Easter Catch Up

Here are some pictures from Easter Morning. Cheers.

 Oops, a bit blurry.

Colin at the start of the egg trail. He only picked up one.

Just some of his Easter Treats.

Illness Day Two

Well our night was good considering what was going on with Colin. He woke just before 3am and I gave him some Tylenol before settling him back into bed. He went back to sleep quickly and stayed asleep until 6:40am. Since he barely ate the day before I got up and nursed him before giving him his meds and putting him back to bed (he didn't want to stay awake!). He slept until about 8:30am. I brought him into bed with us after this, thinking he would snuggle and watch TV but he fell back to sleep for about 30 minutes in our bed.

Once he got up for the third time, he actually got down on the floor and played with his toys which was nice to see as last night he was feeling so badly he could hardly interact with us, let alone play.  He did have two more naps about 2-3 hours each and was ready for bed at his usual bedtime of 7:30pm. Although there was times during the day where you could tell he was sick he also had a lot of happy grins to share.

A happy note: Colin's new trick is to be on his knees in the bath tub, hands in the air and then fall down on to his hands, splashing himself and me. He crawls up and down the length of the bath tub doing this and laughing. Very funny to watch and I encouraged him in this activity tonight just because it was nice to see him happy.

Disclaimer: I'll be so happy to have my healthy happy boy back.

Rough days lately.

My poor little boy has become so sick, suddenly, even after being seen by three different doctors, three days in a row.

His fever spiked to 103.6 this afternoon so I called the nurses line (8-1-1) and they said to watch for changes in his breathing, try to get him to drink/eat as much as possible etc. About an hour later Colin was breathing fast and his tummy was moving not just his chest/rib cage. So I took him to the ER and he has a respitory infection as well as an eye infection and a fever compliments of the r. infection. He also puked all over himself and me.

By the time we got home it was two hours past his bed time. Colin was so tired and sick he was practically limp and didn't bother moving as I put him on the couch, gave his meds and changed his pjs. I hope he gets some relief tonight and gets enough sleep. He hasn't eaten much so I am kinda expecting him to wake to eat in the night. That said I should get to bed.

Disclaimer: Fingers crossed for a good night.

A day late.

Even though I have good intentions to post daily, some days it's just not going to happen. Wither I'm procrastinating, busy or just plain lazy and wanting me time I am bound to skip days.

Anyway, Colin had his one year checkup yesterday. The doctor was pleased with his progress. He is weighing in at 21 lbs 7 oz and measuring at 28.7 inches tall.  So not yet big enough to turn his car seat around so that he can be forward facing, and not yet tall enough for all the shorts he received for his birthday to fit him but he'll get there.

Yesterday and today Colin has had some goo in his eyes and his daycare wanted him to be checked before returning. I took him to the walk in clinic this morning and was told it was not an infection and that he wasn't contagious. So we'll see what tomorrow brings and if he goes back to daycare and myself back to work.

Disclaimer: At least I still get paid when I have to take time off work to take care of my sick boy.

Fabulous Weekend

Whew, what a weekend. I, for one, had a great couple of days. Colin's birthday was Friday. Saturday we had dinner with Chad's family, yummy turkey. On Sunday I got Colin out of bed and showed him the Easter eggs that I had set out the night before. Colin picked up one and played with it but couldn't care about the rest. We had another turkey supper with my parents and family along with more Easter treats. Today we went to my aunt's for a Easter egg hunt and dinner. Colin managed to pick up four chocolate eggs and put them in his basket before losing interest.

And tomorrow I can sleep in (as long as Colin lets me) as I don't have to work until the afternoon. Colin has his one year check up. I can't wait to see how tall he is and what his weight is. I've been putting him on our scale but as he won't stand on it I can only estimate his weight at 22 lbs. I'll update tomorrow!

Disclaimer: I take no credit for the above picture. Found it on google. Happy Easter!

