Norah News: The time has come

In the days and weeks before Norah was born the two things I was most anxious about were staying in the hospital overnight and would I be able to breastfeed? I guess I didn't know any better, because there is a LOT more to be anxious about than those two things! Staying in the hospital, in the maternity ward at least, is pretty comfortable... room service, 'free' babysitters, no real responsibility other than naming and feeding your child... the only down side was someone coming in to take your temp and check various other things every couple of hours!

But I digress... Turns out breastfeeding, while not trivial, really wasn't that hard for us to get the hang of. By the time we left the hospital, we had it down pat. I didn't have problems like many moms have, my only real challenges with it came after I started back to work (for real that is, when I started my new role in July) Pumping stinks, there are no two ways about it. My supply, while seemingly sufficient for her while nursing, really challenges me when pumping.

I set 6 months as a goal - the bulk of the benefits to both Norah and I are in that first six months, and gosh darn it, I was going to make it! When the six month mark came and went, I really didn't feel any inclination to quit, so we decided to keep on going! Some time around the 7 month mark I just reached a point where I had had enough. I just needed a break, and while Matt is more than willing, being a man, he's not exactly able to share the load on this particular one. I could have him feed her and pump instead, but dislike pumping that much that I'd rather just feed her myself.

I should note that neither Matt nor I are fundamentally opposed to formula, and all along have acknowledged it as a perfectly acceptable back-up plan. I think it was this open mindedness and knowing we had a backup that allowed me to nurse stress-free, for the most part. Matt has been great about being encouraging without forcing it, and really supporting whichever direction I wanted to go with it (which, you may know, sometimes changed from day to day!)

In any case a week ago Sunday, sick tired (literally) I said to him "It's time". Norah has been sick and teething, so we've delayed a little, but last night she got her first after work formula bottle, from Matt. She seemed to take to it alright... I didn't really know what to do with myself, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't second guessing myself. But overall, as usual, we survived. Surely there will be tough days ahead as we continue to drop a nursing session every few days in lieu of a bottle, but as usual, we'll get through it.

In closing I will say that I have really enjoyed nursing Norah, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I'm a little sad that we're moving on, as it seemed like we just got started, but I am also looking forward to getting some time back in my day, hopefully fit in some exercise instead, and set a positive example for my daughter. If any of you friends and family out there are ever considering breastfeeding and want to talk about it, I'm happy to. Reading about it and researching it became a bit of a habit for me!

Nature vs Nurture

Today when I dropped Norah off at daycare, her teacher Miss Digna, literally couldn't wait to grab her and hug her. "She's sooo cute!" Then Miss Julie, who only occasionally covers the infant room, stopped in because she saw us, and asked to hold her, as it had been a while (week??) Then Miss Stephanie arrived, and grabbed Norah and took her over to play.

Now, I know Norah is cute, but I am her mother. Even I can see that the other kids are cute too! I'm glad, of course, that everyone wants to pay attention to her also, but it got me thinking about how much of a people person she is, and how much of it's nature vs. nurture.

I've seen Norah working an entire waiting room full of people... not just mothers and kids either, old Chinese guy, 20'ish big brother, harried dad on his blackberry... all of them, smiling and being silly with Norah. We meet a lot of people this way - have I told you abouther fan club at church??? Also, she doesn't seem to need sleep if there is a party going on.. (she still does later, of course, and I guess it's my job as Mom to keep track of such things)

Back to my musing, I don't THINK there has been anything we've done as parents to make her thrive so much on people and commotion... in fact our home is quiet, if anything. Since we moved to the burbs and don't have a lot of extended family nearby, it's mostly just us. On the other hand, since she arrived, I haven't been shy about having other people hold her, though as you probably know, leaving her is always hard on me (even when there are multiple sets of arms for her to go to like this morning!)

So, knowing that the nature/nurture debate is ongoing, I'd have to agree :) I think she intrinsically is an extrovert, and gets her energy from being around people. But I'd also like to think we've enabled and nurtured this tendency in our parenting work so far. It will be interesting to see if and how this plays into her path in life.

No rush Norah, but I can't wait to see!

Norah News: 6 month photo shoot

I had Norah's pictures taken at the end of August... she was cutting her bottom teeth and had a cold then, much like now, but as you can see, she still took some great pictures! Enjoy!

