The first 1.5 weeks of life with Skye!

Time is already going by way too fast.  Skye is 1.5 weeks old and growing too fast.   I wanted to share a few thoughts I have had since she was born and share how things are going for me.  I feel lucky because with both Brooke and Skye, I feel so much better postpartum.  Pregnancy is hard for me (physically and emotionally) but I am very lucky that my body/hormones respond so well afterwards… we are all so different but this is just how it is going for me so far!

Bullet points with pictures from before she turned 24 hours old here we come:

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*Nothing makes me appreciate and love my body more than having a baby.  Nothing.  Oh and breastfeeding does the same thing for me too!  I look at my body with completely different eyeballs now than I did in my 20s.  I can’t believe that our bodies can do something so important and so beautiful.  Pregnancy/birth/breastfeeding gives me such appreciation for my body and it makes me want to treat it the best way possible.

*To go along with the previous bullet point, I have loved explaining how amazing the woman’s body is to Brooke. She has been full of questions about everything that is going on.  I have loved being able to talk to her about these different things that happen with our bodies (age appropriate talk of course;) and how incredible it is.  She watches everything that is happening with the baby and her questions make me so happy.  I love that we can talk about it all.

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*When Brooke first saw a picture of the baby and me (right after she was born) she told my mom, ‘that’s MY mama.’  I was a little nervous how the meeting would go but Skye had little presents there for kids when they arrived and after a few minutes of watching her, both kids fell in love with her.  The other day Skye was crying and Brooke ran into the other room and grabbed a rattle and came in to use it to calm Skye down.  It worked and Brooke felt like a million bucks after that.  Knox has given her his old blankets and wants to play peek-a-boo all day with her.  I love watching them find ways to ‘serve’ her the best way their five year old brains can think of.

*My anxiety is about 1/10th what it was with Brooke.  I’m not sure if that is because I have done this before and so I worry about it a bit less or if my hormones are doing better than they did with Brooke.  Either way, I feel like I have a healthy amount of worry in my brain (because mom’s have to worry at least a little bit)… but nothing like it was when I first had Brooke.

*I am home.  We are home.  The baby isn’t leaving (unless it is to a doctor appointment or to drop the kids off at school or something) for a while to avoid getting sick etc.  We are home bound right now and I’ll go out for a walk or something every now and then but that’s it.  My OBGYN, the pediatrician and ER doctor brother called and gave me this advice to do, so and I’m sticking to it!  Something that helps me with being home bound (but honestly, being home all day watching movies with Skye and snuggling is kind of the best) is showering each day and getting ready.  It makes me feel SO MUCH BETTER and it wakes me up a bit too.

*I’ve loved the process of starting to get to know Skye’s little personality.  Each day I feel like I get to learn more and I absolutely love that.

*Skye LOVES the Rock n’ Play.  Loves it.

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*Breastfeeding.  Nipple gel pads and Newman’s 2% ointment prescription from my doctor have saved my life.  I was hurting SO BAD there for a few days and those two things have taken away so much of the pain.  I had to use a nipple guard too for a little bit there (to make it easier for Skye to latch) but now we are good to go and it seems like we are figuring it out (which I never did the first time around)!  My milk came in pretty much exactly 48 hours after she was born and I’ve started pumping a bit each day to help feel like I’m not going to explode ha.  I’ve been living in these nursing tanks and they are so soft.

A few things that I think are helping me this time around:  1.  I’ve really slowed down with life and I’m taking the time (which is a lot of time) to learn breastfeeding with Skye.  We are home 100% of the time which gives us the perfect opportunity to figure this out.  2. Skye came HUNGRY and ready to latch and eat.  This has helped the most.   3.  My stress levels are not what they were back when I tried doing this with Brooke and I think that helps a lot.  4. Andrew is the best supporter of everything going on and I think that has made a huge difference in how breastfeeding is going for me!  5.  I have never drunk so much water in my life along with making sure to eat plenty and often so that I am fueling my recovery and my ability to feed her  6.  I met with a lactation consultant and she had a lot of great tips for me!

PS don’t get me wrong, breastfeeding is still hard and I feel like I learn a little bit each day but there are times where I feel that incredible bonding feeling and think about how much I love to breastfeed now.   Each day gets better and easier!

