Fitting title since we are spending our anniversary in the States! We are Bean Town bound…not sure yet if we’ll venture into the city per se or just stay in the Massachusetts suburbs. It occurred to us we are doing 4 states (Upstate NY, VT, NH & MA) in 5 days…fitting since this is wedding anniversary #4 and 9 years total – totally not planned – how appropriate!

4th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
Traditional Anniversary Gift: Flowers
Modern Anniversary Gift: Linen/Silk

Today, Sophie crawled up on the couch & sat beside me so I could give her a snack. I found myself staring at her for a minute. When did you become a person??

Not to say babies are not people, of course. Even at their most helpless of stages they deserve our respect. But wow, Sophie, now 17 months, has become this person…with a personality: able to share her wants, desires & needs carefully & clearly rather than just laying there, crying waiting for mommy or daddy to figure it out…not that we always get what she wants, but for the most part, days here are so smooth & wonderful!

The other day, I had a basket of laundry to fold in the bathroom. As I cleaned the sink, I watched as Sophie went over to the laundry, pulled out the microfiber cloths & proceeded to put them in the proper cabinet in our bathroom. I was dumbstruck. How did she even know that they went there?? Obviously, she is at that age where she observes everything (by the way: Sophie has her own microfiber cloth. She keeps it with her things, & if she happens to spills something, like her juice, she will wipe it up enthusiastically. How awesome is that!). When I put on my lip balm, and purse my lips together, she does the same. I scratched my head the other day, and there she was scratching hers. The other night at dinner, I wiped my hands back & forth to remove crumbs, and she stopped eating to do the same thing. Talk about cute (and highly scary. To have a mini-me)!

I must say, I am blessed with a very easy going child. She likes to play quietly while I sit at the kitchen table making jewelry. Every so often, she will come up to “feed” me some of her “soup” from a wooden spoon that she has carefully mixed in her bowl. Again, something we never taught her to play, she just picked it up from times I have fed her. Rick laughs and remarks, that Sophie will feed me when my hands are full. Too funny!

“What a great little helper you have!” everyone says. And I beam with pride.

Rick & I laugh hysterically at her choice of music. This morning there was polka music on, and she sucked it up: dancing away in a circle, with a can of mushrooms tucked under her arm (don’t ask. We don’t quite understand it either). Today while having a hormonal moment & feeling a bit sad, she went to the cupboard & brought me the big box of pita bites. I guess she thought comfort food was just what I needed…

The best moments though – is when she climbs up beside me when I am on the computer to give me a big giant kiss. Or snuggles beside me for a nap. Those are truly precious moments to be cherished…

Never, ever, underestimate your children. Regardless of their age.

We love you, dear Sophie. You will be a wonderful big sister!

Ate Roxanne…

I found this picture on my computer…it is of my Christening. Do you recognize your Tita Lina? She is to the left…

How could you not know the Gador features, huh? :)

Next time I am in Nova Scotia I will get the photos we scanned for the funeral home for you & other family to see…I will add some pics to Friendster as well.

For the rest of you…Roxanne is my cousin from the Philippines! She emailed me recently…I am excited to know her & that there are many of us. I have a whole new family to get to know. Rick & I are dreaming of owning property there. What you can get for the cost of our home here…wow…

I don’t think I could ever say we have had a perfect day. But Rick & I cannot believe how perfect Sophie’s birthday went yesterday. We thought we were in an alternate reality!

We started the day an hour later than usual; for some reason all three of us did not sleep well the night before, so there was a lot of tossing & turning. Sophie awoke at close to 7am instead of 6. I had decided on Friday to play the day by ear because planning an outing would mean Sophie would be missing her scheduled naps, and I figured her birthday would not be fun for her if we lugged a cranky baby to the zoo.

