I guess the post titled, “Time Management”, was misleading some people into thinking I’d write some tips, or about how I get things done, so I changed it to a more relevant name. Eventually I might write about what I actually do to manage time in detail, but for this post I wanted to describe the frustration of never having enough time and how I dealt with it from the emotional perspective.

I think the hardest change that motherhood brought for me has been time management. When you’re pregnant, people tell you that you won’t have time and you have a vague idea of what that means, but like with everything in life, you don’t truly understand until you’re there.

Some people have it easier, some people have it harder. If you’re a stay-at-home mom and your baby sleeps perfect 2 hour naps each time, then you probably find yourself with more time on your hands than you did when you were working. But that’s really rare. Most of us are in situations where juggling responsiblities, desires, hobbies and babies is a reality that we have to contend with. Everyone, obviously, deals with it differently. Every person is different in their needs and what issues they have with lack of time, as well as how much their baby allows them to do while asleep and awake, and finally what they are happy with and what the priorities are.

My problem has been that I am used to being very engaged with things I do, having a lot of hobbies, only feeling good when I am productive and get things done. On the other side, I do love to relax, take a bath, sit back with a book ( i love reading), swing in a hammock, listen to music. I didn’t have much problem giving the latter up, though I do miss a good read and a cup of tea once in a while. However, what really bit me in the ass with was not being able to be productive in the sense that I am used to.

I have always had a ton of hobbies and I have been very fast and productive at my job, as well. To switch to something that doesn’t have deadlines, rushes, unlimited work time, no interruptions, and more importantly for me thinking- it was hard. And the hardest thing was to never be able to rely on a certain amount of time that I could dedicate to one task.

I went from a 24 hour day where I could work and do things I wanted virtually at any time of the day and night to 3 naps a day that lasted anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. To me the uncertaintly was the most challenging. What complicated things further is that I refused to do anything but engage with Alexis during her awake time unless she was interested in playing on her own ( which she wasn’t until literally 2 weeks ago).

I would be rocking Lexi to sleep, thinking and planning in my head all the things I was going to do and GET DONE once she is asleep. When I’d get up to put her down and she would wake up, I’d think “Oh that’s alright, I’ll get it all done after I rock her some more”. When I would finally put her down for good, after 4-5 failed attempts, I’d rush to my computer with a massive list of things to do and, before I can even check my email, she’d wake up.

So needless to say, I’ve had very very frustrating days in the beginning. I have to admit I’d get VERY frustrated, because I wasn’t getting anything done and I didn’t think it was appropriate for me to do them when Lexi was up. She needed my attention and my love and my most important job, as a SAHM, was to give that attention to her. What didn’t help matters was that I didn’t have any time in the evenings when most babies go for the night around 6-7pm and sleep relatively well. {Lexi STILL goes to bed around 8-9pm, up for the day at 6am and wakes up often enough that it necessitates that we go to sleep with her so that we could get ANY decent amount of sleep.}

But the resentment kept building. The resentment of the situation where most every other baby “appeared” to have normal 1-2 hour naps and I would fight for 10-20 minutes of nap time. (Since then I’ve met a few moms whose babies need to be rocked to sleep and only nap for 20-30 minutes as well)

I was enjoying rocking Lexi to sleep and spending time with her while she slept, but I wasn’t enjoying not getting things done and feeling completely unproductive. I decided that I had to do something about it. Change the way I thought about the whole situation.

The worst part was not having my expectations met when it came to being “productive” for the day. When I’d expect to get a few things done, but be unable because Lexi would wake up the second I put her down or 5 minutes later. So I told myself to ALWAYS go into her nap time EXPECTING that the first 3 times I put her down, she will wake up right away. Then after that, when I managed to put her down with her still asleep, I would tell myself that I would ONLY be able to open my computer and check my email. Then if I got THAT done and she was still asleep, I’d tell myself that I WILL NOT have time to finish the next task I am about to do. And so on and so forth…

This made A WORLD of a difference in my levels of frustration. I wasn’t setting myself up for failure, I was setting myself up for constant pleasant surprises (” Oh she is still asleep and I can do one more thing?”). Of course, I had to keep reminding myself to think in this new way.

I lived like that managing my expectations for about 4 months and then her naps started evening out. Now I still keep it in the back of my mind that, most likely, I won’t be able to finish what I am doing, but now I get a pretty reliable 30-40 minutes with occasional days where she’ll be up constantly.

