Sam & Suzy: 8 weeks

Sam did end up catching a cold last week. It wasn't too bad, just mainly a stuffy nose. He ran a little fever at daycare and I took him to the doctors just to be safe. All was good and I got some great tips to help Sam. I love our doctors! We chose a practice that practices integrated medicine since I believe that pills don't always have to solve everything. Sam just got prescribed time with the humidifier.

Oh and then Sam gave the cold to Rob, which hit him pretty good on Memorial Day. It tried getting to me too, but I fought it off. It knew better.


Sam:
Mornings are now my favorite time with Sam. We prop him up on the boppy while we're getting ready and he's just smiling and talking away. It puts me in a good mood. It's just amazing to see this little guy grow and change in such a short amount of time.


Suzy:
I'm sure it's partially hormones, but if I don't get at least one block of 3 hours solid sleep in a night I am not a happy camper. It really sucks and I try not to be like that, but I can't help it. And when I'm like that, I take it out on Rob, which is not fair. Thankfully, Sam is sleeping a lot more. Like a couple nights ago I got about 4 hours of sleep, fed him and then other 2 hours. Awesome!

Things I Love Thursdays

Ever since I read all the Secret books, my life has completely changed. I am now way more positive. Although I will admit since having Sam and learning to become a new mom, it's hard to stay positive sometimes. Like when you wake up every hour throughout the night and then try to function like a normal person. And I noticed that those days, things don't go so well. But I am trying again to keep up the positivity and one way to do that is list what you're grateful for!

I recently discovered Gala Darling, a great blog written by Gala, a lovely hip chick, that's about living a more positive life. Every Thursday Gala does a Things I Love Thursday post, and she recommended we try it too. So here's my first Things I Love Thursday (TILT) post!

- Sam's smiles and babbling in the mornings

- The digital photo frame at work and when it shows an old photo of me and Rob

- When my dad tells me he prints the photos of Sam from Facebook for my mom to see and in the morning he puts a photo next to her coffee

- The beer app Untappd, and how me and Rob talk smack with our friends through it

- I finally started getting into The New Girl season 2 and it's hilarious

- My new glasses

- Giggling with the office girls, they crack me up

- iTunes radio has some great stations, I've been really digging CBC 3, Canadian indie rock

- While my body can't produce enough for Sam, I still love breast feeding him and having him close to me like that

- I love Rob and all that he does for me. Seriously, this guy works so hard and sometimes has to put up with my negative attitude

- Those nights (which are becoming more common) of 4 hour blocks of sleep

- Taking a shower when Sam's still sleeping

- We work in an awesome area with bars, cool restaurants and concerts (even though we can't really do any of those right now)

- I'm so happy the weather is warm again and all the trees have their leaves. It's so beautiful outside

- Going to bed at dusk, it's so peaceful to me

- Getting lunch from the CommonMarket on Fridays

- Sam's daycare and his teachers

Book Review: Beyond the Sling

image from here

A couple weeks ago I was flipping channels and saw a piece on Good Morning America about how stars like Danica McKellar (Winnie from Wonder Years) and Mayim Bialik (Blossom and Big Bang Theory) use attachment parenting with their kids. Mayim even wrote a book about it.

I thought attachment parenting was some super hippy thing, but after watching that piece and learning more what it's about and how these super intelligent (mathematician and neuroscientist!) do it, I was pretty interested. So I checked out Beyond the Sling by Mayim Bialik, her book about living an attachement parenting life.

I love this book! She's like my bestie! This book is right up my alley on my views on parenting. While I may not want to follow everything that attachment parents do like co-sleeping and elimination communication, that's ok! She even says that's ok. As long as you understand why they do those things and maybe use that philosophy in your own way on how you raise your kids.

The bottom line of the book is you know your kids better than anyone. Do what feels right and instinctual to you. Don't feel you need to follow the norm and pressures of other parents around you. Kids and babies are just that, kids and babies.

