More Pictures

Braden at 5 months!

The Photo Shoot!

Just playing around with some black and whites.

Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!

I am IT for Grace these days! Everything is Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! It comes out in varying different tones and moods. I went grocery shopping and left the kids with Kevin and all Grace did was ask for me the whole 30 minutes! Today we were at Grace's speach and language class and she clung to me like mad. She would not let me out of her sight. It is interesting that as soon as we are in the yard or at the park she doesn't even look back! It is all or nothing!

Popcorn Anyone?

Braden loves his thumb! I am glad, it is GREAT to wake up to thumb sucking noises rather than the previous, cries. Not to mention it makes such a sweet picture! Last night I noticed that Braden was sucking on something other than his thumb, it was A PIECE OF POPCORN! Grace had kindly decided that she wanted to share her popcorn with her brother - how sweet! Braden being my second, I did find a bit of humor in this, had it been Grace at that age I would have freaked! How many 4 month old babies get to sample popcorn? Funny!

Corrected at 3 months of Age!

Comparing my two babies at 3 months corrected. My sweeties! I love them so much.

Their lives have been so different from the start.

Looking back on Grace's weight, she was approx. 11lbs(I don't have an exact weight for this month) and Braden's weight as of the end of January was 15 lbs, 6.5ozs. Grace was just over 21 inches long and Braden is almost 24 inches long. Wow! They have similar personalities, both are easy going and layed back. Braden is a bit more vocal than I remember Grace to be ( but then again it was such a haze back then, who knows!). I struggled to get every drop into Grace and Braden feeds readily on demand.

It is amazing to look back and compare. I have had such different experiences with both of my children that it is like doing it all over agian for the first time.

One bottle fed, One breast fed,

One 3 months early, One 1 1/2 months early,

One girl, One boy.

Grace's Big Bed

I think that we are finally breaking the attachment to the crib! Grace has been sleeping at night in her big girl bed for almost two weeks now and doing pretty good too. She has not, however, been napping in her bed. This is mostly due to the fact that she has not been sleeping during her naptime ...and I still do not want to give up "my time". This afternoon, feeling energetic, I decided to give her the choice for naptime. She chose her bed. She climbed in and fell right to sleep, not one peep.

Thats my girl! She is growing up fast!

My Little Man!

Shirley's World: February 2006
Braden was born 5-1/2 weeks early on September 20, 2005. During my pregnancy, he probably took years off my life (and other family members, as well). I had early labour signs at 24 weeks (around the same time as with Grace) and was put on complete bed rest at Royal Columbian Hospital. As a result of inactivity, I developed gestational diabetes, then a blood clot, and finally a pulmonary embolism! To further comlicate things, Braden was breach and I required a c-section for his safe delivery. But this was a complication due to the anti-coagulants I was required to take. I spent one whole summer in bed concentrating on incubating this baby in the best possible place - my tummy. We marked off each day and celebrated the start of a new gestational week with a special dinner. It was all worth it, though! I have an amazing little boy who is a joy to me in so many ways. I am enjoying every minute of his little life, and I thank God for his health!

Wonderful Children?

Shirley's World
My children were not so wonderful today...or maybe it was my lack of sleep that made it seem soooooo bad. In total last night I got about 4 - 5 hours sleep (broken up of course!) Braden was up several times to snack and then Grace woke up and started rattling the door knob at 6:30. Naptime was production of her noisy happy babbling, knocking the blinds against the window, and making various other annoying banging noises. Sure this is ok for a while...but it went on for, I am sad to say, 2 hours with no sleep for her or me. I would never normally leave her in for so long, but I NEEDED this time today! I am happy to say that getting her out of bed was not so bad in the end. She seemed quite happy to play with Bob (the cat) and chattered to herself as she tried to coax him out of her chair. She must have sensed my weariness and later decided just to sit on my lap and play quietly with her toy. As she sat there I could hardly understand why I needed the break so much..it was all forgotten.

This is my first blog posting. I am excited to share parts of my life and world with those who are interested. I need to have an interenet project otherwise Kevin hogs the computer with his internet hobby.