Those two lines...

I saw them last week (Mon December 5th to be exact) and they are a beautiful sight . I'm pregnant!!! I did an injectible cycle followed by IUI. It was so much easier this time than in the past. I only had to take injects for one week...in the past I had to inject (on much higher doses) for over 2 weeks! I only had one day of monitoring and I had one follicle ready to go! So, hubs and I went in the next two mornings and did back to back iui. Then the two week wait went by so much faster than in the past...obviously because I was chasing around my little monkey and enjoying her rather than simply focusing on the "am I pregnant or not" worries! We took a pregnancy test two days before the beta, it was positive. OMG! But we thought it could still be the HCG from the trigger shot so I tested again the next day...more positive! Then beta 1 gave us a nice number of 231. Beta 2 (48 hours later) gave us more than doubling at 631! OMG! Ultrasound to detect heart beat is scheduled for December 23rd. I'm so over the moon happy, so over the moon TIRED, and so over the moon scared that we won't see what we want on the 23rd. But all in all, I feel so much less pressure than in past infertility treatment cycles since I am so thrilled that I already have my angel who I love more than life. I'm hoping and praying that all goes well and this little baby keeps growing in my belly. This is love. xo

Party Pics

Woah!!! All these presents are for ME!!!!



Mommy! I love this teddy bear!!!


MMMMM... presents AND cake!!!


Now that my belly is full I'm ready to relax in my new rocking chair!


I think I like birthdays!

One Year...

It's been one year of laughs, tears, sleepless nights, cuddles, diapers, lots of crying and an abundance of LOVE. One year ago today my heart exploded. I fell in love beyond what I imagined I was capable. Happy Birthday to my precious princess. This year has been the best of my life. THE BEST.

At one year Alexandra:
-crawls all over, climbs up on everything (stairs, furniture, boxes...) and has taken one or two nervous steps.
-is just not quite confident to walk, I think she could but she's scared, and she's good at crawling so why bother!
-finally will eat off a spoon, but still prefers finger foods
-is extremely picky eater and basically eats the same thing everyday despite my efforts
-drinks whole milk like its no big deal (one question...did anyone else's kids poo get more runny when you made the switch from formula to milk? Also the colour is much lighter than her formula poo....?)
-has 7 teeth and the 8th on the way
-says mama....mostly when she's whining
-babbles all the time. She is LOUD!
-loves books. All books. They taste good...oh and the flaps on the peekaboo books are so fun to rip off! ha ha! She loves turning the pages and pointing at stuff in the books and listening to us read them. My little literary buff.
-sleeps great at night 8pm-7am
-takes 2 naps. one around 9:30 for about an hour and one around 2:15 for about 1 to 1.5 hours. All sleeping is in the crib.
-HATES the car. Screaming battles in the car are always guaranteed.
-HATES the stroller. I'm lucky if I get 10 minutes of peace when I attempt to walk with her in the stroller. My left bicep is huge. Carrying her is getting very difficult as she is definitely atleast 20 pounds now!
-will hopefully (fingers crossed that all goes well and i'm not jinxing anything by putting this out there....) be a BIG SISTER in August 2012!!!!

What a wonderful year it has been!!!

xoxo LTB
-

Woah!!!

Slow down world! How is it possible that baby A is almost 1 YEAR OLD??? Where the heck has the time gone! She is so amazing and learning every day. I often find myself wishing "she could walk", or "she could talk" but then I look back at all that she has learned in her short 11 months and I feel so guilty for wishing the time away! I honestly would be happy if she would stay at this cute, smiley, crawling, cruising, getting in to everything age forever! So much fun!

Lots going on over here in the last month. I'm a bit overwhelmed with everything actually. Here are a few highlights:

1. We bought a house. Outside of the city. We bought a beautiful home Oakville (a suburb of Toronto). It is very close to the GO Train, which means my husband can easily take the train to work and avoid traffic. It will take him about 30 minutes to get to work. Not too bad considering the subway ride if we bought within the city would be almost equivalent...and grosser! I never thought I'd want to leave the city. I love our condo downtown. Then we had a baby...and got lots of baby stuff...and need more space! Like...lots more space! A yard is going to be fantastic. But I'm scared. I will no longer have everything at my fingertips. I'll have to use the car more. I have no friends in Oakville. I have no job in Oakville....which brings me to my second highlight.

2. I resigned from my teaching job. I am going to stay home with Alexandra for atleast another 9 months. The school I worked at was not near the GO station in Toronto, so the commute for me would be way too much. Not worth it. So, we decided that since we are fortunate enough to be able to have me stay home, I will do it...for a while. I'm nervous about not having a job. I loved my job. But I also love being home. And I was scared shitless about the stress of going back to work...let alone finding daycare! We were on 2 lists for a year and did not get a spot! And if day care is going to cost us $1700 a month (INSANITY!) it almost seems ridiculous to go back to work. I'd be working for pennies! So, I will likely look for work in our new town for next September...unless we are expecting another baby...which brings me to highlight #3!

3. We are back in the throws of fertility treatments. I fully weaned Alexandra about 3 weeks ago and yesterday I went back to my fertility clinic and got my meds. Yesterday i did my first injection for this cycle. We will be doing an IUI once/if my follicles grow nicely and we get a good egg ready for baby making! Please cross your fingers for us!

So....that's what I'm up to. I am still reading all of your blogs but besides dealing with the above, and now selling our condo (major pain in the ass!!!) and also working on my masters in math...I am having a hard time blogging and commenting! But I am here, and I am following you all!

xo LTB

Happy Halloween from my little pumpkin!

Update

I feel so in touch with the blog world because I read blogs ALL THE TIME! Yet for some reason I never drum up the energy to do my own posts. :( Bad blogger.

Alexandra is now 9 1/2 months old. She is doing great. Getting really big and really active. She has been crawling for over a month now and she now cruises everywhere along furniture, climbs up steps, walks pushing her little walker-car-thing, and is generally into everything. This kid can not sit still. She is not a cuddly one at all. Sometimes I'm sad and wish she would just cuddle in my arms but she will not sit still for a second. She's also very tempermental. Either very happy and smiley or super pissed off. She's always been like that so I guess that's just her. She can go from a huge smile to a crying mess and back to giggles within a matter of seconds! I'm definitely anticipating an emotional teenager!!

She loves playing with other kids. She hates being home alone with just mom. BORING! We go out everyday for a play date, otherwise the whining would just kill me. Good thing I have a big network of mom friends to keep me company while the kids play. There are also a lot of awesome coffee shops nearby that cater to babies/kids and have big play areas with mats and toys and slides and swings etc. Very handy!

Alexandra has 2 teeth now and by the amount of snot and drool that is coming out of that kid I swear there are more on the way but I can't spot any. We don't go to the doctor this month but if I had to guess I would say she is 18 pounds. Getting heavy to carry (and unfortunately for me she still hates the stroller). My left bicep is huge.

In my last post I talked about weaning. Well, now is the time i'm going to get serious about it. I went back to the fertility doctor today and we are good to go with trying for a second as soon as I wean her! I had blood and baseline ultrasound done today and when I want to start my protocol (menopur injections and IUI) I just call and we begin! Crazy!

