Wacky Wednesday

     Today was a busy busy day.  Daddy babywore Kaelynn on his back the whole way there.
     Little Ray's Reptile Zoo was having a demonstration at the local library. I found out about this last week and had planned for it, unfortunately, many mothers did not.
     We had to be at the library at 1pm to pick up free admission tickets for 2pm. There was a line when we got there and tickets were gone in 3 minutes.
     5 tickets in hand, we popped over to the mall for lunch and a quick errand.

     2pm and we go through the door. We sit near the front with the other children. Daddy hung off to the side. I am surprised that Kaelynn seemed interested in touching the reptiles, maybe because everyone else was. My friend and her daughter showed up late, and we made room. Daddy moved to the back.
     Kaelynn spent time playing with my camera, touching the reptiles as they came around, looking out the window, and babbling at her daddy from across the room.
    I am proud that even I touched them...and they freak me out.

     Afterwards, we came home and went for a swim. Somehow in all the clothes we have, I found a swim suit to fit my friend's daughter.

     Before dinner, she fell asleep. She stayed asleep while I transferred her to her high chair. I ate and then woke her up.

    Baby girl is happy and pooped.

A berry good afternoon

     My best friend invited us to go strawberry picking with her and her daughter. Of course we agreed. We love strawberries, especially when they're fresh!
     We all packed into the car and headed off to Fruition Berry Farm. I was excited because this would be my first time at Fruition and Kaelynn's first time ever picking.
     Boy, did she have fun. All the berries she could eat (and maybe a flower and leaf), new people to watch, being outside, tractor rides, and a new play structure to scale.
     Unsure how long later, we had 14 lbs of strawberries! Hello jams, fruit and as Kaelynn would say "it's delicious".

First birthday

     It's been a crazy busy 3 days of birthday celebration.
    
     THURSDAY
     Thursday afternoon we got together with grandpa and had a birthday lunch and cake pickup. Afterwards, we went around picking up last minute party things: balloons, helium, babygate that was on sale.
Grandpa got her a most Canadian book (I want my hat back) and I got a copy of The Paperbag Princess. We came home, had a nap and started to get ready for the at home festivities.

Lunch

     Friday
     In the morning, I started off by baking cupcakes. One box of devils food and one box of white. The white ones I swirled food colouring in. After they were cool, I hollowed them out and put them away in a safe spot.
     Around noon, my mom, little brother and his girlfriend came over.
We opened gifts (a TY unicorn and Share Bear). Eric and his girlfriend left, and we had dinner (lasagna and bread and salad). I clearly didn't think anything through. We had cake and then presents from the family. In between, she had a quick bath. She loved her cupcake and didn't even try the icing. I'm a little sad she didn't face plant in her boob cake. She was unsure about it, even after we broke it up.
     Thankfully, she didn't get a sugar high...but was still awake until midnight. I'm blaming the full moon.

     Saturday
     I was up early to make eggs benedict for friends that were coming over to help me set up. Good thing I had already decorated. Streamers and balloons all over.
    Around noon friends started to arrive. A few friends couldn't make it due to illness, but it was a full on baby invasion.
     There were a lot of snacks, talking, not a lot of crying babies. Some of my friends came, Jake's aunt and cousin, and Kaelynn's babies.
     She received lots of clothes and thoughtful gifts. She is so lucky to have so many people that care about her.

     I can't even really put into words this weekend..and it's not over yet. Tomorrow we have a bridal shower for a wedding that we are in this summer.
    Next post will have pictures when we get them back. I have 2 lovely friends that have amazing cameras.

Baby Invasion

Every one is busy prepping

Little Big Girl

     We're a week away from being 8 months old. There are so many smiles from this little girl that I can barely contain my love for her. Every day, I see so much growing up in her.
     She loves to stand and crawl. If there is something she wants and isn't supposed to have, she can crawl super fast. She recently has started to growl at everything - mostly the kitties. She's even taken a few steps while holding onto fingers or a laundry basket.
     Yesterday morning, we had a lovely play date with a friend that moved to Ottawa. Kaelynn played with a most adorable 11 month old girl. Daddy was even social, and this was his first time watching his daughter interact with other babies. "She's a good little player", he said after everyone was gone home. During the visit, we received a walking toy. She loves it. She plays with the knobs and spinners on the front, even if she still is too short to walk with it (that's what laundry baskets are for).
     Speaking of laundry baskets, they are the best baby toy ever. They make boats for when they decide the floor is lava and don't want to be put down. They are walking tools. Flip them on the side and they are caves. Place a blanket under the meshy part and the child is confused and determined to get the fabric. Plus, they are awesome for bath time, when you don't want to worry about your kid falling over or toys escaping.

