Are you a Tiger?

    My body image post-baby is subpar to say the least.  So many things happen to your body in pregnancy that never quite return to normal.  My nails are stronger, my hair is curlier, and my belly is.. well... wobblier.  Once breastfeeding is finished I do not even know what my boobs are going to look like.  I am guessing something along the lines of a droopy sock.  Ever see a female dog that has nursed a litter? It's a scary sight.  But the dog isn't worrying about this crap.  She is protecting and raising her babies.  Why does it have to be so different for us?

Why is it so hard for us to embrace our new bodies?  Are they ugly and disfigured? Or are they a sign of strength and endurance?  Think about all of the things we had to endure as pregnant women, and then labour.  I am not just talking about the gross stuff like hemorrhoids and gas that could make my dog cry.  I am talking about carrying an extra 15lbs 24/7 for nine months on very little sleep.  I am talking about said baby emerging from your vagina after days of labour and hours of pushing your guts (literally) out.  I am talking about producing food for a mini human being.  These things are exhausting in more ways than running a marathon ever could be.  We work so hard, all of the screaming and crying.  Sometimes the baby cries too.  Often in the beginning you both have a good cry together.  We should be proud of our hard work.  Proud of how our bodies change to help us bring another life into this world.  I have never worked so hard at something in my life.  I should be proud of the new me, and I am trying to be.  It isn't always easy in todays society, but I try.

So yeah, I want to be healthier.  I want to be more physically active.  I want to eat healthier.  But I am not trying to erase what having a baby did to my body.  I just want to have more energy to enjoy raising my son.  I am a tiger, and I earned my stripes.  Nobody can ever take them away from me.

And the mother of the year award goes to.....

Not me thats for sure!

    I am not one to go running every time my baby makes a peep. I think it fosters an unhealthy dependence on others.  I don't want a whiny son.  Anyone that knows me, especially those I work with, know I cannot stand a whiny kid.  So even though my son is only 6 months old, I am starting young in teaching this.

   There are however, some times this whining may be appropriate.  Like on monday when I found him laying on the floor under his swing.  He had been in it enjoying the mobile last time I left him.  Hmm..... wonder what happened there.

   But this next picture is a better example of my 'training' cough negligence cough... I was cooking and he was whimpering.  I thought I would leave him until I was finished and eat with him and he would be fine.  Apparently he wasn't quite fine, yet not injured.  This is what I saw... and yes.. I stopped to take a picture!

Starting Solids

    Starting solids with your baby can be a very confusing time.  There is a lot of conflicting advice out there to weed through.  Everyone wants what is best for their baby and it can be frustrating that doctors do not agree what 'best' is.  Some say pablum first, then veggies, then fruits, blends, then meat.  Some doctors even go as far as sticking to one colour of food, keeping with each food for three days to check for allergies.  My doctor said no pablum and feed him what ever it is you are eating yourself.

 This sleeper went right in the wash!

 

    The age at which to start solids is another controversy.  Do you start pablum at 3 months in the evenings to help with sleep? Do you wait until 6 months? Does waiting increase or decrease the chances of developing allergies?  This is another thing doctors do not agree on.  I started right at 4 months because of my low milk supply.  Dr. Newman says that starting solids early is better than introducing formula, so thats what I did.  He also told me that pablum is too high in iron and isn't absorbed into the body well and to avoid it.  I didn't listen to him there.  Asher likes the taste and enjoys it so I give it to him mixed with prunes (yummy :s).

   So who do you listen to? Your doctor? Best friend? Mother? Grandma? I chose to take all the information in and listen to myself.  I know whats best for my baby.  He loves his food and is very happy while eating.  My problem is that he puts his hands to his mouth after every spoonful which creates a huge mess!

   Momstown Milton recently had a baby food exchange.  We all brought mass quantities of our favourite food and shared with the other moms.  It was nice to take home several types of baby foods and only prepare one.  Women should do that more often.  Every mom puts a lot of work into the purees because they want the same quality in return.  You know you are able to feed your baby something nutritious with the help of other moms.  Lets be honest its not just about the babies.  We got to sit and chat about all the questions I listed above while our babies drooled all over one another. 

   So good luck in starting solids ladies! I hope your experience goes a lot less messy than mine! 

I'm a smelly beast

Ever spend 20 minutes searching for the source of that awful smell, only to realize it is you?

Sadly, I did that twice this week. Once it was from the baby, and the other was just lack of proper hygiene. You see, now that my baby is getting older he likes to be entertained a lot more. If you have been following my blog you would know that totally ruins my "caged baby, happy mom" philosophy. I have to play with you now? Dammit. Now things are getting real yo. I have a baby who is on the move and wanting to play with someone. That someone is me.

So now we are well into solids, which changes the spit-up game... More specifically, smell. More of a ripe vomity smell to it now as opposed to the sour milk milder smell it used to have. That smell is what I found on my shoulder. I had been looking for a stench all evening and never thought to check my own shoulder. It was pretty gross. What's worse is I prioritized writing this blog over actually changing said shirt and eliminating the smell from my body.

Other thing I realized this week is that I need to shower more often. How often do you have to ask yourself when the last time you showered was? I do all too often. It's pretty awful. But I'd rather be smelly mom than be without my baby!

Funny Story

My chiropractor is a good man. He's trying to repair my sciatic nerve after carrying a baby. It's not an easy job since the damage is pretty severe. He's in Carlisle which is good because he's $20 cheaper per adjustment than my Toronto chiropractor.

