Not Robbie related

I'm sorry, but this post isn't about our little guy. I just found out that an old high school friend of mine has passed away... and that she had a year old daughter that died with her on Christmas Eve. I wish I had known about her passing, I would have gladly put my Birthday celebrations on hold to pay my respects to her.

I found out about her death through the news paper while visiting my parents, here's what it said:

"The lives of a Calgary mother and her young daughter cut tragically short on Christmas Eve won't soon be forgotten, hundreds of mourners at the pair's funeral heard yesterday.

As tearful family members walked into the crowded McInnis & Holloway Chapel of the Bells at 2720 Centre St. North to the strains of Celine Dion's A Mother's Prayer, tributes poured in for Courtney Schenck and her one-year-old daughter, Hannah.

Garth Schnurer, Courtney's uncle, said the 28-year-old single mother loved her daughter fiercely and both were beacons of light for those who knew them.
"Both of these young ladies touched our hearts and will be with us forever."
Schnurer said Courtney was a competitive ringette player and gymnast who had a zest for life that was mirrored in her young daughter, who only recently turned one.

The pair were found dead in the bathtub of their Panorama Hills home by a family member on Christmas Eve after it was believed Courtney suffered a seizure and her daughter was unable to fend for herself.

Schnurer described Hannah as a "perfect little angel" and said Courtney's determination and sense of humour will be greatly missed. "

What a way to find out about a friend having a child. I knew about her fight with seizures but she always made them out to be no big deal... I guess they were. I'm not much of a religious person, but I hope God has a place for these two ladies.

R.I.P.

So he CAN do it!

Robbie and I were sitting (he was lying) on the couch watching Contact (the movie). He was playing and talking to himself so I decided to let him be.... after a couple of minutes I realized he wasn't asking to be picked up, I look over and there he is gazing off into space. Only a couple minutes after that he was asleep!! There were no blankets, no rocking, no shushing... and even no boob!! This gives me hope. Even though Robbie and I have come leaps and bounds when it comes to bed time, ideally I'd love to put him in his crib and he be able to put himself to sleep without any crying or feeding. Baby steps!

Tomorrow is my birthday... I turn 28 (how can I forget? Stuncle Paul keeps reminding me. Stuncle = Step Uncle... we believe he was adopted) Grammy & I are taking baby to Airdrie, there's a baby store that I've found online that looks really neat. As for the rest of the day... who knows, maybe a nap?!

Pictures

I've gotten the chance to upload all the pictures that were sitting in the camera, here are some of my fav's.

You can check out the rest of them on the photobucket website!

Holidays

First off... thank you SOOOOOO much to everyone that helped make the holidays so special for us! It was so great to spend time with the relatives and to introduce Robbie to some key members of the family.

Robbie was great during the day, while in Edmonton. He was smiling, talking, standing (assisted), etc etc but unfortunately the nights were a different story. Instead of waking up to feed and then falling back asleep like he would usually do... he thought it was time to party. After the 3rd night of being up half the night trying to get him to sleep we decided to head home after we did presents on Christmas day (we were going to stay until Boxing Day evening). Luckily, he was able to spend some well deserved quality time with his Nan, Auntie Shari, Uncle Jack & Cousin Kailey! (I'm so sorry to everyone else that wasn't able to see him, I hope you understand our reasoning for leaving early) He was really good during the drive home, we stopped in Red Deer to have the little guy stretch his legs... out of allllll the restaurants in Gasoline Alley, only one was open. He was really happy to just lay on the table to kick around. We decided to arrive on Grammy & Grampy's doorstep for Christmas dinner. The reaction we got was priceless (they thought we were going to be up in Edmonton until the 27th) Grammy's tears started streaming down her face... it was beautiful. Robbie's sleeping schedule was all wonky, he didn't have his 4pm nap but did fall asleep @ 7, right before dinner was being served. We stayed there until 9 and decided to wake Robbie up and take him home.. of course he woke up as we got home. So I drew a bath for him (he had been having showers for the past 3 days) and we had a blast in the tub, Grammy had gotten him so floating toys that squirt water and I think that I had more fun with them than he did! He kept reaching for the toys as they floated away and kept sticking them in his mouth, it was a great bath!! On to the good part, WE HAD A GREAT NIGHT!! He woke up to eat and I brought him back to bed and fed him and he zonked right out again.... WOOHOOO! I feel great! Colin's still in bed (it's 8am now) catching up on the lost sleep.

