Forget baby brain... how about Christmas brain?! Wow. I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off for the last week. I've made check lists in an attempt to remember everything, but sometimes even with check lists things fall through the cracks. For example, my girlfriend Kim had John, Evan and I along with a couple of my other besties for a delicious lunch today. We had a great visit and as we left I gave her a small hostess gift, a bottle of wine in a festive bag.
During the Christmas season John and I travel with wine. Since we visit so many people we like to have it on hand. Pretty much everyone we know enjoys to sip on vino so it's a safe bet for a thank-you and Merry Christmas wish.
After leaving Kim's we got home and I felt like enjoying a glass myself. I asked John to grab the half empty bottle from the box of wine (half empty because I enjoyed some of it last night... tis the season). Well he couldn't find the bottle... It took a minute, but I soon realized what I had done. I immediately called my girlfriend and sheepishly asked, "Did I give you a half empty bottle of wine?" Being the wonderful friend she is she laughed and confirmed my fear. Then we burst out in laughter together. Thankfully Kim is a new mom too so she understands my absent mindedness. At least now I know what I'll be getting her next year... The other half. :)
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Marveling
I’m typing as my adorable son talks to his Sophie giraffe. It’s early morning and he is so happy. He’s playing contently on the floor. Every once in a while he’ll look my way and give me an ear to ear grin. Life is so good. Honestly, things are great these days. Evan is sleeping so much better and it seems like he’s growing by the minute. He can get from one end of the room to the other in record speed if he sees something he wants. He does this inch worm thing to move forward and it is the cutest thing you’ve ever seen! He’ll be full on crawling before I know it. Sometimes I tear up looking at him. I can’t believe how he’s developing, I can’t believe John and I are responsible for creating him, and I’m so excited to see what the coming days, weeks, months, years are going to bring. Happy snowy Tuesday!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
The Sleep Situation.
We’ve turned a corner in the sleep department my friends!
Not this past weekend, but the weekend before I had my girlfriends over and of course there was a lot of baby talk. God love my two girlfriends who don’t have children for bearing through it. I was telling them all about Evan’s sleeping habits, the getting up every two hours (or less) through the night, the resisting naps and stress it was causing me. That’s when my one girlfriend said to me, “Josie, you have to let him cry it out”. Of course there are many opinions on this. The strongest come from those who disagree with it as a method of sleep training. I myself have struggled with it. I read one book that was dedicated to sleep training and it suggested letting the baby cry out, but not without checking on him every 5 to 10 minutes to let him know you haven’t abandoned him. I’ve also read books that say the crying-out method is wrong and you should go in and sooth your baby back to sleep either by patting him on the back or singing, etc. Now I’m no expert, I mean, I’m only 6 and a half months into this mother gig, but I believe all babies are different and what works for one might not EVER work for another. That’s why I don’t hold judgment (or at least try not to) when it comes to mothering.
If you’ve followed my sleep woes you know that Evan is the type of baby that can really fight sleep and when he’s fighting it is hard to calm him… I believe some would describe him as “spirited”. When things were bad and he was resisting sleep NOTHING would calm him down. Not rocking, not singing, not a soother. Even if I fed him it would only offer temporary relief from his blood curdling scream. I was getting so desperate and I was becoming so sleep deprived I listened to my girlfriend when she told me to let him cry it out. I did it that very night (two Friday’s ago). I closed the bedroom door, turned on the humidifier for white noise, kept the monitor OFF and went to bed. I did set my alarm periodically through the night so I could check on him though. I woke up at 1am, turned on the monitor briefly and heard nothing so I went back to sleep. At 3am I did the same thing and heard nothing. I woke up at 4am (on my own this time, without the alarm) and decided I should physically go in and check on him. When I walked into his room his head popped right up! I quickly exited and went back to my room to let him fall back asleep.
I have no idea how many times he was up that night or for how long. I don’t know how badly he cried because I didn’t hear any of it. The next night by some miracle he only woke up twice! That’s compared to the 4-5 times he was waking up just two nights before (and for three weeks before that). Since then John and I have kept up the dream feed and 10pm and then I do another dream feed at 3am. He’s been waking up for the day shortly after 6am. As far as the monitor goes, I have kept it off! I keep the bedroom door open instead. As my mom pointed out she didn’t have a monitor for me or my brother and got by just fine without it. I do still use it for naps of course because I can’t always hear him when I’m downstairs.
