1st iPhone app party

It was not the best weekend to host the party since most of our friends could not make it but we still had a blast. We had our first BBQ of the summer in our newly cleaned patio. The patio could still be cleaner but at least we can see the dirt now :) For the barbecue, we made hamburgers, based off a meatball recipe from our Greek cookbook. We also had hot dogs, beef and lamb skewers, and smoked zucchini and bacon. That was all we had on the grill - honest! On top of that we had nachos with cheese dip, potato chips, vegetable pasta salad, and cake. We had a herb salad too but I forgot to prep it. Anyway, with such few guests, we now have food for the week. That's great for us!

It didn't rain and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Jean-Louis started out cooking but then the hamburgers started to fall apart since he was pressing on them too much. After that, I had to take over. Unfortunately, all the hamburger pieces at the bottom of the grill created a lot of smoke and then came the fire. It was hard to control. It was definitely a good thing I took over! Barbecuing is just not Jean-Louis' thing. Actually, cooking is just not Jean-Louis' thing :)

For Tristan, he got to smell the great BBQ food and he got to socialize. We fed him milk and mashed pears. One day, he will get to enjoy all of the great BBQs I will make for us. Until then, he'll have to eat all the boring baby food I make.

We're in! Our 1st iPhone app is now available

The iPhone app we started to build back in October (?) has finally been released in the iTunes Store. With the arrival of Tristan, we thought we would never finish the thing but we did it! Check out the Contraction Tracker in the iTunes Store near you :)

I will have to blog more about it later. We found out about its release early in the week and have been scrambling to update the website and fix things online. I'm still having problems switching servers with our hosting company. We're slowly working on promoting the app as well since this is really our window of opportunity. We've already buzzed about it on Twitter and now it's my turn to blog a bit about it :) Without much promotion, we have already sold quite a few units. We are surprised but maybe it's not too surprising since it's considered high season right now for having babies, no? I'm so glad to see that so many people have chosen our app over the 10 or so others that do a similar thing in the app store. I'm really looking forward to reading some reviews.

I'm also planning a celebration party for our 1st app. It's taking place tomorrow. The cake was ordered early in the week and we're likely going to have a barbecue. I have to finalize the menu today and then grocery shop this evening. So much to do today but it's okay because for the first time in days, we actually had a good night sleep. So glad the heat wave is gone!

Parent & Infant Group at Bonsor Recreation Center

Today, I got Jean-Louis to take a vacation day from work so that he could bring us to the nutrition class at the Bonsor Recreation Center. It's part of the Parent and Infant Group gathering they have every Monday 10:30-12:00. If there was one class I was going to go to, it would be this one. Our visiting nurse told us we should go to this one and I have a lot to learn in this area. To our surprise however, the nutrition class was swapped for the class on "sleep." I got Jean-Louis to call before we left to make sure it was still on but they must not have understood him. Anyway, I guess I will trot myself and Tristan over there next Monday to attend the nutrition class.

It was our first experience at a parent group get together. It's pretty much like what I had imagined; moms and their babies, strollers and toys everywhere, fussy babies etc. These groups can't last very long because after about 30 minutes, babies start to get cranky all over. Tristan was no different. It was around his nap time though.

Jean-Louis was actually not the only father there. There was one other guy and he had a fussy baby! It was interesting to see babies all around Tristan's age, what they were wearing and all the baby products. I saw a Stokke stroller, other Bugaboo strollers, and we had the same toy as at least 2 other moms nearby. There was a mom right in front of us breastfeeding - I'm sure Jean-Louis liked that (not!). Although I think she was using her breasts as a soother for her baby. She had really tiny breasts too for someone lactating. As anti-social as we were, we left after the session without having talked to anyone. Tristan was also asleep and we wanted to leave without waking him.

The experience was nice. The talk was okay. We already knew most of the stuff being presented. There were a few good points we took away from it. Sleep issues are personal and if you don't have a problem with your baby's current sleep, then it's okay to continue doing what you are doing. Don't feel like you have to change things because your mother-in-law doesn't approve or your neighbor doesn't approve. I thought that was a good point.

Spit up nothing compared to baby vomiting

Today, Tristan vomited for the first time. I used to question whether he was throwing up or spitting up milk before since he did it a lot and it was very messy but after what I saw today, I would have to say that up until now he was just spitting up milk.

We were at my sister's place in Maple Ridge sitting on the couch when I heard a small strange sound from Tristan. I thought hey, a new sound! Then soon after that a fountain of vomit came out and spewed right onto us both, onto the couch and then on the carpet. M'aidez! Tristan's face was all red when it happened. Seconds after, he did it again! I now know what projectile vomit is like for a baby. Luckily, Jean-Louis and my sister were in the room and responded to the cry for help right away.

I was shocked. How did such a small body vomit so much fluid? Milk, cereal, peas mixed in with stomach acid. Okay, that was too much detail. Poor Tristan. The weird thing was that I totally didn't see it coming. He didn't act like he was not feeling well and he was rather mellow and we didn't move him much after I fed him.

We introduced a new food to him that morning. Mashed green peas. I fed that to him and then rice cereal. Maybe I fed it to him too fast and then we went driving for about an hour. Then I fed him breastmilk and it was quite hot. I mostly blame the hot weather for this. He was overdressed even though he was just in shorts and a t-shirt. That was actually the first time he did not wear a long sleeve and pants outside of the house. It turned out he still wore too much.