My Baby Turns One

Last year I was crying to God and any body who would listen to help me as baby was stuck in the birth canal but my body was working overtime to get him out, not knowing it was not happening. This year I went into Colin's bedroom with joy, crying out "Happy birthday baby!"

What a difference a year makes. I knew that a baby was the next step in my life but had such a hard time adjusting to being a parent that I believe I was bordering on Post Par tum Depression. I was ready to give him up and forget about being a mother. Now, on this day, this happy day, I can't imagine what I would be doing if he wasn't here, in our lives.

We spent the morning at home, doing our normal routine. Before heading out Colin got his hair cut and I dressed him in his Birthday Boy shirt that I had made for him.

We had his party at my parent's house as it is bigger then ours and we were expecting around 30 people, mostly family. About 25 people showed up so it was good. Busy but good. I planned everything to be kid friendly, even though Colin obviously wouldn't participate in the crafts etc. We had "Alligator Soup" (homemade chicken noodle with toy gators in it), buns and veggies. Very simple but tasty. I was happy that the soup turned out as I cooked the chickens myself and I am not a good cook. But the highlight was of course the cake.

By the time we had cake Colin was getting a bit tired so he didn't get as into the spirit as I thought. Although he did get icing up to his eyebrows (and I don't have a picture of that, but I'm sure someone else does). After a quick bath I opened his presents as he was not interested in them at all.

Of course he was spoiled by everyone but didn't get too many toys. He's not yet at the stage of actually playing with toys, he's still mouthing and banging things. He received a lot of summer clothes which I am thankful for as he doesn't have any and now probably has enough for the summer :)

At the end of this busy day I am thankful that I have a reason to celebrate. That I have a healthy happy son. He is everything.

Disclaimer: How blessed I am to have had Colin Derek chose me as his mother.

Clipping away at the branches

I've muted the TV so that I can listen to my son gurgle, coo, laugh and chat away in his bed. I laid him down 45 minutes ago, after he was moments away from sleep on my chest. All was quiet after I put him to bed and left the room. All was quiet as I mopped the floor. And all was quiet as I settled down on the couch to watch game shows and House, and to surf the net.

I love that I have someone in my life that makes me sit in silence just to listen to his baby jargon. I love that I have a baby to make me wonder about the small things.

So I still have a lot of branches in my head. Here we go.....

I mopped my kitchen floor tonight. You know your not a good housewife when you feel accomplished over mopping. And it's no wonder that I don't mop more often as 15 minutes after I had finished my husband walked across the floor with his muddy shoes. He had watched me mop.....

Colin is getting another tooth. It's finally at the surface, about to cut through. I knew something was going. He's a bit cranky but more tired. Hoping it cuts soon.

I have ordered a birthday boy shirt for Colin, now just have to get the ingredients for chicken noodle soup, biscuits and ribbon for the goody bags. I will try to get all of this done tomorrow so that I can have a couple days to prepare for the day.

My cousin in law showed up and I lost some of the branches that I was going to write about. We'll see if they come back tomorrow.

Disclaimer: My son was still chatting away 1 hour, 15 minutes after I put him to bed.

My mind is full of branches right now.

The weekend is almost over, I have to go back to work tomorrow and right now I have so many things in my head that I think I want to write about (but may not) that it makes me think of ripples on a lake or a tree branching out. Hopefully I can make all these thoughts flow together nicely.

                                                           Fall leaves on the way to Banff Ab. on our honeymoon.

So I am very happy that Colin is doing great at daycare. So far he has no separation anxiety and is so happy to see me when I pick him up. That makes me smile, when he stretches his arms out to me.

Work is good as well, but it's only been one week and most of my clients haven't been there.

This work will be short, only 4 days because of Good Friday. And also on Good Friday is my baby's first birthday! I am excited, I have gone over board on the games and things for it but I want Colin's older cousins to have fun. I will have so much more to say about this next weekend. Wow, I will have a 1 year old!

