Expecting Happiness: February 2014

Packing for the Hospital

I did a lot of "Googling" and emailing friends about what to bring to the hospital (and when to pack), when you're on your way to deliver your baby.

Here's the list I put together:

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Protect Your Baby from Whooping Cough

While we are at it... Make sure you and everyone around your baby gets a tDap shot! Whooping cough can be DEADLY for babies.

Protect Yourself from the Flu

From: http://www.flu.gov/prevention-vaccination/prevention/

Check it out!

http://m.cdc.gov/en/HealthSafetyTopics/DiseasesConditions/SeasonalFlu/About/preventingFlu

Ahhhh the sweet experience of folding adorable baby clothes- call me crazy, but I love it! There is something about an entire basket full of cute mini sized clothes and linens that just makes me smile.

I guess for me it's one of those "now I know I'm a mom" things. And looking at how tiny each little shirt is and how they used to look huge to me when Keira was still in newborn clothes (she's in 6 months now). Look at all these piles of precious baby clothes!

Baby laundry = labor of love

Give Me a Sign

This light pink placard was one the very first baby items I bought- I ordered it right after we found out we were having a girl. For a very long time it sat empty - then when we get closer to the due date - it was covered in names. I'm so happy to finally have it complete with OUR baby's name on there!

Baby Food / Baby Self Feeding

The next frontier is fast approaching, baby food! But the days of little jars of mushy peas are now gone, the current baby eating concept is called "baby-led weaning", aka BLW; but many mothers like to refer to this as baby self feeding. Breastfeeding continues through this period, but starting at six months you can start introducing solid foods to baby.

Search American parenting sites for “baby-led weaning” and most of what you’ll find is advice on ending breastfeeding when the child chooses. But [here] in Britain, the term commonly means letting babies feed themselves from their very first mouthful of solid food at six months. No runny rice cereal, no applesauce, no airplane spoon games. Instead they start exclusively on easy-to-grab finger foods like steamed carrot sticks, hunks of banana, and even skinless chicken drumsticks, then progress at their own pace to more complex dishes. They share in family mealtimes and in the process, the theory goes, become more adventurous eaters comfortable with a variety of tastes and textures while acquiring a natural feel for portion control. It’s a method some American mothers use as well, but here, it’s a trend considered worthy of fierce debate.

Parents used to be told to introduce solids at four months, when babies weren’t physically capable of sitting up, grabbing objects and directing things to their mouths — all prerequisites for self-feeding. But since 2001, when the World Health Organization changed its recommendations, parents have been advised to hold off on solids until six months. At that age, advocates say, babies are developmentally ready to skip the mush.

(From: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/trusting-a-baby-to-know-how-to-eat/)

I'm not anxious to start this at all and I don't need to be. I've seen firsthand in my breastfeeding support group when a mother of a just-turned six month old reached and grabbed voraciously for his mom's apple. Babies will tell you when they are ready!

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Keira @ 14 Weeks

This week has been a challenge. Mike was gone all last week and then this week he was diagnosed with the flu. Since our pediatrician recommended he stay 6 feet (minimum) away from us at all times and use a separate bathroom. Since our condo is only 1,000 SF and we only have one full bath this just seems infeasible. We decided it was best for the whole family if he stayed elsewhere. It had been hard for him physically and hard for the family to be separated. I've tried to really keep it together since I'm juggling teething baby who only naps if she is right next to me, dog who has to go outside three times a day and of course three days of snow. All with no car. So I've done a really good job not spending any money and cleaning out the cupboards!

Luckily Keira's smile always instantly cheers me up and inspires me to keep going. She has been super cute and sweet and she's got some new tricks this week!

We are now rolling over! She goes from her tummy to her back- it's cute and I cheer so much and she just looks at me like "what's the big deal?"

Last night I got her to let out a little giggle... I know that full on laugh is coming soon!

So here's our pics from this week:

Pay It Forward

We received so many wonderful hand me downs from both my sister and sister in law. We got clothes, towels, blankets, toys, books - the list goes on and on. It's been such a huge savings to not have to buy barely anything new and I'm so grateful for everything we received!

Now that Keira is 3 months she has already outgrown an incredible amount of clothes! So we got to packing up everything "neutal" to send down to my other sister in law, who is expecting her first baby (a boy) in August! Luckily, my sister loved giraffes so there's tons of outfits that are cute for a girl or boy! We were able to add some of our new stuff to the "stash" to pass along. Love that we're keeping it in the family and we can keep passing along baby goodies to each other!

Here's all the stuff we've packed up!

Now all this baby gear will go to good use with a third baby and we've got more room for new stuff as Keira grows bigger!

Seven Pounds / Baby Weight

There are still a pesky SEVEN pounds of "baby weight" sticking around on my 5'3" body. I've pretty much eaten whatever I wanted the last three months (or four months if you count the last month of pregnancy). I'm not a big junk food eater but I do tend to overeat healthy foods. Since my "prepregnancy" pants do NOT look cute when zipped, I want to rid myself of this extra weight, or at least get my waistline back to normal. I pulled up my old trusty MyPlate app and started tracking:

It's sort of a crapshoot figuring out how many calories I'm supposed to be eating since most websites say nursing burns 300-500 calories per day (that's a big range). So I targeted around 1800 calories for days that I don't exercise.

Tracking my food lasted ONE whole day but it did give me a good overall picture of how much I'm eating and where I can cut down. This did make me more conscious of portion sizes so now I'm constantly pulling out the measuring cups!

In the meanwhile I did order another pair of bigger comfier pants because frankly when you are playing on the floor with baby you don't really want to be in your fancy designer jeans.

I've also cut out all dairy and soy, and moving to nuts next- but that's a whole other blog post...

Now I'm off to go eat a 1/4 cup of golden raisins!

Keira @ 12 Weeks

Keira is 12 weeks today! She is still eating very frequently but sleeping less, so we've been playing more! We have play time, tummy time and story time every day. It hasn't been too cold so we've been going for walks and still attending our support group at the hospital. Keira likes seeing the other babies and I enjoy the company of other new moms.

Keira's head control is getting stronger every day and she is getting such a little personality and making us laugh every day. We just love her so much!

Here's what we've been up to this week...

She loves putting her hands in her mouth