Week Ten Summary

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Tess’s 10th week of life was from Thursday Oct 2 through Wednesday Oct 8th. She was 9 weeks old during this week.

Nursing: My biggest concern this week was bottle feeding. We left for Hawaii on Oct 9th. Tess HAD to be able to take a bottle. I gave her a bottle when we got home from her 2 month well visit and she drank it GREAT! It gave me a lot of hope but sadly it was short lived…

The weekend before our trip we followed the advice of the pediatrician and made plans for Zach to feed her a bottle for every meal. Kye and I had a date day to stay out of the house. We started out using the Medela Calma but ended up switching back to our normal Medela nipples. First feeding she drank 3.5 oz and it took 90 min, second feeding she drank only 2 oz and it was 90 min. Third feeding she did 3.5 oz (that’s the feeding he switched back to old nipple) and took 90 min. Fourth feeding Mrs. Charlotte came and fed it to her so Zach could take Britt on a date. She drank 6 oz and it only took 30 min. Fifth feeding she did 5.5 oz in 50 min and then her dream feed she did 4.5 oz in 45 min. I felt hopeful but that as soon as I went back to nursing her, she went back to not doing well for the bottle.

I tried on Monday and she drank under 3.5 oz. I started at 4:45 and finally at 6:08 I had to give up.

I was EXTREMELY upset and concerned about the bottle situation. I couldn’t fly literally across the world not feeling confident that my baby would be okay. I asked around for advice. I read everything I could about it. And some babies just straight up refuse bottle feeding. I was a MESS. I finally thought of the idea that I wish I’d thought of sooner: send her to Mrs. Charlotte’s early. We were taking the kids to Mrs. Charlotte’s on Thursday night and leaving Friday morning. She and I talked and I took Tess to her on Wednesday afternoon. That gave her a full day to do bottle feeding before we left so we could see how she did. It ended up working out SO GREAT!!!

Not only did Tess do awesome with the bottles for Mrs. Charlotte but it allowed Zach and I to get quality time with the big kids before leaving. I hated, hated, hated being away from Tess for an extra day BUT it was worth it to know she’d be okay while we were gone. I felt 1,000 times better knowing she was HAPPY and EATING!!!

I think she just does best for the bottle when she does nothing other than bottle feeding. I think when she knows she will be nursing she just waits and eats more then to make up for the bottle feeding. Anytime we did a bottle and then I nursed her the next feeding she always nursed SUPER long!

Schedule: Along with the big bottle focus, I also shifted Tess’s schedule this week!

If you are comparing notes with Kye and Britt then you’ll notice that Tess moved slower with her schedule changes. She had her shots on Oct 2nd so I moved her schedule the day she turned 9 weeks old. The appointment ran late and she was very sleepy from her shots so I left her sleeping until 10:30 instead of waking her at 10.

Her new schedule is a combo 3 ½/3 hour schedule:

7:00 nurse
8:00 down for nap
10:30: nurse
11:30: down for nap
2:00 nurse
3:00: down for nap
5:00: nurse
6:00: down for nap
8:00: bath routine then nurse then immediately asleep for night
10:30: dream feed

Her awake time was right at 60 minutes and she takes roughly 30 min to nurse so that leaves 30 min of playtime with her! She adjusted to the new schedule very well! She would fuss a little at both 10:00 and 1:00 b/c those were the times she was used to waking up to eat.

Sleep: On top of the bottle issues, and the schedule change, it was also a wonder week for Tess! She was at the tail end of the 2nd leap and I could tell the signs of it because she kept not sleeping solid and was just much more AWAKE!

She still looks so small in her crib!

WIDE awake when she SHOULD be sleeping!