This weekend my husband made a comment about my son's mood and my parenting. Let's just say this made me mad, upset and cry just a little. We haven't really spoken since and I think he's realizing that he hurt my feelings.

I also have a new baby cousin (like a second cousin I guess). A little girl. I am happy it's a girl because that means Colin is still the little boy of the family (the other boy is 7 years older). Girls run in our family. I'm also happy that she wasn't born on Colin's birthday! That might not seem like the nicest things to say but I'm honest.

I finally got pictures printed so I put them in a photo album and have a bunch to put into his scrapbook. Hopefully I make some time to scrap, maybe after Colin's birthday.

That I'd add this older picture of me as a goodbye.

Disclaimer: This is me after removing my braids from Cuba.

What's next??

So two days ago our water pump broke. Chad tried to fix it but we had to buy a new one, plus parts to get it properly hooked up. That was about $500. Then today our toilet starts leaking! So Chad went and got more parts to fix that.

Before all this we were planning on changing our monthly RESP deposit to an annual one which is a $2700.00 lump sum. Gulp, we have about half of it on hand....

Because I just returned to work there is a gap between my last EI payment and my pay day from work. So of course all of these costs are popping up. Sigh, have we won the lottery yet?

Disclaimer: I am still thankful for the roof over my heat, clothes on my back and food in my tummy. Amen.

Mail Call!

I received two parcels in the mail today. I love when I get good, interesting mail, not just bills. So one was all of the birthday things I ordered for my baby's first birthday. His party is jungle themed so I found a great Canadian site that has great prices on goody bag items, decorations and toys. I got safari hats, cups, goody bag items.....I can't wait!

Some people think I'm going over bored but it's his first birthday, it will never come again. And I know he won't remember but there will be pictures and I will tell him stories :) Also I have lots of nieces and a nephew, also cousins that will be there and I need games to keep everyone entertained.

Disclaimer: I may be sad on his birthday.

I survived.

The light is beginning to fade as the end of day is coming and I survived my first full day back at work. It was only 5.5 hours of direct work but I was out of the house and away from Colin for seven hours. He went to daycare again, he spent the last week there. So far he hasn't cried when I leave so that is good and makes me feel good also.

I felt good about being back at work. For a couple hours I wasn't just Mommy. I was Lyndsay. I was looked to for help and people asked about me, how I was and how things were going. That was nice. Satisfying.

Hopefully the rest of the week, month, year goes as well and I continue to enjoy being back at work. I hope it's as smooth and easy as today was and I don't have any added stresses on me.

Disclaimer: I'm also looking forward to the money.

The Last Weekend

It's finally here. Over a year has gone by since I left work for my mat leave. I didn't think I would go off a month before my due date but I had so much trouble with my pelvis and hips that I just didn't want to work anymore! Colin was born 3 weeks later.....

Tomorrow I go back to work, actual work. Back in the classroom, back with the kids. I'm not too worried about working but how the different needs and requirements of all the different lives will come together and mesh well so that I don't feel overwhelmed and stressed. I don't want to hate my job. I want to feel like it's a good part of my life that is adding to it, not taking away.

I am also in the process of becoming a La Leche League Canada Leader. If I become one then I will be responsible for organizing meetings, spreading the word about the group, giving info about breastfeeding etc. It is something that's needed in the community, I just hope I'm not getting in over my head!

I should have been on the ball and registered for more school courses for my ECE. But I got busy, lazy, and forgot and now I think I will have to wait until the fall. I'm such a procrastinator!

Well the biggest event of the weekend was the local Trade Show. It's probably one of the biggest events this small town has. Last year it was guessed that 15,000 people went through the building. There is such a collection of home based businesses like Miche purses, Partylite, Princess House and Gramma's Attic to the commercial booths like steam mops, spray foam house insulation, knives and pots and pans and then local businesses like Glow Portraits , Just Like Grams , and This & That. We did good, I only bought a jar of pickled carrots, mini donuts and raffle tickets for our hospital foundation.