But despite the late start, the first part of the morning went rather smoothly. She was in a very good mood, so I dressed her in her finest dress (a silk dress from Vietnam I bought at the ByWard Market in Ottawa when I was newly pregnant with her last year) and sat her at the table to open her presents. That proved to be rather entertaining for her (even if we had to coax her past the tissue paper & wrapping to actually get to the good stuff, which she promptly examined, then started throwing on a pile on the floor, then went back to playing with the wrappings. HA! Babies…), so we decided to have breakfast & go to the zoo, fingers crossed.

As I was getting her dressed to go to the zoo, I talked to Sophie about her special day. “Do you know today is your birthday?” Stares at me intently. “You’re one year old today. Last year at this time, we were in the hospital. Do you remember that? When you were born?” Looks at me thoughtfully. “Do you remember being born? And coming home for the first time?” Whp knows what she was thinking, but I’d like to think there was some recollection, or some understanding of the importance of the day. Rick even remarked how calm and content she seemed all day. It was her special day, and she seemed to know it.

Our children’s birthdays are so special for mamas too (and papas, but I can only comment from the mama perspective). I think the first is particularly special, since it makes one year of being this child’s mother. Birth is something so special that only us women can experience. I got through the day without locking myself in the bathroom and crying…lol. Just a few swelled-with-tears eyes filled with pride when she opened her presents. Hard to believe this time last year, Sept. 21st, we brought home this little 6 lb., helpless infant. Now only a year later, I swear you can’t stop her! :)

The drive up to the zoo took place during her first nap time, and she slept for only 30mins. of it, which concerned me (it’s about an hour and a half to Granby). She did start to fuss a bit just as we were arriving, she had enough sitting restrained in her car seat. I put her in the sling as I didn’t think she could see much in the stroller. Still, we brought it with us just in case.

Rick & I were pleasantly surprised how much she enjoyed the animals! The exhibits are large (thank goodness, I always wonder with zoos if we are doing the animals justice or harm, particularly the ones not from this climate) so I had to point out the animals at times but once she saw them she was absolutely intrigued & delighted by them. I got a bit of video of some of the animals & you can hear Sophie laughing with excited glee in the background.

We stopped about half-way through so Sophie could have something to eat. We kicked ourselves for not bringing a picnic lunch; the zoo had many nice picnic areas and the food there, although sounded tasty, was…too greasy than we could stomach in one sitting.

So we got 90% through all the exhibits when Sophie got really squirmy in the wrap. So I put her in her stroller with her hat to block out the sun and she slowly started to go to sleep. We were so impressed that she made it that far, seeing how she missed her naps, and even more impressed that she started to sleep without a fuss! On the way out we decided to stop at the gift shop, but there was no way to fit the stroller through the gated opening. A worker explained to us, “pas de pousette dans la magasin” which we thought was a stupid rule for a gift shop at a zoo. I hope to God they let wheelchairs in (although I am not sure how) otherwise that would be called discrimination. Anyway, if Sophie wasn’t going to sleep I would have just folded up the stroller but since she was…I guess we don’t get to spend our money there, which was probably a good thing anyway: who needs over priced beanie babies? ;)

Much to my elation she remained asleep as I put her in her car seat and slept most of the way home so at least she had a full afternoon nap.

Even though we thought the day couldn’t be topped, the real fun seemed to take place after supper. We presented Sophie with her birthday “cake”: a perfect scoop of blackberry sorbet with one beeswax candle. I am so pleased I found this sorbet at the organic grocery store. It contains all of 4 ingredients: blackberries, water, apple juice & carob. Carob is the only ingredient Sophie hadn’t had, so this satisfied the no sugar no gluten thing plus we didn’t have to be concerned about introducing several new things to her system at once.