My husband and I had also agreed that, for my sanity, I needed 2 hours a day to work on things. So he’d take her for 2 hours when he could, while I would FRANTICALLY try and get stuff done (some work stuff, some accounting, some blogging, some family stuff). This is no longer necessary on most days, but it helped me get over the hump.

Now that she is over 6 months, she can play on her own for a bit. I still refuse to do any computer work while she’s awake, because it’s a slippery slope to ignoring your child for me. But now I have the opportunity to get a bit of cooking done, throw in a load, hang up some clothes, mail some returns. And her nap time is exclusively reserved for blogging, researching, ordering, emailing, editing photos and videos. I am still very organized during the nap times, because I can only rely on 40 minutes twice a day (or 40min x2 twice a day if I am lucky). I don’t eat, I don’t drink, I don’t take time to go to the bathroom (unless I can’t hold it)- I just work, work, work. And then when she wakes up, I catch up on all that eating, drinking, peeing business :)

I still spend about 1/3 of my day just rocking Lexi to sleep, because of how often she wakes up and how hard it is to put her down occasionally, but I have adjusted emotionally to not expect anything different.

My next goal is to find a way to work out and to do my hair/light make up/moisturize/take a consistent shower in the morning.  {edit: I do take showers when I have/want to. But I just always feel like there are more important things to do lol Like play with Lexi} Up until now that hasn’t been the priority, but now I feel things have mellowed out enough that I can start to figure out ways to get even more organized and get that done as well. I had stopped “taking care” of my skin and my hair for a month or so for lack of time, and I see a huge difference a month has made. I also need to tone up and Lexi still doesn’t like the stroller much, so we can’t go jogging with her yet.

{Lexi is at 3.5 months, wearing a Polarn O. Pyret onesie}

But I am HAPPY.

I am happy with the place I am at, emotionally, productively and physically. I am happy about the way things are ( with occasional bouts of frustration here and there). We’re in an equilibrium and life is just awesome right now. I love having a baby, I love having a 6 months old, specifically. I love Lexi, and our time together. I love to occasionally have time to blog. It took a little bit of adjustment, but once you figure out how to deal with the curveballs thrown by life and/or your non-sleeping baby, it’s all pretty darn good.

{this post is a part of the effort to catch up on photo posts since Alexis’ birth}

From early one we tried to make it a habit to go for morning and evening walks every day. A part of it was because fresh air is less polluted than indoor air and it’s good for babies, a part is because we just NEEDED to get out of the house and with Alexis not falling asleep in the carseat, it just wasn’t possible to go anywhere but just outside our home. So finally at about 2.5 months, I was able to put Alexis into a carrier ( Ergo back then) without too much complaining and we went off on a walk.

The poor girl was, of course, too hot in that down-comforter of a infant insert and after some crying and quick bouncy walking on my part, she fell asleep (whew!). Mind you that was the first and ONLY time she’s ever fallen asleep in a carrier. lol

My favorite part about these walks are the morning and evening sun that create this magical light for photography. I really stopped taking a camera with us when we go for walks, because there’s only so much you can photograph in one place, but I always wish I could share beautiful moments and landscapes on the blog more.

Around 3 months, Alexis started tolerating a stroller for short periods of time and it became even more fun walking with her because she loved looking around. Whenever we’d pass under a tree, she’d start kicking and smiling, it was really adorable to watch her brain developing and seeing something new.

{don’t mind the goofy oversized hat. That was the only one we had at the time}

We still continued using the carrier, and were getting good at it. I learned to breastfeed in it and it made walks easier, where we didn’t have to rush home knowing she’ll need to eat soon.

We continue walking once or twice a day or more on overcast days, sometimes on our own, sometimes with other mommies and their babies and Alexis does her happy dance whenever she sees the stroller or the carrier being pulled out.

Around 2.5 months, when life with Lexi started getting easier and she could tolerate being out for a short periods of time, we started taking the time out of our day to go to the pool. These trips were mostly for me, to be honest. I needed to get out of the house and the closest thing, without getting Lexi into a car seat, was our community clubhouse and pool. Alexis has never been the kind of baby that would just tag along wherever I go. So at first I kept it short. We’d leave right after she woke up and spend no more than an hour, at most. I wouldn’t be able to even get in the water. It was just to go somewhere, to get out of the house. One of these outings, my mom stayed with Alexis in the shade and Andrew and I went swimming, just the two of us. It was AMAZING! It was the first time we did something as a couple again, and we had so much fun for that half an hour we played around in water. We laughed till our bellies hurt, and splashed and jumped and just hugged and talked. We won’t get another chance to do that until my mom comes back in January.

