Yeah I know... what happened to 2 times a week? I set myself some lofty goals in posting and so far I am falling short. Sorry.
Anyway... so this weekend is what I would call the beginning of the Christmas Season. To celebrate we went down to the town centre in Dundas for the annual tree-lighting ceremony. I grew up in Dundas and I can honestly say that I have never attended. It was time that I made up for it. Last year I had a gig so I was unable to make it. Luckily this year I had the whole weekend off so I was able to go.
Andrea, Declan and I got there around 7:00pm and the lighting was supposed to happen around 7:30pm. The Dundas Brass Band went through several renditions of Traditional Christmas songs. They had the spirit, if not the skill, but it contained just the right amount of small-town kitsch to not suck. It was nice....reminded me of various Christmas movies with people singing and enjoying the company that they were in.
Brilliantly we did not put Declan's snowpants on before we left so we had to get him dressed up while we were in the cold because his pants looked more like shorts while he was being held. It was too cold for that nonsense! Once he was all bundled up we got into the serious business of being Merry. This included two cups of warm apple cider to chase away the cold.
The warm cups of comfort were enjoyed while a small group of children were led through warbling renditions of some of my favorite Christmas tunes. To be honest I can't remember any of the songs that they sang because each child looked terrified and it was more entertaining watching them than listening to them. I am sure someone's precious snowflake will be scarred for life due that experience!
Declan enjoyed all of it. The band, the singing and the eventual tree lighting. The coup de grace was the arrival of Jolly Ole St. Nick in the back of a Firetruck. Apparently the sleigh was in the shop and Rudolph was on vacation. Oh well, the madding crowds were hilarious. Parents thrusting their kids forward into the chaos to say hi to Santa. Teenagers pushing kids away so that they could get even closer. Ah, the Christmas spirit was alive and well.
Honestly though it was a great night. Just as the Tree Lighting was taking place, big fluffy snowflakes started to fall. It really did make for a wonderful scene. I know that Andrea enjoyed it and Declan had fun listening to the music. That is all that really matters to me.
Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year and I am looking forward to sharing the rest of the season.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
It's 5:00am... shouldn't you be sleeping?
One of the things that constantly blows me away about being a parent is how it feels first thing in the morning when your child wakes you up. Last night Declan woke up at 2:00am and then again and 5:00am. His teeth are coming in and he has an ear infection that cannot be treated with antibiotics currently so he is in a lot of discomfort.
Andrea brought him into our bed to try and comfort him and it worked. The only thing that would calm him down was being snuggled up to his mummy. Every once in a while he would sit up while he was on her just to make sure that she was still there and then he would hunker back down with his head in her neck and give a little sigh.
These nights have become fewer and fewer over the last year but I can remember when he would come into bed with us and he would fall asleep on my chest. Granted this was before he weighed almost 30 pounds so it was much easier to do. He really is the most precious little guy and there is a part of me that does not want anything about this to change.
Declan started sleeping in his own bed without any problems by 3 months. We were really lucky that he was so good about being in his own room because it gave us a sense of our own space again, as well as better nights of sleep. Anyone with little ones knows it can be frustrating when you have to get up with them in the night but I don't know what we'll do when that time passes. As it stands, on nights when he actually sleeps straight through I wake up anyway just waiting for him to need us.
Andrea brought him into our bed to try and comfort him and it worked. The only thing that would calm him down was being snuggled up to his mummy. Every once in a while he would sit up while he was on her just to make sure that she was still there and then he would hunker back down with his head in her neck and give a little sigh.
These nights have become fewer and fewer over the last year but I can remember when he would come into bed with us and he would fall asleep on my chest. Granted this was before he weighed almost 30 pounds so it was much easier to do. He really is the most precious little guy and there is a part of me that does not want anything about this to change.
