Have You Seen Her?

Tonight marks the end of the eighth day that Maja has not been able to see her Baba which makes her sad. She understands that Baba is feeling under the weather and appreciates that Baba doesn't want to get her sick, but she just wants to make sure that Baba knows that she misses her and hopes she feels better soon.

Ohhh... she just whispered in my ear (right before burping, of course)... "Ja volim moja Baba". She also asked me to pass along these two messages...

(Translation: Where is my Grandma?)

(Translation: "I hope you feel better soon")

Happy Birthday Peter!

Today is my youngest nephew's birthday! Peter Jonathan (or Peej or PJ as Marvin and I refer to him as) is a whopping two years old today! Woohoo! As some of you may remember, I have some pretty unique friends (and no Steph, I'm not referring to you... although you are unique in that you can fit your entire fist into your mouth) who like to wish my nephews Happy Birthday. Just as Major Powers wished Will (my eldest nephew) a Happy Birthday back in June, my other buddy Spiderman wants to wish Peter a Happy Birthday today (hopefully Peter hasn't gone to bed just yet... Spiderman said he would have dropped by sooner but he was busy spinning webs to catch bad guys all day today). So here he is...

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY PETER!

As for Maja and me... today we went to our first "Mom & Babes" session. This is a six week long "course" for moms and their babies (up to a year old) to get together once a week and chat about life with babies. Today we chatted about nutrition and how to introduce different foods. Unfortunately for me, this was a bit ahead of where I am now with Maja (and they didn't find it too funny when I asked when they thought Maja would be old enough for me to introduce new foods to her like my left breast... but I digress - soon they'll get used to my humour).

Then we spent the entire afternoon feeding, being distracted for a mere five minutes at a time with toys making noises and flashing lights, walking around the basement while crying, walking up and down the stairs while catching our breath (me from being out of shape and Maja from crying), and fighting sleep with gusto. :) So unfortunately, no pictures from today. However, I do have two pictures from Sunday when we visited Grandma's place.

Here are Maja & Anna just hanging out (Maja's on the left and Anna's on the right)...

And here is my mom is "Grandma-Heaven" (again, Maja is on the left and Anna is on the right)...

Have You Missed Me?

Things have been so hectic over the past week, I've hardly had time to shower (my personal goal each day... sad but true) let alone post on the blog. But right now, Marvin and I are enjoying a couple minutes of "quiet" time and I thought I'd try to catch you all up on what we've been doing.

Let's see... last Saturday we went to Doug & Anna's to celebrate Emily's 1st Birthday (it's really neat watching Emily grow up into quite a young lady) and then afterwards headed to Waterdown which is where Prairie & Justin had their wedding (Prairie is Sara's (my best friend) sister). After the bride & groom Maja was the star of the night (she slept through the entire dinner, woke up around 9pm for a feed, went back to sleep for a while, then danced the night away until 11pm with Daddy)!

On Sunday, Maja had a visit from our friends Paolo & Isabel. Although Maja is quite "big" she was dwarfed in Paolo's arms! Maja would like to give a congratulatory "shout out" to Paolo & Isabel on their recent engagement! Here's a picture of Maja sleeping in Paolo's arms...
Then on Tuesday, Maja and I visited Irene (and her son Marko and her new daughter Marina). Later that day, Marvin, Maja and I went for a walk. Here's a picture of our cutie-patutie just before we left...
On Wednesday, to celebrate her 4-week anniversary, Maja asked if Baba and I could take her to visit Cynthia & Maja in Whitby. It was great to spend the day with Cynthia, Maja and Seka just chatting baby talk, watching the Babas "eww" and "ahh" over their granddaughters, and to learn a bit of Croatian. We all had such a good time we plan on getting together on a monthly basis. Here's a picture of Cynthia, her Maja, me and Maja...
On Thursday, my friend Mary came to visit at lunch and was a great help in calming Maja down when I was too exhausted and tense to do it. Nothing soothes a fussy baby more than being rocked back and forth in the arms of an experienced mom! Thanks again for lunch and the break Mary!

Yesterday was a very full day: Grandma came by in the morning and was a BIG help! She helped me bathe Maja, helped occupy Maja in the car on the way to visit Daddy at work, and helped me when we went to the doctor's for Maja's 1-month visit (Maja is now 11lbs 4.5oz - that's 2lbs 4.5oz more than when she was born and 1lb 5oz more than her last visit 2 weeks ago!). Here are some pictures from that day...

