keeping up

part of my deal with ronnie about

staying at home with brette

was me selling my abilities to keep the house together too. 

the laundry.

the grocery shopping. 

the cleaning.

the errands.

i was a bit worried about being able to do it all

and also take care of a baby too. 

but luckily,

i have had a pretty great transition.

not to mention a super helpful husband...

(or ocd, you pick)

it helped me to schedule out my days.

mondays i clean and do some laundry.

tuesdays i visit jaime and the girls.

wednesdays i finish up laundry.

and thursdays i run errands.

she sleeps all morning and i use that time to do stuff around the house.

(or i use it to shower and get ready if i know we have plans that day) 

in the afternoon we run errands and ronnie is home by 4:00. 

but lets be honest,

i do have those days where i need to get stuff done

and brette wants my undivided attention. 

so i have found two ways to get around it. 

the first item i would recommend is the ring sling.

you can find them on etsy,

but they can get expensive - up to $70. 

i just bought some fabric from hobby lobby and

had a family friend make me one. 

brette loves to be wrapped on me. 

she either spends the time looking at everything

or falls asleep instantly.

i use it around the house to clean

or if i'm running errands and she wants out of the carseat. 

 

(ring sling)

 

the second item is a portable swing. 

we use our big swing a lot,

but its so nice to have the smaller one too that we can take outside.

if ronnie is washing the cars or if i am mowing the yard,

we can take her with us and be hands free. 

she loves being outside so we can easily get

30 minutes to an hour of "free" time to get some outdoor chores done.

 

notice i made no mention of dinner?

ronnie normally takes care of that

or i get out one of my freezer meals.

and that's my last recommendation.

prepare meals ahead of time.

its fast, easy, cheap and healthier than the drive-thru.

i can't tell you how much we rely on these.

for me, it helped to have a plan.

 

 

state fair

 

since the state fair is only 35 minutes from where i grew up,

i make sure and make an appearance every year.

what's better than the rides, the lights, the food, the concerts and the beer gardens?

its one of my favorite summer events.

this year was a little different though.

i took my whole family and

instead of showing up at 6pm,

we were leaving by 6pm.

and instead of concerts and beer,

we did petting zoos and funnel cakes.

 

it was still a lot of fun

and it was nice to see madeline go crazy over the horses.

the babies did wonderful too.

they rode in the stroller or were wrapped on jaime or i.

i even found a nice little garden spot to nurse Brette

and a hay bale to change her on.

 

and yes,

we might have had one of those white trash "you-brought-your-baby-in-a-bar" moments.

but in my defense,

we needed a shaded spot to sit and eat our funnel cake.

the beer gardens won.

so i did get a little dose of my old time state fair

and ronnie had a couple beers.

hope no one minded our parked strollers while we listened to some country karaoke.

 

yee haw.

(giving eden some time to stretch her legs)

(madeline wore my DAD'S shirt from when he was a boy. a true cowgirl.)

 

(ronnie and brian totally enthused about the kids center)

(leaving the beer gardens... with our babies)

(changing a diaper and talking to grandma)

(madeline watching the horses)

 

(brette sleeping on me in her adorable sun hat)

(mammas and their wrapped babies)

 

 

health and wellness

we've had a rough couple days.

i've been sick these past couple weeks

and managed to pass it along to brette.

she woke up sunday with a horrible cold

and diarrhea.  

not awesome.

 

i asked my mamma friends for advice

and we came up with this plan:

 

aspirate the shit out of her nose

keep her propped up

well hydrated

and i sent ronnie to the store to load up

on baby vicks and a new humidifier.

it seems to be working.

she's not over it,

but she's definitely getting better.

the first night she threw up twice from the phlegm

so i had her sleep in our room the last two nights

just so i could hear her if she was coughing or choking.

but she's back to her room tonight

and doing just fine.

(ps- the night she threw up twice, she didn't even wake up.

i went in there. wiped her up. aspirated her nose. and laid her on a new pad.

she slept through the whole thing.  a total sleeping champion.)

 

meanwhile,

i had a set back of my own.

i think since brette was sick and

not as interested in eating

i developed a clogged milk duct.

let me tell you,

those things hurt.

i was walking around with a golf ball sized lump.

i read online, called my doctor and got advice from my sis-n-law.

basically nurse like crazy, pump, massage, and try a warm compress.

i've been doing all of that for the last two days.

plus i've been getting up in the middle of the night to pump when i normally wouldn't

and sleeping with a heating pad.

finally, this afternoon, it let down.

brette choked when the dam was broke and

i've never been so happy to squirt my daughter in the face.

and just like that, it seems to be healed.

thank jesus.

 

 

 

i'm just happy that we both are on the mend.

shot through the heart

brette got three shots

in her little legs yesterday.

i thought it was going to be worse on

me than her,

but truthfully, i think she hated it just as much.

