The lungs, how they work!

Baby J and I went out to run some errands today. When we do that, we leave as soon as she's done eating, because then she's full and dry for as long as possible...so, of course, it didn't last long today.

We made it to our first stop with no problem. We made it to the second stop, a diaper pick up, no problem, but as soon as I had the diapers in my hands, the wailing started. I took Baby J out and carried her...and decided maybe she was a bit warm as it was warmer out today than I thought.

I removed a layer and got her back in the stroller with the diapers and decided we needed to go home, NOW. Sure enough, Baby J agreed with me. She wailed and screamed all the way home. She even scared some pigeons and crows half a block away. We stopped at a park bench and I tried to nurse her, but even that wasn't successful...Baby J just wanted to scream.

We got back to our place, spoke briefly to our neighbour, and rushed to get through the front door so that I could nurse her properly.

And Baby J promptly fell asleep.

But, her lungs work, just in case anyone was wondering!

In the city?

Baby J and I went for our morning walk and wandered down to the pedestrian overpass that leads to a park and the seawall. We have been meaning to go down there since we moved, even before Baby J made her early entrance. I was surprised to see the overpass was park-like and while the traffic was definitely passing below us, I couldn't see it!

the overpass

False Creek/Fairview condos

It was sunny today, so we had to break out the UV protection...so here she is, Baby J in her sun bubble.

Lyons' Den in disguise

Okay, so these are not our pictures (so the quality might suck), this is not our furniture and with Baby J arriving (and arriving early) our place is a) not quite unpacked yet and b) strewn with baby gear. I'll try to post some of *our* place in the next few days!

where we live

These are in order as you come in the front door.

Baby J's bathroom

eating area

balcony off eating area

kitchen

living room

Baby J's room

our room

our bathroom and the laundry room

Yay for a bigger, brighter place than the pink palace. We love it here even though we're not quite unpacked yet!

Pink Palace

A long time ago I promised pictures of the pink palace...where we haven't lived for almost two months now! So, here they are...and hopefully soon I'll get some pictures of the Lyons' Den posted.

Pink Palace entrance way

Pink Palace kitchen

Pink Palace teeny-tiny bathroom

Pink Palace living room/dining room from the kitchen

Pink Palace living room/dining room the other way

Pink Palace bedroom

Pink Palace guest bedroom (which did eventually get unpacked, just to get packed up again soon after!)

Pink Palace kitchen from living room/dining room

It's here!

My favourite season of the year arrived officially at 8:44 this morning (or something very close to it!). I love this time of year. The days aren't too short. The light is nice. The weather is mild and not too rainy (usually, I do live in Vancouver after all!). The summer clothes are gone and the winter clothes aren't here yet. The slow cooker emerges. We get to eat soup. Mmmm...I love it!

It felt like fall last week...on Saturday night Alex and I came home from a walk in the drizzle with Baby J and her plastic bubble stroller and we PUT THE FIREPLACE ON! Yup...we did. I love that we have a fireplace...love it!

Happy Fall (or Autumn if you're so inclined) everyone!

Happy Day

Congratulations Steve and Jane!


Alex's brother got married this afternoon. The sun came out on what was supposed to be a horrible, rainy day...perfect! We had a nice day with family - it's always fun to celebrate a happy occasion!

When you have a few minutes...

This afternoon I found myself with a half hour or so of time *TO MYSELF*! Alex and Baby J were sleeping and my parents had gone out. Not knowing how long this "free" time might last (it's growth spurt time over here which means we're feeding every, oh 1.5 hours to every 4 hours), I had to limit myself to "short" or easily abandonable (yes, in my sleep deprived state, I just made up my own word) tasks.

I figure I could have

• read a bit of a book or magazine
• taken a shower
• given myself a quick pedicure (yay, no more cankles!)
• caught up on some email
• returned a phone call or two
• labelled some pictures destined for the post office
• written some announcements/thank you cards
  
• had a cat nap

There are other options too...but what did I end up doing? Ummmm, tidying up (yay!), taking a nap and updating my blog...oh priorities! I guess I did okay - some stuff for me, some stuff for the house, some stuff for the well-being of me and everyone around me (yup, that would be the nap!)

And now, a hungry little lady demands my attention...

Until the next "free time"!

The bubble

I feel a bit like part of August is missing...and I'm not sure what happened to it, even though I know exactly where I was, what I was doing and why it feels that way! I was admitted to the hospital on Sunday night and spent six nights there. It was a weird kind of limbo space. I was in the same room for the whole thing, but depending on the room's purpose - waiting, resting, labouring, delivering (or at least attempting to), recovering, visiting, nursing etc - it felt like I was in a different space. There were a bunch of different lights that were on or off depending on what was happening and that made the room feel different too.

The biggest, strangest part is the feeling of missing days in time...I was busy and preoccupied while I was in the hospital, but it doesn't feel like it can possibly be September yet, because not all of August happened...I wonder if this is how I'm going to feel for the next 18+ years!

It's all good though. We're happy to have Baby J here and it's okay that she was early...now I just need to adjust to the month!

Happy New Year and First Day of School

Yes, yes, again I'm on about how the day after Labour Day feels more like the start of a new year than January 1 does. This year even more so, since we have gone back to school. Both Alex and I are attending the school of new parents. It's been fun. It's been scary. It happened a lot early than we expected. But it's been good. And while we've been Mommy and Daddy (ooh, that makes it seem so much more real) for a good two weeks, we're really settling in and learning the ropes this week. We've got to get ourselves figured out before the super helpful grandma returns to her life and we have to cook and clean and chauffeur ourselves around without any help.

So, happy back to school to all the back to schoolers...we're with you this year (and hoping that back to school 2013 doesn't sneak up on us too quickly!)

Changing focus

I'm not sure where this blog is going to go or what it will contain. Our cub has arrived and our lives are changing. I will try to update regularly, but the content might be a bit different. And it might not be regular, since my current regular is a lot less regular than the regular when I started blogging. And cub postings will be rare...but there is a cub blog.

Please email me if you want to know more about the cub...

Goodbye to a favourite friend

Every day there are a few websites I like to visit and since we no longer subscribe to the newspaper, For Better or For Worse is one of them. Saturday and Sunday were the last strips...the saga is over. For Better or For Worse will still exist, but in a different format. I'm going to miss the daily life of the Pattersons...I will keep reading, but it's just not going to be the same...