     Hallowe'en is coming up and mommy loves dressing up and making things. I got crafty and made her 2 costumes. She will be a Moogle and a mermaid. I purchased an H&M suit and added my own details of wings, larger ears and a pom pom. I crocheted the mermaid costume (tail, bra, netting hat with starfish). For her 8 month photos, she is going to be fully dressed up.
     With Hallowe'en approaching as well, we have a move coming and are looking for some place to go.

Sept 21st, her grandpa John passed away from cancer. We are looking for some place to house us 3, sister in law and their dads BFF (who is basically family). We've already started packing yesterday, until we ran out of boxes. Kaelynn slept the whole time. We'll see how the rest of packing goes. 

Keep Calm and Crawl On

 

  We've entered the stage of randomly screaming at the top of her lungs. Not just any type of screaming either, high pitched, making the cats' ears go back, screams. These, on top of teething screams, are making this a deaf household.

     Today was a horrible teething screaming morning. 15 mins (I know, I know that's not a long time) of inconsolable scream/crying while trying to get ready to go to the park. I managed to get her all ready and with J's help we put her in her wrap. Snuggled in close, she fell asleep a block from home. Once we got to the park, she woke up. We played with my friend and her new dog, and everything was right as rain. Back in her wrap for the walk home and she was out again. Today was the first time I had managed to pee while baby wearing. NOTHING SHALL WAKE THE BABY! I did need help removing my sandals though.

 

 The other night in the bath tub, we had lots of snuggles. Seeing how big she is getting is making me sad and proud at the same time. She's doing SO much. She's growing SO much. She's getting SO much hair. I have a feeling I will be one of those moms that cling on and hug extra long. The embarrassing kind of mom that everyone hates but loves at the same time. I kiss and squeeze her so much, and as often as possible. People say their spouse is their true love, wait til you have a child.

     I have also realized that I had taken her not moving for granted. This morning I was making tea and heard the coin candle holder jingling. I thought she was just playing with it. I look out the door way and YELL at her. She had pulled herself up onto the TV holder and was trying to get the XBOX charger station. Our TV center is one of those cubicle kinds from IKEA, I still see little finger prints in the dust by the XBOX. J asked me why I was yelling at her. He said from now on she's not allowed in the living room unsupervised and has to be put in the Ring of Neglect (exersauser) or brought along for the ride wherever we're going. I have a feeling as she grows older and more adventurous, he is going to be the super worried type. I am already "as long as she's not going to lose an eye or limb, she can try it out" type.

     As for crawling, I have a feeling she is going to skip that all together. When she is getting super fussy, just hold her up in the middle of the room, or flip a laundry basket so she can stand by herself and she is happy. According to Grandma L, J skipped crawling. Crawling is for chumps!

Play date pictures

      The fabulous Allie over at Dear Darling Baby took some snaps of Kaelynn while having a play date at the park. My little girl is full of personality.

First road trip

     Yesterday was our first road trip as a family. A few friends were going to a water park in Quebec with their boys & had invited us along. It was interesting to say the least.

     We get picked up & hit the road. She slept most of the way there, after staring at the boys for a while. We have a pit stop to stretch & I feed her the travel bottle I packed. Back asleep she goes.

     We finally arrive & change into suits. There was a children's splash pool that we waded in for a while. Lots of feeding due to being in the sun/ watching Daddy and the boys run off for the bigger slides. At one point, a mother and her daughter approached me. With everything that's been going around about breast feeding in public, my mind automatically went to they were going to tell me off. Instead, they offered to let me borrow their beach chair, but I was more comfortable sitting on the deck. (What got me was all the little babies around, there was a lack of breast feeding going on). After a feed, Kaelynn just passed out - to the point that I just placed her in her big girl stroller all bundled up to keep warm/sun free.

     One of the dads was unable to go on any slides. He was okay with watching a sleeping baby while I went on some slides - I paid admission, I should have some fun.
     I went down with my brother's girlfriend on most slides. We went down Black Magic a few times - an enclosed slide. Than Jake, a friends son, Kaitlynn and I went down Tornado Alley. The whole time I was screaming "I NO LIKE". The funnel spun it so I was backwards, plus it was dark.