I am currently nursing Alexandra in the morning, before her afternoon nap and at night. I give her two bottles of formula a day. One with lunch and one with dinner. I'm thinking that I will next cut out the feeding before her afternoon nap. I don't think I will be ready to fully wean her for a while (a month...or 2? ) but maybe in November we will be ready to start the meds. It is exciting and scary to think about the possibility of a second baby! I really hope to give Alexandra a sibling (or 2 ...or 3!) but atleast I have her no matter what!

Anyways, my teething angel is waking from her nap and sounding miserable (wish me luck! ooooohhhh the whining!!!!! Argh!) , here's a pic of my girl on the go!


BEEP BEEP!!!

Weaning

I thought I wanted to nurse Alexandra for a year and then switch her directly to milk in a sippy cup, thus skipping the formula and bottle all together. Well, I'm having second thougths on that. I want to continue to give her some breast milk until atleast a year but I am feeling like such a prisoner and am ready for her to take a bottle. Until last week, my girl had NEVER taken a bottle. Utter refusal. And so, I have NEVER been away from her for longer than 3 hours when I went to get my hair done ONCE. Other than that it has been max 2 hours apart. In 9 months. That's a long time. Now, that she is crawling (yes...at 8.5 months that girl was off to the races!), sitting in my lap is SO. NOT. FUN! She is squirming and not interested in nursing. But the problem is that she is not interested in eating solid food either. Or bottles. In the past week I have been trying to get her to take breast milk or formula from a bottle once a day. I have some success when she is strapped in her carseat and I sit in the back with her. Or when she is really sleepy, but then she does this weird nursing/sipping the bottle thing. Probably not good. I should just put my boob away! I also decided to cut out night feedings completely since she was not eating during the day. That has been surprisingly successful and this weekend she actually slept from 8 pm to 8am without waking! (actually... not entirely true...when I cut out night feeds I introduced a dream feed around 1130pm so that if she wakes at night I can rest easy knowing that her tummy is full, she doesnt' wake for the dream feed though and I wish I had started that months ago!) So, this is major progress from the multiple wakings to nurse I was having just 2 weeks ago!

Most of this post is just my babbling, but I wan to know from others who have weaned, are weaning...how do you do it ? Did you cut out one feed and replace it with a bottle? Which feed is the best/easiest one to cut out? Cold turkey? Easier for you or dad to give bottle? How do you know how many ounces to give? She doesn't seem to ever want more than 2 or 3 ounces and I read about babies wanting 8 ounce bottles! Also, would love to hear how much solid food other babies are eating. she was eating a ton! but when she started crawling and got her first tooth all in the same week her appetite disappeared. Now we are lucky if we can get her to eat a couple cubes of squash and a butt ton of cheerios a day. She is obsessed with cheerios. That is one food she will always eat!

anyways, would love any advice! Hope you all had a great long weekend!

LTB

Teeth and Germs

Hello hello! I can't believe the summer is almost OVER! And that means that the school year is starting, and that means I am getting WAY too close to having to go back to work! My maternity leave is over at the end of December so I will go back to teaching in January after the Christmas break. Now, I know some of you are shaking your heads and hating on me for getting a year at home with my girl and still complaining...such is one of the pleasures of living in Canada (and paying super huge amounts of taxes!!!) I think it would suck to leave your child weather they are 4 months or 4 years old!

Things have been good over here. We went on a great vacation to a resort in the Muskokas (cottage country in Ontario) and it was so fun to be there with Alexandra at 8 months old! She was loving swimming and the toys in the kids areas and it was fantastic! Soooo much better than our trip to Florida at 4.5 months! I am absolutely loving this 8 month stage. She sits, stands, moves but doesn't crawl yet. She loves toys and interacting but is not all over the place yet! Best stage so far!

One thing that is not so good about this stage is germs. She eats everything and since we go to a lot of play groups she eats toys that other kids eat. Gross. Germy. We got our first cold. It sucks to see your baby all snotty and congested. She was (and still is) congested and is having a hard time nursing. She is dripping from the nose and its gross. When she's sick I feel like I have to quarantine her from the play groups so that we don't infect everyone else. This means we are cranky and bored and stuck inside the condo. NOT FUN. Even more not fun, I got the cold. And even MORE not fun, Alexandra got her first tooth simultaneously with getting her first cold. She was MISERABLE. It was so sad! She now has one lower tooth. I was hoping for two (the whining was enough to make me dread the other 19 that still need to grow in!). With the teething/cold she started waking more often at night. Atleast 2 to 3 times a night instead of the glorious one time a night we had gotten down to! Of course when she was sick/teething I went to her and I nursed her each time she woke. Well, its been a week now. The tooth is in. The waking is continuing. Any advice on how to break this night feeding/waking habit she has gotten herself into? I am thinking that at almost 9 months old we are ready to cut out night feeds. Do most people cut them out by now? I think I'm the last one around (in my mom groups atleast!) that still nurses her baby in the middle of the night! I just don't know how to cut out the night feeds without an enormous amount of tears. She fall asleep instantly while nursing but won't fall asleep when I just comfort her in the middle of the night. I know she knows how to put herself to sleep since I always put her to bed awake for naps and at bedtime and she goes to sleep after just chatting to herself for a minute or two. I just don't get what is so different for her in the middle of the night! I know people reduce night feeds by watering down bottles/decreasing amount given but Alexandra will not take a bottle and never has.

Another thing to compound this is that I think she might be hungry since with the sick/teething she also started refusing to eat. She barely eats any solids (except for Cheerios! Which she LOVES!) and is even nursing less during the day. Such a conundrum! Do other babies lose their appetites with teething?

Anyways, that's all that's new at the LTB household! I leave you with a couple pics from our holiday!

Gotta love those thighs!!!



Daddy is so fun!!!

First Word?

I don't know how to post a video on here but here is a link to my baby girl's first word! She said it and then I repeated it and now she's been saying it on her own and whenever I say it! So proud of my girl!!!

First Word

Three Randoms...

1. After thinking my poor child would be swaddled for life we finally pulled the plug and let her loose. About 2 weeks ago when she was sick I didn't want her to overheat with the swaddle since she was already feverish, so I thought it a perfect time to get out of the swaddle for good. I also figured she wasn't sleeping well anyways because of being sick so it was going to make that any worse. I went out and bought an Aden and Anis thin sleep sack (they have winter ones too and I will definitely be picking one of those up in the fall!) I put her in the sack and she slept amazing! In fact, she is sleeping much better than she was with the swaddle! The wonderful thing is that now that she is hands free she can retrieve her own soother in the middle of the night. I toss her in the crib with 3 soothers and it is fantastic! She is also now a side-sleeper. So cute! It's so crazy how much she moves around in that crib now! I put her in with her head facing north and by morning she always has her head at the south end of the crib!?!

2. Baby girl loves swimming! I started taking her to "lessons" and also take her to the community pool almost everyday! It is so fun to watch her splash and kick around in the water. I am loving this age (where she can fully sit up on her own and not so fragile)! It is so fun to actually play with her!





