Sorry I missed the holiday wishes...

Things have been nuts though, and it is still not over, hopefully I will be able to post more next week.

Merry Belated Ho Ho to all and Happy New Year!

Until then there are a few pics on Hannah's Flicker!

Cheers, until the New Year.

Leanne and Hannah

Leanne and Hannah
Originally uploaded by W4B Photography.

Mike took family pics yesterday for us. We both have some posted on our flicker sites.

Thanks for the awesome shots Mike, the memories will now last forever in print.

Hannah and Santa

Ho Ho Ho!

A Quickie from the new house

Sorry I haven't posted, things have been a little nuts.

We are aboout 90%, moved and only about 50% unpacked, hence my absence.

The new house is awesome, I love it, love it, love it!

I will post more soon, sleeping beauty has awoken.

The Big Day

TODAY IS HOUSE DAY!!

Yes I am yelling, whooo hooo! I cannot believe that the day has finally arrived, I am no longer a renter! We still don't have the keys yet but it is only a matter of time... probably around 2ish.

So a quick update before I head deep into move and pack land.

1. Hannah is doing great, on the mend with no complications.
2. She is sleeping through the night, between 7 and 8 hours a night, in her cradle all by herself :)
3. I am no where near packed, but that is ok since we have both places for the whole month.
4. Snow... damn did we ever get dumped on! For those of you readers that are not in London, we have about 8 inches or so here... packed down now to look like a solid 6, but it is there and doesn't appear to be going anywhere soon.
5. Hannah is over 9lbs now! 9lbs 4 1/2oz as of Friday.
6. Went to the InfoTech Kids Christmas party on Friday... it was a blast, even got a pic of Hannah with Santa.
7. Hannah got a bumbo!
I know there is more but it is slipping my mind at the moment.

I will post again soon, from the new house though!

Cheers!

There ya go...

There ya go...
Originally uploaded by Leanne aka Red.

More pics posted!

Surgery Day

Well we are home from Hannah's operation, everything went well. She ended up having a small hernia on the otherside too so Dr. Girvin repaired it as well. She is groggy and in pain but I am sure that with some TLC she will be fine.
Thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and well wishes.

Wow 9 days since last my post

Brunch with the Family Yesterday Morning
L: My Cousin Jason and his Daughter Madalyn(18 mos.)
R: Chris and Hannah(11 weeks)

Sorry all :)
Things have been a little hectic in my world in the past 9 days so this will be a short point form post to bring you all up to speed then I will head back to my insane life...lol

1. 1 week till closing... Finally started packing last night.
2. Hannah has to have a hernia repair surgery Wednesday morning... I am freaking out!
3. Lawyers are assholes! See item 1.
4. Tupperware parties are great... yeah for adult conversation.
5. Baby showers and Family Christmas in November are great... again more adult conversation.
6. Swings possessed by the devil suck! Hannah's currently is and it only works when it feels like it!
7. Snow Ugh... 4x4 Jeep makes snow fun!
8. Hannah has started giggling and laughing outright... it is hilarious.
9. Bumbo seats are cool... thanks to Sinclair for letting us try hers out.
10. Tiny Love Gymini is as good as the swing if you want your child to laugh, smile and nap!!! Thanks Auntie Aimee.
11. Creepy ADT sales people with Austin Powers teeth hang out at the laundromat.
12. 2nd Flicker site since I post too many pics for only 1 free one!
13. Strike averted for those of you who were following Chris's work saga... hmmm weird happenings there!
14. Labatt Honey 25 bucks for 24! Great beer!
15. Patrick is Mr. Plow!
16. Who knew that an 11 week old baby can have more clothes than a set of parents!
17. Hannah is 9lbs as of Friday!
18. For those other London Parents out there... Once Upon A Child is having a huge sale December 9th... up to 50% off!!!!
19. Who knew that when a fish dies it will get sucked into the filter and then when rigamortis sets in it will fall off curved!
20. Leafs beat the Habs Saturday night, Muhahahahahaha!

Now if this isn't a true Canadian Icon!

Towards Pt Dover 09
Originally uploaded by W4B Photography.

Taken by my friend and serious phtobug Mike... aka work4bandwidth. He also did my prego pics and one day will do awesome shots of Hannah too. Until then you can find his great work on his flicker page where I found this one.

Sleepy...

Leafs Fan!!
Thanks Uncle Pat

A view from the porch...( right now)

AHHHHHHHHHH...it has happened, the first snow fall!

Well it has finally happened...

We have hit zero degrees celcius here in London.... I guess winter is upon us!

Stolen from

RebSteb...

How is your Canadian trivia?
Being a proud Canuck I sadly only got a 4! Boo to me!

Big Night...

Hannah slept through the night!!!

She slept from 11:15pm until 5:45am then I fed her and changed her and she went back to sleep until 8am!!!

The trick will be to see if she does it tonight too or if it is just from the residual Tylenol in her system from her shots.

Fingers crossed that this is her new thing!

Parenting 101

So I discovered today that there are cardinal rules of parenting that no one told me about. I have decided to compile my own list starting with this one...

Cardinal Rule of Parenting #1

If one of the objects in your child's life becomes integral to their happiness and your sanity, and it is battery operated, make sure you have plenty of spare batteries on hand!



Case in point...

Hannah had her shots yesterday as you are all well aware, however what you are not aware of is that her swing is her favourite comfort spot, next to Mommy. Well this evening she was super fussy(I suspect due to sore legs from the shots) so I gave her some Tylenol and cuddled with her until she fell asleep. I proceeded to put her in her swing so I could make myself something to eat. In theory the swing should have bought me a minimum of an hour possibly as long as 3 hours of free time. So I head into the kitchen and commence dinner preparation, grilled cheese and tomato soup were on the menu. Now anyone who has prepared this meal knows that it needs to be tended to and that there is a very small window of opportunity that can turn this into a tasty comfort meal or into a huge mistake. As I am getting ready to assemble the grilled cheese, and the soup being about half cooked the swing suddenly comes to a stop, promptly followed by Hannah screaming! Now keep in mind that there is one piece of bread in the frying pan and various other portions of the soon to be grilled cheese, in various stages of readiness, sitting on the counter! Not the best time to walk away from this delicate and very comforting soon to be meal. What choice did I have though my poor daughter is screaming and my heart is breaking a little more with every cry, so I rush to her side after turning off the burners. I pick her up hold her close and rock her until she is calm, and then proceed to make and eat my comfort food single handedly. After consuming lukewarm tomato soup and half melted grilled cheese I strapped her in her carseat and headed out in the pouring rain to acquire myself four 'D' batteries. The things we do for our child's happiness and our sanity!

I am sure you can see how Cardinal Rule #1 would have been very helpful in this situation! I now have 10 'D' batteries to prevent this same scenario from repeating itself.

Talk about learning from your mistakes!

A few big events!

Lots of big events in our lives...

Hannah had her first set of shots yesterday, she was not a huge fan of it but slept most of the day thanks to her friend Tylenol!

My Mom has officially been a non smoker for a year! Congrats Mom! Good for you I know how much of an accomplishment this is.

We are down to 3 weeks until we take possession of the house and I have not packed a single thing!

Hannah is starting to pull herself up when she is on her stomach, and she is easily holding her head up on her own. My big strong girl!

When Hannah got weighed yesterday the scales said 8lbs 10oz!!! If that is correct then she put on 6 oz in 3 days! I personally think that it is just the calibration between the two different scales but we will see on Friday when I get her weighed again.

Uncle Pat bought her a Leaf's outfit that might actually fit her in the next month or so... Stay tuned for pictures!

Well that is all that I can think of at the moment even though I know there is more.

New pics on Flicker.... Check em out!

Cheers!

P o n d P e r s p e c t i v e

P o n d P e r s p e c t i v e


A must read for all parents or parents to be!
Cheers!

2 month old!

Well yesterday Hannah turned 2 months old!

I cannot believe that just over 2 months ago I thought I was going to be pregnant forever.
I would have to say that these have been 2 of the most amazing months of my life to date. I have never experienced so many emotions in such a short period of time. Every Mom I knew told me how the amount of love that you instantly have for your child. This type of love is incomprehensible until you are there, wow were they ever right!

I never imagined that I would feel such sadness when she cries and I don't know why, or so much joy when she smiles when I walk in the room. I still love the way she smells (even the not so pleasant smells), and the way she smiles when her Mommy or Daddy walks in the room. I am totally amazed by how she is different every single day and how she does something new everytime you look at her. The exhaustion isn't even really that bad, and for me it is self inflicted most of the time. I am so afraid that I am going to miss something with her that I rarely take my eyes or ears off her for more that a minute.

She is growing so fast and it is hard to believe that only 2 months ago she could do absolutely nothing on her own and was never happy unless she was laying on one of us or sleeping right beside us. Now there are times in the day when she wants nothing to do with us and is more content to lay on the floor in her hippo and play. It is bittersweet, I am so happy that she is growing and is becoming more independent by the day and I love to watch her learn and grow and see all the amazement in her eyes, but I already miss the days of endless cuddles.

Motherhood is such an awesome experience, nothing could ever compare.

Controvery over at Michele's blog

So I was just reading my daily blogs and came across an extremely interesting topic at Michele's blog. Pop on over, tell her I sent you and put in your 2 cents worth!

Cheers!

Happy Weekend!

Whooo Hoooo!

I just got back from gretting Hannah weighed and she has broken another weight category, she is now weighing in at a heafty...








8lbs 4oz!!!

Go breast milk! That's 6oz in 7 days! 11 in 14! I am so proud of my baby girl!

SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

One of the joys of being a new parent is that you get the see the sun rise everymorning, along with the sunrise this morning came snow! I thought it was just the lack of sleep playing tricks with my eyes but then I looked a little closer. Sure enough those were snowflakes floating through the street light glow, falling ever so quietly to the street, and then melting as if they had never even appeared.

I really hope that the first real snow fall holds off until we move. We have been really lucky with the past two moves and the snow waited until we were in our new dwelling. This being the last move that we will do for many many years, I really hope that mother nature complies with our wishes.

Nothing too new in my world, still waiting for a certain work4bandwidth perpective on the years most interesting events, I guess he does have the better part of a month to comment though..lol

Cheers all!

World Happenings 2005 update

Ok so far this is what we are up to...
1. The Pope Died
2. Rosa Parks Died
3. Katrina and other hurricanes ravage the states.
4. Gas 1.38/l... ouch!
5. Peter Jennings Dies of lung cancer
6. Prince Charles and Camilla
7. Hussein on Trial
8. Martha goes to jail
9. Trump gets married again and wife gets prego!
10. All the star stuff
11. Iraq... ugh
12. Jolly Green Giant guy(Elmer Dresslar) dies of cancer
13. Bought our first house

Anything Canadian?
Anything not American?
Like what happened significant in other countries?

Here are a few of my own:
1. Canada makes same sex marriage legal.
2. Lance Armstrong wins 7th TDF
3. The hockey strike ends, salary cap begins and the shoot out happens!( and the Leafs win the cup... sorry that's me dreaming again!)

Hey Mike and Aimee and Bill and John, I know you 4 will have an up to date perspective on the world... anti up!

Ok fellow members of blog land need your help...

I have been working on Hannah's baby books( in the best procrastinating fashion I know how) and one of the sections is important things that happened the year I was born. Since everyone that pops by here is unique and has different interests I thought this would be the best spot to dig up stuff from the year. So please add your comments as to a few things that you found important or interesting this year, I am gonna print them off and add them to her baby book. She will always them have an insight on all things interesting from 2005!

Thanks

Leanne

Things that make you life easier as a parent

1. Windows Media Player graphics( and the Rolling Stones!)
2. Baby Einstein... everything the books the DVDs the toys
3. Classical Music
4. A really good baby monitor( this allows you to have a shower that is longer than 5 minutes
5. The Jeep!

All of the above things have had a huge impact on my quality of life in the past few days. I never thought that I would be the type of parent to plunk my child in front of the TV, but I have no guilt when I need a few minutes to myself and it is a Baby Einstein Educational Mind stimulating DVD that she is watching. Plus she loves it!

For Auntie Aimee... this is one of the pics Chris took when he was half listening to you.

New Pics from the weekend

So my free flicker space is up for the month so here are a few favs from the weekend with Grandma Joan and Grampy Nat. More can be found on Hannah's flicker page.

Oh and btw the house is officially ours :)

Congrats Meghann and Chris

A beautiful baby girl!

Dakota GeGraw (middle name still undecided)

Saturday October 29th at 7:54 a.m

6 pounds 10 ounces 20 inches

Enjoy every moment of her you will cherish these moments forever.

Quick Update

Sorry it has been a couple days, life has been crazy wrapping up the house stuff and such.
Hannah has officially been discharged from Midwifery care. I say this with mixed emotions. I am glad that I no longer have to go to the office almost weekly, and I am elated that she has had good enough progress to be discharged, but I am sad for as many reasons. I will miss all the ladies at the office and the fabulous care that Hannah and I recieved in the past 9 months. I will miss seeing all the other pregos and babies that are healthy and well, and I will miss all the constant encouragement. Poor little Hannah is now released into the world of Western Medicine and doctors offices full of sickos. Ugh... reality!

So the numbers....
At 6 weeks 3 days old Hannah was 7lbs 9oz ( a 5 oz gain in 7 days) and 21.1 inches long ( almost a 2 inch gain in 6 weeks). Her heart and lungs and tummy are clear and functioning well. Her reflexes and reactions are right on pace for a little girl her age and her head control is awesome. Her head grew too, but I can't remember the numbers for that. How weird is it that at 6 weeks old she is only 1 ounce smaller that her Daddy when he was born and at birth she was 1 ounce bigger than me when I was born. She is our little girl that is for sure.

Well back to reality, Hannah has visitors this weekend, Grandma Joan and Grampy Nat are here this weekend, we also have to do a house inspection and sign the rest of the house papers this weekend.

I will post again soon, till then, who the hell ordered the minus anything weather? It was -2 when I started to post and it's -3 now! I am already hating winter!

how much?

My blog is worth $3,951.78.
How much is your blog worth?

New things...

Well I made the cake from Michelle's blog and it was awesome! I highly recommend it! IT did however take me the better part of 3 hours to make it and that was not including the 47 mins to bake it. Hannah was having no part of Mommy baking yesterday! I would feed her she would fall asleep and I would lay her down, head to the kitchen and get a single ingredient into the bowl and she would wake up and we would repeat the cycle! When Chris came home I finally got to concentrate on it because she slept for almost an hour on his chest!

I posted a bunch of new pics on My Flicker recently!

I am on a baking frenzy right now, all things apple! In the past 2 weeks I have bakes an apple pie, 24 apple tarts, applesaue a couple of times, apple crisp and most recently apple cake. Chris is loving it and my house smells so tasty :)

I am really enjoying being a domestic goddess however the pay sucks. I get to cook and bake and lounge in my jammies till noon if I want to. My house has never been cleaner and I have never been happier. I only wish that it was a little bit warmer so that we could go out for walks everyday. With Hannah being so small she doesn't fit into any of her really warm clothes yet. I think that the stroller has been used maybe 1/2 a dozen times at this point and both carriers have about the same amount of miles on them.

I think that I am going to go back to the gym tomorrow. Chris usually lets me have a couple hours to myself everyday so that he can spend time with Hannah, tomorrow I think I will go back to the gym on my free time. All this baking is not helping me lose the baby weight. Since I am only into 2 of the 14 pairs of jeans I own I think I need to get my butt in gear.

That's it for now.

Li'l Goats

As I am sure I have mentioned before I have found a wonderful line of baby products that work miracles on Hannah's sensitive skin. She was fortunate enough to inherit my fragrance sensitivity which has made bathtime and diaper changes a bit of a crap shoot( no pun intended).

Well the line of products that I have found to be saving grace is Canus Li'l Goats Milk!

The weekend of Hannah's first road trip I didn't their line of zinc cream with me substituting it for a small container of Penatin that I had in the diaper bag... Well that was a HUGE mistake! Hannah's poor little bum became red and raw after only 1 diaper change with Penatin. I had some Sudocreme with me too and the same results occurred. Needless to say I had one cranky passenger on my hands all weekend. As soon as I got home I changed her and slathered on the Li'l Goats Milk Zinc Ointment, by the next diaper change her bum was back to normal!

Now any of you who have kiddies know how ear piercing a sore bum cry is, so this product not only helps her bum it also helps my ears!

So after that weekend I decided to send Canus a quick email stating how I was thrilled with the product and how I have since then recommended it to several friends and even given it as gifts. I received a response from a lovely lady named Ann thanking me for my email and requesting my address so that she could send me a parcel of samples. I so obliged and it arrived today. I am now sitting her with a full size bottle of the Li'l Goats Milk Moisturizing Lotion and a sample size of the Shampoo/Body wash. Due to the excessive handwashing associated with having a baby the lotion was much appreciated and used immediately. It too meets the same product excellence as their Zinc Ointment, not only great for babies but great for Mommys!

I just wanted to give credit where credit is due, it is so rare in today's day and age to find great customer service coupled with great products. Way to go Canus!

The Baker's Rack

The Baker's Rack

For the baker in all of us! I found this site by way of Carmi.

I will let you all know how the apple cake turns out, I intend to bake it today if my darling Hannah will nap for a couple of hours.

Speaking of napping, Hannah has slept 6 consecutive hours in a row 2 nights in a row, from 9ish to 3:25am. Now if only we can get her to move that from say 11pm to 5am then sleep would not be such a novelty for Mommy!

Hannah's First Dress

Today we went out for Sunday breakfast before everyone headed out Jeepin and I made sure that Hannah was dressed appropriatly in her best Sunday dress. It is hard to believe that she will be 6 weeks old tomorrow and she is still comfortably fitting into preemie clothes. She has however graduated into the next size of diapers and is starting to be able to wear a few of her 0-3 months sleepers. She may actually get to wear most of her 6 snowsuits this winter.

Holy Crap

WE got it!
WE have a house!
WE have a yard!
WE have 2 bathrooms and a washer and a dryer and a fridge and a stove and 4 bedrooms and NO LANDLORD!!!!

WOW, amazing what can happen in your life in 24 hours!

So as of December 5th 2005 we take possession of this house!

I am completely dumbfounded!

Huge day in my world

Well it started with a visit to the midwife... Hannah is back on the gaining path and is finally over 7lbs! She is up 7 oz in 7 days and is now 7lbs 4oz! Go boobie moo!

Then the 3 of us went out looking at houses today... (another arson fire in the neighbourhood tonight, just pure coincidence)... and actually put in a conditional offer on one the agent took us by on his hunch that we might like it. The first 2 we looked at were dumps with great lots the second is a gem with a pretty good lot in a better neighbourhood... check it out!

OH AND

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY BIZ!

Whooo Hoooo!

We woke up yesterday morning and Hannah's Red Rash of Baby has cleared up! We are back to beautiful clear baby soft skin. After talking to my midwife about the rash she figured it was a reaction to something that she was around. Since it was only on her face and neck and upper chest the first thing I eliminated was Bounce sheets from mine and Chris's laundry. She is always rubbing up against our clothes so it was worth a try. It seems to be the culprit. So Chris and I will suffer through rough jeans and staticy clothes because we love our daughter. A small price to pay to enjoy her beauty.

Blog , Blah, Blah

Hannah Yesterday in a brief break from feeding.

Thank you to Heather for writing this blog entry and thank you to Carmi for writing about it and sending me down the path to reading it.

For those of you who know what has been going on in my life as a new Mom since my last entry you will understand how important Heather's entry would be to someone like me. For those who don't know the deal I will explain.

On Thursday last Hannah and I ventured to the Midwife for our 1 month appointment. Now Hannah being such a little tyke at birth it is really important that she gains weight well, this unfortunately was not the case. Due to her size they would like her to put on 2/3 oz. or more a day. In 16 days Hannah only put on 8 oz... That breaks down to 1/2 oz per day and clearly below the minimum requirement. After discussing her behaviours over the past 2 weeks, my midwife and I devised a plan. I will spare you the details but lets just say that it has resulted in Hannah cluster feeding for anywhere between 2 and 4 hours at a time. This has resulted in one really tired, sore and stressed out Mommy and one very irritated Daddy. For all the reasons Heather mentioned in her blog and for several of my own ( convenience being the #1) I am determined to breastfeed until Hannah is 6 months old. Well last night in one of her many stints of incessant feeding the thought of formula entered my head. Maybe it was the delirium that is brought on by sleep deprivation, or maybe it was the whole idea of someone else getting to feed her without me having to bruise my breasts with a pump( I have a new one in transit as I type this to solve the bruising issue), or maybe it was just me forgetting all the excellent reasons why breast feeding is a superior method over formula feeding. Needless to say Heather's entry has put me back on the path. Like every other tough moment in life I am sure that this too will pass.
For those of you who are pregnant or are trying to get pregnant, please do not let this sway you from breastfeeding. It can be very difficult to get the hang of it, especially if Mom is a control freak and baby is very tiny. Believe me when I say it will get easier, there is a huge learning curve with having a newborn that no book can prepare you for. Baby's and Mommy's are like snowflakes no two are alike and no two present themselves in the same manner twice. Patience and persistence will get you through this. Your baby deserves it.

So now that I am revitalized and back on the determined breastfeeding path, I again want to thank Heather and Carmi and Tess from Positively BreastFeeding for helping me through this bump in the road.

For those of you following the numbers these are them...
Hannah @ birth 5lbs 13 oz
Day after birth 5lbs 9oz
Day 5 5lbs 12 oz
2 week visit 6lbs 5 oz
4 week visit 6lbs 13 oz
5 week visit ... shooting for 7lbs 2 oz at least!

Stay tuned.

Following mkuiack's lead

mkuiack

Top Ten Reasons I Love My New Job
aka Mom!

10. A year off of my other job.
9. Shopping for little girls is so much fun.
8. The look in her eyes when she looks at me.
7. The look in his eyes when he looks at her.
6. The freedom to nap, repeatedly!
5. The peacefulness of a baby's sleep.
4. The smell of her.
3. Bathtime Smiles.
2. They said I would never be one, but love brought her.

and the number one reason why I love my new job.....

1. Because it is the hardest job I have ever had with the crapiest pay but the biggest rewards, no other job could match unconditional love.

Hannah is 1 month old today

Hannah and Mommy had a chat about hockey and such today, since Hannah is a month old now she understands the importance of being a Leafs fan and this was her response when we discussed the Habs and what she should think of them!

What you mean the Leafs won last night! Well it is about time!

Sleep....

It's A Daddy and Hannah thing!

Hannah's First Thanksgiving

Well there was another roadtrip this weekend, this time east to Grandma and Grandpa Fenton's.
They had an open house for everyone in the family to come and meet Hannah, Grandpa John and Step Grandma Debbie were there too. Hannah got to meet lots of people, Great Aunt Lori and Great Uncle Paul, Cousins Jason and Dawn and their daughter Madi, Great Aunt Janet and Auntie Janet(aka Auntie Toad), Great Grandma Andrus and various other drop ins over the course of the weekend. It was a quick visit, again Hannah was really fussy since pass the baby game was being played and she hates it.

There were some great pics taken though...

4 Generations
Hannah and her
Mommy,
Grandma
and
Great Grandma

Close up of Hannah
and her
Great Grandma Gladys.










More on My Flicker page. Saturday night we all watched the Leafs get squished by the damn Habs. So far Hannah has not seen the Leafs win... 0 and 2, stupid shoot out!
Well that is all for now enjoy the pics.

Bathtime smiles

Hannah is starting to Smile :)

Maybe it's a birthday smile for her Auntie Melissa... Happy 21st Melissa!

These are why

She needs
slippers!

For the Little Leafs Fan

These would be a great gift for Hannah for Christmas or for any other reason someone may have to purchase her a great pair of booties. They can be found here!

Big Weekend

Well Hannah went on her first road trip this weekend. She is not much for the car seat but loves the Jeep once it is moving. We house hopped all weekend, started out at her Great Uncle Peter's, just north of Pickering where we stayed the night. The next afternoon we moved on to Oshawa to her Great Aunt Betty's, then to Whitby to her Great Aunt Lucy's then all the way to Beaverton to visit Grandma Joan and Step Grandpa Nat. Once we got to Beaverton we had an early Thanksgiving celebration complete with Uncle Patrick, Aunt Melissa and Turkey :)

I love Turkey! Probably since I never got it at home when I was growing up. My Mom doesn't like it and would not cook it, I would eat it once a week if I could.
I also got carrot cake :-p Yummy! Joan makes it just right, 2 inches of cake and half an inch of icing, it was awesome, and still is(there is a bit left in my fridge).

Grandma Joan gave Hannah a bath which she loved! She was pretty good all weekend but really fussy, she is really not a big fan of pass the baby, the game that everyone loves to play with a newborn.

Finally got home last night around 7 after making a visit to the Vaughn Mills Mall. Nno really great deals to speak of for me but Hannah got a new denim dress for 8 bucks and Chris got a sweet Quicksilver snowboarding jacket for 91 bucks tax in!

As for today... Hannah is officially 3 weeks old! She is growing like a weed. This weekend she grew out of her first set of preemie outfits and is now wearing some of her 1 month stuff. Only a week ahead of schedule. Actually it is her length that has forced her out of the preemie stuff, she is still skinny enough for them, but she still looks pretty damn cute in her pink jailhouse stripes that she got from her Great Aunt Peggy and Great Uncle Richard.


I celebrated her birth today in 2 ways... First I went for a bike ride! OMG was it awesome! The freedom that I missed so much since about 20 weeks pregnant. That was the point that I had to retire the bike to the basement until I could handle a seat again. Next summer I will be back at it full time with a baby jail in tow! The second thing I did was let Daddy feed Hannah for the first time. I was really afraid of nipple confusion but since she has taken a pacifier without any ill effects on breastfeeding we tried a bottle out today with pumped milk and everything seems to be fine. She ate a whole ounce for her Daddy then came back for more to me. Oh my little piggy. He was such a proud Daddy, she was a bit confused though not quite sure what to think of a hairy shest complete with food. Now that we know that she will eat from a bottle that means that I will actually get to learn how to snowboard this winter. Grandma Joan will get lots of Hannah time since she lives near the ski hills!

Well that's all for today folks.

Hearing Test Results...

She passed :)

For those of you who are expecting you may not know that your little one will get their hearing tested when you are in the hospital if you so choose to stay overnight or for a couple days. It is a simple test, non invasive, but if your little one does not pass(very probably if done under 48 hours) then you get referred to get one done outside the hospital. That is what happened with Hannah.

Hannah's little ears were full of gunk when she got tested at the hospital and only passed on the right ear so we had to go get retested today. After a pretty trying time( she did not like being a test guinea pig and cried and fussed a lot) we finally got a pass.

Advice for those of you who are expecting:
1) Don't be alarmed if your little one gets a referral to have another test done, little babies get more referrals and the test is supposed to be done after 48 hours(post birth) but sometimes they jump the gun, hence the referral.
2) If you have to get a referral test done, try and make sure that your little one is asleep for it, it will make your life a lot easier.
3) If you have to get a referral test done, bring comfort measures in case you need to settle him or her down. Even if you have just fed him or her make sure that you bring a bottle if you are using formula or have a boob ready if you are breast feeding. The only way that we could get Hannah to calm down was to feed her, again, I had just fed her not even an hour before. Once she was being fed she aced the test.

On a non Hannah note:

Congratulations Mr. Kuiack on your escape!!

Maybe it's because...

I have a baby in the car now, or maybe it's because all the students are back in the city, or maybe it's because I am getting older, but damn is there a lot of bad drivers in the City of London. I can't count how many times in the past 2 weeks I have encountered a horrific driver. Why isn't there a website that you can go to that will allow you to post the make model and liscence plate number of all vehicles that contain bad drivers. Then of course a description of the bad driver too since we all know that cars have many drivers. I think that this would be an excellent contribution to society.

So now that I have a child, there is endless amounts of paperwork that needs to be done in order to register your child as a human being ( I should have tried to register her as a puppy to see if it was any easier). I have even made it into City Hall to give them money so that Hannah can be officially born (who would have thought that there is a $30 fee to be born)! Dealing with the city of London has been the least painful portion of the government to deal with so far. I mean I have dealt with the Provincial divisions with the maternity leave (PIA), Federal divisions with child tax credit (bigger PIA) and now municipal for the record of live birth. The lady that I dealt with @ City Hall was pleasent and I even got to use interact( holy crap the government made something convenient!), I would say the whole process took less that 3 minutes. It actually took me longer to ride the elevator up and down, and took me 10 x a long to fill out all the paperwork. Way to Go City Hall for doing something right!

Now can you try and clean up the riff raff that live in my neighbourhood?

As for my neighbourhood, last week there was a shooting about a block from my house, and 2 nights ago Chris was outside working on the Jeep and two grown men, in their 40's, decided that our intersection was the perfect place to start a brawl. Chris in all his manly stature walked over with the handle to his jeep jack and promptly told them to leave the neighbourhood before he ended the fight... LOL, go figure they left! Within minutes half a dozen cruisers showed up (of course the involved men had already bolted). The response time for the cops in this area is impeccable since we are only 2 blocks from the cop shop, and pinched conveniently between a Country Style and a Timmies! As terrible as the neighbourhood sounds, I feel ridiculously safe here due to the fact that I am so close to the cop shop.

Still, I can't wait to move. We really want to buy a house, hopefully in the spring, definatly before I go back to work. At this point I don't even care where we move to as long as we have a yard for Hannah so she can play in the grass and so we can get a puppy for her to grow up with. I also require high speed internet and Chris requires a garage, other than that our requirements are pretty minimal. I look forward to having a home, a place that I can paint or renovate ordo what ever I want without having to worry about a landlord.

Well that is all for now, need to get ready Hannah has a hearing test today.

The Verdict

Hannah is officially 6lbs 5 oz! She has put on 9 oz in 10 days!
Celeste (my midwife) gave her a clean bill of health :)

2 weeks old today

4 days old
5 lbs 12 oz










14 days old
weight ??








Can you see a difference?

We have a 2 week follow up appointment tomorrow with the midwife and I am guessing Hannah is close to 7 lbs now.

What do you think?

Drunk Baby

For those of you who are familiar with the look on a baby's face post breastfeeding session this should look very familiar to you. For those of you who are not familiar I like to coin it as milk drunk. It is a sight that no mother can describe without a picture.

When will...

Babies come minus the smell of dirty diapers?
It is amazing to me how fast you become desensitized to the smell of them, yet as soon as you leave the environment then come back you are rapidly reminded about what you had so eagerly forgotten.

One day in the future do you think that they (the creative geniuses of this world), will develop a diaper that will eliminate odours as soon as they are filled with baby by product. They can create cars that have a byproduct of water and an oven that will clean itself so why not a diaper that smells awesome as soon as it is soiled!

One day!


Better Mr. Kuiack?

The Saturday visit...

Hi this is Hannah... Today I had new visitors... Grandpa Ken and Auntie Toad were here as you can see by the pictures. They came with Andrea the baby nurse(aka Momma). Unfortunately there are no pictures of Andrea holding me on Mommy and Daddy's camera but Auntie Toad got some so I am sure that they will make it to the blog at some point. Momma changes my bum and showed Mommy lots of stuff, like how to take care of my blocked tear duct and how to make a homemade sling so that she can carry me around the house and still have her hands free. It was a great visit and everyone loved me. Momma also brought presents for me and Mommy, thank you the running suit is great, not sure how many marathons I will be doing in it but I promise to keep Mommy running in circles everytime that I have it on.

Well that is all for today, time to get some food and then we are gonna go to the park apparently, not sure what this park thing is that Mommy speaks of but I guess I will find out. Oh before I forget, thank you to Momma and Auntie Melissa, Momma for the trick that you told Mommy about how to make the carrier work for my little body, and thank you to Auntie Melissa for buying Mommy and Daddy the carrier. Mommy and I went for a huge long walk last night, she got exercise and I got to sleep in the fresh air of the outside world, it was great!
Time to go, more later after the park.
Smiles and Kisses
Hannah

I have rocker hair!

Bath day means that Mommy gets to make my hair look like I belong in a rock band!
Ya I know I don't have a lot of hair, so I belong to an aging rock band who wear diapers and crap themselves, what's your point?

The best pic yet

I love black and white photos.

Sleeping on Mommy's Lap

Means that Mommy has 2 hands free to blog for a bit.

It amazes me how as soon as you become a Mom this innate ability to do everything with one hand magically appears. Now typing for example is usually loaded with typos and grammatical short forms but for those of you who know me best this is not that different from my typing regularly. However, this morning I astounded myself with my ability to make toast single handedly, the PB was a little tricky but the jam was a breeze, for future mommy's the trick is use a spoon! I have even managed to wash my hands using soap and water single handedly... That was a trick in its own right, would love to see that on playback.