Norah News: First time for Everything

Yesterday I got the dreaded call from Daycare... "Norah isn't really herself, and she's been running a temp" I'm happy that Digna and Stephanie know her well enough to know when she's not being herself, and also that they called me to let me know, and not waited until the end of the day.

Sometimes I wonder if I am making Rookie mistakes... I knew she wasn't herself, and frankly, kinda needy on and off the past few days. But she has a cold, I suspected she was teething, I took her out until 9:45 on a school night, I've been giving her some milk that had been frozen... there were likely explanations for all of her symptoms, and I don't want to be one of those moms who insist on taking their child to the doctor for every little thing. My gut was telling me nothing major was wrong, but if they're calling, then I better have it checked out.

I called the Pediatrician's office, and was really impressed with the process... long and short of it, they said sounds like she may have an ear infection, bring her in and they'll take a look So, we went in around 6:20 last night. We had her all checked out, and the diagnosis was that yes, she was in fact pushing not one but FOUR new teeth through! Also, she had some fluid in her ears, as is common in little kids with colds, but so far they were not infected.

So, you can expect some changes in Norah's smile soon, with 4 top teeth ready to pop! All things considered, she's doing pretty well!

And I am doing alright, for a Rookie who is learning to trust her instincts

Norah News: Getting Ready to Move!

I've thought for some time now that Norah would likely walk before she crawls... she has loved standing (assisted, of course!) since she was about 3 months old, and increasingly doesn't want help to stand (she still needs it of course!) As time goes on, I am not so sure though... she *almost* seems like she wants to stand when she's reaching for her toys... what do you think?

On a side note, turns out SLEEP is a key component in this whole balancing act! Norah slept straight through until 6:45 this morning, and man, does it affect how the day looks to me :) Not only does a few hours of uninterrupted zzzz's make a difference, but I had some quality play time this morning before we had to go, AND I made it to work on time! Looks like it's going to be a good day!

Norah News: 9/24 Photo Shoot

So, I spent some quality time with Miss N tonight and I'm feeling much better (Yummy chicken dinner didn't hurt either!) Here are a couple of pictures... I don't know what is with the tongue... maybe the next tooth is on the side?

In this last one, you can see that she is starting to climb on things (me, in this case) and is very determined

Balance: You CAN talk youself into it

I know I write a lot about balance, but that is what is on my mind a lot of the time... occasionally I feel balanced, but much of the time it's more like I'm teetering one way or the other. As you may know, my job hasn't exactly been demanding the past year and a half or so... well that has changed! In a good way, for the most part, but as my job evolves, so does my quest for balance.

I took a new job back in June, but really only got deeply into it in mid-August when I returned to work full time. In a way it was a relief to be there the full 5 days per week when everyone else was, and to be able to 'sink my teeth' into something, and use my brain, which had begun to atrophy over the months of maternity leave that had been preceded by months of organizational restructuring. I've been feeling pretty lucky to have such a flexible schedule, and often mentally 'click my heels' at my good fortune.

These days, I have a couple of 'big deal' projects, one for the new boss's boss, and I really want them to go well. Of course, it was this week that Norah had a couple of bad nights (is she getting more teeth???) and I had a couple of 9am meetings. At points, I thought I had the proverbial lion by the tail - last night, I even took Norah out to a dinner party with me where she smiled and was charming until several hours past her bed time. Other times, like this morning, after she decided she needed to be snuggled to sleep between.. oh...1 and 4 am, I wasn't so sure. She eventually went back to sleep, as did we, until her 6 am feeding that is! Then, to top it all off, I had to wake her at 8:15, so I could hopefully drop her off before I had to dial in at 9! I just HATE to have to wake her!!! If it wasn't for the meeting, I'd leave her sleep and take her over a little later... I feel like I barely saw her this morning (at least not since dawn) and I'm missing her terribly today. I guess this is what it's like for most working parents.

As the day has gone on, the feeling of balance is starting to return... I am knocking things off my to-do list, her smiling face (in a picture) is watching me while I work, and I started early today, while she was asleep, so I looking forward to an early finish as well. Heck, I am even planning to cook a chicken for dinner! Wish me luck!

Norah News: Like a Big Girl!

This weekend, we went out to eat twice - once on Friday night, and once on Sunday morning. Nothing unusual there, we do both of those things nearly every weekend. (Well we did neglect to bring any form of payment with us on Friday night but that is an entirely different story - suffice to say there are still some kind and trusting souls out there.

