Loralai ROLLED!!!

I am so PROUD!! This story is awesome, Loralai for the very first time this afternoon rolled from her belly to her back, and THEN from her back to her belly!! all today :) She is rolling onto her left! I caught the very first rolling from her back to belly on video, but I wanted to post the entire roll. Now we will have to watch out she is on a roll lol!!

Loralai's big girl seat

We decided to get Loralai a high chair because she loves to be with us in the kitchen, and she got tired of either being on her Bumbo on the table or in her bouncy seat on the floor. She looks so little in the high chair, the tray is double the size she is!! When the tray is not on there is a smaller tray with a drink holder and Loralai just sits back and plops her feet up and relaxes...too cute!!

3 Month Picture

There is a local market that we hit just about every weekend, and there is a Until Dawn portrait studio located inside. I have always wanted to get Loralai's photo's done there because they do the themed fairytale and fantasy land sets, and I wanted to check out the prices so that I could get fairy photos of Loralai done. While I was talking to the owner/photographer she said that she loved the old vintage feel of the dress that Loralai had on and that had just purchased a new chair that she wanted to photograph and Loralai would be perfect for it, and she would give me a deal of $40 instead of the usual $75 that she charges. I wanted to get professional shots for Loralai's 3 months, so just one the spur of the moment we had this photo taken and I LOVE IT!!
(the glare is from taking a picture of the photo with my camera)

2nd Time Around

I went to this store in the city here called Kids Closet, they have new and gently used baby and children's clothes. As some of you know babies grow out of clothes so fast when they are little so most of the items that I purchase from there are like brand new, or even still have the tags on them! I bought these pants and the shirt for between $2-3 a piece!

I probably wont as she gets older buy clothes from there because they will be more 'used' but for now why not save a few bucks for some brand name great stuff!!

Oh and the crib sheet I bought brand new for $12.99 from the same store! :)

I think that I am going to take some of the newborn sleepers and pants that she had grown out of there, so that someone else can get some great finds too!!

A 'Great' Love!!

Loralai is lucky to have 2 great-grandmas and a great-grandpa (my grandparents). Loralai's middle name Gloria is a tribute to her other great-grandma (Todd's grandma) that unfortunately passed just before we found out we were pregnant with her. Todd and I say that Loralai was a gift from her :) Below are some photos of Loralai spending some quality time with some of her greats!

The picture above is Loralai with her Great-grandma Eva, who is 95 years (minus two months) older then Loralai :) This is grandpa's mom.

This is Loralai with her other two greats, Great-grandpa Russel and Great grandma Barbara. Loralai is their first great grand baby, they love her to pieces! (Grandma's parents)

Daddy's Little Girl

Loralai is definitely a daddy's girl. Todd comes home and she laughs and smiles and all he as to do is look at her most of the time, you can tell that they definitely have a bond! Loralai however is mommy's girl when she is upset, tired, or hurting (e.i: gas or when we accidentally nipped her finger when cutting her nails), but I think that is pretty typical when most children want their mommies the most.

Playtime is daddy's forte and it seems that she will fall asleep and stay more relaxed when with him. I think it is because Todd has a lot calmer demeanour then me.

Of course Loralai and I definitely have a special bond, just take a look at the pictures with her daddy, she is definitely know who he is, and is definitely a daddy's little girl!! :)

Scrapbooking

I love, obsess, addicted, hooked, basically whatever you would like to call it, to scrapbooking!! I have been scrapbooking for about 5-6 years and find it to be my creative and emotional outlet, it makes me happy. There are many different styles of scrapbooking, simple to very elaborate, I think that I have found my place somewhere in between :)

Loralai is now my biggest inspiration, I love the fact that as she gets older she will be able to look back at these albums, and that for generations to come she will be able to tell a story with them. I am already behind in Loralai's book because of other obligations but I am trying to catch up slowly!

I thought I would share some pages I have completed in her very own scrapbook. Enjoy.

p.s. I am not a person that likes to journal on a page, in between the 12x12 pages there are 8x8 mini pages that tell all the journaling that relate to the pages and photos. I am also going to try and post a scrapbook page of the week.

Sorry if they look a bit fuzzy I had to take a picture of them.

The Bumbo Dispute

I originally got the Bumbo for Loralai because I had heard a lot of great things about it, and it seemed it would solve the issue with Loralai really wanting to sit up, but obviously being too small to do it on her own and the Bumbo allowed her to basically be able to do that.

