Alexis - 4 Months Old

Dear Alexis,

Today was your four month appointment, and as usual, you made me smile and laugh at just how cute and sweet you are. Your official stats are 25.5 inches long (90th percentile for height! You probably get that from your father ;) ) and 14.5 lbs (60th percentile for weight). You are growing big and strong, and the doctor was amazed at your muscle tone and how strong you are (yes, did we mention you've been rolling for nearly two months already?!). You took your needles like a champ, but wasn't so fond of the rotoavirus vaccine. It's an oral vaccine, and nurses prefer that parents put it in bottles to disguise the taste. But of course, you don't drink bottles! She tried to squirt some in your mouth and the face you made was epic. As was the vomit that you spewed all over me a couple of seconds later. We managed to get the rest of it into you - slowly but surely - but not without much complaining, squirming and face-making from you. It was hilarious, if time-consuming!

It's amazing to me to see the differences in you and your sister - you are SO smiley and happy and easy-going... willing to let just about anyone look at you, talk to you, or even hold you. At this age, your sister would scream bloody-murder if anyone else but me even got too close to her. I am thankful that you seem a little more laidback in that regard. You two also look very different - I think you have more of your father's facial features, while Mercedes looks more like my family. Time may change all that, but all I know is that, different or not, you are both extremely beautiful!

Mercedes - 31 Months Old

Dear Mercedes,

Today marked a number of 'firsts' for you, and a very, very proud day for Mommy and Daddy. While you think you are adventurous, you don't usually tend to be - you are wonderfully inquisitive and observant, but a little tentative in new situations, particularly physical ones. You love going on slides, but small ones you can tackle yourself - you won't go on the swings, or walk in the sand at the playground, or climb too far or run too fast. Yep, you're my kid all right!

But today you challenged yourself and made us all proud! This morning we went to your first Kindergym class - it consists of a lot of free play on 'kiddie' gymnastics equipment, and some circle time (including with a parachute!) You had an absolute blast. And by the end of the hour, you were already miles ahead of where you were when it started! For example, there was a plastic slide with five ladder-type steps. The first few times, you would only go up one or two steps and then needed my assistance for the rest. By the middle of the class, you were climbing up and going down all by yourself! The look of pride on your face made my heart swell.

But the best part of the day was later this afternoon. I took you and your sister to the park, and my shy, tentative girl decided once and for all to conquer that pesky sand!! You actually walked around in the sand, climbed on the animal rockers by yourself, went on the swings (briefly, but it still counts) and best of all, CLIMBED a big flight of stairs on the playground equipment and went down a BIG metal slide, all by yourself!! You were thrilled with your bravery, and so was I. You always amaze me and make me proud - today was no exception.

Love,

Mommy

Alexis - 4 Months Old

Dear Alexis,

4 months have come and gone, and we love you more and more each day. This has been a big week for you - 4 months old, laughing for the first time, sleeping for more than 8 hours, and discovering your inner 'squeal'. It's a super-cute noise, although you do it over and over and over and over again ;) It's so funny watching you react to your own voice, but you don't necessarily have to screech SO loud.

The laughing you can feel welcome to try over and over again! The first time you laughed, it was at Duke, being the silly puppy he is. You are also ticklish, as we've discovered, and today you laughed because I said your name? It's okay, I'll take the baby giggles however I can get them! (Oh, and I'll also take more of those 8+ hour sleeps please!)

We love you oh-so-much, it's impossible to put into words. You are such a sweet, happy, easy-going baby. Smiley and lovely, you have brought nothing but absolute joy to our lives.

Love,

Mommy

Duke - 6 Months Old

Everyone knows that having children and having pets requires a certain level of un-squeamishness. You have to change diapers, scoop kitty litter, pick up dog poop, deal with vomit, wash bums, etc, etc. You have to be an adult and just 'deal' with the disgusting bodily functions of people other than yourself, and really, it's not SO bad. You just get used to it, right?

But Duke... ah, Duke. He brings grossness to a whole other level. And each time I think he's maxed out his grossness, he manages to one-up himself yet again!

So Duke has a little problem with separation anxiety. He doesn't like being left alone, and he most certainly does not like being left alone in the crate. He poops. And then steps in it, rolls around in it, flings it out of the cage... makes a big ol' giant mess that requires much cleaning, swearing, and a bath for the puppy. So we abandoned crate training and decided to use baby gates to keep him confined to only part of the house.

