the tub. She loves these cups and will walk into the bathroom just to get one to take with her on her travels.. she makes me laugh.
Anyways, hope everyone is having a good day.

Aloha Friday

Over at Kilani's blog she started the Aloha friday, in honor of in Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that they take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So she thought that on Fridays she would take it easy on posting, too. I thought this is a great idea so therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

Today's question is:

How do you get your infant's to nap when they don't want to nap?

Hope everyone has a great Aloha Friday!

A update on Lyla

Well, Lyla has gotten her two top teeth through. They came through on Monday. I think that on Sunday she helped the process along when she knocked a toy into her teeth. Tears and a smidgen of blood came after that and then it wasn't long until you could see the white of the teeth. The left one is out a bit more than the right, but thank goodness they are cutting through because it has been about a month that she has been working on these, and a long month at that- these teeth have really been bothering her.

Now that her teeth are through - she has started to grind her top and bottom teeth together. This is like nails on a chalk board, it just runs chills up both of our backs. It doesn't seem to bother Lyla. I think she actually likes doing it.

Yesterday Lyla started to clap her hands independently. She sometimes does it on cue but most of the time it is just spontaneous. She was doing it last night in the bath; very cute.

We continue to work on tummy time to help strengthen her upper arms to help her get crawling. She still gets frustrated with this but a little entertainment by me or Ryan seems to pass the time better for her. We were at Gymboree yesterday and I had the instructor work with Lyla and I on her upper body strength and Lyla was very unhappy about the entire situation. This coupled with the fact that she has been trying to get out of a morning nap and she didn't nap more than 10 minutes before Gymboree led to a pretty unhappy girl at Gymboree yesterday. Oh well, not all classes will be good ones, hopefully next week she will be back to her happy self. She fell asleep on the way home with Gymbo in her arms, and slept for 2 and a 1/2 hours after that - the bottom line was that she was tired.

I printed her a picture of Gymbo in plans of hanging it by her change table, she loved holding it, looking at it and trying to eat it. That Gymbo has been a great friend to her, I am so glad I bought him for her.




She is a growing girl. We weighed her last night and she is 17 pounds 11 ounces. She is liking her food again. I think when she was getting her teeth, she really didn't want to eat. Now she is usually eager to eat and will eat about a jar at a sitting.

The last two nights she has slept through the night! YIPPEE!! Finally! She went down at 8:00 last night and slept until 7:15. Pretty darn good. I am hoping that she is going to keep with this routine!

Another interesting thing that seasoned parents have said to me is that when kids are given presents they like the boxes more than the gift. Well at Christmas, she was into getting the wrapping paper into her mouth, so we didn't see the box phenomenon at that time. Yesterday, I was going through her closet and I was getting out a dress that Lyla got when she was born because she would be able to wear it now, and I put the box on the floor by her. The next thing I knew she had a hold of that box and she played with it for about 20 minutes before dinner and then she had to show Daddy after dinner and played with again.

Ryan would say "Lyla up high!" and lift the other end of the box up and she would lift it up high like Daddy. She thought she was pretty smart.

I think that is about all that is going on right now. My little girl is down for the count on her morning nap. We are going to take it easy today - maybe a pajama day. Ryan is sick :( He has a cold, so we are hoping that it doesn't spread to Lyla or myself. Hope you are all feeling good, and have a great day!

Wordless Wednesday

Nothing so peaceful as a sleeping baby.

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

For more WW, check out Five Minutes for Mom.

A Day in History

Today history was made. Today the United States of America welcomed it's 44th President Barack Obama in a beautiful inauguration ceremony.

This is a significant event that will go down in American history as the most watched, and attended inaugural event. The figure that 1.5 million people where in the National Mall today when President Obama was sworn in as the 44th American President, another 300,000 in the neighbouring streets, and another 100,000 lining the parade route. They also estimated that 3/4 of the American population watched the televised event.

Sitting on my couch in a suburb of Detroit, I could feel the excitement and emotion of today's events resonating from the television. The emotion of President Obama's inaugural address has left me with hope for a renewed spirit of America.

The history of the event was the essence in all the planned events of the day. Be it from the morning church attendance by the "then" President elect Obama and his wife Michelle, from meeting with the "then" President Bush at the White House, to the caravan from the President's house to the People's house, the Capitol, for the inaugural event, to the helicopter dismissal of former President Bush, to the luncheon in Statutory Hall, to the Parade down Pennsylvania Avenue then to the 10 inaugural balls tonight.

I heard a small voice today in Gymboree asking another small voice, " Did you hear President Obama today? I heard him on the radio talking". There is a renewed sense of hope found in the tiniest, youngest voice to an elderly, frail voice who remembers the segregation that was once evident in the daily lives of Americans. This is the ultimate civil rights movement that we have seen unfold in front of us today, be proud for this day! And enjoy the ride that President Obama is going to take us on.