She loved the Bumbo in the beginning would sit in there, coo, smile, and most of the time poop! But lately, and I do not know if it is just the age/stage, but she goes in there and after 30 seconds if fussing to come out, she even pushes her bum up to try and get out. What makes me think that this is just a faze is that she has been doing this with a lot of her toys, the playmat is considered no longer fun after 5 minutes (if she can see someone else in the room), and her swing that used to put her to sleep in a matter of seconds, is alright for 20 minutes as long as a Baby Einstein video is playing! So maybe not liking this Bumbo chair is a faze, I hope so because that little chair cost mommy $60!!

An afternoon at the Zoo

I had wanted to go to the zoo for a while, so on a lazy Saturday we decided that it would be fun to head over and make an afternoon showing Loralai all the animals. We went to the Elmvale Zoo which is a good starter zoo, as it is small and all the animals are located pretty close together. Loralai was really great, she loved looking around at everything, although I wish I had brought the front carrier instead of just the stroller, we ended up carrying her most of the time just so that she could see more.

While we were walking Todd turned to me and asked:"what is the difference between our baby and everyone else child here?"
me: " ours is the most beautiful baby ever"
Todd: "well yea, but she is the only one without a hat!"
me: "oops"

So yea it was a bright, no cloud in the sky, beautiful sunny day, and Loralai's bad parents did not bring her a hat! lol. So we had to keep looking for spots to show her the animals in the shade! Note to self...better prepare next time with hat and front carrier! You think after 3 months I would have it down but no, not yet!
But we did have a fun day :)

Loralai does not look so impressed in this picture , maybe she just put two and two together when she was looking at the monkeys about how we call her a little monkey sometimes! lol

Favourite Picture of the Week :)

This picture of Loralai makes me giggle everytime that I look at it! She has been losing some of her hair lately (which everyone tells me is normal) and has thicker patches of hair on the two sides of her head, so Todd started twisting the one side and it stayed up, so he also did the other side too and I couldn't resist and had to take a picture. She is such an angel and a very good baby but it looks like little 'horns' if you know what I mean! lol.

LA Weight Loss

I joined LA Weight Loss before I found out that I was pregnant and had been on it for about 2 months and lost just under 20lbs, I was 19lbs away from being my ideal/goal weight and FINALLY happy about how I was looking and feeling. Then I found out that I was pregnant. I told myself that I was going to keep control over what I was eating and even LA told me that they had a program that would help me keep in the ideal weight gain for pregnancy, I contemplated this program and thought to myself I would rather have the regular program there for as long as I needed it after my baby is born (I signed up for one year which included maintenance), and I thought I would be fine since I had was in the groove with eating right and working out.

Well all this fell all to hell once I started to got a few more weeks in to the pregnancy. I was exhausted and hungry ALL THE TIME!! which is definitely not good for making sure I only gain 25-35 lbs of the recommend weight. After I gained my first 10lbs which was not until about 4 months into it, I was doing good until then, we went to visit Todd's mom in Florida. Well we ate and ate and ate while we were there, and of course everything seemed to be deep fried and delicious. I gained an additional 10 lbs in the week or so that we were there :( this is when I came to the conclusion that I was going to give myself permission to eat whatever I wanted because I am pregnant and already through the weight plan away. BIG MISTAKE and I will have to live with this mistake now for a long time until I lose this weight again.

I feel awful about myself now. Not only does your body change because of the pregnancy now I have to deal with this weight too. I gained 67lbs when I was pregnant 32 more pounds then I was suppose to. I also thought that after I gave birth a lot of this weight would just disappear, which was my observation from other women. Well I was not lucky at all apparently I lost about 15lbs within the first week of giving birth and then about 10lbs after that, I still have a long way to go with 41lbs to get to only where I was before I found out I was pregnant, and then an additional 20lbs after that...however, I try and not think about that 20lbs right now.

So I am back on LA now, but having a really hard time getting back into the groove. I am so used to having bigger portions, and eating basically within reason, whatever I like. The problem I am having now is that I have cut down on my proportions and I am eating healthy BUT not eating enough food now!! Definitely my catch 22 :(

I am trying to make it to the gym when I can, and walking with Loralai. I am finding it hard to workout regularly because with my schedule with school, readings, assignments while I am at school or when Loralai is in bed. Then spending the most important amount of time with Loralai, there is just NO TIME.

