It Is Still A Beautiful World

Yesterday, with the weather eye in a permanent state of wind, rain and snow warning we found ourselves staring at semi-empty living room walls wondering what to do – about the walls and with ourselves. We’ve been tossing around what we think is a spectacular decorating idea for a few months, wondering if we had the time and design know-how to make it happen.

Instead of making lists and drawings and looking things up online and carefully weighing all of our options again, which would have been my lazy weekend afternoon inclination, Rob said lets do it. And let’s start by repainting the whole room. And let’s do it now. It’s not hard to see why we think he’s the bee’s knees. 

So we repainted and gathered and arranged all the materials for the project. The final assembly lies ahead of us tonight and I’m so excited. Until I have some photos, this is what hung on our many living room walls when I was little:

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

and listen to others,

even the dull and the ignorant;

they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,

they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain or bitter;

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs;

for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals;

and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.

Especially, do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love;

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,

be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,

no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,

whatever you conceive Him to be,

and whatever your labors and aspirations,

in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

Eighty Breakfasts

This morning for the first time Frances and I had the same thing for breakfast - spelt oatmeal, bananas, berries, cinnamon and flax seeds. Hers was less visually appealing than mine - the consequence of a nasty run-in with a food processor - but she loved it (a double victory since yesterday everything that went in came back out via some very devilish little raspberry blowing). 

I am so excited for this next food stage - where she can eat cut up or mashed up versions of what we're eating. I'm particularly excited for breakfast-sharing since this is the all-time best meal of the day (unbiased, of course, by the fact that three of my favourite foods are eggs, oatmeal and male syrup). 

It means I'll get to try some new morning foods and recipes (peppered with the go-to oatmeal we had today) as she tests out her taste buds and discovers what she likes and what she'd rather feed to her (fur) brothers.

I think I'm going to start with steel cut oats. I've been intrigued by them for a while and like the fact that I can cook them on Sunday (they take 30-40 minutes) and then heat them up with a little extra milk (and cinnamon and bananas) throughout the week.   

Steel cut oats are unrefined whole grain groats that have been dried and cut into two to three pieces by steel, rather than being rolled. They are rich in B-vitamins, calcium, protein and fiber and look like tiny grains of rice or chopped up nuts. When I was looking for recipes I came across a yummy one on a site called 80 Breakfasts:

Maple Steel Cut Oats with Cinnamon Apples 

True to its title there's more ...

Breakfast Burrito 

Bacon Pancakes. Enough Said.

Raisin Bread French Toast with Maple Butter Apples 

And perhaps the holy grail of breakfast foods:

Nutella Croissant French Toast 

Oh my!

Things For My Mouth

In looking through our photos from Sunday it wasn't hard to spot a theme.

Bracelet 

Moist towelettes (now with extra moisture) 

Fingers 

CD inserts

Oh Brother Where Art Thou

Most times I think I know the bug inside out - having spent everyday of her life with her. She is, however, capable of great surprise. For the last five days she's been falling asleep well and willingly in her own bed. I tried this on a whim and its success has happily thrown into doubt everything I thought I knew about Frances and sleep.

Now I lay her down with a full belly and sing hush little baby a few times through and voila. She's still waking up once a night but so far each time has fallen back asleep on her own in under ten minutes. Maybe perhaps hopefully we've turned another (frigging awesome) sleep corner. 

This is the first time I've consistently had to sing something quieting to her (wheels on the bus and itsy bitsy spider not qualifying as lullabies) and have quickly reached the limits of my repertoire. When I launched into hush little baby again tonight I think I saw an itsy bitsy "mum I already know what will happen when the goat don't pull" side eye.

And so some brand new (but very old) lullaby contenders ...

Best Websites - Baby Edition

Since Frances has always napped in two places, in my arms or in my arms, I've grown accustomed to having at least three stationary hours a day. This has meant a lot of time bouncing from website to website (hallelujah laptops), sometimes discovering great things sometimes wishing I had grabbed a book instead. Here are a few of my favourite baby sites that have made nap time restful for both of us.    

Berkeley Parents Network – I discovered this sight after searching google for things like “baby wakes up every hour at night” and “baby won’t nap in her crib.” For some reason this site is always a few entries below those answer pages were very few people write in full sentences or check their spelling (here's looking at you Yahoo Answers). The Berkley Parents Network is also an unmoderated parent-community that, while basic in its design, has pretty consistently thoughtful and compassionate answers and antidotes.

