And now, I need to recap everything that has happened to us since Thanksgiving:

1. We had an awesome Christmas with Memere and Pepere up visiting. The Boy had a fabulous time and really got into getting a truckload of presents. When he had his 4th Birthday a few weeks later, he was eating up the presents with a spoon.  That is one Boy who loves his presents.

2. Zed had a slightly less exciting Christmas as most 6 month olds are less interested in the holidays. He liked eating the wrapping paper though.

3. The Boy’s 4th Birthday was held at home and we had quite a few little kids over for Hullabaloo (an awesome game for the wee ones), pizza, cake, ice cream and an ill-fated game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. When The Boy put his tail on the wall, far, far away from the donkey, I laughed. Way too loudly. He started to cry. Everyone was comforting The Boy and I felt like something on the bottom of my shoe.  But it was a pretty good party regardless.

4. Zed is crawling around like a pro. He stands up when he leans on something and he thinks he’s as big as his brother. He also has two little toothies coming through on the bottom. He’s doing pretty well despite this.

5. Our Permanent Residency in Canada is finally coming through. Unfortunately, we just had to go through all the hassle of getting our new Work Visa just a few weeks ago. We have to go the Border (stop off at Target!), turn around, come back and deal with the border patrol. When we went to get the Visa, it appeared we got the border intern who had to be walked through every step. Often the answers he recieved were contrary, so we were nervous for a while. I hope the PR experience goes quicker than the TWO hours we spent getting the Visa.

6. We just planned out summer trip back to the states. Hopefully it will go well taking our first plane trip with the two kids (fingers crossed).

7. We are also looking at getting a bigger second used car. It’s down to the Toyota Matrix and the Pontiac Vibe, but that may change at any moment.

That is all. Transmission Out.

As the holiday season starts, we have so much we need to do. A tree to buy, a Santa to visit, lights to put up and, of course, gifts to give.  It’s all a lot of work to do, but it’s totally worth it. The Boy is in full Christmas mode. He’s learned (most of) the words to Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, has started his new Advent calendar and asks us every day if its Christmas yet.

Zed is almost six months old and doing well. He can sort of sit up and he’s dragging himself all over the floor. He’s about ready for cereal, but I’m in no big hurry to get started on that. I gave him a piece of cornbread at dinner a couple of weeks ago, but he had no idea what to do, so the crumbs just rested on his lower lip.

Snow comes and goes up here. We had a light dusting last night, but it’s mostly disappeared by now. Last year’s Thanksgiving brought a huge snowstorm. But this year is pretty slim pickens. Which is fine with me. Snow on Christmas Day Only – my new motto.

For weeks now, The Boy has kept asking us if Barack Obama was president yet. This morning, I was happy to tell him that it finally happened. The Boy’s eyes lit up and he said “Barack Obama!” I don’t know if has any idea what a president is, or what the meaning of all this is, but I suspect he just likes to say the name, Barack Obama. C’mon! It’s just fun to say.

Although I don’t have any pictures of The Boy and Zed’s (first) Halloween, I can tell you it went smoothly. There was candy given and candy recieved.  The Boy was an adorable Curious George (here is the costume)  and Zed was an equally adorable lobster (as seen here).  If you thought that The Boy was supposed to be a ghost or maybe a vampire, you don’t know the short attention span of Our Boy. Part of the problem, was he found a costume catalog and took quite a shine to all the costumes inside.

Speaking of catalogs, The Boy loves to look at pictures of things that he wants for Christmas. He shows me pictures of books that he already owns that he finds in my book club flyers.  He’s also at the stage where he wants every toy that he sees on TV: a Stratego game, a baby who pees in a potty, a Barbie dream house. He has no shame.

But he can take that up with Santa soon. Until then, today is my Christmas morning.

Speaking of Hallowe’en, The Boy has changed his mind from his original costume choice of ghost, to the equally scary choice of vampire.  But, I’m pretty gunshy about getting anything for fear of a last minute gamechanger on the afternoon of October 31.

Baby Zed is doing really great. He had a great 4 month checkup (16 lbs. 6 oz. and 26 inches long) and he’s getting more and more mobile all the time. If you set him down on his mattress on the floor, he’ll roll himself over, and start to work his way off the mattress and onto the floor. He reaaaaaaallly wants to crawl, but he hasn’t got there yet. I imagine it won’t be too long, though.

