My friend the WAHM

I've been back at work for over a month now - I can't believe it. It's such a change from being home with Kiernan every day - something I miss a lot.

While I was home on leave I made a new friend via another friend home on maternity leave. Karen lives in my neighbourhood and her son, Cooper, is a month younger than Kiernan. We all hung out a lot over our year off and got to know each other really well. Karen should have been heading back to work this month but she decided to make a really brave move and start her own business and stay home with Cooper. I'm so impressed with her, and a bit jealous that she gets to be home to watch Cooper learn new things each day(can you tell I'm feeling wistful ;)

She now has a Precious Prints franchise and you can go and get molds done of your baby's feet or hands and make them into fridge magnets, Xmas ornaments or shadow boxes for the wall. It's pretty cool and I'd love to be able to support her by sending business her way :)

Looking for something to do this Saturday?

If you're in Ottawa, come visit Vicky and I at our Apples'n'Oranges booth at the Starr Gymnastics Baby Show!!

Weighing in after week one

Last week when I posted I hadn't weighed myself, on the scale I suspect might be broken, but I did the next morning (which was Wednesday and when our weekly weigh ins will now be) and found out that I had gained back a bunch of weight since last time I weighed myself. Boo. But, not shocking.

This past week I tried to be good. I wasn't great. I wasn't "just started weight watchers" great. But I did some good things. I drank a lot more water. I went for a bunch of walks in the evenings with Eric and K. I cooked healthy meals.

Things that weren't so great: going for Thai and Indian, eating a piece of cake and dousing it in chocolate sauce (wasn't even remotely as tasty as it should have been, yet I ate it anyways).

Things on my side with today's weigh in: last week I was bloaty and periody when I weighed myself, and the possibly broken scale.

When I weighed in this morning I was 6 lbs less than last Wednesday. I don't trust it, but I'll take it and we'll see what happens next week. And I think I need a new scale ;)

A step in the right direction

Yesterday we gave Kiernan about 2 oz of Good Start, mixed in to his Nutrimagen. It was nerve wracking after our soy experiences, but in the end, there were no disasters to deal with! YAY!

The news isn't entirely good though, because although he didn't throw up, he didn't throw up the first time he had soy either, it took a few times before he really started reacting - which is why we were so confused! The small indication that all may not be ok is that within half a day Kiernan developed a rash (nothing horrible) all over his legs.

Considering he's having his big round of shots this week, and that he did have a bit of a reaction, I think we're going to lay off for a few weeks and then try some more.

But I'm very hopeful!!! :)

He's one, so it's time

It's a horrible thing to watch your child suffer, even worse to know you might do it intentionally.

Kiernan is one, so it's time to see if he's still milk protein intolerant. We've picked Saturday as the day we're going to give him a bit of good start (easier to digest than actual milk) and see what happens.

And we have no idea what to expect, because unlike the soy experience we've never given him any dairy directly.

So wish us luck, because I really hope that we don't end up with a sick and pukey baby all day on Saturday, but instead with a baby who is growing up and whose digestive system is becoming mature enough to handle cow milk protein. Wouldn't it be nice to start letting him eat a bit more freely?

If that works out, then I guess we'll have to test soy too. FUN! ;)

Wordless Wednesday: Don't make me eat that caaaake!

Here we go!!

The Challenge starts today, and I think I'm ready - even though I wasn't willing to step on the scale this morning. I have a great excuse, I think my scale is broken ;)

But regardless of that, I know that my goal is to lose a minimum of 30lbs. My ultimate goal is more like 60lbs but I'm starting with a goal of 30 lbs by January - I think that's realistic.

My experiences with Weight Watchers mean that I know what a reasonable amount of food to eat in a day is - I am going to try to stick to that.

Experience has also shown that the following are key to my losing weight:

- drinking 2 litres of water a day
- pre-planning meals

I will do my best to stay on track, to record what's working and what isn't, and to try not to let some of the daily stresses of my life sabotage my determination to get thinner/healthier. I will post some photos of myself here later this evening to show my starting point - even though I really would rather not ;)

Good luck to everyone else taking part in this challenge. I have confidence this will work!!

