Baby showers & bargains...

My dear friend Ginny threw a shower for Callie last Sunday and to say that she got spoiled is an understatement. :) So many of my wonderful friends came out to celebrate and brought Callie the most delightful gifts. I've been to so many showers where the person gets a million pink onesies, (which is great too) but not this time. We got such a neat variety of sweet, girly things and I can't wait for Callie to wear them. Everything from hats, to furry boots; vests, hoodies, sleepers, a beautiful picture frame, and so much more. Thank-you again for your generosity everyone! It was fabulous spending the afternoon with you all... Callie & I were so blessed by you!

Digging in to the tasty treats

My friend Lauren makes the most incredible cakes and made a beautiful one for the shower. She's started a little business now so if you're needing a cake for a special occasion, and you want it to taste delicious AND look amazing, let me know and I'll give you her number.

The bottom layer was a chocolate cake w/ peanut butter filling and the top layer was a white cake w/ mocha filling. SOOOO scrumptious!

Jamie & Callie

Opening all the wonderful presents

I was worried that Callie would be a grump the whole time because it was during her nap time. But she did very well and even fell asleep for a while in Lauren's arms. When she was awake, she was actually a pretty happy camper, bar a few small 'melt-downs.' :)

Hailey came all the way from Vancouver for the shower. I hadn't seen her in ages so it was a sweet little reunion and first introduction to Callie.

Me & the beautiful hostess, Ginny

As for another story of being "spoiled," our neighbours stopped by the other day with a card for us and inside was a $50 gift card for Please Mum! We don't actually know our neighbours that well so we were not only touched by the fact that they had got us a card, but $50... that's unbelievably generous!! We had also received another Please Mum card from one of Jon's Great Aunts a while ago, so today, Callie and I went on a little shopping spree. Much to my delight, they were having a big sale and I came away with a ton of cute stuff...
And... after perusing Craig's List today, I stumbled across an ad for a jogging stroller. I've joined the walking/running class at our church's "Women's Break" on Tuesday mornings so I've been on the hunt for a running stroller seeing as our stroller is just a regular day-to-day one. The ad said that one minor clip on it was broken and that one of the tires has a really slow leak in it, (only about $10 to fix) but they only wanted $40 for it! So I went to check it out and was thrilled when I saw it. Its not in "mint" condition but considering its a couple years old, its definitely in really good condition. And heck... for $40, I figured I can't go wrong. So today was definitely the day of bargains! I love days like today. :)

No thank-you, Mommy...

This makes me laugh every time. Enjoy :)

Prayer...

I've been sitting here tonight, with a very heavy heart for our friends Steph & Clay. I'd like to request prayer for them and their baby girl, Dallyce. She was born this March and they've had an extremely difficult road to walk. Dallyce has Spinal Muscular Atrophy (Type 1) and will likely never live the life that I'm sure they had imagined for her. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain and grief they are going through, and so I ask that you lift them in prayer. I believe that God still works miracles and that is my prayer for them-- that He would heal Dallyce and give her a long & full life. Click here to read their story.

This and that...

I took Callie for her 2 month check-up yesterday, even though she's already 2.5 months old. Turns out that her weight measurement from the health unit last week wasn't very accurate because they weighed her with her clothes on. So they stripped her down for a 'true' weighing yesterday. She now weighs 12 lbs. 3 oz. (75th percentile for weight) and is 24 inches long (97th percentile for height). She's "long & lean" as the nurse put it :) And everything else is looking good. She's a happy & healthy girl.
Thanks to everyone who commented in regards to my breastfeeding struggles. I appreciate your concern, as well as your encouragement. I'm happy to say that things are going quite well now, even though it scares me to say that. :) I've had about a week & a half of "pain-free" nursing and am really hoping we've finally turned that corner. All I know is that I'm definitely bound & determined about this issue. I haven't come this far, just to give up now. So regardless, I have made up my mind to push through and nurse Callie no matter what. Hopefully, that decision will be an easy one to stick to.
Callie has a new "little" friend, Joshua, so we went for a play date with him and his big sister, Natalie, yesterday morning (though I use the word "little" loosely). Our friend's Nate & Melissa had a baby boy 5 weeks after Callie was born. The reason I say Joshua isn't exactly a "little" friend, is that even though he's over a month younger than Callie, he is about the same size as her :) Melissa and I put them side by side to compare, and we think that Josh might even be slightly bigger than Callie. I thought Callie was big for her age, but Josh puts her to shame. :)

As you can see from the pictures above, we've quickly entered the stage of drool with Callie. She is a slobber monster already and I fear that she is going to be one of those kids that teethes far sooner than she should. I've had to start putting a bib on her when she's awake in an attempt to keep her shirts somewhat dry. She's figured out how to pull her clothes up to her mouth to suck on them, so the bib is becoming a bit of a necessity these days. She also loves to suck on her fists now so that only adds to the drooly mess.

