Tuesday, April 28, 2015

04/28/2015

April is coming to an end and May is almost here. This last weekend we went to the Orcas Island work party and it reminded me of girls camp. I look forward to going again - it's my 3rd time, Jesse's 6th time oh and Emily's 1st time :). This is Jesse's last year as the survival instructor as he will become director next year (and I will be his co-director/helper). He has always wanted to do this, so I am happy that he gets this opportunity! 

It's crazy how busy we are as a family. It seems that weekends just seem to book up so quickly and it's not even summer! This coming weekend we are staying home to really work around the house. Our yard is atrocious! Seriously, the backyard grass has spots that go up to my hip! :O So embarrassing! 

May 10th is my first Mother's Day! :)

May 11th - 17th I am taking The Great Flats Challenge

May 12th - picking up Zaycon ground beef and making a bunch of things to put in the freezer like sloppy joes, taco meat, regular ole cooked ground beef, etc... 40 pounds worth!

May 16th we are doing the March of Dimes walk. I am actually hosting a walk through Hike it Baby Tacoma to try to get more walkers. :)

Memorial Day weekend - no plans yet!

That's what we have going on right now. :)

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Update 04/14/15

Alright, it's been weeks since I last wrote. It's definitely been a whirlwind since Emily was born. I absolutely love being home with our little girl. I also can't believe I thought I would be able to do all the housework I wanted to do and take care of her. Haha, silly me! But, I do get what I think is adequate sleep... maybe that's why I'm not getting all of the housework done? 

Our typical day looks like waking up around 9am - I think we will start waking up earlier as I have been better about getting her to go to sleep a little earlier each night. She wanted to party until 1am when she was weeks old haha. Now it's more like 10-11pm. She wakes up a few times to eat, but it's no big deal as she quickly falls asleep after eating. We wake up at 9-ish, she takes a few short naps until around noon and then usually naps for 1-2 hours or so, sometimes 2 naps depending. She is usually up from 3pm until bedtime, with maybe another 30 minute nap somewhere in between.

She bedshares, so that makes it SO easy... unclasp the bra, feed, fall asleep. I know a lot of people frown upon that, but hey, we are one of the only places in the world that try not to do that. It seems like most countries bedshare, babywear, etc... and we have one of the higher rates of SIDs. I follow safe bedsharing with her. I waited until she was 4-5 days old before I allowed her in bed as I had a c-section and was on pain meds. I took them for a few days and as soon as it had been 24 hours I allowed her in bed. We also have a rail on the side of the bed for when she is older and can roll. I sleep in between Emily and Jesse, as that's what's safe for us. I always know where she is, but Jesse is a deep sleeper. And so on and so on. I just make sure she is safe in bed. I love having her in bed, love the cuddles and being close to my little one. I can easily check on her by just opening my eyes.

I have also started cloth diapering! I will just go into it a little bit right now. We had so many newborn diapers, and with the c-section I was not in a place to even start cloth diapering. I barely remember the first week or two with my lack of sleep, baby blues, being super sore from surgery, etc. We started between 3-4 weeks old. I use flats, prefolds, and fitteds. I love them all and use them for different things. Flats for when she is awake and I will change her often. Prefolds for when I think she will nap or if we are out and about. Fitteds for overnight and I usually change her once in the middle of the night (after the 5 hour sleep session she gives me)- so we use two fitteds. I actually also throw in a hemp doubler at night too as she eats and eats at night so she can get her diaper very wet. I wash them every other day. I just ordered some wool covers as I would love to use only natural fibers vs synthetics as a personal preference. Wool also seems so much softer. Plus it kind of goes with my kind of crunchy nature. ;)

TMI alert: Breastfeeding! What an adventure to say the least. It was very painful the first few weeks, and it made me cry a few times from the pain. I didn't realize how important for me it was to keep the nipples lubricated. I got cracks because of it and it hurt so bad. I tried just breastmilk and then breastmilk and coconut oil. Eventually at day 10 I used the Earth Mama's nipple butter after every single feed. After 2-3 days things felt way better. It wasn't until 4-5 weeks that it started feeling comfortable though. I think that's because she got bigger and my body was more used to it. I'm so happy we pushed through it (I was determined to) and now it's nothing. We lay in bed and side-lay nurse and it's the easiest thing ever. I almost look forward to it because then I get to relax and cuddle Emily, watch TV or play on my phone. :) Jesse fed her a bottle a week ago to try to get her used to it, so eventually we can go on a date night. She didn't like it at first, but eventually took it. I think our first date will be short enough to not need a bottle though. I am so looking forward to Monday's 2 month appointment to see her new weight/height/head measurement. I am so excited to see what my superpowers are doing for her! :) It seriously makes me proud that my body can feed her.

The best thing I think I have done for myself is to get out of the house. That means our house isn't the cleanest, but it seriously helps my mood. I barely got out of the house the first two weeks and I had bad baby blues. I cried all day long about nothing. Once I started getting out I felt so much better. Even if we go to the grocery store and back, it lifts my mood.

Well, Emily is awake and I hear her "calling my name" or grunting to be picked up, one of the two. Haha! :)