public breastfeeding

The International Breastfeeding Symbol

I love breastfeeding. I feel very grateful that I am able to breastfeed, and really, owe my success to my mom, who held my pump when I was in the hospital 10 days after Charlotte was born with complications with my gall bladder surgery. She got up in the night to pump my milk, when I was too drugged up to do it myself. She dumped it, of course, but that kept my milk going. I am so grateful for this, and she understood my deep desire to breastfeed my baby.

I find breastfeeding totally natural, and not something to be hidden away. It is a struggle at times to know if and when to cover up. When Charlotte was really little, I had to figure out how to nurse her using a blanket as a cover up because we had family at our house a lot. It was really hard to get her to latch under a blanket. I also did not feel as though I should hide in my bedroom, away from the adult conversation and company. Now, I feel as though I can nurse her fairly discreetly and do so wherever I happen to be at the time. Last week included sitting on the floor in Value Village by the changing rooms, in her wrap sling walking through Superstore and in church. I still find it most difficult however, around family or male friends that seem uncomfortable with it.

What do you do in these situations? I came across this blog post which was an interesting read. I also found this article on the mothering.com website. I struggle with the issue and wonder if it is my responsibility to try and cover up this beautiful and wonderful thing. Yes, there are sexually promiscuous images all around us, but does that excuse me from trying to cover myself up when feeding my baby? Should I try my hardest to be modest when feeding and make sure Charlotte (and my boob) stays covered? This is practically impossible and would require secluding myself as she has become quite adapt at yanking the blanket off. What do YOU do?

A tricky issue, but one I feel confronted with all the time. Especially as a mom who feeds on demand, and not according to a schedule. She might want to eat in the middle of a extended family dinner, and I feel that it is her right to do so. Tell me what you think!!

she's getting so big

We had visitors on the weekend who have a beautiful almost 3 month old girl. Seeing the girls side by side was amazing... I still think of Charlotte as a little baby, and yet she has grown so much. She is so expressive, and kind of turning into a little monkey, testing all the boundaries. I feel like I am being transformed into a parent now, I need to stop reading books about being a mom to a baby and start reading parenting books. I find myself being challenged in this new stage, and I know it will continue. She is such a happy girl and is so adventurous and social. Amazing to see her personality develop.

P.S. The drool on her dress.... I can't seem to keep up with the drool! She had just put on a new outfit for the pictures! I do love her drool bandanna... thanks SIL!

Menu Plan Monday

I am finally posting a Monday Menu Plan on Monday! Amazing...

I am starting some new things this week and also spending some time with family (and Charlotte's cousins!) for Canada Day. It will be wonderful to have a family holiday and Tim actually gets this holiday and is taking it off! Hurray!

Tomorrow I start a new Mom and Baby play group that is an extension of the group that met at the Fredericton Family Resource Center. I am thankful to continue my friendships with these amazing moms and their sweet babes. It will be a fun summer together!

Also, this week I am starting a new Bible study with my sister. We are doing the daily studies individually, weekly videos online and discussions over Skype! Thank goodness for the internet. I know I am going to grow a lot and we will grow closer in our friendship too.

So here goes, menu plan for this week!

Monday: Spaghetti, Caesar Salad and garlic baguette
(make homemade prunes and pears for Charlotte)

Tuesday: BBQ sausage and Macaroni and tuna salad

Wednesday: Leftover buffet (and Mom's night out at the pub for me!!)

Thursday: Lentil Tacos

Friday: Seafood chowder

I am going to try to make hummus this week as well. It will make a yummy lunch with whole wheat pita. Check back for the recipe and results!

Check out organizing junkie for more great menu plan ideas!

motivation

while my babe sleeps... I am faced with many chores to do and yet, no motivation to do them. So far, laundry has been tended to, and breakfast eaten, but that's about it. Oh, and Charlotte has nursed a few times, plus used the potty a few times. DH is working on a side job building a shed and I am sitting at home, coffee in hand, waiting for the cleaning inspiration fairy to come and visit me.

Our house is teeny tiny (670 square feet to be exact) which is about the same as a good sized garage. There are always piles of things everywhere and even though we have lived here for almost 2 years, some things have yet to find a home. Cleaning becomes a process of finding places for our things to go (sometimes in a box for the basement) and then actually cleaning. Especially before company. Some projects to work on this summer include: paperwork (eeek... that one is scary, and large filing cabinet needed), spice drawer (a long process to find any spice for cooking), and kitchen cupboards and drawers organized. They just don't make any sense right now, and a lot of items are sitting on the counters out of Charlotte's reach and taking up very valuable counter space for cooking.