     Jake deserves some sort of medal for being a baby wrangler. He spent most of the day riding with the younger boys or at least following them to where they wanted to go. He made sure an over zealous 3 year old didn't drown in the wading pool.

     We stayed at the park roughly 5 hours. Going home was a whole other story. Grumpy baby. 5 year old in the back, yelling to the front (then complaining about the screaming baby). We had to stop and get something to eat and feed/change her. Once on the road again, nothing seemed better. I gave her crinkly things to play with, fingers to suck. Nope. In the end, I had to creative nurse her. Lesson learned: for our zoo trip in 2 weeks for my bday, bring my battery powered pump.

Water Baby

      This past week, I have taken Kaelynn on 2 different adventures- to the splash pad and to the beach. Both were a success.
    
     Wednesday, we were supposed to go to Grass Creek park, but there were threats of thunderstorms. My friend, her 4 year old girl, and us went to Lake Ontario Park for a picnic and splash pad instead.
There were a lot of kids there and I decided to put Kaelynn in the splash pad too. I put her beside a ground spout. She was fine with the wet cement, but once she got sprayed she was not quite pleased - but not super unhappy. She was indifferent to the swings, but she got the hang of them.

\     Friday afternoon, we finally made it to Grass Creek Park. I didnt fully think things through before we left & I forgot her swim diaper. Problem solved - take the insert out. We had a lunch picnic too, and I'm pretty sure she's a crafty baby. She was being held by my friend, and playing with her links. Kaelynn dropped  her links behind Cezar. When Cezar bent to pick them up, Kaelynn made a play towards the salad. Silly baby, not yet.

     She was loving her first time in a river. She splashed and smiled and played with a ball, all under the cozy shade of an umbrella.

The Reality of Reality

     I have been watching random reality tv on Netflix because I find it interesting. Shows like Sister Wives and Jon & Kate Plus 8. Jake dislikes that I waste my time with such nonsense because it just makes me dumb. I watch it because other people's lives who are vastly different from mine intrigue me. The other day Jake told me to get some friends if other people intrige me. It's hard for me to make friends. I just feel so awkward. Even at Mother's Circle, I feel strange and alien. I just feel like I don't fit in and I don't know what I have to do to fit in. I have some friends, but they have busy lives and even now I feel like I am a bother. I guess this not working time has been giving me time to reflect and feel lonesome. I know I have to change so Kaelynn will be able to interact and become a stable, friendly individual. I like to think I am friendly and approachable....

     I am currently making lactation cookies. I am on Domperidone, and taking Blessed Thistle and Fenugreek supplements. Anything I can do to help boost milk supply, more so since I think Kaelynn is going through a growth spurt. She's been sleepy, fussy, and wanting to nurse all the time. My production has increased, but it could be better. In a 2-3 day span, I can freeze about 5oz of milk.

     Kaelynn is currently sleeping, so I can clean up from baking and clean up the livingroom. I am also going to call around and see if I can find a Meyer Lemon tree/price of one. I would like Kaelynn to have a Birth Tree, only we rent. If I can find a reasonably priced container tree, that would be perfect. It can go in her room during the winter months, and I am thinking if it's citrus, the cats would leave it alone.

Lactation Cookie Recipe
 Preheat oven to 375F
... Cooking time 10-12 mins
Serves 36 cookies

1 cup butter/margarine **
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3 cups oats
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips
½ cup slivered almonds
2 tbsp brewers yeast
4 tbsp water
2 tbsp flaxseed meal

1. Mix flax and water and set aside for 3 mins (it makes a runny paste)
2. Cream butter and sugars, add eggs
3. Add flaxseed mix, then vanilla
4. Combine dry ingredients except oats, raisins, almonds.
5. Add butter mixture to the dry mix
6. Stir in oats, raisins/chocolate chips, and almonds
7. Using two teaspoons, drop dough onto non-stick cookie sheet
8. Bake for 10-12 mins at 375F
9. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack when they are warm, not cold, and not when just fresh out of the oven.
10. ENJOY!
1-4 cookies a day can help to boost milk supply as required. Avoid oats, flax, brewers yeast if you have an oversupply. Yummy cookies are safe for all ages and genders to eat.

**For a lighter cookie you can use 2/3 cup of becel light and 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce in place of the 1 cup of butter.**