Speaking of naps he seems to be going down easier for them now as well. Like magic, the night after I let him cry it out he went down for his nap without a fuss. I read him a story, sang to him, put him down and walked away. It was really that easy. Now he still resists sometimes, I find it gets harder to put him down as the day goes on, but there has been a drastic improvement.
And there you have it… my sleep update. It will probably be different in a couple of days so I’ll keep you posted.
Not this past weekend, but the weekend before I had my girlfriends over and of course there was a lot of baby talk. God love my two girlfriends who don’t have children for bearing through it. I was telling them all about Evan’s sleeping habits, the getting up every two hours (or less) through the night, the resisting naps and stress it was causing me. That’s when my one girlfriend said to me, “Josie, you have to let him cry it out”. Of course there are many opinions on this. The strongest come from those who disagree with it as a method of sleep training. I myself have struggled with it. I read one book that was dedicated to sleep training and it suggested letting the baby cry out, but not without checking on him every 5 to 10 minutes to let him know you haven’t abandoned him. I’ve also read books that say the crying-out method is wrong and you should go in and sooth your baby back to sleep either by patting him on the back or singing, etc. Now I’m no expert, I mean, I’m only 6 and a half months into this mother gig, but I believe all babies are different and what works for one might not EVER work for another. That’s why I don’t hold judgment (or at least try not to) when it comes to mothering.
If you’ve followed my sleep woes you know that Evan is the type of baby that can really fight sleep and when he’s fighting it is hard to calm him… I believe some would describe him as “spirited”. When things were bad and he was resisting sleep NOTHING would calm him down. Not rocking, not singing, not a soother. Even if I fed him it would only offer temporary relief from his blood curdling scream. I was getting so desperate and I was becoming so sleep deprived I listened to my girlfriend when she told me to let him cry it out. I did it that very night (two Friday’s ago). I closed the bedroom door, turned on the humidifier for white noise, kept the monitor OFF and went to bed. I did set my alarm periodically through the night so I could check on him though. I woke up at 1am, turned on the monitor briefly and heard nothing so I went back to sleep. At 3am I did the same thing and heard nothing. I woke up at 4am (on my own this time, without the alarm) and decided I should physically go in and check on him. When I walked into his room his head popped right up! I quickly exited and went back to my room to let him fall back asleep.
I have no idea how many times he was up that night or for how long. I don’t know how badly he cried because I didn’t hear any of it. The next night by some miracle he only woke up twice! That’s compared to the 4-5 times he was waking up just two nights before (and for three weeks before that). Since then John and I have kept up the dream feed and 10pm and then I do another dream feed at 3am. He’s been waking up for the day shortly after 6am. As far as the monitor goes, I have kept it off! I keep the bedroom door open instead. As my mom pointed out she didn’t have a monitor for me or my brother and got by just fine without it. I do still use it for naps of course because I can’t always hear him when I’m downstairs.
Speaking of naps he seems to be going down easier for them now as well. Like magic, the night after I let him cry it out he went down for his nap without a fuss. I read him a story, sang to him, put him down and walked away. It was really that easy. Now he still resists sometimes, I find it gets harder to put him down as the day goes on, but there has been a drastic improvement.
And there you have it… my sleep update. It will probably be different in a couple of days so I’ll keep you posted.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
To Purge or Not To Purge
I decided it’s time for a good closet purge. I started with mine of course, and found a lot of oldies that will become someone else’s goodies. I also found a lot of maternity clothes which forced me to think… Am I going to need them again? I mean maternity clothes aren’t cheap; should I be storing them away for future use or should they go in a bag to good will with the rest of my stuff?
I get the question all the time, ‘Do you think you’ll have another one?’ and I never know what to say. Before Evan came along, when I thought about having a family, that family always consisted of at least two children. Now I’m not so sure. My first 6 months as a mother has been amazing and inspiring, but it's also been very challenging and difficult at times. I think since becoming a mother I have experienced a whole new realm of emotions I didn’t even know I could feel. Maybe when Evan’s two the tough stuff will be a distant memory and all I’ll think about is how wonderful it felt to have a newborn in my arms. Or maybe not. My motto is never say never so I won’t, but right now I’m quite happy with my one beautiful little baby... Then again as I look at the pile of maternity clothes sitting on my bed I still can't seem to make a decision on what to do with them. Perhaps this is one of those examples where actions speak louder than words.
I get the question all the time, ‘Do you think you’ll have another one?’ and I never know what to say. Before Evan came along, when I thought about having a family, that family always consisted of at least two children. Now I’m not so sure. My first 6 months as a mother has been amazing and inspiring, but it's also been very challenging and difficult at times. I think since becoming a mother I have experienced a whole new realm of emotions I didn’t even know I could feel. Maybe when Evan’s two the tough stuff will be a distant memory and all I’ll think about is how wonderful it felt to have a newborn in my arms. Or maybe not. My motto is never say never so I won’t, but right now I’m quite happy with my one beautiful little baby... Then again as I look at the pile of maternity clothes sitting on my bed I still can't seem to make a decision on what to do with them. Perhaps this is one of those examples where actions speak louder than words.
Friday, November 26, 2010
My Best Attempt At An Update
I have lots and nothing at all to talk about. I mean a lot has gone on here in the last couple of weeks. Evan started rice cereal (he loves it). He turned 6 months old (crazy)! He got his second haircut to date (he looks like he’s about 5 now). We’re working on weaning him off night feeds, oh and we’ve started our Christmas decorating (thought I would throw that in there)! So ya, lots going on and at the same time I haven’t felt very inspired lately to write… What’s up with that? As always at this time of year I’m blaming my lack of motivation on the change of season. The fact that it’s colder now and dark at 5pm is just so yucky. It makes me lethargic, anyone else? Today however I'm feeling pretty good, despite the fact that Evan had another bad night last night and it's freezing rain outside. I think I'm happy it's Friday, I need this weekend!
Speaking of weekends, last sunday John and I decided we would take Evan to his first ever Christmas parade here in Barrhaven to get him in the Christmas spirit. We bundled him up and made our way to the parade route. Only problem was we were at the end of the route and the parade itself didn’t start until 5:30pm. By the time 5:40pm rolled around we realized it was far too cold and was going to be far too late by the time the parade got to us so we packed up, pretended like we saw the parade, convinced Evan it was the best thing ever and went home. Ha!
This year for Christmas both my family and John’s family have agreed to simplify things. Instead of all of us buying presents for everyone we’re drawing names! Yes, I’m a big fan of this! Not only does it make Christmas shopping less hectic, but now we can spend good money on one gift instead of stretching our dollar on gifts that our family members probably don’t really need or might not even want. Evan and I are going to get busy shopping next week! Can’t wait!
The Christmas spirit is definitely running through my veins. Last weekend I finished my Christmas potters which I love (see pic below)! And next weekend (maybe even this weekend) I’m going to get busy decorating inside! Yay! I’m really looking forward to this Christmas, and future Christmas’ with Evan. I look forward to starting our own family traditions. John and I have started a whole new chapter, and the best part is we’re writing it. Our future can be whatever we want it to be! How is that for optimism at this yucky time of year?!
Potter before...
Potter now...
All bundled up for the Christmas parade we didn't end up watching...
As you can see Evan loves his rice cereal...
Bananas not so much...
Evan getting his second haircut to date...
Doesn't he look like a big boy with his new haircut and awesome Adidas track outfit...
Speaking of weekends, last sunday John and I decided we would take Evan to his first ever Christmas parade here in Barrhaven to get him in the Christmas spirit. We bundled him up and made our way to the parade route. Only problem was we were at the end of the route and the parade itself didn’t start until 5:30pm. By the time 5:40pm rolled around we realized it was far too cold and was going to be far too late by the time the parade got to us so we packed up, pretended like we saw the parade, convinced Evan it was the best thing ever and went home. Ha!
This year for Christmas both my family and John’s family have agreed to simplify things. Instead of all of us buying presents for everyone we’re drawing names! Yes, I’m a big fan of this! Not only does it make Christmas shopping less hectic, but now we can spend good money on one gift instead of stretching our dollar on gifts that our family members probably don’t really need or might not even want. Evan and I are going to get busy shopping next week! Can’t wait!
The Christmas spirit is definitely running through my veins. Last weekend I finished my Christmas potters which I love (see pic below)! And next weekend (maybe even this weekend) I’m going to get busy decorating inside! Yay! I’m really looking forward to this Christmas, and future Christmas’ with Evan. I look forward to starting our own family traditions. John and I have started a whole new chapter, and the best part is we’re writing it. Our future can be whatever we want it to be! How is that for optimism at this yucky time of year?!
Potter before...
Potter now...
All bundled up for the Christmas parade we didn't end up watching...
