A Year in Review and Christmas Fun!

As 2011 draws to a close, I thought it'd be appropriate to reflect on the year we've had as a family. Yes, it's been one of up's and down's considering our little Sophie, but it's been such an enriching journey. And, in the end, isn't that what Christ means for us? He throws us curveballs every once in a while to build us up, right? What's important is that we rest in knowing our life circumstances are all in His hands, and he intends each one for His purposes so we're better equipped to serve Him. How exhilarating!

Sophie is now 7 months old and she's an absolute joy! Yes, there are days when the teething fussiness gets overwhelming, but the older she gets the more fun she is...as any mom knows when they have a growing babe. We've had many, many highlights over the past 7 months, but two stand out in particular. The first being an awesome day outing to Ikea during which Sophie was an absolute dream! She managed particularly well, napped in her car seat throughout the day, and even enjoyed lunch with Mom and Dad in the Ikea restaurant. Yes!! Victory!! Mat and I were just elated. When you have a babe that keeps you home much of the time, experiences of success are all the more exciting. Here's Sophie at Ikea...

Our second highlight was Christmas. With so many family coming and going, Sophie rarely played strange, but she enjoyed having so many fun people to look at and listen to. She really enjoyed opening presents...even if she did try to eat some of the wrapping paper! Sophie is one lucky girl; she received lots of beautiful gifts.

Here's a shot of Sophie and her twin cousins at Christmas...yes, they have matching outfits just to up the cuteness factor a bit. :)

It's been quite the year of emotions. Something changes in you when God blesses you with a child, you look at life differently, and for that I'm thankful.

The Dreaded Roadtrip

This one has been in the works for a while now...sorry for the delay!

It might come as no surprise that Sophie dislikes the car seat. In fact, she dislikes the car seat AND the car, unlike most babies. It's gotta be something about being confined for too long...or at least that's the theory. Prior to little Sophie's arrival, I (ignorantly) thought I'd be able to pack up the car with babe and hit the road to visit my mom in Kitchener whenever...was I ever wrong! Roadtrips with Sophie really have become dreaded. Now, I must give my daughter credit, because she has surprised me with two peaceful trips in the past 6 months, but her track record still isn't good. Here's some details on a couple of our beloved trips...

My mom and I now laughingly recall one such nightmare-ish road trip from Tillsonburg to Kitchener on our way back from visiting Great Grandma. Sophie was nearly 4 months old, it was late evening and, much to our disappointment, Sophie didn't want to fall asleep during the car ride. Instead, she felt it necessary to loudly voice her discontent. So much so that she was sweating and turning rather red in the face. Then...it happened...we started seeing break lights. Yup, caught in traffic as a result of construction...YAY! The construction delayed our trip by 30 minutes...some of the most trying 30 minutes of my life. No amount of rocking, singing, forced soother useage or white noise was calming this kid down. Thank goodness my mother is one of those patient, calm types. :) 

My most memorable trip was one where I was driving back from Kitchener in mid-July...yeah, you can probably guess what happened. It was reportedly the hottest day of the year so far, and I was driving alone with Sophie, so many stops (3...to be exact) had to be made. It took me a whole three hours to arrive back in Barrie when the trip should have only taken me an hour and 45 minutes. Good thing the radio cranks up loud, and the local Christian stations in Kitchener and Barrie kept me sane and focused! 

During those trips I really thought I was going to go nuts! However, lots of prayer, calming telephone calls to my husband, and patience got me through. Now, I can look back and laugh (sorta...) at those trips because Sophie has calmed down significantly while on route (thanks to homeopathics http://www.kids0-9.ca/calm_syrup.html...) and our road trips have become much more peaceful (for the most part...)

Ever been on a trying road trip with a little one? What kept you calm and focused on the road? 

Kitchen Nightmares...

Parenting an overly fussy baby proves to have an impact on the overall quality of the parents' meals on a regular basis...and here's why...

