Easter Monday

Easter Sunday found Morgen refusing to wear the dress we picked out for her, and insisting on wearing pants and a tee-shirt to church (where she quickly lost interest in the music and headed straight to the nursery). Throwing caution to the wind, we invited some friends over for an Easter potluck dinner, and she ran and jumped and played with our guests, until it was time to say goodnight. This morning she woke up and asked about them - were they still here? Are there any more eggs? And instead of making the usual request to stay in her jammies all day, she then demanded to wear a new tee-shirt dress her friends brought from Spain just for her. Even more astounding, she followed that up with "I want two pony tails, Daddy," sat quietly while these were put in (by Mommy, since Daddy is still leery of anything involving more than a comb), and still had both in full swing when she left to go to school this morning. She seemed a little sad that the Easter Bunny had gone home, but perked up a bit when Gavin told her that he would come back next year.

(She's also decided that hard boiled eggs are much, much better to eat after they've been coloured brightly and hidden in your house by the Easter Bunny. Most of last night's potluck dinner was ignored in favour of "the blue one!" or "the pink one!" Exceptions included the cornchips, cupcakes and fruit...)

(Morgen kept shaking the eggs up over her head when she found them - I think she was testing to see if they were really eggs to eat, or toy egg shakers. Each time she found one, she was happier - it made me wish we'd hidden more than four.)

(Still no newborn, but a pile of promising eggs on the table. Note the special "Leona the Lion" egg in honour of Morgen's favourite stuffed animal.)

(Morgen decorating her Easter bucket about a week ago. This picture was taken at the beginning of what has become a daily ritual - the demand for stickers, and the attempt to smother her little bunnies with whatever other stickers are available. After we ran out of Easter stickers, I pulled out the leftover valentine stickers. Even though we tell her now that the stickers are "all gone," she still asks for more every day, pointing to her bucket and saying "I want to decorate it!")

Don't hold your breath

Nope, there is no news. Just some photos of Morgen going about her only-child life over the last two weeks. Morgen has been busy making art with friends, learning to be nice to the cat (who is beginning to accept her as one of his pack), learning that baby sister's toys are going to be fun to play with, and learning that a pair of sunglasses makes an old outfit seem brand new.

And me? I've been progressively less productive and increasingly prone to long naps. And yesterday the doctor suggested that I could try jumping up and down if I was feeling impatient. I think he was kidding, but since he didn't follow the suggestion up with anything that sounded more reasonable, I have some doubts...

Count Down

It's official - I'm 36 weeks pregnant today. I've been looking back at early pictures of Morgen, and trying to remember through the haze of sleep deprivation and anxiety that was my first few months of motherhood what it felt like to take care of someone so small.

Here, for instance, is a picture of Morgen at two months. She was just about to discover that the taste of her hand was good. And her head was developing the largest case of cradle cap I'd. Ever. Seen. And she's so different now, increasingly capable of surprising us every day. I wonder what new joys and discoveries await us with baby number two, and I hope that we'll be able to avoid some of the trauma and anxiety associated with newborn care now that we've been there once already.

I'm guessing and hoping that labour will be quite different. Morgen was more than two weeks overdue, and had to be induced, which led us far off the comfy pages of our idealistic birth plan and into unexplored territory featuring lots of straps, monitors, drugs (ahhh, drugs) and IV lines. My feet were so swollen by the end of the day that neither the slippers nor the shoes I'd packed would fit. I think I walked out by folding the heels of my shoes over, but again, it's all so hard to remember that I may be making that up.

Two nights ago I dreamed that I gave birth to our new little girl, and I couldn't feel a thing. When she came out she was smiling and so obviously healthy. I had to stop the doctors from shaking her (they wanted to make her cry) but otherwise it was glorious. Fantasy or potential reality? Who cares - it was a fabulous dream, far better than one I remember dreaming while I was in highschool. In that one, the child was born with the legs of a chicken and immediately scrambled away from the doctors in order to bounce all over the room...a dream dictionary I consulted (a very authoritative edition, I'm sure) informed me that babies often represent creative projects in dreams...when the dreamer isn't actually pregnant that is (and I wasn't at the time, I can assure you). And the story of my youthful chicken-legged creative project is a story I can tell you over some alcoholic beverage sometime - assuming I can ever have one of those again.

So, does anyone have any intuitions about the timing of Baby Hammel number two? Am I looking at having the baby at week 37 or week 42? Any advice for me, moms of more than one? I and my subconscious self await your input.

Our Little Helper

These days Morgen wants to help with everything. She helps us carry used handcloths to the laundry bag. She helps us cook. And most recently, she has become fascinated with the broom. Here is her first solo attempt at sweeping. Enjoy!

Lady Bug Likes to Look

What's better than rediscovering the joys of your Hallowe'en costume? Watching your alter ego hurdle across the tiny, not-so-silver screen. Lady bug, lady bug...jump, jump, jump!

It's getting very difficult to capture video of Morgen doing anything. As soon as the camera comes out, she runs to the videographer's shoulder, leans in, and says "See Morgen!! More Morgen!!" Of course, with Morgen behind the camera, there isn't much of interest in front of it...although I suppose the shots of abandoned toys strewn across the living room floor do make a sort of statement.