Tuesday 18 April 2017

BAD MOM'S...UNITE!


Something I've been trying to work on is being judge-y. Not only of others but myself. I am my own worst critic, but I think most people are. Before I had Rory I judged other mom's all of the time.

Thursday 2 March 2017

I AM NOT A TREE









































Lately, I've been doing a lot of thinking about my professional goals and such. I graduated nursing almost three years ago but moving, maternity leave and jumping from job to job has been hard on my professional life and my career has lacked consistency. Sometimes, I feel like I just haven't been committed enough. Goals seems so out of reach sometimes, laziness sets in and excuses are made. SO many excuses. "I don't have enough money and I don't have enough time," are probably my most common.

I've come to realize these are horrible excuses, that shouldn't be excuses at all. Money is fluid and will come and go throughout life and time is something that will always escape us. But rather than trying to do the impossible and prevent time from moving, I can try to live an intentional life and cut out the excess noise/distractions. Not to make time, but to make space for more important things that serve myself and my family.

Professional goals this year that I want to accomplish are getting my Perinatal Nursing Certificate and start the journey of becoming both a Birth and Postpartum Doula. Now that my maternity leave is coming to an end, it feels good to direct my focus towards this and I am going to dive in head first.

Im interested to know how others have juggled being a working mother and wife while taking on classes/school?

Saturday 25 February 2017

TEN MONTHS + MAMA GUILT



I've been pretty absent from this space lately. I guess I just haven't had much time to write and nothing super significant has happened as of recent except for the other day.

Friday 3 February 2017

DATING MY HUSBAND


Last night, I decided to start dating my husband again. Andrew's my best friend, the love of my life, my RIDE OR DIE. But we just haven't been able to get it together lately romantically. To be honest, we are both utterly exhausted at the end of the day and we just want to tap out.

Tuesday 31 January 2017

LOOKING AHEAD

A little snap from this morning, still in our pajamas watching the snow fall before running a warm bath for Rory. I just bought a slew of bath toys, a bath mat and a bath faucet cover online yesterday so I am excited for those to arrive soon.

Wednesday 25 January 2017

CABIN FEVER


Man, I am so glad I bought Rory that brand new snow suit and baby sled for Christmas....

Tuesday 24 January 2017

NINE MONTHS + RORY'S BIRTH STORY




Yesterday marked nine months or 39 weeks + 2 days of Rory being earth side. Exactly one more week to go until he's been out of my womb for as long as he was in (40 weeks + 2 days). I truly don't know where the time has went. Everyday he is doing something new, and everyday he looks bigger and older.

Monday 23 January 2017

EASY CHEESY SWEET POTATO SOUP


I am definitely not a good cook. I prefer to eat out, I prefer to order take out and I prefer buying those amazing "ready for the oven" seasoned meat dishes from Costco.  But I am trying to cook and bake a bit more for my family.

Thursday 19 January 2017

OUR BREASTFEEDING JOURNEY


I knew before Rory was born that I was going to breastfeed if physiologically able. I wanted so desperately to provide food for my baby and I wanted to have that bonding relationship. Not to mention, being a nurse I was educated on all the benefits for both mother and baby.

Tuesday 17 January 2017

BABY MUST HAVES

The amount of baby gear out there is endless and so overwhelming. Every baby is different and every baby has different preferences but I decided to compile a list of the things we used most with Rory and some I wish we had bought.  I hope this helps out anyone who is pregnant or planning to have a baby in the future.

But honestly Rory likes to play with anything that isn't his. Cords, cell phones and remotes are his favourite lately. That little devil.

What are some of your baby must haves?


1. Flamingo Baby Organics Swaddles The softest swaddles to wrap your baby in. Rory loved being swaddled up tight to sleep for the first few months, and their handmade by an Ontario mama!

2. Solly Baby Wrap I cannot tell you how much this came in handy. The wrap can be used until your baby is 1 year old but I found it was best when he was small. It allowed me to keep him close while doing other things around the house. It was always my go-to when Rory was crying a lot and when I needed him to sleep/nap. I took him for walks in this ALL the time.

3. Jolly Jumper We soon learned that one of Rory's favourite things to do is jump. So at 4 months old we got a jolly jumper for him. The stand takes up a lot of room, but if you have the proper doorway you can get that option instead. He loves it, and it keeps him occupied and smiling.

4. Leaf Swing by Nuna Now this is something I WISH we had. We had a bouncer that we used ALL the time. I used it inside but I also brought it outside all time during the summer months when Rory wasn't mobile yet. The only problem with it was that it didn't rock, bounce or sway on it's own. We had to do it with our hand/foot. For our next baby, I am definitely investing in something like this. Although, on the pricey side I think it's WELL worth it.

