kim through
   the looking glass

.. comes once again from the Peaceful Parenting blog. This article, Parenting in Peace has given me some things to think about and some things to strive toward. Go read it!

Happy one week, little man! Today you weighed 7lbs even - a full 4 oz over your birth weight! You seem to be gaining about 6 oz every two days … which translates to a LOT of time nursing you. I don’t mind much, although your big sister is a little jealous.

Here are some random facts I’ve learned about you in the last week:

• You hate having your diaper changed just slightly more than you hate being unlatched from my breast
• You are a switch nurser - at each feed, I switch you from side to side multiple times … someday I hope you go down to only one or two breasts per feed!
• When you sneeze, you whack yourself in the head … it’s quite cute!
• You definitely recognize both your daddy’s and Gwen’s voices

Here follows the birth story of our son, Gil. If you don’t enjoy reading the more graphic details of birth, I’d suggest not reading it

Read the rest of this entry »

I thought I should check-in with everyone and give an update

Gil is nursing very well … in fact, he nurses all. day. long. And it’s not just comfort nursing, either. The little guy switches back and forth stimulating letdown after letdown. He burps occasionally and spits up every once in a while, but even when he does, it’s only a mouthful.

Gil weighed 6 lbs 4 oz on Monday morning and my midwife came bac to do the PKU test - aka the torturous heel-prick test - on Tuesday afternoon. She agreed to weigh him even though she didn’t think that over a day we’d see much measurable gain - he was 6 lbs 10 oz! Two ounces shy of his birth weight by day 4!

Gil was a bit slow in getting his gut started. He had great easy meconium poops, but after that, the frequency petered out big time! My midwife was a bit concerned about jaundice - he was a teeny bit yellow and not clearing his bowels - so set a goal for two poops by noon yesterday. If we didn’t get our poops, we were to take him in for a bilirubin level. He gave us three by 9AM - stinker!

As for me, I feel great! A little tired, but compared to last time, I feel like million dollars! I am completely healed up, there is no soreness anywhere, and I feel like being a mother is a tonne easier this time. So much more relaxed!!!

More pictures and a birth story to come very soon. I’d like to check some of my details against the birth notes when my midwife comes on Friday.

Please join us in welcoming the newest member of our family - a son!

William (Gil) Farrell Schellingerhoudt was born at home 3:23PM on February 19, 2010. He was 6 lbs 12oz and 20 inches long.

I had a FAST labour - I thought I was in labour in the morning, but it had quite the pause … in the end, my active labour lasted only 2.5 hours and I only pushed a few times!

We’re doing well - getting to know one another and getting breastfeeding well established. I’ll check in with you all soon with a birth story

I woke up throughout the night with some decent contractions that were moving into my back, but only woke up about once an hour.

When Brad got up with Gwen around 6:45 and she nursed, they moved to every 6 - 7 minutes and were about 30 seconds long.

At this point (8:20), they’re every 2 - 3 minutes, but not very long. I’m needing to move through them and either do some counter-pressure on myself or have Brad come squeeze my hips.

It won’t be long, I don’t think!

I can’t believe we’re sitting here at 39 weeks pregnant and playing the waiting game. My last trimester has absolutely flown by and it’s crazy to think that in just a matter of hours, I could be holding Love Bug on the outside. Read the rest of this entry »

I just can’t get over her great humour … check out Mama Is’ Wasting My Life in Conversation:

These two handy snack bags took me around 1.5 hours to complete.

Finished dimensions are 6.25 inches x 5.5 inches.

Aren’t these prints cute??

Materials Required: Two colours of yarn and needles sized to match yarn. I used one ball each Olive (colour A) and Brown (colour B) in Magic Buttons by Naturally and US 3 /3.25mm needles.

Finished Measurements: 6.5 inches circumference, 11 inches long.

Sizing: These legwarmers fit my 20 lb toddler perfectly, and would likely fit a smaller baby well, too. They’re pretty well the same dimensions as store-bought Babylegs, just a little smaller in the circumference.

Directions:

• Knit a gauge swatch (I know. This totally sucks.) so you can figure out how many stitches you need to cast on to get the desired circumference - my gauge swatch gave me 6 st/inch.
• Cast on using colour A. In my case, I cast on 40 stitches.
• Work 1 inch of K2P2 ribbing in colour A.
• Switch to colour B and work 9 inches of stockinette stitch, alternating colours every 1 inch.
• Work 1 inch of K2P2 ribbing in colour A.
• Cast off loosely.
• Sew up side of warmer.
• Make another one!

Possible Adaptations:

• Knit in the round, which I would normally do because I hate sewing things up. Sadly, I didn’t have the right needle size.
• Knit in one colour and leave plain or embellish with some fun embroidery.
• Knit the stripes unevenly for a more funky look.
• Adapt the pattern to your child’s leg size by measuring around their thigh and adjusting the number of stitches to cast on.

If you happen to make this pattern, leave me a link! I’d love to see what you’ve done and what they look like!