One day shy of his Uncle Neil's birthday, we welcome the newest cousin to Alex... Callan Scott Lamont!  Congrats Kathy, John and Ashley.  He looks super cute. Can't wait to meet him!!

You do the craziest stuff for your kids... I guess.  I am trying hard to justify some sort of social outing/activity to take my son to.  The problem is that they all sound extra, super lame (that's right... not just lame... extra, super lame).  Why on earth would I want to salsa dance with my baby?  Or sing and play musical instruments for my baby in a public setting? Why do mothers assume that the moms in a mommy group instantly become best friends due to the simple fact that we have babies??

So, I decided to start with something that was free.  Baby Time at the Toronto Public Library.  Well... it was interesting.  It is for babies aged newborn to 18 months.  I'd say that the majority of the kids were closer to 18 months.  I thought I was in hell... but... Alex sat quietly and took it all in stride.  He even smiled a few times.  It's because of the smiles, that I may return to hell, um I mean "Baby Time" next week.

Alex is well into his second month (it's nearly done) and they say at three months, he will no longer be considered  a "newborn". That he is almost three months is mind boggling!  Where has the time gone?

Like any crazy, biased mother, I have marveled at all he has accomplished in such a short span of time.  I know that these things will seem ridiculous and trivial to most people, but to watch him figure out these simple acts we take for granted has been nothing short of an amazing journey for this mamma-bear.

He tries so hard to roll over.  SO HARD.  It is hilarious.  Have a look:

He also can hold his head up for longer periods of time.  As a result he loves tummy time!

He is so active -- he is not a docile little dude.  He punches, swats, kicks, flails, grabs -- he is always moving.  I call him my little Kicky McGee. 

He is always chewing on something.  His hands, his teether, his blanket, my shoulders... if he can, he puts it in his mouth.  As a result, he is always drooling.  Charming, I know.

Let me start by clarifying: I love my baby.  I am not depressed.  There is no strait jacket in my future - I think ;)  That doesn't mean my first week with Alex was all sunshine and roses.   In fact, the first week was pretty awful.   None of this was my little angel's fault.  Hormones, lack of sleep, inexperience, and a myriad of other issues led to a bit of a rocky start to this ride called parenthood.

For starters, I was still pretty high/ out of it the next day.  N has told me things that I have little to no recollection of.  For example, sometime during my labour I called my dad on my cell phone to tell him I was heavily medicated? Hilarious!

I was also in a lot of pain and getting in and out of bed was unpleasant.  Sitting was unpleasant too.  Movement in general was trying.  I've never felt so dependent on the help of others... Neil, my mother-in-law, nurses, etc. [Aside] Speaking of my mother-in-law, she arrived on June 30th expecting a grandson.  Instead, he's born on July 6 and she had to fly home before we were discharged from the hospital. What a visit!

The first two nights we were in a semi-private room.  This was uncomfortable for many reasons; most notably because Alex screamed non-stop these first 2 nights and we got no sleep.  None.  Zero. Ziltch.  I'm sure our room-mates hated us.  I know the people on the second night did... they conversed openly about their regret at being too cheap to spring for a private room.  This agitated me greatly.  They were hardly quiet with their non-stop noisy visitors.  Not to mention the fact that their baby was having projectile vomiting episodes and was at times as agitated as Alex.  I requested a private room for the 3rd night.  We will never do semi-private again.

Then, we discovered the non-stop screaming was linked to my lack of milk production.  I wasn't feeding him enough and my milk hadn't come in yet.  He lost 9.9% of his body weight over the first 3 days.  We were flagged as having feeding issues and sent to a lactation consultant.  I ended up pumping to stimulate breast milk production and we had to supplement with formula and expressed breast milk for a few days. Finger-feeding with a tube led to other problems.  He stopped latching because he could get milk faster through the tube... it was a big circus but I'm glad to say multiple trips to a lactation consultant and we are now exclusively breast-feeding again.

Finger-feeding Alex

Last, while I can appreciate all the work that nurses are responsible for, I hated 8 of the 12 nurses I was assigned during my hospital stay.  Conflicting information, subpar assistance, and no continuity of care.  Case in point, one would say pump then the shift change would come and I'd be told not to pump.  One nurse said we couldn't be discharged due to the baby's weight loss, the next nurse got the discharge process started and gave away our private room.  Neil at this point had to step in and chat with the head nurse... and no, we weren't allowed to leave but no one seemed to know what was going on... FRUSTRATING!

Finally, I got to go home.  Home never looked and felt so good. 

Fun Fact:  The average hospital stay for delivering a baby at Women's College Hospital in Toronto is 36 hours.  My stay was 84 hours.

Seriously this has to be a sign. This is the song that was on the radio when Neil left our home to come pick Alex and me up from the hospital.