Hanging out in Daddy's lap...
Maja breathing a sigh of relief after the doctor's visit was over...
A shot of Maja chilling in the car...
A nice clean Maja after her bath...
Then last night, we made dinner and brought it over to Doug & Anna's for some "adult" conversations (and I don't mean pornographic conversation - I mean we didn't sit around singing lullabies and reciting nursery rhymes...).

And finally, to celebrate Maja's 1 month anniversary, Maja, Marvin and I had a photo shoot. We did a whole slew of shots... the whole family, me & Maja, Marvin & Maja, and just Maja. Some of the Maja shots were in her birthday suit (very tricky seeing as she's not yet toilet trained... we made it through the entire session without "incident" when she decided to pee just as the photographer commented that she did really well... it still makes me giggle remembering her kneeling there kind of on her belly and seeing a pool of pee grow underneath her. Luckily the mat she was on was non-absorbent). We should have the proofs back in a couple of days - I can't wait!

Tomorrow also promises to be a busy day as we will be heading to church then to my Mom & Dad's to celebrate the slew of birthdays (my mom's, my sister's, my Dad's and my nephew Peter's) that have happened over the past 5 weeks. And just in case I don't have a chance to post tomorrow, Maja asked me to say "Happy Birthday" to Sara - I won't say how old Sara is, but let's just say she's on the wrong side of 29 (yes, yes, yes Sara... I know, I'm still older than you...)!

Trials and Tribulations of a New Mother...

Alright... as a new mother I am definitely learning a lot things these days. Like babies just need to cry sometimes (as do new moms)... diapers go on with the velcro in the back and the pretty pattern in the front... and there really are such things as a "feed me now" cry and a "tired" cry.

Those of you who don't have children may read what I'm about to tell you and think "What a loser! How did she not see that coming?". To you I say, "Just wait until you have children and have to function on only a few hours of sleep a night... then you'll see how fast your logical thinking flies out the window". Those of you who do have children may read what I'm about to tell you and think "Oh yeah... been there - done that! Poor Erin!". To you I say, "Thanks for laughing with me and not at me. Glad to hear I'm not alone". And those of you who do have children may read what I'm about to tell you and think "I have kids and I don't get a lot of sleep and that's never happened to me... how did she not see that coming?". To you I say, "Well aren't you a perfect parent - if only I could be more like you!". :)

Last night at the ripe old hour of 1am or so, I was feeding Maja a midnight snack when I heard the famous "squirt" from her "nether-regions". Having learned from previous late night changings (aka getting poohed on along with the wall behind me when I opened the diaper too early before Maja was finished her business), I patiently waited for the storm to pass. After a couple of minutes had passed, I thought to myself I should just quickly check to see that was a pooh instead of a fart (because I had just changed her and didn't want to wake her up by changing her again unnecessarily). So I pulled open the back of her diaper (she was just in her diaper at this point) to sneak a peek when I heard another squirt. I remember the whole thing like it happened in slow motion... thank God I have reflexes like a cat because I was able to slam the diaper shut and move my head to the side only to narrowly escape being poohed in the eye (which, I think could have caused some blindness by the way...)! However, my hand and Maja's back were not as lucky. Poor Marvin was summoned from his slumber to the nursery to help me stand up from the chair without dripping anywhere. I think my first words in response to his startled look when he arrived were "I think I've been poohed in the face!". Boy did he ever look confused - he was probably thinking, "Poohed in the face? How in the world does someone get poohed in the face? Have I married an idiot? Oh my gosh, the mother of my child is an idiot!". Anyhow, the moral of this story (and another valuable lesson learned by me) is don't peek into a diaper unless your willing to see what's in there up close and personal... literally! :)

Anyhow, Maja and I didn't really do too much yesterday (I spent the day napping while she napped seeing as she didn't go to bed the night before from 11pm to 5:30am - so much for the shout-out to her for a great night from the day before). But we did have time to sneak in an hour of TV last night to catch the premiere of the new Survivor season (I swear I love that show). Anyhow, here is a picture of Maja settling in just before Survivor started.

I'm Three Weeks Old Today!

