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!