Breast Engorgement Amelia and I went home from the hospital on day 2. My milk came in the evening of day 2. Engorgement started in the morning of day 3 and was awful until day 5. Thankfully, she latched immediately upon being placed on my chest after birth. I needed to use nipple cream almost immediately, and shortly switched to Lansinoh Soothies Gel Pads which were a godsend! I hadn’t planned to pump because I didn’t want to mess up on demand feeding, but I was so engorged the inflammation was out of control and I felt like I was going to pop. They were hot to the touch, held indentations from my nursing top, my hair follicles were visible from across the room, and even the lightest touch made me cringe in pain. Don’t even get me started on how horrible it was to shower without any support […]
4 days in… It’s that moment when you realize your life is so amazing that you feel bad writing about it publicly because you feel like you are showing off. But you do it anyway 🙂 because you want to spread the joy to others! Perhaps it is my post-natal rush of hormones giving me such wonderful warm fuzzies, but they are undeniable regardless. I have my beautiful, vivacious 16-month-old Liliana who charms her way through anyone’s heart. My new addition, Amelia, is a sweet and squeezable cutie pie. My husband, Alec, is so supportive and helps with Lili every morning he is home. Our two dogs, Aedan and Maya have adjusted wonderfully to having another little one around. And, of course, my family and my husband’s family have been so supportive and wonderful, I really couldn’t have imagined a better situation. This time around is overall much better […]
While experiencing third trimester insomnia, I did a review of the literature on infant sleep and found a few very easy to read, reputable articles that can help back up what I tell clients and friends about infant sleep. They are very simple concepts, and easy to implement. I like to be able to support everything I suggest, and just for personal education. I invite you to read the below articles and the related and references articles that accompany them. It’s great to be informed! Topic: Just how important is sleep to infants? Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4321279/ Summary: Numerous studies have demonstrated the importance of sleep following learning something new in order to retain it for a long period of time. This is true across the board in any age group, yet often overlooked in infancy. Just because they cannot speak full sentences yet, does not mean […]
Lili is about 16 months old now and is seldom quiet, engaging in her own mix of jibberish and random words. In the past few months, she has begun to learn and use words crucial to her communication in daily life. She understands many more words than she can speak, but that is to be expected. She can nod yes and no, and also can say no so she is capable of affirming her answers to our questions. Her current word/phrase list consists of (I only count those words that are properly used in context): Dog, Mymy (dog’s name), Nonna, Papa, Dada, Mama, More, What’s This?, What’s That? Who’s That?, Cracker, Cookie, Food, No, Nana, Lola, Blue, Texas, Poop, Hot, Wet, Wow, Wiggle, Up, Bye, Done, Go, Bubbles, Apple, Off, Bone, Yuck, Back, Blocks, Papi, Book She can understand but does not say in context: Upstairs, Downstairs, Fanny Slide, Come […]
Is the modern world killing off the innate mothering instinct? Being a housewife in the modern era is not as it was back in my parents’ and grandparents’ day. There is no doubt parenting is difficult no matter when or where you are, but I am referring to the social pressures. Social media, television, open forums, blogs (mine excluded of course ;), mommy groups, and even the more open lines of communication between family and friends have all seemed to contribute to the downfall of the parenting instinct. Before the advent of the internet, if a mother questioned how many hours of sleep her child should get per night she would simply ask a family member or trusted medical professional and it would end there. Now, people hire sleep consultants because they saw on a forum or heard from their friend that their 4 week old should be sleeping […]
Lili has changed so much in the past month, let alone the past 13, it is almost inconceivable. I really do not think little ones are given enough credit for all their amazing accomplishments so early in life. If adults were even one iota as determined and adept as infants/toddlers, this world would be a far different place… As mentioned in my previous post, my little bug just recently shifted from a two nap a day schedule to just one, so I figured it was appropriate to account for this change in her new daily routine. Of course, we do not do the same thing every day, but this is a rough outline of what our days look like at 13 months. Also, I am currently almost 7 months pregnant, so I am taking more of a hands-off approach mostly due to exhaustion. 7:30am: wake up very […]
Last week I had to say farewell to my friend the second nap… Lili didn’t nap for three days, at all, and then transitioned to one per day. I definitely didn’t think it would happen so soon and needed to lament the loss. Given that I am almost 7 months pregnant, I really enjoyed the two naps as they gave me two times during the day to just sit and relax, not like I actually did that, but I had the opportunity to if I didn’t feel like cleaning, cooking, renovating, redecorating, etc. I must say I quite enjoy the added freedom it allows us in a day. We can go on errands longer, and even may venture into DC for longer zoo or museum trips now. Another added benefit to the one mid-day nap (that lasts between 1-2.5 hours) is an earlier bedtime. Around 530pm it’s already time […]
Do I think my daughter is an animal? Nope. Why is her bed on the floor? Short version: Maria Montessori was right. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I was homeschooled for a good bit of my childhood, and loved it. Before homeschooling “age”, my parents implemented Montessori methods such as big beds on the floor and more freedom and independent thinking at and earlier age. This mode of learning bode quite well for me and my siblings in terms of greater independence and love of learning later in life. My personal experience, combined with extensive research on numerous educational techniques formed my decision to implement Montessori methods. Since Lili is only 11 months old, (12 months by the time I post this!) there is not a lot of structure to her learning environment. From the time she was able to roll around, I let her explore the entire […]
Since when did staying at home with our children become a luxury? In this day in age, we hear many acronyms for dual earners, most notably, D-I-N-K (double income no kids). These are the hip couples who made the choice to either abstain from having children or to wait until they are more set in their careers or have “lived” life enough as a couple. Alec certainly wanted to live the DINK lifestyle far longer than I ever imagined, but we made a decent compromise and ended it after about 3 years of marriage (together for 7 years). Oh, and here is a fun fact: children do not ruin your lives! Children can travel. Your life does not have to stop being adventurous and spontaneous once you decide to “settle down.” Yes, they make things a bit more expensive, but just learn to budget better J I started being a […]
Quick intro: I have been having atrocious bilateral knee pain climbing stairs and getting up/down from the floor and chairs for the past 3 weeks. So bad, it has negatively affected my care for Lili and ability to clean the house (OH NO!) so I finally saw an Orthopedic Surgeon. Great Doc, minimal treatment available since I’m pregnant, and will probably do PT. During the visit, the doc asked me how old my other child was, and I told him “11 months.” To which he replied, “Well, if that isn’t hard enough…wow you’ll have two of them soon, that will be challenging.” I was a bit taken a back and said, “She’s perfect, so I’m not worried.” He then said, “Wow, I have never heard anyone say that about their baby or toddler. That’s amazing. Good for you!” There are a lot of things that left me puzzled from this […]