All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...

And I must have been an awfully good girl this year because I already got 'em!

Fun times on the change table

She wakes - Mom's version

Breaking the "rules"

There are lots of things that you are/aren't supposed to do when you have a baby. These are too numerous to list but the thing that comes to mind as one of the biggest no-no's is blankets in the crib. Apparently there is lots of research to indicate that the risk of SIDS increases when babies have blankets, stuffed animals, etc. in their cribs. While I don't believe that the researchers are lying, we have chosen not to follow this recommendation. Lily loves sleeping with her blankets and often push them up and around her face. She uses the blankets to soothe herself back to sleep and given how hard we've worked to teach her to self-soothe, I refuse to take this away from her. I guess that we are taking a chance that something could happen to her but (especially at this point in her life) I'm not that worried about it and am willing to take the risk. I suspect that this is just one example in a long list of "rules" that Scott and I will be breaking but as I'm quickly learning, being a parent is all about following your heart and making decisions that are best for your family.

Sleep training - holding steady

We've been doing sleep training for the past week or so and we've seen a vast improvement in Lily's sleeping habits. Things aren't perfect but is there really such a thing as a perfect sleeping baby? (I think that they are as mythical as pink unicorns!) Lily no longer wakes every hour and in fact, has actually slept for more than 7 1/2 hours in a row on two occasions. She does often wake in the middle of the night but will usually only cry for a short period of time before falling back to sleep. Normal nights now look like this - bedtime at 7:30pm, a feed at 11pm, a feed at 4am (although I am working toward eliminating this one, especially since I know that she can now go longer than 5 hours without eating), a feeding/diaper change at 6am and up for the day between 8-9am. She has 2-3 naps per day, usually for 1 - 2 1/2 hours each time. Scott probably has the hardest time with listening to her cry, especially for naps (honestly, he rarely wakes in the night anymore and often says "wow, what a great night" when Lily has actually been up crying a few times...). As for me, it was really hard to listen to her cry for the first night but I know that this program works and my commitment to it helps get me through those crying spells. Plus, I think that the mental shift towards accepting nighttime crying has allowed me to sleep better - I usually know that she has cried in the night but it often doesn't seem like it was for very long...either that's true or my brain is just telling my body to go back to sleep because it knows that Lily will be a-ok.

Dancing Queen

Lily loves music! Watching her dance in her exersaucer is one of my favorite things.

Fun with plastic

The trouble with parenting

People always lament the fact that babies don't come with a manual. They say that parenting is so hard and they wish that babies came with instructions. In my mind, parenting is hard partly because there are too many instruction manuals. Don't get me wrong, it's super challenging to figure out how to parent. Lily is constantly changing and going through various developmental issues and we are often don't have a clue about how to handle whatever new issue is before us. I spend much of my day researching baby issues - how to get them to sleep better, how to feed them, how to dress them in the winter, how to play with them, etc. etc. etc. Trouble is, there is no consensus on how to deal said issue and I'm often left more confused than when I started. I firmly believe that the majority of parenting programs will work on most babies, simply because it provides guidance and structure for parents to follow. Having said that, I often am left unsatisfied with the multitude of advice that I've found and I wish that researchers and educators would learn to be consistent in helping people learn how to parent.

Sleep training - Day four

I worked last night so I wasn't around for Lily's bedtime routine but Scott tells me that she went to bed around 6:30pm (after eating some supper with him) and woke at about 10pm for a bottle. She didn't have an third nap today but probably could have used one (she's fussy at 5pm but has a hard time settling to sleep at this time - I'm still not too sure about how to manage a third nap). She was sleeping when I got home at 11:30pm but woke when I dropped something and she heard my voice. I so badly wanted to go in to see her but I decided that it would likely be harmful to the habits that we are trying to create and I decided to let her be. She cried for about 5 minutes and went back to sleep. She woke this morning, not surprisingly, at 4am for a feed and at 6am for a diaper change. I'm feeling really good about the sleep training, despite the fact that it was so horrible the first night. I think that we may have broken Lily of her frequent nighttime wakings and I think that she has finally learned some self-soothing techniques for when she does wake up. All in all, I'm pretty happy that we went with "Cry it out" and I'd highly recommend it to anyone struggling with sleeping issues for their baby.

