Contest Winner

With over 150 views to my contest post, I hope that everyone had a chance to check out Stephanie's pages on Facebook & Etsy to see all her wonderful wraps and baby accessories! With that being said, we had 12 entries (comments left to let me know you entered) for the contest. I went down the list of comments and gave everyone a number and added the 2 Facebook entries on the end.

 I used a random app to select the number and the winner is....

 

 

Comment #7: Trisha Newsom

Please check your email on details of how to claim your wrap! :)

 

 

 

Thanks again for everyone who entered and checked out Stephanie's shop!!!

 

 

2 Year Giveaway!

 

I can't believe it's already been 2 years since I started this little blog.  I was just engaged and planning a wedding when I started, and now I am married with my sweet baby girl.  I want to thank everyone who has read along with my journey and left such sweet comments. 

 

In honor of my Blogiversary, I have teamed up with my friend, Stephanie, at Camela Sky Designs for a fun giveaway for one of my readers! I have known Stephanie since my Bank Plus days, so around 6 years.  She has made many cute baby gifts for myself, as well as gifts I have given to friends.  She also made my bridesmaids gift, these fantastic towel wraps, which is what she has so graciously offered to give away to one of my readers!   Below is a wrap she made me a few years ago and I still wear it everyday out of the shower! The top is made with snaps, so you don't have to worry about any Velcro getting fuzzy and not sticking.  She can make to size and personalize color and fabric choice.  One lucky reader will get their own personalized towel wrap!

 

 

 

 

You must do the following to enter to win: Comment below ON MY BLOG (not on the link on Facebook) with your name and email address, so I can have one list of all entries.. and also "like" Camela Sky Designs Facebook page HERE and Follow her on Etsy HERE.

 

You MUST do all 3 to be qualified.  While you are at her pages, please browse through and see all the cute, homemade items she has to offer!  I will close the contest at 8pm, Monday, August 18 and will announce the winner the following day. Once I have all entries, I will give each person a number based on the order of their comment and have a random drawing.  I will then email the winner with Stephanie's information so you can get in touch to personalize your towel wrap! :)

 

 

Good luck!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Must Haves and Tilly Update

It's finally Friday.. yay! Friday is definitely a bit different now, as I am not counting down until the end of my work week (that never ends now, sigh), but to Lance's.  Now the weekend is almost here for our little family to all get to hang out and enjoy a few days together relaxing.  This also equals extra help for Mommy and 2 days I get to spend more than 10 seconds in the shower.. oh, the little things.

I thought I would make a little list of some of my random top baby items I have come to have on my MUST have list. I know these might not work or be musts for everyone, but they definitely are in this house!


1. Fisher Price Rock N Play - ((here at Walmart))

 

 

 

 

Now, I had heard of this and even had a few people mention it to me, but since we already owned what seemed like every baby gadget crammed in our tiny house, I was reluctant to buy one.  As I mentioned before, Tilly had reflux so it's very hard to ever lay her on her back.  I was having to constantly hold her up for 30+ minutes after eating, and even then she would constantly spit up in her sleep and grunt and gurgle all night.  Let's say neither of us were getting much sleep.  One day I was texting with my fellow mommy friend, Amber, and she mentioned this to me.  I told her the same, I wasn't sure we needed something else, and kind of forgot about it.  Well that night missy puked EVERYWHERE and I was at my wits end.  I woke up, read some reviews, got on Walmart.com, and ordered this thing ASAP.  Let me tell you.. that has been the best purchase of my life! haha Thank you Amber for putting this back in my head.  Tilly now sleeps for 5-5 1/2 hours her first stretch of the night, and then around 3-4 after her middle of the night feeding.  No more grunting, puking, or awake Mommy and baby. I can feed her and hold her long enough for her to fall asleep (maybe 2 minutes in the middle of the night) and plop her butt right back in that thing.  She pretty much lives in this right now, and as that might not be ideal.. happy baby equals happy house.  If your baby has reflux and you don't have this.. RUN, not walk.. and get this.  There are a ton of different versions. I got the Deluxe since it had a nice little pillow and vibrated, but I'm sure the ones a little cheaper work just as well.

