{4 Year Anniversary}: Key West

If you're new to my blog, it might surprise you that before I became pregnant, I talked about things other than being pregnant and then being a mom. I talked about things like marriage and love.

I'm taking a time out from "mommy blogging" today to say Happy Anniversary to my husband. We are celebrating 4 years of marriage today!

We got married on Memorial Day weekend in 2011 - May 28, to be exact. We didn't plan it this way, but having our anniversary fall on/near Memorial Day has worked out well for us, as we've made it tradition to celebrate our anniversary not with gifts, but with trips!

Our first year we went to Santa Barbara. Next to Savannah and last year to Puerto Rico (I was 10 weeks preggo for that trip). This year, we went to Key West.


We weren't sure what this year's anniversary would look like due to Liam's arrival. But after much debate and conversation as we decided our destination. we felt that in the end, bring Liam would be too much for everyone. For starters, I'd have to travel with him alone to meet Bryan in Florida. Second, Florida is hot, and at 5 months old, our little one isn't "supposed" to really be in the sun much. Not to mention he was sweating his cute little buns off at a recent Cubs game and I felt so miserable, I didn't want him to be hot for a whole 5 days. Third, being that he's still a young babe and we're just coming out of a nasty sleep regression, we didn't want to A) completely mess up the schedule that's been working for us or B) be confined to our hotel in order to keep to said schedule.

Plus, sometimes it's nice to have time together without the baby. Like, really nice.

I was so sad, scared, anxious, guilty and ALL OF THE FEELS before we left, but getting out the door was the hardest part. We left him with Gigi (my mom) and we trust her, and any family member, to no end. Since we don't live in the same state as our families, they jump at the chance to watch him. Once we were together in Florida, of course we missed him. But we knew we'd made the right choice in leaving him with Gigi and aimed not to spend our whole vacation focused on missing our babe.

Where we stayed: Sheraton Suites Key West and The Westin Key West Resort & Marina. (Thank you, Starwood Points!) We splurged with points staying at The Westin, and I will say that it was not worth the points used. A nice hotel, but in retrospect, the Sheraton was just as nice.

What we did: On Friday, we drove down to Key West from Miami. We got settled at our hotel, then spent some time by the pool having drinks before showering and heading to Duval Street for (more) drinks and dinner.

If you've never been to Key West, Duval Street is basically like Bourbon Street, River Street or Beale Street - it's just bar after bar after shop after restaurant after bar. And you can have "to go" drinks! So we spent much of our vacation spending time visiting the many hidden gems on Duval! Bryan had a list of places we wanted to go, so we spread them out over our time on the Island.

Smallest Bar in Key West: Literally just has a counter to order drinks, and one stool. 

 The Original Margaritaville

Key West is also known for the Sunset Celebration in Mallory Square, so we went down there every night to watch the Sunset. So lively with street performers and entertainment like live music!

On Saturday, we rented bikes from the hotel and biked our way around the Island. We stopped at Casa Marina, posh hotel (it's a Waldorf property) where Bryan stayed on a business trip and had drinks/watched the rich folk interact. We also stopped at the Southernmost Point of the USA! Super cool, but really it's just a photo opp.

Gorgeous pool view from Casa Marina

Next we biked to Fort Zachary Taylor and hit up a beach down there. Then it was back to the hotel to shower and head to dinner on the water!

 After dinner, we went to a dessert bar called "Better Than Sex." It was so cool! They had tablets where you could find your drink of choice based on what you liked. They put a chocolate rim of your choosing on your cocktail. See the example below. Their actual desserts were amazing, too. HIGHLY recommend if you are down in The Keys!

On Sunday, we were supposed to get up early to go snorkeling on a boat tour, but we were too tired and just wanted to sleep in! (We were without baby, remember!) So we spent the first part of the day by the pool and just relaxed, then we showered and headed back down to Duval to hit some of the spots we hadn't been yet.

 We went to two different wine bars (above) that were both awesome!

Sunday night, it was back to the Sunset Celebration and out for more food and drinks! So really, we spent most of the trip int he sunshine, drinking and eating. Not too bad, you know?

It was so nice to be excited to come home, too. Normally at the end of vacay, you're bummed, but now we have our sweet boy to come home to. Before we left, it was super hard to make the decision to leave him behind, but we know it was the best choice. Plus we came back as better, refreshed parents.

How was your Memorial Day?

Read More

SHARE:

Conquering the 4-Month Sleep Regression: Part 2

*Apologies in advance for the length of this post! I tried to organize the info as best as I could.

