Audrey Kate's Birth Story

(I guess I should rename my blog since we are now a family of 4, but that can wait for later)

I had been having contractions frequently for a few days, but nothing that I was timing because they were so inconsistent.  I kept asking Betsy Grace when she thought the baby would come to which she replied “Next July”.  I explained that it was July and that the baby should be coming any day now.  I asked her what day she thought baby sister would come and she said “Saturday”.   Our birth bag had been packed for weeks and we had a waterproof cover on the mattress in case my water broke while we were asleep.  Everything was ready… we just had to wait for her to decide to make her appearance. 

Friday night we went to bed and I woke up around 4am on Saturday morning to a small gush of fluid.  Since this is also what occurred at the beginning of Betsy Grace’s birth, I figured my contractions would quickly escalate to a more normal pattern.  I called the midwife since they say to call any time you think your water has broken.  She told me to put on a pad and try to get some rest and to call her once things started progressing. 

I went back to bed and my contractions were coming every 5-10 minutes.  Our midwife, Rhonda, called me around 9am to check in on how I was doing.  I told her that my contractions were all over the place and that I had lost my mucus plug and was having some bloody discharge.  She told me to do pelvic tilts and stay on my hands and knees for thirty minutes to see if maybe the baby was just trying to get in the correct position.  She also suggested trying to briskly walk after that.  I did the hands and knees for a while which slowed my contractions and again they were very inconsistent.  It was like 97 degrees outside which to a pregnant woman feels like 120 degrees, so we decided to go walk in the Millennia Mall instead. 

We got to the mall around 10:30am and walked a few laps around.  My contractions would come and go, coming on strong when I walked quickly but when we stopped to rest, my contractions also stopped.  We had lunch after an hour and I ate a spicy chicken sandwich with pepperjack cheese even though I am a wimp when it comes to spicy food.  I thought maybe the spicy food would get things moving along.  We walked the mall some more after lunch and then headed home. 

Rhonda texted me to check in again and decided we should meet at the birth center at 3pm to form a game plan.  We had Michael’s mom and dad come over to watch Betsy Grace while we went to the birth center.  By the time we got to the birth center, my contractions were becoming pretty painful.  She checked me to see how far along I was and I was at 3cm.  She told us to go home, rest and relax, and see if things started moving forward. 

We had Michael’s parents take Betsy Grace to their house so we could be at the house to relax.  We watched a movie in bed and my contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes and were getting pretty intense.  Every time I would have a contraction my back would just ache so I had Michael begin to put pressure on my lower back during each one.  After about an hour I took a warm bath but it didn’t last very long.  Michael called Rhonda while I was in the tub and told her he thought we should come back to the birth center. 

We got to the birth center around 5:45pm and she took us to a birthing room and checked me again.  This time I was 6-7cm and ready to go.  Since I was having severe back pain during my contractions, she had me get back in the hands and knees position for a while.  After a few contractions she had me try lying on my side in the bed with an exercise ball between my knees while she got the birth tub filled up and ready to go. 

Once the tub was ready, I got in and leaned over the side.  The hot water felt so good, but I was still having severe back labor.  I needed Michael to press on my back during every contraction.  If my labor with Betsy Grace had been back labor like this one, there would have been no second child.  After being in the tub for a while, the intensity of my contractions increased and as much as I tried to stay calm and breathe through them, I was really in a ton of pain.  Back labor was unlike any type of pain I had ever experienced before.

During one of my contractions my water broke and then I was ready to push.  Her head began to crown and all I wanted was for her to get out!  After a few more contractions her head was out.  Rhonda and Shannon (who made it right as I was crowning) kept telling me not to push and to wait for my contraction but all I wanted to do was push her out.  It was super uncomfortable and I just wanted her out right then! A few pushes later she was finally out and in my arms at 8:52pm.  Her umbilical cord was really short but two pushes later my placenta was also out.  I was so glad to be done pushing and to finally be done with that.  As painful as it was, I was proud of myself for having a completely natural birth again.  You kind of feel like superwoman after knowing your body can handle that kind of pain.

The midwives asked if Michael wanted to cut the umbilical cord, to which he said no thank you, so I did it instead.  Then they got me out of the tub, cleaned off, and into the bed.  Audrey Kate nursed right a way for a few minutes before having skin to skin time with daddy while the midwives checked me over.  I had to get three stitches for a minor tear, which is the same as I had with Betsy Grace’s birth.  I was also bleeding more than they liked so I had a shot of pitocin to help slow the bleeding. 

