Spring for real?

Well, I dont really have too much to write about today, other than it is 16 degrees here!! Yea- spring is finally making an apperance. It was so nice to go out for a walk without a parka on, and shoes with no socks!!! We are heading out today to meet my freind Karen, and her son Jake in the park to take the boys for a walk. I think everyone has spring fever in Winnipeg, and is desperate to get out of the house. Unfortunatley, the nicest part of the park is now under water. The Assiniboine River had a massive Ice jam as well, and water backed up all over the English garden and Leo Mol sculpture garden. There was so much water that it flooded out of the garden, across the road and over into the duck pond. Good for the ducks I guess, bad for mommies trying to walk off their baby weight.

Here are some more photos of Graham for everyone to enjoy. Oh yeah- those photos of us in the jungle type atmosphere on the last post were taken in the Assiniboine Park Conservatory last weekend. I know it looks funny mixed in with the Ice jam photos.

Graham's new trick is that he has discovered the dog's bowl (yuck) and water dish in the kitchen. He happily splashed around in it under the watchful eye of his father (thanks Scottie) until he was soaking wet! I cant really lift the water dish up off the floor, as it is a self filling jug type of system, and really heavy and awkward to lift. So when Graham plays on the kitchen floor, its the first thing he "scoots" to. Somehow I have to figure out how to corral it off from him, without giving Murphy a nervous breakdown. The poor dog is terrified of the highchair,(at 100 lbs- who would have guessed that one), but I think once food starts falling from it, Murphy may reconsider. Still no crawling from the kid yet, but he is trying. On a positive note, we have had two nights in a row of sleeping through the night. Hopefully I just did'nt jinx us......

The Ice Jam

So it looks like spring is finally beginning to arrive in Winnipeg. Of course that means the threat of flooding here in the Red River Valley. Now normally everything melts, the floodway takes all the extra water, and everyone is safe in the city. Well not this year. This year, because of our extended winter, the red river, which runs through the city, took a long time to melt, resulting in massive ice jams. The ice chunks were so big this year, that the city couldnt even open up the floodway gates! But eventually the ice began to break up, and started to float up through the city. We went on Good Friday to check it out, and it was impressive. There were chunks of ice two feet thick in some spots, very jagged pieces which caused destruction in its path, wiping out docks and property along its way. Check out the shots we took along St. Mary's Road. Gotta love the one of the life preserver stuck in the ice jam. The river is supposed to crest next week, and already the water levels are very, very high. But we should be okay.

The ice jam viewing session was the highlight of the past two weeks. Scott and I were struck with a violent stomach flu last week (thus the reason for no posts). The kind where you are sick for 6 hours straight and cant do a damn thing about it but pray it goes away fast. I got it first, then passed it onto Graham, who weathered it the best of all of us due to a flu shot he received at 6 months. Scott got it last Sunday and so far Murphy seems to be resistant. It was awful. But on the plus side, I lost 6 pounds!! This past weekend, we decided we needed to get Graham to go to sleep on his own, as opposed to us holding and rocking him to sleep. Its been a tough battle, especially when he wakes up at 2:30 am. We tried the "let him cry it out" method, which only makes him infuriated, sick to his stomach, and so worked up it's more difficult to settle him down after. Plus I hated hearing my baby cry. He can also pull himself up to standing in the crib, so I go in to settle him, and he's standing in the corner, crying. But I think we are making progress.

Graham is still waking up at night, sometimes two times a night. I'm hoping its a developmental thing, like he is on the verge of crawling or something. I had a baby who slept through the night, and wham, at 6 months he starts waking up. He is pulling himself up on everything now, and each night we hope we tire him out enough so he sleeps through the night. Not a chance, unless he's sick. Usually he sleeps 4 hour stretches, and wakes up. I try not to feed him at night, but I think he needs some food, despite what the pediatrican says. It makes it much easier to settle him back down, although lately, we have had to resort to a full swaddle again. But we cant keep doing that when he's two, so I am at a loss of what to do. Anyway, I guess we will muddle our way through it. But it sure is frustrating. And Scott wonders why I am tired all the time....