But to SEE her with it…I will post pictures soon…they are so worth seeing. She had her hands in it before I had the chance to strip her down…and once we did…let the blackberry carnage begin! We let her get her hands all through it at first, then I handed her a spoon. The thickness of the sorbet made it the perfect food to practice using a spoon on. I was quite amazed at how well she did with the spoon: we never showed her before. First she tried it with her right hand, then switched to her left. She had much better control with the left hand. We have been wondering if she’ll be left or right handed…hmmmm…

Anyway, when she was done, everything was pink. I had to stick her in the bath after that. I was a little worried about her sleep considering she didn’t nap as scheduled, she had sugar before bed (albeit natural sugars but sugar nonetheless) and a bath (we usually give her baths in the day now as it ramps her up too much at night). She did really well though, was a little restless at around 3am but after a bit of tossing & turning and soothing words from me, she went right back to sleep. And slept until close to 7am again. :D

So today she was slightly hyper which I guess can be expected after long car rides yesterday. We are relived to see she seems to adjust well now to sleep as we are hoping to make a trip to Syracuse before the snow flies. *WAH*!

Happy Autumn Equinox everyone. Now that is a season to be thoroughly enjoyed. :)

Tuesday (the 27th) was our wedding anniversary. We spent a few days away, one of our overnights was in Lake George, Upstate New York. It is an interesting place. On one hand you have the beauty of the majestic Adirondacks meeting the calm still waters of the lake…on the other hand, you have all things tacky since there is a 6 Flags and other family vacation/tourist trap attractions. It is the land of the $2 T-shirt, mini-golf, and haunted houses…the Motel Montreal, and many more…we stayed at the Wyndham…LOL!! They do have a lot of outlet shopping, including a Coleman outlet store! Everything you need for a camping trip or tail gate party. I’ve never seen so much fake synthetic green in my whole life…

Now, for some real green…and blue…and clear skies with fluffy clouds…it was a beautiful, hot day…(now, what happened when we got to Vermont??? IT was CHILLY there…)

Now, for the cheese…gigantic Santa Claus & world’s tallest Uncle Sam says it all, doesn’t it?

Other highlights of our Up-State New York visit include hunting down a toilet seat…a Baby Bjorn toilet trainer that is, for myself and another ECing mom. It was supposed to be carried at Target but we went to 3 and there wasn’t even a space for them on the wall…nor did Toys R Us have them…I do love a challenge…we had luck in Vermont at Kid Surplus…should have known they would have it. :) They carry the potette, so….

Then there was the grocery shopping spree at the Healthy Living Market. I really wish we could get a store that size here with those kind of alternative choices to the mainstream grocery store junk food!!

It was just nice to get away. I do like living close to the border. To beat the traffic into the US due to the Memorial Day weekend, we went to one of the small border crossings in Huntingdon. The border guard was extremely thorough; searching our trunk, asking a gazillion questions, etc. But he was very nice and we were the only car so it was definitely worth going that way. The drive was very relaxing and pretty, esp. down through that part of Québec…it’s an area we never think to go to.

Anyway, enough blather for now…next get away is Rick’s birthday NEXT WEEK…just something close because we are going to Québec City around June 15th to meet up with Mom…

I’m not big on the “greeting card” holidays…Valentine’s Day comes to mind…but I will admit, I was excited about this Mother’s Day, seeing that it was my first & I am so happy to be Sophie’s Mom.
Sunday was perfect, in fact, the whole weekend was perfect. Saturday we went to the Ottawa River Valley to Judy’s Oraganic Herbs to get some herbs straight from her garden. It was such a nice morning walking amongst the herb beds & choosing plants. Rick also bought me as a Mother’s Day gift two books on natural cosmetics. I make all our soaps & lotions and want to expand to making other products, perhaps far sale or at least for gifts.

The weather Saturday was perfect. Sophie was so good for the long drive, I was amazed. The only crappy thing is that we stopped at DQ for lunch. I don’t know what we were thinking. The food was just what you would expect from a fast food joint & the feeling in our guts afterward matched. Then there are all the hyper active children and the parents staring at our baby in amazement because she is just sitting there quietly taking everything in. Soph doesn’t eat solid food yet and I’m sorry, but I don’t think I could ever give my toddler a hot dog. I hope that comment doesn’t offend anyone, if you do, to each their own. But for me, I can barely bring one to my lips let alone let a baby eat one.