Up next... MY BIRTHDAY! On December 30th I'll be 28 years old. I definitely don't feel old... I guess that's all that matters.

I'll sign off by wishing everyone a happy holidays and all the best in the new year! I hope your holidays were as memorable as ours were.

Sitting

He's ALMOST there!

Just a couple of weeks ago if I tried to get him to sit his head would touch his feet and then he'd flop over like a doll. Now he's doing so much better!! He can hold his body up for a couple of seconds and then starts to slowly lean to one side & then falls over, he definitely needs to work on his balance.

He also has discovered that fingers & thumb can be a source of comfort. Yesterday when I was over visiting the family I was putting him to sleep & he started sucking on his fingers! It was so cute, you could hear the smacks and sucks. If he likes sucking on his fingers, this could be a nice alternative to a soother.

Robbie's also got a little bug (I think) He's perfectly happy and doesn't have a fever... but his voice is different. His cries aren't as piercing and his giggles are a little muffled... maybe he's just growing again. Who knows!?!

Christmas party went well... there were a couple of "drunken mess"es, but all 'n all it was great to see all the girls again and to catch up. One of my co-workers is 7 months pregnant (haven't seen her in 4 months so she wasn't showing back then) I got to touch her belly and just then I realized that I miss being pregnant! I don't miss the heartburn, aching hips, sleepless nights, etc... but I forget what it feels like to feel a kick, to have my hubby wrap his arms around me and feel my belly for hours, the anticipation for a new addition. Yeah... I miss it, big time.

Back to Normal

Ahhhh... it's so nice to have him back to his normal self! We finally got a couple little poops out of him so I haven't been noticing as many toots =D When Grammy came over to help me with some Christmas baking she thought it was the dogs!!

Speaking of baking, we had Auntie Alison & her new man over to make ginger bread houses! We had so much fun! I have a major sweet tooth and was tasting all the goodies as we were building the houses... MISTAKE! Robbie was so hard to put down tonight!! We had the bath like usual. I offered the boob & he got fussy, so I left him in his crib to cry for a little bit. After a couple of mins I went back there to offer him food, he took it and gobbled and gobbled and gobbled... but he was STILL awake! So I bounced on the ball with him and that knocked him out. He woke up about 30mins afterwards looking for more food (he tried to latch onto my chin)... we did this 4 separate times!! It had to have been the sugar, so the last time he woke up Colin mixed him some formula. He wouldn't take it at first because he was tired & wanted the boob, but Colin thought to give him some Tylenol and then try giving him the bottle.... worked like a charm! He fell asleep in my arms while inhaling the formula. It's pretty funny, one second the baby can be completely tense & fussy and then all the sudden he goes limp... that's when you know he's had enough =P

Robbie seems to like simple "toys"... like a bag of flour for example! Anything that makes that crinkling noise!

We're pretty much done our Christmas shopping! I have to get 2 more gifts & we're waiting on an order to arrive... then we're done!! I can't wait to sit back and enjoy the holidays, it's going to be fun. I think it's fair to say that next year only immediate family will be getting gifts, it's too hard to keep track of who's getting what & spending hours trying to find the perfect gift while your little bambino's fussy.

I'm signing off for now. Christmas party is tomorrow and I can't wait to see Colin in a tux with pink accents.... yes, PINK! We'll make sure to take lots of pics!

Constipated?

I was under the understanding that breast fed babies don't get constipated... but what if we throw a bit of formula in the mix?! Robbie's usually taking a bottle of formula each night. This entire day he's been farting up a storm, in the past his farts have just made the noise.... but not today!! Wooooo he puts his mom & dad to shame!! Every time he lets one rip, I think that he's filled his diaper. He hasn't pooped for a couple of days now (This is supposedly normal for breastfed babies) & he's been pretty fussy today (I ended up feeding him in the bath this afternoon!) So I'm wondering if it's constipation? We gave him gripe water that's suppose to help with upset tummies... but I don't think it's suppose to help with the "plumbing" If I get another poonami, I'm going to share it with the world via the camera!! You lucky ducks =P

Bed time... it's been getting better every day! We have the ghetoblaster playing static & our sound machine making the sounds of the ocean and that seems to do the trick. He still cries for a little bit and then settles himself down, if he doesn't stop crying within 5-10 mins I'll go back and offer him more food. The soothers were a total flop, I guess he's just not a "sucker".

