3 is the magic number

I can't believe Christmas is a week away. Time flies!

Speaking of time flying, Elizabeth is 6 weeks old on Tuesday! I had two weeks at home alone while dad went back to work and besides a few small hiccups, it went pretty well. We are well into a routine that could change at any time, but for the time being it's working for us.

Last weekend, we put up two Christmas trees. A 7 footer and a 4 footer. The 7 footer will be big enough for the mountain of gifts that Ellie is sure to receive, and 4 footer will be for her parents (haha). Last night, we took a family photo in front of the tree:
Over the past few weeks, I've contacted some of our friends that have recently had babies. One of my questions was "when does it get easier?" and a lot of them said "3 months". Other questions like "When does full support of the head happen?" and "When do they sleeping through the night without a night feeding?" were also answered by "3 months". So technically, on Tuesday, she'll be halfway there!!!

Other things I've discovered in the last few weeks:

-test your bottle warmer before you use it, otherwise dad may have a crying baby while you are out at the dentist and he's trying to cool down a scorching hot bottle

-almost 6 week old babies actually look AT you and smile AT you. So cute.
-Get that baby down for a nap at the 1st or 2nd yawn, otherwise she'll get her second wind and really make you pay
-At this point, she's actually grabbing things....maybe my shirt while feeding, but it's a milestone nonetheless (don't have a picture for this one!)

-Using a sling sometimes helps you get some stuff done
-Babies clearly have a 'poop-face'
So if we've discovered all this at 6 weeks, what craziness will be happening at 3 months??
Merry Christmas from the 3 of us.....3 really is a magic number!

Wakey, wakey, sleepy-head!

(I really need to change the title of this blog....but eventually, we shall travel again!)

Elizabeth enjoys her zzz's.

In the hospital, she got a little jaundiced and slept heavily as a result. The nurses and doctors kept telling us to wake her up to feed her, but she looked sooooo peaceful! Haven't you ever heard that you shouldn't wake a sleeping baby? I remember that episode of Friends where Rachel has just had Emma. Emma is sleeping in her bassinet and Rachel says something like "oooh! She's so cute!!! I have to wake her up and hold her!" and Phoebe says "No! Don't you know you should NEVER wake a sleeping baby?". Rachel can't resist and then Emma proceeds to cry for about 3 hours straight. Well I'll tell you right now. After 3 weeks of subscribing to this way of thinking: IT'S ALL A MYTH. Wake up that baby and feed her, otherwise you'll pay for it at night.

It's really hard to wake a baby from a deep sleep. Their limbs are all limp and their faces are all relaxed and no matter what we did, Elizabeth wouldn't wake up. This lead to lots of frustration as when we finally woke her she'd just fall asleep again while feeding.

Luckily, after about 12 days, she regained her birthweight and the Public Health Nurse that came for a home visit said we no longer have to wake her at night to feed. She can sleep as much as she wants since she's gaining weight well. Only problem now was that we had problems with the night sleep because we had subscribed to the 'Never wake a sleeping baby' myth and let her sleep so much during the day. All three of us were tired because we weren't getting any long stretches of sleep at night.

Anyways, long story short, we've fixed this 'day-for-night' switcharoo just by reducing her sleep during the day. We still have to work hard to wake her up when she gets into a deep sleep, but at night, after a good evening feeding, she'll sleep for 5 hours. I feed her again and she sleeps for another 3. Not too shabby.

Here are some pictures to show the sequence of events during the day (and this is really what most of my days consist of, at the moment):
1. I bring her down from her nap so that I can change her diaper.

2. Gradually, I try to wake her up. I talk to her, flash the camera in her face, blow on her belly...

3. Nothing is working.
4. I eventually strip her down completely so that she gets cold and then she gives me one of these looks. Bingo. She's awake and I can proceed with feeding her.
5. Then, she thanks me for it with one of these looks which says "Thank you, Mommy, for waking me up. I know I was grumpy earlier and I told you that I didn't want to wake up and that I wanted 5 more minutes, but you were right. I needed to eat something and I know that we will all appreciate it tonight when we go beddy-bye."

