Sullivan: 3 Months

Dear Sullivan,

You are no longer our little newborn. May 21st you turned 3 months old. This past month you have changed so much that your daddy and I can hardly believe it. It is so much fun to watch you grow each day. You no longer want to be held like "a baby". You want to be held facing out so you can take in your surroundings. If anyone tries to hold you horizontal like a football, you let them know right away that you are not happy about this. You do enjoy being worn by me in your wrap or in our other front-carrier, but you hold your head up to look at everything around you until you succumb to sleep. Your neck is undoubtedly strong, despite you not liking tummy time all that much.

 

At 11 weeks, you weighed 11 lbs and 2 oz and were 23 inches long. Just a wee little guy. We worked really hard this past month to get your weight gain up as there was some concern that you weren't gaining fast enough. You're only in the 10th percentile for both height and weight, but someone has to be, right? Your thighs and cheeks are starting to fill out and your daddy and I have no doubt that you are just the way you were meant to be. You have just about grown out of all your newborn sleepers now and have moved on to your 0-3 month clothes although some are still a bit baggy on you. It has been hard to buy anything for you for the summer as I'm not sure what size you will be in once the hot weather finally rolls around. You are still wearing size 1 diapers and you had your first pee accident, except instead of getting me or your dad wet, you got yourself in the face! Oh the look of shock on your face was priceless! At least you no longer scream through diaper changes anymore.

While you are solely breastfed, you will take a bottle of expressed breast milk when needed. This allows me to still get out to things like book club, or the grocery store on my own, and lets you have some one on one time with your daddy. It's hard for me to leave you, but I'm never too far from home.

You talk to us all the time now and often have lots of stories to tell your daddy and I. And you like to kick your little legs like crazy while cooing away at us. You love to smile with your whole face and we can't wait until you start laughing. You have your own thresholds when it comes to being in your bouncy seat or on your play mat. One minute you're kicking your legs, moving yourself about your mat and then the next second you are in full blown tears just wanting (needing) to be held. Your uncle Mikey bought us a big exercise ball so that we can bounce you in our arms on it and you just love it!

You've been sleeping longer stretches at night now, but I haven't been able to bring myself to kick you out of our bed just yet. We aren't on any sort of schedule yet, putting you to bed when we go to bed, which is usually around 10:30. I think we are getting close to trying you in your crib, but to be honest, I love waking up next to you in the mornings. Waking up to your little stirring body and your full body stretches fills my heart with so much love and joy. I love how warm your little legs are when I take them out of your sleeper for your first diaper change of the day. Often, we both go back to sleep for morning nap, and I am so grateful for co-sleeping as mommy is not a morning person (yet!).

This was a big month for you as your had your first set of immunizations. You took the needles (all 3!) like a champ, but I cried like a baby. You also had two big road trips to Red Deer to visit your cousins. While you love car rides, the hour and a half to Red Deer is just a little bit too long for you. At first I thought you were just getting hungry, but we have now come to realize that you only tolerate being in your car seat for so long and just want out of that thing. We are getting out in the stroller more often now that the weather is nice and you love being outside.

 

 

Sully, you are already 1/4 of a year old! I can't wait to see what changes in you the next month brings.

Love you to the moon and back,
Your Mommy xoxo

My Pregnancy Must Haves

I always love to hear what other pregnant momma's can't/couldn't live without, so I thought it would be fun to do a little round up of my favourite products and must haves during pregnancy. Pregnancy is an exciting time, but not without it's challenges! Below are the things that made my 10 months of pregnancy just a little bit more comfortable.

1. Bio-Oil: I applied this every night to my belly, breasts, and thighs in hopes to ward off any stretch marks. I'm not sure if I have Bio-Oil to thank or just plain luck, but I'm pretty stretch mark free. I also found this product to be super moisturizing for my legs during the winter months. This product is pricey, but luckily Costco sold it for a fraction of the cost of drug stores. In the mornings, I applied regular ol' cocoa butter lotion.

