*sigh*

I guess doggy had to go potty. I seriously need some eyes on the back of my head.
Did I mention the bottom part of the darn thing was all wet?? She should be happy it's still working!

The joys of having an almost 2 year old.. :D

I am slacking off in the posting department again, huh?

It's just been a somewhat busy few days. Last Sunday, July 27, was Veronika's Baptism ceremony. It went really well - she wore the same Baptismal gown that Natasha wore for hers and looked really sweet, although it was difficult to hold her in it. I think she did really well considering she had to stay up about an hour past her nap-time, but she passed out as soon as we placed her in the car-seat again; she even slept through the after-pictures. Poor kiddo. The ceremony went well, but it was really rushed through, IMO. It wasn't as organized as it could have been. Oh well.

The dinner afterwards was at an all-you-can eat Italian buffet. Matthew and I were surprised when we found out it was their opening night. Hmm... they clearly told me on the phone their opening night was July 1, so it was kind of odd. But I think that part went smoothly too. Natasha spent the entire time running around like a mad-woman, but gladly we had about a million "babysitters" to chase her around. I think she liked the attention.

Oh, and I finally got to meet Laura. We go back a long time, 6 years of chatting on MSN, and we've never met in person. Silly, yes. Laura was one of the first people whom I told I was pregnant the 2nd time, and 3 weeks later she told me she was pregnant too! So we ended up with babies 20 days apart. It was great finally meeting Laura, her husband Adam, and their little cutie Ben!

When Natasha woke up from her nap today, it was raining really bad outside... The type of rain that looks like a white-wall where you cannot see anything outside your window. She was a little scared and wanted to stay in bed, sucking her soother for comfort. I was holding Veronika at the time (who was wide-awake and not so fond of the rain either), and put her next to her sister. I think they enjoyed each other's company.

So... (knock on wood!) but the transition from the crib to the toddler bed has been entirely successful! If you read my earlier post about Natasha falling/climbing out of the crib, then you know we ordered her a new toddler bed. Well, we had the bed assembled yesterday and last night was Natasha's first night in her new bed. We put on her new Dora toddler bedding set and she couldn't be happier. Now let me tell you that Matthew was not too happy spending $59.99 on a bedding set where the toddler mattress would fit her crib sheets, but I told him that without something "familiar" and cool about the new bed, no way will she sleep there. Well yesterday, once the mattress was in place, we tried having Natasha sit on her new bed and she wouldn't go anywhere near it! She wanted nothing to do with it. But once the Dora bedding was on, she practically jumped on the bed... she was so excited!

At 9 months of age we transitioned Natasha from the playpen in our bedroom to the crib in her nursery - to our surprise she slept through the night. Well, last night (at 22 months) we transitioned her from the crib to the toddler bed, and once again she surprised us by sleeping through the night in her new bed! We were shocked. In fact, she's taking her nap in there right now. What a good girl!

At first, that's how she wanted to lay

Then she lay properly, but she really didn't like her head on the pillow

And then at night I snuck in to take this picture

About two weeks ago, I put Veronika on a pretty tight schedule. I don't believe in establishing schedules before a baby is 3 months old because I think when they're still in that newborn stage, you have to follow their cues and feed them on demand. Sleeping is also pretty scattered. But after 3 months of age, I think they do really well when you have a routine that you follow closely each day. These are the rules:

1. Eating every 3.5-4 hours during the day (150 ml, currently).
2. Playtime following a feeding should not exceed 1.5 hours.
3. Put baby to sleep before baby shows signs of sleeping (i.e. rubbing eyes, yawning).

This is the schedule we've been following each and every day and as a result she never cries, only when she's hungry or passing gas (both of which are normal). Her Reflux has also gone now so she's generally a very happy baby during the day. She eats, I place her in her rocking chair or the bed and play with her, or let her bang the dangling toys with her hands and feet. Once 1.5 hours pass since she last woke up, I put her down for a nap. It usually takes her about five minutes to fall asleep (no crying!). She takes 3-4 naps per day.

Her bedtime is 8pm, and I would then wake her up around 11pm to eat. She inhales an entire bottle and sleeps until 4am. She then takes 10 minutes to eat and then sleeps until 7ish. We're hoping that in another month or two she'll be sleeping through the night like her sister did.

My dear beloved husband hasn't slept for two nights in a row because he was waiting for some IPOD APPLICATIONS TO BECOME AVAILABLE!!! He spent a huge part of each night getting up and checking for availability, only to find that the iTunes store website has crashed due to high demand. Awwwww!!! How sad.. awww! I mean seriously... is it THAT important to get all the new applications and gadgets the moment when they become available? Hmm, well, I guess if you're a high-end computer geek, it must be. Anyway, he got them sometime during the night today and was glowing this morning. He now has a Monkey-Ball game on his iPod Touch, and get this: he can control the iTunes on his computer through his iPod!! i.e. he uses te iPod Touch as a remote control!

*sigh* the life with a computer geek..........

xoxo

Yesterday Natasha brought her favourite musical doggie into the bedroom and put it on our bed. She then bent down and grabbed Veronika's size 2 diaper from the basket underneath her bassinet. And then she put the diaper on top of doggie and said, "doggie. apper!" (apper=diaper).

I figured she wanted me to put the doggie in a diaper.
And yep, that's exactly what she wanted.

She then made sure the diaper was properly tightened.
What a good mommy!

And then she decided doggie was hungry.

So like a good mommy, she fed him.

And what does a baby do after he eats?
He poops. Right.
So naturally, she grabbed Nika's burp cloth and wiped its butt!

Matthew & I decided to get Natasha a pool for our balcony where she can splash around (she's a total water-baby!), and we decided to go with this one from Canadian Tire. It's actually meant to be a sandbox but can be used as a pool too. So today, while Veronika napped, I changed Natasha into her hot pink tankini and off she went splashing!

At first she was afraid to go in...

But then she decided to give it a try...
(notice the socks... she won't let me take them off!)

Finally worked up enough courage

And then she wouldn't come out!
She loved it!

Today I made Veronika laugh! LAUGH!!! It was the cutest thing ever! She laughed out loud... and then again, and again! And Matthew was right there to witness it so he couldn't say I "made it up" again. Nika was laying on our bed all wide-eyed, and I slightly turned her body from side to side, and then I tickled her belly with my fingers up and down, and she laughed! It was so precious... she then did it maybe 3 more times before she decided enough was enough!

Natasha is beginning to combine 2-3 words together... it's actually quite hilarious to watch her do it. For example, Matthew taught her that bath-time or any type of water is called "ploosk" (I think it's in Polish? I am not sure). Anyway, taking a bath is one of Natasha's all-time favourite evening activities. Well, sometimes during the day she used to walk over to the bathroom door, look at me, and go: "ploosk?" I assumed she wanted a bath, so I told her, "when papa comes home in the evening, you can have ploosk, okay?". This answer usually satisfied her and she would walk away from the bathroom door.

Well, now, whenever she realizes she wants a bath during the day, she goes: "ploosk?", and then she'd tell herself, "hksahjkkwjke ... papa .... kljewlwje ... plooosk ... jlekwjljkewje .... okay?" She's pretty much answering her own questions! It's too funny. And this is just one example of many many words she's beginning to combine!