Mr. & Mrs. Connell

Happy Anniversary to my darling husband who summed up the day like this:



'Wow, 2 years.....and they said it wouldn't last.'



Yeah, we've been married 3 years.



Happy Anniversary.

And now for a non-baby post...

This past week Owen was working like a mofo as one of his co-workers was on vacation. Eilish and I killed a lot of time in several malls across the GTA and I made a few observations I'd like to share with you all:

- There are a lot of strollers at a mall on a Wednesday afternoon.

- I am no longer American Eagle's target demographic. The large is SO NOT large and while in the change room I heard a bunch of girls talk about what they were going to wear on the first Friday of school - it being casual and all that. So yeah, me in the wheelchair change room with the babes and three 16 year olds sharing one change room picking out what to wear on dress down day. Au revior American Eagle!

- There is a difference between $50 jeans and $200 jeans. I was killing time while Eilish was sleeping and wandered into one of those stores that carry high end cloths. I couldn't resist trying on a pair of jeans. They were like butter. The softest denim you could find. The perfect rise, the perfect seat, the perfect everything. I however am on the pogey and did not buy them. But I wanted to - I really, really did. Sigh. I shall dream of them tonight.

- If it's shit, it's shit - even if it is 50% off with a Polo horse on it.

- Your toddler wouldn't scream so much if you didn't have him ON A LEASH!

- H&M sells the cutest baby clothes. For all you who think I don't dress Eilish 'girlie' enough, I can't wait until you see the skull and crossbones shirt I have my eye on!

- Nine West remains the happiest place on earth

New pics of the puddin' swimming at the Dawson's under 'Photos'.

Brute

Pronunciation: 'brüt
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French brut rough, from Latin brutus brutish, literally, heavy; akin to Latin gravis heavy
1 : of or relating to beasts
2 : INANIMATE
3 : characteristic of an animal in quality, action, or instinct: as a : CRUEL, SAVAGE b : not working by reason
4 : purely physical
5 : unrelievedly harsh

OK - so this definition of 'brute' doesn't really do what I want it to do which is describe to you how giant Eilish is. Perhaps measurements from today's doctor's appointment will be more helpful:

Weight - 17 pounds (up from 15.05 last month)
Length - 27.5 inches (up from 26.5 last month)

All the kid eats is formula but she is growing like a weed. Dr. Star says that it will all even out and her growth won't continue in this manner. Good thing too, I was beginning to picture having to shop at the Big & Tall store for clothes for my 7 foot 1 year old!

New pictures (of Eilish looking very serious - the kid won't smile when I put the camera in her face!) under 'Photos'.

Eilish Found Her Toes

Photographic evidence under 'Photos'. This kid will kill at parties!

Eilish's Nicknames

Puddin'
Puddin' Face
Dollie
Angel
Angel Face
Beauty
Peanut
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Peanut Buster Parfait
Peanut Brittle
Boobs
Boobies
Boobs O'Shea
Boobs McGillicuddy
Pepsi Cola
Savage
Savage Beast
Diva
Dictator
Love O' My Life
Judy Blue Eyes
Baldy McBalderson

...believe it or not, Owen calls her Eilish...amateur!

Big Girls Don't Cry

Eilish had her 4 month doctor's appointment this morning complete with 2 needles and a weigh in. She is currently 15.05 pounds and measures in at an astonishing 26+ inches. Our girlie, she is a brute.

Needle number went in with nary a flinch while the second one caused her to cry out in a 'why are you letting her do this to me?!' kinda way. As soon as Owen scooped her up, the tears stopped and she cuddled right into him. That kid knows how to work a room.

Her appetite was a bit off today probably because of the inoculations but other than that, Eilish is a trooper...a trooper with some new toys, check out the pics.

New Pictures

From Eilish's Baptism and our trip to Buchans.

Ran out of space on Flickr for the month...

...no new photos will be added until July!

Like it's 1999

Eilish has decided that at 3 months she would prefer to be sound asleep before I put her in her crib. No more of this sleeping from 7:30pm to 7am for her...oh no, she'd like to kick it old school and party until 9pm and cry out every hour after only to smile up at me when I check on her like, 'come on Ma, don't be so square, let's par-tay!'.

Tomorrow Judes & Donnie K. are taking Eilish for her first ever sleep over. Details to follow unless I've been hospitalized for the crying jags.

Check out the new (non-baptism - anyone wanna send me any?) pictures!

Battle of the Mommy's Part 1 (At the Doctor's Office)

Her hair - newly trimmed, highlighted and blown straight.
My hair - hasn't been trimmed since Christ was a cowboy, the grey's are taking over, I haven't used a hair dryer in weeks and it was in a top knot as Eilish had spit up formula in it this morning.