Sleep training - Day three

There were some interesting developments last night in the sleeping department. Lily ate some supper (actually ate a fair amount) but mostly because I fed it to her off of my finger. She did eat the beets off the spoon but she refused the egg until I used the finger technique. Maybe the spoon is too hard on her teeth? As with most things, we have no idea why it worked, we just know that it did. After supper, we did a quick run to the mall in hopes of getting a Santa photo but she was just too tired. By the time that we got home, she was SO ready for bed and went to sleep at 7:30pm. She didn't end up having her third nap of the day because she was fussing in the crib when Scott got home from work and I figured that he should have some time to play with her. Anyways, back to my story...I waited for Lily to wake up at her usual feeding time of 10pm but when she didn't wake up, I decided that I was too tired to wait for her and would just get up whenever she next woke up. Lo and behold, it was 3:00am before she woke! I got 5 straight hours of sleeping and was thrilled with that. I fed her at 3:00am and she went right back to sleep until 6:30am. I fed her again and we both fell back to sleep until 8:30am. She's currently sleeping for her first nap of the day. I hope that this is the turning point of the sleeping training program and not just some weird fluke associated with eating dinner or some other random reason. I love knowing that she can now go 7+ hours without feeding and I desperately hope that we are out of the 'waking every 3 hrs' stage (at least for awhile!).

Baby ski bunny

Despite the fact that I've lived in Alberta for many years, I've never been a huge fan of winter. It's cold and I have a hard time getting outside to exercise. However, I've forced myself to take up cross-country skiing so that I have a way to get outdoors, even when there is lots of snow on the ground. When Lily was born, I wasn't sure if I'd still be able to get out xc skiing but I was willing to try. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to pull her in the Chariot and I wasn't sure that we'd be able to get the ski attachment as it's quite expensive. Well, we still can't afford the ski attachment but luckily, I was able to borrow one and go out skiing with Lily and two friends last weekend. Turns out that the hardest part of taking Lily cross-country skiing was the trail side diaper change - it isn't super easy to pull the Chariot but it isn't all that bad. I wouldn't want to take it on a hilly trail but skiing on the Great Divide Trail in Lake Louise was perfect!

Sleep training - Day two

Well, we survived another night of CIO. I was so tired last night and so I barely remember how much Lily cried but Scott says that she had a big crying spell at 2am. I don't think that it was as long or as loud as the night before because I hardly noticed it. I know that she also woke up for two other short periods of crying but again, they were much less than the night before. I fed her when she woke up at 5am and was happy to see that she seemed genuinely hungry. It seems like we've made some headway in this whole CIO process and I hope that we only have another night or two to go before she's sleeping the whole night through.

Belly laughs

Back when Lily liked to eat...

Sleep training - Day one

I reached my boiling point this weekend and decided that it was time to get serious about sleep training. Lily was waking up every hour or so again and I've had enough. I'm not doing well on such little sleep and I don't like the person that I am at 3am. So, we started last night. I decided that my goal is for Lily to sleep 5 hours straight. My reading on sleeping habits for babies tells me that it is reasonable to expect that six month old babies sleep for 5-7 hours straight. This seems like a realistic time frame to me and while I'd love to have 7 hrs of sleep, I figure that I'll start with a dream of 5 hrs. So, Lily went to bed at her usual time of 7pm. As always, she woke at 11pm for a feed. After feeding her, I put her down and tried to get to sleep. Unfortunately, it took me almost until 12:30am to fall asleep, just when she woke for the first time. She cried for 15 minutes but I didn't go to her. We both fell back to sleep and she woke at 1:45am. She cried for about 45 mins this time but finally fell asleep at about 2:30am. It was awful listening to her cry for so long - I hated every minute of it. The trouble with "Cry it out" lies within the strategy's name. It's so incredibly difficult to listen to your baby cry and know that they just want you to comfort them. You feel very guilty about not responding to their tears but you hope that you are making the right decision by trying this strategy. Lily woke again at 3:30am and while it wasn't the 5 hours of sleep that I was hoping for, I decided to go to her this time. I fed her and put her back to sleep. She woke again at 5:30am, at which time Scott brought her in to me. After another feed, she went back to sleep but was up for the day at 8am. I figure that we all only got a few hours of sleep last night but I'm hoping that it was worth it as the first step in the sleep training. Lily was super tired today (not surprising) and had 3 long naps. I even managed to sneak in an afternoon nap. My book tells me that sleep training should take about 3 days. I sure hope so because I just don't know how long I can listen to her crying at night.

