41 weeks postpartum thoughts (if you are here for the robot review only, scroll down to the blue text): 

• July 1: She can go on her knees now! It came out of nowhere that she suddenly was able to get on her knees and switch back to being on her stomach. How do babies learn and grow so quickly?
• July 5: A bunch of things to note down already this week: I got my second mRNA COVID-19 vaccine shot!! It was done by a registered nurse this time at the Richmond Green location; super close to us at only 10 minutes of driving — the closest location. The wait was long as it was lunchtime but I was able to go through the entire process with DH. The same nurse even vaccinated us one after the other. There was less fanfare once we were done. I felt like there was more excitement the first time around. It feels more “normal” again to be out in a public place. The nurse, when I said yes to the “Are you pregnant or breastfeeding question”, only asked me if my doctor was aware/approved me for it and that was it. Last time, the doctor who administered the shot to me explained a bit of evidence based research surrounding breastfeeding and the vaccine to me.
• No side effects surprisingly. My arm was sore for 2.5 days. It started being sore by 5pm (we got the vaccine at 12:35pm). On the second day, it was sore enough that I had trouble removing my top but otherwise I was fine. Oh, I was also really really tired after the 2nd night and had to sleep early but no fever or headaches. DH was really tired and felt a tad warm and had the sore arm too but that was it.
• No changes to my supply or breastmilk that I can tell so far.
• Bb has phases these days between sleeping really really well, like 4 hour stretches at night to waking up crying terribly in the middle of the night to 2.5 hour naps during the day to short 30 minute naps to falling asleep easily for naps to refusing and crying bloody murder for naps. It’s a lottery and there’s no rhyme or reason to it. All I know is that she’s learning and going through “leaps” which makes her cranky and insolable. All of this will pass one day. It’s a temporary stage.
• She started clapping! Today I sat with her on the play mat after a long day of productive transcript work and asked her to clap. I clapped too. She started to clap as well once she saw that I did. What a (precious) moment!!! She understands what I wanted to do and she did it. She’s alert and aware!!! She had been showing the movement for clapping by clasping her hands together but they didn’t quite make the sound yet. Today, her little hands actually clapped! There was the smallest softest “clap” I heard. So cute. She was giggling and smiling too when she realized she could do it. So aware. We have to give her more credit and treat her less like a “baby”.
• Speaking of hands, I notice her fingers are slightly longer than before. Small minor observations about her all the time but not enough to pinpoint.
• We started on the stage 2 enfamil formula this week. It’s for ages 6 to 18 months old. She took to it easily (so thankful she isn’t adverse to formula or different brands of it). I had been eyeing discounted formula on Facebook marketplace (someone was selling four tubs of the stage two similac for $90 but alas we were too slow and didn’t end up buying it. There’s been no other good ads since then about it. I’ll continue to keep my eyes open.
• When on her belly, she still drags her body and legs forward with her arms to move forward but like I said this week she has started to curl her legs in and sit on her knees. Good core development. She can pull herself up in the crib to kneeling.
• Grandma has been teaching her how to walk, kinda. Bb can “walk” forward a few steps but only with assistance. She cannot walk or stand on her own yet but it’s the beginning for sure.
• Not sure why but after bathtime when we are putting her diaper and onesie and sleep sack on, she always fights and cries nonstop..
• She was looking at and scratching at the tile lines in between the floor. I wouldn’t have “noticed” those if she wasn’t scratching at it. Definitely babies see all the details, the ones that we no longer pay attention to.
• Speaking of which, I got a new toy!!!!! I was lamenting last week that because she plays and goes on the floor all the time now I was frustrated that our floors are never fully clean from hair or dust. Well, I got a robot vacuum to clean up the house for me and I loveee it. I got the Lefant m201 which was only $159 ish on Amazon (saved $20 too). Really affordable robot vacuum, I’d say. I thought I’d minimal would have to spend like $300 on one of these but this one has great reviews. It has no mapping technology but for a first time robot vacuum, it does the job really well. Short review here:
• Surprised at how well it cleaned all my floors (hardwood and tile). It sucks up all the dust and hair and actually made our floors SHINE! I’m not joking. The 3 of us all noticed that the floors shone and had a reflection afterwards. No more small bits and pieces of dust or dirt that stick to my bare feet in the house — the best part. I can let bb roam around on the floor without worrying that she has dust or hair on her and needing to change her. So so great. Huge time saver. I can let it run as I’m pumping or eating and it gets the job done (for the most part). It’s less sophisticated than the other robots because it doesn’t have mapping or AI so I controlled it with the remote controller app on my phone a few times to make sure it wasn’t wasting time or energy circling the same spots. 