Declan started sleeping in his own bed without any problems by 3 months. We were really lucky that he was so good about being in his own room because it gave us a sense of our own space again, as well as better nights of sleep. Anyone with little ones knows it can be frustrating when you have to get up with them in the night but I don't know what we'll do when that time passes. As it stands, on nights when he actually sleeps straight through I wake up anyway just waiting for him to need us.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Day One
I figured that I would continue the thread from my last post. This is Day One and on with a newborn:
I slept in the next day. I probably shouldn't have but I figured I would need it. When I got to the hospital Andrea was relaxing in the room with the baby. Feeding hadn't been the easiest thing and would continue to be difficult throughout our time in the hospital. We felt as though we did not get as much support as we needed as new parents. The hospital was very "breast feed or else", and Andrea and I knew that we were going to our best to try but were open to the other options if necessary. All it would have taken was for someone to advise us that the difficulties we were experiencing were normal. It was very hard for me to watch Andrea struggle through the feedings but she persevered. Eventually, he would take to the feedings but not consistently until after we left the hospital.
I'm not sure how many people are aware of this but I was the first person to change a poopy diaper. Granted it was mercomium, which is really like tar, but it was still the first crap the boy took. Anyone who knows my penchant for being sick should realize that this was a massive achievement for me. I was proud of myself. I know that Andrea was proud of me as well.
I think that the most vivid memory I have of the whole hospital experience was when Andrea was too sleepy to stay up with Declan and the baby just would not go to sleep. I walked around the ward with Declan in the crib for at least an hour. He hadn't really fed much that day so I went into the nursery and grabbed some formula (a big no no apparently) some tubing and a bottle. I brought the baby into the family room and filled the bottle, cut a small hole in the nipple which I ran the tube through. I then ran the tube along my thumb and into Declan's mouth. He fed like that for around 30 minutes and then fell asleep finally. I brought him back to the room and fell asleep on the chair/bed that I was using. This was the first time that I felt as though I was a father. It was incredible.
I have to admit, there are things that you kind of expect from the whole child-birth experience. I was looking forward to cutting the cord and handing the baby to Andrea. I thought that the first time he looked into her eyes and then started feeding would be magical. Looking back on it I feel as though we were ripped off. I don't know who cut the cord and Andrea was so exhausted and so uncomfortable from the ordeal that those first moments were kind of lost to us. I will always remember the first time I held Declan but there will always be a twinge of guilt because I wanted to hand him back to the nurses because Andrea was so upset. After nine months of anticipation it was a bit anticlimatic.
Our little yellow baby, full of jaundice, was losing weight and Andrea was becoming increasingly convinced that she was doing something wrong and that he was not getting the nutrition that he needed. The first nurse that offered advice actually chastised us for giving the baby any formula which was unfair as no one offered the information that the whole breast milk thing was a process and the baby was indeed getting what he needed. This put us off of asking for too much help at first because we felt that the militant breast feeding culture at the hospital would look down on us if we did not give it the best try. Beside that, Andrea wanted to feed from the breast and I fully supported her decision.
It was not until one of our last days in the hospital that we were introduced to a lactation nurse who explained the process to us and then gave Andrea some pointers on how to feed the baby properly. There were so many rules that we were originally told to follow that it made it impossible to distinguish which ones were important and which weren't. For example, the first nurse told Andrea that the baby had to feed for 20 minutes one side and then 20 minutes on the second side. This was not possible as the baby was not interested in feeding for that long. We quickly decided that he could be the judge of when he was hungry and when he was not. Looking at the size of him now... I think we did okay.
After various heel pokes to see how badly jaundiced he was Andrea and I basically insisted that we wanted to go home after our 4 days in the hospital. I don't want to be too negative about the experience but it is really difficult to be comfortable and start being a family when you are constantly being intruded upon and poked and prodded. Andrea was healing up pretty well and she had started being able to walk again without much discomfort so it was decided after securing permission from our family Doctor that they would be released with a promise to go see the Doctor within a few days for a check up on Declan.
A quick aside... If you ever want to see a father lose it, try backing into his car with wife and their newborn as they try to leave the hospital. As we were leaving the underground parking at Mac someone almost did this. Had he successfully hit our car I am not sure what I would have done to him but I assure anyone reading this that it would not have been pleasant.