3. I'm thinking of training to run a 5 or 10k. I do alot of cardio but almost never run. I stick to the elliptical or stairmaster usually. I decided to try running last week and I ran 3 miles (5k) on the treadmill in 25 minutes...i'm not sure if that is terrible or decent. Anyone with running experience want to tell me what a good time to strive for would be? I don't want to over-do it with the running since I'm worried about my milk supply (anyone have experience with this? does running lower your milk supply?) so I think I will just strive for running a good 5k now and then maybe a 10k when I am nursing less in the winter time. I would love any tips about running from other running mamas!

Well, those are my 3 randoms for the day! I'll leave you with a quick pic of my baby working hard:

Baby Food

We started Alexandra on solids around 5.5 months. At first it was nothing more than an exercise in body painting. She would literally purse her mouth shut and grab at the spoon full of rice cereal and smear it all over her body. Cute, but nerve wracking! I made multiple attempts to feed her oatmeal or rice cereal. I was always unsuccessful. My husband found a bit more success so he became the feeder. Alexandra became comfortable eating cereal after about 3 weeks of trying it. However, she rejected any new flavours I would introduce. Hated bananas (what baby hates bananas!), hated pear sauce, hated sweet potato. I was starting to get devastated that I wouldn't get to put my Baby Bullet to good use! Then i started to realize that what Alexandra seemed to hate the most was eating off the spoon. I started giving her chunks of watermelon or apricots and she seemed to do a bit better sucking/gnawing on those than eating them in pureed form. I just wasn't really all that comfortable with giving her "chunks" of food. I contemplated maybe just doing baby-led weaning but I was a bit nervous about it. Then I saw some other bloggers talking about Baby Gourmet organic baby food pouches. I bought a couple and Alexandra would suck the food right out of the pouch. Suddenly, without the spoon in the way, my baby girl was loving these new flavours! I was so happy, but very disappointed that maybe I wouldn't get to make all of my daughters food because I would have to resort to buying these "pouches" in order to get her to eat! Then I was struck by some mommy-genius (ok...not really but I am proud of my "invention"!) I put some pureed sweet potato in a ziploc bag, snipped off on corner and squeezed the food into baby A's mouth. She loved it just as much as the Baby Gourmet! I have now found a wonderful (non-messy! very portable!) way to feed my baby without the spoon that she for some strange reason hates! So far some homemade combo favorites include:

Mango Chicken
Banana, blueberry, avocado
Squash and green bean
Chicken and pear
Chicken, blueberry, apple

And let me tell you...my child loves to eat! At 7 months she finally "gets it!" and she loves it! And I love it...because ever since she really started eating she is SLEEPING much better! And we all know that is what really counts! She is sleeping pretty regularily from 7:30 or 8pm until 4 am, up for a quick 5 min feed and down again until 8 am. Of course there are still some terrible days but she has officially weaned herself down from 2 night feeds to one. I'm sure I could pop the soother in her mouth at 4 am and she would go a few more hours without a feed, but right now (since I don't have to get up for work) I would rather feed her at 4am, and then get another good stretch out of her until 8 than not feeding her and have her wake up for the day at 6:30 or 7.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! We are going to a friend's pool tomorrow and I can't wait to get A into the pool in her new floatation device (its like an inner tube that she sits in)!

:)LTB

Bad Weekend :(

This weekend promised to be glorious! 3 days long, a trip to visit my parents and siblings, BBQ with friends and gorgeous weather.

This all went out the window on Friday when Alexandra started acting funny. I could tell she wasn't feeling good. The cries weren't the normal fussy/pick-me-up-Mommy! cries, but serious achy cries. I thought she seemed constipated since she was straining but not pooping. We gave her some baby Tylenol and hoped for the best. She woke up every single hour (or less) that night. We were at my parents so I know she was in unusual surroundings but this was just god awful! I was exhausted. Saturday morning she had a fever. So, we gave her tylenol again and went to our friends for a BBQ. She seemed to cheer up and we thought she was on the mend. Unfortunately on Sunday morning she woke up and was BURNING up. She was soooo hot and sad and it was breaking my heart! We took her to Sick Kids hospital here in Toronto (amazing place!!!) and they checked her ears (fine) and then decided to check her urine...by giving her a catheter! That had to be the worst thing ever to witness. Poor little thing! Urine came back fine. So, we were left with a fever and no known cause. Went home and took it easy (she was soooo sleepy!) and Monday she seemed a bit better, but still sleepy. By nighttime her fever was back. I was starting to panic and my mind was going to terrible places thinking that she was seriously ill with some freak virus or worse..like cancer. I of course resorted to Dr. Google and that only freaked me out more. I know it had only been 3 days with a fever but to me that was a looooonnng time to have a fever for no known reason! Well, today she finally seemed better. No fever. Still a bit sleepy but hopefully on the mend! phew! oh...and to make this weekend even more crappy....my husband punched me in the face on Friday night! Now before you get crazy thinking i'm a battered wife, here's the story: Hubs was trying to cheer up sick Alexandra by doing a funny "dance" that involved flailing of the arms. I happened to approach as he flung his fist out to the right...and right into my eye. I am now sporting my first "shiner"! We definitely were a sad pair all weekend:




Here's to a happy and healthy week ahead!

LTB

6 months

Time flies when you are having fun!

Just a quick post to document my baby turning 6 months old! I don't have the energy for a long or interesting post (despite many issues on my mind that I want to discuss with my blog-buds!) since one thing 6 months seems to have brought is sleep troubles.... :(
Alexadra turned 6 months old on Sunday! Holy cow! How did my little new born suddenly become closer to a year than to a fetus in my belly! How did my once tiny 5.5 pound baby become a totally normal sized chubby 15 pound baby! She is so much more interested in toys and fun stuff (like mommy's cell phone and the tv remotes) than ever. Here she is hard at work at her "desk":


She now sits totally unassisted! She did this for the first time on her 6 month birthday and now is a pro! I'm so proud of my little girl and it is soooo cute!



She also found her feet in the past week or so and thinks it is so fun to play with them. She is still not interested in rolling over in either direction. She has done both directions but will not do it consistently. She is pigging out on organic brown rice cereal but is not interested in pureed carrots, peas or sweet potatoes and for some reason she will only eat when my husband feeds her. From me she just closes her lips tight and turns her head away! She knows I've got the good stuff!


She is the love of my life.

Happy half-birthday baby girl!

Simply Irresistable!

Yippee! I got an award! Thank you Carla for giving me the Simply Irresitable Award!



So here are the rules

* Thank the giver: Thank you Carla!! I think you're sweet too!
* List 7 things about me:
1) I have 3 tattoos. One on my lower back, it's big and if I could see it I would definitely regret it. One on my foot, its a pieces symbol and I like it and one on my hip, its an infinity symbol that the hubs and I got when we got married.
2) I am currently doing my Masters in math by online courses. It's tough to find time with the baby! Thank goodness for the new 2 hour naps she has started taking in the mornings!
3) I have been napping for two hours in the mornings. Ooopss... I'm supposed to be working on that Masters course!
4) I love California. I wish I lived in California. I even wanted to call my daughter "Callie" because it reminds me of the happiest most beautiful place on earth. Perfect weather. Beaches. Mountains. Heaven.
5) I want to have 4 kids. I love big families.
6) My dream job is to be a talk show host. Like Oprah or Barbara Walters. I would love to be on the view. I picture myself being like Elisabeth Hasselbeck (minus the strong political opinions). I actually voted "most likely to be a talk show host" at my highschool graduation!
7)In highschool I was also voted "Inseparable buddies" with 3 other girls. We were a fierce foursome! Now, I only talk to one of them. Sad but true :(

My little one is waking up now so I can't think of 15 people to pass this on to! But if you are reading, then of course I think you are sweet! So this award's for you!

