Life After Baby Number Two

Alright, so last time I posted anything was... a little over four months ago? Shortly before our beautiful new baby Topanga was born. Perhaps you can guess that having a second child is quite a bit more difficult than I had originally anticipated; not so much that the second baby is hard to handle, but suddenly the first becomes more work once there's someone else there to share the attention.

Only recently have I finally been able to begin feeling like I can actually start working on my hobbies like writing and blogging once again, hence why I haven't posted anything prior to now. There's certainly quite a bit of work having to change diapers every couple hours after being used to not needing to do so with a 3-year-old. Gotta get up every few hours no matter what time it is to feed the baby and play a bit and put her back to sleep once she's tired again. So busy so much of the time.

But really the new baby isn't all that much work in my opinion. Like... I've done it before. Or even just helped with it. So I know what I'm doing with the second one rather than learning everything for the first time, and thanks to conveniently being let go from my previous job shortly before Topanga was born, I've had so much time to spend with her to get to know her up until this point. I suppose I'm honestly quite grateful for such opportunity, though it has truly been quite a financial strain which couldn't have been handled up to now without Carley being so awesome and figuring out the situation.

The really hard part of this whole ordeal has been transitioning Isabelle into no longer being an only child. I remember my sister saying that the hardest part about having another baby isn't the new baby... it's the first child that's the hardest part. I absolutely get that now; Isabelle is still teaching us new things each and every day for the first time which we can then use to teach Topanga in a better way down the road in the future.

So here we are, four months later from my last post... just when I think things will finally get back to the way life was before, things change again because she figured out how to roll over; now we've had to learn to sleep without being swaddled at night, and wouldn't you know it, she starts getting red-cheeked and fussy which is messing with her sleep schedule. Oh, children are such a frustrating and yet totally rewarding life adventure of new experiences each day. 

Have a wonderful day! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Sick News!

Hey everyone, I have sick news! Carley isn't sick today! :D

Okay, now I don't want to make this into too big of a deal too soon, but we MAY be over the hump of sickness!!!

You seriously have no idea just how big of a deal this is for us to be at a point like this even for only one day because Carley hasn't had a single day of not being sick since like back in August when she first got pregnant. We tried all sorts of different options including Diclectin / Gravol, sleeping in all day, getting up at the crack of dawn, eating, not eating, and so much more! The result? Nothing worked. Only sick sick sick was found each and every day and it was weighing down upon her beginning to cause depression and anxiety.

The past couple days though... has been a miracle. See, Carley recently took herself into the hospital because she didn't know what else to do. She was feeling so sick and depressed that she felt she needed their help and was admitted into the mental health ward for assistance. The service there was absolutely fantastic, they listened to her and sought out a medication which would be safe for pregnancy which would help out with her depression and anxiety. She wasn't sure about taking any kind of medication but having trouble sleeping during the night drove her to try the suggested medication as it was supposed to help with sleeping at night as well.

This choice led Carley to waking up the following morning in the hospital with less than 8 hours of sleep, but feeling well-rested, mentally better.... and NOT SICK! Crazy, right? Now we won't know FOR SURE if this is a miracle solution until more time passes, but I'm pretty sure if this is still working after a month from now, we're probably in the clear. I know so far she's super happy even to have just a couple days of peace from puking and let me tell you I've seen such an improvement over only two days of happiness that I'm so hopeful for her to continue to feel amazing because I've missed seeing such a big smile on her face.

What have your experiences been like with pregnancy? Good? Bad? Share with me your stories and solutions of pregnancy and parenthood!

~ Kyle Welykholowa

What A Trooper

Back to Family / Life

What Happened Last Month

I find myself sitting here, wondering to myself... what happened last month? I'm really not going to go into the entire detail of what caused what and who did this and that. I think there's much more important lessons to learn from the events that transpired over the past month.

For anybody who doesn't know, my wife moved out for about one month and is now back home where she belongs. There are underlying issues which I believe this has brought forth and from this point things can go one of two ways: either we learn from this and become a stronger couple who work together, or we learn absolutely nothing at all except that perhaps we just don't work out as a couple. I like to think we have taken the first path of learning to be better together where rather than avoiding each other we take the time to talk and work through our issues.

My personal learning from this event has brought me to the conclusion that staying up all night long isn't the way to go, because it only makes me tired the next day and unable to function properly. As it turns out, sleeping at night definitely makes me more motivated and able to do things during the day. I suppose the fact that I start work most days by 7:00 am helps me be tired by the time it starts getting late at night... it also helps that I'm pretty much forced to get up at 6:30 or earlier every day (including days off) either because of the dogs going mental at stupid times of the night / morning, or because our DEAR SWEET baby girl now wakes up most days no later than 6:30 in the morning because she often goes to daycare before I start work... which also means I have to be up even earlier than usual.

