Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Mini Topics


Resolution: one of my New Year's Resolutions (albeit a bit early) is to post blogs more frequently and more consistently. Let me know how I'm doing!


Moby Wrap vs Baby Bjorn:

Before Dexter was born it was recommended to me that the Moby Wrap was AMAZING by my friend Megan. They are a little pricey but I found on on Kijiji for only $20, woot! I'm glad a got a good deal on it because I wasn't a very big fan of it. If you're not familiar, a moby wrap is essentially a really long piece of cloth that you can wrap around your body in a variety of ways to hold your baby safely. For me, the drawbacks were:

-that some of the wrapping styles required a partner to assist you,

-I got hot flashes something fierce when I wore it,

-Dexter didn't LOVE being in it,

-the lack of "structure" to it, seems to put more strain on my back.


My conclusion was that it wasn't working for me. One of my baby books highly recommended the Baby Bjorn, so after seeing that it retailed for $130, I went back onto Kijiji & picked one up for $35. I've used it three times now around the house & I am very happy with it so far! Dexter also seems to enjoy it. I guess the moral of the story is that if you can't test drive them out, maybe it's better to get them second hand so you don't throw tons of money away. That being said, I am posting my Moby Wrap on kijiji (starting price of $40 so I have room to barter), and am hoping to at the minimal get my money back if not gain a little money.


Ugly Betty:

I caught an episode of Ugly Betty on TV a few weeks ago & found it really whimsical and entertaining. I decided to rent Season 1 and see if I liked it. I am now on Season 3 and am really enjoying it (Season 4 is the one currently airing). The surprising thing, is that I thought it would be purely comedy, but I find it has a lot of drama that is really touching. If you haven't watched it & are looking for something new that has a few seasons on DVD, check out "Ugly Betty"!

Solid Foods:

The nurses at my breastfeeding group seem to support food other than breastmilk starting at about six months of age. It seems to be the current conclusion that at that age their tummies can handle it. As of right now, Dexter hasn't shown any interest in food that we're eating so I am not going to introduce anything new right now. I would take the 6 month recommendation into consideration, but if he shows interest earlier I might try it slightly earlier. I've heard of babies getting pablem as early as in the hospital shortly after being born so it's not completely determental if they get it too early, but I've also witnessed a few people who's babies have NO interest in food because they waited to long. It seems like a bit of a balancing act. Also, apparently introducing foods is really complicated and you have to make sure you have a schedule of flavors and progress in textures or you could have problems with baby accepting them. So intense! And, as Kyla mentioned, it affects their bowel movements so as of now, I am not in a hurry to start that business LOL

Moving:

Tyler is back to work in Fort Saskatchewan & has been for a few weeks now. It's not as "hard" as I thought to be home by myself with Dexter but it's not exactly "easy" either. It's challening to do small things like shower, shovel the walk or run errands and it still isn't ideal for the family life I'd like to have. Thus, we are talking about selling our home in Red Deer and moving to Fort Saskatchewan or the area. I'm not sure what our house would sell for but I'm thinking it would be priced in the $300,000 - $350,000 range. I'd like to move to a house that is at least equal to this one (if not a little better) but stay in a similar price range. I looked up some houses on http://www.mls.ca/ this week and found two strong contenders. It made me feel better about the moving idea. My comfort level would be to sell our house first & then buy another, but I'm also pretty sure that you could put a condition in your offer on a house saying conditional on the sale of our house...it just might make our offer less desirable than someone elses. It's pretty impossible, and not at all desirable, to sell during Christmas so I've been procrastinating.


Small Rant:

When Tyler showed Tyrone & family the video of Dexter rolling offer, Tyrone felt the need to be negative about the situation and comment that Dexter was "only" rolling over one way. Whatever! I'm proud of my little boy :-) The picture below, is his little feet & chubby legs under his exersaucer!

Alight, going to try to sneak in a catnap before Dexter wakes up as I am a little extra sleepy right now. Ciao for now, & Happy Holidays everyone! (only 3 more sleeps!)