I slept in the next day. I probably shouldn't have but I figured I would need it. When I got to the hospital Andrea was relaxing in the room with the baby. Feeding hadn't been the easiest thing and would continue to be difficult throughout our time in the hospital. We felt as though we did not get as much support as we needed as new parents. The hospital was very "breast feed or else", and Andrea and I knew that we were going to our best to try but were open to the other options if necessary. All it would have taken was for someone to advise us that the difficulties we were experiencing were normal. It was very hard for me to watch Andrea struggle through the feedings but she persevered. Eventually, he would take to the feedings but not consistently until after we left the hospital.
I'm not sure how many people are aware of this but I was the first person to change a poopy diaper. Granted it was mercomium, which is really like tar, but it was still the first crap the boy took. Anyone who knows my penchant for being sick should realize that this was a massive achievement for me. I was proud of myself. I know that Andrea was proud of me as well.
I think that the most vivid memory I have of the whole hospital experience was when Andrea was too sleepy to stay up with Declan and the baby just would not go to sleep. I walked around the ward with Declan in the crib for at least an hour. He hadn't really fed much that day so I went into the nursery and grabbed some formula (a big no no apparently) some tubing and a bottle. I brought the baby into the family room and filled the bottle, cut a small hole in the nipple which I ran the tube through. I then ran the tube along my thumb and into Declan's mouth. He fed like that for around 30 minutes and then fell asleep finally. I brought him back to the room and fell asleep on the chair/bed that I was using. This was the first time that I felt as though I was a father. It was incredible.
I have to admit, there are things that you kind of expect from the whole child-birth experience. I was looking forward to cutting the cord and handing the baby to Andrea. I thought that the first time he looked into her eyes and then started feeding would be magical. Looking back on it I feel as though we were ripped off. I don't know who cut the cord and Andrea was so exhausted and so uncomfortable from the ordeal that those first moments were kind of lost to us. I will always remember the first time I held Declan but there will always be a twinge of guilt because I wanted to hand him back to the nurses because Andrea was so upset. After nine months of anticipation it was a bit anticlimatic.
Our little yellow baby, full of jaundice, was losing weight and Andrea was becoming increasingly convinced that she was doing something wrong and that he was not getting the nutrition that he needed. The first nurse that offered advice actually chastised us for giving the baby any formula which was unfair as no one offered the information that the whole breast milk thing was a process and the baby was indeed getting what he needed. This put us off of asking for too much help at first because we felt that the militant breast feeding culture at the hospital would look down on us if we did not give it the best try. Beside that, Andrea wanted to feed from the breast and I fully supported her decision.
It was not until one of our last days in the hospital that we were introduced to a lactation nurse who explained the process to us and then gave Andrea some pointers on how to feed the baby properly. There were so many rules that we were originally told to follow that it made it impossible to distinguish which ones were important and which weren't. For example, the first nurse told Andrea that the baby had to feed for 20 minutes one side and then 20 minutes on the second side. This was not possible as the baby was not interested in feeding for that long. We quickly decided that he could be the judge of when he was hungry and when he was not. Looking at the size of him now... I think we did okay.
After various heel pokes to see how badly jaundiced he was Andrea and I basically insisted that we wanted to go home after our 4 days in the hospital. I don't want to be too negative about the experience but it is really difficult to be comfortable and start being a family when you are constantly being intruded upon and poked and prodded. Andrea was healing up pretty well and she had started being able to walk again without much discomfort so it was decided after securing permission from our family Doctor that they would be released with a promise to go see the Doctor within a few days for a check up on Declan.
A quick aside... If you ever want to see a father lose it, try backing into his car with wife and their newborn as they try to leave the hospital. As we were leaving the underground parking at Mac someone almost did this. Had he successfully hit our car I am not sure what I would have done to him but I assure anyone reading this that it would not have been pleasant.
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