"But you don't look tired"

Just like most new parents, we've had our ups and downs regarding Lily's sleeping habits. The best (read: longest) that she has done is 6 hours straight and this only happened for 3 days in a row. I figure that I have had less than a dozen nights of sleep that involved me sleeping for longer than 3 hours in a row. Surprisingly, I don't feel awful and people seem compelled to tell me that I don't look tired (I think that this is the same as telling a pregnant lady that she looks amazing, despite the fact that she feels huge. Regardless, comments like that worked then and they work now). I had been trying to sleep in when I can and Scott sometimes takes Lily on the weekends so that I can get a few extra hours of uninterrupted sleep. However, most days I'm functioning on 6 hours of sleep or less and have been woken up 2-4 times during those 6 hours. It constantly amazes me as to how well one can function on limited sleep and ironically, I often have trouble falling asleep at night, despite the fact that I'm exhausted. Having said all this, I am getting tired (pardon the pun) of this and am preparing myself for some intensive sleep training with Lily. I've been reading a few things about sleep training and while I'm not a big proponent of 'Cry it Out', I think that we will end up using a modified version of this program. I plan to let Lily fuss herself to sleep for naptimes and I'm working on cutting out one of the night-time feeds. I know that I will still have to get up during the night sometimes to soothe her and feed her but I really am hoping that we are about to turn the corner here on this whole 'sleeping through the night' issue.

Food fight

Something very strange is happening in this house. My beloved off-spring has withdrawn her affection for real food and now has little to no interest in eating. She had done so well with solids during the first week that she was eating them but then her first tooth popped up and she wanted nothing to do with food. I keep trying to feed her and sometimes she'll take a small amount of whatever I'm offering but mostly, she just wants to nurse. I'm assuming that this is just another phase that she'll grow out of but it did make me mildly concerned for a few days. However, I realized that it was fairly unlikely that she would continue to only sustain herself using breast milk and I'm just trying to not worry about it.

Eating is messy!

Chattin' with Lily

She wakes!

Six month update

Lily turned six months old this week. I honestly can't believe that it's been that long - so much has changed in our lives since she arrived. Not only is Lily growing in leaps and bounds, Scott and I are also growing as individuals and as parents. Lily can now sit up on her own (even though she falls over all the time) and she's eating solid foods (to date: rice cereal, beets, and avocados). She chatters away all day long and loves to play in her "Circle of Neglect" (aka Exersaucer). She is pleased with herself when I dance to the music that she makes with her Exersaucer and she is thrilled when I clap at something that she's done. She is mostly a happy baby and only cries when she's sick of playing by herself, has a poopy bum, or is tired. She loves looking at people and sits contently in her bouncy chair and watches me work away in the kitchen. She has the greatest smile and doesn't currently have a fear of strangers. She loves putting everything in her mouth and is very fond of pulling on my hair and Scott's beard. She sprouted her first tooth yesterday (Nov. 19th) although it isn't poking all the way out yet. She usually wakes up happy and wiggles with joy at whomever is coming to get her out of the crib. She often plays in her crib by herself after she wakes up - cooing and playing with her feet or her blankets. She doesn't have consistent sleep habits yet but she does normally go to bed around 7pm and gets up at 8am (with numerous wakings/feedings in between). She loves stroller rides in the Chariot and is pretty happy to sit in her car seat. She loves sleeping with the blankets touching her face and she is fascinated by the dog. She loves music and will dance to the sounds of her exersaucer. She doesn't roll over very often as she is happier to be standing or sitting. She's more aware of cause and effect and will now cry if she falls over or if you make too loud of a noise at her. She splashes around in the bath but doesn't seem thrilled by the water at the swimming pool. We don't know how much she weighs or how tall she is as we haven't been to the doctor in awhile (and don't need to go again until 9 months). She is steadily gaining weight now that I regularly take Domperidone. Her hair and nails are both growing like crazy and her hair is much lighter than when she was born. Her eyes are a dark shade of brown/grey but they may still continue to change with time. She happiest when Scott and I are both home with her as she loves playing with her Mommy and Daddy. All in all, she is a wonderful little baby and we are SO in love with her! It is a true blessing to have her in our lives and we couldn't be more thrilled at having Lily as our daughter.

