Visiting Regina

Well so far things have been pretty good here in Regina so far. Chance had a little problem getting to sleep on the night we got here, it didn't help that we were an hour late for his bedtime. But once he was in bed he stayed asleep until about 3, then wanted to get up at 4:30....so he got to sleep with Mommy until 6:20. We went to visit Sask. Industry and Resources yesterday and Chance cried when he saw all the faces, something I'll have to remember when it comes to introducing him to larger groups of people.

mm (That is Chance typing).

8y (again).

Today we are expecting my Auntie Corie and Uncle Marc to drop in for a visit in the morning, otherwise a pretty relaxing day on the go. Chance slept until 7:30 with 3 wake-ups in the night. He ate 2 Tbsp of rice cereal and an inch and a half of mashed banana before he got full. He is in a good mood and playing with the yogurt lids that Gramma made for him. Hopeully I will figure out whether my parent's computer will accept my memory card in order to include some photos otherwise will have to wait, or use their camera and include their photos if they are willing.

On the road again...

Chance and I are leaving for Regina with my parents tomorrow morning. We have had a fun visit but now it is time to hit the road and visit the homeland. We will have a 10 hour trip ahead of us, so we are planning on taking it easy tonight. Most of Chance's things are packed, I just need to pack my bag after he goes to bed. Cam will be joining us for Easter on Good Friday, then we will head home as a family on April 8 or April 9.

Happy Easter everyone!

Eating Cereal too!

We gave Chance rice cereal today and he loves it! We started with 1 Tbsp of cereal and he ate it all, very little left on the bib, floor, walls, etc. Haha.

Crawling!!!

Our little wiggle worm has discovered his wheels! His new favorite game is to push a toy in front of him and try to get it. He can change directions (left and right) but hasn't figured out backwards yet. I was so excited I had to call Cam, who is out helping a friend move right now, and all the grandparents. Gramma Jo and Grampa Phil are on the road, but Grandma and Grandpa Demmans were home to hear the news. Way to go Chance!!

Mmmmm....'nanas!

Oh my. I think my little boy has turned into a monkey, he loves his bananas so much. He actually tries to hoist himself out of his highchair in anticipation. Cameron fed him for the first time tonight, and I think the boys both enjoyed themselves. Tonight was the first time that we fed him anything other than breastmilk before bed, and the difference is striking. Before, Chance was fussy at the boob and seemed frustrated with slow milk flow. Tonight he nursed quietly and contentedly for 15 minutes before I shuttled him into his crib, drowsy-drunk. I wonder if it will make any difference as to when he wakes up in the middle of the night.

Chance received a new toy for Easter from Great Granny Anne and Great Grandpa Gordon. It is a rainmaker tube, which has lots of little beads in it and when you flip it one way and the other, it sounds like rain. He loves to push it and then try to crawl after it.

You can see his technique in the photo where he is looking at one of Daddy's seismic sections - the bum goes waaaay up in the air, and then the legs straighten out and he scoots 6 inches ahead.

Sleeping in the playpen is going quite well. I had been concerned that it would feel different than his crib and he wouldn't want to sleep in there, and he'd have to sleep in my bed when I go visit my parents in Regina, and then he'd be spoiled when he came home, and then we'd be back to the 11 PM bedtimes, and then I would get no sleep. Well...it turns out, he doesn't mind sleeping in the playpen. All that worry for nothing. I never knew how much moms worried until I became one.

New sunglasses

I bought new sunglasses for Chance after the billionth stranger asked me how old my little girl was. No more pink sunglasses.

Damn You Rachael Ray

I have been watching Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals on the Food Network off and on since I've been on maternity leave. Rachael has got this nifty little trick about using a garbage bowl on your cupboard and everything that's garbage goes into the bowl, then you dump the bowl in the garbage when you're done, saving you lots of steps back and forth in your kitchen, plus drips on your floor, etc.

Well, I was cooking away, feeling pretty darn proud of myself for remembering to use the garbage bowl trick. It's a real time/mess saver in a kitchen like mine, which is spread out.

Rach also has this other trick about taking the seeds out of jalepeno peppers, which apparently cuts down on the heat. We're having company with kids for dinner tonight, and I thought a full-bodied chili with jalapenos might be a tinch too spicy for them. So out came the seeds, and into the garbage bowl they went. Neat.