P.S. I'm in the middle of uploading some more video's... enjoy =)

Yahoo!

Last night was amazing (once we got baby to sleep) He fell asleep around 7:30ish and didn't wake up until 5, and after that feeding he fell back asleep until 9!!! YAHOO... We have a happy mommy today! I got up a couple of times during the night and put my hand on his chest to make sure he was still breathing. At 3 I had to pump because both of the "girls" were at full capacity. We're giving him 4oz of formula during the evening and I'm wondering if that played a factor in his sleeping in? Maybe it's filling up his belly a little more than the boob milk does... We'll do the same routine tonight and see how it goes.

I'm still giving him Acetaminophen (Tylenol) because he is pretty cranky without it, the nurse said that the shots can bother him up to 3 days.

Well the new car seat is a hit! Every time I strap him in there he's out like a light within a couple of minutes! The only bad thing about it is that I have to take him out of the seat when we get to our destination & that wakes him up.

I also bought 3 different kinds of soothers, so I'll be trying all of them out to see what the verdict is! Keep your fingers crossed!!

WE DID IT! (and by we.. I mean him)

I cried in Colin's arms after Robbie fell asleep, by himself, in his crib.

We did our normal routine: Bath & Feed... he was getting drowsy after the meal so we decided to not read tonight. I swaddled him up from the pits down (leaving his arms free) turned the mobile on & the sound machine (makes heartbeat, wave and rain forest noises) and left. He REALLY didn't like it at first, it started off as a bearable cry... his discomfort cry. I would wait a couple of minutes & then walk in there to try & quiet him down (mobile had to keep getting wound up too) As the minutes passed his cry changed, I didn't want him to cry to the point where he's inconsolable.... he would just get himself so worked up & it would take hours to calm him back down (have done so in the past).

I cuddled up to Colin with tears in my eyes, the sound of his cry is so heartbreaking. I got to the point that I couldn't take it anymore & Col asked if he could try to soothe him. So in goes Daddy to see what he can do... he started shushing him (without picking him up) and within a minute (seriously, a minute) he settled down and was asleep within 3 minutes. WHAT A GUY!!! I gave him the biggest hug & thanked him over and over... he's an angel.

So our baby is sleeping & I'm ecstatic!

4 Month Weigh In

Here we go:

................At 2 months........ At 4 months

Weight: ......14lbs 1oz........... 17lbs 8oz
Height: .......22.5 inches ......25 1/4 inches
Head: ..........41.5 cm ...............43 cm

Which means he's in the 90th percentile for both height and weight & in the 75th percentile for head circumference.

He did really well with the shots. They stick 2 needles in on thigh & 1 on the other thigh, he was perfectly fine with the first needle but as soon as she stuck that second needle in he started crying =( Nothing that a little food couldn't take care of, though. After he ate he was smiling for all the nurses.

Last night he woke up & 3 for his feeding, I brought him to bed & fed him thinking he'd go back to sleep like he usually does... NOPE! Mr. Gabbypants wanted to tell me about his dream, so I took him into his room & sat with him in the rocking chair while he talked to me & played with my fingers. I knew he HAD to be tired so I kept the lights off & turned the noises off. He was showing signs of being tired but didn't want to sleep in my arms, so I figured I try something new instead of pacing around the house with a fussy baby... I put him in his crib & turned on his mobile, he didn't make a peep! He played with his fists for a bit & then was out like a light! So I think that's the key... he needs to be calm, not over tired & over stimulated. I'll admit, I've been in front of the TV watching my shows while I've been trying to get him to sleep.

So even though I haven't had much sleep today... I feel great because there's hope that someday down the road I won't dread bed time.

Sleep Time

I get SO frustrated when it comes to Robbie's bed time. He cries & whines & cries & whines... he doesn't let me sit down (unless I'm on the exercise ball jumping up and down) and he constantly wants to be rocked, bounced, etc. I need to teach him to self-soothe... sounds easy, right? Nope =( He doesn't particularly like soothers ( I'm going to buy every brand I can find to see if there's one that he'll take to) and he doesn't seem to enjoy being swaddled these days.

