We’ve all been there.

Daydreaming about what life with a baby would be like, without truly knowing what to expect. Thinking we “know” how things will turn out, but in the back of our minds knowing that it will be different. Now that Lexi is 1 YEAR OLD, i can look back at the year of babyhood and see things for what they were.

I don’t think Andrew and I were off base when imagining what life with a baby would be like. I think it’s that we couldn’t FEEL that difference until said baby came along.

All the negative “just you waits” from bitter moms were met with an eye roll. All the good-hearted ones were a drop in a bucket of the attempt to imagine our life with the baby.

I don’t think you can know what it is going to be like. No matter how hard you try. I think you can picture it, but you cannot FEEL it. So here’s what WE thought life with a baby would be like. And here is how we were wrong (or right).

Keep in mind that our experience will most likely NOT be yours. Your baby might sleep 16 hours a day and be the newborn you read in all the books about, nurse like a champ from day 1, fall asleep in your sling or contently stare at the mobile while you go around your business. That was not our experience. Nor was it the experience of millions of other parents. Because every baby is UNIQUE!

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LABOR & BIRTH

Expectations:

I had hoped that Hypnobabies would help me get through labor but I was prepared for it to go whatever way it would, since I had read/heard how unpredictable it is.

Reality:

I have a soft spot for Tiny Love. It’s the first company that I discovered that is conscious of toxic chemicals in children’s products. It’s the first company that I started obsessing over when I saw all their products. It’s also one of the first companies that was added to my baby registry.

For the first few months we used ( and destroyed) our favorite Princess Gym that was a gift from American grandma. It was probably THE most used accessory in the house. By the time Lexi “grew out of it” developmentally, we had nothing but the mat left. All the toys had been carried around and taken with us so much that the gym no longer served as that. Then it was time to buy a bigger mat for Lexi to play on before she started crawling.

Two years ago I was lucky enough to have a ton of time on my hands, a passion for photography and countless fun times. So when I participated in Ashley’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections, there was a lot to reminisce about. The next year that followed was all about my pregnancy and, honestly, I couldn’t even think about anything but the upcoming birth, so I skipped MDR.

This year, however, is perfect! It was simple, different, somewhat uneventful, but at the same time HUGE when it comes to our roles as parents and our baby girl. So here is a look back at what 2012 had in store for us, based on the prompts provided by MDR 2012.

Ok, so it wasn’t too bad in retrospect, however it could have definitely been better.

Featured in these photos:
Elena’s outfit
Nursing top: Boob Design
Skirt: Victoria’s Secret
Sparkly flats: Yosi Samra from MyHabit
Tree of Life  Bracelet: Tal Jewelry from Gilt
***
Stroller: Mutsy 4Rider
Carrier: Boba Soho
Alexis’ onesie: Boob Mama and Baby twin set

Challenge #1: Mommy’s “brilliant” idea to drive 40 minutes to the Botanical Gardens to see the Bunny and walk around and take pictures.

Result:

The gardens were absolutely beautiful and Alexis was initially very interested in surroundings (clue #1: overstimulated baby). By the time we got there, the Bunny was waving goodbye (which was fine, because I wasn’t crazy about putting Alexis in his paws anyways).

I really wanted Alexis to wear this cute dress that my friend Olga from France sent her, but my little girl had other plans, which were “pretending” to be falling asleep when we arrived, so we let her wear her owl onesie rather than change her into the cute Easter dress.

After a quick very distracted on Lexi’s part nursing, we strapped Alexis into her Mutsy stroller and went to enjoy the gardens, or so we thought…

A few minutes later, she started fussing because she couldn’t see anything due to the cover we had to put on the stroller, since it was very sunny. I figured I could get her into my Boba carrier with a hat and carry her so that she could look around.

That’s when everything started breaking down.

Challenge #2: Fussy baby who needs to sleep hourly and doesn’t just fall asleep, because there’s just WAAAAY too much stuff to look at (girly girl, how did you grow up so fast that you are already having problems sleeping due to being afraid of missing out on stuff?)

Result: Me having to rock and shush and try to calm Alexis down after she missed her nap time and had a meltdown.

