My parents came out for a visit a few weeks back now. While they were here, we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Natalie, being the thrill seeker she is, loved it. We went in the morning when the crowds were less, and enjoyed walking on the suspension bridge, the Treetops Adventure, and some of the trails. It was a lot of walking for Natalie, but she did a great job. We stayed for there lunch, and then headed home for nap time. It was a great morning, and the first time that Christina and I had ever been there. Although the entrance fee is a little expensive, we took advantage of the BC Resident special and got one-year passes for the same price as a single admission.

Natalie has achieved a few significant milestones in the last month. The first of which is that she finally gave up her soother completely. She was only using it during her naps, but we felt it was time to let it go. Surprisingly it went very smoothly and although she did ask for it for a while, she never got very upset over it. The second milestone is that Natalie is well on her way to being potty trained. She now pees on the potty fairly consistently when she is awake. She has even been successful when we’re away from home. We’re very proud of her and it sure saves a lot of diapers!

Jasmine will be two months old on the 29th. It is hard to believe that much time has already gone by, but we’re excited to see the changes in her. Yesterday she started rolling over from her front to her back all by herself. She smiles a lot now, and sometimes in response to you. She can hold her head up for long stretches at a time, and is awake more of the time. Also, a significant milestone (for us) is that she is now sleeping in her own crib in her own room and has a bedtime. It has only been a week or so, but she is doing very well. She has been going to bed around 8-9pm and only wakes up a couple of times in the night. Eventually we’ll move her bedtime earlier, but for now we’re happy she is sleeping so well in her own room.

On the weekend, we went to Scott and Jana’s daughter Julianne’s 1st birthday party. It was lots of fun and we got a chance to visit with lots of friends and their children. Natalie had blast, and is especially taken with the notebook and pencils she got in her goody bag. She loves to walk around and occasionally stop and open her notebook and do a little bit of drawing or put some stickers on the pages. One time, she carried them to the door and said, “Bye bye.” We questioned her, “Where are you going?” to which she replied, “Starbucks.” We could just imagine her sitting there with her notebook and a steamed milk doing her drawings. When asked about what she would do there, she said, “Banana bread.” I guess we’ve trained her well. :)

It was Christina’s 27th birthday on the 23rd. Christina decided to celebrate her birthday one day early because her sister Amy wasn’t working, so I took the day off work and we all went to Granville Island in the morning. It was a nice walk and we enjoyed lunch there before heading home. The weather was decent, although a little cold and windy along the water. After Granville Island, I took the girls home for their naps and Christina went to the spa for a massage. That evening, Keith and Amanda, and Michael and Karen came over and Amy cooked us all dinner.

A few weeks back at work, my end of the day meeting ran late. I arrived back at my desk around 5:30pm to a voicemail message that I assumed would be Christina inquiring about my whereabouts. What I got was a message of Jasmine crying and Christina informing me she was taking Natalie to the Children’s Hospital Emergency Room with a crayon stuck in her nose. It was quite dramatic for an end of the day voicemail. I called Christina back and arranged to meet them at the E.R., and got the full story.

Natalie had been drawing at the kitchen table with her new “My First” crayons. One of the tips of the crayons had broken off previously and was just loose in the box. When Natalie dumped out the crayons the tip fell on the table and caught her attention. Christina was heading back into the kitchen when Natalie’s sudden cries grabbed her attention. She rushed back to Natalie and found her quite distressed and exclaiming, “My nose. My nose. Crayon.” Since Christina couldn’t easily get at the crayon, but knew it was in there she told Natalie she had to go to the doctor to get it out. Natalie agreeded, repeatedly saying “Doctor. Take it out.” while she stood by the stairs waiting for Christina to get Jasmine ready. Somewhere in that chaos, she tried to get a hold of me to no avail, and settled on a voicemail.

We met at the E.R. and I took Jasmine in the Bjorn while Christina registered Natalie, complete with bracelet and everything. Since Jasmine was only a month old they kindly let us wait in a separate area to avoid her catching anything from the other patients. When the resident arrived, he took a look at Natalie and suggested that we might try a little technique first before resorting to tweezers, etc. It was such a great tip I’d like to share with other parents, who can hopefully avoid future emergency room trips:

Infant Nose Obstruction Removal

1. Plug the unobstructed nostril, AND
2. Blow in their mouth like you are giving them CPR.

This technique essentially blows their nose for them, and was successful for us in dislodging a crayon tip after two attempts, but your mileage may vary. As with infant CPR you’ll need be careful not to blow too forcefully. The doctor recommend making a game out of it, which worked for Natalie who thought it was fun.

Disclaimer: Attempt at your own risk. I am not a doctor.