Sippy Cups

Today at the “suggestion” of the public health nurse, I brought out the Sippy Cups (that I bought over one month ago). I have to admit, I wasn’t very sold on the idea, kind of like I wasn’t really sold on giving them three meals a day (up from two). The reason is two fold; 1. Why ruin a good thing and 2. “I’m” not quite ready.

With respect to my first point, the kids are really into a routine. Although the start times and durations aren’t always the same, they know that when they wake up from one of their two naps (hopefully), they get a bottle as well as first thing in the morning and at night. You wouldn’t wake a sleeping baby so why would you change a good routine?

As for the second point, if they don’t have any bottles, when do I get to hold them and snuggle? They don’t want to sleep with us anymore (key word is sleep, they do like to climb all over us but we don’t get any sleep) and they haven’t yet learned how to hug (although it’s coming). All of their waking hours are spent exploring the world around them and they have no time for Ed and I.

My other hesitation is that when in Mexico it will be difficult to always find a place to clean them (the sippy cups), however, the bottle liners are sterile and I have tons of nipples (enough to only need to sterilize once a night).

The experiment began when I filled up the cup with water and gave it to them to play with (first without the valve and then with). They figured out how to hold the Sippy Cups (using the handles) and managed to get some to drink. In a few days, I’ll switch out their bottle with the cup.

No looking back now. They were ready for the Sippy Cups, I wonder when I’ll be…

P.S. How pathetic my life has become, I'm posting about Sippy Cups. Even worse, I'm jealous of them.

Eight Pieces of Toast

Today at dinner, Max fed himself 8 pieces of toast. The reason why this is such an amazing feat is that up until this point, he had yet to feed himself ONE piece of anything. In the past, he would pick up his food, throw it on the ground and watch the cat eat it. Speaking of the cat, she’s turned into a regular “dog”. At each meal, she hangs around under their high chairs and usually gets to the food (when it falls) before I do. Who knew that cats eat; bread, eggs, pasta and that’s just today!

For the last week, Artemis has been climbing up on anything and everything. In fact, she spends most of her time suspended in the air.

The kids are still on breast milk, although we’ve recently upped their food intake to three meals a day (from two). Yesterday they had their first taste of dairy (yoghurt) and it was a success. Tomorrow we'll try cheese.

Max is "On the Move" (Vertically Speaking)

Max successfully used the “shopping cart” today. It started out with only a few steps (two to be exact). After he’d done that a few times, he up'd the ante to 6 steps and the next time he walked clear across the room. Artemis even got up on it (at the same time) and helped him out.


Here are some pictures that I took this week. Hopefully they will tide you over. Sorry for not posting much...

Nine Months Old

So my computer is still broken (and will stay that way until we get back from Mexico) and Ed has taken back the one of his that I was borrowing. It doesn't matter much anyways because I no longer have time to blog, read emails or even eat for that matter.

Ed has been busy with work and I have been busy with two very busy kids who have decided that they no longer need to nap. Their three daily one hour (plus) naps are down to none or one for 30 minutes (max). When they're awake, they are into everything. I'm exhausted.

For the past week, Max has been pretending that he's a dragon. He sits and "growls" at things. When he's not talking, he's growling. For the past 5 days he's been teething and I've had to give him some (homeopathic) treatment for it. Tooth "F" is fully in and "E" (the one causing the trouble) has broken through.

Artemis has both of her front teeth (and her two bottom teeth) and she loves to give full on smiles (I still don't have any pictures of it yet). She still thinks that she's a dog and regularly crawls around with things in her mouth.

Both of them have really started to play with each other. Hide and seek is a favourite as well as climbing all over each other and sucking each others fingers (kind of gross, however, they are only 9 months old). Speaking of which, they turned 9 months (adjusted) on Tuesday. Nanna always says that she forgets that they're still babies (they seem so much older) and then they start sucking on her socked foot.

I'm sure that there's so much more but Ed needs the computer back and I need to sleep. Besides, I'm too tired to remember. These kids sure are lucky that they're so cute!

Enough About the Kids

Ed says that I’m boring everyone with my “kid chat”. Therefore, today’s post will be about something much more interesting; Our Midnight Snack.

Last night we had baked, flax and honey crackers with slices of cambozola, drizzled with caviar, kalamata olives, jumbo tiger shrimp with sauce, smoked salmon (cut from the fish), proscuitto, and raspberries. Accompanied by a nice glass of red wine; Saint Emilion. A meal fit for, well, me!




I think that I'll stick to what I know... kids.

Speaking of which, Nanna arrived today and brought a baby dog sled with her that the kids just had to “try out”.




Here’s a picture of Artemis sleeping with her new doll (it’s one of mine from my childhood).

In Remembrance and The Toy Box(es)

Today is Remembrance Day (Lest we forget…) and the kids are 11 months (actual).

