Life in a Nutshell

We've had a lot going on lately , so instead of a long, rambling blog post like I usually do, I'm going to attempt just short updates on each recent event in our lives. We'll see if I can keep the blabbering to a minimum. We'll start with today and work our way backwards.

Elimination Communication:
Today was my second attempt at Elimination Communication. When I first heard of this I thought it was insanity, and that anyone who tried it would end up with pee and crap all over their house and would spend their kid's entire childhood running back and forth to the bathroom, but I've since revised my opinion. It need not be all or nothing. I am not going to have a "diaper free baby", but I am going to attempt to read his cues and learn when he has to go, and then hold him over the toilet during that time so that we use less diapers and they are strictly there as insurance. My main reason for attempting this is because I want to be eco-friendly. My preference would be to use cloth diapers and only use disposables when we are out, but we don't have a washer and dryer in our unit. We actually share ONE machine with the six families who live in this building, so CDing is out of the question, sadly. On top of that we'll save a ton of cash, which is always good.  Anyway, two days ago I held Baboo over the toilet and he was only interested in standing on the seat. Today the same thing happened, except that as soon as I took him off the toilet and into his bedroom to put a new diaper on him, he peed all over his change table. Awesome. : /

My Simple Thanksgiving Dinner:
We had a small Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, just the three of us, which was no small feat. Baboo was tired from his big weekend and wanting to eat every hour, and The Hubbs was sick with a cold. It was a far cry from the last Thanksgiving dinner I made two years ago. That year I made a turkey, stuffed peppers, a build your own salad bar, garlic pesto muffins, hash brown casserole, corn on the cob with gingerbread brownies and strawberry wine. All of it from scratch (minus the wine.)
This year there was no way that was happening with a baby. The Hubbs and I eat sandwhiches three times a day. I decided to do my best, and we had:
Hors D'oevres (Cubes of cheddar, sliced pickles and salami)
Roast Chicken (which I bought premade from the deli, drizzled with extra sauce to keep the moisture in and warmed in the oven)
Hash Brown Casserole (we used frozen hash browns, baked them, then mixed in sour cream and grated cheddar and baked until brown)
Orange Butternut Squash Soup (we bought a carton of soup, then I squeezed orange juice into it, and added cinnamon and minced onions) with Home Made Croutons (whole wheat bread cut into cubes, drizzled with oil and toasted)
Crunchy Vegetables (frozen mixed Asian vegetables, sauteed in grapeseed oil, seasoned with oregano, topped with grated mozzerella and crunchy salad topping by Mrs. Dash)
and Pumpkin Pie (store bought, heated in the oven, add whipped cream)

Our Sweet Baboo's Christening:
It was at my parents' home (which is now just my mother's home since she made the father figure move out). A lot of my relatives were late and missed the actual ceremony (which always happens, see exhibit A: my bridal shower, Exhibit B: my wedding and Exhibit C: my baby shower). The ceremony was nice, though Baboo was a little cranky. I think he was uncomfortable in his super formal clothes. We wanted to Christen him in this:

But they only sell it at Babies R Us in the states (there will be a rant at a later date about why I can't get anything good for my baby in this country), so he wound up wearing this:

He was not happy, especially about the hat lol. We wound up changing him about an hour after the ceremony. I also made my first movie in honour of the day! It had an opening menu page with a montage of scenes from it and special music, a title page and credits and everything! Go me! It had a bunch of video clips and pictures from Baboo's life, and concluded with a Bible verse about Baboo's name (he has a Bible name). Everyone loved it. I am going to make another DVD of his first 6 months for each set of grandparents for Christmas. His Christening was followed by a big Thanksgiving dinner and a second showing of the movie for the late comers.

 

Annoyingly, my father kept trying to hold Baboo, and I didn't like it. I don't like or trust him, and I don't want people I don't like or trust around my baby. I kept trying to take a picture of Baboo and my mother together, and he kept jumping in. It really pissed me off, and now we have NO photos of just Baboo and my mom at his Christening. I am thoroughly annoyed. Especially since my mom revealed the following two tidbits to me recently:

a)The first time he ever "spanked" me was when I was 6 months old. I had comitted the crime of not holding my own bottle.

b) When I was a year old he was fighting with my mom in the car and threatened to run the car off the road.

And that (among many, MANY other reasons) is why he will never be alone with my son.

Knox Pumpkin Farm:

In honour of Our Sweet Baboo's first fall, we went to the pumpkin patch for photos. We dressed him up in a fallish outfit (brown pants, orange long-sleeved onesie and an orange jack-o-lantern bib with a blue and orange winter vest). He was a little cold (though it was one of the nicer days we've had this fall) and a little tired, but he was a good sport. We didn't get the awesome photos I anticipated, though, because it's hard doing outdoor pictures with a baby who doesn't sit up yet. He did have his first hay ride, though, which he seemed to enjoy, swung on a tire swing  and saw a pony (which he couldn't have cared less about).

