Month: June 2016

Wednesday was a big day for us.  But I got to start it out good with a walk around the block with Sierra.  As always, she seems pretty impressed with the adventure.

I met a gentleman called Wayne during my walk around and chatted to him about minimum wage and how he doesn’t make much while cutting lawns around the area.  I did feel bad that when he asked if I had any spare change, I forgot I had some in the stroller.  I asked him if getting change these days was harder since a lot of people use debit/credit a lot more and he said it was.

A surprise visit dropped by in the form of Mike and Max!  Mike had the day off so Melanie could go to the spa (Boyfriend of the year award right there!).  They dropped by with some excellent quinoa salad and it was a beautiful day so we had some burgers.  Max is a pretty amazing glimpse into my own future.  I also love how his hair somehow always forms into a Mohawk.

 

Here is Max chatting me up since he knows he might want to bring Sierra out on a date in about 15 years.  

For being such a gentleman, I rewarded him with a little treat!

Mike and Max couldn’t stay too long as we had a third Doctor visit to head to!  It’s really interesting how we had plenty of questions during the first visit, fewer questions the second time and this time around there were only a few.  Clearly we are getting the hang of this thing!  That’s probably an indication that everything we know will be thrown out the window by next week!

My favourite part of the week was when the doctor said that a baby puts on around 20-25 grams each day on average and Sierra was putting on an average of 39 grams!  I have now dubbed her Miss Piggy!  I’m really excited that she is putting on a lot of weight.  We can definitely tell as she has some chubby cheeks and her legs don’t look like chicken wings.

While at the doctor, we heard a story about another baby who had come into the office and they weren’t putting much weight on and the doctor was concerned but the father just brushed it off saying that they weren’t concerned.  I have a hard time understanding why people would take time out of their day to visit a medical professional who provides advice, and then proceeds to dismiss it like they don’t know what they are talking about.  What a waste of time on their part, and more importantly, what are you thinking?

Prognosis: Great!

Vero having a great time with Sierra.

The playmat is way more fun with Mom!

To end off the night, Sierra decided to make a long distance call to Hearst and chat it up with Arrière grand-mère Cantin.  They were comparing notes of life in general.

 

Sierra is trying to do the Vulcan salute.

Hey, are these photos sometimes appearing upside down for you all?  I just noticed that happening on my computer but not on my iPad.

Sierra attempting to play some Poulenc.

Sierra has some very long fingers which supposedly her mother had as well when she was a baby.  With long fingers, what better use for them than to pick your nose play piano with!

I tried calming her down with some soothing sounds of a rock organ and I think I was either onto a new composition or I’m totally just copying a Deep Purple song.  I will have to explore that tune a little more over the next few days.  It was nice to play around with the piano a bit since I hadn’t touched it in a few months since I stopped lessons.

I have to say that it’s a little difficult to play the piano with a squirming  human in my lap though!  But I think Sierra enjoyed it.

I’m not too sure that Piano Teacher Kelly would approve of this new style of playing!

We were very fortunate to have a lot of visitors this past weekend…so many that we even had to cancel on a few others!  We’ve realized that we have no idea how much sleep we will get in a night, so we should watch how many events we book in a day!

Friday night, Krista dropped by along with the lady killer: Ethan!

Pro Mom right there.

It was very nice to see them both.  Ethan is a curious creature and enjoyed traipsing around the yard checking out the ants entering the house and scoping out the pine cone collection.  Fast Fact: Did you know that Vero calls Sierra ‘cocotte’ and in French that means ‘pine cone’?  Strange!  It was also great to hear that the canteen at work is doing well as Krista and I took it over a few weeks ago.

The next morning, Holly, Alex and the family showed up after their swimming lessons.  I really like hanging out with their kids as they are fun to horse around with.  I would also like to officially say that I have found my new favourite soup…Holly’s bean soup!  It’s like I’m actually eating a piece of Mexico!  YUM!

Alex giving me tips on how to calm a baby.

Grace playing with Fredo the monkey.  She quite adored that thing until she broke down crying in the next minute.  I have been informed it is a case of the ‘Terrible Two’s’.

