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 =)