Woot! Sleep

I am totally going to jinx myself by writing this....

But for the past few nights - Evie has been sleeping 7 - 8.5 hours!

I feed her around 8:30 or 9. Then we swaddle her and put her in her crib. She falls asleep either right away or takes about 30 min and a few turn ons of the seahorse.

When Nick comes to bed, he moves Evie to her bassinette. (This weekend we are trying a whole night in her crib). Then she sleeps till 4:30 or 5, sort of wakes up enough to eat and goes back down until 7/7:30 when I wake her up for day care. She could sleep longer.

I think the move to the crib has helped her sleep better! The first night was so cute, we both were watching the monitor over the TV that was on in the background. Every time she would move Nick would say "Evie do you need a hug and kiss!" and then she would fall back asleep "oooo".

She does well in her crib!

Transitioning to crib

I think this weekend we are going to try to transition Evie to her crib. Totally scared of this! I think we are going to start this tomorrow (Friday) night. If it doesn't go well, I'll bring her to her bassinet.

But EEK!!!

my little girl is growning up!

Evie is long and skinny-ish.

Last night we tried on a 3-6 month pjs (they are the smaller of the ones we have), and they fit length wise. They are big for her, but *tear* she can wear them. And this morning since we don't have many long sleeved 0-3 and I refuse to buy more, I put her in a 3-6 onsie! She is swimming in it like she did when she was born with 0-3, but she can wear it.

Right now 0-3 is her size, but she can wear some 3-6 due to her length!

And I think she is done with newborn sized clothing. They still fit technically, but are too short in the arms and too short in the legs. But technically they fit, and I will still use them in a pinch if needed.

A few days ago I was going through pictures, and had one of her laying on my chest in the hospital on her birth day. Wow has she grown. Made me tear up

Heat is on!

With a baby in the house, the heat is now on earlier than normal! It was nice to wake up and not be freezing. Was so cold outside this morning when I took the dogs out (5:45). Love fall. Hate winter. Hate this beginning feeling of winter in the mornings. Winter is what makes me hate new england and makes me question living here every year.

Not Fair

Just a small not fair post

I hate that when I drop Evie off in the morning, she is wide awake, so happy, so aware. I want to spend that time with her, not the people at day care! In the evenings she is tired, cranky. I want my happy morning baby! And it makes it so hard to leave when she is that happy, awake, wanting attention. WAH!!!!

And I am so envious of people who get to take off so long for maternity leave. My work sucks in that they have nothing for maternity leave. Thank god for short term disability. And yes it was my choice to start a family before we had enough saved up for me to take extra time off. And so worth it. Would not change anything. Love my life. But just wish work would have given me some extra time off paid. Like they give guys one week paid off for paternity leave, and nothing for women! BS!

And another thing about work since I am griping. I hate my salary. It is only OK. DH gets paid over 10K more than me, and gets over 3K more in his Christmas bonus, so probably 15+K more a year! And we do the same amount of work. Technically I am in charge of him. But nope. I get paid less. He says it is because he worked with someone who knew the company owner so he had more pull. But giving my percentages of raises (what they say is the maximum they can do) and his few extra years of experience, I would be no where close to what he gets paid. Yes I do like working here, but just some things make me reconsider it.

But work works so well with family life. I don't have set hours, just have to get my job done mostly. I can leave for doctors appointments, leave early for kid, etc. Love that aspect. And I love what I do. I love the people I work with. I am really happy here. I don't want to change anything but salary. Especially since raises have been nothing for the past 2 years.

What a Great 28th Birthday!

Yesterday was my 28th birthday. It was a FANTASTIC birthday! One of the best I have ever had. I think a lot of that has to do with having the cutest baby in the world! Last year I remember wishing for her!

The day started off well. Evie let me sleep in until 8am! We cuddled on the couch. I had a few cups of nice hot coffee. Nick woke up and we got ready for apple picking! We went to one of my favorite apple orchard around here.

It was only a 30 minute drive. And the fall colors were fantastic driving up there. We pulled to the little store, got some fresh apple cider donuts. Small hot crunchy bites of donut goodness.

Went up to pick apples. Got a 1/2 bushel bag. Nick took a great picture of Evie and I. Love this picture. I consider it one of my birthday gifts.

Put Evie in the Ergo and started apple picking! She loves being in it and slept the whole time.