When I left you in my last post, I shared how and why the 4-month sleep regression made me crazy. Now I wanted to share the things I tried that worked and didn't work, in the hopes of helping other desperate parents who are currently searching the Internet for a solution to this awful problem.

During the peak of my crazy behavior, I contacted Dr. Weissbluth. You might recognize the name from a popular sleep book, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." We happen to belong to his pediatric office, and he offers sleep consultations as a benefit of that. I emailed him, filled out a sleep log for Liam and answered a questionnaire, and we had our consult over the phone a few days later. We were given a very strict set of rules that he promised would result in a sleeping baby in no time. However, the rules were just not something my husband and I were comfortable with. More on that later.

What the "rules" did do is prompt us to examine our current sleep habits. We were pleased to know that some of the rules were ones we were already following, as they made sense for our family. So, let's start with the problem. Liam needed to learn how to get himself back to sleep when he woke up. And he needed to learn how to do that without our help.

After our convo about having too many different plans of attack, we also discovered we were trying to conquer too many problems at once. We were trying to get Liam back in his crib, to get him to self-soothe, to get him out of the swaddle, AND stop relying on the pacifier. And we were trying to have him do all these things at once.

Remember: the changes from the regression are permanent, and they are just as hard on the baby as they are on mom and dad. They don't know why they can't go back to sleep, or how. They want to go back to sleep as much as you want them to. But they need our help in order to sleep without our help. Ya dig?

Our solutions 
Thankfully, we had created some good sleep habits with Liam prior to this regression. In all of my Googling, several of the "steps" to getting babies to sleep better were already things we were doing, so that made us feel like, YAY, we're doing something right. Those things were:

1. Put baby to sleep in his or her own room. This is a hard one to break if you have been sleeping with your baby in the same room. We had Liam sleeping in his Rock 'n Play in our room. After about 8-9 weeks, we felt like it would be better for everyone to be in our own rooms. So, we kept Liam in his Rock 'n Play, but moved it to his room. The transition went smoothly. Of course, I woke frequently and had to check on the baby to make sure he was breathing. (Which I still do, but much less now. :)) In any case, having the baby in his/her own room will likely lead to baby getting some independence, which will help in the long run of this regression.

2. Sleep should be in a dark room. We have black-out shades in Liam's room. But we also had a nightlight. Dr. Weissbluth recommended that the room be pitch black. So we got rid of the night light and even went so far as to put black garbage bags over the windows (under the blackout shades), so that no light crept in. I will say this has helped. We turn on the night light for feedings and to change him, but other than that, the light stays off, and Liam knows it's not time to wake up. (Also note, this has not affected Liam's ability to nap in his stroller or in the car or in other rooms when it can't be pitch black.

3. Use a white noise machine. We did this from day one when we got home from the hospital. It's been a lifesaver. Again, it's another thing that signals sleep to Liam, and comforts him. Don't think this had anything to do with getting over the regression, but it certainly has helped in establishing a sleep routine. Speaking of...

4. Establish a sleep routine. Babies crave routine. It's one of the only things that make sense in their little brains. When they know what to expect, it helps them (and most likely, you too). Our sleep routine starts with a bath. We then do lotion, jammies, a bottle, turn on white noise, put him in his swaddle (now sleep suit), turn off lights, rock for a few minutes, then we lay him down drowsy but awake. Most of the time, he is ready to go in the crib after the lights go out, and actually starts to fuss if we rock him because he just wants to snooze. (Cue tears for this mama who craves her baby snuggles!)

5. Put baby down drowsy but awake. This was something we started doing at around 6 weeks old, to the advice of our pediatrician. This helps instill the ability to have the baby fall asleep on his own. However, as we learned, there is a big difference in the baby knowing how to get TO sleep on his own and how to get BACK to sleep on his own. In any case, if they can do it once, it's likely they can do it again during the night with a little prompting.

So, knowing we were armed with some good sleep habits on our side definitely gave us a leg up on the regression. We continued to push these habits as best we could, even though it was hard at times.

Next, we needed to break some of our bad sleeping habits. 

6. Get an earlier bedtime. Prior to the regression, Liam had a bedtime of 9pm. He was taking 4 naps, with the last one being a short catnap around 6:30pm. We were not keeping him up late because we thought he would sleep later, or anything like that, that's just when he naturally began sleeping for the longest stretches. We learned early on that sleep begets sleep. As babies get older, they need more sleep. So now, the 9-10 hours of nighttime sleep were no longer cutting it--he needed 11-12.