Another awesome thing that she said in the book, which doesn't have anything to do with attachement parenting really is to slow down. Life is super crazy these first few months and you won't and can't do everything. And I've heard it many many times before, but for some reason hearing "slow down" rather than, "don't try to do everything" just really resonated with me.

Anyways, I really enjoyed reading this book. It makes me excited to be a parent. It made me feel good too because I've had plenty of people give me advise already and while I do honestly listen to what every tells me, sometimes it bothers me what they say. I've actually cried about some of the things people have said because it's like they are telling me (in a nice way) what I am doing as a mother is wrong. 'Specially when people tell me that I'm spoiling Sam by holding him. I spent 2 1/2 years trying to have a baby (tough years too) and 9 months carrying him inside me...I'm going to hold this little miracle as much as I want to.

Sam & Suzy: 7 weeks

getting ready to go to daycare*

Sam started daycare this week! And you know, it went way easier than I thought it would. When we dropped him off, he was just looking around the room and he didn't cry when his teacher held him. Sure I cried a little, but because he seemed fine and his teachers are super nice, it made it easier for me. I worked from home that day and it was so nice to be alone in a quiet house. I think I would've felt different if I went straight back to the office. I went and visited Sam at lunch and he was just chilling in a bouncer and then fell asleep as I held him. And when we picked him up, he was totally asleep. He slept so good that night too! I think that is a successful day!

A couple days later and he's still doing great. Only cries when he's hungry they say. Again, such a relief for me. I'm enjoying my time back in the office, being around the girls again. We get home and I snuggle with Sam and play with him. Then we all sleep for a good few hours until the next feeding. I couldn't be any happier!

Only bad thing...he already got the sniffles. Last night his nose was all stuffy. He hasn't gotten worse, which is good and he only got a little fussy during the night. It was inevitable, after all is it daycare filled with snotty kids.

Sam:

He's changed so much this past week. He looks more like a baby now, rather than a tiny newborn. Sam's much more alert and awake during the day. He likes being in the swing now, whether sleeping or awake. His hands have more control which he uses to rub his eyes or punch me while I breastfeed. He's starting to make more noises.

And the best of all...Sam smiles now! When he wakes up in the morning is when he smiles the most. It's the sweetest thing ever. Even this morning after sniffling all night, he woke up and gave me some smiles.

Suzy:

I'm doing pretty good. I've been dealing with back pain, which sucks when trying to pick up a baby. I need to start strengthening my core again and pay another visit to the chiropractor. I haven't had a chance to do any exercising since we're still getting used to our new schedule with work and day care. 

I started pumping at work. Now that's interesting. Currently I have to pump in the nice bathroom on the floor above us. It's not so bad. I just put a little sign up saying I'm pumping, but still come in. We're going to have a bigger new office later this summer, so I'll get to pump in one of the storage rooms, which will be much nicer and not like a crappy regular storage room. I pump twice a day. Which you'd think I'd pump a lot of milk, but nope I still pump the same amount as if I pumped and breast fed throughout the day. That's pretty frustrating since it's bit of a hassle to pump, at least reward me with a lot a milk! Oh well, the main point is to keep going that way I can continue to breast feed Sam at home. I have to say, I love breast feeding Sam, I love the closeness and he's so darn cute when he's feeding. I'm grateful that I can do it at all. I'm curious to see how long I can keep it up, if I can make it past 6 months, that would be awesome.

*I'm going to start doing the bear photos once a month now

Shaping Up Month 1

I passed my postpartum appointment with flying colors! Ha ha. Since I'm now back to "normal", I can finally start getting my body back into shape. Now, I'm not expecting myself to be exactly how I was before I was pregnant. My body went through way too much for that. Instead I'm just going to work on getting into shape and losing the weight I am meant to lose.

Also, starting soon I'm going to start running again. My goal is to run a half marathon in 2014. That right there will help me get into shape and stay motivated. Thankfully I have Rob and friends who are runners and that always inspires me to run.

And since I have a blog, I have to document it! Besides, it'll help me keep track of how I'm doing. I plan to check in once a month. Even though weight is not really what I want to focus on, it's the easiest to measure.

Pre-Pregnancy Weight - 118 lbs

6 weeks

Pregnancy Weight - 153 lbs ( that's +35lbs)

37 weeks

------------------------------------------------------
May 20th:
Weight - 130 lbs
Exercise Plan - Post natal yoga dvd, walking
Feeling - I'm feeling so ready to get started! Unfortunately I threw out my back pretty good and I have to take it very easy. Going to the chiropractor later today. I did manage a very gentle post natal yoga session and I walked the dogs. Bodywise, when I wear maternity clothes, I feel great, those belly bands hold and smooth everything out. When I wear normal clothes, they just fit weird and my mushy tummy sticks out.

crappy bathroom pic

Sam & Suzy: 6 weeks

smiles!!

Sam starts daycare next week and I go back to work full time. It's been very hard for me knowing this. We went back and forth if I should take an extra week at home working part time, but I would have no help since Rob has to be at the office. When Sam is good and sleeping, it's easy for me to work, but when he's fussing, it's very hard by myself. In the end, it's not worth the extra negative stress. Sam will be in awesome hands, getting all the love and attention he needs. And when I get home, I will get to give him all the love I've been storing up for him. I cannot feel guilty, that's one thing that as a mother I cannot fall into.

Sam:
He's becoming a bit more independent. A couple days ago he was fussy and actually did not want to be held. He just laid down looking around. He likes hanging out in his swing more too. I love when he's just chilling and looking around. Watching his eyes taking in the world. We even sat outside one day and he was so content and quiet.

He's also starting to do the Cry at night. I'm so glad I read Happiest Baby on the Block and our Bradley instructor gave us an article that summarizes it which I had Rob read. Once you understand the 4th Trimester concept, the Cry isn't so scary. I knew it would happen and the thing that sucks is, Rob is dealing with him when he's like that. Rob's "making" me go bed early lately so I can have some uninterrupted sleep and orders me back upstairs if I try coming down. I did suggest to Rob to give Sam a bath and last night there was no crying. In fact he ate and took a bath and fell asleep right away for almost 3 hours, 4 hours between feedings. Woah.


Suzy:
I go for my postpartum check up later. I can't wait to get the ok to be able to start exercising again. To do yoga! I think it'll also help me mentally since my body is tired of sitting on the couch, a chair and in bed all the time and it's making a bit irritated. 'Specially when the weather is awesome, sunny and warm. And I just can't wait to start easing into my old clothes. Thankfully summer is almost here and most of my summer clothes are loose fitting.

Another thing I'm trying to do is go easy on myself and not feel I need to do everything. The other day I got so stressed because I didn't finish putting away Sam's clothes, clean the litter box, pump and put away my own clothes. Not good to feel like that, 'specially when I'm tired. So I made a to-do list where I list all the little nit picky things I need to do and allow myself to do just one thing on that list a day. If I do more, great, if not, there's always the next day. I also need to let myself ask Rob to do somethings because he totally will. No...I don't have any control issues, heh.

Bradley Method After

It's about time I follow up on my thoughts about the Bradely Method. If you remember, I first wrote about it here, before I actually had our baby.

So in the end, how did the Bradely Method work out for us?

I had a completely unmedicated labor, so I say it worked pretty well! Seriously, I don't think I would've had the labor and birth I wanted without out taking the class. Rob would probably say he wouldn't have played the amazing role he did if it weren't for taking the class. And, being that our instructor was so awesome and encouraged us to call her if we needed her, we would've had a completely different labor.

When I first went into labor, sure we were excited, but we were calm too because we knew what to start doing and what to expect. We called Susan and asked for advise since my water broke and contractions didn't start. If it weren't for her telling us to stay home and try a few things on our own first, we would've been at the hospital hours before and mostly likely have been induced. But we followed her advise and were able to start labor on our own. Rob was always on top and made sure I was eating and drinking and going to the restroom. When contractions started, we knew to keep me moving, but also take it easy. We knew when it was time to go to the hospital by the frequency and strength of my contractions. And the first time we tried going into the car and my contractions had stopped, we knew that was normal and just the adrenalin slowing things down.

When we got to the hospital we knew exactly what to ask for. Also, having a hospital that supported natural birth greatly helped for we never felt pressured. At the hospital is when Rob really shined as a coach. He was always there at my side listening to me, helping me and giving me love and support. He made sure I kept moving and reminded of the different positions that made labor easier. He let me scream and cry as loud as I needed to. I told Rob exaclty what I needed and not felt demanding. And the moment that never would've happened if we never took the class is when I wanted to give up and Rob looked at me and told me that I could not give up because this is what I wanted and I am strong enough.

All the while, I knew what was going on and what to expect. I told myself to relax as best as I could between contractions, which really helped during pushing. I knew when I was in the different stages of labor. I knew that transition and pushing only lasted a couple hours each. Knowing that in the back of my head didn't make me scared that it would last forever. I remembered how to help my body push when I had my pushing contractions. I remembered that when pushing, it would be one step forward and two steps back at times. Because knowing all that, I just went with it, not worrying myself.

Overall, what the Bradely Method did was give us knowledge, confidence and courage during labor. Again, I highly recommend taking some sort of class, it helps tremendously.

My First Mother's Day

I got to celebrate my first Mother's Day! I had such a wonderful and special day that I will never forget.

I started the day with just me and Sam chilling sleepily in bed since Rob went out running. It was so sweet just being with him. We then headed downstairs where I was greeted with a lovely bouquet of flowers and cards from my boys. I also got this print, it's from the SNES video game EarthBound. I have been wanting this print for a long time and it's just perfect for Sam's room. For breakfast I found this awesome recipe for parmesan and prosciutto waffles and Rob made them for me. OMG, amazing! Can we eat this everyday please?

After breakfast we headed to the botanical gardens. Since I am a mom I got in for free. I was surprised by how crowded it was. It was real nice because they had all these special mom activities and such. I didn't do anything extra since Sam is still super young. We brought lunch and had a picnic, something I love but rarely do. After lunch we walked around the gardens for a while. Sam spent the entire time sleeping. I would too if I was being pushed in a stroller outside surrounded by lovely smelling flowers and a cool breeze. Later we headed up by home and I grabbed me some free frozen yogurt from TCBY. All this free stuff for being a mom, score! We spent the rest of the evening eating leftover baked ziti in front of TV watching Star Trek and Doctor Who.

It was such a great day! Nothing too crazy, but that's how I like it. I told Rob I'd like to go to the botanical gardens every year for Mother's Day.

I feel so lucky to be a mom. Thanks Sam!!

Sam & Suzy: 5 weeks

Here we are at week 5.

My sister got us a Baby Magic Bullet. It's totally cool because I really wanted to try making our own baby food. And the Baby Magic Bullet is too cute. I can't wait to start making some baby food. I wish we had a garden this year so I could make baby food with veggies we grew ourselves. Next year.

The weather is finally starting to warm up and Sam and I have been taking walks everyday. I try to go for at least 30 minutes and make sure we go up a couple hills in the neighborhood because that is a work out. Feel the burn! I'm thinking Sam likes it since he falls asleep pretty quickly. Sometimes he is awake, looking at the tree overhead.


Sam:
We had a bit of a formula issue the other day. Since I'm supplementing, I decided that we should switch to an organic formula. So I decided to make the small hop to Similac Organic since we've been using the regular Similac that he's good with. Yeah...this stuff did not work well with Sam. We had a bad fussy night, followed by constipation, followed by the most icky smelling poo bomb. Rob found on the internet that that happens to a lot of babies using Similac Organic. We started using Earth's Best now and he seems to like it a lot more. Poop is still a bit slow going, but it could be just the actual switch over. Lesson learned though!


Suzy:
I bought some regular jeans at Good Will last weekend. That was interesting since I have no clue what size I am. I tried a few on which fit great, even a little tight. Of course, I get home and now they are big on me. I have to use Rob's belts because my belts are too small.