After what seemed like an eternity and what, I am sure, were a few incredulous looks from people around ( I didn’t pay attention and I don’t really care, but before Lexi, I remember always thinking “Why did they bring such a young baby to a place the baby can’t enjoy?” Silly me thinking Lexi would just go along with it. So lesson learned. I tried. I failed. I’ll wait until she CAN enjoy it. Until then I’ll put my life on hold, what else is new? )

Challenge #3:  Florida heat of 90 degrees, eternal sunshine and no shade to speak of.

Calming a overtired baby in the 90 degree heat – not an easy task. Finally I found some shade and calmed her down. We put her back in the stroller with the cover and tried to pretend to enjoy ourselves and look at some plants. I don’t know how Andrew and my mom felt, but all I could think of is how upset Lexi was (I hate it when she cries!).

Pretty cool statue, huh?

So we finally got to an area with some chairs and a nice shade and we camped out there for a bit.

Soon Lexi woke up and we hung out taking pictures.

Do you see how cute she is post-nap, clinging to her mommy? :)

After a nap and a boobie, Alexis seemed to be  in a pretty good mood and pretty co-operative. We finally got ourselves some pictures with all three girls.

I really couldn’t resist posting all of these “daddy and Lexi” photos. They’re just too adorable together.

I thought this photo was hilarious. Andrew looks mad and Alexis looks scared :) He was just goofing around for the camera, he wasn’t really mad and Alexis wasn’t really scared, of course.

We also had a lot of mommy snuggles, along with a stretch session. She loooves a good stretch and makes the funniest monkey face.

Once we were headed back, and had to cover the stroller again, Alexis started crying, so I had to race to the entrance, so that I could find some shade and pick her up. *sigh* It’s really not easy being out with a 2 months old in these conditions.

{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

OH-MY-GOD!!!!!!

If I thought it was hard to take pictures when I was pregnant ( you know the whole “gather up the energy, put make up on, wash my hair, possibly style my hair, put clothes on, go somewhere pretty to take pictures), well it is twice as hard trying to get a good picture with Alexis in tow. I still have to do all the preparations listed below, all while she’s hopefully sleeping, then pray for good mood on Alexis’ part, so that all the pictures didn’t look like this

And even when she’s in a good mood, how on earth do you get a 2 months old to pose? You don’t! So you take a million shots hoping that at least in ONE of them she’s going to look decent in and you don’t have a closed eye or busy shushing her. It’s even harder with Alexis because she tends to make all kinds of faces that might look cute in real life, but definitely don’t when they’re frozen on a photograph.

So nowadays, I have to be content with 1 photo out of about 100 that looks good. And after yesterday’s Mommy and Me shoot, this is The Photo:

I think the result is decent considering yesterday was a fussy day!

We’re both wearing a Mommy and Me set from Boob Design, my absolutely favorite item in their store. If you’ve been reading my blog since I was pregnant, you’re aware of my undying love to this brand. I think they have the cutest maternity  clothes and absolutely THE BEST nursing wear on the market. They just opened their US store which makes it impossible for any pregnant or nursing woman to resist buying something. I wasn’t planning on running another Boob giveaway, but after numerous requests from readers, I finally have it ready. So enjoy! It’s open internationally and anyone who’s pregnant or nursing or planning on becoming pregnant or has a baby can enjoy Boob Design clothing. I also have a DISCOUNT CODE if you plan on purchasing something. It’s 20%OFF any purchase except for Outlet and it’s valid till April 12th. Use BOOBDESIGN-APRIL-20% code to get the discount.

Some of the other Boob items that I have:

 

So for those who aren’t familiar with Boob Design ( and note: this is not a review, I just love them this much), their nursing dresses, tees and tanks have a special pocket that opens up without exposing your belly so you can breastfeed in public without the darn cover-up. They are definitely my prefered online retailer of nursing clothes. I’ve nursed in Boob tees in public and it’s a breeze!

It’s funny that I had to nurse Lexi during the shoot, but it looks damn good, doesn’t it? You open the top pocket and latch the baby on- VOILA! No boob hanging out :) Most items are made out of organic cotton or  lyocell and are very nice to touch and are very stretchy ( which is a key to baby onesies, because Alexis has developed hatred of clothes going over her head, so I have to stretch the neck to make sure it doesn’t touch her face as I put it on)

So here are a few other photos taken that I am somewhat ( but not fully) happy with.

This was taken after the shoot, while I was putting Alexis to sleep in the stroller (more on that later)

BUY IT:  Use BOOBDESIGN-APRIL-20% code to get a 20% off discount until April 12th.

