Shop til you drop.. SUCCESS!!

Addie and I spent literally the entire day shopping... and it was awesome!! Amanda, a fabulous friend from college is expecting a baby girl in March and wanted some advice and tips for baby items. I was all in. First off, I love shopping, especially if I'm not buying. Second, it's shopping for BABY stuff. How do you say no to that!? Here's a time line of our day...

We started off the day by meeting at Steak 'n Shake. Amanda was running late which was actually perfect because A had been sleeping at home when it was time to leave so I knew she would be hungry when she woke up. As we waited I changed her and fed her in the backseat. Amanda got there just as I was finishing burping her.

We went to my favorite store Baby Earth and just like the last time I took A, she screamed while we were there. Dangit, and I wanted to use the Ergo. Oh well, Amanda got her adorable Dwell Studio Sparrow bedding. (I must admit, I'm a little jealous. It's beautiful!!)

We thought A needed a nap so we chose to go to Buy Buy Baby and hope she would fall asleep. She did. (YES!!) Once we got close, we realized we were starving so we wanted to eat at Carinos. I was nervous taking A into a restaurant for fear that she would fuss and cry so I fed her in the car before we walked in, which was perfect because preggo had to pee. New diaper, newly fed. Let's roll! A was mostly awake while we were eating but slowly started to drift off about the time we were finishing up.

We drove across the street to Buy Buy Baby where we spent close to an hour in the baby abyss. If you haven't been there before, it's owned by Bed, Bath & Beyond and has everything from Graco ($) to Bugaboo ($$$$). Amanda wanted to buy the UppaBaby Vista but couldn't decide on a color. I just smiled. A slept the entire time!

When we left we both decided we NEEDED Starbucks so we got our drinks and off we went back to Baby Earth so Amanda could buy her Chicco Keyfit30 in Miro carseat. A finally woke up so I changed her (twice) and fed her again before it was time for us to go home.

All in all, we had a wonderful day. I was anxious to take her out but she was an angel. Now I have the confidence to do it again!!

La Leche League

After my sad blog post the other day regarding nursing, one of my friends invited me to a La Leche League meeting that's on the first Thursday of every month just minutes from my home. I was stoked to go and immediately told her SURE!!! when asked. I actually wanted to go back in November, but at the time I was exactly one week post partum, and it was just too soon. Had I known that I could (should) go during pregnancy, I would have gone months ago!

It was empowering being around such strong mothers with the same views as myself. After introducing ourselves we played the ABCs of Breastfeeding. Sitting in a circle we went around thinking of a benefit of breastfeeding for each letter of the alphabet. Liza (friend who invited me) had B for bonding. I chose C for calming both for mommy and baby. Other C's could be convenience, cost-effective. It was fun! Then we did a Q&A. I borrowed a book from their library to help me when I go back to work, Nursing Mother, Working Mother. Then I got to show off A's BumGenius 3.0s AND my new Ergo.

It was quite a struggle for the first three weeks of A's life. (Possible TMI) My boobs HURT like they'd never hurt before. They would get so engorged that I'd get in the hot shower to relieve them. I used heating pads multiple times a day. I was constantly applying Lanolin to my poor, sore, cracking nipples. I used gel packs stuck on to my boobs to soothe them. When A would latch on, I would SCREAM in pain. I didn't scream or make hardly any noise in childbirth yet breastfeeding made me scream. Something wasn't right. Why was something that is so "natural" this hard? Why was I choosing to be in so much pain? Quick answer = For A. I knew breast milk is best. I knew I could fight through it. I knew the pain couldn't last forever. And you know what? I was right!!!

Now breastfeeding is a wonderful time for A and I to bond. She's a pro at it and knows exactly what to do. I'm starting to feel like an old pro, too. She's actually so efficient now that she finishes before I'm ready for her to be done. I'm like, "Aw, done already?" :)

If you're a new mommy struggling these first few weeks, know that it will probably get better! Don't give up unless you know you can't give it any more. If anybody wants to go to a LLL meeting, the next one is Thursday, Feb 3.

This is hard.

Today is just one of those days. I thought yesterday was one of those days, too. So now I guess it's two of those days. Not fair. These aren't supposed to be consecutive.

So, now I sit here finally able to take a break because Little Miss just went down for a nap. Wait, she's opening her eyes. Not fair little one.. it's been FIVE minutes! I'll just type quieter... and slower...

I do appreciate how well she sleeps at night, especially since her daddy is wonderful and gets up with her on the occasion that she does wakes up. I got to sleep until 9 AM today and it was fabulous. The best part of the mornings are when I go over to Addie and tell her good morning. I get the most precious smile in the world from my daughter. That makes the hard stuff seem not so hard.

Sometimes nursing her is a challenge. Like last night I sat on the couch from 6:00 until 9:30 nursing her on and off. My butt was numb by the time I could finally put her down to sleep. I was crying, cursing, and miserable. Then she fell asleep and I saw her angelic face sleeping so peacefully. That makes the hard stuff seem not so hard.

Little Miss hates tummy time. I don't understand quite why because she's so strong and she could hold her head up so easily but once I put her on her tummy time mat, she hates it after only one minute! I try to soothe her before picking her up but she just screams. I keep telling myself each day will get a little better and we can't give up. When I finally pick her up she stops crying immediately. It's because she knows she's safe in Mommy's arms. That makes the hard stuff seem not so hard.

Baby smiles. Coos. Giggles. Kicking. Wrapping her tiny fingers around one of my fingers. Bathtime. Big blue eyes. Seeing her ducky. Peek-a-boo. Singing songs. This makes the hard stuff seem not so hard.

Cloth Diapers

We finally started exclusively using our cloth diapers and so far have had zero blowouts or other icky things. Washing them is a piece of cake for all you nay-sayers out there. ;) For all the people that said we wouldn't make it one day I have this to say to you, "Nayner nayner nay nay!!" Honestly though, I love the softness of the cloth and if I was a baby, I'd prefer the fluffy cloth to the scratchy paper sposies have to offer.

ERGO

Today my ERGO baby carrier came in the mail! So excited about this purchase because this ERGO retails for $135 and I got it on BabySteals a few days ago for $65 (I think.. it was sixty-something). Yes, that's flipping half off!! I want to be a crunchy mom and I think I'm off to a decent start: CD, EBF, BW/APish. Or, for my non-bumpy friends, Cloth Diapering, Exclusive Breast Fed, Babywearing/Attachment Parentingish mommy.

Two Months!

Addie is already two months old. It's hard to believe that just two months ago, we welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world. So much has changed in that short time. My insecurities of being a mother have slowly started to disappear as I feel more confident as each day passes. Addie is now not only smiling nonstop, but she has started to laugh, too! Most days she is still nursing wonderfully, but the past few days have been difficult.

One Month!

The first month of Addie's life has already passed! It went by incredibly fast. It's so fun to see her personality emerge, and she just started smiling this week. Addie's one month coincided with her Daddy's birthday (November 28). The entire family was here during her photo shoot. We're using this bunny as a prop to show how big she gets each month. A lot of people have wondered where we got her adorable onesies from. Guess what!? Those are just stickers found here on Etsy for about $10! Stick them on a plain onesie and this is what you get!