What do you do all day?

What do I do all day? I have been asked this several times by a friend of mine. Read on if you care to!

The month of May. Aside from moving (which you should assume is extremely busy for reasons of packing, paper signing and all those kinds of things), I will show you why I am busy. I will just show you week one and week four because in between was all moving in and such.

Week One:

Monday- Wrennie's physio appointment in middle of afternoon.

Tuesday- Take car into shop to get fixed in morning and wait at shop for it to be finished.

Wednesday-nothing

Thursday- Sign mortgage papers in afternoon

Friday- Be exhausted because it's the end of the week.

Saturday- Go to bridesmaid dress alterations for Andrea's wedding/Birthday party for friend's three year old.

Sunday- Pack to move.

Week Four:

Monday- Shaw guy comes out to look at our insane telephone wiring in the house. It was a mess, and weird, and confusing, and he was here for hours trying to figure it out. Wrennie has also caught a bug and gets the poops. The poops land on every article of clothing, blanket and bed sheet in sight. Much laundry is done.

Tuesday- Go to Wrennie's 6 month check up. Still sick. Get butt cream prescription for her sore bum, and Pedialite to re-hydrate her. Go to Andrea's first bridal shower in the evening. Leave poopy baby with her Dad.

Wednesday- Take stupid car into shop again. Not fixed. Want to place a brick on the gas and drive it over a cliff. Stay at parents for the day while waiting for fix to finish. Doesn't finish that day and won't be ready until Friday. Get a ride home.

Thursday- Go to afternoon mom's group at a friend's with Wrennie. Stay for 4 hours for being socially deprived.

Friday- Cancel Wrennie's physio to grocery shop instead and make dinner for friends coming over in the evening.

Saturday (today)- Second dress fitting for bridesmaid dress. Come home, clean house with husband, make sweet potato, potato & broccoli, and pea puree and go on dinner & a movie date.

My first week of June (already getting full):

Monday: Wrennie gets immunized.

Wednesday: Wrennie's helmet has come in and she goes to her 1.5 hour fitting appointment. Oh boy.

Friday: Wrennie's physio appointment.

And that is just week-by-week.

My friend wanted to know what I do during one day. Here is an example:

7:00am- Wrennie is up for the day. I feed her cereal and bananas, and strap her into her mini-rocking chair, bring her in the bathroom with me, and shower. Then dry my hair. By now she is getting cranky.

9:00am- Check BabySteals. Eat breakfast. Play with tired, cranky Wrennie.

9:30/10am- Wrennie goes down for her first nap. She may sleep for an hour. During this hour I may blog, surf the web, or do some dishes. Maybe even put on some make-up, get dressed, stuff like that.

11am- Wrennie has woken up. I get her lunch ready and feed her. Let's say she has an appointment this day (because she seems to have a lot) for...physio.

11:30am- Change her diaper, get her dressed, put her in her carseat and go to physio appointment.

12:00pm- Actually leave for appointment because getting out of the house takes forever.

12:30pm- Arrive at appointment ten minutes late. Sit in waiting room for half an hour before I actually get to go in with her.

12:00pm-Actually leave the house.

2:00pm- Get home from appointment. Feed Wrennie.

2:30pm-Let her play on the floor. Eat something. Think about dinner. Wonder if I should do some laundry.

3:00pm- Throw on a movie or find one of my favourite online shows and fold laundry with Wrennie playing beside me. I may also take 200 photos of her in which only 3 turn out and I edit them a bit, put them on the computer and maybe blog about my day.

4:00pm- Put Wrennie down for a nap.

4:30pm- Start making dinner and try to be relatively quiet depending on how hard I struggled to get her down for that nap.

5:30pm -Wrennie wakes up, and I feed her a supper of pureed veggies.

5:45pm- Kenton is home and go gets cleaned up.

6:30pm- Eat our dinner/clean up somewhat/Give Wrennie a bath.

7:00pm- Play with Wrennie, talk, maybe watch a movie or a show.

8:00pm- Wrennie is getting tired and cranky for bedtime.

8:30pm- Put Wrennie down. This could take upwards of an hour depending on how it goes.

9:30pm- I have already shut off the ringer on the phones, and we crawl into bed.

*4:30am- I get up with Wrennie to feed her a bit and put her back down again until 7am.

So, friend of mine that asks/jokes about what I do all day, I hope that answers your question!

Month 6

Again, I am a little late with this post as Wrennie has passed her 6 month birthday

So what is going on in her world?

We have all seen this face before. She still thinks it's the coolest thing she can do, and she shows it off often. She also likes to suck on her bottom lip and make a sucking noise. It's her new thing.

