A little love... or "what I would have done if..."

I wanted to make these in chocolate chip!

I've been dreaming up Valentine's Day plans for weeks now... and I've been using my new Pinterest account to help me!  I knew I wouldn't get to everything, but I thought that maybe if I could do just one or two, it would make the day special for my littles. 

Step one was going to be spending time talking about love... God's love, how we are to love one another, etc.  Now, we did do some "heart" activities early in the month and we've been memorizing Matthew 22:37-40, so I'm not a total failure, but as for the things below to make today special... not so much. 

But, I comfort myself with the reminder that it's been a bit hectic around here lately and I'm feeling pretty good to have gotten dinner on the table most nights.  :)

You see, all three of my children have been working through high fevers at their own paces over the last week and a half.  :(  Poor kids!  My 18 month old has it now.  Couple that with seemingly constant contractions and reduced (even more than normal) sleep for me... and an OB appointment this morning early, and it's no wonder things didn't happen!

So here are some of my favs from my V-Day board on Pinterest.  Click over to see the rest and link through to the originals!

Love the recycling happening here... if only I hadn't eaten all the candy canes!

Was totally going to make these with the kids for grandparents and single ladies at church!

Maybe someday...

I want to make this long one for another season too... maybe with changeable covers!

I ground the flour for these yesterday... do I get partial credit???

Love these!!  Maybe for Sweet Pea's birthday instead... in pink!

Labels: As it happens..., Chasing Three, Heart Strings, Home Making, Special Treats

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 1:44 PM 0 Comments

Thankful for 3 months of life

More Gifts from the King:


60. my babies
61. giddy laughter
62. rough housing


63. 3 months of loving a brother
64. learning gentleness

65. 13 pounds 10 ounces
66. personality
67. so many smiles
68. that almost laugh

69. Little feet

70. Kicking

71. Tiny toes

72. Tiny fingers

73. good napping
74. good night time sleep
75. wonderful alert times


76. yesterdays
77. today
78. tomorrows

I am so grateful!

Labels: As it happens..., Chasing Three, Gratitude, Little Moments, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:03 PM 0 Comments

Chasing Three: 2 Months

As you may have noticed, this weekly "Chasing Three" posting is not happening. I do still want to include it in my line up, but I barely get my weekly shower chores done around here, so committing to a weekly anything extra is just not practical. I do want to keep the blog up to date on my experiences as a mommy "chasing three", however, for a couple reasons:

First, it's nice to have it chronicled somewhere... and there are several friends and family who read. This is for you... especially those of you I don't talk to on a regular basis!

Second, I'm hoping some terrified mommy of 2 with one on the way will find their way over here and have the opportunity to read what adding a third little to the mix really looks like. Sorry it's not all roses, but at least you know the reality! It's really not as bad as I would have expected in those last days and weeks of this last pregnancy though.

And as a bonus third... it's a place to share my journey with Elimination Communication! I may throw some extra EC posts in here and there with fewer Chasing Three posts to use, but we'll see. I may just sit and drink a glass of water. (Hold a sec... that sounds good!)

So here we are...



Chasing "Babies"
We've had several opportunities to do family outings in the last couple weeks. More on that later, but it has been a great time for us to be together as a family... even with the rough edges that come with such events.

School has been even more out the window as we haven't done much at all aside from reading... and even then, I'm often guilty of falling asleep while I read. Tornado has taken to stroking my cheek gently when he notices my speech slurring or that I've stopped altogether... in a non-stopping place. I am grateful for two things in regards to school these days... one is that I can live such a "flexible" life and the other is that no one is keeping track. I have several years still before our state even cares! Someday we'll ease into something disciplined!

My big goal this week has been to get the kitchen table nice and cleared, and to clean it up after each meal. This way we can actually use it... and on the spur of the moment too. If kids want to color, cut, or whatever, now I can say "get in your chairs" instead of "Mommy has to clean the table first". Much more likely that we'll actually do it.

While waiting is still our reality, we're also starting to feel a flow to the days. There are still days when no one sleeps much and we just survive our way through, but I'm working on being more intentional so that things happen in some kind of order. Of course this doesn't mean I'm not nursing while stirring spaghetti sauce or having the kids sit on the floor until I can get to them... but maybe, just maybe, we're getting better about it all.


