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!

Super interesting article about bottle feeding

I know many women who haven't been able to breastfeed for various reasons and most of them have felt incredibly guilty about using formula. I completely understand how these women wouldn't seek advice about formula feeding as doctors, nurses, and much of society seem to judge those who are formula. While we have only been Lily a couple of bottles of formula, that might change if she doesn't start gaining more weight. I too have found it difficult to figure out how much formula to give her and even found it challenging to figure out how much expressed breast milk she should be getting. I consulted both my doctor and a public health nurse and neither of them were able to provide a concrete answer. In the end, I found the information on the internet and have to hope that it's correct. Anyways, I thought that this was very interesting reading and hope that those in the medical community will take note of this study.

NEW YORK - Many moms who bottle-feed lack important information on how to feed their infants safely, which could lead to overfeeding and heavy kids, new research from the UK shows.

Formula-fed kids are more likely to be too heavy, Dr. Rajalakshmi Lakshman of the University of Cambridge, a researcher on the study, told Reuters Health, so she and her colleagues set out to investigate why.

They reviewed 23 studies involving 13,263 people. What they found surprised them, the researcher said. Many mothers who used formula felt "guilt, anger, worry, uncertainty and a sense of failure," she and her colleagues note in the Archives of Diseases in Childhood.

Moms also said they got little information on proper formula feeding, and many made mistakes in formula preparation. For example, many put powder in the bottle first, rather than water; this could overconcentrate formula by 10 to 15 percent, Lakshman said, meaning more calories than intended.

Also, she said, some parents reported packing scoops tightly when measuring formula, rather than loosely as recommended. And while water used to make formula should be boiled and used within 30 minutes, one US study found a third of moms were using warm tap water.

"All those things are important," the researcher said. Due to the heavy focus on breastfeeding, many health care providers don't bother giving new parents information on formula feeding, she added; one of the studies she and her colleagues looked at found just 21 percent of mothers were instructed on bottle-feeding by the time their babies were two months old.

Most babies - even breast-fed kids - will get some bottles before they move on to solid food, Lakshman said. "If a mother makes the decision to bottle feed then she should be given the information to do it correctly."

She and her colleagues also found that parents frequently switched formula brands because their infants were spitting up, and they feared intolerance of the formula. But because pretty much all formulas are based on cow's milk-aside from soy-based products-the regurgitation may have been due to overfeeding rather than intolerance, Lakshman said.

Overfeeding is indeed more of a risk with bottle-feeding, the researcher said, because parents have more control than babies do in how much milk the infant gets, which isn't the case with breastfeeding. Parents can avoid overfeeding by paying attention to an infant's cues, she advised, not giving the child more than the recommended amount of formula, and not assuming that every time the baby cries he needs a bottle.

SOURCE: Archives of Disease in Childhood, online July 14, 2009.

I liked that other woman better

I've been working myself into a bit of a worrying tizzy these days about Lily. I had previously been pretty chill about her and the various baby traits that she displays, however, she is throwing me for a bit of a loop these days. Not only does she remains really small (see previous post) but she had a bad reaction to her shots this week and got her first cold. In addition, she has turned into a fairly lousy sleeper and regularly wakes numerous times during the night. A good night would be when she only wakes up four times but it's been more common for her to wake up 6-8 times per night. I never really know why she's waking up and I often end up feeding her (mostly because I want her to stop crying and feeding her always works). Throw in some teething behaviour (but is she really teething? only time will tell) and I truly feel like I no longer have a clue about how to take care of her. The only thing that I do know is that I liked myself a whole lot better when I wasn't constantly worrying about Lily or second-guessing my mothering abilities.