Saturday, July 11, 2009
Help Has Arrived!!!
Today Little One turned 8 months old (chronological age). The above photo is from when she was 3 months old (chronological). She would have been newly born in her corrected age. She sure has come a long way. She's getting bigger! She is now 11 lbs, 4.5 oz. She's much heavier than her birth weight (980 grams...a little less than 2 lbs, 3 oz).
Read the shirt: "I'm the princess. We'll do things MY WAY".
Her little track suit. She wears this when she dances to BOOM BOOM POW.
I've been tormenting myself for the past few months just thinking about when I'm going to start Little One on solid food. Everyone keeps telling me, "Oh, she really should be eating solids now" or "She's too old to be exclusively breastfed. She needs more than just mother's milk".Then we've got the Neonatologist, whose advice I really appreciate and would consider over just anyone on the street who tells me what I should do with my baby. I mean, the Neonatologist knows about preemies and their digestive systems. She knows just how premature Little One was at birth and she tells us not to rush things. In fact, she's even asked me if I would consider exclusively breastfeeding Little One until she's a year old.
Well, Little One has been showing lots of interest in food and wanting to eat. As much as I didn't want to try her on rice cereal today, she looked ready.It may sound odd of me to say this, but this eating solids stage signals (to me, at least) an end to her "babyhood". By eating solids, she won't be dependent on me nursing her. In some ways, it makes me sad that she's growing up so quickly.
Her first taste of cereal...and she hated it! She cried and cried. She still wants Mommy's milk.
Gadget Girl is visiting us on the Island to I had a minor breakdown this morning. The baby's cheeks are so red and she's been complaining a bit. She was screaming. I had just nursed her. I hadn't even had time to shower, brush my teeth, eat breakfast...and I just broke down. I'm not the kind of person who asks others for help. I don't know why. I just never have been one to ask for help. I feel badly for Hubby because he's so busy with work. Some people say, "Oh. You don't need help. You only have one baby. That's nothing. One baby would be a breeze!".
I honestly don't know how I'm going to survive the exhaustion and having to take care of this baby who never naps during the day, get all the household chores done, all the meals cooked, all the running around helping Hubby with things on the farm (errands, fetching parts for equipment repairs, picking up seed or what not). It's just really hard. If I had the luxury of having a cleaning service come in once a week or once every two weeks, or being able to order delivery sometimes instead of making all our meals from scratch, that would be nice. If I had the luxury of having people come and watch the baby for half an hour or so, that would be great too.
I'm really nervous about Little One turning a year old. I had originally planned on teaching again when as soon as she turns one. I'm barely hanging on as it is. I don't know how I'm going to cope. How will I take care of the home, the baby, my husband, help Hubby with farm related jobs, and teach ESL students and have them with us 24-7?
I'm not helping Hubby much right now, except for running the errands and doing odd little things here and there. I haven't been driving tractor for him because I've got the baby all day and all night. Now that Gadget Girl has come to help me, maybe I can finally take a nap! I have not had a nap since before Little One was born! I've never been one for naps, but when I was pregnant I did indulge in a few naps because I was always so wiped out! People used to tell me, "When the baby sleeps, you sleep!". That would be great...if the baby slept longer than 7 minutes at a time! Then if by some miracle, she does sleep longer, that's when I get chores done.
Please tell me it won't always like this :) Don't get me wrong. Little One is a fantastic baby. She's so funny, smiley, and active!!! If all I had to do was take care of her, I'd be fine! LOL! Unfortunately, that will never be! I live on a farm and am married to a farmer. There's always a lot of work that needs to get done.
For all you Mommies out there who have two, three, four (or more!) young children, I really, truly, honestly admire and respect you! How do you do it all?!?!
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City girl moves to the country, falls in love, and marries a farmer. She tries to incorporate her city ways with her new country lifestyle and blogs to keep in touch with friends, family & students who live far, far away :) Can this city girl go country? Watch as she learns all sorts of exciting things about life on the farm and in a small rural community. *UPDATE* We are now parents! Our baby girl was born on Nov. 11, 2008 (at 28 weeks gestation- 12 weeks premature, but she's quite the trooper)!!!
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12 comments:
How do you do it all you ask...I don't.
I stopped making every meal from scratch every day. I make a couple of meals per week and make easy solution type meals the rest of the time.
I stopped cleaning the house to perfection- i do curse the mess often but there is still a mess none-the-less. There are often dishes in the sink, spilled cereal on the floor and many dust bunnies lving in our house!
Stop worrying and just breath!
Hi Chrissy, I am finally online again, but only on a friends computer at her place. Still no internet access at home yet.