On more than one occasion, Mat has come home to a less-than-stellar meal after working a long day at the shop...poor guy! With Sophie around, over the past five (and a bit) months, meal preparation has become a practice in quick and convenient. (And, no, I will not feed my family TV dinners on a regular basis...) 

When Sophie needs something, such as a diaper change, she needs it N-O-W. So, when preparing meals, I've often become sidetracked with helping Sophie and all-too-frequently burn, boil over or overcook whatever is being prepared. Whoops!! In fact, just last week I completely destroyed what were to be some seriously delicious mexican sausages. I thought putting the grill on low would gently cook the sausages while I dealt with the little one...wrong! 

My most admirable kitchen nightmare materialized when I tried to make strawberry jam. Yeah...for those of you that have made jam, you can only guess what happened. I left the strawberry, pectin and sugar mixture in the pot on medium, went around the corner to help Sophie, and come back to a boiled-over mess on the stovetop. WOW...go me!! That stuff boils over fast! Thankfully, we have a glass top, so it's not like the stovetop was completely ruined with hard, crusty, sugary, strawberry goop. Mathieu came home to the crusty mess and proceeded to scrape off the hardened goop from the glass with a razor. Ingenious idea...what a GOOD man!! Told ya he was handy, didn't I! In the end, all was not lost, we still got some yummy jars of strawberry jam...it's just strawberry jam with a bit of a story behind it!  

And whoever said eating a very well done steak or extra mushy pasta would hurt ya?! :) 

Auntie Josée!

While we're on the topic of acknowledging special people involved in Sophie's life, I can't forget to mention someone else who's had a profound impact in shaping me as a mom over the past five months, and she's also put up with a lot of grief from Sophie along the way too!

God sure knew what he was doing when he blessed Josée, my sister in law, and I with nearly simultaneous pregnancies. I was due late May and Josée in mid-June. Turns out, Josée had a double blessing...twins! The result: three beautiful girls born exactly 2.5 weeks of each other and two mommies who get to go through the trying baby stage together! Yipeeee!!

The night before Sophie was born, a very pregnant Josée came over to our house and gave me just the pick-me-up I needed to push through Sophie's labour and birth the next day, even though it wasn't exactly the birth I'd wanted. We prayed together and put my mind at ease so I could go to sleep knowing God's hand was still over our situation and it was going to turn out to serve His purposes. The most thoughtful thing she did was message me Philippians 4:13, "I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength", the morning we were going to the hospital to have our baby girl. What an encouragement! All that day, I knew Josée was praying for me and cheering me on from home.

Josée and I get together frequently and, you guessed it, we live the (baby) dream. With three babies under 6 months and a toddler (Kaela and Averie's older brother, Levi), we have tons of chaotic fun! We've recently started a new tradition, Friday lunch get togethers...and what fun we have! We chat, eat yummy food and enjoy our babes. Yes, there's lots of crying, diaper changes and baby feedings (often before mommy feeding), but that's just the season of life we're in and we're so blessed to be enjoying it together.

Like I said, God knew what he was doing when he allowed us to be "preggos" and mommies of new babies together. Josée has been such an encouragement to me, and I'm so very thankful for her and her calm and welcoming nature that sets my mind at ease when I've had a difficult time with Sophie. Love you, Jos!!

Josée and I at the end of April, both very pregnant and very happy!

My Partner in Crime (oh, I meant Parenting...)

If you're ever in a pinch and in need of a good helping hand, Mathieu is your guy. Somehow, he knows how to fix anything you put in front of him, and if he doesn't, he's also very skilled at the game of trial and error. He's also a great cook, baker, mechanic, comedian and, most importantly, he's a great Dad. I'm lucky enough to call Mat my husband, and Sophie is the lucky little girl who gets to call Mat her Daddy.

Thankfully, Mat and I also make a great team, and when it comes to parenting Sophie a great team is exactly what's needed! We've tackled the torturous bathtimes, the middle-of-the-night-less-than-conscious diaper changes, and anxiety provoking road trips all with great success. Without Mat, I honestly don't know how I would have maintained my sanity the past 5 months!!