Our computer has been down since Saturday night, so I haven't been able to log on and post for a couple of days (please accept my sincerest apologies...). But here we are again online and just in time for Maja's third week anniversary! I can't believe she's three weeks old already - time really does seem to be flying by. I commented to Marvin yesterday that I feel like she's no longer a baby... I mean I know she's still a baby, but she's no longer a newborn. She's growing up so fast... it's sad. :(

Today is also our friends' daughter's, Emily's, first birthday! Happy Birthday Emily! I can't believe that she's already a year! Soon she'll be getting a job, dating, going to college, getting married - I just can't bear it! :)

So are you wondering what we've been up to the past couple of days? Well, all the days are blurring together so I really can't say for sure. But, I do know that Maja and I enjoyed having Marvin home on the weekend because we got to spend more time with him. Over the weekend, we ran a bunch of errands, did some tidying up around the house, had dinner made for us by "auntie" Sara (thanks again Sara), saw Grandma and Grandpa, saw Baba and Teta, and saw Dida (Grandpa in Croatian). Maja's social calendar sure does fill up fast!

And I'd like to give a special shout-out to Maja for having a great night this past Monday night... after a horrible day of feeding literally every two hours all day long, I was very scared as to what the night might bring and that I wouldn't have the mental or physical stability to make it. But, Maja went to down at 11pm and slept right through to 2:30am, then went down again at 3:30am and slept right through to 7:00am. Two three and a half hour naps for Marvin and I - yippee! I know, how pathetic are we that we get excited about such small chunks of sleep?!?

Anyhow, here are some pictures from the past couple of days for all of you.

Mommy and Maja just hanging out downstairs watching TV (ok, so I'm watching Maja, not TV and Maja's sleeping - picky, picky, picky)...

Maja showing off her escape skills, yet again (I think I need to go to Swaddling 101 classes)...
Maja pretending to be asleep (really she's in the middle of a crying fit and I happened to snap the photo when she blinked between cries - I swear!)...
And Maja finally starting to get tired of crying...

A Lazy Day...

Last night Maja had an "interesting" night in that she was up a lot and thought it would be funny to wait until I opened up her diaper to squirt poop all over my hand and the wall. Just when I thought she was finished she squirted a bit more. When I started to clean her up then she decided that I needed a bit of pee to go along with the poop! It's hard enough to sooth a crying baby at 2am but add to that squirts of poop and pee all over the place and you have a recipe for a cranky mom! :) Funny now, not at the time though.

We didn't do too much today except try to squeeze in a family nap, mow the lawn, putter around the house and things like that. Here are two pictures of Maja lounging around the house.

Enjoying the Lazy-Boy couch in the basement...
Just chilling with Mommy...

Porketta Meet Squirt... Squirt Meet Porketta

Yesterday was a busy busy day for Maja. The day started off as usual... you know - cry, eat, burp, poop & pee then nap. :) We then headed off to the doctor for Maja's 2nd week visit. We chatted with the doctor about her belly button (everything is a-ok and it's healing up very nicely he said), asked some questions about feeding (like "Is there any way to permanently reverse her "night-owl" tendencies?") and then Maja got weighed in. Our "little" (and I use the term lightly here) Maja has gained a whopping 13oz in the past week! She's now a heavy-weight at 9lbs 15.5oz! She's just a pooh in the diaper away from being a full 10lbs! Marvin and I are now calling her our little Porketta!

After the doctor's, we went to Loblaws for some groceries. Because she was starting to stir a bit, I had to shop like I've never shopped before! You've all heard of speed-dating, this was definitely speed-shopping. I'm sure people thought I was on some type of drug or something given how erratic I was in the store. But we made it out and back home without incident.

Then after Marvin finished work, we headed out to Kitchener to meet Maja's most recent cousin, Anna Elizabeth (oh yeah, and to visit Sandra too - the mom's always get forgotten don't they?). Just a quick update on baby Anna... shortly after she was born she was admitted to the ICU because her breathing was somewhat laboured. After some preliminary tests, the doctors thought she may have a heart murmur or a whole in the heart. Although that sounds quite drastic, things are going well as the doctors have removed her from the ICU (she got to spend the night with Sandra in her room last night) and they've scheduled Anna for some further testing in a week. Both mom and Anna seem to be holding up all right, but our thoughts and prayers are with them. I'll keep you all updated as we learn more, but like I said both mom and Anna are doing well.

Our visit with Anna & Sandra went well... it's really amazing to see how small Anna is (she was born at 7lbs 2oz) and how when you hold her it just feels like you're holding air! Marvin and I (famous for nicknaming our nephews and now our niece) are now referring to Anna as "Anna Banana" or "Squirt" depending on how we're feeling. :) Just as we were leaving, Anna started to cry a bit (more like a newborn kitten's tiny little "mew" than a cry) which of course set off Maja, and the two of them were well on their way to singing a lovely duet for all of us! :) Anyhow, here are some pictures from this afternoon and our adventures yesterday...