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*Our house has never been so messy ever and I don’t care:)  The kitchen is always clean (because Andrew knows how important that is to me and I actually really love cleaning that too) but the rest of the house is a disaster and it will be that way for a while.

*Food tastes so good.  I almost can’t believe how good it is again.

*I have LIVED.  Lived in the Blanqi leggings.  I ordered a pair thinking I might kind of like them but I’m obsessed.  They go all the way up to the top of your stomach, they fit amazing and they are so soft.  They are the perfect amount of tightness and looseness if that makes sense.  I’ll be wearing these for a long time because trying on my old jeans isn’t going to be a thing for a while.

*The kids are both amazing at remembering to sanitize.  They carry their little bottles around with them and put it on all day long.  They want to take care of her.

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*Like pretty much every baby, Skye likes to sleep all day long and party at night:)  Each night seems to get a little bit better but Andrew is the best to do this with because he loves to be up late and talking to me while I feed her or burping/changing her/getting her back to sleep.  He takes over until about 1 or 2 in the morning and then I take the rest of the night and that seems to work with us.

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*When the kids are gone at school I am really taking that time to do nothing but savor those moments with Skye.  We get back in bed for three hours and just cuddle.  Once they are home then there is more multitasking going on and trying to make sure everyone is feeling loved and important but those three hours in the morning are sacred to me!  One morning it was just Brooke and Skye and me.  I found myself standing while Brooke was eating her pancakes, breastfeeding Skye and doing Brooke’s hair with my other hand, all at the same time.

*During labor= I am never doing this again.  After she was born= Andrew, let’s have ten more… this is amazing!

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*I’m really enjoying feeling like my emotions and hormones are back to themselves again.  Between the IUD and pregnancy, it feels like it has been forever since I’ve truly felt 100% myself and now I do (which I know is so lucky postpartum).

*Somehow our laundry has tripled which doesn’t quite make sense because we have just added one member to our family ha.

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*I have no idea how much I gained during pregnancy so I have no idea how much I’ll lose nor do I think about it.  I trust my body to get to a set point that will sustain breastfeeding for as long as it can by eating healthy (along with plenty of treats) and exercise.  Right now I’ve gone on like two mini walks and that is it.  I’ll start running in 5 more weeks (if my body gives me the green light) and from there I’ll stick to 5ks and 10ks for a bit before increasing my mileage.  I’m not worried about size/weight/etc and I trust my body to do it’s thing and take care of this family of mine.  It’s a place I never thought I would get to back when I was in my 20s and really struggling with eating but I am so thankful I am here.

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*It’s pretty amazing how you can be completely sleep deprived, really sore in the places you don’t want to be sore and spending a lot of your brain power each day on a little 7 lb being… and be so completely happy about it all.  There are definitely hard moments (don’t want to sugarcoat things) but I swear doing the hard stuff makes us the happiest.

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Mom’s reading—>  What do you remember from the first few weeks of your little one’s life?

Tips for switching around the ‘sleep all day, party all night’ mentality of newborns?  When did your kids start sleeping through the night or at least sleeping better?

Have any cute stories about your kids lately?  I want to hear them!

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54 comments

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Your joy is very evident, it warms my heart! The first few weeks on my son’s life are some of my happiest memories. He is 4 now, it goes too fast! I didn’t really start worrying about a schedule until he was about 2 months old. This gave us enough time to get nursing figured out. I know you work from home, but once you start pumping and saving milk, lay your bags flat to freeze. This makes it much easier to store in your freezer!

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I’m so happy for you all, seeing how happy you are is so amazing after the tough time you went through! I’m so so happy for you!! I don’t have any children but I work with 3-5 year olds, and I just cannot wait to have my own children. They say the funniest/sweetest things when little, I always say to my mum that I should write all the funny things down and write a book one day:) I regularly get lots of cuddles and told “Ms. B, I just love you so much” and it makes my day every time- and makes all the hard parts of working in a school worth it! Keep enjoying the baby snuggles, she is adorable!!

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I was the same as you, so anxious after first baby and so much calmer with second! Kind of did the opposite with breastfeeding though, the first i did 18 months, the second we switched to formula at 12 weeks when I went back to wOrking full time and it has done EVERYTHING for my sanity at work!! Everyone has to do what’s best for them and I’m happy nursing is going well for you ?. Also maybe you’ll agree soon but time seems to go so much faster with the second baby!! I’d imagine it just gets to lightning speed with each subsequent baby. Congrats on little skye!

