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If you had asked me last year what I thought I'd be doing on our fourth anniversary, here is a list of what I would not have said:
- doing a load of dirty diaper laundry
- typing with one hand because I'm holding the baby with the other
- searching craigslist for items like a nursing pillow
- brushing my son's head to loosen those stubborn cradle cap flakes
- washing the spitup out of my hair
Boy, life sure has changed in the last year. In my post last year about our anniversary, I mentioned that having a dog trumps having a kid. Well, I still think there are several advantages to having a dog. For one thing, the dog is much easier to train. She knows way more tricks than the Spud does. For another, the dog will always listen to us. I dread the day when the kid turns against me. Oh, and I never had to teach the dog how to eat - she's always been good at that!
Of course, I'm thrilled to be a mom and to have our little guy in our lives. God has really blessed us with a great kid. He looks particularly sweet when he's sleeping and not yelling in my ear! I think he's the best baby ever. If you asked me what I thought of him at 4am, maybe my response would be different. It's pretty hard to be coherent when he's screaming in the middle of the night and all I'm trying to do is change his diaper. Sigh. The nice thing is that the hubs will always take over if I need him to, and sometimes he's just got that magic "fall asleep" touch.
Happy anniversary, honey. Thanks for taking this crazy ride with me.
Dear Spud (your stomach isn't the size of a chickpea any longer, so I'm going with Spud),
You might be wondering why the title of this post is "20 years" and not "almost 2 months", which is your age. Well, that's because I'm going to tell you about your grandfather in this post. As it happens, today marks 20 years since your grandpa (gohng-gohng) passed away. Mommy was only 10 years old at the time, so you'll have to forgive me if my memories are a little jumbled and vague. Maybe one day when you are bigger, your grandma (poh-poh) will be able to tell you more.
Mommy was very sad yesterday upon realizing that it was Father's Day, because it would have been so nice to celebrate with your gohng-gohng. Alas, God called him home much earlier than any of us wanted. I think he would have been proud to have a grandson, and I imagine that he would have delighted in getting to know you.
Grandpa was a man devoted to God and to his family. He was a lot like your own dad, in fact - very social with many friends, enjoyed cooking, very family oriented. Mommy still remembers when he would make treats like green onion pancakes. (Daddy hates these - but mommy will teach you to love them!) Grandpa was the sort of guy who knew someone no matter where he went, and could make conversation with just about anyone. He served as an elder at church for many years, even when mommy and kow-fu (?) were young, and he taught Sunday School to people who later taught mommy in Sunday school.
Mommy hears you fussing right now so I'll keep this short. I wish you had had the opportunity to meet your gohng-gohng. Maybe you already did in heaven? I'm not really sure how that all works, but one day our God will make it all clear. In the meantime, I praise the Lord for how He has blessed our family in these 20 years, and I'm looking forward to telling you more about your grandpa soon.
Dear baby,
Hooray! You're finally here!!!
I don't want to post your real name on this blog, so I have been trying to think of a nickname for you. For now I think we'll go with Chickpea. That is what they said was the size of your stomach when you were born, so it seems like a good name for you.
Chickpea, Mommy went through a lot to get you out. First of all, you were late. Late, late, late. Mommy was given oxytocin to induce labour, but it didn't work as quickly as expected... then (I'm really shortening up the story here) Mommy and Daddy found out that you were "ROP" - which is to say, you were totally not positioned correctly. So the doctors had to open me up and haul you out by hand. Let me just say that you are lucky you will never have to go through labour as the pain is almost indescribable. And thanks to your positioning and the resultant c-section, I got to experience both the pain of a major surgery and the pain of labour.