When we returned to Le Suroît we stopped at Passion Jardins in Vaudreuil. What a colourful, happy place! We wanted to pick up their potted strawberries they had for sale. I bought one hanging basket and one potted. The berries are yummy on them already!

Sunday the plan was to go to the zoo in Granby after Mass but it’s not open yet! So I had decided on the Biodôme, but after getting our plants I really wanted to spend the day gardening. After Mass, the Knights of Columbus gave us moms flowers and had a little reception in the church hall.

The weather was nice & warm & Sophie played on a blanket on the lawn while I planted herbs. The hops & the nettles are looking a little droopy from being in the car trunk but hopefully they will bounce back. The others are flourishing. Rick did a great job digging out a tiny garden patch for me and laying down the top soil.

If only every day could be like Sunday! Yesterday I had a bit of a Mother’s Day “hangover”. I guess too much sun and not enough water. Or too much fun & I didn’t want to come back to reality. Heh heh!

It’s 4am, and here was Sophie, wide awake beside me, filling her diaper. I don’t mind getting up with her in the middle of the night, because it happens so irregularly. While she starts to fall asleep, I thought now would be a good time to write a post since I have been keeping pretty busy during waking hours.

Thursday was a very exciting day for us. Not only did all three of us have appts. with Anne-Hélène, our Naturopathic doctor, Sophie perfected one of her milestones, rolling over from her back to stomach. I will still remember the time, 4:10 in the afternoon, Rick & I were here in the livingroom, having a snack since we missed lunch. For days now she has been almost there, tipping up on her side and teetering there like a car that is just about to turn over onto its roof, and then comes slamming down on all four wheels again. That afternoon, her beloved puppy was just out of reach, so she kept trying and trying…until she did it. I called my mother that night to tell her, much to her surprise. This is a milestone usually done in 5 – 6 month olds. But remember, this is a baby who was rolling from stomach to back before she was two months old.

As much as I’d like to brag that my child is a superstar, which of course we think she is, it has a lot to do with the fact she is carried a lot. A baby who is vertical a lot learns how to keep their balance faster than those who are in a container and/or on their backs a lot. That’s what I’ve read, and now I’ve seen it for my own eyes. Sophie is not afraid of heights, in fact, I was holding her upside down the other day and it does not phase her at all. I see her grab my shirt or hair if she in anyway feels she needs to steady herself, adding to her balance and also her strength. Thus, perfecting rolling over early. Now that she knows how, she does it all the time. Just this morning while I was changing her diaper at 4am, she rolled onto her stomach, back and then onto her stomach again. She’s quite impressed with herself.

The Naturopathic Doctor says she looks healthy, so that is a relief. We got her to show us how to do constitutional hydrotherapy for if she is ever sick or has a fever (not to be done with lung infections, however). This is placing hot towels on the chest and back and then swapping them out for cold towels…think of it like dunking into a cold bath them a warm bath like at the spa in Europe…it will bring the fever to their toes, so to speak. A way to control the fever rather than suppressing it with drugs. It also boosts the immune system.

She also started her on a homeopathic for her hiccups. Hiccups are associated with nervousness, something she has inherited from her dad. So Rick also has the same homeopathic, in a different dose. We’ll see if in 5 days it works; she got the hiccups directly after I gave her a dose, but that is a good sign as it may mean it is aggravating her symptoms, after which they should get better. If not, there is other remedies to try. She picked this one based on observation symptoms we could tell her, which is hard to do on a baby, so some trial & error may be called for.

I also got some supplements for lactation (also a prenatal supplement) and some Royal Jelly as it is high in B vitamins for the post partum hair loss. I don’t know if it’s working yet or not, I’m washing my hair tonight so if there is less in the tub that should be a good sign. I do notice my hair is back to looking full and shiny. Lately it has been looking rather thin & lacklustre. It also would get really oily after only a day, and I can go several days without washing my hair usually!