 

Alexis LOVED looking at the water. We didn’t have her get in the pool, since it’s not recommended till 6 months of age, but we would sit on the edge of the pool for a few minutes when the sun goes behind the clouds and look at the water in awe. I cannot wait for my water baby to be old enough to splash around.

{FYI: There are two reasons that I know of why little babies shouldn’t swim in public pools, chlorinated pools or natural bodies of water (like ocean or lake). One is that their skin is VERY absorbent for the first 6 months of life. Much more absorbent than an adult’s skin. Which means any chemicals (chlorine) will be readily absorbed into their bloodstream ( that is the only the reason for why we went with organic clothing for the first 6 months of her life). The second reason applies to public pools and oceans/lakes- there’re a ton of e.coli bacteria found each season in oceans, and lakes can be even worse with all kind of flesh eating bacteria and Naegleria Fowleri ( that sci-fi sounding bug that lives in lakes and enters through your nose and eats your brain- I KNOW RIGHT?)
Now, granted, the flesh eating bacteria and the brain bug can harm an adult just as easily, but infants are more susceptible to e.coli and other more benign every day bacteria that an adult might fight off. In addition to that, there’s always the issue of overheating and sun exposure. Most sunblocks also state that they should be used starting at 6 months of age ( most likely for the first reason I outlined above). So it just makes sense to keep the little ones out of the water and in the shade for half a year, before they get stronger.

Additional Info from Megan from The Memoirs of Megan: Babies before 6 months of age have a harder time regulating their body temperature. To place them even in “warm pools” of 88-90 degrees (which most public pools are kept between 82-86 unless states that it is a warm water “therapy pool”) is lowering their core body temperature by over 8 degrees. That’s huge for an infant! Around 6 months of age is when scientifically, infants can control their own body temperature better.
Also, they have proper head control. Yes, my daughter was able to hold her head up unassisted at 2 months, however, some babies cannot, so 6 months is the typical age that the ARC and YMCA wait until.
But like E said, the biggest reason is that public pools are DIRTY (wanna know what’s worse? Hot tubs) Public pools use chlorine (bleach) to “Clean” the water, and muriatic acid to keep the pH (acidity level) in check. Even salt water pools must use muriatic acid. With your infant’s skin being so absorbent, it’s just not recommended. e coli and cripto can kill an adult, why risk it with a newborn? }

Now that Alexis is nearing her 6 months birthday, I am getting more and more excited about introducing her to the cool water of the pool and warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. She grew out of all of her swimsuits pretty much before I was able to try them on her, so I am shopping for new ones, but I cannot find anything as cute as these adorable Lourdes one pieces. There are some cute bikinis, but I think at this age, I might as well just have her wear a swim diaper. Once she can walk, we’ll see if we can find some cute bikinis.

Now mama (that’s me) herself is completely out of bikinis that fit her chest unless she wants to look like a pornstar ( which she doesn’t). I just ordered 4 new bikinis (FINALLY!) and cannot wait for the them to come some time next week. I am excited and scared at the same time, because in the past I could rely on everything fitting me exactly like the model on the pictures, now it’s a bit different (hopefully not for long) with me having to try and picture what it’s going to look like on me. We’ll see, we’ll see….

I have more pool photos coming up from our recent pool playdate and Father’s Day.

 

When I was a naive pregnant girl, I dreamed of the time when I would put my newborn in a sling and go to events in a beautiful dress with my baby peacefully sleeping next to my chest and only waking up to breastfeed {what? celebrities do it!}  In the back of my mind, I knew that chances were  good that I wouldn’t get the kind of baby that just sleeps anywhere you take her, but I was dreaming of the best case scenario- what else did I have to do? When Alexis came along, of course, she was the compelete opposite of a baby who would EVER fall asleep or do anything except on her own terms. And that is fine, I like me a strong baby. However, that meant that we had to learn, adjust, figure out ways of how to lead our life while “bowing down to the princess” and most importantly just WAIT for her to grow a little bit.