I mentioned rules above that we weren't comfortable with: one of them was to put Liam to bed between 5:30-6PM. Acca-scuse me? Sorry, but as working parents who don't get home until that time, I'm not going to come home from work and only be around to put my baby to bed. We settled on a 7:30pm bedtime, and that has helped IMMENSELY. Some nights it's earlier, some nights it's later depending on the day, but it is always within an hour of that time. If you need help determining when to put your baby to bed, go here and enter your baby's age and wake up time.

7. Limit/Put an End to Sleep Associations. When I was doing all my research, one thing that really resonated with me was about sleep associations. Basically, if your baby NEEDS something in order to fall asleep, that *something* is a sleep association. Not all sleep associations are bad - the white noise machine and a dark room, for example, are good sleep associations. The swaddle, a pacifier, nursing to sleep, rocking to sleep - these are all also sleep associations.  The only time it becomes "bad" is when it disrupting everyone's sleep. 

The other thing that resonated with regard to sleep associations was the idea that in order to see progress with night-wakings, you should start with bedtime, and work up to night wakings. So if you don't want your baby to need/want to nurse to get back to sleep, don't have him fall asleep like that. So while Liam would go down easily, it was with the help of a pacifier and a swaddle. So when he got to the end of a sleep cycle and woke up and realized his paci was gone, he woke up crying and wanted it back. Makes sense, right?

First up was the swaddle. We chose to tackle this association first because at 4 months old and 16 lbs, he was starting to break free on his own anyway. It was only a matter of time before he rolled over in it. Also, we wanted him to be able to self-soothe if he lost his pacifier. But with his hands bound to his sides, it was impossible for him to be able to suck on his fist or hands as a way to get the same effect of the paci. We tried various ways to transition out of the swaddle. One arm or both arms out did not work for us - Liam continued to just flail his arms and hit his own pacifier out of his mouth.

We invested in Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit and a Zippadee-Zip. We tried both of those things at the before the regression and they weren't successful because Liam was just too little. Being that we knew a swaddle worked, we kept going with that until we had this revelation of "duh, he needs his hands to self-soothe." It was a couple weeks later when we tried the Sleep Suit again. Originally, we had been putting him in his crib in his suit, but that was still resulting in him crying after a couple of hours. So one night, we thought to put Liam in the sleep suit in his beloved Rock 'n Play (we'd deal with that later). He looked like a stuffed little sausage in there, but BEHOLD - he slept a solid 5 hour stretch before waking to feed, but then would go right back to sleep again. 

In the travel crib

Next, we needed to ditch the Rock 'n Play. Trust me, I wanted to keep Liam in there, but he is just getting too big, especially in his sleep suit. I began to worry that he would thrash at night and fall out. After about a week of successfully being out of the swaddle and in his sleep suit, we moved him to a Graco Travel Lite Crib, which is basically a smaller version of a Pack 'N Play. (That will likely work, too, we just happened to have one of these at our house because the boy we nanny share with naps in it.) We moved the smaller crib in his room and put him to bed in it. The idea being that maybe this small crib wouldn't feel so big and scary. Success again! We did this for another few days and then one night, decided to try the crib. Perfection: He's been sleeping in his crib, in his sleep suit ever since!

 In the crib

We saved the pacifier for last because we wanted to see if we could avoid having to get rid of the pacifier altogether. Thankfully, we didn't have to. He still goes down with a pacifier, and will *occasionally* wake up and fuss without going back to bed, in which case we go retrieve it for him. But we are happy to do that once a night. When we were having to do it every hour, that was another story. I will say that I also invested in different pacifiers. We were using the Wubbanub pacifiers, but he began pulling them out of his mouth. Plus, the nipple on those is straight. I bought Nuby and MAM pacifiers, which both have more natural shaped nipple, and he keeps them in his mouth much better.

All of this really boils down to sleep training. I always thought that sleep training meant "cry it out" and it doesn't have to. It's just helping your baby learn better sleep habits. It might involve some crying, or some fussing, but it doesn't have to be traumatizing. To take sleep training a step further, our last and final step was combining the following method every night, even (perhaps a better word is especially while) we were trying to correct sleep associations.

8. Let the baby fuss. Part of our issue was that, like any parents, we hated to hear Liam cry or fuss. At the first noise we heard, we were usually up and in his room within a minute. So we -- and really for this one, it was mostly me -- had to at least give him the opportunity to self soothe before we rushed to his aide. 