After losing that much liquid from his body, I knew he was dehydrated so we gave him water, just a bit at first. He mostly drank water and breastmilk after that. We decided to forget about the peas during dinner and only give him oatmeal cereal after his milk feeding. Hopefully, that was the end of it. We'll have to add that to the list of questions we have for our doctor tomorrow when we go for his shot appointment.

What's after cereal? Broccoli!

That's right. Broccoli. We chose broccoli as the first food for Tristan after cereal. I wanted a green vegetable that wasn't too sweet and organic broccoli was on special at Save-Ons so voila! Tristan is constipated too so I thought introducing a vegetable soon would help him. It's been 2 days now since his last poop. I realized today too that we were overfeeding him cereal. We were probably giving him 2 or 3 times the required amount - oops. As a result, I increased his milk feeding for breakfast, decreased his cereal feedings, which included eliminating an entire feeding in the afternoon.

Now broccoli was interesting. I boiled cooked it and then it was pureed with the machine. When we fed it to him, he had this strange look on his face. That was the face I was expecting when we first fed him rice cereal! He was reacting to the texture of it, not the taste. He did eat all the broccoli we fed him. It was pebbly and too dry though. He made many faces and even coughed here and there. Yes, too dry. It was as though we were feeding him dry breadcrumbs or toast. We added some water to it and that made it easier to swallow. Broccoli was messy too and it stuck all over his face since he had sunscreen on. Definitely interesting. Well, a few more days of this and we'll see how it goes.

Being a stay at home mom is hard enough

I guess I really had to learn it the hard way by trying to be a full time mom and work part time from home. Lately, I just haven't been able to get much billable work done. I probably log something like 30 minutes every day and that's mainly to handle email and do a bit of research.

As a stay at home mom, I have to do all the baby stuff with Tristan as well as all the wife stuff like laundry, cook, ensure we have supplies and make sure the house is in order. Think of it as house management or project management for the house, if you are a geek. I also look after all the finances and take care of things for our side business. For instance, I had to make 2 phone calls today regarding our mortgage renewal and Jean-Louis' income tax assessment. Sorting those things out have been an ongoing task for a few days and the phone call basically consumed all of Tristan's nap time. Well, at least it is taken care of now!

When it comes to the baby stuff, I could make my life easier by not pumping breastmilk daily for cereal feedings and just use water. I could also simplify things by not using reusable diapers as much since they involve more time to maintain. I could leave Tristan in his sleeper all day too since we don't go out anyway. But I would feel like I was slacking if I did those things. There are already quite a few things that I don't do, which I probably should be doing. For instance, cleaning the house more often and properly cleaning his toys and feeding utensils. Going out more often too for fresh air, socializing, and a change in scenery. Ok, so it appears I could still be doing a lot more!

When one thing gets easier, something else gets harder. Moms all know this too well. Feeding Tristan is more work now that he is on solids. I have eliminated his breastmilk feeding in the middle of the night and that's going pretty well. Because he is not interrupted, he sleeps better through the night. However, wake up time is still around 6 or 6:30AM....zzzz. No, we haven't started sleep training yet :) Now, we're agreeing to start after his 6 month shot next week. So we say.

Tristan is just on cereal right now but I will be introducing veggies or beans soon. I find that he is constipated so I can no longer predict when he is going to have a poop. So much for potty training for number 2. His diet is about to change quite a bit so it will be even harder to guess. I don't know much about what and when to feed him so I'm going to a nutrition class next week to learn about it. Yes, one more new thing to add to my long todo list. C'est la vie!

Afraid of spoiling the baby

I just let Tristan cry in the exersaucer for 8 minutes and I videotaped a part of it so that he could see himself having a cow one day. I did it because I thought he was crying for attention. He didn't seem tired, hungry, or uncomfortable. I tried many times to place him on the floor so he could play with his toys but he protested. Usually when he is fussy, I would start to play with him first and then leave him but it didn't work this time. I finally carried him to calm him down and then I started it again. I put him down to play but he wouldn't. Fine. It was about time to feed him so I nursed him and after just one side, he passed out. Now, he is in his crib napping. So far so good. I was wrong. He was still tired. He usually naps 1-2 hrs straight but it wasn't the case this weekend and I thought maybe he was on a different schedule now.

I don't want Tristan to rely on me holding him or playing with him too much. I sometimes leave him to cry until it becomes a screaming cry and then I take him. I read that is bad since babies will learn that screaming works. Allowing them to cry a little bit longer each time is what you are supposed to do. It's hard for me, as his mother, to tolerate him crying so much with a wet face and choking on his salvia between each scream. I'm trying my best to be cool with it but babies can sense your emotions and know that you are really not ok. It's so hard to be a good mother when every thing you do or don't do gets criticized by someone. Jean-Louis thinks I give Tristan too much attention. But then again, if it were up to him, he would have had Tristan cry it out at his first month. We talked this weekend about this because I wanted him to see where I was coming from and understand why it was so hard for me. It may have helped just a bit but I'm not sure.

There will definitely be changes and Tristan will be allowed to cry more but at the level I'm comfortable with. I don't want to spoil him and I know I need to act fast or it will get much harder. As I see it, the window of opportunity is here since he is just 6 months old and it's not too late yet.

Yes, no more noise coming from the baby monitor! Looks like Tristan is still enjoying his nap :) Phew.