I am sure some of you have been in this situation: a great evening adult event (kids are allowed) that you really really really want to go to, a 3-6 months old baby that goes to sleep at 7-8pm, no babysitter or not willing or don’t want to use a babysitter yet. What are the parents to do? Skip it? Go and hope the best?

Well, after a successful 4th of July party with Alexis (along with a few other events none of which were late night ones), I feel more confident in her ability to handle outings and parties. But at the same time, there is a lot of things we, as parents need to do, to ensure a smooth event.

Andrew and I are of the mind that there is no need to deprive a baby of anything, or make it uncomfortable for her/him if you can avoid it. So all our outings are mostly focused on making sure Alexis is good and happy and trying to prevent any meltdowns. I also don’t believe in segregating baby-less friends and friends with babies, nor in getting a non-family babysitter until Alexis can walk. So that leaves us attending parties (even late night ones) with Lexi in tow. And the first such party, after Alexis became more manageable outside of home, happened to be the 4th of July party. It was a great opportunity for us to experience what it is like, as well as see if it’s even feasible to bring Lexi along to social events. It was a true success! We kept her out a bit longer than I was comfortable with, but our friends wouldn’t let us go since we hadn’t seen them much in the last year. So we ended up leaving the house at 7pm for the party and getting back home at 12 am. I will write all about the amazing event with lots of colorful beautiful photos in a few days, but for now I’d like to address the act of taking a baby to such events.

{Our second adult outing happened last weekend, when we took Alexis on a boat. She was up from 7:30am till 12pm, when she fell asleep in her carseat. It was also a success and I am now getting more and more confident and her ability to handle being out and about}

We’ve only done this a few times and we still have a lot to learn and thing, as usual, will be changing at the speed of light (hopefully for the better), but here are a few things I learned from our first LATE night “party” with Alexis. (most of these will probably be obvious to everyone with older kids}

• Make sure your baby naps well and long all throughout the day. {If that means rocking him/her multiple times back to sleep to get that magic 1.5-2 hours nap, then do it. While I believe having a baby nap well doesn’t ensure that they can stay up better or longer towards the end of the day, it will at least ensure that they are not LACKING day time sleep and are too fussy because of that.}
• Pack everything you’ll need hours before you have to leave. {It’s better to pack the night before or that morning, so that you could just grab the baby and go right as she wakes up.}
• Plan a nap 1-1.5 hrs before you have to leave and attempt to make it last 1-1.5hrs. {A baby’s sleep cycle lasts about 40 minutes, but according to E. Pantley, in order for them to truly rest and receive ALL the benefits of a nap, it has to last somewhere around 1.5 hours.}
• Try to be ready to run out of the door the second your baby is up. {Easier said than done, I know! In fact, in our case, even though we tried SO HARD to follow this rule, we still only managed to get out of the house an hour after she woke up.}

The reason for the few last ones is because later at night babies are on a short fuse and get tired faster. If you can concentrate on not wasting that valuable awake time on running around the house packing things or getting ready,you’ll have more luck. If your baby falls asleep easily in the car and everywhere else, then you don’t even need to read this, since your outings probably resemble this: out and awake, tired and asleep- rinse and repeat}

