A Year Ago Today...

Every mommy blogger does this. Can you guess? That's right, a year ago today, I got the BFP that resulted in my darling baby boy.

It was 12dpo, the Sunday of the Labour Day weekend. I woke up early to pee and decided to test. I suspected it would be positive, and it was! I bounced into the bedroom, woke up DH, and dragged him to the bathroom. He was confused, thinking I just wanted to get an early start on our day. (Silly boy; that's not like me. I like my sleep!) Once he shook off the confusion, he examined the test and agreed that it was positive. Then I think we went back to bed. I'm not sure. But I do remember that we spent the day walking along the beach and talking about the future. And I got fries from a chip wagon. It couldn't have been more perfect. :)

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Three Months Old!

Happy quarter-year, my sweet Andyroo! At three months old, Andrew weighs 14 pounds 6 ounces and measures approximately 25.5 inches. The months are flying by! I can't believe how big he's gotten.

He's finally laughing, but so far only a handful of times. We're busy falling over ourselves with silliness trying to elicit these precious giggles. (I have a super cute video but can't get Blogger to post it.)

Today, as an entire online community grieves the great loss suffered by one of its members, I am so grateful to be celebrating this little milestone. My dear, beautiful boy, you have changed my life completely and forever. I love you so much.

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De Quervain's Tenosynovitis

In the last month or so of my pregnancy, I developed horrible pain in my right wrist. It was most intense first thing in the morning; I guess it got stiff while I slept. My OB said it was De Quervain's Syndrome, a type of tendonitis, and said it's common in pregnancy and would likely get worse after the baby arrived. She was right. (Apparently it's also more common in lactating women and it could go away when I stop breastfeeding, which seems to have happened for this mom, but that's still a long way off for me.)

Lifting my baby out of his crib or car seat hurts. Nursing him (holding his head and my breast) hurts. Dressing myself hurts!

But my initial research online didn't give me much hope. Limit use is the number one recommendation — yeah, right. Icing it and taking Ibuprofen might mask the pain but wouldn't cure it. Wearing a splint doesn't seem like a viable option — that would restrict movement and therefore make it difficult to care for the baby. Steroid shots and surgery seem to be the next steps. Ugh. I SO don't want to go there.

Today, three months post-partum, I finally went to see my doctor about it. She said to ice it and take Ibuprofen. I declined a referral to a physiotherapist for now, because it would be difficult for me to get to regular appointments with no one to watch the baby, so she said I could try to find some exercises on the Internet to do at home.

I found some to help rehabilitate the wrist once the pain eases — not helpful now. And then I saw this on YouTube. This guy claims a simple stretch, done in reps of 15 three times a day, cleared up his severe case of De Quervain's in just three weeks. Someone commented that he tried it and it worked for him too in just three DAYS! I'm going to give it a try. Why not? I'll report back to let you know if it helped.

Does anyone else have a De Quervain's experience to share?

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Sleepy Musings

The funny thing about babies is that just when you think you know them and their behaviour, everything changes all over again. Andrew's sleep habits have changed twice since I last posted about his stellar routine. After a couple of bumps in the road he seems to be settling down again into a decent pattern — which is to say he's napping about three times a day and waking only once during the night.

I suppose at some point I'll have to stop rocking him to sleep so that he can learn to self-soothe, but I think we're going to put off all that rigmarole until he's at least four months old. Then we *may* attempt sleep training a la Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. We loosely follow it now, attempting at least to get him to sleep every two hours, and that seems to work well. I'm just not sure how to move to the next step. A regular bedtime? Not even close. For now I'm fine with simply following Andrew's cues and letting his needs dictate the day. I know I'm lucky to be able to do this, and I intend to enjoy it. I can already see that the tiny baby stage is so fleeting.

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Don't Forget the Pets

Austin, our kitty, is sick. He was acting funny all day on Thursday, and then in the evening he had a few seizures. I took him to an emergency clinic at 11 p.m., in a thunderstorm, to get checked out. He spent the night there, and in the morning we took him to his regular vet for more testing. More than $1,200 later (eek!), we still have no answers. The vet's best guess is that poor Austin has a brain tumour, and he suggests that we simply wait until he has another seizure and then bring him in to be put down. So sad. He's been fine since we brought him home on Friday, and hopefully he will continue to be fine for a good long time to come. He's 12 years old, which is a decent age, I guess, but I always thought cats tended to live much longer.

Now here's where the guilt comes in. Shortly before the baby was born, Austin started living in our storage closet. He continued to spend all his time in there for weeks after the baby was born. Even when he eventually returned to his normal hangouts, he wasn't getting much attention from us. (You have to understand: he's a very temperamental cat. You can't just pet him whenever you want to; he has to come to you. But he has a talent for choosing the most inconvenient times possible, and more often than not he came looking for affection when we were busy with the baby, and so we pushed him away.) I wonder if stress and depression could have triggered the seizures — could have activated the brain tumour.

We're trying harder now to make sure he gets a daily dose of affection.

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In Other News

Andrew is officially two months old! Time is just flying by. I'm happy to say that his life is extremely well documented with photographs so far! I'm a little bit obsessed with taking pictures of my beautiful boy.

Things are going well. I'm definitely more comfortable in my role as a mother these days, now that breastfeeding is going so well and he's a pretty good little sleeper. Fingers crossed on that one, though. I know it can change overnight. We do occasionally have off days, but there are more good than bad.

Now that he's awake for longer stretches I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to keep him occupied and entertained. I think I'm going to have to take him outside more often. Even if he can't play, he can still appreciate the sunlight and the breeze and the greenery, right? Hmm. Any suggestions on activities to do with a two-month-old baby?

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Wall Letters

I've been feeling sad because I didn't have the opportunity to decorate a nursery, since we still rent a one-bedroom apartment. A few weeks ago I was suddenly hit with the urge to do something special for Andrew's corner of our bedroom. So I decided to do the easiest project imaginable — decorate wooden wall letters to spell out Andrew's name.

You can buy these pre-made online, but this tends to be a very costly option, and it's such a simple thing to do yourself. There are many, many directions for this project on the Internet, but I'm going to post my own here anyway.


How to decorate wooden wall letters:

First, buy plain wooden letters. You can find these at craft stores or in the craft section of certain big box stores. The ones pictured here cost $2 each. Other supplies you'll need: colourful scrapbook paper, Mod Podge, a sponge brush. You might also want a small can of paint in a coordinating colour and a small brush to paint the sides and backs of the letters.



Start by tracing the letters onto the scrapbook paper and cut them out to fit precisely onto the front of the letters.

Next, paint the sides and backs of the letters, if you choose to do so. I decided to use a cream-coloured paint. It would have been easier had I primed the wood first, but instead I just slathered on two thick coats of paint and hoped for the best.

Once the paint is dry, use the sponge brush to apply Mod Podge to the front of the first letter. Press the scrapbook cutout onto the wood. It's best to do this step one letter at a time, as the Mod Podge dries quickly.



Finally, apply two or three coats of Mod Podge on top of the scrapbook paper to create a durable, shiny surface. I attached mine to the wall with Velcro.



This is so easy and the results are very satisfying.

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