WIN IT:

So now, due to popular demand, I present to you a Boob Design giveaway.
There will be 3 winners of $150 credit to Boob Design Store each. The contest is open internationally and there’s a new entry that can be entered in once a day.

BELOW ARE THE GIVEAWAY RULES
and Mandatory Entries: {read carefully}

There are two mandatory entries, after which you will have additional entries available,
and 2 daily entries for which you can come back to enter daily.
The winning entry will be verified and the winner disqualified if the action is not found or if the mandatory items are not fullfilled.
Make sure to notate how you’re following the blog in the extra info field (entry #1). The entry won’t count if that information is missing.
Please make sure to visit Boob Design facebook page and write on their wall what you’d buy if you won.
The giveaway is open to INTERNATIONALLY. See the rafflecopter widget for additional terms and conditions.

UPDATE: You can now log into the Rafflecopter through Facebook or just by using your name/email.

If you have a blog, there’re 2 entries each worth 10 points ( post our button on your blog’s sidebar and blog about the giveaway)

{If you’re not sure how to use to enter, feel free to watch this video tutorial or email me at contact {at} prebabyblog {dot} com
Otherwise, make sure to read everything carefully. Click the DO IT link first, then I’VE DONE IT once the action is completed}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: This is NOT a review.

I can’t believe it’s only been two months! I wonder when I’ll stop saying that. I feel like we’ve known Alexis for years.

So much has changed in two months. I will try and catch this blog up on it all, starting from first bath to videos and walks, all the way to our breastfeeding journey, beach trips and loving talks.
But today….well today is exactly 2 months since Alexis made her arrival and turned our world upside down.

I won’t be writing this update in any coherent manner, because you can’t make sense when you have a baby. Babies don’t make sense (more on that in a different post). {All the photos below are taken in the past month}

Personality

She has grown so much. Both in weight/height and mentally. From day 1 she’s always been a very aware, serious, alert baby. But this month it has taken on a new meaning. She wants nothing else but to be propped on your shoulder and carried around like in the picture above. She looks around like it’s her job. She’s so incredibly serious all the time.  She has a face that says “I am thinking about the solution to the world’s problems”. It’s calm and collected and serious and curious. I can almost see her little brain taking it all in and processing the information. Her favorite are pictures of mommy and daddy. She can stare at those for hours. Well, no, not hours, because she gets bored of one thing too soon.  But she will smile and laugh and coo at them and it’s amazing to watch. Sometimes after a feeding, she will fall away like a little monkey and I’ll put her on my lap facing me and after a few smiley faces she’ll redirect her attention to a picture of me wearing a red dress and my husband on a cruise hanging over the glider. She will laugh and smile and coo at it like it’s nobody’s business.

 

She also LOVES to smile. Her smiles come from two things and two things alone: interaction with people (preferably ones she know) and pictures of people. And when she smiles the whole world lights up. She transforms from this serious little baby to an adorably silly girly girl. There isn’t an time when she sees me that she doesn’t break into a big toothless gummy smile. She loves her mommy (or mommy’s boobie). Oh the smiles she gives me. Every morning, at every nap time, any time I lock my eyes with hers and smile, she laughs right back :) She’s starting to respond to “I’m gonna get ya!” type of games. I almost got a belly laugh ( it lasted all of 2 seconds) from her playing the game today.

Daddy and grandma have to work a bit harder to get her affection, but when they do, she loves them right back. Alexis has even smiled at strangers. We went to my 6 week OB appointment and she smiled and cooed at my doctor who delivered her ( and proceeded to fuss right after that).

She doesn’t really cry for no reason, which I am grateful for. She has all her needs catered to and if we’re not prompt enough in reading her cues, she lets us know with a little short yell “Ah!” and then again “Ah!” And if that doesn’t get our attention, the fuss train arrives. She fusses/cries for 4 reasons only: diaper needs to be changed, it’s time to eat, she’s sleepy and sometimes she needs an activity change. She has started not digging clothing and a few times would really get upset at it, but she quickly calms down when we are done.

She likes her gym but only a few minutes at a time, same with tummy time, though she hasn’t been too big of a fan so we do tummy time on my chest. She holds her head up sooo well that we almost don’t need to support it when we carry her (but still do just in case). She adores looking at clothing catalogs ( taking after her mama), especially if the model is blonde and is wearing a red dress. She talks at them like they’re real people.