More About Tess:

Her nails seem a lot thicker so I busted out the nail clippers this week
She smiles SO BIG whenever I go in her room to get her up! Here’s a video
The roots coming in are super super light hairs
The day of her shots she was VERY fussy and just seemed to be in a good pit of pain. I did Tylenol and it really helped. She just wanted to be cuddled and eat a lot of the day! I did the Tylenol the whole first day then just one dose the next morning and she was back to normal
This week was really neat because Tess, Lindsay and I were featured in an article on Popsugar!!!! You can see it here!
Tess started talking more this week and saying “words” (mostly “a goo”)
Here’s a video of Tess smiling
She started looking directly at objected and talking and laughing at them
She also started focusing on things and will move her head around like crazy to see everything around her
Here is a video of her talking!
Having more playtime with her is awesome!
Her wonder week ended right before we left for our trip which was PERFECT timing so she did awesome napping for Mrs. Charlotte!

More pics of my sweetie!

Crazy hair!

She has SO many expressions now which is really fun 🙂

Here’s a video of her feeling the grass

Siblings: Knowing I’d be leaving my babies for a whole week made me REALLY appreciate every second we had together! We did a LOT of snuggling this week 🙂 I love the pics I got of the big kids with Tess 🙂

Favorite pic of them together 🙂

Postpartum Update: The bottle issues REALLY caused me anxiety. I was so, so, so worried and just felt the anxiousness in my chest. I’m SO thankful Mrs. Charlotte didn’t mind taking Tess a day early because it made a HUGE difference in my mental and emotional state leading up to the trip.

Since I moved the dream feed up to 10:30 I no longer napped before it. I felt more tired missing out on that nap but I’m hoping it’ll result in longer solid sleep for me!

I felt much more insecure during postpartum this time than I have ever in the past. I’m not sure why? Maybe I had unrealistic expectations of my looks? I’m thankful I bought several new outfits to wear to Hawaii. It made packing VERY easy and tear free 🙂

I FINALLY sent out all my thank you cards this week!!! I appreciate all the meals and thoughtful gifts for Tess since her birth and am embarrassed it took me so long to send them! We’ve gotten a few gifts since I mailed these and I need to mail those thank yous as well!

My sweet Aunt Cheryl sent an AWESOME package for Tess and the kids this week! The big kids each got $5 so you know they were crunk and she got Tess these beautiful Vera Bradley baby things! I was so surprised and felt so loved and special 🙂 Very, very thoughtful!

Overall this week I struggled emotionally. The anxiety of the bottle, dealing with the wonder week, the idea of leaving the kids. It was hard. I felt very emotional and cried very easily. I felt sad all the time and very unappreciated. I think motherhood IS a very unappreciated job. You give and give and give to your kids and they really never “get it.” I mean just take breastfeeding for example! It’s HARD! And no adult walks around saying “man I sure am smart b/c my mom breastfed me!” Even though it was hard to imagine leaving the kids…I knew it would be good for ME and good for my relationship with Zach. We needed time away together and it was great timing for that!

The day I took Tess to Mrs. Charlotte’s I was very emotional. I took a ton of pics of her to have on my phone and enjoyed our “last” nursing session together! And yes, I even took a video of her nursing 😉 Don’t worry you can’t see anything! I just love her little breathing sounds!

Sibling Comparions: You can see Kye’s 10 week summary here! You can see Britt’s week 10 summary here. SO thankful not to be dealing with mastitis this time around…although I would love to be as thin as I was after having Britt!

journeyofphood

Hey Guys, I’m Emily! I’m a stay at home mom and consider parenting to be my passion. Disney is my happy place and I love making memories as a family together. I’m a big believer in transparency and share all of my real-life moments as a mother of four.

My work has been featured on Today Parenting and Chronicles of a Babywise Mom. I’m also honored to be a member of the Babywise Friendly Blog Network.

You can read more about our family on my About Me page. Also be sure to follow along with me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!

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Week Ten for Britt was from February 7th – February 13th. It was a crazy week for us here as Zach was in Texas working. It was my first time dealing with the kids solo for a long period of time. I’m proud of myself though as I worked out a great routine. While it was a tough week for me, it was a learning week as a parent and when Zach went out of town a couple of weeks later I felt much more confident!!!