Mommy had a rough day yesterday ( sorry I missed your birthday Kris ) Hannah cried most of the day, I know that this is my fault since I am trying really hard to keep her awake during the day a fair amount so that I can get at least 4 hours sleep in a stretch at night ( she has her days and nights mixed up). Even though the crying is due to my doing it is still very trying, made me feel so guilty. I don't know what I would do if it were not for my wonderful boyfriend, he called me at 9:30 to tell me that he was only going to work a half shift so that he could come home and watch Hannah and give me a break and some sleep. Bless him! Sleep is glorious, I got almost 6 hours( split up of course). I feel way better today.

Hannah has had a really big week so far this week, lots of new faces in her world. Monday Uncle Patrick and his ex- girlfriend Priscilla( I wish she was his current girlfriend, she is awesome) came for a visit first thing in the morning and then a bit later Amanda and her hubby Jay came by. Thank you for the gorgeous keepsake photoalbum guys, it will be treasured forever. In the afternoon on Monday Mommy and Hannah escaped from the world for a couple hours and went and visited the people at work. Of course she was a hit, but we didn't stay long because the 2nd floor was sick. I never thought I would say this but, I miss work. I miss the energy, the people and the excitement of the hunt and kill. I am sure that I will be good and ready to go back by September of next year, especially since I will be going back as a level 3 agent :) I found that out when I popped in on Monday, just goes to prove that those who work hard are rewarded accordingly.

Tuesday we had no in house visitors but Grandpa John was on his way through London so we went to the Flying J and met him for a few minutes so that he could see Hannah again. She looks totally different to him now since the last time that he saw her she was only a couple hours old and all bundled up in blankets, yesterday she had on pretty pink velour overalls and looked like a doll :) After a quick visit with Grandpa we went over to visit Auntie Aimee, Uncle Bill and Caelan. The cats and Brynn(the dog) we so curious of Hannah and Auntie Aimee was totally in love. Uncle Bill didn't get to spend much time with Miss Hannah because Caelan was in no mood to share his Daddy with anyone yesterday. When we were getting ready to leave Caelan finally acknowledged Baby Hannahpan... Soon I am sure he will be all over her, until then we will patiently wait for him to come around.

Tuesday was huge milestone day for Hannah though, she lost her stumpy :) Daddy was changing her diaper while Mommy was trying to nap when it came off. Daddy of course had to come in and wake Mommy up to tell her, he was so excited and proud of his little girl. It was cute.

Well today is the last day of Summer/ first day of Fall, and so far I am not sure what the day will entail, when Daddy gets up Mommy is gonna go have a couple hours of Mommy time, wash the Jeep and do some groceries, you know adult things but after that who knows what will be on the agenda.

Time to go steal a quick shower while sleeping beauty is still sleeping.

Mother hood still rocks BTW, I love it, even when she cries all day.
New pictures on My Flicker Site too.

A week already

Can you believe that Hannah is already a week old!

I put her in her little chair this morning which only 3 days ago she hated and now she loves it, even with the vibrating on.

I love being a Mom. It is the greatest feeling in the world to know that everytime those little eyes look at you that you are the most important person in her universe. It amazes me how absolutly in love with her I am.

Here is Hannah on her week old birthday :)

Hannah had a visitor today...

It was Auntie Melissa, she drove all the way from North Bay to see her. Since Mommy is healing really fast and feeling much better she is lifting the 7 day visit rule a few days early. So let the visiting begin folks.

Remember cookies and carrot cake are perfectly acceptable gifts for mom, not that there is any need for gifts of course, but mmmmmm cookies and cake :) need I say more. So if you want to visit just give me a ring, after 12 noon is best for us, but we can come to you too if you prefer.

On a somber note, one of my bestest friends in the entire world lost his best friend yesterday.

Dempsey(aka Mr. Snuffer) took his last breaths yesterday and fulfilled his long boxer life. He outlived the average boxer by two years, but will be deeply missed by all of us who knew him.
This boxer had character like no other, and gas to surpass his character. He is the only dog I know that could clear a room in 2 seconds flat, make your eyes water and make you run all at the same time. He lived for his red thing(aka Kong) and his Brynn(his doggy best friend) and his family. He loved his Max and Gypsy( his 2 feline friends) but mostly he worshiped his Bill.

May you enjoy all the red things in the big doggy park in the sky Dempsey.

My heart goes out to you Bill, Aimee and Caelan, we all loved him.

The time has come to...

Get the funk off :)


Well actually,
Hannah peed
all over the
couch and
Daddy this
afternoon,
resulting in
her first bath.




In other news, Motherhood is awesome, tiring but that is a small trade off for what you get in exchange. Yes, to all of those you know me, I hated being pregnant( yes really, close your mouth) but had I of known that this was going to be the end result I might have not been so grumpy all the time. Maybe next time it will be different.

More Hannah and her

and her
Uncle
Patrick








Daddy
and her
Grandpa John














1st outfit
that Daddy
bought,
I wear a
preemie
size!









1st sleep in
the cradle
with her
blankie from
Great
Grandma
Grace

Hannah and Her..

Daddy












Grandma
Joan












Grandma
Phyllis











Mommy