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I’m still 7 weeks out BUT I’ve heard awesome things about the book Babywise for getting a sleep schedule down! I plan on using it once my little lady is here :)

I’ve been on the hunt for a nursing tank I love, did you buy these according to your normal shirt size or more according to bra size? I’m excited to try them!

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Yes to Babywise!! It is a life saver and my 14 month old is amazing sleeper because of it! She started sleeping 12 hours at night by about 4ish months because of the methods we learned from Babywise.

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I agree too!! My first is an amazing sleeper. My second had awful reflux so it didn’t work for him.

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LOve all of this! My girls seemed to take about 8 weeks to start sleeping 6-8 hours at night. (It’s been 10 and 12 years though so I could be wrong). I just kind of savored those middle of the night feedings and much as I could because it was our alone time. It goes so fast and then they are in middle school! ?

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Janae it makes me so happy to read your blog, thanks for posting all of your mommy hood days! I can relate to a lot of it, since our babies are only three days apart. Mine likes to party all night and sleep all day too.. so here’s to hoping that works itself out soon! Haha . You are a beautiful mom,and your kids are lucky to have you as theirs. I love Skye’s name, so dainty and sweet. I think I’ll start pumping at least once a day, so feel less full and those bags if milk come in handy, especially if daddy wants to feed the babe. Again, love reading your posts!!

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I can’t remember if I told you this, if not I’m not sure how I missed it. And you’ve probably figured it out, but the new nursing garments are way way better than the ones from 5 or so years ago! If you don’t have them get them! The only thing I didn’t love is that they didn’t have them in caranessa, but the cotton worked great.

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It was like the best endorphin high ever!
Everything your post says.
Enjoy it!! I think winter babies can get a bad wrap, but I was never so content being in my home and just snuggling with the baby with Christmas lights etc.
Thanks for sharing Janae. Love being part of your world.

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You said it perfectly! I totally agree! I had our third child 4 months ago. Life with three kids was crazy (to say the least) especially in that first month. My motto was “I can do the hard things.” It is so amazing that in the craziest times when I was going on very little sleep, I was and still am so incredibly happy! Being Mommy is my greatest blessing in life!

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My advice for flipping days and nights is when she gets up at night to keep the lights dim and everything’s quiet so she will start to learn that nights are for sleeping not partying ?She’s beautiful! And you will all figure the sleep thing out in good time!

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Aww this made me tear up! This is such an amazing, special time and I’m so happy that you can check out of the chaos of the real world (for the most part ?) and enjoy it. And your pics are beautiful. So much love to you guys!

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Tips for switching around the ‘sleep all day, party all night’ mentality of newborns: expose her to as much natural light as you can during the day and have her sleep in a dark environment when it’s time to sleep. When you’re nursing/changing diapers in the middle of the night, keep it as dark as you can. After a while, she will stop pooping in the middle of the night so you don’t have to necessarily change her. Get bigger diapers and slather on the diaper cream for overnight. She will be fine!

When did your kids start sleeping through the night or at least sleeping better? My older daughter didn’t sleep through the night until she was almost 10 months. My second daughter started at 6 months. We noticed a big improvement in her patterns around 3 months though. The thing that helped me was to remember that the sleep deprivation is TEMPORARY. It may seem like the worst possible thing but you get through it!

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I have a 12 week old and he started sleeping long stretches at night at about 4 weeks. It just kind of happened! My husband and I woke up and were so worried and confused when we realized he slept 6 hours. My advice is just listen to your baby and try not to read into all of the information we have available too much. It’s great to be able to google things or read sleep training books, but you are the one who knows your baby the best! I started obsessing and reading too much and it consumed me, my mom gave me that advice and it really helped me and Henry so much :-). You’re already an amazing mama, I can’t wait to read more about your adventures with Skye!

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That picture of Brooke and Knox looking through the door is precious! The looks on their faces are absolutely priceless.