Sleep

Because her nap routine has been so random up until now, it was hard to tell when she was fussy because she was overtired. I think I got it now that she’s been napping more consistently and boy is it much easier, but I am sorry it took me 8 weeks to nail that down. Her naps are hit or miss nowadays. She gets fussy/tired every 1.5 hours or so and some days she’ll only nap on us and will wake up the second you put her down and other days (more rarely) she’ll go down for a 1 hour nap.

The nights are geting so much better. Just this week she started sleeping an initial 4 hour stretch. It started with a 2 hour stretch which was amazing, then a week later we got a 3 hour stretch, a week after that we got 3 hours and 2 hours stretches, and now this week she’s been sleeping 4 hours when she’s first put down and then wake up every hour from then to eat like before. For some reason she won’t go down until 10 pm. Her bedtime used to be 8 pm before the time change, but now she wakes up every half an hour if we force her to sleep at 8 or 9pm and won’t go for her nightly sleep till 10.

So our night looks like this:
10pm-2am- sleep
2am-2:45am-  nurse, change, nurse, rock back to sleep
This sometimes proves to be difficult, as she tends to be wide awake around 3 am
3am-4am sleep
4am-4:20am- nurse
4:20am-5:20 am sleep
5:20-5:40 am nurse
5:40-6:40 sleep
6:40-7:00-nurse
7:00-7:30 sleep
7:30- she’s up for the day.

This is a welcome change for us, because before we had to get up every hour and now we at least get a decent 4 hour stretch. So now we’re down to 3-4 wakings or less sometimes. Our little girl is growing and I can foresee her sleep getting longer and longer.

 

Preferences

She still won’t take a pacifier, but LOVES to suck on her hands or MY knuckles for that matter. It almost makes me think she’s teething, because of all the drool and the gusto that she gums my knuckle with if I only get my hand near her mouth. But I know it’s way too early for that.
She’s also trying to sit up. Whenever she grabs a hold of my fingers, she tries to pull up and succeeds. She loves looking around in a sitting position and starts fussing as soon as you put her down. My mom gets really mad at me for letting her pull up, because older generation/Russian people have this thing about sitting babies up before 4-6 months. I couldn’t find any information about that, except for to encourage babies to sit up to get their muscles working and get them sued to the feeling, so I am going to ask our pediatrician about it next week.

She’s finally liking her stroller walks and starting to not mind carriers (though those can be hit or miss). I still can’t get her to do any one activity for longer than 20 minutes and I don’t like leaving her to her own devices, so there’s always someone interacting with her (mostly me), with occasional bouts of bouncy chair (when I need to pee or eat) and toys, but even then I try to talk to her about the toys she’s looking at (Did you know to maximize language development you need to say 30,000 words directed at the baby A DAY? Isn’t that insane?)

Health

Speaking of development, I also make sure to take at least 3 grams of DHA ( or eat 3 grams of DHA in fatty fish) a day, since that has been found to be extremely beneficial in nursing mothers (for baby’s brain development). When it comes to dietary restrictions, I don’t do dairy due to cow’s milk proteins and their negative effects on digestive system and allergic reactions (which is possibly why she hasn’t had ANY problems with lower intestinal pain and/or gas). I have also excluded tomatoes, citrus, onion to improve her reflux ( I didn’t realize how hard it is to NOT eat tomatoes or onions)

Speaking of reflux, it doesn’t seem to bother her much, except for on occasion when she really needs to burp. She does spit up, but it’s not of a big concern unless she’s lying on her back. So at night she sleeps on her side and during the day naps in bouncy chairs. I wonder how common mild spit up/reflux issues are… Is there anyone out there who ISN’T dealing with it to an extent? It’d be super awesome to just lay her on her back and not worry about food coming back up her throat. We both cannot wait until it eases up at 3 months (if it does), so that she’s more comfortable.

Eating

She still eats very frequently. During the day it’s pretty much every hour. Though for the past two days she’s gone more like every 1.5 to 2 hours between feedings most of the time, but it is not something I can rely on yet. One thing is clear. She’s growing and her eating and sleeping habits are changing for the better and all we had to do is wait for her to grow up a little bit. She does this adorable thing now when she eats: she runs her hand up and down my boob and when it’s well moisturized you can see the deliberation in it- she loves the feeling of her fingers sliding back and forth.

