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...

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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...

Nolan Pictures!

Nolan's first photo - with big sister Madeline in the delivery room.
(She wasn't in there; she came in after.)

Nolan & Mom

First Bath!  Mom & Dad tag teaming it - he wasn't too happy!

Love seeing them cuddle.

Awww...

Love this face.

Sunny day photo shoot in the laundry basket.

...and a profile shot.

Napping in the crib - he started sleeping nights in here at one week.

Just playing around with the camera.

Love this one.

Foot!

One week old.

"He's hugging me!"

Happiness

The boy no longer fits newborn clothes.  The one I managed to zip up this morning  would not cooperate this afternoon after his bath.  My one week old is in 3 month old clothes, and fills them out just fine.  In other Nolan news, when I undressed him for his bath I discovered that his cord had fallen off - it was rather like a loose tooth before, hanging on by a thread.

We are looking forward to the weekend & having Daddy home to enjoy him with me.  M has the day off school today, so got to start her weekend with him a bit early.

I am so thankful for the friends and family who have helped out, brought meals & muffins (what a perfect snack food!), and gave little (and big!) gifts.  Right down to the 475 people who checked out the "Introducing Nolan" post - we are so thankful to have all of you in our lives.

Not every post from here on in will be a Nolan post, but he sure is the majority of my world right now.  With friends bringing suppers all this week, I feel like it's a 'freebie' week - next week I will have to start to figure out what our new normal is.  We won't have a regular routine, but I still need to wrap my head around what I want my priorities to be, and how I will plan to accomplish those things and the things that need doing around the house.  Next week.  I'm looking forward to that thought process, and find it interesting that our book club read for this month is The Happiness Project; it's full of ideas that are worth some thought and possibly habits to implement in my life.

Wishing you the happiness and contentment I am experiencing right now.  I would love to hear what is bringing you joy today - leave a comment and let me know!

One Week Old!

The public health nurse just left - she said Nolan is back up to his birth weight!  10 lbs 6 oz exactly today.  He was a touch lighter when he was born; at the hospital they rounded down to 10 5; apparently the conversion from metric to imperial is not exact.  He`s healthy and doing really well eating, sleeping and pooping.  :)

I was awake at 5 am and was remembering a week ago waking up and knowing it was time - a whole week of amazing with this little boy.  It`s been a week of getting used to a new normal, for sure - and a normal that will keep changing and being unpredictable for a while.  That`s ok - we`re rolling with what he wants quite well, I think.

Mom and Dad stayed till Monday after supper - it was great to have them around, and especially for that transition to `regular`days with Sean at work and M at school.  The last 3 days on my own have been great, though.  He sleeps all morning, and I sleep as long as I can, then get in a bath and some breakfast.  He wakes around noon for a good few hours up.  Yesterday was fun with a bath, some floor time while I did some exercising, and a little photo shoot.  I do have lots of pictures, but haven`t found the time to put them on the computer yet.  I aim to get that done soon and have them up here to share, but sleep trumps most everything else, so I won`t promise when (even this post is taking me 3 tries at the computer!)  Saturday when the family is home might be a good bet, if I don`t get to it before.  Right now he`s laying awake and happy on the couch beside me.  We did exercises again, put on some laundry and read a story; it`s been another good day.  

We went on our first outing last night - left M home to do homework and went to Costco and the grocery store for a few things.  Nolan slept the whole time, so it was uneventful that way - I wore some clothes I haven`t fit into for a long time, got some fresh air after being in the house all week, and got in more walking than I have in a while, so it was good for me.

I`m feeling not too bad physically - giving birth is definitely a traumatic experience on a body, but there is hope in sight that I may recover.

One night was a little tough - didn't get enough sleep going into it, I guess.  The last couple have been good;  last night Nolan was only up once!  We went to bed before midnight, then he woke up at 2:30 and went back down at 5:30.  I woke next to Sean's alarm going off, then later to M setting the timer for piano, which was good, because I do like to go down and check on her and make sure she's set for school.  Nolan woke shortly after, enough to eat and wave at the bus to all M's friends, then go back to sleep.  I also went back to sleep, but had to get up around 10:30 - I've got a nasty headache in the back of my neck that makes staying in bed tough.  So I fit in my bath first thing while he's still asleep and now am eating my cheerios...  If today is similar to yesterday, he'll wake up around 1 or 2 for a few hours.

Later - he woke a little earlier than I thought, we had a visit from the nurse, he ate, and there was still some good time in the day, so we went out to visit at work!  Not bad for a first outing on our own.  Other than I loaded up the car and then realized I forgot to put my contacts...  And then when I reached into the back for my purse, to get my sunglasses, I elbowed the car seat pretty good...  Minor glitches.  :)


I think I leave it there for now and actually get this posted - watch for photos soon.  Thanks for reading!!

Introducing Nolan

After a relaxing and uneventful due date, the day after held lots of excitement.

Just after 5 am yesterday, January 19, my membranes ruptured and we collected ourselves to head back to the hospital.  M was woken up and told, and got herself off to school on her own a couple of hours later.  I hadn't noticed contractions while I was sleeping, but on the way to the hospital they were about 3 or 4 minutes apart, and felt like the real deal.  In assessment they found we were still only 3 cm, but sent us off to L&D anyway, expecting it to progress because of the strength of the contractions.  Progress they did, and at 9:29, Nolan Victor made his appearance and confirmed our ultrasound gender report of 'boy'!  I won't go into labour details; I'll just say that the epidural I had hoped for (Hello, numb? Yes please!) did not happen due to an emergency c-section requiring the attention of the anesthesiologist at the necessary time, so I went with just nitrous oxide.  Laughing gas.  Ha ha ha.

