Week 39

Ok - so maybe this whole new schedule we're on is going to take a bit more getting used to. Monday I was calmly making myself a cup of tea while Liam napped soundly mid cup pour I realised that I was supposed to be leaving for work in 5 minutes at 3:40pm - not 3:10pm like I do on non-daycare days. OOPS! Calm turned to panic as I raced around trying to get myself together - luckily Liam was just waking up and was unceremoniously yanked out of his crib, jacket thrown on top of his PJ's - good thing he knows mommy moves fast sometimes and clung on like a spider monkey while we flew out the door to the car. I peeled out of the driveway and was burning rubber up the street when all of a sudden the gas light came on. CRAP! A 5 minute detour later we screamed into the gas station where I yelled at the attendant to put in 20 bucks while madly waving my credit card and starting to sweat. Another 5 minutes later we arrived at daycare where I grabbed Liam out of his car seat, grabbed his diaper bag and threw the giant backpack onto my shoulder - all while slipping in my high heels on the mud - unfortunately I tried to swing the gate open hard to charge through and got stuck with the backpack in the fence. A minute later (with some serious cursing) I got myself free, narrowly avoided tripping down the stairs in my stupid heels & burst through the door to the daycare, hair wild & face flushed, muttering madly to Emily about running late. Unfortunately as I plopped Liam down I realised that he was missing one of his new expensive Pediped shoes and there was no way in hell I was going to leave without finding it. Back out the door I charged, madly scouring the brown & green ground for a similarly brown coloured tiny leather shoe while still slipping on the mud in my stupid heels. After the third fruitless attempt I was seriously late and had to give up. Fortunately as I was reversing at a crazy woman's speed out of the driveway I spotted the shoe (that had obviously rolled under the car - God knows how), slammed on my brakes, jumped out the car, slipped on the mud in my stupid heels on the way to the door again and chucked the shoe inside, slipped on the mud in my stupid heels on the way back to the car and sped away like a demon. I made it to work 5 minutes late - my boss took one look at me while I said "gas, lost shoe, mud, heels, stuck in fence in one sentence and started to laugh. Good thing she has a sense of humour! Tuesday was a lot more uneventful except for the fact that I'm obviously tired since I tried to find my warmed up mug of coffee that I had just microwaved in the freezer.

Wednesday I started a Mom & Me fitness class at work - the class involves strength training and cardio and involves using free weights or you baby as a weight. There is a large mat in the middle of the room where all the babies hang out and the moms workout around them. Of course I was the only mom who didn't being a blanket or toys for Liam like all the other moms, I simply sat him on the mat, gave him my water bottle, a library card and his wipes case and let him go to town. Who needs toys for entertainment? Not my kid! He was happy as a clam for most of the class. When it came to the ab portion of the class you put your baby on your stomach and do crunches - I made a game out of it and kept saying "boo" each time my head came up. Liam laughed himself silly. Glad he found me so funny while I was sweating my bag off. After the class was over I gave him a quick milk feed before heading out. Unfortunately I paid the price and he promptly barfed all down my back as I burped him. I simply threw my jacket on covering the giant white streaks - 9 months of experience teaches you that sometimes it's just best to hide it as best you can and walk away.

Liam's third tooth has completely come through now and he is getting very good at chewing his food. Ian tried salmon chunks and he just loved it - good thing since I hate salmon even though I know it's really healthy. Too fishy for me unfortunately. We also tried tofu which was a hit and cheerios which have become a favourite snack. Breakfast now includes cereal, fruit and Yo Baby yoghurt (especially for babies) or cottage cheese, Lunch is veggies, protein and fruit and dinner is the same. Ian is very creative and Liam loves textured foods like pieces of broccoli & slices of mango, raspberries or blueberries. Even likes advocado which he didn't before. Have tried soft cheese & scrambled egg yolks which he doesn't seem to mind either. Has quite the appetite! Some of the foods I'll put in front of him on his tray, but he hasn't quite figured out how to put it into his mouth - the larger the pieces the more likely it is he'll pick them up. Once he's picked the piece up it makes its way to the mouth. The scrambled eggs I tried for breakfast a few days ago spent more time being mushed around and played with then eaten, but I don't care - it's good for him to get a feel for the different textures.

Liam has also figured out how to rip his bibs off if he doesn't want them on - rather annoying when you're dealing with food exploration. He tends to grab at the food bowl as well and tries with all his little might to pull it towards him. If you say no he looks at you with wide eyes and then freaks out. So you give up and he's happy again, even if you have to wipe him down 10 times which also makes him scream. It's a no win situation.

I've been raiding the tupperware cupboard to keep up with his tupperware demands - he loves tupperware. At least it's not pots and pans yet, plastic is so much less noisy. Easier to clean too. Speaking of cleaning - with life being more hectic and one of us taking parenting shifts at a time, its been a lot harder to keep up with the day to day stuff and the dishes just keep piling up. So we bought a countertop dishwasher to save time and make life easier and it works like a hot dam. No more piles of plates in the sink for us! Now if only I could have a full-time housekeeper.........