Baby Sunshine

I titled my blog after Julia's nickname, baby Sunshine.  She is such a happy and content baby.  She loves to smile and giggle.  It's hard to believe she will be 8 months in a few days.  The time has flown by.

I feel a little guilty that I do not know Julia as well as I knew Aryana when she was this age.  Aryana demands a lot of my time and when she isn't I'm pretty exhausted so I'm not an energetic playmate for Julia.  But Julia knows she is loved and cared for.  I always think she wants more cuddles but when I try to cuddle with her she just squirms away.

She is not sitting yet.  I'm not too concerned though because it is more due to her curiosity than lack of development.  She arm crawls everywhere and she is starting to walk between people if you hold her hands.  I try to practice sitting with Julia but she just wants to stand.  She is not interested in books or the toys I place in front of her, she likes to explore on her own.

It is to my benefit that Julia is mild mannered.  Aryana will usually take the toy Julia just picked up to play with but Julia doesn't mind too much...yet.  I'm working on sharing with Aryana.  So far I've at least trained Aryana to bring Julia another toy if she takes the toy Julia had.

 
Currently Julia has been a little more fussy because she is teething.  This is a new experience for me.  Aryana did not experience any of the teething symptoms.  We would just look into her mouth and find a new tooth!

Julia isn't sleeping through the night yet.  I still get up once, occasionally twice, a night.  I think she needs to eat more during the day but she is so distracted by Aryana.  Julia doesn't want to eat she wants to play.  Aryana enjoys making Julia laugh.  I love to watch my daughters starting to interact with each other.  Julia thinks Aryana is the greatest.   Julia gives Aryana the biggest smiles and loves to watch her.

Incorporating solid foods into Julia's diet has been challenging.  She doesn't eat very much to begin with and she's a little picky (like her Mom).  This is new to me too, Aryana wasn't very picky and she ate a lot.  Aryana is a much pickier eater now.  Some days she will only eat toast.  Fortunately that isn't the norm.  Julia's favourite food right now is pears, she will gobble them up.

When Julia is excited she scrunches up her nose and and breaths really fast.  Below is a picture of her doing that. 

 Julia also sticks her tongue out a lot.  It's super cute!

 Julia at the park with Nana.  A few times a week during the summer I would jog to Nana's then take the girls to the park.  Nana would play with Julia and I would play with Aryana on the play structure.  It was a wonderful arrangement.  I loved it.

A Long Time Coming

I attempted to post this blog in June...

I really intended not to neglect my second child and treat her the same as the first.  Another parental naiveté!!  So after 4 and a half months I would like to blog the announcement of my second daughter... Julia Azrielle Postma who was welcomed into this world on Monday, February 28, 2011 at 10:36 p.m. 

After our traditional Monday night dinner with the Postma family my contractions became strong and regular so I called Linda to watch Aryana (who was already in bed).  I was really apprehensive about calling Linda in case is was "false labour" because EVERYONE would know I went to the hospital.  But after only a couple hours of pacing the halls (they wouldn't admit me because I was only 3 centimetres dilated), Julia was born.  I know I've complained about this before, but why don't nurses listen to you?  I tried to tell her my labour would be fast but she just said, "It doesn't look like you're in enough pain."  I told her I wouldn't start screaming if that was what she was waiting for.  Anyways, I was very fortunate the doctor saw me in triage.  He took one look at me and said, "This baby is coming."  Within the hour Julia was born.  Oh yeah, our girls are 2 years and one day apart, Aryana's birthday is February 27!

From the moment Julia was born we could see the difference in personalities between Aryana and her.  She is a very mellow baby.  She is a pretty good sleeper and laid back.  Aryana adjusted well to having a little sister.  She didn't seem jealous at all until Grandma held Julia.  Aryana is slowly learning how to share her Grandma.  She tries to be helpful and take care of Julia but it usually ends up to be three times as much work for me. 

 Julia is on the verge of rolling over, loves to grab things and put them in her mouth, and is actually quite talkative.  Because Julia is so mellow I didn't think she would talk much but she makes sure she is heard above her big sister!

 Aryana hit her "terrible two's" a few weeks back.  But our TV has been "broken" for the last few days and her tantrums have decreased in both frequency and severity.  She is forced to play more, and read and sing with Mommy.  Getting supper prepared is  more difficult now but it is worth the trade!  We have also gotten rid of her soother (yu-yu).  Thank you Grandma  and Grandpa for "losing" it at Tim Hortons!

Aryana loves to read her books to us.  I am amazed how she can remember a whole book after just being read to once or twice.  It makes it more frustrating when I have to tell her to keep her food on her tray a million times!!!

Ben has been extremely busy.  He studied for and wrote 2 exams in the spring.  He successfully completed both.  Only 1 more exam until he earns his quantity surveying designation.  I'm really looking forward to him being done.  Ben has left Regent construction to expand his professional career.  He is currently working at Graham construction.  The company has branches all over Canada and the United States but they have just opened a new branch in Winnipeg.  So Ben is estimating multiple multi-million dollar jobs.  He seems really excited about his career.

Now that I don't feel ill all the time I am trying to become more active.  I have been pretty successful at keeping up a jogging regimen for the past 3 weeks.  I have also purchased Pilates DVD's but I haven't had the chance to try them out yet.  My evenings have been pretty busy and our TV is "broken" so I can't do it during the day with the girls!  Hopefully I can keep it up through the winter.  It is actually pretty easy to be active  now.  I don't get a lot of sleep so I usually wake up with a head ache.  The head ache goes away after I jog, saves me from suffering or taking a Tylenol!

Overall I have found the adjustment to being a mother of 2 much easier than becoming a mother initially.  What I found most difficult is sharing my time between the girls, Ben, maintaining the house and finding some time to rest.  Things have settled down a little and I'm not feeling so overwhelmed.  Now I just get to enjoy the 2 blessings named Aryana and Julia!

A Fresh Start

Since I can no longer post on my old blog site, Cinnamon Stix, I created a new blog to share my adventures with Aryana and Julia.