Dunwell, Done Well!

I just wanted to post a little shout out to Kelly Dunwell, who's blog 'Done Well' was featured as CityLine's blog of the week!!! I will also add that Kelly's love of pun's rivals my own. Dunwell? Done Well? Awesome.

Kelly, I've loved reading your blog ever since I started last year. You are so crafty and are not afraid to start projects that may last a while. I always tend to get discouraged if things are taking too long, but you stick it out....and it's good you do because the things you've created are amazing. Quilts, cookies, dinners, dresses, purses...WOW!

I bow down to your creativity! You are the master.

www.done-well.blogspot.com.. Go read it!

Happy Birthday, Darling!

J's birthday was this weekend and he got some great gifts!

1. Ellie started her 3 week growth spurt on Thursday night and it lasted a few days.....oh the horror....the horror....

1a. giving us 45 minutes here and there to sleep throughout the whole night, definitely not enough for a REM cycle!

1b. feeding for 3 hours at a time, just switching from side to side. Ouch.

2. Ellie decided to use J's hand as a diaper and lovingly gave him a pee AND a poop.

However, there have been another milestone like the cooing noises! When she's alert (and fed and her diaper has been changed), we put her on the Baby Einstein and she makes such cute little noises like 'goo!' or 'gaa!' or 'blah!'....and she's never upset, she's just verbalizing. It's awesome to hear.

So along with the her sleep deprivation torture techniques, there are many other things that make up for it. Unfortunately, J's birthday was right in the middle of one torturous time, but the next moment she was making eye contact with him and yelling 'a goo!', so that obviously meant "I'm sorry that I'm not letting you get any sleep, and I'm sorry I keep pooping in your hands, but I really do love you and appreciate all the hard work that is going into keeping me happy".

Happy Birthday, J!

Elizabeth Niles...giving us smiles.

Here is the new addition to the family!

Elizabeth Katherine Niles: Born 6:34 am on November 8th, 2011. She weighed in a 8 lbs and 8 oz and measured 20.5 inches. She so adorable we could stare at her for hours!!!

Still with child.

Had a doctor's appointment yesterday....on the drive there I realized that I hadn't been out of the house (other than the odd limp to the mailbox) in a week. Crazy. I had one of those moments from The Simpsons when the children discover the outdoors again and they are all rubbing their eyes thinking "what is this place??"

We are on day 5 of being overdue.

Routine non-stress test today and Monday/Tuesday we shall have her out at the latest....unless I go into labour all by myself. Come oooon, self-started labour.

J says she must be just like him and is just too lazy to come out!

Let's DO this, already.

I'm officially overdue. Only by about 1-2 days, but overdue nonetheless. You spend all your time thinking about the 'd-day' that the doctors give you, but the little one has its own agenda. I will think of it this way: I must have created such a comfortable, enjoyable environment in there that she just doesn't feel like coming out. I mean, it's cold these days, fall is here and winter is around the corner. Wouldn't YOU want to stay in your nice little temperature-controlled studio apartment?

So for all of you looking for an update, this is it. Nada. Zilch. Bupkis. And maybe once I publish this post I will instantly go into labour.....but probably not.

Helen Niles....not travelling many miles at all.

That dull back ache turned into sciatica in my right side. If I had some sort of walking stick, I'd be using it daily as I can't put much weight on my right leg. Also, my hips have decided to flee my body, or at least that's what it feels like. These last two weeks have been the hardest out of the last 9-ish months (I know, I know, what's next will be harder...), but I still have to consider myself lucky. Pregnancy (and Life for that matter) is full of ups and downs, and if you can't deal with them, then you'll never get through it.....so dealing with them, it is.

