C Sleeps

Yesterday my baby C turned 3 months old, weighing in at 16 pounds and drooling like a faucet (cause we all know faucets drool).  It's pretty hard to believe I've been a mom for only 3 months. It's been the best 3 months of my life, I have to admit:) Having a baby has helped a few things bloom in my life:

• I love and appreciate my hubby so much more.
• I feel very fulfilled as a woman and happy in my new career as Mom.
• My marriage is better than ever.
• I give and receive more love than I knew was possible!

ANYWHO, this is supposed to be about C's sleep habits (as much as I can figure them out!). Two weeks ago, I set out to get Charming Bambino to nap regularly AND to sleep NOT in my arms. The second goal was the most important since we're buying a new (to us) house and it will need much of my time soon! Plus, C had gotten quite attached to sleeping on me after our move the end of September, when his little life melted in to chaos. Actually, considering he'll have lived in 3 houses by the time he is 5 months, he's done pretty well! 

So Sleep Training Week 1 was a fun week of this: Swaddle C, nurse him to sleep, lay him gingerly in swing, withdraw arms ever so carefully, watch him wake and fuss (inside I would scream NOOOOOOOOOO), pick up, rinse and repeat. One day I repeated that sequence for 2.5 HOURS. Yep, I sure did. I don't know if that was stupid or smart. Probably it wasn't all that smart.

SLW1 then became this: Understand when C is tired (learned how to do this after talking to brilliant sister Leah about reading baby cues better), QUICKLY swaddle him, nurse to sleep, lay him in swing, turn it on high, dance happily away, and let Darling Little Man sleep for 2-4 hours. 

Now C naps 3 times a day, about 3 hours each nap. 

YAY!!!!!!

Evening naps are generally harder and involve more cuddling but I gotta let him sleep in my arms at least once a day. How can I not?!?!?! And at night we co-sleep, during which C sleeps about 12 hours straight, eating 3-4 times but never really waking up. This is MAGIC to me:):)

Last week, SLW1 morphed into SLW2 when I realized C was going to have to sleep around crazy-loud-funny family for Thanksgiving. You think he'd be used to it by now with me as his mama but NOOO. He's not. 

So while my sister packed and moved last week, I helped her everyday (except Tuesday) and by Saturday, C was sleeping so marvelously at her old and new house. And sleeping with tons of different people around! 

Moral of the Story: As long as Baby C is swaddled and has a swing (or Mommy or Daddy holding him) he'll sleep excellently. 

Now watch him change how he sleeps tomorrow. Just in time for Thanksgiving!!

GASP!!

Taking a moment from a busy day to say:

MY KID IS WEARING 6-9 MONTH CLOTHES. 

O. M. G.

Normally it wouldn't be a problem for my chunker to move up a size in clothes. Other than a wistful smile at his tiny previous size, I'm okay with it. I made a commitment to love my child growing up and changing and I generally abide by that rule. HOWEVER. Caden's next bag of clothes, 9-12 months, ARE ALL SUMMER CLOTHES. 

This will be a problem if he decides to fit in them in January. What do you think, can I squeeze him in 6-9 month clothes for another 5 months? Pretty please??? 

Because this frugal, garage sale shopping mom doesn't want to go to a consignment store and pay $3-5 for each piece of winter clothing that will fit my monster for 2 months. 

Maybe we'll just move to Florida in January. I wouldn't mind a temporary change of scenery until spring in Indiana!!

PS- My baby will be 3 months on Sunday. This is why it's not fair. I was worried before I had him that I would have a super-grower and all my clothes shopping would be in vain. Alas, it was:(

Baby + House

!!!LOOK AT THE DROOL!!!

!!!LOOK AT THE CHUB!!!