We were there for the Red Northern Spys. One of the best eating and cooking apple I have had. 3 years ago they were fantastic and we fell in love with this apple. Last year they were not good. This year we did find some, but I think the apple season was early and all the good big apples were gone. It was good though - we were able to almost fill our bag. Nick had fun pulling apples high up with a stick...

gorgeous views from this orchard:

Most of the trees were bare. This was the last day of pick your own apples. Next weekend we are going to try to go earlier.

A lot of the trees have these red apple looking traps for bugs. Yeah you don't want to know how many times we thought we saw a great red apple, and got close and nope - bug trap!

After we were done, got back to the car, fed and changed Evie and went back to the store. Got Evie the CUTEST handmade apple hat! She will wear this for the next 2 months! Also picked up some apple cider syrup. The plan is to make some pancakes or waffles this weekend and enjoy it with the cinnamon apple cider syrup (a combination of maple syrup and boiled down apple cider)! I was a little disappointed that they were out of apple cider... It was the end of the day and they were very busy...

Some more fall colors pictures:

Came home and relaxed, a little cleaning and cuddling with Evie. We met up with Nick's parents for a fantastic dinner at a local bbq joint. Everyone seemed to enjoy what they got. Evie got a little fussy (but it is her fussy time) and I ate while holding her. No biggie, I have gotten used to that by now. And of course, everyone was so full after BBQ. I had one of my favorites - pulled pork. And of course when you have pulled pork you MUST have it with cole slaw! Oh I love that combination! And I enjoyed my local beer!

Came home for CAKE! I picked out this cake and got it on Saturday at a local bakery. There is another bakery that we think is tastier, but this one does better decorations. So fitting for me since I LOVE HALLOWEEN! I set the table with my halloween placemats too....

OH and Nick gave me such a good present - one I did ask for... Ugg slippers!! I needed some new ones so badly and these are so comfortable! And the best present he gave, 5 hours of cleaning the house on Saturday!

And the night ended perfectly...a bubble bath with jets and a glass of champagne!

Was such a good birthday!

pumpkin latte

I have a love for pumpkin lattes. Usually I am a black coffee person. Just regular coffee. Love it. I just love the taste. It compliments my style of breakfast (sweets). And just is good So far on its own! I am not a fan of flavored coffees. No sugar No milk!

But this time of year I so look forward to pumpkin lattes! It is my little treat when I am out.

Now when I go for coffee, I have to go for good quality. Just it is me. I can taste the difference. I swear.

So far this season I have had pumpkin lattes from Panera and Starbucks. We do have a local coffee shop that I may try out tomorrow.... But so far Panera makes the best pumpkin lattes. Starbucks, which I had today, tastes like fake pumpkin. The Panera one has spices in it that just makes my mouth happy.

mmm...Cannot wait for my tomorrow birthday coffee!

2 Month Pediatrician Appointment

This morning Evie had her 2 month pediatrician appointment.

She is perfect! We already knew that but the doctor says so too!

Started off with her stats!

She is looong! 23.5 inches long. She grew 2 inches in a month! She is in the 90%ile. Wow long girl! Don't know where she got that from, I think my sister.

Her weight is average. 10 pounds 12 ounces. 50%ile. I thought she would be heavier. But perfect!

She has a tiny head! Just like daddy. 37 cm, which is the 25%ile.

Her developmental stuff is doing perfectly. Her head control is right where it should be.

She has some startings of cradle cap. They said to put baby oil on it and rub it with a soft brush to rub off the flakes. But does not bother her.

Then came the shots. Was not looking forward to these! They had me lay her down and hold her hands near her head, clasped on her chest. She was given 3 shots and one oral vaccination. Hep B, Polio, Diphteria, Tetanus, and Pertussis was all combined into one shot. The others were Pneumococcal and Hib. The Rotavirus vaccination was oral.

Started with the oral. She wasn't a fan of it. But drank most of it.

Then shot time! NOOOOO! Gave her one shot in her thigh. Wow that cry, she was so upset. Have never heard that sound come out of her! She was crying so hard no sound was coming out. And was bright red. Right after the first shot, they timed the second and third shot and gave it at the same time, one in each thigh.

Oh my poor girl was so upset. I held her right away. once they left the room I immediatly nursed her. Worked perfectly. Calmed her down and she fell asleep until we were home.

We stopped on the way home and picked up some infant tylenol (generic). She is sleeping now, and will give her a dose when she wakes up. She was fussy once we got home, but she had a snack and fell asleep in her swing.

