Green Thumb

Sophie and I recently went to Vancouver to celebrate her big cousin, Williams, birthday. A pirate themed bash, held at Crash Crawly's, was a big hit with everyone. I made my favourite William, in the whole world, a pirate cake. When they cut into the cake, everyone was surprised by the beautiful bright rainbow colours inside. A good time was had by all, but it was a short visit. As much as Sophie loves visiting everyone in Vancouver, she missed her Daddy and was happy to get back into her normal routine.

It was a gorgeous day out a few days back, so I took the opportunity to do a bit of gardening. By "gardening", I mean I tore out all of the ivy that was creeping up and smothering every other plant in the yard! While I was busy doing this, Sophie made a B-line for the dirt herself. She had a great time digging around, getting covered in mulch and checking out the leaves. I think she may have a true interest in landscaping :)

9 month check up

My little Queen Bee is now 9 months old. She is so tall and slender. We just went in for a check up and she is healthy as can be. Sophie is 27 inches tall, putting her in the 25-50th percentile, and she weighs 17lbs, which places her in the 25th percentile. This all means that she is a little smaller than average, but is completely on track with her weight and length at birth. Personally I thought she was tall for her age.  The doctor says she is meeting her 11 month milestones! She is incredibly strong.

Around 7.5 months, Sophie started scooting and attempting a very uncoordinated crawl. She had an adorable little way of moving from place to place. Getting on her hands and knees, she would push herself forward, lose her balance, roll over, and repeat the process until she would be with in reaching distance of her favorite toy. At this point, she would maneuver her way into a sitting position, and realize she was no longer close enough to reach her toy. This went on for quite a while.  At about 9 months, in the blink of an eye, it all came together for my little sweetie. Sophie is now crawling fast and furiously. She also pulls herself up on everything and anything, from the ottoman to the couch, walls, and whatever else she can find to give her a little bit of support. The day after she perfected her crawl, she escaped out the back door! Cruising around a bit, exploring the concrete, the weeds, even the grass in the backyard, until it was time to try get back inside. After a couple of failed attempts, she succeeded at climbing the little step and crawling back in the house! I was amazed and so proud. She slept like a little angel that night. A 7 hour stretch and then a 4 hour sleep. I was hoping it was a sleeping pattern that would last, but no such luck.

Tooth number 5 has broken through her little gums. This makes two top teeth, and now 3 on the bottom. Oh my little Sophie bear, she has the most beautiful smile. A smile that she flashes at anyone who looks her way.

Mama was Sophies first word, quickly followed by Dada, and now a few other words, that Im not clear on. She loves to babble, blow slobber bubbles, and make all sorts of clicking sounds with her tongue. She is such a happy little baby. She laughs out loud when we dance around the room and she absolutely loves the feel of her Daddies whiskers when he gives her kisses.

Since starting to be more mobile, my poor baby girl has experienced a few bumps and bruises. Nothing too serious, but worrisome enough to make mama call on Grandma for advice. I have since learned not to call on Grandma for sound advice, to calm my fears, as Grandma tends to panic more than I do!

Almost caught up with my posts

Here we are, a few days from spring. The sun has been shining the last couple of days. How I love the sun. Yet a couple of weeks ago, we had inches upon inches of snow. I woke up to let Riley out at 5 am and to my surprise the ground was covered in crisp, fresh, white snow. It was still snowing in the afternoon, when I decided to bundle Sophie up and take her out in the snow for the first time. It was perfect snowball, snowman making snow. I wish I could say Sophie's face lit up with joy and excitement, but once again, she just quietly, took it all in.

More recently, Sophie, Riley and I took a nice long walk to the park. Sophie tried out the swingset for the very first time!!! Mommy was so excited. I couldn't wait to see my little girl glow and giggle with giddiness. I should know by now that Sophie's personality is one of quiet, calm observation. She likes to absorb what is going on, take it all in, understand it. Only after all of this, can she fully let loose.