This is so much fun to read because my little guy is almost 6 weeks and so much changes in just a few short weeks. Keeping the lights dim at night really helped at getting him back to sleep (I use a salt lamp to nurse and change diapers by the light of the wipe warmer). He’s started sleeping about 4 hour stretches; some nights are better than others but it’s already getting better, so hang in there!

I’m glad to hear another mama that’s keeping her baby at home. I’ve had some snarky comments that we haven’t gone anywhere since he was born. But I’m able to stay home with him and the flu is bad here this year, so why risk it? I’m glad you’re able to relax and savor these moments. I can’t believe how fast it goes!

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I just had my third…well she is four months now. But she was initially my worst sleeper and was up at night and slept all day like your little one. But then, right at 9 weeks, she figured it out. She still gets up 1-2 times per night but I’ll take that over the hourly wake-ups those first nine weeks.

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Kudos for making breastfeeding work this time even with it’s challenges! I also had a really rough time that led to quitting by the 3 month mark with my first baby. But with baby #2 we were successful and I nursed him for 11 months! It wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done. But being more relaxed and seeking help from professionals the second time was the key for us.

I also suggest the Babywise method for teaching sleep patterns. Except, I don’t completely agree with their feeding recommendations. I suggest breastfeeding on demand, even if you feel like you just did it. Because breastfed babies sometimes want to nurse more often to increase your supply and such. But we followed a pattern like Babywise suggests and both of my babies were sleeping all night by 12 weeks. There’s no trick to those newborn weeks ;) I would feed every 2-3 hours for at least the first 4 weeks when you know they are gaining good weight. Then start to see if you can get her good and tired and top her tummy off right before going to sleep at night!

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Also agree with this. The routine babywise suggests works. The feeding… eh… but the wake, eat, play, sleep routine is great.

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My babe didn’t start sleeping through the night (to me “through the night” means 10-12 hrs sleep … 7 pm to 6 am sort of thing) till 8 MONTHS!! It was a long 8 months. I ended up hiring a sleep consultant to help cause I was so lost and exhausted. It was a godsend.

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I love this post!! So happy for you guys! The best tip I ever received with sleeping was to teach the baby the difference between night and day immediately. During the day, naps should be in louder places with lots of light. During the night, no talking, eye contact, light, etc. Change diapers in the dark and nurse in the dark. It worked really well for me with both girls. They got used to immediately going right back to sleep. Sleeping through the night is a completely different story. But it was nice that they quickly picked up the part about immediately going back down between nighttime feedings. I’m sure you’ll figure it out!!

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Yes! night is night and day is day, but NEVER let them think that naptime=nighttime. Naps are for daytime sleeping, which means light, noise, etc. If you make them think naps are only for the dark and quiet of night, they’ll never be able to nap while you’re out or at other people’s houses!

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I can’t help thinking that the reason your anxiety is so much lower this time is that you have a partner who is a true *partner* to you this time, and a loving helper and co-parent. I’m not trying to knock Billy, but it is clear how much less ‘alone’ you are in this go-around and how clearly and obviously you feel the true equal partnership of Andrew. God bless your beautiful family.

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Such a beautiful post! That picture of You & your Mama is BEAUTIFUL! <3 <3 I can't get over how young she looks!

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Oh my goodness you are making me want a third SO bad. You sound like you are doing an amazing job. Well done! I’m so glad you have a supportive man by your side this time. I’m sure that makes all the difference!

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Janae, your entire family looks wonderful and so happy. We are all so happy for you.

While I have no advice, about anything baby related I am so happy for you that things are going so smoothly.

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“Doing the hard stuff makes us the happiest.” Yes!!! Couldn’t agree more. Thank you for sharing all these special moments.

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So happy for you! She is beautiful and you are doing an amazing job.
In terms of helping along the sleep schedule, first keep in mind that when she was in your belly, she slept during the day a lot when you were moving and was up a night when you were lying down. So she just needs a little coaching.
This was my approach, but I’m sure others have good tips too:
I had a night light on next to my bed. Our baby slept in the Rock n play right next to me. So i would feed her without turning the lights on or even getting up. If she needed a change, i actually had diapers and wipes next to the bed with a changing pad, but you don’t need to change her if it’s just pee. So just minimize the disruptions. I would try to get her back down by rocking the rock n play or we would co-sleep.
During the day, i would just try to limit her naps and wake her up to feed during the day. This was always more tricky to navigate. Sometimes they are in a total growth spurt and need to sleep more. So during the day, it’s hard to tell what exactly they need. but basically i tried to feed her as much during the day, so she was less hungry at night….but didn’t always work! lol…
Good luck! you are doing great! Be kind to yourself!
Mary