Of course, all that fades away because you are a fantastic baby, and I couldn't ever have asked for a better kid. You are a good sleeper, you don't cry a lot, and now that we have worked through some of your feeding issues, you're gaining weight at a champion rate. I must tell you that the feeding issues have been extremely difficult for me. I felt as though my body was failing me, because I couldn't feed you properly. All the hormones are really not helping either, as I have been so emotional lately. I feel guilt over not being able to feed you the way I wanted to, I feel guilt over not being able to spend as much time with the dog as I wanted, I feel easily irritated at the smallest things ... ugh! Motherhood is a difficult thing. I'm so grateful that you are a happy, calm baby. Chickpea, you are the joy of every day now, and we are incredibly thrilled that you are finally here with us. Welcome to the world, little one. Mommy loves you more than you'll ever know.
Here you are having a little bit of tummy time. PS: sorry for all the yellow and green clothing. From here on out, it's boy stuff for you!
Love, Mommy
First it was the purchase of two hybrid vehicles. Then, we bought a substantial amount of organic beef, one quarter cow to be exact. Then I decided we'd be using cloth diapers for the baby. And now, we've decided to buy a share in a CSA farm operation for the 2009 summer season. Is there no end to my earth-friendliness. I am just kidding, of course, I am not completely devoted to environmental issues, but one small step at a time I guess.
I'm sure you can read about a CSA on your own, but I'll explain my understanding of it. I first heard of this on a food blog that I used to read all the time - but have unfortunately forgotten the name of now. Essentially, community supported agriculture is a system where a farm sells shares of its (usually summer/early fall) harvest to a group of folks for a certain price early in the year. The farm benefits by having the cash it needs up front for the growing season, and the shareholders get a weekly box of whatever the crop is for that week, depending on what the farm grows. The other benefits.... organic veggies, locally grown, etc.
So that's what we'll be doing! The farm we are hoping to join is actually not in farmland per se, but is made up of a collection of donated lands including backyards, etc. I'm pretty excited. I think each week will be a little different and hopefully we won't end up with too many brussel sprouts (though the hubby might not mind.) It should be an interesting adventure in what sort of food we can make at home. And by "we", I mean the hubby! Although I did manage to make dinner once this week. I made a beef tortellini soup. Don't worry, I used a recipe, so no one got sick. :) Maybe when I'm on mat leave I'll actually cook more often. Stranger things have happened!
Dear baby,
Yesterday was your due date (according to some tricky doctor math.) Clearly, you didn't receive the message, because you're still not out. But I don't mind. I figured you would be late. After all, I am hardly ever on time for anything, and your grandma says I was late for my birth too. Your other grandma thinks that your father was also late. So it didn't bode well for you to arrive early in any event. Oh well. I only finished work last week, so it has been nice to have a few work-free days. Weirdly, I've actually felt kinda bored the last two days. Guess I'm just used to a routine.
So anyway. What's new. The doctor checked me out this week and last week to see what kind of progress you were making, and the official word is NOT MUCH. I'm progressing just fine, but you haven't decided to drop down yet. We are all ready for you to arrive - I finally finished washing all the clothes you own, well, except for the stuff that won't fit you for several months. Boy, are your socks tiny. And the hats too! Those are for your bald head - I figured you might take after me in that regard too. We've even had to sell our Canucks playoff tickets in anticipation of your birth. Baby, when you're older you'll realize what a sacrifice we've made :) Daddy says if the Canucks make it to the Stanley Cup finals he'll take you to a game. We do need to get a new light fixture for your room, because we broke the other one when assembling the crib. Oops! And when we know if you are a girl or boy, we might get you some clothing that isn't gender-neutral. A baby can only wear so much yellow and green.
Recently the dog has been wanting to sit closer to me (that is, when it isn't sunny enough for her to sunbathe outside) so we have allowed her to sit on the couch. She usually doesn't sit for long on the couch though, possibly it's too soft or slippery. But look at her today:
She looks comfortable, doesn't she? :)
See you soon, little one!
Dear baby,
We've hit the 38 week mark, which means you are full-term and ready to come out anytime... right? Right? One way or another you will be here in less than a month, because Mommy is only allowed to go 10 days past her due date. I think there are a number of people who are going to lose the baby pool on this basis alone.