I thought he was a level headed working family man until today. Today he went a little crazy on me. Picture this: you're laying face down on the chiropractors table, trying to relax. Your chiropractor is examining you pre-adjustment to see which bones need adjusting. As he moves his hands to the base of your neck he makes a sound that reminds me of a bird tweeting. Moves down further and starts barking. Moves down further and does his best horse impression. I'm starting to sweat at this point. What the hell is going on? Is he crazy? Is he trying to seduce me? As he moves his hands along my spine he continues to make different animal sounds. I thought at one point I should start singing old McDonald just to break the tension. When it was time to flip over my heart started racing. I'm going to have to look this psycho in the eye! So I turn to the side and I see it. I forgot all about it.

Asher was in the room in his car seat smiling away at the chiropractor. I forgot he was there with me. Which explains the animal noises.

I took a deep breath, wiped the sweat off my brow, and relaxed. I will live another day!

Fabriclaaaand FABRICLAND

Tell me their age old jingle won't be stuck in your head now all day after reading that title.  I wonder who came up with it?  Who do they have on their marketing team? I can imagine some team of men (obviously) sitting around a table trying to write a jingle for commercials.  Some guy says (and I hear him as Chris from Family Guy) why don't we just say the name twice, the second time we can say it quicker than the first to save on air time.  And they all cheer and bump chests.

Anyways back on topic.  I went to Fabricland determined to make a Taggie blanket and matching larger blanket for Asher.  I saw something similar at a store and didn't want to pay for something that seemed so simple.  Problem is, I haven't sewn since grade school Home Economics class and that was a looooong time ago.  I have also never bought fabric or thread or anything of the sort from a store.  So I walked into Fabricland feeling a little lost.  It was busy full of women and cute old ladies.  Don't let the grannies fool you though.  They mean sewing business.  I got a lot of mean stares and even a slight hip check from one as I was stumbling around the store.  I had never been there before cut me some slack!  Bitch puh-lease! So I gave them the finger behind their backs and continued shopping.

I felt so lost when I had actually found my fabric.  Where were the scissors? Do I cut it? Do they cut it? Do I tear it with my teeth?  Customer service was sub par if you ask me.  They should have caressed me like a little lost puppy when I walked through that door.  Alas, I had to come to my own defenses.  I put the fabric on the table.  Nobody came.  I unraveled it a little and looked around a bit making sure to make direct eye contact with a few staff members.  Nobody came.  So I reached my arm ever so slowly toward the scissors.  Nobody came.  Boy when my fingers touched ever so lightly those scissors all hell broke loose.  I had a staff member charge me from across the store, grab me around the waist and slam me down to the ground while screaming "WE DO THE CUTTING!!!!"  Ok.  Maybe not that scenario exactly but that's what it felt like. So a few minutes and a few tears later I had my fabric.

The sewing and pinning is another story altogether.  Pinning the two pieces of fabric together was difficult because one material was stretchier than the other.  I was sweating and bleeding everywhere.  I have never been filled with so much rage in my life.  It was hard nonetheless.  The sewing was a bit more serene.  I had help from my mother-in-law and a neighbour.  They laughed at how slow I went but I did it.  I did it.  I can say that my son LOVES his blankie and it already goes everywhere with him.  I did it!!!!

The tags are great for chewing during teething.

Om Nom Nom

Finished Product

Special Thanks to Mary Jane for finding the Giraffe print in Paris, Glenda and Theresa for helping me pin and sew, and Ashleen for finding some skinny giraffe ribbon for me!

To Ferber or not to Ferber?

That is a very important question! I started sleep training Asher this morning. With teeth on their way I have been getting no sleep! Any single twitch and he's awake so I end up sleeping in some akward position that leaves me crippled in the morning. So the time has come for our little one to sleep in his own bed.

I have very mixed feelings about this. I enjoy the ease of night time nursing in bed cuddled up with my little man. But it is seriously starting to interfere with my slumber. He is starting to take advantage of me and my boobies. Some nights he can nurse every two hours! Now the Newman Breastfeeding Lactation Consultants would say its natural and normal. That he is just checking in with me and wants to feel secure. But I have something else on my agenda... Sleeping more than two hours at a time!

So we begin. I am using a mix of advice that I feel is right for out family. Mainly derived from excerpts from "The Sleep Site". Their philosophy, which correlates with most sleep methods out there, states that a baby must learn to fall asleep on their own. To do this he must be placed in the crib sleepy but awake. This is going to be difficult because anytime you place Asher in his crib when he isn't dead asleep, he startles awake. And no nursing to sleep or soothers allowed!

So my method which allows the baby to be rocked to sleep as long as you put them down before they are conked out, may take a lot longer than the Ferber "cry it out" method. You spend less and less time each night rocking them to sleep until one night you put them right in without rocking them at all. They eventually learn to sleep on their own. This could take a couple weeks. The Ferber method could be done by Sunday if I had the emotional stability to let him cry. I think if he was older I would do it, but 4 months is just too young for a baby to be crying their heart out for comfort.

I am using a little bit of the Ferber method however. The sleep site says most parents respond too quickly in the night to their waking babies and often wake them up when they could be just stirring and going back to sleep on their own. So you are supposed to wait ten minutes before getting your baby unless they are really crying hard. This won't be easy when we share a room with his crib and he is less than a foot from my bed.

So if I seem a little off in the next little while please excuse my behaviors. I may seem cranky or in my own world. I may 'appear' intoxicated or confused. I may spew vulgar insults to children and the elderly. Just know that I don't mean most of it and let me be.