Now, I'm lazing on the couch, with the ACM awards show re-run on tv while my son sleeps. I don't plan to do anything today except maybe go to yoga. Today is good.

Disclaimer: I am always looking for good pickled carrots.

The weekend is upon us.

Sometimes I feel that I should be writing about things in the order that they happen. Like, if I post about my pregnancy, the next one should be about his birth. And if I post about Colin getting ready for daycare then I shouldn't go back to the first couple months of his life because it will get confusing and, if I get more followers, they won't know what's going on or where to start. But I think the point of this blog, for me, is that I am able to write whatever I want, whenever I want. So I guess, if your new and want to follow along, comment and ask questions to get caught up.

I have more to say about the weeks after Colin's birth and what led me to become a "Baby Whispering Mama" but I don't think this post is right for that. So onto today's events.

I had to go into work today for a couple hours, just to do paperwork and get familiar with the new building. I think I am ready to go back to work but I guess we will see on Monday when I am actually back in the classroom and working with the kids. I think what's helping is that in the back of my mind is the fact that I know I can quit if I don't like being back at work.

I've heard people say that it's hard to take care of other people's kids all day and then come home to your own but for the past week while Colin has been testing out daycare (and I've been doing whatever I want again) I am happy to pick him up, I appreciate him and enjoy being a mother again. I think this is a good thing.

Disclaimer: I will not always have pictures in my posts. Sorry!

Last day of Mat Leave

Today is my last day of maternity leave before I rejoin the work force. I was actually suppose to go back last Friday but because Colin's daycare wanted him to do a slow transition into the center I took more time off. But he is adjusting so well except for a couple short naps. He hasn't shown any separation anxiety (yet) and enjoys the kids that are in the daycare with him. Colin follows this little girl around, which is very cute.

Tomorrow is only a few hours of work, just to do some paperwork and read up on the children I will be working with. Then Monday I'm back in the classroom. I think I'm ready but we'll see. I did want to go back but I wasn't sure if I would go after a year or wait. After thinking about it, money wise it makes sense for me to go back. I do like my job, it's what I plan to do for the rest of my working life. Plus I know that I can quit and stay home if I don't like it.

The past two days I have been doing a lot of errands while Colin has been at daycare. I got a massage, did some shopping and got some work done for my aunt's store. I had to go to three different banks today, one I went to twice. Other then clean my house I think I have gotten things accomplished :)

Disclaimer: I love when I pick Colin up from daycare and he's so happy to see me.

Cheap Day Grocery Shopping

Today is 10% Tuesday at Safeway stores. I try to get all my groceries on this day, enough for a month but I know I will be making return trips at least twice for milk and bananas and other random things that I didn't know I needed. You can get 10% off your purchases or 10x your air miles. I always get the 10% off.

Now, I know that Safeway is the most expensive grocery store in my town. A lot of people tell me "Your not actually saving money on 10% Tuesday because Safeway's prices are so high". I hear all of this but I still shop at Safeway.

I like Safeway. I like being able to find the things I want/need. I can never find things in other stores and end up going back and forth, from one end of the store to the other, looking for the items I have on my list. I really like the produce selection. Other stores don't carry as much or there is just something off about the taste of other stores product (cucumbers especially). I like that the parking lot is huge and I don't have to drive around and around looking for a space and then worrying about backing up without running into another vehicle like in other store parking lots. Safeway is my comfort store.

After taking my baby to daycare I hit up Safeway. I filled my cart to brim, got almost everything on my list and then some. I even used some coupons that I had been carrying around for months. Now I'm not like The Krazy Coupon Lady and I only saved $78 but that's good enough for me. My bill was under $300, so I was only over by a wee bit. I even had time to get it all home and put away in the cupboards before going to pick up my son. Mission accomplished!

Disclaimer: Couponing is hard. Coupon Gods, make it easier.