I was washing the dishes up later when I realized that the jalepeno juice was still on my hands. HOLY MOSES, do my fingers ever burn. When's the last time you googled "touched jalepeno pepper help"???

There are various antidotes listed online, all of which seem to contradict each other. "Use soap, don't use soap, use hot water, use cold water, etc!" Anyways it seems that I am hooped for 6-12 hours. I did find, however that using room-temperature cooking oil seemed to help lessen the pain somewhat, and rubbing hands with baking soda and water paste.

Chance started to really cry a few minutes after I realized what had happened and I was scared that I had touched the peppers and then touched him, but it seems that he just needed his susu. It's getting close to nap time. We're going to go cuddle in the rocking chair now.

???

I'm home alone tonight. Cam went out for dinner with Schlumberger, probably to some fancy restaurant and then they took him to the Detroit-Flames game. No problem, I've put Chance to bed by myself before. I just didn't quite expect this.

He took a 15 minute bath like a champ. When I was putting lotion on him, he squirmed out of my grip and bonked his head and cried. For 10 seconds. Then he was all smiles. After 20 minutes of feeding, I put Chance in his crib. He was sleepy-semi-passed-out. When he hit the mattress, his eyes flew open like a baby doll and then he GRINNED at me. I thought to myself "oh here we go now" and left. It is an hour and a half later. Not a peep.

He surprises me every day.

Zoo Break

Alert! Alert! There's a man-eating tiger on the loose!

Chance vs. Cat

Chance has really started to take notice of the cat. His face lights up at the sight of her and if he is on his tummy, his legs start kicking as fast as they go. Unfortunately, Chance has not yet figured out that in order to crawl, the legs must make contact with the floor. It looks like a car that is stuck in mud, with the wheels spinning but no movement otherwise! Scarlet usually plops down 2 feet away from him, and starts taking a bath. I think she is teasing him on purpose. When we are "walking" him, the kitty will come up and rub against him, he loves that.

This Friday and Saturday were so beautiful, I started thinking that spring (and summer) are coming soon. I realized that we don't have a hat for Chance so I went shopping on Saturday morning and found a little safari hat that says "MONKEY" on it.

Cam has taken up snapping photos on the fly these days, so there are now a few more pictures of baby and I, as opposed to pictures of baby and the cat, baby and Daddy, just baby, etc. Unfortunately Cam doesn't give much warning, so the photos aren't very flattering usually. My dad takes pictures the same way.

We are on the road to solid food, starting next weekend, we'll start rice cereal. Chance gets quite fussy when we eat in front of him, even if he's already had his milk. This morning he had a huge breakfast and wouldn't stop banging his toys on his highchair tray until he got a taste of my banana. I know, I know, cereal first, fruit last! 2 (little) spoons of banana aren't going to hurt anything.

Playpen sleeping also starts today. I was going to start on the weekend but I got lazy. I had the playpen in the living room and didn't want to collapse it and move it to Chance's room. He's in the playpen now, trying to go to sleep. He's been up for nearly 3 hours now, so he should be pretty tired!

Playpen Therapy

Chance and I will be traveling to Regina, Sask. in a few weeks for an extended stay with my parents for Easter. Cam will be coming to pick us up on Easter weekend, so we will go home to Calgary after visits to great-grandparents, aunts, cousins, etc.

But, this means that there will be no crib for Chance to sleep in. He's used to his crib. He likes his crib. No crib=no sleep? It's time to introduce the playpen to Chancey.

He's been in it for 20 minutes now, playing/flopping around on his own. He can see me, and occasionally I pop in to give him a new toy or replace his soother. But he seems to be doing OK.

We will start napping him in the playpen tomorrow, starting with just his morning nap and then working up to all of his daytime naps in the playpen. I will miss being able to slide him into the crib while he's dozy, but that will need to change soon as we will need to move his mattress to a lower level once he begins to pull himself up.

Wednesday Photos

This morning I was looking into my little boy's eyes and started wondering if they would stay as they are right now. Probably not. They are dark blue on the outside and the centres are hazel(like mine).