I'm feeling quite good. Sometimes, when we've had a bad night, I'm not a happy camper. I become quite crabby with Rob, which isn't right because he's not getting sleeping either and he's trying hard to help me out. Once I get the day going though, I've got energy and I'm in a real good mood.

playing with photobooth

I'm a mommy to a boy

I'm going to be real here y'all. Part of the reason I didn't want to find out what I was having when pregnant, was that I really wanted a girl and I didn't want to be disappointed if we found out it was a boy early on.

I wanted to raise a geeky girl who loves comics, sci-fi and can do things like coding websites. I wanted her to be a strong and creative person. I was afraid to have a boy. Boys like things like sports, cars and violent video games. I don't know how to deal with those sorts of things.

But here I am. I'm a mommy to a boy. I had my mini sad moment, but one night at the hospital I started thinking about all the cool boy things that will be my life now. And now I'm so excited!

- I hear boys just love their mommies more than girls. I can totally dig that.

- Boy Scouts: Rob was a Boy Scout and he did awesome stuff. He was outside and around nature a lot. I wasn't like that when I was a kid, so it's important to me that Sam gets outside a lot and learns all the things Boy Scouts teaches.

- Super Heroes/Comics and movies: I hope Sam likes super heroes. I was totally into comics as a teenager. I can totally play with action figures and watch the latest Avengers movie.

- Hockey: While I'm not into sports at all, if there was one sport I'd like Sam to play is Hockey. Rob played a bit of hockey. I like watching hockey on tv.

- Manners: I want to raise Sam to be a little gentleman. I want him to be respectful to adults and address them in a polite way. I want him to treat girls equally and open doors for them. No cussing, no bullying and no saying mean things that only boys tend to say.

Fav Photos: Month 1

Sam is officially 1 month old! I know he's grown, but I still see him as the tiny being that I first met that short time ago. 

Here are my favorite photos from month 1:

at the hospital

going home in the silly outfit mommy got

daddy and sam chillin after a bottle

sam in his swing

i just love when he looks at me

sometimes it he smiles...it's probably gas

doing a bit of tummy time

this is us working from home

Sam and Suzy: 4 weeks

sam 4 weeks

Are we a month old already? Sweet!

We made a big decision this week. We are going to continue supplementing Sam with formula and breast feed him with a bit of pumping. For 3 weeks we tried upping my supply and I barely doubled it. It was just getting too stressful for everyone. We had to breast, bottle and pump every 2 hours and most of the time we had to wake Sam up, which then we'd have to get him back to sleep only having to be woken up a hour, sometimes even less for the next feeding. Now we feed him when he's hungry, which is about every 2 -3 hours. We all sleep better too, yay! (well...most of the time)

I wish I could exclusively breast feed him, it really breaks my heart. I have to accept that my body cannot make enough and be happy that I atleast can give him some and that's still awesome.

Rob and I also had our first date. Rob convinced me that we should go out while his parents were still in town because it'll be a long time till we get another chance. We went to the movies and I cried at the Superman preview when they showed baby Superman. Yeah...go me, lol. Then we went and had some sushi. I was thrilled to be able to have smoked salmon again! I also bought Sam a couple of outfits to help me feel better about leaving him. When we came back, I rushed to my little man and hugged and hugged and hugged him.

Sam:
We introduced the pacifier to Sam. While he doesn't use it much, when he does it works like a charm. I love it. And, he looks so cute with it.

He's becoming more aware of his surroundings. He likes laying under his activity center, chilling to the music. I still read him his contrast book everyday, which he loves to stare at. I can't wait till he starts grabbing at objects.


Suzy:
I started working part time from home this week. It feels good to work a bit and to chat with the people at work. It does get hard when Sam doesn't want to be put down. I put him in the Ergo carrier so I have both hands free. It works rather well!

I am itching to start exercising again. I need to get my body moving. Also, I'm getting too small for my maternity pants, yet too big for my pregnancy pants. I really don't want to buy new clothes. But I really can't wait to start running again and running some races in the fall. My goal is to run a half marathon in 2014.