Time to get back on track

I promised myself that I would be back to pre-pregnancy weight (and possibly wedding weight) by the time Kiernan turned one.
I didn't really start trying until after new years (because what was the point in the first couple of months and then what was the point before the holidays, right? ;) and then I joined weight watchers. I actually did quite well and lost almost all my baby weight between just naturally shedding some and weight watchers. But my dietary restrictions were getting greater and greater and we figured out the extent of Kiernan's intolerances and I decided I couldn't handle the stress of mommyhood, my new dietary restrictions and all they entailed, and how to also make them work with Weight watchers.
Well I can eat whatever I want now - and I think I have been! So it's time to get on track! I'm hoping that because there are people who actually read this blog (I think ;) that I will work a bit harder in my devotion to what I'm saying I'm going to be doing.
I'm also joining the Look Great in 2008 Challenge from Tales from the Scales. So expect a weekly Tuesday post on how I'm doing. Maybe I'll post some recipes and look for feedback and ideas from you guys as well. The more support the better :)

Kman turns one

What a fabulously busy day. Presents, the Experimental farm, and more presents!! And we haven't even had the birthday party yet!!

Gah! Whacha putting on my head??

A duck in the front, a pig in back, what do you get? A duckpig!


Baaaa Baaaa



Poor calves were afraid of K's squeaky shoes. hehe

Moooo Moooo

Reeeeachh

A ball, the ball, itsa ball!

Throwback Thursday

How can it possibly have been a year?
Happy birthday Kiernan!!





Kiernan, Eric and I will be MIA for most of the day tomorrow as we celebrate K's bday with a trip to the experimental farm :)

A linky chain letter

I'm always trying to figure out ways to get my technorati rating up (makes me feel more popular and I like feeling more popular ;) and also as mentioned in a previous post, I'm looking to meet new bloggy friends. SO this linky chain letter started by fellow Ottawa blogger Postcards from the Mothership seemed like a great idea. Take part - it'll be fun! :)

***

So here’s how it works:

1. Cut and paste from this point on.
2. If you want to play along and have your blog listed, just leave a comment with your URL and your blog title.
3. I’ll add everybody’s links to this master list:

   Postcards from the Mothership
   Tales of Life with a Girl on the Go
   Drake Update
   Humpty Dumpty House
   Lou Lou’s Views
   Lee’s Things
   most / least
   Gliding through motherhood
   mean old mommy

4. You copy the entire list, including instructions and the links, onto your blog. Invite your readers to comment and add their blogs to the list.
5. Lather. Rinse. Propogate.

Wordless Wednesday: we love the bitty braille shirt

I'm sending out some linky love to Julie from Bitty Braille. This shirt, which I won from a contest on the Opinionated Parent is one of my favourites for K. He looks so good in green. Thanks again Julie for personalizing this for him!

Happy anniversary to us!

2 years ago today - I still can't believe it.

We celebrated this past weekend by going to stay at the same hotel we stayed at on our wedding night - it was fabulous. And it was our first overnight without Kman - and he did fabulously. Only woke up twice for Drannie and went right back to sleep after a bottle.

He made us pay by barely sleep at all last night mind you, but that's ok. It was worth it!

He's so cute

and I still can't believe he'll be ONE on Thursday!

Make my mom happy!

My mom has a few hobbies, and they pretty much all involve making or buying something and then giving it to charity, or selling it and giving the money to charity.

She makes fabulous hats ($13 per hat goes to the Children's hospital of Eastern Ontario!) and we're lucky enough to be selling them at Apples'n'Oranges. And we're having a contest to win one. Let my mom know which hat you like the best and you can win a hat of your choice.

My favourite, and the one Kiernan will be sporting this winter is the Friendly Monster hat! :)

Daycare is fun - part deux

Kiernan had a great first day of daycare on Wednesday - he was in good spirits all day, even if he didn't really sleep. I really couldn't have asked for better!
He played, he was happy, he ate, and he was just too excited and happy to sleep. I'm sure in time he'll learn to sleep at daycare - possibly better than he does at home.
We dropped him off this morning and much as he did on Wednesday, he was off exploring. The other older kids think he's interesting so he gets tons of attention until they all leave for school. I think daycare will be fabulous for him - he'll learn from the other kids and be doing all kinds of new things faster than I'll be able to keep track.
Daycare sounds like fun - I wish that's where I got to go every day ;)

It's time for some new blogs

I have a ton of blogs in my bloglines, and I read them all quite diligently. But I'm not getting any more readers and I'm not REALLY feeling like I'm becoming a part of this close-knit blog community so many people write about.

