Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

I wish it would snow. I love lots and lots of snow as it makes Charlotte happy to roll around in it. For Christmas we will be heading to a place north/east of Barrie where there will be lots of snow and I look forward to seeing Lily roll around in it too.

I usually feel a little melancholy before the holidays but this year I am just too darn busy. Having Lily certainly keeps me living in the moment. Life is full, full of all good things to do with her and her well being. This week I have been rocking her to sleep as her teeth are still causing a lot of pain. I am thoroughly loving these moments of watching my angel fall into a blissful sleep. Sometimes it is still very surreal for me. She is growing fast and now a toddler, not the wee mouse that I carried in the sling all curled up like she was still in the womb.

I know soon she will be talking up a storm and that will be a really fun time but for now, I just want to savour all she is today including the fact that she won't let me put her down when we come home from daycare (unless it is to go into her highchair). I won't lie, my body hurts a little and I am a bit lopsided. But I love how she needs me and has bonded with me.

I am feeling pretty lucky and blessed tonight. I have so much but if I could ask for one thing from Santa it would be to have two extra hours in the day. One for just me and one to enable me to pick up Lily early every day from daycare.

Sponge Bath

Well, it is not Sponge Bob to say the least. I think we are on day 9 of no baths. I have made the attempt and the most I get to do is splash a bit of water around before I bring her back out.

Tonight as I was putting on her PJs for bed she kept hitting her front teeth with her pointer finger and making noises of total discomfort. I can only imagine how much pain it is to cut three molars. I love that she is trying to communicate her pain to me.

At daycare today they think she was saying Agua. A couple other kids use the term so it is said often. Another milestone is that Lily is finally using some sign language to say "more". We have been tyring to get that one down so hopefully one day she will turn the volume down when she wants more food.

This is a picture that a friend's neice took of us at a recent Christmas show. It was later in the afternoon and Miss L was just exhausted.

No Bath

I don't know why but about a week ago Lily would not get into the tub. On another occasion I played games to get her into the tub but then she screamed. The next time I went into the tub with her and again she was barely in, maybe 2 min. and the screaming started. So I have skipped a night, maybe two and then tonight I got the tub ready extra early, as I thought her not wanting to get in could be due to her just being really tired. Again, barely her toes in and screaming, and then she cries out "Mema, Mema". Out she comes again. I know I can sponge bath her but she loves her baths.

So, I am shooting this question out to followers on my blog. Do you think there is a correlation between the bath and her cutting 3 molars. The timing sure would fit. Maybe a little vulnerable in a bathtub of water?

Help?

A New Discovery

Lily has been very irritable these past few days. Even daycare said she was "really vocal" today. I know what that means but when I think about it Lily is not a big screamer...she is pretty calm and only screams when she is hungry, tired ...oh yes and when in pain. Dah...a light just came on (well on Saturday).

I had been feeling around thinking her first year molars should be appearing soon but there was nothing, just her eight teeth that she has had for over 4months now. I had been checking for the past month. This weekend however, Lily screamed quite a bit and when I noticed she was not eating like her usual self I knew something was up and I was determine to figure it out.

No fever, no rash, getting a good nights sleep, even a good sleep (from their standards) at daycare. On Saturday Lily and I went to Sherway Gardens for a quick meeting. Quick because she wanted to be out in the mall and then we went to meet Santa only to find out that you had to have a ticket bought for this "guest" only party. WHAT!!!??? I was outraged really. No Santa visit on this trip. They told me I would have to go to another mall as that is not how they do it at Sherway. WOW!

So finally after a quick trip to the Bay we got home and as I was putting Lily down for a nap I stuck my finger in her mouth for another quick feel and there they were. Two sharp points coming through her upper gums. Gosh it felt so painful. Now I think these are her first set of molars coming in as they are far back enough not to be her eye teeth. Could be wrong as I am a first time mamma. Even the on-line diagram didn't really help me. Thankfully, my friend Tylenol helped alleviate the pain for her.

I will know in a day or two as I can see if other angles of the molar start to poke through. I tell you I felt so much better knowing it was her teeth. I just can't believe I did not feel anything sooner. Those teeth are funny little things, just sneaking in when you least expect them to.