A pediatrician suggested that the first night of training, you do your nightly routine and put the baby in the crib while he's still awake but drowsy. If he cries, let him do so for five continuous minutes. After five minutes, go in to soothe, but try not to pick him up. Rub his tummy, talk softly, sing, whatever. After 5 minutes, leave again. Let him cry another five minutes, go back in...do this until he falls asleep.

However, since Liam went down easily and it was more about the night wakings for us, we applied the same method but in the middle of the night. The first night, we only go into his room if he fussed for five straight minutes without being able to soothe himself. We'd go in, give back pacifier, or rub his belly. We did not pick him up unless he was screaming. The second night the interval for going in to soothe is 10 minutes. The third night the interval is 15 minutes. Of course, if Liam was not going back down easily or seemed truly upset, we always checked basic needs (poopy diaper, is he hot/cold, etc) before determining how we would deal with the wakeup.

Liam also was still waking for at least one nighttime feeding. I am totally fine nursing Liam in the middle of the night if he's truly hungry. The problem was, I couldn't tell if he was hungry, and thus would end up nursing him often during the regression because I knew it would get him to calm down (and I was introducing a new sleep association).

To battle this, I looked at our feeding log and determined when a "normal" feeding time was: usually between 2:30-3:30AM. When he woke up during the night and it was NOT during this timeframe, I would not feed him. If he did cry during his normal feeding time, I'd feed him and then put him back to sleep drowsy but awake. Try to have this be the only time you pick him up. If that's not possible for you, do your best to ONLY feed him during his feeding time. Eventually, Liam learned that crying wouldn't automatically mean he got to nurse. His overnight wakeups eventually consolidated to be during this "feeding time" and now, he RARELY wakes for this feeding anymore.

The results
I am happy to report that as of May 1, Liam is sleeping ALL NIGHT LONG. He will occasionally wake up once to eat, but most nights, has been sleeping through until it's time to get up for the day.

In retrospect
In the end, I just had to let go and realize that Liam is a baby. He's doing the best he can, and so are we. We can't *make* him do things - but we can give him the tools he needs and help teach him how so that he eventually gets the idea.

I'm really proud of my husband and I, and of Liam. Literally every time Liam wakes in the middle of the nigh and fusses, I feel such pride when I see him just go back to sleep, on his own, with no assistance. We were able to teach him that, to give him the tools he needed to sleep and let him figure out what to do from there.

I also learned that I can't control everything. That sometimes there  isn't a prescriptive answer. I think perhaps this was my first lesson in realizing that as a parent, I have to let Liam learn, succeed, fail and struggle. I have to let him learn how to do something by himself when all I really want to do is fix it, or do it for him. I know that I could go into his room at his first peep and rock him to sleep, or give his paci right away, but that doesn't help anyone.

If you've tried all of this and nothing works, have hope. Most people say the four-month sleep regression lasts 2-4 weeks. Perhaps your baby just needs time. My baby’s problems may have worked themselves on their own, regardless of us trying the above. But for my own sanity, having a plan gave me hope that the issue could be solved with some intervention on our parts.

Ultimately,  you should do what you are comfortable with and what works for your family. Yes, the changes from the regression are a good time to introduce good sleeping habits, and a good time to sleep train, but that doesn't mean you have to. Sometimes you just gotta follow the "whatever works" method.

Anyone have any other tips that helped them through? I'd love to hear them!

Read More

SHARE:

Liam {5 Months Old}

Stats

We don't have a wellness checkup appointment this month, but by our at-home calculations, Liam weighs 17lbs and is 25.5-26 inches long. 

Your eyes are brown around the pupil and the outer parts are hazel/green. Time will tell.
You still have a full head of brown locks, including a wispy, randomly long strand on the right side that I find endearing. Your eyebrows look red sometimes...fingers crossed that's not going anywhere.

Likes

• Peekaboo 
• Looking at yourself in the mirror
• Putting everything in your mouth - toys, feet, mom/dad's hands...literally eveything
• Your latest noise is an interesting bird-like "caw" (see video)
• You love being naked
• Still fascinated with Addy
• You love making body contact while eating - holding hands, hands on chest...anything works!
• Your favorite toys are Sophie, your bear with different textures, your soft Very Hungry Caterpillar book and you're still all about the Jumparoo. Daddy is a fun toy, too!

