1 year ago

1 year ago, I was just going into labour. Read my labour story here.

An American Institution=A Tompkins Institution?

An update on what's been going on with us:

-packing
-packing
-catching up on laundry and dishes so we can pack laundry and dishes

In conclusion, it's hideous. Moving SUCKS. We absolutely have to love Lethbridge because we are NOT.DOING.IT.AGAIN.

The movers come tomorrow morning at 830am so tonight we needed a quick dinner out. We wanted to go to our favorite diner in Calgary but it would involve driving in rush hour and possibly waiting for a table. Not what you want when you have limited time and a baby that absolutely must eat by 515 or you'll be sorry!! And did I mention that we're having a winter storm? Winter storm as in travel advisory in effect and possibly up to 30cm by tomorrow night. All the more reason to pick a restaurant that's close by.

I fully admit that we're kind of food snobs. Pre-baby, we used to drop a LOT of our money on good meals out. It was not unusual to spend $100 on a dinner out. Nowadays, we don't have that luxury. Still though, we don't do fast food. I get why people do it...it's fast, cheap and easy. But it does not make me feel good. AT ALL. I personally think it tastes horrible too. So if we're in a rush, we'll usually hit up Safeway for some deli fresh sandwiches, a ready made rotisserie chicken, things like that. Tonight, we just needed to get out of the house and away from the boxes so we decided to hit up an American Institution....DENNY'S! It's not even a 5 minute drive from our house and very family friendly. We used to hit up Denny's after being at the bar until it closed in our band days. Can't say I remember much about the food or service but it was always open! We were pleasantly surprised tonight. The food was adequate (we both ate for $21...you get what you pay for), the service was FANTASTIC, the food was quick and it was quiet. They brought Samara a snack of goldfish, everyone stopped by our table to say hi to her and the people seated next to us won her a stuffed animal from the vending machine at the front (you know the one, with the giant claw you have to catch the toy with?)...it was such a nice experience that we might just make a habit of it!

Signing

We've been signing to Samara basically since she came home from the hospital. She couldn't even see us and we were doing the signs for eat, bath, etc. This past weekend, she finally signed back to us. The books said around 8-9 months but 12 months is good too! She seems to understand the signs and has for a long time but it has taken her this long to do it back. She is doing the sign for "all done" which is super helpful since I never know when she's done eating. She will sit at her high chair for 30+ minutes and I'll just assume she's done. I take her out and then she eats food off the floor! Now, I don't have to guess anymore. I know it seems small but it's strangely exciting!

And now, for some completely unrelated pictures!

Birthday Party!

Yesterday, 1 week before Samara's actual birthday, 25 family members gathered for a celebration of Samara's 1st year. It was a fabulous day. Thanks to everyone that came and for those that couldn't make it, you were missed.

The sad cake I made...in my defense it was the first time I've tried decorating a cake...first time even using an icing bag. It tasted delicious but looked a little pitiful!






Feels weird...
Ew, get it off me!
Okay, I'll try some but only if Daddy does too!

You can have mine, Daddy!
Maybe I'll eat it if it's cut up for me...
Oh yeah, that's better!
Sugar high!!
Yep, I see what the big deal is about!After a quick bath and outfit change!

Weeeeiiirrrdddd

I was playing with Samara in her room just now and she pulled her sleep sack down from the crib, started rubbing it on her face and sucking her thumb. She was toddling around her room like that so I asked her if she wanted to take a nap and she walked towards me. So I put her in her sack and put her down in her crib. And now it's quiet so she must be sleeping. Is this the same kid that would claw at our faces and scream until she almost threw up whenever we tried to get her to nap???

Obsession

I have an obsession with my hair. I want it long, I want it short, I want it dark, I want it highlighted, I want it straight, I want it curly...but the clincher? I only want what I don't currently have. Which means, it's that time of year (happens quarterly I believe) where I think I want to cut my hair. I haven't had a true hair cut (more than a trim) since 2004. I cut it pretty short then...so short that a ponytail was no longer possible. About 3 days later, I paid $500 to have extensions braided into my hair. And I have not had short hair since. I did manage to take out the extensions about 2 years ago so at least I'm not still crazy enough to pay that maintenance. Even though I logically know that the last time I cut my hair, I HATED IT...I still think, hmmm, maybe this time will be different and I'll love it! I guess I just feel like I need a change.