Bulging Disc

My back has been consistently sore for a while now, but the other day I made a slight adjustment on the couch and instantly felt a surge of pain. Nenad had to come take Sophie from me. The pain was bad, but over the course of the day it became unbearable. Honestly, I can't recall ever feeling pain like this. In comparison, on a scale of 1-10, my c-section and recovery would have been a 1 and my back pain would be an 8-9 with spikes of 10 at times. I am pretty good with pain. I have always considered myself to have a high pain threshold, but this pain has been crippling.
For some reason, I think out of delirium, I couldn't stop laughing, which was making my muscles seize up. Even though I was laughing, tears of agony were streaming from my eyes.It was less of a laugh, and more of a crazy cackle i guess.
I thought it was embarrassing, the first night, when Nenad had to help me to the bathroom and even pull my pants up and down. Turns out that wasn't embarrassing, compared to the next night when I was paralyzed by pain and lied on the bathroom floor for an hour and a half. Nenad wanted to call an ambulance, but I would have been mortified. I took two T3's. They made my arms and legs tingly, but barely improved my back pain. Slowly, I inched my way on to a sheet, very very slowly. Once on it, Nenad dragged me in to the living room, so I could at least lay on the carpet. That was a painful move. Mostly because the absurdity of it all made me laugh (Nenad was not laughing in the least) and when I laughed the pain would intensify. At one point I screamed for Nen to stop pulling the sheet, but when he stopped he set down the sheet and bumped my head on the ground. I tried my hardest not to laugh, but stopping myself from laughing, made my muscles tighten that much more, and well you know where Im going.
Im sure you are wondering why or how I could laugh, if I was in that much pain. To this I say ' I have no idea'. Nothing about the situation was funny. I think I was a bit crazy from the shock of it all. I also think I was trying to minimize the pain, to not worry Nenad. I feel guilty having so much attention paid to me.
Anyway, the doctor prescribed Emtec-30, which are T-3's with out the caffeine, and Advil. I was worried about taking the meds, since they contain codeine, because I am nursing. The doctor and the pharmacist both said it was fine. I don't fully believe them, but Sophie has been ok. They have actually been good, cause they make both of us sleep better. I know I know, it is bad that it is passing through my milk to her, but I only took a few. Its probably helping her teething pain. ( silly attempt at a joke ). I thought about giving her formula and then pump n dump my milk, but Nenad convinced me that Sophie will be fine.
I have been to the physiotherapist twice, in as many days. He says I have a bulging disc, and it is pressing on my sciatic nerve. I am amazed by how much some of his simple exercises have helped me already. Hopefully my back will be good as new very very soon. My reflexes in my knee and ankle have improved since yesterday. My glutes are working over time. They are so tight, and my knees have started aching a bit. Even my abs are starting to tighten. Six pack here I come. I don't think that will be the case lol.
 Instead of sitting up to nurse Sophie, I have been lying down, and then she has been sleeping next to me. This makes things quite a bit easier. The first night of this ordeal, Nenad slept in the same room as us. For the last couple of months, he has been sleeping in the other room because we were on different sleep patterns, and well, he was too tired with Sophie waking him up every 2 hours. I think he forgot what it was like because by 2 am he said to me " How have you not killed yourself yet " half serious. It was shocking when he said it, but at the same time I was happy to hear it. Finally some validation for all I do. Leading up to this point, he could not figure out why it upset me when he would say how tired he was, or how he didn't have a good sleep. lol, I haven't slept in 6 months, welcome to parenthood. Its completely worth it, but the sleep deprivation does take some getting used to for sure.
So this is where we are at. The pain sucks but it is nice to have Nenad so involved and taking such wonderful care of me and Sophie. He really is being amazingly caring, supportive and helpful. Last night he made some yummy sandwiches for dinner :) The pain has improved a bit. My muscles have relaxed quite a bit. I return to physio on Tuesday for van IMS treatment. I think this where they stick needles into my muscles and attach some type of current. This is to relax the muscles even more.