Another week

What a quiet weekend for the blog. Saturday I packed up my son and went to the neighbouring province, to the 'big city' to go shopping. I needed to return some things, purchase new items for Colin's first birthday and buy more shoes! I love shoes. Saturday and Sunday were busy and internet was not always available so no posts were made. So lets place catch up....

These are all the shoes I have purchased in the last week. The first pair are hot pink and have a killer heel. Not quite the momma shoe but I will find somewhere to where them! The boots were a sale item, cost me about $30!! Amazing deal. I now need some skinny jeans and/or leggings even though I don't like skinny jeans. Oh shucks, more shopping ;). The last pair are actually orange in colour and tres cute! I imagine them being super cute with a jean skirt or dark wash jeans. I feel like I need to plan events to wear these shoes to!

Today my son went to daycare. He only went for 1.5 hrs as part of a transition into full time, 6+ hours care. He didn't cry when I left but was happy to see me when I got back. He was only there long enough to play, and not during nap time so it was very easy on him and the daycare staff. Tomorrow he will go for about 3 hours and will have snack and nap there. We will see how it goes! I think that if the staff follow my instructions it will be great.

I also went to a Breastfeeding Friendly Fort St. John event, to raise awareness on breastfeeding, breastfeeding in public and the community supports that there are in town. I then looked into becoming a LLLC leader as we don't have one in town and we only have one lacation consultant for a population of about 17,000. We also have one of the highest birth rates per capita in the province (this may not being 100% true anymore but thats what I've been told). We'll see if anything works out with this.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/breastfeedingfriendlyfsj

Now I am sitting at home, baby is napping and I have caught up on most of the things I wanted done today. But I just remembered that I have laundry waiting in the washer and dryer...needing to be folded and switched over etc etc. Housework calls!

Disclaimer: One day I'll have a housecleaner.

Sidetracked

Before I get sidetracked talking about family trees, I want to get another post done about the days and weeks after my baby came into the world!
In total I spent four nights in the hospital. I was soo ready to go home. I was craving the normalcy of our pre baby life. The day after Colin was born I had already had some self doubt. I thought "We should have waited a couple more years, I'm not ready, I can't do this anymore". I think this is very typical but I had anxiety about how my current relationships with people, mostly my husband, were going to be affected by me becoming a mother.

The first night at home was hard because I had gotten conflicting advice from my doctor and the nurses about feeding the baby. The doctor said only feed every three hours but the nurses said feed whenever he's hungry which could be every hour. How confusing!!

Colin was a great baby, he slept a lot, ate every few hours but took a long time to nurse! About an hour total. I was napping every chance I got and also completing school work for my ECE program. I still felt badly though. I felt bad that I didn't want to hold him every minute of the day. I felt bad when he would cry and I didn't know what to do. I felt bad that he would keep my husband up at night and felt like I should be able to make him happy and stop crying.  My family offered to take him overnight so we could catch up on sleep but I was afraid to let him go overnight because I feared that I wouldn't want him back in the morning, and that I would resent him when I did have to take him home. I also had thoughts of giving him to my sister and going back to be Auntie. I was good at being Auntie. I knew how to be Auntie. I didn't know how to be Mommy.

Disclaimer: Our bond grew daily, and I began to want to hold him all the time :D

Ancestry.ca

Caved in and paid the fees for looking into other people's family trees and records and found my Great Great Grandparents complete with pictures! Very cool to see, added them to Facebook for my Grandad to see his Grandparents. Eager to do more looking later and will have more blog entries later.

Disclaimer: Baby is sleeping and I need to shower.

A new chapter, a new life.

