time flies

Blink. Six months have flown by. Lily is almost nine months old. Full of smiles, her own vocabulary and love for everyone and everything. Seeing the world through a child’s eyes and being excited by all the color, sound and emotion has been a revolution. Life truly is beautiful.

mommy goes to work

Being a mommy rocks. Hands down the best job I’ve ever had. Even when you have spit up on your shoulder and poo on your hands – your baby smiles at you – and the world is a beautiful place. A nine to five gig cannot compete. But alas, mommy has bills to pay. Yesterday was Lily’s first day with a sitter. After weeks of pestering local daycare centers and emailing potential nanny’s we decided to go with a fabulous SAHM. She has a couple kids of her own (the 2.5 year old is already reading!!) and a house that is sparkling and child proof. I am easing myself into full time care. Baby withdrawals are the worst and there is no substitute for baby hugs. Lily seems to be handling the transition fine. She was all smiles last night and did not cry when I dropped her off this morning. Maybe she is too young to miss me?

I ordered the Baby Signs books last week and took a peek at them this morning. I’m excited to get started and see how quickly Lily picks up the hand signs. She is super chatty in her own way and I think it will be fun to know whats going on in that little mind.

A co-worker forwarded this blog to me yesterday. Mila’s Daydreams. Very cool. Check it out. http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

fat pants

It’s a sad day when you realize your fat pants are too small – by two sizes! Thanks baby weight! Last week I embarked on the unenviable journey of shopping for pants in my “new size”. I’m putting “new size” in quotation marks because it is going to be a temporary phase. Write that down. TEMPORARY! So last week I picked up a couple pairs of super fat pants (kudos to Old Navy and Target) and this week I am starting on my post pregnancy diet. Its kind of a sissy diet. I’m cutting out desserts. I acquired a horrendous sweet tooth during pregnancy and thanks to our stocks of candy and ice cream it has been too easy to indulge post pregnancy. But my willpower has been boosted to new levels thanks to the double digits on my pant labels. TEMPORARY! Today I discovered that the gym closest to my house offers childcare so I’m going to tour the facility with a friend later this week. Wish my luck! Say goodbye fat pants!

welcome to Mommyhood!

My first month of motherhood has flown by. Being a mommy is easier and harder than expected. Things that I thought would come naturally have not. And things that I thought I would struggle with have come easy.

I have low milk supply. I took for granted that I would be able to breastfeed. We have tried everything. Vitamins, teas, medication and relaxation therapy. My tears have not helped or made me feel any better about not being able to breastfeed. My disappointment is over whelming and at times all consuming. But the show must go on and baby Miller is not the first or last formula fed baby.

I never thought I would be the parent to baby talk to my child or be able to make up songs at the spur of the moment to soothe a fussy baby. But check me out! Entertaining baby Miller has come naturally and I am learning to understand her cries and needs more and more every day.

I can stare endlessly at my daughter and marvel at how this beautiful child come out of my body. Consequently our days pass by very quickly! The routine of feeding, naps, diaper changes and maybe squeezing in a walk or trip to the store takes up an entire day. Being a mommy is most definitely a full time gig.

My husband is amazing and being a father has been a seamless transition for him. It has come so easy and naturally I wonder if he has secretly done this before. Being parents has brought us closer together and made our future look even brighter.

Baby Miller has already attended several music shows and toured Hearst Castle. We have been blessed with a happy child who likes to go places. Despite some things not going as planned, mommyhood is amazing and I am loving every teenie tiny second of it.

38.5 weeks: waiting

I have been on official maternity leave for 5 days. Daytime TV is horrible. You’d think more people would be inspired to get jobs just so they would have something to do during the day. Thank you to TNT for marathon sessions of Law & Order and NCIS. My law enforcement and medical jargon knowledge is steadily increasing and unfortunately so are my nightmares. Death is death. Even when it’s fake death on TV.

Baby Miller is doing great. Moving less but I have started counting kicks a few times a day and she is definitely meeting quota. I have cleaned, washed, folded, dusted and cleaned again. I am ready and waiting.

This morning I looked at nursing bras and apparel on Motherhood.com. Are they completely necessary? Undecided. The baby business is a racket for sure. Nursing pajama pants? Please! I can see the benefit of the nursing bra though. They’re weird-looking but undoubtably practical. Boobs have not increased in size since early pregnancy so will wait until after delivery to invest in a couple. Who knows if they will ever get bigger. Fingers are still crossed.

We attended a great natural birth class earlier in the week. It was very inspiring although not as educational as I had thought it would be. We were taught some visualization and breathing techniques in the prepared birth class and those were referenced but we were not taught any more. Concentration was on trusting your body, your instincts and accepting pain. Accepting pain….sounds similar to a compulsory fun run. At least there’s a worthy prize for this adventure.

