the baby files

Baby's First Solid Food

2013-07-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe El is already old enough to eat some 'real' food. It's crazy how time flies. Our pediatrician said that a good time to start 'practicing' feeding her solids would be around 4-6 months. We decided to wait closer to six months since everything I have read says to start around 6 months. I did a lot of research and decided to go the most healthy natural route as possible for her first meal so I went with an all-natural, organic brown rice cereal and mixed with some breast milk.

poor thing has no clue what's coming

She took it like a champ although her face told a different story :) I think she just ate it all because it was something new. Then I decided....hmm...maybe I should try this out and see what she's tasting. Oh.my.gross. It was disgusting! I couldn't believe I fed that to my child. It tasted so so bad, and had the absolute worst aftertaste. I felt like the worst mom ever giving this to my baby as her first meal.

These looks tell it all

Not to mention that the next day, it totally messed her up from the small amount of fiber that was in it from the brown rice. I swore to never use that kind again. I felt like the worst parent ever.

So, the next day...now that I knew already how she reacted with it both taste wise and body wise, I went for a all-natural white rice cereal. And yes. Success! No more sour faces lol. I even tasted this one...and although it's not like something I would ever eat, at least it was edible :)

What's your favorite food to feed your baby? I'm going to go the route of making my own veggies and fruits for her soon, any advice?

Baby Mugging

2013-06-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

Have you heard this new photography trend going around called baby mugging? Well, it's the funniest thing ever. I don't know who comes up with these ideas...but of course I had to try it :)

Not only did I mug my baby, but I mugged my dog Max along with it. This is the closest he has willingly ever been by El. He won't let her get near him. But for whatever reason, he decided to lay right by her today. Figures. It was good timing though :) Now I have dog mugging and baby mugging :)

Flying With a Baby

2013-06-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

I don't know what we were thinking wanting to take a 5 month old on a plane trip . . .

Well. It wasn't so bad. But, I'm not sure I will do it again any time soon. My dad has been having some health issues, so we decided to take a trip to see him. If we drove, it would be over 9 hours (or more) in a car with a 5 month old, or if we flew, it would be 1.5 hours in a plane. Which is the better of two evils? Well, we decided that flying may be the best option.

I have been kind of stressing about flying with a baby. I didn't know how she would react at all. I did a ton of research, asked our pediatrician for advice, asked friends who have flown with babies for advice...I did everything to prepare for the trip. The main concern that kept popping up was about the baby's ears on the takeoff and landing. I was faced with a couple of options to help this: feed her on the way up and down or have her suck on a binky. Well, she lasts about 4 to 5 minutes per feeding. So that would help...but just for a little bit. And she doesn't take a binky. So, you can see why I was stressing :) I talked to a neighbor and a nurse and they both mentioned that it may be a good idea to give her a dumdum sucker to suck on. It's something new and great tasting, and it may help. This was the last thing I wanted to do...but I was desperate so I stocked piled the diaper bag with suckers just in case lol. The next option was to give her a bottle. El hasn't been on a bottle yet, so I really didn't want to do this...but, well, I was desperate. Of course, this option would have came before the dumdum option though :)

Here was my bag of arsenal :)

It included: Hand sanitizer, Wet Ones to clean the seats and everything around us :), tissues, bulb, ziplock bags just in case of a major blowout, diapers, wipes, changing pad, phone for videos...and sucking on apparently, binkies, suckers, bottle, burp clothe, toys (more than what's here), books and a change of clothes...actually, two changes of clothes. You can't say I wasn't prepared :)

As we entered the airport, I could feel all the daggers people were sending my way for bringing a baby on a plane. I may have been imagining them...but I swear I felt them :) I didn't know what to expect during the whole process. Luckily, it was pretty easy and they cater to families with small children, which I totally didn't know :) Once we checked in and headed through security. A sweet lady let us know that we can by pass the big line and cut to the family line to pass through. How nice is that?

Security was super easy. The 3-1-1 rule doesn't apply to baby things :) And once we got to the gate, we were able to pre-board. Even better :)...and we were able to take our the stroller, the car seat and the car seat base and check it plane side.