{Lexi is up from her 30 minute nap, so I’m going to give her some smiles and feed her and hope I can still get back to this post today (…) Daddy took her for a stroller walk so I’m back}

She’s has grown physically as well. Hourly feedings are definitely showing in her chins and cheeks and rolls and folds. She is a BIG BIG breastfed baby. She’s pretty much grown out of 0-3 months clothing and fits right into most 3-6 months. As a matter of fact, I got this adorable 3-6  bamboo romper from an organic Chinese  company via Zulily and it was too small (see picture below)

 

Appearance

Her baby acne is starting to disappear, her angel kiss (the forehead mark) is fading a bit, though both come out full strength when she is fussy, crying, or trying to poop, as well as at some other random times. Her diaper rash is gone, thanks to Lavanila and her body rash has cleared up. All her dry skin is gone and slowly her skin and body are adjusting to the life outside of the womb. I think her hair WILL lighten up (or fall out) and become blonde, because her eyebrows are super blonde like mine and her skin is fair ( I almost lost her nipples on one picture, I couldn’t differentiate her acne from her nipple). Her hair get sweaty so fast, because she’s constantly in our arms and when it’s wet, it gets this cute curl to it.

 

All in all, she’s a happy girl, who gifts us lots of smiles, a few fussy periods so that we’d treasure those smiles and a hell of a lot of personality! I am just dying to see how it develops over the years and months and cannot wait to go on adventures with my little girl!

HAPPY 2 MONTHS, baby girl! We love you!

 

To celebrate her 2 monthaversary, I’m going to run a BIG giveaway from organic baby clothing companies (1 clothing item each). I am going to try to get it out by tomorrow, but not sure if that’s going to happen. So look for it in the next couple of days.

1 MONTH OLD

{cute organic cupcake onesie is by My O Baby}

 

Yesterday was 1 month since Alexis came into this world. And while some people seem to wonder at how fast time flies by, I feel like it’s been ages. Ages since we’ve known her, ages since she’s been in our lives, and let’s be honest, ages since we haven’t gotten enough sleep.

It’s probably the sleep deprivation and her demanding schedule talking, or maybe the fact that we’ve considered her a part of our family a year before we even conceived her.

Either way, a month is nothing, compared to the vastness of experiences we’ll get to have with our daughter in years to come.

But for now, here’s what our 1 month old is up to ( from the last update)

The cooing has really picked up – this girl really talks to us.

As a 1 month special, I wanted to include a video. It’s probably boring to everyone but me, but I want it here for posterity. After a few months, I’ll compile a bunch of short videos together in a better fashion. But for now, just simple barely edited footage.

I’m speaking Russian to her, and basically all I am saying is prompting her to talk, having a sort of conversation like “Yeah? And then what?” If you understand Russian, don’t laugh at me too much :)

That is when she’s in a good mood, because she gets quite fussy at times.

SLEEP/FEEDING

Her schedule has been pretty much the same: she eats every 30-50 minutes during the day, naps about 20-40 minutes at a time. At night, feedings space out to every hour with one stretch of sleep being 2 hours. That means I get up to feed her 7- 8 times a night ( yes, you read that right!).

Now I don’t know what happened last night (maybe she got clued in that she’s a big girl now), but she slept for 3 hours before waking up, and then continuing waking up every 2 hours until the last feeding. That was amazing! Aaaaand today she’s back to every hour :) Lucky us!

Despite having to nurse that frequently at night, I’ve been doing pretty good with sleep. We all try to go to bed at 8 pm and end up getting up for the day by 7-8am. So in the end I get about 6 very interrupted hours of sleep.

Hubby is really lucky, because I try not to wake him up unless I need something, which means he gets to sleep 4-5 hour stretches. It’s for the better, because HE IS HORRIBLE when woken up, like he can’t function at all.

MSC

She also developed baby acne all over her face, which means along with her second chin, she now looks like a TEENAGE sumo wrestler.

After the first spontaneous outting with the Moby wrap, I thought I could actually go places with her. I was mistaken. We decided to go to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods with Alexis and Moby wrap. Well, let’s just say she cried the whole way and in the Moby. So I spent the whole trip in the car nursing her or calming her while hubby shopped.  Realization: when your baby still eats every 30-40 minutes and gets really fussy when she doesn’t, don’t attempt to go places with her. Lesson learned!