Now I understand...

I used to always harshly judge those parents who were caught leaving their infants in the car. The media loves to report on these news stories and the parents are always completely vilified. I swore that I would never do such a thing and couldn't understand why anybody would ever put their child at risk like that. Then I had a baby....

Now I realize that it's totally inconvenient to take your baby in and out of the car, especially when s/he is sleeping. I drive around town, wishing that more businesses had drive-thru services. I routinely don't get things done on my to-do list, just because Lily is sleeping and I don't want the hassle of hauling her out of the truck. And, when I'm paying for gas, I leave her in the truck. I lock the doors and I'm never out of eye sight of the vehicle. I just pray that I'm not the next News at Six stories as one of "those" moms!

When will I learn?

We went through another really crappy sleeping week last week. Lily was back to being up ever 1-3 hrs and nursing her was the only thing that would calm her down. I was getting so tired and so frustrated, mostly because I was worried that she was falling into bad sleeping habits and I was concerned that I was adding to those bad habits by nursing her to comfort her. We were pretty sure that she was either teething (the thing that we blame for every bit of crankiness in this house!) and/or having a growth spurt. Well, lo and behold, she slept great last night (and pretty darn good the night before). She slept for 5 hrs straight, then 4 hrs straight with only one feeding in the middle of the night. I should have known that she would sort herself out again and I feel silly for getting so frustrated/worried. This pattern has repeated itself numerous times and I keep getting caught up in the same cycle of worry and annoyance. Maybe I'll remember this post the next time that it happens and I'll remind myself that this too shall pass.

Mmm, beer

Lily really is her father's daughter...

An insult to mothers everywhere

After numerous nighttime wakings and endless hours of primary care-giving, how does Lily reward me? By saying Daddy's name first!!!

Kangaroos are yummy!

First bites of solid food

Nov. 10, 2009 - Although it was one week before Lily's 6 month birthday, we decided to start her on rice cereal. She did surprisingly well with it and seemed to love every bite. Since then, we have tried avocado and will slowly work our way through various meats, fruits, and veggies. She doesn't love the avocado and she still doesn't really seem to understand what to do with the food once it gets to her mouth but she'll figure it out soon enough.

A birthday treat for Grandma Chris

Lily has a surprise for you....

Water baby

I signed Lily up for swimming lessons but they don't start until the end of November. In the meantime, I learned about Mom and Baby Aquasize classes at the VRRI. We've been going for two weeks and while it's quite a lot of work to get Lily dressed for the pool and out again, it is fun to do something different. I was pretty nervous about going to the first class as it was a new experience and I wasn't sure how to manage the logistics of dealing with a wet baby but we figured it out together (with only one big booboo - I didn't realize that she was supposed to wear the Little Swimmers UNDER her swim diaper - I thought that she only needed the swim diaper - oops...) She doesn't really seem to know what to make of the pool but she's not crying so she can't hate it too much. Plus, she does look darn cute in the baby boat so I think that we'll keep going!

Lily and the exersaucer

We finally decided to try Lily in the exersaucer. We'd been holding off until she was big enough and while I still need to pad the back to help her sit up properly, she totally loves it!

Can we handle the truth?

