A Disappointment

Well, no call back from the interviews. I have to admit it's really disappointing. I still have two more chances and two more times I have to go through this very stressful process. I hate the idea of spending the last few months of my maternity leave applying for a job. I thought I was okay with the idea of not getting the job, but my hubby keeps bringing it up and suggests ways I should interview etc. which I know he means well, but is driving me nuts. To top it off, I have caught a horrible cold.

On a wonderful note and the only thing that can bring me out of this horrible bad luck is my little baby girl. She learned to crawl and is crawling everywhere now! As much as it is a wonderful milestone, I am now constantly on the go following her around and making sure she is not getting into a lot of trouble.

Feeling Deflated

Well, no other calls for interviews. This means, out of 25 applications, I only got 2 call backs. Went to two interviews today.

The first one was at a very affluent community and you could totally tell everyone working and attending there was all about money. The interview was hard...A panel of three people and 5 questions. I didn't do well on some of the questions and felt like I was running circles at times. They just didn't seem like "my" people.

The second one was the total opposite. A small organization with not a lot of money. The interview went really well, even though I missed on one question. A lot warmer atmosphere and nicer people to work with. The problem, the structural surrounding that I am going to work in isn't the way I like it.

What to do? At this point I don't think I will get any more interviews for this round. Odds are I will get the job from the second interview, but do I want to give up what I have now (which is better) for distance alone?

Here are my options. Take it and try it. If I don't like it, post out next year. Try second and/or third posting and if all else fails, go back to Lanor.

Hey if any of you reading this have suggestions for me, please help!

First Round of Job Postings

Well, yesterday I sent out 25 applications to find a job closer to home. Interviews are held next week and I should know if I will be transferred by the end of next week. I have really mixed emotions about this change in my life...I think it's best to move work closer to home and ultimately move our home to where we would like to live and raise our family. That's my #1 goal right now. I will miss my old work though because it was close to my home town and I had been working there for 10 years! At the same time, I welcome change in my career and am totally open to a new assignment...Something I would not entertain a few years ago.

I will keep you posted and hope for the best.

Published in Canadian Family Magazine

Hmmm...A blog that's not about Baby #1. That's okay, if it wasn't for her I would have never written an article that won in Canadian Family Magazine!

I was shocked to see that my entry on breast/bottle feeding won. What was funny about the whole thing was the fact that I didn't tell anyone about it and my mom got the magazine and read the article and thought, "Wow, this person sounds just like my daughter..." And she saved the magazine for me to read!! I picked it up not thinking anything of it because I had not heard from the magazine editors for weeks and then I saw my entry. I am still super excited and happy to be in a wonderful magazine with all Canadian content for mothers.


Now, on to some other stuff. By the way, Baby #1 is fine. She has a tooth now and perhaps the one next to it is coming out too. She is fast asleep now as I type. I am writing today to ask people out there to help me with my blog. I'd love to add some photos or clip art pictures to jazz it up a little, but I don't know how to do this. If you're out there and reading my blog and perhaps you have a blog yourself or you're just good at setting up blogs, please send me some advice and help.

Picking Poo With A Q-Tip

I never thought I'd blog about this, but yes...It finally happened. Natty was so backed up today that I had to "help" her by picking out the poop with a Q-Tip.

I knew things weren't going to go smoothly when she didn't go poo at all yesterday and after pushing for 10 min. there was no movement in the poo coming out. She was so tired of pushing that she curled up on the floor and started to suck her fingers (a sign of self comforting). It wasn't even a question of how gross or smelly I thought it was, I had to help my baby pass the poo or she would be miserable!

It was a messy job, but after picking away at it a bit she was able to push out the rest. After that, I fed her a spoonful of prunes and her next poop was back to normal! Voila, the prunes do work. I think I should feed her a spoonful of prunes everyday just to keep this from happening.

They don't tell you this stuff at the hospital and no one tells you what to do when it happens. I do appologize for the grossness of this blog, but I figure if I went through this, there must be other mothers and fathers wondering what to do and how to prevent this from ever happening again.

Happy Easter

Well, it's Easter holidays and we celebrated Natalie's first "little girl's" Japanese doll festival at my parents house yesterday. I love my mom for hosting this time. It gave me a chance to relax and be a guest for once.

I always love visiting my parents house with Baby #1, but this time it was special because both my brothers were there too. Although our family is a strange one and there are tensions between members of the family, this was a great way to come together.

Baby #1 was fabulous! No time to go for a swim this time, but plenty of time to jump on the Jolly Jumper and just make everyone smile.

On a really good note, I think I have figured out what was causing her to scream and cry after eating...Not so much the formula, but the amount of food I was feeding her? Maybe I was giving her too much to eat. After adjusting the amount of solids, I am finding that she is quite content and has regular poos. Not the stinky, runny, out of the diaper type poos. Also, she is pooing once a day...Which is better than 3-4 times a day.

I hope this information is helpful to all those mothers who are starting with solids. It's really hard to know the amount, but I think with a little experimentation, I have it right.

A Swim Date

I took my baby for her first swim at her grandparents' condo yesterday. I was amazed at how well she did. I was afraid at first that the water would be too cold for her, but it didn't seem to upset her. After dressing her in her swimsuit, we put her in a tub of warm water and then took her to the pool. I think it was because she was already wet that being put in the water didn't bother her. She was definitely unsure about it at first, but then she was a natural. Kicking her feet and waving her hands in the water. I was careful to keep her face out of the water though.

We were in the pool for 15 min. and then we decided it was time to get her washed up and head for home. What was strange was her reaction out of the pool. She cried more when we took her out of the pool than when she was in the pool. Even though we had her tub filled with warm water and we used the same soap to wash her, she was wailing. Could it have been the bench we used to dress her on that was too hard? Was the water too cold for her? It will be interesting to change some things the next time we go to see if she handles things better.

It was definitely a 3 person job. My mom and I had to get dressed first, and then get her from my dad and then while in the pool, my dad was in charge of pictures and again waiting to get her once she was all washed and dressed.

All in all, a great experience and I'm sure she enjoyed it as well.