2. Pregnancy Day by Day (Canadian Edition): I bought a few pregnancy books at the beginning of my pregnancy, but this one was hands down Jim and my's favourite one. There is a page to read each day highlighting changes in utero and things to expect during your pregnancy, along with tips and advice. It was a great resource, and it was fun to see the day to day changes in your fetus. 

3. Dr. Teal's Lavender Epsom Salts: I am not a bath person, but in my third trimester, I was so sore by bedtime that I often needed a hot bath to soothe my aches and pains before bed. I'm a huge fan of lavender scented anything and found this product to be very relaxing.

4. Thyme Maternity Leggings: I lived in these leggings for the last half of my pregnancy, in fact, I had a few pairs just so I always had a clean pair to wear. I have no other brand to compare them too, but these ones stayed up on my belly and paired great with dresses and tunics. I even wore them for several weeks postpartum!

5. Vitamin Code Raw Prenatal Vitamins: My stomach is really sensitive to iron supplements and the first type of prenatal vitamins I tried did not agree with me. It was so bad that I was actually worried that I wouldn't be able to take prenatal vitamins. Then one day my friend Traci gave me a few bottles of  the Vitamin Code ones and it was like night and day in comparison! I tolerated them with no problems my entire pregnancy. I cannot recommend them enough. 

6. Massage Therapy & Chiropractic Care: When my SI joint pain got so bad and I was willing to do anything to find some relief, everyone told me to go see a Chiropractor. I had never been to a Chiropractor before, but my friend Lisa recommended one that she had been to during her pregnancy. I started to go for treatments as well as regular prenatal massages at the same clinic. If you happen to live in the Edmonton area, I highly recommend Dr. Sarah Wu and Haylee, RMT at Momentum Chiropractic Clinic. They both helped me work through the pain and discomfort I was experiencing and often fit me in last minute. 

7. Starbucks Cold Cup Tumbler: I'm not always the best water drinker, but I knew I had to up my intake during pregnancy. I don't know why, but water tastes so much better when drank through a straw. This was (and still is), my go-to water "bottle". 

8. Long Tank Tops: I'm pretty sure I wore a long tank top everyday. They covered my butt and ever expanding cleavage and just seemed to make tops look more smooth. A huge pregnancy wardrobe staple in my opinion. I wore a few of my regular, extra long tanks throughout my pregnancy, but I also really like the maternity tank tops from Old Navy with the ruching on the sides for when I just wanted to wear a tank top solo. 

I'd love to hear what's on your list of pregnancy must haves! 

What couldn't you have survived without? 

Currently...

 

Reading: I'm in between books right now. Last week, I finished up May's book club pick, For Today I am a Boy, a sad story by Canadian author Kim Fu, about one young man's struggle with gender identity. I haven't been reading nearly as much now that Sullivan is here and I feel overwhelmed when it comes to picking a new book to read. Part of me thinks maybe I should get a head start on next month's book club pick, Oxygen, which is actually my pick, and a part of me feels that maybe it's time to reread Outlander now that the TV series is scheduled to start this August. Although, I'm not sure if it will premiere in Canada at the same time.

On Repeat: I cannot get enough of this song right now:

Rueben and The Dark performed in Edmonton back in April and I was quite sad I couldn't make it, but since they are from Calgary, I'm hoping future Edmonton shows are in the books.

Watching: What am I not watching?! In April, we got rid of cable completely and got Netflix instead. I've worked my way through the first 3 seasons of Downton Abbey and was so mad by the last episode that I can't bring myself to start season 4. Instead, I've been devouring Friday Night Lights and am currently almost done season 2. All I have to say is, why didn't Tim Riggins go to my high school?! Together, Jim and I are watching How I Met Your Mother (I know, we're only like 9 years late to the game). I was just going to watch it on my own, but then Jim watched a few episodes with me and really liked it too so now I have to wait for him to be home to watch it.

Obsessed with: My new fitbit flex which I received for my 31st birthday. I love seeing how many steps I take in a day, especially on the days I actually leave the house with Sully. Although yesterday, I got a notification from the fitbit app on my phone congratulating me on almost meeting my goal of 10,000 steps a day and I was like, "hmm, I haven't' even gone anywhere, how is that possible?". Turns out, when you bounce on an exercise ball while holding your baby, the fitbit will register this as steps.