As you can see Evan loves his rice cereal...
Bananas not so much...
Evan getting his second haircut to date...
Doesn't he look like a big boy with his new haircut and awesome Adidas track outfit...
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Fever Alert!
I started the process of weaning Evan off his night time feeds this past weekend. It was going well until last night when I went in to find my little guy burning up. He was so hot to the touch it startled me. I instantly went in and woke up John. He got the thermometer and we took his temperature. Luckily he wasn’t in any kind of danger zone as far as his temperature went, but I was still upset. Yes, I was upset, never mind Evan, let’s talk about how his fever made me feel. The fever has now gone down, and for the most part he’s okay. A little more fussy than normal, oh, and he’s pooped three times in the last 24 hours so I’m assuming he’s about to cut his first tooth. This is exciting, but also nerve-racking. I wonder what kind of night we’re in store for tonight.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Making Friends
As a grown up there are a few places you can meet new friends. First and foremost I would say you meet new friends through your partner. You usually attempt to befriend the people that matter to the guy or girl you’re dating so there’s that. Then there are the friends you make through work, but beyond that how do we as adults make new friends? If you’re into sports, or yoga, or any other group activities you can meet friends that way, but how about just picking up new friends in say, the grocery store? I attempted this one day months ago and apparently it didn’t go that well.
It all started with Evan’s first doctor’s appointment. John and I started chatting with this woman who was there with her daughter. She was a lovely woman and our friendly banter made our waiting time go by quickly. That same week we bumped into her while we were out and about on a Saturday and once again we exchanged friendly conversation. I said to John afterwards that if we saw her again I was going to ask her to exchange numbers or something because she seemed really cool and I thought maybe we could hang out while I was on maternity leave. Her children are older (6 and 10 or something like that) and she’s a stay at home mom so I figured she could share some of her motherly wisdom with me. Then came the third run-in at our local grocery store no less. Turns out she lives just minutes from where John and I live. We laughed about how funny it was that we had bumped into each other again and that’s when I did it! I said we should hang out; I wrote down my name, number, and email address and gave it to her. I didn’t end up asking for her information in case she felt uncomfortable, I just said if she ever wanted to have coffee or something to give me a call. That call never came. And coincidentally I haven’t bumped into her since. Maybe she’s spotted me in the grocery store and hid until the coast was clear, who knows.
I used to say I don’t need any more friends because I was quite happy with the ones I already had. Then of course I met some fabulous women who have become very dear to me and I realized that was a stupid thing to think. Why would I not be open to bringing more wonderful people into my life, to learn from them, laugh with them?! True, John and I have a hard time juggling quality time with the friends we’ve got, but that’s no reason to shut out potential new friends.
So I gave it a shot and was shot down, no biggie. It was a social experiment and I didn’t die of embarrassment so I’d give it another whirl if the opportunity presented itself. Watch out, I could be coming for you next!
It all started with Evan’s first doctor’s appointment. John and I started chatting with this woman who was there with her daughter. She was a lovely woman and our friendly banter made our waiting time go by quickly. That same week we bumped into her while we were out and about on a Saturday and once again we exchanged friendly conversation. I said to John afterwards that if we saw her again I was going to ask her to exchange numbers or something because she seemed really cool and I thought maybe we could hang out while I was on maternity leave. Her children are older (6 and 10 or something like that) and she’s a stay at home mom so I figured she could share some of her motherly wisdom with me. Then came the third run-in at our local grocery store no less. Turns out she lives just minutes from where John and I live. We laughed about how funny it was that we had bumped into each other again and that’s when I did it! I said we should hang out; I wrote down my name, number, and email address and gave it to her. I didn’t end up asking for her information in case she felt uncomfortable, I just said if she ever wanted to have coffee or something to give me a call. That call never came. And coincidentally I haven’t bumped into her since. Maybe she’s spotted me in the grocery store and hid until the coast was clear, who knows.
I used to say I don’t need any more friends because I was quite happy with the ones I already had. Then of course I met some fabulous women who have become very dear to me and I realized that was a stupid thing to think. Why would I not be open to bringing more wonderful people into my life, to learn from them, laugh with them?! True, John and I have a hard time juggling quality time with the friends we’ve got, but that’s no reason to shut out potential new friends.
So I gave it a shot and was shot down, no biggie. It was a social experiment and I didn’t die of embarrassment so I’d give it another whirl if the opportunity presented itself. Watch out, I could be coming for you next!
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