Little Man
My nights have been stretching longer and longer most days as Little Man stretches closer and closer to the ever coveted "sleeping through the night". In fact, I'd say we've had one or two days when that has happened. I'm not sure I slept through the night, but we'll get there. Of course I still hear everything... or almost everything... and when he fusses through a light sleep period, I wake up thinking he wants to eat. By the time I'm upright and getting ready to grab him (or returning from a quick trip from the potty room) I'm awake enough to really think about what I'm doing. Look at the clock. Think about how long it's been. Decide to lay down until he's really upset. Yeah, that's sounds good. Laying back down! Most of these times he's back asleep within a couple minutes. I do believe he sleeps and self soothes better (at night anyway) than either of my other two at this age. It's a blessing to not be rolling over half a dozen times a night to re-insert the pacifier when I could otherwise be sleeping.

He's continuing to grow, though this last week or so slowed down quite a bit. I'll be watching that. (How grateful I am for the infant scale we bought this time around!) He's also been smiling a ton. Very social smiles. Especially when I'm changing him. He just lays there on the counter and smiles up at me. I just love it. He smiles. I smile back. He smiles back at me. We go on and on. (All the while I'm needed in the other room by someone, but whatever.) I'm also starting to hear little noises, but they aren't distinct enough to call them cooing just yet.



EC'ing Department
I'm not going to lie... it hasn't been going well. I am far from my "I can officially say that more poops go into the toilet than go into a diaper!" statement, but I'm working to not be discouraged. Right around the time of my last update, the whole family got sick... all of us! It was brutal. Poor baby, he and Sweet Pea had it worst of all. A six week old should not get a cold. I was only sort of thankful that it wasn't complete with a runny/stuffed up nose. At least I could have helped him with that. No... all his congestion was in his throat and maybe his chest area too. So sad. We found a way to prop up his mattress so that he wouldn't end up in a heap at the bottom by morning and so that he wouldn't be in any danger of suffocation. That helped some. Add some Vicks (I'm hoping to have a more natural remedy next time, but there is little time for such research when everyone is sick) and we were doing the best we could. His eatting was ok (I'm hoping the sickness is why he didn't gain much weight) but he was also swallowing a lot of flem! This makes for some yucky, and more frequent I might add, poops! In some ways ECing helped this, but he also didn't seem to be able to wait as long, so we had lots more diapers to clean up.

Other than the sickness, I'd say that my tiredness/laziness has also been hampering our progress. We keep at it though, giving him some latitude when he just wants to fuss (read: scream) instead of potty in the potty. I'm working at doing it enyway when I don't feel like taking him to the potty. I'm always sorry when I don't! Always! Hopefully I'll be more encouraged next time I report in!

Labels: As it happens..., Chasing Three, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 8:00 PM 0 Comments

Chasing Three: Week 6

I suppose this is more an update on the last two weeks... since I missed last week. I'm sure you're all as busy as I am and didn't even notice. There's not much difference between the two weeks either, so I'll basically just let you know how were doing and where we're at now.

Chasing Babies
Still far from on a schedule, as a family anyway. Little Man is on a basic feeding/sleeping schedule. I sleep as long as I can in the mornings. Poor kids. They tend to wake up before I'm ready. I hope it's good practice for them... having them wait for "wake up time". One morning I found Sweet Pea's diaper off (not to mention her jammies) and a puddle of potty on the bare mattress (there was a sheet on there the night before). Perhaps they were left too long that day. Some mornings are just hard to drag myself out of bed. It depends on the quality and quantity of sleep during the night.

Once we're up it's a matter of juggling really... and waiting. Most of the morning is waiting actually... for one person or another. My beloved waits to get out of bed until the kids have all used the bathroom so that he can get ready for work. Some mornings Little Man waits to eat until everyone is dressed. Other mornings kids wait to get dressed (or up at all) until Little Man has had his fill. Kids wait for Little Man to eat before they are served breakfast (or vise versa). I wait to eat until things are calmed down.

Waiting.


Little Man
Little Man weighs 11 pounds 11 ounces as of today. That's 4.5 ounces in the last six days. Not bad at all... especially considering his higher birth weight! He's eating well... though sometimes it seems like he cries through his feedings. I have to be careful to stop everything else when feeding him or he doesn't do as well. Spitting up has slowed down most of the time... with the occasional waterfall.

