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

Hannah Elizabeth Grace

Well folks she has finally arrived.
Labour was really fast, 7.5 hours in total, I had to be induced and was 12 days over due by the time she was born.

Here are the stats
Hannah Elizabeth Grace
Sept 12th 2005
7:57am
5lbs 13oz
19.25 inches
No drug delivery(other than the induction)

Here are a couple quick pics, of our little ham, she is an awesome baby, so quiet and calm. I never knew that it was possible to love someone so much at first glance. We are both so totally in love with her it is by far the most amazing feeling ever.

I need people to promise....

So everyone who knows me and knows that I am pregnant also know that my wishes for this delivery are to go 100 % natural.

Relax I am not saying that I am in labour!

I am of 100% sane mind and body right now and pain free!

The reason for this entry is to express a wish that I am vey firm on.

Since I want to do this 100% natural and I want to leave the hospital ASAP after the delivery I will be doing all of my recovery at home.

It is very very very important to me that I do what is best for the baby and me in the first 7 days! This means rest, and calm. This means no visitors for the first week please!

I know that there are a few of you who think this does not include you, you are wrong this includes you! The only exception to this wish is my mother, and that is because she is coming to take care of me, ie: cook, clean, do laundry and such.

I know a few of you think that this is rude, or think that you have the right because you are family,but I encourage those of you who have had children to look back to the first week that you were a parent. You were tired, you were in awwww, and not to mention this was a completely new experience that you needed time to figure out how to do everything.

I know that you all will want to see the baby, I understand this, believe me no one wants to see this baby more that Chris and I. Of course we want to show him or her off to the world as the proud parents that we will be, but please respect my wishes. Stay away for the first 7 days. This baby will be around for a long time, and you will have plenty of opportunities to meet and great the little one, so all I ask is of this one little example of respect. This is the best gift that you could give us.

I am going to breastfeed without supplementation for hopefully the first 6 months and the first week is crucial to establish good feeding patterns, not to mention I will be sore and tired and Chris will be tired from the major adjustment in our lives. Due to the fact that I am adamant about breastfeeding without supplementation, this means feeding every 2 hours around the clock to establish a pattern. No one other than me will be doing this, as you can well imagine, so that means that I will be more tired than anyone else and will want to sleep when not nursing.

If you need documentation to prove to you how important this time is for us check out this article... or this one.

My midwife has also recommended this time and is not afraid to kick people out if they show up... Yes she will be here on day 1, 3 and 5 after the birth.

People may think that I am being selfish, go ahead, I am! I will only have my first baby once, and this is 7 days that I want all to myself, just me the baby and Chris.

Please respect my wishes. Please!

Don't....

Go out and eat 25 hot/suicide wings in hopes that it will put you into labour. All it will do is give you a mean case of indigestion.
Ohhhh my aching belly!
I should have known better, but at least I found a Shoppers that was open to get some Rolaids from.
Phew.

I want these...

Attention parents to be or potential gift buyers...

This site has the coolest baby clothes... ummm can you say, mullett, or stinger, or slammin the president. All kids need one of these shirts or one of these! Ok maybe not the kids but the parents, aunts, uncles, and other sick minded adults in their lives need the kids to wear them. Entertainment value alone is priceless.

Congrats Joanna and Ryan

On the birth of your baby girl.

All the info can be found on the new Grandma's blog.

Feel free to send best wishes through LHSC E-Card Service. She is at Victoria Campus. Last name Harper... of course.

Well it's my due date...

And I am still pregnant!

No surprise since 70% of all births occur within the 5 days after a due date and only 2% actually happen on the due date.

It appears by Joanna's mssgr name that she may be in labour. Good luck to her if this is the real deal.

Thats all.