Her toes - pedicured with hot pink polish
My toes - mangled (there is no better word to describe the mess my feet are in. I almost lost a nail in a stroller accident late last week)

Her outfit - trendy yoga capri's and top combo
My outfit - shorts, stained Stones t-shirt with - you guessed it - spit up on it as well as some Ice Cap drops from earlier in the day

Her legs - tanned and hairless
My legs - paley-pale, unless hairy is now a color

Her complexion - perfection
My complexion- blotchy

Her kid - 1 month old Rory
My kid - 3 month old Eilish

And that's where this competition goes to me because Eilish is hella cute and very well behaved and little Rory....um....not so much.

Eilish's Stats at 3 Months:
13 pounds 14 ounces
25 inches long

Check out some new pics...

Tummy Time Evidence

Check out the photos...

Currently Accepting Diaper Donations

Riddle me this...why, after almost 12 weeks of motherhood does it still take me at least 3 diapers and 15 wipes to change a poopy diaper? Let me break it down:

As soon as I smell pee or poop coming from Eilish's diaper I change her. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, I change her right away. I can't think of anything worse then her having a diaper rash because of Mama's laziness. The trouble is, I've got one hell of a nose (Donnie K. keep your nose jokes to yourself) and always smell the poo before Eilish is finished um...finishing. For instance, this afternoon:

1. I smell the poo, Owen smells the poo. There is poo.
2. I remove the dirty diaper and start with the wipes while putting a clean diaper underneath.
3. Eilish starts pooing again.
4. I loosely close diaper #2 and give Eilish some privacy to finish (she was in the playpen).
5. When I think she's finished, that is when she stops with the very serious poo face, I remove diaper #2 and start with the wipes while putting on diaper #3...and she starts pooping again so I loosely close diaper #3 and wait again, again, again for her to finish, wipe her again, again, again and that my friends is how you use 3 diapers and no less than 15 wipes to change the diaper of the person in the house with the smallest bum (Lucy the Cat included).

Being a good mother is really going to mess with our bank account.

A Post By Any Other Name...

I feel like I should post something as I haven't in awhile but nothing much is happening on this end other than 'ALL EILISH ALL THE TIME!'. We spend the beginning of our weeks with Daddy and the end of our weeks visiting every mall in the city or visiting. This week we visited Teranet where Eilish charmed the pants off everyone, even the grumpy Slink who couldn't resist her baby blues, The Coon family where Eilish and Michael made eyes at each other and The Adams family where baby Sam flirted with Eilish and Mom alike, putting his hands down the back of my pants and touching Eilish's feet - not at the same time although that would have been pretty funny. Today we went to Sherway where Eilish purchased her first pair of Converse and some girly shoes but I can tell the Cons are her favorite.

We have an evening routine, Eilish and I, those nights Daddy works, where we hit the gym, have a bath/bottle/song and then Eilish hits the sheets while I try to enjoy the 10 hours away from her all the while missing her very much! She is quite the sleeper our young girl something she definitely inherited from her Mama's Mama. So that's what we've been up to, life as usual and sweet.

I want to wish Joanne P. a very safe trip to Newfoundland this coming Monday. Joanne, has anyone told you that you rock? Because you do. The Stampede will surely miss you this summer!

How Eilish Says 'I Love You'

Bedtime - 8:30 pm
Awake Time - 7:00 am

K-town

Being in Kitchener with Eilish is like being torn between two lovers (feeling like a fool). Saturday through Thursday I love being at home with my little fam, laughing with Owen over the silly things Eilish does, making sure that Lucy doesn't mistaken Eilish for a giant cat treat. But, Thursdays and Fridays are a little tougher given that Owen is either working or sleeping. Those 2 days can get a little lonely when I'm not hooking up with my make shift Mommy Group. Having only Eilish to talk to can get a little frustrating given that for as cute as she is, she isn't much of a conversationalist. So lately, we've been coming to Kitchener to let the fam drool over the puddin' (tm Uncle Joel). And oh what fawning they do. Aunt Paula swears she hasn't seen a more behaved baby and everyone else thinks she's the cutest thing going. And she is.

While in Kitchener I get to do things I don't usually get to do at home when Owen's working/sleeping, like go to the bathroom without having to bring Eilish with me which is a treat for both of us! There are a lot of helping hands eager to feed and cuddle with my little girl while I do things like go to Tim Horton's or pass out on the floor from exhaustion (that happened today).