We had another first this week when he smiled for me on Tuesday evening. My Beloved was working on something at the computer and I was sitting on the couch with Little Man. With all that goes on around here sometimes, I don't feel like I spend as much time just focused completely on him as I'd like. This was a time to do that. I just sat with him and talked. I couldn't tell you what we talked about, but I kept my voice quiet and interesting. Before I knew it I was looking at a half smile... then several. Then lo and behold, a complete smile just for mommy! I've never received a "first smile" from one of my babies before. This was very special!


The EC'ing Department
We keep keeping on. I've been feeling like we've been moving in the backward direction lately. Perhaps I've been too tired to take him potty (or lazy). Or perhaps we are just out of sinc.

I'm still catching at least half of his poops. It seems, though, that I'm "just missing" his potties pretty often. Or he is not wanting to go in the toilet for some reason. Like I said, we just keep keeping on... and I'm sure we're going to get through this hump.

I've started noticing a bit of a cue from him when he needs to poop. Ok... so I shouldn't say I noticed it. Last weekend we were with some friends. Little Man was pretty fussy throughout the evening... off and on. I was telling her about this whole EC thing and she wondered if he was fussing because he needed to poop. Sure enough! Fast forward to this last few days... I've definitely been noticing a pattern. Trick is that his cue is crying... plain old crying. Usually I'm thinking to my elf, "why are you crying?" I haven't gotten good at thinking, "oh, you're crying and I don't know why... maybe you need to poop." Hopefully I'll start putting it together. A couple times now I've missed a very blatant "I don't' know why you're crying" cue just to have him poop in his diaper. It can be a little discouraging and annoying, but my book says that there are no accidents. Even these misses are learning opportunites... and I'm seeing that they're right! Yes... I missed the cue. Yes... I had a mess to clean up. But yes... I am noticing this pattern. And yes... he is telling me he has to go. Now I just need to learn to respond to this communication!

Labels: Chasing Three, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 9:43 AM 0 Comments

Chasing Three: Week 4... plus some

Yesterday, Little Man was one month old. It's so hard to believe. Time is passing so quickly. I wish I'd been better at taking note of different happenings last week... or at least getting this posted on time, because then I wouldn't be struggling so much to remember what last week was. I claim lack of sleep... or mother of three... or mother of an infant... or any number of things, but it doesn't change the reality. I don't remember last week much. And there aren't many pictures of it either. In fact, I think the above shot of his new diaper (and the others like it) are the only ones of the week! Isn't that terrible. Every other time I had the camera out for pics of the kids, he was in the sling. Oh well! Sometimes life gets in the way of recording itself!


Chasing "Babies"
Dropping my homeschooling plans for this year is the best thing I could have done for us. Life was much less stressed. Reading has become our main activity! And I couldn't be more thrilled. Both children are more interested in reading books and especially being read to. We read, read, read... while I'm nursing, after nursing is done, while Little Man sleeps and any other time they ask and I can say yes. I requested a bunch of random books (random because they don't have anything to do with each other, not because I picked them haphazardly) from the library, and the kids have really enjoyed them. I'll share more about them in our preschool post later in the week.

Hugs are the mainstay of our home these days! Hugs of the baby that is. Both children want to hug and kiss him all the time. I've had to make a rule that there is no hugging while Little Man nurses... it was getting awkward and cumbersome for me! There are times when Tornado interrupts his play 3, 4 or even 5 times (in only 5-10 minutes time) to come over and hug and kiss his baby brother!

We received one more meal from a family at church last week... and have been digging into our freezer stash ever since. That's actually a good thing because we need to make some room in our freezer for the (hopefully) coming deer when hunting season comes. Things need to be rebooted in there anyway!

One evening we took them all to the park! What fun the kids had running around and climbing on everything!


Little Man
Thursday our scale arrived... sigh! We got it all ready to use and weighed him on Friday... then again yesterday for his official 1 month weight. 11 pounds, 2.5 ounces! I'll take it. I read/heard somewhere that you should judge "birth" weight (as far as comparing for growth) based on the lowest weight he reached before starting to gain again, so that's what I'm doing. Though he was 9 pounds 10.6 ounces when he was actually born, I'm counting 9 pounds 2.5 ounces as his starting weight... putting him in the 87th percentile at birth... and the 85th now! Praise the Lord for 2 new pounds this month!

