Enjoying spring

I have been going to a weekly drop-in moms group, and went to the same group when Maren was a baby. The group facilitator takes photos periodically, and I was struck by the similarity between Maren’s and Linden’s first photos at the group:

We have been enjoying some lovely spring weather. Here are some photos from the week, including planting pole beans for a “bean tent” for Maren, taking a scooter ride along a path near our house, enjoying time out on our deck, and Jeff and Maren getting an African drumming lesson at an Arts Festival in our neighbourhood:

Too many things, too little sleep

I have started but not finished several blog posts over the past couple of weeks. I think in general this is the mood in our house - too many things going at once, lots of starts and not so many finishes.

The most stressful issue lately was that Linden started dropping weight percentiles. I weighed her and calculated her rate of weight gain, and it was suddenly significantly lower than it had been. So of course I started to worry immediately.

I called a lactation consultant to assess possible feeding problems. She made several recommendations to help get Linden’s weight back up, some of which turned out to be impossible to follow even though we tried. Like supplementing with pumped milk - Linden would not take a bottle no matter what we tried. We were stressed.


Fortunately, I also made a pediatrician appointment. We went to see the pediatrician, explained our concern, and the pediatrician weighed Linden. She calculated the daily rate of weight gain, and it was exactly the same as it had been the last time we went in, to the half gram. I said this was impossible, so her weight was re-checked. All was fine. No weight problem. False alarm.

I re-checked my numbers, and it turned out that I had in fact made a math error when I was calculating her rate of weight gain. So all that stress was for nothing. I had been quite sleep deprived the night before doing that calculation, and I don’t know exactly what I did but somewhere along the line I made a mistake. So we went to the Dairy Queen drive through, got some blizzards, and put the whole thing behind us. Jeff says I am not allowed to check Linden’s weight on my own anymore.

Some exciting things have happened this week though - the world’s largest T-Rex skeleton took up residence less than half a kilometre from our house. We went to see it right when the exhibit opened Friday morning. It is pretty incredible that this museum is just a short walk/ride from our house, and is free to the public so we can go any time, even just for a few minutes. We have made good use of this museum already, but it is much more exciting now :)

On Saturday we went out to watch the Sikh Day Parade, also just a short walk/ride from home. It was a celebration of Sikh culture, and they gave out food and drink - black pea curry and spiced sweetened almond milk. It was the first of a number of spring/summer parades and cultural events. Summer is by far the most eventful season here. We are looking forward to all the upcoming fun!

Photos

Things have been busy, so here are a few recent pictures until I find time to post more!

Big girls

A quick story about right now. Jeff is upstairs napping with Maren. She won’t nap alone, so Jeff is with her.  I am downstairs wearing nothing but Jeff’s rain pants and my raincoat, with Linden sleeping in my arms.

Why? Because Linden was having a crying fit that started in the middle of a diaper change, right below the room where Maren was trying to fall asleep. I really wanted Maren to nap today because she has a bad cold and has been up coughing since 4:30am. So I picked up Linden, sans diaper, to try to calm her down, and she peed instantly, soaking my shirt, bra, and pants. Rain gear was the most appropriate replacement clothing I could find downstairs. Linden proceeded to keep screaming, unfortunately, but it seems Maren must have fallen asleep, because she and Jeff are still upstairs. And Linden did finally stop screaming and fall asleep. Parenthood.

I bought Maren a knife set. They are some kind of plastic, so not sharp or dangerous, but designed so that with a little work they will cut a variety of foods. Maren tends to have some issues around being told to eat (she would rather starve than be told what to do), and has since she was an infant. Any perception that someone is taking away her choice or control is more salient than hunger. The hope is that she will be more interested in food if she is involved in preparing it. So far so good:

Maren also insisted on putting in her own hair clips yesterday. 

Meanwhile, Linden is eating well and growing rapidly. She is 78th percentile for weight, and 98th for both length and head circumference. She cries a lot more than Maren did at this age, and we have had some concerns about her comfort while nursing, maybe reflux or problems related to her laryngomalacia. But we are definitely not worried about whether she is eating well and growing well.

Crying in her new sunglasses:

Maren and Linden are similar in some ways, but are definitely two different people!

One month, deck furniture, pyjama day

Linden turned one month old this week. In true form for a second child, we didn’t take her one-month picture until the day after she turned one month. With Maren we were always on the day.

Oh well. At least we took a photo :-)

Also this week we got new furniture for our deck – a table and chairs so we can enjoy our backyard a bit more.

Once everything is assembled I plan to be out there every day with Linden as long as the weather permits. Today is shaping up to be a lovely sunny day so you can bet I will be spending time outside!

Last but not least, Friday was pyjama day for Maren at daycare. She was super excited.

Life with two littles is busy but we have been having fun!