And then there were four....

So apparently my last post was this past December.... Wow, time truly does fly. Since then we have been incredibly busy. Isla started and adjusted well to daycare, I went back to work teaching kindergarten, and we had a fantastic (but really fast) summer of camping, cottages and lots of family time.
Isla is talking up a storm. Seriously, she inherited Sean's ability to talk anyone's ear off... It is crazy how fast their language develops from a few words to hundreds. She comes out with new words and phrases every day and it blows me away. She is a true little gymnast... Unfortunately they have to be two to start gymnastics here so she will have to wait until the winter....who has absolutely no fear. Se will climb, slide, jump, dive on anything. We are pretty impressed by her abilities to climb and master all of the climbers at the park. She is capable of way more than we think!
Our biggest news lately is the we have added on one more to the Mazurkiewicz clan. Jack Henry Mazurkiewicz was born this past Sunday September 8th at 4:37pm in Orangeville..... It is kind of a crazy story:

Jack was due September 7th and I was positive he was going to come early. Sean and I were ready with my mom camped out in the spare room a few days before his due date. We were a bit concerned about getting to the hospital in orangeville on time as Isla had come fairly quickly.... So we needed my mom on stand by in order to stay with Isla at a moment's notice.

Well, September 7th came and left..... And I had absolutely no inkling that he was anywhere near ready to show up... Besides feeling incredibly large and having really difficult time bending over to put on socks or shoes.  Sean and I went out to the movies for our last date night in awhile... And tried to ignore the fact that the baby was supposed to be in his way.

The morning of September 8, I had been having some mild contractions in bed around 4 and 5..I definitely thought this was it, so I got out of bed and decided to get some breakfast (thought some energy may come in handy). Of course, the contractions stopped as soon as I moved...oh well, false labor! It was a nice day so we decided to hit up the Brampton flight centre open house as Isla has been loving planes lately. She had a great time riding the miniature train and getting her face painted by some clowns. Since the morning had been going so well with Isla we decided to quit while we were ahead and get her home for a good nap before she got cranky. Of course, this meant that I would also get to have a nap :)

Isla woke up from her nap....and consequently me as well...around 2 pm. Shortly after, I started to feel a few small cramps, and noticed that I had begun to lose my mucus plug. Sean took Isla to the park after making sure I was ok....of course I told him it was no big deal but maybe things would be starting fairly soon. My mom headed off to do a few last minute groceries and errands and I stayed at home. As soon as the house cleared out, the cramps started into definite contractions. I started timing them and they were definitely almost a minute long and about 5 minutes apart. I decided it was probably a good idea to check in with our midwife Stephanie just to give her a heads up and see what she thought. After calling and talking to her, she decided that she would be over to check things out ASAP.

Things started picking up from there. After assessing, I was about 5 cm dilated and Stephanie decide that we needed to get on our way to the hospital and she would follow behind us in her car to make sure we were ok. Sean was still at the park, so we had to send him some quick text messages telling him that he needed to get back home immediately. Clearly being a male, he hadn't prepared a hospital bag so I threw some things into a plastic grocery bag for him and met him outside with the keys. I don't recall how fast he sped to the hospital but I am pretty sure it was above the speed limit. My contractions were happening almost every other minute and were pretty intense, so my head was down for the majority of the drive!

We made it to the hospital and Stephanie wheeled me into our room that was all set up to go ( she had called ahead to say we needed a room ready immediately) while sean parked the car. By the time we made it into our room it was shortly after 4pm. From this point on, it all became one massive contraction with little to no time to rest in between. I was 8cm dilated but not quite ready to push. A few minutes later the pushing had to start and after a few big pushes, Jack was born!

It was a super quick (but no less painful) and straightforward birth. Jack was healthy and we were thrilled...although Sean swears he will never do that drive again, so our next birth (if there is one) will need to be a home birth...and I think I am ok with that!