More of his nights are stretching out a little. Some nights he only wakes me once before the morning feeding... and others it's still twice. It is okay with me though. He is still so little and I am content with our current schedule.

I've been holding him just before nap times... more than the other kids. I don't know if I'm more of a push over these days, or if he's just more upset than the others were. When it's time for a nap, sometimes he goes right down, but most of the time he cries for a bit before falling asleep. Other times he just cries and cries. I check on him regularly and am very aware of the crying (I hate it when my babies cry). Occasionally he gets so worked up that he sweats like crazy! His hair is wet through... and it only takes a minute or so to get like that. Those are the times (and a half a dozen others too) that I can't stand it and pick him up... carrying him around while he calms down. Occasionally he never does go to sleep. Other times he gets so sleepy that I'll try to put him back in bed. I sure hope things level out sometime!!

We had our first official "first" this last week too. I put him on a blanket on the floor to snap the above picture and before I could get myself into position with the camera, he'd rolled himself over onto his back. He did this several times in a row. Apparently he didn't want to be on his tummy!


The EC'ing Department
I can officially say that more poops go into the toilet than go into a diaper! And for this I am very thankful! We had our first and only "blow out" this last week too, and I know it was all due to my own laziness. I had just decided (at around 3am if I remember correctly) that I didn't want to get up to give him a chance to poop on the toilet. I was ok with him pooping in his diaper if he was going to. I just wanted to get him back in bed and go back to sleep myself. I had barely finished that very thought when I felt something wet on my hand. I don't even know how it happened, but silently, he pooped all over everything. There was actually more outside the diaper than there was inside the diaper! Suffice it to say I've made it a point to give him opportunities when I thought he needed them... even in the middle of the night.

Pottying is going well too... sometimes I think he responds to my cues (sounds of "sssssss" while holding him over the toilet) and other times I know he doesn't. :) Regardless, it's going well! We even demonstrated for friends who have a 5 month old and I think their sold on the idea!

Labels: As it happens..., Chasing Three, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 2:36 PM 1 Comments

Chasing Three: Week 3

My Little Man is 3 weeks old! I had a bit of a rough patch today (hormones?) when I *realized* that he's growing up too fast and I'm practically missing it already. Then I realized that the only part I'm really missing is the part where he's asleep and that I'm pretty much with him every other minute. Such is life in these first weeks of having a newborn in the house (the hormones, the sleeping, and the going so fast!)

As of Sunday morning (last week... not today, sorry about the lateness of this post), my mom was at the airport and we were on our own. As we (the kids and I) waved good-bye to her and My Beloved at 6am that morning, I was sure I was in trouble. Little Man had barely been sleeping the previous couple nights. He'd wake up every 2 1/2ish hours for feedings, and then not always go back to sleep... crying until his next feeding, the whole time except when I was shaking his bassinet, holding him, or letting him suck on my finger (which was still attached to my hand, attached to my arm that was draped from where I was warm in bed over the side of his bassinet and to him.)

It wasn't all that bad though. The rest of the week was ok as far as sleep went... waking every 2 1/2 hours, but going right back to sleep each time.


Chasing "Babies"
I'm not going to hide it from you... not every day was as smooth and enjoyable (nor productive) as that first day home alone with them all. There was no schooling, few dishes done, and I didn't even try to follow that trial schedule I mentioned. Even though he was sleeping some, I was still exhausted! I spent more time falling asleep in the couch while they played (or better yet, while reading them a story) than I had planned to. (Does anyone really plan on that?) The weather was beautiful all week, but we never once made it outside apart from Monday. Bread making was on the schedule most of the week (and still is as a matter of fact!)

I am grateful that my church family began bringing meals this week and I didn't have to worry about the evening meal!! Praise the Lord for family in His body! We did accomplish a few things. I got the yogurt made and survived both Tuesday and Thursday nights (have I mentioned that My Beloved is taking an EMT class at the community college this semester... it started this week) with out back-up.

Overall, God is good. No one's been sick or gone hungry (apart from the constant "I'm still hungry" I get from Tornado after every meal!) The kids are enjoying their baby brother and haven't even hurt him yet. :)

And me? God is doing works in my heart in a number of different areas. Isn't it just like God to pick an unlikely time for Spiritual growth and challenging! I look forward to sharing some of what's been on my heart with you all someday... when I have time to actually write it up and post it. For now, I've been making more use of my journal than I have in a long time! It's way easier to journal on paper while nursing or rocking to sleep than it is to type!


