Misadventures with Bynny

First of all to start the weekend off I had a stupid head cold, so I'm tired and all stuffed up. By late Friday afternoon I was in real need of a nap but Robyn just simply would not stay asleep for more than 10 minutes at a time. Luckily it was Friday, our standard sleepover night at Mina and Dave's, perhaps I would even get to take a long bath in their luxurious soaker tub. I packed up our swimsuits for our lessons Saturday morning, a basket of dirty laundry and our over night bag and off we went for what I was expecting would be a pleasantly uneventful evening.

As Mina and Robyn played happily on the living room floor, I put together Robyn's crib and the sheets on the day bed for myself. It was 6:30 pm but felt more like 9:30 pm.  We had a nice dinner and gave Robyn a bath, relaxing in the familiarity of our sleepover routine. 

As we've been doing all week, I got ready to give Robyn some cereal before settling in for bed. Last weekend Mina and I bought baby supplies for her place, including a new cereal that the Rose's enjoyed when they were babies and that looked yummy to me: Nestle Raspberry, Yogourt and Wheat Cereal. I mixed it with warm water and tasted it. Yep, it was yummy. I put Robyn in her chair wrapped a bib around her neck and gave her a spoonful of the pink mushy cereal. She was enjoying it, grabbing the spoon and getting covered in food as usual. With sticky fingers she rubbed at her eyes, I thought she was finally showing signs of getting tired. She still seemed to be enjoying the cereal as she was banging her little hands on her tray for what I assume means "more" so I continued to feed her. I started noticing little red marks on her cheeks , chin and around her eyes. Hummm, that's odd I thought. Now Robyn's eyes were quite irritated and she was franticly rubbing at them and the rest of her face, her hands still covered in cereal. Eeek! I grabbed her face cloth and cleaned her fingers and face hoping the rash would go away.

While I was feeding Robyn, Dave was having his dinner across the room and watching an action movie at top volume - the best way to watch these types of movies but not the best way to calm a baby. With a clean but fussy baby, Mina and I went to her room to watch something calmer while I nursed Robyn. In the living room lighting I thought her face was getting better. In the brighter bedroom lighting it seemed to be getting worse! There was not a single spot on her face that wasn't covered in a rash and it seemed her neck was getting swollen! "Mom, look at her face. Do you think we should be concerned?" I tried to say calmly but failed. (gasp!) "Just stay put a little minute" she says calmly but her panicked eyes deceive her. "Dave!" she calls "We have a situation with Robyn here please come quick!". Thankfully Dave has a keen sense of urgency in situations like this and keeps a level head to make rational and immediate decisions. He took one look at her and promptly got us strapped in the car and off to the ER we rode.  

Dave drops us at the door and goes to park the car. We're rushed through triage and promptly placed in room 6. A team of nurses surround us and get to work taking her pulse, checking her breathing, and strapping her up to a machine that monitors her vital signs. I repeat what happened and showed the cereal box to at least a half dozen nurses and doctors, all of who commented on the number of different ingredients that could have caused the reaction, so no definite conclusion was made. A nurse gave Robyn some liquid Benedryl and we stayed for observation for another hour and a half when they were satisfied she was okay, the rash and swelling completely gone. 

Robyn was a real trooper, and although she was surrounded by so many people she didn't fuss much. I think it's due to being at Locals so often, surrounded by servers and regulars who all dote on her. We picked up some Benedryl for home and got back to Mina and Dave's about 11:30 pm. Poor Mina, neither of us had called her and she was worried the whole time we were gone - I thought Dave had called her and he didn't think he needed to unless there were complications. 

Thank you Mina and Dave for being so helpful, loving and wonderful parents slash grandparents!

Adventures with Bynny Volume 1

Over the past few months I have been capturing our adventures and milestones with Robyn on video, as best I could. I've finally managed to complete a recent montage of such short films.

This episode includes a play date we attended with mommies from work who were also pregnant during the strike last year. Robyn was the only girl born in this group, all of the babies were born within a month of each other. It also features swimming and splashing with the Amazing Auntie Sue, a little jumping in the Jolly Jumper and some very close attempts at crawling. There is also a bonus episode included featuring a very special appearance by Rockin' Daddy.

Enjoy!

You can view the video on the YouTube - Spindillyrush Channel

It's that time of year again!

I'm so excited, it's finally here.  It's the time of year I look forward to for months.

No, it's not the cool weather that I love because layered clothing, hats, mitts and scarves are super cool. It's not the the long hikes in Gatineau Park to take in the fresh air and beautiful changing of the leaves. It's not even the hot apple cider, pumpkin pie and toasty warm fires. It's the new fall season for all my favourite TV shows!

So, what am I watching?

