Wednesday, September 22, 2010

p.s. Sammi and I ran 2/3rds of a mile on monday and 1 mile today! hooray us!!
So I think I've figured out at least a decent plan of attack for night-times -- hooray!!
I take Margaret up at 7:30 on bath nights, 8:00 on non-bath nights, bathe/feed her, read her a story, burp her til she can spit no more and then put her in her crib. From here I come back downstairs and she proceeds to scream from 30-60 minutes. By the time I go up to bed, she's screamed herself to sleep and I can get in 2 hours of sleep before her next feeding. I move her into our room b/c I just can't put her on her own while I'm asleep yet. She's been sleeping 3-4 hours at a time...night-time feedings she doesn't seem to want to fall asleep as fast afterwards, but i'm more well-rested so better able to deal with it!!
Margaret is asleep on my chest and is cute as can be squirming around, but she smells like spit-up. gross. good thing it's bath night :)
I started cloth diapering yesterday - so far so good. Tried the bum genius all in one (the easiest for sure), tried a prefold with a snappi inside of a gro-baby cover, as well as the gro-baby with the snap-in insert...all seem to be doing well. The gro-baby with the snap-in insert was what Margaret was wearing at her 8:00 sleep time last night and the back was completely soaked with urine (I think since she was laying on her back) but no leak - may have if it had been left much longer though -- used disposables over night just to make things easier but really it's pretty easy. When using a prefold it takes a little more time, but the snap in inserts or the all in ones are simple! We'll see how things go when it's time to wash them - that's the only part I have reservations on...not sure whether to do a dry bag or rinse the poop diapers after use...i'm doing a dry bag for the first one and we'll see how it goes.
Amidst everything else going on, AJ and I are wanting to remodel the downstairs bathroom--why we feel the need to do this now? no clue. It's fun looking for the least expensive materials - we want to try to do it as much as possible by ourselves...it should be interesting! I went to Habitat for Humanity Restore yesterday to check it out - it's totally not what I expected, I was looking for materials for the bathroom and it's more like a gigantic Goodwill...tons and tons of furniture...found a few things that I think we could use in the living room, I think AJ's going back today to check it out!
I'll try to post pictures of my cutie and her newly diapered tushie once we get the camera plugged in!

Monday, September 20, 2010

We've had an interesting run of the last few nights. Things were going...as well as can be expected, but last night I feel like it all broke down. Margaret was fussy fussy fussy. I can't believe it but I feel that she knows the difference between a daytime nap and bedtime. After most feedings she'll burp, spit up, and fall asleep. At the last feeding before bed she does not relax - just screams and screams and last night she couldn't even wear herself out!! I ended up leaving her in her crib in her room and letting herself scream who knows how long...I think I fell asleep at some point, but awoke in a panic at 2:15 when she started crying for her next feeding and she wasn't in her bassinet--ahh!! haha. i put the baby monitor in her bassinet so I wouldn't forget where she was though - lol - crisis averted! Today seems to be going well - she's in her crib now "napping"...awake but not screaming...interesting concept. Oh well, I'm trying to get some consistency in her day and a crib nap after lunch is one of the steps :)
We went on a walk with mom, stroller/baby, and Sammi today. It went...okay. Better than I thought it would but still difficult. Sammi cannot leave a squirrel alone and it seemed they were EVERYWHERE today. But all in all, okay and I'm proud I was able to manage it all! Now to see how the run goes this afternoon :) I'm hoping to make it a few blocks :)
It's a big week...not only am I trying to start running, I'm also starting cloth diapering and cutting out dairy.
Day one of no dairy is going well. We went up to Mustard Seed Market yesterday and got a bunch of different products to try that are non-dairy. So far I give two thumbs up to coconut milk yogurt (I tried strawberry banana, but there is a strong coconut taste too-good thing I like coconut!), coconut milk ice cream sandwiches are also yummy, as well as MINT! rice dream cakes...I know the hardest thing will be cutting out cheese. We'll see how that goes, might just need to cut back at first until I figure out alternatives.
Cloth diapering is going to be an adventure I am sure, but today I am just pre-washing everything to get the diapers to be most absorbant. I'm figuring tomorrow will be trial day one. I'll keep posting :)
Overall things are not all rosey, but not too shabby :)
Margaret is crazy cute and to me looks bigger and different every day. Her facial expressions are so adorable and are fun to see ourselves in them. AJ continues to support me as much as he can and as much as my stubbornness will let him. Breastfeeding continues to be tough but keep on keeping on.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

And then there was three...

It seems crazy that we waited for so long and as I sit here in margaret's nursery with her asleep in my lap, it seems I've been meant to do this my whole life.
Margaret Anne jones is 16 days old today and is the light of my life. She seems to get bigger and cuter every day. Things have been going as well as can be expected. I had no false impressions that these first few weeks would be easy. And they haven't been. But they have been worth it. Initially I would have said Margret was a pretty happy baby and didn't fuss much but that changes probably about day 5 or so... She initially would just fuss at night but then during the day as well. It became apparent that her belly was really the problem. After tons of good advice from fellow moms on facebook, the past few nights have gone better with the help of the swaddle me blanket and gas drops. I have also made the decision to cut back/cut out dairy so she can better digest my milk. Breastfeeding has been a whole other beast. I guess I didn't expect it to be easy but I am glad I never gave myself a backup plan bc I might just have given up those first few days home. Within hours of being home we had to go to the breastfedinf center because feeding was so painful. I have gotten through the past few weeks with the help of a very supportive and loving husband and a nipple shield...relied on the pump and some cabbage leaves to make things more manageable too. I'm just starting to wean off the shield...doing ok so far.
Yesterday I gave in to the madness of a lengthy screaming fit and gave her her first pacifier. I don't regret it, as there has been peace ever since but it does make me a little sad. I don't know what I was holding out for but it makes me sad thatbi can't always comfort her on my own.
Overall life is good and i'm loving the little family we have created and the love that has filled this house.