Civic long weekend, already?

Seems like this year really is flying by. Its already going to be Aug 1st tomorrow... where has the summer went?

Madelyn has been struggling with the oatmeal since I last blogged about how good she was doing. It seems when I mention it she stops doing it! Oh well, pears did not go over well so tonight I am going to try sweet potatoe and see how she likes that.

Also, oh, before I continue I have to say this - only a mom would understand this next paragraph -- she isn't pooping quite as consistently since I started her on formula... insert frown and sigh... argh! I feel awful. Why couldn't she just be okay with it...?? Now, I am dealing with a little bit of guilt regarding the whole thing. BUT I am dealing with it. Madelyn has her 6 month shots on Tuesday and Nick is coming with me so I am anxious to talk to the doctor about... oh how I miss breast milk poop... there is a huge difference. (only Mommy's will understand)

So exciting!!

No more "trickery"!!

She is now opening her mouth and reaching with it to eat from the spoon. It all started last night when we were at my parents house and she was eating zuchinni for the third time. Out of nowhere, Madelyn opened her mouth and wanted more! Taking it in her mouth and eating it like a champ! My mom and I both looked at eachother "She's eating!"

I'm not going to lie I was getting a little discouraged with the oatmeal everyday since, she would just purse her lips and I had resorted to "trickery" to get her to ingest it.

So, I was hoping that last night was just her first day of saying "Okay, this funny object comes toward me, and I am supposed to open my mouth and "eat" it" and to my surprise, and enjoyment, she ate her oatmeal. I even ended up making more because I had only made a small amount. Obviously, I was getting tired of throwing out most of what I was making. Not anymore!

I am in complete awe of this amazing little being in front of me when she learns or picks up something new. Its like EVERY day she is learning and growing up so much. (kinda scary really!)

So, this afternoon I am making her a few more puree's to add to our list. Pears, apples and carrots. The sweetpotatoe is out of the freezer and dethawing as I type this. I am so excited to try these new things with her but nervous too. I am not a healthy eater and I don't want her to get any of my habits or Nick's for that matter (I think we both might be the most pickiest, small minded eaters ever!) and here goes... my irrational mommy brain... am I doing things in the right order? I have to admit that I am getting better at not doubting myself as much. I think it has everything to do with reading a book called "Stop Second Guessing Yourself" its a guide through the first year of parenting. That's a whole other blog.

Enjoy the day! I am definately going to enjoy watching Madelyn try some sweet potatoe! I'll keep you posted ;-)

Holy Moly we've hit 6 Months!!

I cannot believe that she's 6 months old! (Ok it was officially yesterday but it was super crazy day...)

I've made my goal of exclusively giving her breast milk for 6 months! I know in my head I have to be so proud of myself for sticking it out and lasting this long as I'm sure you know, breastfeeding was the hardest thing I have ever done in my whole life!

Yesterday, every bottle I gave her was more of 75% breast milk to 25% formula... every bottle was a little different but for the most part its 50/50. I am pleasantly surprised about how I feel. I felt free yesterday! No worrying about pumping in the morning - I got to sleep in! We had a very full day yesterday with visiting my mother-in-law and my parents. I packed up a bottle of breastmilk and a bottle of formula and just mixed it as I needed them. So far she hasn't reacted to it -- maybe she is a little more gassy than normal but we also gave her zucchini last night at dinnertime... what a hoot! Much better than the plain and boring oatmeal she's been getting. She ate the entire two tablespoons I kept aside for her. I don't think she loved it but she ate it nonetheless.

I ended up pumping last night before bed. I am thinking I am going to pump once a day for a little while longer as its not to hard to figure out a time to do it. I am going to take it in stride and pump when I get a chance. Whether it be at night or first thing I don't have to stress about pumping anymore!

Tricking her into eating

Madelyn still doesn't want to take oatmeal. She is approaching her 6 month birthday so once we hit that I am anxious to start trying veggies and fruits as I am hopeful she will like those better - maybe oatmeal is too boring for my adventurous babe?

I can get her to eat oatmeal if I put a little bit on the spoon and hand it to her and she puts it in her mouth herself. It makes a huge mess but at least I am not trying to force her. Its quite humourous watching her "eat" the oatmeal that does end up in her mouth. Tongue pushing out this foreign texture. The spoon hitting her face and applying oatmeal like a mask. I've got a serious clean up on aisle 5 this morning. She is even telling me with her screeching style baby babble

(this post was started 2 days ago)

House Hunting = Disappointment

So, why is it every house seems to be somewhat, if not a total, disappointment. We weren't even going to start looking but with every mileston that Madelyn hits, Nick gets more and more sentimental about her doing these important things in "our home" and he wants "somewhere to hang his hat". Which I completely understand but at the same time once you get hit by the "bug" its hard to stop looking and then its deciding exactly what we're willing to give up to gain. A small yard = nice house or crappy house = big yard...our "littler" budget doesn't help us either.

And managing going to all these viewings with Madelyn in tow seems a bit hard. Trying to work around her naps when she doesn't exactly have a schedule until she wakes up (then I can kind of guestimate) but usually the showings are set up the day before. But honestly I can't complain, she has been great through the first 4 houses we've been to. I just hope the Madelyn streak keeps up but I just wish I could close my eyes, snap my finger and pooof the house appears out of mid-air.

I know we'll find it. I just have to be patient. Something that I must admit, is not one of my virtues.

Monday, Monday...

Another fast weekend is over and I know that for sure because Madelyn slept great Friday and Saturday and of course not last night!

Nick is on duty every Saturday night and of course those are the nights she'll consistantly sleep from her dream feed (10:30pm) to about 4am. I ended up getting up with her early Sunday morning because I figured Nick had just gotten to bed (we had some friends over for a little fire and drinks). But like clockwork on Sunday night...12am (Monday morning) hits and she's waking up needing her soother, 2am rolls around and she's up again refusing the soother so I feed her and she only eats 3 oz (clearly she wasn't hungry enough)... she did better today and slept through the 4am and woke up at 6:45am. Not horrible, I know! LOL BUT it would be nice if on a night that it was all me and I get to bed at a reasonable time it would be nice to have that 6 hour stretch of sleep. Oh well, she'll get it eventually right? (Have I already said that in a previous post, feels like deja vu!)

I have to admit though, in the last two months Nick isn't a bear anymore in the middle of the night like he was when Madelyn was first born. I used to dread asking him for help in the early mornings because he would be awful. We both were not morning people so at first it was very hard going on NO sleep but I seemed to have adjusted quicker because I had to. Nick took a few months but now he's great! Often times starting the bottle for me, or even the odd time just saying "I'll feed her you go back to bed".

I must say I do have, not only a wonderful husband but, an amazing partner through this journey.

Friends

It so heart warming when one of your good friends sends you a message telling you how great of a mom you are.

In the middle of a hard day, when the babe won't nap, cranky cause she's teething and just plain grumpy because she can't figure out how to get from A to B I can just open that message and its like a reminder of the good job I am doing...

Thank you to that amazing friend who reached out and made me feel special. I cried reading her heartfelt message to me. As I've said before in my numerous blogs I don't always feel like I am doing a good job, constantly second guessing myself. That 5 minutes that it took her to write it, instantly made me think I am doing a pretty good job - even if that feeling only lasted a couple of minutes, I can go back to it whenever I need a little pick me up.

Things like that remind me that its important to be kind and honest to the people that mean most in my life. To take a break from "life" and brighten up someone elses - even if just for a moment - that moment will be remembered forever.

Happy Birthday Mom!

So, I can't actually tell her since my parents are at Disney with my brother and his wife so I thought I'd tell her here!

Happy Birthday to the best Mom a girl could ever ask for!

Your love, guidance and support has helped me through the last 5 months of becoming a Mom. You truely are amazing!

Jolly Jumper Madness!!

I've wanted a Jolly Jumper for Madelyn since she was about 3 months or so but could not bring myself to buy it from the store, as they retail for $69.99! I started searching on kijiji.ca (its like ebay) and I found one on there and paid $30 bucks!! Less than half the price for a slightly used version. She loved it! We put her in it at least once a day and she can spend a good 30-45 minutes in it, completely content.
I get to do dishes, send some e-mails, blog...whatever! However, (isn't that always the case with something thats working out so great?) I was talking to a friend of mine whose little one is 3 weeks younger than Madelyn and she was saying she had to take her kiddo out of it because his foot started bleeding. Huh? Weird. Of course, then what do I notice on my own kids toe? A blister! A fricken blister! So, I have to give the jumper a break, obviously. I put her in her exersaucer and since her blister is on her toe it starts bleeding! I ended up putting a towel over a pillow and placing it under her. Thank goodness it must not bother her too bad because she was still happy in the exersaucer. But don't I feel like a tool! Poor kid - barely 6 months old and I am slapping a bandaid on her already. Which, I might add, doesn't stay on. Guess I will be looking for "Baby Band-Aids" Do they even make such a thing? Probably not.

Signing with Madelyn

Since before Madelyn was born I knew that I wanted to sign with her and I bought a Baby Sign book and Nick and I went through it and picked out ones that we thought we're important (ie Milk, More, Sleep/Tired etc).

Once Madelyn came, I wasn't sure if it was something that I would actually be able to do so I started looking into classes and it was pricey here in Kitchener/Waterloo area but I figured for the money it was something we would be able to do together and would get me out of the house.

I was on Facebook (I know, surprise, surprise! LOL) and I noticed a friend of mine had "Liked" a ad in the marketplace (kind of like the kijiji of Facebook). I clicked the link and there it was -- Kindersign -- a lady doing it out of her home in Brantford and completely affordable! Then the e-mails back and forth started. We were trying to find a time that would work for both of and since I would be driving half an hour to get there I needed a time that would work for Madelyn as well. We finally figured it out and we've been going for 4 weeks on Saturday mornings and its been amazing!

I have learned so much from these 45 minute (They actually are longer than that) sessions once a week. We learn 40 signs a week, which is a lot but you'd be surprised at how many you actually remember.

Now the trick is to be consistent about the whole thing. Everytime I give her milk, I am signing it and for the most part so is Nick (other than the dream feed of course). I constantly use "More" and "Again". I've even learned the "ABC Song", "Twinkle Twinkle", "Bear went over the Mountain", "1,2 Buckle my shoe" and "Monkeys Jumping on the bed" (FYI I don't know if those are actually the names of the songs) When I start to sing and sign she is instantly engaged in me. I am by no means a good singer but she enjoys it and so do I.

I have no expectations of it really from her right now either. I know she isn't going to sign for a couple more months but I figured I would give her the head start. I swear she knows what Milk means without seeing her bottle. Only time will tell how much she actually picks up and uses. Fingers are crossed she uses the signs we want her to use but she might just use the signs that she thinks are important.

www.kindersign.org is her website! I HIGHLY recommend using Corrie to help you and your baby learn! She is awesome!

The Debate Continues!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/family-and-relationships/whats-wrong-with-feeding-your-baby-formula/article1636180/

Its such a crazy back and forth for me and its comforting to read an article like that (the link above).

I've made a choice and I am going to stick to it. My goal was 6 months and I've made it - I should be proud - why do I feel guilty?

Anywho, we had a great weekend - Madelyn slept through the night last night!

Have I mentioned that she is sitting! Full out sitting - and she's only 5 months!! CRAZY!

Night out for Daddy = Movie night in for Mommy

Nick left yesterday afternoon to visit his cousin in Toronto...and... I was supposed to pump before he left but it completely slipped my mind and I was like f%$# I have to pump at 5pm when I was trying to get Madelyn to take a nap before meeting my brother-in-laws for dinner at 6pm. Needless to say it wasn't a long pump, she didn't nap and I ended up taking her in the car at 5:20pm so she would nap before heading to the restaurant.

But overal last night Madelyn slept great! It took me about 20 minutes to put her down but by 8:30pm my sister-in-law and I were watching Alice in Wonderland - the Tim Burton versionn - and enjoying a Corona. The movie was a little bit hard to understand them at times as I was constantly turning the volume up then turning the volume down. So frustrating, and I now want to watch the Disney cartoon version to compare. I've always remembered Alice in Wonderland being my top Disney picture but now... I don't remember it! Ha! Funny how things do come back to you though. I must say the acting in the movie was fantastic though. After the movie was over it was time to give Madelyn her dream feed, pump and head to bed.

Madelyn slept right through until about 4:40am and I got up gave her a bottle, put her back down, pumped and tried to go back to bed; however, my two monster dogs and mischievous cat kept me up for another hour! I finally got back to sleep just before 6am and Madelyn woke up bright eyed at 7:30am. I totally got robbed out of that hour!

Oh well, maybe this afternoon when Nick gets home I will grab a nap as tonight is my night out with some ladies.

Its sunny out and I need to get us ready for Kindersign! Enjoy the day :)

Swimming

We started swimming on Tuesday night and since I blogged about two things yesterday I was a little blogged out!

Madelyn started Waterbabies on Tuesday and since the class is small Nick and I were both able to go in the water with her -- YEAH!! I was surprised that the pool was a little chilly because she wasn't sure at first and since its only a half hour class she was finally get used to the idea and it was time to go. Todays class was so much better! It only took her about 10 minutes and she was starting to like it. She did awesome! Unfortunately we don't have photos of this because you are not allowed cameras at the public pools in town because our world is filled with pervs. Which sucks but I am sure we will get pictures of her at some pool - even if its in Mexico in December... yes we are going to Mexico in December for my brother-in-law's wedding.

Nick is pretty excited about the swimming twice a week with Madelyn. Her face is starting to light up - even when you dunk her!

Cloth Diapering Momma!

If you think

"Cloth diapering is too hard, too dirty and just more work"

you have no idea the new improvements cloth diapering has made! Its not your Mom's prefolds and pins. I am writing this for a couple of different reasons 1) because so many people have looked at me like I have 3 heads because we have gone this route 2) because it really is easier than people think and the more people know how easy it can be the more people will follow this lead 3) because I honestly love my diapers and could talk about them forever! Okay, LOL I know I must seem like I am a little obsessed! (Maybe I am!!!)

Okay, to be completely honest, it can be overwhelming at the start. Especially when you have no idea what everything means and stands for. Like what the heck is a prefold or a pocket diaper? HUH? I had those issues but I am very fortunate that Nick's cousin's wife (did you follow that?) is in the business and hosts a cloth diapering workshop once a month at their chiropractic clinic. When I was approximately 5 months pregnant Nick and I went to said workshop with no expectations. We had not decided either way if we were going to go cloth or not we just wanted to make sure we were making an informed decision if we decided to not do them.

Nick was the one that said when we were walking out to the Jeep after the workshop "So, we're doing cloth then eh?" I hadn't even said anything about my personal decision. That was how great the workshop was. Kristen (my resident diaper expert) had convinced Nick how easy it was. Of course, she had convinced me too!

I started a registry with Kristen before my shower so people had the option to help us out with the initial cost. (and many people opted for this option and I only spent half of the initial price because of this -- YEAH!) I think my original order was $850 and I only had to spend $400 after my shower. It was awesome! Of course, there are cheaper start up costs to cloth diapers - you can use prefolds and covers and I think that start up cost is only $250. To think you will spend $3600 over the course of your babies diapering years if you use disposables - spending even $1000 on cloth just makes more sense! If you start with your first child you will have already bought and paid for the diapers for your second, or third! And to think of our landfills!! The environmental benefit should be enough for new Mom's to rethink their diapering decisions. BUT I am only trying to share my experience not make the disposal diapering Mom feel bad! We have enough new pressures as Moms.

Nick and I decided to go with a couple different options and brands to see what we liked and then we could always purchase more... Yes, I have become a little addicted and we now have way more diapers than you actually need but they are so cute and stylish. We've fallen in love with AMP duo pocket diapers www.ampdiapers.com We've got lots of different colours in our diaper stash now. We also use Baby Kangas, Happy Heinys, and we use Motherease Sandy's for night time. All of our diapers have been purchased at www.ecobabies.ca Kristen is the owner and she is awesome at answering all your questions. If I have had any issues I have sent her a quick e-mail and I get a response usually the same day! And usually its a quick fix and we are back on our way.

I got Nick to set up a clothes line in our backyard and I currently have a load hanging to dry right now! I think it took me 2 min to start the load soaking in the machine, 30 min to sit while I enjoy a tea and catch up on some tv and then 2 min to run down and start the load. Then another 10 to hang them on the line. okay so the entire load works out to be 15 min of my time? Oh wait, I should factor in the folding - so thats another 5 mins -- yes, I am mocking the whole it takes more time!

Madelyn needs some attention time for me to go!

Good Morning Heat!

Yikes! Thank goodness we have A/C or I would be cooking! It is way to hot for me these days...its 24 with a humidex of 32 and its not even 9am yet!! Madelyn and I will be enjoying the view of the outdoors today. http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/caon0109

Still trying the "solids". Oatmeal isn't going exactly how I thought it would and I am going to keep giving her spoonful or two every morning just to keep the routine of the highchair going. Madelyn, even if she doesn't "eat" a lot, will entertain herself in the chair long enough for me to enjoy a tea -- now, I need to start eating breakfast as well so maybe tomorrow I'll force myself! LOL Why is the best meal of the day so hard to get down? I love eating at 9pm and could eat the entire fridge but trying to get that toast with peanut butter down...argh! Let me tell ya is a whole other story!

We went to our first swimming class last night! I think I had more expectations than DH (dear husband, Nick). I thought she would be more excited and at first she was a little scared, which completely surprised me since she loves her baths so much. She did warm up to the idea after she got over the coldness (is that a word?) of the salt water pool. I was surprised it was a little chilly. Her adorable little swim diapers worked great too! https://canshop.motherease.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=12&cat=Swim+Diapers Madelyn has the Splashing Daisies which I purchased from www.ecobabies.ca (AMAZING store - they have completely been a godsend when its come to diapering Madelyn) I should mention I use cloth diapers... I should do an entire post an ode to cloth diapers! I think I will :) Now back to swimming... ha! So easy to get side tracked when there is so much on your mind to share. Overall, Madelyn did wonderful at swimming. We don't have a picture :( Not allowed to bring cameras into our public city pools - I was mad at first but I understand there are a lot of creeps out in the world and I wouldn't want a picture of Madelyn in her swim suit out on the internet if it weren't on my terms (as we know I use Facebook!) As I was saying... Madelyn got a little cold and was a bit leary at first but she got the hang of it by the end of the half hour so we are really looking forward to bringing her back on Thursday. Seems like everything we join lately there are a lot more little girls then boys. Weird. Do Mommies of little boys just not join stuff or there just a lot more girls being born than boys?

Maybe later today while Madelyn naps I will post about diapers as I think its such an important thing to use cloth and it is so easy! REALLY! But for now I am going to go play on with her on her mat and encourage the rolling over! She's getting to be quite good at it!

Introducing Solids :)

Wow! Okay, what a tough call when it comes to introducing "Baby's FIRST food"... There is so much info out there and so many "expert" opinions... that you can really get lost as to what to give first! I am a complete mess sometimes when it comes to "Am I doing the right thing?" I always second guess myself because "AAARRGGGHHH" I read too much. (My husband will be happy I admitted that!)

The "new" recommendations are starting Rice Cereal first. Okay, but most Mom's that I have conversed with said their babes got a little constipated with this first food... not exactly my idea of a good time!

So, this past Sunday, after much debate I started with Oatmeal. I should also mention that you should be starting solids at 6 months, and yes, I decided to go with my gut (I think I may have found it!!) and start her 5 months and 1 week old.

Madelyn can sit up now (my babe is getting so big way too fast! Sitting early, proud but sad all at the same time!) so I strapped her in her high chair made a quick little bowl and tried it. It was humourous as maybe she's not quite ready but we've fallen into a morning routine now, and I get to enjoy a tea while I feed her in her high chair.

This is day 3 of the "new" food and so far no reactions! I am going to have to try rice too... maybe that wil be tomorrows adventure!