I know that I have not posted anything in quite sometime. In fact it has almost been a year since the last time I wrote a post for this blog. I guess the little one keeps me very busy…. in fact I now have three little ones. I am running a family daycare out of my home and look after two children other than my own son. Busy, busy, busy!!

Anyhow… onto the post….

I was thinking last night, (in between making dinner, tidying up the house and trying to relax from a long work day ) that indeed Mother’s day is fast approaching us. I began to wonder….. “Is one day really a sufficient amount of time to honor a mother?” Think about it. Think of all the things that we, as mothers do. Not only do…. but also not do for ourselves because we are too busy making sure that everyone else is okay. I am proposing…… a Mother’s Week instead of the current Mother’s Day.

Recently, financial adviser Ric Edelman estimated the value of a mother.

Edelman has been compiling the lighthearted annual study for ten years. The basis of the index is that the typical mom actually does many jobs: 17 of them. Using average annual compensation data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, Edelman totals up the average salaries for those 17 key occupations to arrive at each year’s Index number.

“Since a mother wears so many hats and is on duty 24/7, I structured the Mother’s Day Index to reflect a total of full-time yearly salaries for all the key positions she holds,” said Edelman.

Edelman noted that the average multi-tasking mom routinely is expected to:

raise children

dispense medication and nursing care

assist with homework

cook meals

attend meetings and functions

provide transportation

keep house

listen to and resolve family problems

manage family finances

care for pets

maintain family order and harmony

keep family on schedule

The total of the 17 average annual salaries in 2008 is $802,690, an increase of $28,990 over last year.

$802,690!!!! Imagine all the nice things we could do for ourselves with $802,690!!! Cheque please!!!

So to all the hard working mom’s out there….. here is to you. Won’t you all join me next year for Mother’s Week? And for now (this year) I wish you all a very happy and well deserved Mother’s Day. Here is hoping your day is filled with a little relaxation and plenty of help around the house from the other members of your family!!

My oh my…… time sure does fly.  I haven’t written anything since the beginning of May?  That’s pretty bad.

Lukas has been keeping me busy.  He is getting so big.  His 3 month b-day has come and gone.  One week ago today I weighed him… he was 14 pounds 10 ounces and 24 3/4 inches long!!!  Big boy!  We are still attending the “Baby and ME” group.  I believe there are four classes left… including the one that is this afternoon.  I will miss the group when it is over.  I was thinking that it would be nice to keep in touch if all the other mommies wanted to.  Maybe meet every week for a coffee… or something.

Last week we took Lukas to get his first professional pictures taken.  He fell asleep in the car on the way there, so when it was time to wake up and get pictures done… it was a little hard to get him to smile.  He was kinda in half sleep half awake mode and wondering where the hell he was ….. and why everyone was huddled around him oohing and awing and cooing to try to make him smile.  Obviously not as easy as I thought it was going to be.  Usually I can make him smile without any problems…. but not that day.  He just looked around the room contently… wondering what was going on.  We did manage to get a few good pictures though… so it turned out okay.

I have been trying to set up a day where all the ladies from our pre-natal class can get together… but it doesn’t seem to be working. You know when you keep trying to get a hold of someone and you just can’t seem to…. so you start to think to yourself… maybe they just don’t want to get together? Well that is the way that I am starting to feel. I have thrown suggestions out there about lunch, going for a walk, a movie… but we still have not come up with anything. I sent out a email to all the ladies and one answered me back with just a picture of her baby… no comment or answer to the question of getting together. Either a) she is stupid… or b) she really doesn’t want to get together in the first place.

So fine… I have now come to the conclusion that no one wants to and I have now given up! No more emails, no more suggestions, no more trying to be nice and make friends with women who I thought would like to hang out with other women who are new mommies too.

Boo!

Lukas and I signed up for a “Baby and Me” class that is put on by the local Public Health Unit.  It runs for 11 weeks and is every Thursday from 1-3 pm.  Today will be our second class.  I am glad that we got accepted.  It gets me out of the house and around other mom’s that live in the area… and Lukas gets to be around other babies.  There are also “guest speakers” who come every week to teach a variety of different things… such as… baby massage, post natal fitness, baby yoga and things like language and speech development.  Hopefully after the class is over, we will have made a few friends along the way!

Yesterday we went to the reunion class with the couples from our baby class. Everyone is doing good and all the babies are healthy. The order of the babies in the picture above is (from right to left) Ryleigh, Evan (the only girl), Tristan, and our little Lukas on the far left. We spent some time at the Birth Place… where we attended the pre natal classes and then we all decided to go out for dinner together. It was nice to be with other couples with little babies too!

I found out from one of the other mommies that the local movie theater has a “strollers and stars” night, where babies, mom’s and dad’s and all there “baby gear” is welcome in the theater while they play one of the new release movies. We are all going to try to get together to go to a movie sometime. That’s pretty nifty. So we can go to a movie and not have to worry about finding a sitter… and I can breastfeed…. and no one will look twice. Whomever came up with that idea is obviously a parent and definitely a genius!