36.5 weeks: giant baby

This week the midwife announced that she thought the baby was at least 7lbs already. She said this flippantly while routinely measuring my belly and checking the baby’s position. I’m sorry – what? 7lbs? I figured the baby would be 7lbs at birth. Not at 36 weeks. I had noticed a rapid growth in the belly but assumed it was the normal fattening up stage babies go through at this stage of the game.

The possibility of a giant baby does not bode well for my dream of a drug free labor. I am not too proud to accept drugs if the pain proves to be too much. But the goal is drug free.

This weekend the hubby and I are headed to the in-laws for Easter. The car will be packed with the normal luggage and also the car seat and hospital bag. You never know when baby Miller may decide to come out. I’m hoping for sooner rather than later. I do not want to deliver a 9lb baby.

35 weeks: all at once

I managed to get through the holidays and flu season without catching any of the nasty strains everyone else fell victim to. What takes me out? Good weather. Now that the weather is consistently in the 70′s I get set back by a head cold and possibly allergies. WTF? I am not the poster child for future motherhood. Red eyes, red nose, swollen feet and hands. Gals are going to be lining up around the block for this look….not.

34 weeks: heat wave

This is what hot weather does to pregnant women

This week I realized that I am very fortunate to not be pregnant during the Summer. Despite it only being March the central coast is reaching day temps in the high 70′s. The higher the temperature gauge  – the more I puff up. I feel like a dang blowfish.  Cankles, man hands and marshmallow man legs. Everyone says to drink more water. Lord knows I drink a lot of water and already spend 60% of my work day in the bathroom or waiting to use the bathroom. Midwife recommended swimming this morning and I am considering it. Or at least sitting in a luke warm bath when I get home. The general public is probably not ready to see me in a bathing suit right now.

Pregnancy is still going very well. Baby Miller is very active. We can now see and feel various baby body parts as she stretches and wiggles her way around the womb. Thanks to the generosity of friends and family we are well equipped to welcome Baby Miller home. I hope to start putting together the bassinet, change table and a couple other misc room items this weekend. Hopefully the weather cools down by then…

32 weeks: baby school

The hubby and I had our first birthing class last night. We were the first couple to arrive and able to snag primo seating while contemplating whether or not to eat all the cookies offered on the food service tray. We arrived early but most couples arrived late. Up to 30 minutes late. Our instructor took it in stride – but how rude! The class consisted of a motley crew of SLO county couples. The young and unmarried. The nerdy and way too informed. The organic and slightly smelly. And the rest of us. Even ran into an old friend.

Even though I have been diligently reading my baby books I did learn a few crazy pregnancy facts in class. Example – during pregnancy a woman’s blood increases by 50%. Who knew? Everyone in class was in their 3rd trimester and some very close to delivering. It was fun to go around the room and hear everyone’s favorite and least favorite thing about being pregnant. Some women disliked feeling their baby move – I love it. Even though of late it feels like little Miller is renovating and maybe trying to add a second story at the cost of my lungs. Most women seem to be suffering from heart burn. I feel badly for them. I have not experienced that pregnancy side effect. My least favorite thing was peeing every 15 minutes. I was very surprised to learn that over half the class is waiting to find out the sex of their baby. Must be a new trend! I’m such a planner I can’t imagine waiting 9 months…but kudos to the future parents with the strength to wait. It must make for an even more exciting delivery.

The two and a half hour class ended with visualization and breathing exercises that I do not think I will utilize during delivery. But who knows. I’ve never felt extreme prolonged pain. I think I was just too tired to concentrate on the audio cues by that stage of class. We have birth class every Tuesday evening for the next four weeks – with a couple other baby school classes in the mix. Wish us luck!

27 weeks: let’s stretch ya’ll

Several weeks ago I bought a prenatal yoga DVD. Like everything else related to pregnancy I did a little research online first and bought the highest rated DVD. Prenatal Yoga with Shiva Rea had the most stars on Amazon so voila I waddled on down to Barnes & Noble and picked it up on lunch.

Yoga isn’t for everyone but in my younger days I was a Bikram Yoga fanatic so I figured I had this baby mama yoga stuff covered. I was half right. Shiva has a nice voice and explains the poses well and in advance so you can go through the motions with the gals on the screen. First time I tried the DVD I got light headed half way through the warm up poses. I blame gal #2. She was doing the 2nd trimester poses. I however was 2 weeks away from beginning my 3rd trimester and probably should have been watching gal #3.

2nd time trying the DVD was good. I felt very open and relaxed after doing the warm up poses. Not a fan of kegels. They creep up in all forms while you are pregnant. Books, magazines, DVD’s and online posts. Enough already! The hoo-hoo will survive!

This week I am trying the floor poses with the nifty yoga bands and block. Don’t judge…the DVD said to ease in. Plus, who has the energy for an hour of yoga at this stage in the game?