I guess I will start to get into a routine and get back into the groove ASAP!!!

Infant Massage

I decided to sign Loralai and myself up for an infant massage course. I thought it might be beneficial for both of us, it is a great way to bond, it will help her when she has her occasional gas issues, and it is a good way for her to relax as well. Plus I personally love massages and get them done often, also as a bonus this course is covered by my benefits at work since it is taught by a Registered Massage Therapist!! The course runs for 4 weeks and each week covers a different part of the body, today it was legs and arms, the 2nd week it is going to be the belly, the 3rd week covers the face, and then the 4th week puts all the weeks together!

I good tip the RMT gave to us today was: if the baby has gas then you can hold them up at your shoulder and massage their bum cheeks a bit. Since the little ones tend to tense their cheeks when they have gas and this allows them to relax and let the toots go. Sounds funny but it makes sense, and plus when your in the situation where your little one is hurting because of gas you will just about try anything to help them get rid of it!!

Bits and Pieces of Loralai's Nursery

This is the tree that I painted for Loralai that sits behind her crib. This little project took me about 2 days to complete because I was very preggo when I made it. It may not be perfect but I love it!



In this picture you can see the mural, crib, the flowers that are hanging in the right I got from Michaels and assembled, and of course little Loralai asleep!



This is the belly cast that Todd and I made when I was pregnant, and then I painted to look like a lady bug for the nurseries theme.

Do to lack of space we have to share a room with Loralai, until we move into house which we are shooting for next year after I finish school. One good thing about sharing a room is that the transition from bassinet to crib was a lot easier for me then if she had been in another room. Bad thing is that there is not enough room to fit all her furniture with ours so her matching dresser has its home in the livingroom, although if I do say it looks pretty good out there.

Going Back to School....

So I started school last week taking my post graduate in Human Resources Management. I thought that I would go and take the course while I am on Maternity Leave, when I actually could afford to go to school fulltime. I am there for 18 hours a week. My schedule is as follows:

Monday No class
Tuesday 8-11am Compensation
Wednesday 8-11am Employment Law; 12-3pm Labour Economics
Thursday 8-11am Human Resources Management
Friday 11-2pm Recruiting and Selection; 3-6pm Labour Relations

I try and get Loralai as soon as I get out of class and we spend some good bonding time together! I miss her like crazy when I am gone! I do feel good that she is either with her grandparents or my cousin Carrie who does home daycare and one of the best mom's I know, so she is in definitely the best hands she can be in when she is not with Todd or me.

I have been out of school since 2006 when I graduated with my BA in Law, so trying to get back into the groove with a baby has been tough. It will continue to be my biggest challenge, but I am ready! This program comes with a paying internship in the spring and I am excited about getting some HR work experience. It is hard to get a career out there is you do not specialize in a particular field (in my personal experience and observation) My law degree was just too broad if you did not want to take the lawyer root, and I do not want to go back and work fulltime in the financial industry, it is just not the place for me.

So there is not lots of social time for me anymore :( with making sure that I am spending all the time that I can with Loralai (which is very important for me and her I think) and then reading chapters, researching, and writing papers....ack!! Sleep, what is that??? lol. Loralai still wakes up once at night to eat and then I am up until all hours completing work and of course trying to spend sometime with Todd, then up at 5:30am to get ready and Loralai ready for the day.

Hopefully all the work (which will only get worse soon) will pay off in the end with a good FT career...fingers crossed.

Sony H50

Todd decided that we could save a lot of money if we got a camera and set up our own 'professional photo shoot' at home instead of paying to get them done. I think that I still will go and get professional pictures done mostly for Christmas and our family photo shoot (which we still have yet to do!!) The camera cost about $500, but it was definitely worth every penny, mostly since I scrapbook and love documenting everyday moments along with the important events/days. Here are some of the foe professional photo's that I took with our new camera!! :)

Professional Pictures

We took Loralai to get her professional pictures done right on her one month birthday. She was extremely good and loved looking at the lights. We just went to Zhers which is a local grocery store, and got some really cute shots and a great package for about $80. We made sure to bring a bottle since she got hungry before the shoot, plus I gave her some formula in between shots and it really helped her stay content. We have decided that we are going to get professional pictures done at 1-3-6-9-12 months.