She can almost sit up on her own. Sort of. I mean you see a pillow there, but she has a hard time not falling over if something she wants is out of reach. And she still loves books. This one is her favorite because there isn't an inch of it that won't sing to you if you don't touch it...well, it feels that way anyway.

When we first moved into the house, she could recognize that this wasn't her house. She didn't see her blue-grey walls. But she has adjusted and loves it here. Unfortunately for her, when she rolls off of the floor blanket, she hits hardwood and doesn't think it's that awesome.

Okay, don't judge me because I take photos when she is sad. I just wanted to show you her teeth, and she hates when I try to take a peek at them, so crying resulted. Aren't they cute though? :)

We have noticed that she has a sweet personality. She is just such a little sweetie, isn't she? And she is tender, and sensitive, and gets scared easily. Very easily. Everyone makes the mistake of laughing at her when she drops her little lip in sadness. They laugh. That sends her over the edge, and she is full on afraid-screaming and the laugher feels bad. If it has happened to you, just know it still happens to everyone. She needs time to warm up to people, is what it comes down to. She definitely isn't one of those outgoing babies that you can go up into their face the moment you walk in the door and exclaim, "HIII SWEETIE!"

I just got a call today from the Head Shape Clinic that Wrennie's helmet has arrived and we can come next week for her to be fitted. I am a bit nervous to be honest. It means that we leave the hospital next week and she will be wearing her helmet full time. I was at a playgroup with Wrennie this week and one of the babies there had his own helmet. I mean, it's not that bad. But all you can really see is...helmet. Oh, I know this could sound silly and over the top, like a helmet really is not bad at all. It isn't. Just think of this blog as my diary sometimes. This is the look inside one mother's head about her child. So there. Unedited. Okay that last one is a lie. I wonder what colour it came in...solid pink or turquoise with sunflowers? Pictures will be coming next week.

Again, she is in the 95th percentile for height and length. Actually, she is off the chart for length. I keep checking her car seat to see if she has reached it's limit yet. When I come home, I have to be careful to not drag her feet across the little white iron fence next to the garage like a musical instrument.

I just bought her Aden & Anais receiving blankets. They. Are. Amazing. Seriously. I bought these ridiculously expensive blankets (came in a pack of 3) because they are 1.) Bamboo, and 2.) Muslin cotton and 3.) 48 by 48 inches which means they will last her for a very long time. They breathe, they are huge, and they are light for summer. I got her these ones. Aren't they delicious? And yeah they are out of stock, look how great those patterns are! I didn't buy them online, I went to Bosom Babies...and now that I just gave you the link online and actually checked out their price on the website, I could cry. I hope their shipping is huge and it was worth me buying them from Bosom Babies instead...

How cute is this! Sometimes she looks like a completely different baby. I love those cheeks. I kiss them approximately 462 times a day.

So, 6 months old is basically the best so far. She can hold herself up, she can remember songs and giggle when we start to sing them, and she is trying new foods. Both Kenton and I love how fun she is, and how much easier it is now to make her laugh...it really boosts your self esteem.

It's pretty great continuing getting to know the Little Wren.

The girl hates carrots

Wrennie likes bananas. She also likes a bit of banana with some apple. So I decided to do some mashed carrots with a bit of apple. The following resulted:

YUCK. Oh Mom, why?

Sheesh, what a taste.

That certainly wasn't the delicious bananas I was expecting. Bananas, give me bananas.

No, not another bite of carrot!

Time for a full on gag. I am not afraid to tell you I don't like it. Don't ever try feeding me that again. End of story.

Did I tell you that Wrennie now talks in full sentences and I quoted her for this entire post?

One cool kid.

For Lisa and Janelle, the ladies that bought her a vest. Wrennie likes this vest a lot. She also likes to try to sit up by herself these days.

But here and there she topples over (and stays hilariously stiff), and like the good mother I am, I keep clicking...

until she rolls herself over, just because she is so darn good at it now.

We also had to go back and clean our apartment before the next tenants moved in. FUN. So while Kenton and I went on a cleaning date, Nana & Papa watched Wrennie for us.

They may have also found her the cutest sunglasses known to babies. Look at her, she knows she's cool.

Friends come over

This little one doesn't want to go to bed when friends are around. She wants to hang out with Aunty Rachel...

And Uncle Dallas...
And pretend that she has a huge head of hair.

But most of all, she loves her little friend, Isla. She was happy to play with her yesterday!

Helmet time

On Monday Kenton and I went to the Head Shape Clinic at the UofA to get Wrennie's head casted for her helmet. Rachel had given us a head's up that it is not a pleasant experience for some babies, so we were prepared for a scream-fest. She did scream, a lot.

