Week 14

We have had quite the week of shopping for Liam - he is growing like a weed and even with the gazillion outfits he has in his closet there is still a need for more. He's kind of in that "in between" stage where he has outgrown the itsy bitsy outfits and is still too small for the big boy outfits. On Wednesday I carted him off to a kids store and loaded up the stroller with everything I could find. Of course I needed to fit him which is no easy task when a)your child can't dress himself and screams when you try and put anything on him and b)when the kids store has a change room smaller than a broom closet. I ended up barricading the entrance to the change room with the giant stroller (now packed with a mountain of outfits and Liam hidden somewhere in the middle)and attempted the impossible task of "trying" on outfits - this involved balancing Liam on one arm, trying to pull off and put on various shorts, t-shirts and overalls with the other arm with a hanger dangling from my mouth at the same time. My ability to multi-task has definitely reached new heights. After an hour of playing Mr. Dressup and changing one poopy diaper, I was sweating, Liam was sweating and we were both cranky. I did however manage to pick up eight new outfits so it was worth the pain. Liam was rewarded for putting up with his clothing fiasco by getting Mr. Turtle - a soft vibrating, dangling little toy - the minute I put Mr. Turtle in front of him he grabbed onto it and held on tight the rest of the way home. It was love at first sight and now Mr. Turtle travels everywhere with us.

Liam's brain is growing as fast as his little chubby body and needs constant stimulation - hence our second purchase of the week yesterday of a cool activity mat that he lies on and looks up at 2 arches dangling with every kind of fluffy, soft, squishy, colourful toy imaginable. He lasts about 5 minutes chatting to and batting at whatever takes his fancy and then starts to try and roll onto his tummy (his latest ambition)which of course frustrates the heck out of him - he can almost get completely over by rocking himself and propelling with his chubby legs while keeping his giant head stationary, but gets stuck on his left arm (can't figure out yet how to get it out of the way). After about 10 tries the crying starts which eventually elevates to full blown screaming and the mission is promptly aborted by mommy. At least the activity mat is more of a success than the lady bug tummy spinner. We're still working on that.

I am guessing our little tub of love is almost 16 pounds now and my back is starting to give out. I was promptly told by my doc on Friday to stop doing everything I had been doing the past 3 months (is she kidding me - have you tried to break a child's learned habit?)including carrying the infant car seat (that I was fine with, the thing weighs a ton). This led to our third purchase of the week today of his new fancy car seat that stays permanently in the car and goes up to 40 pounds. It took 2 hours of trying various seats by daddy (his turn to sweat) and all but two of them did not fit in our new small car (who knew?). Of course Liam screamed when we put him in it, but it sits higher up and has padded straps so it's an improvement to the old one. We have put a turtle toy mirror in front of the seat for him to look at (we have a thing abou turtles and apparently so does he)so that keeps him more entertained. We decided we needed to be cool again and bought a plain black sunscreen for the back window - a big improvement from the dorky red & blue elephant sunscreens that were previously plastered all over and screamed "we're new parents with no style at all".

Liam has started the drooling phase and gums on everything he can get his little inquiring mouth on. Luckily I have about 30 bibs just waiting to be used. His favourite "chew toy" in addition to Mr. Turtle's head is his flannel animal print blanky (strange a baby would gum on a blanky but oh well, whatever keeps him happy). At the moment he is napping in his bouncy chair holding onto his blanky and I can guarantee you the minute he wakes up he'll shove it into his mouth. I still have his soothers planted all over the house though for when dire straights hits. I must say he is far less fussy as the weeks go by, but when he's mad he's really mad. I mean full on screaming tantrum mad. It only lasts for a minute or two but comes with flailing arms and kicking legs and definitely equals an instant headache. I'm not looking forward to the day when he has one of those when we're out and about but that will be another story to share! On the flip side of the tantrums is his wonderful happy side which is so much fun - he is so chatty now and eager to interact with us, it's lovely to see your baby want your attention and enjoy your company so much. Makes you feel so needed and loved. Awwwwwww........I'm having a moment. Can't wait for the first laugh - not long to go now!!!

A little photo album by Daddy...

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Week 13

We have finally reached the official 3 month mark - whoa, where has the time gone? Seriously, I can't even remember pregnancy & labour (well almost). One minute I had a tiny lump that didn't do much and now I have a little person who requires constant stimulation. This week we have once again started to develop new things in baby world - Liam now has full conversations with us and says "uh" and "oh" a lot. His most chatty time is in the morning when he wakes up (usually around 6-6:30am - yawn!) - yesterday I heard a distinct "k" sound which is supposed to happen this upcoming month. Amazing how fast babies learn! Like little sponges. He also loves being tickled and watching me open my mouth wide and pretend to eat his feet and chubby little cheeks. He is almost at the point of being able to laugh - more like a high pitched squeal of delight at the moment which is just adorable!

