Sophie the Giraffe

Talon has a new favourite toy, in fact it is the first toy he has shown an interest in. Sophie the Giraffe!
We visited Aunt Lisa and his cousins on Monday. Sierra is fascinated with Talon and tried to grab his soother and eat his leg! When Talon was laying on the couch Lisa asked Keira to get Talon her giraffe for him to look at. It seems everyone has this giraffe! It's great! He can suck on it and it squeaks and he likes looking at it. Zim seems to think we have made the mistake of giving Talon his toy and watches with confusion as to why we are giving it to him.

Hike in the Forest

On Sunday it was a beautiful fall day and we decided to go for a hike in the forest to collect some colourful leaves and take some pictures.
We put Talon in a light snowsuit (one of 9 that we have for him!) and put him in his snugli and he had a great time! It was nice being able to go for a walk outside without the whole stroller situation and could walk on the path in the forest. Mike took some fall pictures, he has become the photographer since Talon was born, and Zim had a blast going for a long walk.

1 Month!

Talon was one month on Saturday! It was also the day he showed his first full smiles! He now smiles when you talk, sing or kiss his face. It's the cutest thing!
I can't believe that he is one month already, but on the other hand, it feels like we are old friends now. I am understanding his cues a lot easier now and can distinguish between his hungry cry and other cries.
This weekend it was like he decided show us all his his milestones!
He started cooing when we talked to him. It's wonderful to see him responding to us and communicating.
He has also started really using his legs to push up on me when I am holding him over my shoulder. He is very strong already!
Talon used to hate being left lying on the couch or any surface alone, but now he seems to prefer it to being held sometimes. He kicks his legs like crazy and has a ball!
He is really enjoying his monkey gym too, which is a mat that we lay in his playard bassinet and there is a ring of toys overhead like a mobile. He will sit and stare at it and kick for a good 15 mins...good exercise for him!
I have also now been able to have a shower in the morning and not emerge to hear him crying in his vibrating chair. This is a milestone. He seems to really enjoy the chair now and can focus on the bubbles that move in front of him. He also likes the vibrating which I used to turn off because it bothered him before.
He started putting his hands in his mouth after a feed and burp and wasn't hungry. It seemed he just needed something to suck on, and it was going to be fingers or a soother.
The soother...I debated about whether I ever wanted to give him one. Would it be better to have him just suck his thumb? Would it just be for my benefit? How would I wean him off of it? Would I have to get up to put it back in his mouth every time he dropped it? What about damage to his teeth?
After discussions with my mom, sister and Kelly I got enough info to make a decision. So on his one month birthday we tried the soother, only for his fussy times which are in the late morning and evening. I didn't want him to have it to sleep, just for settling him when he was fussy. It works very well! He enjoys it, but doesn't drift off, in fact he kicks his legs and has a great time taking in his surroundings!
He has also started to slowly grow out of his newborn clothes. He no longer fits the two "small baby" sleepers my mom gave him. They were for 3-5 lb. babies. His newborn sleepers are getting a bit snug and I have a feeling he won't fit them by next week. A few of his hats he has grown out of and we have started him on his 0-3 sleepers (which is good because we have A LOT of them!).
Talon also seems to enjoy bath time now...or at least, not mind it as much. I give him a bath by myself if Mike is working and he sits comfortably in his bath sling and looks around. He tries to lick the water if it gets on his face. I call him my little chicken because he is just so tiny in the tub!
It's like once we passed the one month mark, we both understood each other better. I have more confidence in caring for him and determining his needs. This is where the fun really begins!

Sleeping In His Nursery

Yay! I decided that after my birthday I would try to have Talon sleep on his own in the nursery. He had been sleeping in a bassinet beside my bed but I found that if he stirred in his sleep I was awake. I wasn't getting a very sound sleep. So yesterday I moved the bassinet into his crib and moved his change pad and clothes etc. We had been changing him on the bed too, and even had a small wardrobe of his clothes in the bedroom. It really felt like he was moving out!
I started by moving him into the nursery for his afternoon nap. I have to confess, I enjoyed falling asleep on our easy chair with him on my chest and that was how he napped. However afterwards it was becoming harder for me to move him to sleep elsewhere without him waking up. So his first nap in the nursery was a success! I was so pleased.
The night went well! I awoke to him on the baby monitor after fretting for about 10 minutes if I had the volume loud enough to hear him. He went back to sleep after feeding, no problem! I had a nice sleep for the first time in SO long!

