We're Okay!

I had a revelation today... We are okay!! :)

It's not that I ever felt like we weren't. I know that the bottom line is love when it comes to raising a child and there's plenty of that flowing over here at our house.

Since love is all you really need, I was never too worried about our ability to raise our little man, but there isn't a single mom I know, myself included, who doesn't worry a little too much about doing it "right." 

Don't get me wrong. I think it would be a big mistake to never seek knowledge and advice from authors and other mothers who've been through it all before. But that's just it. Nobody's been through it all. Nobody can know your baby better than you. I have read several books, watched my fair share of YouTube mommy vlogs and have saught advice from other mothers I know and do you know what? There is way too much information and way too many methods to even know where to begin.  I think the best thing to do is take in what you can, without overwhelming yourself, apply what you want and realize that "they" are right when they say, "just follow your instincts."

I look at Ayden and I see such a sweet, happy baby.  He practically fell into his own routine that allows us to not only know what he wants when he's trying to communicate with us, but we are also able to predict those wants before he even realizes he wants them.  Is this to say it is always easy or that we always get it right?  Absolutely not!  Ayden even had a small meltdown on our way home from running errands today.  But I knew exactly why he was melting down and knew what he needed to help settle him.  Because I knew my baby, I was able to keep my cool and we made it through the meltdown. I truly believe if any mommy tunes in, she can learn her baby.

I think the important thing for all the new parents out there, or any parents for that matter, to remember is: if your baby is content for most of his/her waking hours and your family has fallen into a groove, it is safe to say that you are doing it right!  Whether you co or crib sleep, baby wear or stroller push, whether your baby takes five 30 minute naps or two hour long naps, if it's working for you it is right!   You can see it as: there is no "right," or everyone is "right" but you just have to follow your instincts and you and your baby will be okay!! 

I made a promise to myself today.  I am going to stop worrying about what is "right" and start focusing on all the little things that are already in place that are rigth for us.  I plan to just take it one day at a time and enjoy every second of it!

After having lunch with David at work today, Ayden and I went to a flea market in town.  It was just as overwhelming as all the parenting methods that are out there to choose from.  We were there for an hour and a half, trying to hunt down picture frames for the house, and we still didn't even scrape the surface of what that place has to offer.  We will definitely be going back.  While we were walking around, Ayden got sleepy but there was so much to look at that he just wouldn't go to sleep. 

Cute, sleepy baby!

By the time we found some frames, purchased them and were on the road back home, he was about 30 minutes past naptime and that's when he proceeded to have the afore mentioned meltdown.  Over-tired = end of the world to Ayden.  We took a nap together and when he woke up he was all smiles like it never even happened.  Little squirt!

Here was my favorite purchase at the flea market.  I had my eye out for this very thing and it was one of the first items I laid eyes on.  I was pinspired by this pin and plan to make it into a dry erase command center of sorts. 

Can't wait to get it up and running!

~Sarah

Flower Power

Gotta love the drool glistening on his cute little chin. :)

Ayden had yet another awesome (for him) night last night. Once we got him back to sleep with our song, he woke at 10 to eat and I went to bed after that feeding. He did have a random wakeup around 12:45am but was back to sleep within 10 minutes without my having to pick him up. I just laid my hand on his back and whispered that I was there and that he could go back to sleep and he settled back in and drifted off. He didn't wake again until 2:30am to eat and then again around 5:15 and then to our bed we went. He's been waking for the day between 6:30am and 7am pretty consistently. It was really funny yesterday morning when he woke me up by smacking his little hand on my cheek.  I opened my eyes and he was looking at me and smiling, hand still there.  I wonder what he thought when he looked over and saw me just laying there with my eyes closed. He wakes up peacefully now which is so pleasant but it doesn't always wake me like the fussing did. He still loves for us to sing our "Good Morning" song to him and he smiles so big as soon as he hears it. Another new funny morning quirk of his is that he waits to start using his voice.  He is very happy and smiley, yet silent right when he wakes up.  I guess he likes to give his voice a little time to warm up and then he starts cooing over and over in his adorable sleepy voice when he's finally ready to "talk."

David also loves that Ayden's sleeping better because it pretty much guarantees that he'll get to have some time with him before he has to leave for the day.  Ayden and I try to go have lunch with David at work if we sleep in and he doesn't really get to see us before he leaves.  On a normal day, David gets home from work around 5:30 but Ayden takes a catnap around then and is ready to go to bed for the night between 7:30 and 8.  That's not much time together in the evenings and David really misses him on those days.  Everyone in the family is definitely benefiting from better nights.  I know we will still have phases where sleep patterns are affected but we've had three good ones in a row now so I'm thinking (hoping??) we are taking steps in the right direction!

