Our big news is that Justin got a new job! It's in London, Ontario, which is an hour and forty minutes west from where we live now. So that means a move, he starts Dec. 1st, so I start packing tomorrow! This Saturday we're heading to London to look at places, so far we have two lined up already. I have bittersweet feelings about moving. We've lived in Oakville for two and a half years already and we're finally feeling like we're connecting with people in our church and community, now it's time to uproot again. The exciting part is that this is the kind of job Justin has been waiting for (it's more policy planning instead of development processing), and he'll be working for the city, so a great employer. The catch is that it's an "up to three year" contract, so it's a bit of a risk, but he'll have access to internal postings and it sounds like they are pretty sure there'll be funding for the three years (it's a bit political that way). Another exciting thing is that it's in a city where we'll be able to afford to buy a house in the next few years! The city we live in now is nuts, a house three doors down from us sold for 1.4 million, and it's a new but regular house. We're also hoping to be able to rent a place that has a real yard, which will be great for Callum next summer.
ANOTHER thing that has made this feel crazy is that I am visiting Seattle!! BUT I'll be there from Nov. 24-Dec 3rd, right when we'll be moving! Justin had had the interviews when I bought my ticket, but he had had interviews in the past and I didn't want to wait too long because I wanted to come for Thanksgiving and ticket prices kept going up. So, I have three weeks to pack up, which is doable, but juggling that with a baby will be interesting. My sister-in-law, Chara is coming over tomorrow afternoon to help me start packing.
So yes, I'm visiting, and I would love to be able to get together with everyone! Justin isn't coming, it's just Callum and I. I'm so excited for him to meet everyone!
I can't believe it's been 7 weeks since Callum was born. It's been crazy, fun, amazing, and overwhelming at times. My sister came and visited for two weeks, which was such a big help. I feel like I'm learning more and more how to take care of him and keep our house running. The other day he would fall asleep but kept waking up whenever I put him down, I tried the swing, bassinet, carseat, etc. Then it dawned on me to try our Ergo carrier, and it was great! I was able to cook dinner with my two free hands and Callum had a great nap.
One thing that has been a struggle is breastfeeding. Callum has never breastfed. Because of his tongue and lip tie in the beginning, his mouth was so restricted and he couldn't suck. In the womb, his tongue just went up and down and created an indentation in his pallet, really messing up his sucking. Since the revision, he's learned how to move his tongue around and the doctor told us his pallet can still smooth out as he develops. Now his sucking is great, but he won't breastfeed. I've been to the breastfeeding clinic five times, and they told me they've done all they can and I just have to keep trying and see if he'll take to it eventually. We also took C to an osteopath to relieve tension in his jaw, which was restricting his mouth too. We went three times and noticed a big improvement right away (he actually went on the breast with a nipple shield for about a minute), but since then there hasn't been any real progress. It was getting so bad that he would start crying/screaming whenever I got him into the position for breastfeeding. I took a break from trying for a while, and have started to get back at it. Callum has been getting only breast milk though because I'm pumping. Thankfully I have a great supply and have been able to pump enough for him. It's a lot of work though and a bit tricky when we are out, but I've learned how to make it work. I had really hoped I could get him to breastfeed before our trip to Seattle, but I'm not so sure that's going to happen. Speaking of pumping, I have to leave in half an hour for youth group, so I should pump before I go.
It's my turn to photo dump!
