Noah @ 9 Months

With each day that passes we are getting more and more glimpses of Noah's growing personality. He is so into his big brothers now and the cutest thing is hearing all 3 of them laughing together.

Some highlights from this month:

- No new teeth. Still just 2 little bottom teeth.

- Texture! Noah now eats mostly non-pureed foods. His brothers liked seeing him eat a few plain goldfish crackers this month. We've been offering him whatever we have been eating where we can. 

- He is SO close to being mobile. He still scoots around on his bum most of the time but loves to stand at the couch or walk with you holding his fingers. He much prefers to stand and will stiffen his little body when you try to sit him down. Otherwise, he does get up on all fours but doesn't quite get the crawl yet. He can also sit up now from lying down. 

- Down to nursing 2-3 times/day. I stopped coming home from work at lunch this past week. He wasn't always interested in nursing at lunchtime anymore. It felt really weird at first and I miss him but have been enjoying having that time to do errands. He is unphased! 

Here he is in action:

$25 per month iPhone

In December we re-evaluated our budget and decided to make cuts to our cable package and cell phones. For the past couple of YEARS I’ve been investigating cell phone alternatives but service providers other than the two main providers Bell or Rogers either didn’t have good service range,  weren’t compatible with the iPhone, or data was expensive so I stuck with the status quo. In December I did some more investigating and cancelled my plan and switched to a pre-paid account with the same provider. I wanted to wait until I had used the service for a month before reporting on the switch but, in short, I’m saving a ridiculous amount of money and I’m kind of bummed I didn’t make the switch sooner.

Here is a summary of what I use my cell phone for:

Checking Facebook and Instagram Accounts

Checking my personal email

Texting (a lot!..mostly R during the day)

Taking photos. Can’t remember the last time I used our camera.

Calling people. Rarely – only if I’m going to be late somewhere or have to get in touch with someone immediately.

Where: mostly at home, sometimes at work, occasionally while out and about to check directions, coordinate plans or appointments, or to pass time when I’m waiting for appointments

For 2 years I paid $55/month (3-year contract – including cost of cell phone – iPhone4S). This is actually a really good deal from what I hear. I had unlimited social media, My10 (free unlimited Canada-wide calling with 10 contacts), 200 local calling minutes, unlimited local calling evening and weekends, and 1GB of data. No voicemail or caller ID. I almost never had additional charges. R uses his cell phone much more than I do so had an $80/month plan with unlimited Canada-wide calling and text, 2GB of data, and caller ID, voicemail. He wasn’t locked into his plan since we bought his iPhone 5 outright so he decided to try to cut back on his usage and take over the remainder of my plan to avoid early cancellation fees.

With my new pre-paid account, I pay $20.75/month and get unlimited text messaging including photo and video, caller ID, voicemail, 100MB Data, and pay $0.25/minute for local calls.  The extra $5 covered additional data and a few phone calls I made. Since I have caller ID, I can answer urgent calls and otherwise return calls from our home phone or my work phone as needed.

My only issue this month was using up all of my data in the first 2 weeks. This was mainly due to iMessaging. I never knew about iMessaging but it uses data to send messages to other iPhone users. So there I was making full use of my “unlimited” photo and video text messaging and it was using my data since it was through iMessaging rather than regular text messaging. Also other silly things like the Stocks App used up some of my data so I figured out how to turn the data off for applications like those. Generally I’ve been keeping my cellular data turned off so my phone only connects to wi-fi when it is available (at home we have unlimited internet).  I love having the ability to use data though when I’m out and about to look addresses up, etc. and now that I’ve figured out the data settings on my phone, I think the data included will suffice. A bonus is that I find myself not checking my phone as often at work or when I’m out.

By switching to pre-paid I’m saving $30/month with minimal impact to my use or enjoyment of my cell phone and with the savings from R switching over to my old plan, we’re saving $55/month combined on our cell phones.

Do you have a really good cell phone plan or do you pay an arm and a leg? Can you manage to avoid additional charges without it becoming too inconvenient?

Hello 2015!

In past years, most of my goals have focused around establishing my career (finishing school, finding a job), getting our finances in check (paying off debt, buying a house, cars, etc.), and balancing family life (including growing our family). Now that I've accomplished a lot of those goals, I can definitely pull back on efforts in those areas and refocus on other areas of life that haven't had as much attention.  This year, most of my goals are focused on myself but I hope that by working on myself, the positivity will radiate out into other areas. My goals for 2015 are:

Nurture my marriage.

