Gemma is eight months old!

 I seriously can't stand her! She is just too too much! I almost left a hickey on her cheek today cause I wanted to eat her so bad!

Other than a little motherly cannibalism here and there the biggest changes this month has been her 8th tooth, her mobility and our big move. We've now renting a mansion (just joking it's a normal size house) in Cambridge to be even closer to Vince. Gemma just started army crawling a few days before the move so it was perfect timing for her. She's been all around this house and her favourite spot is definitely the dog food bowl!

She's still sleeping through the night and I am in complete disbelief. I honestly thought I was condemmed to a lifetime of being awake with my daughter every 1-2 hours for the rest of my life. This is awesome! The fact that she only naps for 30-40mins at a time is no biggie compared to 12 hours of straight sleep every night.

A few of Gemma's favourite things are the dog food bowl, crawling to the dog food bowl, the dog water bowl, sticking her fingers in the dog water bowl, licking the dog water bowl and oh the dog water/food bowl!

The only thing on the 'Not' list is getting her face washed. This is kinda new, she's usually pretty easy going about it but has lately been putting up a big fuss. She wants to leave her face dirty dammit!

I love you Gem!

Love and Hugs

Gemma is seven months old!

This month has been all about sleep! After a mini breakdown just before Easter I just couldn't do the every 1-2 hour night wakings. But I honestly didn't know what to do. I didn't want to let her cry it out but the no-cry solution wasn't working either. I begged Vince for help and he stepped up. He took the monitor and slept on the couch for 3 nights while he helped Gemma learn to sleep the hard way. He put her down in her crib awake and if she cried (of course she did) he went in to soothe her in intervals until she fell asleep on her own. The first night I balled and balled and she fell asleep in half and hour. The same the next night and the next. The fourth night she fell asleep in 15 mins and now it takes her maybe 2 mins?! But the best part is she is sleeping 11-12 hours a night with no feedings. If she does wake up in the night she fusses a bit but puts her self right back to sleep.

We are new women. She smiles all day and so do I! Now we are working on naps. That is harder but we have seen major progress there too. She hardly cries when it's time for her nap and falls asleep in 3 mins or less but she only stays alseep for 35-45 mins. :( The other thing is I'm having a hard time indentifying her sleepy signals. But it's all good, we're in it together me and Gem.

She's also getting better at drinking from a bottle. She takes an average of 3 full bottles a day now. I think she was refusing them before because she was so damn tired. She wanted my boobie for comfort. Now that's she's well rested she has the energy and enthusiasm to learn something new. It's wonderful!

Other than that she is now sitting up and has a total of 7 teeth. We're still doing Baby Lead Weaning and she is loving every minute of it. Dinner time is definitely her favourite.

A few of her other favourites are shaking her Bright Starts activity balls, pressing the buttons on her play smart phone and laughing at herself in the mirror.

And honestly there really isn't anything on her 'Not' list. She likes it all!

Love and Hugs

Is self care important to new Moms?

Remember that Times cover article intitled "Are you Mom enough?" Well even tough I never read it I understood it loud and clear. And after the first 3-4 months of Gemma's life I certainly wasn't feeling "Mom enough."
 As you know Gemma isn't a big sleeper and she also started teething early. (She has 7 teeth now at almost 7 months old) Of course I was and still am blissfully in love with her but taking care of her is another story. It's hard work and I was feeling pretty mad and guilty for not being able to do it all myself. But at the same time I was desperate for help. I started searching the internet late at night for anything and came along this article called, "A simple self-care contract for Mothers" on Babble.com. A bell went off. I asked Vince to come home earlier and stop going to the gym, I asked Mom and Dad to make the long drive to help on Wednesdays and Saturdays and finally I called these guys:

My neighbour was literally the Nurse Next Door. Her name is Victoria and when I was feeling over exhausted she was the first person I thought of. She came over the next day and we signed a contract for a nurse to come help with Gemma for 3 hours once a week.

And guess what? I got a massage and it felt damn good! Best thing I've ever done.

So I just want to know, am I the only exhausted Mom out there who couldn't hack it?

Love and Hugs

Have you been watching Olive Us TV?

It's the cutest! Here's a little movie they made of their youngest on how to be 2 years old. (They have 6 children!)

How To Be 2 from Olive Us on Vimeo.



If you want to see more of their movies go to Oliveus.tv. 

You'll get lost for hours! I know Gemma and I did!

Love and Hugs

Gemma is six months old!