Baby Steals – I wish I had found this sight while I was pregnant. It has so many incredible deals on very useful tiny baby things. Like baby sleeping bags and swaddling blankets and cloth diapers and burp clothes. Every day there are two “steals” – items posted for up to 80% of the retail price. They are sold until they are gone or until the next steal is published. You can join their facebook group for instant steal notification. Every so often there are also great items for older babies and toddlers. We got a beautiful pair of baby blue knit slipper/socks with leather bottoms for Frances for under ten dollars.

Weelicious – I want to eat everything on this site. From avocado mousse to mango pineapple salsa and three bean chili, this site offers healthy, fresh and delicious recipes to please tiny and not so tiny bellies. As Frank grows from purees to finger foods she’ll be an inspiration to eat as healthy as possible and I know this site will help us to find ideas for snacks and meals that we’ll all be excited about.

Hair Raising

Poor peanut.
Hopefully our barrettes arrive in the mail soon.

Happy Valentines Little Moon

Some days I wish there were a thousand of you. That's how many I think I could love. Maybe a thousand and one. 

You are growing so fast. Even though you've just hit fifteen pounds you're a teeny tiny force. In the last month you have grown three new teeth, learned how to crawl and have decided that you can stand on your own (with mixed results). You are starting to notice nuances in the world around you and can detect pretty quickly if something is new or different or out of place. Today you decided to explore all the baby-sized spaces in the living room and successfully backed yourself out after having a look around and determining that there was no lint to eat. You are brave, adventurous, tough and as curious as ever.

You're also learning how to cuddle. How to lay your head down on our shoulders when your feeling tired or affectionate or just want to see how quickly you can make our hearts melt. 

And how to be silly. You are so silly! You will sit and wait for us to look and then giggle and squeal and bury your head in the blankets or our shoulders.

You are eight and a half months old already and growing and changing everyday. This means that there is so much to etch in our memories before its gone - like the little wispy curls that dry into your after a bath but are gone by morning and the way it feels to hold you so close in the few minutes before I lay you down for the night.

Busy etching,

Your Mom 

Aye Aye

Frankie has grown into the last of the three dresses that my mom had held onto from my baby days. Its the pretty yellow one she wore to Jack's party. It's still a little bit big and so I'm hoping she'll be able to wear it into the spring - it would make the perfect easter dress! 

Thankfully one of the thrift stores in our area is always fully stocked with pretty baby girl vintage dresses. 

I can appreciate cotton baby clothes as much as the next mama - they wash well, dry well, don't need to be ironed and are sure to be comfortable. But there's something so quaint and irresistible about the more formal fabrics of everyday baby clothes from the past. I had a hard time limiting myself to just these three and can't wait to get back to see what new goodies await! 

With thick white tights and dark red mary janes.

For future sailboat trips. 

For future anything on hot summer days.

Mid-Week Round-Up

Superbowl Sunday (in the evening) is the very best day of the year to go to the grocery store. So empty!

Frank really likes grapefruit. She wouldn’t stop lusting after mine so I offered her a taste and she loved it. Instead of the sour baby face I was expecting she came back for more (and more and more). Avocado has also been a success. 

This evening it was minus twenty-three degrees with the wind chill. And I have a cold. No matter how much I ready myself for the month of February I’m never ready for February. Here’s to all day in our pajamas and take out hot and sour soup. 

We have high speed internet via the cable company that works great but comes out worse than dial up once our wireless router gets involved. Many thanks to all our neighbours with unsecured wireless networks that I borrow (and always put back when I’m done). 

Life is so much better with a good book. I recently finished The Bishop’s Man (very good) and have only a few pages left of Maggie Now by Betty Smith (who wrote A Tree Grows in Brooklyn). Any suggestions? 

Our sleep schedule transition is moving ahead with mixed results. Last night Frances slept from nine-thirty until six. Win. The previous two nights she woke up at four in the morning. Fail. 

Exploring the very bottom of the bib basket.

Pretty Miss

On Saturday Frankie's cousin Jack turned one. He was a perfectly handsome and charming birthday boy and we had such a lovely time at his party. In addition to the dapper little mister, an exquisite cake (that he got to get his hands into) and all sorts of delicious treats, there was an amazing photographer wandering around capturing Jack and his friends and family in action. Below are some of her shots of Frankie. I love love them. 

(Photos by Diane Nordine)

Trouble In The Kingdom

We bought our video camera just before Frances was born and still haven’t deleted a single file. Even those sixteen second test shots of the floor and whatever else was in front of us are still on there. So is the very first video of a very small and fresh Frances on the night she was born. And this one from four months ago.

