More Halloween Fun

It was cold and dreary here today and everyone seems to have the flu so I took Natalie to Market Mall for some Halloween fun. They had a great Halloween display with tons of pumpkins and a little maze. Natalie loved it, she zipped through the maze and tried to kiss every pumpkin she saw.

Here are some pictures of the fun. And there's more Halloween goodness to come, tomorrow it's Babies Go Boo at the Library and a Halloween dinner. Then Saturday it's a community Halloween party followed by trick or treating with the Abbotts. I can't wait!

Talking up a storm

Natalie has been gabbing up a storm lately so I thought I'd pull together a photo with some of her favorite words. Just a cute post for the day.
I promise to post a video of her walking tomorrow :)

Wendy, Dan and Natalie

PS The heart is homemade playdough that I made for us to try out - notice the missing bite!

Natalie is completely brace free!

Natalie had a check up with Dr. J today and everything looked so good that she said Natalie doesn't have to wear her brace anymore... at all... el finito. What a happy day!

We celebrated with a trip to Tims and a chocolate timbit for each of us. She was in heaven and so was I.

And as if that wasn't wonderful enough - Natalie decided to try taking her first steps tonight! I managed to get her to do it again and got it on video. I'll post it tomorrow.

Bye for now.

Getting ready for Halloween

We took Natalie to the Calgary Corn Maze this past weekend for some early Halloween fun. It was the last weekend for their pumpkin patch so they had a bit of a Halloween party.

She had a great time as you can see, cruising around in her ladybug costume. She climbed the hay bales, played on the slide, pet all the animals and played with the pumpkins.

I can't wait to take her out trick or teating!

Snow Day!

Natalie had her first official day of playing in the snow today. After 20 minutes of pulling on ski pants and boots, tucking in mittens and zipping up jackets we were ready to hit the snow. We pulled out her sled and rode around the yard, the back street and even did a little sliding down a very small hill.

Once we finished with our sledding we built a wee snowman and then headed back into the house for some hot chocolate. All in all a great afternoon.

Here are a few pictues, including one of Natalie wearing my apron. She saw me pick it up and decided she wanted to wear it around the house for an hour or so. What a cutie.

This snow is fun and all but I could definitely use a few more days of Fall before Winter officially hits.

Wendy, Dan and Natalie

Playing with Picasa

I've just started playing around with Picasa and I love it! I did some cropping and a little color editing to create this picture of Miss Natalie (taken during our trip to Cape Breton this summer). Here's what I started with...

I also played around with the collage feature and did this in about 20 seconds..

Tomorrow - I'm going to try and wrestle Miss Natalie into her Halloween costume and see if I can whip off a Halloween collage!

Ciao for now,
Wendy

Big news!

Natalie is brace free!

On September 15th we visited Dr. J and after checking Natalie's hip x-rays she decided that Natalie would only need to wear her brace at night. Hooray! I was so suprised and relieved that I cried. It was a fantastic day.

Here's a video of her walking her bike just two weeks after her brace came off. She's so proud of herself -and so are we.

A year already?!

I can barely believe it but Miss Natalie is a year old! It seems like she learns ten new things a day - she's picking up on so much.

Her latest talents are: crawling as fast as lightning, doing some of the actions for Itsy Bitsy Spider, pretending to blow her nose, dancing (so cute) and pretending to start and drive the car. She is a riot!

Instead of just celebrating one day her birthday celebrations have been ongoing - it's a little like birthday Hanukkah.

We had a little birthday party while Dan's parents were out for a visit, then on her actual birthday (July 1) we had a virtual party (via webcam) with Nanny and Poppy Prince - complete with cupcakes, candles and of course we sang Happy Birthday.

Here are a few pics...

More pics to come soon!

Wendy, Dan and Natalie

It's been so long...

It has been too long since I've posted anything. Life seems to have gone a bit wild but it's settling down now (a little bit at least). There were some high points and some low points, but overall we're all happy, healthy and loving life.