Here is the amazing bean soup that Holly made for us!  She just happened to photobomb the picture I was taking of the soup.

It’s really neat to have kids visit us because we get a glimpse of what our future holds for us.  It’s also funny to see how some kids like hanging around with the baby, whereas others couldn’t be bothered and just want to find some toys around the house to play with.  I’m sure I was like that when I was younger.

On Sunday, the Buhr/Haig clan came over in the afternoon.  Ryley was telling me that he saw the new Popstar movie and it was a hit.  I’m excited to see it so I will keep my eyes open for when it comes out of the theatre.  I don’t generally watch movies in the theatre as I prefer to sit in the basement with a beer instead!  I have a home theatre system for a reason.

Future Babysitter’s Club member sitting right here with Sierra!

Jenna learns from the best example of a Mom I know!

I was showing Jenna the power of the excellent moustache app I acquired.

This is basically how I end up after every visit…taking a nap!

It’s been two weeks since you looked at me, cocked your head to the side and said “I’m hungry”.

Sierra has been with us for two weeks now.  I can remember two weeks ago quite vividly as we went into the Montfort hospital where Vero didn’t think she was having contractions per say, but whatever she was having were three minutes apart!  Luckily we headed in there otherwise I would have become Dr. Palmer at the house.

In the past few days we are noticing some chubby cheeks forming on this six pound frame of awesomeness.  It’s neat to see little differences happening over time.

She does seem to have a little more attention span between feedings now which makes life with her a little more interesting.  I think she really likes my bright red McGill sweatshirt as her eyes got really big when I put that on.  We’re also putting her on her stomach whenever she can and she seems to have a pretty strong neck so far.

Other than that, there’s not a lot to report in about.  It’s a little rough at times when she enters a cluster feed which is basically one feeding, then ten minutes later, another feeding, then ten minutes later, another feeding.  Vero is finding it very draining and there’s not much I can do other than offer some lactation balls from the freezer or fill up her water.  We are also starting to change her diaper AFTER her feeding instead of before so we will see if there are any negative repercussions from that.

I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse this afternoon.  Every time I watch this movie I think of Shawn as he and I were big fans of the film.

I have to say that I’m really not looking forward to going back to work in a week’s time.  Does Sierra change that much in a two week time period?  Not really.  Do I feel like I’m going to be missing out on her life by going back to work.  Heck yeah.  But that’s what life is, unless I check those Lotto Max numbers and they tell me otherwise!

We don’t venture outside of the house too much…the past few days consist of Vero and Sierra waking up quite late because they had a hard night.  Then before you know it, bam!  The afternoon is over and done with.  It’s hilarious how I was mapping out what I could do when Sierra was sleeping….stain the deck, do some chores, etc.  But here I am just trying to conserve some energy for whenever I may need it.

She is pretty pensive while contemplating either letting one rip or letting out a scream.

She is a pretty good baby so far though other than the cluster feeding.  I can’t really fault her for being hungry!  But we haven’t seen any signs of colic or anything like that.  She seems to be in good spirits after feedings and seems to be putting on weight.  That’s all we can ask for!

 

For historical reference, a lot of people are saying they see a lot of her Dad in her, especially a cowlick above her right eyebrow.  Luckily, she will most likely have long hair for most of her life so maybe that will work in her favour, unlike her father’s cowlick!  I’m hoping some of her mother starts showing up because Vero is the most beautiful person I’ve met, so it would be great to see that happen again and not just have a female version of me roaming Canada.

I honestly can’t say I see much resemblance yet, but I have a hard time seeing those kind of things in newborns.  I remember seeing a lot of me in Abigail when she was a few months old.

Signing off for the night!  Perhaps I’ll finish watching The Godfather while my girls sleep.

 

Mike the baby whisperer dropped by to pick up some stuff and managed to lull my baby to sleep.  Hallelujah!

He also dropped off this beer from the new Tuque de Broue brewery that opened in Embrun.  With Vero and the baby asleep, it’s time to crack this open and give it a try!

 

 

We made it to the doctor’s office in record time and I’m glad to report that Sierra’s weight looks quite good as she gained 150 grams in the past week!  That’s always reassuring to hear considering Vero is working really hard at keeping the kid fed.