Which worked great until he HOPPED the gate and pooped in all the bedrooms upstairs. Lovely.

So pooping. Fine. He's basically paper-trained, so now we close all the bedroom doors and as his anxiety lessens as he gets older, he's either not pooping, or poops on the paper. Awesome.

Except... except for the fact that sometimes he EATS his poop. It's a nervous, puppy reaction, and it sucks. No one wants a shit-eater to kiss their human-babies, right?

But fine... eating poop is a fairly common thing among dogs, particularly puppies, and we are hoping he grows out of it as he gets older and less anxious and the separation anxiety wanes. We are working on a number of strategies, both behavioural and physiological to get him to stop.

BUT... to top the grossness pyramid... not only does he EAT the poop, he then THROWS UP the poop. Because like, poop doesn't agree with his stomach I guess? Yes, I told you that parenthood is gross!

But wait. There's more. How can there be more you ask? Well. How about you take a recently neutered dog who is forced to wear a cone for a week (and incidentally can't be bathed!), add in a poo-eating incident, and then a poo-vomiting incident... add that altogether and you have poo-vomit running down his neck, pooling in his cone around his face, dribbling out on his dogbed... and a tired mom who breaks down into tears and forces her husband to come home from work to help clean up.

I told you. Having children, whether furry or not, is just plain gross. It's a damn good thing he's cute.

Duke - 6 Months Old

I knew we were having a second baby. While she was somewhat of a surprise to us, we had 9 months to prepare for her arrival, and we always knew that eventually we'd have two children anyway. They say going from 1-2 children is far easier than the initial shock of adding that first child to your family - and so far, I think that's true. There is less downtime for sure, since any alone time requires one parent to be in charge of two little lives. There is more clutter, more expense, less sleep. But overall, adding our second baby was fairly uneventful, and clearly, much welcomed.

Adding a third baby? Now THAT is stressful. After the unexpected loss of our wonderful French Bulldog Bruiser, at only 4 years of age, in March of 2010, we immediately adopted an older, wiser Frenchie, Peanut. We lost her this June - when our newborn was only 6 weeks old.

So to add to the craziness of having a two and a half year old toddler, AND a newborn - we brought home a new puppy. A full-of-energy, un-housebroken, slightly anxious, loveable and clumsy PUPPY. What were we thinking?!?!

If you've seen the movie Marley and Me, then you know what I mean, when I say that this dog, this ball of love and energy, is THE WORST DOG IN THE WORLD.

Thankfully, with some patience, love, reassurance and hard work, he is slowly getting better. And now I can't believe I ever resented my husband for forcing me into him ;)

Alexis - 4 Months Old

Dear Alexis,

Today, for the first time, we got an honest-to-goodness laugh out of you! It was fleeting, and hasn't been repeated (yet) but it was darn cute! Duke was chasing Rusty around and you were watching, and apparently amused! I can't wait to hear it again.

Every day with you gets more and more fun. You are such a sweet, easy-going baby. Full of tons of smiles, and calm and happy - easy to put to sleep too! I seriously couldn't ask for a more lovely girl. We are truly blessed.

Love,

Momma

Mercedes - 31 Months Old

Dear Princess,

Last week you started a class called 'Time for Twos' - it's a parent-assisted circle time/activity at the Early Years Centre and you had a blast! You haven't done anything like this at all yet, and I was so proud to see you do things all on your own (even though I was sitting there too). You are such a shy, tentative child in many ways - you are friendly and sweet with people, but definitely aren't one to run off and try new things without Mommy or Daddy. You also like to have both feet planted firmly on the ground, much like how I was at that age (and mostly still am!). For example, you always want to go to the park, but don't like walking in sand at the playground so we just run around the field instead! Ah well, all in good time. We'll continue to encourage you without forcing, and love you no matter how you play!

Love,

Mommy

Alexis - 3 Months Old

Dear Alexis,

You are already out of the so-called 4th trimester - it's hard to believe you are over three months old already! You are cooing and smiling and rolling up a storm but still NO giggles! I try SO hard to get them out of you and you appear to be ticklish so I think you are very close but nope, still nothing! Soon enough I hope - baby laughs are the best sound in the world!

Love,

Mommy