LTB

Not Invited!

We are having a crisis in my family right now. My little brother is getting married in September. I am a bridesmaid and was also asked to be the MC at the wedding. I was totally looking forward to it and my plan was to bring Alexandra to the wedding and reception and then leave around 7 to take her home and put her to bed and then have a babysitter there so I could go back to the wedding for the nighttime party. She will be 8 months old at that time. Since I'm the MC I emailed my bro and his fiance to tell them that I would be gone from about 7 to maybe 8:30 to put the baby to bed so they might want to ask someone else to either be the MC or to step in for me while I'm out. Well, last night my brother called me to tell me they didn't want Alexandra to come to the wedding at all. Not the ceremony. Not the pictures. Not the reception. They want me to get a babysitter for my breastfeeding baby for the entire day/night. Ummmm....NO!

I can't believe my brother is being such an asshole! Actually I think it's for sure the fiance but my bro is obviously on her side. So, basically I said I don't want to be in their wedding and he told me that was my choice and I could wait until August to make the final decision! WTF!
I told him to screw off and hung up!

Am I crazy or is it totally psycho that my baby is not invited to my brother's wedding?

Tell me she wouldn't make the cutest flowergirl????

The Most Wonderful Sound in the World

Baby Laughing....Melt My Heart!

Ignore my ugliness and terrible voice. Focus on the child. Precious, cute, sweet little child!

Alexandra Laughing

So What Wednesday

So what if:

It has been raining here steady for 2 weeks. And thus...I have been a sloth. No power walks with the stroller and I'm feeling gross!

Its 1:30, I have a pediatrician appt at 1:45 (atleast a 15 minute drive away) and Alexandra is still napping. I can't bear to wake her! Oops...guess we'll be late!

I bought a cookie yesterday for $1.25. I paid with a loonie (dollar coin) and a quarter. The cashier gave me a toonie (2 dollar coin) back as change. Hmmmm.... I love stupid cashiers! Yes, I kept the money. Every toonie counts when you are on mat leave!

I made a tray of rice krispie squares 2 days ago, my husband hates them, and it is 90% gone. Wasn't me!!!

My baby girl got me out of a speeding ticket! I was going 58 km/hour in a 50 km/hour area (for those US folk that's 36 mph in a 31 mph area), and got pulled over. Shit. Baby is crying. She is in a major "hate-the-car" phase. Start talking to the cop, digging for my license and registration and she starts going nuts. He looks at me and says..."Go. Your baby saved you this time!" Woo hoo! Crying baby saves the day! And yes, I know I should not be speeding with a baby in the car (but seriously...5 miles/hour too fast...?)

That's it that's all! Time to wake the sleeping babe and head to the doc...hoping i'm not about to wake a dragon!!

Travelling with Baby

We took our first family vacation this month. We flew to Florida and stayed in a condo for a week. I thought I would write a post about some of the trials and tribulations of travelling with a baby.

Sleeping arrangements:

We rented a studio type condo with only a sliding divider (not noise proof) between the bedroom and the main living/kitchen area. This was probably the most stressful part of the trip. We felt very restricted after Alexandra went to sleep. It was so scary to move or talk in the condo since we didn't dare want to wake her! Luckily the weather was wonderful so we spent the evenings on the balcony. I would recommend trying to get a place with a real bedroom (or a hotel room that is a suite with a separate sleeping area).

I am super paranoid about sleep. So I took precautions before we left to ensure that Alexandra's sleep environment would be as close as possible to the same as at home while we were away.

I brought garbage bags and duct tape. Why you ask? To cover the windows since in my experience I have found that condos/hotels we rent don't often have great black out blinds and with Alexandra going to bed at 7pm, it is definitely not dark in Florida at that time. These worked out great and the room was dark.

We decided to bring Alexandra's travel crib (the one she was sleeping in in our room until we moved her to her big real crib). It folds up but is in no way light or small. We didn't want to pay the airline to bring the awkward item so my husband bought a giant luggage and we stuffed it in there. He didn't need much space for his stuff anyways ;) It was just easy to bring on the airplane this way. But definitely a pain in the butt that we had to do this. Next time we go somewhere we will ask/request a crib so we don't have to bring ours.

We also brought our white noise machine. No way was I leaving that thing behind!

In fact, I brought her noise machine and her swaddle in my carry on...i wasn't risking losing those in the luggage!

We also made good use of the bath tub. For her naps, that's where she slept! We swaddled her up, laid a thick blanket in the tub and in she went. She slept great in there and since the bathroom had a door we were free to make noise and do our thing in the main living area.

Traveling with so much stuff: The airlines were actually better than I anticipated. We got to bring our carseat and check it for free. We could bring our stroller right to the gate and check it there for free. And Alexandra got a luggage (on the Canadian airline we used...not true for US airlines where you have to pay for any checked bags!). I also got to bring on my carry-on, my purse and her diaper bag.

We were nervous about bringing our Uppababy stroller for fear of the airline ruining it in travel so we bought a $150 umbrella stroller to bring. In hindsight, not necessary since we could bring the strollers right to the gate they weren't getting tossed around with the other luggage. I think we would have been fine to bring our real stroller, and that would have been handy because the carseat can go on our Uppa but not the umbrella stroller.

Definitely, we had way too much luggage and it was a mega pain until we checked the bags and car seat. Not only did we have more bags/stuff but we also had a baby! Give yourself extra time to get organized and navigate your way through the airports with all this stuff!
-stroller, car seat, luggage

Sun: Stay out of it. Duh! We also bought a UV shield (like a net) to go over the stroller, it is breathable and blocks 100% of UV rays so you can take baby out in it. We didn't use this because Alexandra didn't co-operate and hated the umbrella stroller we had bought.

We also bought her a sun/swim suit that is like a wetsuit and a hat with a big front rim and a hangy thing at the back to cover her neck. This was great and allowed us to take her out for a swim without worrying about the sun. Also kept her warmer in the pool. I will use it for the indoor swim lessons I am going to do with her next month.

"They" say not to use sunscreen on infants under 6 months but we used it on her feet and arms when we went out just to be extra careful.

Naps: Slow down..and let them happen. I am such a go go person that I was hoping A would just nap on the go or at the beach or whatever. Not so much. We had to respect her nap schedule and go back to the condo for her first 2 naps of the day. Otherwise it was a shit-show! Crabby baby alert! We tried to get her to take her 3rd nap on the go, which was sometimes successful and sometimes not. I know other babies may be more flexible and go with the flow type babies, mine is not. She is a mess if she doesn't get her naps and then everything just sucks. She also doesn't just "fall asleep" when she gets tired. I have to swaddle her up and put her down.

Airplane: No problems . Except maybe being "those annoying people with the baby". I suggest nursing on the up and down. Alexandra slept most of the way.


