Pool Time

Today we took Adelyn to a pool for the first time. She didn't know quite what to think about the whole experience.

Even if she wasn't crazy about the pool, she looked totally adorable in her bathing suit!

Ugh, could she be any cuter?!

Anyway, she tolerated the pool time pretty well.

There were some fussy moments...

But for the most part, she did pretty good!

Until the end that is... Meltdown!

Dried off, clean diaper, warm air=happy baby again.

Lake Weekend!

We are at the lake this weekend. I love coming home. It's such a great change of pace and there is always something to do. Take this morning for example. I got up, went for a run, picked blackberries, and took Adelyn to our neighbors pool. All before 9:30!

Our dogs love the lake as well. Check out these pics of Chauncey fetching sticks!




More lake updates to come!

The Long View

I thought this was a great encouragement to moms. Enjoy!

The Long View

Posted by Femina

I know that it’s tough to see the outcome when you are in the midst of rearing up a handful (or two!) of kids. But when a farmer is planting his fields, he’s got his eye on the harvest. Moms need to be a little bit like farmers. You are sowing and planting a field, and when the kids are little, this is the season that takes a lot of heavy investment of time, attention, and energy. But remember to take the long view. Harvest time is coming, and all this work of planting and weeding and watering will yield a crop.

Since I am a grandmother, that’s easy for me to say. I see the crop. It’s in the barn now! Now my own children are busy in their own fields,  and now I’m the one praying for them as they are bringing up their children. Oh, what a serious business it is to raise a family.

Now I can see with my eyes what I had to believe by faith years ago. I want to encourage you many moms out there to look with faith at your children. Trust God to bring a harvest. Your labor is not in vain. He sees it all. All those little things you do for your kids: listening to them and looking them in the eye, rubbing their backs and fixing that ponytail, washing their clothes and changing their diapers, feeding them and teaching them, playing with them and correcting them….all these things are going into an account that you can’t see. But God does!

Take the long view. You’ve got to be patient because it doesn’t happen overnight. Keep your eye on the outcome and trust God to use all your labors to bring about a harvest far greater than you expected. Far greater than any of us deserves.

A Few More Wedding Pictures

My sister, Leslie. Isn't she beautiful!?

Right before the ceremony. I was trying to get her some circulation under her dress.

Pre-ceremony prayer

Adelyn and I

My dad and Les

Aunt Leslie and Adelyn

Things are Better

So I think my last post about the fourth trimester raised some concerns about my current well-being. When I wrote that post, I was having a hard day and was facing it with very little perspective. Despite some more breast feeding complications (I plan to post about all of that later) I can honestly say, since that day, things have been so much better!

Adelyn has been doing great. She's sleeping better during naps and at night. She hasn't been as fussy and I feel like I'm more and more confident about being a mom.  Last night I think I had the best night of sleep I've had in 6 weeks. She dropped her 1am feeding and she slept until 3:30 and then again until 7:00. Austin and I were doing the happy dance when we woke up.

Thanks so much for the outpouring of support and encouragement. It's so wonderful to hear from other moms who have gone through a similar experience in their first 6 weeks. I know there will be rough days ahead but it really does feel like we are headed in the right direction.

Here are some recent pictures for your viewing pleasure.

She loves to doze with her hands on her face.

This is one of Adelyns favorite ways to sit. And one of mine too. It frees up my hands but she still feels like I'm holding her. She seriously sat there pleasantly for 20 minutes  which is quite an accomplishment for a 6 week old in the evening!

Chilling in the swing

First big smile caught on camera!

Followed by a yawn

Fourth Trimester Thoughts

Heard of the 4th trimester? It's real. For mama and baby. And folks, it aint easy.

I think most of my friends and readers know this but I struggled with some unexpected baby blues for a while. Here's a blog post about it if you're curious.

While the major hormonal swings have subsided I still have my rough days. Many tearful phone calls have been made my mom, sister, and friends seeking consultation. I want to be a mom and I love my daughter but if I'm completely honest, there have been many moments where I have had the thought, "I don't want to do this!" or "What have I gotten myself into?!" It's hard to admit this because so many people think a new mother should be delighting in their newborn all day long.

However, when your precious newborn is keeping you up for hours at night, fussing for no apparent reason, won't nap even though you know they are extremely tired, it's hard not to have negative thoughts.

This morning was one of those mornings for me. Adelyn does a pretty good job sleeping in the night for the most part. However, for some reason she wanted to be up and fussing from 1am-4am last night. Despite 2 feedings in that time period. It was incredibly frustrating and I woke up discouraged and upset and dreading the day alone with her.