Oh dear you sound stressed. I feel for all Mums. Even with all the labour saving devices there still don't seem to be enough hours in the day.
Is it possible to have someone come in each day and relieve you of some of the household chores? I had an angel come and help me for a time when we had our third and fourth child. Just an hour and a half each day made all the difference.
My 'catch cry' when there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel was "this is a relatively short period of time compared to the rest of my life".
And so it is.
But I have kept a few 'snapshots' in my mind of my tiredness and the sometimes overwhelming feeling of all the work to be done, so that I will never forget.
Good morning,
what a wonderful photography!
With regard to food, had much trouble with the Dr. here as she always said that he's too thin and should eat cake made with butter and things like that.
It is my firm believe that the parents know much better what is good for the child.
And as you can see, he's doing fine, just as your kid will be.
Please have a nice weekend.
I LOVE her shirt! I just love it! I Love it! See? I really love it!
C, don't feel so bad. It's totally OK to feel that way. In fact, if you don't feel that way, I think that would be abnormal! Hugs hugs hugs.
One mother told me (when I was having a major meltdown), that things get a bit easier as they grow older. And I must agree. Not that the responsibility of parenting gets easier! It's just that physically, we get to move about easier once they are a bit more independent.
I wish you had a mother's group or something on the island...you could use a little support right now.
It definitely does get better as they get older. Not easier for awhile, but better.
I wish she napped. I wish there was something you could do for that. My nephew doesn't nap either, and I think that was the hardest part of his babyhood on my sister. That 'zero down time' thing.
Is there any way to afford to have someone come in and help you once in awhile? Clean once or twice a week? Cook or watch L.O. so she can nap? I'm sure if there were a way to do it, you would have done it by now. Sigh.
Dina:
THANK YOU for posting this comment! :) I feel a lot better hearing this! I was actually going to call you this weekend to tell you of my girls' road trip plan to Toronto with Little One and Gadget Girl. I ended up working in the garden for a good part of the day and before I knew it, time ran out. I'll e-mail you with details :) Can't wait to see you! xo
Merinz:
Hooray for being online again! :) As for labour saving devices, I always boycotted dishwashers, but am now beginning to rethink my distaste for them! A dishwasher would come in very handy! Actually, so would a maid, a cook, a gardener...
Wishful thinking, eh? :)
I hear you loud & clear!! Before I married people would always tell me I didn't know what it was to be "busy". When I married I had an instant family with two stepchildren (they were 11 & 17 then) & I have to admit my life was much busier. But people still insisted I didn't know what busy was cuz they weren't toddlers. Now I have a 3 month old as well as the stepkids (15 & 21 now) & I am super busy. We are healthy eaters & eat most meals from scratch as well. My hubby & I are also neat freaks & keep our very neat & clean & organized. It is very hard but so far I am surviving. I have never missed a shower yet, some are rushed, but I still manage to take them. I'm a little stressed out from time to time, but surviving. And of course people want to insist I still don't know what busy is cuz I don't have twins or a toddler & an infant at the same time, etc etc. Trust me, having 3 kids, no matter what ages (for those who only have little ones trust me--teenagers are tough & will keep you very busy!)--I definitely know what busy is.
Robert:
Thank you :)
Oh, and you are so right. Parents do know they're children better than anyone else do. I guess we know in our guts what's right for our kids.
Little One has now decided that she loves cereal. It took her until her second try to realize it wasn't so bad. She still prefers milk though! :)
Louann:
Thank you so much. I had a feeling you'd understand :)
My Mom once told me, "The smaller the kids, the smaller the problems. The bigger/older they get, the bigger the problems". Oh, boy! Can't wait! LOL!
I think she meant that when our kids are babies, the things we need to deal with (not sleeping, crankiness, etc) will seem like nothing compared to what we go through when older (teenage peer pressure, etc).
we moms don't have our shit together all the time- in fact, almost never! you not only have a baby but you have a lot of other responsibilities too.don't be so hard on yourseklf chris, reallly!
one- you need to stop making everything from screatch! i have a freezsr full of frozen foods that the dh can jus toss in the microwave for a quick supper.
two- i have a cleaning service that comes in once a week to clean the house for me.
three- for the two oldest kids there is summer camp,
four- there's this thing called mothers in laws and mothers. make use of them. really it does come in handy.
five- you do way too much, i've seen you in action, and it's non stop. relax and enjoy that little one of yorus . everything else can wait.
Lily just started eating solids too and it just kills me. I agree I feel its the end of babyhood. I'm glad she getting bigger and learning new things but I'm going to miss my little baby.