Oh Happy Day

Prayers

Baptism
Chrismation
First Eucharist A new Christian!

All you who have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Hallelujah!

Getting back into some things...

Like....

A little Quilting
Taking morning walks (trying for daily)
Also, next week I am going to start tutoring. A fifth grade girl I know will be coming over 3-4 days a week for a little extra adult supervision (she is homeschooled). I am looking forward to it, she is a sweetie and of course the extra $ will be appreciated.

And....my pre-maternity jeans? (Okay not so much, but very close, and a few actually do fit :)

(Louisa says, yeah right mommy, who's going to believe that?!)

Growing bigger

One cool thing about nursing your baby is knowing that they are growing directly because of you! When before it was the most stressful thing in the world not knowing if she was getting enough milk and not gaining weight, it is now really neat looking at her and knowing that what I am giving her is allowing her to get bigger and bigger. I mean, it's really a miracle the way breast milk works. I can't get over the fact that this one type of food can do so much. She is already so different from when she was born, physically and developmentally. She now smiles often, and just today she smiled at me without me cuing her.

...Oops gotta go, I think the batteries have died on the swing, not good!

Oh my Guinness

Just had to share a few pictures of Louisa with Uncle Pat and with Mike who is wearing a Guinness jersey from Europe. This girl is going to grow up knowing alot about how the Irish have fun. Lovely :)

Sweet baby

I love how it seems like God designed an infant to fit perfectly in the nook under her mom's chin.

So, just a few things:

1. Breastfeeding is going much better these days. I can't say I'm totally healed up, but I am better to the point that it is minimally painful to nurse; and, get ready for it....it's actually becoming a pleasant experience now that I am not so stressed about the whole gosh darn thing! All you ladies who said it would get better were right. So thanks once again for the encouragement. I needed it. Louisa and I are well on our way to a great nursing relationship. Gracias.

2. Uncle Pat is home and we got to see him last night! Horray, Louisa got to meet her dad's twin brother finally. She was uber cute with him, falling right to sleep in his arms. I can't help but think that she must have thought he looked and sounded alot like her old dad which must be weird for her. Though I'm sure she'll learn the difference soon enough. It is good to have him back, now we can hear all his stories about being in Europe for seven weeks.

3. Louisa's baptismal day is all set! March 29th.

Happiness is...

Being an Irish baby...

and getting kisses from mama...

There, what else do ya need in life?

Goodness how I love this baby

Just like the title says...wow I love her!

We had a good weekend. Mike was glad to rest up after the work week and I loved having him around all day to talk to (and admittedly, to change a few extra diapers :) Also, Sunday we had Mike's cousin over along with her husband and chatted for a good while, then had dinner along with Mike's parents (who came over and did all the cooking - yay!) They are expecting a baby too, and it was very fun having some adult conversation. There is a chance they might be moving here which would be simply awesome. I hope they do. So yes, it was great visiting and enjoying some new company. Spending time with Lou is the best, but of course it's nice to have other people to talk to sometimes :D I hope your weekend was just as nice as ours, and I hope you have a lovely start to your week!

A Schedule?

I have to say, the latter part of our week went much more smoothly, thank goodness. I want to write down some of my thoughts on my parenting experience so far. Of course, I am still new at this so I'm likely to need to make adjustments, but this is what I know so far.

Louisa is 5 weeks old now. We have not had her on a schedule. Like with breastfeeding, I now regret not doing more research before she was born. Now I feel like there is alot of catch up to do! I had no idea there were such strong parenting philosophies out there. But here's the thing, I have read Baby Wise. I am now in the middle of another book called The Baby Whisperer. And, I have read many articles on the La Leche website. What I have gathered from these two books and thinking about what kind of a person I am is that a rigid schedule is not right for us. But I am going to put this out there; I do like the idea of a promoting a cycle, or rhythm to our day. The cycle I like is this: Feeding/changing, Awake time, Nap...then it starts again. This simple cycle helps us to predict what she needs before she starts to cry. For example, after she's had awake time for a little bit, if she starts to fuss we are pretty sure it's because she has become overstimulated and needs help falling asleep for nap time. For the longest time we were feeding her then letting her drift off into a nap. Now that I have switched it up to help her through the cycle, she does seem like a more content baby, and will sleep for longer periods of time (including at night.) Contrary to what some people have said, I do not think that this concept is born out of selfishness or a desire to force the baby to accommodate our own life schedules. While it's true it gives the adult a better idea of what to expect, hence making things easier on us, I think baby also appreciates the predictability as well. They know what comes next and I imagine that they take comfort from that. So I do like the "schedule" in that way. I don't think I will ever look at the clock for pre-determined feedings (which is more of what BabyWise advocates.) However, Louisa can follow this little cycle (she has the last three days) and it is pretty predictable where she eats every 2 1/2 - 3 hours. It seems like she needs to eat more often at night, which is okay, and I let her. This has all been extremely helpful in that I don't feel so frazzled and insecure about what Louisa needs and when. Louisa is a very sweet and good baby. She only cries when she needs something, so the only trick is knowing what it is she needs. Once her needs are met, she is a happy little camper. I think we were having problems before when because she would cry and alot of times we would quickly interpret it to be hunger. But imagine if you had gas or were simply tired and you were shown to a table full of food, how would you feel? Perpetually cranky probably. (That is how the Baby Whisperer explains it) So yes, when Lou is hungry, I feed her. But we just want to make sure that's really what is causing her crying before whipping out the food.

I know many of my readers are already mothers, and so you may be reading this and possibly either be nodding knowingly, or shaking your head in disagreement. I welcome your advice and comments, because hey, I'm still a rookie. This is just what has been working for us in the last few days, and it's something that I imagine working because it's logical and seems to fit my personality and capabilities well.