Lukas is one month old today. I am still breastfeeding him, but I have started to give him a little bit of formula each day. I had taken him to the public health unit to have him weighed and he had not gained as much weight as the nurse said that he should have. This, of course, freaked me out… making me think that he was not getting enough milk. I breastfed him every two – three hours, for two days and then took him back to get weighed again…. to see how much he had gained within those two days. He had gained 45 grams… 22.5 grams per day. Apparently 20-25 grams per day is an ideal weight gain… so he seemed to be gaining just fine, but I decided that I would give him a few ounces of formula a day…. just to make sure. Plus, if I need to go out somewhere…. it is nice to know that he will not be “starving.”

Lukas is 16 days old today. 16 days!! Man, time is going by fast… it’s hard to believe that he is already over 2 weeks old. He is doing really good. I took him to the public health nurse on Wednesday, where he got weighed and he has gained 9 ounces since birth.  He has only had breast milk, no formula.  Breastfeeding is a lot more daunting than I thought it would be.  That is all he seems to do… is feed.  This morning, I swear, I fed him from 6:00 am, the time we woke up, until 1:30 in the afternoon…. with just little breaks in between feedings.  I talked to the public health nurse about this and she told me that this is perfectly normal.  It is called “cluster feeding” and is very typical for newborns… it also will “prep” my breasts for regular breastfeeding, so that they will produce more milk.  I figured that I would be able to start going back to the gym…. but the way things are going right now, I really can’t be away from him for too long,without him wanting to be on the breast.  I have tried to pump, but all I get is 1~2 ounces at a time…. which the public health nurse also said is “brilliant”.  BRILLIANT???  How the hell is getting 1~2 ounces brilliant?  She said not to expect to get much more than that.  HUH?  I thought that after a few weeks I would be able to at least pump enough to get him through a feeding….. so that I could leave him for a few hours and get out of the house, without having to worry that he is screaming at the top of his lungs in starvation because his horrible mother took her boobs with her and left him with nothing to eat.  Hmph.  I really hope that this whole breastfeeding thing gets a little easier.

Today Lukas had an appointment to have his circumcision done.  I feel so sorry for the little guy, and it really breaks my heart to see him in any sort of discomfort.

The appointment was at 8:30 this morning and the circumcision was performed at The Pollock Clinic.  Dr Pollock is one of the best doctors in North America for mogen infant circumcision and  no scalpel~no needle vasectomy.  The procedure takes approximately 30 ~ 40 seconds for the doctor to perform, and after several pain control methods, Lukas seemed not too terribly bothered by it.  Now I just have to worry about the after-care, and make sure that he heals properly.

First of all, Lukas is doing great. He is starting to adjust to being in the outside world and is sleeping pretty good during the night.

On February 20th my doctor scheduled an appointment at 8:00 am for me to be induced at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster. We went to the hospital, I got induced and they sent us home with instructions to come back in 5 hours if I was not going into labour. So we went home, and nothing happened. We went back to the hospital in 5 hours and they induced me again…. and again we were told to go home, wait 5 hours and if nothing has happened to come back again. So again we drive home and wait, and there still seems to be nothing happening. So we went back again. By this time it was 10:30 at night. The resident doctor examined my cervix and said that it had thinned out a little and that she didn’t feel the need to induce a third time, so they sent us home yet again, and told us to wait it out. They also sent me home with some sleeping pills so that I could get some rest.

At home I took the sleeping pills, and laid down on our bed and fell asleep within an hour. At 3:00 am I awoke and started to have contractions. We drove back to the hospital and found out that I was 2 1/2 centimeters dilated. At that point they decided to keep us there.

By the time noon hit, I was 7 centimeters dilated and was in active labour. The contractions were getting a lot stronger and more painful. I decided to go ahead an have an epidural to help alleviate some of the pain and once the epidural kicked in I was in heaven. No more pain and I had the chance to rest up a bit before it came time to push. By this time a small crowd of family had formed in the waiting room but Neil was the only person I wanted in the labour room and thats how it went.

At 3:00 pm I was 10 centimeters dilated and was told by the obstetrician that I could start to push. This wasn’t painful at all. The epidural had made me so frozen that I could not even feel the contractions. The doctor turned the epidural off so that I could start to feel the contractions and push more effectively. And by 4:39 that afternoon our beautiful little son was born. He was placed on my tummy and I cut the cord and was able to see him for a minute before they took him away to get checked out. He barely even let out a peep. The only time he cried was when they gave him a shot and measured the circumference of his head. He was so alert and wide eyed, looking around everywhere…. and so peaceful…. it was truly amazing.

I would like to introduce you to Lukas William Wells. He was born into this world on February 21, 2007 at 4:39 pm…. weighing 8 pounds, 4 ounces and measuring in at 21 and 1/4 inches. [Sorry for the dark photo... but I do not believe the flash was on]

Mommy, Daddy, and Baby Lukas are now out of the hospital and settling in at home. Right now Lukas is having a nap…. such a good time for Mommy to go get some much needed breakfast! To see more pics…… go here.