Aaaaand ACTION!

So we all love reading about Sydney and ooo'ing and ahhh'ing over her photos, right? Right. Well, now you can watch her in action too! (Even if she's just laying there.) You're very welcome :o) Please enjoy the few videos we've taken so far. And you can count on hundreds to come. Literally. Again, you're very welcome. LOL

5/31/09, Smiling and Talking


5/7/09, Playtime With Bunny


4/22/09, Yelling at Mommy


4/09, Floor Time


4/2/09, Laying on Daddy's Lap

Battle of the Bottles

Medela bottles, Playtex bottles, Gerber Bottles, slow flow nipples, fast flow nipples, shot glass with no nipple.....These are a few things we've tried to get my baby to eat from anything other than my darn boobs!

Breastfeeding is the most wonderful thing for my baby and for me, but holy molly I just want to sleep for more than 3 hours! And what about a night out? I can't even leave the house without her because she'll scream her head off thinking she's starving. Think she just wants her mommy? No, because I've tried giving her a bottle myself. She's not stupid. If the boob is in the house, that's all she wants. If it's not in the house, she gives hell to her Daddy till I come into view. The worst mistake I made was to stop giving her a nightly bottle when she was only a month old. Now I'm screwed. Yup, not we-ME. I was so worried about nipple confusion and I didn't want to be the one to give her the bottle. Then Daddy went back to work and I dug my own grave. I sure am laying in it now, aren't I? I've spent the past two months attached to my pump like a milking cow trying to stock up that breastmilk only to throw it away as our continued attempts at bottle feeding fail. I felt like crying each time I had to dump my liquid gold down that dark, endless hole we call a drain.

So I quit. I sucked it up and came to terms with not having a life (or boobs) of my own for the rest of the year. And sleep? It will come-eventually. Heck, she's even been giving me the opportunity to get a good four hour stretch in at night. Unfortunately, my body must be in protest too because I'll just lay there for those four hours waiting to feed her again. So that's what we've come to. That is until I realized I only have TWO MONTHS until I go home and actually have a babysitter for the first time. It might as well be tomorrow as fast as time is going these days.

Damn it. So we're back at it again. This time, I'm trying something different. We got her a learner cup. This past Saturday, I pumped a little bit of milk and gave it to her at room temperature. Guess what? SHE DIDN'T CRY! She didn't get much, but that's not the point. Since then, I've pumped about two ounces each day and gave it to her in between a feeding so she wasn't starving and couldn't get fustrated. This time, I'm not dipping into my stash, and I don't mind dumping that tiny bit. She's giving it her all, figuring out what to do with her tongue. She's actually drank a whole ounce yesterday. Slowly, we're making progress. I'm not giving up this time! Once I can get her to drink at least four ounces, then we'll move on to having Jason try to feed her. She is such a mommy's girl and I'm sure that's part of the problem. :o)

Enjoy the picture of my first ray of hope:

Baby Weight

Part of being a new mommy is trying to find the time to exercise. Forget about going to the gym, I'm lucky if I get a shower everyday! If you're nursing, you can't diet, and there's an obnoxious amount of calories you must consume to keep your milk supply up. I gained 50 pounds in my pregnancy. 50 POUNDS! I blame the bulk of that on bedrest. No, it's not an excuse, that's really when I gained most of the weight. Then I had a c-section and couldn't do anything other than lift my baby for six weeks (not that I wanted to do anything anyway ;p). After my 6-week check-up, it was go time. Ever try a sit up after a c-section? I don't care how long it's been, that shit hurts! But it felt good. I discovered I no longer had any core strength. My belly was like a bowl of jello, only not as firm LOL. I found stretch marks where apparently I couldn't see when I had a belly. I thought I got lucky there! My boobs are no longer my own. Let's not talk about these new hips I have. Am I ever going to get back into my size 0/1? Probably not. But I'm not giving up until I get into a 2. I happy to announce I'm in a 4/6, have lost 37 pounds so far. 7 pounds and combined total of 6 inches all over in the past 4 weeks alone. I have 13 pounds and a lot of ab work to go before I can hit the beach in July when I go back home. Considering all I've done is nurse, take walks with my baby, and an occasional few laps in the pool, I think I'm doing pretty good. It's those damn tv shows and movies that make women feel discouraged when they're not back to their size in three months. It's just unrealistic. Unless you're Heidi Klum and have the money (and time) for a personal trainer 7 days a week, a private chef, and a perfect recovery, it's not going to happen. And if it has-you suck.