Pros
*less hair to wash, dry and style
*a change!
*less hair for Samara to pull

Cons
*it could look awful
*change can be bad
*I might feel dumpy and unattractive without long hair
*I don't have a hairdresser I love so I would be taking a stab in the dark for a good cut
*I'm fairly certain that as soon as I cut it, I will wish it was long again

Will I or won't I?!

Updates

Samara is walking on her cast like it has always belonged on her. Bad things about the cast? It stinks, it's dirty, it makes bath time worse than vaccination day, etc. Good things about the cast? I always know where she is in the house....clomp, clomp, clomp! Only 3 more days till we take it off. We're wondering if she will walk as well without it now...

I think we can qualify Samara for first words. The only problem is that Shawn and I don't agree on what it is. He says if he asks her to say dada, she says it back. While trying to prove this to me though, she kept saying gaga. And then later was playing by the fridge and called it gaga. So I have my doubts. However, today while doing her usual routine of crying and following me around the house, she kept crying mamamamama. So because I'm the owner of this blog, I officially declare Samara's first word to be MAMA!

Daddy, as a consolation prize, here's a lovely picture of Samara giving you a kiss:

Samara scratched up her face last week, she's a hurtin' unit these days. It's not stopping her but in combination with the broken ankle it does make it look like we'll be expecting a visit from Social Services any day...

Remember my issues with ING? You can find a quick recap here. Well, I came home on Friday to a message from them. They were just following up and wondering if we were ready to go forward with our pre-approval and if we had found a house yet. HAHAHA!! I could do nothing but laugh. I saved the message so Shawn could laugh too. That company just amazes me. I called back and was informed the call was an error and that when we move in 10 days, we will have a mortgage. SUPER! I guess I'll believe it when I see it.

As far as moving goes, well, it sucks! Each stage has been really exhausting and stressful. We've got the basement mostly packed and ready to go. We'll plug away at the main floor this week. We move in 10 days...

SAHM

Well, I got my last (meager) EI payment this week. I sent in my resignation to my boss. It's official. I am a full time, stay at home mom!

I'm excited not to be going back because as most of you know, I just don't leave Samara. Probably to the detriment of both of us. The past week or so has been VERY bad with Samara's separation anxiety. We're talking complete screaming meltdown if I won't carry her around with me or else lay on the floor so she can always be touching me when she's playing. It's very sweet but there are things I need to do around the house, not to mention go to the bathroom sometimes. If I'm doing the dishes, she is hanging off my jeans, screaming, choking on her cries, real tears flowing from her eyes, snot running down her face, drool dripping from her mouth...it's quite the sight. I'm not really sure how to react to it...is it like crying it out for sleep? I just ignore it and let her settle down on her own? Maybe that would work...but I'm a sucker and I just give her what she wants. So of course nothing changes. The house becomes a pigsty during the day, supper gets made last minute and I don't go to the bathroom until she naps.

I'm also starting to get bored. The weather has finally turned nice so Samara's cast is no longer an excuse...I was finding it hard to get her dressed warm enough when most of her pants (and socks and shoes) won't fit over it. So I can add outdoor activities back in...her birthday is just around the corner so we'll have some new toys to play with. I'm just lacking in motivation to find some new things for us to do. How do you fill your days with your kids?

Update on the Cloth Diaper Update

They still piss me off. I posted this on a baby forum I belong to and between that and this blog, I got many, many suggestions to try. So now I'm even more confused on how to make these stinkin' things work but I will just start going through the list.

- still too big around the legs (this is quite possible...although I already said that we are on 2 sizes smaller than their recommended size for Sam's weight, she is quite skinny and does not have the chunky baby thighs). This is the one I'm trying first. I googled the problem and apparently there are quite a few people with skinny babies that have this problem with these diapers. Probably something I should've googled before I bought them...

