Baby's 1st Christmas

I don't know if it's because I'm a mom now, or because we are finally settling into our home, but I am LOVING crafts!  Pinterest has about a million DIY projects that are on my 'to do one day very soon' list.  I saw this on Pinterest a few months ago and have been wanting to make this with Baby M ever since. It wasn't too difficult as long as he was kept busy with a cookie :)

All you need is an Embossing Ink Pad, Embossing Glitter, Heat {I used a heat gun...40% off at Michael's!}, Glass Ornaments.  I also found letter stickers in the 'make-your-own-ornaments- aisle at Michael's.

When to have #2?

Mr. N and I have been talking about #2
you see we said all along that we would start trying around Babygirls 2nd birthday...
Well thats next month HA
SO its like NOW
I'm ready... Kinda upset that I didn't lose as much weight as I wanted to.
but I don't know if Baby girl is...
She's pretty good at sharing things...
her cousins K1-K6 are around a lot
and she does great with them.
(one major reason is they are amazing with her)
but when she's in a bigger group she tends to go hang out by herself
which is pretty common for an only child right?
But shes not so good at sharing me.
I went to drop off some pictures to a client
and I was playing with their incredibly adorable lil boy
Baby girl was a little unsure and wanted me to pick her up
I told her no and continued playing with him
She was fine but it got me thinking.
What is she going to be like with a baby
Shes a little mommy for sure
whenever she sees or hears a baby she wants to go see
We ask her if she wants a baby but shes just a little to young to understand what we mean.
So I guess friends when do you think is a good time? what are your kids ages?
and in a PERFECT world what would be the age difference of your kiddos?

Oh look how little she was!!!
I think my uterus just started aching LOL

Baby Girls Clothes

So I have been lacking some serious motivation lately

Don't you hate that!
Luckily, Shona pointed out that it usually comes in waves
Well, after finding out we got the house we wanted to rent
my Motivation went from zero to THROUGH THE ROOF!!
hehe
Now its "getting everything ready for ANOTHER move mode"
With a ton of excitement to boot!
First task was Baby girls laundry
You see, shes a tad Spoiled when it comes to clothes
and when I say tad I mean she has enough complete outfits so that
I dont need to do her laundry but once every 5 to 6 weeks or so
(Grandma J only had two boys so when we found out we were having a girl she started buying like craaaaazy)
Because I have SO many clothes from Grandma J and hand me downs from Seester
baby girls clothes get OUT OF HAND (to say the least)
So I heard of someone putting outfits in Ziplock Gallon size bags
What? you may ask. Watch and prepare to go organize LOL
First I washed and separated Baby girls clothes into outfits
Then I put a full outfit (shorts/pants/skirt and a shirt) in a Gallon size bag
(I reuse them that's why the bag looks a little grungy lol)
Then I just put this in her dresser and everyday I just grab a bag
In the winter I also add a pair of socks and/or matching beanie
Its super easy to pack for her when we go places
and for Mr. N to dress her (since he doesnt know what goes together)
Easy Peasy!

Flexibility is the Key

I like to plan. I like to plan everything down to the last detail. I'm not very good at being laid back and going with the flow...unless you catch me in the right mood, which is rare. I'm addicted to post-its and I love to write lists, that I usually lose and then have to re-write. So last year when I found out we were pregnant I dove right into super-planning-mode and started researching like a mad women trying to organize the perfect Birth Plan. I even had an 3-ring binder with multiple copies of said plan in case one was lost. It also included dividers with info for my husband, vaccines, what to do after baby was born and hypnobirthing scripts.
I was preparing myself for a natural-hypno-water-birth at Best Start Birth Center in San Diego. Boy was I in for a whirlwind of emotion when we found out Baby M was breach. We found out fairly early so we had plenty of time to try out various techniques to turn him around. I would lay with my head down, butt up in the air for 15 minutes at a time.....tried moxibustion on my pinkie toes....placed headphones at my pelvis in hopes he'd move towards it, even tried playing heavy metal at the top of my tummy hoping he'd move away from it! Lets see, we also tried using a flashlight and homeopathic pills called Pulsatilla. OH! I almost forgot - we also tried an aversion at UCSD Hospital. That's when they physically pushed on Baby M's head and rump trying to flip him around. That only resulted in me staying there all day due to my blood pressure sky rocketing during the procedure. Baby M didn't like it either, each time they moved him a few inches, he'd spring right back to where he originally was.
After the aversion failed, we scheduled a c-section for a few weeks later. At that point I was exhausted and didn't know enough about delivering a breech baby vaginally to feel comfortable with it. So we scheduled the delivery for February 11th at noon at UCSD Hospital. My plans changed, I re-wrote the Birth Plan, printed out multiple copies for my binder and mentally came to terms with it.
I in for another surprise when I went into labor the night of February 6th in Los Angeles. Baby M was born at 3:34am February 7th at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance.