Napping this afternoon – part one…Napping this afternoon – part two…
Maja being patriotic...
Anna trying to nurse off of Sandra's shoulder (she still has a lot to learn about nursing)...
Auntie (that's me) trying to console the "mewing" baby...
Porketta & Squirt together at last (I can't wait for them to grow up and do "girly" things together)...

Today Is A Great Day!

Today is a great day for so many reasons! First, Maja is a full two-weeks old today! To celebrate she thought she'd spit up a bit then take a nap followed by a poop and another nap. Such an exciting life she leads... here are a couple of pictures to show you how much she's grown up since this time last week.

Here's Maja sucking her thumb (if only she could perfect this trick so she could console herself in the middle of the night instead of waking us up)...

Hanging out handing out "gas-smiles" to everyone...Looking all "girly" dressed head to toe in pink...
Second, today is the day that Anna Elizabeth was born! Anna is my sister's first daughter and is the little sister to Will (6 years old), Graham (4 1/2 years old) and Peter (2 years old). She was born this morning via a c-section, weighed in at 7 lbs 2 oz (just pint size!) and stretched out to a full 20 inches long. Marvin, Maja and I are going to visit her and Sandra (and of course Mike, the proud papa, and the boys) tomorrow night. So you'll have to wait until Friday to see photos.

Third, today is my parents' 37th wedding anniversary - Happy Anniversary! My sister and I are really starting to spoil my mom... Maja was born on my mom's birthday and Anna was born on her anniversary. Not really sure how we're going to top those gifts next year... maybe twins - I'll have to talk to Sandra about that first though! Something tells me six kids for her would be too much! :)

And finally, today is the day that my friend Irene is having her second child. This baby will be a little brother or sister to Marko. Her c-section was planned for this morning and we're just waiting to hear the good news.

Sleepless in Etobicoke...

If you haven't already guessed it, things around here have been pretty hectic for Marvin and me (and for Maja too). Since I last posted, things have gone down hill in the sleep department. Our little angel used to feed and then go down to nap without fussing and at night, she'd give us two awesome two-hour naps (amazing how our perspectives change, isn't it?). But now, she's giving us a four-hour nap around 9:30 in the morning after having kept us up all night feeding and refusing to go down. Not bad for me if I can squeeze in a nap, but sure does suck for Marvin now that he's back at work. Don't get me wrong, we still love her with all our hearts, we just didn't realize we had a hamster for a baby! :) Anyhow, I'm sure you really don't care to read how things are going, you just want to look at some pictures!

Here's a shot of our friends Doug & Anna holding Maja (they came over Saturday night, cooked up a storm, left us the leftovers along with some of Anna's mom's famous ravioli... can't wait to dig into that!). Thanks again guys!Here's a shot of Doug getting a close-up of Maja (notice how Emily is looking on in the background with great curiousity as to why her Daddy is holding another baby)...This is Maja just lounging around...
Here's one of me and Maja (if you squint your eyes a bit, it actually looks like Maja's laughing as opposed to crying)...
And finally, here's how Marvin manages to squeeze in his naps...

All Around The Town...

Yesterday was a fun filled day for Maja. The day started off with a nice breakfast with Baba, Teta (that's Grandma and Aunt in Croatian), Marvin, Maja and me. Seeing as Marvin and I are spending all of our money on diapers and wipes these days, we opted to go to Ikea for the $0.99 breakfast special! :) We all sat around pretending to be interested in our breakfast and chit-chatting but in reality we were all sneaking peaks at Maja as she sat in her car seat sleeping. So well behaved! At one point, I got up to go the washroom and when I returned Baba, Teta and Marvin were all just sitting there staring at her - not talking to each other at all! Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me to capture that, but here are some photos of Baba, Teta and Maja just before we left for Ikea.

After we got home from Ikea, Marvin, Maja and I went for a walk around the block to enjoy some of the nice weather before the remainder of Hurricane Ernesto rolled into Etobicoke. Then after our walk, the family headed to the EI office down the street so I can start getting paid again. In total, we were away from home for about four and a half hours or so in the morning and Maja was well behaved the whole time. Such an angel (knock on wood)!

The afternoon was somewhat leisurely so Marvin and I were able to squeeze in a two hour nap before Grandma and Grandpa came by to chat and watch a bit of TV in the evening. As you can see, Maja wasn't really interested in the TV...

One of my favourite things about feeding Maja (aside from the fact that I get to hold her and just stare) is that I get to see some priceless facial expressions. Here is what I refer to as the "Milk Drunk" look and the "Burping Squish".