Mat's latest heroic feat has been what he lovingly calls "Sophie duty". Since Sophie is still waking up fairly frequently thoughout the night for diaper changes and feedings (usually 3-4 times a night), Mat decided about a month ago that he'd take on Sophie throughout the night and only wake me in order to feed her. Let me tell you, his efforts have been a true blessing! After four months of frequent night waking, I was getting pretty exhausted. Now, I'm a much happier mamma!

Mat is a great "Partner in Parenting", and I look forward to many years of parenting alongside him. He's taught me much about patience and he's dreamed up some pretty strategic approaches to taking on Sophie, and for all of this I love him so much! Sophie is blessed to have him as her Daddy! :-)

The Importance of the NAP

Sophie is a chronic napper...and I mean that in a good way. Without regular naps, our little Sophie becomes awfully cranky and, literally, inconsolable at times. Sleep deprivation and Sophie just don't get along. In fact, without her naps, she is incredibly fussy and won't even eat nurse even though it may be time according to her regular schedule! What's especially important for her is that she nap in a quiet room without much commotion going on around her, so where ever we go we must have a place for her to take her hourly time out. So, here's my chance to say "thanks" to anyone who's ever lent us their bedroom for a couple hours while we were visiting!

What about the car, you ask? As mentioned previously, no, she doesn't nap in the car easily, like other babies do. On Thanksgiving weekend we went on a lot of road trips and these trips were some of the first where Sophie actually napped in the car. (With her soother in, rain noise maker on.) THANK GOODNESS!

I've been doing some research on "overly sensitive"/"touchy babies" and I've come to learn that sensitive babies become over-stimulated very, very fast. So, considering this, I can safely conclude that Sophie needs to maintain her every 60-90 minute nap schedule in order to unwind and desensitize. With the rain noise maker, she is able to block out external stimuli and will nod off easily eventually. In order to unwind, Sophie still needs to be swaddled as well so she does not stimulate herself with her hands; without her swaddle, she'll proceed to move her arms up and down or she'll scratch at the fabric of the sheets. (She's a tummy sleeper.)

So, if you're a mommy or daddy of a sensitive babe, try a consistent nap schedule. We've been following the 90-Minute Sleep Program for the most part. (http://www.amazon.ca/90-Minute-Baby-Sleep-Program-Natural/dp/0761143114) Sometimes, she becomes fussy and overstimulated prior to the 90 minute mark, so we just put her down anyways, but the philosophy behind it is the same. Let me know how it works out for you if you decide to give it a try. :)

In this whole process, it's funny how God provides us with little trials along the way to teach us much. Something as simple as sleep has taught Mathieu and myself so much! With consistent napping, Sophie has become a much happier baby. In turn, we've learned PATIENCE and have been filled with JOY because we've had the chance to truly enjoy our happy little girl! I love the verse in James 1:2-3, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing your faith produces perseverance".

In the beginning, we resisted and became angry at Sophie's little outbursts. I thought, how could this child possibly need this much sleep?! But, in the end, we've surrendered to what our baby needs and we've come through this a stronger family because we've just learned to surrender and be patient...our lives have been enriched! :)

Until our next adventure,
Make the most of this day you've been blessed with!

The Mad Dash Grocery Run & the Glory of the Drive Thru

Soother in hand? Check. Bunny toy? Check. Fresh diaper? Check.White noise maker? Check. HUH?! Yeah, you heard me correctly...going on a routine grocery trip requires a whole lot of "stuff" to ensure Sophie doesn't have a meltdown in the middle of the grocery store, including a white noise maker app that I've conveniently installed on my iPhone. We place the phone inside her car seat if she starts getting fussy because it helps her calm down. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Now, here's the key: said grocery trips are squeezed in Sophie's tight "window of agreeableness" since she basically has an hour of good behaviour (read: minimal fussing) before the meltdown commences. This kid needs naps, frequently. No joke. And, what makes it even more complicated, is that she will not, under nooo circumstances, sleep in her car seat. No, not even in the car.

