Month 5 - Heidi

Month 5: Baby!

Age: 5 months

Weight:  Somewhere around the 16 lb. mark, although I never actually checked this month...

Major calendar events:  Attended her first birthday parties (Becca Rose turned 1 and Beau also turned 1!), 4 month shots, 1st overnight away from mom, met Jenny and Matt, first play date...WHEW busy month!

Milestones:  Nothing major that I can recall

Sleep:  Sleeping through the night although every now and then she will wake up to eat.  Still in our room (oops) and we said goodbye to the swaddle!  Now she just sleeps in her sleep 'n play jammies

Likes:  Laughing and smiling - smiles at just about everyone! Water bottles and just about any container of liquid

Eating:  100% breastmilk every 4 hours

Month 5: Mama

Well it's been confirmed.  100% positive my body is back on track reg. my ladyness.  Oh damn.

Got enough spit bubbles, Heidi?

Hanging out with Aunt Emily

This is one crazy lady

Happy girl!

Ready for her first play date

Friends!

Petting Hazel.

We love you "Uncle" Chris!

Anniversary Weekend!

On October 6th, Ryan and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary.  Now, this was an especially special anniversary for us. Why you ask?? Because I'm not currently pregnant!  We didn't quite make it to our first anniversary before finding out about our little Heidi (oops!) and if God chooses for baby #2 to come into existence sometime next year chances are I could potentially be pregnant for our 3rd anniversary... so we HAD to do something special this year of course!!

Ryan and I have a "no gift" policy.  We don't give gifts unless it's a birthday or Christmas.  Don't get me wrong - it's not that I don't LIKE getting presents (I mean come on, what girl's love language ISN'T gift receiving??) it's just that for us - spending time with each other IS the gift.  The time we have with each other is so limited and so valuable.  There plenty of people who may place a higher value on receiving that physical token of love, and that's okay.  But to us? Time together is the number 1.  How many times a year should I expect my husband to come up with some big (or small) gesture, search high and low to find something special to give me, spend money or precious time on etc. etc?  Valentine's day, mother's day, our wedding anniversary, my birthday, Christmas...the list goes on and on.  If you're one of those people who has found someone who is able to come up with super romantic/overly thoughtful/super planned out gifts for every holiday and occasion - congrats (and I don't mean that sarcastically!)  Don't let that person go - they are hard to find!  But I can honestly say as loving and kind and thoughtful as my husband is, I know it is unrealistic of me to expect that from him 5+ times per year (heck I can't even expect myself of that!)  These days, there are so many holidays focused around gift giving that we have decided that it's best for us to limit those gift-giving holidays.  And I have to say so far - it's been amazing!

For our anniversary this year, we got a hotel room at City Center (an area with lots of restaurants, shops, bars, etc.) and planned to just stay there, walk around and not have to drive anywhere!  Heidi spent the night with her Mimi and Poppy and it was the perfect little getaway for us.  (I did warn Ryan after we dropped Heidi off that chances were high that I would cry at some point [multiple points] because this was my first night away from her ever!  It was going to be so hard to wake up and not have her there.)

It was a Saturday, so we both wanted to watch football of COURSE!  Between the TV, our phones and iPad, we had 3 games going - and I am totally okay with that! We cracked open some beers,  and just relaxed.  Now, when you're a breastfeeding mama and you leave your baby... you also gotta bring the pump!!  Here is a picture of how we spent the first bit of our weekend together for you...

Football and pumping - does it get any more romantic than this??

Once the afternoon games started winding down and we started getting hungry we left the hotel and walked over to Yard House.  We didn't really have an agenda, just thought we would grab some dinner, drinks (and more football) throughout the evening.  It's lucky we share our love for each other, food and football.  He was truly made for me and I for him.  We decided just to stay at Yard House for dinner since we were already there and had good seats at the bar (with views of multiple football games - I swear we're not obsessed! Okay we are.)

Dinner at Yard House!

(Of course, as I was pumping before going to sleep, the pump died and I had forgotten the charger.  The next morning I found myself standing over the sink milking myself to relieve some of the pain.  Life after a baby is SO romantic!)  The next day we woke up and went straight to pick Heidi up!  (Thank goodness she was hungry!)  And guess what?!  I didn't even cry once while we were away from her.  I never thought I would be that kind of super-attached and emotional mom but-surprise! I am.

Reunited at last!!  Missed her so much.

Once we picked Heidi up, we headed to San Antonio to celebrate Beau's 1st birthday fiesta!  Just a few pictures from the rest of the weekend....

Heidi with her "Uncle" John, aka. The Experience.

Happy 1st year of life Beau-man!

Friends!

Grabbing faces.

Happy baby at the hotel in San Antonio!