In other news, Jon has resumed work in our basement again. Now that life has slowed down a bit, he's been able to continue on our last few reno projects. We're hoping to list our place in the next little while so we need to finish up the loose ends around here. His Dad came over tonight and they got the lino laid for the washer/dryer section of the basement. Jon also got the door hung and now its just a matter of finishing the mudding, sanding, painting, re-laying the laminate & adding the trim and a bi-fold door. We're also going to re-carpet the stairs to the basement but that will be the very last thing we do. I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished product when everything else is complete.

Have a great weekend everyone! Looks like we're heading into another 'heat-wave' here in the Lower Mainland so I'll be taking advantage of the warmer weather while I can. Fall is just around the corner.

Callie Lauryn...

We had our friend Roxanna take some pictures of Callie when she was just 3 weeks old. I've posted them on Facebook but seeing as not all of you are on Facebook, I thought I'd put some of the photos on here as well. I have way too many favorites, so although I didn't post all of the pictures, I did add quite a few. Hope you enjoy her newborn cuteness. Its crazy how much she's grown since then but I love looking back at how teeny tiny she was...

Growing up...

Callie is now 2 months old (9 weeks to be precise) and with that comes the dreaded 2 month immunizations. Worst experience ever.

I took her to the health unit this morning and as she smiled and cooed at me while I had her registered & weighed, I felt like such an awful parent. I'm sure all of you mom's out there know exactly what I'm talking about. These poor, innocent little munchkins have no idea that they are about to be pricked & poked within an inch of their lives. And all the while, we, their parents, have to hold them pinned in our laps as they scream bloody murder. I had an exceptionally hard time not crying even harder than Callie. She was a real trooper though. The tears flowed and her screams were definitely heard, but it didn't take long to settle her down and before I knew it, she was smiling and talking to me again, almost as if nothing had ever happened. Phhhew... glad that's over. At least for another 2 months.

They didn't measure her length today but she weighed in at 12 lbs. 2 oz. which puts her in the 80th percentile for her age group. Yes, she is indeed "filling out" to say the least :) We see our doctor next week for the full 2 month check-up so I'll fill you in on all of her stats after that.

As for me, things are improving in some areas, and regressing in others. My tear has finally healed up so that is a HUGE relief. But as for breastfeeding, it continues to be an ongoing battle. I'm so frustrated with it because one week, things will be going great and I think we've finally turned a corner. And then the next week, something else goes wrong. I've had a number of nurses & lactation specialists tell me that Callie is latching well and I'm doing everything correctly, but the fact that I am as damaged as I am, tells me she's not. I'm dealing with really deep cracks & blisters right now and wonder if breastfeeding will ever not hurt. Plus, I have developed an extremely large blocked duct on one side, that isn't going away (and trust me, I've tried everything to get rid of it. Hot compress, cold compress, hot showers, massage, cabbage leaves, pumping, nursing on that side, and even a vitamin supplement called Lecithin. But to no avail), so they're sending me for an ultrasound later this week to ensure nothing else is wrong. And its hard because I feel like I'm all alone in this. Is it just me, or does no one else struggle like this with breastfeeding? Maybe its just that people don't like to share their nursing troubles, and that is fine, but my goodness is this proverbial tunnel feeling LONG, and the light seems awfully dim... if not, non-existent.

Anyway... I don't want to rant too much because on a positive note, Callie is officially sleeping through the night and has been for the last week and a half already. I never thought I'd be one to be blessed with a sleeping baby, but thank the Lord, I have. She seems to love the fact that we've got her into a solid routine. Every evening, we bath her at around 8:45pm, then I feed her at 9:00 and she's usually asleep by 9:30. Then she wakes at around 6:30am (today it was 7:30!!), happy as can be. I don't wake to her crying anymore, but rather, her kicking and talking in her crib. Its absolutely delightful! As soon as I lean over her crib, its all smiles. And every morning, I feel deeply blessed to be her Mommy.