I had one of my oh-so-frequent meltdowns, cried on the phone with my mom, cried it out and prayed together with Austin and finally sucked it up and got on with my day.

Even though the "baby-blues" are a thing of the past, I still am feeling the affects of having an infant.

It's hard.

It's really hard.

I have had to die to myself in every way possible. I have had every source of comfort and security stripped from me leaving me totally dependent on God to get me through the tough moments. I've been told over and over again that it gets better. And I believe that. But today, in this moment, it's hard.

I thought this blog post from Passionate Homemaking was super helpful to read. It contains loads of practical tips for after you come home with your baby.

31 Ways to Pray for Your Children

Prayer is hard. It is so easily neglected especially when there isn't a felt need.

I stumbled on this little printable from Passionate Homemaking and plan to utilize it. Hope you can do the same!

31 Ways to Pray for Your Children Printable

I Mean, Really?

Motherhood is a Calling

I am so encouraged by this blog from the Desiring God website about motherhood. Here's a quote from the article.

Live the gospel in the things that no one sees. Sacrifice for your children in places that only they will know about. Put their value ahead of yours. Grow them up in the clean air of gospel living. Your testimony to the gospel in the little details of your life is more valuable to them than you can imagine. If you tell them the gospel, but live to yourself, they will never believe it. Give your life for theirs every day, joyfully. Lay down pettiness. Lay down fussiness. Lay down resentment about the dishes, about the laundry, about how no one knows how hard you work.

 

 

Hilarious Dog Video

Couldn't stop giggling at this...

(Click on picture to go to video)

 

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 :)

One Month Old

Holy Freaking Crap. It's been almost one month since Adelyn was born. A month! It has been the fastest, longest, most challenging, most rewarding, month of my life. It seriously seems like one really long day. Where did June go??

Since I last updated, things have been a bit up and down. For a few days, Adelyn was not sleeping well at all. She seriously wouldn't nap more than 30 minutes and would wake up fussy, exhausted, and not easily soothed. Needless to say, I was exhausted. I was always told, "sleep when the baby sleeps..." But what if you're baby didn't sleep?? As a new mom, you really have no idea what is normal and what isn't. After about 4 days of practically no long naps, I really hit a point where I just knew something wasn't right. I was getting no sleep and growing more and more anxious and stressed by the hour.

After a sleepless night, I was sitting on the couch nursing Adelyn when my mom called to just check in. She knew we'd be having a hard couple days but she had no idea about the stressful night we just had. When she asked how I was doing, I broke down. I mean, I really really lost it. I was at a point where I couldn't imagine doing this for weeks-even months! I couldn't figure out how to get this little gal to sleep! I had also noticed that morning that my breast milk didn't seem to be there as much. When my mom heard this, she put the pieces together and told me her gut was that Adelyn wasn't getting enough to eat. I had ruled this possibility out because she seemed to be nursing great but I hadn't considered that she may not be getting much out despite her long nursing times. My mom suggested I supplement with a little formula after nursing to see if she would take any.  So I did. And guess what. She took almost 2 ounces of the formula... after 35+ minutes of breast feeding!! She was hungry! THEN after she took the formula, she went down for a two hour nap. I couldn't believe it.

I'm not quite sure why my breast milk supply has dwindled so fast. Maybe the stress. Maybe the fatigue. Maybe I'm not getting enough calories (I haven't had too much of an appetite). Who knows. All I know is that since we started supplementing formula, Adelyn is a different child. And I am a different mom. We are all much happier people lately. It absolutely breaks my heart that I didn't know she was hungry. But I'm learning that in motherhood we have to give ourselves grace. I'm doing the best I know how to do. Just like every mom out there is.

Since we got the feeding thing a bit under control, I feel like I've hit my stride a bit. I'm no longer antsy to get out or feeling super lonely when I'm home. I'm growing to love and enjoy Adelyn more every day. She melts my heart with her hilarious facial expressions and funny little squeaks and noises she makes. I love cuddling her as she wakes up from a nap. I love being able to soothe her to sleep in my arms. I love that she turns her head towards my voice. My heart also melts when I see Austin with her. When from the other room I overhear him talking to her or reading to her. When I see her cuddled up on his chest. I'm absolutely melted and more in love with my husband then I have ever been.

This month has been long and bumpy road but we are making it. We are growing tons and being strengthened by the daily challenges we face as parents. It's been an adventure and I know it's only beginning.

Here are a few pictures for your itching eyes from a photo shoot I had with Adelyn this morning.

We recently borrowed this swing from a friend of ours. Adelyn LOVES it! I can't believe how fast she calms down in it. It's going to hard to not have her nap in it every time!