5. Moses Basket by Jolly Jumper Because I was breastfeeding, I wanted to have Rory in our room with us for the first few months to feed on demand. This bassinet was great. We had the espresso wood rocker stand and slightly different pattern but this one is very cute as well and gender neutral.

6. Dock-A-Tot This is also something I WISH I had. I had no idea about this product until recently, and I really wish I had one when Rory was younger. There are so many times where you just need to put the baby down and go do something, and I can't even tell you how many times I wish we had something like this for going to the park or even in the backyard.

7, Ergobaby Four Position 360 Baby Carrier We purchased this a little later on as we had a different structured carrier in the beginning that lacked support and we needed to switch to something more supportive. This carrier is amazing and my husband likes it too. I find using a carrier has worked so well for us, its quick and convenient and Rory is happiest when he is being held/strapped to us.

8. IKEA - LEKA Baby Gym This was a super inexpensive find from IKEA, and Rory played with this a lot. I always popped him under this gym right in the morning so I could just sit on the couch and enjoy my morning coffee. It's a great toy to enhance motor skills and hand eye coordination.

9. Halo SleepSack - Fleece We started using these when Rory started getting out of the swaddle and rolling around. We knew we had to think of something to keep him warm at night. He really likes these and we still use it now. We live in a two-story home where it gets a bit colder up in the bedrooms so we use the fleece material to keep him extra cozy. 

B.

MEAL TIME


Breakfast: Oat cereal and one spoon of plain greek yogurt
Snack: Pieces of banana that I have to feed to him
Lunch: Fruit/vegetable puree
Snack: Star puffs that dissolve in his mouth and cookies/crackers (he barely swallows any, it mostly ends up on the floor)
Dinner: Fruit/vegetable puree

Riveting, isn't it?

Rory is practically 9 months and barely eats anything solid yet. We are constantly offering him what we are eating but it usually goes something like this:

Grabs food in his little hand.
Slowly brings food to his mouth.
Food barely grazes his lips.
He makes a disgusted face.
Raises his little hand high in the air.
On to the ground it goes into the food abyss we call our dining room floor.

Thank God we have a dog.

The battle continues.

B.



Monday 16 January 2017

REAL TALK ON FINANCIAL STRAIN

I'm going to take a minute to be honest about a pretty taboo topic. If anyone has a partner or themselves are studying for their PhD let me just start off by saying, I feel for you.
 

Saturday 14 January 2017

BATH TIME


We used to do a calming night time routine with Rory. I called it the 4 B's. Bath, book, boob, bed. About 2 months ago, Rory starting sitting up really well on his own and wanted to climb things. This
included his bathtub. :| Every time I put him in his tub he instantly tried to climb out. So I thought alright, it's time to ditch the baby tub and go to the regular bathtub. Wrong [Donald Trump voice]. I would place him in the big tub and he would be sliding all over the place, which made me super nervous and he didn't enjoy it at all. He would look up at me and cry the whole time.

Friday 13 January 2017

ANXIETY ISSUES POSTPARTUM

I think I've always been a bit of an anxious/nervous person. I don't even remember a time when I didn't bite/pick at my nails and I have always loathed public speaking. I don't think any of these things are out of the ordinary or weird. I think these characteristics are fairly common.

Thursday 12 January 2017

RORY LATELY

Oh Rory. The apple of my eye. I live and breathe Rory all day long. He is my everything. Rory is almost 9 months old. I can't even believe that he has been earth side for nearly the length of time that he was inside my belly. Rory lately:

Wednesday 11 January 2017

MOM COMPARING

Something I have been thinking a lot about lately is mom shaming/mom comparing. It's crazy that these phrases are even in our vocabulary but they are. Social media adds even more pressure to moms. Comparing yourself to another mom because her house looks like its straight out of House and Home, her baby constantly looks happy, she looks well rested with make up on and her hair freshly highlighted, they have time to do activities everyday, she has a beautiful healthy dinner on the table, a cake baking in the oven and fresh flowers in every room of the house...you know what I'm talking about here, and although it looks beautiful it all sort of just makes me want to BARF.

PROLOGUE

I've been contemplating the idea of writing a blog/journal/diary (what have you) for quite some time but I was never sure in what direction to go and the idea of a blog seemed rather daunting. Now that I'm a mother I felt the pull more than ever to begin writing and I realized I should start a journal to organize my thoughts, my ideas and memories for myself and if anyone else wants to follow along you're more than welcome too.

To introduce myself, my name is Beth and I am married to my husband Andrew and I am a new mother to our son Rory James. We reside in the Niagara region of Ontario Canada with our dog Stevie in a quaint two story home.

B.


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