Other than that, back on the nettle tea three times a day for the iron, which is fine by me I love this soothing herbal tea. We still are not going to bother with vitamin D for Soph. There is vitamin D3 in my supplements and she and I are very healthy, I got a lot of sun this past summer which is actually where it counts. We also still give her naked time in the bathroom when it is really sunny. The health community sometimes panics when it comes to new treatments for illnesses.

Okay, someone is asleep, and back to bed I go!

…is she ready for a Gap Kids ad or what??? LOL!

It has been one hectic, crazy two months! By crazy I mean lots of silly faces, lots of growth spurts, and lots of guests! I feel like Sophie is SO BIG now that she is approaching 4 months. That little grin greets me every morning and it’s impossible to wake up cranky when you see that big, toothless grin staring up at you. Then I look at her healthy, plump baby body, in all of its perfection: so smooth, & soft, and I cannot believe that she is not this little fragile six pound package anymore. She can support her head fully now; I no longer have to cradle her in two places when I carry her. She is ready to turn over any day now…she just about has it; and even though she can’t crawl yet, she can squirm around and move around a startling distance. She babbles a lot and Mom and I are convinced she will talk early (my own mother,w as talking fluently when she was 10 minths old!). She will mimic the sound your voice makes to certain words, like a parrot. She can “say” Hello, A-choo, and the other day when Rick was reading to her, she mimicked “The End” after he said it. While mom was here, she said “hello” so clear as day we both looked at each other, shocked. Since other people have witnessed it, I know I am not just hallucinating or wishful thinking. I don’t count these as words yet, but it is so darn cute! Mom also pointed out she cries out, saying, “Nay” (as it is spelled), which is Mom in Filipino…”Nanay” being Mother (pronounced nan-nigh…rhymes with tie…). That only makes her crying even more endearing to me.

Her Christening, First Christmas, meeting her Grandparents…it all happened so fast and in a flash. We are having such a good time, although feeling a bit exhausted from all the guests. We are relieved to have the holidays over and feel great things ahead for 2008! Doesn’t January feel so fresh? I always feel a bit sad & melancholy on New Years Eve, but after the holidays get officially wrapped up, January just feels like a fresh start.

Anyway, my time is limited these days, so on with a few pictures that you missed while I have been tending to family business:

Some of you have seen these moody pix of Soph taken Nov 23rd, when she was 2 months old. Don’t you love the funky hair? I’m tempted to get my stylist to give me the same ‘do…:)

These pictures were taken at her Christening, on December 16th, at our little parish, St. Patrick of the Island. My mom came to attend, and we planned for a big party after. Only, we ended up getting the worst snowfall in 25 years, and we didn’t even know if we would make it to the church! The snow was falling so fast, there were cars stuck in the road from the drifting snow banks! We did make it and so did her God parents. Although we cancelled the party the she’s Baptised and that’s all that matters. Looking back on it, it certainly made for a memorable occasion. I know our parish priest, Fr. Jerome will never forget it! We never did reschedule her party…just too much going on in the holidays. One of these days…

Getting ready for a ride in the car, Dec. 26th:

I love her organic sherpa bunting, from Kate Quinn Organics, Seattle.

Reading books with Daddy, Dec. 28th. One of our favourites, “Everyone Poops”. :)

Adorable pic of Chatouille, with one of Sophie’s books!

That’s it for now! I must be off to bed before the little one realizes I am gone. :)

So Sophie had her 2 month Dr’s appointment Monday and passed with flying colours. I so cannot believe that she is 8 weeks old already. Sheesh! Part of me is happy to be out of the Post Partum period…despite the sore boobs from time to time I feel relatively back to normal. But I think I will always miss those first few days where she was so preciously tiny.

So we dodged the first vaccine bullet. It actually wasn’t very hard. We’re still seeing Dr. Solomon as Perle is still away and other than her mandatory endorsement for it, she wasn’t very pushy at all on the subject. She even suggested we could wait and do it when she is three even four months if we want. My strategy with the Doctors is to be very non-aggressive so they think we are still undecided on the issue and ask a lot of questions even though I know the answers. We’ll have to take her to see Anne-Hélène soon (Naturopathic Doctor) so to get a plan in place for when we do decide to vaccinate.