 

it was one of those instant cries

where her face turns red and no

sound comes out because she is losing it.

i told her to breathe, which was a mistake,

because then she started screaming.

literally screaming, not crying.

it was high pitched and crazy. 

its definitely a different sound when

a child is in pain.

then came the crying.

when we got home i let her take a nap on me.

it lasted over two hours - which is huge for her

and gave me some uninterrupted snuggle time and computer time.
(as pictured below)

then daddy brought home some tylenol
and we actually had a good night.
i think the marathon nap plus the meds helped a lot.
today, she was a little fussy and running a slight temp.
 i gave her another dose of tylenol
and things seem to be on the mend.

 

 

i'm glad we don't have to do that again until october.

 

what did i do with all that time on the computer?

(besides blogging and checking facebook) i joined

parents as teachers and registered my family at the

catholic church so we can move forward with B's baptism.

 

 

more on both those things later.



brette: two months

two months and a lifetime.

growth:

she weighs 10lbs 5oz (48th percentile)
her height is 22in (50th percentile)
her head is 39cm (75th percentile)

 

she's still in size one diapers

and is finally wearing 0-3 month clothing.

she can still wear some of her newborn outfits,
but i have so much 0-3 month stuff that
i've been putting her in those for the last two weeks.
she has some control of her neck and head.
she can lift it and move it side to side,
but we are still using tummy time to help strengthen it more.
she has definitely filled out over the last month.
she has chubby cheeks and little rolls on her legs.
her eyes have turned blue - we'll see if they stay that way.
she no longer looks like a newborn,
but a precious baby girl.

 

sleeps:

she sleeps in her crib every night and has
since she was 5 weeks old.
i was putting her down at 10:00,
but she was so exhausted by 8:00 it was a miserable
couple hours just getting us there,
so now i put her down at 9:00
and start our bedtime routine at 8:00.
she is still sleeping through the night like a champ.
she normally wakes up somewhere between 6:00 ad 7:00,
i feed her and put her right back down and she sleeps again
until 9:00 or 10:00.
its so nice.
i feel like if you get a good nights sleep,
the rest is cake.
but it does keep ronnie and i from having much of a social life.
we need to be home by 8pm in order to get her to bed
and i don't start my day until around 10:00.
the one thing that is lacking is naps.
i think she sleeps so much at night
that she is pretty much awake most of the day.
i might get a 2 hr nap on a good day,
 and that's only if she's being held.
but most of the time she takes three 45 minute naps.
that is why she is so exhausted by the evening.
i'm still working on getting her down for a good afternoon nap in her crib everyday,
but so far, its a no go.
 

eats:

she is still on the boob diet.

i feel like she still can't go more than
3 hours without nursing again
and that's only if she's had a nap in there.
if she's awake the whole time,
she'll only go two hours before she's ready again.
and keeping with our routine,
she still takes a 2oz bottle every night before bed. 

 

plays:

she is cooing and talking all the time now.
she smiles at you and can make eye contact.
she can hold your finger and has quite the grip.
she loves to be sang to
and still loves the outdoors.
we also started using the stroller.
she goes for at least one walk per day
and depending on how hot it is,
we might go on two.
she loves jeep rides and use them
to pass time in the evenings during witching hours.
this totally makes ronald happy.
we've been using the jeep now more than ever
and i think i've seen all the back roads between here and lone jack. 

 

firsts:

she had her first stroller ride.
her first sleepover.
her first shots. (wah wah)
her first cold.
her first injury.
(i managed to cut off -what felt like- half her pinky when trimming her nails.
i was devastated. she was bleeding and crying. mom of the year over here.)


its been so fun watching her change
and start to interact with us.
i can't wait to see what the next month brings.

 

 

 

want to compare?

go see brette at one month to see the difference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

life's rough. wear a helmet.

brette is two months today.

we did her photoshoot this morning,

but her check-up with the pediatrician is tomorrow

so i'm going to wait to post her update

until i have her new stats.

 

but i do have a question/concern

that i didn't know if anyone else

has any thoughts on.

 

head shape.

i know FOUR mammas on facebook

whose kiddos ended up having to wear

a helmet because their heads were getting flat one side.

to me, four babies that have this seems like a lot 

so i now i'm nervous that it is a pretty common problem.

one i would like to avoid.

 

since i saw it happen to others i was trying

my best to make sure and rotate which side of

brette's head she would sleep on.

i would literally sing "from the window to the wall..."

to help me remember if it was time for her to face

the window or the wall when she lays in her crib.

i was like sandra bullock in the proposal - you can watch it here.

 

but now, brette has control of her head and neck

so even if it's a night to face the wall,

she ALWAYS faces the window.

i keep putting her down and she keeps moving her head.

so now i'm afraid she is going to have a flat head on one side.

i mean really.

i wish she would just stay still when i put her down.

 

so am i being a complete control freak?

should i even worry about this?

 

here i am watching her on the monitor,

as she moves her head to the window.

dang it.

 

chicka chicka bang... bangs

what happens when

you've been watching too much

of the hills and the kardashians

 

and

 

your daughter is still asleep

at 10 and you've been up since 8?

 

you cut bangs.

duh.

 

i was messing with my hair.

it started off with a braid

then i thought i should dye it,

but i figured i would get started and brette would wake up

so i got out my hair scissors.

 

 

i kinda like it.