The scent of Fall.

Below is what Fall is supposed to look like.

Below is what Fall actually looks like, if you are a Floridian, which sadly, I am.

Oh, the days of summer have finally ended.  Fall fanatics have grabbed September by the horns, excitedly welcoming all things Fall, which, if you are on the trendy train means all things pumpkin.  Don't get me wrong, I was once a happy passenger on that cinnamon, pumpkin, caramel scented locomotive.  Not anymore, friends.  Not anymore.  My days of pumpkin "errrthang" are over. 

Last Fall I was entirely too giddy about filling my home with pumpkin smelling everything.  Well, if I am being honest I filled my house with all scents associated with Fall.  Caramel, Caramel Latte, Caramel Brûlée, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Spice, you get the picture.  This was September.  The only thing I refused to do was consume those amazingly delicious pumpkin spiced lattes from Starbucks.  Have you seen the color of that latte? Yeah, I can't even imagine what that does to your insides.  No-thank-you.  

Since I couldn't actually enjoy the "real" Fall.  You know, red and orange leaves, chilly weather, basically New England in a nutshell, I figured I could turn my home into a Fall sanctuary.  September was followed by October.  And in this spooktacular (Ya like what I did there?) month I found out I was pregnant.  On the sixth week of my pregnancy morning sickness threw me for a spin.  My Fall scented home became my worst enemy.  

Now, it is as though my brain has permanently associated Fall and vomit (So very sad!).  Pumpkin, barf.  Caramel, barf.  Cinnamon, double barf.  Anything and everything that smells sickly sweet gives me the urge to rush to the restroom and stick my head in the toilet.  Excessive?  Sure, but it is absolutely true. 

So, here I am, permanently disembarking the Festive Fall Train.  Here I am, brokenhearted, knowing that I can no longer peruse the Fall scented aisles of Bath and Body Works.  Here I am, saying farewell, goodbye, au devoir, ciao.  Perhaps, one day we shall meet again.  Till next time.  For now, where is winter?

xo

Little Lady O is Two Months Old!

“Nothing you do for children is ever wasted.”

Garrison Keillor

Happy two months, my sweet little one!  

As of September 8, 2014 my bundle of joy is two months old.  Two whole months.  Goodness, I'm going to blink twice and she will be in college, two more blinks and she will be married (Lets not talk about that now).  It is incredible how much change has occurred in such a short period of time.  I am so blessed to be her momma.  Whenever I get a few moments alone (Those times are extremely rare these days) I thank our Heavenly Father for blessing me with such a perfect being.  She is absolutely perfection.  Her daddy and I could not love her more.  Here are her updates.

Weight:  At her two month well check our little lady weighed in at 11 lbs 1 oz.  We are all loving her extra thigh rolls.  And those cheeks!  Oh-my-goodness, my husband comes home and asks me all the time, "Have you bitten our daughter yet?"  If you don't know, I have a tiny problem with biting squishy babies.  I have assured him that all I have done is kiss, kiss, kiss.  Maybe, just maybe I have nibbled on her little arm rolls.  Maybe.

Eating:  Our little chunky monkey would eat all day long if I allowed her.  Currently, I am under the impression that our little bug is going through a growth spurt.  During the day she is eating anywhere between every two to every three hours.  There are days where she can only go one hour and a half between a nursing session.  Those days our little lady is so hungry that she will scream her head off if I don't feed her right-that-very-second.  She rarely screams, except of course when she is hungry.  It is difficult to say how many ounces she is eating since we are breastfeeding.  However, the last time she took a bottle  of expressed breastmilk, it contained about 4 oz.  Once she starts baby school, also known as "daycare" (sigh) I will have a better notion of how much she is consuming.  My goal is to pump for daycare and nurse her when I am home.  

Clothing:  As soon as the doctor announced we were having a little girl all I could think of was, "Bows, shoes, dresses, and more bows".  Thank God for my mother.  She put the brakes on the shopping and let me know that babies grow quite quickly.  So, I didn't go crazy buying too many newborn pieces.  Olivia has been in 0-3 months for most of these last few weeks.  However, just the other day her little leopard 0-3 month onesie wouldn't button.  I looked at her, smiled, and held back a tear.  I'm so incredibly happy she is growing and healthy.  Yet, why is the time going by so quickly? The dilemma.

