Thursday, October 29

Snowboarding

J tried snowboarding a couple of years ago. I got him a gift certificate for a lesson at a hill not far from here. He rented some gear and had his lesson and guess what? It came naturally to him, like so many things do. It ain't easy being married to someone like that some days.

Anyways, last Friday night we packed ourselves into the car and went to the Ski and Snowboard Show. It was raining and cold and there was a hockey game so the traffic was awful but we made it and went in and walked around. We found my mom who puts on the show (and the two weddings shows too). It was perfect - she got to take Baby J around to all her friends while I got to sit on my butt and J got to look at snowboarding gear.

There were awesome sales and with the extra bonus of knowing the boss, J got a great deal on new gear. He got a nice board, new boots and bindings. He was using hand-me-down stuff but not anymore.

And now he has grand plans to snowboard all the time this winter. He happily talked to a lot of people and has found lots interested in going to the hills this winter. Maybe I'll convince him to take me one of those times.

Funny story: J wears a helmet when he snowboards like a good boy. And it's been handy in some cases when he's whacked his head anough to see stars. One time he came home with a big gooseegg on his forehead. I was surprised and wondered how he was able to do that with his helmet on. Turns out he hit his head on the car trunk while putting his gear away after snowboarding. Now he keeps his helmet on until he's safely in the car.. at least he should.

Wednesday, October 28

Salsa Babies

This morning was the trial class for Salsa Babies. It was going to be the first time I took Baby J somewhere by myself but I had a little freak out last night so J came with us. He drove around while we were at the class. It made it a little bit easier though I was with the baby by myself not at home for about an hour. What am I going to do for 8 months? It HAS to get easier.

Anyways, Salsa Babies. The class was fun though it made me very aware of how uncoordinated and how unsexy I am. That's the bad thing about mirrors. Baby J slept through the whole class but eventually, once he's bigger and able to face forward in the carrier, I think he'll really like it. Just like, eventually, once I'm better at it, I'll really like it.

The girls were all really nice. A bunch of them came up to me afterwards to introduce themselves and tell me how great the classes were. I'm going to sign up for the session starting in two weeks.

L came over afterward and hung out. There was a lot of crying and burping and spitting up... and that was just J! Kidding. Babies do all these really fun things including puking on my lululemon pants that I broke out today. Guess who fits into her fancy pants again! Babies, fun little people, especially salsa-ing babies.

Saturday, October 24

Sweat and tears

I haven't been able to run since about April last year. It's been a while so I wasn't sure what to expect when I hit the streets the other day. The requisite six weeks since giving birth had passed and I was given the OK from my midwife. But most importantly, I had enough sleep and a happy baby that I could leave with J for a while.

I bundled up and went outside. Running again came easily and felt natural. It was so nice to see the pavement pass under my feet, to propel myself along the sidewalks, to pass the houses I passed a million times before. It was even better to work up a sweat and get rosy cheeks. Afterward I stretched while Sandy weaved around my legs, just like we did so many times before.

I didn't go hard or fast or far - I was good and I'm thankful for that because the next day and the day after that my muscles hurt. I'm happy I'm able to run again but I'll be taking it slow. I still have to get used to my new body.

Me and my new body are going to try Salsa Babies with L. There's a free trial class this week and a six-week session starting in November. You strap your baby to your chest, either in a sling or the Snugli, and Salsa with other moms. It looks like a lot of fun.

I'm also going to attempt the P90X workout that is all the rage these days. We have the DVDs and some weights. I just need to energy and motivation. Isn't that always the way....

Thursday, October 22

Packing on the pounds

On Tuesday our little guy hit the six-week mark. I know I know, eventually I will be counting his age in years, but since he's still so young it has to be weeks. And six weeks is significant because that's when you get discharged from the midwives.

We went for our appointment and were happy to find out that Baby J has been packing on the pounds and is now over 10 pounds. Weight, thankfully, is always measured in pounds, though the ounces mean something at this point too but I won't bore you with those details. He's healthy and that's what matters.

It was bittersweet having our last appointment with the midwives. We really really liked having a midwife (3 actually) instead of an OB and will go with them again if/when we have another kid. We're back to our family doctor and we have to see her in two weeks for Baby J's vaccinations. I need to read up on what vaccinations are offered - some are necessary but others are opt-in types.

J is back to work at the beginning of November, which is coming up real fast. Because I know he's going back and won't be around during the day much longer, this week has flown by. I'm not sure what I'm going to do without him around - sleep less during the day no doubt - and if I'll be able to handle things. It's been so nice having him home.