Here are some highlights:

Natalie started to crawl in her brace! She loves to throw toys and then chase after them - it's her favourite game.

We were going to head east and live in Toronto (at the request of Dan's company) but we decided it wasn't the right move for us so we're staying put in Cowtown. Hooray!

It took six months, two new floors and a little more than a week in a downtown hotel but our flood renovations are finally finished. Now we can finally have people over for dinner.

After finishing up a very fast year of maternity leave I've decided not to go back to my old job. Instead I've launched my own writing business! http://www.wendymcmahon.com/

{thanks for designing a beautiful site Sarah}

Despite hours of daydreaming about playing on swings, going swimming and taking first steps we went to visit the surgeon and learned that Natalie has at least three more months in her brace - possibly six. It was dissappointing but the way I see it, she's a super happy little girl with a small problem that can be fixed.

And... our little munchkin turns one in a week!

Life is good.

Tubby Time!

At long last Natalie can enjoy tubby time!

Here are a few shots of her splish splashin away.

And here are a couple of shots of Miss N helping me fold the laundry.

Da, da, da, da

Here's a couple of clips of Miss Natalie chatting a few days before she got her cast off. We love hearing her gab!

A soft tummy and chubby legs

Our little pumpkin is cast free today! Hooray! She's moved on to a brace which I have to admit is a bit disappointing but it's definitely better than a cast. She can wiggle and move her legs and we get to feel her soft tummy and squeeze those chubby little legs.

Right now she has to wear the brace all the time (except for baths) and we're not sure how long she'll need it. It could be about three months, but our doctor doesn't want to commit to a time, she'd prefer if we watch Natalie's hip and do what's best for ensuring her hip stays stable. And we totally agree.

Overall Natalie did great today, especially for a little girl who didn't get to eat until 11:30 this morning and woke up to find herself no longer in a cast. She was a bit upset when she woke up but she nursed for a while and seemed to feel better.

It was so strange to pick her up and hold her without a bulky cast surrounding her little body. Dan and I felt a bit awkward at first but we're getting better at it. I was just so nice to see her little body again and feel her skin. I found myself lifting her blanket up just so I could see her legs and touch her.

Her skin was very dry in spots and one spot in particular on her left hip is very irritated but she doesn't seem bothered by it.

She didn't love getting her new brace fitted. But I don't think it was due to pain, she was just really tired and wanted to cuddle with mom and dad rather than be handled by nurses (no matter how sweet they were).

Once we got home she seemed to be back to herself. I think Dan and I are more affected by this than Natalie. We're a bit nervous about changing her diaper and want to make sure we aren't doing anything that will risk dislocating her hip. But I'm sure after a few days we'll get into a groove.

Here's a video of Miss Natalie waiting to get her new brace fitted.

Ciao for now,
Wendy, Dan and Natalie

Only 14 days to a cast free baby!

Just a quick update to let you know that we're only 14 days away from cast removal day. Hooray!

Natalie is still doing great, but she is definitely itching to move. You'd think she wouldn't really know that she should be moving at this point but I honestly think she knows. Here's why, she's started to tip herself over when she's propped up playing with a toy. How? She grabs the leg of the toy and uses it to pull herself down toward the floor. During tummy time she has also started to turn herself around by dragging her arms. She tries to pull herself forward but she's not quite strong enough.

As you can see she can also keep herself busy playing with her latest favorite toy - a bowl. I'm not sure why I bother to buy toys. :)

Today was a PJ Day

It was -30 here today so Natalie and I stayed in and hung out in our PJs. She ate Mum Mums and I drank a lot of coffee.

Yes, coffee is still my best friend. It's surprising that even though she's started sleeping through the night I'm still exhausted. I thought a few nights of 7+ hours and I'd be bouncing out of bed in the morning. I guess the fact that Natalie's ready to kick start the day at 5:30 a.m. doesn't help. Neither my brain nor body is anyhere near bounce-ready at that hour. And I guess it doesn't help that I automatically wake up at 4 a.m. out of habit. Hopefully my internal clock will give that silliness up soon.

We spent some of our PJ day playing with the camera. I'm determined to get better at photography - I just have to practice, practice, practice.

Here are some mug shots of missy - she thought mommy was pretty silly with her camera.

And here's a look at how we set her up to play with some of her toys. She loves to pull the rings off this toy. Keeps her busy while I make my morning cup o' joe.

Ciao for now.

PS One month from today Natalie is scheduled to get her cast taken off! Hooray!

Cast Update and Ideas for Keeping Cast Kiddies Entertained

It's been ten days since Natalie's cast change (sorry for the delayed update). But better late than never I suppose so here it is.

I'll start off with the good news (there isn't any bad news - just in case that seemed ominous).

Everything went extremely well - in fact her hip is looking very stable and Dr. J says six more weeks should do the trick (down from seven!). We're scheduled for a cast removal on Thursday March 26th - hooray!

As for the cast change - the procedure took a little longer than planned. A student doctor was supposed to put her cast on (under Dr. J's watchful eye), but in the end she wasn't happy with the result so she redid the work herself.

This time around was much less stressful than the first casting procedure. Dan and I weren't nearly as stressed since we already knew what to expect. And the whole process was much faster than last time. We arrived at 8 a.m. and were headed home with our happy baby by noon.

Immediately after she woke up, Natalie was hungry and not at all impressed with the IV she had in her hand. But after a few minutes of nursing and a quick removal of the IV she was all smiles again.

It's basically been business as usual since we came home. Natalie is in good cheer, as long as she's being entertained :). She tends to get bored easily so I've been keeping her busy with games and outings. In case you're a mom looking for things to do here are some of the things I do to keep us busy and entertained.

Gymboree - I take her to a Gymboree class once a week and then we hit at least one of the Gymboree open playtimes, where she loves playing with the beach balls, bouncing on the inner tubes, rolling on the cylinders and of course gazing at herself in the mirror.

Coffee and play - Our local coffeshop/playhouse is called Playgrounds and since Natalie is under a year old it's free for her to get as long as I buy something to eat or drink. So I get a green tea and we either make a date with my friend Lori and her little guy Ben or we just chat with whoever is around. Natalie can't use most of the toys but she loves visiting the other kids and plays with anything that she can spin with her hands. TIP - Whenever I meet someone new, I bring up the cast early in the conversation. It avoids that awkward white-elephant-in-the-room feeling and it provides lots of conversation material when you're talking with someone you don't really know.

Playdates - I try to schedule at least one playdate every week. Sometimes we're up for going out and other times it's better if visitors come to us. Recently we've visited with some of Natalie's favorite baby friends Olivia, Jaxon and Maisee.

The pet store - When the weather is bad and there's no one around we head to the pet store for a visit with the animals. Natalie is fasinated with everything from the puppies to the goldfish so we can kill a good 45 minutes just walking around while I tell her all about the animals.

And if all else fails... the library is a good distraction along with Tim Hortons or a trip to my favorite coffee shop - Cafe Beano.

Wow that was a much longer post than I'd intended. That's all for now. Enjoy the week. Here are some recent pics of our cutie before her cast change and being silly afterwards at home.

Week five in the spica cast

Natalie woke up today and decided it was story time, she doesn't do this often so I decided to catch it on video. But it turns out she was feeling very chatty because she gabbed like this all day - it was so sweet. I took her out to a coffee shop for a little outing and she babbled the whole time - making lots of friends in the process of course.

No matter where I take her at least one person stops to make a fuss over her, and she adores it. She always has a smile ready and will even stare at people until they start to talk to her. She definitely loves meeting new people.