Sleeping:  Let's just say that I am one very happy momma.  Schedules give me a bit of anxiety.  So, in order not to stress any one of us out, we are kind of letting Olivia do her own thing (For now).  However, we may have fallen into an accidental routine.  Completely accidental, but, it works.  This is what is working for us, at the moment, because babies are unpredictable little creatures.  My husband and I give Olivia a bath every night.  You may disagree, but, we were both given baths every night and are just fine.  I have found that Olivia is much more relaxed after her bath.  Surprisingly, she loves bath time.  We keep her bath time between 7:00-7:30 PM.  After bath time I nurse her, place her in the beloved rock and play, and let her fall asleep.  This allows that little time to finish dinner and actually eat it.  Sometimes she falls asleep, sometimes she just naps. Lately, she will fall asleep in her rock and play at around 9:30 and we will bring her up to our room to sleep in the pack and play at around 10:00-10:30 PM.  I'll check her diaper and place her in her halo sleep sack (She loves that thing).  The time she wakes up varies from 5:30 AM, to 6:30 AM, and most recently 7:30 AM (YAY!).  The days she woke up at 5:30 AM she would normally go back to sleep at around 6:00 and wake up anytime between 8:30-9:00 AM.  It has varied.  This isn't to say that she hasn't fussed at least once throughout the night.  We decided it was okay to give her a pacifier (lifesaver) and so, if she fusses I'll take a pause, give her the pacifier, and wait.  If she just turns and falls back asleep I know she isn't hungry and I will fall back asleep as well.  We haven't transitioned her to her crib and I'm not sure when that time will be.  I'm crossing my fingers that when the time comes, it will be smooth and easy.  Considering the pack and play is a flat open space much like her crib, I'm hoping it doesn't cause much trouble.  Wish us luck!  

Today I was even able to get my smush to laugh out loud (It was so quick and sudden that I couldn't believe it).  I tried desperately for an encore, but, she was determined to ONLY give me gummy grins and little squeals (It's okay, I love those too!).  Tummy-time is quite entertaining these days.  She much prefers to be on her back than on her belly.  However, we still put in the work.  

At the end of the month our time lounging around without a care in the world will come to an end.  My heart aches whenever I think that I won't be with her the majority of the day.  We'll talk about that later.  Today, this hour, this minute is my favorite.  I am soaking up all the love I can.  Because I know that in the mornings when she sees my face her smile is as big as mine.  

xo

Oh, me? I'm doing fine.

It has been 10 weeks (And one day), 71 days, 1,704 hours, 102,240 minutes, 6,134,400 seconds since the day I met my little love.  Translation?  It has been a little over two months since I've become a momma.  It has been the best two months of my life.  The best, most challenging, exhausting, frustrating, thrilling, amazing 71 days of my 28 years of life.  And, even though just today I was squirted with poop as I was changing a stinky diaper, I wouldn't have it any other way.  

Now, life with a newborn is similar to that of a chicken running around with its head cut off. A chicken that gets pooped on, puked on, and sleeps, actually scratch that, DOESN'T sleep.  Life.is.rough.  If you are one of the lucky ones you may sleep.  Just don't tell the rest of the new momma population.  Unless of course you want to get the stank eye of the century.  True story.  

 Let me get to the point.  When I was pregnant I read countless blogs on what the postpartum life would look like.  Even though I may not have followed all of the suggestions (Trust me, you eventually find what works for YOU) it was nice to have an overview.  Which is what I am going to gift to you.  A guideline of sorts as to how to maneuver the messy world of life after baby.  Well, at least in the newborn stage, because quite frankly I have no idea what the next stage entails.  Like I said, I'm no expert, I've only been doing this thing for 71 days.  

Here it goes, folks.

Take showers.  No, seriously, take a shower, take a bath, and make it a daily occurrence. Blog after blog, after blog I kept reading how being a new mom kept you from bathing.  The idea of not being able to take a bath gave me anxiety.  There was no way, no how that I could go a day without showering. Nope, nope, and nope.  Sure, there are people that can go without bathing.  I am not one of those people.  If we are being honest, I am more of a two shower a day kind of girl.  Cutting down to one shower was difficult enough.  Not showering?  It just wasn't going to happen.  Even if you are in there for only five minutes it will make a world of difference (I promise you).  I am a whole new woman after a shower.  Plus, spit-up is spit-up.  Even though it comes from a baby it still smells.  If you don't want to smell rancid, I suggest you take a shower.  Like I said, five minutes can do wonders.

