Just Because...

I just have to share because this picture is so darn cute. My baby girl trying out her Bumbo for the first time. Also trying on a new hat and new boots. Ava, I'm sorry I dress you in silly things and then laugh and take 100 pictures. I never knew I was capable of such a love. You are my everything. xoxo

Whistler

Feeling a little restless and in desperate need of a change in scenery, we decided to head to Whistler for the weekend. It had been months since we last left town and it just so happened that my husband had Friday off from work. We went back and forth for hours about whether or not it would be a good idea to take our 7 week old baby on a 5 hour journey into the mountains, but eventually we decided to go for it. Whistler is one of my favorite places and this time of year is pretty quiet, super cheap, and not too cold... or so we thought. Whistler saw its very first snowfall of the season while we were there; unfortunately, we were not equipped for the white stuff! Nevertheless, we had a blast! We spent the weekend strolling through the village, shopping, eating out, catching up with good friends and spending QT as a family. Ava did so well. She didn't complain about the long trip and actually slept in the crib the hotel set up for us! But don't get me wrong, travelling with a baby does pose certain challenges. Like having to stop what you're doing at the drop of the hat to nurse (we actually had to pull over on West Georgia in downtown Vancouver for a quick feed... just a little awkward). Or trying to navigate a stroller through a village of staircases. Or how about having to shed your own few layers in zero degree weather just to ensure your baby is extra toasty? Yep, that was us but we wouldn't have had it any other way! Here are some pictures of our weekend.

Back on Track!

Looks like I already broke the cardinal rule of blogging by my lack of posts in the past 2 weeks. We've had lots going on lately, and to be honest, I sort of hit an emotional wall last week. Remember when I said that sleep is supposed to improve at about 6 weeks? Well, it didn't. In fact, just before Ava turned 6 weeks old, the nights were worse than ever! She didn't sleep. At all. We had about 4 sleepless nights AND days. I think I figured out why (I went against my own advice by googling like crazy and diagnosing my baby's sleep problem); the sleeplessness happened right around the same time she started to smile and interact with us. Apparently, during this stage of development, babies fight sleep just so they don't miss out on the interesting world they are starting to discover! Anyways, I was so sleep deprived that I caught some sort of bug. I was miserable! But then, on the fourth day in zombie land, we decided to move Ava into her own room. We put her down to sleep at about 10pm and didn't hear a peep until 3am. After a quick feed, she went back to sleep until 7:30am. 6 nights later, she is still on a roll and I feel human again! Aside from this little setback, we've celebrated lots of milestones recently. Ava had her very first Thanksgiving! We enjoyed good food and great company all weekend. We also celebrated my husbands 30th birthday! I threw him a birthday party only to learn that throwing a party when you have a 7 week old baby is a little tricky. Not only did I miss half the party because of Ava's frequent need to feed, it ended at the ripe old hour of 7:30pm. That's right, the party is over when the baby says it's over... not when the wine bottles are empty... Despite the fact that the party was so short-lived, there was nothing we would have rather been doing than cuddling as a family and singing silly songs on that rainy Saturday night. WAY better than polishing off a bottle of red.

Happy Birthday, Emreh. You are the most amazing husband and daddy. I couldn't be more proud of you. Love you forever and always. xoxo

Ava is growing so fast. She is doing something new everyday. She is smiling all the time! As you can see in the photos, she'll shoot us the occasional grumpy face too!

She is also able to hold her head up on her own, and LOVES tummy time. She's just started to enjoy looking at her toys and makes the most hilarious faces when she's trying to focus on something colourful!

I'll leave you with a video of her on her play mat, which she loves so much. Her little sneezes at the end are the cutest!

Thanks for your patience as we get back on track with life! Next up, Ava's nursery tour!

Ava's First 5 Weeks

I cannot believe my baby girl is already 5 weeks old. It feels like it was yesterday that we were driving home from the hospital. It has been the happiest 5 weeks of my life. Thank you, Ava, for filling our hearts with so much joy and love. I love you more than you'll ever know.

So much to talk about here, so I thought I would break it down into the topics that I was most curious about.