Little Man
We've worked hard this week to keep him awake when he should be awake during the day in the hopes that he'd find his night time schedule. It seems to have worked some as we did finally find a 5 hours stretch one night night... followed by a 4 1/2 hour stretch the next night! Sigh. I hope it continues!

Nursing continues to go well. I wondered about my milk supply for a couple days, but am not anymore. I tend to worry/wonder about such things because of past experience and will hopefully be choosing a scale and getting it soon (maybe this week!) Spitting up continues as well... sometimes a lot at a time. Having a scale to monitor weight will help me to know whether it's too much spit up or just the extra that he doesn't need.

His alert times are stretching out some more most of the time. There are still a couple times during the day when it's really hard to keep him up. I have to be very careful not to keep him up too long or it messes with his nap times. At least this is what I'm blaming it on. He sleeps great at night and through the morning and mid day. The afternoons and evenings though, he doesn't sleep well at all. Some nap times are off and on crying through the whole time. Others he doesn't stop at all (without help). As PDF parents, one of our goals is to try to help Little man learn how to fall asleep by himself... without the sleep props of being rocked or nursed to sleep. This will be a help to him as he gets older and doesn't have those options available. A number of times this week though, I've grabbed him up in the evening to ensure he gets some of his nap. Part of it is not being able to stand the thought of him crying more (and I can't think of anything else that could be causing the crying... wet diaper, gas, hunger, etc.) and part of it is wanting him to get the sleep he needs during the day so that he's not over tired and won't sleep at night. If any of you PDF mommies out there have any suggestions, I'm all ears! I can't complain too much though... it's nice to have him sleep on me every now and then! I just worry that I'll do more harm than good in the training arena.


The EC'ing Department
Though I've been tired, I have also had more energy this past week. Does that completely contradict??? My body is coming back around and I've stepped up to a few more things. One of them has been ECing. We really buckled down to try this pottying thing. And it's magical!

Some days I've caught more potties and poops than I've missed (EC term for "accidents" or wet and poppy diapers). Each time he wakes up during the day, we head in to the bathroom where I have a diaper changing station set up. I remove the wet diaper (sometimes more wet than others) and we sit together at the potty.

I have found it much easier to do this with him since trying a slightly new position. I sit on the kids stool facing the potty, holding Little Man in my arms (one hand under each thigh) over the potty. Most of the time he's leaning on my chest. Sometimes he doesn't seem happy with this, but other times he's fine. Many times this week he'd potty almost right away (and sometimes not at all)... and often does his pooping there. I will say though that much of the potty early in the week was going everywhere but the toilet. I was starting to loose hope, wondering what I was doing wrong. I was holding him the way I thought they said too, but this couldn't be right.

I still don't know if I'm doing what they say to do or not, but holding a bit of toilet paper over "the zone" has helped (some) with keeping potty off the floor, toilet seat cover, and tub, and out of the trash can.

I still haven't noticed any obvious cues that he needs to go. We go when he wakes up and, as often as I have energy or attention for, a little while after nursing. Sometimes we go a third time right before going down for his nap, but it depends on how things are going and whether or not he's already gone in his diaper. At night, I just change his diaper and move on, getting back to sleep as soon as possible. I may add night time to our routine someday too, but not for now.

Overall, I'm happy with it. I have had many fewer poopy diapers to clean up than I would have otherwise... and saved many diapers from being needed (which is nice since I feel like I'm flying through them as it is.)

One thing I did find this week that is worthy of reporting. Little Man had some diaper rash that I was struggling to get rid of. One morning I just buckled down and worked at it... keeping him only slightly covered with the pre-fold diaper (this worked best on me rather than the floor, etc., as he did less kicking and I could hold the pre-fold in place)... letting as much air get in there as possible and taking him for even more potty-opportunities. It took all day, but by the end of the day, it was mostly healed, and gone the next morning.