The other day there was a really good blog post at 5 minutes for mom about blogging called 'be a blogger not a writer' and it really got me thinking. I've read over and over again that to get readers you have to comment on other blogs. Then those people will come to your blog and check it out and hopefully, come back again. That has worked a couple of times and I do think some of my favourite bloggers (Simply Nutmeg and the Pinks and Blues girls to name a couple) do come by now and then. But the majority of the blogs I read, I almost never comment on.

And this article made me realize that maybe the problem is that I'm not reading the right blogs!

There are a few I don't comment on because they're just entertainment for me, I can't really think of anything I need to say to them and that's ok (like I am Bossy or Confessions of a pioneer woman)

But what I need are more blogs written by people that I can relate to. That are talking about things that make me want to comment on. Right? That's what this is all about right? I'm not trying to write posts that all seem like they belong in a magazine (although there are some great bloggers that I read who do seem to write like that - M101 for example)

I'm a blogger who doesn't re-read her posts. This is stream of consciousness blogging - me just talking about my life and the things going on it.

So, if anyone if anyone out there has suggestions for blogs they think I would like (including your own) let me know. Whatever suggestions are made I will add to my bloglines and I will read your blog and hopefully, I'll be inspired to talk out a bit more.

And if any of you readers are in Ottawa and there is some kind of Ottawa bloggers group - I want to know about it - because I'd love to get more involved in an Ottawa blogging community.

yay again!

Ok, I know my luck with blog contests is starting to get to some people - and I'm sorry. I'm not doing anything other than entering a lot a lot of contests!

And I won again! :)

I won a shirt from Maggie in the Middle from My Mom Shops.

I picked the space ship shirt in, surprise, olive for K-man.

Go check both sites out. Lots of contests to be won people - keep entering!

Wordless Wednesday: WoW! Big Ball!

Daycare is fun!

This morning was Kiernan's first day at daycare. Eric and I were up before K-man to get ready!

We got all his stuff together - clothing, food, bottles, sunscreen, etc and then I spent about a half an hour filling out his emergency contact sheet and writing out a list of things he could eat, couldn't eat, and a list of.... interesting things to know about Kiernan like how he can be a pain in the ass and spit out all his food or won't drink a bottle without also holding his soother and occasionally taking breaks from drinking to suck on the soother.

He got dressed in his new Kid Brother outfit (he looked so handsome) and I tried to take some lamo photos of him holding a sign like Steph from Adventures in Babywearing did for her son (lamo because a 1 year old won't stand and hold a sign - I'll try to upload what I got here later (now uploaded) ;) and then off we went.

We walked in and he immediately started telling "hi! hi! hi!" and everyone he saw. Then booted it for a cool toy as I went over what we brought and my list. Our caregiver didn't seem concerned, being a seasoned professional, but I had to keep going through everything and humming and hawing not being ready to leave.

Then Kiernan saw a skipping rope and was in heaven shaking that and being impressed by its wiggling "wowwww! wowww! wowww!" and that's when Eric had to start tugging on my arm to get me to leave.

I'm sad. It's more real and permanent feeling that I'm back at work and our first year is done now that he's at daycare. I know that he's going to have a fabulous time there with all the other kids, so I'm not sad for him. I'm sad for me. Poor selfish self-pitying mommy wants to stay home with her baby instead of going out and making money and letting her baby have fun with other kids ;)

How to make being at work a bit more enjoyable...

WINNING PRIZES! ;)

Dancing Kiernan won us 4 pairs of Stride Rite shoes. Woohoo!

Check out the Parent Bloggers Network for other chances to win contests like this. And.... check out Stride Rite and tell me which shoes Kiernan needs ;)

Soon, I promise, I will get nice photos of K winning some of his loot.