Timeline of a Breastfed Baby

Some days, when I am pumping while writing patient notes and eating my lunch all at the same time while praying to get enough to keep up with Sienna, my shoulders tense and I get stressed and I forget the purpose of it all.

Today I spilled about 1/4 ounce of milk post pumping because Sienna is on a sleep strike and I am so tired I can barely hold things steady. Good thing she is amazingly cute and that at 4 am I actually found myself staring at her sleeping in my arms instead of putting her back down and running to my bed. And I almost cried over spilled milk. And that made me realize that I am doing this for a reason- because I want the little one to get what's best for her.

Who knows how long I will last. My goal is a year, but if at 6 months this doesn't work out of us, I will know I tried my absolute best. And to remind me of all the good it does, even week by week, I went back and read a favorite blog post about the timeline of a breastfed baby.

Timeline of a breastfed baby

Here's to you Sienna, my little up all night want to be with mama and nurse buddy!

Lately with our 3 MONTH OLD!! (Time is flying!)

Ummmm first things first- I haven't even TOUCHED the kitchen with paint. Oops. Guess I am not doing well for my June 6 deadline!

Moving on... the reason I have not touched it is because we've been on the go! Today is Sienna's 3 MONTH birthday! I told her this morning when she woke up how 3 months ago at that time I was getting ready to be induced. Our lives have changed soooo much!!

Last weekend we met friends at the Wilmington Flower Market. Sienna loved people watching, and I loved my delicious crab cake sandwich and diet coke.. and some time with fellow parents and friends. We also got Sienna the cutest headband (oops it cost $15 not $5 like I assumed it would).

We spent our first mother's day with mommy and Sienna both having cuddle time ad then a nice 2 hour nap in the morning, a gorgeous locket with an S on it from daddy and Sienna, and a trip to Yardley to visit grandma.

So now that Sienna is 3 months, life is becoming more predictable (at least during the day!) She takes 3 solid naps each day and we can count on them being at least 45 minutes each! This leaves time to blog, shower (woohoo!), make my bed, and drink a cup of coffee way before it's time to nurse again. I love this. My mom loves this. Our nanny loves this. Predictable is good! Hello sleepy baby on the video monitor... best invention ever!

Bed time is also predictable- 8:00 on the nose every night we are ready for sleepy town. I actually think she'd be ready at 7:00 but mama isn't... and that would mean an 11:00 wake up call for me some nights, not good. Last night, as her 3 month birthday present she slept from 8-2:30 and then 3:15-6:30! Woohooo!! In another 3 or 4 weeks we will push bed time a bit earlier.

Sienna is just about the happiest baby there is. Unless she is REALLY tired or REALLY hungry she's generally in a good mood. Smiling, laughing cooing. It is so much fun to play with her... and she loves anything from her play mat to just sitting on your lap staring at your face. It's so cool. She's able to hold her head up better, turn to look at you, and defiitely tracks her favorite toys at a much further distance than before! This photo is at 6pm. Pretty impressive!

Yesterday daddy had a work softball tournament and we went to watch. Sienna wanted to stare at the grass and trees because it was breezy and they were moving! I think this semi sad face was after I sat her up from staring at the branches. Mama, put me BACK!

We are love love loving spring into summer with our girl. She's happy, interactive, and she is such a cute little love.

We have a VERY busy early summer coming up.... hopefully we can keep track of it all here. One day it will be nice to look back and read what the little one (and we) were up to each week! Happy almost summer!!



PS happy birthday to my blog friend Sarah today! xoxo.

To Do List

Having Sienna is awesome. BUT I end up not being productive on the weekends. I mean, would you? I spend from 7-8:30 am in bed with J and Sienna playing and feeding her and watching her smile. Then when she goes down for her nap I do too! Because we I am still only getting sporadicly a few hours of sleep around here. Sienna even sleeps through her own feedings. By the time she's up again at 10 or 10:30, I feed her and oh my goodness it's halfway through the weekend! I sort of wouldn't trade this time for the world though. She is happiest in the morning well rested and smiley.

That being said, we've got things to do. And OMG, January 20, one month before the little one arrived, was the last time I posted about house things. Since then though, we DID get actual lights installed in the kitchen and can now cook without squinting. Success. I'll post on that later.

But let's recap. Here was the list I had back in the day, but updated!

House & Baby Prep List

Kitchen

Finish last piece of tile

Grouting

Recessed Lighting

Light over sink

Choose paint for eating area

Paint eating area

Finish reno of china cabinet

New Cat Room

Clean out "storage" area

New FLOR carpet tiles

measure new door

frame new door

move cat things (beds, food bowls, litter)

create cat door into room

DIY Crafts & Baby Projects

Buy Anthro pulls

Change hardware on baby armoire to Anthro pulls

Buy second hand dresser

Renovate second hand dresser

DIY name project (secret even to me since we haven't picked a name yet)

Baby Room

Move all office furniture out of room & store

Clean, Clean, Clean!!! (well clean time #1)

Paint second coat of ligher yellow paint

Move in furniture (December/January delivery)

Hang chandelier & wire lighting

Clean out closet (dreading this) to make room for baby clothes

Hang Wall Decor

 

Ah I love the look of a nice well crossed off list. As you can see, the kitchen still lives on that last. And I want to add a chalkboard wall to the cat room area.

 

So my goal in the next month (stating this publicly may help me out here) by June 6, is to paint the eating area of the kitchen and the trim, and to hang up the wine racks we got for our wedding. yes, way overdue.

 

Let's hope I can stick to this. Sienna is up from her nap, off to play with my little one!

chronicles of a working breastfeeding mama

Back to work full time is HARD! I hate being away from Sienna for so long each day, and missing her daytime happy smiling face. She is the cutest thing there is and I miss her when I'm gone. I also am managing to work on about 4-5 hours of sleep per night which is not really ideal. But an unexpected awful part?! Breastfeeding and working! Which actually means pumping and working. I love my time with Sienna when breastfeeding, but I dispise pumping. It is a little rough trying to fit 3 sessions in an already whirlwind day. I run from meetings or patient appointments to pump and then run back!

So since I am exhausted at work with no Sienna to keep me smiling, and lots of time spent with me and my pump, I've taken to preparing the night before as much as possible and doing my best.

Here's what I've found to be important things in my day:

1. Eye brightener and mascara. I look like a walking zombie without their help. Good old maybelline seems to be the best mascara there is for my mama eyes. Cheap and easy. My sephora brands just can't hold a candle for some reason. Pixi eye brightener I happened upon by mistake and originally thought it was concealer. Not so, but stil awesome. Brightens up the face that looks like sleep has left forever. I usually put this on in the car in the work parking lot. Time management.

2. Water, water, water. With a mix of gatorade. Known fondly in our house as "waterade". I have two of these non sweat cups and I fill them up each morning and take them with me. They keep me hydrated because breastfeeding (aka pumping) needs some major hydration.

3. Tea. Mother's milk tea to be exact. This stuff is supposed to boost your supply. Oh I forgot to mention that in the I hate pumping sentences. With just pumping and not breastfeeding, I seem to have less milk. Problematic when I need to leave Sienna milk every day. So we've got this. I also take some natural herb pills sometimes that also help increase supply. I don't know whether it works or whether it is the fact that I'm drinking tons of water. But either way, I seem to be keeping up. A good thing.

4. Photos of the babe at my desk. The first one my work hung up in my space before I came back. So I had a cute birth photo of my little one when I got here. The framed one is a favorite- she's grown so much since then! I need a new one. I also look at my cell phone for photos about 10 times a day!

5. Two bags. One is the pump. Yuck. One is my bag o food. It actually has tons of snacks, like more snacks than ever because I need to eat all the time because hello breastfeeding takes calories. I am sure that even when I leave work there is still snacks in there. And yes, I have more food than work items.  Don't judge.

6. I'm tired when midnight or 1am rolls around and the little one is crying. But then after she eats, this happens. And I melt looking at the little chubby faced sleeper. Cuddled up in her swaddle (I never even unwrap her to eat or rock her) she is just such a little cute nugget! So I take these photos because I know when she's older and doesn't want snuggle I will look back and cherish these moments. 

7. And then I wake up to this in the morning. I mean, come on, how can this not make it all worth it?

8. Also important? Well let's rephrase important to "awesome". This week we cooked a total of one dinner. ONE. On Monday & Tuesday my mom brought was here and made us dinner. On Monday we had amazing tilapia meal, Tuesday was mushroom ravioli with pesto... Wednesday rolled around and I wondered what I would make after Sienna's first whole day with the nanny. I came home to chicken parm and pasta prepared. Now THAT is good child care. On Thursday my mom left us dinner to have when she took off to head to see the other grandbaby! THANK YOU to the best mama ever and to our great new nanny! Having dinner prepared = lifesaving when you're sleep deprived and have approximately 2 hours between getting home from work & getting baby ready for bed.

The thing is, I am surviving. Sienna is happy. And that's what is most important. Come September I will most likely not be working full time, so I keep telling myself just a few more months until I have more uninterrupted time with the little one.

xoxo

PS- still in the market for a good stroller and not sure what we want so feel free to offer suggestions :)