Anyway, we have some amazing people coming to visit late this afternoon, with a beautiful baby girl which is fabulous motivation to grab a box and begin sorting. Then scrubbing. Oh, and the vacuum too. I guess I just needed a bit more coffee and some writing time to get going. Happy weekend!

missing you

My sister, Kathryn left about 20 minutes ago, and I already miss her a lot. She spent over a week out of her vacation with us, and we appreciate that so much! She helped us around the house, and spent hours with Charlotte... it's amazing how she grew to love Kathryn and wanted to spend time with her, playing with toys, and cuddling while reading stories.






I have many other pictures from our adventures this week and will post some soon! Love you and miss you sis!

fun days

Menu Planning

My sister Kathryn is here!! That is why I have been absent from the blog world. We have been having a wonderful time together. Great chats, walks, yummy food, and lots of cuddles for Charlotte. It is so nice for us to have her here, we will be sad to see her go.

Here is my menu plan for the week:

Monday: Dinner with the in-laws
Tuesday: Lentil Burgers - my sister's recipe
Wednesday: Potluck with our church "life group"
Thursday: Leftover buffet
Friday: Pizza night

Check out organizing junkie for more menu planning ideas.

10 months old.

10 months. Somehow, your birthday is in 2 short months, and I am dumbfounded. And yet, I am overjoyed, because you are here, you have changed our lives and brought so much joy to our family. In 10 months.
You love to explore and discover. Rarely do you sit and play in one spot. Curious and adventurous.
You prefer finger foods now. You feed yourself with a spoon and rarely like to be fed by someone else. You have snacks throughout the day, but breastmilk is your main source of food. You will nurse when your hungry or need to be soothed. Sometimes you just want to play, and you show me that you don't want to eat. If I make the sign for milk and you turn in to me, I know that you are hungry.

You love books. You love to turn the pages and read out loud. You love "touchy-feely" books and know exactly where to touch on the pages. You also love books with sounds, and like to press the buttons.

You love your potty and prefer that over being held close to me over the toilet to pee. The potty is a special time, I sit behind you, and usually we read together or look at a toy. You know how to climb off it when you are finished, or when you don't have to go. Sometimes I catch almost all of your pees, sometimes not many at all. We are still learning, and throughout this process I am getting to know you more. When I don't have things on my mind, or housework to do, and we are just playing and spending time together, that's when I can easily tune in to you and know when you have to go.

I love our morning snuggles, you usually wake up around 4-5 in the morning. Then you snuggle with me in bed and nurse and we usually sleep in until 8. It is wonderful, and I'm kind of glad you don't "sleep through the night".


You are becoming more and more confident standing up. It won't be long now, you will be toddling around the house.

You love to welcome daddy at the end of the day. Both you and Ava run/crawl to the door when he comes home. You give him hugs and snuggles and I bet it is his favorite part of the day.

she's climbing now...

Her favorite meal these days seems to be lunch time... prunes and pears this week. I am having a hard time with breakfast and supper but have realized that she much prefers finger foods. So this morning, it was crackers dipped in her cereal, and tonight I will try pieces of steamed vegetables and cheese. She even enjoyed small pieces of chicken this week.


so I was folding laundry yesterday....

and she started climbing the laundry basket...

it kept her amused for quite some time! She only fell once, but got right back to climbing again. of course, my first thought was to grab the camera....

life will never be the same again.

Menu Plan number 2

Well, last week went pretty well! I was somewhat surprised, actually. We did end up with too many leftovers (VERY unusual in this house) so this week I will incorporate a "leftover buffet" day. Also, I didn't get as much cooked for Charlotte as I wanted to, just two different dishes and the cubes from those frozen for later. Thursday we ate at the in-laws, so Thursday's meal was last night's meal. Here is the list for the week:

Monday: Pretzel-Crusted Chicken Fingers and Zucchini Sticks with Cheddar-Spicy Mustard Dipping Sauce
Charlotte - California Chicken

Tuesday: Chicken, Red Pepper and Cheddar Pita Chips with Homemade Guacamole
Charlotte - Creamy Avocado Dip and Veggie Sticks

Wednesday: Leftover Buffet
Charlotte - Sweet Potato, Carrot and Broccoli cube

Thursday: BBQ pork chops, salad and Baguette
Charlotte - leftover avocado dip with veggies

Friday: Leek and Potato soup
Charlotte - Leek, potato and pea cube

Check out organizing junkie for more menu planning ideas!

cottage time

Opening up my parent's cottage usually happens sometime in May, but life has been pretty busy this year. We got out today, and swept out the flies!

