FAQ about Life with Adelyn

My blogging has slowed down a bit lately. I'm sure you can understand why. I also feel like I don't have much else to blog about except baby stuff. So rather than fighting it, I'm going with it. Baby baby baby.

Like pregnancy, I get a lot of similar questions from friends and family so I figured I'd post about the most common questions I get from people.

In no particular order...

How are you guys doing?

Better. Much better. I feel like we are starting to get into the swing of things around here. Adelyn is still a little unpredictable at night and in her naps but for the most part we have gotten in a good pattern of feeding every 3 hours and usually following the Sleep-Eat-Play rhythm.

How much sleep do you get at night?

Well, depends on the night. For the most part our nights look like this:

10 p.m.- Polly feeds Adelyn and puts her down to bed. Polly and Austin go to bed around 10:45 p.m.

1:00 a.m.(ish)- Adelyn wakes up and wants a midnight meal. Polly tiredly stumbles into her room, scoops her up, changes her, and proceeds to feed. It usually takes around 45 minutes all said in done. Adelyn goes back down (usually without a fight). Polly back to sleep around 2am.

4:00 a.m.(ish)- Adelyn wakes again wanting an early morning meal. Austin usually takes this one. Austin stumbles into kitchen, pulls out bottle from fridge (that I pumped the previous day specifically for this purpose), and proceeds to feed Adelyn.

6:00 a.m.(ish)- Adelyn starts making "morning squeaks" that continue until 7am. Polly usually wakes up to the squeaks and is unable to go back to sleep.

6:30 a.m. Polly gets up to shower.

7:00 a.m.- Polly feeds Adelyn.



Are you using your cloth diapers yet?

Nope. Not yet. Two reasons why. 1) She's still too small for them. 2) Thanks to shower gifts we still have a good stock of disposables.




How is feeding going?

Much better. After I figured out she wasn't getting enough breast milk, we've made a few changes. I now pump over half the time to make sure she's getting enough. Thank goodness she takes a bottle so well! If I breastfeed,  I give her the option of a little formula at the end of each feeding. Feeding is a bit time consuming but it is totally worth it instead of having a very cranky baby. She eats like a champ too. This gal can down 4 ounces at one month old! It's crazy to think that 1/3 of my day is spent feeding this child! In our 1st week home in one of my hormonal-breakdown moments I remember telling Austin, "I feel like I always have something attached to my boob..." He kinda laughed and told me there was some truth to that. I will say this, once you open the door to formula, it is more and more tempting to use it- Especially when you've had the problems with breastfeeding I've had. I'm not going to switch over anytime soon but the ease of it is very appealing.




Is she napping better?

For the most part, yes. It just takes a lot of work to get her down for a nap AND to keep her down. Even with a full belly, she likes to take 30-45 minute naps. She'll get a good 2 hour one in here and there but they aren't consistent at all. At first I was getting all stressed out about her lack of deep naps. I was thinking I wasn't doing something right or that she needed different napping conditions. It was really frustrating! I think it was one of my first hard lessons of learning that I can't control this child. I feel like I'm getting more laid back about it now. If she naps 45 minutes, I don't fight it as much. I'm just letting her do what she is going to do rather than getting all stressed about it.

Who do you think she looks like?

We really can't tell yet. I've heard more people say she looks like Austin than me but the jury is still out on who her good looks are from. Lots of people say she has my nose and Austin's lips.

How are the dogs doing?

For the most part really well. Chauncey has been acting a little funny lately. Just little things that he doesn't normally do like sleep until 8:30am when he used to be waking us up at 7am. Or goes under our bed to sleep and won't come out when we call him. Sophie on the other hand has taken on the role as Adelyn's helper. When Adelyn is crying, Sophie follows me around and I try to soothe her. Sophie also follows me into the nursery and sits there as I change Adelyn or rock her. Even last night, Sophie didn't want to leave the nursery as I put Adelyn down for the night. It's really cute to see. But overall, the dogs are great. They are gentle with her and kind of just leave her alone.




Meals?

We are so so so blessed to have such a cool community of people that have brought us meals. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we've had a fabulous meal show up at our house. In the past when I've cooked meals for new moms, I thought it was just something nice to do. Now I realize that it is vital to survival :) But seriously, if we didn't have good meals brought to us, Austin and I would be living on cereal, pancakes, and frozen pizzas. I'm so thankful for the food!




When do you plan to have more kids?

Excuse me why I laugh out loud at the question. More kids? This stage is not the time to ask me that question.

 

Well, I think that about covers it. If anything, this blog will be helpful for me to look back on in the future. Hope you enjoyed a peek into our lives right now :)