Ticker

Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

3 Months!

Yesterday I had some time to kill before an appointment so I stopped in at my work to let the office ladies swarm Emily.  While there I naturally heard bits of things that, if i were working, would be managing, etc.  I had this huge feeling of dread, realizing Emily is three months old and I've been off work for nearly four months now and I have to go back there at the end of the year.  My job is stressful... How do I know I'm not the only one who feels it?  My back-up doesn't even say 'hi' to me when I visit there... He looks like he's aged ten years since December.  My work colleagues say he's ready to lose it and that his personality has totally changed.  Jesus.  I feel guilty for even visiting there and asking him how it's going.  Not like he really answers me anyway.  It makes me really sad and I really hope that he snaps out of it when I unload him of that position at the end of the year.

Why will I go back if it's so stressful?  Because finding a new job is daunting and like most people I find it easier to put up with the job I'm in rather than find a better one.  Plus I've put in 11+ years there, I'm out to everyone and they're fairly decent about most things like being late/absent due to a child being sick, etc.

Anyway...

Emily is three months old!  I weighed her the other day and she's already 14 lbs!  She's getting so big and strong that I can no longer see the little infant we brought home in January.  She started reaching out for things over Easter weekend.  Since then she has been trying to grab everything to put in her mouth, well, when her fists isn't occupying it.  She is a drool machine!  Her fingers or fist or fists are always near her mouth.  I've been feeling around but no sign of teeth yet.



In the past week or so she just seems so much older.  Even the way she looks at us seems more mature.  And this past weekend she discovered her voice so my days are now filled with shrieking to go along with the increased babbling. 

 

She is still sort of breast feeding.  Her breast milk to formula ratio has definitely slipped below 50%... most days it might even be below 25%.  She'll breast feed at night okay but during the day she turns her head away.  She's not stupid, she knows there's a bottle that delivers the goods more efficiently and way faster.  Sigh... it makes me sad but I'm slowly getting over it.  I'll tell you, I definitely wish I had budgeted formula into this year's plan because holy hell, she sure sucks it back!



Her favourite distractions are her mobiles (the one that lights up over her crib and the non-wind up one over her change station), her Baby Einstein activity mat and her vibrating chair with toys on her lap.  We finally broke down and got her a Bumbo chair and she looks hilarious in it.  She doesn't quite know what to make of it so she just sits there slightly slumped forward hanging onto the tray looking at us.




She has started sleeping a bit longer at night, sometimes up to three hours at a time.  The catch?  She sleeps in/on the crook of my arm.  Ow, my poor arm.  Sometimes I get lucky and can transfer her over a bit so she's sleeping on her own in the middle of our bed but unless she's in a super deep sleep, she starts kicking and thrashing around until she starts crying.  Baby steps, I guess...




Thursday, April 4, 2013

Easter stuff

We took Emily to the pediatrician this afternoon after trying to clear up a rash on her torso for the past week and a half.  The pediatrician wasn't overly concerned and recommended an over-the-counter cream to help with it.  She basically just has really sensitive skin, even for a baby.  We already do a lot to minimize irritation but we're going to do a bit more like extra rinse cycles for her clothing and increasing the amount of times we apply lotion/cream to her skin every day.

Emily started grasping toys this week and will sometimes try to get them to her mouth to taste.  She is still working on getting her fingers/fist in her mouth to suck - usually she tries to stick both in at once which doesn't help the process.  We suspect she is going to be left hand dominant.
Sampling her toy keys
Since the snow is finally starting to melt around here and the sidewalks are clear (the sidewalks that neighbours refused to shovel all winter that were covered in ice) I have started taking walks with the stroller.  I was pleased to discover it only took 18 minutes to walk to the grocery store!  Em seems to like being outside looking at new things and hearing new noises.
Howdy...
We spent Easter with Emily's dads.  To prepare, I got out her children's bible to read a few stories.  In the end I decided the bible is much too violent for a child... good lord!
"Mommy, this story is not appropriate for my age..."
Jules roasted lamb for Easter Sunday dinner and made bread pudding for dessert.  We were teasing her about the bread pudding when she served it because she had made it the night before and then microwaved each serving before drizzing custard over it.  She wasn't aware that breaded items only need 20-30 seconds maximum in the microwave (she put them in for over a minute) so when she served them they were literally steaming.  When she looked around and saw we were pushing it around the plate and talking instead of eating it she was disappointed and said we didn't have to eat it if we didn't like it.  We all responded that it was very good but that we had all scalded our mouths on it and were now waiting for the steam to subside before trying more of it.  I think we got through 1/4 of the movie Lincoln before we could finally eat it. ;)
Easter outfit #1
Easter outfit #2
We're getting to the point where she fits all of her 3 month clothing now.  Now we're trying to find it all in her closet and put it in rotation while removing the clothing that doesn't fit.  It's sad to get rid of some of our favourite outfits for her but fun to find new things we had purchased but forgotten about (usually from a Carter's end of season sale). It is now apparent that we and family/friends purchased more 3 month clothing than any other size so for the next month or so she'll have a lot of outfits and then by the time she gets to needing 6 month clothing the rotation will be limited.  Clearly we didn't plan that out very well.  She's really starting to drool a lot and occasionally spits up and has leaked diapers so we're starting to need 1-2 clothing changes per day.  It would help if Jules and I would remember that she sometimes likes to pee as soon as we remove her diaper.  She's soaked herself and the change pad three days in a row now.

This second hand outfit makes her look like she's ready for Hogwarts
But she totally rocks it...
On Monday we visited Emily's dads at their home.  Usually on Mondays they visit us but since they had come on Sunday we decided to make the trek to their place for a change.  They live about 35 minutes away from us in a suburb on the other side of the city.  We had made a plan to try making homemade Cadbury Creme Eggs the night before so when we got there we got down to business.  
Emily insisted on supervising the process
Although the recipe was super easy and the preparation straight forward, it took quite a while to get them done because they would start to get warm immediately after taking them out of the freezer so they had to be ferried in and out of the freezer one by one.  Once they were covered in chocolate it was a lot easier to finish.  It couldn't have been too bad because the guys told us they made another batch the following day.  They were sooooooo good!  We made coffee and had our creme eggs while playing Balderdash (it was mine and Jules' first time playing).  We had a really great day. :)
Yum!