Here is how the process went:

A photographer comes in to take pictures of Wrennie's head from different angles. Things were going fine until she did something cute, the photographer and doctor burst out laughing, and she got startled and cried. (If this has happened to you while holding her, you can see it literally happens to everyone.) Things sort of went downhill from there. There is an array of choices for helmet colour, all of them I hated, of course. You get to pick a first and second choice. You would think they would have ones without a pattern...sheesh. They had a solid pink, so that was our first choice. For our second, we went with a turquoise background and sunflowers.

Then we brought her into the casting room where the doctor and nurses were going to put the pieces of wet plaster covered fabric onto her head to make the mould. However, they first have to put a sort of sock/netting over her head so that plaster doesn't get in her eyes. They cut out a hole for the mouth, but her eyes are covered. You guessed it, she was immediately not impressed. She had to be held down to stay still and allow the doctor to apply the pieces to her head and smooth them on. She screamed. I broke out in a sweat. Once they had it all shaped on her head, everyone had to blow on it to dry the mould enough so that when they went to take it off it would hold it's shape. Poor little thing hated it all. Finally when it was dry enough, (probably not even 5 minutes), they pulled it off and handed her to us and we took her into the first room to bathe her and clean off all the plaster. The worst was over!

Now the cast gets sent away for the helmet to be made and we will be getting a call to come back in about 2 weeks time for the fitting. They said that some babies aren't a fan of that either because they have to wear the helmet for 30 min while they are there and it gets tweaked and changed...This is because in 2 weeks time, her head will have already grown again and the helmet won't fit perfectly. Once we have that appointment for the fitting, I will be going back there every 2 weeks for them to carve out parts of the helmet as Wrennie's head grows.

To be honest, I am a little overwhelmed with the commitment of all the helmet appointments, and physio to do with her. But the doctor said that even if we chose to not put her in the helmet, we wouldn't have ruined her life. So I think we will do our best and it will be fine.

If you aren't sure what a baby helmet looks like, just google "baby helmet" and something like the one Wrennie is getting will come up.

What would a blog post about Wrennie be without a couple of pictures?

When she doesn't want to nap. she finds other things to do. I come in when it gets all quiet suddenly and I find this.

She loves her Uncle Jordan, see the little hand hanging on? That is to let all the ladies know who he belongs to.

Wrennie and Daisha giggle together.

Looking out the window.

Kitchen sink baths

Be prepared: Incredibly cute and hilarious photos below!

Our bathtub is a bit ghetto to say the least. We don't even have a plug for it to have a bath at the moment because the drain is all weird. Wrennie desperately needed a bath though, and luckily our sink is a good size....because Wrennie is a good size!

I can't even handle how cute she is in these photos.

Her tuft of hair laying flat on her head just kills me.

Yesterday we took a trip to Ikea for some things and picked up our new couch. Wrennie is trying it out. She can't quite sit up on her own yet, but she likes to try.

She loves the hot weather, because she loves to be naked. She is also insanely fair skinned, and will be slathered in sunscreen all summer.

I have been ironing our new curtains all morning, and am now too lazy to clean things up a bit to take pictures of the place to show you. Soon, I promise.

Moving Day

We moved everything in one afternoon. Actually, one trip! 3 trucks, 2 cars. Wow. I honestly didn't think we would get it done that fast. Not to mention that Kenton's mom and aunt had our master bedroom painted last night too. Today they finished the living room. They are machines! And guess what, the grey is totally great and I am so happy! No more blue-grey walls, amazing.

This is the only picture I have taken so far. I have been busy, what can I say. Uncle Jordan is home for the weekend, and helped move some of Kenton's machines. He also had to say hi to Little Wren of course. She thinks he is pretty cool.

We are so lucky to have our families around to help this weekend. They have worked their butts off. Some of them even say it's fun. I am so glad.

Kenton met one of our neighbours that lives next door. He was digging up his lawn, and pulling out tree roots...massive tree roots. Him and his wife have a 10 week old son. We have potentially fun neighbours, I can't even get over it. I am also looking out my front window to see a sweet little park and the evening sun going down. I used to look at an alley. This is the best!

Oh, before I forget, there was one thing that made me laugh (in irony) when we drove up to the house last night. The city was pulling up all the old sidewalks in the neighbourhood. Yes, construction. Story of my life. Oh well, it's no where near what it was at the apartment!

We are moving...tomorrow!

I don't know if I will sleep tonight. We are moving tomorrow and I couldn't be happier! We have been trying to pack...this place looks ridiculous. If there is a proper technique to boxing things up, I don't know it. So, hopefully our stuff is okay for the actual transport across the city. Meh, even then I only really care if the computer makes it safely...just kidding. Not really.

