wordless wednesday

I wish I was writing here more often, but when I have time to do things, blogging is usually at the bottom of the list.

Geoff lost one of his jobs last week, which left us in a financial crunch that we're still crawling out of. Of course, this is exactly when everything decides to go wrong. My Evenflo Comfort Select Performance decided to fail me, so we decided to invest in a Medela swing (although I don't agree with their business ethics). We were hoping to wait until we had the money, but there was just no way to wait unless we wanted to give Leo more formula (which is a whole different topic).

Poor Leo. I signed us up for a bunch of free gifts (from reputable sources of course) and among other things, we received a free tin of Enfamil formula. Leo usually gets only 6 oz of formula a day, of the Good Start variety. Being in a tough spot money-wise, we decided to give the Enfamil a shot. Baaaad idea. For the next couple days, Leo was horribly constipated. Each time he would manage to pass a bit, he would cry and scream in pain. It was the first time he'd ever dealt with this issue and it just broke our hearts each time he would go through such pain and energy only to find such minimal relief.

Naturally, we nixed the Enfamil and managed to find the funds for his regular stuff. It's not cheap; I'm glad he mainly breastfeeds. As (bad) luck would have it, mere hours after spending the money we received a free tin in the mail.

I also had some dental work that needed to be done before my dental runs out in the beginning of April but even with coverage, it is just not feasible right now.

So in a lot of ways, it is a difficult time right now, but Leo is my ray of sunshine through the clouds. He smiles and coos a fair bit now, and is even okay to hang out in his swing or vibrating chair for anywhere up to an hour.

Despite our struggles, I feel fantastically blessed to be the mother of this amazing child.

So I didn't end up posting in the morning like I had planned. Leo had his own ideas on what I should be doing, and that idea did not include Mommy's laptop. As he gets older (just past the six week mark now) he spends more and more time awake, which leaves less and less time for superfluous activities like attempting to blog.

Two days ago, our little lion rolled over for the first time! We were doing tummy time on the flattened-out futon (as I can get great camera angles when he's up there) and I was wondering why he wasn't exactly lifting his head, and making funny little motions with his legs. All of a sudden, out of nowhere- flip! He was on his back! It was so exciting to see. Even better was the fact that he decided to do this during the morning, before his dad had gone for work! I'm home with him all the time, so I get to see all these firsts. It was so great for his dad to be there for it.

The night before last was the worst night we've had so far, hands down. He decided to go to sleep at 7:00 PM, a full two hours (at least) earlier than he usually does. We hadn't even eaten dinner yet. We managed to get through our meal (hot food! yes!) and at 9:00, just as my husband and I were laying down to sleep, we hear a glass-shattering, ear-piercing scream. Yep, Leo was making new noises. Unfortunately they happened to be the most shrill screams I've ever heard a child make.

Our poor babe was inconsolable the whole night. The only thing that calmed him was nursing, and the soothing was very short lived. Within minutes of laying him down in his cradle he would be awake and screaming all over again. Needless to say, all three of us got very little sleep.

For having such a crumby sleep the night prior, Leo was in an amazingly great mood yesterday. He had quite a few short naps (which he doesn't often do) and was generally very pleasant. He was in such a great mood that we decided to go for our first walk! That might sound odd, that his first walk was at six weeks old, but it was still very much winter until yesterday. Winter seems to have returned again today, but that's off topic.

My best friend lives a couple doors up from us with her daughter who is 18 months. Our stroller had belonged to her, and I'd never used it before. It was a beautiful day, so I contacted her and we decided to take our kids for a walk. She was able to show me how to use the stroller with the car seat, which was great. We went on a nice hour long walk around our suburb, which is on a huge hillside. I was beat by the end of it, but in the best way possible. Leo must have loved the stroller bouncing along, because he fell asleep before we even left the driveway.

Leo slept beautifully last night, but I'm out of time to elaborate. We're going to my mother-in-law's house soon and the little lion definitely needs a bath.