well, i did it...i had my first weekend away from gabe! as i was packing on thursday night waiting for my ride, i got anxious and couldn't really eat dinner...just the thought of leaving my little man behind was terrifying. but once i was in the car and we were headed for the border, all worries were left behind :-) it was thrilling to be away from him for 48 hours...no diapers to change, no routine/scheduling to think about, no temper tantrums...just me, my girls, and a credit card!
it was a jam-packed trip to the seattle-area with lots of shopping: wal-mart, target, costco, seattle premium outlets, alderwood mall, university village, the outlets @ burlington, and cascade mall. this trip was definitely different than 2 years ago...last time it was all about me and shopping for xmas gifts for my parents. this year i spent most of my money on clothes and toys for gabe's christmas. well, i did spend a "bit" on myself...i deserve it after all :-)
i got some great deals for 40-50% off which totally made the trip worthwhile. i think the best deals were at banana republic in u.village...tops for less than $10! my best "deal" was a $70 blouse for $18 and the $10 gap fleece pullover for chris. well, the kate spade purse for 40% off wasn't too shabby either!
since we got home late saturday night, i had to settle for a peak into gabe's room. but the arms-open-happy-face reaction in the morning was fantastic! sadly life got back to normal pretty quickly and i was dealing with a typical toddler...how quickly my two-day getaway went by... ah well, there's always next year to look forward to :-)
p.s. on a VERY HAPPY NOTE...gabe is fully weaned now! it was a 9 day (somewhat painful) process, but i've finally stopped producing gallons of milk and am (sort of) back to my old self! well, at least enough to stock up on some victoria's secret bras on the trip! haha!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
tough choices
after much deliberation and discussions w/colleagues and reading articles, we decided to get the h1n1 vaccine for gabe. his first dose was last friday, and i have to say it traumatized me. it was the first time i'd taken gabe alone to the doctor, and the memory of his 12 month vaccinations was obviously still fresh in his mind. as soon as we got into our little room, he decided to walk off. once i had him on the table to get his shoes and pants off, he went beserk! fortunately it was only one shot so the doctor was really quick. once we left the office with a mum-mum in hand, all was forgiven.
then he spent the entire weekend with an on/off fever and was just plain old miserable and decided he wouldn't sleep...AT ALL! i felt so bad for the little guy knowing that my decision to vaccinate him caused so much discomfort (and a lack of sleep for me!). (side-bar...all of gabe's previous vaccinations went off without a hitch...no reactions, no side effects.) i've been told that kids who have stronger reactions to the injections *could* be the ones who suffer worse from the h1n1 flu if they weren't vaccinated (true or not...it's only a small consolation for me, but still i'm not convinced this was the best decision i've made). i also question my decision because (currently) chris and i have opted to not get the vaccine (we never get the regular flu shot either). so why would i force it upon my child? because it seemed like the *right* thing to do. because everyone else was doing it. because i would look like a bad mother if my child got h1n1 and hadn't been vaccinated. but the thought i can't get out of my head is that i didn't want the vaccine in the first place and i've just gone against what my doctor advised (even if he is in the minority of all other physicians).
i know it's *just* a vaccination, and a lot of ppl have been lining up for it but i'm really upset over this whole thing. i'm trying to get over it and accept what i've done, but because gabe's due for a 2nd vaccine in 2 weeks, i'm obssessing over it. part of me wants to cancel the appointment and let him be 1/2 protected (after all...healthy kids over 3 only need one dose, and they just made that announcement recently - having said that, the rumour is they changed this rule so there would be more vaccine to go around to other ppl), so who's to say that in another month or two the same won't apply to ALL kids? why would i put us through the pain of another needle and potential side effects? i hate that health canada is still conducting tests on the vaccine and changing the rules on-the-fly.
i know parenting isn't easy, but if i'm this upset over a vaccination, how in hells bells am i gonna get through the next 17 years?!
p.s. gabe's fever was finally under control on monday, but the next day he caught a cold...i don't think anything else could possibly go wrong at this point.
then he spent the entire weekend with an on/off fever and was just plain old miserable and decided he wouldn't sleep...AT ALL! i felt so bad for the little guy knowing that my decision to vaccinate him caused so much discomfort (and a lack of sleep for me!). (side-bar...all of gabe's previous vaccinations went off without a hitch...no reactions, no side effects.) i've been told that kids who have stronger reactions to the injections *could* be the ones who suffer worse from the h1n1 flu if they weren't vaccinated (true or not...it's only a small consolation for me, but still i'm not convinced this was the best decision i've made). i also question my decision because (currently) chris and i have opted to not get the vaccine (we never get the regular flu shot either). so why would i force it upon my child? because it seemed like the *right* thing to do. because everyone else was doing it. because i would look like a bad mother if my child got h1n1 and hadn't been vaccinated. but the thought i can't get out of my head is that i didn't want the vaccine in the first place and i've just gone against what my doctor advised (even if he is in the minority of all other physicians).