I suppose I've also learned that I need to pay more attention to both Carley's an my own needs and emotions and we need to work at talking together instead of brushing things off and hoping that's the end of it; emotions are important and valid, even when they seem stupid. Though someone else's problems may not make sense and may seem insignificant to you, those problems may be much more meaningful to them.

On that note, I've learned things about myself as well; such as that I am important, and I can do things for myself as well as others. I still don't like going out of the house very much, but I am feeling much better about myself. The most troubling thing I'm currently dealing with is finding the motivation to get things done while I'm not on working time or taking care of Isabelle... instead of sleeping. I seriously hate sleep; I wish I never had to sleep ever again... but it feels soooooooooooooo goooooooooooooooooood to sleep and / or nap.

I do have a lot of plans on the go right now though: Dates with Carley, playing with and teaching Isabelle, cleaning and organizing the house so that we can actually find things and not feel like it (the basement) is cluttered, making blog posts and videos, and somehow finding all the time to do all of this and keep going without running out of energy! ........ Oh... I also want to get into a regular habit of taking the dogs for a walk, and playing games with friends (most importantly my wife), and drawing / doodling, maybe taking the time to colour, read some books, get into biking once the weather clears up... there's so much I want to do and so little time to do it all.

Every day is a learning experience, but we'll get there... together.

~ Kyle Welykholowa ^_^

I Survived Camping With Friends =17=

I have great news, I survived camping with friends! Surprisingly, I had a fantastic time out in the "wild" with our friends. I managed to stay off of my phone nearly the entire time except for a short time while boating when I was hanging out and watching the fishing going on; Carley caught her first fish by the way. :D It's a bit of a personal accomplishment for me to be able to spend nearly a whole four days without being all over my phone the entire time, so I have to say I'm quite proud of myself.

Considering how Carley likes to plan things ahead of time and I like to make lists... you'd think we'd be more prepared for things. As it turns out... we didn't bring our pillows for the second camping time. I'm hoping to be much more prepared the next time we go camping. I'm pretty sure we had everything we needed for Isabelle, which is great and all... but we totally forgot to be prepared for ourselves. We forgot to bring our own bug spray!

Unfortunately during the second day we were out there the zipper on our tent split so we weren't able to close our tent. For the most part this wasn't an issue, but eventually it got a little more wet out and the mosquitoes started coming out in large numbers. This wasn't too much of an issue while we had bug spray... though eventually we ran out on the last day and that's when things got really bad. Thankfully we were able to buy a tarp at the store which we were able to bungee to the front of the tent with the help of our fantastic friends.

The great news is that Isabelle had a great time (I think). She played a bunch with Ella and complained a ton that we wouldn't let her go near the fire pit, but she seemed to enjoy being outside a ton; she wouldn't go to bed when she was supposed to. I think the only night she went to bed on time was the last night only because she was so tired from the day before that she couldn't keep herself awake. Canada day in particular she only got about half an hour of sleep before getting up to go see the fireworks at 10:00 pm... which she enjoyed so much with Carley's hands over her ears that she started to fall asleep while watching them.

All in all, camping was great. Super tiring to get up so early and do so many things throughout the day including long hikes with the baby on my chest, but totally worth it. I'm confident we'll be camping again soonish.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Mind Over Matter ===

I've come to realize that everything I do is a matter off the mind. For some time now I've been searching for ways to improve my productivity. As it turns out, that answer has been under my nose this whole time. Or should I say... behind it.

There are all sorts of things online claiming they can improve your mental focus and clarity. Do any of them work? Maybe... but are they really worth the money? I don't think so. See, there's an alternative which I think many people forget about; including myself. That option is quite simply.... doing it.

I sort of had this epiphany a couple nights ago when I forced myself to go to my computer late at night rather than laying down on the couch and falling asleep. I ended up staying up all night streaming on twitch and felt great after that I had done something fun and productive. In fact, I felt so great about it that I then enthusiastically cleaned up the kitchen and prepared for the day. This was accomplished because I made a decision to do something.

It can be quite difficult to tell your body to do these things when it is do exhausted, but it can be done if you put your mind to it... As long as your brain isn't out of juice as well. Yes, things like caffeine can help; I prefer to avoid needing any though if I can help it. Although... there is a real spectacular boost when you're able to effectively combine both caffeine and brain power.

I've seen people shut down no matter how much they want to keep going... including myself. The biggest hurdle really is resisting what the body is asking for and instead doing what YOU want to do.

So what do you say? Will you join me in putting your mind over matter?

