11 months in 5 days and 22 weeks

Hello again! Well, we may have had a ton of fun taking pictures of Naomi's first time on grass...it was so cute and so hilarious! I will probably have to post one of her videos of being on the grass as it was so priceless. She was very unsure of the feel of the grass, initially any time her hand or foot touched she'd whimper/cry. We have one video where she was sitting on her aunty Martha's lap and Martha was gently touching her feet to the grass and she'd whimper as soon as she touched, once she pulled her back off, she was happy. Back and forth a few times with the same result. We ended up sitting her on it and she figured it out eventually and started crawling around. But a very entertaining experience, and MANY cute photos!

Naomi's been having fun eating new foods as well. She's having more "grown-up" food lately. She had pancakes the other day, some corn chip pieces, and every now and then samples a treat from mommy and daddy of a cookie or cake they might be eating. She's tried and liked banana bread a few times. So it's been fun watching her try new things.

Pumpkin, her sibling on the way, has been changing too. Mommy is starting to get very large and thus very uncomfortable. I never thought I'd say it but I think I actually miss the belt that I had to wear last time because of the pelvic problems, the extra support was very nice! But oh well, I'll take the extra weight in exchange for the lack of problems with the pelvis, thanks!

Daddy got to feel pumpkin moving around the other day too, that was very nice. Pumpkin's been doing lots of moving the last couple of weeks, it's been nice to feel. Although, right at this moment I must be getting too tired, some sounds and smells are just making me feel aweful at the moment...

But that's all for now, I will sign off to get ready for bed in hopes of feeling better...

Anna signing off as Nanook falls asleep on the bed, Naomi sleeps away, Dad enjoys his parents hot tub and Pumpkin tries to get comfy...

10 months and 2 weeks

So daycare has finally become a fun place to go! We were nervous there for a couple of weeks, her first few days were very "fussy". At home she happily plays on the floor, entertaining herself with her toys and chasing Nanook or picking Nanook fluff off the floor...but at daycare she seemed to not like being "alone" at all. Not that one can be alone when there are 7 other babies walking around you all day, but whenever one of the daycare workers walked away she would cry like she was in pain. No tears, just complaining about being alone. But Friday, Wednesday and today she was great. Socializing with the other babies, smiling at anyone that came in the room, crawling all over the room instead of sitting in one place and was apparently trying to share her food today.

At home she's been great too. Happily downs her dinner at night then goes to bed without much fuss and sleeps until we wake her up in the morning, unless it's a day when she doesn't go to daycare then we let her sleep in a bit.

It was funny getting her to bed tonight though, I went downstairs and did a couple things then sat on the couch watching tv/listening to the monitor and it sounded like she'd gotten something hard and was running it along the bars of her crib. I gave it a couple minutes, partially thinking of what the heck should could reach from her crib, and after it not stopping I went upstairs. Sure enough, there's the monitor receiver hanging from it's cord down between her dresser and her crib. She had grabbed it by reaching over her bumper pads, through the crib bars and up on the dresser. Fortunately we had made it so the cord was nice and short, it would only move a few inches so she couldn't do much with it. Anyhow, it's safely tucked out of sight on the dresser now, hopefully "out of sight, out of mind"...I guess we'll see tomorrow!

Baby number 2 is getting more active all the time. Much time has been spent kicking/punching mommy's tummy lately; I've really been feeling it the last few days. I'll move around and do a few things at work, then when I sit down at my desk baby starts moving all over the place. It's generally really neat to feel, but every now and then it can make me feel quite nauseous...but more fun that bad.

Anyhow, it's getting late for someone that has to get up at 5am for work, so I should sign off for now....

Anna signing off while Naomi catches some z's, Nanook lounges on the patio and pumpkin is rolling around trying to get comfy...

Baby Kouwenberg #2

Hello everyone and say hello to baby kouwenberg #2! This little one will be joining it's sibling in the real world in about 21 weeks - right around hallowween and thus has been dubbed "pumpkin".

This pregnancy has been NIGHT AND DAY different from Naomi. Last time mommy felt sick for about 9 months, this time it seems to have kept itself to the first trimester other than heartburn. Heartburn had essentially stopped, but the last few days it has come back with a vengance. Pretty much since the end of last month baby started moving around enough that mommy can feel it and that's when the heartburn kicked back in again.

Sleep has not been a problem yet which has been nice. The pelvic problem has not presented itself again too much this go around which was the biggest problem last time for sleep. I get the occasional "crack" (like when you crack your knuckles or when you crouch down and your knees crack" when rolling over or before getting out of bed, but that's pretty much it - I'm loving that! I definitely do NOT miss doing excercises every night before bed!

Can't say much else right now really, also probably shouldn't, with being back at work so I can be back off on mat leave in a few months I've been waking up VERY early! 5am seems really early to me...but with that I only have to do 4 days a week instead of 5, so that works out nicely for cheaper daycare!

So yes, signing off for now, enjoy the pictures and write again soon - hopefully with belly shots!

Anna signing off while Naomi rolls over in her sleep and Nanook waits out on the porch for daddy to get home from work

10 Months in 2 days

Hello everyone! Wow, we've been so busy! Mom's getting ready to go back to work tomorrow, and we're getting ready for Naomi to start daycare on Wednesday. So far the introduction to daycare is going great, mom left her there for an hour after spending some time with her and apparently she was an angel. So that's great.

At daycare she should be able to keep up with the other kids a bit, she doesn't walk like all of them do yet, but she can finally crawl! I would probably say that her first official day of crawling was the 14th of May. It's still mostly an army crawl/slither but every now and then her knees really get in on the action. But the big goal, moving forward towards an object has been met. No more going backwards and getting frustrated! Now she's starting to pick up speed to, so that's great...well great that she's mobile, but now we've really got to watch her!

She's finally really figured out finger food. For a while she could only do it if she was holding something long like a cut pepper or, for special treats only, a french fry. But once she got to her hand she couldn't figure out what to do with it. But the other day she had cheerios and ate a whole bunch of them all by herself, she thought it was great. Dad had to show her how to do it, but one demonstration and she had it.

Anyhow, that's all for now. Oh, and we've started another photo album on facebook, so if you want to see pictures check it out, if you're not on facebook try this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=93346&id=722860770&l=11099906dd

Anna signing off for now while Naomi squeals with delight in her jumperoo and Nanook suns herself on the patio...

Aunty Liz and Naomi chilling in a hammock

9 Months and 2 days

Hello everyone! We're growing so fast, mom and dad can't believe it! SOOOO close to crawling! She's trying to push off of her toes instead of her knees...but then she tries her knees but only gets one forward then kinda lunges forward. So close! Progress!

We're also getting more hair! No more miniscule peach fuzz, real hair is coming in, it's quite cute. The longer parts are getting a bit curly, and the more she grows, the blonder it looks. She's going to be a blondie just like mom and dad were when they were little.

Teeth are really coming in too, we have 4 teeth, and REALLY have 4 teeth. It's funny, people keep thinking her 3rd and 4th teeth are her first ones because they're so much larger, but overall just really cute. You can see the top two teeth in the picture below.

So mom can't believe it's already over 9 months - "real life" of work and such are getting so close! Mom will be back at work in less than a month, scary! But it will be nice to have a bit of a change of scenery for a few months...

Anyhow, she's saying it's time for bed now, so I should go help Dad get her to sleep...

Anna signing off while Naomi squirms and squeaks away on Daddy's lap and Nanook lazes on the floor.

8 Months and 3 weeks

Hello again! So we've been having lots of fun the last few weeks. Had the Kouwenberg clan over for dinner so Naomi got to visit all her relatives all at the same time. It was a bit much, she wasn't sure about having that many people she loved in the same place. A little overwhelmed but she stayed pretty happy. So a fun night. And the bonus was that Grandpa and Grandma even stayed for a couple days so she got to see them even longer - and with their assistance she how has a much needed baby gate installed and beautiful curtains for her bedroom. Both of which sound easier then they were...

Anyhow, Naomi still has not figured out how to crawl, she can push herself backwards with her hands very well, but now crawling. Yesterday at mom and tot group she even raced another 8.5 month old backwards - both getting equally frustrated that they kept sliding backwards and not going forward. A truly hilarous sight though, I must say. I think it will probably be sooner than later that she figures out that she needs to push with her knees and just move her hands forward...but we'll see!

Food is going great too. Solids are getting less pureed and more mashed - progress to "normal" food! She even had a rasin this morning when dad was adding rasins to his oatmeal. Granted it took her a few minutes to notice it was on her tray, never figured out herself that it was food, dad put it in her mouth, and then it took her about, oh, 10 minutes or so to eat it. The most solid thing she's ever eaten though, and we're pretty sure she ate it, either that or Nanook now knows what rasins taste like... We'll probably start meat again too, things seem to be working out better on the other end now. So she'll probably be happy with that, she liked the meat before. Oh, and she's had a baby biscuit too, had a bit of one the other day (as above), it was hilarious!

Anyhow that's all for now, waiting for her to crawl...we'll see how that goes!

Anna signing off with Nanook taking an inventory of her toys making sure Naomi hasn't hidden any, and Naomi and dad having a quick cuddle before her dinner...

8 Months in 1 day

Hello everyone! We didn't realize how long we had left the blog...oops! Part of the reason was that she really hasn't done anything super new, just LOTS and LOTS of what she was doing before.

Rolling is now her main form of transportation as crawling hasn't quite started yet. She's SO close, but so far all it has seemed to do is slowly push her backwards, which of course she finds incredibly frustrating. Somewhat of a "Mom, how come the toy keeps getting farther away??" but I'm sure she'll get there very soon...but hopefully after we get the baby gate installed!

Solid foods (well, still pureed of course) are definitely going well too. She gets a lunch of 4 ounces of veggies, followed by whatever fruit we're working on - currently she's happily downing half a banana and half a kiwi. Dinner is another 4 ounces of veggies, some prunes, and a bit of cereal for dessert and iron. We had been doing meat, which she LOVED, but doctor has suggested a bit of a break till some things at the other end regulate a bit more...hopefully that will be soon, as much as she likes her prunes!

Mom is also realizing that Naomi's getting old because it's back to work soon! Only two more months and back to work. June is when Mom's going back to work so Naomi's all signed up for daycare. *sigh* Back to the daily grind! It will be a bit of an adjustment from spending all my time with a cute little baby to being back in the office and dealing with the CRA all the time - I will say baby beats CRA hands down, MUCH more predictable, which doesn't say much for the CRA, but it will be nice to have a different challenge again.

So that's all for now, more updates to come soon, probably after Easter when all the family visiting is done.

Anna signing off to get off to sleep, as Naomi dreams away, Nanook debates continuing sleeping on the floor by mom or going up to bed, and Adam gets ready for bed...