So I’ll be waiting until she spaces out her feedings to at least a reliable hour or maybe 2 hours and for breastfeeding to become more comfortable before I start venturing out. She doesn’t like being in a stroller or a bassinet either, or anywhere for that matter, except for our arms and occasionally Boppy but with our attention included, so a few stroller trips I attempted were a disaster, especially in Florida heat. So I am pretty much stuck home nowadays, but I don’t mind. I want to rename the fourth trimester a ” Chill out and Snuggle Trimester”, because that’s what it’s going to be!

On photo: My first trip out with washed hair (still wet on photo, washed doesn’t mean blow dried) AND make up! Woohoo!
Wearing: Boob Design Nursing tank top. BTW, their spring collection is out and it’s awesome! 

And my final thought is this: I love physical books, so while I read mostly on my iphone on a Nook app, I thought it’d be a good idea to buy a few actual paper baby books when I was pregnant. WRONG! You know how everyone says you won’t have time to read books when you have your baby. Well, they are right, it’s extremely hard to read physical paper books! However, reading on my Iphone has been the best thing to ever happen to breastfeeding or to those hours that I spend with Lexi sleeping in my arms. Luckily, I only bought 4 books in a physical paper format and they’re still sitting on my table half read, while I keep buying and reading other books on my Nook. So I guess what I am trying to say is learn from me: if you’re pregnant, get used to reading on your iphone/ipad, or buy/register for a Kindle (it is SO a baby shower register-able item). And then if you get a baby who’ll only sleep on you, you won’t die from boredom!

 

Dress by Bungalow Bebe, hairband by Violet’s Velvet Box

 

On another note, I am half way done with the birth story. It’s hard when I have to split my time with Lexi AND writing intermittent posts. But I’m loving looking at the birth pictures as I work on them.

BABY QUESTIONS:

1. Girls who live in hot climates, what do you do about taking your little one out, since they’re not supposed to get into direct sunlight. The carriers are waaaay too hot, especially against a human body. Am I stuck inside until she turns 6 months and can use sunscreen?

2. How do you put a baby into a pram? Alexis seems to cry every time I do it. Do you wait till she’s asleep to go for a walk with a pram? How do you make sure she doesn’t roll around there (blankets?) and what about her head? The whole set up just doesn’t seem comfortable to me.

 

FUTURE POSTS:

{hopefully in that order}

Birth Story
Breastfeeding Challenges and Lifesaviors {along with some giveaways}
Best 1st Month Baby products {what we’ve been using}
Many many baby related giveaways to come {if there’s anything specific you’re interested in giveaway-wise, let me know, I’ll attempt to host it}

Wow I thought blogging desire would slow down when I have Alexis but I have to say it has tripled. There’s so much to share and write about and so much to reflect on.
I’ll try to get a general “thoughts” post once a week- type up some thoughts on my iPhone while feeding Lexi.