The cool thing about our meals out this weekend, was that Norah sat up in a Big-Girl Highchair, and ate her meal along with us! Of course, she's been sitting up in her own at-home highchair for a few months now, but those funny ones they have at restaurants around here are a bit of a challenge for those who are a) still tiny and b) just learning to sit up! They are one-size-fits-all-with-no-adjustment for sizes thru to toddlers!

She is still eating baby food, but as life gets busier and busier, it seems more and more important to me that we try to eat dinner as a family as much as possible. Even if we're having Pad Thai and she's having oatmeal and peaches. It won't happen every night, but we can try!

The Vision

In a previous post, I told you about Matt's vision for the backyard... well today I thought it would be cool to show you some before and after shots. Here is a picture of the backyard the first spring when we moved in... note the red-shed, the stump garden, oh, and of course the pool! You can't really see it, but just behind the red-shed there is a wire fence that basically cut our backyard in half. The previous owners used to just toss their junk back there, and it's been an ongoing effort (by Matt!) to get it under control. Here is the before (2006)



and the after (today)





This next one shows the back of the house, with the back stoop, rotted out dining room window and funky shed-like bulkhead structure. This was taken last spring, before we began the sliders/deck turned kitchen renovation project



And here it is, this afternoon... deck, sliders, slick basement access trap-door... awesome living space that we use a lot!

What can I say, the man has vision!

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Trying something new .... Blogging from my cell phone

Life is a Highway

It occurred to me this morning, as I shuttled between various tasks, that Life with a little one is lot like a commuter train.

My life BM (Before Matt) I like to compare to a sports car, going fast from place to place, but not really getting anywhere important. When you're flying down the highway in a sports car, you're not worried about anything but the ride! For me that meant going to work, gym, out, hiking etc, and only having to focus on that one thing before I races off to the next thing on my very full agenda.

In My Life AM (After Matt) we moved to the burbs to what I'll affectionately call a "project house" ... it's not really a fixer-upper, since it didn't really *need* anything, but suffice to say that projects abound. I compare Life in this phase to an old truck... the truck might not seem as exciting as the sports car, but it's got a lot of life in it, and it will get you where you're going, and you might even notice some meaningful things along the way! We didn't rush around so much from one thing to the other, but spent some quality time with each other, and others, and of course, lots of time building our home, in the literal and figurative sense.

Now that we're in Life AN (this one should be obvious!) I feel that Life is more like a commuter train... for one, I rarely feel like I'm driving any more! Also, it's a lot of stop, go, stop, go, sometimes very fast, sometimes not so much. Today I did some work early this morning so I could quit early to hang with Norah. I was Mommy, Marketing Chick, Mommy and Marketing Chick again, all before 9 am!

Oops! Time for Marketing Chick to get back at it and pull out of Blogger Station so she can get over to Zone Mommy!

My Husband's Mistress

For those of you who are local, you probably have received an
email from me over the summer, telling you that I was a "Shed Widow"... meaning Matt was planning to work on the shed, and Norah and I were looking for something to do or someone to visit!

We'll I am here to tell you, the shed is done! Well, it's as done as the kitchen, the deck, and most every project in our house - "Substantially Complete" in construction terms that I learned from Matt.

Matt did it all himself (even somehow raising the ridge beam) without a bit of help! He designed it to be just what he wanted, including suntuff polycarbonate roofing to let in the sunlight, the bunks, er I mean shelves inside for all the tools, the doors, and even how to re-use the windows that used to be in our dining room! I am really proud of him, even if I complained about his 'mistress' once in a while!


Here is a picture of my hunk, looking his finest... this was this past weekend, I think he had just taken a walk out to visit with his shed between teaching Norah about football and taking out the compost!

Of course the shed project led to another project, as projects around our house always seem to... this past weekend Matt and my Dad got to work moving the old shed (the Red Shed) off to the corner of the yard. Each project brings the yard closer to it's potential that Matt saw when we bought the house, and more and more we can envision Norah and her buddies running around out there.

See, even the shed is all about Norah!

Can a girl ever really have too many Aunt Sues?

Or Shoes?