They did confirm a few things for us though.  It is NOT normal for a kid to be on the breast for more than an hour at a time!  So it’s time to shake things up and try and get her only on a breast for 30 minutes or less (for the time being).  Heck, the nurse was saying that for women with a second kid, it can sometimes take only 3 minutes to fill up the baby from the breast!  That’s crazy talk.  This led to an interesting evening where it seemed like Sierra would feed for 20 minutes, then want to feed again shortly after, then feed again shortly after and then conk out for 3 hours.  The same thing happened around midnight which was rough and in the wee hours of the morning.  It’s currently 11:30 and both her and Vero are still sleeping while I’m updating this blog.  At least Vero will hopefully feel like she has a little more freedom if she can cut down the feeding time!

 

Other than that, the doctor gave her a clean bill of health and we will drop by there next week for another check-in.  I’m glad that they scheduled it for next week as that will be my final week before heading back to work.  I have to say I’m not really looking forward to going back to work at this point, even though my days primarily consist of changing diapers and making sure Vero has everything she needs.  But it’s great to see the baby squirm around and I’m always wondering if she will discover something new that day.

Mom and Dad left this morning to head back up to Kapuskasing.  It was great having them here as they are seasoned veterans in taking care of children.  They have given us the confidence needed to continue on with this adventure!  They are planning to swing back around here in a few weeks time when I head back to work.  I will have tripled the amount of chores to do by the time they get back!  Thanks to the both of you for helping out for the past week.

Sierra conked out on top of Dad.

When Dad was off packing the car, she just conked out on Mom!  Why can’t she sleep like that at night?  🙂

Sierra got a few more visitors this week.  I have to say that it’s hard to be proactive and invite people over so we take no offence if you contact us and suggest that you drop by to see the baby.

Benoit and Cinthia dropped by for a quick visit the other night and brought what can only be described as the greatest hat known to man…a knit Yoda hat!  I am getting Sierra to wear that everywhere, including when she takes a bath!

We also had Chantal and Jona drop by for a visit.  Having Jona run around the house made me realize what I’m in for in a couple of years time!  He’s a great kid to play around with.  Chantal has also claimed the title of ‘baby whisperer’ as she has a knack with kids and the baby seemed to calm right down each time she held her!

The baby whisperer in action.

Jona playing quite nicely with Sierra.

Vero showing Jona her old toys.

A few months back, Vero told me that she would appreciate some cable TV in the house so she could have it on in the background when taking care of the baby.  This was an interesting suggestion considering we haven’t had cable TV in years and resort to Netflix and other methods.

I did some research on antennas and over-the-air signals.  Mike had a setup similar to this a few years back so there must have been something to it.

I bought an $8 directional antenna which is reminiscent of the old rabbit ears that were used years ago.  I played for a day to find a tower and a signal with two channels on it.  It was pretty amazing when I ended up finding two channels in high definition.  IMAGINE THAT.

The only issue is that every time you would breathe in the same room as this antenna, it would move and I would have to readjust.  So I decided to buy an omnidirectional Antenna which would eliminate the need for any direction.

Off to Factory Direct we went.  As you can see, Sierra was excited to enter the Dollar store to look for chalk.

 

I was eyeing up a giant $100 antenna but the guy at the store said he has never heard complaints about this Kross omnidirectional antenna which comes with an amplifier for $40.  Dad and I decided to give it a try.

We got home, went up into the garage attic, ran a cable down to the TV in the living room and lo and behold, we had 12 glorious high definition channels appearing on the TV.  All for free!  No need to pay for a cable bill!  As Mom put it, it was the easiest job Dad and I ever got into because we usually end up spending triple the amount of time working on a project.  We even ended up running a cable down to the TV downstairs in case visitors want to watch something down there as well.

I can definitely say I am impressed with this little device for $40 and highly recommend it to people who want to cut their cable bill back, but at the same time, want a few channels that they can have on to watch the news.  Off the top of my head, we get CityTV, TVOntario, CBC, CHRC and a bunch of French channels as well.