Schedule: As I said above, don't plan to do too much. Everything just takes longer with a baby. And a baby's attention span is short (atleast mine is!) So she most likely won't want to go on a full day of outlet shopping...even if it is for stuff for her! Try to just enjoy being in the moment and do one thing a day.


Eat early/Eat late? This was one problem we had. Since A goes to bed around 7 and I have to nurse her before bed (she won't take a bottle and I am also a control freak and don't trust anyone else to swaddle her correctly....ya, i've got issues!) so even though my parents were there to give us a hand we had to be there at 7pm to put her down. So we could either go out to eat at 5pm and leave her with my parents and then get her at 7pm and then my parents would go out to eat. Or we could let my parents go eat early and then we could go after she was asleep.

Once the baby's asleep, unless you have help you are hostage to your condo/hotel. This made for a very different vacation than we are used to since exploring the night life used to be so fun! We spent most of our evening relaxing on the balcony.

I also have to say that Alexandra's sleeping sucked while we were away. She was in our room and woke up ALOT at night. I didn't let her cry or do any sleep training stuff while we were away. It was not worth it. I feared we'd have to start from scratch with sleep when we got back but we came back and she adapted right back to her big crib, in her own room and with much less night waking. Phew!

All in all...vacation was great, but different!

I miss my tan...but I loved watching A explore new things!

Happy Vacationing!

Some pics from our trip

First airplane ride! Very excited!



Looking pretty in my new sundress!


Let's go to the beach already mommy!


Close up!


Lookin' cool in my shades!

So What Wednesday (or Thurs or Fri...whatever)

So what if...

It's Friday. I tried to post twice Wednesday but apparently I don't know how to post videos because it kept making and error. And apparently the photos from my Rebel camera are too big to upload to Blogger. And then yesterday...blogger sucked out. Hmph....

I have taken a two hour nap with Alexandra everyday this week, and last week! I'm so proud of my little bugger who now takes naps in her crib! With no complaining!

I went to Florida for a week and have ZERO tan. Pre-baby I was a sun goddess. I always pre-tanned (in a tanning bed) for vacations and then soaked up the sun so that I would come back with a glorious dark tan. Well, post-baby...no time for tanning beds. And the sun is definitely not a good place for a baby. So, we spent plenty of time in the shade.. And shopping of course!

I enjoy shopping for my baby MUCH more than shopping for myself! My husband and baby did way more shopping in Florida than I did. Although I did come back with four new pairs of shoes! Woo hoo for the outlets! I have to say that there is way more selection and much better deals to be had in the States than in Canada!

I can't believe my little one is 5 months old today! She is getting so big and so much cuter every day! I am so so so in love with that little munchkin!

I picked and basically ordered my own mothers day gift. It's a blue topaz eternity band. Blue topaz is A's birth stone and I plan to get another one to stack with this one for each child I am blessed to have. And, if I never get another ring...this one is beautiful on it's own!

This post is turning into more of an update and getting long so I will sign off now and come back with an update on sleep training and traveling with a little one!

The Plan

In order to lift my spirits and in particular get my hubby on board with helping more I decided to make a plan. My husband isn't really the jerk I make him out to be. He is an amazing guy, hard working, super sensitive and madly in love with me and my daughter. He is however a bit oblivious. I honestly think he doesn't know how to help. And how can I really blame him since until I made "the plan" I didn't even know how I wanted him to help. So, I made a plan and approached him about it and his is ON BOARD! So, after this weekend, here's hoping that I get some more support at home.

The plan:

1. Instead of coming home from work and eating the dinner I prepared while I hold the fussy baby (yes...I started doing this and then I will eat after...my fault...he never asked for this but he did say he is too hungry when he comes home to do anything except eat immediately), he will have a snack before coming home and when he gets home it will be his time (about 45 minutes) with the baby. I will cook dinner and we can eat after she goes to bed.

2. Instead of me going in the big bath tub with Alexandra every night, he will bathe her in the baby tub and read her a story and call me up to nurse her before bed. Then he puts her in the crib and is "on duty" until 11pm. If she cries he has to do the checking/shushing.

3. He normally goes to the gym every morning at 6:30 am and gets to work at about 8:15am. Instead of doing this I have asked him to take 2 mornings a week and get up with us at around 7am when Alexandra wakes up. Even if he is just laying beside me in the bed while I nurse her I think it will be a great bonding time for us as a family. On those days he can go to the gym after she goes to bed if he still wants to go.

4. Saturday is MY day. I'm going to get my hair done, coming home to feed her, going to get a pedicure, coming home to feed her and then going to the mall. After all that the three of us are going to go to dinner together (early...to accommodate Alexandra's 6:30/7 bed time). So, this will be his first extended stretch of time being alone with the baby. Maybe after this he will appreciate all that I do much more! And I will be "beautiful" (this mama is in DESPERATE need of highlights and a cut!) and refreshed.

I am feeling relieved to have talked to him about it and proud that i didn't attack him with "you are a selfish asshole..." and instead made a plan and he was totally responsive and happy and loved the plan.

So, today is a GOOD FRIDAY indeed! Happy Easter weekend everyone!!!

LTB

Feeling Down.

I am feeling blah. Bored. Lonely. Overtired. Sad.

I totally love my baby...but she is hard. She is pretty fussy and high needs. Which means that I am holding her and rocking her and basically spend my days trying to get her to sleep. She will never just "go to sleep" when she is tired. It always requires much effort from me. She screams in the car so going places has become quite a headache (literally!) She is still waking up twice at night to eat which I don't know is normal or not given that she's 4.5 months old.

It doesn't help that I get zero help from anyone. My family is far away and my husband doesn't help. Granted he works a lot, but he is also pretty selfish and doesn't stay do much when he is home. I am also a bit of a control freak and don't know if I really want him to help since I want things done my way. It's a double edged sword.

I have completely lost myself. I don't go work out because Alexandra is too fussy to go to the daycare at the gym during the day (maybe I should give her some credit and give it a try but if she fusses there like she does at home they will need to hold her the whole time). And in the evening I need to be around for her bed time so the only time I could go to the gym is after around 8pm which is when I am exhausted and not going to go. Especially since I want to be asleep by 10, it doesn't leave me much time and I don't want to get all sweaty and awake right before bed time.

I haven't gone out with girlfriends (not that I have many) since she was born (not counting mom-friends with babies in tow).

I haven't enjoyed any alone time with my husband and I actually resent him a ton half the time so I don't even want to spend time with him alone. Great. Our marriage is sucking.

I am so paranoid about her "sleep schedule " that I don't enjoy family gatherings adn I'm paranoid about our upcoming trip to Florida. I wish I could just "go with the flow" and have some fun. I'm so freakin' uptight its disgusting.

I'm starting to get nervous about baby #2. First I'm nervous that I won't get pregnant..when is is safe to go back to the RE? Do I have to quit breastfeeding first? I'm no spring chicken at 32 so I know my clock is a tickin! But I'm also nervous about being able to handle #2 if he/she comes out as fussy as Alexandra! Two super fussheads under 2 would be quite daunting!

Well...my little princess just opened her eyes smiling at me and suddenly this post seems pathetic. So, I will sign off. Sorry for the rant. Sometimes it's tough being a mom!

