Sunday, February 26, 2012

Five for Friday

*Yes, I realize that it's not Friday - it's taken me this long to get my photos on the computer... 

1. Nolan
* Cluster Feeding.  So much rides on your expectations.  Wednesday night was rough, knowing Nolan's fussiness couldn't be hunger, since he had just ate... until Sean did a little research.  Then it was easier.  Last night, I was prepared for a repeat and was fine with it, and while he did eat fairly often, it was nothing like the night before, and the in between times were not fussy.  So nice.  So I will remind myself that I should expect to not know what each day will hold...
* Five Weeks.  Nolan was 5 weeks old yesterday - he weighs 13 pounds and half an ounce, and is 24 inches long.  I picked up a new sleeper for him - size 6 months.  He's getting too big for his 3 month clothes.
* Setting Up.  Nolan got a 3 part exersaucer as a gift - we set up the first part, which is a play mat with an arc over top with attention grabbing stuff.  We got a mobile for his crib and Sean set that up, too.  It will be interesting to see what Nolan starts to pay attention to.





2. Madeline Cooks.  M went to her grandpa's yesterday for a few hours, and cooked him supper.  It's nice that she has somewhere to experiment with meals, and someone who will happily eat her experiments.

3. Compatibility Fail.  The other night I pulled all my different scrapbooking page protectors out of their packaging and put them in an album to make it easier to flip through and find what I want.  That's when I found that my We R Memory Keepers pages (the ones that work with the Simple Stories line of paper) are too low for my American Crafts album.  I guess I can just re-punch the holes a little lower so they sit higher, but I'm kind of annoyed.  I'll store it flat for now.  I'm looking forward to the day when I can spend time in my new space being creative instead of just looking forward to that day...

4.  New Hair.



5. Weekends.  I have to admit, I look forward to weekends more now than when I was working.  For one, I like that Sean is home to enjoy Nolan instead of coming home at fussy time.  Having someone around also makes it easier to get some me time.  We went to Winnipeg to visit family last weekend; I may add photos if I get 5 minutes to spare...

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Adding Something for Lent

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent in the church calendar.  The season of Lent is the time of preparation for Easter; traditionally, something is given up for Lent to symbolize what Jesus gave up by coming to Earth.  We go without, and then Easter, as well as celebrating the resurrection, we celebrate that Christ is back to his rightful place, and that we no longer have to go without - without a way to be reconciled to our Creator, without a way of forgiveness for our sins, and without the thing we have given up, which is a symbol of those other more important things.  Giving something up is really about making us think.

I've mentioned that I have been thinking about making new goals and routines in my life; I've also wondered how to add Scripture into M's life, since our old routine of me reading to her at breakfast no longer works out so well.  So I challenged her to join me, for Lent, in reading our Bibles before anything else in our day.  It suits the purpose of being intentional about doing something for Lent (I suppose we are giving up reading what we want when we want, to give Scripture priority in our lives), it suits my purpose of building new routines, and it suits the purpose of adding Scripture into M's daily habits.

She is a bookworm, and has been bringing her book to the table for her sometimes solitary breakfast, because she always has to have something handy to read.  She seemed open to the idea, so yesterday we looked at the list of what she had read (or heard), and picked one that wasn't on there yet.  She is going to read through Acts - after reading chapter one, she turned the page, found chapter 2 started right at the top, and said, "It's done already!"  This morning she had already had breakfast when I came down, and she met me with, "I read chapter 2!"

I read a quote by a friend (tweeted by another friend) that said, "Fasting is about creating space but also about what you do with that space." (Joel Russell-Maclean)  Lent is a season with an end in sight, but it is my hope that after 6 weeks of starting her day with Scripture, it will be a habit she will keep.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

A Growing Boy Needs Food!

Are you familiar with the concept of 'cluster feeding'?  Some things I've read say that a baby should be on a three hour schedule - eating, awake time, then nap.  (Secrets of the Baby Whisperer says it's EASY - Eat, Active, Sleep, You).  I agree that idea makes sense, and even though Nolan will often fall asleep while nursing, sitting him up to burp and changing him will usually keep him awake and happy for a while - he doesn't need to stay sleeping.  (At night, though, I will usually just put him right back down; I don't know that he even really wakes up at all.)  The three hour thing, though - that fits throughout the night and day for the most part, but the evenings around here... not so much.  And tonight was one for the books - Nolan was so fussy he sent Sean off to google cluster feeding!  Cluster feeding is when the eat more often for a time, like every hour instead of every three.  You can't raise any baby exactly by the book, but it sure is helpful to be able to have things explained - I'd likely have gone crazy trying to figure out what was wrong with the kid, knowing 'he can't be hungry - I just fed him!'  No, nothing wrong with him, and yes, he is just hungry again.  Even though yes, he just ate.  Sometimes it can seem like they eat non stop from 5 till 10... oh, great.  I hope the next two months aren't all like this.  It won't be too bad when it's expected, though.

