Saturday, November 17, 2007

Introducing....



This is my new blog over at Wordpress!

I have graduated from the Nutty Notes.
A new life has begun.

Our newborn daughter Sonja B has joined our family, our toddler will be moving into the preschool CASA program at his Montessori daycare in January, hubby has settled into his new job, we have steps we can actually use at our front door, and the drywalling will beging in our basement in mid November.

Sonja is already a month old, and so it was time for me to get back to my blogging. I missed it.

So grab a cup of java, some chocolate, and come on over to Javaline!

Friday, November 02, 2007

Posting again

Well, I like wordpress, but I don't like the blog name I gave myself, so I'll post here again until my fried brain can think of something better than Wacky Parent.

Benjamin has been really funny. He says things like "very good mommy" when I sprinkle Parmesan cheese on my spaghetti, without spilling some of it on the table.

Sonja is sleeping and eating better too. I feel somewhat rested, although the slump still hits me in midafternoon. But today, both kids are napping together, and instead of napping myself, what do I do? I blog. I should be cleaning the livingroom before I commit myself to the looney bin, what with the rest of the house spic and span (burst of energy yesterday)...but that computer was beckoning me. My friend in Germany calls it a "Mistding"...ha. That is my commentary to that name.

So I'll be back. Either here or there. I'll let you know. You know who you are.

Friday, October 26, 2007

WordPress

I went to WordPress.
I opened a new blog.
I tried all day today to access it.
It won't let me.
I'm cranky.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Wacky Parenting

I have a label called Wacky Parenting.

I am seriously considering renaming, or starting from scratch, a new blog.

I feel like I have graduated from writting nutty notes.

Maybe I will.

But not now.

Now, I'm busy containing leaky breasts with either a baby or a pump attached to me.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

How not to overdue it after a c-section

Once you return home, you simply cannot take up your life in its usual format. You must let others help you out so that the incision, and the underlying tissue, has an opportunity to heal properly.

It's the simple things, not the obvious things, that one forgets about though. Most of us know well enough that vacuuming, carrying full laundry baskets up and down steps, or lifting toddlers are a no-no.

But when it comes to reaching for a cup on a higher shelf in the cupboard, that is something one does automatically without analyzing ahead of time whether it would be counterproductive to the incision healing.

Or bending down to put a pot away on a lower shelf. The simple act of bending down, pot in one hand, and balancing your somewhat unsteady body with the other, is quite an acrobatic feat given what you've just been through.

So suggest to someone else that you're more than happy to put the cuttery away, since that requires little bending and stretching, and leave those other items for someone else to deal with.

Keeping toddlers from climbing on you or kicking you is a matter of anticipation. Rules must be enforced, with clear consequences outlined in toddler lingo.

For example, if you allow your toddler to visit you in bed, he must understand that jumping, kicking, roughousing, or any other similar activity is 'verboten'. Give one warning, state what the consequent is, and then follow through.

Benjamin, if you want to stay on mommy's bed, you can't kick your feet like that. You lie still. If you do it again, you can go back to Benjamin's bed.

Then, if he does do it again, and being a toddler, chances are he will, you get up and go with him back to his own bed.

This method has worked for us during pregnancy, and will continue working for us post-partum. Because it has to.

Not that it's necessarily smooth sailing. Sometimes there's crying or carrying on. Sometimes not. Either way, you have to persevere.

This doesn't have to be about punishment. It's simply a rule that has to be observed, whether he understand the full implications or not.

Get rest. Even if people tell you to rest when the baby is resting, and you feel annoyed by the sheer stupidity of that comment, you have to find a moment when you can do exactly that.

For me, that leaves out mornings. It does not matter how little I slept throughout the night. I am a morning person, and mornings are not for resting. My body isn't used to it. So instead, I have to find creative ways to rest in the afternoon.

There are several options available here, but many depend on things like who is here to watch the toddler, is the toddler still napping, how does quiet time work if he doesn't nap, and can the baby be placed someplace safe in the toddler's quiet time area while mommy rests on the toddler bed.

THAT, I think, will be the biggest challenge starting next week.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Day off

This is what I'm eating for breakfast right now.
Brought back all the way from Switzerland by my mom.
I'm eating it in bed.
With the laptop on my lap.
And a coffee on the shelf beside me.

Grosmami took Benjamin home last night, for two days. He gets to, as so aptly put by my friend in Germany, be a "real little boy" there.

It has been hard here for him. I try to keep him busy and occupied but it's been difficult with the big belly, the fatigue, the stress, the renos, the dirt, and the need and want to get ready for the new baby.

He will have fun with grandma and nonno. They play with him, they take him to the park, the woods, the store, the neighbours.

They get to bond with him. He is their only grandchild who lives in the same general vicinity; the other two live on the west coast of this grand continent.

And I had a great night. A long night, with minimal pee breaks.

So today I can muster up enough energy to get some more cleaning done, laundry, and packing up crap to take to the storage.

And plan some fun activities for Ben for the remainder of the week.

This will be our last week alone together.
A new baby will be here next week.
In some ways, I'm kind of sad that this phase is ending...