Redeeming a tub of free formula for 6 to 18 months old babies from Shoppers Drug Mart

Week 33 baby:

• May 9: Hard to believe that next week she will be 8 months. She still doesn’t seem like an 8 month old to be baby yet. Maybe this is why parents always say they still see their offspring as a baby lol.
• She’s been making these “growling” sounds lately. She must be experimenting with something.. lol.  (The “growling” is like the sounds that the zombies make in the movie “Train to Busan” 🤣)
• She’s getting so much better at putting things into her mouth directly. She knows at dinner time that we usually give her a piece of Chinese vegetable to eat. She will hold it with one hand and chomp on it. Her eye hand coordination is improving.
• This year is my first mother’s day celebration, but last year was already considered a “first”. The moment a women finds out she is pregnant, she has already become a mother. We eat well, exercise, rest, and make sure we are already doing what we need to to nourish and grow a child. (I ate so healthily and was so active last year during my pregnancy 🏋️‍♀️💪💪. After I gave birth, all that went down the drain. Total opposites 🤣🤣😳😭😭).
• I don’t know what it is, but I’m quite against posting about mother’s day celebrations myself..  I mean I love my own mother and I know her unconditional love is powerful, but why should I boast about how much I love my mom and how amazing she is to me by posting on social media?? She isn’t even on my social media and even if so, why does this need to be promoted like that? I don’t see a need to “show” the world what mother’s day means to me.. I find it a bit self-serving. 
• Even this year as a new mom, I don’t think it’s necessary to post about my own mother’s day celebrations either.. just why? No need. I don’t need to justify what I do for my child. Also, every mother’s day post on social media is a regurgitation of another. Everyone writes the same thing in their post…
• Maybe I don’t post about it because I also don’t post about Father’s Day. My dad isn’t alive.. why would I post about how much I miss him every year? Like.. ??
• Another reason I don’t post about mother’s day is I know how hard it is for those who want to have their own family but cannot conceive, or those who lost a child, or those who don’t have good relations with their mom, or those who don’t have a mom. It hurts for someone like this to see posts annually about others love their mom or how they’re still not a mother yet.
• Unpopular opinion, I know.
• I also live with my mom. I see and love her every day. Why is any other day different when it should always be mother’s day in the first place??
• Husband said it best: “It’s Mother’s Day every day!” Yes, it is!! He makes breakfast for me any time I request for it, does laundry and fold the clothes, cleans the toilets, and takes care of the baby every night as it is a teamwork to grow a family. 
• As such, it is also Father’s Day every day in our household. Why wait for only one day to celebrate it??
• I was talking to a friend briefly about this and she did mention how it is a good reminder once a year for individuals to express appreciation and love for their moms.  I get it, but I don’t like the consumerism part of it and the boasting parts.  It just rubs me the wrong way.  I guess it’s like Valentine’s Day for couples to choose that one day to go all out for each other when it doesn’t need to be singularized to just one day. 
• Baby has been having some constipation again lately She’s gone about 5 days without a really big satisfying load..
• She’s expanded her consonants to “na na na na”, “ma ma ma”.
• She can push up straight on her arms when lying on her tummy. That’s some good yoga (Sphinx) pose right there.  
• Passed by Shoppers Drug Mart today so I went in and redeemed the coupon for a free tub of Enfamil baby formula. Yay!! I was so excited to get a free whole tub of formula for baby. It’s 550g for a 6 to 18 month old baby and expires next March. Sooo excited that to this date, we still have not had to buy any formula for her because I’ve been breastfeeding and using the free formula samples still. Amazing. Formula is expensive too. This tub retails for $31.99. Hope the formula companies continue to send me these coupons. I would have missed it if I didn’t read through the brochure too. (Don’t forget to check your mail, fellow parents!)
•  I don’t need to supplement with formula often these days.  I surprisingly make enough milk for her each day even though my supply has slowly been decreasing.  However, when we do need the formula supplementation, at least I’ll have the formula ready for her.  I’m sure I won’t be pumping much after she turns one year old, so our formula stock is ready.  (Still have 2 and a half tubs of the infant formula at home.)
• She likes to “walk” up or climb on us when we hold her face to face. Her legs are so strong.
• She loves to kick her legs vigorously so it’s like she’s doing ab exercises while being held. If we don’t have a strong grip on her, she moves so strongly that she could fall.
• May 10: I’ve abandoned timing her tummy time sessions. She does it all the time now. Today she also rolled from her back to her tummy and then back to her back again. 😀
• Sucking on an orange seems to help with her constipation. 
• Bedtime routine these days consists of her joining us for dinner around 6 or 7. She’ll eat or suck on vegetables or whatever we have at the table, she begins to fuss and complain, we take her up for a bath, change into clean onesies, put her into the sleep sack, lights down, lullaby music on, and DH or grandma feeds her milk. She’ll usually protest audibly before she finally settles to sleep. Sometimes it’s a fast calm-down and sometimes it’s not.
• She is so tall and her hair is so long. There’s a little tuft that’s longer than the others in her front.
• I average around making 650 to 700ml of breastmilk per day now..
• We’re at the infamous point of babycare now where she moves and rolls over often that we cannot leave her side for a second in case she tumbles. She’s not crawling yet, thankfully. 
• Whenever we put her into one of the exersaucers these days, she goes right away “to work” at it.  She knows to grab and play with the toys on it.  She is pretty content playing in it too.  It’s so nice to have her play by herself.  
• When she’s playing on her own, she audibly complains when she needs a diaper change.  Smart girl.
• She likes standing up a lot these days. When putting her into her high chair, she protested a few times by standing up on the seat of the chair instead of sitting down. It’s so funny.
• Similarly, when putting her on a bed or wanting her to sit, she pushes her legs so strongly that she ends up standing and doesn’t bend to let us help her sit. 🤦‍♀️😅
• May 12:  I got my first COVID-19 vaccine today (Pfizer)! 🥳🥳 The doctor who administered the vaccine to me said that the shot is fine for breastfeeding moms and that while my milk might contain the antibodies for it, the baby might just digest the antibodies and it may not necessarily protect her against the virus itself.  Still, I’m excited to get the vaccine so that my body will produce antibodies.  
• After I went home from getting the vaccine and showered and pumped, my supply was about the same.  I don’t notice any supply drop or increase just yet. 
• When giving her broccoli to hold onto at the dinner table, she automatically knows to put it into her mouth to eat. She got a good mouthful of broccoli florets in her mouth and mushed them around in her mouth. She did push most of it out but still good progress.
• No matter if she is held by daddy or grandma, she still tends to favour being held by me or listening to me talk. I guess she’s used to mommy’s voice. 🙂