Do you ever have those days where, for no obvious reason, you're just really productive? Today was one of those days for me. I started off to a slow start as I woke up at 1am and 2am thinking Abby was ready for a night feeding, and then again at 3am when she was really ready to feed. When 7:30am rolled around (Abby's normal get up in the morning time) I rolled over and fed her lying down with the intention of going back to sleep until noon. :-) After a few Abby smiles it was apparent that the girl was up and not accommodating of Mommy's sleeping in needs, so we got up and showered.
After that my day consisted of nursing, bed-making, room tidying, vacuuming, nursing and putting Abby down for a morning nap, eating breakfast, making dinner plans, catching up on my newspaper news, nursing, mowing the lawn, vacuuming, laundry, spot-mopping, dusting, making Nate and I lunch, weed-whacking, making Chex Mix and Trail Mix for camping, picking up, dishes, and finally going for a long afternoon walk. I've sweated my way through the day and feel really good about it.
Hopefully this burst of energy happens again!
May 25, 2011
May 20, 2011
Cable is Gone!
Nate and I decided to try a little experiment this summer. We have officially turned off Cable to see if it is something that we can live without. I turned the cable box into Charter today and we're going to spend the Summer seeing if we want to bring cable back in the Fall. We still have the Roku so Netflix and Amazon movies will still be available to us but normal television is off.
It's sort of weird. For so long TV was a staple in our every day lives and we'd turn it on at least once every day. Some days we'd just veg in front of the TV when we needed a day off from life. It was a few weeks ago that we realized that on a beautiful sun-shiny day we'd spent the entire day inside with the TV on. We'd talked about not wanting Abby to be one of those kids that just watch TV all day long instead of playing outside with friends, but we'd realized that we were turning into what we wanted Abby to stay away from. Eek! Talk about a "Do as I say, not as I do" situation. We hope that by turning the cable box back in TV will become a decision that we think about before turning it on, rather than an automatic response to fill the silence and then end up getting sucked into whatever is on.
Our hope is that come Fall we're so used to not having normal TV that we don't even think about bringing cable back. Wish us luck!
It's sort of weird. For so long TV was a staple in our every day lives and we'd turn it on at least once every day. Some days we'd just veg in front of the TV when we needed a day off from life. It was a few weeks ago that we realized that on a beautiful sun-shiny day we'd spent the entire day inside with the TV on. We'd talked about not wanting Abby to be one of those kids that just watch TV all day long instead of playing outside with friends, but we'd realized that we were turning into what we wanted Abby to stay away from. Eek! Talk about a "Do as I say, not as I do" situation. We hope that by turning the cable box back in TV will become a decision that we think about before turning it on, rather than an automatic response to fill the silence and then end up getting sucked into whatever is on.
Our hope is that come Fall we're so used to not having normal TV that we don't even think about bringing cable back. Wish us luck!
May 16, 2011
Nap Time Success!
Lately I've been trying (without success) to get Abby to nap in her crib. The most I'd ever gotten was 20 minutes before she would wake up crying and refuse to fall back asleep. My pediatrician recommended that I start letting her fuss in her crib and not get her until she'd been fussing for five or so minutes and then increase the time to let her fuss as the days went by. I found that I just couldn't do this. So I'd end up picking her up and holding her until she fell back asleep and then either continue holding her or putting her in her swing (which she will sleep in). I even bought the book The No Cry Sleep Solution (not realizing there was one for naps) in the hopes that I could glean information from it.
In the end, Abby showed me that she'll do things on her own time frame thank you very much. Well, and with a little help from me. Yesterday I swaddled her, put her on her side with her back against the back side of the crib, tucked a blanket up against the side facing the center of the crib, put a stuffed bear touching the top of her head, and a blanket over her and she FINALLY took a real nap. She was down for two whole hours before I woke her up (yes, I know what they say about waking a sleeping baby) to feed her so Nate and I could run our errands. Two hours! I kept checking on her thinking it'd be just my luck if the one and only time I got her to sleep in her crib something happened.