He has a new talent: holding on to his toes. This makes diapering, changing clothes, etc. a challenge!

He is napping right now, all bundled in his blankie and bunnyhug sweatshirt. So cute.

Rolling...and rolling...

Chance learned how to roll for 2 consecutive rolls, making a full 360° flip. He did it for the first time on the weekend, while he was playing with his Daddy. He only does it occasionally, but he has definitely learned that it is a means of locomotion! If we put a toy out of his reach he will roll for it from back to tummy, then if we move it again he will try to roll again for it from tummy to back. Usually he gets stuck and frustrated, but occasionally he puts it together and then boy is he surprised!

His cold is all cleared up but I have had a mild sore throat for a week now. I don't miss his snotty little nose at all! And I'm really glad the cough is gone too, my heart would just break when I would hear him hacking away at night in his crib.

We visited the breastfeeding clinic again on Monday. The doctor has given me the all clear and went over the results of the ultrasound with me. When I had the ultrasound (March 1) the lump in my breast was an inch and a half by 3/4 of an inch. Now it is still there but much smaller (like a grain of rice), and the doctor is confident that it should go away with time. But now she wants me to eat yogurt every day and put yeast infection cream on my boobs because all the antibiotics have killed a lot of my natural bacterial cultures in my body which will leave me susceptible to a yeast infection in my breasts!

Riding in Style

Because of the sun, Chance sometimes cries a LOT in the carseat. So, we got him sunglasses. They only had pink at the store.

Napster

Today during Chance's naps he looked so adorable that I had to take plenty of pics. It was so nice outdoors today (+16°C) that he napped outside this afternoon.

Unfortunately all these naps (3 hours total) weren't enough for Chance and he was cranky even after his late afternoon nap, so he was a bit of a bear to deal with until bedtime. Part of it was that the day got off to an earlier than usual start (7 AM instead of 8 AM) as well as a busy afternoon visiting with the Rockyview moms and babies, in addition to recovering from his cold. Chance should get some good sleep tonight (touch wood)!

Sunny Afternoon

After a miserable Monday morning, Chance had a nap and woke up feeling playful. We played, wrestled and made a mess for a few hours before it was naptime again.

Today (Tuesday) Chance had his 4-month immunization shots. They were the same shots that he got in January, so no adverse reaction is expected. He had 3 shots in the legs and cried only a little bit, but reacted a lot faster than he did in January. He gave the public health nurse a smile before we left. We also weighed and measured him, and he has grown a full inch in the last 3 weeks (now 26.5")! Weight gain has been slow though, but that is typical of Chance. When he is growing in length he is not generally gaining weight, he is more like a start-stop-start grower. He is 14.5 lbs.

4th date with Ayla

Chance and Ayla met up in early February, but no photo. In early March, Ayla came to visit and despite Chance having a little cold and being a bit cranky, we got a pretty good photo.

...and now a runny nose!

Chance's cough is still here and now he has a runny nose. It's strange that he is sick and neither one of us are...still no temperature. He is able to sleep through the coughing and is breathing quite well despite the runny nose, he's not congested. Nursing has been normal, if somewhat more frequent today. He's got red patches on his cheeks, and when you pair that up with the red forehead he gets from sleeping on his tummy (highchair pic), he looks flushed!

As a side note I thought I would run Chance's red teether ring through the microwave boiler. The teether exploded, and the gel that it was filled with squished out and got all over everything, so I had to re-wash and re-boil the bottles and pump parts that were in the boiler. So...for future reference, we'll be boiling the teething rings the old fashioned way! Tomorrow we'll go to the store and buy a new teether.

A little cough...

On Friday morning as I was changing Chance's diaper, he coughed. He coughed 3 more times that morning before we went to visit the doctor again about my breast infection. I don't recall him ever coughing before, other than while nursing and sometimes he gets too much milk.

Since then he has been coughing occasionally, usually after I finish nursing him and lay him back in the crib, or in his sleep. He doesn't have a temperature or runny nose, nor does not seem out of sorts, other than he didn't want to take a nap this morning.

I have done some research and found that coughing sometimes goes with teething, as a product of all the extra drool, sort of a post-nasal drip thing. Any comments?