Baby blues? Fortunately, I have not experienced the baby blues yet (hopefully, I won't at all). I will admit that the first few weeks were pretty tough but we were lucky to have tons of support from our friends and family. Many thanks to my mom and sisters for checking in on us daily. I honestly couldn't have done it without their help. Oh, and HUGE tip here; before baby arrives, cook and freeze as many meals as possible. We didn't have to prepare any meals for the first few weeks and it was a LIFE SAVER. I'm pretty sure I would have become depressed if I had to worry about cooking dinner every night. That or we would have died from food poisoning since the sleep deprivation made me delirious and incoherent for those first few weeks.

Sleep? What sleep? Ok seriously, you can forget about getting any sleep for the first 2 weeks after baby arrives. We set up a bassinet in our room for feeding convenience (and to keep my separation anxiety at bay); unfortunately, Ava HATED it. For the first 2 weeks, we had to sleep holding her. I know you're not supposed to do this, but when it's do or die, you'll do anything. Then, one night, we put her in her sleeping bag (best invention ever... I'll talk more about this later!), and she stayed in her bassinet all night. At about 3 weeks old, Ava was sleeping in 3hr chunks from about 10pm to 7am. At 4 weeks, she slept from 10pm to 6am only waking up once in the night to feed! WAS IT A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE? Nope. She hasn't done it since. I'm big on routine (trust me... I've been eating the same thing for breakfast for the past 15 years), so we've tried to stick to the same bedtime routine since the day we brought her home. They say that babies don't catch on to routines until about 6 or 7 weeks old, but I swear as soon as we dip her into the bath, she knows that bedtime is coming! They also say that at around 6 weeks old, babies will start to have longer sleeping chunks. Not that I'm counting down the days or anything, but we are just around the corner! My puffy eyes couldn't be more excited.

Getting out of the house? Looking back, I don't know how we did it (or why?), but when Ava was 3 days old, we went for a walk around Walmart and got Starbucks. I wouldn't recommend doing this. First of all, Walmart is not the most peaceful place to walk around; second of all, if you look like I did after 3 days of no sleep, you'll scare small children. Thankfully, my husband was home from work for 2 weeks after Ava was born so getting out was manageable. When he went back to work, our outings were few and far between until she was about 4 weeks old. At that point, I felt more comfortable breast feeding in public and more confident that I would be able to soothe her if she had a major meltdown.

Exercising? I love to exercise and was eager to get back into it right away. I started going for easy walks when Ava was just a few days old. My Doctor gave me the green light to increase my intensity at 3 weeks post delivery, so off we went. I started with up-hill walks pushing Ava in her stroller (pushing a stroller, plus a car seat, plus a 9 pound baby up a mountain is a serious butt buster). Tried to do a little running too, but apparently my bladder is quite ready for that... we'll try again in a few more weeks.

Happiest moments? There are seriously way too many to list. Seeing her smile at me for the first time made me cry, and walking her to sleep at night singing 'You are my Sunshine' is pretty special too. And like I said before, seeing my husband and Ava cuddling together melts my heart. Every time.

Scariest moments? When Ava was just over 2 weeks old, she projectile vomited. I'm not exaggerating. It hit the wall. I was in a hurry to head out the door so I didn't burp her after feeding her. When I went to lay her on her back to change her, out it came! It was so scary because she hadn't done it before, and because there was SO MUCH OF IT. I panicked. Here are a few tips for when you're unsure about you're baby's well being:

1. Stay away from google
2. Do not try to diagnose your baby yourself
3. When in doubt, call the Nurses Helpline (here in BC the number is 811)

Here are some of the things we could not have lived without during Ava's first 5 weeks:

Skip*Hop Versa Diaper Bag: Lots of room, trendy and easy to clean. I love all of the different compartments to keep things organized.
BOB Revolution SE Stroller: Love this stroller. Smooth ride, lightweight and easy to manoeuvre. Be sure to buy the car seat adaptor for the newborn days!
Fisher Price Luv U Zoo Swing & Seat: Life saver! Enables me to shower and eat. It's so portable that I just bring it where ever I need to use 2 hands. Ava loves to stare at the bright colours and purple rhino hanging from the top!
Boba Wrap: This wrap is great. Ava falls asleep within minutes of being tucked inside. It's so comfortable and easy to wash. Good luck getting your partner to wear it though...
aden + anais Muslin Swaddles: These are great for draping over the car seat when you're out and about. They're light weight and breathable so baby can still breathe while being shielded from the world! The patterns are super cute, too.
aden + anais Sleeping Bag: Before I started using this, I was nervous about using a blanket at night in case it covered Ava's little face. She doesn't like to be swaddled, so I thought this would be a comfortable, safe option. The first time we tried it, she stayed in her bassinet all night! Plus, she looks so darn cute in it!
Cloud B Gentle Giraffe: We just started using this and love it! The white noise works well to put Ava to sleep and the other sounds are fun to listen to during play time!
Madela Tender Care Lanolin: Your nipples with thank you. Especially in the first week or so!

And lastly, some final tips to share based on my experience in the first 5 weeks.

1. Do not try to multi-task while breast feeding. It doesn't work. 
2. Believe it or not, your baby WILL fit into newborn sized clothes. I didn't buy very many because I was convinced that they would be too small for her; however, we ended up having to make an emergency trip to Carters to stock up when she was just a few days old!
3. Don't bother buying or using fancy change pad covers. They will get pooped on and peed on every day. Buy a change pad that has a plastic cover and just lay down hand towels when changing your little poop machine. 
4. Stock up on laundry detergent because you will be doing laundry every day. Maybe even twice a day. 
5. When in doubt, burp your baby. 
6. Don't be offended if your baby gags on your nipple. It just means he or she isn't hungry anymore...
7. Cherish every single moment because it goes by way too fast. 

Labor and Delivery

Such a huge topic, so I'll try and keep it short (and PG). I was due on Aug 26. My water broke on Aug 25 and I was convinced that I would go into labor shortly thereafter. WRONG. Despite my every effort to stimulate contractions (walking, squatting, lunging, you name it), nothing happened! I was induced with Cervidil on Aug 27 at about 2:30pm, and was sent home to wait some more. At around 6:30pm, I finally started feeling contractions (while eating an Eggo and watching Bachelor Pad, to be precise). We rode it out at home until finally heading to the hospital at midnight. At about 3am, I caved and got an Epidural (I was THAT girl who swore I would make it without one. Who was I kidding?). BEST. DECISION. EVER. My husband and I were able to get some rest before my Doctor came to check on me at about 7:40am. I'm not kidding when I tell you that he literally couldn't tell how dilated I was because, his words exactly, 'the baby's head is in the way'. About 10 minutes later, I started to push and VOILA out she came 11 minutes later. At 8:01am, our lives changed forever. I cannot say enough good things about our Doctor and nurses (especially because one of the nurses was my very own mother). I was so calm and comfortable thanks to their support and encouragement.

Here are some photos of Ava's first few hours of life.

Ava Marie weighed in at 8lbs, 1oz.

There is something about seeing your husband with your new baby that makes you fall in love all over again. 

Ok, so now for the nitty gritty. Based on my experience, here are some labor tips worth considering:

1. Take a nice long shower at home at the last possible moment because you never know when your next chance will be (even if it means having to hang on to the shower head during contractions). One of the first things I said to the nurse after Ava was born was 'can I have a shower now?' I guess I forgot that my legs were numb...
2. Don't bother memorizing all those breathing exercises you learn in prenatal classes. When you're in labor, the last thing you're going to do is try to remember in which phase to use the 'choo choo train technique'. Your body will instinctually do whatever it has to do to cope. At least mine did, and it involved a lot of face scrunching.
3. Don't expect your stomach to shrink immediately after you give birth; in fact, don't even look at your stomach for like 2 weeks after you give birth. I was a little confused when I looked down only to see a big, jiggly belly. I promise it will shrink... eventually. 
4. If your hospital food is anything like mine was, you'll want to bring back-up snacks. Crackers, granola bars, yogurt (and in my case, kit-kat bars) will suffice. And don't forget to pack food for your partner. 
5. Check your shame at the door. I'll leave it at that.