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Spring Semester ===

     If you've never taken Spring classes at school, then oh my goodness... let me tell you about how different this semester is compared to last semester. My previous semesters have been much MUCH slower than this one. I didn't realize it at first, but I already have midterms coming up in about a week and my finals are only about a month later. I have assignments due almost every day with not much of a break between each one.

     It's definitely been really hard to keep up with everything and still help out around the house and with the baby. I want to be able to do a great job at work and around the house and with school all at the same time, but instead I think I'm tiring myself out and not doing an amazing job of anything. It's a tough position to be in; I know I want to do so much that I wouldn't sleep if I didn't have to, but I simply don't have enough energy to accomplish everything I want to do at this time.

     As an example: my blog. I have hopes and dreams and goals of wanting to post things at least every couple days in an effort to grow my site and viewers and also as a way of sharing myself with the world in a way which could possibly benefit others. Instead, I see myself only posting maybe once a week at best and the rest of the time I sit in front of my computer after work and fall asleep until I finally drag myself to bed. This unfortunately happens with homework some days as well.

     Combined with the busy-ness of how work has been at this time of the year, I can certainly say I'm looking forward to after June once I'm done with 99% of school. I'm looking forward to finally having time to think without feeling guilty that I'm not constantly working.

Have a great day everybody! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Semester 3 Begins! ===

     Hard to believe the finals of last semester just happened a week ago and now here I am completing my first couple assignments today. I definitely wasn't expecting the final semester to begin so quickly but here we are starting the last leg of the journey (for the most part).

     It's been a tough road so far getting through all the classes. These days I don't have much energy to work with where I'm not physically exhausted. Some days I'm quite mentally exhausted as well, but for the most part I'm wanting to do so much and get so much done but I'm just not able to because my body wants to sleep. I know I'll be able to get through it all in the end, but right now it feels SO bad.

     Let's use tomorrow as an example. Tomorrow I want to work on my blog by making a post and promoting it. I also want to upload a video or two on my YouTube channel. I have hopes of wanting to play with the dog, steam clean the carpets, do a bit of writing, watch a show, work on school work, spend time with Carley, bake banana bread, go for a hike, play DDR, read a book, play a game on a console that I haven't played before, and probably more. There's so much I would love to do! Unfortunately I just don't really have the energy to do all of that in one day.

     It isn't all bad though. I'm sure I make it sound all awful, but seriously I actually think we're doing quite well at the moment. I'm super proud of myself for having made about $0.40 so far through my blog (which is a huge accomplishment for me!). And I'm still managing to find some time to do things other than be a vegetable or only work so much that I have no personality. Just give me a week or so from now and I think things might be a little better. Next coming month we're actually looking to be doing much better than we have been previously and oh boy I can't wait to tell you all about it!

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Almost Two Weeks Already.

     It's hard to believe it has already been nearly two weeks since the birth of our daughter. Personally I'm not a fan of all the crying and loud noises, but so far it hasn't been TOO bad. I think Carley and I are starting to get a sort of rhythm going. Surely there will be much more challenges to come, but at the moment, I think we're doing pretty well.

     Both of us have been on and off tired at different times and let me tell you... when you have a baby, there isn't much time to have everything planned out like you may have used to do. I like to plan things out and get things done at certain times, so on, and so forth. Now... I try to get everything I'm hoping to done during the quiet times that I have until the next time I hear that familiar crying sort of whining thing. It's not all cries and awful noises though, she's really not all that bad. I'm absolutely looking forward to days when she's more communicative and talkable and things.

     The best news is that Furgle is amazing with her. He likes to sniff her a lot and get his nose right up in her face, but he doesn't lick her too much or try to bite at her and things. He still likes to hang around with us and normally isn't too much of a pain. Carley takes him out for a walk almost every day because she's trying to get back into shape and healthy before having her jaw surgery and then doing this process all over again. Furgle is definitely still our baby and will continue to be as long as we have him.

     I'm glad it seems like we've figured out something that works for all of us before my finals for this semester and the start of next semester. With work, school, and our daughter, it's certainly a lot of work to handle each and every day, but it's all working towards getting what we need for our family. Soon enough I'll be able to start applying for a better-paying job so we won't have to live so tightly when it comes to spending.

We'll get there for sure, it's only a waiting game now. Have a great day everybody! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

The Baby Is Finally Born!

     What an amazing event to finally watch our baby be born. She's here now and ready to explore the worl--... oh... she's asleep. She was pretty wide awake at first, probably something to do with being thrust into some alien world she's not used to. She's eaten a couple times and this morning she managed to have one of the biggest poops I've ever seen... compared to her body weight.

     So far, Carley is super amazed with her. With all of the experience she has with children, she's terrified of newborns; She wants to do everything so gentile and to be sure she doesn't hurt the baby. Me on the other hand... I have no idea what to do with kids at all. Alright well... that's not totally true, I think between the two of us, we have plenty of experience to deal with toddlers... it's babies we're unsure about; we're plenty prepared for having a toddler. 

