A Good Eater.

A very wise friend once said to me:  "Children are either good sleepers or good eaters. But they are never both". Her words sounded so true. My sons have always been great eaters.

It sucks that I have finally ended up writing a sleep related post. I have been so reluctant to do it, because I always get to be  the mom that always listens to people complain about their kids who only sleep 11 HOURS at night and have the audacity to wake up TWICE a night and only nap for 2 hours uninterrupted. Everybody is outraged when they listen to things like that. Meanwhile I am hiding in a corner hoping, praying, begging that no one will ask me how my kids sleep. Because that would be embarrassing.... beyond embarrassing, pitiful!... borderline shameful. So, I took it upon myself to never ask somebody how their kids sleep. Partly because I want to spare myself from confirming once more how badly my kids sleep, but mostly because I don't want to be the one who gets to make them feel better about their situation.

The first year of sleep with Paulo was so bad, that  I thought this time around I'd be redeemed. I would have the perfect sleeper who would effortlessly fall asleep in my arms without me even noticing. Ha! yes, I am that naïve.

Actually, sleep wasn't so bad the first months with Emilio, but now that he has reached 7 months, and specifically in the last week or two, something seems to be happening. In the last few days he has been refusing to sleep like it is his job. he goes to sleep for about 10 or 15 minutes while I nurse him when I am putting his older brother to sleep, and when I take him away to lay him down, he wakes up and looks at me with a smile bigger than batman's joker. I try to get him back to sleep, rest, try again, and so the circus continues on and off for up to 5 or 6 hours when I finally give up. And yes, he is pissy the rest of the day because he hasn't had any sleep since the morning.

I have tried rocking him, nursing him, putting him in the stroller, in the sling, leaving him alone in the crib, rubbing his back, you name it. It. doesn't. work. I don't know if he just doesn't want to go to sleep or if there is something deeper going on, like maybe he's teething and in pain or maybe his schedule is changing to one nap a day? although Paulo didn't do this until muco older, and I really don't think he would make it all morning without a nap....

AAARRGGG babyhood.... I seriously do NOT enjoy this part of the 1st year. I thought it was supposed to be easier this time around... oh well, I know he will outgrow this phase eventually...

And then what do you know? he fell asleep in the sling while I typed this while standing up... sigh....

Emilio- 7 months

Emilio - 7 months

 As I type this I am thinking I better get this finished quickly before you wake up from your nap, or else it could be another month until I actually have time to sit in front of the computer uninterrupted.

The last month has definitely been a tough and long one, to say the least... It seemed like you were back to napping for 2 hours straight on your second nap, which was great, but the last couple of days have been very tough, with you not wanting to nap at your regular time and even refusing to go to sleep after being awake for up to 7 hours straight! It gets ugly when I am trying to nurse you or rock you to sleep and you just kick and scream your lungs out... sigh... it has been really tough on me (and my knees...and my feet... and my back...) and daddy because he worries so much about me.

Your first nap has been better these days though, as you can sleep for an hour or 1.5 at a time, while I play with your brother outside waiting for you to wake up so we can go about our day.

Night time, however, has pretty much sucked in the last month, I hate to tell you. You wake up so often and immediately start crawling... I am not sure if this is related to teething pain or you are just eager to try your new moves, but man it is exhausting! So I have just totally given up on trying to have you sleep in the crib and just let you sleep in bed with me and nurse you while lying down so I can get some sort of decent sleep.

Speaking of new moves... you have been extremely mobile in the last month. You are still not quite crawling a "proper" crawl, but you're getting much faster at the army crawl/ inchworm style you have going. You have also started to lift yourself up on stools and steps and anything you can find to lean on standing up. In the last couple of days you have even started going up on the stairs! it is crazy, and you would probably get at least half way up the stairs if we let you, but so far we don't let you go up for more than 3 steps. Needless to say, we will need to get some gates for the stairs this weekend.

Standing!

Sadly, this month has not been all about smiles like all the previous ones. Separation anxiety has definitely kicked in, and you HATE being alone or left behind while I take your brother bathroom or need to leave the room for even a second. That combined with the teething pain, you have been a pretty miserable baby in the last month... however when you do show your smile it is as sweet as ever and you drive strangers, neighbours and family crazy with that sweet little smile.

Speaking of teeth... you have had both upper teeth coming in for about 2 or three weeks now and they have FINALLY broken through. I am sad to see your gummy smile disappear, but am eager to see your new little smile.

You also continue to go potty when I take you, and you have lasted up to a whole morning dry when I take you to pee constantly. However poos are still hit or miss, although we have definitely seem much less poopy diapers in the last month thanks to your schedule being a bit more predictable.