LTB

Ten on Tuesday

I saw this on Seriously's blog and thought I'd give it a go! You can link up on Chelsea's blog!

Ten on Tuesday

1. If you work, do you drive to work or take public transportation?

I currently work at home (a much tougher job than my former teaching job!) but when I was working I ride my bike 90% of the time. I even rode until 2 weeks before my due date! However, I haven't been on my bike since A was born.

2. How often do you get your haircut? Do you go to the same person every time?

I get it cut very rarely. I should make time to take better care of my hair but I hate spending the money and I hate spending a whole afternoon at the salon getting highlights and cut. I usually get it cut maybe twice a year (eek!) and get the highlights done maybe 3-4 times a year! I could use highlights probably 5 times a year but I suffer with gross roots for a month before I cave and make an appointment

3. Do you read the newspaper? If so, a hardcopy or the online version?

I used to read the paper (hardcopy) every day (pre-baby). Now, not so much. But I LOVE reading the paper and should subscribe to delivery and get back in the habit.

4. What is the best book you have read this year?

The Help. However, it is probably the only book I have read this year!

5. What is the best movie you have seen this year?

The Fighter.

6. Do you tend to crave sweet or salty foods?

Definitely both. I have too many vices! But more sweet than salty for "treats" since I usually just add a ton of salt to whatever I'm eating!

7. Do you eat breakfast every day? If so, what do you have?

Oh ya! And as I have said before...I eat the exact same breakfast EVERYDAY. English muffin with peanut butter, an orange and coffee!

8. If you celebrate Easter, what Easter treat/candy are you most looking forward to?

I don't "celebrate" Easter per se...but I love those Cadbury Cream Eggs!

9. How late is “sleeping in” to you?
I LOVE LOVE LOVE to sleep in. I used to sleep in until 10 or 11 on weekends. Post baby...not so much. We get up at 7am. A sleep in now is when she sleeps until 8 (rarely if ever!)

10. Where are you going on your next vacation?
We head to Florida on April 30th! We rented a condo on the beach in Fort Myers. Hopefully the weather's good!


Have a happy Tuesday girls!

LTB

Sleep Training Con't...

We have kept up with the sleep routine of just putting her down and then checking her at increasingly long intervals for the past 5 days now. First day we had 28 minutes of crying, second day we had about 4 minutes! Third day about 8 minutes, Fourth about 15 and last night about 20 minutes. Soooooo....she's still crying to get to sleep, but she is going to sleep and not waking up as often in the night. And when she does wake up , she will whine for a couple minutes and then go back to sleep, unless its time to eat of course.

We are definitely going to keep going with this and hopefully she will stop crying all together at bed time soon ( it is dreadfully painful to listen to even 5 minutes of crying!!!) .

Next steps/questions/advice....

Alexandra is 4 months old, she still wakes up twice to eat at night. She goes down at 7pm, is up around 12:30 to eat and then again around 4am, and up for the day around 7am.

Question 1: is this normal? too much? some books say she should only need one feeding in a 12 hour sleep stretch. Should I "wean" her from these night feeds or do babies naturally wean themselves? I would absolutely LOVE to only get up to feed her once at night!!! How can you tell when your baby is waking up due to hunger or habit?

Question 2: to anyone who has done sleep training and is still feeding at night....what do you do if your baby is "supposed" to eat at 4am but wakes up at 3 or 3:30? Do you let him/her cry and go check on her occasionally until the eating time or do you just feed her at that time and then hope she doesn't wake up again? or if she wakes up again then do the crying/checking thing then?

Question 3: Anyone do a dream feed? I'm afraid to disrupt her sleep cycles by picking her up to feed her before I go to bed at 10pm. I'm scared she'll wake up or won't wake up but won't eat at all. Is it worth it to try? Since she's 4 months...have I missed the window to try this? Any tips? Success or failure stories with the dream feed? (aside: she won't take a bottle so I would have to pick her up and breast feed her).

And Next Step: Operation Baby-Outta-Ma -Room!!!!

She sleeps in her own travel crib beside my bed but I am so over tiptoeing into bed and not watching my beloved Kardashians before I sleep! We are installing black out drapes in her nursery and when that is ready she's outta here! (I know it will be bitter sweet and I will likely cry....)


Aside: We are going to Florida in a couple weeks and we got Alexandra a cute little sunsuit and swim hat to protect her from the sun! I think she looks adorable!!!

Sleep Training Day 2

Thursday night went great! We put Alexandra down at 7pm. The plan was to wait 5 minutes and go soothe her without picking her up, then wait 7 minutes and then go in every 10 minutes. Well, we didn't have to go in even once! She fell asleep after 2 minutes of whimpering!

At about 10pm she woke up and we were in bed by then. Hubs and I hid under the covers and were really quiet (she is still in our room sleeping in the travel crib). She fussed for maybe 3 minutes and fell back asleep. She woke up at 1:40 am to eat, then at 4:30 to eat and then at 6:30 she started to cry. I wasn't going to let her cry it out at 6:30 when we usually get up around 7:15 so we just started out day then! Even though she is still getting up twice to eat (she is still only 4 months old) this is a major improvement from waking up every hour! For this morning's nap, she went down without crying AT ALL!

I'm so proud of my little girl!!! Here's hoping Day 3 goes even better!!! And also hoping that i'm not jinxing myself by telling everyone how great she's doing!!!

And today is also a super special day....One year ago I got the amazing life changing call...I was pregnant! I love my little miracle baby and can't believe it has been a year since she's been with us-(even though 9 of those months were in my belly!)

See you tomorrow ladies!

Sleep Training Day 1

First off I want to start by asking people who are "anti-sleep training" (and anti-crying) to please be nice and not leave me mean comments. I'm having a rough time as it is!

So, after having the WORST NIGHT EVER on Tuesday we decided to start sleep training Alexandra on Wednesday night. On Tuesday she woke up every 45 minutes from 11:15 until 7am! I was going insane! Each wake up required either eating, picking up and rocking/bouncing. It was HELL!

So, last night we did our usual bedtime routine of a bath, story, feeding, swaddling and then my husband laid her in her crib awake. I usually would rub her tummy and put the stupid soother in her mouth until she fell asleep. But last night NO SOOTHER and he left the room.

She cried.

He went in after 3 minutes. Kissed her, rubbed her tummy and said "nighty night". She was still crying.

He waited 5 minutes. Then repeated the above.

Still crying.

He waited 10 minutes. Repeat above.

Crying was slowing but persisting.

He waited 10 more minutes and before going in she stopped crying! And FELL ASLEEP!

It took 28 minutes and she was asleep WITHOUT THE SOOTHER!

I was "on-duty" for the night time shift since hubs has to go to work and so he set up the pull out couch in case he needed to go there.

She slept until 12:30. I fed her. And put her back down awake. She fussed for about 7 minutes. Then fell asleep.

She woke up at 3:30. Not yet time to eat (she eats normally at 4:30). I let her cry. Hubs went to the couch. After 3 min of crying I rubbed her and kissed her. Then repeated after 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes and repeated at 15 minute intervals. Unfortunately, she cried until 4:20 when I fed her. Then I put her down and she fell right to sleep and slept until 7:30.