I don't know what our last week together will be like. Hopefully we can find some fun things to do.

Monday, October 19

Weekend or what?

With J off work it's really hard to tell what day of the week it is and even whether it's the weekend. I do know that a weekend just passed - it helped that we had plans during the day with people that would normally be at work. A sure sign.

Saturday afternoon we went to my cousin G's house. Him and his wife just bought a place - an odd 3 story split-level - but he recently took a job across the ocean and leaves at the end of the month. She's staying. Anyways, it was a nice little get together with about half of my dad's side of the family. We hadn't seen the house and they hadn't seen Baby J before. Because of some crappy eating and complete lack of sleeping we got there late, but were able to see everyone and had some good conversations with my cousins.

Heading home we felt good, that's what good times with friends or family can do, but we were tired. Our Saturday night plans included nothing. That's how our lives have changed post-baby. While doing nothing, J's aunt and uncle stopped by to get J to fix a computer problem. J should start charging for his services. He managed to fix the problem and we managed to get them to feed our baby. Good deal.

Sunday afternoon we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to a park where some friends were playing football. We talked to them for a while and then walked around. It's not that far from our place yet neither of us had been on the paths. For a while, we spoke to a man who was out with his dogs and an older couple stopped us to moon over Baby J. Want people to talk to you? Take a baby with you. It was so nice to get out. Now all I need is regular exercise and I'll start feeling more like myself.

Sunday night we had a great time at A&Ss place for a late Thanksgiving dinner. S&L & Baby R were there too. We were asked to bring salad but that didn't work so we picked up sushi instead. Imagine eating a fancy turkey dinner with chopsticks... that's what S did. Good stuff.

Friday, October 16

Soothing

We put off trying a soother with Baby J to avoid what they call "nipple confusion". This happens when a baby normally eats from the breast (nipple #1) and sometimes a bottle (#2) and then you introduce a soother (#3). It can be confusing and the baby might prefer to eat from the bottle and won't breastfeed. Not something you want to mess with in the beginning.

Turns out, breastfeeding has been a big challenge for us. In the beginning, Baby J was just lazy and not latching well and therefore not getting a lot of milk. Then I had to deal with engorgement - not something I would wish on anybody. It was painful but thankfully lasted only 36 hours. We were finally getting the hang of it though sluggish 45-minute feedings were the norm, when I had severe muscle spasms in my back and physically couldn't do it. The pump became my best friend. I can pump enough in 15 minutes to feed him at least once, sometimes twice.

Since then we've been through a growth spurt where Baby J was hungry constantly and I was thankful that I could pump and bottle feed him. It spared me some pain. I've breastfed him only a few times in the past couple of weeks and haven't decided if we'll give it an honest go again or stick with what's working now.

All that to say that we're bottle feeding the little guy so nipple confusion isn't as big a deal as if he had only known the real thing. And the kid likes to suck so we busted out the soother. Took him a day to get that he wouldn't be getting milk from it but now he likes it and we like that he's quiet between feedings. Mostly.



You can't deny that he's cute!

Thursday, October 15

Not MY Wedding

Last weekend was J's cousin's wedding in Kingston. The theme for the weekend was "Well, it's not my wedding!" because I absolutely did not have it all together. Don't get me wrong: we made it and we had fun but I did not feel picture perfect at any point in the day. Thankfully, it wasn't my wedding.

The wedding was blissfully at 3 in the afternoon giving us enough time to leave home that morning. Less time away from home with a new baby is good. Our goal was to leave no later than 12pm. When did we leave? 12pm. No worries. Baby J was good for over an hour in the car and then started fussing and crying and where is the next exit?! We stopped in Gananoque for a pee break and donuts and I jumped in the back to feed the kid while J drove (feed using a bottle NOT breastfeeding, promise!)

We arrived in Kingston and got to the hotel and were able to check in even though official check in time wasn't for another hour. We got our little man in his cute outfit, I pumped and we got ourselves ready. My hair wasn't right and we were all a little frazzled but hey, it's not my wedding!

We got to the church 5 minutes before K and I's ceremony. It was nice - sweet and not too religious-y or long. Our little man was quiet and good until the organ right at the end while everyone was walking out. He wasn't happy then. But he's so cute and oh right, it's not my wedding.



The family was pretty excited to meet him but it was cold standing around outside the church so we followed the wedding party over to where the reception was being held at RMC. There were snacks and drinks and pictures and foosball.