We just came back from a walk and decided to put him facing outwards in his Baby Bjorn for the first time since he can now hold up his head (although he does have a bit of a bobble head due to its immense size). Bobble head was like a swivel - he was so facinated with all the sights and sounds he couldn't suck it all in fast enough. He looked like one of those old fashioned type writers that you press enter to get to the next line. One minute he was looking right, the next minute he was looking left with eyes as wide as saucers. Ah, if life were only that simple hey?

Ian received a nice surprise this past week with an unexpected promotion to Recruitment Manager. My dream of becoming a country club wife is just around the corner! My nice surprises usually come in the form of giant unexpected poopy filled diapers. In my world I've been promoted from "OMG my baby just barfed on me I need to change into a clean outfit right away" to "I don't care if you just barfed all over me, I'm just going to wipe it off and hope I don't smell later" mommy. I have definitely become more relaxed about certain things, that's for sure. When your tiny tike is fully loaded ten times a day you have to be - you just never know when your next outfit is going to be messed on.

I have been working on getting Liam to do more tummy time in the form of his lady bug spinning device that sits on his flower shaped playmat. Unfortunately the lady bug still freaks him out so my work continues. I'm determined that one day he will enjoy spinning around and explore the crinkly leaves, mirrors and rattles. For now he just screams and grips the crinkly leaves with all his fat little hand might. Screaming is definitely not something we need to work on.

One annoying thing is that he is so distracted with the world that it is incredibly hard to get him to focus when he's feeding. He'll take a drink of milk and then throw his head back making a sound like a toilet plunger with his lips. Funny and painful at the same time. I feel like getting a pair of those horse blinkers to keep him focused on the task at hand. Either that or I'll have to feed him permanently in the dark. No wait - I know - I'll get a pair of tanning goggles. They use them for jaundiced babies in the hospital when they have to put them under bili lights. Probably cheaper than the horse blinkers too! Actually I think a lactation consultant would be the best idea - they are really helpful. Hopefully it won't be the same experience as nurse deep eyes in the clinic, really don't think I'd like to endure another session about my feelings because my baby thinks he's a toilet plunger.

Week 12

We have survived our first road trip and I must say it was a successful one which is a big relief as you never know how your wee one is going to react to the change in routine, not to mention change of environment. After a couple of days at Grandma Marg's we took the ferry over to Vancouver - Liam slept most of the way in his car seat which we put on the vibrating floor - no bouncy chair required. After a super quick stop to Ikea to pick up a couple of things (I was reluctant to leave without sampling the usual Swedish meatballs) we went over to our friends Kerry & Gary for a bbq dinner. I convinced Kerry that Liam hated his Flutterby swing - no sooner had I said that she promptly placed him in her little girl Taya's swing and he went to sleep instantly. Go figure that the one swing I have for him he hates and everyone elses swings he loves. I still think it's because the Flutterby swing goes from zero to "hold onto your diaper tabs" in 10 seconds flat. For those babies that love to be violently rocked it's perfect, for my gentle man it's way too much although he does like to look at the flashing lights.

Taya is just the cutest little thing - at 11 months old she is very active (she discovered Liam's pack of diapers and slid around the kitchen floor on her belly on it), loves to smile and can do baby sign language. We just got the Baby Einstein sign language DVD as a gift so we are keen to teach Liam as soon as he's old enough. Of course Taya was just fascinated with Liam and started prodding him in the mouth with her finger. When he didn't react she slapped him hard on the hand (showing her female dominant side already) which promptly made him cry. He better not grow up to be a woosey with women or mommy will have to do some toughening up.

We arrived later that night at the Metropolitan to a room set up with a little crib complete with quilt, bumper pads and a baby gift basket (nice touch!). We discovered after 2 nights of Liam sleeping 6 hours straight that air conditioning conks him out. He's like bacteria, you get him nice & cold and he becomes dormant. I addition to the wonderful night streches, he basically slept all day both days we were there which was so nice and relaxing. In between naps we went shopping, met Daddy for lunch at a nearby park and went for walks along the Marina. I could definitely use a break like that every once in a while.

