#76- mothering & men

Moby-wraps are not to be underestimated. They are significantly better than a bjorn for comfort sake, (well, when they are so little anyway. Kind of constraining for the more active baby) I got mine (a home-made one!) from my dear neighbour.

Oliver falls asleep within seconds in it, no fail! Isaac and Rosalie also like to carry THEIR babies around in 'wraps'. The other day they both went through the whole process; wrap the baby, rock the baby, hush the baby, and then I found Isaac next to the crib very gently untying his wrap to lay his baby down. 
Adorbs.Speaking of manliness, WHAT is more exciting than enormous trees being chopped down right across the road on a dismal March week?? Isaac has been over-the-moon about it, not only getting to watch the cranes and chopping and felling, but the other day our friend Fynn came over and they all trekked out and lugged back a bunch of logs to chop up so we can have lots of campfires this year!

Rosie helped for a bit as well, and Isaac had the very important job of stacking the cut pieces; he did an excellent job and worked very hard. They all enjoyed a good rest and some hot cocoa and marshmallows afterwards.

Oh, and here's Rosalie helping me make cookies, I will teach her many wonderful ways! All she needs is her own little apron.

#75- We're waiting for spring

Generally I never like to push spring, it comes when it's good and ready. It always comes. Last year it came a bit too soon and we didn't get any apples; so I want to be sure we'll get apples this year. As well, it helps that it is still snowing so I can keep my gardening ambitions at bay. Another mistake from last year:)
Meanwhile; we have been keeping entertained indoors.
Here's a few pictures of just a normal day...of cuteness.

And heres a tip to having a better day:
-Check your attitude often: your thoughts become your attitude become your action.

With cousin Avraam:)

#74- 2 and 18 months

Oliver went for his final checkup today (FINALLY) At nearly 9 weeks he is a little overdue! I felt a bit funny carrying in my giant baby to the midwives, heehee, but of course he is very interactive and adorable at this age so as my m/w said, "We should delay more final visits! They're just so cute at this age."

True.
So Oliver weighed in at a gorgeous 14.5 lbs, healthy as a bumblebee in spring. He's just over 2 months old.
He's such a sweet and content little boy, so very smiley now and Eric got his first laugh out of him today! Which I got to witness and just melted:)  He is 'sleeping through the night', bed around 8 then waking up to eat between 12 and 3, then sleeps till 6:30 or sometime after, depending on the night. I'm not banking on this being a consistent routine (although I could be very fine with that!:) but it's working for us for sure right now!
He's getting very strong and wiggly, loves to be naked of course, now is quite fond of baths. He loves being held alllll the time still, by far my most snuggly baby!  I'm wondering if he might get some early teeth as he's drooling like an Isaac at a buffet table and chewing on his little hands all the time! My other two were early teethers as well so it's very possible, but probably at least a couple months away.

 Rosalie will hit the milestone of 18 months tomorrow! Honestly, Eric and I just can't believe how big she has gotten. She is such a sweetheart, lately has become quite the chatter box, she has a few sentences now and loves babbling away whether or not we can understand. Her personality and charm are just irresistable.

One of her new-found favourite things to do is colour!! I tried to get Isaac into colouring but he never had any interest, still doesn't really, but will do it once in awhile. Rosie however, once I introduced her to the concept, hasn't stopped colouring, she has a little chalkboard and loves to just scribble away ever so carefully on it, her favourite currently is to walk around with a big crossword book and a pen and every once in awhile stop and start drawing in it then walk off again then stop and repeat. It's so cute. 
She also loves her naptime which is always funny to observe, if we miss it or it's late she covers her eyes with her hands and starts crying and walks to her room where her bunny is to initiate quiet time. 
She has started up a bit of an attitude now, (hellooooo year 2! We're ready for you. ...?) And that is strange to see from her. but also sometimes amusing as she doesn't let Isaac walk all over her anymore but starts sassing him right back. 
The two of the ultimately are getting along very well and enjoy each others company
She has her 18 month doctors appointment next week which I'm sure she'll ace! 

Isaac will be 3 in a couple months...and I'll have an update on him then! He gets his own entry!:)
Grow, little ones, grow! 

#73- Snowman fail

Joy of joys; snowman building with the children, run inside to grab my camera to take beautiful pictures of them and the snowman and all the fun we have together, "don't knock it down!!" run back out and this is what I see:

"Children!! What happened to the snowman??"

#72- you put the heart in community

What better way to start a Sunday than breakfast with dear friends? I would like to make this into a poem but I am lacking the creativity at the moment. Anyway; I'm ever so grateful for these wonderful people:)

#71- Don't bug the baby

It's taken 3 newborns to figure this one out; my two oldest children slept beside our bed for the first 3 months (with Rosalie, nearly 4) of their lives. This, we thought, was easiest. 
They wake up, I don't even have to get out of bed to feed them, we all go back to sleep, everyone is happy. Or at least I assumed this was the best possible scenario, often I would find myself feeling frustrated at the baby having a 'rough' night where he or she was waking up 5 or more times during the night to eat and being impossible to put back down, but I would tell myself that it could have been so much worse if I had to trek across the house to retrieve the little one and sit in a cold rocking chair to feed for 20 minutes.