 

 

2.  Sound Machine - ((here at Target))

 

 

 

Now there are many expensive machines out there, but this one is $25 at Target and works great.  It's a sound machine, and also projects images up on the ceiling (there are 3 different image wheels to switch out). They are a bit creepy, but I don't think she cares! haha When Tilly is fussy or cranky, I also have an app on my phone that I crank the ocean noise at FULL volume by her head and she literally goes into a silent trance.  It's amazing and hilarious at the same thing.  We sleep with this thing on full blast ocean, and creepy fish on our ceiling every night.  The light part is mainly just for me now, as it's soft enough to not bother her, and helps me be able to look over and see her while she sleeps.  Sound machines (and apps on your phone for on the go) are a MUST with babies. Trust me.

 

 



3. Changing Pad Liners - ((here at Target))

 

 

 

 

You have your cute changing pad cover and what you don't want to be doing is pulling that thing off and washing it 3 times a day, what you DO want is this nice little liner to place on top that you just throw in the hamper.  Your baby WILL pee and/or poop outside their diaper most likely once a day while changing them.  It may not actually come out then, but it will somehow get on that liner.  You will be thankful to have these.  Get a few packs, you'll need them unless you want to do laundry a million times. (wait, that'll happen anyways, but still get a few! haha)


4. Baby Drops -- ((Gribe, Gas,  at Target and Soothe at Walgreens))

 

These drops are our nice little friends. 

 

Gripe Water- First, with Tilly and her reflux, she gets the hiccups A LOT (almost every time she lays flat) and this makes it where you can just hear the liquid coming up each time.  The gripe water stops the hiccups almost immediately and stops the awful process and noise.  It's an all natural drop, so it is also supposed to help calm their little tummies.  50% say it works, 50% say it doesn't.. all I know is it stops her hiccups and that makes this mommy happy.

 

Gas Drops- These don't need much of a description.  With her being on formula now, she gets pretty gassy, so if we can tell it's making her fussy and bothering her, we will give her some of these to help the pain.

 

Gerber Soothe Drops-  As I was reading on my baby app message board one day all these moms with night time fussy babies, I kept seeing these drops mentioned and how great they were.  I called Lance one day after she had a rough night before and told him he had to stop and get these because I had to know if they work. Wellllll I didn't know this TINY little bottle was $35.. oops.  But he knew I would kill him if he came home without them, so $35 later we had this little bottle in our hands ready for a miracle.  Now I'm not sure if it's just time going on and her getting used to the formula or these drops, but the past week or so, she has been much calmer and so much happier.  You just give 5 drops a night and it's supposed to help their digestive system balance out, which equals a happy baby.

 

I don't give her all these drops every day all day, so no one freak out.  She gets her soothe drops at night, her gripe water (again, all natural) for bad hiccups, and we really don't give the gas drops much at all.  This is what works for US, so again, it may not work for you and your baby.

 

 

5. Beringer White Zif.. this one's for Mommy! :)

 

 

 

I hope this little post can help another mommy or mommy-to-be when things get rough.  I think sometimes women, especially moms, can be so judgemental and hard on each other. It's not always easy, and every little bit of advice and encouragement can go a long way!!

 

Update on Tilly-  As I mentioned before, she has been doing MUCH better.  Between getting a routine, used to drinking formula, some drops, and patience.. she is much happier, hardly fusses, and is sleeping great at night.  She still naps a lot through out the morning and early afternoon, and is awake pretty much from 5pm until bedtime.  She is starting to make eye contact now and smiles all the time.. now actually at you and not just into space! haha  It's the sweetest thing when she wakes up and I go stand over her to pick her up and she just super grins up at me! :) We had our first trip out this weekend to Walmart and she did great until around produce.  By then she was hungry and mad.. but with a little help from the pacifier, we all made it out alive!  I have been practicing wearing her in a wrap around the house, so I can start wearing her when we go out. She literally passes out the second she's in it, I just have to get it tight enough to feel like I am supporting her in it enough.  We also had our first mommy daughter day out with a Stay at Home Moms Concord group I found online. It was a lot of fun and I think I will end up joining the group so we can have a few social outings a month.  Overall things are going great and this little chunk is eating more and more each day.  She seems to grow daily, and while that makes me happy.. also a little sad.  Her spitting up has gotten MUCH better on formula.  She still has the reflux and can't lay flat, but we are hardly having to change outfits through out the day now, and we all smell a lot better! :)

 

 

A few pics from our latest adventures! 