Have you ever wondered:

• Baby C must have to work very hard to push himself up while on his tummy. Is it like doing pushups? It wears him out after 5-10 minutes!
• It must be awfully comfortable to be a dog, lying on the floor all day, just following the sun around the house. 
• Don't babies' limb fall asleep? Baby C has to be swaddled for naps, otherwise his energetic arms wake him. However, he NEVER complains about sleeping for hours in the same position. HOW???
• Also, I would also really hate having a wet diaper. Squishy, wet, icky. 

Now- House News:

Our new house has squishy mold in it! Great transition, right???

So we had the inspection on our potential house on Friday. Other than not being able to turn on the well water, things were pretty much as we expected. The biggest issues we'll need to deal with are a mold problem in the basement, fixing the source of the mold (basement to exterior door), and filling in a crazy pond. I know, that sounds like a lot!!! But we've got $ set aside to fix the problems and since the house is bank owned, we're getting it for a pretty good price. 

It's on a 2.7 acre wooded lot that has a creek down the backyard wooded hill. So lovely and peaceful down by the creek:) It's a 2 story English Tudor with a basement (that we won't finish until we need room fro more kids), 2 fireplaces, and a giant deck. I'd show you pics of it but we haven't taken any of the outside front of the house and all the ones online have the address on them. I've had a stalker on my blog before so no addresses on here!!!

Anyway, we're having a few more inspections and repair estimates done this week and we'll know midweek if we are going to pursue.

PS I sure want this house no matter what. J will be my voice of reason.

Homebirth

Well, as everyone knows, I'm a homebirth advocate:) We had our baby at home on August 22 (and I say we because J was working pretty darn hard with me too!!). Giving birth was the most challenging thing I've ever done in my life. Totally hard. FREAKING hard. 

But oh my was it worth it:) And yes, I'll do it again at home with the next kid!

Anyway, someone shared this article on FB that condenses the reasons for having a homebirth in a neat little article. There were a 2 parts that I loved most:

When a woman is at home she can groan and make natural sounds (these sounds actually open up her pelvis); she can eat when we she needs to; rest when she needs to; have privacy when she needs to; kiss her partner, be held; walk around, look out at nature, and basically do what feels best for her. 

Very true:) Nothing like being "at home" where you have your baby.

A friend of mine who had both of her babies at home described just that: "The best thing about giving birth at home was that I never had to leave my home. I could be rooted there. My husband brought me smoothies. I could hop in the tub when I wanted to. I could get on all fours. Then after the birth, I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was curl up with my baby, and that is exactly what I did."

Reminds me seeing my little guy for the first time:) It was perfect, as if this little gray and pink creature squirming and grunting on my chest had always been in my life. Nothing new, nothing crazy, just my marvelous baby on the outside of me:)

And after everything was cleaned up and everyone left, J, unnamed babe, and I went to sleep together in our own bed:) 

TED and Girls

Have you ever watched TED? They feature all sorts of people sharing all sorts of ideas worth spreading and some of the ideas are really neat and innovative! Also, they are hosting a TED Women conference in December about how women and girls reshaping the future. I like that:)

So hubby J hooked me on TED. I was a bit skeptical at first (boring stuff to listen to on the web? Blah!) but most of the talks are very clever and intriguing. Here's one of my favs: 

Speaking of TED Women, I was thinking on my walk w/ C and Sadie how glad I am to have a boy as my first child. For some reason I think it will be much easier to raise a son who knows women are capable, strong, and able to do and be anything. Is this because most men in my life think this way and it seems natural to me? Maybe?

I sure don't surround myself with anyone (by choice!) who thinks women are not in every aspect of life as capable and resourceful as men. In every aspect except perhaps strength; I know men physically have (what is it, 5%?) more muscle mass than women. But when you think about it, do men push a baby from inside their body, out their vagina? Could they do that???? I DON'T THINK SO. 

But I guess they could if they wanted to and they were physically made for it. Which brings me to the thought that modern medicine would know SOOOOOO much more about morning sickness, pregnancy, and childbirth if men were able to give birth. But this bring us to the topic of how men dominated society and used religion to control gender and cultural freedom for thousands of years and I don't need to get started on that. 

But a daughter. What if everyone gifts her pink clothes? I don't want a 'frilly, dipped in pink girl' just as I don't want a 'dressed only in blue, playing with tools and cars' boy. What if she notices how women are portrayed in pop music, politics, and the media? What if she notices how the girl is so often being saved in movies and books, not doing the saving?

Boys are so much easier. All I have to do is let him grow up around me and J as an example and teach him how life should be. For some reason I don't think that's enough for a girl:( I have to hide her from what culture thinks she should be.

This portion of the post was inspired by Liberal Simplicity:)

Car Rides of DEATH

This afternoon I need to go to the grocery store. And this seemingly simple task has me stressed already on this lovely sunny Tuesday. Here's why:

This Chubby Little Angel makes my life a living hell in the car. And I realized yesterday that I'm getting slightly bitter about it. It doesn't matter if I leave the house when C is sleepy, full, and clean, he will scream until I pull over/arrive at destination and pick him up. Scream for the whole trip, cling frantically to Mommy afterward. It's our routine now:(

Just thinking about it is making me cringe because there is nothing worse than Tiny Ball of Delight and Smiles shrieking as if you've abandoned him in the middle of nowhere with no milk, no warm cuddles, and no naked bottom tummy time.

I need to remind myself that all of my 7 nephews and nieces behave very admirably in the car now that they are older. Baby C will do the same at some point in time! After all, he sleeps so well through the night, naps so marvelously each morning, what are car rides and PM nap disasters compared to that?!?! 

Right.

Sorry for the complaints:(

I LOVE DST

So as new parents our minds are a bit fuzzy, right? The whole no sleep thing? Well, today is DST day and a Sunday so J and I played in bed with baby C for a while (smiles!!!) then got up for breakfast. We only have 2 clocks in our temporary house, compared to the 7+ in our old house. Yeah, I love knowing the exact time. So after talking about the time change for a sec, we changed the clocks from 9:16 to 10:16. Yay, we slept later than we have in 2.5 months!!

Then, while C is happily napping, J and I are sitting at the kitchen table, planning our decor and colors for our new house (more on that later) when we wonder aloud why our Macs are still on old time. WTF? Both lappies are 2 hours behind? Whatever! SUDDENLY J realizes our clocks should have been set an hour EARLIER!! Oops, we sprang forward last spring and now we are accidentally falling forward in the fall too!!

SO WE GAINED AN EXTRA !!!!2!!!! HOURS TODAY!!!!!!! We've been living in the 9:00 hour on a Sunday for over 2 hours now!! Talk about a relaxing morning!!!

~More on the new house later today~

C and His Daddy

My baby boy loves his daddy:) And J sure is the best dad in the world. Nothing like an amazing husband to keep a crazy me sane. J is the kind of man who will come home from a long day at work, find me a stressed mess trying to calm down the newbie babe, and without a thought he will finish (or start!) dinner, clean the kitchen, and then jiggle C to sleep. Such a dedicated dad and hubby!!!

Since I'm now a stay at home momma, my new job is to:

• raise, educate, and nurture our kid
• clean
• cook
• do laundry
• grocery shop
• pay the bills
• and anything else that comes up during the day:)

Makes my old 45 hours a week teaching job seem easy!

Of course since my job isn't confined to an 8 hour weekday and centers around a volatile yet oh so beautiful 2 month old, delightful hubby gets to work overtime with me. And he does it so graciously and happily. I feel very grateful for this and for him!

BTW, someone asked me (and I used to wonder this myself!) if I get bored being a SAHM. And the answer is NO WAY HOSEA. NOOOPE. Really, I have no time to get bored. Once (last week?) I actually sat and read a book during naptime! For 30 minutes!!! That's the only time I've not had something to work on during naptime. And non-naptime is filled with BABY. 

Speaking of work, I've got to go be the dishwasher to a countertop of dishes. It will be so nice to have a functioning dishwasher again one day!