Attack of the Monarch

Forgot to put these pictures up... A few weeks ago, Leah was out walking with the girls when they found an ailing Monarch butterfly on a driveway near our house. It wasn't able to fly, and didn't look like it had long to live, but Sarah wanted to take it home so she could put it in some flowers and if it died "at least it will die with friends instead of on a driveway". Not even 4, but showing so much maturity. Of course once they picked up the buttefly, it crawled all over them, giving us lots of photo opportunities. He really did look happier with the girls. You all know how crazy Sarah and Abby are for butterflies, so they had the best time with their new friend. Sadly, he died the next day, but the girls won't soon forget the great day they had with their Monarch friend.

Jessica update

Jessie had her one-week doctor's appointment with our family doctor today. Quite the "interesting" visit...

When she was born, Jessie weighed 2400 grams (5 lbs, 4.5 ounces). At her 48-hour checkup, she was almost back up to her birthweight at 2380 grams (5 lbs, 3.95 ounces). These weights are taken with the baby naked, with no diaper. So we see our family doctor today, and the first thing he does is put Jessie on his digital scale, fully clothed with a wet diaper on. His scale reads between 2080-2100 grams - 4 lbs, 10 ounces!! He goes on to say that this is normal, that they lose weight the first week, and that she should start to gain it back during this second week... Leah is now getting *very* upset, since Jessie has been eating great, and has been pooping and peeing tons (trust me - tons). We know she is getting lots of milk. Anyhow, we decide to go to the hospital to see if one of the lactation consultants there would quickly weigh Jessica to prove to us that she is doing well. Sure enough, the scale at the hospital (naked with no diaper) is 2545 grams, or 5 lbs, 9.8 ounces, so she has actually GAINED almost an ounce a day since her last weight check. So our family doctor's scale was off by almost a complete pound. Not much for you or me, but for a newborn that is HUGE (the difference is 17.5% of her weight!)

The nurse was shocked at the weight we were told, and asked for his contact information so she could contact his office and tell him to recalibrate his scale.

So basically we were scared (ok, not really scared since we knew there was something wrong with his scale, but still...) BUT Jessica is doing GREAT. Cute little monkey...

Some more pics...

"Not another picture!"

Sarah and Jessica

Abby and Jessica

The girls

More pictures of Jessie

If anyone is interested in seeing more pictures of Jessica, you can CLICK HERE and then select "slideshow".

Everyone is back home now, and doing well! Yay!

Jessie pics

Still haven't had any sleep, so I'm not making much sense... But here are some pictures from today. Man, what a big day. Everyone is doing great. More stories to come soon.

Jessica and Mommy

And then there were three!!

The new-and-improved family

Jessie and Daddy sharing a cuddle

First kiss

Welcome Jessica!

Please help us to welcome Jessica Chapman to the world. She was born Sunday, July 23rd at 6:38AM. Both Jessica and Mom are doing well.

Details and pictures after I catch my breath and catch some ZZzzzz's.

Just a few pictures

I guess the water is a little cold...

Cuddle time!

Thai coconut peanut beer-can chicken

Finally got around to trying a beer-can chicken. Based on a recommendation from a friend, I bought Steven Raichlen's Beer-Can Chicken book. We (of course) chose the hardest recipe out of the book for our first attempt - a Thai Coconut beer-can chicken. Instead of beer, you use coconut milk. It also has a coconut-peanut-butter dipping sauce. MMMMMMMM!!! It was absolutely the best chicken I've ever BBQ'd. The recipe is several pages long, so I won't transcribe it (unless someone really begs) :-) I did take a nice picture of the bird in all its glory once it was done cooking (and before removing the can from its rump)

Beer can chicken

Happy Canada Day!!

We went to the festivities at the University of Waterloo again this year. Wasn't quite as good as last year since they didn't have the petting zoo and pony rides (DOH!), but it was still fun. And the girls had a bit more fun this year on the inflatable "rides".

Face painting

Abby took the hat off my head and put it on herself...

Blowing bubbles