As far as the cast situation goes, pumpkin is doing fantastic. Believe it or not she's been in her cast for five weeks already. Hopefully there are only seven more to go. We're going in to have her cast changed tomorrow and we'll also get an update on how things are progressing. We're waiting to see if the bone in her hip socket is growing from cartilage into bone. So keep your fingers crossed - grow little bone grow!

We'll post an update this weekend.

Cheers for now.

Wendy, Dan and Natalie

Week two of Natalie's Hip Spica Cast

Well we're two weeks in and if I could describe Natalie in two words during this past couple of weeks I'd say - Super Baby! Only two days after getting her cast on she got a brutal cold and then broke her first tooth - all without a single cry.

Here's how it all went down:

As soon as surgery was over our little beeper went off and I got to go to Natalie just as she was waking up. She was pretty upset at this stage - but as soon as I got to her I nursed her (which was definitely awkward at first), and that seemed to calm her down. Once they moved us into our room she was doing much better, only about 20 minutes after we moved she was smiling and laughing for us. I think that was the moment when I could finally breath - just knowing that she was happy was so calming.

She had a little meltdown again as we were walking her down for her MRI - but I nursed her again and she was back to smiling. They had warned us that she would likely get pretty upset during the MRI because they would have to hold her hands steady and it would be loud. But Dan was able to go in with her and they put a giant set of headphones on her little head and let her hold her wrist rattle so that was more than enough for her. She was a rock star and didn't flinch the whole time.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out in her day surgery room. Natalie slept, played with some toys and charmed all the nurses. We also learned how to change her diapers and figured out some comfy ways to cuddle her and hold her. The nurses totally adored her - and barely let us leave with her. She did so well that they decided we didn't have to stay the night (thank heavens) so we headed for home around 8 pm that night.

Putting her in her stroller and the carseat was a bit awkward but she didn't complain and even fell asleep in her carseat. Once we were home she slept most of the night propped up in her crib (I'm sure the Tylenol and Codine helped a lot).

But really since then she's been doing fantastic - it took a few days for the anesthetic to wear off so she was really sleepy, but she didn't seem to be in any pain. I thought the incision would be sore so I was nervous to touch it during diaper changes . But once I worked up the courage to wipe it off I realized she didn't even feel it.

She also didn't eat as much as usual but after about three days she was back to her normal eating patterns.

And surprisingly, her sleeping is actually better than ever. She falls asleep easily and wakes twice during the night for a diaper change and a munch. She naps pretty much every two hours and then hits the hay at 7:30. For the first week or so she couldn't get to sleep before 9 pm but after one night of skipping the late evening nap she was having she was back on track.

We've found that she likes to play at her little table (throwing toys for us to pick up) and she loves when we sing her songs.

Now that her cold (and mine) have cleared up and with temps forecasted way above the -30 mark we've weathering we're going to try going back to Gymboree and starting Mother Goose this week.

I honestly can't believe how well Natalie has been doing. And I'm sure part of reason for things going so smoothly is the fact that my mom was here for the first week and now Dan's mom is visiting. My mom was great at entertaining both of us and even getting us out for our first post-cast trip to the mall. And Dan's mom has been a huge help - especially with me being sick this week and Dan being in Toronto for work.

Our friends and family have also been amazing - their phone calls, e-mails and Facebook messages all made us feel supported and loved.

So for any other parents out there who may be waiting to go through the same procedure and are terrified it will change their sweet little one - I have to say that things have gone a million times better than I'd ever imagined. Natalie is still the same happy baby - laughing, smiling and giggling as much if not more than ever.

She is our little Super Baby!

Here's a look at what's to come:

In three weeks she gets a cast change and then it's only 7 weeks until her cast comes off (April 1st I'm hoping!) Yippee! Only 10 weeks to go! After that she may need to wear a brace for a while, but we'll be able to touch her chubby legs and easily change her little bum. I can't wait to squeeze that bum!