I ate some dinner, which wasn’t very tasty since it was cold by the time I got to eat it and I really wasn’t hungry, while the midwives filled out paperwork and did all of their checks on the baby.  She weighed in at 7 pounds, 15.5 ounces but since she had pooped in the birth tub they rounded up to 8 pounds.  She was 20 and one-quarter inches long.  She had some facial bruising so they gave her the vitamin K shot..  Her apgar scores were 7 and 9. I was 39 weeks and 4 days along.  

We left the birth center around midnight to head home.  Mike and Betty had brought Betsy Grace back to our house so she could sleep in her own bed and not totally throw off her normal routine.  She was asleep when we got home but was so excited to meet her baby sister the next morning.  And Betsy Grace was right with her prediction of baby sister arriving on Saturday :)

12 month update

How is my little baby already one year old? Time has gone by so quickly! On the 28th, we celebrated her first birthday as well as Thanksgiving. She ate a pumpkin muffin (which she had at her birthday party instead of a cupcake) and she loved it! She also had some turkey and mashed potatoes at our thanksgiving dinner, although she wasn't so sure about the mashed potatoes. 

She is just the sweetest little baby and I feel so lucky to be her mommy.  Whenever she falls asleep, she has to be holding my hand or have one hand on my chest.  She also loves to give kisses lately which totally melts my heart! She will stop nursing to kiss me and at night before bed she will go back and forth between me and Michael giving us each kisses.  She likes to give kisses to her stuffed animals as well.  She has also be giving me lots of hugs! Every time I take her out of her car seat she lays her head on my shoulder and gives me a sweet little hug. 

 She's pretty funny about strangers and people other than me or Michael.  Sometimes she's just as friendly as she can be, waving to everyone she sees (even if they aren't looking at her).  Other times she is really shy and will bury her head into my chest when someone looks at her.  I went to dinner with my mom and her fiancé a few weeks ago and Betsy Grace was fine while we waited in the lobby, even waving to all the people walking by, but the minute that my mom's fiancé walked in she got so scared and started screaming.  I thought maybe she would calm down once we sat down to eat but she didn't. Every time she looked over at him she would get upset again.  Eventually, we asked the server if we could change our table to sit outside because I didn't want to bother everyone sitting inside with my screaming child.  She also freaked out in the mall the other day while we were in line getting a drink at Chick-fil-a and an old man was looking at her.

Her favorite foods to eat are chicken, yogurt, and grapes.  She likes blueberries, pears, raspberries, pretty much any fruit, cheese, and cottage cheese too. She enjoys cheerios as well but I feel bad giving them to her since they aren't all that nutritional. She is still primarily breastfed.  Even though she loves her solid food, she hasn't dropped any of her normal feedings yet. Breastfeeding an active one year old is challenging though.  She will nurse for a few minutes and then try to crawl down so she can go play. And just in the past few days her first little tooth finally popped through!

Her sleeping routine is pretty much the same as it has been, although she has dropped to only one nap during the day.  She wants to nap around 1pm and usually will sleep for 3 hours.  She sleeps the first hour or so in her crib (which is still as a sidecar to our bed) so I can sneak away for a minute to grab something to do while she naps.  I don't leave her in their by herself since she could easily crawl off the bed, but at least now I can sneak away to go to the bathroom if needed.  After an hour or so she starts to stir and I just give her some cuddles and she falls back to sleep.  She's sleeping about 10 hours per night, with nursing probably 3 or 4 times throughout the night.

She loves to play with her puzzles and read her books.  She especially loves books that have flaps or make noises.  She says "mama", "dada", "dog", and "duck".  She also barks like the dog when she hears him barking... "woof woof woof".  She loves to pet the dog and thankfully, he is very tolerant of her.  She loves to dance and listen to music and she tries to sing along.  She loves the song "What does the fox say" and if you ask her what the fox says, she will say "ding ding ding".  It's cute!
She has been walking all over the house lately with the little toy that she pushes around, but she has yet to take any steps on her own.  She will stand up by herself but she hasn't attempted to walk yet.

Yesterday she had her 12 month check up at the pediatricians office. She weighed in at 20 pounds 9 ounces and is 30.25 inches long. She's in the 86th percentile for her height and the doctor thinks she will be around 5'7" (definitely taller than mommy!). That's it for now!

11 month update

Betsy Grace just fell asleep, rolled over from our bed into her crib (which she has been doing consistently lately) and was in a deep enough sleep that I could sneak out and grab the computer, so for the first time in months I'll be able to post my blog update on time this month!

I feel like this month has gone by very slowly for some reason.  At the end of last month Michael and I decided to start eating a little bit healthier in hopes that I (because he certainly doesn't need to lose weight) could drop a few pounds before our family photos at the end of October.  We've just been watching our carb intake and trying to eat real foods rather than junk.  I'm happy to say I far surpassed my original goal of 5 pounds and have lost 12 pounds since we started.  I'm still not to where I'd like to be but I'm back to what I weighed on the day we got married so I'm happy with that.  And for just over a month, 12 pounds is a lot of weight to lose!   Our air conditioner broke at the beginning of the month.  That made for some really uncomfortable nights with three people in the bed, but like I already mentioned, Betsy Grace has been getting alot better about wanting her own space when she sleeps, but man it was so hot! Unfortunately, the a/c repair company had to order a part to fix our air so we were without a/c for 4 days!

Betsy Grace is started to really get around the house quickly.  She can stand up by herself on the bed, but she hasn't yet tried to do this on the ground.  She walks around holding on to the furniture and can crawl up and down the step from the front room into the living room.  She's starting to get into everything! She's also starting to really enjoy food.  She loves chicken, cauliflower, cheese, yogurt, bananas, pears, grapes, green peppers, carrots, zucchini, and pretty much anything we are eating she will eat as well.  She doesn't love green beans or broccoli so much. Since breastmilk is still her primary means of nutrition with just some solids every now and then, it makes for some pretty nasty poop.  The gross poop is the only thing about cloth diapering that I don't love.  I certainly don't love having to spray off her diapers when she has a poopy diaper. Oh well, it's still way cheaper than using disposables and they have no nasty chemicals in them like disposables.  She really loves books that have flaps or things to feel and she loves toys that make noises.  She loves the theme song to the tv show The Big Bang Theory and gets excited everytime we watch it.  She also likes the song What Does the Fox Say?  She talks (or babbles I guess) nonstop and I really wish I could speak baby so I'd understand what she's saying.  She gets really passionate sometimes about what she's saying, throwing her hands up in the air or turning her palms up as if asking a question.

Eating some chicken... her favorite!

Michael and I went to the Wine Room a few weekends ago where I enjoyed my first glass of wine in more than almost 2 years.  We had Betsy Grace with us in the stroller and some old man had the nerve to pull Michael aside and tell him that we need to try again for a boy.  What is the matter with some people?! Along the same lines, I took Betsy Grace to the mall and two older women told me what a cute little boy I had.  She was wearing a pink dress!  People are so ridiculous.  If you can't tell whether a baby is a girl or a boy either dont say anything or just say "oh your baby is cute".  I'm not sure what it is about having a baby (and being pregnant for that matter) that makes random strangers feel like it's their right to say whatever they want to you. 

I've started planning her first birthday party, which I can't believe she's going to be a year old next month! How did that happen?!  We are just having a little party at the house with family and friends.  I ordered her this super cute little outfit (which of course Michael thinks is ridiculous!) from my friend's Etsy shop. You can see it here I'm a little nervous about her having so much sugar at one time from the cake, so instead I'm making her cupcake a pumpkin muffin so it's atleast a little bit healthier than cake.  Everyone else can enjoy some real cupcakes though :)

We had our first set of family photos taken yesterday by Tara Merkler Photography. I always get so nervous about doing photos because I have an idea of what I want in my head and I'm so afraid they won't turn out good.  Betsy Grace only napped for 30 minutes, rather than the 2 hours she was supposed to, so she was pretty fussy when it came time to do our pictures. Tara was thankfully very patient as we tried every trick in the book to try to make Betsy Grace smile. I even stopped halfway through our session to nurse her because she was just so upset! I hope that we at least get one decent family photo for our Christmas card.  Tara said our gallery would be ready within the next two weeks, but if you know me well enough  then you know that I'm super impatient about things like that.  Two weeks seems like a year away! :)

Today we met up with Amanda, Keegan, and Delaney for a play date at the park. Betsy Grace loved swinging on the swings with Keegan.

Having a serious conversation with Delaney

10 month update

Ok... only three days late this month... not too bad! 

This past month has been pretty uneventful in terms of travel and events, which is sometimes a good thing. Michael and I did enjoy two baby free date nights at Roy's and The Capital Grille (thanks to Magical Dining month).  Our first date night was at the beginning of the month and Betsy Grace did great and took her bottle with only a little coaxing from Grandma.  The second date night, however, she wanted nothing to do with the bottle which made for a cranky baby towards the end of the evening. I nursed her a little while when we got home and she calmed down.  Once she was calm, then she took the bottle from me with out a problem.  We will just have to keep trying :)

She's getting a little more adventurous with the foods she'll eat.  She had chicken for the first time this month and really enjoyed it.  She tried some steak too, but wasn't as big of a fan of that. She also had grilled green peppers, pears, watermelons, bananas, prunes, apples, carrots, pizza crust (a favorite), and banana ice cream (not real ice cream... just a frozen banana thrown into the food processor... delicious!).  Her little teeth still haven't popped through, which isn't a bad thing since I don't have to deal with being bitten while breastfeeding.

Eating chicken and green peppers in her pjs

What are we going to eat today?

Her sleeping patterns have been all over the place this month! One night she'll wake up five times, other times she'll only get up two or three times.  These past few days, though, have been rough.  She's been going to bed at our normal time, but at around 3am she's wide awake.  Not like just stirring to get comfortable... like wide awake, eyes wide, staring at the ceiling. And she stays that way for an hour to an hour and a half! Thankfully, she doesn't cry... she just wants to crawl around. Usually when she wakes at night I just nurse her and she falls back to sleep within two to three minutes but when she's wide awake like that nothing seems to work.  However, I do feel like we are making some progress in terms of her sleeping in her crib.  Lately, once she falls asleep she will roll over into her crib (on her own) and sleep with the top half of her body in her crib and her bottom half in our bed.  I wish I could get a picture of it because it's pretty funny looking but it's too dark and I'm not about to wake up a sleeping baby with a camera flash! The only problem with her sleeping like that is that I have to sleep in an awkward position to accommodate the bottom half of her body next to me.  I also don't sleep as well when she's in the crib because I'm worried about her, where as when she's right next to me I know that she's ok.

She's crawling really fast now and moving all over the place.  Her favorite things to go after are the dog toys and the dog bowls (of course, I don't let her actually get to them).  She pulls herself up on everything and is almost able to stand up on her own.  She loves to turn the pages of books and she likes to turn the light switches on and off.  She likes to take objects out of bags and boxes and throw things. She gets really excited when I get her sippy cup out of the cabinet and last night she drank from a straw for the first time.  One funny thing that she's been doing lately is whenever Michael or I chew gum, she likes to mimic the way we chew.  She thinks its really funny :) That's about it for this month.

Climbing on everything!

Swinging at the park

Way overdue 8 and 9 month update

We've been busy the past two months! 

In the beginning of August we took a family vacation to the Keys for a wedding.  Betsy Grace isn't a huge fan of being in the car for any extended period of time so I was quite nervous about driving down there.  We upgraded her carseat to a big girl convertible carseat before the trip.  After many hours of research, I decided on the Chicco Nextfit carseat (which is incredibly easy to install) so she can stay rear facing for a good long while because it is so much safer to be rearfacing *See this website for more info on this- http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html.*  She did really great in the car and slept for most of the trip down to the keys.  The last hour was a little rough, but overall she did great!  While in the Keys, we went to Bahia Honda State Park where Betsy Grace had her first trip to the beach, went to the wedding in Marathon, and spent a day in Key West. 

In the middle of August was my annual girl's week at Anna Maria Island.  It's somewhat of a family tradition.  We've done it every summer for as long as I've been alive.  My grandma rents a house for a week and all the women on that side of the family enjoy a week at the beach.  Michael came over for the weekend but then had to go back home because of work.  Betsy Grace loved playing in the sand and swimming in the ocean.  She really liked watching the birds and got really excited whenever she would see one.  She's definitely a little beach baby! 

Since my last post, we've helped set another world record.  This time for breastfeeding at the Big Latch On event.  We also attended our first Le Leche League meeting.  The LLL meeting was interesting and would've been helpful to me when Betsy Grace was younger, but it was nice to get out and meet some other mommies. 

Our issues with separation anxiety have gotten better, to an extent.  She does much better when I leave her with Michael's mom twice a week while I go to the gym.  She's funny though... she won't cry at all when I leave (because she's excited to have someone new to play with) but as soon as I walk back in the door and she sees me she freaks out and starts crying like OMG! You left me! Or maybe it's just that she's so excited and doesn't know how to express that other than by crying.  I've tried putting her in the nursery at church but she only lasted about 10 minutes before I got called to come pick her up because she was so upset.  We will keep trying though :)

She started crawling a few weeks back, although she had been trying for quite a while.  For the longest time she couldn't figure out how to get her head and her bottom up at the same time so she would either scoot with her head down or do the army crawl on her tummy.  Then she figured out how to get her legs underneath her which was comical because she would only tuck one leg underneath and the other would be straight out to the side.  Now she's moving all over the place!  She's also pulling herself up on everything!! It's time to do some serious baby proofing in my house. 

For a while we were having issues where she would no longer take a bottle at all.  I tried everything... tried different types of bottles, tried the sippy cup instead, but she just wasn't having it unless it was a boob!  She also stopped taking a pacifier (which helped contribute to some miserable car trips). I tried again this past week and she took a bottle with no problem and she also took a sippy cup like she was an old pro.

Her sleeping patterns have been all over the place these past few months.  We were doing great for a while and would get a 5 or 6 hour stretch followed by a few more 2-3 hour stretches, but the combination of traveling and trying to learn how to crawl threw everything out the window.  She would wake herself up by sitting up and trying to crawl.  We are starting to get back to normal now and are only waking up to nurse two or three times a night.  I know to some of you who have babies who sleep through the night that two or three times a night might sound awful but since we cosleep I just latch her on and fall back to sleep.  At the end of July we put her crib as a sidecar to our bed to try to transition her to sleeping in there, but it hasn't gone so well.  Ever since she started pulling herself up, that is all she wants to do in the crib.  If she wakes up in there, she gets a huge smile on her face, crawls over to one of the sides, and then stands up.  I'm hoping that this passes quickly because it's pretty annoying (although cute). Her naps have become much more regular and she wants to nap around 10am and then again around 1pm, usually for two hours for each nap. 

She's getting to be more interested in solid foods although still isn't eating much.  She really likes the chew on apple slices and baby carrots, probably because it feels good on her gums.  She also likes to eat peaches, cucumbers, and watermelon, and she tried a pickle once but wasn't a huge fan of that. Still no teeth either, although the bottom two look like they could pop through any minute.

She says "mama", "baba", dee dee", "dig-a dig-a", and "dada".  When she's mad or upset she'll say "nee nee".  She likes to sing and make these crazy grunting noises that make her sound like a little monster!  She gets really focused on things and she will get very upset if she can't get/do whatever she was focused on.

That's about it for now.  Hopefully, I will be a little better about keeping up to date on my blog this next month.

(slightly late) 7 month update

My sweet little one is now almost 7 and 1/2 months old.  She's such a sweet girl and her personality is beginning to really shine through.  She sits up very well now and is beginning to start pulling herself up to a standing position. She loves to stick her tongue out and shake her head as if she were saying "no". She thinks it is really funny when we copy her by sticking out our tongues or shaking our heads too.  Apparently, I take way to many photos of her because she now knows to smile when she sees the camera.  She loves to try to drink from my giant water bottle that is about as big as she is.  She also loves to watch our doggie, Cooper, run around.  Every morning we go in Cooper's room to say hi after we wake up and she gets a huge smile on her face and waves to the dog.  She thinks it's funny when we play catch with the dog and he comes running back to us as well.  

She still has a good amount of stranger/separation anxiety.  She's ok with someone else holding her as long as she can see me, but if I leave she just screams and screams :(  It makes me so sad.  Michael's mom has been coming over twice a week to watch the baby while I go to the gym and although it seems to be getting a little better, she still cries a good amount.  It makes me feel awful to know that I'm doing something to make her so upset.  I'm not a fan of the Cry It Out method, or for letting her cry for any extended period of time, but I've been told that as long as she's being held and comforted the crying while I'm gone won't have the same damaging effects as letting her cry it out.  I'm only gone for an hour and a half and I always leave a bottle in the fridge for her, but lately she's refusing to take a bottle. I thought maybe it was just that she didn't want to take it from someone else while I wasn't around, but I've tried giving her a bottle too and she won't take it from me either.  She just wants a boob I guess.  She was fine taking a bottle a month ago, but now she wants nothing to do with it.  I tried putting milk in a sippy cup, but she wasn't having that either.

Betsy Grace used to say "ma ma" all the time but now she only says it when she's upset. She has started saying "ba ba" and "ga ga" but still no "da da" although we say it to her all the time. She loves to shriek and make all kinds of noises like she's singing. She's also trying to crawl but can't quite figure out how to get her head and her bottom up at the same time.  She's good with being on her tummy and lifting her head up or laying down with her bottom up so instead of crawling she scoots along on her tummy like an army crawl or she'll just roll all over the place to get to where she wants to be. 

Swimming in the back yard

This month she had her first trip to the Farmer's Market, her first time sitting in the grass (she wasn't a fan!) at the dog park, her first father's day, her first time in her little swimming pool, her first time on the swings at the park, and celebrated her first 4th of July.  This past month we also spent some time in Tampa for a workshop Michael had to attend for work.  While we were there we got to meet up with our friends Krista and Scott and meet there sweet little boy, Eli.  Betsy Grace and Eli had their first play date together, although Eli slept through most of it :) She also had her first time eating solid food this month.  We started with avocados and she ate some of it but didn't love it.  We also tried sweet potatoes and cantaloupe but she didn't really like those either.  We're just going to take a break from solids for a little while and try again in a few weeks.  She's still waking up at least 2 times at night to nurse, which is fine with me.  I just try to nap with her during the day so I'm not too tired (and she seems to nap longer when I'm laying down with her).  Still no teeth either.  

Eating avocado

Not so sure about sitting in the grass

Our very first "young, marrieds" bible study group from about 5 years ago was able to get together recently.  Our group was together for two years before people started moving to different parts of the country for school and jobs.  We always had a running bet of who would have babies first but it ended up being the opposite of how we thought it would happen.  Now four of the five couples have had a baby and we were able to get everyone together to meet all the new little ones.  Ava is just 36 hours older than Betsy Grace, Eli is 2 months old, and Jane is just two weeks old!

Katelyn and Ava, me and Betsy Grace, Erin and Jane, Krista and Eli, and Mandi (no baby for them yet!)

6 months already? How did that happen??

I can not believe my sweet little girl is already half a year old! How did that happen?  Can time please slow down? I guess I have no control over that, so I'll just cherish every sweet moment I have with her as a little tiny (well not that tiny) baby.  We had our 6 month check up at the doctor's office today.  She weighed in at 17lbs and is 27 inches long.  She's in the 75th percentile for her weight and the 90th percentile for her height.  It's amazing what momma's milk can do!  Apparently, she's going to be tall like daddy which is fine by me... hopefully she won't have the problem that I've had my entire life of having to always buy pants only to have them hemmed so not to be 3 feet too long.

What has been happening this past month-
She is now able to sit up on her own for short periods of time. I think it's so cute when she gets tired of sitting up or loses her balance and just falls over.  She gets this look on her face like "Hey what happened?"  She gets excited when Daddy gets home every day or when she's been in the swing while I'm in the shower and then come in to get her.  She gets a huge smile on her face, squeals, and kicks her little feet to show her excitement.  She had her first trip out of the state (even though she was quite the world traveler while in utero- she's been to Savannah, Vancouver, Alaska, and even hiked a glacier before she was born). We took a trip to Georgia to our friends' farm with our bible study group for the weekend.  She got to meet her future best friend who was born this month. We celebrated my first mother's day with flowers, hand prints and foot prints on a card, and diamond earrings (not a bad first mother's day!!). She's also starting to show stranger anxiety.  She's quite attached to momma.  My mom came over for a few minutes and so I took the chance to jump in the shower, only to hear Betsy Grace scream the entire time.  She doesn't really like for other people to hold her for long either.  She's ok for a few minutes but then starts to fuss.

Sitting like a big girl at the farm

She's still exclusively breastfed although I plan to introduce solid food sometime this month.  I'm not planning on doing purees or baby food though.  We are going to start with steamed veggies and other soft foods.  She's still in bed with us, which is fine by me, although people love to give me advice about making her sleep by herself.  No thanks... we will get there when it's the right time for us. She has good nights and sometimes we have rough nights, but I'd say more good than bad.  She usually sleeps from 10pm-3am when she starts to stir.  I can put the pacifier in her mouth and after a few minutes she will go back to sleep until around 5am and then wants to eat.  Then we go back to sleep until around 8:30am.  Two nights ago we had our very first night of 8 hours of sleep.  I woke up at 6am thinking it was still the middle of the night, but to my surprise it was light outside and she was still sleeping! I felt like a new person after all that sleep!

I've joined a mommies group in my neighborhood to help me get out of the house and meet some other local moms.  So far, I've attended brunch with a few other moms and we also went to story time at Leu Gardens this week.  At brunch I mentioned that I use cloth diapers and the organizer of the group asked if I'd host an event to teach other mommies about cloth diapers.  I never in a million years thought I'd be teaching a class on cloth diapering, but I'm happy to do it.

Just hanging out with her future BFF, Delaney

That's about it for this past month.  See ya next month!