Let the Guilt Begin

I knew this day would come. I expected it from other moms, maybe even from relatives, but not from health professionals. Silly me. I thought doctors and public health nurses were meant to monitor your child's health and encourage you to continue healthy practices for your child. Unfortunately, the public health nurse we saw most recently decided to lay on the guilt about how and what I feed my baby and whether or not I'm doing a good enough job. (I seem to have similar somewhat negative experiences with all health nurses, I'm not sure why). See, at Ellie's 4 month shots, she weighed roughly 15lbs. This week, however, at her 6 month shots, she was a couple ounces less than she was 2 months ago. A couple things could have caused this, one being that they weighed her naked this time and fully clothed last time. Another being that she's much, much more active than she was 2 months ago. Adding to that, she's grown longer rather than heavier. At any rate, our doctor (who also saw and weighed Ellie at 4 months and 6 months) saw no reason for concern, yet the public health nurse proceeded to lecture me on my milk supply, what solid foods I was feeding Ellie, and whether or not Ellie was getting fed or nursed enough. Needless to say, as a first time mom, I basically spent the week in super stress mode trying to nurse more often, trying to feed Ellie more solid foods, and stressing out that my milk supply wasn't sufficient. That changes today. After listening to my gut and doing my own research I learned what I had thought all along - that breastfed babies simply don't follow the same growth curves as formula fed babies and that standard growth charts used by health professionals are based on an average of both breastfed and formula fed babies. So while Ellie may seem small when compared to all other babies, when her weight is tracked on a breastfed-babies-only growth chart, she's right on the mean. So I am done worrying and stressing myself out. She eats (often and plenty!), she plays, she sleeps, poos, pees, and laughs. She's perfect and she's doing just fine!

December Goals

I've decided not to make any concrete goals for this month. We have a lot going on over the next few weeks and my only goal for the month is to get through it relatively unscathed.

I started off the month in pretty rough shape because I had my gall bladder removed only a couple days earlier. Suffice it to say, those first few days were a blur of painkillers, no sleep and a lot of lying on the couch with heat packs and ice packs just trying to make it through. Thanks to a lot of help from Adam and my mom, Ellie and I were well taken care of.

I've now made it through my first week of recovery and I'm on to my next challenge. This week I'm putting together a staff holiday party for 20-30 people and then baking 7 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange on the weekend. I'm a little overwhelmed but I still seem to find the time to do fun things like set up a small Christmas tree and bake shortbread cookies.

During the last couple weeks of this month I have to plan and pack for a week long trip across the country with Adam and Ellie. To say I'm nervous/anxious/stressed/worried about all the things I need to remember and deal with along the way would be an understatement. I have no idea how Ellie is going to react to airplane travel, airport transfers, and a plethora of new faces. It may sound negative to some people, but I'm trying to plan for the worst so that I will be prepared for any scenario. Wish us luck!

So that's the month ahead. All while still recovering from surgery. Here's hoping I make it out alive!

A Passion for Pinterest!

The upside to being stuck on the couch recovering from surgery is that I get a lot of baby-free time to spend browsing Pinterest.

I'm trying to decide which recipe to try first - maybe something I can bring to our holiday staff party or as part of a cookie exchange with friends...

 

I'm also trying to decide which DIY project to take on first, likely after Christmas...

How do I decide what to do first???

It's Almost December!

With my surgery coming up on Monday, I thought it would be best to get a head start on evaluating my November goals.

• Take Ellie to a baby group. Nope!
• Continue to eat more veggies. Yup!
• More tummy time for Ellie! A bit, but she's not a big fan.
• Be more consistent with putting Ellie in her crib for naps. I totally suck at this.
• Sit down with Adam and weigh the pros and cons of me finding an outside job. Done, and as it turns out, I got a job and then went from part time to on-call/casual. I think this is the perfect balance.
• Encourage Adam to use the sauna or steam room at least once a week. I totally forgot to do this...
• Do something (anything!) once a week that contributes to my own overall health. Not even once...
• Let my mom babysit more so that Ellie gets more used to her. Done! Ellie LOVES her!
• Get our house clean and sorted. Mostly done, but I feel like it's a never ending task.
• Baby proof! We've started!
• Work on my two big goals.Yes. I've been doing research for both goals. I've determined that if we do proceed with adoption, it would likely be a private adoption as I am just not up for the challenges that come with raising a child with FASD. I completely commend people who take on this challenge knowingly, but I don't see myself going this route any time soon. So now I need to do more research on funding for private adoptions. As for my career goal, I just have to keep plugging along with the research for now.
• Make and freeze a month's worth of baby food! Well, I might not have a month's worth frozen, but I do have quite a bit.
• Pump and freeze milk for my surgery. Done.
• Christmas presents/plans! Everything about this is up in the air, so hopefully we can get some of it figured out soon! Plans are made and I'm just about done with presents!

I'll have to think up some goals for December, but I might not get a chance to post them on time, depending on my surgery. Hopefully it will go well and I'll be posting my December goals on the 1st!

6 months!

Weighing in at 6.85kg and measuring 66cm, our little babe is half a year old!

Housewife Woes

Today I found myself in the midst of a very familiar meltdown. It was the "no matter how much I vacuum I can't get these dang floors clean" meltdown. You see, we have a very, very hairy dog. He's a yellow lab cross but his coat is more like that of a German Shepherd. So he has long-ish wiry hair that weaves into our carpets and a thick undercoat that seems to shed like crazy (I'm talking fist-fulls of hair everywhere!) for months out of the year. For the past 5 or so years, we've gotten by using Adam's beloved shop vac. Well, lately it seems to clog very easily in multiple parts of the hose. My floors are never clean and it's driving me crazy! Normally I wouldn't care quite this much, but with a baby who could crawl any time in the next few months, I just can't take it anymore. I'd like to be able to put Ellie down to play anywhere in the house without worrying about having her covered head to toe in dog hair when I pick her up. Not to mention how much of it she'd likely end up eating!