Dislikes

• Being sick (even though you are still in pretty good spirits!)
• Coming in from being outside
• Getting out of the bath

New Milestones/Skills

• You can hold your own bottle
• You finally belly laughed! Still aren't doing it very often but it is the sweetest sound! (see video)
• You're so close to sitting on your own, and can do so for short bursts of time
• You respond to your name
• You've officially "found" your feet and are obsessed with them
• You can put your pacifier back in your mouth (woohoo!)
• You not only roll over, you push off  your arms when you're on your belly
• Your search to see where mom and dad are
• You pull everything - mainly my hair and jewelry 

Eating

You're still exclusively breastfed. You eat 5-6x day, and have 5-6oz per feeding. We are looking forward to starting solids at 6 months!

Sleep 

Now that we have gotten through the God Awful sleep regression, you're sleeping 11-12 hours per night in your crib. You go to sleep around 7:30pm most nights, and get up between 6:30 and 7:30am. SOMETIMES you wake for a night feeding, but not often. 

Firsts

• First cold: Officially the worst thing ever as a parent to see your baby sick! :(
• First time on the "El"
• First baseball game

As always, every month is better than the last. Watching you grow and discover is our favorite thing. You are the most curious, sweetest, happiest, most chill child ever, and though I hate the expression, we truly are so blessed.

Videos

Read More

SHARE:

Conquering the 4-Month Sleep Regression: Part 1

As I've alluded to, April was a rough month in our house, namely because no one was getting much sleep.

We returned home from Easter weekend in Iowa when Liam started having sleep issues. Wouldn't sleep in his crib anymore, wouldn't sleep unswaddled anymore, was waking up a lot. We chalked it up to having his routine messed up when we traveled, and the fact that we allowed him to sleep in his beloved Rock 'N Play while we were there.

After a few nights, it became clear this was more than just re-adjusting to our schedule. This kid was just not sleeping anymore, and it was getting worse. I'd heard about the 4-month sleep regression and started to look into it more. Sure enough, he had all of the "symptoms." (Read more about it here at one of my favorite sleep resources.)

We rode it out for awhile - maybe a week or so - just to see if it would just go away without much intervention from us. Some babies go through it and you'd never know. Other babies get it bad for a few days.

But Liam struggled for 4 weeks. FOUR WEEKS.

Every night, we'd put him down at 9pm, swaddled in his crib (as we did prior to the regression). And every night, around 11pm, he'd wake up screaming. We'd soothe him, put him back in crib and he'd start wailing again. We'd eventually put him back in his Rock 'N Play. But even there, he'd only sleep for 1-2 hours before waking up crying again. He was waking up after every sleep cycle (45-50 minutes) some nights. He slept better as a newborn. I usually ended up nursing him because I knew it would get him back to sleep (ignoring the fact that I was introducing another sleep association.)

It got to the point where I was so ridden with anxiety. I'd go to bed anxious and fearful every night because I didn't know how long I would get to sleep, or how many times I'd have to wake up. When I heard Liam on the monitor, my heart would start pounding, and I'd just hold my breath, hoping he would go back to sleep.

Not every night was terrible. But I'd say on average, for those 4 weeks, Liam was waking up about an average of 6 times each night. Now, I know that many babies out there wake up this often and more, even babies older than Liam. But you have to understand - our little man was sleeping 9pm-5am, eating, and going back to sleep until 7:30am. I realize now we were lucky!

Being that I - we - were desperate for sleep, I spent hours on end researching the topic of sleep. Have you ever read that article by the mom who read every sleep book, and she basically concludes that all of the advice contradicts each other? That was me.  Every day I came home with a new solution. I bought memberships to sleep sites. I scheduled consultations with sleep experts. I bought gimmicky items guaranteed to make my baby sleep better. I bought e-books.

I. Was. Crazy. At one point, I seriously considered if this obsession with sleep was post-partum depression manifesting itself in a new way.

One night I'd be ready to have him Cry It Out, the next night I thought better of it. Next night let's try no swaddle, now let's try one arm out of the swaddle, fuck it let's go back to full swaddle. He's not getting a paci tonight, he's only getting a paci when he wakes up, but not when he falls asleep. Today we'll try schedule A, and next we'll go to schedule B. Tonight it's the sleep suit, tomorrow it's the Zippadee Dee sack. The problem is this, not actually it's that, so we have to do this...this was my brain for 4 weeks! It was maddening.

As a confused, sleep-deprived, new parent, I desperately needed explanations for Liam's behavior. I wouldn't even consider the possibility that his "behavior" was because Liam is just a little baby! I wanted to find an answer, a solution, an easy fix that would not only help us all sleep better. But also because as a parent, I just wanted understand what the hell was going on. I can see now that it was because, on some level, I believed that with understanding comes control. "If I know what it is, I can do something about it."

