Happy 1st Halloween!

We went to Robyn's first Halloween party today at the new daycare's house.  Tara's place was nicely decorated and the other kids were all decked out. The 18 month old girl was a pirate, the 18 month old boy was a lion, the 5 year old girl was a mermaid and Robyn was a ladybug. Tara prepared pumpkin shaped cakes for the kids to decorate, pin the eye patch on the pirate, Halloween themed crafts and spooky music for ambiance. We had a nice snack of apple slices with cinnamon and a tea for me.

I had a little errand to run so I left Robyn with Tara for about 25 minutes. She played and was content for 20 minutes until she realized I was gone and started to cry. Tara wasn't fazed and is looking forward to Monday when we drop Robyn off for her first full day of care. (eeek!)

Nine months?!

How time flies when you're having fun... and raising a baby! Robyn turned 9 months on the 21st, I almost can't believe it.

Wasn't it just the other day that we brought her home all bundled and snuggly in her car seat, struggled with the first few diapers, tried desperately to get her to stay awake long enough to eat, worked hard at nursing and didn't give up even when one nipple was cut and was tremendously painful, recorded every action in a log book, ran our lives on 3 hour intervals in order to feed her, thought sleep was just some fantasy we created while we were dreaming and marvelled at the size of the little onesies and sleepers she wore?

Robyn is "just like a little person" now - as many people point out. She's eating pretty much anything I can liquify in a blender, including Thanksgiving turkey dinner. We've taken swimming and signing lessons. She's saying "mom", "dad", "bird" and "cat". She can practically walk - well, she's pulling herself up to standing and using the coffee table as an aid so she's close! She crawls like a champ. She loves music; she bops around and "sings" along when it's playing. She's a little explorer and gets her hands on anything she can, then puts it in her mouth.

She's still a Mommy's girl but we're working on her getting comfort from other people especially her Dad and Mina and Dave. Our biggest challenge is getting her to fall asleep on her own in her crib, this is the one thing I have procrastinated the most with because I'm worried about how upsetting it will be for her. Don't worry, I have a plan which I am starting tonight. Yes, tonight.

To Revisit This Outfit

The past couple years has been an awkward mix of styles and sizes in my clothing wardrobe. Those of you who knew Stargazing will remember her as a whimsical, colourful, jewellery heavy girl with a sense of the eccentric artist who could pull off almost any outfit and hair style. With the combination of working at a cemetery where she really had to tone down the whimsicality but could keep the jewellery, working at a martial arts school where she was encouraged to be herself if not a "sexier, sportier" self and working at the museum as a professional assistant where she soon became pregnant and it all just went out the window, Stargazing's fun and flirty style got all jumbled.

There are still some remnants of the former persona left in her closet but only the core essentials and pieces that were impossible to get rid of remain. Unfortunately, most of them do not go together, even for the most hard core Stargazing moment. Luckily, her very fashionable mother has been a key component to keeping her wardrobe stylish and classy with extraordinary timing.

This outfit is a perfect example of the more sophisticated but classically Stargazing look. The jacket is by Jessica and is one of the fashionable pieces mom has contributed. The purse and slick grey heels were also contributed from my personal shopper. The gloves were my Nan's and have the sweet white pearl wrist buttons for my romantic hubby to steal kisses from. Pants, hair and make up by me...

Now that I'm in the best shape I've been in years, I'm working on rebuilding a stylish, classy wardrobe with the essence of Stargazing adding the fun and exciting feel that's been lacking for so long.

Toot-toot! All aboard the pity train!

I can't be the first mother to rely on breastfeeding as my baby's number one source for food in her 8th month but neither can I help but feel like I'm doing something wrong.  I've never spent too much effort on feeding myself well, so the ability to nurse Robyn instead of preparing something for her is pure laziness and disturbingly selfish. Now that I've found daycare for her that she will start part-time in November, this lack of preparedness must be reconciled.

I have the tools and the resources, now I need to put everything into action. I even know how easy it is to do, we manage to feed Robyn something at dinner time and breakfast time at Mina and Dave's. I allow myself to justify my lack of motivation due to the fact that Robyn and I are alone 3 nights a week but that's just ridiculous. Many moms are alone with babies and often more than one child and manage just fine. I can also prepare food when Morgan is home during the day. Like I said I know this - it's despicable how I've continued to put it off again and again.

My shoulder devil is saying "You tried to use the food mill today and it didn't work, don't be so hard on yourself!". This is true but what she isn't saying is "Did you even think to use the blender? No. You just cussed about it and decided to nurse her instead. Shame on you." - that would be my shoulder angel talking, I tend to ignore her too often.

I googled how to use a food mill this evening and will give it a whirl tomorrow. Tonight I'm indulging in letting the girl sleep on her nursing pillow, watching some sort of girly movie, reading Cosmo and perhaps even ordering in some Greek On Wheels.

On a different yet self loathing note, the most pitiful thing is how lonely I so often am. I have many friends, or acquaintances I guess, who are new moms or have babies Robyn's age but for someone so outgoing I seem to lack the skills to keep a close friend network. Blame it on "how strong and independent" I am, as I am described by many. Blame it on my lack of self-confidence that these people even like me. I could even blame it on laziness, it's easier to be alone than make an effort to stay close. But whatever the case may be, with all the people I know, I don't have many I can call close friends and that makes me sad.  At least I have an activity I enjoy doing three times a week that's out of the house and is kind of social. With everyone's lives being so busy, Facebook and texting seem to be our preferred means of communication. I miss human interaction - I am considering closing my account because waiting to see if anyone "likes" or "comments" on your status or links is depressing... but how else can I broadcast my new blog posts?

Oh, woe is me. Life could be so much harder; I really should not complain.

So did I learn something?

As you may know, the couch we bought for our condo is waaayyy too big for our living room. It's a really comfy sectional; beige microfiber top with a dark brown leather-looking base, a full size couch and a large left side chaise lounge in case anyone is interested in it. We bought it when we first took possession of the condo, so we had the opportunity to measure our space but being the instant gratification seekers we are and poor planners we seemed to be, we did not. As much as we love the couch, it was a silly mistake for our present living space.

We finally agreed we need to get other furniture for the living room/dinning room, especially since we have no room for a dinning table at the moment. I think it's important to teach Robyn that meals are to be eaten at a dinning table and not hunched over the coffee table in front of the TV, as we do now. Ideally, we should have a smaller couch, a nice chair and a small dinning set.

Thursday, mom and I took a day trip to Perth. There are some really beautiful gift shops there and we decided to get started on our Christmas shopping. There is also a Home Furniture Store in Perth, a sister store to Home Hardware. Mom has found some nice things in there on previous visits, so we thought we should take a peek to get some ideas for rectifying our furniture situation.

When we entered the store we were greeted and asked if we needed any help by a lovely sales lady, who we promptly told "No, we're just looking. Thank you." We continued to poke through the store commenting to each other on pieces we liked or disliked. Before we knew what was happening the sales lady had joined us, giving us the tour of the store, opening sofa-beds, insisting we try each model as they seat differently, patiently repeating herself about dimensions and fabric options, fashionably pairing wing chairs with condo sized sofas...

Did I leave with a couch and two wing chairs? You betcha!

So, did I learn something? If that I shouldn't go into a store where I might want to actually buy what's for sale but should really be less impulsive is the answer, then no. But we knew that already. I did however learn it's much more stylish to have coordinating fabrics but not matching ones when it comes to choosing sofa and chair coverings. You don't want to have the "furniture store" look in your living room.

I found a picture of the wing chair but not of the sofa. I can't wait to have a tea and read a book in it, it's really nice to sit in - not to mention classy.

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