The Boys

When we were expecting Talia, we didn't know how "the boys" would react to having a baby in the house. When we brought her home from the hospital, they were initially wild with excitement to get a good sniff, but it was sort of like they knew she was tiny, and vulnerable, and here to stay.



We spent a few days training them to stay off a blanket on the floor, so when Talia arrived and started hanging out on the floor everyday, they already knew that was a no-dog zone. That particular rule resulted in a lot of this:

The novelty eventually wore off with Ernie, but Bert took the responsibility of taking care of his baby very seriously. When I would nurse Talia, he would sit right in front of us like he was standing guard - not even Ernie could get by him. And although both pups were very good about the "no dogs on the blanket" rule, occasionally we would find Bert, snuggled up to his baby, giving us his best puppy dog eyes.

Before too long, he trained his partner in crime to use her puppy dog eyes, too.

"Aw, Mommy, can't Bert stay here with me? Just this once?"

When we brought Declan home, the boys hardly noticed there was a new baby in the house. Now that he's on solids, they've decided he's okay, and like to hang out under his highchair. But they generally can't be bothered to sneak on the blanket anymore. Unless, of course, the combination of nice cushy blankets, a firm pillow at chin-height, and the glorious sun spot combine to make the baby's blanket the most irresistable spot in the house.

Here's hoping the new baby will sleep just as peacefully in that same spot!

You Just Never Know

When I was pregnant with Talia, I used to daydream about what it would be like to be a mother. I was positive my baby would be a little girl, and I would think about all the mother-daughter moments we would share.

I did not think that someday that baby would be 2 years old, and the thing I would most often say to her would be "Stop taking your panties off and putting them on your brother's head!"

That's the kind of week it's been around this place. Hello, Friday. We're glad you're here.

Coffee Talk

Today at lunchtime Talia was delighted to drink out of her brother's new little plastic mug (part of the Noah's Ark dishes Declan got from G & G for his baptism.) She very seriously peered in at her milk and then said sternly to me "Mommy! Diss my hot coffee. You no touch diss, Mommy, diss burn you!"

Little does she know I don't touch the stuff - don't want it to stunt my growth, ha ha.

Salt & Pepper

Talia has been going to daycare with the same kids for over a year now - they started at JoJo's house, then JoJo went back to work and the whole crowd moved 2 houses down the street to Jody's house. We don't know the kids & other parents really well, but well enough to know almost everyone's names, who is connected to which child, etc.

One little girl, A, is always there in the morning before Talia gets there, so Rainer (who does the drop-0ff) has never met her parents. I am often picking Talia up at the same time as A's parents get there, so I'd met them several times. Since July, A has a new baby brother, so her mom is off on mat leave and we've gotten to know each other better at the local Playgroup.

Last week at pick-up time I told A's mom how Talia insists the little blonde girl down the street is A whenever we meet them at the park. A's mom laughed and said that A thinks the little girl on the Pampers box is Talia. We giggled away at the silliness of our 2 year olds.

Well, this morning at Playgroup A's mom brought it up again, and it led into a conversation about what a shame it is that our little town isn't very multi-cultural, and that Talia is the only black kid any of the kids in Playgroup know, and is it very hard for Talia to be the only black child in town? I was like "Yeah, we're not very multi-cultural, which is weird because Winnipeg is so multi-cultural..... wait, what? Talia's not the only black kid in town - she's not black."

I thought A's mom was going to fall over, she was so shocked. Then my friend jumped in and said "I was surprised when I met Rainer this weekend, he's totally white!" Then some of the moms I'm friends with on FB jumped in with what they had guessed Rainer's race to be, and how shocked they were when they saw him on FB. Comments varied from "I thought she was adopted but she looked so much like you.... I couldn't figure it out!" to "It's not my place to judge, but I was totally curious as to how you managed to get yourself together and find a new guy to be Declan's dad, since there wasn't much time between the two of them!" to "I just thought Declan would darken up. I thought it was weird his eyes were blue, though." I thought it was so funny that they thought we had some exciting, exotic, interesting story to our family, and they were SO disappointed to find out we were just 2 boring white people who got married and had a brown baby.

I am still laughing. Oh Talia, my little mystery baby. The conversation this morning brought me right back to Talia's birth - I shared a room with a couple of crazies over the course of our extended stay, but one mom was lovely - she was black, and the dad was white, and Talia was darker than their baby was. That led to all kinds of switched-at-birth jokes. We actually ran into them in the mall when the girls were about 13 months old, and Talia was still darker and her hair was curlier than the other little girl - her mom laughed and said "Damn! Maybe we really DID switch them!!"

In the months after Talia was born, I took a Stroller Fit class at the mall, and inevitably at least once during each class someone would stop me to comment on Talia's beautiful skin/colour/hair and would ask where her father was from. It took me a long time to realize why they seemed confused when I told them Kenora.

When Declan was born, he was so fair and red-headed that Rainer and I were like "THAT'S not what our babies look like!!" I've actually gotten used to my nothing-at-all-alike kiddos, so it really made me laugh today when 1/2 the Playgroup fessed up to assuming the kids had different fathers of different races. I wonder what # 3 is going to look like? Will he or she continue to make the tongues wag around town? I hope so!

Score Another For The Catholics

Declan was finally baptized this past weekend. My Mom is super relieved and had a good sleep on Saturday night for the first time since he was born. She believes in the old-school Catholic belief that an un-baptized baby will never get into heaven, so I'm sure she has been a nervous wreck for the past almost-8 months.

Before the baptism I was wondering who would be silently judging me more, the people who thought I was still fat from the last baby, or the people who realized I'm already pregnant with the next one. When I finally found something to wear (a non-maternity shirt that is totally maternity-styled and a pair of pants from before I got pregnant with Talia - how do those still fit???) it was pretty clear everyone would be able to tell baby # 3 is well on the way! My entire family laughed right out loud when I came out of my room, I guess until this weekend I'd been hiding the bump pretty well this time.

We were expecting our regular priest to do the baptism, so we were a little surprised when we got there and it was the parochial assistant. I mean, it was fine and all, just not who we expected. So the thank you card was addressed to Father Phil, but my glossing-over-the-details husband gave it to the other guy anyway, ha! Oh well.

We met a little boy at church whose middle names are Declan and Raine, what are the odds of that? His mom was thrilled to bring her little boy over to meet our Declan.

Declan was feverish and kind of a cranky mess until the end of the baptism. My Mom took great pleasure in claiming the baptism healed him, but I think he was just excited to get to the party afterward.