But trying too hard to understand can backfire, too. I got mad at my husband because on his night to get up with Liam, I felt he was neglecting Liam by letting him cry, and told him, "That's not what we agreed to." He explained he had no idea what we "agreed to" because my plan of attack was different every day.

So that was it. I needed to turn off the faucet of information. I needed to stop Googling. Stop buying e-books. Stop requesting sleep consultations. We needed to take what we knew about OUR son, about OUR family, about OUR beliefs, OUR goals for sleeping, and come up with a plan.

The one thing we knew for a fact, despite all of the conflicting information out there, was that the answer to getting through the sleep regression successfully was teaching Liam how to self-soothe in order to get himself back to sleep. How we did that was the question.

In my next post, I'll share what finally worked for our family in getting Liam to start sleeping again!

Read More

SHARE:

My First Mother's Day

Well, this Monday officially beat me. As much as I want to lay my head down and go to sleep right now, I need to recap the lovely Mother's Day weekend I had first!

Let's say the weekend started on Thursday night, because I went for girls night out to see one of my favorite musicians, Tyrone Wells, perform at a local venue here. The venue was super intimate, had great food and wine, but most importantly I had great company with my lady loves! We had a great time, and Liam and Bryan had "guys night."

Fridays are usually pretty low-key at our house - Bryan and I are tired after the work week, and Liam is worn out from "school." This one was no different. Liam and I hung out while Bryan was at a work event, and we were all asleep for the night by 10pm!

After a beautiful few days during the week, of course the weather on Saturday was horrible. Cold and rainy. We spent the morning hanging at home with Liam, and on Saturday afternoon, Liam and I went over to my best girlfriend's (sister's) house so he could meet her family! He also got to catch up with his buddy Harvey, who was born just one week after him. I love love love getting together with my friends' kiddos.

When I got home, I found my lovely husband cooking me dinner! We put Liam down and enjoyed a dinner of ribs, charred corn, sweet potatoes and garlic pretzel bread, while we drank while and watched The Wedding Ringer. We mainly rented it because our friend from high school, Dan Gill, was one of the groomsmen in the movie. It was funny, but we were happy to have waited to see it on RedBox.

Sunday morning, I got to sleep in (until 8:30am...what what!) and was served coffee in bed while I fed Liam. When I went out to the kitchen, I was greeted by flowers, mimosa fixin's and a sweet card from Liam. Of course I cried at "his" note.

 While Liam napped, Bryan and I sipped mimosas and got ready to go to brunch. 

After, we watched a movie (Wild) and we all took naps, then got up and went on a long walk. We ordered my favorite pizza (taco!) for dinner, and watched Sunday shows. And of course, we facetimed with our moms, too!

It may not sound like an exciting weekend or extra special, but I loved every moment. All I wanted was to spend time with my family, and everything else was extra.

It's super cliche, but quite honestly, the meaning of Mother's Day was completely changed for me this year now that I'm a mom. Of course I have always honored my mom, stepmom, mother-in-law, sister, etc on Mother's Day. But it's almost like becoming a mom makes you a part of a club. Growing up, my mom always told me that I'd never know how much she loves me. As I told her this Mother's Day, I finally think I get what she means by that. 

I feel so lucky every day that Liam is ours, and that I was chosen to be his mama. I never could have imagined how much I would love this new part of my life, but I do, so much. Being a mom is the hardest, best, most rewarding experience of my life, and I feel like it has given me new purpose.

Thank you to my husband for making me feel extra special and helping Liam with his gifts. And thank you to all of my friends who wished me a Happy First Mother's Day, as well as my family who showered me with the sweetest cards.

I hope all of you mamas, mamas-to-be, fur-mamas, step mamas, foster mamas, etc, felt the love and appreciation you deserve!

Read More

SHARE:

41 Things I've Learned About Being a Mom

In honor of Mother's Day on Sunday, I wanted to take some time to reflect on this new identity I have as a mama.

There's a saying, "You don't know what you don't know." And when you're expecting your first baby, there is A LOT you don't know.

In fact, I'd venture to say, you know nothing. You can ask friends and family, or Google to your heart's content to try and answer your many looming questions. But there is only so much you can learn before a baby arrives. And ultimately, you will never truly know anything until you become a parent.

Being Liam's mom has been so much more than I could have possibly dreamed. It has changed me in ways I couldn't have imagined. I've learned so much in the past 4 months, about myself; babies and children in general; about love.