Post-Natal Lovelyness..warning TMI

I found that a lot of people seemed to not share their post-natal experiences, I am guessing because now most people are less concerned with momma because baby has arrived! I can agree with this because I would much rather look and hold a baby, then hear about stitches, blood clots, lochia, contraction like cramps, and even engorgement! lol. So read the next post at your own risk, because there will be way TOO MUCH INFORMATION!

About 2 hours after the labor and delivery was over, I decided that I need to use the washroom, so the nurse helped me to the washroom (because of the epidural). I sat there for about 5 minutes and nothing and then all of a sudden 3 huge blood clots came out, and the nurse had to catch me and throw water on my face so that I wouldn't pass out, I guess from losing so much blood so fast. I was not allowed to eat or drink after this happened for about 2 hours, just in case this continued to happen, and they had to do something about it.

I was so swollen that I couldn't recognize myself; they filled me with about 3 bags full of fluid. My feet were the size of balloons, some women have this issue during pregnancy, and I only had it after delivery. This lasted for about 3 weeks post partum.

On the hospital I tried to breast feed and for me it did not workout. I ended up giving Loralai formula (her stomach was growling right out of the womb), what no one told me though was that I would get contraction like cramps because breastfeeding allows your uterus to retract faster. I thought I was dying, I did not think that it was normal because I had never been in that position before, the nurse gave me some Advil and that worked wonderful! Oh Advil also worked great for all the aches and pains you have associated with your body going through the best workout of your life too! lol.

I had a level one tear when she came out, now this is very uncomfortable and hurts a bit when you go to the washroom/shower. You have to use a spray bottle everytime you use the washroom until the stitches heal. Mine took about 5.5 weeks to heal.

I kept losing blood clots for about the first week. I had a couple of scares because I few of them were quite large, and in the hospital they say if they are over the size of a loonie (Canadian $1 coin) then to call just to make sure. I was fine everytime.

My lochia lasted for exactly 6 weeks. Some women it only lasts for 3-4 weeks but nope mine lasted the ENTIRE 6 weeks, and then I got my first period at 7 weeks! lol lovely!!

I started going out even the every first day I left the hospital, now do I recommend this? Well not exactly, I think it took me longer to recover, but I felt so much better once she was out (it is hard to do anything when your 11 days late, everything is a chore) that I felt that I could have done anything...note to self, you can't!!

It takes a while for your belly to return to something somewhat normal...well for most women anyway (some are just luckier then others) mine at 12 weeks PP today has gone down significantly, and continues to shrink everyday. Stretch marks, yes I was one of the lucky ones, start to fade and they are continuing to fade everyday as well.

Now as for engorgement and leaking, my engorgement happened about 5 days after delivery or so, I was actually lucky and it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It lasted for 1 day and then I was fine. I started to pump at about 3 weeks into PP because I seemed to leak so much I thought why not put the milk to good use; well Loralai got milk shots as I called them. There would be half and ounce one time and maybe an ounce the next if I was lucky! I discontinued pumping after about 2 weeks, one because it was so time consuming, and because I was not getting enough to warrant all the time, plus Loralai was doing great on formula alone.

For the first 14 days I cried everyday, mostly just randomly throughout the day. Sometimes when I would look at her, watching tv, when she threw up for the first time and I panicked etc etc etc. I asked my nurse that I had (from Telehealth Canada) and she said that being very emotional for the first 14 days or so was completely normal, but if it had gone past the two weeks then see my doctor since it could have been the baby blues.

These were all the exciting post-natal experiences for me. So far I have been thanking my lucky stars I have not had any post partum depression symptoms yet, but since you can get PPD until one year after giving birth I will keep watching for it!

Announcing the Arrival...

This is our announcements that I made up to send to family and friends.
Loralai Gloria Ella Baker
June 16th, 2008
7.14lbs, 20 inches
8:21am
Trillium Hospital

Labor of Love!

My labor of love story actually started 3 days before Loralai was born. Apparently neither my body nor Loralai was ready for the process to begin. I had to be induced 3 times and let me tell you this is not a pleasant process! So on the Friday when I went to get induced (the first time) they hooked me up to a monitor for 20 minutes, checked me, and then decided which strength gel to use, they insert the gel and then I waited for 1hr and then walked for 1hr. This process gives you lovely painful cramps that last constantly until the gel wears off, so no sleep for me lol.