 

 

  Have a great weekend!!!

 

 

Wednesday Confessions

 

 

Today I thought I would just write about all the random things going on and confessions into how my life has changed.  Just a fun post looking inside my days lately! :)

 

• It's 12:30pm and I am just now drinking coffee and eating my blueberry "buscuits" granola pack.
• I am peed and/or puked on daily.
• My bed is peed and/or puked in almost nightly during feedings.  What do I do? What any logical mother does at 3am.  I get up, change Tilly, put her down, and go back to sleep with whatever liquid has leaked in my bed.  Hey, it'll dry and I'll eventually get around to washing our sheets.. Don't judge.
• The highlight of my day Monday was when Tilly finally pooped after a 48 hour drought.  Let's just say I was overly excited and then sad about how excited that made me, haha.
• I have spent the last 2 days with cabbage leaves shoved in my bra trying to dry up my milk.  To say I stink is putting it nicely.  Warm cabbage mixed with leaking milk is not the most attractive smell.  Nor is it working yet. I am basically going through self torture right now.
• I wear lounge clothes daily and have worn make-up maybe 5-6 times total since Tilly has been born. If you know me, you know I love my make-up.  If you know babies, you know they can't see you that well so hey, what's the point.
• I still have around 20 lbs I need/want to lose and it can be a bit depressing thinking about the work it's going to take. Considering I spend most of my days on the couch, I probably need to get a plan of how to lose them. Sigh.  My 6 week checkup is next Tuesday, so technically I can't do anything yet anyways. After next week though, this little mama's gotta get in gear!
• I still try to paint my nails once a week to keep myself happy.  It's my thing.  Luckily Lance let's me have a nail night and watches Tilly while I do my manicures.
• My baby is 5 1/2 weeks old and already the biggest sassy little Diva.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.
• Being a parent is hard.. wait, being a MOM is hard.  Man, Dad's have it made. (good thing Lance never reads my blog! lol)  I do understand the saying though now, Being a parent is the hardest, yet most rewarding thing you will ever do.
• Even though my day is completely consumed with a baby, I still have to keep my house clean. (minus the somewhat baby infested sheets).  I do laundry almost daily, still make our bed daily, and keep everything in order.  I may be a bit of a neat freak, and this keeps part of my life balanced.  As she gets older, we will have lessons on cleaning and organizing! :) lol
• I love the weekends when I can make a quick alone trip to Target, but I always am so excited to see my sweet little baby when I get back and miss her even in that small amount of time.
• I am very blessed to have the help of my amazing husband on this journey, even though he can be a bit whiney during overnight time! :)  I am lucky to have all his help since we have no family in the area and are doing this completely on our own day to day.

 

 

 

So basically.. my life is pretty boring and disgusting most of the time, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  A little update from my last post.. we have switched completely to formula as of now.  I was giving a bottle or two of breast milk a day, but realized that was the only time she was mainly puking.  Let me tell you, with 40+ bags in the freezer I suffered pumping out, I am a bit discouraged about where to go from here.  Do I make her drink it, or stick with what's working? Uh. So far she seems to be doing good on the formula.. she only has her puke moments for the most part when we burp her and she tends to spew then.  It is messing with her bathroom routine, but I think that's normal when switching to formula.  She also hasn't had many "colic" nights at all lately.  Fingers crossed this all stays good and I don't jinx myself by writing this! :)  Enjoy your Wednesday as I try to go squeeze in a shower! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tilly - 1 Month

Since I have no more bumpdates to post, what's the next best thing? Baby updates!!

 

I am a few days late because I wanted to wait on her doctor's appointment today to get her updated info.. so here we go:

 

 

 

Month: 1 - July 21, 2014

Height: 21 3/4 inches.  Ok so when she was born they said she was 21 inches but apparently the hospital just does a quick glance at the measurement test because the next week at her first visit she was around 19 inches? Who knows.  She was 20 inches 2 weeks ago and spiked this time going up to 21 3/4. Who would've thought with her 2 shorty parents?!

Weight: 8 lbs, 1 oz

Diaper Size: Newborn

Clothes Size:  Ok this is weird.  She wears Newborn, but some are way bigger than others.  I can definitely tell the ones that were really big before are starting to actually fit now and some of her pants that fit good before are pretty snug.  But since little missy is so long, her sleepers don't really fit because she can't stretch her body out.  Looks like she will be sleeping in onesies until she bumps up to 0-3 months.

Sleep:  She is sleeping about 2 hours at a time during the day and recently bumped up to 3-4 hours at night.. hallelujah! When she does wake up at night she pretty much just eats and passes back out. Thankful mama here.

Eat:  She is so random on this.  I would say average is 2.5oz but she has been having quite a bit of 3oz bottles.  Then sometimes she only has 1.5oz.  That girl doesn't know what she wants.  She did have her first bottle of formula today and she sucked down 4oz.. so she's been lights out for over 2 hours now!

Likes:  Eat, sleep, and snuggle

Dislikes:  Being changed, if she isn't immediately fed when woken up, Dr Brown bottles, and when the doctor takes her temp.. you know where they do that for babies, right? :(

Firsts:  She had her first bottle of formula today and drank it great. Like I said above, she ate way more than she has breast milk.  We are about to start going back and forth between the 2 for now to see if it helps with her reflux and as I start weaning off pumping. I have quite a bit frozen so she'll get both for a little bit.  She also had her first major through-the-clothes blow out this week.. that was not fun for Daddy who discovered it! haha

Extra Updates:  Well this section isn't going to be the greatest news.  Tilly has had signs of reflux since around week 2 and it is a PAIN.  I feel so bad for her.  Luckily she doesn't have it horrible and is considered a "happy spitter" since so far it doesn't seem to bother her and irritate her throat.  This just means she doesn't need medicine since she's not in pain.  We still have to hold her up for quite a while after she eats in hopes of keeping the food down.  Unfortunately she still spits up and throws up sometimes, even up to an hour later.  We are just pushing through and hoping it doesn't stay around too long.  I bought her the Rock N Play to sleep in which has helped a lot with keeping her at an angle, and we are also hoping to find a good formula that's thicker to stay in her stomach better.

Another not so fun thing I found out today at the doctor is she also has a bit of Colic. AH.  The past week or two she has had some angry spells a few nights a week starting between 9-10pm and lasting about an hour or 2 at the most.  Mostly I can calm her by holding her and walking around, but she is not a happy camper during this period.  I wasn't sure if it was related to the reflux or what, but after explaining it to her doctor she let me know the dreaded word was indeed the cause, Colic.  She did tell me it sounded like she didn't have it near as bad as others, as a lot of babies will scream constantly for around 4 hours and nothing soothes them. So thank goodness for that.  The doctor also said it is normally gone by the 2 month mark, so only one month to go.. yikes.

Will all that being said, she is still a very happy, cuddly baby and the sweetest thing.  If she's not throwing up and it's before 9pm, we are great! :) haha  So as of now we are still just in the baby survival mode taking it day by day.  I get up with her all night since Lance works and I am staying home, so it's definitely exhausting tending to her 24/7.  Thank goodness he helps as much as he can at night before bed and on the weekends.  I am going shopping tonight for my birthday (I need some post-baby body clothes to fit these extra pounds hanging around.. sigh. Hopefully after my 6 week checkup I can get my butt on a good work out routine.) so it's Daddy duty tonight.

Now let's keep this blog real and share a little of my blooper pics when taking her 1 month picture.  This is the reason her eyes are so puffy in the above.. she was NOT feeling her photoshoot, haha  Enjoy! :)

Checking In

Well I have been slacking on my blog lately so I thought I would check in with some random tidbits of my life.  Basically we are still in survival newborn mode and just taking it day by day.  Tilly was 3 weeks old on Saturday and today marks my first full week alone.  All of my family has visited, and I'm not sure when Lance's will get the chance to come.  Of course this has to be Lance's inventory week so he will be working tons of hours and it's on Saturday this month.  So 6 long days.. yikes!

I don't want to jinx myself, but so far Tilly has been such an amazing baby. That girl eats, sleeps, and poops.. all a lot! Her schedule pretty much is about every 2-3 hours she wakes up to eat and then once burped and rocked a bit, will go back down to sleep.. then repeat. (with bathroom breaks in between)  Now last Thursday things started to change a bit and she was SUPER fussy and wanted to be held 24/7 or she would cry hysterically. Of course Lance immediately goes into this intense fear that she has the "purple cry".  What is that you ask? Well it's a terrifying video our hospital made us watch about how your baby can cry 24/7 for up to 5-6 months and nothing you can do will console them.  The video then goes on to let you know this is normal and to not shake your baby or basically go insane, as it will end one day.  Ok, I don't know about you but this is not something I want to watch right before I head home with my new baby.  I get they want you to be aware and also know to please not shake your baby or go insane but.. sheesh!  Thank goodness she could be consoled (mama did not have a good Thursday night or Friday day), and once I googled some and asked the ladies on my pregnancy app I learned that apparently she is/was in her 3 week growth spurt. These tend to happen 3,6,9 weeks and then 3,6,9 months were the baby is really fussy and not their normal self.  She got better as the weekend went on, and seems to be good now.. hallelujah!

This sums up that growth spurt.. I would include one of my face but it was just about the same! haha

 

 

So as of now my day consists of hanging out with Miss Priss, texting my friends a million pictures of her, squeezing in laundry and house work, and if I am really lucky.. a shower and washing my hair.  I had to order some stuff online from Target yesterday because I just had no clue when I would actually get to the store. Of course it was all baby and nursing things. Boy have times changed!  Tonight when Lance gets home I am having a little mommy time and going to get a pedicure and then grocery shopping.. party animal! :)

 

As I type this I hear Tilly getting fussy in her bassinet, so time to start the cycle all over again.  Happy Monday everyone!

 

 

100th Post.. "That Mom"

 

I can't believe I am already writing my 100th blog post! Thank you so much for all the kind words from everyone on my pregnancy journey and also on our sweet little baby girl.  When I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to document it in some way and I figured this little blog would be the best place.  I wasn't sure how many people would enjoy reading along, and how many would just be annoyed by all the posts!  So for those of you that have read along, don't worry... I will definitely be updating tons on Tilly now that she is here.

 

With that being said, I am officially that mom.  You know, when you see a pregnancy announcement on Facebook and think, "Great.. 9 months of a million belly pictures and pregnancy posts."  Then they have the baby and your next thought, "Now we get to see 100 pictures that look the exact same of this baby that she talked about for 9 months."  Come on, you know you've thought that before. Heck, I know I have.  And now what? It's me.  But honestly.. don't the pictures look a LITTLE bit different? haha  I get it now though, when you are pregnant.. it kind of takes over your life and really it's mostly what you have to talk about. And then you have the baby and you really have nothing else left to talk about or take pictures of! My life is 24/7 baby baby baby.  Of course I am going to take a million pictures (yall should see my camera reel in my phone.. sheesh) and share the best ones for all the world to see.. and get annoyed at.  So I apologize because yes, I am that mom now.  I probably will be from here on out.  I try to limit my pictures to the REALLY good ones, but she is just too stinking cute to hold back.  Maybe one day I will have something else to talk about and take pictures of, but right now.. it's all about the new little Princess. 

 

 

 

I will close out with of course.. a picture of my little firecracker! :)  Happy 4th everyone!!