Our last day Ian finished early so we headed back to catch the 6pm ferry. About three quarters of the way to the terminal we realised there was a chance we could catch the 5pm ferry and made it to the cashier with about 30 seconds to spare before ticket sales cut off. We could see the already loaded boat in the distance and Ian put on his Nascar helmet - we were speeding down the empty lane so fast we were just about getting air over the bumps. I can just imagine what we must have looked like to the control tower - a speeding Mazda with bright elephant screens on the back, jammed to the hilt with baby crap and me screaming Goooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in the front. We made it on the boat with 2 cars behind us. There is nothing more satisfying than making the ferry by 2 cars. We decided to enjoy the buffet and as we sat down Mr. Poopy did a big one which sent me scurrying out while Ian sat down to eat. We now have a super stinky poos, not exactly appetizing for those around you. After cleaning up Mr. Poopy, Mr. Fussy emerged and we "enjoyed" the rest of our meal while alternating back and forth between the buffet and rocking our angel. It was a relief to finally get home after that lot.

Progress is in leaps and bounds now - every week something new happens. Friday night was Liam's longest sleep ever - 7 hours followed by a feed/change and then 3 hours. I woke up a whole new woman. At the hotel Liam started to roll onto his side - he propels his right leg to move from his back onto his side, but hasn't quite figured out how to get his left arm over so he gets stuck in that position which royally upsets him. Now that he has discovered his hands and is sucking his thumbs he can usually soothe himself and we are using the pacifiers a little less (just in time for me to now have a collection of nine of them). Unfortunately he sometimes sticks his thumb way to far down his throat which makes him gag and sends me running to the crib. Our latest gadgets include a spinning lady bug that he can lie on and move around an activity mat (we are working on that one, the lady bug scares him and makes him scream) and a sling called a Peanut Shell which has various positions you can put your baby in so you can walk around hands free. Once again I am working on getting Liam in the sling - as soon as I get him near it he freaks out and goes stiff as a board. Trying to put plank baby into a sling is impossible and I don't think they would approve of a 3 month old standing in a sling. I'm telling you all you need is saran wrap and duct tape - you could tape your plank baby straight onto yourself and get your hubby to cut him off once you're done. I really have to write a book on the whole saran wrap duct tape concept - good for any stage of your baby's development.

Week 11 - On the Road

It's Liams first road trip and we are currently staying in Courtenay courtesy of Grandma Marg - we may as well be back in Victoria since we brought the entire house with us. Our new sporty Mazda has been redecorated to look like an infant mobile. Not only do we have the ginormous "must be able to see the baby in the rear view" mirror strapped to the centre of the back seats, we are also paranoid of him getting burned by the sun off the windows and have pasted two large screens (one red, one blue with elephants and the words JUNIOR all over them I might add) on the back windows to block out the rays. How very practical for him and how very blaringly obvious that we're overprotective parents. You can see our pimped out baby ride a mile away. As you get closer you notice that buried between a mountain of parafanalia (what if you need the glow worm when you're only away for 5 days) is a small moving object that resembles a child. I thought my diaper bag was overstuffed; going on a trip is another story. After hours of packing enough baby outfits for a month, multiple sets of towels (because hotels don't carry towels you know), giant size packs of Pampers diapers, creams, lotions, bath products, hair brushes (because babies have so much hair) and every other baby item known to man, I loaded the entire lot at the back door for Ian to pack. The look of "are you insane" was clearly pasted across his face as he kept filling the car and I kept running around adding last minute "we may need this" items and checking off my list (some things never change). Finally the sardine Wards were ready to hit the road. I must say I am impressed with the storage capacity of the Mazda as the stroller is so big it took up the entire trunk space leaving us with only the front and back seats. So what if you couldn't see anything except our eyeballs deep in stuff, the point is that we managed to bring our home away from home for a 15 pound lump.

Our first stop was to Costco to pick up a salad for Ian's company picnic in Parkesville. We had just made it to the salad aisle when Mr. Fussy started up so I promptly picked him up and felt something warm oozing onto my hand. Upon looking down I saw a familiar yellow substance which had managed to leak all over his lovely Gap tropical outfit. Diaper bag in hand and Mr. Poop Pants in the other I made the all too familiar beeline for the bathroom. No sooner had I got him changed and back out (this time pants free), he decided to do another big squirt which promptly sent me straight back to the bathroom. After changing him again and starting to walk out the bathroom Mr. Poopy Pants decided that three's the charm and projectile vomited all over the floor. That was it for me, I ran back in the bathroom, grabbed handfuls of wet paper towel and high tailed it out of there, being careful to step over the milk puddle on my way out. Luckily Ian had managed to rinse off his poopy shorts and being the smart daddy that he is, lay them on the back seat to dry. By the time we hit Parkesville you would never have known that we were poo covered and barf covered an hour before - we are getting good! We spent the rest of the afternoon relatively poo free and enjoyed a nice bbq while relaxing on our violent red & yellow picnic blanket. We are definitely losing the cool factor.

