But he can give high five!

There were a lot of no's at little c's 9 month check-up yesterday. For example:

1. Can he pull himself up all by himself? No.

2. Can he crawl? No.

3. Can he wave? No.

4. Can he clap? No.

Picture yourself in this position. What do you do? What's your next move when you've been asked a series of questions to which all of your responses are no's? Beads of sweat are starting to collect on your forehead. Your mouth starts to sweat like it does when you're about to throw-up. Fingers start scratching up and down on your legs and your left eye starts to twitch. You do what any self-respecting and protective mother would do (and yes I did consider lying). You blurt out the only thing you can think of that he actually can do, which is give you a high five.

Doctor Rachel was very impressed.

And then I had to gush about his vocal abilities, and how great of a roller he is, and how he loves hummus. Oh, and how good he looks in hats. And how crazy he goes when he sees his puppy toy.

It actually was a good visit. I learned that little c can now have cheese (which he partook of for dinner tonight) and that he can probably stand to have a snack with his mid-morning and mid-afternoon bottles. And the fact that he can't crawl is a-okay (and it really is...I just can't seem to not talk about it for some unknown reason). And she said he's not showing any signs of anything serious, like autism or douche baggery. Okay, just a little bit of douche baggery. Just a smidge.

And then he got his flu shot, which he handled like a true champ.

Does he do okay with getting shots? YES!! Why couldn't that have been one of Dr. Rachel's questions...

Weight - 19 lbs 2 oz. Smaller than I thought. Actually only in the 28 percentile.

Length - 28.25". 53rd percentile.

Head - 18.1". 72nd percentile. That would explain why 6-12 month sized hats are a little snug.

His next check-up won't be until we get back from celebrating his first birthday in Oh Canada in January. We're already reading up on the milestones for 1 year and you better believe that all of the answers to Dr. Rachel's questions are going to be yes's, even if we have to cram the night before!

 

 

Off to the doctors

We're just getting ready to head to see Dr. Rachel for little c's 9 month check-up. I'm predicting the following:

Weight-19lbs 10 oz

Height-28"

Head Circumference-ummmm, I can't remember what's normal so I'll just guess 67 percentile

I'll write later and let you know how close I am to my guesses.

For now, a photo of little c to get you through your day.

 

Oh Canada, my home and native land

As I reported earlier, we had a great time with all of little c's Canuck relatives during our visit last month. He went on his first train ride, hung out with his 101 year old Great Grandma, had his first photo shoot with his cousins which was worse than herding cats, and slept in until almost 8:00 a couple of mornings (maybe that was a bigger deal to Mommy than little c). Those were definitely the highlights. All in all a great trip. He's a good little airplane traveler as Daddy will find out at Christmas time.

Enjoy the photos, all 250 of them! 
Sitting on his big cousin Isaac's lap over at Auntie Cuz's. Isaac is a wonderful and attentive big cousin. 
Getting some love from Aunt DeeDee. 
Mommy didn't dress little c correctly for the cold front that blew in so we had to pull together this styling outfit with his pjs and leg warmers. Makes for an interesting outfit. 
Petting Nana & Papa's dog, Sandy, who is so good with babies.  
Waiting patiently with big cousin Ben for all of the other cousins to settle down and join the photo shoot.
First photo shoot ever. The anti-crawling thing really worked in our favour. 
Kissing cousins. Little c loves the open-mouth kiss.
Half sumo wrestler outfit/half medievil torture device=a 40 year old Jolly Jumper that Auntie Lou used to use! Little c loved it.
 
The Aunties and the cousins.
 
Out of the 25+ shots I got of Nana & Papa with their grandsons, this is the best one. I love how Nana has Sam in a head-lock!
 
Ben's gotten good at deflecting baby hands away from his photo album.
 
Showing off his roll for Uncle Peter & Isaac.
Playing cars with GG.
I just think the expression on little c's face is hilarious as he has a chat with Papa.
Waiting to board so he can go home to see Daddy!

Bye bye milk

Well, I think my nursing days are coming to a close. I've been sort of depressed lately and incredibly irritated with big and little c and I've been doing a little more reading up on the side-effects of domperidone, the pill I've been taking to increase my milk supply. I couldn't find anything online about depression but irritability and fussiness (in babies!) are definite side-effects women have reported while taking the drug.

I decided over the weekend that I would stop taking the pill to see what would happen, and WOW!!! What a different week I've had compared to the last few. Not only am I feeling so much better (I think exercising every day has helped too), but little c is far less fussy. Everything I've read says that only a little amount of the drug passes through the milk to the baby, which is why I wasn't worried when I decided to take it, but his fussiness has been increasing lately and I thought I'd take a break from the drug to see if it would improve both of our moods. And it definitely has.

Unfortunately, my milk production is uber low now and hardly anything is coming out. Oh well, we've made it almost to 9 months, which is a lot farther than I ever thought we'd make it.

