A Family of Ducks.

This post will probably have little to do with the pictures of bath time. But what is a post without pictures?

Wrennie's helmet is still a challenge for us at bedtime. She wakes up about every 2-3 hours and leaves us exhausted. I am starting to wonder if it is worth my sanity. It's like having a newborn without the brand new baby.

Yesterday Wrennie and I visited a friend at the Royal Alex Hospital, and also went to see my mom who was on shift. It so happened that the nurse we had for Wrennie's delivery was also there, and best of all, our doctor! Maybe you are wondering why that is exciting to see those people... They are the ones that comfort you, care for you, medicate you, and help you through the entire birth of your child, and bring her into the world! My doctor didn't even have to come deliver Wrennie the day she was born because she wasn't even on shift, but she just did. It is also exciting for them to see how she has changed, and how she is doing. The first thing my doctor said to me was "Oh look, she is wearing her skinny jeans!" with her dry sense of humour. The new Lois Hole building is amazing. It makes the place I delivered Wrennie in look like an insane asylum.

This rubber duck is fro my Aunt. All of the baby ducks sit on her back and Wrennie just loves it.

Have I mentioned that Wrennie decided she doesn't do naps anymore? I am not sure if this is because of the helmet. She went from 1-1.5hr naps to maybe 20-30min ones. It may not sound like a big deal, but it now means I have no chance of napping either if I am tired. I don't even know if there is much I can do about it.

Oh, she is scoping out that floating duck. A baby one is right in front of her.

It's a big reach, and she is cautious! By the way, our kitchen sink has been fixed for a few days now, hurray! The only downside is that it smells really bad under the sink, and every time I do dishes, I want to barf.

Oh thanks Dad for just pushing her over. I really didn't want a face full of my pee-bath water.

My chubby.

My handy. Just kidding.

Head Shape Photos

These photos were taken of Wrennie before she was casted for her helmet. Sort of like a "before" shot to compare to a few months from now.

Top right photo- she is sad. They laughed and sent her over the edge. We have been through this already.

Bottom left photo- you can really see her head tilt as a result of the Torticollis.

Top left- cutest cheek/chin chubs ever.

It will be interesting to see the change the helmet makes four months from now.

Pictures of Home

Welcome to our house!

Finally, pictures! I missed Wrennie's physio appointment to let her have a nap today which gave me time to take these pictures. Okay, hear me out- The poor thing has woken up multiple times in a night, for two nights now because of her annoying helmet that she is getting used to. She is tired. And today she woke up at 7am and didn't go down for a nap until 11:30am. That is a long time to be awake...for a baby. So she is catching her zzz's as I write, and I am catching you up on the house now.

Andrea (my sister) brought over these pots and came to put some herbs and flowers in my backyard. Out of the two of us, she is the one with the green thumb. This is a fairly obvious fact when she has to explain to me when to water the plants.

Here is our backyard. The perfect amount of grass for people like us who don't care much for yard work.

Some of my herbs. And a strawberry plant, and a tulip that we just found in there and left alone.

She certainly made our ugly planters look a lot better!

Thank you Andrea for helping us spruce things up. Oh, and that big brick thing that is hard to see on the left hand side of the picture is some sort of barbecue thing...it looks more like a crematorium, but I don't like to be morbid and say things like that. No, not me.

The people here before us liked their bird feeders, hanging chimes (no picture because I ripped it down) and bird houses. I couldn't reach that one so it gets to stay... for now. The windows in the back, you may notice, have a tin (or some sort of metal) awning. When it rains, you can hear tinker loudly. It reminds me of camping in the tent trailer and it would sound like checker board pieces falling on the roof. Sweet memories.

The inside. Let me start by showing you the ugliest room in the house. It can only get better from here. We have some carpeting to do in here and Wrennie's room. This is my future sewing room. No more sewing in the kitchen, hooray!

Our bedroom with aqua walls. Ta da!

Wrennie's room. Kind of a mess. Never will not be a mess I predict, even when she can take care of it herself.

Her walls are a sort of grey-taupe I guess you could say. It's hard to tell though because it's a bit dark in there.

This is where we eat. The Bumbo Chair on the table is where Wrennie eats. Notice: retro cupboards on the wall and hanging light. Awesome.

Kitchen. The sink is currently plugged. I am doing dishes downstairs. Yes, it is as fun as it sounds.

Living room View #1. Yes, that is my cranky helmet baby on the floor.

Living room View #2. Thank you for the vintage couch, Kendra, we love it in here!

The laundry room. Semi-creepy, old, cold, but all our own! Um yeah, that is a dishwasher in the middle. And a sink. No, I don't bring dishes down to wash them unless my kitchen sink is plugged. Oh, that's right, it is.