Eating: with the arrival of my fitbit, I am motivated to start cleaning up my diet. And now that Sully is a little bit older, it's a lot easier to grocery shop and make proper dinners. Influenced by some yummy quinoa salads at my baby shower that my co-workers threw for me last week, I whipped up a quinoa, black bean and chickpea salad that Jim and I have been enjoying mixed with ground turkey on lettuce wraps and on baked sweet potatoes. Recipe coming soon!

Looking forward to: Enjoying the outdoors more with Sully and Jim now that the weather has finally turned nice. We have promised ourselves that we are going to make the most of the summer here in Edmonton and get out to as many festivals, farmers markets, and events going on in the city as we can.

What are you currently up to? Any book recommendations or shows on Netflix I *must* watch? 

Let me know in the comments! 

I'll Love You Forever

No one can ever prepare you for what happens when you have a child. When you see the baby in your arms and you know that it's your job now. No one can prepare you for the love and the fear. -Tim, About Time

In my last post, I talked about how this year brings many firsts for me, Mother's Day being one of them.     Becoming a mum has been one of the toughest, most wonderful, most life-changing experiences of my life thus far. It has changed the way I view the world and given me a much deeper appreciation and love for my relationship with my own mum. Realizing that you are everything, the life line, to one tiny, little being, is a feeling like no other. I am honoured to join the club of motherhood.

To my dearest Sullivan, I already love you more than you could ever know and I'm so incredibly proud to be your momma. I'll love you forever, and unconditionally, that's a promise.

Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing mum's out there, especially my own mum, for being my number one fan, my best friend, my biggest supporter. If I can be one tenth of the mum you are, then I'll consider myself lucky! I'm so proud to call you my mom and I can't wait for Sully to get to know his Gramma better. We miss you. 

31

Yesterday two days ago, I turned 31. It's a pretty insignificant birthday when compared to say, turning 30, but for me, it was my first birthday as a mum, which is anything less than significant in my books. I guess everything that happens this year on will be my first "as a mum", and it's still a thought that makes me smile.  If you had told me on my birthday last year, that I would be a mum on my 31st birthday, I would have laughed in your face, and then promptly downed my glass of champagne.  Not because I didn't want to be a mum, but because I never imagined I would become pregnant quite so soon after I turned 30. 

My 20s were all about me and now my 30s will be spent raising my son and making memories with my little family. It truly is the beginning of a new era. A journey I am both excited and nervous for.  You never really feel "ready" to become a parent and I was no more ready this year to become a mom then I was last year. I remember when I was a child, I believed my parents knew everything and had the answer for all life's questions. I thought this was just something that happened to all adults and so I assumed that one day, I too would all of a sudden know all the answers. Well, I'm still waiting for that day and I still think my mum has most of the answers. 

I've spent a lot of waking hours in the middle of the night (hello night feeds!), reflecting on my past 31 years, thinking about what the future holds, and all the things I've still to learn and what I want in this life for this little family of mine. Happiness. Peace. Adventure. Laughter. Love. Finding pleasure and joy in the everyday simple things of life. I recently watched the movie, About Time and there was a line near the very end of the film that really resonated with me:

I just try to live every day as if I've deliberately come back to this one day, to enjoy it, as if it was the full final day of my extraordinary, ordinary life. -Tim, About Time

'My extraordinary, ordinary life'. I love that so much. I don't have a list of things I want to accomplish this year, no "32 before 32" bucket list. Instead, I promise myself to enjoy this simple life of mine, to find the extraordinary in what would otherwise appear ordinary. To spend my time with people I love, who's company I enjoy. To try hard to not compare myself to others, to not be too hard on myself when I'm having a tough day and struggling with this mum thing. To be kind to my husband, even when he's the easiest person to take my frustrations out on. To smile more, laugh lots and love strongly. And most of all, be present in the moment. Happy birthday, Me.