Oliver was quite a noisy sleeper in his first couple weeks of life, grunting, sighing, sniffing, whimpering; we tried different things, thinking he was too close to the window, too sensitive to the light, in the wrong sleeping position, just wanted to be held, wasn't swaddled tight enough, didn't like swaddling, etc etc, it was also very difficult to get him to STAY sleeping once we got him down at night. Finally one night we decided to try and see how it would go to put him to bed in the crib in the toy-room.
BY HIMSELF.
We didn't hear from him after we got him down for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS (in case you have never been a parent of a breastfed newborn, this is a very long time) of course when I woke up and looked at the clock I completely panicked and ran to his room to see if he was still alive, which of course woke him up and I proceeded to feed the certainly starving little chubster, and ever so carefully put him back down and didn't hear from him again till morning, 3 hours later.
We thought we must have just gotten lucky, but it's been over a week now and he consistently has been sleeping at night for up to 5 hours straight at a time before waking up to eat.

And it has dawned on me; I think I was the one waking him up, not the other way around!
For the first few weeks, there is nothing lovelier -and definitely beneficial- as snuggling and sleeping with your baby, and being always very near. In fact, I think it's an essential part of a newborns development and creating a close bond and trust to you. 
However after the baby has regained his birth weight and then some, breastfeeding is established, and there is some kind of pattern to his sleep schedule, more often than not  the baby does not need to eat every 2 hours round the clock, especially if he is eating every 2 hours during the day. (this is not medical advice, only my experience with my children) with Isaac I automatically fed him whenever he seemed cranky and irritable, and at night it seemed the best way to get him back to sleep, which was true. but now I'm realizing that not every sigh and whimper through the night means hunger. I think I was afraid of moving Oliver sooner because I thought i wouldn't be able to hear him. Trust me, unless you are an incredibly deep sleeper, if you find yourself waking up to your baby snuffling and sniffling, you will definitely wake up to the sound of your baby crying because he or she is hungry. But often the baby is just sorting things out on their own before settling back to deep sleep. A healthy, growing baby will let you know when they are hungry!

So all this to say; we are ALL sleeping better, it's kind of sad for me because I did enjoy having Oliver so close to us during the night, but in my groggy states of waking up during the night and grabbing him and fumbling around to feed or comfort, I think I was really just bugging him more often than not and he just wanted to go back to sleep!

Of course I know there will be stages where he is up a whole lot during the night (I haven't forgotten growth spurts and teething!) and in those times we will keep the bassinet by the bed just in case, but for the most part, I think this has been the solution for us!:)
Good luck to anyone who wants to try this, and to new moms I'd say, if the thought of moving your newborn out of your room seems too much, maybe just try even moving them to the end of your bed instead of right next to you, or across your room, so they are still with you, but not 'cheek to cheek' so that you wake up to every grunt. Also as a sidenote; I know many mothers do co-sleep and everyone does just fine and sleeps even better! I am not condemning this practice at all, whatever works and keeps mom, dad (dont' forget about dad) and baby happy for the first while! But if you are having a hard time with a noisy sleeper, it can't hurt to try it one night! Your baby may surprise you!

#70- Be the boss of your breastfeeding

I recently saw a poll on the internet simply asking 'do you breastfeed in public?' with two options: YES or NO.
Not conditional; you're on one side or the other apparently.

I think the public is pretty well informed now that Breast is Best for Baby. Every single pregnant woman has this fact drilled into them before they have even conceived; and it's all well and good. I'm all for breastfeeding. But what has been really bothering me lately is the increase in pressure on how you go about doing it.

We all know the stories of women being told to 'please put it away' in restaurants and malls, causing an absolute uproar among the breastfeeding community, whom often respond by protests usually involving a group of women storming the offending location, whipping out their breasts and nursing their little nurslings in defiance.

We hear the slogans and posts and articles on breastfeeding not being a crime, not being shameful, how women have the right, it's feeding your child, no different than giving them a bottle in public, breasts are for the babies, etc etc.
And it's all well in good, if a lady is going to breastfeed in public, so she should, and how she does it, whether stark naked or in a burka is really none of my business. We are all well aware we live in a free country concerning our state of apparel.

But how about us modest mouses? Not all of us feel comfortable feeding our wee ones in certain circumstances. And we have the equal right to cover up as we see fit. However there is increasing amounts of subtle pressures to these women to feel badly about their levels of comfort. 'What, are you ASHAMED of your body? Don't you KNOW breastfeeding is BEAUTIFUL? Why are you letting the opinion of others keep you from feeding your child? They're JUST breasts. If someone has an issue with you exposing them in public, it's THEIR problem.'

Let's be frank; if breasts were not a big deal, it wouldn't even be an argument on when, where or why you're exposing them in public, but because it gets everyone as giddy as gummy bears to see someone breastfeeding openly, it's natural that some women would rather not breastfeed in public all together, or at least cover up. It's not like some young fellow walks by and thinks "ooooooh, a breast. Oh wait, that's not a breast, it's a natural feeding device for that young human child. Interest lost. Carry on!"
Haha, but seriously.

Again, I personally am not bothered or in the least offended by how other women choose to breastfeed, I myself prefer to have some privacy in public, and even in the company of friends and family feel more comfortable with a blanket or scarf on hand (or on chest, ta ha ha) It's nto because I'm ashamed or embarrassed, it's just my comfort level.
So come on, this really shouldn't be such a big issue, I mean why make a poll about it? I'll be a voice for the ladies out there who are feeling a little put down by the pressures of some of the more liberal; Let the girl be!
'Nough said.