Nine Months

Posted in Growing Up Isla, Isla by

At nine months …

She:
– Weighs 20.8lbs. She’s not gaining as much, but she’s getting taller and thinning out a bit. Her legs aren’t quite as chunky anymore, but they’re still deliciously rolly.

– Crawls! She’s become a champion crawler and the baby gate across the top of the stairs must now stay closed at all times since she motors everywhere. It’s amazing to watch her independence as she explores the house.

– Climbs. This does not sit well with me as she’s pulling herself up on everything and anything she can. We have a bookcase in our living room and her toys sit on the bottom shelf; she decided she wanted the books on the next shelf up, so she pulled herself up there, and as she was pulling a book down, she fell backwards and bonked her head pretty good on the floor. After a snuggle, she was just fine and right back to it. Ugh.

– Is now being bottle-fed breast milk. Let me tell you – it wasn’t easy getting her to drink from a bottle, and it took a LOT of patience and willpower to get her going on it. But, we’ve finally found success and I’m soooo glad. It’s not necessarily the freedom for me, but it will make the process of going to breast milk to cow’s milk a lot easier.

– Eats meat! We started introducing her to meat on a regular basis last week. So far she’s having chicken that’s been poached and she really likes it! I’m happy to see that she’s taking to new textures and flavours relatively well.

I:
– Am waiting to hear back the results of the MRI I had on my liver on Monday. It was a follow-up scan from one I had a couple years ago (before I got pregnant) to check on some nodes that were spotted on my liver. I’m sure they are nothing, but there’s always that little hint of doubt in the back of your mind.

– Both hate and like pumping milk for Isla. Hate it because it’s time consuming (I use a manual pump) and like it because Isla drinks a bottle way faster than she nurses. My ultimate goal is to feed her breast milk until she’s a year old, so we’ll see how this goes. Since I started pumping my supply has been noticeably lower some days, and others it’s ridiculous. I just don’t understand it.

– Think I need to start making lists of questions to ask the doctor during Isla’s 9 month check up next week because I just cannot keep track of them all.

– Seriously miss sports. I ended up not signing up for soccer because I realized that large amount of cardio vascular activity will probably kill me. Running around for 90 minutes straight? Not a chance. I could do it in high school, but these days I can barely walk up the hill near my house without passing out. Pathetic.

– Have come to realize that I don’t like holding other people’s babies. I’m not saying I have anything against babies, because I obviously don’t, but I feel awkward around other babies. For example – I went to a baby shower on Sunday and didn’t hold the baby once. I stood next to her, played with her feet a little, but didn’t ask to hold her and didn’t jump up when someone asked “Who wants to hold her next?” Am I weird? I have no idea why I don’t like to hold babies, because I love cuddling my own. :P

Photo:

9 Months

One month
Two months
Three months
Four months
Five months
Six months
Seven months
Eight months

What I’m Reading: Why Can’t I Be You

Posted in Book Review, Books, What I'm Reading by

What I'm Reading

 

 Synopsis by Goodreads.com:
At one time or another, everyone has wished she could be someone else. Exploring this universal longing, Allie Larkin follows up the success of her debut novel, Stay, with a moving portrait of friendship and identity.

When Jenny Shaw hears someone shout “Jessie!” across a hotel lobby, she impulsively answers. All her life, Jenny has toed the line, but something propels her to seize the opportunity to become Jessie Morgan, a woman to whom she bears an uncanny resemblance. Lonely in her own life, Jenny is embraced by Jessie’s warm circle of friends—and finds unexpected romance. But when she delves into Jessie’s past, Jenny discovers a secret that spurs her to take another leap into the unknown.

My review:
When I read on Twitter that Allie Larkin was working on a new book, I was so excited! After reading “Stay”, I couldn’t wait for the new book to hit the shelves (or in my case, the eReader).

After reading the heavy & suspenseful “Gone Girl” and being rather disappointed in Ellen Degeneres’ bio book, “Seriously … I’m Kidding,” I really, really needed a good book to get me feeling good again! WCIBY certainly did just that. Once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down. I read chapter after chapter trying to guess when Jenny was going to spill the beans on her true identity, whether or not she’d tell her mom where to go, and who exactly Jessie Morgan really is.

The only thing that made me scratch my head was the “building a house in the woods” mention. Considering the story takes place in Seattle, and Grey’s Anatomy is also set in Seattle … and McDreamy also built a house in the woods … Coincidence? Intentional? Who knows. Either way, WCIBY is easy to read and a wonderful “chick-lit” book. Really, it’s a wonderful second book by Allie Larkin.

I give Why Can’t I Be You 5 out of 5 stars! Seriously, there wasn’t anything I found wrong with it.

Favourite Things – A to Z

Posted in Favourites by

Sometimes I get bored and decide to do silly little memes like this one I saw on Stephany’s blog last week. So, thanks, Stephany, and here are a few of my favourite things. (No raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens either)

A — April. It’s a bittersweet month, really. This April 1 will be the anniversary of my grandma’s passing last year, so it’s going to be a tough start to the month, but as it goes on my mom’s birthday will come around and so will warm, happy spring weather, then my birthday, then summer. As hard as it will be, I do like the month of April.

