Monday, January 31, 2011

How Quickly Things Change... From Desperate to Elated!

EVAN SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT!

After writing my last "desperate" post I continued to up Evan's formula for the rest of the day. In the end I guess that's what he needed because last night he slept through the night. HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!

Maybe it wasn't just the increased formula, it might have had something to do with the fact that he hardly slept through the day yesterday. That first nap I put him down for only lasted 20 minutes, and it was the same for his second. So he was obviously exhausted when bed time rolled around. I'm preparing myself for the fact that he may be up 5 times tonight... But I'm also trying to enjoy this moment!

I ended up calling my mom yesterday afternoon because I was so distraught. A chat with her was exactly what I needed. She more or less told me to stop sweating the sleep thing. She said that if I could just shift my way of thinking that things might get better. I’ve been so concerned with his sleep schedule and trying to plan my day around when I might be able to get him down… Mom told me to stop all that! She said, if he stays up for four hours straight so be it. As long as he’s happy, he’ll fall asleep when he’s ready. She also said something that really resonated with me. She reminded me that Evan is a baby. She said that sometimes he’ll need me for no apparent reason and because he’s a baby all I need to do is love him and be there for him. So that’s it, I’m going to stop my fussing! If he’s wakes up after 20 minutes and he’s crying for me, I’m going to him. It’s not going to damage him for life, and I have to get it out of my head that he’s never going to sleep well because I don’t have him on a schedule at 8 months. My new belief is that it’s going to work itself out in time. I already feel the stress leaving my shoulders.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Energizer Evan

Evan oh Evan, why do you hate sleep so much? Why is it that you can be up for 4 hours straight and still not want to go down for your nap?! Why, when you finally do act tired and I put you down to sleep do you all of a sudden get your second wind and start playing in your crib like it's a jungle gym?

HELP! What can I do differently to get this baby of mine to sleep well? After talking to my wonderful girlfriend Hayley yesterday I decided that I might not be feeding him enough. Today I increased the amount of formula we give him before trying to put him down for his first nap. Unfortunately it didn't make a difference. Evan (even though he was yawning and rubbing his eyes) still protested when I tried to put him down. He cried while standing in his crib for 10 minutes. At that point I went back into his room, gave him his soother, and rubbed his back. He finally went down, but I want it to be easier than that, I mean shouldn't it be easier than that? I want him to go to sleep happily... Is there any chance he'll change? I've read sleep books and talked to friends and I'm really starting to wonder if Evan is "special" in a sense that he doesn't need the same amount of sleep as other babies? That sounds like a desperate mom talking doesn't it? I know in my heart of hearts he needs the sleep. I just don't know what I can do to help him get it. Even if I do get him down for his nap he hardly ever sleeps more than an hour. In fact, half hour naps are common around here. According to what I've read his first nap of the day should be two hours. Again, what am I doing wrong? I'm not even going to write about the horror that is his night time sleep. I'll just say that he's basically up every two hours.

I know, I wrote a post not that long ago talking about how much his sleeping had improved. Well it looks like the travelling we did over Christmas and our trip to Cuba officially messed that up... And this week we've hit rock bottom.

Desperate Mom - Out.

He only looks innocent...

Friday, January 28, 2011

Boo-Boo

Now that Evan is crawling like a mad man and pulling himself up on everything within his reach he’s getting some boo-boo’s. I follow him everywhere of course and always have one hand on him while he’s practicing his standing, but my reflexes aren’t always quick enough when he loses his balance. He’s already had a few good head bumps. Poor, poor baby. The worst is his cry when he hurts himself. You know the one where there’s silence for 5 seconds followed by a blood curdling shriek?! Ouch! Oh, and I haven’t even told you about the boo-boo of all boo-boo’s. It happened over Christmas. We were visiting our friends in Toronto and Evan was on my lap at the dining room table. I was trying to do something with my right hand so I didn’t have both hands around him when he squirmed. He ended up falling over to my right and hitting his mouth hard on the table. I instantly felt sick to my stomach. I’ve never heard him cry the way he did after that happened. I took him in my arms and held him tight and told him I was sorry. Over and over again I said it, “I’m sorry baby, I’m sorry!” Oh my gosh I felt so guilty. I ran upstairs into my friend’s son’s room and whipped out my boob in the hopes of soothing him. When I pulled him from my tight hold to put him on my breast I saw blood. Bright red blood was coming from Evan’s mouth. That’s when I freaked. I yelled for John and he came bolting up the stairs three steps at a time. There was blood all over my shoulder, and all around his mouth. John was calm, thank goodness because I was not. What happened was he cut his lip when he hit the table. A bit of booby juice and some ice and he was fine, thankfully.

You know I always thought I would be calm in the wake of a traumatic event (let's face it, all scrapes and bruises are traumatic when it’s your baby), but it’s something I have to work on apparently. I know freaking out doesn’t help the situation and I know there will be more boo-boo’s to come, after all, I have a boy on my hands! An active boy at that. I better toughen up.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Evan's New Friend!

My bestie, Emily had her second child on Thursday. She and her husband Brad decided they would not find out the sex, so it was an honest to goodness surprise when they found out it was a BOY! Griffin Patrick Weir is an absolute cutie. I went to visit Emily and meet the new addition to our friendmily last night. He is really too sweet. Congratulations Emily, Brad and Clementine!

Here's Clementine giving her new brother little kisses...

What The Heck Is Going On?

Evan has diarrhea. It started on Monday… it’s now Saturday. It’s been six days of changing the yuckiest smelling diapers you can imagine. He’s pooping 4-5 times during the day and at least once at night. It’s the night time poops that are the worst. Sometimes they’re so bad I have to change his pajamas which totally wakes him up. Of course after feeding him and changing him half an hour goes by that I’m wide awake in the middle of the night. I’m not sure if it’s the after effects of Cuba or teething or what, but I hope he starts pooping like he used to soon. We’ve switched to a soy-based formula in case it was sensitivity to his milk-based formula, but that hasn’t helped. We’ve been giving him rice and bananas, but that hasn’t helped. I called his doctor and he said 10 poops a day is the benchmark for concern. If he’s pooping under 10 times than it will most likely correct itself in time. My question is, how long is it going to take?! The doctor also said to keep an eye out for signs of dehydration. Oh boy, this is not so fun.

What was fun was my date with John last night. We went out in Almonte (so my parents could watch Evan) and had a really lovely time. Our dinner was delicious and we talked each other’s ears off! Ha ha! We decided to spend the night in town so that we could have a few drinks. Unfortunately Evan failed to communicate with us in advance that he really wanted to go home to sleep. He was up ALL NIGHT! Finally at 3:30am I said to John, “Pack up, we’re going home.” We made it back to Barrhaven by 4:30am and Evan went straight to sleep and stayed sleeping until 8am. Then he had an hour and a half long morning nap. It’s weird, it’s like he just wanted to be in his own bed. That’s not cool! How are John and I supposed to get our date on if Evan won’t sleep well in his play pen. I’m hoping this is another one of those temporary things.

Other than that things are good! I gave Evan Cheerios for the first time today and he loved them! Yay, one more thing that can keep him happily amused!

Tonight we’re having some friends over for dinner… I hope (after last night) I can keep my eyes open.

Here he is, poopie diarrhea pants, eating his Cheerios!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Cuba, Si!

We did it! Not only did we survive 7 days out of the comfort of our country let alone our home, we loved every minute of it!

Last Friday, John, Evan, and I along with my parents boarded a plane for Varadero, Cuba. Leading up to the trip I was very excited, but also a little nervous. I was nervous that Evan wouldn’t travel well; that his ears would pop on the plane, that he would have a reaction to the Cuban sun, that he wouldn’t be able to sleep without the white noise of his humidifier (hey, it actually crossed my mind). Thankfully Evan loved the plane (and every woman on it… he’s such a flirt). He loved the sun, although I was very careful to keep him either covered or in the shade, and he slept just fine without the humidifier (thanks to the Sleep Sheep and a fan in the room). Yes, our all inclusive vacation in paradise was just that… Paradise! Thanks to the helpful hands of my mom and dad and brother and his girlfriend (who met us there) I even had time to relax in the sun and get a bit of a tan. Sure, it was different than vacations pre-Evan, but I enjoyed the difference. I hardly drank and I was actually okay with that. Instead of partying all night the way I did just a few years ago when I travelled to Cuba with my girlfriends, I went to bed early in exchange for waking up early to take a beautiful walk along the beach with Evan and John. Like I said, paradise!

I think Evan’s favourite part of the trip was the first time we took him to the beach. As soon as we arrived we went straight for the ocean and I would pay money to see his reaction a second time. He absolutely lit up. His hands and legs were going and he was grinning ear to ear. John knelt down with him and let him put his hands in the sand and he was in heaven. In fact, just his hands weren’t enough, Evan wanted to be crawling in it, so we let him. It was so much fun to watch him discover something new. His second favourite thing was the buffet. Evan is all about the ‘all you can eat’ buffet. Its official, Evan is his father’s son (they share the same appetite). I swear, Evan would have eaten anything we put in front of him. At one point I had to tell John to stop feeding him, I was afraid his little tummy would explode. Evan loved the fruit there and the staff was so good to make mashed potatoes and pumpkin for him. Of course we brought our own food with us as well, but we could have gotten by on the food they provided at the resort.

It was truly a once in a lifetime vacation and I’m so thankful to my family for making it happen.





This inflatable kiddie pool worked great as a play area for Evan and as a beach crib for him to sleep in!



Here we are on one of our sunrise walks along the beach!



Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Day 2

I told myself that if I could get through my first day back at work I would be okay… and it would appear I was right.

Yesterday my alarm went off at 4:30am… not for an Evan related reason, but to get ready for my first day back at the office after 7 and a half months of maternity leave. Well I guess that’s not totally accurate. I technically started back to work three months after Evan was born, but I had the luxury of working from home, and let me tell you, it was a LUXURY. My commute was two sets of stairs and my office attire consisted of pajama bottoms and a cozy hoodie. Yesterday I had to shower (gasp), do my hair (double gasp), put on make-up (… you get the idea) and bust out ‘real clothes’. Thankfully I wasn’t emotional. I had a plan of attack. The night before, when I was starting to feel anxious about leaving my baby I read. I read and read and read until my eyes were shutting on their own. I knew that if I tried to sleep before exhausting myself I would have tossed and turned worrying about how Evan was going to do without me and with our new nanny.

As it turned out I was actually kind of excited when I woke up. I felt like a kid on her first day back to school. I even bought a new outfit for the occasion. Walking down the hall, past Evan’s room, I didn’t even pause. Not for a moment… I didn’t let myself think about leaving him. When I actually got to work it felt… neat. Within a matter of a couple of hours it felt like I had never left! It was nice to be around my wonderful colleagues and it was nice to discuss non-baby related things. That being said, when my eight hour day was up I bolted for the door. Before Evan my days at the office were 10, 11, 12 hours… not anymore. I’ve got a baby to get home to now, some quality time to spend before bed time.

On the way home I thought about stopping at the grocery store as I needed some things for dinner, but I couldn’t bear another 10 minutes away from Evan so I headed straight for home. I walked in the door to discover he was fast asleep enjoying his afternoon nap. I was disappointed, but happy our nanny was able to get him down okay. When he woke up I ran for his room. I nearly kissed his face off and he seemed happy about it. He was all smiles for his mommy and it made me feel like I was the luckiest woman on the planet. I guess he’ll survive my return to work. I guess I will too.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

So Far So Great

So far 2011 is shaping up to be awesome! The last two days Evan has been the sweetest, most content, easy-going, cute, happy baby! All while cutting two teeth if you can believe it. Yes, just this morning I felt them for the first time. His two bottom teeth are coming in and I’m so excited for him! So how can it be that he’s being so wonderful? I don’t know… Maybe he’s happy to have the holidays behind him. After all it was pretty busy. Or maybe he’s enjoying having both his dad and his mom with him for the last three days. Whatever it is it’s making me love him all that much more.

Now for a little recap. First of all, Christmas! It was wonderful. This Christmas John and I travelled to Toronto to be with his family and it was really great. His family is so kind and warm and welcoming, and they were really tickled pink to be part of Evan’s first festive season. On Boxing Day we made the trek from Toronto to Almonte to spend time with my family which was equally great. For the most part Evan was really good. He was a dream in the car which meant my Christmas wish came true. He was also pretty good with all the new faces. Honestly I can’t complain, for being in different homes and around so many people he did really well. Unfortunately he did come down with a cold on Boxing Day, but it’s almost gone now and besides affecting his sleep a little he’s been a rock star through it. So yes, all in all Christmas was beautiful.















Oh, and I have to tell you that Evan is now officially crawling! Can you believe it?! He also pulled himself up (to his feet) on the couch for the first time yesterday. Thankfully just the day before John and I lowered his crib. I was having nightmares of hearing kurplunk in the night and it seems my mommy’s intuition was bang on.

I tell ya, life as a mom just keeps getting better and better. It’s going to be very hard going back to work on the 4th. As it is, for the last 7 and a half months I haven’t missed a single milestone… that may change now, but I can’t think that way. I’ll manage like all the other working moms do.

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday season. Here’s to 2011, may it be rich in many ways!