I guess I can put away my nursing bras soon and pull out the old 32 A bras!! (Can you tell I'm trying to get myself excited for that depressing act?)

Our little jack-o-lantern

Still busy, which is why there's a lack of entries as of late. But hoping that will change soon.

We've both started on an exercise program and big c has chosen to work out in the mornings (getting up at 5:15 GASP) which leaves the evenings for me. It means my sleep is pretty rotten since my body is amped up and not ready to unwind for 7 hours. Oh well, it will hopefully get both of us back in shape and complaining less about how disgusted we are with our bodies. And it means no Canadian mini chocolate bars for me...for now.

It really makes me wonder how all of these people go to school and work full-time and raise families all at the same time. I really do think they are super heroes.

Tonight little c and I had a great night together while big c was at his class. He played with the broiler drawer on the bottom of the oven for awhile while I attempted to get dinner ready. He tried pulling himself up but I think the weight of those cheeks is still a little too much for him.

In other little c news, he has decided that rolling around is the best way to get from point a to point b. He's really getting good at the roll.

Enjoy this photo of our little pumpkin. If I didn't already have his costume ready for Halloween, I'd probably just spray paint him orange, give him a pillowcase, and direct him to roll from door to door collecting treats for Mama. I think he could pass as a jack-o-lantern. What do you think?

 

When the doggy-paddle just won't do

Lately I've been feeling like my life has been very similar to the way I swim, which isn't very well. You see, I was "that kid" that couldn't learn how to swim, no matter how many different people tried to teach me. It wasn't until I was a nanny at a lodge in northern Ontario one summer that I was effectively taught how to swim by a German woman who had really hairy armpits. Nope, don't remember her name or anything other than the armpits.

The last few weeks have been hectic to say the least. I thought it would peak and life at work would return to normal, leading to more of a normal life at home, but no. I'm just as busy as I was a few weeks ago and things at home are starting to slide. Add in the fact that I'm exhausted every night and fall asleep on the couch almost as soon as I get little c to bed and that doesn't make for a very productive Mama. I guess I'm just now realizing how busy the life of a working mother is (or how busy the life of a mother is in general), and the funny thing is I only have 1 child who just sits there. Note: I do recognize I've got it easy.

So, my apologies to all of you who have called and left messages and I haven't called back...yet. I will. But I'm probably trying to figure out some new stroke that will keep my head above water. Or else I'm passed out on the couch again.

Canada update coming soon. I really do promise. I have some good photos of little c with his 101 year old GG and some with his crazy cousins that will hopefully make you laugh as hard as I do every time I look at them. But for now, a couple of cute photos of Cohey Bear.
"Do these polka dots make me look fat?" "No Cohen, your fat belly makes you look fat."

 
I think 19 of little c's 20 lbs must be in his cheeks.

Back and better than ever

It's been a busy and short week at work seeing as little c and I landed on Tuesday night and there hasn't been any time to write. Glad to be home but missing all of our Canadian family.

I'll post an update on our trip with some photos over the weekend or on Monday but just wanted to tell you that little c was a superstar traveller and totally redeemed himself after the botched trip to Sun Valley in July.

Oh, and he used my nipple as a chew toy this morning and I didn't like it. I had to use my breathing techniques learned in my natural childbirth class to get through the pain. I wonder how it will be when he actually has top teeth!

Have you ever...

seen a cuter baby?

 
No, I didn't think so.

Happy Labour Day weekend to all my North American friends!

On this day 39 years ago

This guy was born.

 
Little c and I don't know what we'd do without him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG C/DADDY!!! We hope you don't miss us too much as we play in Canada.

No, he's lazy and mind your own business!

There are a lot of things I've learned not to ask now that I've gone through infertility, pregnancy, post-delivery, and having an 8 month old. Things you just don't know not to ask until you've gone through them.

For instance, you will find that I will not ask you if you're trying, or when you're going to have a baby, or when you'll start trying for number 2, all common questions women ask other women of varying levels of relationship. Why? Because maybe you're trying and the egg and sperm just can't seem to connect and every time someone asks you, your heart aches just a little bit more and it further confirms that you're half a woman because you can't conceive.

Nor will I ask you, upon finding out your baby is 8 months old, if s/he's crawling yet. In the last week I've been asked 1/2 a dozen times how old little c is and when learning that he was almost 8 months, asked if he was crawling all around. They're not trying to be hurtful, I know that, and they're just assuming that he's anything but lazy and expecting me to gush over how he really gets around, but I feel like I need to come up with an excuse as to why he just sits there and refuses to make any attempts at crawling or doing anything other than sitting.

It's an interesting observation I've made. Just that little c has finally hit that age where things are expected of him. I guess he'd better get used to it.

Maybe instead you can ask me if he's figured out long division yet. He'll probably figure that out before he figures the whole crawling thing out!