Dinner and speeches and dancing followed. J and I were lucky enough to have some time to ourselves while everyone and their dog held our baby. I think the best line from the night was by cousin E's friend L, "Will you hold my drink so I can hold your baby?" To which I replied, "Of course". I had my first beer since December and danced with my husband. It was nice.

We got back to our hotel room around 1am. We left the baby to sleep in his carseat while we passed out in the king-sized bed. We went to the "Morning After" brunch - their choice of words, not mine - Sunday morning to wish K&I a good time on their honeymoon and then we hit the road.

We were gone for just over 24 hours. I would call the trip a success. Congratulations K and I and yay us for going out of town with baby.

Monday, October 12

Sorting

We had an incredibly busy weekend. We went to Kingston Saturday for J's cousin's wedding and spent some time with my family yesterday. Today was a recovery day.

I've just figured out how to post pictures on my blog so here's one from the wedding. More to come when I'm no longer exhausted.

Thursday, October 8

One Whole Month

My baby is one month old. He's getting so big and looks less like a newborn every day. It's incredible the changes a little person goes through in such a short period of time.

You need a good camera to document the changes and ours was acting up so we got a new one. It's a newer version of the one we have. It will take us through until month two and three, and maybe even year two and three, of this kid's life.

Wednesday, October 7

Social baby

It's hard to blog when my days are so alike. I feel like I don't do anything exciting, anything worthy of writing about, on a day-to-day basis. Then I realize that we've been doing things and seeing people and that is worthy of a post.

A couple of weekends ago, we took our little man out to a party with my baseball team. It was the year-end party and I wasn't sure I should go, not having played this season, but I was asked to come and bring Baby J. So we went and it was a bit of an adventure. All the girls liked him and it was nice to catch up with them, but we stayed too long and since I'm not comfortable feeding the kid anywhere other than home, we left it too long and we had a cranky baby and a miserable J trying to change him and feed him while he was screaming as loud as he could. Thankfully that's not very loud. Yet.

On the way home Baby J screamed until he fell asleep. I felt terrible for letting my boys down - starving my baby and making my best friend upset. It wasn't the best way to end a good night, though it was a learning experience.

Last weekend we went to a housewarming party with J's work friends. A week makes a difference and I was able to feed the baby while we were there. We avoided the meltdown of the previous week. He stayed awake the entire party. I think he liked all the attention and one of the girls wanted to take him home.

He's not always awake when people come over though. He tends to sleep and we'll put him in his swing or bouncer and not realize that people might want to hold him. Oops! J's aunt and uncle from out of town and his sister, SJ, have all been over recently and so have my parents.

We've also been using the stroller lots, getting out of the house, mostly doing walks that take us by the mailbox. I'm anxiously awaiting some kind of paperwork from the government for my employment insurance. Without it, I don't get paid by my work. We've been dipping into our savings since I've been off work, but it's okay. It will get figured out eventually.

Yesterday we went to an appointment with the midwife. She said Baby J is looking good and we were surprised to find out that he's growing like a weed and is now over 9 pounds. He's going through a growth spurt and wants to eat all the time. I was happy to hear that growth spurts last only a week. I can't wait until he's back to regular growing and eating.

This weekend we're taking our social baby to Kingston for a wedding. This is the third Thanksgiving in a row that we have a wedding. It will be our first road trip as a family of three. I want to get out and do things to avoid the same thing day in day out so is it weird that I'm starting to get a little nervous?

Friday, October 2

Changes

When friends break up it really makes you stop and take a look at your own relationship. I'm sad when couples break up, especially those that have been together for years, but I'm happy because when they do, and when J and I take a look at our relationship, we decide all over again that we're perfect for each other.

Last week, J went out drinking with a friend who had recently ended a 3+ year relationship. J got home and plopped down on the bed and told me everything. He couldn't stop talking, partially because of the crazy stories and partially because of the beer he had consumed. In between stories of this couple he was saying how much he likes me and how happy he is with us. It was nice.

Breakups are scary now that we're older. It's not as easy as getting dumped in high school where the worst thing you have to worry about is having English class with your ex. Now it's all about lawyers and money and splitting up all the things you purchased together, figuring out which of your mutual friends will stick with you, and eventually carving out a new life on your own. It's even worse if pets or kids are involved.

I don't envy anybody who's had to go through this. I'm lucky to have had my last breakup be of the high school variety. I was young and the one doing the dumping. That was a long time ago and I didn't have to worry about any "adult" problems. Now I'm content with my life and happy to be reminded of that every now and then.