Oh Baby!

There were a lot of babies born in 2010! Now, I know what you're going to say. You're going to say that of course there have been a lot of babies born...I work on a Labour & Delivery unit, afterall! But I'm not talking about the 300-or-so babies that are delivered on our unit every month. I'm referring to only those babies that were born to my colleagues and friends that work on the L&D unit. I'm referring to the very doctors and nurses that deliver all those other babies on a daily basis. How many were there, you ask? Well, there were 16!! babies in total: 11 Boys & 5 Girls, to be exact (for anybody that cares about those kind of stats...). And there are 3 ladies still left to deliver in early 2011. Phew!

Since so many of us are on maternity leave now, one of my colleagues had the idea of creating a 'Moms, Babes, Kids, and Bumps' Group; a gathering of moms, moms-to-be, babies, and children that meet every few weeks or so, to eat, drink (non-alcoholic beverages, of course, it is mid-day, and most of us moms are breastfeeding, afterall!), and to share in the joys (and very often the frustrations!) of motherhood. And now that most of the babies are delivered, I thought I would take a few pics because, really, will there be another time when so many of us are with child and off work?

Starting with me and going clockwise: Me & Alejandro (in Pascale's arms, to my right); Anna & Luca, behind me (sorry Anna for blocking Luca with my big head!!...I only had 2 seconds, remember!); Bonnie & Mia, Kristina & Zak; Sophie & Olivier; Jenn & Elliot; Jenn & Isla; Gloria & Emily; Karin & Reese; Pascale, Sam & Baby ?? (in utero, due early March 2011); and behind me to the right (with orange pacifier clip), is Beth & Fynn. Not to forget Hugo (bored stiff on the table!) and little man Ben on Gloria's left. (Ysabella & Jenn's daughter Emily were happily playing downstairs in the toy room, not pictured.)

Sadly, there were a few missing couplets from the group (We missed you!): Amanda & Roarke, Sandra & Ian, Sarah & Ashley, Nathalie & Jonathan, Darine & Matteo, Rachel & Baby Boy, not to mention a few other still preggo gals (Karen & Mel).

With regards to what's going on around here: Well, we're gearing up for another long winter. (Bella, on the other hand, can't wait for winter! She wants to throw snowballs and make snowmen and snow-angels...she's super-excited!) We are doing all the things that need to get done before the really cold weather arrives: repairing the snowblower (I'm hoping we won't need to use it much this year! Y'all know how much I love winter!), cleaning up the yard, putting the snow tires on the vehicles, updating our To Do List, starting to prepare and plan for the Christmas Holidays...always so many things to do!

Alejandro gives us lots of smiles now. (It's amazing how only a few days makes a difference!) And his smiles makes all 3 of us smile. And he's starting to discover his voice, which is super cute. Ysabella is becoming one very helpful big sister and I love watching the two of them interact. She keeps telling me that she can't wait to teach him things. Her swimming lessons have ended until January, and we're looking for some other organized activities to keep her busy and active during this long winter season. (She is beyond ready for school, however, she will have to wait until next September as the cut-off date was Dec. 31st. She is shy just one month.)

Yesterday, we played with Play-doh and painted, and she is also 'helping' Ed & I renovate Alex's nursery.

Bella's train table also doubles as an awesome play-doh table! It's amazing how a little one-inch ledge can save me the agony of having to pick up those endless little play-doh crumbs!

(Not sure why, but this photo refuses to upload the correct way for some reason! Oh well! Turn your heads, people!) ;)

And a short video: