As I'm sure everyone knows, yesterday Caemon, the beautiful son of Jodi and Timaree, was lost to a rare form of childhood lukemia.
I was not a regular follower of their blog, but I am still heartbroken by this news and offer his family whatever small comfort my condolences can bring fully knowing that there really are no words that could ever make this better.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
::right now::
Right now I am...
::listening to sweet kitty snores.
::sipping my favourite tea.
::catching up on blogs.
::hoping our readers forgive me for the lack of response to their comments lately. (I read every one and appreciate them so much. I will try to get back on track soon.)
::enjoying the sunlight coming through the curtains and the fact that I am warm inside.
::smiling at the evidence of morning playtime that happened while I was still cozy in bed.
::trying to remember lyrics to songs so I can sing more to this little one.
::weighing the positives and negatives of a potential job opportunity.
::marvelling at how quickly small gets big.
::sending wishes for a happy Monday to everyone reading.
Inspired by SouleMama
Friday, February 1, 2013
{this moment} before bed
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Twelve Years Ago...
Twelve years ago on this day I took one of the biggest risks I've ever taken in my life. I leaned across the centre console of a car and kissed the girl I was quickly falling in love with. Five years later we got married. Today we celebrated with a simple "Happy Anniversary", and cuddling on the couch together watching a show while our two-year-old son slept in his crib and our newborn daughter rested in my arms.
Twelve years ago I never imagined things would turn out the way that they have, but I am so, so glad that they did.
Happy Anniversary Jen. My one true love.
Twelve years ago I never imagined things would turn out the way that they have, but I am so, so glad that they did.
Happy Anniversary Jen. My one true love.
Friday, January 25, 2013
{this moment} midwife boy
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
Inspired by SouleMama.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Sprout is One Month Old!
Today Sprout is one month old!
-While we certainly aren't on a schedule, Sprout has a little bit of a routine. Generally speaking, she nurses every 2-3 hours, usually for somewhere around 10-15 minutes, though it can vary from five minutes to half an hour. Between nursing, she usually sleeps, with about two periods a day where she stays awake --one in the morning, one in the afternoon. In the evening she cluster feeds with "bedtime" being around 11pm. Until the past few days we had been on a a little stretch where wake-ups were happening at 2am, 5am and then around 8am for the day. Things seem to be changing again now.
-Overall breastfeeding is going well. I need to watch when Sprout latches, because sometimes her mouth isn't open quite far enough and then it hurts. Or milk leaks everywhere and we both get soaked. She often gets hiccups after nursing, which I feel badly about, but don't really seem to bother her. The past week or so she's been getting a good bit of spit up when she burps, but nothing like how it was with her brother. (A few days after we got home when I was exhausted and sore and overwhelmed, we had a doula who specializes in breastfeeding come to the house and help us out a bit. SO worthwhile.)
-Her growth since birth is noticeable She still has skinny limbs, but they have rolls. Her tummy is round and she has these great kissable cheeks. Her newborn clothes are starting to look rather snug on her, and I will have to get out some of the 3 month stuff very soon. At her three-week midwife appointment she weighed in at a whopping 10lbs 4oz (up from 8lbs, 15oz at birth and about a 9% drop by the time we were leaving the hospital).
-At birth she had a good bit of dark hair, that hair is now falling out and she has some fluffy lighter hair coming in. She won't be blonde like The Bean, but I'm guessing she'll have light brown hair. Eye colour has yet to be determined, but I'm sticking with a guess of blue. She has pretty, long eyelashes.
-She also had quite a few "stork bites" at birth. The one on her forehead above her nose is less noticeable now than it was before, but the one on her left eyelid is still prominent as are the ones on the back of her neck and head. There's also a little one on her lip, but it sort of blends in.
-Her likes and dislikes at this point are pretty basic. She likes nursing and being held in general. She dislikes being cold and sharp noises. Fortunately loud noises don't seem to phase her too much. She also dislikes having to burp, pass gas and poop.
-Her expressions are fairly limited. She sometimes does that sweet newborn half-smile in her sleep and I can't wait until she starts with the real smiles. Her vision must be improving, because she will stare, particularly at faces and at this beautiful black and white painting we have up on our wall.
---
As for me, I'm slowly recovering. I haven't taken and of my "strong" pain medication since between the second and third week postpartum. I still take extra strength Tylenol at least once or twice a day. I'm usually pretty sore by the evening. Hopefully it doesn't get too much worse now that I'm home on my own with Sprout during the days and will be taking on more of the housework.
I'm trying to stay mindful of the fact that staring at my newborn is a valuable way to spend my time and beyond making sure she is fed and clean, really the main thing that I should be doing right now. I'm also trying to get used to narrating things as I'm doing them. It feels a little bit funny to me to talk to someone who doesn't really respond, but I know it's good for her language development and whatnot.
I've been incredibly hungry with the breastfeeding and can't believe the amount of food I consume on a daily basis, though it seems to be slowing down. Despite the non-stop eating, I've lost about 28 of the 40lbs I gained during pregnancy. My shape is not the same, but still, I'm glad that it seems that I will eventually get back (more or less) to where I was.
The disappointment with the way things went during labour and birth is fading, though I'm sure it will never go away completely. I'm very grateful that breastfeeding has gone well so far as it seems sort of like a consolation for the labour and birth.
I guess that brings things up to date. I'm so glad our little girl is here and that our family is complete!
Goodness! Where did that month go! While a fair amount of time has been spent soaking up all the newborn goodness, we've also been busy celebrating holidays, visiting family and friends, playing Duplo, reading new books, singing songs, etc... enjoying things immensely, no doubt, but WOW how very much more we have going on these days than we did when The Bean was this age. (Though I know it didn't feel like it at the time.)
-While we certainly aren't on a schedule, Sprout has a little bit of a routine. Generally speaking, she nurses every 2-3 hours, usually for somewhere around 10-15 minutes, though it can vary from five minutes to half an hour. Between nursing, she usually sleeps, with about two periods a day where she stays awake --one in the morning, one in the afternoon. In the evening she cluster feeds with "bedtime" being around 11pm. Until the past few days we had been on a a little stretch where wake-ups were happening at 2am, 5am and then around 8am for the day. Things seem to be changing again now.
-Overall breastfeeding is going well. I need to watch when Sprout latches, because sometimes her mouth isn't open quite far enough and then it hurts. Or milk leaks everywhere and we both get soaked. She often gets hiccups after nursing, which I feel badly about, but don't really seem to bother her. The past week or so she's been getting a good bit of spit up when she burps, but nothing like how it was with her brother. (A few days after we got home when I was exhausted and sore and overwhelmed, we had a doula who specializes in breastfeeding come to the house and help us out a bit. SO worthwhile.)
-Her growth since birth is noticeable She still has skinny limbs, but they have rolls. Her tummy is round and she has these great kissable cheeks. Her newborn clothes are starting to look rather snug on her, and I will have to get out some of the 3 month stuff very soon. At her three-week midwife appointment she weighed in at a whopping 10lbs 4oz (up from 8lbs, 15oz at birth and about a 9% drop by the time we were leaving the hospital).
-At birth she had a good bit of dark hair, that hair is now falling out and she has some fluffy lighter hair coming in. She won't be blonde like The Bean, but I'm guessing she'll have light brown hair. Eye colour has yet to be determined, but I'm sticking with a guess of blue. She has pretty, long eyelashes.
-She also had quite a few "stork bites" at birth. The one on her forehead above her nose is less noticeable now than it was before, but the one on her left eyelid is still prominent as are the ones on the back of her neck and head. There's also a little one on her lip, but it sort of blends in.
-Her likes and dislikes at this point are pretty basic. She likes nursing and being held in general. She dislikes being cold and sharp noises. Fortunately loud noises don't seem to phase her too much. She also dislikes having to burp, pass gas and poop.
-Her expressions are fairly limited. She sometimes does that sweet newborn half-smile in her sleep and I can't wait until she starts with the real smiles. Her vision must be improving, because she will stare, particularly at faces and at this beautiful black and white painting we have up on our wall.
---
As for me, I'm slowly recovering. I haven't taken and of my "strong" pain medication since between the second and third week postpartum. I still take extra strength Tylenol at least once or twice a day. I'm usually pretty sore by the evening. Hopefully it doesn't get too much worse now that I'm home on my own with Sprout during the days and will be taking on more of the housework.
I'm trying to stay mindful of the fact that staring at my newborn is a valuable way to spend my time and beyond making sure she is fed and clean, really the main thing that I should be doing right now. I'm also trying to get used to narrating things as I'm doing them. It feels a little bit funny to me to talk to someone who doesn't really respond, but I know it's good for her language development and whatnot.
I've been incredibly hungry with the breastfeeding and can't believe the amount of food I consume on a daily basis, though it seems to be slowing down. Despite the non-stop eating, I've lost about 28 of the 40lbs I gained during pregnancy. My shape is not the same, but still, I'm glad that it seems that I will eventually get back (more or less) to where I was.
The disappointment with the way things went during labour and birth is fading, though I'm sure it will never go away completely. I'm very grateful that breastfeeding has gone well so far as it seems sort of like a consolation for the labour and birth.
I guess that brings things up to date. I'm so glad our little girl is here and that our family is complete!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Accepting Help
So, Sprout is now nearly for weeks old and Jen started back to this past Wednesday and you'd think we'd be starting to get an idea of what things are going to look like for the next few months, only we're not because Jen's (amazing) parents are back in town to help us with this transition.
This is a good thing. In fact, it's a great thing. The issue is that I'm a fairly self-reliant person and I'm finding accepting their help, as well as help from others, has been really hard for me to do.
I know Jen struggled similarly when she was pregnant. At the time her job involved a physical component, and though she was adament about not doing any heavy lifting, she found it difficult to ask her co-workers to help when she needed to move things around.
Back to the present, I know there are certain things I am not supposed to be doing. Like lifting anything heavier than our now 10lb 4oz baby. (BTW Can you believe how big she is?!) So, I'm am very much okay with someone taking the laundry downstairs for me. I have slightly more difficulty with the thought of them actually doing the laundry. And a lot of difficulty with them doing things like Swiffering the floors or dusting. You know, the things that I could definitely manage on my own, albeit perhaps at more spaced out intervals than we might have held to pre-Sprout. I know that's why Jen's parents are here right now, but I feel guilty sitting on the couch updating the blog while they clean our apartment. I also want to try to start getting used to managing things on my own, which is kind of hard when someone is insisting on doing everything for you. Please understand that I'm not complaining about having help, I'm just saying it's hard to accept it. I realize how very, very lucky we are.
We've also been incredibly spoiled with people bringing food for us when they come to visit. Ashleigh from from 2moms2dogs2babies, who also happens to be a nutritionist, stopped by one day with a delicious quinoa salad, homemade granola and organic yogurt, then, less than a week later when she came to visit brought yummy baked goods from a bakery near her place as well as homemade pasta sauce and brown rice pasta (since she knows Jen tries to stay away from wheat). I think my comment when she showed up with all this stuff was, "You're crazy!" (She has toddler twins and is spending time making us food!) Of course, I was extremely grateful (and should have said "Thank you" rather than "You're crazy") but felt guilty that she had gone out of her way to provide us with such yummy and nutritious food.
I guess I have to get better about accepting help and showing how thankful I am for it. There are others out there who've felt the same way though, right?
Friday, January 18, 2013
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