• I am a big believer in being prepared. I don’t always know WHAT to be prepared for or with and learn by mistakes, but if there is a chance I will need something, I go for it. So for me it’s essential to bring any favorite toy or item imaginable with us when it comes to late night outings because I NEVER know when Alexis is going to have a problem and/or what will cheer her up. So my advice is bring everything you can think of, at least for the first few outings while you’re just trying to figure out what works for your baby. For any other trip that happens during the day, it’s a bit more manageable without a multitute of things, but for the first late night trips, you just don’t know how the baby will react to being up past their bedtime.
• Try to recreate your bedtime routine when you are away. I brought her naptime books. A few times that we were out, it really helped to read her (back then from memory) naptime books before putting her to sleep. Again, that’s for babies who resist napping/sleeping outside of home.
• If a baby is interested and stimulated (not OVER stimulated), she can go for many more hours being awake and happy than she would at home in a boring familiar environment. I can now rely on Alexis being ok for about 3-4 hours when we are out, without a meltdown. She would be tired, but if she’s seeing things she’s interested in and people she is interested in, she will stay awake without so much as a peep. That being said all babies are different and other babies might get too overwhelmed by the stimulation when they are tired. Do test your baby’s temperament when opportunity presents, so that way you’ll know your baby’s threshold.
• Speaking of thresholds,they are constantly changing. Remember the failed Easter trip 2 months ago? Alexis would react very differently to it now.
• Do plan where you’ll be changing the baby and if there is a quiet place for you two to retreat to, if need be.
• BRING A CARRIER. While Alexis enjoys being in our arms more, being in a carrier once she was really tired, kept people away from her and not overstimulating.
• Don’t wait for her to cry to get a clue. Once she starts getting fussy despite the attention and new sights and sounds, it’s time to go or to put her to sleep there. She won’t fuss if she’s interested in what’s going on, despite of tiredness. Fussiness is probably a sign that she’s beyond the point of no return {or bored}. Retreat!
• Make sure that she is comfortable otherwise. That she is not too hot, not too cold, that her clothes aren’t irritating, feed her on demand (OBVIOUSLY!). This is the time to make sure your baby is completely comfortable, because if she is bothered by anything ( a scratchy tag, temperature, hunger) she will also be more likely to break down.
• Finally, and I consider this probably one of the most important points: invest in a comfortable cool car seat. I cannot tell you the difference it made having her in a better carseat. The fact that she WILL fall asleep in it, if the car is running and she is sufficiently tired means that we can go to a party and leave for home expecting her to sleep in the car. I realize most people don’t have the same problem of babies not sleeping in their carseat, but it was a real thing for us before we switched to a cool roomy convertible one. She would have horrible meltdowns in her old carseat if she was tired.  At the end of  4th of July party she wouldn’t fall asleep no matter what I did: rocked her in a rocking chair in a quiet dark room, nursed her, sang to her. But when we were ready to go home, I got her drowsy with some nursing and rocking and then put her into the car seat and she was out the whole ride back. Marvelous!

Another tip that I will be using next time:

If your baby is wearing an extra special outfit, buy two and pack the other one to go. If she doesn’t end up needing it, you can always return it, but if the first one is ruined, you at least have a backup that is just as nice.

We are going to test this out once again when we go to Orlando for my MIL’s wedding reception which starts at 6pm and I am hoping for a similarly successful event.

What do/did you do to make your evening trips and events with a small baby successful?

 

{Alexis at 1 month old}

I always thought newborns were like almost everything in life, by the numbers. I guess I never really gave babies a thought, never wondered what people who just have had a baby go through. But I just assumed that it would be the exact same experience like everything else in life. Everything I’ve encountered has made sense, has been about the effort and knowledge you put in: high school, college, relationships, work.
Newborns are a whole different breed. Newborns aren’t by the numbers. Newborns don’t make sense.

They sleep less than every book says, they eat more, they fuss the rest of the time. They smile and coo at the most random things, like the picture of you and your husband on a cruise on the wall behind the glider. They are the hardest to put to sleep when they want to sleep.

For us practicing AP style parenting has been what works. Do what she wants, give her as much love, food and attention as she will ask for and then some more.

{Alexis at 2 weeks old. Onesie by Nohi Kids}

It’s not always easy and ALWAYS exhausting but it’s the only thing that makes sense to us.

We’ve been able to keep crying to a minimum. She’s generally a very happy baby, but when she needs something she lets us know.

The most difficult thing for me about a new and more importantly first baby is the constant second guessing yourself if you’re doing it right. Cry isn’t the best communication tool even if you learn to disipher it a little bit. Newborns are SO extremely vulnerable that you worry about everything.
You worry about supporting their head, about not overheating them or leaving them too cold, about swaddling too tight or not tight enough, about keeping them comfy, about them being upset, about spending enough time with them, about their sleeping and eating patterns.

{Alexis at 3 weeks old. Sleeper is from Finn+Emma}

These are not conscious worries, but they are always in the back of your mind. And with that you become just as vulnerable yourself.

The first month was tough, emotionally, mentally. But once all the questions were more or less answered, came pure enjoyment of our baby. You know what she wants and when she wants it.

We’re not out of the woods yet. From what I’ve gathered, I don’t think we will
ever be. You enter the Forbidden Forest the day that stick turns blue and just hope that you can navigate and deal with the things it throws at you well enough.

Alexis is sleeping better nights. MUCH better nights. 3-4 hour stretches at a time. A good night means going to bed at 10pm, waking up at 2-3pm to eat, then again at 5 am and then waking up for the day at 7:00-7:30am. A bad night means waking up every 2 hours.