Now that we're getting past the first exhausting year of babyhood with Noah and nearing having two school aged children this September, I feel like we can really focus a little more on our relationship as a couple. I have so much admiration and respect for couples who don't seem to let other priorities like kids and work get in the way. It can be so tough. This year I'd like to start prioritizing time together without the kids, pursuing collective and individual interests (we used to be fun people and we used to do fun things together and apart and it made for good conversations!), and pay more attention to physical appearance. I notice a huge boost in my confidence when I feel good about my appearance. Good fitting clothing, a nice haircut, and feeling up on personal grooming, I think, will have a positive impact on my marriage as well as likely have other benefits like feeling more professional at work. This will involve spending some time and a bit of money.

Getting back to myself.

Since I started skating again, I began to think about all of the other things I used to enjoy doing growing up and into university that over the years had been put on the back burner as I started to have more responsibilities. I used to love reading, watching movies, rollerblading, riding my bike, going to the ski hill with friends, going to interesting lectures or talks (for fun!), playing frisbee on the beach in the summer with friends, and the list goes on! This year I'm going to try to find ways to work these things back into my life. They may look a bit different now - for instance, I can start re-reading the books I loved as a child with B at night and my love of interesting lectures and talks might be more limited to seizing professional development/continuous learning opportunities but it's definitely a start. I'll also need to simplify things at home as much as I can to allow for time for these things in my life.

Focus on making emotional and physical health a priority.  

We're incredibly lucky to have health benefits through both of our work places. I can also take paid time off work to attend medical appointments etc. but we've never taken full advantage of these benefits. This year I want to prioritize health by booking and attending regular medical appointments, eating and drinking better, getting more sleep, more time to myself to relax, and staying physically active. Low weight has been something that I've struggled with for the past 5 years and I want to deal with it this year. While I am "skinny", I don't feel strong or healthy. Getting back into skating last year really made a huge difference in how I felt and I actually felt much stronger.

Make our house a home. 

Yep...still on here. I saw this 52 week complete home organization schedule floating around and I thought this was perfect for helping me to stay focused on this goal and to also tackle some of the home decor stuff at the same time as the organization.

Continue to pay off debt but not let it become stressful.

Ideally, I'd like to automate debt repayment and be able to forget about it this year. Paying off debt while having expenses like daycare still is difficult. I'd like to check in with our budget periodically to see where we can make improvements and reinstitute spending money into our budget to help cover the financial implications of some of my other goals like skating fees, dates, and new clothes.

Closing the book on 2014

Big boys with the best gift of 2014

Reflecting on 2014, it was a pretty big year for us. It was definitely a year of transition in terms of my career and completing our family. It was wonderful. It was hard. I didn't get to blog nearly as much as I would've liked and when I did I couldn't seem to find the right words to describe what was going on in our world.

This year my goals were to:

- Find secure and meaningful employment

- Pay off debt (at least $10K)

- Take a family vacation 

- Making our house a home 

- Make an effort to be healthy - specifically, deliver a healthy full-term baby, allow myself to recover from birth, successfully breastfeed, get back to pre pregnancy weight through healthy eating and light-moderate exercise. 

- Visit more often with family

Here is how I did:

I landed a job I absolutely love, close to home (same distance as my previous job), and I have job security! I had so many mixed emotions about leaving my old job so I'm so happy that I finally feel at home in my new job. I feel so incredibly fortunate to have a job which is challenging and fulfilling and where there is opportunity for growth.I have amazing co-workers that I can actually call friends and my boss wants to set up meetings to do things like talk about my professional interests so that he can assign tasks in line with my interests and strengths. No job is perfect but I feel like I've come pretty close and the pay is decent, especially considering it doesn't feel like "work" at all. 

Paying off debt really took a spot on the back burner this year with the change in job (lower starting pay) and transition to being a family of 5 and all of the additional budget implications that had. I had hoped to pay off at least 10K. Good news is that we didn't take on any more significant debt in 2014 even with a new baby, time off work, and a career change, but we're really no further ahead that we were at the end of last year. This fall I was able to take out an unsecured line of credit on my own to pay off my student line of credit which was co-signed by my mom. That felt like a big step in terms of financial independence. We are now making bi-monthly principal + interest payments on that loan rather than interest only. Baby steps. 

Family vacation time was pretty low key this year. At the beginning of the year, R took the big boys skiing for the weekend with friends while I relaxed at home since I was in my third trimester. We didn't get up to the trailer nearly as much as we wanted to this summer and when we did, it felt a little crazy and was not very relaxing with a newborn and adjusting to being back at work 5 days/week. We did manage to get up to Temagami to R's family cottage in August with friends of ours and their two boys. The boys had a ton of fun together. 

Making our house a home. This year we redecorated the nursery for Noah's arrival and finally made some progress in the kitchen with a new countertop and dishwasher. Over the holidays I also had the opportunity to give our living room a mini facelift with couch covers and new throw pillows. For a Christmas present, I had my graduate degree and certificate framed since they had just been sitting in the top of my closet. I'm excited to finally get some stuff up on the walls.  

2014 was a rocky year health-wise for me, yet strangely I still managed to accomplish all of my written goals. I had set out to make more of an effort to be healthy. I delivered a healthy 39 week baby and allowed myself to recover from a very difficult birth and complications. I was able to successfully breastfeed even after some hurdles like being re-admitted to the hospital, undergoing a couple of surgeries, and going back to work when Noah was 12 weeks old. I am happily still nursing although not exclusively but I'm totally okay with that. I got back to my pre pregnancy weight through somewhat healthy eating and exercise (I surprised myself by joining an adult synchronized skating team after being off the ice for nearly 15 years and it was one of my best decisions of 2014!).

One goal that went, by and large, unaccomplished this year was visiting more often with family. Being rather pregnant in the early part of the year made travelling inconvenient. R worked a lot of weekends this year too so there weren't many opportunities on the weekends when we weren't at the trailer. One thing that really surprised me was how little family and friends made a fuss over Noah's arrival. We have family members that we usually see a few times a year that only just met Noah at Christmas. There were many times this year where I felt very isolated and lonely, especially in Noah's first 12 weeks before I went to work. A few friends did reach out during that difficult time and I will never forget that. Apart from them I really felt that I only had R and my sister. Moving forward I will be more aware and try to be there in whatever capacity, big or small, for my friends and family when they are going through things - good and bad. I won't wait for an invitation. 

Here's to 2015! 

8 Months

Sometimes I wish you'd stay this way forever

Every day I feel so blessed to have this little guy in our lives. I particularly cherish our quiet time cuddling and nursing in the rocking chair in his bedroom each night. Many nights he dozes off in my arms before I get a chance to lay him in his crib. It is hard to believe he is 2/3 of the way to 1 year old. His personality is really starting to shine and I am beginning to think he may be a mix of his two older brothers.

Some highlights from this month:
- Teeth! 2 on the bottom which he loves to tink against a glass cup of water at meal times.
- Weighed in at 18.5 lbs at his doctor's appointment and is now wearing 18-24 month clothes.
- Eating 3x per day. This month he got a number of grains, fruits, and veggies under his belt and began having some mixed foods. Peas and avocados were the only things that didn't go over really well. This month we're hoping to introduce more meats and dairy along with giving him the food he already enjoys mashed as opposed to pureed.
- Mobility! Noah scoots around on his bum and has begun flopping onto his tummy and pushing up on his knees. Rocking isn't too far off I don't think. He'll sit and play with toys for long periods of time but doesn't spend much time in the exersaucer or Jumperoo much anymore.
- Vocalizing - he just recently started babbling. His favourite sounds are "bah", "gah", and "da da". He regularly has big shrieks and laughs for his brothers.
- Going from 3 naps most days down to 2 naps.

I have, for the most part, stopped pumping. I'm still nursing a couple times in the morning, at lunch (when he is interested), after work/before dinner, bed time, again before I go to bed and occasionally once in the middle of the night if he wakes. So 6-7 times each day on average. He usually has 2-3 bottles of formula while I'm at work or if I'm out in an evening or weekend. I'm so happy we've been able to keep up this relationship for so long.
 
This month I gave away a box of baby clothes to my brother (who is having a baby boy in February!). I'm in the process of offloading my maternity stuff as well. Slowly but surely. It does feel a bit strange and I do feel some twinges of sadness during moments when the realization that this stage of my life is over comes to light. I'm trying to stay focused on the present and all of the exciting stuff to come as much as possible.

Oh what fun!

Happy Fall (& 7 Month Update)

Halloween was a giant low maintenance success this year. The 3 year old wanted to be a Ninja Turtle (same as last year) and the 6 year old didn't have any requests or complaints about going as Batman again so we reused last year's costumes and the baby, of course, went as Tigger just as his brothers did for their first Halloweens. 

In baby news. Noah just might be the sweetest baby boy ever (I'm sure I said that a million times over with his big brothers too). Some highlights from 7 months:

- Sitting on a blanket or mat playing with toys. His favourite thing to do.

- Eating! Oatmeal cereal, acorn squash, butternut squash, carrots, sweet potato, green beans, apple sauce (mixed with oatmeal). He isn't a huge fan of the green beans so we mix them with the sweet potato or squash with a 2 to 1 ratio and he gobbles it right up. I've been making 2 batches per week of pureed veggies and freezing them in ice cube trays. He usually eats about 3 cubes per serving.

- Teething! His two bottom teeth are coming any day now. I keep checking each day but they haven't yet broken through.

- Enjoying outings. On occasion my sister will take the two little guys to the park in the morning so Noah has gotten used to riding in the swing and sitting in the sand. On Remembrance Day, they took the bus to our local ceremony and parade.

- Starting to vocalize. Slowly but surely, we've got a developing chatterbox on our hands. Lots of  giggles, "ahhhh", "Gah" and putting his lips together and going "pffft".

- Still nursing but mostly at night, in the morning and in the evening. He doesn't actually nurse much when I come home at lunch from work any more. He seems either not overly hungry then or too interested in everything else going on. I still end up feeding him a little and pumping a couple of ounces so it still feels worth coming home for to me but I definitely see an end to the lunchtime nursing sessions coming soon. We supplement about half of his daytime feedings with formula. On the weekends he nurses much more frequently and only one or two formula feedings per day.

Toe sucker

Winter seems to have come early this year. We got our first snow fall and the big boys couldn't have been happier! Hard to believe Christmas is right around the corner.

First snow fall of 2014

Intrigued

Noah and motherhood at 6 months

This update is a little late but I can hardly believe Noah has been with us for half a year already! It seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye. Last Thanksgiving we were sharing the news with friends and family that we were expecting and here we are this year as a family of 5. It's hard to remember life before him.

At 6 months, Noah is:
- Nearly 18 pounds and eating solids! We started him on brown rice cereal at 5 months but it just wasn't sitting well and then he flat out refused to eat it. Our doctor suggested we try oatmeal instead (we started big brother N on oatmeal). Noah loved his oatmeal and has since tried sweet potato and squash. We're going to keep the train moving with introducing new veggies every 2-3 days from this point forward.
- Still nursing but can get pretty distracted. I still come home from work at lunch and even though he isn't eating a ton when I do, he is still happy to see me and to nurse. I think it is definitely helping to keep up my supply and I don't feel ready to stop yet. It feels pretty special getting to see my two littlest guys even for 25 minutes mid-day. It has also been nice not having to pack a lunch.
- Sitting! Around 6 months, he started being able to sit on his own for a few seconds here and there when he was occupied with something in front of him. He can now sit and play with toys for a bit longer periods without toppling over or getting fussy. He still loves to jump in the jolly jumper and to go in his exersaucer. He loves touching, grabbing, and holding just about everything.
- A mega drooler. I keep expecting to see a tooth any day but both of his brothers were late to get teeth so they could not show up for a while. He constantly has his right hand in his mouth sucking his fist. I've been trying to get him to use a teething toy since his little hand is getting a rash from all the sucking.
- Back to sleeping for about 10-12 hours at night. We put him down around the same time as his brothers at 7pm. Then I wake him to nurse before I go to bed around 10pm and he'll sleep until about 6am.

This boy!

Couldn't contain his excitement his first time having veggies - banged his tray excitedly between bites

I'm finally feeling 100% like my old self physically and mentally. Physically, I actually feel stronger than I have since before having kids. Skating for just an hour and a half once a week has made a big difference in how I feel.  I still cringe when things touch my abdomen but not because it hurts, just because it still seems tender or extra sensitive to touch. Sleeping through the night I think has been a huge factor in why this time around I'm feeling much happier and am able to cope with stressful situations. I also think having a job I love, feeling secure financially, and rather than giving up the things I enjoy doing, actually making the time to do them (like skating and volunteering) has made the work/life/family balance and settling into life as a family of five much easier than each of the last times we expanded our family.

Recently, I bit the bullet and spent just under $300 at the used clothing store and mall. I bought mostly active wear and business attire, and a pair of black pumps for work. Up until this point, I was wearing many of the pieces I'd bought pre-kids along with a few I had bought in between pregnancies. Most of my wardrobe in general is well-worn and I haven't been feeling particularly attractive in my clothes lately since my body went through so many changes with all 3 pregnancies and I wore the same clothes while nursing and through about half of my pregnancies so they are stretched in some places and don't fit the nicest. Eventually I hope to replace most of my wardrobe but at this point I'm still nursing so I'm going to try to make due for now with my few new pieces. I hate looking or feeling frumpy!