So this crib napping should have been a fluke, right? Well, it seemed like it when I put her down for her morning nap in her crib this morning and she just wouldn't settle. So it was a morning nap spent in the swing. Well, her noontime nap came around and I thought I'd give it another go. She woke up and fussed a few times and needed a short nursing session but then she went down for two hours. TWO HOURS! I think this nap in the crib thing is working! Yeah! So my goal for the next two weeks is to really focus on staying home as much as possible to try and train her to sleep in her crib as much as possible. As I have a less active few weeks this should be possible. So excited!
Next step...sleeping in her bassinet/crib for nighttime sleeping. As I'm loving co-sleeping this may be a while. :-)
In the end, Abby showed me that she'll do things on her own time frame thank you very much. Well, and with a little help from me. Yesterday I swaddled her, put her on her side with her back against the back side of the crib, tucked a blanket up against the side facing the center of the crib, put a stuffed bear touching the top of her head, and a blanket over her and she FINALLY took a real nap. She was down for two whole hours before I woke her up (yes, I know what they say about waking a sleeping baby) to feed her so Nate and I could run our errands. Two hours! I kept checking on her thinking it'd be just my luck if the one and only time I got her to sleep in her crib something happened.
So this crib napping should have been a fluke, right? Well, it seemed like it when I put her down for her morning nap in her crib this morning and she just wouldn't settle. So it was a morning nap spent in the swing. Well, her noontime nap came around and I thought I'd give it another go. She woke up and fussed a few times and needed a short nursing session but then she went down for two hours. TWO HOURS! I think this nap in the crib thing is working! Yeah! So my goal for the next two weeks is to really focus on staying home as much as possible to try and train her to sleep in her crib as much as possible. As I have a less active few weeks this should be possible. So excited!
Next step...sleeping in her bassinet/crib for nighttime sleeping. As I'm loving co-sleeping this may be a while. :-)
 |
| Abby sleeping in her crib! |
Chore Swap
Yesterday Nate and I swapped chores. I moved, trimmed, and weeded the lawn while Nate listened for Abby as she was napping and picked/cleaned up the house. I think we were both surprised at the level of work required to finish 'our' chores and how much harder they are doing them than they seem. I figured moving the lawn mower would be a breeze and I'd just get a half hour or so of walking in before my chore was complete. Nate figured he'd have the whole house picked up and would have moved on to cleaning by the time I finished.
Needless to say we were both wrong! :-) I found mowing to be pretty strenuous without a self-propelled lawn mower and Nate found that putting rooms in order actual took longer than it looked. In the end we decided that we're going to have to trade chores with some regularity to remind ourselves that what the other person does is hard work even if it may not look like it. I think this way we'll appreciate each other and what the other does for us much better!
Needless to say we were both wrong! :-) I found mowing to be pretty strenuous without a self-propelled lawn mower and Nate found that putting rooms in order actual took longer than it looked. In the end we decided that we're going to have to trade chores with some regularity to remind ourselves that what the other person does is hard work even if it may not look like it. I think this way we'll appreciate each other and what the other does for us much better!
May 10, 2011
Oh Crying Baby
Tonight was a rough night. Nate and I decided that we had to begin teaching Abby that she can fall asleep in other places than just my arms, and gosh is it hard. From birth until about two weeks Abby fell asleep in either Nate or my arms as we cuddled in bed together. At two weeks Nate went back to work so Abby began sleeping with me exclusively as I'm the one that dealt with her during the evening so Nate could get a full night's sleep. This meant that pretty much Abby was only falling asleep in my arms, whether at night or during the day. In the last few weeks I've been trying to get Abby to sleep more in her crib or bassinet by getting her sleepy and then setting her down. Some days this worked and she'd sleep for almost an hour. Other days just setting her down would wake her up. I'd continue this for a bit but we'd always go backwards and have her fall asleep on me after nursing or in the wrap as I was doing chores as it was easier and guaranteed a good nap (up to a couple hours sometimes).
Today, however, Nate and I decided that we needed us time again and we needed to get Abby to learn how to fall asleep and stay asleep in her bassinet. So after feeding Abby full of yummy mommy's milk I handed her to Nate and proceeded to stress eat. Nate took Abby into her room and rocked her while she cried and whimpered. It took about 45 minutes but she's finally asleep. We do not believe in the Cry It Out (CIO) method so we weren't willing to leave her alone in her crib to cry for a set amount of time, but we also agreed that since it's me she wants exclusively to fall asleep we need to teach her that it's okay to fall asleep with Dad (and eventually we'll work up to fall asleep after being set sleepy in her crib). So Nate was on duty tonight with rocking and talking sweet words to Abby. I can only hope that even though she was crying she recognized that she was still loved and wasn't alone in her misery. Dad was there to help her whenever she'd finally recognize that Mom wasn't coming (and oh how that hurts my heart!) and she was really okay with being with Dad.
Hopefully tomorrow goes better for napping in her crib and nighttime goes better with settling with Dad.
Today, however, Nate and I decided that we needed us time again and we needed to get Abby to learn how to fall asleep and stay asleep in her bassinet. So after feeding Abby full of yummy mommy's milk I handed her to Nate and proceeded to stress eat. Nate took Abby into her room and rocked her while she cried and whimpered. It took about 45 minutes but she's finally asleep. We do not believe in the Cry It Out (CIO) method so we weren't willing to leave her alone in her crib to cry for a set amount of time, but we also agreed that since it's me she wants exclusively to fall asleep we need to teach her that it's okay to fall asleep with Dad (and eventually we'll work up to fall asleep after being set sleepy in her crib). So Nate was on duty tonight with rocking and talking sweet words to Abby. I can only hope that even though she was crying she recognized that she was still loved and wasn't alone in her misery. Dad was there to help her whenever she'd finally recognize that Mom wasn't coming (and oh how that hurts my heart!) and she was really okay with being with Dad.
Hopefully tomorrow goes better for napping in her crib and nighttime goes better with settling with Dad.
May 6, 2011
Officially a Stay at Home Mom
Today at 9:18am I officially became a stay at home mom. Woo hoo!
I am so excited for this new chapter in my life and am really looking forward to all it brings. This past Monday I realized that my maternity leave was up on Wednesday and that day I was supposed to be back at work. I honestly thought I had another week off so this was really a surprise. When I realized it, I immediately thought "I can't leave my baby! She's too little." So a little while later I called my boss intending to tell her my decision to resign (turned out she was out of the office so I had to leave a message to call me back). When I heard back from my boss the next day and started talking about my decision I actually started to cry when commenting on going back to work. Eek! I knew I was making the right decision. Abby also let me know I was making the right decision in her own special way. The day before I was supposed to come back to work Abby got a yucky eye infection. On the day I was supposed to be at work I had a last minute appointment with the pediatrician (which had I been working I would have either had to take time off on my first day back or make Abby wait to see the doctor until a more convenient time - neither were good options). Finally, after getting home from cleaning out my office and turning in my badge Abby showed off by rolling over from front to back every time I put her on her tummy. She'd look at me with this cute grin as if to say "Watch this, Mom!" and then roll away. And to think that if she'd been in daycare I would have missed this. So thankful that Nate has given me the ability to stay home.
As a side note it was pretty funny how different my exit 'interview' was from hiring on. When I hired on it was pages and pages of paper to sign, hours of orientation, and websites to visit and setup. When I exited I handed HR my badge, key, corporate credit card, and five sheets of paper and she said thanks and bye. :-) We were done in less than five minutes. Definitely easier going out than coming in.
So here's to my new 'career' as a Stay At Home Mom. Wish me luck!
I am so excited for this new chapter in my life and am really looking forward to all it brings. This past Monday I realized that my maternity leave was up on Wednesday and that day I was supposed to be back at work. I honestly thought I had another week off so this was really a surprise. When I realized it, I immediately thought "I can't leave my baby! She's too little." So a little while later I called my boss intending to tell her my decision to resign (turned out she was out of the office so I had to leave a message to call me back). When I heard back from my boss the next day and started talking about my decision I actually started to cry when commenting on going back to work. Eek! I knew I was making the right decision. Abby also let me know I was making the right decision in her own special way. The day before I was supposed to come back to work Abby got a yucky eye infection. On the day I was supposed to be at work I had a last minute appointment with the pediatrician (which had I been working I would have either had to take time off on my first day back or make Abby wait to see the doctor until a more convenient time - neither were good options). Finally, after getting home from cleaning out my office and turning in my badge Abby showed off by rolling over from front to back every time I put her on her tummy. She'd look at me with this cute grin as if to say "Watch this, Mom!" and then roll away. And to think that if she'd been in daycare I would have missed this. So thankful that Nate has given me the ability to stay home.
As a side note it was pretty funny how different my exit 'interview' was from hiring on. When I hired on it was pages and pages of paper to sign, hours of orientation, and websites to visit and setup. When I exited I handed HR my badge, key, corporate credit card, and five sheets of paper and she said thanks and bye. :-) We were done in less than five minutes. Definitely easier going out than coming in.
So here's to my new 'career' as a Stay At Home Mom. Wish me luck!
May 4, 2011
Abby's First Bottle
Abby had her first bottle tonight. I'm sad. I know I should be happy that she took to the bottle so successfully, but I just feel sad that for the first time she didn't need me. I know that's not entirely true as she was drinking my pumped breastmilk but for her very first feed every she wasn't nursing from me directly. It's like a little hint of independence that I'm just not ready for.
Tonight was Girl's Night and I was really looking forward to it as it's been a while since I've seen some of these girls, but having Girl's Night means a logistics scramble now as I try to figure out what to do with Abby. Nate and I decided that this time Abby would stay home and Nate would take care of her while I would be a single gal for dinner. Up until now I'd always taken Abby along with me and either left when she got fussy or she was a quiet baby and let me hang out without interruption. So I pumped all day today to have milk for Nate should we run past her normal nursing for dinner time. Then after two good-bye kisses I headed out. (Side note: I took the Acura which I haven't driven since a bit before Abby was born. It was awesome! I felt like I was sitting on the ground again, turned the music up to ear blasting level, rolled the windows down and opened the sunroof, and raced to Bonefish Grill instead of the steady Mommy pace I've been driving recently. Ahh, how I miss my car. The SUV is nice but it's not my sports car.)
I had a fabulous time at dinner, but was definitely looking forward to seeing Abby when I got home. (No worries about Nate as I knew he would do a fabulous job.) At home I found Abby fed and already asleep. Turns out I had underestimated her feeding needs as I'd left 2 oz of breastmilk but it appears that she feeds more than that at a time now as she finished her bottle and was still hungry for me. It took a bit to settle her as she was still a bit hungry but Nate did get her down.
So here I sit. My baby nursed from a bottle with her Dad instead of from me, she got put down in her crib and stayed there for over an hour, and she's now in her bassinet sleeping soundly. Man, it sort of feels like I wasn't needed at all. I know that's just the emotions talking but this is a 'first' that is a little sad for me. Definitely looking forward to the next 'fun' first.
Tonight was Girl's Night and I was really looking forward to it as it's been a while since I've seen some of these girls, but having Girl's Night means a logistics scramble now as I try to figure out what to do with Abby. Nate and I decided that this time Abby would stay home and Nate would take care of her while I would be a single gal for dinner. Up until now I'd always taken Abby along with me and either left when she got fussy or she was a quiet baby and let me hang out without interruption. So I pumped all day today to have milk for Nate should we run past her normal nursing for dinner time. Then after two good-bye kisses I headed out. (Side note: I took the Acura which I haven't driven since a bit before Abby was born. It was awesome! I felt like I was sitting on the ground again, turned the music up to ear blasting level, rolled the windows down and opened the sunroof, and raced to Bonefish Grill instead of the steady Mommy pace I've been driving recently. Ahh, how I miss my car. The SUV is nice but it's not my sports car.)
I had a fabulous time at dinner, but was definitely looking forward to seeing Abby when I got home. (No worries about Nate as I knew he would do a fabulous job.) At home I found Abby fed and already asleep. Turns out I had underestimated her feeding needs as I'd left 2 oz of breastmilk but it appears that she feeds more than that at a time now as she finished her bottle and was still hungry for me. It took a bit to settle her as she was still a bit hungry but Nate did get her down.
So here I sit. My baby nursed from a bottle with her Dad instead of from me, she got put down in her crib and stayed there for over an hour, and she's now in her bassinet sleeping soundly. Man, it sort of feels like I wasn't needed at all. I know that's just the emotions talking but this is a 'first' that is a little sad for me. Definitely looking forward to the next 'fun' first.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