Photo credit: www.cbc.ca

My 1st Blog Award

My fellow blogger, sister and best friend has become quite the savvy blogger and she has given me a blog award in which I have to work for it.

Honorees are to list 10 honest things about themselves - and make it interesting, even if we have to dig deep! Second, we are to pass the award on to 7 bloggers we feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap.

10. Even though I am an animal lover, I really have a hate for squirrels. I do not find these rodents to be cute at all. I do not find them charming. Rather, I find them to be a bother, and a pest. Such a pest which invaded an outdoor brunch one afternoon and left me since then accellerating towards them whenever they cross the road in front of my car. I have even called the city on these rodents. Hoping they would be able to lower the population of squirrels in my 'hood. I have even searched the web for squirrel traps and such.. Don't worry - I have never hit one, my good side always hits the breaks before the hit and I have not bought a trap - yet.

9. I have become addicted to Children's clothing. Long has passed the days of shopping for myself, rather I am determined to have the nicest, and best clothes for our fashion model - Lyla. However, I do search out the sales and clearance, which then make up for the excess of clothing that I purchase.

8. This leads to me the next point. I am addicted to checking the websites of Gymboree, Children's Place, Crazy 8 and such to see what is on clearance.

7. I failed 2 courses in my first year of University. At the time this was the worst thing that could have happened to me. In retrospect, it was the best thing ever. It kicked my butt into gear to become determined and focused in school. I ended up graduating from Queen's with 2 degrees, holding a position on the Nursing Student Council, and graduated on the Dean's List (we don't have GPA's in Canada but the Dean's List is the highest honor).

6. Upon graduating from school, I never thought that I would ACTUALLY nurse. I figured I would work as a bedside, clinical nurse for MAYBE a year and then go back to do my Masters of Nursing in Research. My two degrees where Nursing Science and Geography - I wanted to do research in Environmental Health. This all changed once I started working as a clinical bedside nurse. I love my job. I wouldn't change it for the world. I actually help people. I have saved lives. I have been there when a person goes into cardiac arrest and I know how to respond. I have been there when a patient takes their last breath and I have been that shoulder whom family members cry on. These are the things that make my job worthwhile. These are the reasons I get up and go to work in the morning.

5. I met my husband during the fall of my first year of University. I think it was in October. He was the 'wing man' to his friend who thought my roommate was cute. They came to our room at the ungodly hour of midnight or later. Vanessa, my roommate, and I had just turned out the lights to go to sleep for the night. I had taken out my contacts and was in flannel plaid red pjs when they arrived in our room. To save myself from looking like a complete dork, I didn't put my glasses on. The next day Vanessa and I walked past Ryan (my husband) on the street and I had to ask Vanessa if that was the guy who I spent time talking with the night before! This leads to me my next point...

4. I have really bad eyesight.

3. I have become a bit of a breastfeeding fanatic. Last night I even found myself checking out how to become a lactation consultant. My original goal was to nurse Lyla until she was 6 months. Then it became 8 months - for like a week, and then I changed it until 1 year. Now that we are past 8 months and heading towards a year, I am considering keeping the night feeding before bedtime. I know ultimately it may be Lyla's decision when we stop nursing, but right now I am so glad that I persevered through the early months because it is such a special bond that only a mother and child can share.. And you feel so wonderful doing it for her. The one thing that bothers me is people's perspective on breastfeeding. I find in Canada it is considered the norm to nurse for the first year. Here, I find people are like "You are STILL nursing your daughter?!?" Maybe it is because in Ontario you get a year maternity leave, whereas in MI you get 6 to 12 weeks.

2. Even though I am harkening on the doorstep of my 30's, I still find myself wrapped up in Teeny Bopper television shows, namely 90210 .I love both the old and new series. I love watching shows like the Bachelor as well.

1. I live by the thought that you have to say your "I love you's" every time your loved one walks out the door, because you never know if it will be the last time you see them. Working in ICU, I have heard many a times " I was just talking to her yesterday..." So maybe I am a bit afraid of what can happen out in the world.. Not so much that I am scared to live my life, but I always make sure I tell Ryan I love him before we leave in the morning - every day.

So there you have it, my 1st blog award. Now I am going to pass this on to the following chickitas:

Leanne

Natalie

Esther

Jenn

Thanks to my presenter:

Pam

Toast

Here is some pictures of Lyla's first introduction to toast. She LOVED it! She had 3 pieces of toast today, I am sure that this will become a daily favorite.

"Here is my toast! Wanna try some? It's real good!"

Have a good day!

5 years ago....

Today is our 5 year anniversary. It was the best day of my life when I stood and said my vows to my love Ryan. 5 years have quickly slipped by and now we are in an entirely different spot, a life as parents, a life as a family.
Ryan and I were watching our wedding video last night and today, and we said how we both find it hard to imagine our lives without Lyla in them. We did live 4 and a half wonderful years without her, with many travels and adventures, but the adventure of being a parent and sharing that with Ryan is so much more meaningful and continues to bring us daily joy.