Isla loves her little brother "baby Jack", and he hasn't slowed her down one bit. Every now and then she will come over and kiss him or rub his hair or poke his eyeball. She is doing an amazing job of adjusting when the poor kid has had so much thrown at her at once (daddy back to work after the summer off, a new baby in the house, mommy busy feeding baby) and my parents have been an immense help with is (seriously not sure what we would be doing without them).

We have once again had an amazing experience with midwives... I really couldn't imagine it any other way. Having a support system that actually comes to your house to help you when you need it the most...I definitely couldn't have it any other way. Isla calls the midwives the "baby doctor" and loves to help out at the visits.

So that is the birth story of our fourth family member. More to come? Give me a few weeks/months at home on my own with these two monkeys and we will see if adding a fifth is anywhere in the cards!

Getting ready for Christmas!

A few days to go until Christmas, and I am super excited! Last year, Isla was just a newbie, so although it was a very special Christmas, I think she may actually have some fun this year! We are headed up North, and it is definitely looking like a white Christmas, so sledding, skating and hot chocolate it is!

Isla is 13.5 months old now. We are into the full swing of daycare (although because she had a fever yesterday, we are getting some quality bonding time today... and I am finishing up some Christmas errands), and work. I am loving Kindergarten and Isla is loving daycare as well. She is getting so big now and loves to say her few words: hi, bye, dad, mom. She also has a few little made up sentences that she yells at the cats. She will wave her finger and them while yelling the same sentence if they are sitting at the table... pretty sure she is telling them to "get down", since that what I am always saying to them! She has also start shaking her head no... literally, her entire head goes side to side if she is saying no. pretty cute. 

Her latest fun activity is climbing. Climbing up onto her birthday chair, attempting to climb the couch, into the bathtub or onto the bed in the spare room. Luckily, she is still in a sleep sack, so that leg can't quite get over the edge of the crib. We would definitely have a runner on our hands!

Post- mat leave

Whew. 
We are surviving. I think. We are going onto Week 4 of me being back to work, and Isla being at daycare. The beginning was tough! I felt so awful for having to send her there, and at the fact that it wasn't me that was spending every day with her. Luckily, we seem to be getting into a groove.

Sean drops Isla off in the mornings, which is the hardest part. For the first few days, she would cling onto his leg and cry these big, round tears. Thank goodness I didn't have to do drop off, because I am sure I would have been sharing those exact same tears the entire day.  The past couple days, she has been leaving him fantastically, and on Friday, she even smiled! 

I get to do pick up, which is always a highlight of my day. I love going into the daycare and seeing her through the window. I love when she is so preoccupied with playing, that she doesn't notice me at first. Then, as soon as she sees me, she gets this massive smile and runs over to the gate for me to pick her up. 

As tough as it was at the beginning, and as last-minute we were in finding her a place, I am thrilled with her daycare. They are absolutely wonderful there. She gets such yummy food everyday, and she seems genuinely happy. woohoo!

The week before last was our first run in with any sort of fever for Isla. A late night at orangeville emerg, a daddy day at home, and a day with Grandma, and she was quickly on the mend. Poor kiddo. At the exact same time, she was having a slight reaction to her one year immunizations as well as cutting her first molar... talk about a week. I am very glad that is over, and Isla has been in the happiest mood lately that I have seen in awhile!

Isla has been perfecting her "hi", "bye", "mom" and "dad" lately... Sean's friend Yuki came from Japan last week and brought her a super cool toy phone. Since then, she has literally been picking anything up off the floor and using it as a phone. She will pick it up and say "hi" in her cute, little voice. 