Anyway, Dr. Solomon asked if she got any tummy time, and I advised that she is pretty good with picking up her head and turning it side to side independently. So, when she put her on her tummy to see for herself she was amazed! Sophie is very strong and can already prop herself up on her elbows, which according to the doctor is far advanced for a two month old. She even rolled over in this position which made the Doctor go “Wow”. Powered by breast milk! :)

Speaking of breast feeding, the doctor also looked at me since I had been suffering from what I suspected was a plugged milk duct since Thursday. Can I say more breast feeding hell??? Not only did I have a hard painful lump in my left breast, it was excruciating to feed her on that side. And guess what the best course of action is for a plug duct? Nurse, nurse, nurse constantly on the affected side. Her 3am feeding Monday morning had me sobbing. Not to mention the paranoia of developing an infection called Mastitis, which most of the time happens when a plugged duct is not unplugged. I have been popping garlic pills like there is no tomorrow to hopefully keep away the infection. Anyway, the doctor didn’t seem to be too concerned about it, neither did my lactation consultant over the weekend, and by Monday night, the feeding got less painful and the swelling has decreased to almost nothing now. Breastfeeding is nothing less than a full time job, but she is obviously reaping the benefits. I’m so far in now I can’t stop. :)

So our little Peanut is healthy, happy. She smiles at us now, and babbles along while we read her books. Virgo babies are known to talk early, so we shall see!

No more Dr’s appointments until January. Next up…her Baptism!

As Bon Jovi would say…heh heh…sometimes these days I feel like I am living on a prayer!

Sophie is 3 weeks old today. That also means that I am half way through the 6 week post partum period. That is quite a milestone; I can’t believe it is three weeks already, but then again, I have learned and been through so much in three weeks!

So today, two important things had to be done. The first was Sophie’s 1st Doctor’s appt. Perle is away for about 6 weeks so we saw Dr. Solomon. She is a very nice doctor, and didn’t hound us about passing on the Vitamin D supplement for her. She has put on an adequate amount of weight (weighs just under 8 lbs now) which is good news for a breast feeding mom who can’t really tell how much she’s eating (although I wasn’t surprised, she feels heavier to me). She is still a bit jaundice, but the doctor is not concerned. We will continue to put her in the window when it is sunny to help break down the bilirubin. So pretty much an uneventful appt. Her next one is in 5 weeks when she is 2 months old; where we get to fend off the 2 month booster. Oh joy. At least it will be with this doctor again; she already knows that we are not keen on vaccinating her until she is older.

Also today, we had to do her 21-day old genetic test, which is pretty much a urine test for babies. You have to put this absorbent pad into the diaper and wait until it gets saturated. Then, you press it on this felt pad, and then mail it to the government once it’s dry. I don’t know if this is standard practice in every province now, but I had never heard of it before. There is a high instance of certain genetic abnormalities in the French and Jewish communities (sickle cell anemia being one) so I wouldn’t be surprised if it is a test only done here in Québec.

Anyway, the trick is to catch pipi only, sans caca. Luckily Soph had a huge poo that morning, so I knew she would not have another one for awhile. After our nap this afternoon, I removed the pad and pressed away. We’ll mail it tomorrow along with her birth registration. Tonight she is back sans couch, I hate having her in diapers all the time; esp. the disposable kind. She is so petite, the gdiapers are still too big for her, even though they are the small kind.

Here she is tonight after another satisfying meal. :) Followed by a hand in the face, annoyed by the green night vision light on the camera. :)

As of Thanksgiving Sunday, I had not been out of the house in two and a half weeks. So wasn’t I elated when the sun was shining, and I was feeling quite good…so Rick took us out for a little outing. Sophie loves the car; I think it will prove to be useful when she has her fussier periods.