He smiles all the time and people stop me wherever I go and tell me what a beautiful baby he is. Well, of course he is! I can’t believe we were so lucky to have the most two beautiful babies in the world. Imagine that.

We just scheduled Zed’s Baby Naming Ceremony for Easter Sunday in April. It’ll be nice to have it on Easter and I guess the minister wants to have the children of the congregation participate, so we’ll have to see what he has planned.

The Boy’s potty use continues successfully, although we did have a weekend with some backsliding. But, overall it appears to be going really well.

A couple of weeks ago, we went apple picking and a good time was had by all. At first, we couldn’t even find any apples, but off in a secret corner of the orchard was some tasty Spencer and Honeygold trees. I wasn’t familiar with either variety, but there were delighfully tasty and they made some quality pies.

The interesting thing about the whole enterprise was that we were there at the end of the day and as I was waiting for DH and The Boy to pick out a pumpkin, I noticed that there were tons and tons of bags sitting around me. Apparently, people like to pick apples, but don’t so much like to purchase them. As I was noticing this, a woman explained to me that every day, hundreds of apples are just left in bags, unpurchased. It was a waste, but good for her, since she takes these left behind apples and uses them for snacks in her classroom.

On Canadian Thanksgiving (or Fakesgiving), we decided to start a new tradition. A Fakesgiving hike. We went to Warden Woods, not that far from our house, and took a brief walk and took pictures of the changing leaves.

This Saturday is our annual Photo Day! So, look out this Christmas for a two boy portrait. An American in Toronto Family first.

That is, unless it snows…

At any rate, we’ve been having lots of fun with Baby Zed and The Boy. Both of them are growing up at an alarming rate. Zed is able to roll over now – from both his back and his tummy. He’s also started to chew on my thumb and I hope he’s not ready to start teething. And he’s getting so big. We’ll see what his 4 Month check up will say next week.

The Boy, on the other hand, seems to be getting the hang of using the potty. He’s a bit of a slow learner when it comes to the world of potty. Mostly out of stubbornness, more than lack of intelligence.  But today, we seem to have jumped through a couple of hoops so far today and it looks good. I’m fully aware of kids going back and forth with the potty, but I feel good about this.

We recently had a fun visit with Grandma and Grandpa, who came up to visit The Boy and Zed. The Boy ran Grandpa ragged. He couldn’t be more excited to have visitors who brought presents and played Crocodile Chase in the backyard.

Autumn has slammed into Canada at full force. We have to plan our annual apple picking trip soon. But I’ll make sure that we don’t get as many apples as before. Nothing’s sadder than old apples.

Hallowe’en is coming up and The Boy is super excited, actually, his default emotion IS super excited. He wants to dress up like a ghost. It’s so traditional, that I think I’ll cry.  Now, I have to come up with a ghost costume. Zed will dress up in the classic Lobster costume from when The Boy was a baby. Tradition!

Well, that seems to be it. Not much else going on. Just awaiting the upcoming Next Great Depression. So, remember to buy canned goods, everyone.

I don’t know about you, but The American family has got Olympic Fever. DH and I are watching it all night, every night. We were up until 12:30 in the morning watching Men’s Gymnastics last night when we TOTALLY should have been asleep. I was yelling at the screen while watching the last seconds of the 4 x 100 Men’s Swimming Relay (the best!). And the weirdest thing is that this is the only time in my life when I am super ultra jingoistic and will root on the US to the crushing defeat of all comers. I don’t care about a job well done or the thrill of victory, blah, blah, blah, I only care about the US winning, or at least medaling.

I watch the NBC footage, since Canada is really low-key with their Olympic coverage. And, because I’m watching the complete US feed for the first time since living here, it’s the first time I’ve seen the political commercials for this upcoming Presidential Election. I know for those of you living in the States, they are old news and tedious, but as NBC would say, “they’re new to me!”

On Friday, Zed got his first round of vaccinations, and he cried (poor thing) but he seems to be perfectly fine otherwise. He’s also starting to crank out the little tiny baby smiles. He’s so cute. I’ll have to get DH to take some pictures. Such is the curse of the 2nd Child.