Life has been busy lately, but in a good way. I am hitting the point where it is truly uncomfortable to sleep, and perhaps the dog senses this, because she wakes up several times a night herself sometimes. The nice thing is that she has now taken to nudging the blanket to wake me up for food, rather than just scratching at the door. Of course, sometimes she thinks it's breakfast time when it's really 5 AM... but actually, I think she knows what time it really is and just wants to see if maybe I might fall for her little trick. I've been trying to get her to nudge your daddy instead for food, knowing that in a few short weeks, I'll be way too exhausted and/or busy to get her food at a specific time. She's a very good girl. Be nice to her and she'll love you forever... I hope you'll love her too.
People keep asking me if anything is happening or if I'm ready. As for what is happening, you still seem to move a lot, which is reassuring, but also worrying, because maybe you're not resting enough for the tough labour ahead of us! And am I ready? Well. I am ready for you to be out instead of in, but I do not think one can ever be ready for a baby, a life to care for, a person to be responsible for. These days I spend a lot of time reflecting on my life and the potential changes ahead. Hopefully you won't mind adapting to my lifestyle. :)
Please come soon!
Just now I watched a bit of Jon and Kate plus 8 - only the last 10 minutes or so of the new episode wherein the family gets a pair of puppies. I couldn't actually tell what kind of puppies they got and no doubt I could google it, but whatever, that's not the point anyway. The part of the show I saw was where they brought the dogs home and put them in their basement, and then a bunch of discussion about having two puppies. At various times, the puppies are seen peeing on the carpet or tile. At one point, Kate says "I've potty trained 8 kids, I didn't want to potty train the ones in fur too. You let the dogs outside and they play, then they come in and pee on the carpet." Another time, she says that some of the little kids don't like the puppies because the puppies bite.
I've really stopped watching this show for the most part because I'm starting to find it kind of upsetting. I think it's great that they've chosen this lifestyle to earn their income and why shouldn't they take advantage, I suppose. When the show brings in enough revenue to support the purchase of a mansion, why not go ahead and buy it. I wouldn't deny that they need space.
But do they really need dogs, specifically puppies? I mean really, house training a puppy is a difficult process even if you don't have kids. I think it's ridiculous that Kate would express surprise that the puppies would be "let outside" and not pee. They don't instinctively know to pee outside, you have to teach them that it's the right thing to do. Also, you can't let puppies bite and nip, you have to teach them it's not okay to do that. And finally, if you are a clean freak, don't get a puppy. They *will* have accidents and you *will* have to clean it up.
We aren't perfect dog owners or anything, but I feel like I did a substantial amount of research prior to getting Kodi. I knew we wanted to take her to obedience school and I knew that puppyhood would be a tough go at the beginning. Of course, her breed does come with a great disposition and a general attitude of wanting to listen and behave well... but we, particularly the hubby, spent a lot of time in training with her. People often tell us that she's so well behaved, and they can't believe she'll listen so well. She isn't perfect but she is well trained, if I may say so myself. I find it so irritating when people obviously aren't interested in training their dogs, or who think that having a puppy is either a great novelty (the fun of which wears off quickly) or a pain in the rear (in which case, why did you get one!?)
To be honest, we kind of wanted Kodi to be a little bit older before we had a baby... I think she'll handle it well but at the same time she is still a puppy and is still full of energy. It'll take work to train her to respect the baby as a pack leader :) One day I'd love to have a second dog - maybe in a few years!
I'm hoping that in the first half of the episode, Jon and Kate talked about things like obedience training, spending lots of time with the puppies in training, teaching the kids how to take care of puppies and not to provoke them, etc. But I sort of doubt it. Too bad. The show is watched by so many people that the family could have been a great influence on future dog owners. Instead, we're left with more of the Kate-screeching over pee and having to clean it up. Unfortunate.
