Happy Father's Day!

I should have wrote this yesterday, but I had a super long nap instead!
I was blessed with a terrific father. Joel and I were lucky that we were the first priority of both our parents. As an adult I have come to realize how much my parents gave and gave up so that we could follow our dreams. Their love, support, and encouragement still plays a huge role in my life. Having great parents will hopefully help me be the best parent I can be!

This year I am grateful for the new dad in my life. As we have become parents I have realized how amazing Jay is. As we welcomed Griffin into the world in not ideal circumstances Jay was my rock. I am sure he was scared and worried too, but he kept me as calm as possible. He did everything he could for Griffin, and made sure he was well looked after when he was born. He supported me in my desire to breastfeed, but while bottles were in the picture he did many middle of the night feedings (I miss that). Jay clearly loves Griffin and does everything he can for him. He dreams of coaching soccer and curling, but in the meantime spends time cuddling and loving on Little Bear. He has been busy these last two months, starting a new job, and still doing a big part of his old job, but he has made sure to spend as much time as possible with us. In his new job he has three weeks of additional time to take this year and has taken some of it already in order to give me a break and spend time with Griffin. He sure has become a lot more confident with newborns! I look forward to watching him as a dad for years to come!





Can't you see the love!

Extra Time in My Day

This week I have been celebrating success! With this specific success comes extra time in my day, and freedom!

Griffin has not liked to nurse since day one. There seems to be five factors in a baby refusing to nurse, and he was subjected to 4 of them, the lactation consultant wasn't surprised by his refusal. He would scream and scream when I tried to nurse him. We left the hospital with a plan to finger feed and keep trying to nurse. Finger feeding lasted three weeks, until he hit a growth spurt and we just couldn't do it. I kept pumping so that he could get the good stuff, but we did have to supplement with formula. The bottles came out and I kept trying to nurse. They told me it might take 6 to 8 weeks for him to latch on.

This week I laid the gauntlet down, this was going to happen! On Monday he screamed and screamed each time I tried, but each time he figured out food was avialable and nursed. I figured I could deal with the screaming, I wasn't sure what Jay would think, but he wasn't home :). Tuesday less screaming and no bottles at all! By Wednesday he had this thing figured out. Seriously the switched turned on and I now have a nursing baby! He knows exactly what to do and does it happily!

I have felt like throwing myself a party because of this development! I feel like I have won this battle, at least for now. He is happy and content, and I am thrilled that I am not attached to my pump six times a day. I can go out and if he is hungry, I can feed him. Freedom and time, great rewards!

Six Weeks!

Time has flown by but I can’t imagine my life without my Little Bear. He has me wrapped around his little finger, and has barely left my sight in 6 weeks. He sure has grown and changed in these 6 weeks, literally! I weighed him last weeks, and although he was dressed, he weighed 11 lbs 13 oz., that is three pounds more than last month!! Of course he is growing in other ways too, he is much more alert and interactive. We can get smiles from him, and he loves to “kick and flail”, he coo’s, he is getting into a routine that is somewhat predictable, and his neck muscles are getting much stronger. His biggest goal lately is to get is thumb in his mouth. The other day we were sleeping together in the rocking chair, when I woke up he was sucking away on his thumb, ever since he has kept trying, without luck. He just can’t figure out he needs to extend his thumb, his whole fist ends up in his mouth instead.

Our biggest struggle since coming home has been his eating, clearly he is getting enough, but not the way I want him too. Nursing is not his favourite activity. We finger fed for three weeks, but he was hungry and couldn’t get enough fast enough, so we gave in and began to use a bottle. I haven’t given up, in fact just yesterday he only nursed, no bottle, and today so far it has been the same. Of course now I wonder if he is getting enough... I like to know he is doing well, I felt the same when he came off the monitors in the NICU. What I have realized is how much extra time I have if I don’t have to pump, I guess I lose a step, and wow, right now he is sleeping and I am not pumping, but have eaten breakfast! I won’t be nursing in any place other than my living room for a while yert. If you didn’t know me you would think I am murdering my baby as I work to get him to latch, there is a lot of screaming, in a minute or two he realizes that food is available and eats and eats... silly boy!

We spent a weekend at my parents two weeks ago. He did pretty good away from home, but boy was he tired when we got back on Sunday afternoon. He did meet his Great Grandparents (Jay’s grandpa, and my grandma), and had his first cousin sleepover (Mika slept at my parents one night). He is now battling his first cold, his stuffy nose makes me sad, but he is not really complaining too much, he is sleeping more and like to get extra cuddles. He is enjoying being the youngest in the family but we are all waiting for the arrival of my neice or nehew. Ashley is due any time now, and Joel gets home tonight. I am looking forward to one more family memeber!

I have really loved this stage of mommyhood more than I thought I would. I already dread going back to work, I can’t imagine not spending all day with him!




Griffin and his Great-Grandma