1. I've learned what all-consuming, true love feels like. It is different than the love you feel for your husband, or your sibling. It is indescribable.
2. I've learned what it feels like to not get more than a few hours sleep in an entire week.
3. I've learned that it's not about me anymore.
4. I've learned that to be a good mother and a good wife at the same time is really frickin' hard. 
5. I have not learned how to be both at all times.
6. I've learned what to always include in my diaper bag.
7. I've learned that I am semi-obsessed with my milk output when pumping.
8. I've learned how to relinquish control. I re-learn this in new ways every day.
9. I've learned to see humor in everything because if you don't, you won't survive parenthood.
10. I've learned that watching a smile reach my baby's eyes turns my heart into mush.
11. I've learned that seeing your husband as an amazing father deepens your love in an unimaginable way, and is sexier than even his tightest pair of jeans.
12. I've learned to always point a baby boy's wiener down, lest you want to get sprayed in the face with urine or constantly have to change the baby's clothes.
13. I've learned that it is IMPOSSIBLE not to kiss baby rolls and chubby cheeks less than 100 times per day.
14. I've learned that onesies and jammies are the only thing a baby really wears the first few months.
15. I've learned that there is such a thing as spending TOO MUCH MONEY on the baby.
16. I've learned that most of the things I worried about prior to being a parent were silly. 
17. I've learned a whole new appreciation for my own parents, especially when I think about the things I put them through.
18. I've learned that a baby's coo, smile, squeal or grasp on your finger makes all of the hard moments instantly fade.
19. I've learned grace.
20. I've learned that it's possible to miss someone, even when they are in the same room.
21. I've learned that a baby's laugh is the sweetest sound on Earth.
22. I've learned how to not be so hard on myself.
23. I've learned that there sometimes you need to turn off the faucet of information hidden all over the Internet and just go with your gut.
24. I've learned that Mommy Guilt is a real thing, and it's the worst.
25. I've learned that they weren't lying when they say that every baby, pediatrician, parent is different.
26. I've learned that most of the time, there is no "right way" to do things. There is only what works for your family. 
27. I've learned that I would literally lay down my life for my son.
28. I've learned what true pride and joy feel like.
29. I've learned that sucking your baby's boogers out of his nose with a Nose Frida is weirdly satisfying.
30. I've learned a new meaning to the phrase, "Crying over spilled milk."
31. I've learned that I can't do everything.
32. I've learned that it's OK to want and take time to myself.
33. I've learned that having a baby changes your marriage in ways you'd never think.
34. I've learned that a sleeping baby is the most angelic, peaceful, idyllic sight you'll ever see.
35. I've learned not to compare myself to other moms, and not to compare my baby to other babies.
36. I've learned that Starbucks and wine are more amazing than I ever knew.
37. I've learned that I had a lot more free time than I ever realized before having a baby.
38. I've learned why people say their baby is XX weeks, instead of X months. Liam is 20 weeks old, by the way.
39. I've learned that I am THAT mom who takes 100 photos of her child daily and posts them all over social media. 
40. I've learned the meaning of "helicopter parent" and that I can be one, sometimes.
41. I've learned that these things are only a fraction of what I will learn on this parenting journey.

I could go on, but clearly, there is some truth to the phrase, "You learn something new every day."

I think perhaps the most important thing I've learned is that I feel so lucky to have Liam and that he is mine. This Mother's day, my wish is that he feels the same way about having me as his mommy.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Read More

SHARE:

Why I Hate This Parenting Cliche

A couple of months ago, when Lent started, I published a Facebook status that said, "For Lent, I'm giving up sleep. #newmom."

Funny, right?

It got 45 likes and several comments from commiserating and empathetic mommies and daddies, saying "Amen!" or "Piece of cake!" They got my joke. They understood that as a parent, you have to try and find the humor in pretty much everything, or you won't survive.

But then I saw this comment:

I know it sounds like total BS, but you really will miss the late night snuggling once he gets older. So although it sucks now, try to soak it up.

I 'liked' the comment, but actually, I fucking hated the comment. Like, it really pissed me off. 

"Soak it up," along with "Enjoy this time" or "Embrace the moment" have become my most hated pieces of parenting advice. (I hate even more that I have said this cliche to other expecting mommies.)

Why, you ask?

Most of the time, this instance included, I get this advice after a comment about some of the less-desirable parts of being a mom to an infant. Here, it was about lack of sleep. But the well-intended advice pisses me off because for one, I didn't say anything that would imply that I am NOT "soaking it up." I didn't complain about the lack of sleep. I didn't say "No sleep sucks," I didn't even mention late-night snuggles. 