• It cleans edges and corners so so well. It will turn and hug edges and table and chair legs. Some of our edges haven’t been this clean in years. 
• The best part truly too is that it cleans better than a manual sweep job. Even after sweeping or vacuuming or mopping the floors, they don’t shine like they do now. I guess the little bristle that spins actually brushes and shines the floor’s small grooves and surface that it eliminates all dust and dirt. It’s just amazing. 
• It is a little loud though; sounds like a small vacuum.
• It’s smart at going back to the home base to recharge by itself.
• Battery life is good, about 1.5 hours from full to needing to recharge.
• Great size. It’s one of the smaller robot vacuums so it can actually go in narrower spots and under the bed and certain pieces of furniture. It’s eliminating all the dust bunnies that we wouldn’t regularly clean out too. I mean how often do you move your bed to clean under it, right?
• Easy to use, easy to pair with the app on the phone.
• Very impressed with how fast the remote controls react. I press left or right and the machine responds right away.
• Bb “calls” us by making a sound. We try to reinforce her to address us by name but she knows she can get our attention with just a sound or grunt lol.
• These days, I “converse” with her.. she goes “umm” or “ehh” and I say the same back to her. She does it again and I keep doing it. We do this for up to a minute. It’s a full back and forth conversation 🤣.
• She likes drinking water. We give her an open cup to drink from but she doesn’t know how to hold it yet. She also still doesn’t know how to hold the milk bottle herself either lol.
• She is a squirmy wriggling worm. It takes a lot to hold her these days. When holding her from the armpits, she kicks her legs and crunches her belly. A firm grasp is needed at all times. It’s like she wants to get out of the hold sometimes.
• She consistently yells and cries after sitting for 20 mins or so during dinner time. She wants to get out of the high chair by then and cries bloody murder to get out.
• She is used to cleaning her hands now at the high chair with a small cup of water. She knows to clean her left hand first followed by the right hand.
• A note that it’s incredible how much I have to jot down weekly about things I notice about her or myself postpartum. The growing never stops.
• My supply is about 580ml daily on average now. When should I stop pumping and begin weaning? I’m spending about 3.5 hrs a day pumping now. Perhaps when my supply drops to below 400ml and it’s not worth my time to spend one hour for 100ml on average.. technically I can keep pumping but I know DH wants me to stop whenever. Also when I do stop, I’ll have my time back again to do more of whatever I want — whether to take on more transcripts or clean or declutter or might I say even tackle my blogging backlog of restaurant reviews 🤣🤣.
• Oh, we also took her out on her first picnic ever on July 1 Canada Day. Lovely DH prepped and cooked and bought everything we needed for this special day out. The weather was perfect at RHM park. We lay out the blankets and yoga mat and lawn chairs facing the water park and ate and people watched. Bb observed the people around us and was okay for the most part. We stayed at the park for 2 hrs! Then she started getting sleepy and cranky so we drove home. Such a great opportunity for her to see more people around her and take in the fresh air and sit on the ground and touch grass. I’d love to do this more often. 🥰 So peaceful and we love people watching too.
• More new foods: kiwi, beef, strawberries, onion, sweet and sour pork, rice noodles, vermicelli, spaghetti, meat patties, …
• July 7:  With assistance, she can take steps one by one and “walk” for a couple of metres.
• Since last week, she likes to tilt her head to the right and look at me.  She only tilts it to the right side though and and when I tried to get her to tilt to the left, she doesn’t.
• About last week or 2 weeks ago, she started playing with the wire for the Nanit camera so we pulled her crib a metre away from the wall (probably should have done this earlier?).  So now that there’s space in between the wall and the crib, when she sleeps, she sometimes sticks her arms and legs out. XD