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March 16, 2004
7 Months
So, I am getting, slowly, used to not seeing Simon during the day, but it is still hard. The nights seem to pass so quickly when he is home, and then the mornings even quicker as we get him ready to go to work. I guess that it will be better in the house, when we will have more of a routine worked out. And I also guess that I am going to have to get used to this, Iain and I were pretty spoiled getting so spend so much time with him for the past six months or so.
I have been making choices and decisions all over the place the past two weeks, it feels as if I have done nothing but look at selections and run through the possibilities and then give the final approval on over three dozen items, but all in such a short time that when Simon asks me what I did all day, I literally have to think for a moment what exactly I DID do all day.
Backtracking a bit here… Monday morning I was supposed to have received our van from the shipping company. Simon phoned them and got no answer. Tuesday he finally reached someone only to learn that the van did not get out of the city before the blizzard struck (very typical of the mentality there, there is a storm coming, so don’t bother to do any work, even if things are scheduled to go out and they can make it before the deadline hits). Simon and I were pissed at this news. After all, we had been without our van for two weeks, and in a very, very stinky and crappy rental car for the same duration JUST so that we could have our van here as soon as we arrive. The estimated time of delivery was sometime NEXT week :-( Yeah, we were slightly ticked. How was I supposed to get around to all these companies and stores to make decisions for the builder, who needed them this week so that we can take possession on the proper date? ARGH!
Our neighbour and family friend came to the rescue here for us. We went over to her place on Sunday for her to meet Iain and have a chat, and she said that we were welcome to use her car if our van didn’t arrive on Monday. She was going down to their apartment in Puerto Vallerta for two weeks on the Tuesday, and so wouldn’t be needing her car for that time. So, Tuesday morning I packed up Iain to go meet with the builder for the first time. He was so cute, he fell asleep in the car seat on the way over to get the car keys from our friends kitchen table. I managed to keep him asleep, despite having to take several trips from our suite to the house, then out to the carport and loading up the trunk… And then strapping the seat in, I felt like the champion mum when I didn’t even wake him up to run the seatbelt through and tighten it all down. Woo hoo! :-) So, we were off.
The meeting with the builder went really well. Iain woke up just as we arrived and so both of us went in search of the builder. He was doing an inspection in our neighbours house, so I toured around their house waiting for him to finish up. The house looked great, quite different from ours in the layout of the rooms and all, they have a fireplace in their master suite, open on all three sides so that you could lie in the soaker tub and watch the fire… How luxurious! We went over to our new house and he gave me a grand tour, told me innumerable things that I can only help to remember to tell Simon later that night. I told him about the van situation, and that I had a car, sort-of, but he was really understanding about the whole thing and told me which things really needed to be chosen and which could wait. So then, I was off! First a stop at Simon’s work to pick him up for lunch, as I hadn’t the chance to make him anything that morning and we talked about all the things that I needed to do. I told him how the house had changed from when he had seen it, just in the framing stage. It looks so different from the photos that he had sent me those few weeks ago when he initially toured the house! :-)
The following days of the week were an absolute flurry of activity for me. The only thing that has really saved my sanity is that Iain has been really, really good. He fusses a bit when I put him into the car seat, as he always does, but then usually settles right down when I start driving. The only thing I have noticed is that the sun shines directly into his eyes in this car, but when I put the little canopy to block it, he just plays with it :-) He has fallen asleep for many of the stops that I have had to make, thankfully, so I have left him in the car, with a blanket draped over him, as I go into a trades shop to make some decision or other. I, of course, lock the car and alarm it, and am not away from him for more than five minutes, or I come out to check on him, but it is just not worth the hassle of interrupting his naps just so that I can choose which granite we are going with for the kitchen countertops or which fireplace mantle surround is best for our style etc. The day that I had to choose the tile, ten different locations needed it, he slept for two hours in the stroller while I did that. He was then happy for another hour while I finished up in Rona :-) I have such a good baby!