There, that's a snapshot into my life at the moment.  Nolan is great, even when he is saying he wants more food - when he does get hungry, he wants it NOW.  I should take him to get weighed soon - according to our scale (me, then me with him), he's 13 lbs.  I measured his length tonight and he's 24 inches.  (Just like one of my nephews when he was born!!!)  Long guy - we can almost see him growing.  At 3 weeks he was into 3 month clothes; at 5 weeks now we have to move him up to the next size again!  Guess I'll be shopping for sleepers tomorrow.

We went to Winnipeg this past weekend, and he got to meet the rest of the family.  It was good to see everyone, as usual.  I think the funniest part was seeing Zach haul out his book and crawl up on Sean's lap to read it, over and over.

Madeline has this week off school, so we get another couple of days with her home with us.  That's a treat.  I don't think we have anything we have to go out for tomorrow, so maybe I'll get some pictures up...  Thanks for checking in with us.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Baby Steps

Wish us luck!  We're off on a 6 hour car ride this afternoon, and hoping Nolan does well.  Otherwise, it could be a whole lot longer than that. 

He's been awake or falling asleep most of this morning, so I've been packing in baby steps, pulling things out in whatever room we happen to be walking in - now I've finally got him down, so I need to go finish all those started piles and get packed!

I am very excited to introduce him to the rest of my family...

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

We are loved. Wow.

All the goodies from Sunday's shower!

Holly made pages for the guest book.
I have some wonderful friends.  They put a lot of effort into planning a great baby shower for us, and to celebrate Nolan.  We have a great church family, too, and there were maybe 60 girls & ladies out for the party.   After a few nice words to get things rolling, it was mostly just a visit-fest and chocolate-fest - the girls went all out making chocolate treats for the food table.

Here are a few shots from our week:




The soother!! A new thing, and not guaranteed to work yet...

He held his head up like this for so long!  Strong boy.

Daddy's new trick - squirting water into his mouth...

... and Nolan just drinks it.


Friday, February 10, 2012

Three Weeks Old!




 Three weeks into our new life - I am so full of love for this boy, so grateful he's an easy baby, and so glad that I get to spend my days, evenings (even when they are fussy!) and nights with him.

Friday, February 03, 2012

Customer Service Fail

Or -

You'd Better Read the Fine Print

Or -

How Bennett Dunlop Ford Just Lost Customers

Two years ago, we bought my 2007 Ford Escape from Bennett.  It was newer and slightly more $ than we had thought we'd spend, but because we were the second owners, and the original owner had bought it there and then traded it in, it had a good warranty with them.  Lifetime Powertrain Warranty.  So this week, when the transmission failed, we were thankful we had that, and took it in for a new tranny.  Under warranty.

Sean called this morning to say they had declined the warranty.  Apparently me going for an oil change every time they sent a reminder wasn't good enough - they gave me dates to come in, but the FINE PRINT on the warranty says it needed to be done every certain # of kms.  So what was the point in their reminders if they did not keep the conditions of the warranty??

They have lost our business and our respect.  We are leaving it there for the work to be done only because I have a friend who works there and has given us a friends and family discount, making a tranny replacement slightly cheaper than where we were going to tow it away to.

So long, Bennett.  We thought you were great, but now we know better.

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Two Weeks Old!

Man, how time flies - I can't believe that Nolan has been here for two weeks already.  He's fitting into the family well - in the last few days he's gone to M's swimming lessons (she passed level 9), her soccer game, her basketball game, and to Dad's work.




We went to the doctor for his first visit today - he's just over 12 pounds now; above the 99.9the percentile for height and between the 97 & 99th percentile for weight.  We grow 'em big in the Schneider family.

One thing the doctor said was that he shouldn't need to eat as often as he does, and that if he's hungry more often than every 3 hours or so, to give him water.  So we tried to give him water in a bottle tonight, and he actually took some.  Funny to watch him try something new like that.

I am feeling pretty good, except that I have bronchitis... I guess labour was hard on my lungs!  I've been coughing ever since we got home from the hospital.  Doc prescribed some stuff, so I'm looking forward to kicking this pretty quick now.  I weighed myself this morning and was thrilled to find that in the past two weeks I've lost 30 pounds!  Only 13 more to go to get back to what I was before.

A fun wrinkle in life this week is that my Escape needs a new tranny.  It's in the shop and we won't get it back till next week sometime.  it was nice to be able to leave Nolan home sleeping while I drove Sean to work this morning - M was comfortable keeping an ear out for him while she got ready for school.

And some photos from today - the boy at two weeks old:




First date at Roca House - Camille (the owner) held him a while  and treated us to the yummy cupcakes to go with our coffees.

And here is me embracing the camera.  He only looks extra huge here because it's a close shot...