Friday, June 22, 2012

Happy Summer!

Today is officially the last day of school! As we pack up for a family vacation and get ready to celebrate Hannah's great year in class 2B with a school wide BBQ, I thought I would share some wonderful articles that came my way this week.

Maybe you're heading off on a family vacation or celebrating St Jean Baptiste/Canada Day in town. Either way, take a little mommy time for yourself.

And just because I can :) here are some of my recent articles with my new local Montreal finds:
Can you tell I've been busy? That's why I am so looking forward to sitting in the sunshine, reading a book (Patron Saints of Liars is next up for book club) and enjoying some family time, unplugged.

Wishing you all the best for wonderful long weekends and summer sun. See you next in July with a full vacation roundup.

Happy Canada Day!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Summer Fun

School is out in just a few weeks. I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by.

And while I've watched Hannah blossom into a girly girl who only wants to sport dresses, hairbands and ponytails what I really can't believe is that Alex is 8.5 months old. Crawling, eating solids and getting himself into plenty of mischief this little boy has grown up way too fast.

I'm not sure if it's the second child syndrome or the mom working on mat leave syndrome or a combo of the two but boy, is he a big boy! 

While we are active in a playgroup and attend a weekly music class I feel like he has been slightly neglected in the activity department. In Hannah's first year we did mom and baby yoga, infant massage, mom and baby pilates, playgroups, a music class and a gym class. Hmm...as I type that out maybe I overdid it :)

I did want to enroll Alex in a class at Le Petit Gym but from my experience with Hannah learned to wait until he was crawling. And now that he is on the move I reconsidered it but then shelved the idea. For a few reasons: 1. Its a good 20 minute drive 2. The class times are not ideal 3. Its expensive

I feel slightly guilty but while trying to rationalize it in my mind remembered that I had enrolled the entire family in the Mummies List Music in the Park. So while I have already spent $100 on a summer's worth of music I might as well take advantage and hit the parks as often as I can to entertain both kids.

I'll definitely be trying out Blossom Studio Yoga in NDG with Hannah and bringing both kids to hear Jennifer Gasoi at Westmount park. And we'll see who gets to spend alone time with Alex and I, perhaps Terry Joe Banjo.

Last year Hannah and my very pregnant self enjoyed a summer of music and I'm sure this one will be more of the same!

 

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Everything is coming up Rosey

I'll use one word to summarize this week: Roseola.

High fevers, followed by a few days of whining and then pop, out came a bright red rash. Poor guy. And all along I thought the fever was due to teething. So I gave in and went to comfort and feed him during the night, just days after he had finally conquered a 7:30pm to 5:30am shift.

And now that the red rash is gone so are his wonderful sleeping habits. Last night, he was completely inconsolable so after 2 hours of crying we gave up on Ferber, turned off the lights and the monitor and just let him cry. I honestly don't know how long it lasted but when he was still asleep at 7:30am this morning I was panicked to make sure he was still breathing. Oh, the wonderful world of cry it out.

The email below was forwarded to me by Riley's mom. This one is great for a chuckle.

Sleep Training For Adults (From A Baby’s Point Of View)
OK, here’s my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 7 months. The first few months were great – I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened.
Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep through the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I’ve talked to other babies, and it seems like it’s pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 6 months. Here’s the thing: these Mommies don’t really need to sleep. It’s just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep–they just don’t need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle. It goes like this:
Night 1–cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it’s hard. It’s hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it’s for her own good.
Night 2–cry every 2 hours until you get fed.
Night 3–every hour.
Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don’t give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT’S HARD! But she really doesn’t need the sleep, she’s just resisting the change. If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it.
Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it. BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with. My sleep sack tickled my foot. I felt a wrinkle under the sheet. My mobile made a shadow on the wall. I burped, and it tasted like pears. I hadn’t eaten pears since lunch, what’s up with that? The cat said “meow”. I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL. Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room. Too hot, too cold, just right–doesn’t matter! Keep crying!!
It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies’ internal clocks.
Sometimes my Mommy will call for reinforcements by sending in Daddy. Don’t worry Daddies are not set up for not needing sleep the way Mommies are. They can only handle a few pats and shhing before they declare defeat and send in the Mommy.
Also, be wary of the sleep sheep with rain noises. I like to give Mommy false hope that listening to the rain puts me to sleep sometimes I pretend to close my eyes and be asleep and then wait until I know Mommy is settling back to sleep to spring a surprise cry attack. If she doesn’t get to me fast enough I follow up with my fake cough and gag noise that always has her running to the crib. At some point I am positive she will start to realize that she really doesn’t really need sleep.
P.S. Don’t let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out. Trust me.