Dexter Rolling Over (Better Lighting)

Some Family Gossip

Just found out last night from Tyler that apparently Tyrone is moving out & into Mary's new place. If you're not updated, Mary (Tyler's mom) broke up with Robert back in early October and bought a trailer in Edmonton with a possession date of Dec 21. When Tyler went to help Mary pack up the truck on Sunday, he found out that Tyrone was moving in with Mary. So we don't know too many details about the specifics. However, Tyrone, Kim, Kira & Tehya are all at Mary's right now and heading to Saskatchewan together with Mary for Christmas.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Video Clip - Dexter Rolling Over & a Quick Baby Update

Dexter first rolled over on November 26th (just over 9 weeks) and it was super exciting. He did it another time right after, then I got smart & got my camera...well he was too grumpy to do it again LOL I finally captured it on video tonight, December 20th (coincidently his 3 months/14 weeks "birth" day).

Quick baby update: on Friday, December 18th Dexter get his first set of vaccinations. For those counting, he is a little behind on getting them because his Mommy didn't realize they were due so soon & hadn't booked an appointment thus took another few weeks to get in passed his two months.

Measurements as of the 18th:

Weight - 13lbs 5oz

Length - 23 Inches

His length is a bit small for his age so he's in the 24th percentile for that, though his weight for length is the 75th percentile. Dexter is talking like crazy now (oohs, ahhs & coos), giggling & laughing and is super fun & entertaining in this stage!

Christmas is only a few days away now and I'm really looking forward to seeing all the presents my Mom bought for him LOL We're hosting Christmas with my parents & siblings for Christmas Day & then Tyler's dad and stepmom will be joining us for dinner on Boxing Day. The days inbetween this and New Year's I'm hoping to squeeze in a quick visit to Medicine Hat to see my Grandma, Aunt & Family (including my cousin's 7 month old who I haven't met yet), Christmas with Tyler's dad & Christmas Tyler's mom. Mary, Tyrone & Company are going to Saskatchewan as of the 23rd until the 27th.

Monday, December 07, 2009

Memoirs of a Mommy

First & foremost I just want to say that I LOVE being Dexter's Mom...I say it that way, versus being a Mommy because I feel being Dexter's Mom is a unique journey especially built for me verus the generic Mommy journey that every Mother gets. Tyler & I both feel that we got the perfect baby for us and that we couldn't ask for anyone better. I didn't fall in love with Dexter instanteously (at least I didn't feel that it was just in one moment), but every time I saw him I loved him more. The first thing I noticed was that I just couldn't stop kissing him. Everytime I had him, I just wanted to kiss him a million times. It was (& is) like a compulsion :-)
Okay, so I'm sure my love confession doesn't surprise any of you Mommies out there...but its new for me so it surprises me just a little...agh, little boy is awake already so I have to pause my Memoirs.
Back again. One of the biggest changes to my life post-birth, is the lack of time to get things done & the speed of which each day flies by (at lightening speed!). I've had tons of blog ideas & start composing them in my head, but never seem to be able to make it to the computer to type them out (it's difficult to type with one hand while holding Dexter in the other). It's important to remember that I still have the same amount of hours in each day, I just have different priorities now. That's not to say that blogging isn't a top priority...it just means that I've forgotten about some of the fun stuff - especially with some of the facebook games that took over my life for a time. I thought about it, and while I was enjoying Cafe World, FarmVille & Fish World, it just wasn't a good use of my downtime. I deleted two of the games off my facebook but have allowed myself FarmVille still...I just really like it (plus I've "met" new people who we've added as Farming Neighbors).
Okay, so many topics, so much limited time ha ha If you have any topic requests, feel free to let me know. Off the top of my head, a big topic is Breastfeeding. I started out being vehnomously opposed to the ideo prior to being pregnant, then got to considering it, to actually trying it to possibly liking it. It's silly, but it feels good to give your baby your milk. And I find it oddly fascinating to milk myself with a breastpump ha ha I truly felt in the beginning, that if it was too difficult to breastfeed, I wouldn't force the issue. But Dexter latched pretty good right from the start and once my actual milk came in (on Tuesday night after he was born, so two days) it stopped being as painful. I did end up getting a crack on one of my nipples which was excruicating to feed from, and coincidently that was the breast that worked better in the beginning...so it was a bit of torture. But I got some great cream from my doctor (highly recommended to anyone who's going to breastfeed thought it's ridiculously expensive $24 for a pill bottle of it) which I like way better then other products I tried. Ah, awake again. I swear Dexter hears me typing & decides to wake up LOL