Staying home with her today to see how she does. Just worried about her shot reactions and fussyness.

Cuddles with Evie today!

Happy 2 Month Birthday Evie!!!

(I am following some of the other blogs I have read about letters to baby, and really like them, so I am going to try it out)...

Yesterday was your two month birthday! How has it already been 2 months? Your second month of life was so different than your first.

This month you discovered your tongue. Yesterday you discovered your hands and kept shoving them in your mouth. You did not want to have a pacifier but wanted to play with your fists in your mouth. All day we were struggling to get your hands out of your mouth, but that is what you wanted. Hopefully you don't end up like Mommy and bite your fingernails! We tried to get some good two month pictures of you yesterday, but you made it really hard since all you wanted was hand in mouth. That is ok, we did end up getting some good ones!

This month you also started day care and Mom started back at work. So not as much fun as being home with you all day. Has really made me appreciate and love weekends and all I do is snuggle with you!

You are becoming such a good sleeper. At night you go from 4-7 hours non stop! And you are good (usually) at nursing in the middle of the night/early morning and going back to sleep. Love that. Naps are getting more and more spread out. And you are having more awake and happy time! Which includes more play time. You are starting to look at objects and love listening to your Mom and Dad. You will just sit there and smile while we talk to you, sing to you, play with your toys with you. So adorable!

Your head holding is getting great! You are not always in the mood for tummy time, but when you are oh wow your head gets high up there. We alternate between the baby gym and the boppy on the couch so I can look at you. I think you like the boppy/couch combination the best. Cannot believe how strong your head is. It barely bobbles. You just love to look around!

We are also nursing so well! Cannot believe how far we have come in 2 months! Been a journey trying to figure this nursing thing out but I think we are both oh so happy that it is working and I didn't give up! We really have come a long way, from almost latching and syringe feeding you, to using a nipple shield, to full on nursing! We are getting better at doing it in public, trying mostly in the working mom's group. You are such a quick eater too. And when you are done you have this blissful smile and this drunken look on your face!

Yesterday, on your two month birthday you took your first day time nap in your crib! Was so proud of you. Was a huge accomplishment! Was over an hour and you probably would have gone longer but you got hungry!

Happy 2 Month Birthday My Little Love! Mommy so loves you and misses you every second while at work! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXO

You taking a very short nap yesterday (you were up for 6 hours and did not want to nap):


Your cute toes while napping, could not resist this picture:


Playing with your hand, I know it must be tasty!:


You hanging out in the boppy, You sometimes like sitting in this so you can look around:


Happy Evelyn!:

**In 2 days (Thursday) you have your 2 month pediatrician appointment. I am not looking forward to your shots. I know you don't want to get them done, and I don't want to see you in pain. But this is for the best, so you don't get sick. It will be a few seconds of pain followed by mommy cuddles and milk. I will try to stay home with you all day and cuddle and make sure you feel better. I love you sweetie

Cloth Diapering

ok, we LOVE cloth diapering! We love our bum genius 4.0 one size pocket diapers. They are pretty much our whole stash. We have also started to use cloth wipes. We found it a hassle to throw the wipes away separately. We are using the circo wash cloths from Target. They are working well and make it so much easier.

Washing the diapers are so easy! Love our washing machine. It has a setting for pre wash, and extra rinse. I use the sanitize cycle (with steam), with a pre wash, extra rinse, then do one more rinse/spin after it is done. The diapers come out clean and don't smell. Just takes about 3-4 hours to wash total. Our washing machine does take a while....

Using the pocket diapers are wonderful. So similar to disposables since we just grab one and put the dirty one in a wet bag/diaper pail (we have two changing setups, one in her room upstairs and one on the pack n play downstairs). I just sit in front of the TV in the evening once Evie is sleeping and just stuff the diapers. Simple.

Need to buy more diapers. We have snaps right now but I want to get some hook and loop (velcro like) for the early morning changes when I cannot function enough for that many snaps. I also think day care - if I can convince them - will prefer the hook and loop.

I also need to get a wet bag for the diaper bag (currently using a plastic bag...). And I think I will get another diaper pail liner so I have a set up ready when I am washing.

And the night time diapers are working well. We use a pocket diaper and double stuff with a hemp insert. Haven't had any issues yet (knock on wood).

First Week of Day Care

The first week of day care went well. We have gotten better getting ready in the mornings. Have made it out of the house in 1.5 hours. Showers in the evenings helps tremendously.