5:45 am April 20th 2010 I woke up thinking I was peeing the bed. Yup, sometimes you pee yourself when your hugely pregnant. It happens.
I got out of bed to change my clothes and realized that even though I was awake and had control of my bladder, liquid was still running down my leg. I guessed that it might be amniotic fluid but since I didn't want to have my baby in April I was very tempted to go back to be and pretend like it was nothing! But I finally talked myself into going to the hospital to get checked out. Since I wasn't 100% sure my water broke I told Chad that I was going and he could stay home. It wasn't like the baby was coming that instant. After 1.5 hours at the hospital I was told that yes, my water broke, I was maybe 1 cm dilated if that and to go home and rest and if nothing happened by 6am the next day to come back. Home I went and I was pissed off. I had a full schedule of things to do before my due date. I had two prenatal classes left, a breastfeeding class, pregnancy pictures, a pedicure. All that day I felt mad at the baby for deciding to come now, in April. Didn't he know he was 2 weeks, 2 days early??

37 w 5 days

Nothing exciting happened that day, a couple of barely noticeable contractions. I finished the last minutes set up of the baby's room and also swept and mopped the floors, cleaned the house etc. That night I went to bed like normal as still nothing was going on. At 2am I was awoken by stronger contractions and while they didn't really hurt, they were strong enough to keep me from sleeping and they were close together 3-4 minutes. I thought "Wow if these are as bad as they get I'm in luck". I woke up my husband and we went to the hospital because I thought the contractions being that close together meant something. I was checked out and was told I was still about 1 cm and the contractions weren't doing anything. I was given a sleeping pill and sent home. We slept until noon and then got up and puttered around the house. My mom, sister, niece and nephew came over and we walked around the yard for a bit. Around 3 pm the contractions were beginning to hurt, enough that I stopped walking through them. Once again we went back to the hospital. This time I stayed. When the nurse checked I was about 2-3 cm but her doing the internal hurt so bad I cried out and refused to let her check again. I had to wait until 11pm until my doctor was off his ER shift to come up and check me. By then I was on a IV for dehydration, given a shot of morphine for pain (that did nothing), tried the shower and the tub but only found a bit of relief on the ball. My doctor came in, broke my water again (baby had come down and sealed it off, leaving fluid up above) and offered an epidural. I immediately said yes, I was only 4 cm. By midnight I was sleeping.

By 7am (April 22nd) I was ready to push and did so for 3 hours. The doctor came in and talked about using the vacuum but after doing an internal decided that baby was face up and stuck so a c-section was the way to go. By this time I was in so much pain I just wanted it to end. They topped up my epidural, just enough to last til I got to the OR. They wheeled me downstairs only to bring me back up again because another emergency c-section had to go first. That baby was in distress. The medication was wearing off and I was back in horrible pain as my body was still trying to get the baby out, not knowing he was stuck. My contractions were never ending, right on top of one another so I didn't have any breaks. I remember saying "I just need a break" over and over. I got a little more epidural, again just enough to get me to the OR (after being told by the male anesthesiologist that I would just have to deal) and was taken back downstairs. When I finally got into the OR and on the table, the spinal was done.....and didn't take. I was strapped to the table, still in pain. I was finally put under general anesthesia. Colin Derek was born via c-section at 1:43 pm April 22nd 2010.

It was after 3pm before I woke up after the surgery. Chad was told I lost more blood the usual and the placenta was attached oddly or where it shouldn't have been and so the surgeon had to remove it. I remember having my eyes closed but hearing people moving about around me. A nurse said something to me, I think she asked if I wanted to know the sex of our baby. I said yes and in my head I was saying "It's ok if it's a girl, it's ok if it's a girl". My whole pregnancy I was convinced the baby was a boy. The nurse said it was a boy and I couldn't help but smile.

He was 7 lbs 8 oz and 50 cm long. He had dark hair and brown eyes from the beginning. He had a cut on the back of his head from being brought back up the birth canal and out of my stomach but it healed quickly. I don't remember him crying very much for the first day or so, he just slept and had to be forced to nurse. He was very content.

Disclaimer: I would have been more then happy with a baby girl, I was just so sure he was a boy, I wanted to be right! ;)