     A couple days later and here we are at home. I was terrified to bring her home and not have the support of the nurses at the hospital, but I think we're managing so far. She seems to sleep sometimes and then wake herself up every once in a while and get a little bit fussy. At the moment she's pretty much an angel during the day, then she becomes a monster at night. Last night in particular we had quite a few issues getting her to go to sleep until I found the swaddler and used it on her in place of a regular blanket. I don't know how other people do it, but neither Carley, nor I are capable of doing a great job of swaddling her with a regular blanket. At this point it seems totally insane and I'm absolutely looking forward to getting another one or two to use throughout her years.

     Besides that, we're holding on for now. I'm not looking forward to some upcoming drives to work where I'll be super tired falling asleep, especially considering the fact that I have such a long drive to work. I'm sure I'll pull through with a healthy supply of caffeine to keep me going on those particularly tough days. Between work, school, a baby, and our puppy, I'll have a lot to keep me busy. Oh yeah, and I have hopes that I'll be able to grow a garden, practice my dusty violin, and keep on blogging and streaming as we go along as well. I would love to find more time to stream and / or record YouTube videos because those I particularly find enjoyable, but that may have to wait for a bit depending on how things are going... I mean... I do have the recent addition of a baby in my family to take care of now.

Well, that's all for now, have a great day everybody! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa



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And So I Have Four Less Teeth Than Before

     Seems like I've had a pretty short day so far. Two hour drive with my mother up to Saskatoon, followed by missing out on a about an hour of my day due to anesthetic. Then I happily slept the entire way home. I really haven't done much today / yesterday and I'm perfectly alright with that. My gums hurt a it, but for the post part, I'm feeling pretty good. Maybe just a little bit groggy and perhaps a little slow likely due to the strong dose of painkillers.

     Today was a good day though. I can definitely think of a rant that I'd like to post about in the near future, but I'm going to wait on that for now until I've had more time to articulate my thoughts.

     In the mean time, I'm eating some wonderful banana bread made my by amazing mother and I'm looking forward to a feast of soft foods tomorrow for supper. If I get around to it, I'll post another video or two tomorrow and we'll go from there.

Have a great one everybody! ^_^

~ Kyle

A Post Mostly About Carley

     I just have to say, I am so proud of my Carley. She's just wonderful. She's been working so hard to make all the money we need to live here and even when she's been feeling awful, she's still going into work to make the money we need. I know it's hard on her and sometimes it seems like we don't have enough time to see one another, but we both know it'll pay off in the end.

     Soon enough I'll be on my first co-op work-term, and we'll be able to save a bit of money. Perhaps we'll be able to get her started in school for Carpentry. She's already applied, so as long as we're able to, we'll get her started as soon as possible.

     Unfortunately today she isn't feeling too well, but I'm doing my best to take care of her and get her in wonderful health. She told me her stomach feels a bit better after the Pepto Bismol, but she still has a headache. I'm sure the bright light as she's trying to sleep doesn't help too much. Once we get the curtains my mother is making for us, she'll probably sleep better. We might have to get her a sleep mask. So whether or not she's going into work tonight, I don't know yet. Hopefully we can get her feeling better by tonight, but if not, that's alright.

     Good news for today is that I've gotten a lot of my CADD homework done... after having accidentally overwritten it with the wrong file version causing me to lose a bunch of my work. I'm taking a bit of a break now after having worked on it all day so far, and I'm nearly done. Just a little bit more work and I'll be at the point where I want to be for next day's class. So now I'll take a fun break and do a bit of streaming for funzies. If you want to check out my stream, you can catch it at www.twitch.tv/DaemonVirus1.

     Have a great day everyone! ^_^

~ Kyle

To Sleep Or Not To Sleep

I find myself thinking more and more these days that I don't have enough time. I can find more time in the day if I don't sleep.... Unfortunately, if I go that route, I'm usually exhausted throughout the day. I suppose I could always quit my job... but it's the only thing I have to pay my bills right now unless I ask my parents for help, but I'd really rather not do that.

So I found two things that have helped me a ton so far. 5-hour energy shots, and wake me up caffeine pills. Oh wow. Now I'm not a coffee guy. I can't stand the taste of it. I don't even like the smell. But I now realize how awesome caffeine is. I feel so awake and productive! If you're finding yourself short on energy, I definitely recommend these. The energy shots are a little on the expensive side, but they do work wonders. Same with the pills, energy like you wouldn't believe. Also, you have the option of how much caffeine you feel you need if you take the pills.

I'd would definitely recommend these options to anybody looking for an energy solution.