- change the insert. Apparently hemp absorbs better. I believe it but so do not want to spend more money right now.

- diapers can't be too big or too small. That is important but clearly I'm an idiot that can't figure out the right size. There are about 50 possibilities with these one size diapers, she's changing size frequently and will not lay there while I figure out exactly what fits her best. I wish myself luck on this one because I will probably never get it exactly right.

- I'm changing her at the wrong times...making it so too many pees are caught with one diaper. This is helpful but I really don't know when she pees. So I will have to become the pee police.

- Use 2 inserts. I can do this. But cloth diapers are already much bulkier that I don't want her to be uncomfortable. This will probably be the 2nd thing I try.

- There's a buildup on the diapers. This doesn't seem likely because the inserts are soaked when I take them out so they are clearly absorbing. But just to knock something off the list, I will strip them sometime in the next 2 weeks.

Cloth Diaper Update

Let me start off by saying that I really want to like them. I love how cute they are and like the fact that we're not contributing 6-8 dirty diapers a day into the landfill. I find them very easy to use, very easy to clean, it's no problem storing the dirty diapers in between washes and have had no problems with smells.

BUT THEY ARE REALLY PISSING ME OFF.

They leak. All the frigging time. I've realized that Samara is a heavy wetter and needs to be changed every 2-3 hours. The cloth diapers just can't compare to the disposable ones for absorbability (is that a word and did I spell it right? I'm just too tired to care). But sometimes even after an hour, she has soaked through her clothes. Only in the inner thighs. And if I'm holding her on my hip? Soaks through my clothes too. So I changed the sizing on them. Twice. She is now on a size that is 2 sizes smaller than the recommended one for her weight. And STILL they leak. I'm going out of my mind because it is extremely annoying to change her outfit multiple times a day (and mine!). Anyone have any ideas? The only thing I can come up with is maybe I'm using too much detergent and they are starting to repel moisture instead of absorb it? They're only about 6 weeks old though so I would think if that were the case, it wouldn't have such an effect yet? Any suggestions would be appreciated. I HAVE to push through because I spent $400 stocking up our supply!

Catch-up

Over the past few days, on top of learning how to walk in a cast, Samara popped her 8th tooth, learnt how to clap (so cute!), developed a love for blueberries, raspberries and strawberries and started doing this:

Almost back to normal...

Thank you for your messages and calls. Sammy is doing just fine. If it were me, I'd be laid up on the couch, feeling sorry for myself! Not her though. The first morning was a bit rough as she had to figure out how to get around again and she was very frustrated. She wasn't sure how to crawl with the cast and couldn't figure out why she wasn't walking around. She figured it out quickly though and gets around no problem. She has even started walking on the cast. There's no stopping her!

More Firsts!

Samara had a few more firsts today.

* first trip to the ER
* first x-ray
* first broken bone
* first cast

Not exactly the type of firsts we want to have around here!

This morning Samara was chasing Charlie around the house (walking/running of course). Next thing I knew she was on her hands and knees and crying. I cuddled her but she wouldn't settle down like a normal boo boo. She cried for about 5 minutes straight and normally she's a pretty tough cookie. She eventually calmed down and went for her morning nap and slept for 1.5 hours. When she woke up, she was fussy. I changed her and put her down to play and she started crying again. It looked to me like she was trying to keep her weight off her one foot and then I freaked out. It is NOT a good feeling to not be able to kiss and hug a pain away. Shawn came home and agreed that Samara was not acting like herself and figured she probably twisted her ankle. We decided to be safe and take her to the Children's Hospital and get checked out. And my mommy's intuition was right. She has a buckle fracture on the inside of her right ankle. She'll have to wear a cast for about 2 weeks but then she'll be as good as new. She may even walk with the cast on. Already she is crawling and standing with it. Another downside though? The doctor warned me that Samara is exhibiting signs of a daredevil, push it to the limit personality and this most likely won't be our last trip to the ER for a fracture!