Keepin it real.

So I've written about how good my baby is, how lucky I am to have Jason and how fortunate I am to be able to be a stay at home mommy. I've wrote about how much I love this new role I have in my life. Well, today was not one of those perfect days. I have one word for you-teething. My poor baby would not stop crying today. I tried EVERYTHING to help ease her pain. From teethers, to ice cold rags, to my own finger. Even baby Tylenol. Nothing worked. All the Tylenol did was help her sleep some of the pain off. When she woke up, she just started crying again. She had THREE blowouts. When you count pjs, that makes 5 outfits all in one day! I have a headache. My neck and back hurt from rocking her all day. I didn't get anything done. I'm covered in baby drool. I'm exhausted! And I just realized I forgot to feed my cat. Today was one of those days when I wish Jason didn't work so much so I could have a break. Sigh.



Despite the rough day, I managed to make her smile in between breakdowns long enough to take a picture. I'm just surprised I had a hand to take them with. ;p (Note the different outfits LOL)

A little thing called sleep.

So we've mastered Sydney's 7pm bedtime and have recently focused our attention on getting a (flexible) nap schedule down, mainly just getting her to take those naps in her crib. She's been sleeping wherever she feels like it during the day ;P. We started on Saturday with no problems, and it's been going well since. I swear, I don't know what I did to deserve such a good baby. I also don't know if it's the nap and bedtime routine or her age now, but last night, my sweet little angel went 8 HOURS!!!! YES! FINALLY! I woke up at 3 am from my engorgement and just about freaked when I saw what time it was. She was squirming around on the monitor but wasn't even fussing yet. I wanted to run in her room and cover her with kisses and hugs and a million "thank you's!". However, I just calmly went in, fed her, and left without a word. And she went 5 MORE HOURS!!! Could this be the break I've been waiting for? Stay tuned....

Midnight Madness

Before I had a baby, I never understood what the big deal was when new mommies would fuss about the smallest things when it came to their babies. They batted a toy? So? They smiled at a stranger? What's the big deal?! Well, it is a big deal! When you first give birth to these beautiful smelly poop machines, all they do is eat, sleep, and blow out diapers. To watch them develop is the most amazing thing. From the moment they give you their first social smile, it's like you're finally getting something back, and all those sleepless days and nights that all run together don't even matter anymore. They are called milestones, and I think they're tiny little miracles.

Back story: Nana Diane had this adorable blanket made for Sydney that has her name on it and a stuffed lamb head attached. She loves it. Since Syd has been squirming around, I've taken everything out of her crib, but recently placed the blanket in there for comfort. She hasn't taken notice-until last night...

After her 11pm feeding, I put my sleepy, limp baby back down and crashed on my bed for the night. After a few minutes, I hear Sydney making noises on the monitor and pulled together the energy to turn around and see what all the fuss was about. My silly little girl was "talking" to her lamb. She was smiling and grabbing at it. It was the cutest thing I saw all day! I couldn't help but laugh and aw at my sweet baby having a blast when she should have been sleeping. After ten minutes of watching her on the monitor, I decided the only way I was going to get some sleep was to give the monitor to daddy. I'm not sure how long her midnight playtime lasted, but she was nothing but smiles and sweetness this morning :o)

Brag Blog

Jason has been working non-stop so all I really wanted for Mother's Day was for us to spend time together as a family all day. He really went out of his way today to make it so special, especially since it was his first day off in weeks. We started out with breakfast in bed after he let me sleep in :o) (Mcdonalds cause he hasn't been home to go food shopping, Ha!). Then he took care of the baby while I spent TWO HOURS getting ready. It was amazing! He gave Sydney a bath and packed up the car. We went to a place called Town Square where he spoiled me rotten shopping and had an awesome early dinner at Tommy Bahamas. He even held the baby when she started fussing without me asking so I could enjoy my food. When we got home, he helped put our little girl to bed. I didn't change one diaper all day, he left his phone at home, and he's drawing a bubble bath for me as I write. What a wonderful day. What a wonderful man. I'm so lucky!

My First Mother's Day

As I was putting my daughter to bed on this Mother's Day Eve, I sat in the rocking chair and read A Peanut's Christmas (yes I know it's May, don't ask). She glared at the pictures and chimed in with her two cents every now and then. My translation was a bit broken, but I'm pretty sure she has a crush on Woodstock. Afterward, I put her on my chest for her last bedtime snack and fell into a daydream as I stared around her room.

I noticed the imperfections in the paint. Her 3/D ultrasound was so meticulously placed in a special frame from my baby shower. The pillow-like pictures hanging on the wall reminded me of how many times I hammered those nail in, trying to line them up just right. The shelf above the changing table is so organized with diapers and pink piggy banks and bath supplies. I was drawn over to the bookcase by the soft hum of the humidifier and glanced at my Belly Book. When I was pregnant, I was filled with such excitement and anticipation of what was to come. My outlet was creating her nursery. I wanted her room to be perfect. I spent an entire weekend painting those walls by myself, all the time thinking of her playing in there. I sat in the rocker dreaming about holding this baby while she slept. I rearranged her dresser drawers I don't know how many times. Her clothes hung by size in the closet. The valiance above the window was even scrunched just right.

All this "stuff", this unnecessary stuff, has all become so much more since Sydney was born. They are memories from when I was pregnant, and future memories for Sydney. She's changed me so much in the short time she's come into our lives. I still can't believe what a miracle this baby is, and how lucky I am that she's mine. I didn't know my heart would grow so big. I didn't know what a special and selfless life I was now starting.This Mother's Day is now more than a "hallmark" holiday for me. It's about Sydney and how grateful I am. I get to be up 4 times a night. I get to change diapers 63 times a day. I get to calm her when she cries and laugh with her when she smiles. I do laundry every day and clean up her toys. I've turned into an emotional sap. I am so blessed to be her mommy and I wouldn't change a thing!

So, I was finally brought back to reality by the sweetest coo and I starting crying out of love (not the first time) and she looked up at me and just smiled. :o)

So that's what they're for?

Sydney has known how to put her hand to mouth since birth, but has in the past few weeks, grown attached to her right index finger-to the point where she's sucking her skin off! Gross, I know. I usually pull it away, but I think she's teething. Anyway, today she brought her hand up to my lips as she was in my arms and I started kissing away. :o) She was in awe. She opened her hand and smiled as her mommy kissed it. Well, something must have clicked because she started grabbing my nose, chin, and continued to pull her burp rag over face like it was a game. So cute! Yay for doing things on purpose!

On another note, tonight is Day 4 on sleep training. We had great success last night. I put her down at 7 and never had to go back in. Bonus: she only woke twice to feed before morning! Let's hope her progress continues!

Here is the picture of the day.....my baby in her Bjorn, and ready for her close-up.

My first post. Better make it good.

Hello everyone! This is going to be short and sweet because I'm tired, my angelic little girl is fast asleep, and The Real Housewives of NYC is coming on. ;P We're coming up to Sydney's three month birthday and I can't believe how fast it's gone. My itty bitty six pound baby has strangers now telling me "Well, she's not starving..." She's growing like a weed, and keeping her mommy busy. She's a great sleeper at night, but loves to play during the day. She's full of smiles and seems content when the emotion is reciprocated. She never cries. Scratch that. She only cries when I don't get the boob out fast enough. Have you seen those cheeks? Girl likes to eat! She can keep herself amused but somehow knows when Mommy is trying to clean the house and will whine until I come back into view. What can I say? I'm a sucker for that face. :o) So into the Bjorn Sydney goes and she gets to be my little helper. She loves to observe the world around her. Best of all, she loves to be kissed on those sweet, sweet cheeks.

I'm so fortunate to be able to stay home with her and watch her develop. And I think I'm pretty darn good at this mommy thing.


Aaah, the life of a new mommy. Topic for another post....