Sleep when you can.  Sleep.  Everyone will tell you, sleep when the baby sleeps.  I'm here to tell you that sleeping when the baby sleeps is challenging. You see, there is absolutely nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.  In hindsight I should probably not have spent all that time staring at my sleeping baby.  I should have slept.  My husband is a small business owner and was unable to take time off when Olivia was born.  Other than the few days after we came home from the hospital, off to work he went.  I was home alone with a newborn.  A newborn who had her nights and days completely confused.  However, instead of sleeping during the day when she actually would sleep, I would stay up and stare at her pretty face.  Ludicrous, I know.  You really have no idea how much sleep is important until you aren't sleeping.  After about a week of zero sleep I became delirious.  Zombie-mom?  That was me.  And as quick as that came it went.  To ensure that I would get at least three hours of uninterrupted sleep my husband and I came up with a plan.  After Olivia's nine o'clock feeding I would hand her over to her daddy, run upstairs, take a shower (You know how important that is to me), and go to bed.  At midnight my husband would bring her upstairs and our nightly routine would begin once again.  I am happy to say that we are sleeping much, much better.  Thank you, Jesus.

The cami with a built-in-bra.  Breastfeeding is not for the faint of heart.  It can be quite difficult.  Even if the breastfeeding Gods are on your side, it is still a challenge.  Nursing bras, nursing pads, nipple cream, nipple gel, breastfeeding pump, it can all become overwhelming.  If I could do one thing, one-single-thing, it would be to burn my nursing bras.  I truly disliked everything about the nursing bra.  Everything.  So, I went and bought myself a ton of cami's with the built-in-bra.  For me this worked perfectly.  I wear them underneath all of my clothes and when I have to nurse I just pull up my shirt, pull down the cami and ta-da, done.  Plus, it keeps my belly covered, which is a major win in my book.  I'm perfectly okay with nursing in public, having my belly exposed, not just yet.  We are getting there.  Also, the cami with the built-in-bra doesn't have these little snaps and clips.  Snaps and clips drive a woman bonkers when her baby is screaming because the boob is there but she just can't have it. 

Subscribe to Netflix.  This may seem completely irrelevant.  However, in the beginning you will be feeding your sweet little bundle of joy constantly, regardless of which way you choose to do so.  If you choose to breastfeed you may have a little nugget that wants to nurse all-the-time.  Those first few weeks were all about nursing on demand and those sessions could last quite some time.  Having Netflix kept me entertained and awake (My biggest fear was falling asleep while nursing).  Friday Night Lights kept me up during those hours where sweet little Olivia wanted to nurse every hour on the hour for twenty plus minutes at a time.  You can't really do much while you are nursing, so, why not binge watch your favorite television show.  My current favorite?  Parenthood, which is so, so appropriate.

Go out.  Believe me, there will come a time where you will WANT to get out of the house.  It may not be during the first week, or the second week, maybe not even the third week. Give it some time and then make your way off the couch and into the sunshine.  I was terribly afraid of taking out Olivia on my own.  Then one morning I really wanted Starbucks and there was not a single person who could bring my latte to me.  My inner voice just told me to do it.  I got up, took a shower, got dressed, nursed Olivia (I wanted to prevent any hysterics) and off we went.  It was only through the drive-thru but it made me realize that it was okay to venture out into public.  Her first real outing was to Target.  However, my husband was with me so that doesn't count.  Seriously though, go out.  If you want to keep your sanity take a walk on the wild side and go for a spin.  Just don't over do it.  If you are exhausted, take a nap, that adventure can wait for another time.

Patience.  There were nights where I thought I may lose my sweet mind.  Sleep deprivation can do that to you.  A part of me felt like I would never sleep again (I cried).  Yet, as the days went by we fell into a routine.  She started sleeping for longer intervals and slowly my mind and body began to feel more like the old me.  It didn't happen over night.  Be patient and remember, this too shall pass.

Mostly, just enjoy this time with your little one.  The life with a newborn is a chaotic but beautiful one.  I would relive all those first days with my little over and over again (This may be the lack of sleep speaking).  You will be frustrated.  You will question your ability as a mother.  You will feel like screaming.  Then your sweet one will fall asleep on a full belly, you'll get into bed, and wake up five hours later to the realization that your child ALMOST slept through the night.  You'll do a happy dance and get back into bed hoping she sleeps just a little-bit-longer.  She wakes up five minutes later, but it's okay, you are making progress.  It is all about that one-day-at-a-time thing people keep telling you about.

xo