I somehow managed to get my teeth cleaned today. I LOVE to get my teeth cleaned. I know, I’m weird.

We are looking forward to Nanna's visit tomorrow. That makes two visits in two weeks.

The kids have three toy boxes; one in the living room, dining room and nursery. The kids have so many toys. Recently, I packed a whole bunch of toys away (that they weren’t yet interested in) as I read that you can over stimulate your kids to the point that they can’t focus on anything. Whatever.

In reality, I got tired of putting them ALL away every time. You see, their latest trick is to take every single last toy out of the toy box, regularly.



Max’s favourite toy would have to be one of his two musical books (with lights). He loves all books; plastic, paper, electronic, wooden. He likes to open the pages, chew on them, throw them, and generally destroy them.

Artemis’ favourite toy is whichever one that Max has. Seriously. She likes to carry them around either in her hand or mouth (as you saw recently) so we find them everywhere.

Some other favourites are spoons; plastic and metal as well as wooden spatulas. Followed closely by tea towels (taken from their hook). In fact, most of their favourite toys aren’t even found in the toy box (the proverbial throw the toy away give them the box). I guess that makes our kids “normal”.

Here's Max playing with Daddy's "toy" (tool) box.

Hide and Seek

Two posts for today.

What's For Dinner?

The kids have been eating solids (2-3 times a day) for almost 3 months. In the morning, they have cereal with a fruit. They absolutely love banana and are able to eat a whole one between the two of them. We try to work it that we all eat dinner together (it’s a bit of an organizational nightmare). We generally feed them some of what we’re having; tortiere, pork with vegetables, chicken breast (a real favourite), vegetables, you name it. The latest guidelines (they change all the time) is that they can eat anything except honey (until one year as it can carry botulism). We will be slowly introducing peanut butter as Ed has a nut allergy (not because peanut butter isn’t allowed).

I think that Max would be happy if mommy and daddy fed him a bottle for the rest of his life. He’s not much interested in eating, whether we feed him or not. The one exception is pancakes, he could eat them all day!

Artemis is the polar opposite. She loves to feed herself and can she eat (she must have a hollow leg like her mother). The latest concoction is pureed potatoes/squash/yams/carrots with a hard boiled egg yolk and olive oil (both for extra calories). She eats more than twice what Max eats. Her favourite would have to be bananas.

After their meal, they get to play with their spoons (one of Max’s favourite activities, followed closely by throwing his spoon on the floor and staring at it, willing it to rise up). We’re at the point where we’ll have to move their chairs further apart as they like to get into each others space and it makes for very messy eating. We just bought them matching (booster) high chairs this week and it’s made our life easier (another one had a large tray that wouldn’t store anywhere and usually got tripped on).

They’re still getting their bottle first (followed by food) but shortly we’ll be switching that (maybe not for Artemis as she needs the extra calories and breast milk is richer than solids). We’ll see what the doctor says. They must be going through a growth splurt because for the past week, they have increased their intake by over one ounce (30ml) a feed (Max is at 8oz, Artemis is at 7oz). I’m working hard to keep up with the demand, thankfully I have a lot of frozen milk.

Multiple Personality

Apparently, Artemis thinks that she's a dog.

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, Ed arrived home from Arizona, however, I was not there to meet him at the airport. Instead, my mother was there. I was in the hospital as Alexander’s water broke (“membranes ruptured” is the medical term) and my 4 week, 5 day stay in the hospital (it was longer but that was post delivery) began. Yes, the kids birthday was “almost” today (at a gestation of 25 weeks, 5 days). Thankfully, it was not.

This is the first of many firsts that I am finding difficult. It’s tough because I know what’s coming and while it’s reason to celebrate; December 11 was the kid’s birthday, it was also followed closely by December 19, Alexander’s passing.

Teeth and Toys

So there really isn't much to say (that's new).

Max’s top tooth (“F”) is just starting to be noticeable when he smiles. Both of Artemis’s top teeth are now noticeable (“E” more than “F”).

Here's a picture of Max eating the latest and greatest toy (from Abuela and Tia Ilka). He loves flipping through the pages of books (and eating them, especially paper ones).

My Computer Died

Not much to report. The week has flown by. Abuela is in the hospital recovering from her (scheduled) knee surgery and doing great. The kids call her every day.

On Tuesday my computer died so I’ve been borrowing Ed’s (when he’s not working). Makes it difficult to post.

Tonight we plan on going to Finnerty’s (Auctions).

We're still looking for a van and are starting to get ready for our trip. Yah!!!

Can I Help You?

Something's up but I can't quite put my finger on it...


Can I help you?





Since he has perfected crawling, Max is now focusing on pulling himself up (something he started a few days ago). Here they are trying to "fix" (read: break) the carseat.