Happy St. Patty's Day & March Madness

What an exciting day. First the sun is shining and it's warm out, it's St. Patty's Day, it's kick off for March Madness, and on top of that my friend had her baby girl today (yay new bff for Maddy)! I'm posting a little late today because I spent HOURS outside in the sunshine strollering around my hometown with my mom and latte in hand. I LOVE this weather...mother nature keep it up.



Here are my brackets. Only 5/8 so far :( however Mark is only 6/8 so there is still hope I will win. And what is this prize up for grabs? A full weekend of sleeping in...yes a Saturday sleep in followed by a Sunday sleep in. Golden. I hope the luck of the Irish is on my side!

Time change...

...is kicking my butt.
For some reason Maddy thinks the time change went forward at night and backward in the morning. She is waking up at 5:30am (old time 4:30) but not going to bed until 7:30pm (8:30 old time). How did this happen...? We were in such a good 12 hour routine for soooo long...

Is there such thing as a 10 month growth spurt?

Kids Videos

Little M will be 10 months tomorrow. I can't believe it! Each day is a new adventure with a crawling, reaching, screaming munchkin. Did I mention screaming? Yes, it is her new fave thing to do. Screaming anywhere, anytime, all the time. She loves the sound of her own voice. I want to support this new phase but I'm starting to lose my mind. I think it's time to introduce 30 min educational video time each day. So far Maddy really likes Sesame Street you tube clips. (Correction, apparently she doesn't like Cookie Monster).



 Do you have any fun video reco's for us?

New Stroller

Well, I have made my decision. I'm joining the other moms in Alderwood and getting an Uppababy Vista. Little M and I are leaving to pick it up in 10 minutes...yay! We decided to go with the Jake (black) model. I think we'll look pretty cool walking the neighbourhood with Hunter in his Carlin (green) and baby G in her Denny (red).

We found a sale at The Baby's Room and for the month of March they are $100 off. Kinda sucks that in February they were $200 off, but at least I'm getting some what of a sale. Lesson learned: it's worth hunting for stroller sales!

My Quinny+Bassinet combo is still avail if anyone is interested. I'll sell to a blog follower for $375 (retail value $780). I have 2 potential kijiji buyers so act fast!

Sleeping in weird ways & Breastfeeding Survey

Since Madelyn has started crawling I have been trying to tackle something from my baby proofing list each day. Last week I tried to remove the crib bumper pad since it's an obvious safety hazard. Upon doing so baby M refused to go down for a nap. She got every limb stuck through the slats and was waaaay to intrigued at seeing everything in her room from her bed. It just wasn't working. Back in when the bumper pads, and a big TO DO note went to daddy to lower the crib so she can't climb out. 

There was a lot of crying today when I put her down for her 9am morning nap. All of a sudden the crying stopped so I took a peak on the video monitor to see what was going on up there. This is what I saw:  

It's a bit hard to tell by the fuzzy blackberry video screen shot, but little M is sleeping sitting up, crouched over her favorite hand knit blanket from Great Auntie Greta. She stayed like this for 70 minutes!

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In other news, I am volunteering some time to help my favorite lactation consultant, Jean, out with a breastfeeding survey. Jean will be presenting a talk at an international conference for lactation consultants in San Diego in July. The title of this presentation is "Breastfeeding and Sex (but not at the same time)!". Her goal in researching this topic is to open dialogue concerning issues related to sexual health for breastfeeding women and their partners. The hormones produced during lactation are the same ones present during sexual intercourse and responses of desire. Very often, feelings of conflict and discomfort during the breastfeeding experience can impact a woman’s sexual activity. The goal is to raise awareness that THIS IS NORMAL. It is a situation not often discussed but one that many couples can relate to.

If you are a breastfeeding mother (or have breastfed in the past 2 years) I am hoping you can help us out with this survey. It should take about 20 minutes. All answers will be viewed collectively with other survey responses and will be anonymous. Click here to access the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2011_breastfeeding_survey

Thank you for your help!

Madelyn's Nursery

My creative inspiration posted pics of her little girls nursery - you have to check them out here.  What an amazing room. I want to shrink to kid-size, fly down to her place, and curl up in P's crib for an afternoon nap.

We didn't know Madelyn was going to be a girl, so I played it safe with Behr Gardenia Green. I painted the colour half way up the wall, topping it with a hand painted mural of birds, frogs and trees. I stuck to white furniture to help the room feel larger and painted the slanted wall white to disguise the dropped ceiling.

PBK Kendall Crib in white

Ikea Ektorp JennyLund Armchair with white slipcover

PBK Brooke Bedding

PBK Mobile

Must haves: MiYim organic Lullabye Crib Chime Bird & Sleep Sheep
 (both purchased at Chapters Indigo)

Ikea Koppang 3 drawer chest with hardware from Home Depot



Original Painting from SA, 2 month feet impression, Anthropologie Pinwale Alphabet

Change Table from BabiesRUs (Discontinued, similar ones available at Ikea)

Must Have: Ikea Spoka Night Light

Ikea Expedit small shelving unit

Ikea Fabler Groda Stuffed Animal Storage

Ikea Barnslig Ringdans Area Rug

 

Finger foods, Crawling, Stroller Hunting and Washing Dishes

Where have I been? Well, let's see...

First of all, we've had a bit of a food strike this week. Madelyn has discovered how fun it is to feed herself. We started with Lila's mom's suggestion of Organic Brown Rice puffs. 4 things to say about them:

• they're great for helping to develop your baby's pincer grasp
• they're healthy/gluten free
• they end up everywhere in your house
• dogs (even Retreivers) won't eat them (darn!)

Now that we've left most purees behind (fruit is still a hit), I am preparing fresh food daily. Meals now consist of mini cubes of steamed veggies and fruit like apples. Only 1/4 ends up in her mouth and the rest plastered to her highchair, clothes, my floor, my clothes, mason's hair...everywhere. We are still pretty much sticking to our 9-12 months food guide, but we've added some other things for flavor (mango, onion, garlic and ginger). Occassionally she will still eat her oatmeal with halved blueberries in the morning, those are good days.

Another thing eating up my time this week is spontaneous baby proofing. I was procrastinating things from my baby proofing list  until little M decided to start crawling forward! Now everything up to 3 feet has to be fully baby proof. Thank you husband for installing all of the baby gates before this happened. If you are interested...

I have also spent way too much time this week scanning websites for deals on a new stroller. I have been using a Quinny Buzz 3 since Madelyn was born. It was great for when she was in her infant car seat, since it would easily snap onto the wheels. But, now that little M is a bit bigger I need something a little sturdier, with a larger basket and that can handle more weight. I am in love with my friend Mel's Uppababy Vista and am thinking of getting the Lindsey model. Any thoughts?

If anyone wants my Quinny+Bassinet I'll sell to a blog follower for $375 (retail value $780).

Lastly, our dishwasher broke 3 weeks ago and the warranty part still isn't available. Sigh. I really wish there was a dish washing fairy...