{Alexis at 1 week old}

It’s been incredibly hard to put her to sleep though. Most of the times, I spend 8pm to 10 pm just rocking her and shushing her until she finally passes out around 10. The whole two hours is squirm and fuss central.

About 2-3 weeks ago she became very interested in her surroundings. She’s always been a very alert baby and wanted nothing but to be carried around to look at things ever since she was born. But 2 weeks ago she took it to a WHOLE new level. If she’s not being stimulated, it’s the end of the world. However, with her being only two months old, her nervious system isn’t mature enough for all this stimulation, so she ends up OVERstimulating and going into a HUGE inconsolable cryfest. This is exactly what happened the few times I was gone and my hubby and my mom couldn’t calm her down. Back then we didn’t know about this new development of hers. We had no clue what was wrong.

{Alexis at 4 weeks old}

Nowadays, I have learned that with the amount of stimuli she gets, she needs to go to sleep within 50 minutes of waking. If I don’t start rocking her around that time, if I get to the point where she starts fussing, it’s way too late. So recently, we’ve had a nice little routine going: wake up, eat, play play play, sleep, wake up, eat, play play play….and on and on and on.

She started spacing out her feedings to 2 hours this week, which is freaking me out, because every time she’d fuss I’d try to give her the boob but she won’t take it :) So after I figured out the day sleep issue, I now know that if I hear a peep, she needs to sleep :)

Oh and she slept for 5 hours the other night. I think that’s considered sleeping through the night. So weird to think of that. I am so used to my little Alexis waking up often.

{Alexis at 3 days old.  Sleeper is from Finn+Emma}}

So this has been very disjointed, I realize. I cannot write “short” spur of the moment posts like these without them being a mess of thoughts.

I have to say I’ve been in a very good place lately, in a sort of equilibrium. Work is good, Lexi is good, I’m enjoying blogging like never before, I’ve gotten time management down, I don’t feel I’m slacking on anything I should be doing, I feel good. Now if I could only get into a work out routine, the world would be a happy place. I think I’ll start working on squeezing some Pilates in first thing in the morning. Vsemu Svoe Vremya! (“everything in its own time”)

It’s been 2 months and I cannot believe that I have finally gotten around to working on the newborn photos of Alexis. All the annoucements have been delivered so I am free to post these without spoiling the surprise.

Btw, for those looking to get baby announcements/thank you cards, etc, check out MetroBabyCards. That’s where I got mine and I was very happy with the quality, unlike some of the mainstream services I’ve used before (won’t name names).

When Alexis was born, I knew that newborn shots should be done in the first 10 days for easy positioning and cooperation from the newborn. The problem occurred when Alexis decided that newborn photos didn’t really matter and that she will NOT sleep for the first two weeks of her life. AT ALL! (well, not really but you get my point). She wouldn’t nap and wouldn’t sleep at night, unless she was on our chests and was a very alert newborn. You see the issue there when it comes to photographing a SLEEPING newborn? So I waited a week hoping that she would start sleeping soon. Nada! Finally I said, I’m just going to try the very next time she falls asleep on my chest.

I figured if it’s too hard, I’ll get a professional photographer, since I have never photographed newborns.  Hard to photograph was underestimating what Alexis presented us with. We would dress her, rock her to sleep, pose her, take 2-3 photos and she’d wake up. That continued for an hour or so, until I didn’t want to torture my poor baby anymore for the sake of her newborn shots. I took a few pictures of her awake with an adorable owl hat from Melondipity (and sucking her fist on most of them) and called it a day. In the next few days I attempted to take a few more but the girl would wake up THE second she was put down. We didn’t even have time to pose her. We had the heater up, a comfy place for her to lie on and yet the second she was off our chests, her eyes would pop open. So I gave up on the whole thing and didn’t call a newborn photographer, because with the way Alexis slept, there was not much that could have been done even if you have mad skills. However, to this day I see cute newborn photos on our people’s blogs and their account of how easy it was to pose him/her while sleeping ( yes, Melissa, I’m talking about your adorable boy), I smile and wish I could have had the same.

The most important thing is that I have a few posed shots of her as a little baby and a million others taken every day since they day she was born. So the memories will always be there. And it’ll be so much fun to show her the outtakes (they are HILARIOUS!).

Alexis at 10 days old

owl hat is from Melondipity