Night and day

In the night, Timothy sleeps in bed beside me. (Very cozy!) True to the parenting books, I am able to somehow sense when he's about to wake up, and usually wake up just before him. He wakes up making the cutest little sucking movements with his mouth as he stirs -- he's ready to eat before he's fully awake. I'm now able to get him feeding before he even opens his eyes. In the last couple days, I've opted to not get him up for a diaper change, which is beginning to let me put him right back to sleep afterward the snack. And quicker back to sleep for me.

During the day, Timothy has a similar sleep synchronicity with me... unfortunately, it works in reverse. When he's drifted to sleep and I lay down to nap with him, he has the innate ability to sense when I'm about to drift off -- at which point he wakes up and gurgles (or cries) for attention. I could be lying awake for half and hour or 5 minutes, it doesn't matter: as soon as the drift begins, up he wakes.

As a result, I don't get many naps. Maybe once or twice a week. Which sucks when your night sleeps occur in only two or three rounds of two hours at a time. (We've had a few three hour stints, but they are still inconsistent.)

On the other hand, Tim consistently conks out when I put him in my Moby wrap, so he at least gets his naps in, and I get the freedom that comes from baby-napping. The only things I can't really do when he sleeps is nap myself, and shower.

The other morning, though, I slid out of bed and left him sleeping:

Heslept in long enough for me to make my coffe in peace.

Sigh. One day, I'll have something more (and more interesting) to write about. But this is all the news these days...

My tax dollars at work

I've written before about my positive experiences with the civil services in Quebec. It turns out that the goodness of this province extends to the administrative elements of having baby. Now, I have no idea what to expect -- perhaps it's exactly the same in the rest of the country, but I have been very impressed with how streamlined much of this process has been. A process that I assumed would have me running around to government offices, waiting in lines, paying all sorts of admin fees.

So far, I've declared Tim's birth, received a birth certificate and health card, and registered for a child tax benefit ($$ deposited monthly in my bank account!) with a lick of a stamp and few mouse clicks. I didn't have to look anything up -- all the info I needed was provided to me by either the midwives (a government service), or just out of the blue in the mail from the government itself. Cool, huh? Not to mention that every services comes with an English translation.

But the big (giant!) surprise bonus of living in Quebec has been qualifying for maternity/parental benefits. I am not even kidding. After quitting my job 7 months before having a baby, the government of Quebec STILL considers me eligible for a year-long maternity "leave".* And Quebec pays better than the Feds.

So, besides the lower cost of housing, groceries and beer, there are all these additional bonuses, and one day, I will reap the further benefit of subsidized daycare. I tell ya, do not listen to anyone who gripes about having to pay higher taxes in la Belle Province. It's money well-spent.

Timothy approves!

Once word gets out, I am certain that Hull will become the next Westboro. ;-)

* A few years ago, Quebec won the right from the Federal government to administer it's own Parental Insurance Program. Awesome.

Where the day goes

Darned if I know how time flies. The days seem so short these days! I'd have thought they'd seem slow because of the repetitive nature of my activities. Or may maybe it's the sleep deprivation factor (we got three hours in a row last night for the first time! Go Tim!) At any rate, the hours of May are certainly fleeting -- so fast that I can rarely string together enough free ones to write things here.

And... I hear the soft grunts and sighs of a waking infant. So much for an update.

Okay, quickie before all-out wailing begins (Am I a bad mother?):

Getting to the gym a couple times a week thanks to a husband who'll put up with a suddenly starving and crying baby. I've started bottling my milk, though, so McPie now has some heavy artillery.

Frisbee starts tonight. As there will be running involved, it remains to be seen whether I will survive to tell about it!

Tim's starting to adapt little by little to sleeping in a bassinet (part of the night, some nights), and his crib (naps or just chillin' during the day). These baby steps (ha ha) will eventually lead us into a life of increased sanity. He is pretty cozy to sleep with, though.

Kid loves the bath. We'll probably get around to giving him more than one/week soon.

He loves his mama, too!