It's been so long...

So much has happened since Christmas that I couldn't possibly cover it all in any detail in one blog post. So here's the short version...

We're pregnant!

With Twins!

They're boys!

They're due to arrive September 1st.

I have SO much to get done over the next few weeks that it gets a bit overwhelming at times, but I'm trying to stop and enjoy the calmness of this pre-twins phase. We've had some great weather the past few days so Natalie and I have been enjoying popsicles, playing with water on the back step and of course learning to drive her tricycle. She's such an amazing little kiddo, so happy and sweet!

Here are a couple of pics and a video!

Bee-Nastics!

Natalie love, love, loves her gymnatstics class. Here's a little taste of the fun.

Say that again...?

I was just reading an article on the Canadian Parent website about writing down all the funny things your kids say so you don't forget them and thought it would make a good blog post to share some of Natalie's favorite sayings and mis-sayings.

Ham-ga-burger {hamburger}

The libaby {the library}

"Look mommy, I'm doing something really good."

"Super, calla, fra..gahlish..." {supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - someone loves Mary Poppins right now}

"The yitsy, bitsy, pider"

Yimnastics {gynmastics - she's loving her new gymnastics class}

mommydaddy {all one word, when she's excited}

I'm sure I'll think of more. I'll add them to this post as they trickle into my memory. I know they'll be so much fun to read even just a few months from now. :)

Summah time!

It's been a long time coming but this will be Natalie's first full brace-free summer! And we are stoked... we've definitely been making up for lost time.


Playing at the beach in her best beach bum duds



















Riding in every car or airplane shopping cart we lay our eyes on



















Playing a funky beat for her fans




















Rocking her fairy wings



















Spending more time playing at the beach

And strolling through the "daisy flowers" as N likes to say.

We are definitely loving this summer.

Sunny days

The weather here in Halifax was amazing this weekend (11 degrees) so we decided to introduce Natalie to the city. We took the ferry from Dartmouth to Halifax (Natalie's first boat ride) and spent the morning touring around the waterfront. Natalie was a social butterfly introducing herself to every kiddo in sight with a giant "Hi kids!" She was absolutely hilarious. We played at the pirate ship playground, checked out the boats docked in the harbour, danced to a few accordian tunes and then had lunch on the waterfront. I think Natalie is going to like it here :)

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.

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

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.

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

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 ;)

Four Months Old!

Our baby girl is four months old!

At the four month mark our little Miss Natalie;

Has disovered her toes!

Is trying sooooo hard to roll over

LOVES her exer-saucer

Laughs out loud when we make funny faces

and so much more.

Here are some recent pics,

Exer-saucer-ing

Busted plotting schemes with birdie

Is this Tummy Time stuff really necessary?

More posts to come!

Happy Halloween!

Here are a couple of pics from Natalie's first Halloween! She had a great day, starting out with a visit to Dad's work, followed by a visit with the gals from SMART. Then the Abbotts came by for some tricks and treats and finally we topped off the night with a stop by Uncle Brian and Aunt Donna's for some Halloween treats.

Happy Hallween everyone!

Our Little Pumpkin

Halloween is almost here and since I'm a Halloween fanatic, I thought I'd take some pictures of our little pumpkin. Here she is at 15 weeks sporting her very first Halloween costume.

Miss Natalie Bean is doing great lately. She loves to smile and even gives us a few giggles. Lately her favorite toy is her playmat. And she's learning to grab and hold everything in sight. She's also become quite the drooler - we're pretty sure her first tooth is just around the corner!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Natalie's first six weeks...

Well it's been over six weeks since our little Miss Natalie arrived and they've been amazing, wonderful and stressful all at once.

First off I want to say Thank You to everyone who sent cards,e-mails, Facebook notes and far too many beautiful gifts for our little girlie. We really appreciate your sweetness in welcoming Natalie into the world.


Now on to the Natalie news...

In the short time she's been here Natalie has had a ton of visitors who she manages to quickly charm with her big eyes and pleasant personality.

Two very special visitors were Natalie's Nanny and Auntie who came all the way from Cape Breton for a two week visit. We had a fantastic time. They took good care of us and managed to get us out of the house on our first few outside adventures. While they were here we went to the Sun and Salsa festival, hung out in Bragg Creek and even took a trip to Banff. I also managed to get caught up on my sleep which was nice :).

Here are some pictures of our little cutie pie from the past few weeks. Now that we're getting into our groove we'll be sure to add more pics and updates in the coming weeks.

Natalie hanging out with her favorite toy - Birdie. She loves the crinkly sound his wings make.

Snoozing on her change pad... that was her favorite daytime sleeping quarters for her first few weeks of life...

Mommy and Natalie hanging out...

The Prince gals in Bragg Creek enjoying one of the many lattes, espressos and caramel macchiatos we drank during our visit...

Miss Natalie chillin...

Natalie Stats @ six weeks:

Weight: 11.5 lbs

Hair Color: Blonde as blonde can be

Eye Color: Still blue, we'll see if that changes

Talents: Smiling at mommy and daddy, saying ahhh gooo and charming the world

Favorite pastimes: Doing webcasts with all the Capers and hanging out in her bouncy chair

Bye for now