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I’m reading this while pumping at work for my four-month-old baby :)

THANK YOU for being so real and giving us a glimpse into the ups and downs of having a newborn and two sweet older children. Especially during the holiday season I find it easy to fall into the trap of thinking I’m not doing enough or not doing well enough at home or at work or anywhere else. Reading this post reminded me that THIS, savoring family and the season we are in, is the most important thing. This time won’t come again and, my goodness, it is sweet. Thank you for the reminder.

On a completely unrelated note, I work in the pharmaceutical industry with a specialization in influenza and other viral respiratory infections. So many kudos to you for keeping sweet Skye at home for the time being! These infections are no joke for tiny ones and this year’s strain is nasty. You are such a wonderful mom!

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Thank you so much Jessica for your comment, I really appreciate it! Congrats on your little four month old:) I hope this holiday season is amazing for you guys! Thank you for what you said about keeping Skye home! My brother called telling me that it is a really bad strain this year! I hope you have a beautiful day!

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You are absolutely radiant! What a sweet and loving post :) So happy you are feeling great and everyone is doing well. Sending love and hugs to all!

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I have never replied to a blog post before, but I have read your blog every day for the past few years. Two things you wrote today really resonated with me: the part about wanting to treat your body well after seeing what it is capable of through birth and breast feeding. So true. My babies are 11 and 14 now, but reading your stories really takes me back to that time. It is truly the most amazing and precious time. Our bodies are powerful and beautiful and we need reminders of that! The second thing was how you said it’s the hard things that make us happiest. Thank you for saying that. I really needed to hear that today. I’m glad you are enjoying every second of this special time.

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Erin, thank you for your comment and for reading over the years! That means a lot to me! I hope you are having a beautiful day!

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I had foot surgery two days after your baby was born, so I feel like we are on the same recovery schedule to get back to activity. Your patience is a good example for me, as I am getting tired of sitting all day. My baby is 21, so it is exciting to read about your adventures with a newborn and remember what it was like for us.

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I am so so sorry about your foot surgery! Please keep me updated with how you are doing and I hope you are back Running pain free ASAP!

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I am SO happy for you and your beautiful family! Skye is just precious and it is so wonderful you are feeling so great! Yes, we are all so different! For me pregnancy was amazing and my postpartum was just awful. I was miserable for the first 4 weeks of my daughters life, my hormones were a wreck and breastfeeding was so terrible and I had so many complications with it. I can’t wait to have another baby because I feel like the second time around will be so much better because I know what to expect.

My daughter is about to turn 2 and this morning I asked her what she dreamed about (I ask her every morning) and she said “Christmas!” :-)

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She is absolutely beautiful! Brooke and Knox are precious with her! I’m so happy for your little family :)

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The first weeks of my baby’s life… I am already tearing up just thinking about it… It was hard and wonderful at the same time. I cherish the moments of the first weeks of his life but love my silly 7 month old too. Children truly bring a joy to your life that you never knew you could feel. It is the purest joy ever.

Party all night … Yes! I know this. She will adjust. My best advice is this… Between the hours of 9PM – 7AM… Keep the lights very dim. I also did my best (probably after 2 months or so. The first 8 weeks are survival) to not talk to him in the middle of the night. I was very quiet and kept the stimulation down as much as possible. During the day, I would be very talkative and kept him in the living room that has lots of natural light.

I think it really did help!

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Where did you get your cute hospital robe? I was looking for something cute for the hospital when I have our baby girl next month?

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Ahhhhh next month! So excited for you! I got it from pinkblushmaternity.com
Good luck and let me know how everything goes!

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Janae you look absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! Love these pics! I’m so happy things are going well for you and that you and Baby Skye have so many helpers looking after you.

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oh my gosh i love your professional-looking photos! they capture so much heart. glad to read up on your journey to see it’s going so well.