People constantly ask me what I think of motherhood and given that I've never been a good liar, I answer them honestly. While I do love Lily to bits, I find motherhood to be very challenging on the good days and downright awful on the bad days. It is much easier when Scott is home to help out or when I'm out with friends but I find it pretty tough to be on my own on a daily basis. Granted, I get lonely at home by myself and I know that factors in to how I feel about motherhood but I never imagined that it would be this hard to be a parent. So, I feel compelled to tell people that I find it difficult to be a mother and am still coming to terms with what motherhood means for me. Inevitably, people respond with "well, it is hard but it's so rewarding!". Yes, I agree that it is amazing to have a first-hand view of how a human being develops but I wouldn't always describe motherhood as 'rewarding'. I wonder if people are uncomfortable with the truth that I am presenting to them - I'm so far behind on housework and feel like I will never catch up, our household to-do list is longer than our mortgage documents, I have a body that looks nothing like it did before I got pregnant, and I'm constantly sleep deprived. It's incredibly challenging to entertain a baby all day long and it's really hard to be out of the adult world. I miss my work and the freedom that was my life pre-baby. Seeing my baby girl smile and making her laugh provides me with a great deal of happiness but it does come at a price. I certainly don't regret having Lily but being a mother is much harder than I was expecting. Are we ready, as a society, to accept that not every woman loves every minute of motherhood?

Perhaps my favorite photo to date

I captured this pic on Oct. 23rd and I totally love it! It shows an image of my baby in her happiest mood and it melts my heart whenever I look at it.

So much better at tummytime

Lily loves her playmat! It was a bit pricey of a purchase but given that we use it for hours every day, it seems like it was worth it.

Snuggling with Daddy on a cool fall day

Sleeping babies are good babies

About a month ago (right around our return from the three week trip to BC), we decided to move Lily into her crib. The Canadian Pediatric Association (or the American Association) but that's neither here nor there) recommends that babies sleep in their parents' room until they are six months of age, in the hope of reducing the risk of SIDS. We had been following that recommendation and it was working well for us. However, Lily turned into a terrible sleeper after our big trip and I was up every hour or two to settle her when she woke up crying. I wasn't getting any sleep and it was becoming incredibly stressful for me. We had been thinking of trying a slow transition to the crib - perhaps one nap per day in the crib, moving to two naps per day in the crib, and finally, bedtime in the crib. Surprisingly, Lily had no trouble transitioning to the crib and we moved her into her room after only the first day of trying. Initially, I was quite sad to have her so far away but I quickly got over that when I saw that we both were sleeping better. She is still fairly inconsistent with her sleeping habits (most nights she wakes between 2-6 times) but she slept six hours straight last night so I remain ever hopeful that I'll finally get caught up on my sleep!

And I thought that women's clothing sizes were bad

Baby clothing sizes are completely random and totally vary based on which store those clothes come from. Lily still fits into some 0-3 months clothes. However, she mostly wears 3-6 month clothes but on occasion, she fits into some 6 month clothes. She has steadily been gaining weight over the past month (thanks to the milk-making drug Domperidone) so I think that she'll more consistently in six month clothes. Needless to say, it's always a fun challenge trying to figure out what to dress her in!

Weirdest side effect of motherhood

I constantly think that I hear babies crying. On occasion, it actually will be Lily who is crying but 99% of the time, there is no baby crying anywhere within 100 yards of me. It's one thing to have sacrificed my body to grow a human but it's a whole other thing to be having auditory hallucinations. It's kinda annoying and I hope that it passes soon!

What other option is there?

I've always used to utter a small silent chuckle when my friends who are parents go on and on about how great their kid did at this or how amazing they did at that (insert whatever random child task you like in the 'this or that' spot). However, I now realize that those parents just couldn't help themselves. When you have a baby, you completely are under the impression that your baby is a genuis. I swear that Lily is WAY ahead in all her developmental milestones and is doing things FAR beyond her abilities. Throw in the fact that I think that she is the cutest baby that EVER lived (does any parent actually think that their baby is ugly?) and I'm now much worse than all those parents that used to make me laugh.

It's fun to watch

When I got pregnant, Scott and I were very excited to become parents. We knew that it would be great fun to have a baby and we couldn't wait to meet our little treasure. I knew that our families would love our baby to bits but I never anticipated how much our friends would love her. All of my girlfriends are fantastic with Lily but I get some of my greatest pleasure from watching Scott's friends interact and play with her. Babies bring out the child in all of us - some might even say that they bring out the best in us - and it is an amazing thing to witness. Women are often viewed as being better able to interact with children but I feel like men get a bad rap. Sure, a couple of the guys were hesitant to hold her at first and they look scared when she starts to fuss or cry (versus the women who don't get bothered by crying or fussing) but with time and a little encouragement, they all seem to come around. Men are just as good at interacting with babies as women are, they just do it in a different way. I want Lily to have both strong male and female role models in her life and I'm truly grateful for all of her aunts and uncles be they blood relatives or otherwise.