My first and most important lesson as a new mom? Be flexible!

Increasing Milk Supply

I've recently started pumping a couple times a day. Because of Baby M's spit up problem I've read that you can add 1tsp of formula to 3oz of breastmilk. Now D and I are dead set against giving Baby M formula, we both strongly believe that 'breast is best'. However, since Baby M spits up so much (up to 20 times a day) I reseached ways to increase the calories in breast milk. Adding 1 tsp to 3oz of breast milk will increase the calories from 20 calories an ounce to 24. Doesn't sound like a lot, but I was hoping it would work. And I was very careful with the type of formula I bought, we ended up buying a formula made from goat's milk. (trying to keep Baby M away from dairy and soy is overprocessed these days.) The funny thing is that Baby M, is actually having an easier time keeping this down. I'm not sure if it's because the milk is now a tiny bit thicker or heavier? But his spitting up has decreased to less than 6 times a day. Plus he's gained weight!
Now back to increasing milk supply, since I'm pumping and only breastfeeding during the night, both D and I are afraid that my milk supply will dwindle. Breastfeeding stimulates the milk supply more than pumping ever will, so before this happens, if it does, I started taking Fenugreek. Fenugreek is a natural herb that is known to increase milk supply. And it does! I started taking it 3 days ago (2 pills, 3 times a day) and I've already noticed an increase while I pump! I also noticed a hilarious side effect. To know that you are taking the correct dosage, they say that your sweat and urine start to smell like maple syrup. I laughed at this, because well seriously?! I am hear to say that my sweat now smells a bit like maple syrup. ha ha

Have you tried anything to increase your milk supply?

New Mommy Lessons

Before I had baby I really thought I had this whole parenting thing all figured out. Seriously, like every person out there, that doesn't have kids, I thought I knew it all. I mean, how hard could it be, right? If baby is crying, let him cry it out. Never co-sleep with an infant. Put baby on a schedule as early as possible so that I could have my day planned out. Remember I'm a planner, if plans don't go exactly how I have envisioned then I may have a slight breakdown of sorts. And I ignored everyone who told me that this would be the hardest, most exhausting period of my life. Who would want to hear that negativity? Not me. So. I've learned a few lessons the past five weeks. Yup. I was wrong. Parenting isn't as easy as it seems and baby did not come with a manual, oh and every baby IS different!

1. Letting Baby M 'cry it out' rarely happens. I started to think about that. Here is a baby that is only a couple days/weeks old and he starts crying. No one picks him up or acknowledges him. Now he's not crying because his diaper is wet, he is crying because he thinks that he is all alone. He doesn't understand that I am one room over and can still hear him, so now he's crying because he's scared. I can't do that to him. Don't get me wrong. If I know that he is fed, changed and that nothing could possible be hurting him, then yes I will let him cry it out to a certain extent. But I don't ignore him. I talk to him or I turn some music on for him. But I don't just leave him in his room with the door shut tightly. Even if my grandfather did tell me, multiple times, that I was spoiling Baby M by holding him so often, I don't think I am. If anything I'm teaching him that we are always here for him and according to all the books - he'll be more confident and secure because of it!