We finally got our van the first Friday we were in the city. Out of the blue, I get a phone call from the shipping company asking if I would like my van. Would I LIKE my van, OF COURSE!! I have been yearning, pining for my van. I had some errands to run that morning, and the company said that the driver would be phoning me when he was within a half hour. Well, he phoned and said how much longer he would be, so I continued with my shopping at Walmart. Not ten minutes later, he phones again to say that he is out front, unloading the van… Ooops! I manage to pay for my items and get down to the apartment in record time, just as he is filling out the paperwork on my lovely van. It was so great to drive up and see my van sitting on the roadside. Iain was thankfully sleeping, so I left him in the car while I did a walk around of the van, making sure that there were no scratches or other damage to the vehicle since we dropped it into the shipping company’s care. After I formally took possession of the van, I had to deal with all the luggage and personal items that we packed into it before I could go out and drive around. Iain was still sleeping, so I took him in the car seat into the apartment and then set about unloading the van. I think it took almost a half dozen trips to do it all, there was so much stuff that we packed. One of the things that I have been very eagerly looking forward to is Iain’s Megasaucer! Yeay! Now I have a way to contain him while I am pumping that doesn’t mean putting him in his play yard. Not that he doesn’t like his play yard, he actually has a grand time in it, it’s just that I can’t really have it close by me the way that the apartment is set up. The Megasaucer I am able to just move around with my feet, or reach over to touch Iain if he gets fussy during the pump. It is going to be so much easier now! :-)
Pumping has been going well, I have been able to keep Iain mostly happy and occupied for the majority of the pumps. He will often be asleep for the mid-afternoon one, so it is just the morning and evening ones that I need to worry about, and even then it is okay for most of the time. I sit and watch TV, as usual, because I get a much better pump session if I am distracted that little bit, and Iain either is having one of his bottles or is happily playing in his play yard. The only thing is that the couch is an old futon, possibly the most uncomfortable thing to sit on, and really difficult to balance the pump and sit comfortably. I can’t wait to be in the house. We have made initial plans for me to set up the pump station as we call it, in the nursery… We’ll see how that works out.
I am beginning to sorely miss my internet and being able to check up on my friends at iParenting, and other places. I keep wondering if Jen and Amy have had their babies, what they were (boys or girls), how their labours went and such… And not being able to write diary entries because of no computer has me really thinking about my diary in general. I am evaluating if I should bother keeping it, I am so out of date with entries, or rather should I just write starting from now and do back entries as I am able… This is something that I am really going to have to think further about. My only problem in ending my diary is that I think I would miss my TTM board too much. I know that there has hardly been the traffic there that I had during the pregnancy, but also hope that with possibly posting new entries, the traffic will increase. I think that will be the deciding factor. If I can get traffic up a bit more, then I will keep the diary. If not, then I will close it. There, decision made.
The weekends have been okay of late, we try to be out of the apartment as much as possible, because it’s really not a great place to be in. It’s not just the size, we are okay with a small space; it’s the ceiling. It is only 7 feet in most places, and then the duct work comes down and puts it literally just above our heads. I am getting over the urge to duck, but its slow going! :-) And we also can’t toss Iain up in the air, something that he really loves to do… So, we go out. So far it has just been to do errands that I have not gotten done during the week, or to places for Simon to check out in person the things that I have made decisions on for the house.
I am starting to really enjoy our new city. Honestly. I have lived here before, and so knew the general lay of the land, but it was when I was 18 and livin’ single. Much different from living here as a homeowner and a family and a mum. I am finding the experiences so different from each other that it almost feels as if I am in a new city, but with some familiar trademarks. For example, my mind-map of the city is far greater and far more filled in now then it was then, and I’ve only been here for two weeks, I lived here for 8 months in the past. I am noticing things about the city that I know were here at that time and yet I didn’t care about them and so didn’t take them into consideration. I am forming new routes to get to places that I have been to when I lived here before, because there are better ways to get to the place.
The other thing about this new city? The STORES, people! Oh my good gracious, they are fabulous! I feel as if I am a country bumpkin driving around and going, oh, look, it’s a *blank*! I mean, there are, first of all, multiple locations of stores that we only JUST received in Halifax, weeks before we left. I tell you, it is so wonderful to have options as to where you want to shop, instead of being limited to one single location, because that it where the only store is in the area. So, there is that. But then, when you step inside the store, it is SO lovely. I mean, the shirts are all folded up neatly, it doesn’t look as if a tornado just hit the place, things are displayed nicely, you can get around the store with your stroller with ease. This may sound crazy to many of you, but when you come from a city that just doesn’t place a high priority on keeping things nice and tidy, so that you could possibly find the size you are looking for without bodily going into the display to get it, it‘s nice when you can just look through a stack of neatly folded items and go, hey there’s my size! It’s like, no effort shopping. Although, that may not be a good thing!! :-)
I haven’t been able to resist buying Iain a couple of outfits, but besides the point, all of the jumpers that I brought for him to wear here, are now too small! Where did my little baby go? I so clearly remember the first time I put him in these outfits and they were so big on him, despite his giant cloth diaper bum. Oh my, has time flown by that quickly? I am going to have to get my mum out here to buy him more clothing. And before I get razzed on that comment, just know that buying clothing is one of my mum’s favourite things to do, it is how she shows her love, in her own strange way. And I talked with her just last week when we were newly here and she asked if Iain was growing out of the clothing yet, clearly indicating her desire to come out and buy her first grandson clothes. I actually can’t wait for her to come out and see him, she hasn’t seen him since he was 3 weeks old… and things have changed just a wee bit since then! :-) Hopefully she’ll be able to visit when we are in the house!
I am starting to feel a little lonely here, without any mums and babies to chat with. I notice groups of mums and their little ones around everywhere, and it is starting to break my heart a little bit. I am trying to stay strong, and say to myself every time that I see one, that when I am in the house, I will be able to go to swimming with Iain, and yoga with Iain, and to the park etc, so we can meet other mums, but still, it is really hard. And it’s not like I was in daily contact with my mum friends in Halifax, but rather that I knew I could phone one of them up and be able to talk with them on a whim. Here, I can’t really do that, because we are on cell phone only and the long distance charges? Well, I might as well hand over Iain to them for what they are charging me. And going out to a payphone really isn’t the most pleasant thing to do when you want to sit down with a mug of tea and have a chat. I just have to keep telling myself that everything will be okay. It will just take a little while is all.
It looks like there is going to be no problem taking possession of the house at the end of the month, if everything continues along this path. That is really great, because I can’t wait to be in our own house again, surrounded by our possessions, Iain in his crib, us in our bed, Brook and Scarlett no longer confined to the tiny bathroom all day while I am out around town, you know? I know that it is going to be a huge job to get everything all sorted out and into its place in the house, but that is something that I really enjoy. It’s going to be really nice.
We have worked out a routine as to Iain’s sleeping habits in the apartment. Initially we tried to have his play yard in the bedroom with us, but it was just not working. With both the kids and Simon and I, there was just too much noise. Iain is a noisy sleeper! :-) I never knew that before. Well, he was somewhat noisy when he slept beside us as just a newborn, but we were up so many times in the night at that point that it really didn’t matter. So, his play yard is out in the common area. I put him to bed with his 8:00 bottle of breastmilk (of course!) in our bed, where he sleeps until we go to bed at around 10:00. I pump before then and Simon gets into bed with Iain. I finish pumping, warm up his last bottle for the night and then take him from Simon to feed and put into his own bed. I don’t like to take him actually, I love having my two men in bed together, snuggling, but some things must be done. In the first week, Iain was waking up in the middle of the night and I was having to make up a 4oz bottle for him at that time. We tried an 8oz bottle at 10:00 instead of a 6oz one night to see if he would sleep through, and he did! Yeay! So, he is now up to 32oz a day in total. I have no idea how much I am pumping, except that I know that I am keeping up to him. I may only be pumping about 32-34oz right now, but that will increase to a larger amount when we get into the house and my schedule sorts itself out.
Iain is a really accomplished crawler now. He is able to go from crawling to sitting to crawling quite well, as he finds toys on the floor, picks them up, plays with them and then discards them for other toys. He will crawl over to the futon sofa, or his car seat in the corner, or the wall and just stand up and slap his hand against the surface, and then use it to move up and down, like going up and down the length of the sofa. No longer is it safe for us to leave items like our plates of food on the sofa, he is able to reach them now! And no longer are we able to just eat in peace, he wants to stand there, hold the plate, and watch us eat. Hmmmm… can’t wait for his high chair! Oh, the other thing is that if we try to put him into his Megasaucer when he doesn’t want to, he will make his wishes known, and loudly! He is quite the whiner at times, it is really funny to watch. Well, sort of funny. We need him contained at those times and he wants to ROAM! :-) I am starting to be quite terrified of my baby boy’s potential. How am I ever going to keep up with him? He is so smart to have figured out all this stuff like crawling and cruising, at such a young age… Wow.
Okay, I think that is it for now. I am sorry that the entry has seemed so scattered, but it gives all of you an idea as to how scattered the past two weeks have been for me! Chaos, certainly has reined in my life since we arrived here, but hopefully things will settle down in the remaining two weeks here in the apartment. I need some more routine before things go haywire again when we get into the house!
**Talk to Me**
Do you enjoy walking and shopping in stores that are neat and tidy too, or am I just a little too obsessed?
How did you feel when your baby started to really be mobile – did it make you worry about being able to keep up to them like I am worried?
Namaste, Laura and Iain
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