Grandma's birthday

Happy birthday Grandma, and Happy 6 month birthday to Sophie Eveliina!! Wow 6 months. I can't believe it. I feel like you have been in my life forever, and then again, when I think about you being half a year old, I wonder where the time has gone. You are growing so fast. You are getting so tall, and soon you will have your first tooth. You are starting to somewhat like mushy bananas, but I know your favorite snack is booby milk :) Your cheeks are filling out so much. And now you are sleeping in your big girl crib!! Your beautiful blue eyes, are very slowly and faintly changing to another wonderfully stunning colour. What they will end up being, we will have to wait and see. You talk and talk and talk. You are a very observant little being. You love to touch different textures, taste everything, even paper and napkins.... especially paper and napkins lol. I am so in love with you. I always wondered how your Grandma, my Mom, could be so selfless, and then I had you. No longer is this life about me. Everything I do, and everything I am is for and about you. How I went so long without you in my life, I do not know. I love you little Liina Lu.

                                    To my amazingly loving, beautiful Mother

                                                   We all love you Mom very very much
                                                   Thank you for all the happy memories

 I thank you for being the wonderful, loving, caring, understanding, strong, hard working mom that you are. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher. Sophie will be lucky if I am even half the Mother you are and have been. We are all so blessed to have you in our lives. We are the empathetic, sympathetic, loving, creative women we are today, because of you. Thank you for your patience, and understanding, for always forgiving and loving me no matter what awful things I said to you or did as a teenager. You deserve all the happiness in the world. I love you and wish you many many many years of love, family, friends, curiosity, adventure, warmth, purpose, excitement, and joy.

Momma's Birthday Weekend

Happy Birthday to Me. My birthday has passed, but I am just getting to this post now. Our little family went to Vancouver not too long ago to celebrate my birthday and my sisters birthday. We had a wonderful time. It was a crazy, busy, family, friends, and celebration filled few days.
Sophie met her Jedo for the first time. The get together went surprisingly well. You could see how happy he was to meet his grand-daughter. Sadly, there had been a falling out between us all, which is why it took so long for Sophie to meet him. Nens mom made a smorgasbord of food. Spaghetti, cabbage rolls, coleslaw, schnitzel, and jam filled crepes for dessert.
After dinner, Sophie's Baka took me to their spare room, where she showed me a closet jam packed with little girl clothes for Sophie. Let me just say, Sophie will be well clothed until the age of 2 years :) She told me that she can't help but buy Sophie clothes, every time she goes out. She is a very loving, caring Baka. I can see that Sophie feels very close to her. She smiles when ever she sees/hears her Baka. Of course I have to mention how much Sophie loves her Grandma as well. They both light up when they see eachother. Sophie is so blessed to have so many warm, loving, adoring women in her life.

Sophie also met her Baka Rada and Jedo Branco. They are actually Nens cousins, but they have adopted Sophie as their Grand-baby. They are such amazingly wonderful People. They instantly fell inlove with Sophie. I have wanted them to meet Sophie for the longest time.
I was able to get together with some girlfriends while In Vancouver. They are so sweet. They booked me a massage and facial for my birthday. I can't wait to go!! I just have to call and make an appointment. I hope to go this week sometime. We went for lunch at Chau. If you are ever in Vancouver, you should eat there. It is Asian Fusion. Very very good food, and the atmosphere is very comfortable. Thankfully Sophie came to lunch with us and helped me blow out my birthday candle.

After our birthday dinner, we went to Jills place. I think it would have been a better idea to call it a night after the restaurant. For one, I think a few people were tired, well we were all pretty tired. But the biggest reason was, had we turned in early, William wouldn't have ran full force into a plate glass wall. Oh my gosh it was so scary. We were in a different room when we heard this LOUD bang, and then William screaming. I was scared to look. I thought something horrific had happened. It was pretty bad, but thankfully not as serious as I had imagined. Trina and Jill took Will to the emergency room, where they sat for hours. They said they weren't sure if his nose was broken, but he didn't have a concussion, so that put our minds at ease.
The day before coming back home, we helped my mom move. Everything went smoothly.

Crib time

My little Lina Loo is getting too big for her bassinet. She is only about 15 lbs, but she is too tall for it. Sometimes when she kicks her legs they end up resting on the top edge of the basket. Oh she is too cute. Yesterday we decided to bring her crib into our room, from her nursery. I didn't want her to be too far from me, so her crib is now right beside our bed.