So now we are in Courtenay & off tomorrow to Vancouver for a conference till Wed. Stay tuned, I'm sure we will have more adventure coming our way!

Happy Canada Day!

Today we stepped into our patriotic shoes and dressed all in red to celebrate Canada Day - Daddy & Liam in matching red shirts and khaki shorts and Mommy in a white shirt and red sweater. We decided to have a more historical day by visiting some of the older buildings in Victoria, including the Odd Fellows and the Free Masons which were both very interesting. Liam looked ultra cute with his matching red & white hat and Canada flag sticking out of his baby sling - until he got too hot and started fussing that is. Of course he just wanted Mommy to hold him so I trekked my now 15 pound little lump all across town with Daddy in tow (reluctantly carrying my pink & brown diaper bag which weighed just as much as our lump).

On Tuesday we said goodbye to our Jeep and picked up our new set of Mazda wheels - a big change, but well worth it from a fuel economy perspective and its sure nice to have leather (we still want to be cool even if we are new parents). Mr. Fussy was in top form in the dealership and bawled his eyes out between us trying to sign our papers and get our insurance organized. His fussing escalated to screams as we drove off the lot and continued all the way to Chinatown where we finally stopped for a bite to eat. He passed out long enough for us to scarf down our ginger fried beef and rice and then started up again as we quickly vacated the restaurant. Not exactly an enjoyable first new car experience. I decided to make up for it the next morning at 7:30am as it had been 4 years since I had last driven a stick shift and I needed some practice. It took all of 10 seconds for it all to come back to me and I burned rubber all around the neighbourhood, sunroof open and wind in my hair. Ian could hear me zooming by and doing laps past the house. It was the best 10 minutes of freedom and I was reluctant to pull back in the driveway (although Im sure the neighbours were happy).

Thursday was Daddys birthday and of course Liam and I spoiled him with lots of gifts & takeout breakfast (Im not that good of a super mom yet). After dropping Daddy off at work, Liam and I got ready for our weekly mommy & baby group date which I am now organizing with the girls from my prenatal class. It is great to be able to sit & relax with other people in the same boat as you and nobody cares if you haul out a boob to feed - they are all doing it too! Its really cute to see all the tiny faces, take turns in holding eachothers lumps and compare notes - makes you feel somewhat normal. At 4:30pm we picked up Daddy and headed to a goodbye party for one of his coworkers. After a couple of drinks we went out for dinner at a nearby restaurant on the water - total time from the minute we walked in the door to the time we walked out the door - 38 minutes. How romantic. What wasnt romantic was the digestive issues following the lamb curry we consumed. Lets just say it was a rough night for all - damn that lamb. Nothing like running for the shitter in between trying to breastfeed at 3:00am. Lamb curry induced diapers takes gross to a whole new level. Thank goodness I switched to Pampers Swaddlers - they come with a protective high tab at the back - perfect for those power poops that try to creep up the back and squirt out the end. For now the Saran wrap and duct tape remain on hold in the drawer.

Mr. Fussy has actually started to fuss less the past few days - it seems that the phase is starting to slowly end which is supposed to happen at around 3 months. Hallelujah - there is light at the end of the tunnel. Of course this happened right as I received my Dr. Sears Fussy Baby book - it does appear that I have a High Needs child. To be positive Dr. Sears says that a high needs child equals a better communicator and more sensitive person as an adult. Great - but what about the 20 or so years until adulthood. Ian pulled out 18 gray hairs yesteday alone! I have a feeling Im going to have to put in an order for some more coconut rum. A bulk order. Of course life has a way of making up for those Im going to jump out the window moments - especially when your fussy lump looks at you and gives you a great big melt your heart smile. Liam is now also imitating facial expressions, including smiles, pulling out tongues and wide open eyes. He also loves talking back to you when you have a conversation with him. Wednesday he starting grasping his Baby Einstein links that hang from his favourite chair and smacking his hanging rattle. Most of all he loves lights and stares at them for hours. Its great at bed time for putting him to sleep with his Ocean Wonders mobile which projects fish & other sea objects on the ceiling while playing soft annoying music. Nothing like two adults falling asleep to a toy designed for a 3 month old!

So Happy Canada Day everyone - we will celebrate listening to the 10:30pm fireworks while lying in bed watching sea objects float on the ceiling.