The difference I see in myself when Ayden is sleeping in 3+ hour increments compared to 1-2 hours is amazing.  Little Miss joined us today and I had gotten Ayden and myself ready for the day, made the bed, put in and switched over a load of laundry, emptied the dishwasher, fed the pets and myself breakfast,  watered our veggie plants, and had some play time with Ayden all before she got here at 9:00.  On the days after Ayden has chosen to party all night, I suppose I just walked in hazy circles without even realizing it because I probably only had a few half completed projects done by the time the doorbell rang.  Apparently we really do need at least a few hours of uninterrupted sleep to function productively.  Who knew??

The kids took turns napping which was nice because it's tricky to juggle them at the same time.  I don't know how mom's of toddlers and infants do it.  While Little Miss was sleeping, Ayden gave his new travel exer-saucer that David's parents got him a try.

He's still a little small for it but he liked it long enough for me to snap a cute picture in it.  I think he'll like it more here in the next couple of months.  While Ayden napped, I fed Little Miss lunch and we drew pictures together.  Overall, it was a good day.

After Little Miss left, I decided to run out to Kroger to deposit a few checks that had been sitting in my wallet.  These flowers were on display for sale outside and they made me so happy!  

They are called Peppermint Pinwheel Phlox and they may just be my new favorite flower.  I think I may have to buy some to plant by the shed in our back yard.  They were small, delicate flowers and our wedding colors were pink and white so obviously I'm a fan of their color scheme...

Ayden fell asleep on the way home and I was a little bummed because I really wanted to take his afternoon nap with him.  I was bummed because he usually wakes up during the car seat to bed transition and doesn't fall back to sleep.  But for the first time he stayed asleep, resting on my shoulder just like kids do in the movies. 

I carried him upstairs and he did wake up a little when I laid him down but as soon as I snuggled up next to him he went back to sleep.  I love that I am starting to see that my presence is comforting and soothing to him.  I can see it at night when all I have to do is whisper in his ear and I can see him relax and drift off to sleep or when he's fussing and immediately stops as soon as his nose is nestled into my neck.  I am his mommy and it is just so awesome to be that special person to someone and even more awesome that I am really starting to see how true it is.

David got to come home early from work today so we got some extra time together which is always the best.  I finally cooked the kohlrabi that we picked up at the farmer's market over 2 weeks ago and it was delicious!  We'll call us waiting so long to cook it an experiment to test how fresh locally grown produce really is.  I guarantee that store bought kohlrabi wouldn't have been just as good as the day we bought it after two weeks!

After dinner, we took a walk and I couldn't help but admire how happy my clematis is this year.  Blooms all over!!  My mom bought it for me the first summer we were in our house and it comes back bigger and happier every year.  

Tomorrow is story time!  We missed it last week so I'm looking forward to taking him.  Wish us luck for another good night!!

~Sarah

Splish Splash!

<3 Oh man this kid is such a cutie!! <3

I actually took time to workout today!  When we were at our friends' house the other night, I was talking about how if I am to take the time to workout right now, I want it to be fun, high energy and distracting; as apposed to the "hard work" I used to enjoy pre/during pregnancy.  I had mentioned wanting to try Turbo Fire because I had heard great things about how intense/fun it was.  Win, win if you ask me!!  Lucky for me, they had some Turbo Jam DVDs, which are made by the same folks as Turbo Fire.  They weren't using them so they sent me home with all of them (along with Hip Hop Hustle and Hip Hop Abs).

This morning, I got Ayden down for his morning nap and immediately started the 50 minute workout.

Well... immediately after snapping this pic :).

He slept for about 45 minutes so I definitely got a good workout in and broke a nice sweat!   It felt pretty good and it was a lot of fun.  Poor Maverick was excited by all of my kickboxing/dancing in the middle of the living room and proceeded to get every toy he owns out of his toy basket, bringing them to me  thinking I was wanting to play.  I played with him as much as one could while working out because I know that the attention we pay to him has definitely decreased since Ayden's arrival and he was being so cute. I think it made his day.  I need to bring my pet owner hat a little closer to the top of all these hats I'm wearing these days...

Ayden needed a bath today, he spits up A LOT and it always runs down his neck getting caught in his little fat folds and behind his ears.  He also has some cradle cap that is still working its way out.  Before a bath I take a one of those little brush/sponges that the hospital sends home with you and exfoliate his scalp, then wash all the dead skin away.  

After his bath I coat his head with Grandma El's all natural diaper ointment.  Though it is marketed for diaper rash prevention/healing, it is also good for any skin moisturizing you may want to do.  I've had a few people tell me to just use Selson Blue on it but it only rates a 6/10 for health on Goodguide.com and Grandma El's gets an 8/10 so we'll just stick with that and be patient.  It doesn't seem to bother Ayden at all; so we'll just take our time and take care of it as naturally as possible.  At the rate we're going, I think it'll be gone in a couple of weeks.

Ayden's in an akward stage for bathing at the moment.  He isn't a huge fan of lying back in his infant bath seat.  He does these funny little baby sit-ups while he tries to sit up and get in on the action.  I think he'll be much happier in his bath seat once he's able to sit up on his own.

He was cracking me up with the way he was straightening his legs and sticking his little feet into the air.  Our boy sure LOVES baths!  He is obsessed with the shampoo rinse cup that we have.  As of right now, we just fill it up and pour the water over his hands, feet and belly.  As soon as he sees it he's reaching for it wanting to get his hands on it and he even fussed when I put it down.  I think he's going to be one of those kids who will spend hours playing in the tub if we let him!  

When David got home, we ate dinner then headed to one of Davids co-workers houses for a seed/plant swap party.  We didn't stay long because David wanted to get a workout in and Ayden was turning into a pumpkin.  Bedtime went smoothly but about 45 minutes after he went to sleep he woke up crying.  We don't know what woke him up.  A bad dream maybe?  We tried everything in the book, besides feeding him since he had just eaten an hour and a half before, with no luck.  Do you know what finally did the trick?  Our wedding song that I talked about in my Magical Music post back in February. The magic that song has on him still amazes me.  I wonder what it will mean to him when he's older...

He listened to it three times total.  The first calmed him down, during the second he rolled over on his tummy quietly listening, and during the third time, he drifted back to sleep. Now it's time to read some Catching Fire and go to bed ourselves.  Goodnight Moon!

~Sarah 

Things Are Looking Up

The past two nights Ayden has woken only for feedings which is totally awesome. Last night he had his last feeding of the day around 6:30pm and went down for the night around 8pm. He then woke to eat at 10pm, 1:30am and 4:30am. I always bring him to bed with me for the last feeding and we snuggle and sleep while he nurses off and on for the next couple of hours. It is the perfect amount of co-sleeping for me. Long enough to enjoy the closeness that co-sleeping offers but short enough that I don't end up stiff with aching hips (which is what happens if we attempt to co-sleep all night). Though he is still waking every three hours or so, it is an amazing improvement! I still feel like I need a nap during the day, even if I don't always manage to take one, but I don't feel like I've been hit by a truck in the morning which is always a bonus.

Switching to shorter days for Little Miss has been wonderful! She leaves by 2 so I have time to nap, finish any partially completed projects from the day and make dinner by the time David gets home around 5:30.

Eating dinner early has also been an awesome routine alteration. We used to be racing against Ayden's need to go to bed which would usually lead to us leaving the kitchen a wreck, which I had the luxury of waking up to in the morning; and getting an over-tired baby to bed, which is never an easy or enjoyable task. Now we eat dinner as soon as David gets home and are able to be super flexible for the rest of the evening.  Ayden's early bedtime is pretty awesome too because it gives us some time before we go to bed that we can use to workout, do computer stuff, or whatever else we want.

I've heard that it takes the full first year to really get into a groove and I believe it.  As time passes we are finding ourselves making small changes to the way we do things that make our lives less stressful and run more smoothly.  At this rate, I can imagine that by the year mark we'll have a pretty good system down pat.

Today, I got our DSLR camera out and did a mini photo shoot with Ayden while Little Miss was taking her nap.  We got our Canon Rebel T1i so that we could have great pictures of our *someday* baby.  Now that he's here, we don't get it out much for random snapshots.  I suppose I'm spoiled by the ease of the semi-good quality photos I can take with my iPhone which is always at the ready.  I'd like to start getting the Rebel out a little more because there really is a huge difference in quality. Today, I used the natural light coming in our bedroom window and caught some pretty cute photos.  Of course the pictures here I took of the DSLR screen with my iPhone.  I rarely can take the time to import pictures from the nice camera for the blog. Oh well, you can at least get an idea of how stinkin' cute they turned out!

We had another seamless transition to bedtime tonight.  Are we making progress or is this just another phase??  Only time will tell :).  We read Goodnight Moon to him every night as part of his bedtime routine; but if he's in the mood, between PJs and putting him in his crib, we sit in the glider and read a couple of other books too.  Tonight, David read him his pre-bedtime story.  I really love how much he already seems to enjoy books.  He even helps us turn the pages which is pretty awesome!  

What's your baby's favorite bedtime story?

~Sarah

Little Helper

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

Smooth Sailing

Righty was already feeling better when I woke up this morning! I have to admit that it's sometimes very difficult to get away from a Western medicine mindset. It was hard to believe that I am truly fighting an infection as I sprinkle lecithin onto 3 meals a day. I'm so used to popping pills from a pharmacy... Don't get me wrong, there is a time and a place for Western medicine (Ayden's birth story can attest to that) but David and I like to give nutrition and supplements a chance before putting anything synthetic in our bodies. Seriously after just one dose of the lecithin, and a pretty decent broken night's sleep (thank you, Ayden), the redness was gone; and after a few more, the pain and swelling were subsiding as well. I'm not back to normal but we are definitely moving in the right direction.

We hyper scheduled ourselves, as per usual for a Saturday...

This morning, we attended a big community bicycling event in our town. The whole thing was 8 miles but since Ayden is still a bit young for the trailer, and because he fell asleep in a very uncomfortable looking position, we took the shortcut back after just 2.5 miles. It was the perfect length for this stage of our lives. Ayden seemed to like it (since he fell asleep and all...) and we felt like we got out and did something fun like we always said we'd keep doing after Ayden was born.

He must not have been as uncomfortable as he looked because he was ASLEEP when we got back to the car. He snuggled on my shoulder while David packed the bikes and trailer into the car, and on David's shoulder while I put on the Moby. Since we were already down town, we headed straight for the Farmer's Market.

We always do a walk around where we heck out each vendor before making any actual purchases. The funniest Moby related comment of the day was, "Oh! I thought you had two heads for a second there...". Our purchases included a post bike ride snack of fresh peaches that were so juicy and sweet.

 I just love fresh fruit in the summer! There were also people out singing and selling their art. There's just a great energy about the farmer's market that makes us so happy. Ayden finally woke up ad we were leaving so we headed back to the car for his post bike ride snack. Here's a sweet clip of David and Ayden after he finished his feeding:

After the farmer's market we filled the rest of our day with grocery shopping, visiting with our parents and playing with this sweet baby:

We ended the evening with a cookout with a couple of or favorite people and stayed at their house talking until about 10:30pm. I've learned the hard way a couple of times that if we are going to be out past 7:30 we MUST pack Ayden's nighttime diaper and PJs. I changed him into them and once he fell asleep he slept on David while we all hung out and chatted. We had a nice, smooth transition to the carseat, made it home, had one more nursing session and now we are going to bed. I shall always remember to pack nighttime essentials!!

We plan to make up for today's crazy, busy schedule with a stay home day tomorrow. Maybe I'll actually take a nap whenever Ayden does?!?

What did you learn to always pack the hard way??

~Sarah

Close Call

I woke up to redness on the plugged duct area. Not. Good. I took another bath and soaked it for a while, massaging the area with a wide tooth comb. After Ayden ate, it definitely felt emptier, which made me think that I had at least partially cleared the duct; but I was still really concerned about the redness and the fact that it still felt so lumpy. I called my backup midwife's office (she was the one who ended up delivering Ayden and I now see her for well woman care) and got an appointment. When we got there we had to wait a while. Luckily the car ride and wait fell perfectly during Ayden's nap time.

All I can see are chins and eyelashes :)

Once we finally got in, she took one look and confirmed my suspicions. The start of mastitis... I let her know that I'd rather avoid taking antibiotics if possible and she said since we caught it early and I haven't gotten a temperature yet, there are a couple of supplements that should do the trick. She recommended lecithin, alfalfa, vitamin C, massage, water and rest. She also sent me home with a prescription for an antibiotic, just in case. I am to take the antibiotics, along with probiotics, if I run a temperature for over 24 hours.

My appointment made me late for teaching dance but luckily my mom was able to cover for me. I was bummed to miss my first two classes so close to recital (it's on June 16th) but I know I'd probably miss even more if I didn't get it taken care of today, especially since it was Friday and offices would be closed over the weekend.

Sleep training is on hold for now until I can get this cleared up. Ayden nursing often will help keep things moving and I am making a point to take at least one nap a day with him. My home birth midwife wants me to spend time in bed, treating it like I have the flu. I probably won't go that far but I will try to take it easy this weekend.

All of this just goes to show that it is so important to pay attention and listen to your body. If something is out of the ordinary, seek professional advice early on to rule out or confirm any problems. Mastitis can really get serious so I'm very glad I listened to my gut and got some help for it before it got too bad. We're not out of the woods yet but now I at least have my antibiotic prescription to fall back on of things take a turn for the worse.

Such a big boy!

I'm such a sucker for sock shoes...

Have you battled mastitis? Care to share your experience?

~Sarah