Dropping her off is getting easier. It helps being so close to home and work that it makes the drive a lot easier. I think if I had to choose if we were living further from work, that I would have the day care near work, not near home. It helps since they love having her there. They are happy to hold her whenever I come in.

They say she is sleeping well in her crib. So it is good that they have done the crib breaking in and not us.

She spends the day in her crib watching the mobile, playing under the play mat like baby gym, in the bouncy seat, in the swing, in their arms (they sing, talk to them etc), sleeping and eating. They really enjoy having her there and keep saying she is such a good baby. And I get comments all the time of her outfits.

I think next week I am bringing in one of her cloth diapers and showing it to them so I can hopefully convince them to cloth diaper her instead of disposables. I don't think they know how easy cloth diapers are - especially pocket diapers. I have done some research on a cloth diapering board (on the bump) about what to bring up to them. All they have to do is put the dirty diaper in a wet bag - I will do all the dirty work of getting poop off (once she is eating food), removing inserts, etc.

And the 100% best moment of my day - picking Evie up, kissing her, hugging her and bringing her home!

First Sickness

Yes, I know a lot of posts today, but Evie is napping and got up early, so I have time!

Evie started day care 1.5 weeks ago. Of course last weekend she got sick - just a stuffy nose. Sunday night Nick got so much stuff out of her nose. She slept well in her bouncy seat since she was at an angle. Sunday night I woke up in the middle of the night and found our humidifier and set it up. Those things seemed to help a lot.

She is already getting better. Not that much of a stuffy nose. Sleeping much better. Less fussy.

Butttt - Nick and I got sick. I got it 1-2 days after Evie got sick. Nick got it on Thursday. I am finally starting to feel better. Hating this whole breastfeeding while sick since I can't take anything since I don't want to worry about lessing my supply. But I have had 1 sudafed every once and a while, since breathing and being happy is better for baby.

Working Mom's group

I am now attending a working mom's group on Saturday at a local baby store at 11:30. I really really enjoy it. A lot of the mom's there are around my age, give or take 5 years.

We all bring our babies too. Evie is the youngest. A lot of the other babies are 4 months - 7 months. So I am on a little different page than them. But it is a great place to talk about life, work, family, husbands, in-laws, etc. And get great advice from them. Example - Evie has a little bit of cradle cap. One of the moms there baby had cradle cap, along with excema, and she suggested head and shoulders to wash their hair. It does seem to help.

It is just great to get out and have some interaction with other women/moms. So enjoy it. And the store that it is held in conjunction with is great! They have such fun stuff, homemade items, toys, books, etc. Love giving them my business rather than Target or Babies R Us.

This group is something I do look forward to on the weekends!

dogs and baby

I have to say Penny and Luna are doing great with Evelyn!

When we first came home, Luna was more interested in Evie. Wherever someone went with her she was there. If Evie was crying Luna had to be in the same room. She would lay right next to her.

About 3-4 weeks ago, Penny started to take more interest in Evie. I think she realized that she was here to stay and was part of the pack. She loves Evie. Loves to come over and sniff and say hi. A few days ago I was in the shower with Evie in her crib. Penny spent the whole time sleeping right next to Evie's crib. So cute. Luna at he same time was right outside the shower door.

Yesterday morning Penny was sitting next to Evie and me on the couch and was licking Evie's feet. Evie didn't mind at all. And then when she was in her car seat, both dogs just wanted to sniff and be there with her! They love Evie....

We always praise the dogs heavily when they interact with Evie. Well only do that when they interact well, but we have only had good interactions.

They love to sit next to both of us on the couch. When I sit on the bottom of the stairs, they love to come up and sniff and say hi. Whenever Evie is in her bouncy seat on the floor, whenever they walk by they do a sniff hi every time they pass.

When Evie gets a little older, she is going to have two best friends!

baby legs

OK when I first saw these in pictures, I thought they were stupid. Why would someone want to put leg warmers on their kids, why not pants.

But I got a pair and I love them! Simple to change diaper with them. Work great when you don't have many pants. They last for many MANY baby sizes. Can jazz up a plain onsie. May have to get more...

Look how cute Evie is with her baby legs!

Evie Discovered her tongue!

Last night Evie discovered her tongue! Was so cute. She kept playing with it - sticking it out, moving it around, sticking it all the way out. Was the cutest thing ever. Tried to get a video of it but she would stop when I pulled out the camera.

Never thought a tongue could be so cute!