I was worried that she wouldn't be able to sleep in it, cause she likes to be a bit smushed and cuddled while sleeping.She likes to have something close to her face so she can nuzzle in to it. Before putting her in her crib, I swaddled her up nice and tight. She slept like a little angel. A little angel, who likes to wake her mom up periodically through out the wee hours of the morning.

Speaking of waking up during the night, I have decided to let her cry it out a bit, every once in a while. I think it is best for both of us. She will benefit from getting longer periods of rest. I know she isn't hungry when she cries every two hours. So far it is going well. She has started sleeping up to 3 hours at a time. The other night she actually slept 5 hours. I have been nursing her every 4-5 hours. If she cries before that, then she ends up falling back to sleep on her own.

There have been many changes in our little baby girl. She is gumming her tongue like crazy. I am pretty sure its the tooth coming in that is bothering her and is why she is chewing on her tongue. The feeling is new for her as well, so I'm sure she is curious as to what is going on with her gums. Anything that she can get her hands on ends up in her mouth. Yesterday we went to the mall. We gave Sophie a napkin, a ketchup packet and a receipt to keep her entertained, and all of them found there way in to her mouth. She used to roll only to her left, but has recently rolled to her right a couple of times. For some reason she hasn't been rolling over nearly as much lately.She is very interested in Riley the doggy. She wants to pet him every chance she gets. By 'pet' I mean she likes to grab his fur and pull it lol. And the cutest thing ever, she is talking up a storm. She talks very loudly. Ok so not so much talking, but making loud strings of sound. I think she is even starting to put together words like da and ba. Oh and she loves tags. Little labels on her toys and on clothing. She is more interested in them than in the toys themselves. Tooooo cute

While we were at the mall, Sophie picked up a few new toys. We bought her this crazy looking toy, called a sing-a-ma-jig. It is so silly. I can't stop playing with it hahaha. It makes such silly sounds, and it looks so bizarre.

Singamajig

This is the sing-a-ma-jig that Sophie has. I found a video of it on youtube.
I can't stop squeezing it

Time for teeth

A couple of weeks ago I thought I could feel a tooth below the surface of Sophies gums. It was such a slight rise in her gumline, that I wasn't sure if I was imagining it or not. I have noticed that my baby girls cheeks have been very rosie lately, and I would say that she has been drooling more, but she has been drooling excessively for a long time :) Anything that comes anywhere near her, ends up in her mouth. Today I rubbed my finger on her gums, and there is no doubt that a tooth will be making an appearance very soon. It feels as though it is right below the surface. I am excited and nervous for this next step. Excited because It will be a whole new experience. She will look so adorable with one uber tiny white little tooth standing all alone in a sea of gums. I'm nervous and scared because a tooth is one more reminder of how quickly she is growing, and how fast time passes by. Of course every moment that passes is one more happy, wonderful, love filled memory to look back on. She was a bit unsettled and fussy today, which is partly what drew me to feel her gums, but there are a few reasons, not just teething, that could have brought on her mood. Such as our 4 day trip to the big city, where we stayed a few nights and visited with a lot of family and friends. Which I will have to fill you in on another day. Right now I should be sound asleep. Goodnight and sweet dreams

It has been a couple days since Sophie had her second set of shots. I was starting to worry about her leg. She wasn't really moving it at all. Thankfully all is back to normal. She is squirming around, rolling from her back on to her tummy, every time I put her on the floor. Im possitive she managed to roll all the way over on to her tummy for the first time today.

Sophie has been sticking her tongue out and giving little raspberries a llot today. You can tell she is very proud of this skill she has aquired. She drenches her shirt, chin and neck in the process with drool. She is the cutest.

When Nenad was getting his staples removed the other day, a man started talking to us about babies and how every parents thinks their child is the cutest. I felt like telling him " I don't think it, I know it!"

Speaking of Nen and his leg, the doctor is happy with the progress after his latest surgery. He is able to get 90 degrees of flexion at the knee, but the doctor hopes that once all the swelling has gone down, he will get closer to 110 degrees flexion. Although even if it remains at 90 degrees, that would be great as well. They say 90 degrees is what you need to manuever well through everyday life. Nenad has been using this Continuous Passive Motion Machine to keep his knee moving and to prevent too much scar tissue from reforming. He will have to go back to the docotor every so often to have injecyions in his knee joint. Poor guy, he has gone through so much.