Labels: As it happens..., Chasing Three, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 7:25 PM 1 Comments

Chasing Three: Week 2

With the advent of Little Man's second week came a much appreciated reprieve for me! The pains in my back and tummy muscles eased their way out of my moment by moment movements and transitioned into the occasional unwelcome guest. Finally, leaving all together. Except when I bend wrong... but we'll pretend it's gone altogether.


Chasing "Babies"
We were blessed that my mom was still here... all week! Well, once she returned from her extended weekend visit to my sister's anyway. We (and by "we" I mean the kids and I, as My Beloved returned to work) somehow managed to make it through both Monday and Tuesday... though I have no recollection how that happened. I believe my memory is skewed because of how much of it I slept and dozed while the kids played. Or perhaps it's just gone in the jumble of my mind.

The kids were thrilled with her return, though, and had a great time. Each morning they would get up and going, have breakfast, and be outside "strollin'" and playing. They must have spent an hour or two outside playing and walking and strollin' (in the stroller) each day. This was great for them... and for us as we stayed in bed that much extra! They even found a not so bouncy (anymore), bouncy ball to play with at the basketball court across the street at the YMCA day camp area. Apparently Tornado even made some baskets... completely unassisted!

The rest of the days were filled with meal prep, dishes, clean up, playing, more clean up, and little projects... all of which were done in whole or in part (a major part) by my mom! (Thanks Mom!) I was feeling much better, but still could tell when I'd been doing too much. Part of each day was spent forcing myself to do less... and to just sit (while caring for my Little Man of course). Why is it so much easier to "waste the days away" when I am physically capable of more... and so hard to when I'm supposed to rest?!?


Little Man
Nursing continues to go well... as best I can tell anyway. He began spitting up this week... sometimes none, and sometimes more than I think he should. This always makes me a little nervous because Tornado struggled so much with it (even loosing too much weight and entering the failure to thrive category by 3 months old)! We're looking into getting a nice digital baby scale to ease my mind and keep a watch on it! I'd love to find one second hand, but so far it looks like we'll have to get a new one. (Any advice on brand, etc??)

He's got days and nights backward for sure. We work hard to keep him awake even the minimum amount recommended in Babywise after each nap. And then, if we keep him up too long (and I mean an hour and 15 minutes from the time he wakes up instead of just an hour), he's overstimulated and doesn't nap well! It's a teetering acrobat act for an already tired ball of nerves (me). He's been up every 3ish hours through the night most nights (every 2 1/2 hours last night) and occasionally refuses to sleep between feedings... crying off and on for a couple hours. I've been working on ways to help him quiet and relax into sleep without falling into the trap of rocking or nursing him to sleep all the way. It's not something I want him to learn... though it's so tempting and I've tried it a couple times this last week. I don't remember struggling with this so much with Tornado and Sweet Pea, but I know we'll get through it. I just have to remind myself of this often! Someday he'll stretch it out to 5 hours. :)

There is just so. much. crying! Praise God for a strong set of lungs!


The EC'ing Department
I continue to hold my EC dreams in a loose hand. I do dream of the day we've gotten the hang of it. I can see how much easier it could be than cleaning up the yuck with each diaper change. We're not there yet though, and that's ok. With my limited sleep, many times it just seems easier to change the diaper than to try to give him a potty opportunity. Some day, offering the potty will be the easier of the two, requiring less energy, but for now, offering often yields nothing, which means I'm doing double duty. And there is just not energy or patience for that when one has not slept all night.

I do pick at it though... and I've caught a couple potties and some very crazy poops in the last week. I have a new understanding as to how blow-outs happen! I'll just leave it at that.

Labels: As it happens..., Chasing Three, Raising Children

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 2:25 PM 2 Comments

Chasing Three: The First Week

A week ago, our little man joined our family... on the outside. Since I mentioned a little nervousness about adding a newborn to my schedule, I thought I'd share a bit about what life is like this side of the delivery room.


Chasing "Babies"
My Beloved brought Tornado and Sweet Pea to the hospital Friday night (along with my mom once they picked her up from the airport) to meet the baby. I was holding him when they came into the room. They came around the curtain and stopped at the foot of the bed... then Sweet Pea took several steps backward. Both of them just stared at me... or rather, at the baby. Daddy had tried to explain how the baby was out of Mommy's belly, but some things you just have to see to understand. They warmed up to him quickly, though, once we asked if they wanted to hold him.