So 4 1/2 hours from when we woke up to when he arrived - it wasn't too fast; I was glad it didn't last any longer.  He is wonderful and amazing and has a nocturnal bent - sleeping lots in the day and being up lots at night - that hopefully will right itself in the next little while.  We were sent home from the hospital this afternoon, and everyone is taking it easy.  My parents are here for a few days (thanks for cooking supper and running M to youth tonight, Mom!), so we get to catch up on a little sleep.  The big adventure coming up tonight is the little guy's first bath.

All four grandparents have got to meet him, as well as a few close friends.  Madeline was pulled from school an hour after he was born and got to spend the day up at the hospital with us.  I'll leave you with a few photos, and you can expect the boy to take up permanent residency in my updates here.  Thanks all for your kind wishes and prayers; we are delighted with him and are all doing very well.

How do you 'due'?

Today is our due date - thought I'd give you an update on how the week is going.

I imagined Monday would be a nice relaxing day at home, tidying, baking, napping... But from 4 am to 7 am I sat up timing contractions...  Nothing major, but getting closer, so Sean stayed home from work and we got everything ready to go to the hospital if we needed to.  Things kind of petered out, then came and went until we finally went to the hospital Tuesday afternoon, just to see where things were at.

It was early labour; we were 3 sonometers, but there was no change after 4 hours, so home we went.  Today has been wonderfully relaxing - Sean went to work, and I cleaned, sewed, baked, had a friend over for coffee, went to a funeral, the library, got groceries, made supper...

That's where we're at.  We'll see what tomorrow brings!

On another note, what I was sewing were more magic bags.  My stash is down to zip & I have a request for more; figured I should get on that while I had an empty day or two.  Here are the covers I have in stock if anyone's interested, or needs one to get through this cold snap:

Nursery Pictures

As promised, here is a little tour of the baby's room. Sorry, no gender spoiler with the colors... 

Standing in the doorway, to the right is the crib, a used-for-one-child unit from in the family.  It's very nice & in great shape.  Beside it you'll see the first of many boxes of diapers... we went out and renewed our long lost Costco membership mainly just for those.

The color on the wall is a mushroom brown - the same one we used in the kitchen.

Looking the other way,  the 'buffet' dresser, painted a chocolate brown - the same color I used for the backs of the steps when we took off the carpet and did the hardwoods.  So both colors we already have in the house and know we liked.  The rocking chair is one that Madeline's grandpa Doug was rocked in as a baby by his mom, Great Grandma Olive.  The afghan on the chair was knitted by my Granny Van Raes.  There is a similar afghan in the crib, knitted by my Grandma Schneider.  Nice to have touches from all of them in this room.

In the corner are the second base for the car seat; one is in my Escape already, and the car seat itself is downstairs with the hospital bag, ready to go.  Beside it is a bath tub and a Snugli.  On this side of the dresser is a diaper genie - one of the few 'must-purchase-before-baby-comes-home' items.

Looking from the window, you can see the closet organizer we got - should help with keeping all the stuff in order.  The green matches the green of the crib sheet set that it's made up with - my favorite set from when M was crib-small.

And the final corner has the 'hutch' bookcase, also painted chocolate brown, and stocked with the few kids books that I saved for this possibility.  The buffet and hutch set I believe was in my Granny's house, and then became my mom & dad's when they got married.  It was painted a lovely late 60's green and stayed that way until just a couple of weeks ago.  It has been in M's room as a dresser and bookcase for years, but with the bookcase on top of the dresser; she had a desk on the other wall.

So there you have it - the grand tour.  The room has a decent blind, but needs curtains.  It also needs some decals or artwork on the walls - it's looking pretty plain now.  Plain but beautiful, and full of potential.  Can't wait till the little one gets here and it becomes a room that belongs to someone with a name and personality.  Any day now.

Week 39 Bellies

Just wanted to post an up to the minute photo for you.  Week 39!  According to our ultrasound, our due date is January 12 - that's tomorrow.  So, any time!  This week, next week... who knows.  Baby seems happy where it is for now; I will for sure keep you posted here.

Sean and Madeline wanted to get in on the action, too.  Beautiful, aren't they??

2012 Goals or Resolutions?

Do you have any new year traditions or routines as far as making plans or goals for the year?

In past I have chosen a word for the year.  I have over the years set goals for the different areas of life (physical, mental, educational, professional, social, etc), but not usually as a new year's exercise.

I came across a list of questions to help you make some goals that I thought I'd share.  She uses the categories of Personal Growth, Physical Health, Marriage & Family Life, Goals for Your Children, Money Matters, and Relationships Outside the Home.  There are a lot of good questions to help direct you to what you can plan to do to make this a great year.

I have not thought through any goals myself... and I don't know if I will.  It might not hurt, though, since my life will be very different this year.  The one goal I have planned for?  To lose 40 lbs.  :)

Photos of the Basement

We had a great Sunday relaxing at home yesterday.  We played dice on the comfy clean new carpet in front of the fireplace...  Nice to break in the basement and have some fun down there.  They even had a good wrestle session.

My new space shares the end with the drums.  Everything is put away (except for a few things on the other side of the basement); it's nice to be able to use it instead of organize it now.

And the view with the fireplace. 

And here's a shot of the new piano, and M doing her daily practicing.  Not as nice looking as a real, large, wooden instrument, but it sounds way better, fits better, and we're pleased with it.  Now we have to find art or something to fill the big wall space above it.

Realized that I didn't have a current belly shot on here, so here you go.  This was taken Dec. 23 - just over 36 weeks.  I'm almost at 39 now, and baby feels like a full grown baby in there.  I'm into the last week of work & everything is coming together there and at home.  Just a few things to pick up and we're set.

Coming soon... nursery photos!