Snow day

Today was the first outing with Lily in the snow and it was quite cold. We got two great snowsuits given to us by some friends and I bought some mittens at Superstore. I used some of the great blankets that my mom made for us and I forced Lily to wear a toque (even though she doesn't like it and I didn't wear one). I think that she was warm enough but it's hard to tell. I didn't really feel like going for a walk today but I forced myself to get out there, just so that I can get used to dealing with having a baby in the winter. Snowsuits are a pain in the ass to use but at least they keep the kid warm!

More chillin' with Daddy

Can't think of a good caption for this photo...

but I really like this picture as Lily is finally getting better at looking at the camera!

Fun with animals

ch to Cara's horror, Lily has taken a keen interest in her. As with everything else, Lily is exploring her world and Cara is no exception. She loves to feel Cara's fur and she tries to eat her whenever she can. And, to answer your question, Cara tolerates it really well (and is rewarded with treats for being so good) but as the first photo shows, she is none too pleased about the situation!

Big girl chair

Who needs toys when you can play with tissue paper?

Lily's other favorite new pastime

Grandma Pat helped Lily discover her feet when we were out visiting on the Island. Now, Lily is totally obsessed with putting them in her mouth (shoes on or off, it doesn't matter). It's actually kinda hard to get a diaper back on her these days as her feet are always in her mouth!

Is it possible?

Is it possible to think that your baby isn't cute? Is it possible to think that your child isn't a genius who is destined to solve all the world's problems? I know that it used to make me laugh when other parents would go on and on about how good their kid was at ______ or how great they did at _______ but now I completely understand. I'm convinced that Lily totally advanced for her age and I honestly think that she's the cutest baby ever! (ok, maybe not the cutest ever but does any parent actually think that their kid is ugly?)

Favorite new pastime

Lily loves to stand. Of course, she can't stand on her own (I know this because I tried to get her to hang onto something and stand by herself but she just couldn't do it) but she loves being held up while she looks out at the world from her new vantage point. We like to call her the little hulu dancer because she wiggles her hips back and forth like she's rocking out to some good Hawaiian beats!

Damn, that baby's cute!

Even better at "look Ma, no hands!"

Outside time

We try to spend as much time outdoors as possible with Lily. We are excited to teach her an appreciation for nature and as my mom likes to say, fresh air is good for babies!

Lily's first climbing lesson

It was a glorious September here in the Rockies. The fall colours always inspire me to go hiking so we took Lily up Cougar Creek for a short stroll. Scott figured that it would be a fine time to start teaching her how to rock climb...

Strangest sleeping strategy ever

When I was on the Traveling Lily Road Show, I discovered a new trick to help get her to sleep in her carseat. If I covered her face with a blanket, she would stop crying and would fall asleep. I had seen her do this to herself in the past but I never thought of replicating it until I was at a loss for how to calm her down when I was travelling with her by myself. I hadn't done it since but brought it back into my parenting bag of tricks this week when she's been having trouble sleeping. It doesn't work all the time (ie when she wakes up because she's hungry) but it works pretty darn well most of the time, especially for naps! It's the strangest strategy but as any parent knows, you'll pretty much do whatever it takes to get your kid to either go to sleep or stay asleep. And yes, I do take the blanket off as soon as she's asleep :)

Cute sleeping baby photos of the month

In the parking lot in Whistler

In her carseat during our trip to the Island.

She slept like this for an hour.

First flavours

For some reason, we decided that it would be fun to watch Lily's reaction to salt and vinegar chips. As you can see, she wasn't a big fan...

Visits with the Johnsons

We recently were out on the Island, visiting family and friends. Lily got to meet her Great-grandma Olive and her Great-aunt Tracy. It was really nice to be able to introduce her to them.

My two new favorite photos

This kid is just pure cuteness!