Mom’s reading—> What do you remember from the first few weeks of your little one’s life?

i remember she had little dots on her nose and had no idea what it was. apparently it’s normal! she also didn’t have any eyelashes until week 2. i was amazed at that.

Tips for switching around the ‘sleep all day, party all night’ mentality of newborns? When did your kids start sleeping through the night or at least sleeping better?

if she slept during the day, i would tickle her feet and undress her a bit so she’d wake up – and i’d feed her 1x every 3 hours – she would eat more / nurse more when i tickled the back of her neck and tickled her feet. i think this made for longer sleeping blocks at night?? but i can’t be sure. i want to say after she was 2 months old going on 3 is when we had long blocks of sleep (6 hours!) and that was great. each baby is different tho. some sleep every 2 hours for the whole first year – and some sleep 5 hours off the bat. it’s hard to say.

Have any cute stories about your kids lately? I want to hear them!

just that as she goes to bed, she reads to herself all the stories she wants to read. right now it’s all about “the kingdom of wrenly” and “the princess in black” – she’s so into it. and then afterward the subsequent snoring that comes from such a little person. she’s snored since she was a newborn. it’s unreal.

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Oh my gosh, the picture of when the kids were just coming in to see Skye and Brooke is holding on to Andrew’s hand/arm. Heart melt. You are amazing, Janae! It makes me so happy reading your post! Mine was a bit different and sometimes I wish I could do it again with another and have a different experience, but we had our twins and that’s it. :) I think the anxiety of being a first time parent, a c-section, 4.5 lb preemies, and just not feeling well hormonal-wise took it’s toll on me at the time. But then 2-3 months in, everything lifted and it was great.

Oh, as for sleep suggestions, I have two books I highly recommend!
1. On Becoming Baby Wise (Giving your infant the gift of night time sleep): https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Baby-Wise-Giving-Nighttime/dp/1932740139
2. Happy Sleep Habits, Happy Child: https://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Child/dp/0449004023/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513697849&sr=1-4&keywords=healthy+sleep+happy+baby

Ahh, I can’t think of any stories about my kids right now but they are forever making us laugh with the things they say or do. I really need to document it more. My husband and I share with each other but that’s about it. :) Have a wonderful day, Janae!

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One thing my husband and I did with our second son was have shifts with the baby at night. I was “off” (and got to sleep) from about 7pm-12am and then my husband went to bed and I was on call if the baby was hungry. My husband bottle fed BM and it worked fine (our son didn’t have nipple confusion). For me, getting 5+ hours of uninterrupted sleep was incredible (esp since I also had to care for a 3 year old during the day as well as the baby). It was hard to go to bed at 7pm bc I missed time with my husband but for the first few weeks we did it and it was a lifesaver. My biggest mistake with my first son was trying to do everything for everyone (care for the baby, take care of the house, my husband, etc) and after a few weeks I just crashed.

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You all look so happy, Janae — like you were always meant to be together as a family. I’m excited that my little guy is just a a few weeks older than Skye and we’re going through this together. It’s fun to look at Skye’s updates and think back a few weeks to what my son was doing at that time. He’s 6.5 weeks now and we just got a Rock’n’play last night (early Christmas gift from my parents). He LOVES it. He skipped his “witching hour” for the first time yesterday evening and though it may be coincidence, I chalk it up to the Rock’n’play. He then had his longest stretch of sleep ever — 5 hours!

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I am not one to talk about sleep and kids. I bombed that part of parenting with an exception. When I look back to those newborn days I remember all those nights just my little newborn and myself. My 2nd had medical issues, including severe reflux (she still has it at age 7 but we are off meds).

Cute kid stories- My 10 year old finally asked what on earth the “Virgin” part of Mary meant. We have had on going discussions of body changing, etc, so she is aware of everything to allow me to explain. But she informed me that I forever ruined the nativity scene. Basically she is mortified that they would tie anything of that nature to Mary. She told me she is going to think of another name.
I still have my 7 year old wanting reassurance that Santa is going to drop the presents at our door and NEVER enter our house. We have yet to get a Santa picture in which she looks anything but horrified. She is scared to death of him and even asks “so how is he good if he breaks into everyone’s house?” Gotta hand it to her, there is something fishy about that one. She has not lost a tooth yet so we have not had to deal with the tooth fairy, that could be a whole other fear. But she is super sweet. She had has an end of November birthday and when you asked her at the beginning of the season what she wanted for Christmas she said ” I’m okay, I have everything I want, I just had a birthday”. She really meant it!