She also has a few more signs- banana, ball, sleep... and others that she can totally do, but doesn't ever use unless she is watching the signing video. She still sticks constantly to her trusty "milk" and "more" signs though... one day I am hoping she is going to pick up "please" as she is pretty demanding! haha. Everyday after daycare, she runs to the corner cupboard above the sink and points while signing "more".... totally wanting a mini chocolate chip oatmeal cookie. Of course, how can I not give her one when she is that cute! But it happens again, and again... haha, and then she will get upset if I say "all done". :)

The other day, Sean and I were sitting in the living room and looked over to find Isla on her pink car... totally got on all by herself! We were both so thrilled and cheering and clapping for her (she has always needed a little help just to get that leg all the way over the top)- so of course, she claps as well. So far, she can only push herself backwards, but I imagine it is only a matter of time before she is propelling herself forward on that thing!

Yesterday, we ventured out to Rudolph's Tree farm and cut down our first Christmas tree- I have never done it that way before... always just picked out one we liked from the nursery... but I loved it! It was so fun to get the wagon ride and find the perfect tree.... then they put it on the shaker machine to make sure no squirrels are living in it... and tie it all up! Our tree was so mini that it actually fit in the trunk of the accent!

I am super excited to have this Christmas with Isla as last year, she was so tiny... I think she will absolutely adore ripping open presents!

One Year Old!

We made it! I am feeling very accomplished today... looking back at a year ago, and what was about to happen. Isla was born one year ago at 1:32 pm, so in 24 minutes if I am going by the clock on this computer. To have survived this year is nothing short of amazing, so I am pretty proud of Sean and myself today :)

Isla woke up bright and early this morning, came to play in the big bed, ate some breakfast and got down to opening her presents from Sean and I. She really enjoyed ripping the wrapping paper and taking a look at what was hiding inside. 

For about a month, I have been working on Isla's birthday book. I was inspired by pinterest, and wanted to make this special soft book for Isla to enjoy. I finally finished it a few days ago, and I think it turned out pretty well! Next time, I would definitely think ahead and make the pages double-sized so that it just requires me to sew one seam down the middle to bind the book instead of having to create the outer cover, but I think it ended up looking pretty nice. Isla has enjoyed looking and pointing at all of the pictures. She loves pointing at Sean and yelling "DA"- super cute. 

It is crazy to look back at the pictures and videos to see how much she has changed. Recently, I have noticed a massive change... just the last couple weeks. She started her first few days of daycare and is really enjoying it, so maybe it is that which makes her seem a bit older. There are other things though:

- Running! Isla has not only mastered the walking skill, but she is determined that she is ready to move onto running. Last night she was flying around the house, but her little legs can't always keep up just yet. Hence, her first bloody lip yesterday from falling on a ball. 

- Chasing after the cats: This goes along with the "running", but Isla's new favourite game is to chase Miso and Pierogie around the house screaming. They aren't such fans of this game, but play into it by running away. 

- Signs: Isla is super proud of herself about being able to sign, say and point to a picture of a ball. There is a picture of a ball in her bath book, and she will flip the page to it and shout "ball", while doing the sign. She also learned how to sign "kitty" recently and loves to point to the cats and sign at the same time. 

- Laugh: Sure, she always smiled and giggled a little bit, but recently it has been a louder, more intentional laugh. She will run around laughing, and thinks it's funny if she gets you to laugh with her. Tickle her, and her laugh becomes uncontrollable. So cute!

Isla's official birthday party is tomorrow, so I will post all of her birthday pictures then!

Happy birthday sweet little girl- I love you!

First Birthday Quiet Book

So awhile ago, I decided that I wanted to make a quiet book for Isla's birthday. I wanted it to be special, and have messages from family in it so that it was a neat thing for her to look back on when she is bigger. Right now, she LOVES looking at pictures of herself and people she knows, so I think she will really enjoy it. 

After lots and lots and lots of sewing, I have finished all of the individual pages as you can see below:

You will have to just tilt your head to the side to get a good idea, since I am not sure how to rotate pictures on Blogger! 

So, now that I have the individual pages finished (I still have to stuff them with filling), I am trying to decide how on Earth I am going to bind them together. I am not keen on grommets or tying ribbons as Isla is just small and put everything in her mouth. Ribbons would come undone, and I hate the idea of her sucking on cheap metal. 

