I should know, being a second time parent, not to make conclusions about my children as they will soon prove me wrong. Callum does like his Jolly Jumper, and he has basically continued sleeping through from roughly 10:30 or 11 until 6:30 or 7:30. At which point he snacks with his eyes closed, and sleeps again until 9am. It’s pretty good.

However, yesterday I was tempted to turf him against a wall as he wouldn’t nap for more than 20 minutes at a time, and I am trying to clean the house up for visitors this weekend. Also just because I am always trying to clean up the house and it just always defeats me. Anyway, yesterday, he once again proved me wrong as he was downing bottles like they were going out of style. Some kind of growth spurt, when you demand an extra 10oz of formula and who knows how much extra milk from your mother. So I’m not going to say he prefers to be breastfed. No more such pronouncements from me.

In other news, Mark had both his RBC Visas ‘compromised’, with someone running up a very nice bill on one of them, including a new Apple computer, a suit from Harry Rosen and a meal that cost thousands of dollars. Hey, you got good taste, thief! Luckily it’s 2008 and this happens and Mark is not responsible for paying for these lovely items that someone else is enjoying.

We were supposed to have our new window and patio door in today, but it’s absolutely frigid and the installer won’t work in this weather. We have to wait another month for him to be available again.

Photos, just because.

Feet!

I like this one.

Jolly Jumper-ing.

Two brothers hanging out, pre-Oliver’s second hair cut of his life.

Callum has always had the best sad face – he has the fattest lip ever!

Bath time, post-Oliver’s hair cut.

Callum gave me a pretty good present last night – he slept from 10:30pm to 7:15am straight, in his crib. I was pretty surprised that it happened already, after only really going for 5-6 hour stretches before that, so of course I had to keep checking he was still alive. But he was. And I’m not going to count on it happening every night, but at least I know it’s possible!

Of course, that would have meant that I would have had my first full night of sleep in months. I can’t really remember when I last got a full nights’ sleep with no feedings (okay, 3.5 months ago) or getting up to pee or whatever while pregnant (probably like 5 or 6 months ago). Except that Oliver was wide awake at 4:30am, crying out for us, requesting beverages and cuddles, wanting to play with his toys, and needing more medicine. Thankfully, he did settle down to sleep again better than anticipated.

The poor kid woke up Monday afternoon with a bad fever. The fact that he could tell me how hot he was slightly worried me. Even more worrying was that despite repeated doses of tylenol and ibuprofen, the fever kept coming back. He was mostly normal when dosed up. If not dosed up, he was like a shell of himself – clingy, barely able to move, whimpering – it was awful. And he’s been sleeping so much.

I had to keep him home from daycare yesterday as he was still not well. We went to the doctor’s in the afternoon and she could find nothing wrong with him other than the fever. So it’s a mystery. But not a wasted appointment as I also needed to go as I have pinkeye/conjunctivitis. From where/who?! No one else has it!

So anyway, I thought after the middle of the night episode that he was going to have to stay home again, which I found rather annoying as I am still paying for full time daycare until the beginning of March, but Mark checked his temp this morning and it was normal. Also he was his chatty self, which is obviously a good sign. Very weird bug, though. Thankfully no sign of Callum being additionally ill on top of his cold he already had. Well, except for that sleeping through the night thing…damn.

Every time there is a holiday or ‘special’ date on the calendar, I know that Oliver is going to come home from daycare with some goodies, and I am going to register a little guilt. But just a little. See, the parents of the other children in his class have their act together, and obviously a lot of time to spend in the dollar store, as they like to put together these little goody bags for each occasion. So whether it’s Christmas or Valentine’s Day, he comes home with these treats, and we send the minimum requirement – Happy Holiday cards to each kid in December, Mickey Mouse valentine cards yesterday (“I’m so glad we’re friends” messages seemed more appropriate than the first box I picked up, the Harley Davidson themed ones that mentioned “revving my engine” and such, ugh, they’re only 2 years old!). And I sort of feel bad, when I open up a little treat bag for Oliver containing stickers, a pencil, a lollipop and chocolate (for mummy to eat, ha ha ha). But then, I don’t have a bunch of expendable income to give to a large group of 2 year olds. So I don’t feel that bad, I have enough other mummy guilt to carry already. We will just uphold our reputation as the cheap parents.

*

Finances stress me out. I feel uneasy unless I have a certain amount in my savings account, and manageable or no debt. Going in to my mat leave, I had a little savings, and no debt. This is about to change, unfortunately. Even though we are the cheap parents. We basically can not manage our expenses this year, and I’m going to have to write myself a damn credit card access cheque or something (0.99% interest until January 2009, at least). This week, our hot water heater broke. It’s a rental, so you’d think it would be an easy and cheap situation to rectify. Several visits to fix it later, we now have a new hot water heater in a new location in the basement, and a bill for $1000. Not only that, to get them to do it, we had to buy a snow blower to clear the driveway, and that was another $1000.