Birthdays

We went to my parent's for Sierra's first birthday party on Saturday October 17th. All of our relatives got to meet Talon for the first time. Of course he was well behaved and slept in everyone's arms for most of the day!
It was also my 30th birthday this weekend but I was sick all week and had no voice. My greatest gift was Talon and I was so happy to be able to spend my 30th birthday with him and Mike! We went to lunch at Azian with Stacy, Em and Skylar, and Talon slept through the whole meal! I was worried about whether he would!
My plan for my birthday was to have sushi as I had been craving it for the past 10 months. Turns out I could have had sushi as it is safe as long as you know it is made fresh and it won't make you sick. I couldn't indulge though because it is not safe to try foods that your family members are allergic to. My dad is allergic to shellfish so I didn't want to risk it. It seems that there are more restrictions on eating while breastfeeding than there were when I was pregnant with Talon!

Thanksgiving

I have become accustomed to the fact that I am about a week behind in my posting.
So it was Thanksgiving last weekend and we visited the fams for dinner. Talon's first holiday! Pics to follow. We brought the camera bag, but no camera! Lisa took some pics for us.
He was very good during dinner at my mom's. Everyone held him and his cousins got to meet him for the first time. Keira was excited all week to meet baby Talon. When I would talk to her on the phone she would say "Aunt Cayee!" Then she would whisper "Baby Talon". My sister had told her that baby Talon was sleeping. Sierra seemed fascinated with Talon too. His cry is very different from hers (there's something about a newborn cry that is like no other) and she just watched him.
Of course Talon seemed to smell the food and knew when I sat down to dinner so I ended up feeding him while everyone sat down to eat and got to join the table after he was done. I love Thanksgiving! Any holiday that revolves around food, I'm in!

Also I got Talon to smile for the first time last week! There's a video below. His smiles while he is sleeping are so funny to watch, but this one was in reaction to me talking to him, it was amazing!

New Mom Talents

I've picked up some new talents in these last few weeks, some odd tricks that I never thought I'd need.

Magazine Page Turning With Toes: While breastfeeding it can be difficult to do anything without a third hand, which is where the feet come in handy. During the night when there's not much to look at, my feet come in handy turning pages for me.

Laptop Opening With Elbows: Pretty much speaks for itself.

3 Minute Make-up Application: There should be a prize for this kind of thing!

I do however suck at taking out Talon on my own. Last Friday I thought I would go to the dollar store and supermarket. An hour and a half later, and after leaving my supermarket purchases at the store and having to go back for them in the rain, I vowed to never take him out without his stroller again. His carrier? Way to heavy even for what was supposed to be a 10 minute shopping trip.

First Day Home With Mommy

It had to happen, on Tuesday October 6, 2009, Mike was finally going back to work after almost two weeks off and I was very nervous to be alone with Talon all day. What were we going to do? How would I make a meal? What if he didn't sleep?
Surprisingly, our first day was peaceful and uneventful. I was able to make myself breakfast and lunch, but didn't time it well enough to eat and ended up wolfing down both meals as Talon let me know it was time for him to eat.
I think I called my mom about six times with questions and comments about Talon. "How long should he nap for?" "Should I wake him up?" "What should I do today?" Even, "Yay, he burped!"
It's amazing how much more I appreciate my mom after realizing how hard of a job it is to be a mom. Thank you mom.

Baby Fat

So I have to say I thought it would take me longer to lose my baby weight. My dr., Dr. Singh, made we worry about how much weight I was gaining when she first took over my care from Dr. Lackman who went on maternity leave on July 1st, 2009. I went into her office having gained 8 lbs. in one month and she basically told me that if I kept up on that path I wouldn't be able to give birth to a baby. She did scare me but in the end I realize she was so right. I cut out all the fruit juice I was drinking (I thought fruit juice would be the best thing for the baby) not realizing that all of that sugar was causing my weight gain.
Since that appt. I either gained or lost 1 lb. maintaining the same weight until I gave birth. This, I believe was the reason I lost a lot of my baby weight so quickly in the first two weeks. That, and the fact that I breast fed so much in the first few days it helped me burn a lot of calories and shrink the size of my uterus.

Our First Walk

On Sunday October 4, though it was raining, I thought it was time we went on our first walk together. I was getting a little stir crazy in the house and just needed some fresh air.
We had no idea how long it would take us to get ready for a walk around the block with the dog!
We put Talon in his stroller and dressed him in his Winnie The Pooh outfit to keep him warm. He looked like a snowball! We decided that maybe he didn't need to be dressed for -30 degrees weather and opted for his sleeper, a jacket and a blanket.
He slept the whole time and Zim, I think, enjoyed the walk most of all! By the time we got home an hour had passed and it was time for lunch.