So, now for the plane. El did super good on the first leg of our trip. I fed her around take off and she fell fast asleep. Only woke up a during landing because of the turbulance. We gave her a binky, which lasted for about two seconds, but her ears didn't seem to bug her at all. She was a happy clam, flirting with all the guys behind us :)

The second leg of the trip...well that kept us on our toes...she was tired and cranky. And she doesn't fall asleep just anywhere. I was surprised she fell asleep on the first plane. I felt really bad, but luckily her outbursts were loud and short. We were constantly trying to find something for her to entertain herself with. Each thing lasted about a minute. We had a movie, books, toys, toys and toys, binkies ....and the thing she liked most? Wrappers and water bottles. Figures lol. Feeding her didn't last but two minutes on the way up and there was no way she was going to feed on the way down. But her ears? No problemo.

I don't know how I got so lucky. And even luckier? I don't think the people on the plane minded her short outbursts. ....at least they didn't let us know lol.Oh. and no blow-outs on the plane. I was crossing my fingers that didn't happen ;)

Just the whole stress of the thing will probably prevent me from flying with her for at least a year though. I think it took a couple of years off my life :)

Have any of you flown with infants? What are your secrets?

The grossness of it all....

2013-06-13T21:08:00.001-07:00

I was one of those to-be parents that wanted to learn everything about having a baby and raising a baby. I read books on it, I scoured the internet about it, I took the birthing classes and breast feeding classes. Everything. Well...first off. Nothing can truly prepare you for your baby. It's a fact. You can try....but it all changes once you have him/her. Some things work, some things don't. All babies (so I've heard) are different. Anyway. This post isn't about that. It's about what none of those books, websites, forums, or classes ever taught. And as a first time mom, I learned maybe a little late. So...yeah. That was fun.

During one of our classes, they taught us how to bathe the baby. Start at the eyes, then the face, then work your way down. Make sure to get under the neck a bit, etc etc.

Well, I cleaned under the neck, but apparently not good enough. Luckily I found this out soon. I found all that nice smelling rotten spit up lurking underneath there. So, that was within the first couple of weeks I discovered this. Could of realized this sooner. But oh well.

Then there came a day. El was wearing a dress. A three month dress. So that tells you how old she was and how long this came about...although she did start wearing three month clothes like at 1 1/2 months. So that makes it not so bad. So..back to the story. She was wearing her sleeveless dress as I was feeding her. I kept smelling something really funky. I looked around. Thought it was rotten spit up on me. It wasn't. Thought it might be the couch. Nope. Maybe the blanket I was sitting on. It had to be the blanket I was sitting on. It kept smelling....really bad. I thought maybe I should get up and sit somewhere else and made a mental note to wash the blanket. Of course, I didn't get up. I just kept sitting there sniffing everything wondering how it could possible smell that bad..... and, well, my nose found an armpit. Oh.My.Goodness. Could it be? Sniffed again, ummm. Yep. That was it. I pulled up her arm and lo and behold, fumunda armpit cheese. (sorry for the visual...and yes, it was that bad) lol.

I clean and wipe and do everything I was suppose to under her pits. But apparently...not a good enough 'deep cleaning'. Nobody told me this stuff existed...especially under the arm pits! My poor baby had been living with this grossness for her whole life and I was none the wiser. And it is definitely nothing that I learned about or that anyone told me about. I mean...this stuff is nasty. I make a note to tell every first time mom about this stuff. It's not something you want to experience twice :) And I figure since no one ever told me, more than likely no one will ever tell them.

You live. You learn. And then you pay real close attention to every other crevice on the body :)

And also...not as bad as the fun under the pits...but the dirt that accumlates in between the fingers. You would think I would figure that was the same way under the toes. Nope. Didn't think that far until a few weeks later. Luckily, most baths got rid of it. But the toes get the lint too. Wonderful lol.

So, for those soon to be moms out there. Beware :)...and now you know.

And for all those experienced moms out there, anything else I need to know about so I don't have to discover grossness similar to this again?

Swaddling...and not swaddling

2013-05-29T12:43:00.001-07:00

I have been swaddling El ever since she was born. The first few days were attempted swaddles with a blanket. This little baby is strong, so those didn't last not even with the best and strongest holding swaddle. So I started using the Halo and SwaddleMe velcro wearable blankets/swaddle. She never got swaddled during the day though, but her night time routine was get swaddled, eat, and then fall asleep. Then she would sleep through the whole night. I like to think this is why she slept all night. She knew the swaddle meant sleep...and sleep for a long time :) I also think the nighttime routine helped. I made it different then any other nap during the day (if she did nap :) ).

But, then I started noticing how much she started fighting the swaddle at night. She would get in it, eat for a minute, and then do a major squirm bug freak out. This would last for a few minutes, and then she would finally give up.

Then the last couple of weeks, when I would wake up to feed her, I would notice one of her arms got out...little Houdini :) ...and sometimes both arms. So I figured it was about time to stop swaddling her. Cue the major anxiety on my part lol. I was told to stop swaddling when she became proficient in rolling over. She's only rolled over a handful of times from her front to her back, so I figured I still had awhile. But I think she was secretly telling me otherwise.

So, on Sunday night, we decided to try the no swaddle thing. I wasn't going to, but then when I swaddled her up and started feeding her, she was doing a major squirm freak out again, and wouldn't stop. So I said, alright. This is it...oh boy. lol. So, I took her arms out, started feeding her, laid her down....and 1 minute later. Crying. Ugh. Picked her back up, cuddled her, but her back down. And ......silence. She was asleep :) Now to see how long it lasted. I was expecting a super long long night, with wake ups every 2 hours. Nope. Nada. Slept through the whole night with her arms straight out from her shoulders, like a little "t". It was so cute!

It's been more than a few nights since, and she hasn't had a problem. Boy how I underestimated that little girl :) I thought I would need to do something special, not just cut it cold turkey. But it worked! I sure will miss her little stretches out of the swaddle in the morning though :)

I gotta say, it's a fun having successes as a mom :) Of course, this had nothing to do with me lol. I guess she was just super ready to not sleep all swaddled up. I don't blame her. Can you imagine being in somewhat of a straight jacket all night?? I tried sleeping with my arms straight at my sides one night, not the most comfortable thing lol

Clothing...why can't they just fit the same?

2013-05-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

I have this obsession with El's clothes. It's funny because when she was born, I hated putting clothes on her. She was in her diaper alone for the first two weeks of her life. I just loved how she looked, all cute and ...well baby. Putting clothes on her made her feel not so much like my sweet little newborn baby. Plus, I was scared 'you.know.what.less' to put clothes on her. I thought I was going to hurt her.

Well, now she's about 4 months old, and well, I love clothes. Probably too much. I have about an outfit a day for however long she'll stay in that size. I had about 40 outfits or so alone for 3 months. She wore maybe half of them. I just can't help myself buying clothes for her. They are so cute! I just wish she would stop growing so crazy dang fast so she can actually start wearing all of them lol

But, that brings me to my next annoyance. Why can't they all fit the same? First off. You get one that looks like the perfect size. Then you wash it. And then...well, might as well say goodbye to it because it just shrunk 2 inches everywhere. This has happened so many times to me! Why can't they make baby clothes shrink proof? Or make them one size bigger so you don't get caught buying the 'right' size, washing it, and then it being the wrong size. I mean, it does say 'wash before wearing'. So, you would think the size after the wash would be the size they put on the hanger.

Now for the differences in make. I found that Carters and all there makes are pretty true to size, but Osh Kosh...well, there six month fits like a 3 months. I just bought a dress from there for 9 months that fit like 3 months....and then you have to wash it! Ugh.

I know that most moms figure these things out, you just have to live and learn first. This is my living and learning lol.

And another note...or rant :) ....I bought sets of things. Like 5 onesies in a set. One would think they would all be the same size, right? Nope. Wrongo. Living and learning again lol :)

I'm just glad this only took a few months to figure out. El's in six month clothes now, and I'm ready to start washing the 9 months to make sure she gets a chance to wear them...you know. Just in case :)

Happy Mother's Day!

2013-05-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

I know this is a day late, but I hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. This was of course my first Mother's Day. I looked in the mirror yesterday and kept telling myself that I'm a mom. It was so weird. I don't feel like a mom. I know that I take care of a little girl and am her mom, I just don't feel like one. Is it suppose to feel like anything? I guess feeling like a mom is having unconditional love for a little being. That unconditional love is really surreal. I never understood how motherhood would feel, it really is one of those things that you don't know until you are in it. I never expected it to be this wonderful and fulfilling. It's the most amazing thing. I love my little El and am so greatful she has gifted me with my first Mother's Day :)

Happy Mother's Day!!

Diapers: to wear them...or not to wear them?

2013-05-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

I could get more into the 'goods' of the diapers, but I'll save that for another post :) I decided that I have a love-hate relationship with diapers. I love that they cover, for the most part, the pee and poo from coming out. I hate that they cover only for the most part the pee and poo from coming out. I don't know if anatomy of babies are really that different (besides the obvious of boys and girls) that diapers can't be made to hold in everything. I know there will be some messes now and again, that's fine. But I can't seem to find any diaper ...at all...that doesn't give me a pee or poo blowout at least once every other day or so.

This is what I have concluded so far with my 1,000th diapered used. No, I didn't count, it's an estimate. But 4 months times 8 or so a day gives about 1000 :) Unless you count today, which it's only the morning and I have gone through 4 diapers already. That's a lot of diapers lol.

Okay. Pampers hold in poop somewhat well, although I don't ever use them long enough to actually tell because the fact that they don't hold pee worth a darn makes me not ever want to use them unless they are the only ones in stock. Seriously, every morning I wake up and take little El out of her bassinet and find a wet spot going all the way up to her head because of these things. No bueno.

Now for Huggies. I found that I like these the most, they hold in pee like a champ! But...the poo situation, well, I guess the fact that they at least hold in pee so well makes it manageable to clean up blowouts at least once a week :)

I tried some off brand I got from my baby shower, and I loved these things, but they started giving El a horrible, horrible rash. It was the saddest thing ever how quick this rash flared up and how much it hurt her. I wish I knew the brand so I knew to never ever buy them.

Target's brand is another brand I could live with especially since they are a lot cheaper than Huggies. But, I just don't like how much cheaper they feel lol. I know, they are cheaper, so they probably should feel cheaper. I just want something a little bit softer as to not scratch the good heck out of her thighs.

Now, Babies R Us brand. Hate them. Before I had El, I went on a crazy shopping spree at the Black Friday sale for Babies R Us. I didn't plan on getting any diapers there, but there were women there stock piling stacks and stacks of these diapers into their carts. Not just one cart, like 3 carts. I figured, holy cow!! This must be such a good deal and such a good diaper! So I grabbed five of them for myself. Of course I didn't buy any newborns, only 1s and 2s. So, by the time El was ready to fit into 1s and I realized what a piece of crap these were, it was too late to return them :( So now I have these diapers just sitting around taking up space. They didn't hold in anything. Nothing. It was horrible, I think it was like 3 blow outs a day with these babies.

I'm not here to ridicule any of these diaper makers, I just have my own experiences. Who knows, these diapers probably work really well on some and not so well on others. I just don't get why they can't all be made to hold in everything lol especially since she's not even really moving yet. All she does is sit and lay down, can it really be that hard??

I have thought about the whole clothe diaper thing. I'm not sure I want to get into that, or if they really work. Anyone using them and having a good/bad experience about them? Please share. I'm really wondering if this is something to do or not.

There's also this thing going around that I heard about where parents are choosing to not even put diapers on their babies at all. ....WHAT?????? I guess they say you can tell by looking into your baby's eyes if he/she is about to pee/poo and then you run them into the bathroom and sit them on the toilet when you see 'the look'. I'm not sure about this. I know El gives a look when she's about to poop. But really, by the time I finally take off her clothes and get her into the bathroom, there is going to be a huge mess to clean up all over my floor. I couldn't imagine. And for pee??? Even if there is a look for pee, you would have to be looking into your baby's eyes every second of the day. I know El pees like 15 times a day. That's a lot of peeing. And what happens when they are asleep? This is just beyond me lol But I guess to each there own :)

Any other diapers you all like? I would love to give them a try!

What they don't tell you

2013-05-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

A couple of things that no birthing class will prepare you for. First off, after delivery, you can't walk. I seriously couldn't even get out of bed without help for the first couple of days. And then walking was an interesting experience all in itself. It hurt. It even hurt to sit. People don't tell you this lol. I had no idea what was going on. Why was my butt hurting so bad??? They also don't prepare you for all the aftermath...the blood, the humongous underwear, etc etc.

I also caught myself stumbling over all the time. My equilibrium was completely off balance without having the big belly. I pulled my back muscle in the shower really bad just a few days after delivery trying to catch myself from falling over when I closed my eyes. It all makes sense really, I just didn't know about it.

Now for breastfeeding. This is the most rewarding experience ever. But I had no idea that the first three weeks of El's life would be attached to me. I was feeding her every 45 minutes to an hour. Really? No one told me this would happen. I thought that for sure after I had her, I would have a ton of time to do stuff. I knew I would have to feed her, but I thought it was like every 2 or 3 hours and then she would sleep between. But no. She didn't sleep. Ever. All she did was eat eat eat. I guess I shouldn't say she never slept, because I was lucky and she slept most of the night since she was born, but during the day, this sweet little girl was always awake. It was exhausting. I thought to myself...why would anyone ever want to do this more than once? I couldn't possibly imagine having a second child and going through all of this again plus having to care of the older child.

Luckily time passes and things get figure out :) Now I can imagine having another baby. Maybe I forgot how bad it was? Or maybe I just see how fun she is now and how fast she's growing and just want to be in this moment forever so I have to keep having kids to enjoy the moment for forever? :)

Delivery

2013-04-30T10:43:00.001-07:00

As I said before, El decided to show up to this world a lot later than I had planned. For months before her due date, I had been practicing hypnobirthing. I wanted to have this baby naturally. I figured, women have been having babies without meds all throughout history. It can't be that bad, can it? So, I figured, just in case, I should plan on having something help me through it...so I started practicing hypnobirthing.

As for the timing, I wanted to have this baby before Christmas, So I tried everything I could do to get labor started. Literally. Everything...well, besides castor oil. I didn't want to venture into that realm. I ran almost every day, at least 2 miles. I took red raspberry leaf tea, I took primrose oil. I did the exercise ball for hours and hours on end. I did a few other things that are obvious if you know what I mean. I tried everything. Even got my membranes scraped. Nothing worked. This baby was going to come on her own. It's my full belief now that the baby will come when he/she is ready. It's just a coincidence that if you get your membranes scraped or take some tea and the baby comes the next day. I think the baby was already coming and you are just saying that the membrane scraping did it. I don't think so. I think it's completely coincidental, because I tried everything! And nothing happened. I didn't even dilate any further.

So, as my due date came and past, I started getting real nervous. I didn't know how it would work trying to go naturally while being induced. The day of the induction came, and I ran over 2 miles that morning. I was over 10 months pregnant by then lol. I could imagine what that looked like :) Well, nothing happened, so in to the hospital I went. Not wanting to be induced, but practically had to do it for the sake of my little babe's health. I remember crying and crying at the thought. I was scared and worried. I kept hearing horror stories about being induced and how so many of them end up in c-sections.

Well, I had some great nurses that understood that I wanted to do this naturally...or at least try. So they are started me off very low on the pitocen and would only raise it 1 every hour. Once I got to a 5, I was in complete misery. The contractions were unbearable and I didn't have hardly even 5 seconds in between them. I knew that if I was close to the end, I could push through, but I had no idea how close I was. For all I knew at the time, I wasn't progressing at all. So I called it quits. There was no way I could push through this pain. So the epidural came my way. I remember completely shaking uncontrollably before the epidural and just crying and thinking at the time that it was possibly the darkest time of my life. I was having a baby! I wasn't suppose to be thinking that. I do have to say, throughout all of the pain at the beginning, the hypnobirthing did work...a little. But El was turned around so I was having the worst back labor ever. I think if it wasn't for the back labor, I may....may have been able to do it.

So the epidural. That's another story. I went from wanting to feel everything and go natural to not being able to even move my legs at all. It was the worst feeling ever. The epidural took way to strong. I hated it. I couldn't feel the contractions at all. This was not what I wanted.....then came the nurse change. My nurse left and in came a new one. I hadn't been checked for my dilation by this time for 3 hours. I knew she had to be close. I finally had to call the nurse in and ask to check me. She came in thinking I probably had awhile left to go...but no. El had already dropped into delivery position and she was practically coming out on her own. Who knows how long she was just hanging there. I was happy she was there...but so mad that they hadn't checked me hours earlier.

Well, long story short :) She was delivered without any complications and looked completely beautiful. It was the most amazing experience of my life once all was said and done. I do hope to try to go all natural next time around again, hopefully not being induced though. They say most first time moms go late and need to be induced. If that's the case, I hope that means most second time moms don't go late and don't need an induction :)

Pregnancy

2013-04-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

I know people are going to hate me on this one. I admit, I got lucky. I got blessed. The heavens were shining down on me. I don't know. But some how, I managed to not get sick. Have no complications. In fact, I ran 2 miles every other day my entire pregnancy up until the day I was induced. I gained only 30 pounds, had no stretch marks, and didn't retain any water. (believe me...I am knocking on wood as we speak right now for my next pregnancy lol)

I wanted to be pregnant for the rest of my life. It was the best thing to ever happen to me. I couldn't imagine not being pregnant. I'm glad little El helped in her own way by being 11 days late and letting me have that extra week in a half lol. I guess she was super comfy cozy in there. Although. She could have came about a week earlier and maybe I would have been able to claim her on my taxes. But alas. That didn't happen. She was well worth the wait though :)

I enjoyed my pregnancy so much that once I had El, I was feeling really really down about not being pregnant anymore. I would cry as we went through all the pregnancy photos I had taken. I kept thinking it was just hormones. But really, I was so sad I wasn't pregnant. I missed it. I missed it all the way up until about a month after. Don't get me wrong, I loved having my little baby to hold in my arms, but at times, I would catch myself patting her little bum thinking and remembering that that's what my belly felt like just weeks prior and how much I missed patting her little bum while she was in there. I'm now at a point that I can't even remember being pregnant. I hate that. I wish I could remember, but maybe it's all for the best :) The only things left to remind me is of course, my little girl, my nice little extra skin I have hanging on my belly still, and that dark line (the linea negra)...does that ever go away? Goodness, almost 4 months out and it's still there.

I know every pregnancy is different. I'm hoping that mine aren't. I guess we shall see in the future. I probably just jinxed it by writing this post lol.

Let's get started

2013-04-29T15:51:00.001-07:00

Well, lets get started shall we. My little babe, El, was born a few months ago. I had a relatively easy pregnancy. Actually. Really easy. It was a dream. Didn't get sick and had no complications. She's my first, so with firsts come a lot of ...well firsts. Here are my confessions as a first time mom. Everything from poop and cooing to adventures and mis-adventures. I'll try not to focus so much on the poops :)

Just a background, I'm a full time mom, full time worker, and full time wife. I have my wee little one and 80 pound dog who doesn't like her one bit. The hubs and I have been married for over five years now and the hubs inherited my dog when he married me. What a lucky man :) I get the luxury of staying home with my two little guys all day while working. This is wonderful and completely chaotic at times, but I can't complain. I love my life and the blessings I have been dealt.

I'll be going a little backward at first with my day to day ramblings just because El's already 3 months now but believe me, it's just as real now as it was then :) Welcome to my life and my insanity lol