I just measured Sophies head circumference. It is 41cm. I looked at one site and they said she is in the 5th percentile. Which made me worry that her head was way too small. She has a very proportional head size, but when i see other babies, their heads seem a lot bigger! I checked with another site, andit said she is in the 21st precetile. I am going to trust that site :)

More Shots

5 months, 1 week and 1 day old, weighing in at 14.06 lbs and measuring 63.5 cm in length. Sophie had her second set of shots today. She is a strong and brave little girl, but I have to say, these shots have been harder on her than the first set. She cried the moment the first needle went in, and cried some more when she received the second needle. Her Daddy was in the waiting room, and said he heard her cries. My poor little turtle had a nice long nap when we got home. She is really favouring her left leg. Any pressure, movement or weight on it makes her cry. On top of it all, her voice sounds raspy and she feels a bit warm.

Thankfully my baby girl has fallen asleep again, so I am taking the time to update our blog. A better plan would be to try and sleep myself, as I'm worried it might be a long night. Plus, bright and early tomorrow morning, I am taking Nen to the Doc, to have his staples from the knee surgery removed.

I am thinking about starting an art journal. Some of the ones I have seen online are very inspiring. I will have to  manage my time better if I plan on taking that on. I think it would be a great creative outlet. I also would like to update my blog at least once a week.... We will see how that goes :)

Family

What a wonderful visit we had with everyone. Sophie is so blessed to have so much love in her life, but truly we are the ones who are blessed to have her in our lives. I have no idea how she managed to stay so calm and composed with everyone ooing and awwing over her. She was passed back and forth between her Grandma, Granddad, Aunts and friends so much, it was overwhelming for me to see. She dealt so well with all of the attention.

On Saturday Sophie went for her first swim!!! OMG Im getting goosebumps now, just thinking about it. I have been wanting to take her in the pool for a while. Saturday was the day. She looked a little shocked as I lowered her in and the water got to her bellybutton. She made a bit of a face, as if she may cry, but not a peep. She was a natural. We floated around the pool, and took pictures. Trina and William had a great time playing with her in the pool as well. I rested her arms on one of those floating noodles, and she instinctively started paddling her legs!!! She is so smart. She may grow up to be an Olympic swimmer :) It was so funny cause she kept lowering her head forward and licking the water. She loves doing that in the tub as well. She will turn her head to the side, so that half her face is under the water and slurp up some water. The whole time we were in the pool, I wanted to swoop her under the water, like you see in that Nirvana video. I didn't want to upset her, so we waited until just before getting out of the water. I couldn't bring myself to put her fully under the water, but her face skimmed the water for less than half a second lol. She wasn't phased at all. Grandma and Aunty Jill wrapped her up in about three towels and snuggled her close, while Trina, William and I popped in the hot tub for a bit.

Seeing myself in a bathing suit was shocking. But it was a wake up call. It is time to get off the " I just had a baby" wagon. Im not planning to "diet", but it is time to start watching what I eat, and get a bit more exercise.

Thank goodness for Moms. I don't know what I would do with out mine. She was with us from the moment Sophie was born. She helped us so much for the first week, before she had to go back to Vancouver for work. My mom has come for many visits since then and taken such good care of us and her Granddaughter. This weekend when we visited her, was no different. She saw how badly I needed to sleep, so being the amazing Mom/Grandma she is, she forced me to go to sleep, while she stayed up all night with Sophie. I only had to get up once during the night, at 4:30 am to nurse, then Mom sent me back to bed till 8 am.  It brings tears to my eyes just to think about how wonderful it was to get some sleep, and to know that my Mom was so selfless to give up a night of sleep so I could get some. I have no idea how she managed to keep Sophie from crying all night. My Mom has always been a natural with children. She has an ability to calm, nurture, love like no one else.Thank you Mom, Hopefully I will be at least half the Mom you are.