I'm hoping that this Global Warming thing really kicks in this winter so Eilish and I can continue our bi-weekly trips to K-town where it doesn't matter if I haven't showered, because nobody's looking at me!

The Needle and the Damage Done

Eilish is a whopping 9 weeks tomorrow (or 2 months yesterday - not sure when I should stop counting in weeks - if you know please leave a comment) and we celebrated by going Dr. Star and letting her jam 2 needles into my baby girl's chubby yummy thighs. More on that later. As of today, Eilish weighs 12 pounds 3 ounces, is just under 24 inches long and her head measures something that I forgot to write down but it's a good measurement, her head is growing nicely.

So the needles. We knew they were coming, it was the reason for the appointment and Owen and I decided (I had decided) that I would not be anywhere near the doctor, the baby or the needles when the time came. First the doctor answered all my "are you sure I'm not killing the baby" questions (one thing I have to start doing is making Eilish "go left". She tends to favour turning her head to the right so during tummy time which she hates I've got to start getting her to "go left" which is hilarious and necessary to ensure I don't raise a lopsided baby!) and got ready to inject my precious baby girl with horrible, horrible serum that was going to protect her in the long run but break my heart in the short run. I faced the door, Owen held the baby but didn't look directly at her (he didn't want her to associate his face with needles) and Eilish cried and cried and cried. Y'all it was freaking horrible and we have to go back in 8 weeks to do it all again.

She was a little fussy tonight but we didn't want to rush to give her Tylenol which was a good thing because it turned out the fussiness was due to excessive tiredness. I'm not against giving her medication if she's in pain or had a fever but only as a last resort. The last resort tonight was a little bottle and a little bed and hell, isn't that what everyone wants?

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my ma, my aunts and my Nan. Today was my first ever Mother's Day and Eilish celebrated by taking a big ol' poop.

New pictures under 'Photos" for Nan Kennedy who is surely missing her little dolly.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday (one day late) to Judes & Joanie. Check out the pictures of the festivities! A special hello to Terri Power who likes to see new pictures of Eilish - these ones are for you Terri!

Postpartum

Yesterday I cried. Not exactly a new development, I have been averaging an emotional breakdown every couple weeks, but yesterday was different. These were tears of happiness. Eilish was cuddling into me as she is wont to do after eating and Mona Lisa & Madhatters by Elton John was playing on the radio. The song has nothing to with mothering per se but it is a very pretty song and Eilish is a very pretty baby - thus the tears - the happy tears.

I've come to the realization that I definitely suffered (suffer?) from postpartum depression in the weeks after Eilish's birth. It feels ridiculous to have the baby blues seeing as I've wanted a baby as long as I can remember and Eilish is for all accounts a pretty cool kid. She cries when hungry, when gassy or when she has a loaded diaper. She is averaging 2 feedings a night about every 5 hours so I have been getting more sleep but when you feel a wave of sadness come on, those things don't matter.

While we were out for a walk on Sunday we stumbled upon a library where I skimmed Brooke Shields book about postpartum depression. Brookey ended up going on meds and had visions of her baby hitting the wall and I certainly didn't feel that bad but I did see myself in some of the feelings she was having. I didn't want to hurt Eilish or myself but there were days where I just wanted to leave and let Owen (and his new wife!) raise Eilish. I'm very used to my independence so having a little one rely on me 24/7 is hard to get used to. Although I'm not breast feeding and anyone can feed Eilish I constantly feel like it's all on me. When Owen's feeding her I'm doing other Eilish related things - laundry, cleaning bottles etc. Lori said that this feeling doesn't ever go away. Eilish will be relying on me for the rest of her life (just as I still rely on Judes & Donnie K.) and the thought is a little daunting!

The biggest stress of motherhood was the feedings. Was she getting enough? Was she getting too much? How much spit up is OK and how much is me overfeeding her? Gripe water: to use or not to use. We've made the switch to powder formula and she's a different kid! The burps come easier, the spit up has been cut in half. I wonder if part of it is psycho somatic on my part. Is Eilish changing or am I getting more comfortable with her? A little of both maybe. We've had to use Gripe water twice since she's been on the planet and although I'm not sure it works, it sure does make her smell like she's been doing Zambuca shots with frat boys all night!

Eilish is the stuff that dreams are made of. The smiles are coming a little more frequently and the coos are in full affect. I know that she loves me and I want her to know that even though Mama cries, these days they are tears of sheer joy of what Daddy and I have made.

Besides, look at this face. Couldn't you muster up some tears of joy for this face?

New Eilish Pictures

It's been a rough week for the (extended) Lane family. Wanna feel a little better? Check out my cute kid!