The next day Daddy (and a group of grandparents) brought them back for a visit. Keeping 2 and 3 year olds quiet and still in a hospital room is near impossible. Add into that the excitement of visiting grandparents and seeing Mommy and it's plain ridiculous. They didn't stay long... and they didn't hold him again. I could see signs of sickness just emerging in both of them. By that evening, Sweet Pea had a fever of 102+ and both kids were coughing and runny nosed.

Sunday, Little Man and I were home, the house was full, and the kids were still sick. It broke my heart to tell them that, not only weren't they allowed near the baby, but they couldn't touch Mommy right now either because of their germy hands. Between feedings and diaper changes, I tried to give my other babies the attention I knew they wanted. I was very grateful for the distraction and help of grandparents! I can't even tell you how many times I changed my shirt and washed my hands as I went back and forth between the new baby and my sick "babies"! This went on for 2-3 days.

They are still not completely well (noses are still a little runny and coughs persist), but germs aren't flowing and flying as they were in those first days! We're managing much better. I am better able to give hugs on demand and to multitask... at least as it pertains to the attention I give my littles!


Little Man
A sweet change from my previous two, this Little Man took to nursing quickly and with confidence. As you can (hopefully) see in the picture, my feeding record worked wonderfully for us (and the nurse thought it was cute). He fed well, but the part I loved best was that he was also going through diapers at record speeds! He certainly didn't need to exceed the minimums for healthy growth (and please don't compare your baby to mine... each one grows and eliminates at his own pace), but after two babies that struggled to grow and get enough milk, it was encouraging for this mama to see!

We follow the Parent Directed Feeding (PDF) philosophy as explained in the book On Becoming Babywise.

It's not "Attachment Parenting" and it's not "Scheduled Feeding". It's somewhere in the middle. According to the book, helping baby get on a basic schedule aids in establishing his metabolism... and his sleep habits. Doing this (helping establish good sleep habits) makes for a happier, better rested baby (and mommy). Good sleep is also important for all the growth and developing baby is doing!

So what does this look like? In this first week my main responsibility has been to make sure Little Man gets a full feeding each time. This is often easier said than done with a sleepy newborn, and I can't say I was successful 100% of the time. By doing this, though, the theory is that he will fall into a nice 2 1/2 - 3 hour routine... making it possible to know a general time for the next feeding.

Step two is to work on doing the routine in the proper order... eat, wake, sleep. This means that when he wakes up, I feed him. Then, after some "awake" time (I think we officially had some of this yesterday), I put him down for his nap. I lay him down while he is still awake so that he can learn to fall asleep on his own... not dependent on mommy to rock or nurse him before he can fall asleep. This sounds brutal to some of you... and it's not always easy (read: ever) when your precious new baby is crying and you know that he'll stop if you just pick him up. But I've been through this twice before, and I can tell you that I wouldn't take anything in the place of a baby who has learned to fall asleep on his/her own! It's better than chocolate once you get there.

Lest you think I'm letting my little one scream and cry for hours through the night and day, I do lots of regular checking on him while he's crying... and a good amount of calming and cuddling. Now that we are at the end of this first week, things are starting to settle into a nice routine.

Oh, and one more reason this is so important to me... more important than it was when Tornado and Sweet Pea were this age? Having Little Man on this schedule (even a loose schedule) and being able to put him down for his nap gives me 45 minutes to an hour and a half (more or less) to give to my other babies... very necessary time!


The EC'ing Department

I mentioned my intention to use cloth diapers this time around and my plans to try something new in the diapering department. I've begun EC in a very laid back way... observation. In fact, this is the first step anyway... learning baby's patterns and cues.

I caught a poop (in a prefold while sitting on my bed) in the first couple days at home... and a potty in the toilet at the end of the week. Other than that, I haven't been trying very hard. Though he had a certain pattern I was catching onto in the first days, everything changed when my milk came in... and now he's often wet before I know it. I love having him in cloth (prefolds without a cover for now) because he gets changed so much more often and it's really no more expensive! I find that my body is taking it's time in recovering strength and moving around too much causes an ache in my back/side and sore tummy muscles. It's starting to get a little better, but still has me doing as little as possible. I am looking forward to stepping up the EC attempts more when my body feels better!

Labels: As it happens..., Breastfeeding, Chasing Three

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 1:16 PM 3 Comments