i know it's *just* a vaccination, and a lot of ppl have been lining up for it but i'm really upset over this whole thing. i'm trying to get over it and accept what i've done, but because gabe's due for a 2nd vaccine in 2 weeks, i'm obssessing over it. part of me wants to cancel the appointment and let him be 1/2 protected (after all...healthy kids over 3 only need one dose, and they just made that announcement recently - having said that, the rumour is they changed this rule so there would be more vaccine to go around to other ppl), so who's to say that in another month or two the same won't apply to ALL kids? why would i put us through the pain of another needle and potential side effects? i hate that health canada is still conducting tests on the vaccine and changing the rules on-the-fly.
i know parenting isn't easy, but if i'm this upset over a vaccination, how in hells bells am i gonna get through the next 17 years?!
p.s. gabe's fever was finally under control on monday, but the next day he caught a cold...i don't think anything else could possibly go wrong at this point.
Monday, November 09, 2009
maclaren recall
so there's a recall on 1 million maclaren strollers sold in the US (national post story). the reason for the recall is that 12 children had their fingers amputated because they got caught in the hinges. and this happened when the strollers were being closed with the kids still in the stroller. WTF?! honestly, i don't even know how to close ANY stroller with a kid in it, let alone their hands flying around getting caught in the hinges behind them!
for now, the recall is maclaren-specific, but health canada hasn't taken the drastic step of issuing a recall (yet). however, all strollers have hinges and moving parts because they all open and collapse so what's not to prevent a child from getting caught in other strollers?
seriously ppl...common sense must prevail! in the meantime, i'm very interested in seeing what band-aid remedy maclaren has created, so i will be calling for the repair kit.
for now, the recall is maclaren-specific, but health canada hasn't taken the drastic step of issuing a recall (yet). however, all strollers have hinges and moving parts because they all open and collapse so what's not to prevent a child from getting caught in other strollers?
seriously ppl...common sense must prevail! in the meantime, i'm very interested in seeing what band-aid remedy maclaren has created, so i will be calling for the repair kit.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
october wrap-up
it's been awhile since my last post...btwn working, cooking, spending time w/gabe, and catching up on all my tv shows, my blog's taken a backseat to everything else. so i'll just sum up everything right now!
over thanksgiving weekend we took gabe to laity pumpkin patch. for $3 we really enjoyed the corn maze, petting the farm animals, and wandering through the patch in search of the perfect pumpkin. we ended up leaving with 5 of them so gabe could carve w/my parents also. (turns out we never got to carve ours...we didn't have enough time to carve them before they started to rot. next year we'll go to the patch a little later in october.
gabe's 12 month check-up was great...he weighed in at 24.5 pounds (a few pounds lighter than we thought!), and is a healthy little monkey. we did talk to our doctor about the h1n1 vaccine, and his opinion was that we don't need it...because the vaccine was created in a rush, there are just too many unknowns about the long-term effects of it. also, because gabe doesn't attend daycare he isn't exposed to as many germs as other kids. i'm re-thinking my decision our organizational health consultant has been working on h1n1 stuff for some of our clients, and she's advising me to at least get gabe taken care of. the good news is that kids are now only getting one dose of the vaccine, as opposed to the two half doses originally prescribed. hearing the stories on the news is just down-right scary...do i take a chance and not vaccinate any of us and risk me dropping dead in the bathroom one day, or do i take a chance and worry about long-term consequences later? in the meantime, i've been doing my part and i always wash my hands when i get home from work before i give/receive my hugs and kisses to/from gabe.
the most exciting part of the past 3 weeks has been gabe's development. after my first day of work, we discovered that gabe was able to stand up without any assistance. then on october 18, i was closing the mirror closet and gabe took 2 steps towards his reflection! man, once he did that he never turned back...the walking progressed from 2 steps to 8 steps and now he walks everywhere! he's pretty good and can walk barefoot, in socks, and with his shoes on. he still has the occasional stumble (he's got the bruises on his face to prove it :P), but he is so proud of himself. his new favourite game is to chase dad around the condo!