The cats are slowly warming up to Sophie. Here’s Chatouille next to her while we get ready to leave…

gee…she looks impressed, eh? Hee!

Crusin’ down the highway; sleepin’ in the car…

Satisfied after stopping for a bit to eat…

What a great day; even if we were only out for a couple of hours!

Miss Sophie is one-week old already! I am glad that all I have to do these days is to tend to her needs, she will grow up so fast!

She is an extremely easy baby, but it has not been without its frustrations. Her feeding is very good; she eats, is satisfied, goes back to sleep. During the day she wants to nurse every couple of hours; at night every 3-4 hours. So for her, it’s going great. For me, it’s rather painful. I had a series of bad latches this weekend just from trial and error, and that leads to being very sore. It is getting better day by day, but today I just started weeping about it (crying for no reason happens just because of the whole hormonal thing, couple that with my frustration with myself…). I just felt like I was letting her down; I have done everything as naturally as possible for her benefit, and done it well at that. So to not do this perfectly, well, I just feel so guilty.

The thing is, this is common and will go away, but I can’t help but feel like I am the only mother who has this issue. Formula is just not an option for me; the benefits are far too important. So I bravely move forward. I certainly feel better about it tonight. I am lucky to have a really patient baby; she could get really upset with me for taking so long to get her to latch (anticipating the pain) but she never goes into the ugly cry. I think if this is the only problem I have I am lucky.

She also gets hiccups a lot; in fact, she got them a lot in utero too! I used to feel them all the time, it was weird. She sometimes can get frustrated when those are strong and fuss a bit. I just rock her, rub her back or nurse her, and they seem to go away quite quickly. I say she inherited daddy’s hiccups..Rick also gets chronic hiccups. Hee! :)

She and I are getting a good rhythm with the overnight feedings. I nap with her on the couch for an hour or so around 11pm, then nurse her, and head to bed around 2am. By 5:30 or so she wants to be fed again, and then again at 8:30-9am. I sleep easily between those times, and I think because I have started doing the EC cues, she doesn’t need a diaper change in the night (right now I decided to diaper her at night because of my breast feeding frustrations, I didn’t want to have to deal with her elimination at night when I was struggling with that. I figure one disposable diaper a day is pretty darn good environmentally speaking). After breakfast at 9, we sleep for an hour or so…and I am feeling very well rested. At his point, Rick doesn’t even have to get up in the middle of the night. I consider us very lucky…but again, that’s the the beauty of natural child birth; a non-fussy baby.

I know all these painful things I do for her is worth it in the long run, so I will stick it out. I wouldn’t trade her in for the world!

So we’ve been engaged for almost 2 weeks now and we seem to be settling into the new title well. It is kind of weird to use the word fiance to someone you have referred to as “my boyfriend/girlfriend” or “my partner” for almost 4 years. Even stranger to say “husband/wife”! Yeow, I feel old. ;)

We haven’t yet decided on a date except that it will be in the latter part of May. Our actual anniversary of when we officially started dating is May 30th – so the closest to this date we can get. We toyed with the idea of getting married THIS May. We both aren’t big on the idea of a long engagement – I mean, if you made the decision, what the hell are you waiting for?! But, in a practical sense, it will have to be NEXT May. I’m really not keen on a 15 month engagement, but this will give us a chance to have the wedding paid in full and give all our out of province family & friends a chance to plan to come.

The extra money the extra time will bring will be a blessing. Although we are not keen on a long engagement, we are even LESS keen on a half-assed wedding. ;) I’m not saying it will be extravagant, because that is in neither of our personalities, but we want to be free to invite as many people we want and that everyone will be comfortable, well fed and well entertained!

Right now, we are just trying to contact our close family and friends with the news. It has proven to be more exhausting than I ever realized. Screw it — I’ll send out engagement announcement cards. ;) They can double as “save the date” cards anyway. Plus we are toying with the idea of an engagement party so…they may even be invitations.