Grocery trips have become a two-person operation between Mat and myself, and for good reason. People tend you look at you strangely if your kid is screaming and you're not remedying the situation ASAP; so, to avoid a World War 3 catastrophe, one of us will promptly take Sophie to the car, lock ourselves inside, and pray she calms down, while the other completes the shopping in record time. Then we'll race home so she can nap. Yipee! Mission accomplished...until next week.

As a result, Sophie and I have really come to appreciate the wonderful invention, the drive thru. Mathieu is an obsessive milk fanatic, so we go through a lot of milk, and I'd have to be running to the grocery store 2-3 times a week if it wasn't for Kawartha Dairy. What makes it even better is they have a DRIVE THRU!! Sophie and I make regular trips through the drive thru at Karartha. Sasha comes along too so she can get a doggy cone. The staff there have come to know me as the one with screaming kid in the back...they've even asked me to come to the window to give my order because they couldn't hear me over Sophie...hehe! Oh, the blessings of motherhood! :-)

Our first 5 months revealed

When labour didn't quite begin as it should, I should have known...

I began my journey of motherhood on May 22nd at 6:04pm with labour (sorta) starting a mere 64.5 hours earlier on Friday, May 20th at 1:30am. I had PROM, or Premature Rupture of Membranes, which resulted in only half of my membranes rupturing, and thus causing ineffective and sporadic contractions for the next 48+ hours. On top of all that, I had to have antibiotics given every four hours until Sophie was born...even throughout the night. We had planned a water birth at home. A nice, calm, relaxing (huh?) homebirth attended by my midwives. I began to realize, when contractions hadn't gone into full force by Saturday morning, that I was going to have anything but a nice, calm, relaxing homebirth...

In the end, Sophie's birth was a hospital birth, a far cry from the "birth plan" I'd set out to have, but that doesn't really matter. What matters is what we take from the experiences God brings into our lives. No, I didn't get the birth I wanted (who does?!), but what I did get was a weekend full of love, support and encouragement from those around me. A faith-inspiring kind of weekend that ended with the birth of a precious blessing that I'm still in awe of.

Sophie's First Few Weeks...then things got more interesting.

The first few weeks of Sophie's life are a bit of a daze, to me at least, but what I do know is that she was a pretty "typical" sort of baby. Around three-four weeks of age, Sophie began to show her "true colours", as I like to call them. She began to get fussier, she cried a lot, and was extremely sensitive to changes in her environment. She began to have a preference for how and where I nursed her, and she would get herself into hysterical fits if we left the house or if she was held by someone other than mom or dad. The baby whisperer book (http://www.amazon.ca/Secrets-Baby-Whisperer-Connect-Communicate/dp/0345479092) I later read, by Tracy Hogg, describes her as a "touchy" baby...and that she is! "These babies love structure and predictability - no hidden surprises." Thanks for the heads up, Tracy.

At our six week midwife appointment, our little bundle of joy (or not-so-much) was diagnosed with colic. So, whatever she had/has, she's a sensitive little one who will voice her discomforts very readily! Below, is Sophie at her six week appointment...yeah, not so happy. Good thing the midwives didn't mind!

This blog.

In essence, my blog is going to delve into life with Sophie. What parenting a sensitive baby is all about, and how I've had to rely on my faith to pick me up and carry me through. It's no secret that there are fussy babies in the world, but no one wants to talk about them, so this is a place where I'm open to discussing it. Now that I'm a mom, I've come to realize that it's almost as if society expects a quiet, calm little babe who will sleep anywhere and everywhere and is smiley and happy the rest of the time. Seriously, no one wants to hold a crabby baby. Here, I'm going to dive into the up's, the down's and the of joy that come with having a baby who is less than textbook, and how I came to have the strength to face each day. 

Sophie's name means wisdom, so I'll sign off today's post with this, 

"She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue" - Proverbs 31:26
Daily, Mathieu and I are in awe of what Sophie has taught us the past five months. Her "touchy" personality has brought Mat and I together as a team in ways we could have never thought possible. (Sweet, eh?!)