What is a mom to do?

I don't want my child to cry every night when bed time rolls around! And I don't want him to rely on me to be the one to put him to sleep. I guess it's just a matter of trial and error. We have a routine w/ Robbie: Bath, Food & Story (if he's up for it when that time rolls around) I'm wondering if I should start the routine earlier (we start the bath at 6:30 and he's usually asleep around 7:30), so that he's not so over tired. One of my books also suggested to get a soft blanket for him to snuggle with... I saw a mini blanket (super soft) at Old Navy that I'm going to get for him. If anyone has any wisdom or advice... I'd love to hear it.

*sigh*

He's officially 4 months old. I'll sound just like every other mom when I say he's growing up so fast!!

What have we been up to lately.... lets see. Seeing as though the weather has been abnormally warm, Robbie & I have been going for walks every day! He loves it! I think the only thing he'd complain to you about is getting sun in his face, it makes him sneeze! Luckily we've got a canopy on our stroller that can cover his face when we're walking into the sunlight.

We have officially boughten Robbie his next car seat. We're going to try & assemble it tomorrow! It's a 3-1 car seat, it's a rear and forward facing car seat... which should last until he doesn't need the extra protection (goes up to 100lbs) I'll try & take pictures of it once it's installed. I'm REALLY excited that I don't have to lug around that heavy infant seat anymore! Think about it... this kid has to be at least 17 lbs now (was 16lbs 6oz a month ago) plus the weight of the car seat itself, it's a work out that's for sure! It seems like everything is a workout with him. At the end of the day my arms almost tremble because I've been carrying around this monster of a baby.

Today I discovered a new game with him... We (as in I) sang "The wheels on the bus" he giggled SOOOOO hard! I think he liked the actions more than my singing... but he got a big kick out of the whole thing.

This morning we went to go to Symantec's Christmas party for the kiddies. It went fairly well! They had a duo come in & had an interactive singalong session about hibernation (it sounds dull but the kids seemed to really enjoy it) All the kiddies got a gift from Santa & it was a hit! It seemed like they were all screaming with excitement that they got what they wanted. Robbie got a little scared with all the screaming and laughing and he let out a couple of cries, nothing that a couple of cuddles couldn't cure =)

Robbie has started talking to us too! When he wakes up from naps he likes to have conversations. He mumbles and then pauses and waits for you to respond, so I usually try and repeat his sounds and then wait for him to start up talking again. It brought me to tears one day... my son is actually trying to communicate with me through sounds rather than cries! He is so intense when he talks to you, he looks straight at you... sometimes he'll crack a smile, other times he's got such a serious face on.

This week is the start of the holidays for us, we've got so much going on:

Tuesday AM - Robbie gets his 2nd round of immunization shots

Tuesday PM - I have an appt with EI (I've been "randomly selected" to prove that I have a child & that I'm not abusing the system)

Wednesday AM - Pick up Christmas pictures

Wednesday PM - Mail out Christmas cards

Friday AM - Colin has an appt with the Dr

Friday AM/PM - Grammy's coming over to help me with some Christmas baking

Sunday - Heather's Christmas Party

Monday - Uncle Paul arrives

Thursday - Dogs go to the kennel & Uncle Paul's birthday (I don't think there's enough fingers and toes to count how old he is!! hehehe)

Friday - Colin's Christmas Party

Saturday - Head up to Leduc to start the holidays!

Needless to say, I'll be happy when every thing's done and I can sit back and enjoy the holidays with our families!

I'll update tomorrow on what his new height/weight is!

NEW PICTURES

Holly... Mr. Toots McGee

Well yesterday was really nice! The temperature got up to 7 degrees and Robbie & I went on a brunch date with Grammy and Grampy. Grammy hadn't seen him in almost a week so she was making up for lost time. The grub tasted good but my tummy didn't agree with it after about an hour.... which in turn, didn't agree with Robbie! At around 2 o'clock he started crying at the top of his lungs. It wasn't his normal hungry/tired/bored cries, it was a cry like he was in pain (same cry that he had when we got him snipped) So we tried everything to console him but it wasn't working, Grammy suggested we give him a bath and that seemed to stop the crying but it started right back up as soon as I took him out of the water. So I put him on my lap and started working his legs up and down to see if I could get any toots out of him..... WOW. He let out a whole whack of them! He was gassy for the rest of the night, he was only happy on his back and in the tub! Auntie Alison came over in the evening to help me with my glasses (THANKS ALISON!) and she was laughing so hard at how I was getting the toots out of him! It looks silly but it works!!