(Side note: No sleep for mom does not always equal "late night snuggles." Sometimes, it equals a screaming, writhing baby who does not want to snuggle, he wants to cry/scream/play/eat/chat, etc.) 

So to tell me that I should be "soaking it up" in the middle of the night when I'd rather be sleeping? No thanks.

Quite simply, I was making light of the fact that, as the mom of a then-8-week-old, I wasn't sleeping, and therefore, giving up sleep for Lent would be easy peasy. HA. HA. HA!

For another thing: Not all moments in motherhood are enjoyable or precious. In fact, some of them are quite literally, shitty. Just because I don't particularly enjoy having bloody nipples and I don't cherish every dirty diaper I change and I don't like waking up every 45 minutes to receive a pacifier, doesn't mean that I'm a bad mom. At least I don't think it does. It also doesn't mean I won't do those things. Of course I will. It's all part of the gig, so I'll grin and bear it.

And finally, perhaps most important: Things are hard enough as a new mom, or even a veteran mom. I don't need the added pressure of feeling like I absolutely have to enjoy every moment of parenting. There have been nights and days when I break down and cry at the enormity of it all, of this job being a mom. I think selfish thoughts like, "I want to sleep," or "I can't do this," or "I just want to be alone." 

And my next thought is always, "But you should enjoy this time, everyone says to enjoy this time!" And then the guilt floods my veins like a drug. Oh, the guilt. It's overwhelming.

Yes, I know, and I agree: Motherhood is precious. Babies are miracles. Time goes too fast. The days are long, but the years are short. But here's the thing: I will choose to "embrace," "enjoy" and "soak up" the moments that I deem deserving of such emotion. 

And for me, those do not include nights where I only get an hour or two of sleep. Days where I have to sit around topless because my child has decided he will only be placated by my breast in or near his mouth. Moments when I'm late for work because my baby puked on the first three outfits I had on. Times when my child is in hysterics and I have no fucking clue what is wrong or how to make it better. Visits home when I want to cuddle up and play with my nieces and nephews like I used to, but I can't because there's someone else who needs me more than them. 

For me, it's these hard moments that make the others so enjoyable. 

With each passing day that Liam has been a part my life, I am learning. I am growing. It is getting easier, as everyone told me it would. I am "enjoying" a lot more these days, and even now, it's hard to dig deep and remember just how hard those first few weeks were, for all of us. 

I know he won't always need me. I know he won't always be small. I know that the toughest phases of parenting won't last forever. I know I won't be able to cuddle him forever.I know this.

I snuggle Liam as often as I can, and savor it, because even though he's only 20 weeks old, he is already too busy discovering the world to sit still with me very often. 
I inhale his baby smell and kiss his chubby cheeks, thighs and belly a hundred times a day. 
I tear up when I'm rock him, overwhelmed by the all-consuming love I have for him. 
I grieve when he outgrows clothing or goes up a size in his diaper. 
I melt when I see him light up when his Dad walks in the room. 
When he smiles at me, I think, "my heart cannot take any more emotion." 
When he "talks" to me, providing all of the facial expressions and dramatic pauses of adult, I laugh so hard, and my cheeks hurt from smiling. 
When he relaxes in my arms, I breathe a sigh of relief - he needs me and I can make it, whatever 'it' is at that particular moment, better. 
I am crying as I write all of these things, because my heart swells thinking of all the fun we've had, and have yet to experience.

So, I am enjoying it. Most of it. 

But just because, for one night, I might want to lay my baby down to sleep instead of holding him in my arms, does not mean I am not soaking it up. It just means I'm tired.

Many of you reading this probably disagree with me. You're probably shaking your head, thinking that I couldn't know what I'm talking about. How could I, my baby is only 4 months old! You sit there,with your toddlers, tweens, teenagers or adult children, and think, "No, I really do miss those hard moments, honest." I'm sure you do. You're entitled to. And maybe someday I'll look back on this post and I'll laugh at my naïveté, and I will miss EVERY moment, not just the snuggley ones.  

But that's my journey to go on. You went through it, now let me go through it. Let me feel what I feel, enjoy what I enjoy, and not embrace what I don't want to embrace, and please don't tell me to do otherwise. I'm embracing, enjoying, soaking in everything, as best as I can, just like you and every other mommy or daddy out there.

Anyone else feel like this, or am I a Negative Nancy, party of 1?

Read More

SHARE: