Favorite Things: 1 month edition

Now that we have hit the one month mark (um...what?)  I figured it would be a good time to share some of our favorite things that we have used this past month.

1) Snuza:  I don't think I would sleep at night without this thing.  It is a motion sensor that clips on to Eleanor's diaper and detects breathing.  If she stops breathing for 15 seconds it vibrates, and at 20 seconds an alarm sounds.  It's gone off a couple times because it was loose, but I still would rather false alarms than not at all.

This is probably one of my all time favorite baby products.  I have already looked into replacement batteries, but I think I'd have to go to a specialty battery shop.  Otherwise I will get another one as a backup.  It's  worth that much to me.

2) Rock n play: Eleanor sleeps in this at night next to my bed.  She loves it.  It cradles her and I think she feels secure in it.  I have yet to hear anyone say anything bad about them and so I knew I had to have one.  I got mine from a garage sale for half the price in great condition, but I would have paid the full price for it.

3) Sleep sacks:  We tried a few different ones, but the ones that worked best was the Halo swaddle ones, because they have the zipper that zips up from the bottom which makes diaper changes much easier at night. Now she doesn't like to have her arms in, but they still help to keep her warm at night.\


3) Snugabunny bouncer:  She also really likes to sit in this and watch the birds, and will fall asleep in it often.

5) Newborn diapers.  We didn't buy any, but I'm thankful we were given some because they worked out a lot better the first few weeks than the size 1 diapers did.  The wetness indicator was a plus also.



6) My breast friend nursing pillow: My sister lent this to me and I am thankful because the other nursing pillow I had would have been to snug against my stomach.


7) Keyfit caddy stroller frame. I know I've made mention of this before, but I love this thing.  It's so easy to fold/unfold, it is pretty compact, and I love that the car seat just snaps in.  I've used it a lot on our neighborhood walks.  It's not the best handling stroller on uneven surfaces, but it does okay.



8) Quick snacks:  Granola bars and cheese sticks have become a staple for me.  I didn't realize how little time I actually would have to eat.   The s'mores granola bars are my favorite, but I haven't been able to find just a pack of them in stores.  I always have to get them in a mixed pack, but now that I know amazon sells just them, I will have to invest in some.




9) Ibabylog app.  I have it for my iphone so I don't know if it's just available for apple or android as well.  This app is free and has been a lifesaver.  It keeps track of everything you could want it to.

 There is the obvious one of feedings.  It tracks nursing sessions from which side to the length of each feed to how long in between to how many per day.  It tracks bottle feedings to how long and how much was given.  It also tracks diaper changes (including wet or dirty and if dirty what kind).  You can also use it to track doctors visits, baths, medicine, pumping sessions, sleep etc...  I'm so glad I found this app.

And like I said it's totally FREE! I'm cheap, or better put frugal, but I would have paid for this app.   It can even be synced between phones etc... I have yet to do that though.

Photo Gift Sites

I know the grandparents would love some sort of photo gift for Christmas.  I actually already have a mug for my dad with a picture of him and Eleanor, but I know that a calender, or a photo book would also make a great gift.

Here are a few sites that would be great for making photo gifts.

Animal Personality Quiz & Subscription Box

I don't have pets, and I'm not really an animal person, but this would be a fun quiz for those of you who are.

 

Even though I've yet to sign up for a subscription box I love that you can get one for just about everything, pets included.  Here is one for dogs.

Livingtree: Organize your kids lives

LivingTree is a safe way to bring the people in a child's life together. Parents can use LivingTree to organize and share the details of their children's lives. Teachers use LivingTree to communicate  with the parents in their class. Sign up for LivingTree.

Features include:

Coordinate a shared calendar

Share photos and files with friends and family

Message directly with parents and teachers

Manage volunteers and sign ups

Connect on Web and the Mobile App for Android & iOS

Happy One Month Eleanor!

It feels like it's been more than a month since she joined us, but at the same time it feels like just yesterday.

She's starting to outgrow her newborn sized clothes, in length especially (see above picture).
She likes her bouncer and the rock n play.
She doesn't burp very well, or really at all and most of the time cries during diaper changes.
She is a pretty good sleeper at night, but during the day time she doesn't sleep much, and when she does fall asleep she'll go from sleeping to awake and crying instantly.
She's starting to make cooing sounds and it's adorable.

I tried to weigh her by weighing myself holding her and then just myself and there was about a 9 1/2 difference which sounds about right considering 2 weeks ago she was about 8 1/2.
Happy 1 month sweet girl!

Mom guilt

Yeah, even though Eleanor's only been here for a month I already have mom guilt.  A lot of it comes from the c-section.

I know that having a c-section doesn't make me any less of a mom, but sometimes I feel like I failed because I had one and didn't deliver Eleanor the 'right' way.

I don't think it's affected how I interact with her, and we still bonded fine, but I feel like I got cheated out of certain things.

When I heard her cry for the first time I couldn't even see her.

I didn't get to hold her for a little while.  I had to wait until they had finished patching me all up.  I touched her face and kissed her when Rob held her next to me, but I wish I could have had that moment where they put her on my chest.

I feel like having the c-section means I can't or won't be able to delivery vaginally if/when we have another child because I know a lot of doctors don't do VBAC's (vaginal birth after cesarean).

In the operating room the doctor said something about a 10% chance and something about 39 weeks, but I had just had a baby removed from me, was on pain meds, and wasn't really focusing well on what she was saying.

We didn't have a set time for when we would try for number 2, but I had hoped maybe late next summer or sometime around her first birthday.  I don't know what my ob recommends (I'll ask at my 6 week checkup), but I'm confident they will say to wait longer than with a vaginal delivery.

I really don't like the way I look  I know I'm only a few weeks out and I never expected to bounce back (9 months to put it on, 9 months to lose it), but I worry my stomach will always be flabby like it is now.  It's so soft and hangs there and I don't even like Rob to look at it.

I know to some readers I sound ungrateful and I have a healthy daughter and should be happy with that.  I just went into the labor process expecting it to go one way, and it's hard to adjust to a different mindset.

Another thing I struggle with is I feel like I should interact with when she's awake, but sometimes I want to just relax and online shop or read blogs and enter contests (which never happens) and then I feel bad for wanting a minute to myself.  I love being with her.

I feel like I should enjoy all the snuggles I get from her.  I do and especially after she is done nursing and just wants to snuggle.  I usually take a few minutes and then want to put her down and do the dishes or laundry or like I said about just take a minute to myself.  She's only so little once and I will miss her when she grows up so I should enjoy them all right now.

I feel bad for never doing skin to skin with her other than a few times in the hospital.  I actually tried a week or so ago, but she was so squirmy I had to stop.  I know there are so many benefits but I just don't do it.

I'm not the only one who deals with mom guilt.  How do you deal?  What do you feel bad about?

4 week update

(Now that she's almost a month, should I switch to monthly updates or keep up with the weekly ones?)

We got out and walked as often as we could this last week and it made a huge difference.  I felt so much better afterwards.  Eleanor liked it enough to sleep the whole time.

I put the newborn sized cloth diapers on her this week.  They are snug.  It was the first time she'd worn them.  I shouldn't have waited so long to put them on her, so it's a good thing the only ones I bought were the two grovia all in ones.  I think I can maybe get one more use out of them.  So they were a little expensive per use.

Speaking of newborn size, some of her newborn sized clothes are starting to get a little snug on her.

I'm pretty sure she's been giving more social smiles lately.  As in she's awake and we are talking to her and she smiles. She's also starting to make some little cooing noises.  They are super cute sounding.

Ellie is still having latching issues and I flinch every time she latches on my left side.   I don't feel my letdown either but I can hear her gulping so there must be some milk flowing.

Pumping took a dive and I am having a hard time getting milk out.  I know that what I pump doesn't really mean that's what I produce, but Rob likes giving her bottles (and she's doing pretty well with them), and I want to have a stash (I probably have 30-40 oz).  It's really frustrating to sit there holding the thing for half an hour and not get a single drop.

I actually gave her a bottle last night for the first time.  I've been having Rob do it because I heard having someone else do it was the best, but he was tired and wanted to go to bed, and it was milk I had thawed out from the freezer so it had to be used up. It was a little strange for me to feed her that way.  We've tried a lot of different bottles to see what works best for her. I've used medela (regular and calma), mam (these didn't work so well; I think the flow was to fast), tommee tippe (she liked these), avent, and a gerber nuk.  Washing bottle parts and matching them up and assembling them is kind of a pain, but I want to have variety right now in what she will take.

Rob is going hunting next weekend and I'm not happy about it.  He's gone out every weekend (I think; I don't know if he went out the first weekend we were home), but he's only gone five or so hours.  Not that I'm happy about that either because it's on weekends (usually he goes out Saturday and Sunday nights) when I want to be able to have a break.

Next Friday is opening day of rifle season (currently is bow), and because of the way it falls Rob wants to go up Thursday (to my parents cabin an hour and a half away), after work which means he will be gone from the time he leaves Thursday to Sunday afternoon.

I know I can have help, my sister offered to let me stay at her house (my brother in law will also be gone hunting), but I feel like Rob should be here because he's the dad, and why would he want to be away from her for that long anyway?

So that's my little vent.

I'm still having some food aversions.  Rob got sweet and sour chicken yesterday and I couldn't eat it, or at least much of it.

My restless leg issues pretty much went away after she was born, but I notice it start to come back a little bit after I've been sitting nursing her for a while.  It hasn't gotten horrible though.

I think I've got about 10 lbs to go to get back to pre baby weight, but I'm not rushing it.  I gained about 35  and I've lost about 25.  For some people breastfeeding helps the drop the weight, but it hasn't yet for me.  Although that could also be from all the Halloween candy I've been eating.  Oops.

Weekly Wrap Up 11-2

(So I've decided that there will be repeats from the weekly wrap up and the weekly baby update.  Otherwise I won't have anything to write about.  So there.... :)  )

1) I won a gift code to tiny prints this week.  I already have her birth announcements so I have to figure out what to use it on.  I'm happy with her announcements (I got them from vistaprint), but tiny prints has some seriously adorable ones. 

2) Eleanor enjoyed her first Halloween.  Or not really and she slept through most of it.  My sister and I took Ellie and Gabe to visit my mom at work, and then later my dad stopped by, my mom came over & my brother in law came over after work and we passed out candy and just hung out.  

Ellie pooped on my mom and blew out her Halloween outfit.  Haha.

3)  The weather here was pretty crummy on Halloween and we had a lot less trick or treaters than normal which meant leftover candy.  Not good when you have baby weight to lose.  Lol.  Other than that the weather was pretty good this week and I took a few walks with the baby and it was really nice to get some fresh air. 

4) Rob's sister and mom both visited this weekend.  They hadn't seen Ellie (other than in pictures) since the hospital so it was nice for them to get to see her again.  I love to show off my sweet girl and natural she is always so good when visitors are over, or even when Rob is home.  When it's just me she is fussy sometimes and I'm sure Rob doesn't believe me that she is fussy.

5) We took Eleanor over to my former boss's house to meet the kids.  I loved getting to see them again, and it was fun for them to meet her.  They don't have a lot of baby experience but the two older girls held her.  Caleb and Cassidy would not.  

6) I went to a baby shower on Sunday for my cousin's girlfriend.  I was a little nervous to bring her around a lot of people but it was okay.  I just limited who held her.  I was a little distracted and wasn't to focused on games or even the gifts she was getting.  She is having a girl so I'm excited for sweet girl to have someone close in age to play with at family get together's.  Not that they happen a lot.  That side of the family doesn't get together very often. 

I was able to get a fun picture with my grandma, mom, and Eleanor.  I have a five generation picture from when I was a baby, but I still think a four generation is pretty cool.

(END 11/22) Baby's Arrival in Style Giveaway

Welcome to the Baby's Arrival in Style Event hosted by Andersons Angels and This Mama's Life (former Mi Savings Mama). With both Andersons Angels and the This Mama's Life families both expecting little ones soon we decided to team up and bring you this wonderful event. Together we have gathered up a wonderful bunch of sponsors to get you a very awesome prize package worth $733.88!!

As a new mom (sweet girl is 3 weeks now), I could use so many of these products, and actually have some.  I have a dress from Pink Blush that I love, I have a set of bamboobies and they really are comfortable and soft against my skin, and I had a set of daddy scrubs (although Rob never wore them

Wish List Giveaway (ENDS 12/1)

What’s On Your Wish List Giveaway

Organized by Mom Powered Media and the MPM Blogger Network.

Co-hosted by these amazing bloggers: Life According To GreenVics, Mrscpkc - Personal Memoir and Lifestyle Blog, My Dairy Free Gluten Free Life, Mama Orquesta & Miami 4 You, Libby's Library, Barefoot In Bluejeans, The Jenny Evolution, Capri's Coupons, DownshiftingPRO, Plum Crazy About Coupons, Giveaway Bandit, Growing Up Bilingual and Making of a Mom.

I have been wanting new couches for the last year.  Rob and I didn't much for Christmas last year because we were going to get new couches, and then we didn't do anything for Valentines day, and our anniversary and our birthdays for that same reason.  We still don't have new couches...Boo!  But that would be the top thing on my wishlist if I could get anything.

One lucky winner will receive $ 1,000 Visa Gift Card or Amazon Gift Card {choice}!

Giveaway ends December 1st at 11:59pm, open worldwide, ages 18+. Please note if the winner is a non-USA or non-Canadian resident, they will receive $1,000 via paypal instead. To enter please use the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure:Urban Times in Michigan is not responsible for sponsor prize shipment. Please contact teri@mompoweredmedia.com with questions or to see your business or blog featured on the next big event!