Because of the pain, I haven't been getting around much. I go up the stairs (slowly and limpingly) to put in a load of laundry, or I walk around the street corner (slowly and limpingly) to get the mail. Otherwise, I've been sitting on the couch or at the kitchen table watching movies and checking Facebook wayyyyy too much. I watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy, then He's Just Not That Into You, then an hour of Sense & Sensibility (which I normally love, but deemed too slow for my current state of mind), and then My Best Friend's Wedding. Along with cooking dinners for J, napping and tidying up the odd room, that was how I spent my week. Oddly enough, I thought it would be harder to get used to being away from work, but nope! Turns out it's not that hard at all!!!

This is the calm before the storm. I'm due on Monday. Shall we start taking bets as to when she'll arrive?

Maternity Leave (and caternity leave)

I am officially on Maternity leave. It was nice the first couple of days until I started getting some consistent dull back pain. From what I can gather, the baby has descended and I'm getting even closer to D-day (due date). Unfortunately, I have promised J that I will take it easy from now on....and that means only doing one or two things on the list I have prepared for my time off before the baby comes....instead of the 3 to 4 that I managed earlier this week.

Around the 32 week mark, I decided enough was enough and that I have to stop feeling sorry for myself and my ever-expanding middle. You're supposed to get bigger during pregnancy, but for whatever reason (I think it's because my abs were always my favourite body part), I just couldn't get used to the idea. So I took matters into my own hands.....by hiring a photographer and getting maternity photos done. A photographer that's done this type of thing before will know how to pose a pregger so that optimum flattery is obtained. Essentially, it's amazing that we are adding this little person to our family, but I really wanted to look back on pregnancy as a positive thing...not something 'you have to get through'.

Melanie Shields was our wedding photographer and I knew that she did all sorts of different photography. I sent her a quick email, we decided on a date, and we met for the photos. She suggested that the 35-36 mark is the best time to get photos done, and we went to Hog's Back Falls.

Now, I don't think I'd ever actually been to Hog's Back Falls. I'd driven by it loads of times, but it's actually a very nice park!!! We stolled around, I did various poses (some more flattering than others in my mind) and finished in under an hour. Here are some of my favourites:





If you like Melanie's work (and I will press the fact that her prices are very reasonable), her website is http://www.melanieshieldsphotography.com/ and her phone number is 613-296-1239.

As for Zorro, our cat, until the baby comes I am also officially on Caternity Leave and I must say he is enjoying it quite a bit!

Birthday before a Birth-day

I've heard that 30 is the new 20. I've heard people are much more sure of themselves at 30. I've heard that 10 x 3 = 30.

I remember thinking that I wanted to have my first kid by 30....and being a scientist, I know that everything has a degree of uncertainty, so we'll say that 30 +/- 3 weeks is pretty much 30.

I know that after this point, almost everything will be about the future baby Niles, so I will now say buh-bye to my childhood and look towards the new childhood about to start!

Oktoberfest (or at least the next best thing to __)

About this time last year, J and I were on our honeymoon in Europe. He got to go to the REAL-DEAL Oktoberfest, I stayed with my friend C because we both had a cold. This year, as we couldn't experience the REAL-DEAL, we went to the next best thing (a very distant 3rd or 4th, I'm sure, but we really didn't have much to choose from!).

A small brewery called Beau's in Vankleek Hill puts on a weekend version of Oktoberfest in early October. This is the second year they've had the event, and there were a few other places to choose from: there was another Oktoberfest that same weekend in Richmond, not too far from Ottawa, and there is the Oktoberfest in Kitchener-Waterloo that has been around for ages (this one is apparently the #2 Oktoberfest in the world, or something crazy like that. Again, probably a DISTANT 2nd...).

So off we (J and I, along with my sister V and brother in law K) went to Vankleek Hill with our tickets that promised us a free alpine hat, a free beverage (alcoholic for my companions, non-alcoholic for me) and a free pretzel. I have to admit, I was most excited about the pretzel and the hat, but I promptly lost my hat in the wind about an hour after we got there. It was rainy and windy and quite cold, but the atmosphere really livened things up!

