There are over 20 drafts in my dashboard that haven’t been published. Every time I reread them all I can hear are complaints of everything that has happened the last 4 months. Yes, the last year has been super hard, everyone who has had a child knows it’s hard to even have just one. As I took a shower after both of the kids were finally asleep and my husband went back to work (yes, at 10pm), I had an epiphany of sorts. I need to STOP COMPLAINING and look at the bigger picture!
All I could remember from my day were all the tantrums my toddler threw because “I do it!”, instead of remembering all the kisses and hugs he gave me unprompted. Or how frustrated I was with my husband for not picking up after himself instead of focusing how hard he worked all day, yet still made time to take a family walk and give the baby a bath before bed.
I’m making the effort now to slow down. Think before I speak/yell. Most importantly, listen. If I don’t listen I might miss something sweet come out of my little guys lips.
Things have been a little interesting here at Casa de Bridges.
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Rafael has developed a little bit of “Mommy’s Boy Syndrome”. It’s a nerve frazzling condition in where baby boy needs to be near or around his mom’s body at all times. Doesn’t matter if it’s day or night, I have to be right there with him or else he starts to cry. It wouldn’t bother me, but I’m losing some sleep because I can’t get things done during the day and I have to try to play catch up at night. I have been doing some babywearing to help ease some of his crying but he gets so hot in the Moby after a while that I have to take him out after a while. I’m pretty bummed out that the sling I bought from a “free” website doesn’t fit. Being large in the chest area has a lot of drawbacks.
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Gabriel seems to having a growth spurt every day now. I finally got around to hanging up a growth chart in his room. Last week we measured his height and this week he grew half an inch. Did I mention that he likes to stick his finger up his nose? Or that sometimes I’ll catch him trying to put something up his nose. I think he might have stuck a piece of granola up his nose because yesterday I asked him to blow his nose to get some boogers. Mid-blow he sneezed and out comes flying a huge piece of granola. My husband has a theory that he had it in his mouth when he sneezed. I think he shoved it in there. Regardless, the eyes on the back of my head needs some fine tuning.
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Zumba… The gym I go to started up a special on Zumba classes. A 10 pack runs 50 bucks on my membership… $5 a pop was too good to let it go by. The first class reminded me of how horribly out of shape I’ve let myself get. Three songs into the hour long class I thought I was going to die mid-cumbia. A slight exaggeration I know, but I couldn’t catch my breath trying to keep up with the petite ball of energy that was our instructor. However, from that class grew my love for it. I’m almost addicted. I can’t wait until the next class. My 68 year old Grandmother went to last nights class with me. She loved it despite not being able to move to the rhythm or being able to keep up with the steps. If she can Zumba, anyone can Zumba.
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The kind ladies at Bigger Picture Blogs, Melissa and Brook, have taken me under their wings for a skirt challenge. If you know me well you would know that I would wear skirts, all the time. I would pair my skirts with t-shirts, blouses, and tanks. Or I would just wear a dress even when there was no occasion to. After having Rafael I haven’t been wearing skirts or dresses. I guess I haven’t really given myself a reason to since I’m not working an outside job lately. It does get tiring to wear yoga pants day in and day out so I’m forcing myself to wear a dress or skirt at least three times a week for the next month to help myself out of the yoga pants rut. I will be posting pictures on Instagram and Twitter so watch out for #MSFlies.
Congratulations to Melissa on the birth of her beautiful baby boy!
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Monday was Casmir Pulaski Day. In my husband’s family it’s a pretty big deal. A family friend hosts a rocket launch at a golf course. Not sure why they do it but it was fun to watch. This was the first time Gabriel and I watched the launch. Rafael was miraculously sleeping through the whole thing.
Gabriel and his Papa.
Small clip of the first rocket launch. They also have the “Shamrocket”…
Setting up.
We got this onesie at Gabriel’s baby shower from a family friend. Best find ever.
I don’t know what got into me yesterday. My stress and anxiety levels were off the charts.
It might have been a little bit of Rafael putting up a nursing strike, or his eczema getting worse, or Gabriel’s cranky mood.
In just the last month if have done so much better with being a patient person. Tomorrow {today} is another day!