i dressed gabe up for halloween as a monkey. because of the tantrums (see below) i wasn't able to take him to the mall for the train ride or to see other kids in costumes. but he got goodies from my parents so that kept him a little happier.
we're seeing some possible side effects of my return-to-work. gabe's been great during the day with my parents and he's indifferent when i come home. but once it's dinnertime, all hell breaks loose and gabe becomes a little monster. he'll sit in his highchair and flop around side-to-side, back-and-forth, and bang his head on the chair-back or on the kitchen table. the 1st time it happened i thought he just wanted to eat my spareribs instead of his beef & broccoli; the 2nd time he just wanted to walk around the restaurant (he discovered freedom!); the 3rd time i thought maybe he was having stomach pains; and finally the 4th time i just let him roll around on the floor screaming his head off and eventually i had to feed him while he was standing up. today's the first day we've been relatively tantrum-free...he only lost it at the end of his dinner, and was fine once he was walking around. my mom's diagnosis is that gabe is testing his boundaries to see who'll cater better to him...me and chris or my parents. my dad's the big softie of the 3 of us, but my mom tries to keep him in check and follow all of the "rules" chris and i have in place for gabe.
but really, a few days of misery is nothing we can't handle...afterall, we've always had it pretty easy with gabe...we're bound to have some (lots?) of bad days ahead of us :-)
over thanksgiving weekend we took gabe to laity pumpkin patch. for $3 we really enjoyed the corn maze, petting the farm animals, and wandering through the patch in search of the perfect pumpkin. we ended up leaving with 5 of them so gabe could carve w/my parents also. (turns out we never got to carve ours...we didn't have enough time to carve them before they started to rot. next year we'll go to the patch a little later in october.
gabe's 12 month check-up was great...he weighed in at 24.5 pounds (a few pounds lighter than we thought!), and is a healthy little monkey. we did talk to our doctor about the h1n1 vaccine, and his opinion was that we don't need it...because the vaccine was created in a rush, there are just too many unknowns about the long-term effects of it. also, because gabe doesn't attend daycare he isn't exposed to as many germs as other kids. i'm re-thinking my decision our organizational health consultant has been working on h1n1 stuff for some of our clients, and she's advising me to at least get gabe taken care of. the good news is that kids are now only getting one dose of the vaccine, as opposed to the two half doses originally prescribed. hearing the stories on the news is just down-right scary...do i take a chance and not vaccinate any of us and risk me dropping dead in the bathroom one day, or do i take a chance and worry about long-term consequences later? in the meantime, i've been doing my part and i always wash my hands when i get home from work before i give/receive my hugs and kisses to/from gabe.
the most exciting part of the past 3 weeks has been gabe's development. after my first day of work, we discovered that gabe was able to stand up without any assistance. then on october 18, i was closing the mirror closet and gabe took 2 steps towards his reflection! man, once he did that he never turned back...the walking progressed from 2 steps to 8 steps and now he walks everywhere! he's pretty good and can walk barefoot, in socks, and with his shoes on. he still has the occasional stumble (he's got the bruises on his face to prove it :P), but he is so proud of himself. his new favourite game is to chase dad around the condo!
i dressed gabe up for halloween as a monkey. because of the tantrums (see below) i wasn't able to take him to the mall for the train ride or to see other kids in costumes. but he got goodies from my parents so that kept him a little happier.
we're seeing some possible side effects of my return-to-work. gabe's been great during the day with my parents and he's indifferent when i come home. but once it's dinnertime, all hell breaks loose and gabe becomes a little monster. he'll sit in his highchair and flop around side-to-side, back-and-forth, and bang his head on the chair-back or on the kitchen table. the 1st time it happened i thought he just wanted to eat my spareribs instead of his beef & broccoli; the 2nd time he just wanted to walk around the restaurant (he discovered freedom!); the 3rd time i thought maybe he was having stomach pains; and finally the 4th time i just let him roll around on the floor screaming his head off and eventually i had to feed him while he was standing up. today's the first day we've been relatively tantrum-free...he only lost it at the end of his dinner, and was fine once he was walking around. my mom's diagnosis is that gabe is testing his boundaries to see who'll cater better to him...me and chris or my parents. my dad's the big softie of the 3 of us, but my mom tries to keep him in check and follow all of the "rules" chris and i have in place for gabe.
but really, a few days of misery is nothing we can't handle...afterall, we've always had it pretty easy with gabe...we're bound to have some (lots?) of bad days ahead of us :-)
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