Nursing: THIS is the reason that I didn’t take a ton of notes on things that happened this week. The child nursed for 2 hours at each feeding. Since she eats 5 times a day that means I was spending 10 hours a day nursing. And, like I said before, I was handling it all alone so poor Kye. Thankfully he spent some time with G-mama and Gramma to give him a break! I’m not sure why she was nursing that long. I was on the antibiotics for the mastitis and I think that’s what caused it. I’m not sure if the meds affected my supply so she was eating longer to keep me producing. Or if the meds affected her in some way so she was eating longer for comfort. Or even if the meds just made her sleepy so she was nursing longer because she was drowsy. I’m not sure. But it was rough. It wore me out!!! My butt would be numb and I got pretty bored sitting there so much! It’s easier to look back on the situation now since she no longer eats that long…but during that time I was worried that she’d start doing that forever and I simply couldn’t handle it. I just waited it out though and once the meds were out of my system (10 days…) she got back to normal eating, which for her is still a long time – an hour per feeding!

She is so stinking sweet that this week she started to be more interested in smiling up at me than just eating. She’s getting distracted a little easier and is just SO social. She wants to smile and smile. Before this week the girl was mission: eat. Now if Kye dumps out his car bucket, the dogs bark, or even if I cough she’ll come off the breast. It’s a normal change as she’s just becoming more aware of her surroundings. Along with this she is exploring more with her hands and moves them around a lot while nursing too.

Schedule: Her schedule is the same as week nine. Taking two hours to eat at each feeding pretty much screwed up the schedule though. I continued to feed her at the time I was supposed to but a lot of her naps were shorter because she’d take so long to eat. She also got very little awake time this week. I missed Zach, but I also missed Britt!

More About Britt This Week:

She cannot stand to lay in her own puke (which who would want to?!?!). Thankfully we have a video monitor because I can see when she is crying due to puke and can go in, wipe her off, and move her so she’ll go back to sleep.
She is back to sleeping solid through the night until 6:45. Good timing too because with Zach gone I needed that solid sleep myself!
I ADORE her huge gummy smile. It’s precious
She’s starting to burp on her own while nursing so I’m not spending a lot of time burping her like I used to
She’s also less gassy, we use the Mylicon still but I don’t have to pump her legs and do all of that mess. I think she just grew out of the gassy stage.
The whole time I was on meds she nursed for 2 hours and had bad diarrhea. Medicine has always really affected me. Like dayquill will knock me out. I’m thinking she’s the same way because when I had to take mastitis meds with Kye I never remember him having these issues?

All swaddled up!

She had her first MEGA blow out. She poop through her diaper, through her onesie, through her pants, through the swaddle and onto the mat I have covering her sheet. You can tell it was a rough one!!!

Prior to this week I had been running the humidifier at each nap and through the night to help her congestion. She seemed to be getting better so I put it away. It’s funny that I learn so many new things this time around…I never knew that you aren’t supposed to put the humidifier on wood services or on any material. We have always ran Kye’s on his dresser (wood) with a towel (cloth) under it. Oops. We now get one of our metal folding chairs from the attic to put it on when needed!

Britt found her hand this week! When she wasn’t eating she was sucking away on it. Although she enjoys it, I don’t think it’s a “need.” As when I swaddled her to go to sleep she didn’t fuss about not being able to get to her hand.

I had her play airplane for the first time this week, she loves it! But I have to be sure to cover my shirt with burp rags or I will have puke all over me haha

She still is not a good paci baby. She will take it occasionally and we only offer it when it’s really needed. Pretty much only if she will not sleep towards the end of a nap. She sucks that thing SO hard. You can see the outline of it around her mouth during her bath time!!!

I really enjoyed our bath time together, I get why Zach loves it so much with the kids!

Here’s some more pictures from this week:

I LOVE that she’s so big, I don’t have to worry too much about Kye accidentally hurting her!

Kye wanted to use my camera so he took these pictures of us:

My girl!