But that's enough ranting! If anyone happens to read this and has good recommendations of an affordable, yet pet-hair-busting vacuum, please comment!

My First Pinterest Challenge

Inspired by one of my favourite blogs, Young House Love, I decided to take part in the fall edition of the Pinterest Challenge!

A friend of mine had recommended a pin to me that I just couldn't resist. Here is the original pin:

And after a photo shoot of pure awesome fun, here's our end result:

We later cut leg holes and tried that on for size too, but this is my favourite photo because the little hat only stayed on for a few photos!

November Goals

I can't believe it will be December a month from now. I am not even the least bit prepared for the holidays. Looks like I'll have to make up for that in November!

• Take Ellie to a baby group. We've been to it once before, but now I'd like to work it into our schedule more regularly.
• Continue to eat more veggies.
• More tummy time for Ellie! She very much prefers to sit up to play on her blanket, but to learn to crawl, she'll have to do more tummy time.
• Be more consistent with putting Ellie in her crib for naps.
• Sit down with Adam and weigh the pros and cons of me finding an outside job. I have an interview next week, so hopefully we can do this before then.
• Encourage Adam to use the sauna or steam room at least once a week.
• Do something (anything!) once a week that contributes to my own overall health. Whether this is a yoga class, a session in the sauna, some time in the fitness room, etc. It doesn't matter what it is as long as it makes me feel good and is good for me! 
• Let my mom babysit more so that Ellie gets more used to her. This will give me some freedom and help relieve some of the stress of having to leave Ellie when I have my gall bladder removed. Plus, if I do get an outside job, it will help with childcare.
• Get our house clean and sorted. We have bottles that need to go to the depot, a baby swing to return to a friend, computer stuff to organize and put away, a baby gate (or rather, a dog pen) to set up, a playpen to put away, etc. I am looking forward to tackling this to-do list!
• Baby proof! Ellie will only be getting more and more mobile as the months progress, so it may be time to baby proof things like cords, cables, outlets, etc. Then, when she's just about to pull up on stuff, we'll baby proof things like heavy furniture and toilet lids!
• Work on my two big goals.
• Make and freeze a month's worth of baby food!
• Pump and freeze milk for my surgery (I have to keep doing this on an ongoing basis because milk only lasts so long in the freezer and I have no idea when my surgery will be).
• Christmas presents/plans! Everything about this is up in the air, so hopefully we can get some of it figured out soon!

This is a terribly long list, but hopefully with some babysitting by mom, I'll have a little more time to accomplish things!

Who Doesn't Love Halloween??

A Look Back At October

Well, October definitely started out on the wrong foot. After a lot of pain and many doctor's appointments (and one night in the emergency room!), I found out I have gall stones and need to have my gall bladder removed. On top of this, the hotel got much busier and we lost a staff member, so I've been working a little more than I expected. So those are my excuses for failing at some of my October goals! Here are the goals I had set for October and the results of each goal:

• Take Ellie to swimming lessons. We did this. We lasted for 3 lessons before we realized it was silly to keep going. They happen to coincide with nap time, so Ellie just wasn't a very happy camper for most of the lesson. We plan to go to public swim time with her in the future and then try lessons again when she's a little older.
• Continue to eat more veggies. We've been having green smoothies nearly everyday and dinners that consist of a ton of veggies since my gall bladder troubles have me on a very restricted diet.
• More tummy time for Ellie! Yup! Although we're also doing a lot of 'sitting' (while I support her a bit) time because she seems to prefer it.
• Get Ellie to nap without being held. I know this is possible because she's done it a few times and because she naps in the car seat or stroller sometimes too. Now I just need to get her used to napping in the crib. I've been avoiding it because I appreciate the cuddles, but it would be nice to also be able to nap or to get things done while she naps. Yes! She has napped in her crib a handful of days now. I need to be more consistent with it though.
• Apply for jobs. I am able to work at the hotel, with my husband, however, I would like to find some part time work where the pay is a little better. At the very least, I would like to pick up a few more hours at the hotel to supplement our income since I don't get any maternity leave pay. I have sent out some applications, but have also gotten more hours at the hotel. I had forgotten how much I like working with my husband!
• Encourage Adam to use the sauna or steam room a couple times a week to take better advantage of the perks of living here and to relax! I probably haven't done this as much as I intended, but we've been pretty swamped, so free time has been at a minimum this month. However, I did manage to send him off to use the sauna once and he also got treated to a 3 hour massage on one of his days off!
• Do something (anything!) once a week that contributes to my own overall health. Whether this is a yoga class, a session in the sauna, some time in the fitness room, etc. It doesn't matter what it is as long as it makes me feel good and is good for me! I like the sound of this goal already! :) Giant fail. It seems ironic that I wrote a goal about doing things that contribute to my health and then days later found myself in the emergency room. I spent most of October feeling sore, weak, tired and just plain crappy. Hopefully I can do better next month!

I also think I should give myself bonus points for fitting in an overnight road trip. I took Ellie (all by myself!) to visit my parents on their new farm. It was a quick, but successful, trip!

 
Now I'm going to take a couple days to think about what I want my November goals to be!