Peace & Blessings All 'Round

Today, we celebrated Gabrielle's baptism with family and friends from Kamloops and Kelowna and it was such a wonderful day. Gabrielle's god-parents, the Nickels, came in last night from K-town with their two amazing kids, Danielle (aka the baby-whisperer) and Jarrid who I feel love Gabrielle almost as much as we do! My parents were there, along with Twyla, Gil, Shannon & the kids from K-town as well. Our wonderful neighbours joined us too, and a great family friend, Danielle, came to the church to watch our little angel make this right-of-passage.

I am continually amazed at her adaptiveness to change. Daryl and I had to be at the church at 9am for a rehearsal, and we left Gabrielle at home, napping, with the hopes that we wouldn't have a crazy baby on our hands for the 10 o'clock service. The Nickels arrived with babe in hand, along with everyone else, and informed us that Gabrielle did not nap, but sang for the entire hour in her crib. Oh well. Here we go, I thought!

She wore the Christening gown that I wore 32 years ago, and looks like a little angel. She acted like one too. She was so peaceful and quiet through the service, and when we went up for her actually Baptism and the Minister took her - I thought again - her we go. I, along with everyone there, was amazed, as she glanced up at him, pensively, and just looked at him as he proceeded to Baptise her. During his presentation to the community (walking around the church) she just smiled and glanced at everyone - we could not have asked for a more suiting baby. She really was an angel.

Afterwards, we came back home and had a delicious lunch and cake. My mom baked a ham, and I made salads and plates of yummies. It was all so good, we are now paying for it with the ache in the belly that comes from eating too much!

It was such a wonderful day, which ended so perfectly with a rainbow over the hills to the north. The higher power that watches over us all was certainly with us throughout this day. We are so blessed for our families and wonderful friends. I don't know where we would be without them. We send warm wishes to the members of our families that couldn't be with us, and our friends who sent us blessings. Thank you all.

I'm off to bed.

Oh, just some quick shots of Gabrielle playing with her new dolly from Tante-Nadia. We still have to come up with a name for her, so suggestions are welcome. I thought it was so cute how they were dressed the same. Mama didn't plan that at all...such a good baby...

Pre-Christmas Shots

Prior to the holiday season, we wanted to take some family photos with Gabrielle in some of the beautiful outfits that she has received over the last several months. Many are still too large for her, as she is such a petite-bebe, but thankfully we are headed to warmer weather in a few weeks and will certainly have the opportunity for her to be a girly-girl!

Photos...Phinally

Here are some photos from Nadia's visit. I'm not a photoshop whiz, so some of the colour is a bit off...but you get the idea!

We Are Family

Over the last several months, people have asked Daryl and I when (and if) we are going to have another baby, and my response has always been the following...somedays I know Gabrielle will have a sibling, and other days she will be an only child. It all depends on the day I'm having. I am very thankful to report that as far back as I can remember, we've had very good days, and I am leaning more towards the option of someday providing our wee one with a little playmate.

The past few days have confirmed that more than anything ever could. My sister, Nadia, has been visiting from Toronto and just left today, and I never realized how much I've missed her over the last year since we last were together. Actually, the last time she was here was when we announced that we were going to have a baby, and now, here we are, 7 months into the parenthood thing! Wow, time flies!

But seriously, there is something that really hit me this past weekend, and perhaps it is remanence of my postpartum emotions which are running wild, but I've been crying alot too. I wish that somehow we could be closer. There is so much that I wish we could share on a more regular basis. She has raised to amazing boys, which I hardly know. We use to be close, when I lived in Montreal and would go to Toronto about once a month to visit and spend time with them. But now, lives get busy and time seems to be so sparse. I can hardly recognize them in photos. I don't want that to be the same with Gabrielle and her Tante. She gave me such amazing advice, little things that only come from being there...and the kind of stuff that you don't find in books. I wish we lived closer. I wish there was a way.

Intervention

Today, Daryl and I have decided that an intervention is required with Gabrielle. We're going to sit down as a family and discuss the latest trend in sleep habits that have caused great anxiety and stress to the mama.
First, the background. Gabrielle has slept very well at night since she was a newborn. With stretches running anywhere from 3 to 6 hours in between feedings. When she hit 6 weeks, on the dot, she decided that 6 hours was the minimum that she would sleep at any one time, with the usual night time overall length being about 13 hours. At 2 months, she was subject to a strict bedtime routine whereby she was bathed, fed and put to bed by 6pm. That has held true to this day...just shy of her 7 month birthday. The nights since 2 months of age have been great. She would sleep at times from 6pm to 3 or 4 am, wake for a quick feed, then go right back to sleep for another 3 or 4 hours, sometimes more. Mornings start around 7am, which was just fine by my standards.
However, recently, something has changed. For the last month or so, synchronized approximately with the introduction of solid foods, Gabrielle has decided that she would like to wake more frequently at night for feedings - to which, up to this point, mama has obliged her indulgences, convinced that it was just a growth spurt and she would stop the behavior soon enough. It hasn't stopped.
Today, we've decided that enough is enough. Last night, waking at 9, 11, 12, 2, 3:30, 5 and 6:30 have caused undue craziness on my part. Be advised, that I only went and fed her at 12 and 3:30 and Daryl got up with her at 6:30. We were told at her 6 month doctors appointment - much to our relief - that with the introduction of solid foods she would start sleeping more at night, and possibly start sleeping through. YAY! I was ecstatic. However, it seems the opposite has happened.
Tonight, we will continue with our regular, tried, tested and true routine at bedtime, but at night I will go to her only if she wakes at 2am (about 8 hours since the last feeding) and then we will leave her until morning - about 7am. There is no reason why, at nearly 7 months old, she should not be able to go 5 hours without a feeding. She does it throughout the day now - with feedings at breakfast, lunch and dinner times.
Don't get me wrong, I do understand that my place in the world for the last 7 months has been to provide nourishment to our wee one on an "on-demand" basis, however, my nerves are starting to go as I haven't had a good nights sleep in over 1/2 a year. My plan is to continue to breastfeed until Gabrielle is at least one year old, and possibly longer. All to be determined in time. However, a tired, cranky mama can't be good for anyone in our household. Even Fletcher agrees!

Thoughts and Prayers

Just a quick post to anyone who happens to read this today, or any day...I'm making a special request for healing prayers, for prayers of strength and for courage for two very special families.

A friend of mine - also a new mom to a beautiful baby girl - has been going through what I can only imagine to be a roller coaster ride through hell, as her little 5 month old angel fought for her life over meningitis. Thankfully, they are now back at home, and the wee one seems to be making a great recovery. There will be countless future assessments to ensure that there are no permanent repercussions from this terrible illness - but so far, everything seems to be back on the upswing.

A friend has been sitting by his daughter's bedside for 3 weeks while she too fights for her life after falling from the 3 meter diving board during a practice. The external injuries were slight, but internally, her little body is mangled. Fed and cleansed by a tube, pancreas and spleen compromised, loss of a kidney and no real medical understanding of what to expect next or when things will get better.

For both of these families, my heart goes out to them and every time I see my little one, who is happy and healthy and doing all the crazy things that a baby should be, I think about how quickly and easily things can be different.

Please think of these two families in your prayers. Even if you don't pray, please just think of them. Thank you.