This is the other wall of the laundry room. Hey look, a little stove. This place is so weird.

This is the main part of the basement. There may have been a leak discovered when Kenton found wet carpet after a few days of rain. The leak is apparently easily fixed. The mirrored shelves? You guessed it, I just love those too..

I didn't bother taking a picture of the scary downstairs bathroom or the spare room down there. Really, it's nothing special to look at.

Ending on a cute note, it's Wrennie! The red spots on her face are from her helmet. We had to take her back to get it fitted again because it was squeezing too tightly in places it shouldn't have been. Now it is okay and we are good to go again with our little Linebacker.

The Helmet!

The helmet has arrived. We went for Wrennie's fitting at 8:00am this morning. She barely even fussed.

A funny moment at the start: The lady came to get us for the fitting, and with her she carried a helmet with a camo print. I almost died. I thought they could only give us that pattern! It was for someone else. Clearly. I was just a little on edge.

So here she is. Pink and proud.

I already tried to fit a bonnet overtop. The size I made was a no-go. Isla or Lucy, would you girls like another bonnet?

This is the top view. Purely for giving her head some air. It's going to be a hot summer!

Oh my little space cadet. She is ready for any extreme sport, anytime. Uncle Jordan, ready to teach me some football?

And the little strap to just hold it on. No squeezing happens here.

Aw, her little hairs can still stick out. Cute.

Yep, playing as normal. We will bathe her everyday, and clean the helmet at the same time.

This is the new normal for the next 4 months or so!

I think I will mention that they could get a great response if they made a helmet in a delicious seafoam colour instead!

Wren-Wren is a silly.

Wrennie and Grandma, what a pair. They coincidentally matched today. Personally, I love Wrennie's side profile. Those chubby cheeks, chubby feet, chubby arms, I love it all!

Tomorrow is her helmet appointment. I am a little bit anxious, seeing as it will take an hour and a half once the whole fitting process is done. They fit her helmet, and then she has to wear it for half an hour so red spots appear on her head. Then they see where the red spots occurred, and carve away the inside of the helmet where her head needs to grow, and where the helmet needs to sit flush with her head.

I hope she isn't scared. I hope she doesn't drop her scared lip and I hope they don't laugh at her and make it all the worse. I am not sure who is more tender, her mother or her.

What a sweet little face. Notice her one eye is larger than the other? This is part of the reason for the helmet. They will never be exactly the same, but it will help, and I mean really, don't we all sort of have something like this when you look in a picture of yourself and go "oh for crying out loud, my eye did it again!".

I didn't quite catch her in the act, but sometimes we find her playing with toys in her hands, and a sock hanging out of her mouth. Sometimes she is silly!

I know I have said it before, but when Dad comes home, Wrennie is elated. Look at that face! Kenton gives her the crazy wrestling, tickling, rough play that only Dad's can do so perfectly. I can too, sort of, but it's never the same.

Before you call Children's Services on us (a.k.a. Child Welfare), read first:

Wrennie plays peek-a-boo in her crib with her blankets. She finds a blanket on the side of the crib during her diaper change, and then pulls it over to eat it of course.

However, she hasn't quite grasped how to get it off again. Can you see the outline of her face? Her eyes and nose and mouth? This blanket is so light, she could see us through it.

Whoa...what happened Mom and Dad?

I have been attempting the cry-to-sleep method again for nap time (not quite for bedtime yet). It's not easy when it sounds like they are dying. But I knew she was tired, so I fed her, burped her, and then she was all like "Oh hi Mom! Nice to see you!" instead of staying sleepy. So wrapped her, and layed her down, and let her cry. I would check on her periodically. She would be crying with her eyes shut she was so tired. Finally, after a long fight, she fell asleep. I was estatic, it worked!!

And then she woke up 15 minutes later and wouldn't go back to sleep. So we went out with Grandma and shopped, and she caught some zzz's in the car and stroller.

She usually has a 4/5pm nap too. She was reeeally tired by then. So I fed her, burped her, wrapped her, layed her down and she screamed. And screamed. And screamed. By now my nerves were shot. But I went back in and her eyes were closed but still crying. At my wits end, I popped the soother in her mouth, and started to sing to her while leaving her there, and she fell asleep. O.M.G.

And then she woke up 20 minutes later. (Note: A normal, good nap is about 1 hour long).

By now Kenton has come home and they play, and we make dinner and she is happy, shockingly enough.

So now 8:00pm rolls around, we change her, feed her, wrap her, burp her. Kenton lays her down. She is awake. She is crying, clearly ('scuse me) pissed off about being left to cry.

So that's where we are at with that whole sleeping thing. We will see if this works for bedtime. I hope so, because her helmet appointment is at 8:ooam!!

I will leave you with a picture of our scholarly child. She is a thoughtful one.