It was sort of ridiculous that we didn’t have a snow blower already. This is the snowiest February in Ontario, like, ever, and we were starting to get stuck in the driveway. Four wheel drive SUVs were defeated. We couldn’t really be in denial about the footage of snow anymore, so I am happy we actually have a driveway again. But the timing of the expense? BAD.

March is a month where a significant part of my pension payment is due, along with excessive daycare charges (for Oliver going back to full time for a few weeks, and for Callum’s down payment to reserve a spot for him in October). And our presence is required in England in July, the most expensive time to go, as Mark is in his best friends’ wedding. Sometime soon we are going to have to book those tickets. So we are basically screwed. And I really hate being in debt.

*

It’s a long weekend. For the first time, Monday is Family Day in Ontario. Thanks, Dalton! (I just thought – marketing hasn’t caught up with the new holiday – do you think they are going to start having Happy Family Day greeting cards – and therefore more goody bags at daycare?!?!) If I was at work, I would be very happy to have Family Day. Of course, in our current circumstances, it’s called Yet Another Day Tagged Onto The Weekend Where We Try Our Best To Entertain The Toddler And Avoid Too Many Tantrums While Also Trying To Pay At Least A Little Attention To The Baby.

We do have one big thing to look forward to this weekend. When we moved into this house almost a year ago (oh god, almost a year, and we still haven’t finished unpacking, I’m going to go shoot myself now), our real estate agent gave us a very generous gift that included a large gift certificate to a local upscale restaurant. I didn’t want to go until I could enjoy some alcohol, so my mother is generously going to look after the boys for a few hours tomorrow night, and we are going to eat and drink a lot.

*

They say you forget the pain of childbirth. I can’t really say I’ve forgotten it. What I did forget about is the massive postnatal hair shed. Jesus, there is giant clumps coming out of my head. My hair is everywhere – in Callum’s tightly wound fists, mixed in with his neck cheese, stuck to Oliver’s clothes, in our dinner, clogging the dishwasher filter, literally everywhere. I need a hair net or something. At this point, last time, I cut all my hair off. I don’t want to do that again, but I am so sick of the hair loss!

I can’t decide whether the weeks are going by quickly, or the monotony of being at home is dragging on, but it seems appropriate to say that Callum is already three months old.

In some respects, he is so much like Oliver was, but then there are some notable differences. I always felt that Oliver preferred the bottle; Callum definitely prefers to be breastfed, and will sometimes even gag on his bottle. The reflux issue continues; I’m changing back to normal formula for supplementing as the more expensive thickened stuff wasn’t really making much of a difference, and he’s going to have an x-ray at a hospital on the 29th.

He doesn’t like to stand up, which Oliver always did. We’ve got a Jolly Jumper ready for him, but I don’t think he’s really going to be that interested. Going back and reading my archives, I realize that Oliver was already laughing. Callum will coo and smile, but I wouldn’t say he’s laughed yet. He’s started rolling onto one side, and he’s always been sturdy with his head. Being massive helps.

I was bad and didn’t wait until six months to wean Oliver. I think we started at around 16 weeks. But he was ready, never had any rejection! I am pretty sure I am not going to be waiting again. When a baby has reflux, it can help to have solid food in the tummy, and as he’s so big, it doesn’t surprise me that he’s already watching us eat and chewing on his hands.

Oliver was also sleeping better than Callum at this point, but Oliver didn’t have nasty viruses and reflux to deal with. Callum is doing pretty well at sleeping, considering. He definitely knows the difference between night and day, and is starting to go for at least one stretch of 5 or 6 hours at a time. I think we’re moving in the right direction.

Callum is sick again, we’re all sick, but of course it seems more acute in a little one. He’s back on his inhaler, which he hates so much, and he’s snuffly and wheezy. Poor thing.

But at least he’s pretty cute.

Callum is sick AGAIN. We’re having a snow storm AGAIN. I’m cleaning the kitchen AGAIN. The dog has pissed on the carpet after not doing it for months. It’s another fun day around here.

Okay, stick with the positive. Mark isn’t in Montreal. Oliver is at daycare and we seem to be having a lot more fun together (quality, not quantity is the key). I had some great pizza on Monday night with Tami, out on my own. And I think a recent rash of stress eating has come to an end and I’m dying to fill the fridge with fruit and vegetables before I get scurvy. Cake doesn’t really provide too many vitamins.