Any ideas of how to sew the pages together???

Pitter-patter

And the little feet are on the move! Isla has started to piece together that she can stand up.... and move. Slowly, she is starting to get a bit braver with taking steps on her own. She has actually gone quite far on her own, but she has to be balanced without holding onto us first. It is pretty cool to see her doing this all by herself! 

Last week was incredibly hectic as I attempted to figure out what to do for Isla's daycare situation. We had something set up which I thought was going to work really well, but discovered that Isla needed to be a bit more independent in order to go there. Such a shame, as it really made me so sad that someone didn't want her at their home everyday- such a cute, bright smiling face. I was pretty bummed out for a bit, and had the "I-am-staying-home-forever" melt down, but I think we came out of it ok. We literally had home daycare visits everyday. It got to be pretty funny, as I felt that I was just taking Isla to random people's houses to play for an afternoon and pass some time, never to see them again. I definitely saw what I didn't want to send her to, and I saw some that seemed decent. The thing I struggled with, was how do I leave her with someone I don't know. The few choices that I had ended up being the daycare providers children, and Isla- no one else. No other parents to talk to about their kids or to find out what was happening. How would I know what she really did during the day, or how she was really treated. When they are so small, I felt that I really needed to know who I was passing her over to. 

We decided to send her to one of the local daycare centres. It definitely cost more (almost double. yikes), but it is regulated, there are other kids her age to play with... and they document so much that I literally know every single minute of her day. She is so small and important to me, that I would rather pay more for her safety and my sanity at this point. I really wish we had found a home daycare with someone I trusted, where she could spend hours outside watching birds and playing on climbers, but it just wasn't happening. I think this is just more incentive to have another so that I can be home with both of them :)

Isla has been learning some cute new things lately:
- She can say Dad. Today at lunch, I put Sean's school photo in front of her. Isla smiled, said Dad and waved... and then offered him a piece of her grilled cheese. Priceless!
- Her favourite song is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star- she will look at you and put her hands in the air, waiting for you to sing... with actions of course. 
- She tries to copy if you tilt your head and smile with her. She hasn't quite figured out how to get her head tilted to the side like that so it kind of goes back and up and she gives a really big smile
- She can blow kisses
- She loves when you crawl and "chase" her. She will stop and let me catch up and then smile and throw her head back just waiting to be tickled... and then do it all again. My jeans are now all covered in holes in the knees from this game!

11 months old

My beautiful baby girl is 11 months old today. One month shy of her first birthday- seriously, where did this year go? I am in the process of making her a birthday book (wait for the post... this will literally take until her first birthday, but I am determined to accomplish it) and have had a great time looking at all of the pics we have taken this year. It is crazy to see the pictures and videos of when she was only a month or two old. How is it possible that I almost forget it already?? 

Isla is continuing to grow every single day- all of a sudden her 6-12 month pants are more like capris, and even her 12 month footed sleepers seem too short for her to move comfortably. Not sure where she gets the length from as Sean and I are exactly tall! A few more teeth have come in and we now have four top and four bottom... I am positive there are likely a few more pretty close, but I don't dare stick my finger in there as she chomps it immediately. Isla is walking all along and between furniture if it is close enough. The other day she actually took two steps towards me, but that is fairly rare. She is pretty good at standing when she wants to, although she doesn't stay in one spot long enough to really stand for very long! Isla can cruise along behind her walker with more of a run since it moves pretty quickly on the hardwood. She loves showing off her walking skills to anyone around and will look back and smile at us while doing so. 

As my last month of mat leave winds down, I am trying to sit back and enjoy every minute that I can with her. Even when she whines about getting her face washed, or having to get changed, I am vowing to smile through it and really be thankful for this time that I have had to spend. I would not have traded this year with Isla for anything in the world. I have been so fortunate to be able to watch her grow and learn every single day. 

Happy 11 month birthday, Isla :)