School of Mom:

Lately I've been feeling like I haven't been taking advantage of the opportunity I have to be at home with my son. I shouldn't just be hanging out with him all day (especially since we rarely go on outings), I feel like I should be teaching him and enriching his life in some way, you know? I've written about the kind of mom I want to be, and I think I need to start doing more with him now that the missing fourth trimester is just about over.

So every day for the past couple weeks Baboo and I do the following (in no specific order):

-Read books

-Play music (I play him  simple songs on the recorder that I picked up for two bucks at Dollarama)

-Practice signing (we've decided to do baby sign language, I got a DVD from the library)

-Practice French (I sing french songs to him and say certain words to him in English and then repeat them in French (I went to French school and he will too). I'm trying to get into the habit of saying everything to him in French and then repeating it in English. Here are some tips for a bilingual baby if you know another language and are interested in doing the same.

-Elimination Communication (you've already read about that)

-Tummy time

-Alone time (I give him time to just hang out and babble to himself. He lets me know when he's done being alone).

And of course we still spend the majority of the day just snuggling, laughing, playing and of course, breatfeeding!!!

Sexual Healing:

To sum up, I am healed, but there is still no sex. We have tried about 3 times, but I am locked up tighter than Fort Knox and drier than the Sahara. We need LOTS of lube, LOTS of wine, and LOTS of time. We are having a date night soon (we will get my mom to baby-sit, my grandmother will be there so I dont need to worry about my mom relapsing (<----see first post on this page) and possibly hurting Baboo) and we are going to go to dinner, drink until our hearts' content, and then come home and make babies (only without actually making babies).

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Things are Looking Up!

So we went to church today, for the first time in our Sweet Baboo's entire life. Kinda sad for people who profess to love Jesus. A few weeks ago we actually went to church, but since we moved we're going to a different one than we're used to. My mom told us it started at 11, so we showed up promptly at 11:05, only to discover that it really started at 10 and service was half over. We were too embarassed to go in so late, so we sat out in the lobby and drank coffee while our baby slept.

Two weeks after that we were determined to go again, but our car was in the shop. My mom said she'd come pick us up, but her car had absolutely zero gas. She needed someone to take her to the gas station to fill up the canister and bring it back to the house so she could fill up the car. There was no one who could do it on such short notice, so we didn't go.

But the third time was a charm, and we actually managed it today! We were 15 minutes late, unfortunately, but I'm learning that such in life with a baby. It took me forever to get dressed because Baboo was fussy and wouldn't let me put him down. Then when I finally got dressed and was ready to go, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and realized that my boobs have become WAY too big for the shirt I was wearing (breastfeeding will do that to you). So I had to scramble around and find something else to wear. Meanwhile, Baboo spat up all over The Hubbs and I tried to find him something else to wear, but the man has shockingly few decent pieces of clothing, so I wound up just wiping him down with a wet wipe. Baboo was fussing in the backrgound the entire time, then needed to eat right when we wanted to go, and the kid has grown AGAIN so we had to adjust the straps of his car seat to handle his newfound height. Whew!

We finally, finally got out of the house (with uncombed hair and breakfastless stomachs) and made it into the service while the songs were still being sung. I have to say it was a very productive visit. Not because I got very much out of the message (I didn't), but because of the following:

1) We ran into my father. This is ordinarily not a good thing, but he's been complaining about how he never sees our Sweet Baboo anymore, so now he's seen him and we don't have to make it happen on our own time.
2) I ran into another new mom, her baby is 2 months old and we worked in the church nursery together before Baboo was born. We exchanged numbers and she is going to hook me up with her playgroups so I don't have to be lonely and sad. Yippee!
3) I also ran into an old, old, old friend of mine--I'm talking my best friend from kindergarten. We exchanged numbers and will hopefully be keeping in touch. It's always great to touch base with the past. I couldn't believe he recognized me after all these years!
4)We booked Baboo's Christening--holla! It's going to be next Sunday, which I know is a crazy short amount of time away. We're having it at my mom's house and we chose that date because the holidays are approaching and it's always impossible to get my whole extended family together for extra events this time of year, well next Sunday is Canadian Thanksgiving so they'll all be at my mom's place anyway--holy run-on sentence, batman!

Now I just need to find my sweet Baboo a Christening outfit, and put together some verses I want read. Pick out a cake, buy some white balloons, put together a short slideshow/video and find a keepsake for him to commemorate this event. Later on he'll be blessed in front of the church (they usually do the infant blessings 3 or 4 at a time), which will be nice. He'll be able to wear the same outfit and we'll get some church pictures.

All in all, things are looking up.
I'm gonna go join the Hubbs in bed (I have bedroom stories to tell in my next post--stay tuned!)

"Church is a scream."

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