Postpartum Update: I spent the week feeling very, very tired and worn out. I felt a ton of guilt about Kye. He wasn’t getting my best at all. I felt like I was nursing non-stop. Kye’s behavior reflected my lack of parenting. He did not do well with Daddy away. Typically Zach will bring him home a “prize” when he is out of town for more than a night or so. It helps keep him motivated to do well for me. Well, this time he did not get his prize. He acted out more. I was more easily frustrated. It just wasn’t a good mix. I’m thankful he had school and had his grandparents to help keep him happy when I simply couldn’t do it.

I had to pump after each nursing session and in the middle of the night to help fully empty my breasts with the mastitis. After a couple days of it though, I quit the extra pumping. She was eating for so dang long I was sure my breasts were getting empty enough!!! I didn’t want to be sending my body the message to make more milk either!

I lost (probably thanks to all the nursing haha) 1.2 lb this week and only have 4 left to go to be my pre-pregnancy weight!!! I have lost 5 lb total since starting Weight Watchers and can officially wear my pre-pregnancy jeans again 🙂 Yay!

Our little family was SO thankful when Daddy returned home!!! We survived it! We also grew and learned from it, which in my perspective is the most important thing to remember during a tough situation.

Just the three of us!

It’s ironic that the week that Brittlynn took 2 hours to nurse is the same week that, when Kye was her age, he started taking only 15 minutes to nurse…maybe someday Britt will speed it up 😉 I will gladly have her longer feedings with her great napping though…she’s MUCH better than Kye was. You can read all about Kye’s 10th week here!

journeyofphood

My work has been featured on Today Parenting and Chronicles of a Babywise Mom. I’m also honored to be a member of the Babywise Friendly Blog Network.

You can read more about our family on my About Me page. Also be sure to follow along with me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!

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We’re in the double digits now! So crazy!

Here’s what’s been up with Kye this past week:

Rice Cereal:

As I mentioned in an earlier post Zach really wanted to try giving Kye rice cereal at night during his “dream feed” (the 11:30 feeding) to help him sleep better through the night. He’s already sleeping through the night but will wake up once or twice around 5:00, usually just pooping, and go back to sleep. Zach thought the cereal would help him STAY asleep the whole night. We tried it and it kinda back fired because then he wouldn’t take the bottle very well!!! At church Zach had to leave services to go feed him because he would not take the bottle! Luckily we quickly figured out that it was the rice cereal and we quit giving it to him! Thankfully he’s back taking the bottle with no issues 🙂

Sleep

Naps still aren’t great! He’ll sleep for the first 40 min but then not the second half at all. I’m so excited to move to the 4 hour schedule because I think he’ll do better with less naptime (and maybe I’ll be a little more sane too!)

He is doing wonderfully at night though! I bought a new book recommended on the Babywise Blog, it’s called The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems. I haven’t been able to read through it yet but I did read up on the dreamfeeding (his 11:30 feeding). It said that if the baby is waking up before 7 every morning (which he is…not for long but he does wake up) that maybe we should drop the 11:30 feeding. It says that if the baby is DEAD asleep at the 11:30 one and we’re waking him up, making him eat, then putting him back down that it could be causing him to mess up his sleep cycle and therefore not sleep as well the rest of the night.

Once we dropped the rice cereal we continued to give him a bottle for the dreamfeed so we could see how much he was eating…Monday night he only had one ounce! What’s the point in that??? Last night we decided to go cold turkey and just drop the thing. Kye ate at 8:30 then went to sleep at 9:30…and didn’t wake up until like 6:55!!! Zach gets up with him at night and said he grunted one other time but was just going poop! So he slept almost 10 hours! YAY!!! SO exciting! I wish I could have been more excited but I have had a migraine for three days straight and when I woke up it was SUPER intense so I was pretty much in a crappy mood, but I’m still so proud that he did it and hope it continues!

He’s down to eating 5 times a day now and sleeping great at night! Sure, naps are horrible but I think it’ll get better with time!

Diapers

His diapers have changed for sure! He’s always been a Poopy Boy with plenty of nasty ones for changing but this week he had the first one that literally made me gag. It was disgusting! He’s been pooping less so when he does do it they are MASSIVE. It looked like straight up butterscotch pudding and was all over him. It took two diapers and four wipes! Not fun!