They sent me home and told me to come back at 8am the next day, well they called me at 7:30am and said they were too busy and to CALL them at around 2pm. So I was furious, I get the fact that they are busy but I mean you have to psych yourself up for the pain and processes, so that was just mean! Anyways, I ended up going in at 8pm (only 12 hours late) and being there until 1am when they sent me home AGAIN err. So I went in the next day (Sunday) after being told they were too busy again, at about 11am. They sent me home but told me that I would be coming back that same day at 6pm because I was dilated enough to break my water (why they didn't break first instead of inducing again is beyond me).

So at 4:30pm on I go back because I am in so much pain and it is constant because of the gel with more intense moments which I assume is contractions. So we go and still do not get hooked up until about 6:30pm, and then the DR finally comes into break my water yay. Now of course the stronger pain starts. Since I had been in constant pain for about the entire weekend at this point, I would say around 8pm I asked for some pain relief. The anesthesiologist was in surgery, and to my horror would be for at least a couple of hours before I could get my epidural. So I was given a shot of Morphine to tide me over but all the Morphine did was make me tired and groggy to the point where I couldn't open my eyes, but still felt all the pain. I FINALLY got my epidural at 11:30pm. So I get the epi and it starts to only take on my left side (all the contraction pain is on my right) so I am quietly FREAKING OUT, but it FINALLY started to take on my right side yay which meant I got to finally start enjoying the labour process, smile, and sleep! Epidural's are wonderful!

So the nurse continues to track me and check me and I was dilating pretty fast but looking back it really wasn’t that fast but at about 6:30am when I was at 10 cm ready to go, my contractions spaced out and I was not able to push. So they gave me some oxytocin so help get them closer together, and oh did I mention that the contraction tracker was not picking up my contractions the entire time, so when it came time to push they were just going on when I felt pressure WHICH WAS CONSTANTLY!! So I kept thinking ok so I guess now is a good time to push, and that is how I pushed.

By this time the epi had completely worn off in one spot, can you guess what that spot was?? Yep the point of no return, the vagina! lol. So I felt everything the entire time I pushed, which was for just over an hour. It was the most agonizing pain in the entire world; words can not describe it, I wanted to throw up. I kept telling Todd that I wanted a c-section while her head kept coming out a bit, and then back in again. I was pushing wrong, I felt like if I pushed into my bottom that I would end up going to the washroom so I was not pushing into that feeling, well that is what I was apparently suppose to be pushing into (the nurse yelled at me, I hated her at the time lol but looking back she was wonderful) so when I finally started to push into the feeling, 10 minutes later the DR was in the room, and then she was born at 8:21am. I felt the tear but when she finally came out it was the biggest relief. The DR pulled the placenta out since I was still frozen everywhere else, but had to refreeze my vagina so that he could stitch me up. I was of course beside myself bawling when they placed her onto me after they cleaned her up and checked her (she pooped in the womb and I had step B) I just kept telling her how beautiful she was.

And the Journey Begins....

Being a mother is definitely the most incredibly beautiful life changing experience. No one told me though that my due date of June 5th would actually turn out to be a birthday of June 16th instead. However, they say the best things come to those who wait, and that sure is the truth because Loralai Gloria Ella Baker made her debut 11 fashionable days late!

You know what with all the reading, the prenatal course, and asking people their personal opinions/experience about birth, nothing could have ever prepared me for what it would feel like! Even to try and explain it now would be difficult, and it wasn't that long ago I was just experiencing it. Even while pregnant all the books tell you that it is normal to gain anywhere from 25-35 lbs, but they don’t seem to mention that you need to account for swelling and water weight too. I gained nearly 60lbs, and I thought it would come off no problem. Yes you lose weight right away, but only 20lbs came off easily (the swelling/water weight and of course placenta, fluid, and baby), so 40 lbs to go for me!

People (at least in my experience) normally do not tell you their lovely experience in the hospital and at home post-natal, since normally it is all about the baby, but I’ll share! I did however find hearing about other women’s labor and delivery stories fascinating because even though you would think our bodies basically have the same process, the experiences vary so much. So this blog will take you through my journey from labor and delivery, post-natal, start of motherhood, weight loss, going back to school fulltime, and everything in between. Welcome, feel free to leave comments, experiences, and advice if you like!