I realized the other day that I’ve been TOTALLY slacking off in putting up pictures of Gwen. I’m feeling super busy these days … although I’m sure finally having The OC: Season Four on my computer is NOT helping with my productivity!
That’s right, people. After telling you all to stop it already and we’re so not ready for that yet and how can you joke about such a thing? … Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, we went to my parents’ house for a BBQ for Mother’s Day.
I think Gwen’s favourite part was playing with all my mom’s metal cook/bakeware. Read the rest of this entry »
Pardon my non-existant blogging over the past week … we’ve been crazy busy here!
Brad’s been working insane hours getting ready for a launch at work, and we hosted his brother, Dave, and his girlfriend, Lindsey, Thursday and Friday and a bit of Saturday! I had a great time hanging out with them and at the end of the visit, we couldn’t decide who was entertaining who: was Gwen entertaining them or were they entertaining her?
My iBook has pretty well gone CAPUT!, so I haven’t any uploaded pictures to show you all. Oh, they’re on my iBook, but it takes about 10 minutes for a webpage to even show up! In light of this recent laptop activity, Brad and I are heading to Future Shop tonight to pick me up one of these.
Um, I’m excited. Like, really excited.
EEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I’ve been thinking a bit about my new size lately.
Mostly because I look in the mirror and I don’t see anything different. I’ve never had a terribly good body image … maybe partially stemming from being called ‘chubby’, ’stocky’, and ‘cute’ - never ‘pretty’ or ‘beautiful’ - growing up .
I told Brad a few nights ago that he was the first guy to have ever called me beautiful - out of 11 (12?) boyfriends I had between grades 7 and 11, when I met him. My parents and sisters never called me beautiful, only ‘cute’.
Every day, I look in the mirror and struggle. I struggle to see myself as Brad sees me and how I know God sees me - beautiful. But I don’t feel it. And mostly, I don’t believe it. I find myself wondering how Brad can possibly call me beautiful when clearly, at best, I’m cute. I don’t doubt he believes me to be beautiful, but if I’m being honest with myself, sometimes I wonder if his eyesight is really that poor …
In the same way, I put on my brand new size 6 jeans and marvel that they fit me. I wonder if maybe I tried on the only grossly mislabeled size 6 in Old Navy and I’m really still a size 12, because I sure don’t feel different and I don’t see any difference in the mirror. I know my old jeans were getting baggy and that now when I walk, my thighs don’t rub together, but in the mirror?
I get in front of that mirror, catch a glimpse of myself in a car or shop window, and instantly I’m that ’stocky’ kid who was yelled at during ballet class to “suck it in!” or the ‘cute’ girl in the family photo beside my two beautiful sisters.
And I vow to tell my daughter that she is beautiful.
My poor nephew, Liam, has five allergies: dogs, cats, corn, wheat, and peanuts. What a set to get saddled with! I’m hoping that Gwen doesn’t have any allergies, although it wouldn’t surprise me, since I (and my mom!) have allergic rhinitis, Brad and Jenny had childhood asthma, Becky’s got celiac disease, and Brad suspects he has some seasonal allergies.
Yay!
I think when we got for Gwen’s 12 month appointment I’ll mention it to her doctor. I think he suspects she has some anyways, as that was something he asked about. I guess if we get it diagnosed early than at least we know what we’re up against, huh? I know she’s fine with wheat (she’s had wheat products and had no reaction), but I wouldn’t know if she was allergic to peanuts or corn, since we haven’t tried either.
Hmmm …
So on March 12, we went for Gwen’s 9 month check-up. Everything was 100% fine until I asked to know what percentile Gwen was in, since my doctor’s office has never told me. I shouldn’t have asked. According to their records and Gwen’s current weight, she had all but dropped off the growth curve. My doctor, who previously - even Gwen’s weight had been taken - was not concerned about Gwen’s growth or development started telling me the most irrational things … Read the rest of this entry »
First, let me caveat this post by saying that, in the rare occurance that I may actually get to sleep during the day and have a decent nap, as soon as I stand up, I am in pain. Extreme gas pain that puts me in a fouler than foul mood and is often accompanied by moaning, crying, groaning, and lying curled in the fetal position for 30 mins - 1 hour. I can’t tell you how long this has been the case, but long enough to know that unless I really need that nap, it’s really just not worth the aftermath. That said, let’s move on 
Brad advised me this morning to sleep with Gwen goes down for her naps. We’ve both (yeah, I’ll get around to updating about that eventually) been quite sick, and I. Am. Exhausted. I shunned the idea for Gwen’s first nap, as it occured at only 9:30am, but I thought maybe for her second, I’d see what happens. Following is an account, for my darling husband, of what transpired during said ‘nap’. Please know that these events are not isolated and their occurence is well noted by myself under 4 - 5 months of observation. This wasn’t a one-off.
I had gone out to get lunch - a bagel - from a local shop and saw some friends while there. I arrived home at around 1:45pm, perfect timing for Gwen’s second nap, since she’d awoken from her first (1+ hours) at 10:45am. She was rubbing her eyes and yawning, clear Gwen signs that a nap will easily overtake her.
I decided to nap with her in our bed - one of my favourite things to do when she was little - and got us all comfy-cozied up. She latched on … and popped off. And latched on … and popped off. Bright eyed and bushy tailed now that we’re trying to get her to sleep, my kid played. Until 2:39pm. We had some cute moments, as she rewarded me with the ever-elusive Gwen giggle after I tickled her belly a few times, followed promptly by a head-butt into my sore, congested, sinuses. Thanks, Gwen.
So. At by 2:39pm, she was whiny and clumsy. I had lain there the whole time hoping against hope that she would tire quickly and I could still get my nap. I got us comfy-cozied up again (oh, and she’d fallen asleep in our bed for her naps just fine on Saturday when I had been too tired/weak to move, so it’s not because she was in our bed. Nice try though - I knew what you were thinking!) and … oh right. Comfy-cozied up again and she nurses and slips blissfully into a quiet sleep. I lay there staring at her, blissful amidst the nursing hormones and begin drifting off a few minutes later.
To be awoken at 3:00pm.
That’s right, people, my kid slept for 15 minutes.
That, my dear sweet Brad, is why I don’t try to nap anymore. I’ll take sheer exhaustion over that fiasco any day! Although today I got to enjoy that fiasco followed by sheer exhaustion made worse by the fact that my body thought it was going to get to sleep followed by kill-me-now gut pain. Yay!
Can any one else see why I find it difficult day after day to find the sunshine and puppy dogs in being a mother?
This is what keeps me going. This kid is seriously cute.
Saturday was my 25th birthday. We didn’t do a whole lot, but it was a great day nonetheless! Brad got up (at 6:20!) with Gwen and let me sleep until she needed to nurse - which was around 8. Ah, bliss! We got our favourite Saturday morning breakfast - a breakfast sandwich from the Locke Street Bakery. Mmmmm. Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t have a topic that I specifically want to blog on, so I thought I’d throw a random smattering of stuff out there.