Ciao for now,

Wendy, Dan and Natalie

Here are a couple of recent pictures,

Showing off her new Crawler Covers

Her new teddy bear from cousin Caitlyn

Crawler covers again

Modeling the bloomers from the new outfit Nanny gave her

Natalie says no

My mom is visiting, and she's been teaching Natalie a few things. Here she is learning how to shake her head no. I think we're in for some serious trouble ;)

Our Purple People Eater

Here are a couple of pics of our purple people eater from surgery day.

Chillin with Daddy before surgery. She hadn't eaten since 3 a.m. and was still cheery as ever at 8:30 a.m. Love this kiddo!

Rockin with Mommy

Happy as ever and looking cute as a button only a couple of hours after surgery.

Getting ready for a snooze.

Surgery Update

Just a quick note to let you all know that Natalie's surgery went really well today and we were actually able to come home tonight. She was such a trooper - smiling and laughing at us about twenty minutes after she woke up. (She had a couple of crying moments - but they didn't last long).

She seems to be coping really well - everyone she met at the hospital today was amazed at how pleasant she was. She spent most of the day in bed playing with Gertie and Montrose the moose, and catching a few Z's - and she even managed a few giggles and babbles. The nurses loved her so much we weren't sure they were going to let us leave.

She's upstairs now, having a snooze in her new purple cast. We'll post some pics tomorrow.

Wendy, Dan and Natalie

Hip Surgery this Friday

Before Christmas we found out that Natalie has a dislocated hip (due to a condition called hip displaysia) that will need to be corrected with surgery. After the surgery she'll have to wear a hip spica cast that will cover her from her tummy to her knees for 6 to 12 weeks. . Our hearts were broken for her but we know that this needs to be done.

Our families and friends have been extremely supportive already and both of our mothers are coming to Calgary during the first three weeks that Natalie is in her cast. Friends have all offered thier support and prayers and even strangers have helped us by sharing thier experiences.

We know it will be tough but we've decided to try and look at this not-so-great-situation in a positive light. We realize that there are much worse things that could happen to our little pumpkin and we're going to do everything we can to make her comfortable.

Natalie's surgery is Friday, after that we'll post as many updates as possible in the coming weeks so you can keep up with her progress. And for those of you who may not know us but happen to find this blog - please feel free to ask questions or share your experiences.

Bye for now
Wendy, Dan and Natalie

Christmas in Cape Breton - with all of the folks at home

Happy Holidays everyone! The little McMahon clan has just returned from a fantastic three week trip to Cape Breton where we sang, visited, played - and ate way too much yummy food.

From start to finish Natalie was a superstar traveller. She snoozed on our laps and cooed at her seatmates during our eight hour journey. And when she arrived on the Island she was the star of the show from day one. She giggled, smiled and charmed everyone - from strangers to friends and family.

Here are a few highlights.

Natalie graced us with her presence at her Nanny-the firefighter-'s holiday tea. Here she is chillin with Nanny, Great-Grammie and her Great Aunt.

We were invited to the Cape Breton Fiddler's Association's Christmas party -where Dan played guitar with a whole shwack of fiddlers. Of course everyone was taken with Miss Natalie. Not five minutes after we walked in the door she was whisked away by some lovely ladies and didn't seem to care that mom and dad were nowhere in sight.

Here's a shot of the fiddlers giviner'.

Here she is with her dad loving all the music - forty fiddlers and she didn't even flinch at how loud the music was - she's a true Caper.

Here she is with her new friend Helen - looking pretty comfy only a few minutes after arriving.

Natalie was also Christened during our trip home - she slept through most of the mass and the baptism, but when it was all over she was wide and wake and very cheery.

While we were home Natalie also:

Had apple juice for the first time

Learned to roll from her tummy to her back and then started rolling like crazy

Started to wiggle to get herself closer to toys she wants

and

Met Santa Clause

More pics to come soon.

Happy New Year Everyone!