Monthly review: June 2016

Posted: - Modified: | monthly, review

June was a big month for health-related things. A- went under general anaesthesia so that the ocularist could take an impression of her left eye socket. We'll be taking her for her first prosthetic shell soon. Genetics didn't find anything with known clinical significance, so that's a bit of a relief. However, her heart has been compensating for the ventricular septal defect with the development of a right ventricle muscle bundle, so the Sick Kids cardiology department will keep an eye on that to see if it needs to be resectioned. An ultrasound found something in her liver that has a blood supply. It might be a hemangioma, might be something else, so the pediatrician would like to follow up with an MRI. We've gotten quite familiar with Sick Kids, including an amusingly designed curtain of alliterative animals in one of the waiting areas.

It's a good thing W- went on parental leave. Perfectly-timed and super helpful.

Somehow we managed to squeeze in a whole bunch of social stuff, too. I caught up with folks I knew from IBM consulting around social business, hung out with friends and their babies, went to various parent/baby activities, gave a talk at Quantified Self Toronto (on baby tracking, of course), hosted a quiche party for a few old friends, connected with someone semi-local whose baby also has microphthalmia, and sorted out my sister's compromised e-mail account.

Plenty of time at home, too. The Thai basil in the planter boxes is lush and leafy, except for a few gaps where I pulled up the seedlings that didn't thrive. The peas climbed up the side of the cage and made a break for freedom. We've been letting A- taste strawberries, teeth on freshly-picked pea pods, and smell the lavender and basil from the garden. Also, thanks to the abundance of Thai basil, we've been getting the hang of recipes like bun. I have way, way, way too much oregano, too, and should revisit that souvlaki recipe at some point. Yum yum yum!

After clearing it with her pediatrician, we've been giving A- some solid food, focusing on calorie- and nutrient-dense foods like avocado and sweet potato. She's gaining weight regularly, but it might be good to get a bit more into her so that she can catch up. On the other hand, she might really just be a small sort of baby. It's hard to tell. Anyway, A- loves sweet potato and is pretty open to other tastes, although we have to spread it out so that she doesn't get constipated again. The introduction of solids means changes to her poo. Fortunately, she's actually managed to use the potty quite a few times. We do it part-time – catch as catch can, basically. Hey, whatever lets us reduce the number of poopy diapers to deal with!

I sewed a number of bandana bibs, and they've been quite handy. We've settled into a nice number of bibs, I think – enough to use, wash, and hang dry – although we'll probably need more once we start using them to soak up A-‘s drool, too. I made a crinkly toy using part of a bag of chips, and A- liked it. Yay!

In terms of work, I've been getting the hang of building add-ons for my consulting client. I think we've figured out most of the pieces, so now I can work on cranking out more add-ons when I have time to code. A- is a bit more wakeful now, so it's hard to find time during the day, except for the occasional 30-minute nap here and there. Maybe if I nap during those times, I can free up some energy to use a larger chunk of time when she's asleep at night.

Anyway, work is lower priority at the moment. I want to get A-‘s medical stuff sorted out first, and there's also plenty of stuff around her mental and physical development that I'd like to help her with. The Healthy Babies Healthy Children nurse used the NCAST teaching scale to provide feedback on a play session, and we've been working on playing even better based on her recommendations. (Better play! Whee!) A-‘s getting better at coordinating her hands and bringing things to her mouth. She's starting to show an interest in tickling games, too. Looking forward to helping her learn, and learning a lot in the process.

As for me, I've been squeezing in a little time here and there to add whatever I need to my tracker, draw journal entries, write longer reviews, and learn how to finger-pick a few nursery songs on the ukulele. I figured out how to use the defish filter to correct the distortion on the GoPro. I haven't taken a lot of videos, but I hope I'll get the setup sorted out properly one of these days. Camera positions, comfortable clothes, a workflow for filtering and editing… Someday! In the meantime, drawings and notes help me remember. They work out pretty well, actually, since I can note things that I might not be able to catch on video anyway.

July's big things: the ocular prosthesis, cardio at Sick Kids, reacquiring Philippine citizenship, and joining the peer nutrition program. Onward!

Blog posts

Sketches

Time

Category Period 1 % Period 2 % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Business – Build 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.4 0.2
Discretionary – Play 0.4 1.0 0.6 1.6 1.0
Unpaid work 5.8 7.6 1.8 12.4 3.1
Unpaid work – Childcare 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Discretionary – Social 1.1 2.3 1.2 3.7 2.0
Discretionary – Family 2.0 1.4 -0.7 2.3 -1.1
Sleep 34.8 33.4 -1.5 54.2 -2.5
Business – Connect 0.2 0.1 -0.1 0.2 -0.1
Business – Earn 1.9 2.4 0.5 3.9 0.8
Discretionary – Productive 7.4 5.8 -1.6 9.5 -2.7
Personal 12.7 11.8 -0.9 19.2 -1.6
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