So here’s what I’ve thought up in 2 weeks of having Alexis

• First of all, I gotta say this: despite the sleepless nights, the occasional frustration, lack of time for anything non-Lexi essential, this rocks!
  Not being a mom part (I was never crazy about becoming A MOM per se), but having a daughter, if that makes any sense to you. It’s really an amazing part of life! I don’t get why some women become bitter and competitive and guilt ridden once they have kids. All I feel is love for everyone. Just bliss and joy!
• I was told my heart will explode from love I’ve never felt before. But both me and my husband agree that for us it’s less of an explosion but more of an all encompassing complete and deep, calm love. There from the very beginning. It’s a “but of course” kind of feeling.
• Having a baby changes you and at the same time it doesn’t. What it changes is how you look at certain things and desires. I still can’t wait till we have a better handle on this newborn stage so that we could go places, both wear cute clothes, look fabulous, spend time at the beach, till I can work out and get my body into tip top shape, till I can hang with my friends again, till I can work, and we can take weekend trips to Disney and do all the things we used to do but now with Lexi. But at the same time, I look at my model friends’ Facebook photos of them flying to exotic locations, partying, having fun and for the first time since I quit that life, all I think is “wow I so would rather be here with Lexi right now!” which is a big departure from my previous thoughts of “Oh man, this is awesome looking- I could so be there right now if I wasn’t pregnant”
• You won’t believe this one (because I don’t!):
  Having spent the whole pregnancy not really digging the state and not getting why some women enjoy being pregnant and miss it, some of my first thoughts upon coming home with Alexis and looking at my last preggo photos were “Aaaawww I miss having her in my belly!”
  Now that I know the preciousness that comes out of the whole process, being pregnant doesn’t seem that miserable. :)
• Not knowing whether what you’re experiencing is normal or something is wrong is tough. The first week or two of Alexis feeding every 30 min 24/7 while the books AND online resources AND all people on message boards say 2-3 hours is average. Her not sleeping at all while everyone’s babies I read about sleep 2-3 or longer stretches at night… Second guessing yourself…
  I have to say it was VERY helpful to hear from all you breastfeeding mamas that for an exclusively breastfed baby THAT is normal. I can relax and not worry that my baby is in pain, doesn’t get enough milk or something along those lines- she just likes to eat and cuddle- Whew!
• Once we figured out what Lexi wants it has been wonderful. I’m trying hard not to feel pressure to be productive and just enjoy our every 30 minute feedings and snuggles and coos. Taking care of a newborn especially with the support system I have here isn’t that hard at all (minus the 2 days it took us to figure out why she wasn’t sleeping and what needed to be done).
• Lexi now sleeps and behaves exactly how you’d expect a newborn to be. She isn’t a great sleeper, she does get fussy, she gets bouts of crying where we’re not sure what’s wrong ( usually minor gas that relieves itself within minutes or her being overly tired and not able to go to sleep without a lot of shushing and rocking and swaddling), she loves to be held and snuggled, she loves to eat and is actively working on her Sumo Wrestler face. In other words, she’s our perfect angel who gives her parents a lot of joy along with a lot of work. She now sleeps about 2 hours stretches at night (8pm-5am), with occasional nights being worse than others. After 5 am, she switches to day time and starts feeding every 30 minutes to every hour depending on the day. Yesterday she was cluster feeding- I literally didn’t get out of my rocker all day- every 20 minutes, sometimes without breaks… Today she’s been eating every hour, and currently she’s going on her 2nd hour of nap time, which is allowing me to type up this update.
• Daddy has been in charge of all diaper changes and dressing, as well as making sure mommy is comfortable during nursing sessions and has what she needs. He does get jealous though, because he thinks Alexis responds to me better but I keep reminding him it will take time and that he needs to keep spending time with her.
  
• We’ve been getting a few coos from her and a TON of smiles. Some of them I can tell are gas smiles, others – not so sure. She almost laughs… And always in response to us talking to her. She loves her grandmas too. Gives them more smiles than she gives us. (either that or they make her gassy lol)
  
  {organic footie is by Finn&Emma} 
• Alexis is blossoming into a more coherent human being, with lots of alert time which is so much fun to watch.
• My heart goes out to mothers who have colicky and refluxy babies. Having had a tiny glimpse into what it’s like- its no fun. And I doubt many people understand or appreciate it.
• We’ve been doing tummy time and this girl has impressive head control. She doesn’t hate tummy time but does get tired after a while. It’s so much more interesting to lay down and look at the blue cover than it is holding your head up.
  
  Wimmer Ferguson Black and White Development Board can be bought here
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• First bath after her cord fell off on day 7 was a lot of crying, 2nd bath worked out much better mostly cuz mommy and daddy blasted the heater in the house to warm the room up.
  Post Bath Snuggles
• Alexis is so adorable when she sleeps I can’t handle it.
• I have tried to put her into my Moby wrap twice now and she isn’t digging it. I keep doing it when she’s about to ask for food or too tired but in the last few days that’s all she’s been- hungry or tired. I’m really itching to go for a walk with her.
• I’ve been using Baby Connect app on my phone to track her feedings and BM since day 1 and I really love it. The interface is awesome! And I love the statistics bar. Like for the past 5 days she’s had 19-21 feedings a day (most of which occur during the day), 9 BM diapers and 10 wet diapers- you go girl! :)
• It’s looking like for a while the only photos I’ll have are homey-looking ones. No make up, messed up hair and lounge clothes.  I really need to get Lexi to like Moby wrap so that we could start getting out. Though, I keep forgetting-she’s only 2 weeks old, so little and new but it seems like I’ve known her forever. We’ll have plenty  of time to get out.
• Oh and we started using cloth diapers this morning. I’m still getting used to them. We’ve been using cloth wipes since the beginning and do laundry daily, so diapers don’t really add any work. I just have to figure out fits and snaps, since I have all different brands.Alright, I’m out- Love and Peace to everyone!

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