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Our little girl (15 months now) partied through the night too when she was a newborn. Actually my husband and I did the same shifts as you do.
After about 4 weeks she fall asleep earlier and earlier (the first days she went to sleep at 2 am) so that you could finally say after 3 months that she has a normal schedule.
It’s hard, I now, but every week gets easier!

What do I remember from the first weeks? Definitely the breastfeeding hours and having her in my Sleepy Wrap ALL DAY LONG!

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Beautiful post! She is such a doll. Glad you are adjusting and taking this time in. So happy for you all!

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She’s adorable! Congratulations!

We used the Baby Wise method for sleeping and it worked wonders for our daughter. We didn’t follow it 100%, sometimes she (or I) just needed some snuggles, but we followed the eat, play, sleep rhythm and it worked great!

I do have one item to recommend that I loved while breastfeeding and it is a silicone milk catcher. I usually used it in the morning after my daughter started sleeping longer stretches at night because I was so full in the mornings and it helped me store up some extra milk! (I basically just used it catch my let down on the side she wasn’t nursing at the time.) Plus, they’re super cheap! (Amazon around $10)

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You guys all seem so happy! I’m so happy for your little family, and that you’re feeling like yourself again. Thank you for writing these posts, I am seriously bookmarking all your HRG baby posts (especially the ones asking for advice from your readers!) because we just found out I’m pregnant a week ago! This will be our first so I will need all the help I can get. :)

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AHHH KELLY!! I am so so so happy for you!! Keep me updated with how you are doing:)

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Oh, I’m loving these posts so much. You are such a radiant mama, and Skye is just perfect! Also, I can relate to so many of your bullet points. Labor and breastfeeding always leave me in awe of my body. My body is such an amazing instrument, and I hate it that I treated it more like an object that needed to be tweaked and/or fixed for so long (I grappled with aborexia and then bulimia as a young woman and even today I occasionally struggle with my body image).

My baby is almost a year old, but he’s my fifth and I still love cuddling with him during the day when his older siblings are away at school and before the crazy chaos ensues when everyone is underfoot. ;) So I can relate to your morning snuggle time as well.

I also feel yucky emotionally and physically while pregnant, but I don’t necessarily *look* like I feel that way (unless people saw me puking; I was so sick with my last pregnancy for the entire nine months that I ended up hospitalized for dehydration). Well-meaning folks were always telling me I was lucky pregnancy was so easy because I looked fine, and that was kind of hard because I didn’t want to complain about the blessing of pregnancy. Yet, I also didn’t want to gloss over the fact that I felt absolutely awful. I forgot how wonderful food tasted. I don’t think I even realized how bad it had gotten until after I gave birth and turned right back into my foodie self! ;)

I also was really patient with my postpartum body and my exercise routine this go-around. I am back to running, but I still am not pushing myself because sleep still can be in short supply.

I am rambling here, but I loved this post and just felt a lot of solidarity. While I first started reading your blog as a runner, I honestly would be a loyal reader whether you never ran another mile again because I love your take on life and motherhood. You are authentic while still keeping it joyful. I imagine I would love being your friend if I ever moved to Utah! ;)

At any rate, thanks for offering us a glimpse into this sweet time in your life. Cover that lovely baby and those older kiddos, too, with lots of kisses. I’m sure your sister can tell you how the days really can feel long, but the years are faster than Shalane. ;). My oldest recently turned 13, and I can still vividly remember the day she was born and how empowered and in love I felt with this tiny, new creation. It seems like yesterday!

God bless you and your beautiful, growing family! Xoxo

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Our third little one was born on November 8th and our laundry seemed to triple, too! I still can’t figure out how that is happening… :) Congratulations to you all! She is beautiful!

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Hi Janae! I just reread this post because you gave some great product recommendations for MAMA! My sister in law is due with a baby girl in July (Finley Grace) and I want to spoil her. Everybody has been buying things for the baby (how can you not?!?) but I want to spoil her too. Where did you get your robe? It looks like pink blush! What other things would you recommend to make the labor easier/happier for mom?! Thanks!

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