You have probably heard about that apartment fire from the news across the alley from us. The article I read mentioned what some tenants had grabbed from their suite that was the most important to them. Some grabbed their grandmother's accordion, wedding photos, things like that. It got me thinking about what I would grab, not including Wrennie. She is a given, people! Aside from her...hmm.. wedding photos? I think our whole family has them on disk I am sure. My sewing machine? Nah. Camera? It wasn't THAT much money. I thought about maybe some of my clothes that are handmade from craft fairs...hey, I didn't say it had to be meaningful. But the dumbest thing I wanted to grab of all was our computer. I really like it. It's an iMac okay? and has all of our pictures on it too. Not to mention that it is sort of the stay-at-home mom's lifeline. Or at least it is for this generation. And it doubles as my television as well.

Anyway. That was a little...unnecessary.

Wrennie has spent 3 days at each of her grandparents places this week alone because of the construction. It is also nearly impossible to pack while taking care of a baby. Once Wrennie comes home, she takes her last nap for the day, and apparently her grandmas are so tired that they take one too!

I think I ran into Bob Dylan in the laundry room today. I went to get the last of Wrennie's laundry out of the dryer and he was leaving. All of her stuff was still damp in the machine, but Kenton said he ran it and everything. Being the suspicious person I am, I came up with this winner of an explanation:

"Bob Dylan did it. He saw the baby stuff in the dryer, knew it was ours, and totally opened the door before any of it was dry, just to get back at us for always ratting on him."

I wasn't really serious you know.

Last week my parents payed a quick visit, and of course, Wrennie falls asleep on Grandpa like she always does. It is just the sweetest, that little face buried in his neck. Just a cute picture that had to be shared.

So that is all, and until the internet and phones are hooked up in the house, I probably won't have much on here. Unless I have one last minute blog in the morning. Who knows. If all goes according to plan, we will be sleeping in our new, QUIET, house tomorrow. Yes!!!

Teeth and...fire?!

Guess what! Wrennie's first tooth is coming in, and her second is not far behind it. That would probably explain why she wasn't as hungry as normal the past few weeks, but other than that I wouldn't have even noticed that much of a change in her. No complaints from her, just like her dad. I can't believe how exciting something so small can be!

In other news, one of the apartment complexes across the alley from us had a suite that was on fire today. Kenton saw black smoke pouring out of the top of the building and heard all of the fire trucks stopping nearby. I was coming home from buying groceries (I have never bought so much frozen food- pizza, lasagna, veggie burgers, in one week) and saw the trucks driving to the building, and all the people standing outside watching. It turns out that whoever lives in that suite is friends with our apartment managers. We don't know what happened yet, but hopefully our parents catch something on the news. Poor people!

We are heading to the Head Shape clinic this afternoon for Wrennie. I am interested in what they have to say about her sweet little misshaped head. I will keep you posted.

We also signed the last of the mortgage papers with the lawyer today. I'm so glad that's almost over...not to mention that new windows are being installed this week on the east side of the building where, yes, Wrennie's window faces. It's going to be quite the week.

Naps in a Storage Room

I blog while Wrennie naps. That's just the way it is. I also read about 400 blogs of others while I'm at it. I am also hungry. I have really yummy leftovers sitting in the fridge that could be heated and turn into my lunch...except there is construction going on outside, and therefore Wrennie is napping in the storage room on her big floor pillow...and the microwave is in there...sigh. She has also been napping for and hour and a half now.

See her pillow? See the little beige blanket just barely peeking past the door? Those are her feet, and she is in the storage room having the nap of her life...right next to the vacuum and baby wipes.

I came across this beautiful little baby room on Designsponge.com If you scroll down the page a few, you will find it. You know what the wall color reminded me of? Our apartment color, you know that blue-grey? But I love it here! It looks so sweet with the colors she chose in her fabrics and furniture.

And, my favorite internet find today: Red Hot Pottery. I love this vase.

That's all!

Packing.

I've been doing some packing. Okay, "some" is an understatement. We keep saying that we don't have that much to move, but it definitely doesn't feel like it. I feel like packing will never end!

Are you wondering how I get any packing done with Wrennie around? I mean, what is she doing the whole time? Well, with a little neglect, she looks after herself pretty okay. When I take my occasional glances over her way to see how she is doing, this is what I usually see:

She is just hanging out, chewing on her fingers, dealing with the fact that her mother ignores her during certain parts of the day. What a classic first-born, just content to play by herself.

Later on, I was doing dishes...again, ignoring my daughter. She is getting so good at reaching for anything in the vicinity. Today she found the bread.

And caught in the act.

Our apartment manager showed our suite to a couple with a toddler. They seemed to really like it and want to rent it. They probably wondered why my smile looked so pained. Oh if the poor people only knew.

Next week the workers begin to install new windows on the wall of the building where Wrennie's window sits. I doubt they will get to it that fast, they are finishing the windows in the building across the alley first. I hope we are gone before then!