I totally woke up without a single trace of mastitis! I wasn't even sore anymore... Yay me for catching it early and for making taking care of it top priority! I'm also stoked that the supplements worked so well and so quickly. I also successfully used natural supplementation (Vitex) for my fertility issues when we conceived Ayden.
Today was the relaxing stay home day I had been craving! David got up with Ayden and let me sleep in a little. When Ayden was ready for his morning nap, David brought him back in and we all went back to sleep together in our bed. It was so nice! We ate breakfast on our back deck and spent the rest day doing various projects around the house.
We moved our grocery day to Saturday so that 1) David could start coming with us again and 2) so that we could make all of our weekly snacks and such on Sundays. Because we had been over scheduling ourselves every weekend, we hadn't had the time or energy to make any of it until today. I multi-tasked and made 4 servings worth of my steel cut oats, kale chips, paleo crunch cereal, a batch our raw avocado pudding and ended with dinner. The best part was my little sous chef.
I really hope he loves cooking with me someday. As I've mentioned before, I've asked David to build him a learning tower for Christmas (or maybe his first birthday?) and I've always daydreamed about our kids helping me count teaspoons of spices, helping me stir, etc. I think this is a great way to start! I put him in the Lotus hold in the Moby, gave him a couple of different baby spoons to explore (he had a bamboo one in his left hand) and talked him through everything I was doing. He was so content until he got sleepy and then I turned him around and finished up while he snoozed on my chest.
After dinner, we took a family walk and discussed the effects of TV on babies and toddlers. We've done a lot of talking and reading on the subject since we found out we were expecting. I think it's probably a topic that deserves it's own post but I will point you toward this article, as well as this blog post, and will tell you that we dropped cable before we were pregnant and barely even turn our TV on anymore. It started with us just getting used to that new kind of lifestyle before Ayden came, since we both came from families that have TVs in every room. Now it is amazing how much time we have to read, work on our hobbies and actually talk to one another. We definitely still watch an episode from a TV show on Netflix or a UK sports game once in a while and usually watch a Netflix movie every Friday night after Ayden goes to bed. But for the most part our free time is sans TV. I challenge you to give it a try for a week or two. What do you think you'll fill all of that time with?
In other news, meet Flopsy and Mopsy!
I saw Polly, our cat, stalking something through our back door and looked out expecting our old friends Peter or Chip but saw these little cuties instead. I just LOVE baby rabbits. I had a pet rabbit myself several years ago and he was just the best. It turns out Peter must really have been Mrs. Rabbit all along :). Our back yard has turned into a little community of critters. Polly was hunting a mole (which she almost caught!) this morning. I love it, but David's not a fan because it makes Maverick sniff, dig and roll around our yard a lot. We have to be careful that Maverick and Polly don't catch these sweet babies!!
Ayden's transition to bedtime was flawless this evening and he's even been sleeping better the past couple of nights. David and I are already in bed ready to snuggle and read Catching Fire as soon as I publish this post. Today was a good day and I hope to turn every Sunday into a day like this. It's definitely a great way to start a new week!
What are your thoughts about TV for children under 3? What do you do in your home?
~Sarah
My husband and I like to limit the amount of TV our son watches. We're not against TV, but we worry about it becoming a habit. Our preference would be for him to choose to do an activity or something outdoors before plopping in front of the TV. I grew up in a family of heavy TV watching and I see that the negative affects of too much TV are presenting themselves with my siblings and my mom.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how much you can do when you're not absorbed in television!
We do however, put on an episode of Little Einsteins when we're alone with him and need a shower or something like that. He goes in the jumperoo and watches so that he's not wandering around the house unsupervised.
I grew up with a TV in my room and I was addicted. I didn't have any hobbies nor a lot of friends. I don't want this of for my children. We had the TV running 24/7 the first few weeks of Jamies life, because I thought he wouldn't notice it, but our midwife said the motion of the pictures or even the light changes from the TV could lead to sleep problems. Since than, the TV is of when he is awake. No exceptions. It didn't help with his sleep, but it reminded me, that I don't want him watching TV until he is ... I don't know how hold. At least for his first tree years. I found an statistic for the US about babes and TV (http://scienceofmom.com/2011/10/19/babies-and-tv-new-media-use-guidelines-from-the-aap/). I found it shocking. I have no doubt, that the numbers are not much better here in Germany.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the tv. I dropped it a year ago and we barely watch tv. But I am also not that interested in it.
ReplyDeleteAs a former elementary teacher, turned stay-at-home mom, I know the effects television can have on children, especially under 3. So many more children are diagnosed with ADHD and ADD and much of that is due to over-stimulation from watching too much TV. My son, Caleb never watches television and he is almost 11 months old. We moved our only TV to our bedroom and now the living room is for living and not a media room. Which is another one of my ultimate pet peeves...media rooms! They seem to be in every new house now! Ridiculous! But I will get off my soap box! :) I commend you for getting rid of your cable before Ayden was born. We just recently ended our contract with DirecTV and I don't think we will ever go back. Like you and David, my husband and I watch Netflix and have a paper-thin leaf antenna so we can watch our local stations which is nice for news and our 2 or 3 favorite prime time television shows.
ReplyDelete