Check out my sister Pam's blog for some more pics of our wedding. Thanks Pam for that beautiful tribute. You are the best sister ever!

Ryan and I decided not to exchange gifts, and Ryan did not do so and gave me a really cool gift. It is a picture frame with 5 different photos in it, and Ryan put a photo from each anniversary. It is really neat to look back upon the years.

He also gave me some beautiful "passion roses". We came downstairs today and I could smell their beautiful fragrance, I am looking forward seeing them bloom. Lyla likes to look at them as well, we will all enjoy them.

Happy 5 year anniversary Ry! You continue to make my life complete and I am so happy to be walking down this path of life together.

Aloha Friday

Over on Kailaini's blog she has a great idea to kick off the weekend. As in Hawaii, they call Friday "Aloha Friday", which means a way to slow down and get into gear for a relaxing weekend. So this means to have a relaxing post day in the blogging world as well. The point of this exercise is to ask a simple question which can lead to a simple answer from fellow bloggers. So my question to you is:

"How do you keep warm in the frigid weather?"

Hope every has a great Aloha Friday!

These shoes where made for...errr.. chewing?!?

We finally got Lyla's Robeeze on and be them a tad big, she took a good walk in them.... Sorry, no pics of that as I am the assistant to the walker. However, she seemed to find another use for the Robeeze shoes..... chewing....Here is a parody of Miss Lyla and her Robeeze..

"Hmmm, these look different than my socks or my slippers that I normally wear. I wonder what they are? This fur is very soft. I like things soft, but the other part feels like something mailable. Could they be... could it be....something to chew on right in front of me? I better investigate this further."

"Okay the left one first. Hmm.. yummy yummy. That fits well, and hits my top teeth just perfect."

"Now the right one. Perfect! This is also great stretching!"

"Taste is a indescribable, as you can tell by the look on my face."

"Caught yet again! My mommy told me to be careful with these pretty "slippers". Well I just "carefully slipped" them into my mouth, completely following her instructions. Why is she telling me that is not what they are for!?"

"I know my Mommy wont be mad if I give her a smile, she melts with my smile. So here you go Mommy, big smile with me and my new Robeeze. And thank you Aunt Pam, I love my new Robeezes!"


Hope everyone has a great day!

Lyla's top 3 reasons why she loves Gymboree

Today, Lyla had her Gymboree class. She has been enjoying this so much, I am so glad that we enrolled.

Here are Lyla's top 3 things she loves about Gymboree Play and Learn Class.

3. Kids. This is a great opportunity for Lyla to interact with other children her age. She studies the other children intently and watches their every move. Sometimes when Ryan and I take her for open gym, she spends more time watching the other kids rather than playing with the toys.

2. She loves Gymbo. This is the Gymboree mascot! He is a clown and we sing songs with Gymbo and he may even come and give Lyla a hug, or Tickle Lyla. Lyla gets very wide eyed and happy whenever Gymbo comes out.

1. I think more than anything, Lyla enjoys the circle time in which we sing songs with actions. We clap our hands, and pat our legs and tick like a clock. Every time I look down at Lyla she has a big open mouth smile on her face. Just loving it all!

There is one thing Lyla does not like about Gymboree, it is the parachute. She is fine with it at first, but then we all go underneath the parachute and we sing songs under it, now that is fine- but it is what happens next. We leave the little ones under the parachute and sing to the kiddies as we lift it up and down, and up and down. So Lyla can see me intermittently, with the parachute going up and down. I know Lyla understands object permanence, but this parachute flapping seems to make her anxious and leads to some howling. No tears today and she managed to stay under for the entire exercise, which is an improvement from last week. So, hopefully by the end of the month she will enjoy the parachute, we will just work on it.

I will leave you with some picture of Lyla and her new friend - Gymbo. She gave me the open mouth smile after our class when I showed her this little guy. No mom can say no that that look of happiness.

Winter Pictures

Living in the mid-west, you come to expect four seasons and especially a time of snow and winter. I do love winter weather, that is why we had a winter wedding, with the cutter and pictures outside in the snow capped evergreens at my parent's home. Here are some pictures from Saturday night and Sunday morning. In the pictures where you can see the snow falling, that was once the snow had slowed down enough that we decided we should go shovel the lane way so I could get to work in the morning.

I love this one with the Christmas lights glowing under the fresh snow. Yes - we still have our Christmas lights on, I know, I know, it is time to let it go...

Sunday morning was a beautiful morning, with the crispness of the fresh snow and the glorious sun was shining bright.Check out these evergreens - breathtakingly beautiful!

Hope everyone is enjoying the winter and if you are in the deep freeze like us - hope you are all keeping warm!