Speaking of nursing strike {prepare for boob talk}: this is my first time exclusively breastfeeding. We have been doing well the last month up until a week ago when Rafael started to want to eat every hour or two after going for 4 hour stretches. Yesterday morning he wouldn’t get latched on. There was a ton of crying and arching his back so I gave up and gave him his pacifier. He slept for half an hour while I held him. He woke up as soon as I put him down, of course. This went on all day. I think we only had about three “good” feedings. I’m hurting pretty bad right now and pumping is no help at all. I don’t think he’s sick so it can only mean that either he’s teething, having a growth spurt or that darn eczema is really bothering him.
His cheek this morning.
His cheek before bedtime.
Thankfully it’s just on his cheek, eyebrow and a little on his earlobe area. I’ve been trying Cetaphil lotion and Aveeno’s Baby Eczema Therapy. I guess only time will tell if it will get better or worse. Darn weather isn’t helping either. Yesterday it was 50, today it was 12. Make up your mind!
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David and I take turns getting Gabriel in the morning.
It’s on of my favorite things to do because I get to see who was evicted from his crib.
Today it was…
Elmo 2 of 3!
This kid has a zoo of stuffed animals he HAS to sleep with. It’s so darn cute.
Gabriel pulled off a hang nail from his finger. He kept telling me it hurt so I put a band aid on him. He liked it… for two minutes then he wanted it off.
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Per my request we’ve been brewing the coffee stronger around here. It’s just the way of life sometimes.
I swear I only love Dunkin’ Doughnuts pastries during Febuarary. So cute and yet so yummy.
Let us pretend like I’ve been posting on a regular basis, okay?
Between super cuddly babies, lack of sleep, no time during the day and horrible wireless cards it’s been a buzz kill to write anytime nowadays.
I could blog on my phone, but I just hate it. Too slow, too time consuming, and I have fat fingers…
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David surprisingly had all of President’s Day off. He rarely gets any time off, so this was a huge treat. We started off the by running a couple of errands for my grandparents and then ran errands of our own in the afternoon.
We stopped at our favorite restaurant in our favorite town after visiting David’s old job to drop off a gift for an old coworker.
Mhhh water.
First time sitting in a booster seat.
Mhh, the no makeup-pimply look is all the rage, right?
Rafael wouldn’t wake up to nurse. Fun fun.
The roof on this house looks super crazy! It’s curved on the edges to look like it’s puffed or inflated. Mind blown.
The boys napped on the way to destination #2. Since it was the first time they’ve ever done that we had to commemorate with a video.
It’s hard to spend time with David these days so even though were on the road all day we had a good time. Makes me hopeful for when we take our first road trip as a family this year. Maybe I’m being too adventurous but I’m super excited to travel with the little ones.
29 weeks have flown by so fast. 20 weeks ago I kept griping on my husband how I felt like this pregnancy was going to last forever. At 20 weeks I began to feel the anxiety of “oh lord, we really are having another baby, and soon!”.
Compared to my pregnancy with my first this one hasn’t been a fun walk in the park. Morning sickness started as soon as I tested positive and it went on for three months. I bleed pretty heavily for what felt like an eternity but it really was only two weeks. Sciatica isn’t fun until you have a toddler to chase after. I also had a diabetes scare at 15 weeks.
This pregnancy also came a lot sooner than planned due to the fact that I had a cesarean with Gabe. We aimed for trying in September, closer to the two years that most doctors will allow for a vbac (vaginal birth after ceserean). I also worried that I wouldn’t be able to take care of two kids under two. Gabe will 2 in January so I’m sure it won’t be too bad having a newborn, but still, my anxiety is at an all time high.
So far I love our “birth group”. I found a OBGYN group that is supportive that is in network with a supportive hospital. It really doesn’t matter to me that it’s an hour plus away since all three hospitals in the area aren’t vbac friendly. I go see a chiropractor who specializes in adjusting pregnant women (amongst other specialties). Through her practice I get prenatal massages with someone who is also going to be my doula. I occasionally go to a yoga class but mostly try to do some at home.
We really can’t wait for baby boy to come in November/December!