The Boy is also doing well. He started his next level of swimming lessons. If you remember from last winter, The Boy had to take swimming lessons with his father in the pool with him. This time around, he’s on his own with actual teachers. He’s doing awesomely and is a real daredevil. While two other boys are more than a little skittish, The Boy is all over it. He even goes under the water on his own. Granted, it’s the instructors that hold onto the kids, while the kids kick and blow bubbles in the water, but still, The Boy is doing a rocking job.

Look for him in the 2020 Olympics in Akron.

1. Does he sleep through the night?

Honestly, I don’t know since I barely wake up if he stirs and then I fall right back to sleep. I think he may wake up once, twice tops during a typical night.

2. How big is he?

As of July 16th he was 11 lbs. 10 ounces. He has his 6 week appointment on Friday, so we’ll see how much he weighs now.

But by far the most commented on aspect of Zed, isn’t really about him at all. It’s all about my sling.

Behold the sling!

Total strangers come up to me and ask me about the sling. People on the street, waiters, librarians, everyone. A woman at a government office thought I was Kenyan (like herself) based on the sling. I was walking through the zoo and I heard some frat guy tell his buddy about my sling. I should totally sell them since I am apparently a walking endorsement for them.

They are really handy. They are easy to throw in my backpack when I’m going out. They allow me to walk around without taking up too much space on the sidewalk. I can walk in and out of doors without having to deal with stairs or heavy doors. If Zed starts fussing, which he rarely does, I can calm him down/or feed him easily while he’s in the sling.

So, YAY SLINGS!

In other news, I have about a month left before I go back to work. Sigh.

The Boy seems to be doing somewhat okay with the addition of Zed. There are a couple things that I have to remember when he has a melt down or gets all hyper: 1) The Boy is three years old. He probably would behave that way regardless of who did or didn’t join his family and 2) He DOES have to deal with a new addition to his family. Grown adults have a hard time with gaining AND losing family members. DH and I just have to remember to give The Boy all the attention that we can and I personally have to remember to not focus all my attention on Zed.

So, how IS Baby Zed doing? We went to the midwives’ clinic last week and he now weighs 10 lbs. 5 oz. Which is a pretty amazing gain for only two weeks.  He doesn’t look that big to me, but when I dropped by the office yesterday to see Auntie Bella, she thought that Zed had grown a whole lot. I guess it’s like that old adage, “A watched newborn, never grows…”

Zed’s a really good baby. I was afraid that he’d be the opposite of his brother, but he’s been pretty much the same. If anything, he’s easier, since I now have half a clue about what I’m doing.  Today, I’m actually able to write on the blog since The Boy is at daycare for one of his two daycare days and I’m home with Zed. Yesterday, I got the car for the day and Zed and I went out for a day on the town. I was like a madwoman – driving around the city, binging on the car.

Speaking of binging, as of last Saturday, I joined back up with the Weight Watchers.  It’s a weird situation where I need to get back on the wagon, except, because I’m nursing, I get a boatload of points and it hasn’t really changed how much I’m eating in a day. But it looks like I’ve already lost at least 3 pounds so far, so I’m off to a good start.

The other thing that I started this week was signing up for “Roots of Empathy.” ROE is a program the brings young babies (2-4 months, at first) to school classrooms and teaches students about babies and, of course, empathy for others. As the website states:

“At the heart of the program are a neighbourhood infant and parent who visit the classroom every three weeks over the school year. A trained ROE Instructor coaches students to observe the baby’s development and to label the baby’s feelings. In this experiential learning, the baby is the “Teacher” and a lever, which the instructor uses to help children identify and reflect on their own feelings and the feelings of others…They are more competent in understanding their own feelings and the feelings of others (empathy) and are therefore less likely to physically, psychologically and emotionally hurt each other through bullying and other cruelties. In the ROE program children learn how to challenge cruelty and injustice. Messages of social inclusion and activities that are consensus building contribute to a culture of caring that changes the tone of the classroom.”

Zed and I will start in October and, hopefully, it will be a great experience for both us and the kids. A friend of mine did the program with her first child and I am really excited about doing it myself.

