This week started with a Mother’s Day brunch celebration that I’ll post in a separate post. At week 41, Kenzie has started to crawl instead of leap frog and walk more. One step, two steps… fall. Practice makes perfect! She is slowly getting over her fear of standing on her own and doesn’t attempt to grab hold of anything and everything around her for balance. She’s learned to fall on her bottom unless she sees myself or Ramon in front of where, and instead she will free fall into us like a trust exercise.
So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 50
Sleep: 102 hours
Feeds: 96
Following a wonderful Mother’s Day celebration over the weekend, Ramon and I fell ill with the dreaded cold. We woke up with sore throats, runny noses and a full body ache. We have to mask our sickness and put on a brave, healthy face with big smiles for Kenzie who is feeling 110% this week. Watching Ali Wong’s Netflix special helped get me through it.
I had hoped I wouldn’t get Kenzie sick (again). She had just gotten better. But I guess she takes free my super low immune system and caught my cold. It’s heart breaking watching her try to sleep and cry because she can’t breathe out of any of her nostrils. We’d had to result to using an aspirator to suck out as much snot as we can. She fights us but we hope one day she will understand it’s for her own good. But the time we got to the end of the week, she didn’t struggle as much as she could feel it working. Unfortunately she has had trouble sleeping as the phlegm would make her cough in her sleep. Sleeping slightly elevated and on her side has helped and breastfeeding has been able to clear her nose temporarily throughout the day. However, she has been extremely picky with her food this week and we feel it’s because she may have lost her taste buds.
With Kenzie in tow, we headed over to the Pregnancy, Baby Expo. I had planned to go last year when I was pregnant but didn’t end up going. I purchased a couple of combination teether/dummy holders and individual teether from Tiny Moons, a diaper disposal system from Baby Bunting, a couple of silicone banana toothbrushes and a baby tooth keepsakes book from a stall that I’ve completely forgotten the name of, a Baby Repair Balm from Milk & Co, new teats from Pigeon (which I somehow lost), rice rusks from Baby Mum Mum and a whole bunch of brochures and samples. I personally wouldn’t attend the expo again, I felt like after paying $10 for 2 hours parking, I needed to make the most of it, otherwise, the deals you get are not as good as End of Financial Year and Boxing Day sales. What I liked about it was being able to speak to the brand representatives such as Nestle Cereal who told me that following the back instructions was not the way to make baby cereal (yes, he said not to follow instructions and Kenzie now enjoys the cereal more) and Panadol told me that their infant formula doesn’t taste nice until you get to the 12+ month formula. I also found that some mom’s are so rude! I know that being a mom is stressful but we’re all parents at the expo, no need to push and shove or block aisles! Your time is just as important as everyone else’s and you just have to be patient if a stand is more popular than the other. The nerve of some parents when they see freebies! What I didn’t do was participate in the classes they had on offer which I think would have been beneficial. Unfortunately, I thought 2 hours was enough time and I really didn’t want to get a $100+ parking ticket and didn’t get to attend any classes.
We held a surprise birthday for my sister over the weekend. It wasn’t completely a success as she figured out it was a surprise as soon as she pulled into her driveway but it was still a good mini celebration to ring in a new year for her. Kenzie loved watching her nursery rhymes projected on a huge screen in the theatre room while chilling out on an oversized beanbag.
We feel productive and locked in her Sydney birthday venue! We are super excited that we’ve been able to tick that off our list. Now, onto looking for a venue for her QLD birthday.
Albeit a productive week, “baby brain” has sunk in very hard. Not only am I sick but I feel like a complete zombie, walking into things (again and again, like I didn’t learn from the first, second and third time walking into it), I’ve closed he microwave door onto my fingers because I didn’t move them away (only God knows why), I cut my finger with scissors because I didn’t move them away as I was cutting paper (again, only God knows why), I’ve become very forgetful, I haven’t been thinking very efficiently and I haven’t been feeling myself at all the past few days. Ramon’s noticed this and has helped me with Kenzie and housework as I fuel myself with more than once cup of coffee a day in order to function. The only way I’m able to get things done is all thanks to routine which I track through a task sheet and a mobile app. Without this structure, I’d be completely lost. I don’t know how other mom’s cope. We don’t have the luxury of having Kenzie attend daycare or have a parent who is retired to help out. It’s been a challenge mentally and physically. We’re hoping next week would be a better week. But coming into her 10 month, it’s been tough.