Aunty Trinas birthday

Here we sit in mid travel. Going to visit the family, to celebrate Sophie's Aunty Trina's birthday. All is well at the moment. Sophie is sound asleep. I suppose she needs her sleep, as she was up all night. I think I had a grand total of 2 maybe 3 hours of rest lastnight. At some point in the night, maybe 4 or 5 am, I brought Sophie in the bed to sleep with us. I thought that might help her sleep, but in the end, I don't think it made much of a difference. I really truly miss my sleep, and some days it shows more than others. What is a little sleep loss when you have a beautiful little girl. A little one who depends on you, loves you, smiles and coos at you. I'm sure there will come a day when I will get a full 8 hours of sleep..... Right?!?

Sophie has been a little chatter bug lately. Oh my gosh, it is the cutest thing. I love hearing the new sounds she is making. I can see the determination it takes her to get these sounds out. It is obvious she is telling me something very very important, by the way her eyes focus fully on me, her face turns bright red and then pow, from her her lips spill a myriad of sounds. I can see the wheels turning, I can see how excited she is to communicate. I can't help but shower her in love and kisses. Honestly, I really can't stop myself from kissing her. She is so soft and cuddly, so smiley and lovable.

4 months old

Wow my baby girl is four months old. She is growing so fast. I weighed her a couple of weeks ago and she was 14lbs. I will have to weigh her again soon. She is supposed to go in for her second set of immunization shots. She did great at her two month shots. I on the other hand was a bit of a wreck. First of all I had the wrong address. By the time we found the right place, we had missed her appointment, but they managed to fit us in. Sophie was nice and calm, and then they put the needle in her leg. I held her tight but she still cried a bit. She shrugged it off and didn't think too much of it. Unfortunately there were still two shots to go. The third shot was the doozey. My poor baby turned bright red and let out a delayed scream. I held back my tears, as the nurse said, 'oh ya, that one stings a bit'?!?! Thanks for the warning. It felt like I was betraying Sophie. I am her protector, the one she trusts, and here I am letting this lady prick her with needles. I know it is for the best, but she doesn't know that. I quickly pulled out my magic weapon and nursed her. All is well once Sophie's tummy is full.

I just looked over at Sophie in her swing, and she gave me a big smile. I have to say, the best part of my day is when I wake up in the morning and look in her bassinet. Sophie always looks up at me and gives a giant smile. Her eyes sparkle.  In the moments before I see that smile, I lie there, wishing she would just go back to sleep lol.

Since Christmas she has decided she only wants to sleep in 1-1.5 hour segments through the night. It is a challenge for sure. I was getting used to the 4 hour sleep and then the two hours of sleep that followed, before getting up in the morning. Im hoping this switch up is just a phase, and that it passes asap.

Before she was born I researched baby carriers like crazy. I decided that I wanted the Beco Butterfly. I pictured myself carrying her in it everywhere I went. Turns out, she didn't like it all that much. I was jealous when I saw other Mothers carrying their babies in carriers. I saw a wrap online, called the Moby Wrap. Its 5.5 yards of stretchy fabric that you tie around yourself in a variety of ways for various carrying positions. When I went to Vancouver for a visit, Dressew was one of my first stops. I picked up some discount fabric, cut it, wrapped it around me and put Sophie in it. It was great. It worked great while she was an infant, and is still great as she grows. Now that Sophie is getting bigger, I find that I really like the Beco. They say it is accommodating for infants, but for us, it really wasn't practical until Sophie hit 14 lbs. I just wish she could face outwards in it. I know they now have a new version of the Beco that has on outward facing option.

Another thing I was super excited about, were cloth diapers. They just didn't seem to work out well while she was a newborn. The were so bulky on her it was crazy. I gave up on them for a while, but recently started putting her in them during the day. They are still bulky, but they are adorable on her. She still mostly wears disposables, but I try to put her in cloth diapers during the day, around the house. For night use, its definitely disposables! 

You should see Sophie in her Exersaucer!! She sits there and pushes all the buttons. She loves knowing that if she pushes a certain button, lights will flicker and sounds will twitter. She is a little smarty pants, and super strong.


Oh boy, crying baby, time to go

My Baby Bump: Baby Arrival

My Baby Bump: Baby Arrival