Well if it's possible, Norah does. We've been especially fortunate to get a couple of great batches of hand-me-downs for Norah. To the point that Nanny and I were out shopping with Norah on Saturday and we barely bought a thing! There is something about a baby that makes good will (and closet cleaning!) come out of the woodwork! I hope to return the favor when Norah is done with her things, and pass them along again. In any case, here's her shoe collection (not including the ones she's wearing now)

Funny thing about Norah, she's well endowed with "Aunt Sue's"... her one actual Aunt Sue - my sister Susan, her Great Aunt Sue - Oma's sister, and of course her local Aunt Sue, her Godmother... I think they'll all have a fine appreciation for the shoe collection :)

Norah News: The sweetest words

"Blah blah la la da da da da da la la MA MA MA la la blah blah"

Norah has kicked it up a notch in her babbling :)

Wedded Bliss!

As I posted on Monday, Susan and JM were not only glowing from the inside, but were stunning on the outside too! Here are a couple of pics I stole from my Dad's facebook album for those of you fortunate to know Norah's Aunt Susan (cause the Bugle is really all about Norah!) here's a couple of pictures from their special day

Norah News: Sweet Potato

Norah expanded her food repertoire today... she had sweet potatoes! The total now includes rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, peaches (Her favorite), bananas, pears, green beans (NOT her favorite) and carrots.... here is her enjoying tonights treat!

Oh Mama! The Balancing Act

Two of my favorite blogs talked about Sarah Palin yesterday... The Marathon Mama and the Brazen Careerist. I am sure you know that she was recently chosen by John McCain to be his Vice Presidential running mate, and that she is currently the Governor of Alaska. Politics aside, did you also know that she has 5 kids, aged 17 years old to 5 months, and that the youngest is a special needs child?

I can't decide if I am in awe, or if I think she is nuts... her son is younger than Norah, plus she's got a house full already! Figuring out the balance of being a working and resolving it within myself continues to be one of my greatest challenges as a new mother...maybe it gets easier after 3 or 4? I thought starting a new job with a remote boss was challenging, never mind commuting to Alaska! It's true that if she were a man/Dad, I probably wouldn't even be thinking or talking about her kids (I have no idea of Joe Biden's family situation for instance) but she's a new mom, like me, and I am.

I just returned from Canada, where a few of my relatives with young children have recently returned from a year or more of maternity leave, where their jobs were held for them upon their return. They were, by and large, appalled by the lack of maternity leave here in the US (and all things considered, I was very fortunate) I also talked to a few of my aunts, who were forced to actually QUIT their jobs when they became pregnant 30 or 40 years ago -- compared to them, I guess I've got it good!

Being a woman in a male dominated field like Engineering has always made be acutely aware of women's issues in the work place, though more as a hobby or area of interest than anything I've truly felt affected by. I wonder if that will change now? I've found it harder to concentrate, impossible to work late, and frankly, some days I just want to go home and snuggle with Norah!

Ironically, I've never been so clear in my life about what I want from my job or my career as I am now that I have become a mother. I want to work hard and contribute at something that allows me to come home on time at night with time and energy left for my family. If I could continue to have the flexibility I have now, that would be a bonus too. I know and have made a conscious decision that my career isn't at the top of the list for the time being.

I don't know what the right answer is, and I don't know if I think running for Vice President of the US with a 5 month old is a step forwards or backwards. It will be interesting to see how things look a couple of decades from now, when my own daughter is making her way into the working world.

Good Times...

Before you think I've given up blogging, let me assure you it ain't so!

We were out of town for my sister Susan's wedding in Toronto, and while I technically COULD have blogged from the road, there was too much to do and people to see to spend time on the computer.... but boy do I have some good material to write about :)

The wedding and our entire visit to Toronto was very much reflective of Susan and JM - relaxed and fun! The bride was radiant, despite hosting a dozen or more for dinner and many more for socialbles the two (or more??) nights before her wedding, the groom gave a touching speech and was quite dapper in his suit, the sun came out for the outdoor ceremony celebrated by a bagpiping Reverend.... what more could we ask for??

Well, I'll tell you more later, but right now I am more than a little road-weary and need to feed my baby before I can hit the sack!

All the best now and always to Susan and JM!

I don't have a good pic of them from the day, but here is one of us!

Cow is to Horse..

As what is to Winne the Pooh?

Can she really be a cowboy if she is riding a stuffed bear? And why do cowboys ride horses anyway?? Deep thoughts for you on a Labor Day Monday... I hope you all enjoyed the holiday on both sides of the 49th paralell - we did! Beautiful weather, caught up with some good friends, got some good work done at the house, and even had some time to enjoy the deck! Best of all, we're looking forward to a very short work week and seeing many of you soon! Can't wait!

In the meantime, here's a little video to get you by...By'