Today we went down town to pick up my glasses at Alisons work & we had lunch with her! I brought the car seat and stroller with me but decided to leave the car seat in the car (the seat can snap into the stroller) So I put Robbie in the stroller sitting up and facing forward... HE LOVED IT! He was really good at Auntie Alison's work, all the girls were smiling and talking to him and he was smiling back! After lunch we went over to pick up his SIN number... so now we can start saving for his future! He stayed awake the entire time (he was awake for about 4 hrs in total!)

What you may or may not know about our baby

1. He loves being read to - I like to sit him on my lap facing me while I read his books to him. Every time I flip a page his jolts with excitement! His favorite book is "Goodnight Moon" (Colin & I have it pretty much memorized)

2. He doesn't fall asleep unless he's got a blanket over him - I find the blanket that Grammy knitted him works the best because it's so big and so heavy... my only worry is that he'll get his fingers stuck in the holes and loose circulation

3. When he wakes up from his naps, he cries (usually)... when he wakes up from sleeping in the night, he's talking and smiling

4. We get rid of his gas by laying him on his back and shaking his legs! We do the running motion, then bounce the bum and then rock his legs from side to side ... and then repeat. He always gets out his toots that way!

5. He can sit and stand when assisted - he use to get really frustrated because it was so much effort, but now he loves it!

6. He loves to be Superman! - If you raise him above your head he'll have full control of his head and will look straight ahead & smile (also helps with the gas if you have your hands on his tummy)

7. In the middle of the night if he's hungry he'll roll to me to start nursing, and when done he'll roll back - He still can't roll over on a flat surface, but because the bed is soft and there's indents from where I lie... it's easy for him to roll to me.

8. The second question that Nan asks every time she calls is: "How's Robbie?" - and we love it!! Everyone cares and loves him so much!

9. No one calls him studly anymore - That was baby's nickname while he was in utero. I think too many people have been changing his diaper ;)

10. His mom and dad fall in love with him all over again every time he smiles at us - which has been a lot lately!!

NEW VIDEO

Wonderful Day

Our little guy has been a bundle of joy today! We decided to stay home, put up our Christmas decorations and enjoy some alone family time. We put some Christmas carols on while we assembled our tree and decorated it! Needless to say, Robbie loves the tree lights. We have white lights right now... but I think we should get coloured lights, that would really grab the baby's attention.

Robbie fell asleep on me in a weird way today... and I liked it. He was playing with me on my lap and he had his legs straddled around my waist, I ended up hugging him for a couple of minutes and he fell asleep, just like that! It was like he was giving me a great big bear hug and fell asleep giving it to me... it was so sweet!

He fell asleep early today (7:30) so we never got to do the cereal or bath tonight... we'll see how he does. He did fall asleep on the boob, so his belly was full when he zonked out.

Today is Shari's baby shower & I wish I could be there to celebrate with her. I hope she has a blast!

AMEN

Well we gave Robbie some Rice cereal for the first time last night. At first he was pretty fussy about taking it, he wasn't really sure how to use the spoon. After calming him down from his screaming fit we tried it again... making noises as the spoon got to the mouth & trying to get him excited to eat. He was a lot more open to trying it this time around! He started slurping the rice from the spoon, so when he did eat.. he ate really fast. He was really messy though (after JUST having a bath) We got a bib and two receiving blankets full of cereal.... yuck! In all, he ended up eating about 10 spoonfuls... pretty good for a first timer! I topped him off with some boob milk and he fell asleep with next to no complaining!

Now for the good part! He fell asleep @ 8:30 and didn't wake up until 1:30 =) He woke up another time during the night, around 2 or 3, but went back to sleep after he fed. The pills are already starting to work, I had an engorged boob during middle of the night. Back to wearing a bra to bed! He woke up at 6:15 this morning and was ready to start his day!

We're going to try and stick with that routine: bath, cereal, bed. We'll see if he likes it!

We took pictures of the feeding... if/when I have time today I'll upload them.

NEW PICTURES