It's really the first time we've had Charlotte out there, she was there once in the fall to close it, but was pretty little. The cottage has always been a relaxing getaway for me, a place to get away from life, breath a little deeper and slow down. However, today I realized that this will no longer be the case for me. I don't know how mom dealt with toddlers in there! It is not a "fancy" house-like cottage, the nails from the siding actually come through the walls, there are sockets (need to bring plugs next time) and wires exposed from the heater. There are no cupboards so all cooking supplies, food and cleaning supplies are only covered by curtains! There is a busy road out front and steep stairs out back..... I just was constantly on guard the whole time. I carried her all the time outside, except on the wharf I held her to dip her feet in. And just watched her like a hawk inside. I was a little sad that my peaceful retreat will no longer be peaceful, but realize that before I know it, Charlotte will be grown up enough to enjoy it on her own. She will be fishing with daddy and probably loving the water. She will be playing croquet and doing all sorts of big kid things. I need to learn to cherish the moments we have together now!

Ava loves it too!

Fridays

Charlotte had her 9 month appointment yesterday (a little delayed) but she weighed in at 19.1 lbs and 28 inches! She certainly is growing!

I'm heading to the grand opening of this store this morning and then off for some errands. Oh, and just had my first poopy accident... need to find some baby breathable undies for my girl!

Have a great Friday :)

our family weekend

we had a fun family-filled weekend with all of Charlotte's cousins (so far...) :)


She loves her toothbrush. I mean, when nothing else will do, the toothbrush will make her calm, and quiet. It is a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

snuggles on the couch for a mommy who was still getting over that nasty cold and a girl who just needed some rest

we took the kids to Skinny's (thanks to auntie Leesa and uncle Jon for the idea) and they LOVED it. ice cream, and goats, chickens and rabbits. can't beat that.

Menu Planning

So, I am an ideas person... in fact, both Tim and I are. There are many grand ideas floating around our household and sometimes (but not always....) little action to follow. Many projects that have been started, well, you get the picture!!

I have heard of people menu planning, and I think my own mom tried it when we were kids. It's one of those ideas that sounds good in theory! However, I have decided to try it. Honestly, I am not the best cook, Tim is better than me. And he enjoys it more!! But waiting for him to cook is kind of silly when he gets home from a hard days work. And by the time he gets cleaned up and in the kitchen, it's getting pretty late. Plus I am home, and feel like it's part of my responsibilities too. Our previous system had him cooking and me doing dishes. Because he dislikes dishes immensely, and I prefer dishes to cooking. It worked well until recently - Charlotte needs her supper earlier and we need to have a night together!

So I came across a blog where the writer meal plans. And linked to hers was a blog with a whole community of menu planners! I also dislike thinking of meals on the day I need to make them, so planning should help! So I decided to take the plunge and try it. If it doesn't work, no big deal. If it does, perhaps I will reward myself and get a slow cooker on sale somewhere... this will seriously help the issue of cooking at 4 with a fussy baby clinging to my pants, her not so good time of the day.

So basically, I am going to hook myself up with this community and link to organizing junkie every Monday when I post my meal plan. I would love to hear if you meal plan and if you have any tricks about making it successful!

So here is my menu plan for this week, so far going well! (The only one I have missed is making Charlotte's second batch of food, I hope to do that tonight or tomorrow. I fed her a cube of last night's specialty tonight.)

Monday: Sweet and Sour Chicken Drumsticks, Basmati Rice and Peas
Sweet Potatoes, Carrots and Broccoli puree (homemade) for Charlotte

Tuesday: Toploin steak (BBQ'd) marinated in Italian dressing, Mashed potatoes, and roasted veggies
Potato, Leek and Pea puree for Charlotte

Wednesday: Haddock, steamed new potatoes and asparagus
same for Charlotte

Thursday: Crusted Chicken Fingers and Zucchini sticks with Cheddar - Spicy Mustard Dipping Sauce (my NEW recipe for the week, from Rachel Ray's "Yum-O" cookbook also found here)
California Chicken recipe for Charlotte made with chicken, tomato, avocado, full-fat natural yogurt, and cheddar cheese

Friday: Nanny's Taco salad
Creamy Avocado dip and steamed veggie sticks for Charlotte (and for us too!)

I used a book called "First Meals" by Annabel Karmel for the recipes for Charlotte. She has a great website I just discovered here.

I am going to leave Saturday and Sunday open for any leftovers, or easy meals (soup, sandwiches etc.)

My goal is to get a bunch of food frozen for Charlotte this week (veggies primarily) and next start making fruit dishes to freeze. Yum!

Check out organizing junkie for more menu planning ideas!