Last bottle of wine from our "Milestone Wine Basket" from Ryan's sisters!  (Other milestones include: The very first night in our house together, first dinner party, first fight, and cider for when we found out we were pregnant!)

Intended for last year ;)

Happy 2nd anniversary to my wonderful wonderful husband!!!  I love you so much and I love our time together.

Month 4 - Heidi

Month 4: Baby!

Age: 4 months

Weight: 15 lbs. 9 oz. 

Major calendar events:  Heidi's first Baylor football game, her first overnight away from home, first wedding and first run!

Milestones:  If she hears my voice but doesn't see me she will look around and try to figure out where I am!  I love this!

Sleep: Sleeping through the night at this point although sometimes it takes a little work to get her to go down.  She is still sleeping in her pack n play in our room and still swaddled - although her arms are out at this point bc that startle reflex seems to have finally disappeared.

Likes:  Hanging out in here mamaroo "pod", laughing at mommy working out, shopping, sleeping during mommy's runs, chewing on Sophie the giraffe's face and watching her mobile in her room

Dislikes:  Long-ish car rides, napping by herself

Best moment:  Heidi did SO great when we stayed overnight at a hotel in Waco for the game.  Went right to sleep, no waking up and no crying yay!  She also hardly complained during the drive up there - which was a surprise!  She usually gets VERY mad if she has been in her car seat for too long.

Worst moment:  Screamed ALL the way home from Sugarland to our house.  Yikes that was rough.

Eating:  100% breastmilk - every 4 hours!  It feels SO different having that extra hour between nursing Heidi.  Before it felt like all I did was nurse her.  Once one feeding ended it was almost time to start the next.   I feel like I can do so much more between feeding her - it's amazing how crazy different it!  It's awesome!

Month 4: Mama

Overall this was a good month.  It finally feels like we are getting into the swing of things.  I do still struggle some during the day, because Heidi REALLY does not like to be put down for naps by herself.  We typically take all of our naps together (which - let's be honest - isn't the WORST thing in the world) but if I NEED to get something done it is impossible at this point for me to move her or put her down while she is asleep without her waking up and getting mad.  And forget about putting her down while she is awake!

Heidi and I went on our very first run together since she has been on the outside and it was so good to have my running buddy back with me!  I definitely thought running with a stroller would be harder than it actually is, however it will take some getting used to.  I also started doing some circuit work, but I'm trying not to do too much too suddenly and mess with my milk supply.

TMI update: I also think *I think* I got my period.  I was quite surprised because I am exclusively breastfeeding. so I assumed that it would hold off a little bit longer but we'll see I guess... (I think Heidi sleeping through the night has something to do with this... not waking up for that middle of the night feeding could possibly be giving my body just enough time to reset those hormones!)  If that's what it was then I got a whole year off exactly, which was SO nice... however I do have friends that got almost 2 full years of no cycles!!  Oh well.  As nice as it is to not have to worry about having a period once a month, I feel like I don't really know my body.  It definitely makes natural family planning difficult (although typically if you are exclusively breastfeeding you're covered for at least the first 6 months [and YES there IS science to back this up it isn't just an old wives tale] which maybe I will post about later) and I really miss the confidence I used to have in knowing my own body.  Things are still out of whack and I hope my body is still adjusting to not being pregnant... and hopefully getting back to normal! 

Just a few pics from Heidi's 4th month with us!

Great Grandma with Heidi.

Church!  Heidi is pumped.

Mornings :)

Visiting the Great-grandparents Kresta at their farm - their first time to meet Heidi!

#LongCarRides

Baylor game!

Hotel sink baths.

Awww they fell asleep holding hands!

The morning that I was in labor, we picked some bluebonnet seed pods on our walk.  We decided to plant them in the backyard!

Heidi is participating.

She's just so strong!  Knockin her toys down...

Galleria time!

Wedding time.

Me and my man fixin to tear up that dance floor!

Month 3 - Heidi

Month 3: Baby!

Age:  3 months

Weight:  14ish lbs.

Major calendar events:  2 month shots :(, first church service at Ecclesia and first few nights without Dad home

Milestones:  Standing (when supported), smiling, laughing, recognizing faces and voices, will look up at you when you enter the room

Sleep:  Safe to say that we're consistently sleeping from 10:00 p.m. - 7:00 a.m. at this point.  She is still sleeping in her pack n play in our room; she rarely naps by herself during the day. 

Likes:  Watching TV... okay looking at ANY screen!  She's obsessed!  I try not to let her though...Bath time is also something that she likes.  No matter how hungry or fussy she is, she is always happy in the bath (and always likes to lick the water!  She laps it up like a dog when Ryan sprays the shower head near her face).

Dislikes:  There isn't too much that Heidi doesn't like right now...