Musical Taste

A funny thing has been happening the last couple of months. Samara's musical taste seems to be developing and her favorite band? The Ramones. What's really funny about that is I used to play in an all girl Ramones cover band called The Hormones. I started the band right about the time Samara was conceived. We jammed all through the first trimester and had our first show when I was about 4.5 months pregnant.

Here's Samara's first time on stage playing in a punk band! I am hardly showing at all in this pic.


We had our last show a couple of months ago but this time Samara stayed home. She did, however, help me learn the words to the songs again...I put her in the carrier and would dance around the house with her while I learned the words.


During those first couple of months when Samara had to be rocked to sleep, I quickly grew tired of singing lullabies and went to the only other songs I knew all the words too...all the songs I sang with The Hormones.

Awhile back, we were driving home from a dinner we had gone to. We assumed Samara was sleeping in the back. The song switched to something by The Ramones and Samara started kicking in her car seat and screeching along.

When Samara and I are at home, I always have music on in the background. I keep the iPod on shuffle and whenever a Ramones song comes on, she immediately stops whatever it is she's doing and starts dancing. I tried to get a video of it but of course the second I turn on that camera, she immediately stops what it is that made me turn it on in the first place. I managed to catch the idea though. The first song is a blues song by Leadbelly. Cool music but she's pretty uninterested. I switch it to The Ramones and she starts dancing so hard that she almost falls over!



Tonight she was pretty fussy since we skipped her morning nap to go to the zoo. So I turned on some Ramones and she started dancing hard. She even jumped on purpose twice!

Now, we know Samara has good taste in music right now (well, at least according to us!). BUT...WHAT is she going to listen to when she starts to rebel?! We have pretty diverse tastes...punk to metal to old country to blues to classical. It's going to be some awful dance techno, I just know it!

Full Time Walker

Yesterday marked the first day that Samara spent more time walking than crawling. It was as if she woke up in the morning and decided crawling was no longer for her. By the end of the day, she would stand up and her legs would basically collapse because they were so tired. When she HAD to crawl, she refused to use her knees and would crawl on her hands and feet with her butt straight up in the air...much like a downward dog pose in yoga! But moving!

Here's a video of her learning to dance without holding onto anything. She is SO proud of herself! She is so stinkin' cute when she walks, I just can't get enough of her!

11 Months!!

Samara is 11 months today. I can't believe that in one short month she will be a year old!

At 11 months, Sam is now a walker/crawler. Crawling is still her main source of "transportation" but she is starting to walk to things more and more. I would say it's 50/50 now. She can walk quite a distance now (15 steps or so), squats down for a rest, stands up and keeps on walking. She uses her push toy (walker) for help. She even walks while resting her elbows on it which is hilarious...makes her look like one of those "bigger" ladies that use walkers for help!

Her favorite toys right now are books. Now when you finish reading her a book and close it, she hands it back to you to start over again. Very cute! But reading the same story 8 times in a row gets old FAST.

Sam's favorite activities this past month are going for walks and playing guitar (she'll walk over to where it is and strum a few chords and screech loudly). She likes car rides too, as long as they aren't too long. Now that the weather is nicer, we've been exploring the outdoors as well which she seems to love.

Food is going well, Sam will now be fed with a spoon again. We're leaning more towards giving her what we have for supper. This month she even had lasagna with us and loved it! She now has 7 teeth with 1 more ready to poke through any day now.

Sleep is still going well. She sleeps from 7pm to 7am. She gets 2 naps a day which are anywhere from 1-2 hours each.

Samara will now take a break from playing with her toys, walk or crawl over to where I'm sitting and give me a hug and kiss. It is SO SO SO sweet. Then she'll toddle off and play on her own again.

Sam weighs 18 pounds 3 ounces and is just over 28 inches long. In the past month she has only gained a few ounces but I attribute that to walking. She wears mostly 6 and 6-9 month clothing.

Sam is still babbling almost nonstop but nothing concrete to report yet.