So we are a happier bunch and Sunday was a really fun day with a trip up to Holland Landing for a special 80th surprise birthday for a dear dear friend of ours, Derek. Now of course we did not make the surprise...that would be way to much pressure for me. We did get there a fashionable 45 min late and had a great time.

Getting Ready for the Big Party

Lily's dress was knitted by Greta Upper this past summer with wool taken from a sweater she knitted for her daughter years ago.

All Ready for Bed and Happy (thanks Tylenol)

Three Coins in a Fountain

Well OK, for me it was more like "Three Coins on Dupont Street".

It all started yesterday morning. My life was at a pivotal point tipping in many directions. I bundle my sweet baby up in her thick winter suit all the while she is screaming out as if I was torturing her. Finally, and now I am all hot and bothered I get out the door and start to walk towards my car with Lily, two lunch bags, her backpack and my sling bag (will someone please design something to make our Cnd winters easier with babies?).

It is only when I get in the driver's seat that I can breathe a sigh of relaxation. Lily also fights me now when I put her in the car seat because with all of her fleece and woolly winter clothing plus her blanky, it would be kinda like stuffing a body (maybe mine) into jeans from the 70's.

We are driving east bound on Dupont street going slow as molasses because they have created a bike lane and now we have cars lined up idling for 10-15 min on the one lane. It is not until you past Lansdowne that you have two lanes to choose from. I have been sick, as Lily with this terrible congestion, cough in the throat and as I approach Dupont I have a huge cough only to cough up the crap that has been in my throat for the past week. With no Kleenex near by I decide to do the only lady like thing and open my door and spit. (yes the light is red by now). I made sure I was in the other driver's blind spot to hide my face in shame. Well, there, right in front of me, on the road, are three coins. A toonie, a loonie and a quarter.

So without further adieu I continue to embarrass myself by reaching down and picking up the toonie and the loonie. Sadly, the quarter was further from my reach.

Light turns green. I buckle up and forward but now I am elated. I am not frustrated at winter. I am singing the happy lucky song to Lily. I am thinking my life is about to change for the better. I am attracting money and it is going to flow easily into my life. I really could have been in front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome....that is just how lucky I felt.

So today I am still on a bit of a high and it was only $3.00. But this is what happens to me. Suddenly money comes waltzing into my life when I least expect it to. And you watch as I will report back on my blog and let you know what unexpected cash flow comes to me over the next couple weeks.

December

I love the month of December. I love Christmas and I love decking the halls and dressing a tree. I started baking a few years back and I have not yet become as passionate about that as I am around the whole decorating thing. Maybe Lily will be the baker.

I wanted to give a progress email on Lily's congestion. It got to the point where I anytime she coughed I had to go and check on her for fear of her not breathing. She has been on a two puffer system now for just over a week and we have one more week to go. She has been a trooper with the administration of it and now she demands to hold both puffers and shake them for me. I am not having to struggle with the chamber anymore and she gladly lets me put it over her mouth and nose.

Since she has been sick I have fallen prey to a throat infection...you know the kind with the hacking dry cough that also keeps you up all night long. Even Buckleys has not helped. Very disappointed in Buckleys. Some mornings I feel as though my body is going to fall apart. I am wishing that we both have excellent health in the coming weeks so we can really enjoy Christmas.

One of the elves dropped a Christmas tree on our front porch last night. Maybe this weekend we can get it in to start decorating. I am really looking forward to starting my own traditions with Lily. Some that were from my childhood that I will pass on and some will be new just for us.

I started putting pigtails in Lily's hair and she looks like such a toddler now. I can't say she loves it when I do this so often I leave it for her daycare provider to do.

Thanks France for the cute pink chair. Lily loves climbing in and out of the chair. She thinks she is such a big girl to be able to get in and out on her own.

Update on Kitchen: we finally have all the upper cabinets in place. Had to return the door fronts on the lowers because they did not match the original cabinets I had from a couple years ago. So waiting for those door fronts to come in and then almost done. The exhaust hood fan will wait till 2011 as will the countertop.