All in all I am calling night one of sleep training a success. I am so proud of my baby and I am loving her and kissing her and hugging her extra today to make up for the sucky crying we had to endure! I think she had a better sleep last night than she has in weeks, and so did I.

Nap time today was also a success! I put her in the crib awake, no soother and she fell asleep with mild fussing after 12 minutes! She slept for 40 minutes which is standard for her. (we will work on nap length eventually!).

So, day 1 down. We survived. I am loving my little princess like crazy and hoping that tonight is not a shit show!

Wish us luck and check back for day 2 tomorrow!!!

LTB

zzzzzzz.........

The first 2 months of A's life I was tired. But going on adrenaline and dealing with it just fine. In the next month I got tired. Really tired. Then in the past month her sleep habits have gotten worse and now I am hurting BIG TIME. I am so exhausted I feel like my head could fall off. I'm soo tired that I'm irritated by everything. i'm sooo tired that I can't sleep well when I have the chance too. Alexandra is now sleeping with approximately this schedule:
Bed 7pm
12:30am wake to eat
2:30 am wake, require rocking back to sleep for about half an hour
4:30am wake to eat
5:30am soother falls out...
6:30am soother falls out...
7:15am up for the day.

I usually get to bed around 10 but have been having trouble falling asleep before 11. This means the longest stretch of sleep i'm getting is 2 hours! This hurts!

I hate to complain because I know I would hate to hear someone lucky enough to have a baby complain about anything. I feel guilty complaining. But I am at the end of my rope here.

Sleep training....this weekend we are starting. She will be 4 months old and something's got to give.

Any advice on what worked/didn't work...?

Oh...and sleep when the baby sleeps (ie. during naps) does not happen over here! She only naps "independently" in her crib for about a half an hour...not enough time for me to even get to sleep. Otherwise we are napping in the stroller or in my arms...

Any tips on how to make her naps in the crib longer would be appreciated too!!

She's torturing me with lack of sleep but she sure is cute!!!

See for yourself!

So What Wednesday

So what if...

I now read in bed with a headlamp under the covers....baby has hijacked the bedroom!

I was soooooo sad when my latest book came to an end (The Help)! I hate ending a great book and I hate starting books. But once I'm into them I love them! I just got Sarah's Key to start reading...anyone read it? Reviews?

I have decided tomorrow is a "stay home and rest and let baby nap on me all day" kind of day. Even though it is supposed to be nice weather, I think we both need a day to chill out. I have gotten myself completely obsessed and wound up about naps and sleep habits that I think I have stressed us both out. So tomorrow we are going to nap every hour and a half for however long (Alexandra tends to only want to nap for 40 minutes...one of the causes of my stress/concern!) and just play and watch movies in between.

I have not taken ANY naps since Alexandra has been born. Zero. When she naps...I can't sleep! I can never sleep if I'm holding her and if she is down then I am always doing something else that "needs to be done". I think I took more naps (and was much less tired) before she was born.

I haven't been to the gym in 3 weeks. I was on a roll going 3x a week for a few weeks, then I got stressed b/c my hubby couldn't handle a crabby baby at night and we moved her bedtime earlier and blah blah blah. And now I just don't care anymore. The gym's not going anywhere so I'll get back at it eventually.

I have become one of those annoying lonely people that talk to cashiers way too much. Hey...the only other conversation I have from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm is of the ga-ga goo-goo variety!

Link up at Mama Dew's!!!

Accomplishments!

So in my recent obsession about sleep habits I have realized that I am not instilling good habits in alexandra by rocking her until she is fast asleep and then putting her down. I have heard its best to put babies down drowsy so they learn to fall asleep on their own and don't freak out if they fall asleep in your arms only to wake up in their crib. I have been way too tired and lazy to even try putting her down at night without rocking her into dreamland, so u decided to give it a try at nap time. So yesterday I swaddled her up, got her drowsy and put her in her crib and stayed there rubbing her tummy until she fell asleep. I was convinced she would nit be able to do it but she did! She only slept for half an hour but hey...its a start! Last night at her 7pm bedtime i was tired from a long day (and my husband had not yet come home from work!) so I decided to rock her to sleep as usual but then 5 min after i layed her down she cried. s I went up and did not pick her up. She was staring up at me but stopped crying. I rubbed her tummy for about 20 minutes and she fell asleep! Woo hoo! another unintentional accomplishment! I know this is just a start but its a step in the right direction! Ultimate goal... put baby in crib drowsy and leave the room and she falls asleep! ha ha! that seems so impossible but we will see. so today I am prooud of my baby! She did great!!!

So What Wednesday

So what if...

I really want to do sleep training...but I'm too lazy right now.

I turn up the music loud when A is crying/screaming in the car. And I open my window. Gotta do what we gotta do to get home safe!

I never want to take A to sleep anywhere other than home again....her sleep gets totally f'd up no matter where we go!

I go to Indigo and read books and drink coffee but buy nothing. Just need to get out of the house sometimes!

I was on a good roll with going to the gym 3x a week...but I've lost my fire. I just don't care right now. I'm tired. I'm lazy.

I'm burned out doing my masters course...I got my husband to do 2 of the questions for me on my most recent assignment (he has a phd in math so my masters stuff is easy for him!)

I'm really really tired. But too lazy/tired to do sleep training....wtf....

I'm totally disgusted that we got 5-10 cm of snow today! Nice.

I love when people tell me my daughter looks like a mini-me....I'm glad she looks way more like me than my husband!

Thats it for now! I'm tired so I'm going to go stare at the TV while bouncing little A on my hip!

LTB

So What Wednesday

so what if....

my baby has never napped in her crib...until today! I honestly never tried getting her to nap in her crib so today I did it and she fell asleep in there for 45 minutes! Unfortunately, I fell asleep about 30 minutes after her, so I only got a 15 minute nap...oh well!

I just realized I am still using Christmas themed hand towels in my bathroom (yes I've changed them but I keep putting back clean Christmas ones!)

I took one gravol pill to help me sleep, and I think it helped my baby sleep...and I liked it. However, I will do the responsible thing and not take it again until I'm not bf'ing. Guess she's gotta learn to sleep with out sleep aids...

I put a lot of the clothes people have bought Alexandra away in the "too small bag" not because they are too small but because I don't think they are cute.

I'm obsessed with Mommy-groups. I love the one I'm in. And I signed up for another one. And I would sign up for a third if I could find one! I don't know what it is but I love the conversation, the forced friendships, the common bond of our babies and no pressure to hang out after the group or call my "mom friends" on the phone. we just reliably meet up every week at the same place and talk about our babies. So fun! (Boy oh boy...my idea of fun has changed!!!)

What are you saying SO WHAT to?

Randoms...

Alexandra went 8 days with no poop...then Sunday this week she pooped 3 huge ones in one day. Always keeping me on my toes!

When do babies start rolling from tummy to back? I am seeing some babies in the blog world who are doing it as young as 2 months...not Alexandra. She doesn't love tummy time but she doesn't hate it enough to roll over. When does this normally happen? Are we behind? Or are there just some baby geniuses out there?

Alexandra was sick for the first time on Sunday and it broke my heart. She woke up with a fever and then she threw up all over me and was crying and clingy and sad all day. I just cuddled her all day and she got over it by Monday. thank. the. Lord! It was scary and heart wrenching to watch her be so miserable.

Needless to say we had a bad sleep on Monday night. She slept like a rock from 8:30 until 1am, but I was so worried about her I kept checking her breathing and couldn't wait for her to wake up to eat to make sure she would eat and that she didn't have a temperature. Then she slept from 1am until 4 and that was pretty much the end of sleep for the night. I think it must have been since she basically slept ALL day sunday when she was sick.

Last night we were back to the "usual" sleep routine. 7:30-1am, eat, 1am-4am, eat, 4am -7am, wake up. I can handle that. Last week we had the wake up every hour thing going on. I am not into that AT ALL! Praying it was a phase she is OVER!

Alexandra weighed 11 pounds at her 3 month appointment this week. She has doubled her birth weight! I cannot believe it! And its all my milk....soooo cool.

Well, I'm off to my mommy group but I will post again tomorrow for So What Wednesday!!!

Regression....

Sleep Regression.

Alexandra was never an amazing sleeper but for the past 6 weeks or so she has been sleeping from 8pm until about 1 or 2, then eats, sleeps again until 4 or 5, eats and then is up between 7 and 8am. Well, for the past 2 nights she has been up every hour past 11pm. She doesn't wake up crying exactly, just fussing, kicking her legs in her swaddle and struggling. It would definitely escalate to crying if I didn't step in. I usually put in her soother (I have a love/hate relationship with that damn thing!) and cross my fingers. She will doze off for another half hour to an hour and then the fussing starts up again and I go and put the soother back in etc, etc, etc. All . night. long.
Needless to say she has been super cranky all day these past couple days, as have I.

Is this the "4 month sleep regression" I have heard about? Although she is only 3 months?

I am starting to freak out because I am having a hard time dealing with the sleep deprivation and then trying to deal with a crying/fussy baby all day!

Will this go away on its own? Anything I can do?

Help moms! help!

She sure is lucky she's cute!

LTB

So What Wednesday

So what if...

I eat the same breakfast every. single. day. Peanut butter on english muffin, a big juicy orange and coffee.

My worst fear is that Alexandra will have a peanut allergy! (ok...not the worst fear, but a biggie!)

I am turning 32 tomorrow...and hate the thought of my eggs maturing...already fretting over ttc#2. I want to TTC again soon, but want to give A by 100% attention, and energy and want to keep nursing so we will likely not try until she is almost a year old. I want to be fair to her, even though I can just smell my eggs rotting!

My afternoons have sucked for the past three weekdays since Oprah has had her stupid camping with her friend episodes on....seen them, and they are boring.

My baby is a Bugger and pooped in her car seat just as we were heading to the pediatrician because she wouldnt poop!!! Hey, atleast we got poop! And we have had 3 more poops since then so hopefully her 1 week poop-hiatus will not repeat itself!

What are you saying So What too?

Link up at Life After I Dew!

Poop....help! Advice Needed!

Hello ladies,
I am getting worried. My little one has not had a poop in 6 days! She is only breastfed so I have heard they can't be constipated. Normally she goes every one or two days! Has anyone experienced this lack of poopiness or know what the problem might be or what I should do? I am going to the pediatrician on Wednesday but if I can't get any advice before then I would be happy!
Thank lovelies!
LTB

My Favorite Things...

Some other mommies have been doing posts about some of their favorite baby things so I thought I would do the same.

The first item I am going to talk about I just got on Friday but so far it has transformed my life! I may have mentioned that Alexandra has been crying ALOT. All day, unless you are holding her standing up and bouncing or strollering or driving. Needless to say, my arm has gotten exhausted, I have gotten nothing done, and I have been so tired and stressed to see my baby so sad. Well, on Friday I went an bought a swing. I put little A in the swing and she is in heaven! She loves the mobile that goes around and the swinging is so soothing for her! she is happy to be in there when she is totally awake, this never happens in our vibrating chair. After a few minutes in the swing, if she is tired she passes out and will nap for a while. I have eaten breakfast and lunch the past two days in PEACE! She is in heaven and i am in heaven!!! I am being very vigilant not to 'abuse' the swing. I don't want her to become sick of it (ahhh....the horror of going back to my life just a few days ago!) and I don't want to be neglectful at all by being the parent that just tosses their child in a swing and walks away. But to be honest, after she's been in there for a half an hour i am dying to hold her and cuddle her and play with her so there is no fear that I will neglect her in the swing! The swing we got is the Fisher Price Rain Forest Swing. It plugs in to the wall or runs on batteries. It is pretty big and we avoided getting it earlier b/c we
a) didn't want to clutter our condo and
b) didn't know how FREAKIN' AMAZING it was!

Go and get the swing. NOW!

Item number two we also didn't get until 4 weeks ago and it has also transformed my life! I used to co-sleep with A in our bed. Cuddled up to me. Not the safest option. and not the best option for me to get any sleep at all. She is loud, and flails and squirms. So upon recommendation from some ladies in my mommy-group I got the Miracle Blanket and used it on A and put her in her bassinet beside the bed. I swear, without the Miracle Blanket, everytime I tried to put her down in the bassinet she would cry. This thing keeps her cuddled all night long and helps her sleep longer stretches. I highly recommend it to everyone. At first I thought she hated being swaddled. This thing is seriously like a baby straight jacket and you have to pull it TIGHT! The first time I tried it she went insane, crying , screaming...I gave up. Tried it the next night and persisted and after a few minutes she settled right down. Now, she doesn't even fuss when I swaddle her up in it! Last night little A slept from 8:30pm to 3am ! What a miracle! It is also really easy to use (comes with instructions...that are super easy to follow) and it is nearly impossible for them to break out of! A couple of times she has gotten a bit loose but can never get her arms out. Apparently it helps with baby gas too by putting pressure on the abdomen. Get the Miracle Blanket NOW!!!

The third thing that I avoided getting because I didn't think we would need it but has since made my life so much easier is the carseat-stroller adapter. I have the UppaBaby Vista Stroller and the Graco Snugride 35 carseat. I thought I would be fine to just have the stroller and wouldn't ever really need to take the car seat out of the car and put it on the stroller. But let me tell you, the last thing you want to be doing is waking up a sleeping baby from a carseat to put her in a stroller. Baaaadddd idea. Now with the adapter I just take the car seat out and plop it on the stroller base and go. Alexandra never wakes up and we go out, do errands and get back home without a fuss. Best $70 we ever spent.

One other thing I really like but have not "transformed my life!" is the Diaper Genie. Its easy and great to keep stink out.

Oh...and the last thing that we got for baby was the SUV. Best purchase ever! We need the space sooooo bad! When we visit family we have to go overnight so we pack our bags, her bags, stroller, bassinet, bouncy chair, stroller...would not be possible with just a car. SUV Rocks!

Some stuff we have bought that I don't use much right now or really care about are the baby tub (she bathes with me), the vibrating chair (she doesn't like it, and now that we have the swing, it is rendered useless!), and the MammaKangaroo carrier (I know tons of babies love these wraps and slings but she hates it and it hurts my back).

So, that's my list folks! And I leave you with some cuteness!








My little princess (a.k.a. Bug, Buggy, Bugaboo, Alexandra) is 11 weeks old already!