Oh, and finally, run don’t walk to see WALL-E. A fabulous movie. Probably my favorite Pixar movie ever.

Memere is up here in the GTA visiting her oldest and newest grandchildren. She came up with lots of clothes for Zed, not only from her, but also from Uncle Weithy and Aunt Freyapup. All of his new babywear looks absolutely adorable and have come in exceedingly handy. Because, well, Zed has many poopie diapers. Many, many poopie diapers. Today, he also peed all over my lap. Unfortunately, no one sent me any cute new clothes, so I am stuck wearing my old maternity clothes.

Earlier today, Big Boy (fka The Boy) decided that during his toilet training, his best bet would involve peeing on my foot. So, that’s going well. If I can get away without someone (or something) peeing on my head, it will be a miracle indeed.

So…Big Boy’s toilet training… How is it going? Well, it is not as entirely as successful as I would have hoped. But Rome wasn’t toilet trained in a day, so we have to remain optimistic. At least he has no problem putting his new underpants on, even if he doesn’t understand the complete concept of taking them off before voiding one’s bladder. Sigh. Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean.

But anyway, Baby Zed is doing really well. He was 9 lbs. 5 1/2 oz. when we last weighed him at the midwives’ clinic and we’ll see how he’s grown when he goes back next week. He’s looking cuter all the time, I’ll tell you and as these NEVER BEFORE SEEN photos clearly show.

After much waiting, Baby Zed has arrived in all his, yes his, Zed-ful glory. Here, take a look!

So, if you would like the gory (well, not too gory) details, here they are.

I started going into labor on Wednesday night, after a visit with my midwife. I continued having contractions and watching seemingly endless episodes of So, You Think You Can Dance? on the TV. It was, of course, a very good thing that Pepere was here to help out with The Boy and DH was here to help with me. The midwife came over to the house on Thursday, an actual housecall (!), can you believe it?, and she said I wasn’t progressing all that much and my contractions weren’t consistent enough, which was rather disappointing.

So, another day passed as DH and attempted to count my haphazard contractions until Friday morning when the midwife came over and things seemed to be going really well. I was attempted to deal with the contractions through breathing, but I was getting pretty exhausted at this point. At this point, we decided to go, very slowly go, to the hospital. I slowly dressed, slowly went down the stairs, slowly got in the car, and slowly breathed through my contractions.

When we got there, my midwife, God love her, was already filling out my paperwork and getting my room ready. She got me into my room, got me into a nightgown and let me lay down in my hospital bed and started monitoring Zed. That’s when the nurses told my midwife that because I was a high-risk VBAC patient, she was being taken off my case and there was a transfer of care to the Head of Obstetrics, who I had briefly met twice before. He seemed to act like this was something that I had previously discussed and approved. This was decidedly not the case. And I was certainly in no shape to argue with hospital staff. My midwife was pretty mad about it, with good reason.

Time wore on and then the doctor decided that I needed an epidural. Although I hadn’t really planned on an epidural, I was very, very tired at this point and thought that it might be a good idea. As it turns out it was an excellent idea and for the first time since Wednesday night, I was my normal self. The bonus was that I could feel my legs, which is usually not the case with an epidural and which is one of the reasons that I wasn’t completely on board with one. But this epidural was strictly restricted to the contractions and I gladly watched a stupid Dr. Phil episode.

A couple hours later, the nurses told me it was time to go into the delivery room and that the baby was on his way. I was pretty happy that I had the epidural because I was a touch more rested than I otherwise would have been. Not to say that had labor was all peaches and cream, because it wasn’t. Fortunately we were able to do it in about an hour. And who should show up right at the last minute and perform a painful episiotomy on me and get to catch the baby? Why, it was Dr. Transfer of Care. Thanks for nothing. Glad it was so important that he override the care of my trusted midwife. Jeez, the whole thing is still upsetting.

So, I had a successful VBAC and both Zed and I are healthy and happy. He was born at 6:27pm (The Boy was born at 6:31pm) at 8 lbs. 15 oz and 20 3/4 inches. He’s a great little baby who is a good, strong eater and a good sleeper. It went about as well as I could have hoped considering, despite my midwife’s sudden demotion.

More to come about the first meeting of The Boy and Zed and Zed’s first week of fun.