As for your eating solids, you are CRAZY about food and can't control your enthusiasm when we sit you at the table with us. You go absolutely nuts if we don't pass you any food as soon as you sit there, which is both funny and annoying, ha. But I am sure glad to see you so enthusiastic about eating.

Brothers

You still nurse about every 2.5 to 3 hours, and I would say at least 3 times at night, sometimes maybe more (I'm never sure because I always nurse you in bed in my sleep). When you are awake though, nursing is SO DIFFICULT with you. You just won't stop fidgeting and you want to follow your brother around EVERYWHERE and ALL THE TIME, which is... well, unpleasant. I always wonder if you will even miss nursing when we do stop. I am often tempted to wean just because it is really such a hassle to get you to be still, and going to a quiet place when your brother is around is just not an option. BUT of course that thought only lasts a minute, since I really do hate preparing bottles and I do really believe you are getting so many benefits from nursing (i.e. you have only been kind of sick ONCE since you were born!)

Emilio, I'd love to stay and write more about you in the last month, but I have to wake your brother up before you do too. I am sorry if I have been impatient with you in the last month, but I am trying my best to be the mom you deserve. You are a little angel and I will always love you with all my heart, same as daddy, and your brother.

Love that smile!!

Discovering Ottawa - August 8th: The Rockeries

 

 

Back in a post I wrote before coming to Ottawa, I talked about the some of the reasons for moving to Ottawa, one of which included having one last "adventure" before settling into a city forever. I haven't particularly written about our feelings after moving here, but one prevalent thought has been that this move has been VERY, VERY tough on our family, physically and otherwise. To put it in only a few words, this move has literally made me feel old, kind of like I'm not up for these kinds of challenges anymore, and I think it would be fair to say that we, especially Rob, his mother and myself, feel exhausted about this move. But I won't go into much detail because I think I can't do justice to this topic unless I dedicate a whole post to it.

 

 

Anyway, my point was, that even though this move has been tough on us and life has been incredibly busy (as testified by my lack of posts lately), we are making a constant and conscious effort to keep our eyes on our main goal, which was to have fun, do interesting and new things, and enjoy a new adventure. Sooo, every weekend we are trying to visit a new place, be it a park, museum, or city landmark. And in doing that, I have found that discovering new places and having no expectations, gives me such a sense of satisfaction that at that moment, makes all that effort and exhaustion from our move worthwhile. We have spent some really pleasant evening doing really low key discoveries, but really getting that feeling of satisfaction from seeing something new, simple, and beautiful. Which is why I have decided to wrote a little sort of series of posts on our discovering Ottawa (we'll see how long that lasts!).

 

 

Thursday August 8th we visited The Rockeries, which I think it is technically a part of Rockcliffe Park. This is actually a little park that apparently Rob bikes through regularly on his way back from work. We went here on Thursday after dinner just as a quick sort of outing to do something different from the routine.

Well, breaking away from the routine was definitely worthwhile. This little park is a gem hidden in the treasure neighborhood that is Rockcliffe. The park is such a simple beauty. Just a piece of green grass with little stairways to hidden corners and garden nooks, and tree covered paths that guide you from shade to wide open spaces showered in sun. Little rock statues and columns sprinkling gray in the vast green landscape. Such a simple beauty. I loved it! 

 

 

Discovering Ottawa - August 10th: Rideau Hall

 

Today we visited Rideau Hall- the Governor General's Residence. It is supposed to be Canada's Governor General's house, but it is open to the public for all kinds of activities: you can have a picnic, play cricket, go for a run, or take your kids to the playground or the fountains in there.

 

Main path towards the Residence

 

 

 

Oops, somebody lost a sock!

 

 

Every day there are lots of activities for families, such as watching the guard change every hour on the hour, you can go for a tour of the residence, and there is even things like story time or seasonal activities like skating in the winter.

 

The actual Governor General's Residence

 

 

 

I was pretty impressed with this visit. To start with I think it is great that I basically know nothing about these places, and Rob just comes up with a plan like this because he's either heard about it at work or read something somewhere. So I just kind of follow along with no expectations and what do you know? we end up in some beautiful places like this one, wide open for kids like Paulo to run around, dip their hands in the fountains, collect acorns or play hide and seek in the trees. This place was just beautiful and I can't wait to go back there for a picnic or skating in the winter. Oh, and it's free as well. What else can you ask for on a lazy weekend afternoon?

Lovely old trees to climb on.

As an added bonus, the surrounding neighborhood is just beautiful, with old houses and English style gardens all around. Just lovely!

Ticking off Rideau Hall from our weekend adventure list!

One of the beautiful gardens in the surrounding neighborhood - doesn't this look like a little secret garden?