Signs of Spring

I am going to post in response to some comments made on my previous post as to my thoughts on scheduling for Louisa. I have most of it written, but not quite all. For now, here are some pictures from our lovely walk this morning.

Raise your hand if your looking forward to Spring as much as I am!!

Rough days

Bright spot of the day; dancing with Louisa (and please don't laugh at us because we like Taylor Swift)

The last few days have been a bit rough on me and Lou. The little one would be perfectly content, it seems, to eat all day long. Which is fine, except that means that I have been sitting on the couch, all day long - or at least thats what it feels like. It is rather difficult for me to be humble enough to accept that I cannot get the things done that I would like to because I now have a dependent. (I am now learning the true meaning of this word - before I always just thought of how I was a dependent on my parents insurance plan, but boy this is a powerful concept!) Anyway, besides wanting to nurse so very often, it doesn't seem like Louisa is getting enough naps in. She is restless after feedings which makes it hard for her to fall into a deep sleep. She has been taking short little naps, about 30 minutes, before waking up and wanting to eat again. In those 20-30 minute stretches I barely have a moment to get up and dash around trying to eat, tidy up, possibly take a shower. Forget me being able to nap :( But you know, like I said I am learning to be more humble, more giving, and less intent on finishing those things I used to be able to get done with no problem. The last two days have been especially trying. It may be that my milk supply is dipping, because like I mentioned she seems restless after feedings, but I'm not sure that's even the culprit. I suspect that she might be getting tummy aches and doesn't feel well enough to fall asleep. Anyway, if you could say a little prayer for her and me, that would be appreciated. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

My little Candy Striper

Don't be a worry wart

Louisa is gaining weight! Horray!

Thanks so much to a friend from church who lent us her baby scale. We were able to weigh her today and she is up to 8lbs 11oz, as you can see. I guess I can stop worrying for a little while at least. Happy weekend to you!

Weight gain and I'm in the market for a good mop

We headed to the doctor again today for another weight check in. To catch you up, Louisa has been gaining weight very slowly. She dipped below her birthweight by 11% in the first three days after birth, before my milk came in (I can't remember if I blogged about that) Then, she shot up 6oz. once the milk came, a very good sign. However, since then she hasn't really gained a whole lot. She stayed right around 8lbs 4.5oz. for over a week. See, the lactation nurse has come twice now and both times she did a pre and post eating weight to see what she was taking in. The first time she did great, taking in about 2.5 oz. But the second time, a week later, she took in less than 1oz. We don't know if she is just getting to be a lazy nurser or what. The LC wanted us to go into the dr. this week to do another weigh in - just to check on her because like I said, she hadn't gained any weight in a week. So Tuesday we went in and Lou was still the same. Of course by this time all sorts of things were running through my newly formed mother's mind. I did NOT understand how Louisa was not gaining weight because like I said before, this baby loves to nurse. But I've learned that a baby can be nursing for an hour and still be hungry - if they are not transferring the milk effectively. The dr. advised me to start pumping so we could see exactly how many calories she was taking in and see if she would gain weight, then to come back in two days. The doctor sort of freaked me out because she said that if Lou didn't start gaining weight she might have to be hospitalized. Eek! So from Tuesday to this morning we did just that and thankfully she did gain 2oz, like I said. I do not like pumping my milk though, it's just not a fun thing. So I hope we can work on Louisa's latch and see if we can figure out why she isn't getting enough on her own. We are going to see a specialist at Children's hospital next week to do just that. Frankly, this is all becoming a little too much. I had no idea breastfeeding could be such an ordeal. But, I am an optimistic person and everytime something doesn't go right, I am already thinking of new ways to solve a problem. Mike too; we are continuously trouble shooting these days :D Thank you all for your encouraging comments on this front. I am hoping that in a few weeks (or however long it takes to sort it out) we will all be able to look back at this and say, wow that was not fun but thank goodness we stuck with it! (Picture is of Mike feeding her with my expressed milk - the one advantage of pumping.)

Hey, on a totally different note, I have a question for you. What kind of mop do you use? I have never found one that I like, and now that we actually have some hard floors, not to mention the kitchen and bathroom I would like to get a good mop, but don't know what to pick up. Do you have a favorite?

Don't leave me!

I have good news and bad news. The good news? Mike is starting a job on Friday. The bad? Mike is starting a job on Friday. Hmpf.

After having him here from the time Lou was born I have grown used to his presence. As I've talked about before, he has been the biggest help. Well, I shouldn't even say that because it sounds like I do most of the work and he helps. Its more like we do equal amounts of work. So I hope you can see why I'm a little nervous and sad about him starting a 9-5 job. It is obviously a situation that needs to occur, and a true blessing. Especially in the current circumstances and the normal difficulties recent graduates have finding a job, we are grateful for any opportunties that come along. I also know that few women get to have their husbands work from home. Not to mention the fact that I am not planning on going back to work, which is even more so a huge blessing that I get to be the primary caretaker for Lou. So I'm not trying to pout, as you can probably discern; I am simply expressing my feelings about being home alone with an infant for the first time.

Stylin' baby on the way to Starbucks with mama! Thanks again to Kelly for sending us the Baby Bjorn. She seems to enjoy it, as long as she's ready for a nap :)

What is my favorite part of the day?

...well, it's difficult to say really.

Is it watching Louisa make faces at us while she's in her quiet-alert state? Could be. Is it giving her a warm bath that she seems to so enjoy? Maybe. Is it feeding her? Currently, not so much, but I am optimistic that that will be turned around soon! Also, holding her and knowing that I am nourishing her is definitely very satisfying. What about watching Mike and Lou together? Perhaps. But I think that cuddling with my little bundle of cuteness and love probably tops the list.