The boys immediately bought their own Beau's Brewery mugs, into which they could pour their beers all afternoon. My sister and I bought Beau's Brewery toques since those alpine hats really weren't made for alpine weather.

So free things are usually too good to be true, and I will just say that the same applied to the free pretzel. It was very small. So small that I didn't even bother taking a picture of it. However, it was still free so I guess I can't complain (...much more than I already have).

Our bellies needed filling, and J and K's bellies needed lining for the amounts of beer they were going to consume. If you remember, J drank 6 litres of beer at the REAL-DEAL....he didn't think think he would drink quite as much this time around, but still, his belly needed some Bavarian lining. Off we went to the food tents.

I love my weinerschnitzels, so I had to get one on a bun along with potato salad.

J got a sausage in a bun with sauerkraut on top. He was quite silent while eating it, which is a good indicator that it was quite good (J is also pertty silent when drinking beer....until about the 6th litre, then we can't seem to get him to stop talking!).

After the food were the games. Now, my friend C told me that these games weren't even typically authentic Bavarian games....but come on! When you are only attending the truly distant 5th or 6th Oktoberfest in the world, they need to step it up a notch and have some games.

We watched the Sausage eating contest (the winner ate 12 - and kept them all down). We watched the empty keg throwing contest (some of those throws made me nervous and they actually had paramedics on site just in case). And we watched the full-keg carrying contest (one of the paramedics actually won! Must be from hauling all those injured people...).

As the afternoon progressed, J worked on his beer consumption and although he didn't manage to drink 6 litres, he looked pretty happy.

Perhaps we will be able to bring the little one to the REAL-DEAL Oktoberfest to sip her first beer sometime next September/October..... I'm JUST KIDDING.

I will do all the beer drinking and J will be babysitting.

Ready, set, GO!

I'm 36 weeks along on Monday...and this is when you are supposed to pack your hospital bag.
I mean, I can pack it whenever I feel like it, but J and I are both planners and I think the thing to do to ease some of our anxiety is to actually pack the thing. We'll be more ready for when the day comes, and it's another thing to check off "THE ULTIMATE LIST".

You can find packing lists everywhere. I have 5 pregnancy books that I bought off Kijiji back in March and they each have a list. The book that we got at the prenatal class that we took a few weekends ago has a list. The internet has lists up to the wah-zoo (still not quite sure what the wah-zoo is, but let's let everyone make their own conclusion).

I've bought the suggesting clothing (fyi - apparently nightgowns are better than regular PJs....easy access and all that), we have the baby outfit (although we're still teeter-tottering on this cute little Hallowe'en themed onesie at Babies R Us), we have the car seat installed and had it inspected.....and then there are the things on the packing lists that I find a bit funny:

For me:
-breath spray (I really don't think I'll be worrying about my breath at that point in my life)

For J:
-a paint roller for giving a low-back massage (unfortunately all our paint rollers are covered in...well....paint).
-Cornstarch, also for massaging....however, this one could come in handy when I get hungry after giving birth and I get a craving for a coconut cream pie.

Another item on "THE ULTIMATE LIST" is doing a dry run to the hospital. We both know where the hospital is, but as I do most of the driving (I drive to work and J takes the bus or his bike), J likes to do his research ahead of time so that he's more comfortable with the route. Totally cool with me, as I would hate to have to pull over on the way there, switch seats, and drive my hyperventilating husband to the hospital while I'm timing my own contractions. Also, as it's now the Fall, the city likes to start all sorts of construction projects and it would be nice not to have a surprise road-closure on the big day!

Of course, as J's coworkers suggested, it wouldn't be a true dry run without me yelling at him to "GO GO GO!!!" or that "IT HURTS!!!" while screaming like a banshee (also not sure what a banshee is....).

Rustic wedding bells!

A bit out of order in my time-line here....welcome to pregger-hood!

At the end of August, my sister V got married. It was a small wedding, but classy and sophisticated with a touch of rustic je-ne-sais-quoi. Actually, I know quite well what gave it its rustic feel. V and K, her now-husband, are a very creative couple!

The ceremony and reception were outside at Stonefield's near Carleton Place. To add to the outdoorsy feel of being...well...outdoors, K made some awesome wooden 'troughs' to be used as coolers for the drinks they were serving!


The centrepieces were logs that had holes drilled into them. In the holes were candles! The place cards were half pieces of log that had a slit cut into them for the guest's name.

They even designed the lighting for the reception tent!

It was a beautiful setting for a gorgeous newly-wedded couple.....and if you ask me, I don't think we looked too bad either :)

J. Niles....travelling miles.

Back in April or May (it feels so long ago I can't really remember), J came to me with some news from work that they were forming a team to cycle 100 kM from Ottawa to Merrickville. The cause was for Cancer Research and he wanted to participate. The next day, J signed up.

Over the course of the summer, J did some practice runs of about 60 km and 70 km on top of the 26 km he was biking to work and back.

J's goal was to raise $1500. We each sent out emails to our coworkers, families and friends and we had quite a few people sponsering him. Unfortunately, J was just short of his goal of $1500, but the $1359 that he did raise is not trivial! His team as a whole reached their goal and that's way more important! J is a hero in my eyes!!! He's even good at doing the 'hero-stance'!

So yesterday, at the earliest time he's ever been up on a Saturday (5:30am!!!), I drove J downtown to the start line. The plan was for me to meet him in Merrickville and drive him and his bike home.....unfortunately, we both overestimated how long it would take him to ride the 100 km and I missed him crossing the finish line by about 3 minutes!!! Therefore, here is a pic of him rehydrating!

J finished his 100 km in a time of about 4 hours and 30 minutes. He put to shame the idea that "pffft, you can't ride 100 km on a mountain bike!" for there were so many participants on road bikes that he beat that day. Road bike-shmoad bike. All it takes is a muscular pair of legs and a hero mentality.

You did good, J!

New Brunswick Baby Shower

During our last few days in New Brunswick, my in-laws threw me a baby shower. Leading up to the event there were last minute preparations, a cake to order, decorations to get, balloons to pick up....they were going through all this trouble! At dinner the night before, I turned to my Mother-in-law and said "You know, it's ok if there aren't balloons.....you don't have to get all these decorations, I'm sure it'll be fine without them!" at which point J's sister turned to me and said "Um, Helen, this isn't about YOU!" implying this was my Mother-in-laws party! We all laughed.

Now, I write this because I find it touching that J's parents are sooooo excited. This is their first grandchild!! This little 'package' we are bringing into the world will be our daughter, but also a grandchild, a niece, a cousin, a second cousin, and in the future, a sister. There's nothing more important than family, and when J and I get bogged down by work and everyday little things, we have to remember that. This is today's lesson, boys and girls!

Saturday morning, on the first really rainy, yucky day, we went to Fred's Restaurant and had brunch. J's mom, sisters, aunts and cousins came, a couple of second cousins too, and we all ate together. There were a few games and prizes and everyone had a great time.

They ordered this awesome 'diaper cake'. It looked like a 4-tier wedding cake, but totally not edible. The tiers were made of rolled up little newborn diapers. Piglet was at the top because we have sort of gone with a Winnie the Pooh theme in our nursery at home. When the cake was dismantled so that we could fly it home with us, we had about 5 large Ziploc freezer bags full of diapers......so that should last us, what, 3 days?? Haha.



J's dad showed off his wood-working talents by making us an amazing 'dancing clock' (also, see the background in the Diaper Cake photo? That is one of his world-famous DVD cabinets!). Doesn't it look like Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast?? We can't wait to put the clock in the little one's room!!! We already have a spot ready for it when J's family comes up in October.

Thank you to everyone for their gifts and words of wisdom. I'm nervous about this huge next step, but hearing everyone's advice calmed me down a bit. I know J and I will get through it all....and if there's a day that we feel we can't (which will of course happen) we know we have so many people to turn to for advice...in Ottawa and New Brunswick!

And bigger...and bigger...and bigger...

Sheesh. Must have had a growth spurt or something......but that's ok. It's all muscle, right? Right?

Shingles? Yes, please!

Earlier in the week, J's dad asked "Can you help me re-shingle the roof of the shed?". So Thursday was supposed to be a nice day outside and we had nothing much planned. Bright and early, the boys started taking off the old shingles from the roof of the shed.



Then, slowly, they started putting the new shingles back on.



J is now trained to re-roof our house when the time comes. Ok, maybe he'll need a bit of help....so he'll call his dad ;)

Re-roofing the shed took most of the day, so I took the opportunity to relax, nap, eat, walk, and take some pictures. Here is a close up of the peas (my favourite part of this picture is the little spiral vines):


Here is a close up of a sunflower:



Then I took a little walk down to the shore to take pictures of the eroded rock sculptures:


And finally, a picture we can someday enlarge to remind of us where J is from:

It was a nice relaxing day for me....and a day of hard-labour for J. If you ask him, he'll still say it felt like vacation. Anything is better than sitting at a desk all day!

NB 2011: It's the Pits!

For Christmas, we told J's family that we would build them a fire-pit. They have the amazing space for it in their gorgeous yard, and, well, you need a fire to roast marshmallows!

So off we drove to Moncton to get some paving stones, patio stones, decorative rocks, and a cast-iron fire bowl. After some hemming and hawing, this is what we came up with.

I think they liked it, because we had a fire that night....and the pit was used another 2 times that week!

New Brunswick 2011

Ah! What a wonderful vacation. I can't seem to get enough of New Brunswick...

We flew into Moncton on a Thursday night and spent the next couple days relaxing. I ate when I was hungry, slept when I was tired, spent some time in the sun helping some cousins build a play-structure and then on Sunday, we took a day trip to Prince Edward Island to see the sequel to the Anne of Green Gables musical, Anne and Gilbert. I had been looking forward to seeing this musical ever since my in-laws went to see it (years ago) and boy did it deliver. I now have the CD in my car and sing along as if I were one of the cast.

The day started out with us taking the Confederation Bridge which links New Brunswick to PEI. It's a 13 km stretch of concrete right in the middle of the Northumberland Straight. On either side of you is the ocean and it's amazing to think that the amount of water passing under that bridge every day doesn't seem to affect it. Am I ever glad we have engineers that design these things! It's designed so that it curves with the current, and then the mid-point is higher so that ships can pass underneath. It makes me a bit nervous because I had a dream once where we were in a really tiny car driving over the bridge and the wind blew us off the bridge. Luckily, our Toyota Yaris stayed on the bridge!

We made it to Summerside in about 1.5 hours and took our time looking around, checking out the little shops beside the theatre, and then going for a fish and chips lunch. Summerside is in a bay, and there was a marina with lots of sailboats.

The musical was fantastic. I cannot express that enough. It was everything I'd hoped for, as I grew up with the CBC's version of Anne of Green Gables. Although the play was only about 2 hours, they managed to fit in all the important points of the second movie. Ah. Gilbert! My one true love after my husband!!!

Driving back, we saw the typical red-dirt roads of PEI...can't you just see Gilbert chasing Anne down the road, telling her she needs to stop mooning about the start writing about the people and places she knows?

We could see the bridge in the distance because it's so big! Can you see it?

We made a pit-stop in the small tourist village just before going onto the bridge. There was a special request from one of J's sisters to buy a box of chocolate-covered chips. We were skeptical, but they were delicious! And of course, I had to pretend I was Anne.....did they even have sunglasses back then?