I had called Telehealth a few days ago after we noticed that Talon was sleeping 4 hours a night. They assured me that as long as he was feeding, wetting and dirtying his diaper he was fine. The nurse said that maybe we are boring him and should show him that the world is really an interesting place! Then maybe he'll keep his eyes open for more than 10 mins. after he burps.
We started putting him in his swing which he enjoys when he is getting sleepy. He has been noticing things a lot more the past few days and spent the time in his swing gazing at the mobile of teddy bears above him. I had to take a video (okay 8) and I said to Mike that this is what parents do...take videos of their kids in a swing, swinging. Not sure how interesting the video will be for anyone else, but we thought it was amazing how fascinated he was!

Birth Announcement

HOLDEN, Michael and Carrie (nee Tabone) are thrilled to announce the arrival of their son Talon Robert, born September 24, 2009 weighing 6lbs. 8 oz. Proud Grandparents Kelly and Cathy Holden and Robert and Consuella Tabone of Stouffville. Special thanks to Dr. Levy, Dr. Arnold and the wonderful nursing staff at Markham Stouffville Hospital.

Circumcision :(

Talon had an appt. on Thurs. October 1st, his one week birthday, to get circumcised. We took him to see Dr. Pancer who is known as the "King of Circumcision", he calls himself the "Dink Dr."
Mike didn't want to watch the procedure so I went in with Talon. They gave him sugar water to suck on a piece of gauze and then they froze his penis in three places. He was so brave and didn't cry the entire time! Dr. Pancer said that unfortunately though, he will cry when the freezing wears off in about 10 mins. He said that he will cry in the car on the way home and that once he falls asleep he will wake up okay.
He started crying in the car so we decided to pull into a parking lot so I could feed him. After that he fell asleep and was okay when he woke up. His penis needed to have gauze with Vaseline wrapped around it for 7 days until it heals.
What a brave boy we have!

First Bath

On Tuesday September 29 we gave Talon his first bath. He was not happy! We had to take pics of course, but the poor guy was just miserable the whole time. I'm sure in the future he will love bath time!

First Dr.'s Visit

On Monday September 28th Talon had his first Dr. appt. with Dr. Li in Stouffville. She had visited us in the hospital to check on him and saw him when he was jaundiced. When we took off his diaper he peed on her table! Boys will be boys.
She weighed him and he was 6 lbs. 9 oz. We were surprised he had gained back his birth weight plus one ounce already! She said he is looking much better and just advised us to watch the whites of his eyes and make sure they aren't turning yellow as that is how you tell that his jaundice is getting worse.

Home

We arrived home with our boy and were so glad. My mom came and helped us because we were exhausted from the sleepless night before.
We thought we would share the task of waking up with him at night, but after three nights I found that it wasn't working at all. I thought about how when Mike goes back to work I will be depending on him too much and will need to do it all on my own.
When Talon cries I think it sounds like he is saying "It's 'cause of that! It's 'cause of that!"
Mike found that Talon likes to go in the swing we borrowed from Lisa. He sits and swings and falls asleep to the music.
He is a good sleeper at night. He will feed around 11 or 12pm and then he will feed again at 3 or 4am. He wakes up again at 6 or 7am and all in all we get about 7 hours sleep a night!
Our dog and cats are good with him too. They are curious about him but basically leave him alone. Zim likes to go and see him if he is crying and make sure he is okay.

Hospital Stay

We had such wonderful nurses help us during our stay at the hospital. They were very helpful with tips on breastfeeding and any questions we had.
Some of the wonderful nurses were our birthing nurse Suzette, Carmen, who helped me with breastfeeding tips at night, Holly, who helped with Talon while he needed photo therapy and helped me pump and Elaine who visited us while he was cluster feeding in the incubator and helped me with questions I had before we were discharged.
Talon was jaundiced and we found out we could not go home the 2nd day after he was born. He had to receive photo therapy and stay in the incubator for a 24 hour period. I had to pump extra breast milk and feed it to him through a feeding tube that was inserted while he was breastfeeding. As well, Mike was able to finger-feed him the breast milk with the tube being taped to him finger. He thought it was amazing to be able to participate in feeding him. Pumping with a pump on each breast was quite a daunting task! As well, Talon was cluster feeding that night and wanted to feed every hour. Since I was also pumping for 15 mins. after feeding him, by the time I was done I would get about 10 mins. sleep before he was hungry again.
We were lucky enough to get to stay in the birthing room the next two nights as no one else was needing it at that time. The third night they said we could stay in the birthing room because babies who need photo therapy can sometimes stay in a private room if they are available.
It was a difficult night. We were very glad to hear the next day that he was well enough to go home! We cried out of joy and couldn't wait to take our little boy home.
His weight was 6lbs. and 2 oz. when we were discharged.