ambitious trip to the park

she was so happy to be back in the swing :)

VIDEO: diedre swinging

i ambitiously donned the Baby Bjorn with ezekiel in it and diedre in the stroller to head out for a walk to the park. unfortunately our trip took a turn for the worst when diedre tried to wipe off some wet equipment. the air was icy cold and so her wet mittens were making her hands too cold.

she passed the point where i could help her warm up outside and we had a fair distance to travel (by stroller). we were only 5 or 7 minutes from home, but my poor girl was inconsolable.

she was crying from the pain of chilled hands. i tried to get her to put her hands inside her jacket to warm up, but then she refused to let me zip up her jacket, so then we were travelling home with no jacket and no mittens and frozen little fingers :( poor girl!

asleep. we've been having major sleep issues with this blessed toddler. she has been having major separation anxiety (plus teething: eye teeth).

she cried with heartbreak for both of us each night so derek would settle in on her floor. after several nights of backache for him, he set up the futon mattress on her floor where the two of them would go to sleep on.

we pretty much resolved for the time being to send him to bed with her at 9 or 10pm and just wait to try to get her to sleep on her own again "soon." its been really stressing me out because i have absolutely no break from her (no naps--except the one pictured that occured at 3-5pm on the couch) and no time alone to visit derek either. its so sad when she was doing soooo well going to sleep and napping on her own. now she does neither and poor mommy is TIRED and stressed.

enjoying the play mat

sending a shout-out to all of you :D 

celebrating our first two weeks as a family of four

well, we are a family of four but derek was taking the pictures...

ezekiel turns 2 weeks old!

a cute nursing break moment

i was taking pictures for ezekiel's baby announcement when diedre decided she wanted in on the action.

gorgeous kids!

finally! a kiss captured!

daddy thought it was pretty funny to buy a bag of chips the size of diedre

chillin' on diedre's bed

how are things going?

i'm feeling quite good these days. i am still taking light pain meds (tylenol and advil) but am feeling like i can move around at least. i've already lost over 20lbs (not that i'm stressing over it, i'm just curious how much and how fast the first weight will "fall off" since it was 30lbs in 3 weeks after diedre).

i recently read and watched the much talked about the secret language of babies as seen on Oprah.

i think its pretty true too. i’ve been listening to the different cries with ezekiel (so timely for me) and trying to respond to them.

it would be a good thing for first time parents to watch that episode so that they have some other ideas for how to handle a newborn baby. i really found that people were incessantly saying “he/she must be hungry” to every cry.

first baby, i’d just say, “ok, i’ll feed her again.” now i say, “i just fed from both sides, i think i’ll give him some time and see if one of these other things works.” which at this point, has most commonly been the “eh” sound (so canadian) for burping :)

the “owh” for tired is very noticeable too and something i completely would not have picked up with diedre (since i thought babies fall asleep when they’re tired).

derek thinks its a bit of a hoax but its helping me since i literally burp ezekiel for 10 minutes and he doesnt let one out until i lie him down and pick him back up. so its in there, frustrating him, but i am just not that good at getting it out.

i had a nice outing yesterday to MOPS and diedre was able to go into the toddler room and even had fun! i received a diaper cake of size 1 diapers which he is nearly ready for.

diaper cake

mischief, dinner, daddy

looking remorseful...

i overheard diedre saying "colour, colour, colour" but i was too annoyed with her not having a nap today to go check it right out...

good thing it not only smells good (scented markers) but it is washable. her hand still has a slight green tinge.

standing tall after our dinner at the hetzlers

VIDEO: diedre & david dancing

cuddly moments with daddy

my very handsome men

check-ups

we had ezekiel's first check-up as well as diedre's ear for a post-op check-up for her ear surgery.

ezekiel was 8lb 5oz! and in great overall health.

baby ezekiel is over there

trying to keep him warm before he goes on the scale

Doctor?

cheese!

what is mommy doing?

our favourite doctor. he still gets a picture since he was there all through the pregnancy and will be around after too for ezekiel.

after the appointments we spent the day with Grandma Gagne and cousin Miles and then his parents, daddy and Grandpa joined us for dinner.
my favourite brother getting a stare-down from my newby

our first time at church

daddy got diedre dressed up really nice and warm for church

tummy time shots


we got invited up to the front at church for a rose and baby announcement and prayer. it was really nice. i wish we'd gotten a picture of it. i felt so blessed to have our little family up there. 

one week old

spending quality time with my firstborn. i really miss spending time with diedre so i really try to when ezekiel is napping or in the swing.

checking out "bruh-la" (brother) or "e-lo" (ezekiel)

our handsome boy



diedre's never looked so old!

a newborn cuddle

Grandpa & Grandma Gagne came to visit and brought nice gifts for each one of us! so sweet :0)

Grandpa sure likes to colour

diedre is really sweet and brought me this foot massager to use! (she's mesmerized by her new Elmo dvd: All Star Alphabet. its actually really funny because Stephen Colbert is one of the hosts).

first outing

bundled up for our first outing. we went to playgroup since derek was home and i wanted him to see what it was like. i was pretty much done after an hour.

snuggly baby

salmon dude and family

diedre gives ezekiel a kiss (man, kisses are hard to capture with digital cameras because of the delay!)

diedre plays happily with the airplane that ezekiel gave her as a gift.

me and my little dude

diedre loves to hold ezekiel.

just dont try to take him away before she's ready!

a close-up of the wide-eyed wonderboy

diedre got some big-girl undies and had to try them all on. we had a family Christmas celebration the morning before the Salmon's flew home to Ontario.

Grammy & Grampa gave diedre another baby. now she has two babies and carries them with her everywhere. its really cute to watch her feed each one a bottle.

saying goodbye at the airport

daddy was getting some good looks from ezekiel

ezekiel's first bath went pretty well as you can see.

relaxing in the lifesaver sleeper that has made the rounds among many of my friends' boys.