The Roo with a mouth full of teethens!

Well holy moly 6 months! Gemma has 6 teeth now and she doesn't seem to stop. I keep thinking after a few days of hard teething that we'll get a month break until the next one and then nope a few days later another bastard tooth pops out. So I guess this is Gemma's pace, fast and furious.

I'm getting better at not blaming myself for her horrible sleeping patterns. I mean they are getting better but still she is often up every 2 hours. We'll get a stretch of 5 or 6 hours once a week maybe and I chock it up to teeth and development and just try to roll with it.

But honestly I am beyond exhausted. I had a few bad crying days a couple of weeks ago and decided it's time to ask for help. I need a break and 6 extra hands so I called in the big guns. Mom and Dad are coming over every Wednesday night after work and every Saturday to help with the little toothy beasty baby and I couldn't be happier. Hell I may even get a massage!

A few things Gemma loves are: jumping in her jolly jumper, smiling at people at the dog park, the moment she hears her Dad come home and her frère jacques music box.
A few things Gemma could live without are: Gettting her jammies on after the bath, laying on her back, being held by anyone but me, bottles, pacifiers, sleeping, napping or any down time at all!

Love and Hugs

Gemma is five months old!

My big girl

Her eyes are coming through as more of a grey blue this last week, what do you think?

My happy missus

She loves looking at herself in the mirror.

Here's a shot of her adorable baby bum in jeans to cheer up your day! ohhhh I could just eat her!

Here we are at five months and what's new you ask? Well poor Gemma is still teething big time. I feel so bad for her and seriously wish that bastard tooth that's been bothering her would just come through already! What the heck?! The bottom two sprouted in a day so what's taking so long with these other ones?! 

We've started a bedtime routine (bath, swaddle, milk, luulaby, bed) and trying to help Gemma sleep better. Honestly it's not really working out. She still hasn't slept good since we got home from France on Jan 08th! Could she still be jet legged? I can't imagine. But those nights of 10 hrs and 7.5 and even 5.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep are far behind us. The little Gemmaroo wakes up around 4-6 times a night and the longest stretch of sleep has been 3 hours but it's usually more like 2 or even 1 hour. :(

Gemma is a rolling machine. She can't stop flipping fiercly from her back to her belly and then pulling herself up. The problem is she has a really hard time rolling back over again so she gets stuck and then mad. I know she needs to learn and teach herself but I can't help saving her everytime. She's my babe!

I love spending my days with Gemma. She's the sweetest little love bugly and such a gentle sweetheart. I can't wait to see what next month brings!

Love and Hugs

Gemma's nursery

We're moving again! Surprise! Surprise! (Yeah right you're not surprised.) We're moving to London Ontario in a few months due to Vince's job. It's good and bad, good to be closer to my Grandpas and Aunts but sucky to further away from my parents and Ryan, Britt and Will.

Now that the surprise is out of the way lets snoop in Gemma's room shall we? First off you must know that Gemma's room is tiny tiny and also has the only closet in the whole house but we were making it work. I say that in the past tense because as of a few days ago I bought a ridiculously XXL swing online after trying EVERYTHING to help her sleep. Well it arrived and is sitting smack dab in the middle of her room. You actually can't walk around it you have to shimmy. :(

Annnnnnnyways.

You might remember the post I made back when I was pregnant and sleeping like a normal person and basically in lala land. Here it is. So yes we did end up purchasing that print and using my wedding veil in the design and I'm so happy with the end result. It's all peachy pink and grey. When we were at Fabricland picking out the fabrics my Mom asked me ever so nicely if I might ever considering picking any other colour palette or will I forever be choosing peachy pink and grey.
I let her down nicely. ;)

Sunny welcomes you into her sister's room

Mom custom made all the crib fabrics and window coverings. Can you believe her?

See that little clown and puppy pillow? Mom used a silk scarf that
Vince painted when he was a little boy to cover it.

I think Gemma loves her mobile and crib. Too bad she never sleeps in there!

The Gallery wall

I found the paper mobile on you guessed it, Etsy!

Of course I wanted one of those $900.00 modern upholstered grey looking gliders but I live in reality so instead we bought this one for $100.00 second hand.

A few of Gemma's books came from Mamie and Papy in France. See the Popi one up there?
Vince used to read that when he was a little guy.

So there you have it, a peak inside Gemma's little nursery which we will have to pack up and
set up in a new house soon. :(

Love and Hugs