Best moment:  I suppose our best moments this month mostly include successfully doing things on our own such as galleria trips, lunching with friends and going to the grocery store.  It was also a pretty sweet moment when Ryan came home a night early from a work trip :)

Worst moment:  By far the number one worst moment happened during one of our grocery store trips. I always wear Heidi in the Boba wrap, and am very cautious when moving around and bending over, etc.  Well, we had finished our shopping went out to the parking lot to load up the groceries.  It was the middle of the day and hot as heck!  I was in a hurry and squatted down to grab the water out from underneath the back of the cart.  I stood straight up and RAMMED her head SO hard on the handlebars.  Poor poor baby had been sleeping and woke up and started crying (I'm surprised she wasn't screaming!  She was really hardly even crying).  I KNOW this is a first for every parent, whether its a door frame, car door, whatever it is... and I knew that one day I would accidentally do something like this, but that doesn't change how bad and how guilty you feel when it happens!  I could see a big white spot with a little scrape in the middle of it.  I immediately called Ryan and told him what happened.  Heidi wasn't crying and she appeared alert.  I then called my mom and started sobbing haha.  She recommended I call the pediatrician just to make sure.  I half expected them to tell me to bring her in right away. (I tried very hard not to sound like a crazed panicky new mom haha.) They basically said to look out for vomiting, refusing to eat and acting lethargic (but since babies sleep all the time sleeping is not a symptom you can really count on.)  I expected her to have a HUGE knot on her head by the time we got home, however no knot appeared and it didn't appear to be swollen or have any fluid around it.  Baby girl took it like a champ and must get her thick skull from her mom.  Thank goodness everything was okay and she didn't even have much of a mark - just a little red spot for a day or two.  I'm so sorry baby Heidi! 

Eating:  100% breastmilk, every 3 hours

Things I want to remember:  Not that there wasn't anything memorable that happened, but nothing specific comes to mind...

Month 3: Mama

I can honestly say, weeks 8-12 have been SO different for me.  I feel like a normal human being again.  Don't get me wrong, we are still a ways off from knowing any sort of "normal", but as far as how I feel...emotionally...I don't feel like a complete hormonal basket case anymore.  I am able to function.  Go to the grocery store, go to the mall... and sleep longer than just a few hours at a time!  (One night, I fell asleep on my stomach AND slept for longer than 5 hours.  OH MY GOSH.  9 months ago I thought neither of those things would ever ever happen again!!)  

However, there are of course still plenty of stressful/overwhelming/difficult moments... Although this is laughable now, I was NOT laughing at the time this happened.  I had gone to Target to buy a new swimsuit because these jumbawumbas don't fit into anything these days.  I tried on a few and wasn't super pleased with how they were fitting.  Regardless, I snapped a few pics to get my mom, sister and Ryan's opinions (I can't make a single fashion decision on my own - it's a problem!)  Well, I hit send and glanced for a millisecond at the photo of my chest as it was sending.  OH $#!%!! I felt my milk starting to let down.  Just LOOKING at the picture of my own boobs in a bikini top is all it takes people.  I knew I had literally 5-7 seconds to get that swimsuit top off before it was too late..."Get it off!! Get it off!!  Get it off!!" I was about 1 second too late.  I yanked that thing off so fast, but just as I tore it off, my milk started spraying EVERYWHERE!  I felt like a Fembot from Austin Powers... I had no idea where to even aim those babies and my bra and boobiepads were buried underneath my shirt on the bench.  I got some breast milk on the swimsuit, some on my leg/foot and the rest was shot onto the carpet.  Sorry bout that Target... I probably would have bought the swimsuit just to have in case I didn't have time to find something else... but regardless I ended up buying the swimsuit anyway.  Once I had found one I liked better from Victoria's Secret, I carefully washed the breastmilk-y Target swimsuit in the sink while holding the tag out of the water and then returned it.  That's all it takes to make that milk start flowing!  NEW MOM PROBS YALL.  

Me in Target.  Well... all the time really.

The last month has been amazing, and I feel like we have finally been able to truly enjoy our time with this sweet angel baby (now that we are normal humans again).  It's not always perfect, but we're learning.  I wouldn't change a thing.  Here are some pictures from Heidi's 3rd month with us!

Ainsley giving Heidi a hug when they met for the first time.

First grocery store trip on our own!

Lamp table that Heidi's Poppy made for her.

Heidi meets Curtis and Stephanie!

First church service on the outside.

Girls lunch!!

Heidi loves to nap on Aunt Carrie - yes she was sleeping.

Hi Hazel!

One day it was ONLY 98 degrees with 95% humidity - so pleasant! ;)  So we went on a walk.

Heidi tries to figure this thing out...

Meeting some special friends.

Free yoga at Discovery Green (BONUS:  It's taught by our doula, Michelle!!)

Hanging out with her GUB (Great Uncle Bill)!!