I laugh the exact same amount at the exact same spots every time. No foolin.

Cuff Stuffer

According to Wholesome Baby Food: 

Your 8 to 10 month old baby might be crawling and trying to pull herself up. At this stage, your baby may not have a big interest in eating. Your baby may suddenly begin to refuse to eat. She's simply too busy to stop exploring her world and she may get quite miffed when you put her in her highchair to eat. With her independence growing, she may also begin to show preferences for certain foods and refuse to be spoon fed. Take heart - this stage of baby feeding, while quite challenging, will soon pass. 

I thought we were going to have to resort to putting her food in the cat dish – which she has an insatiable desire for. Or that all the floor fuzz she manages to stick in her mouth was filling her up. She can spot the tiniest fluff from all the way across the room and crawl-runs trying to beat you to it. I keep expecting her to poop a sock. 

Accepting how much she loves to put little things into her mouth we're going to try some soft finger foods like sweet potato cubes and avocado and tofu until she gets over her refusal to eat more than two spoonfuls of anything. Today we tried squished-up blueberries and bananas bits and small pieces of whole wheat toast. Other than the rejects I found stuffed in her pant cuffs I think she filled her belly.

Sleep Tight

When you have a baby you spend a lot of time thinking about and googling and praying for sleep. More sleep and sound sleep and nap sleeps and night sleeps. Frances is still sleeping pretty well. Putting her in her own room was revolutionary and with very few exceptions she sleeps from 10pm until 7am. I am so so thankful for this. 

But as my return to work approaches we've realized there is some sleep work yet to be done. For instance, it would be dreamy if she'd go to bed before I did. Like at eight o'clock. Then I could have a bath or read a book or just lay in the middle of the living room for two hours and do nothing. Swoon. She is also still nursed or rocked to sleep and spends her naps on my shoulder or curled up next to me. I have tried to put her down for her naps and she is up like a hot air balloon twenty minutes later. Since she needs more than twenty minutes of sleep and I need more than twenty minutes of quiet time we've just kept on with what works. 

Knowing now that her nighttime sleep is fairly solid and that a looming transition to different day time caregivers will be much easier with more independent sleep habits february is going to be sleep month. 

Objective One: eight o'clock bedtime. In the last two months I have put Frank to sleep at 9:30 instead of 10:00 three times and each time she's woken up at three in the morning all grins and flapping arms ready to take on her day. It then takes two hours to get her settled back down and back to sleep. Maybe its a fluke and she was bothered by teeth or the temperature or had a bad baby dream at the exact same time each night. Pretty unlikely and so the plan is to make a verrrry gradual transition to an earlier bedtime. For the next two nights we'll try 9:45 and then for two nights 9:30 and then 9:15 and so on. This means sixteen days (fingers crossed) until an eight o'clock bedtime.  

Objective Two: solo naps. Since the quality of daytime naps can affect nighttime sleep we'll wait until objective number one is safely behind us before taking this on. Frank sleeps really really well during the day (three forty-five minute to two and a half hour siestas) its just that its on me. Some days this is trying. Most days I'm able to remember that our quiet time together is ever fleeting and will be much missed in the years to come. I doubt, however, that we'll be able to find a day care provide with the same time and perspective. So after she's been nursed and rocked I'll start putting her in her own room for naps. I know the first few naps and probably the first few days will mean sleep interrupted but hopefully if we keep trying she'll adjust and/or get tired enough to give in for more than twenty minutes at a time.

And then there's the learning to soothe herself to sleep feat - also really important as she grows. I'm hoping that this skill will develop a little as we work on earlier bedtimes and napping alone - setting us up to begin putting her down for the night when she is sleepy but not asleep. This is the one thing that I really really wish we had done from the start. All the parenting books recommend it and all the parents recommend it still it seemed impossible not to pick her when she was so tiny and cried after being put down. 

I'm happy to have this all neat and written out. I think it will help me stick to the plan on days when our schedule or Frankie's mood is upside-down. On days when there is crying and I have to fight hard not to pick her up and cuddle her to sleep and sniff her little head while she naps in my arms there is this: 

I know you shouldn't reward babies with material things for good behaviour but no one ever said you couldn't reward the mammas. 

On a non-sleep note in the last few photos from our trip the bug is caught red-handed trying to steal Emma's chewy boomerang. 

In the end, Emma convinced her that sharing was best.

(Photos by Grandma)