2. Co-sleeping basically happened from Day 1. As soon as we brought him home. Neither D nor I could put him in his bassinet. Yes, it was right next to our bed, but that was still too far away. It was way too cold during the night. And what if he stopped breathing? He was so little. I also had to wake up every 2-3 hours to feed him anyway, so why not have him right beside me? It was hard enough having to wake up every couple hours without having to get up out of bed and walk to the next room. Seeing how I breastfeed and how he still needs to eat 2 times through the night, I still keep him next to me. Once he's gained some more weight and he's able to sleep through the night without a feeding, then I'll transition him to his crib. But until then, I'm going to enjoy this time. He'll never be this little again or need me this much. Plus he sleeps so much better when he's near us.

3. There is nothing better than picking up a crying baby and having him calm down, sigh, and nuzzle his face into your shoulder. Nothing.

4. No matter what time of day or night it is, no matter how terribly exhausted I may be, it's all worth it when I look at his little face.

5. At week 2 I was determined to put Baby M on a feeding schedule (mostly because EVERYONE said they had put their baby on a schedule 'right away'). And I did. He ate at 8, 11, 2, 5, 8 and then when he would wake up in the middle of the night...whenever that may be. Here's the problem with that. I'm narotic. I had to feed him exactly at those times. Not 5 minutes before, not 15 minutes after. It worked okay for a week or so, until it drove me crazy. Oh and then the time change happened. Lots of fun. So I took a deep breath. And realized that with an infant, an exact schedule might be possible, but life isn't even like that. You have to allow a certain level of flexibility. So now he eats around 7, 10, 1, 4, and 7 ( with his 2 midnight feedings). And when I say 'around', I mean as long as he eats every 2.5 to 3 hours, then he's good. I still try to keep it around those times, but if it doesn't happen, then it doesn't happen. I'm learning to be flexible! Which is probably a lot better than having a baby on a strict schedule anyway! And his naps are slowly starting to take a routine of it's own also, so we'll be just fine. May not be down to the precise hour, but that's ok.

6. I can't do it all. Tough lesson to learn. Laundry is piling up, house is a mess, there's no food in the house but so be it (I guess). Especially when the Dr. told me yesterday that I still need to 'sleep when baby sleeps' and let my body heal. blah blah blah. I'm trying.

7. Which brings me to my next lesson. Accept help when it's offered. I couldn't do all this without my family. Really. If my parents and my aunt weren't around to give me breaks, help change diapers and just hold Baby M. I'd have a complete meltdown. I've had my share of breakdowns....but they would have been a lot worse.

8. Diapers and onesies. You can never have enough of these. I used to think "how many onesies does a newborn need anyway?" Well it's possible to go through three diapers and two outfits in a matter of 40 minutes.

9. Even though Baby M is only five weeks old, he already has the ability to make me smile, cry and laugh. It's all in his little facial expressions and sounds. And he already has his grandparents wrapped around his finger.

10. I can take the same picture of him over and over again, and send it to everyone I know each time. He's that cute.

11. That it's possible to question and second guess myself multiple times over what I used to think would be simple decisions. As a new mom I also feel judged for each decision I make. But I'm learning that I need to do what is right for us. May not be the same decision as everyone else, but that's ok.

12. All babies are not the same. I've asked and will probably continue to ask my friends if their baby did 'this', or if they did 'that'. But now I realize that every friend has a different answer. Each baby is unique. End of story. There will never be an Instruction Manual for babies, even though I really wish there were.

13. I never thought I'd give Baby M a pacifier. Never. Mom said that we didn't ever need one. And for some reason, I think I saw them as a sign as lazy parenting. Or weakness. Nope. Wrong again. Some babies just like to suckle.

14. I can be peed on and spit up on, multiple times a days. But I don't think it's gross and I never get mad. It's not his fault. And have I mentioned how cute he is?

Biggest lesson? That there is absolutely NOTHING or NO ONE that can prepare you for the marathon of mommyhood. And I don't regret it for one second. I do wish for more sleep, but I don't regret it!