• Dancing With The Stars - so far I'm enjoying it but don't have a favourite. I'm not too fond of Hasselhof or the guy from Jersey Shore though.
• The Biggest Loser - oh crap, I've started watching this show again... it's so emotional and inspiring to watch but I really didn't think I'd get into it again this year, but here I am completely drawn into watching a group of severely overweight people trying to run a mile... oh my.
• Castle - obviously! I still haven't watched my recorded season premier episode but I'm looking forward to the mystery, comedy, sexual tension... I love Castle.
• The Middle - I'm glad I gave this show a chance because it's quite good. It's kind of a frantic comedy about an average income family with an odd baby brother, an awkward middle sister and a hot headed "all-American" older brother being raised by their struggling parents. Give it a shot if you've been avoiding it.
• Modern Family - This is a genius comedy. I love the side interviews through out the episodes where the family members give us a more personal view of their lives. 
• Parenthood - A heartwarming drama about an extended family with captivating people who deal with realistic issues. 
• The Event - TBD we have it recorded but haven't yet watched it.
• Fringe - Not until we watch the end of season one and season two but fully intend to watch it.

Good thing I'm working out 3 times a week or I could turn into a real couch potato!

The rant of a foul mood mommy

Next Thursday will be our 3rd year wedding anniversary. I'm looking forward to going out for dinner but I must say I'm a bit nervous as well. Robyn has been great with Morgan while I'm kickboxing 3 days a week but this is partly due to the routine they established where she goes down for a nap shortly after I leave and wakes up about the time I get back. We don't have the same routine in the evening. We don't really have a routine at all, although on a regular basis I tell myself we really should have something.... Perhaps we should do lunch instead but an anniversary lunch isn't as romantic as a dinner.

I'm really quite annoyed at myself for my inability to cook when I'm alone with Robyn. I haven't prepared myself supper in about 8 months - I eat left overs, Farm Boy entrees and take out. This is so frustrating because I know there are plenty of women out there with babies, who's husbands work nights and manage to cook for themselves and their families. Don't even get me started on my procrastination to start Robyn eating anything other than breast-milk and oatmeal. I've just started pumping once a day again, how did I fall out of that routine? I'm going to have to just be ok with giving her store bought baby food cause I can't get my act together to make it myself!

We're about 90% unpacked and organized in our condo. There are still boxes half hidden behind furniture; books on shelves in no particular order - which looks nice and got rid of the boxes they were in but doesn't help me when I'm looking for a particular one; coat hooks that need mounting; a front hall closet that needs to be put to better space usage; a vacuum that needs to find a home instead of living where my inexistent dinning table should be; a large box full of papers that need to be sorted, filed or shredded - mostly the latter; curtains need to replace the quilt covering half the window in Robyn's room; a dolly acting as a towel rack needs to be returned to my dad; and numerous items need to go to the storage area - which also needs to be organized.

Feeling exhausted just reading this? Me too.

NFL season again!

Me, clad in my Pittsburg Steelers t-shirt, Robyn and Morgan, sporting their Green Bay Packers jerseys, met Shannon and Terry, head to toe in Chicago Bears gear, for our traditional Sunday brunch.  Sports fans speckled the restaurant with NFL jerseys and ball caps. The anticipation for the first Sunday Football games of the 2011 season was almost as palpable as the smell of bacon and eggs. 

After a decent enough breakfast we joined (Grandpa) Curtis and the Clyde Street gang at Local Heroes. As per usual, the head honchos are perched on their bar stools in their VIP spot next to the pool tables - Lacall on the left, ZZ on the right. The key detail to this location is that there are two TV's mounted right next to each other above a high top table with three bar stools - this allows there to be 2 games on at all times, as soon as a commercial comes on they're in reach of the cable box to switch channels to another game. This year we're in luck, the restaurant finally upgraded the televisions from box style to flat screen with HD!

Robyn was very well behaved and with the help of a nap lasted right through the early games without fussing. At this point she'd had enough of her introduction to life with a fanatical football family so we dropped Morgan at Bank Street LH and headed home for some quiet time.

So, as I'm sitting down to enjoy a nice Gilled Chicken Breast Platter from Greek On Wheels and Robyn plays in her exersaucer beside me, I can say today was fun and I look forward to 18 more (?) weeks of the same. 

GO STEELERS!

Hooray for Andrew Fleck - Ontario Early Years Centre

On my quest to find day care for Robyn, I attended a Child Care Connection meeting last night. The meeting brought together parents looking for care and providers with spaces available to meet and exchange contact info - no on the spot interviews please. I'd already made contact online with two women in attendance who are available in January, so it was nice to put faces to the profiles I'd read. I found the meeting kind of intimidating because it was a bit like being wooed by everyone, even if I wasn't interested I felt the need to take their name and number to avoid hurting their feelings. There were a couple other women who I thought might be appropriate if needed but I'm going to set up meetings with the first two women and go from there. No men care givers were in attendance, not sure there are a lot of them out there.

The best thing that came out of attending this meeting was the location it was held in: The Andrew Fleck Child Care Services Centre. I had heard of Andrew Fleck only in relation to the centralized child care waiting list. I had no idea the services they actually provide: play groups everyday, circle time everyday, a book lending library, a toy lending library with tons of awesome toys we can borrow for up to 2 weeks, workshops and programs for parents and kids and information and referrals all for free to children ages 0 to 6 years and their parents/providers. I can't believe I hadn't known about this sooner but am so pleased to be able to take advantage of it in the future. I'm especially happy about the toy lending library, our condo is so limited in space that we don't have room to buy and store tons of toys but this way Robyn will have "new" toys every couple weeks!