Stuff

We're having a reunion here during the May Long Weekend. Over 100 people are expected, including a couple of relatives from Norway. To prepare, we decided to clean the yard. If you're not familiar with prairie farms and the farmer mentality, you NEVER throw anything, I mean anything, away. As soon as you do, you'll need it. So it was a big deal for Errol and his dad to decide a MAJOR cleanup was necessary. I'm super excited about the clean-up because it's getting rid of over 80 years of junk that we won't have to deal with in the future. That's right, 80 years.

5 of us started yesterday morning, working around the big shop, barn, granaries, chicken coop and a storage garage. In 8 hours we filled the dump truck 4 times, and loaded all sorts of scrap metal onto a trailer. And we're not done yet. Most of what we've removed has been junk, but there have been a few treasures. I found a cream can in great condition that Errol's grandmother used to take to town to sell cream, with her name on it. Two beautiful, rusty oil lanterns that will find a home in my kitchen. Old machinery, including a mower that I sat on and got bucked off of. A toy barn that used to be Errol's that we plan to repair and give to Gauge. I think my favourite were never-opened, old cans of gopher poison called "Gopher Cop". They've been on the shelves since Errol's dad was a kid, some 70+ years. Like I said, alot of old junk.

Maybe it's Not Always Adorable...

Remember how I said learning was adorable? Most of the time it is. It is, however, not very adorable at 2am when it goes on for almost 2 hours. Last night Gauge woke up and decided he needed to practice rolling from side to side, trying to flip onto his tummy. He managed to get stuck width wise in his crib, spun around 360 degrees several times, got tangled in his covers, discovered that the bars on his crib make great noise when he kicked them and so on and so forth. Despite all of his attempts, he never did flip over onto his tummy. At least not that I know of.
But, he has started sleeping on his side, mouth hanging open, which is really cute!

Stop, You're Making Me Bust My Stitches

Sunday night we were at volleyball when a friend who had recently had jaw reconstruction surgery shuffled in carrying a teddy bear and "Get Well Soon" balloon. He had come to visit. With Gauge.

Gauge eyed up this brightly coloured, floating orb, keeping it in his sight while visiting and volleyball went on around him. Then his dad got the brilliant idea to start kicking and head-butting it into the air. Well... if that wasn't just the best idea ever, Gauge thought. He giggled and laughed so loud that everyone on the court could hear him above the volleyball noises.

Finally our friend says between laughs,  "Stop, you're making me bust my stitches."

At the end of the evening, he gave Gauge the balloon to bring home. Such a thoughtful kid!

Learning is ADORABLE

Sure babies are cute, but when they are learning things for the first time ever, they are down right adorable. You can just see their minds working, processing, figuring out, trying, failing, and trying again until it is just perfect. I think we can all learn from the tenacity of infants to try, try again when "it" doesn't work the first time.
Gauge has learned so much in the last few weeks that it amazes me. I wish I could capture it all on film or video and keep it for eternity on my computer rather than in my memory. But I think he would develop a complex if I constantly had a camera on him, as that is what would be required.

He talks all the time, trying out new sounds and mouth movements. The beginnings of speech. Every once in a while he even scares himself with the sounds that he's making.
He's started to roll front to back. But only when he's in a good mood, and only when he has no clothes on. He seems to think that clothes will only impede his perfection of this new skill. He also sticks his tongue when he's concentrating which I love.

He's also figured out how to move himself. When he practices rolling, he moves. Even on the floor playing, he's learned how to rotate his body 180 degrees to reach a far away toy.
He's learning that things have dimensions. Yesterday he spent 20 minutes trying to pick up, then eat the frog on my shirt. He finally gave up, hopefully figuring out that it is only 2-dimensional and can't be picked up or eaten. I was left with a big wet spot.
Food fascinates him. He's always trying to grab our food, wanting a piece of whatever it is that we put in our mouths. Guess it's soon time to start solids.

On the Road Again

With our 3 month old (what?!?!? already?) in tow, we traveled to Toon Town this weekend to visit grandparents, uncle, fake aunties, church people and work people. Likely the last time before calving starts in March.
Yesterday, Gauge showed his best side to many offering lots of smiles. What a trooper. His whole routine was off, but he still had smiles to offer before a little scream session. Helped remind me that babies are true creatures of habit. He then spent most of the afternoon and evening sleeping, and slept all night... oh to be like a baby and sleep all the hard work of visiting away

Words of Wisdom

Have you seen this?


If you are planning on having children, replace whatever soft, squishy flooring plans you have for the nursery with some sort of easy-to-clean flooring. Seriously. You'll thank me, especially if you have a boy. We put in parquet, and every day I am thankful we did. A receiving blanket or paper towel is all you need to clean up anything.
Typical boy... it doesn't seem to matter what I do to keep "it" under control, he takes great pleasure in seeing how far his stream will go. Gauge's "fountain" reached a good 5 feet this morning. Splashing the wooden frame of the ottoman 5 feet from his change table. Ok... maybe it's only 3 feet, but when you're scrambling to cover, it's seems a great distance further. 

My new therapist

I have a new therapist. He's pretty new at the job, but highly effective. Last night, after a wonderful Christmas, we had a big ol' party in the Valley. It was a fun deal. Gauge was pretty well behaved, after we fed and changed him, and let him play on the floor. He loved all the attention (when no one was touching him...). Towards the end of the evening he was fussing again, ready to eat then go to bed as is his routine. The fussing reached critical proportions in a few short minutes and and instead of driving the 3 kilometres to home, I just nursed him at the church, while others cleaned up. But it still wasn't good enough. He was hot, the surroundings loud and bothersome, so I went home with an angry, still hungry baby.

When I got home, it ALL came boiling to the top. Everything that has been frustrating me over the last who knows how long started to spew out. I know nursing a baby when you are an emotional wreck is nearly impossible, but I hoped that he would finish eating so that he would sleep through the night. Thankfully he quickly got down to business. After a couple minutes he stopped, looked at me with the biggest blues eyes he could manage and smiled. My heart melted. How could I stay upset when this perfect little angel was looking at me, solely focused on me, as if to say 'Mommy, it's going to be ok.'

Like I said, he's new at his job, but really, really good at it.