Wordless Wednesday

At Van Dusen Botanical Garden, little Linnaeus shows his love of plants.

ANEW at Blim Market tomorrow!

In the flurry of SFU courses starting up & this bout of food poisoning (thankfully all better now), I forgot to tell y'all about the market I'll be at tomorrow... heh. So if you're not all booked up,  look for me at the Autumn Shift Festival, 11-6pm on Main Street between Broadway & 12th Avenue. I've got a new crop of tie onesies & t-shirts in sizes up to 3T, as well as new stock of bandanna bibs, flannel wipes & lots of pacifier clips.

If you can't make it but would still like to shop ANEW, let me know. You can come by & take a look at my stock or I can email photos. I will be posting some of it on Etsy as well, a bit later.

Here's what I'm working on today:

Parenting while sick

Today I woke up at 3:30am with what I now think is mild food poisoning. I won't get into the details, let's just say I've been relatively incapacitated since then. Oliver seems to have developed it too, slightly after I did. Thankfully, Sprouty seems fine & had a really long nap, giving us both time to rest. I feel somewhat better now, but far from well.

Baby-Led Weaning, Stage II: get your own damn snacks.

This is the first time I've been really sick since having Linnaeus. Poor Sprout is having a late lunch of toast & hummus, plus various toddler snacks from the boxes he ransacked while both parents have been too sick to entertain him. He seems a little concerned about us, as we're not acting normal. It's really hard to take care of nearly all of someone else's needs when you're sick. Gah. I can't imagine how hard this would be had I gotten sick in the next few weeks when Oli will be working again. At least there's two of us to deal with diapers, feedings & cuddles. I think the cuddling part is the worst thing. I'm a bit dizzy & it doesn't feel good to have weight on my belly, so I'm avoiding holding Sprout as much as I normally would. Poor little guy.

Besides feeling awful & still having to change stinky diapers, etc., there's the added worry that over-the-counter medications could harm Sprout via my breast milk. I was able to find one seemingly reputable website early this morning that said taking Gravol should be fine. The Gravol is probably the only reason I slept a few more hours after 3:30am. I know Tylenol will be okay too, but I've put it off, as the fever isn't too bad. Over the last few years, since my first pregnancy, I've gotten used to questioning everything that passes my lips & how it could affect my baby.

Another thing I'll add (sorry for the disjointedness... I don't have the energy to write well today) is that I'm not worried that he'll get the virus or bacteria that's making me sick via breastfeeding--there are very few illnesses that would harm him that way. (Any Moms out there who don't know about the Kellymom website? There is a ton of reliable information about breastfeeding, illness, drug safety, etc.)

The good news is, if my 'diagnosis' is correct & we do actually have food poisoning, we'll both be well quite soon.

Have you been in this situation yourself? How did you manage a baby/toddler/child while you were glued to the couch?

Latest Vancouver Mom Article is out!

My latest post on Vancouver Mom is out today! Read about the changing face of Fraser Street right around where we live.

Stuck under Sleeping Sprout, Again

I wonder sometimes how many hours I've spent in the past year & a bit with Sprout snoozing on me. Sitting on the couch, usually, half numb legs folded up under me, often awkwardly hunched forward over him to reach my laptop as I am now. Sometimes it drives me a bit nuts to have a baby who refuses to sleep in his crib in the day time. But I try to enjoy the feeling of 20-something pounds of baby, arms & legs akimbo, mouth falling open, dozing across my knees, because I know he won't be doing this forever. Someday he won't want as much cuddle time. Someday he won't nap anymore. Someday he will grow bigger than me.

Here are a selection of photos from the last year, all of Sprouty conked out on me.

17 days old: too hot for me to wear a shirt.

3 weeks old, face-down to make his tummy feel better.

One month old, smiling in his sleep.

At the Ukulele Circle, conked out during the last song, six weeks old.

Likely the only photo we have of him with a pacifier. (Two months old) 

Nap time at Auntie Sarah's place, three months old.

Too-big fleecy winter sleeper, four months.

New Year's Eve, four & a half months old.

Sleeping through the second period of a Giants game in the first row. (Five months)

After a few good books. Six months old here.

My handy-dandy lap-warmer at seven months.

My little potato head is almost eight months old here.

Nine months old, having some noms while sleeping.

Eleven months old, still fits in my lap.

Almost thirteen months, napping & snacking simultaneously. AKA The Boob Nap.