B — Baseball. Seriously. I got into watching it seriously last year since I was missing slo-pitch so much and now I’m hooked. (GO JAYS!) The season opener is April 2nd and I’m pretty stoked to see how this season pans out. It looks promising!

C — Cuddles. Baby cuddles, husband cuddles. Sometimes I just like getting snuggly, you know?

D — Daphne. She’s old, crotchety, and a little senile, but she’s my baby.

E — eReading. Ever since I got my eReader last summer reading books has been so much easier! I find myself reading a lot while nursing Isla, and until I can afford a house where I can dedicate an entire wall to just books, it saves a lot of room on my bookcase!

F — Food! Seriously. I love to eat, but not in a gross, binge-eating kind of way. I really just enjoy making food for my little family and enjoying our meals together.

G — Gordon Ramsay. Sure, he has a horrible attitude and a lot of people can’t stand him, but I find his shows amusing and horribly addicting. How excited am I for this new season of Hell’s Kitchen? EXTREMELY!

H — Hamburgers. With the warmer weather we’ve been blessed with lately all I’ve been wanting are delicious, right-off-the-BBQ hamburgers. I’ve been making my own patties and they’ve been SO good! And, since I’m making them myself, I feel that they’re a lot healthier than the ones you order from restaurants. (Although they probably aren’t.)

I — Isla. Duh!

Mar11,2013

J — Java. Or coffee. Whatever you want to call it, I’m pretty much useless some mornings until I’ve had my coffee. Please, never take it away from me!

K — Kyle. My husband is probably my most favourite person in the world. He’s taught me so much and challenged me in all the right ways. He’s made me a better, smarter person and I love him to death because of it. Even when he drives me crazy ;)

L — lululemon. Yes, they are probably overpriced and overrated, but DAMN they make some comfortable clothing. I’m sure if you were to see me in public chances are I’d be wearing lululemon in some way. It’s an addiction, I swear.

M — Motherhood. It’s been an amazing challenge, but I love being a mom to my little girl. I’ve learned a lot about myself since becoming a mom and I wouldn’t change it for anything. It’s so rewarding.

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Chilling with Isla when she was about a week old.

N — News. I’m probably one of the few people my age who actually watch the evening news on TV. I really enjoy watching what’s going on in our province, and it helps that the news team is pretty darn amusing as well! I also watch the morning and noon newscasts as well. Oh, and I subscribe to the local daily news paper. I just can’t get into reading everything on the internet. At least if it’s on paper, in black and white, someone REAL is accountable for it, right?

O — Oriental food. Love it all. Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Indian – You name it, I love it!

P — Photography. I love snapping photos, and ever since I got my amazing 50mm f/1.4 lens, I love it even more. I really want to hone my skills more and take even better shots. If one day I became super amazing, I’d love to be able to make a career out of taking photos. That would be my dream job, but the market in Kamloops is SUPER saturated with photogs already.

Q — Quiet time. Since Isla came along, I don’t get much of it, so I really cherish my “me” time! Whether it’s spent blogging (like right now) or reading, I like to turn off the TV and just enjoy the silence in the house. It’s a bonus if the dogs are even cooperating as well!

R — Real Estate. I love browsing the real estate market and watching house prices fluctuate. If we had all the money in the world, I’m sure Kyle and I would be buying and selling houses for fun. We were barely in our current house for a year when we started looking at what’s for sale again. (No, we’re not planning on buying another house – yet)

S — Shooting. Kyle and I have taken up target shooting as a hobby and it’s really a lot of fun! We became members of the local gun owners club and now we have access to their facilities, so we try to make time to go out together for some fun. I’m really hoping to develop my skills well enough one day to do competitions.

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Firing my Grandpa’s 30-06 at the range.

T — Tanks. I could probably live in tank tops during the summer months. It gets HOT here, so shirts with sleeves are just too hot for me. When I’m at work I just throw a short-sleeved cropped cardigan on (it’s freezing in the office) and you can’t even tell I’m wearing a tank. Win!

U — UFC. Nothing says class like a lady who likes watching two guys beat the crap out of each other. I’ve been a pretty big UFC fan for quite some time now, and while I can’t get out to watch the fights at my favourite pub as often anymore, it’s still exciting to watch! My favourite fighter? GSP, obviously.

V — Vancouver. I love this city. I don’t visit it nearly as much as I used to. When I was a kid we went at least once a year to visit family. I can’t wait to take Isla when she’s older, because there’s so much to see and do there!

W — Warm weather. I love the days where it’s not too hot, not too cold. Warm enough to wear flip flops, jeans, and a t-shirt without being too cold. I can’t wait for this weather to arrive!

X — X-Words. I’m copying Stephany because I can’t think of anything else that starts with the letter “X”, but I do love doing crossword puzzles! They challenge my brain and I always learn new things when I do them. Four-letter arm bone? ULNA!

Y — Yellow. My favourite colour. It just makes me happy.

Z — Zoos. I don’t know what it is about the zoo, but I love getting up close and personal with animals. How else can you learn about animals that you’ll probably never get to see in person otherwise? I know there’s a lot of controversy behind zoos, but I think if the animals are cared for properly, it’s an amazing educational resource.

There you have it! I’ll admit, some of these I was stumped on for a couple days, especially the “V” and “Z!”

What are some of your “V” and “Z ” favourite things? I’m curious to see if these letter stumped anyone else!