Not to jinx myself but I can’t remember the last time he’s peed while I’ve changed his diaper. It’s been a long time for sure which is a welcome change! I don’t really know why the change has happened but I hope it stays that way 🙂

Talking

Kye has become so so vocal this week! He talks all the time (especially to the monkey sticker above the changing table when he has a diaper change). His favorite sound i “ahhh guh” Zach said it sounds like he’s saying the name of the UGA mascot! Haha Too bad we aren’t Bulldog fans!

Eating

He’s become a much faster eater which I read is normal for a baby his age. He gulps that junk down! He used to take about 45 min to eat from both breasts and now he’ll empty one in 8-10 min and the other as quickly as 5! I fed him an entire bottle today in 15 min! Life is just getting easier 🙂

Hands

Kye has fallen in love with using his hands. He’s always holding them together now (see above pictures) and opens them much more often. Before I had to force things into his palm but now he’s figured out how to grasp things himself! Hopefully soon he’ll figure out how to hold them better but it works for now.

I’m actually thinking we may try no swaddle this week. The Babywise Blog suggests trying with one arm out first and I may do that. He’s so into his hands that he breaks out of the swaddle quite often!

Zits

Zach and I can’t stand the little whiteheads Kye has on his face (and even some on his body) but I know they are normal and will eventually go away. When he was a newborn he had one on his eyebrow that seemed to last FOREVER and I remember the day I noticed it was gone how pumped I was! Well this morning he got rid of another one that was driving me nuts…he had one on the lower part of his left eye (you can see it in the picture below) and it’s gone! Yay!

Hair

I was so proud to have a baby with a head full of hair…do you notice something that changes as the time goes on? Yes, less and less hair! Ugh! I know it’s normal for it to fall out but I can’t stand it! I miss his hair…when will it come back?

Content

He’s still a very content baby! Usually when it’s time to eat he gets fussy but lately he’s been FINE even if I feed him a little late. He’s happy and playful and it’s so nice not to be stressing out and rushing to get my breast in his mouth to shut him up! I really think he’ll do awesome when his schedule moves next month to every 4 hours from every 3 1/2!

Out and About

I took him on a walk this week (yes, a walk…I NEED to do this more often but it’s so hard to find the time!) and I did right before the begining of his naptime thinking he’d sleep through it like usual, but he was WIDE awake so I ended up RUNNING to get him home to be able to put him down for his nap on time! I also noticed when I took him out to the mall that he was staying awake a little longer than usual in the car seat. I think he’s realized that we are somewhere new and he wants to check out everything

We did go to Ladies Bible Study on Tuesday and it was wonderful! I’ve been missing it these past 10 weeks that’s for sure! They had a lunch at The Ravine and it was AWESOME! Kye did great and DID sleep wonderfully in his car seat the whole time 🙂

Here we are getting ready to go…doesn’t he look adorable? All the ladies in the class (it’s an elderly lady class) cheered when we walked in and couldn’t stop talking about how adorable he is and how much he smiles 🙂

Rolling Over

He hasn’t rolled over ONCE this ENTIRE week!!! It really scared me at first but then I thought about it and he’s LOVING time on his belly. He has realized that when he is propped up he can look around and he enjoys that so much that by the time he remembers to try to roll over he is too tired. I still let him practice as much as I can but when he gets fussy I have him stop. I wonder if I should let him keep trying while he cries?

Independent Playtime

I’ve started reading Babywise Two and am learning a lot already! One of the things that I think is important is for Kye to have time by himself. If I’m always playing with him every awake time then he’s going to be dependent on me and not know how to entertain himself. I had Zach set up the pack and play in the dining room and I’ve been putting him in there for about 15 minutes a day. He loves it!

Speaking of the pack and play…guess what? Our little porker is already too heavy for the bassinet thing at the top! Haha! I put him in it the other day and it sagged down so I looked it up and it only goes up to 15 lbs…Kye is 14 but with a dirty diaper and full tummy I’m sure he’s about 15!!!

He looks really scared in these pictures which is hilarious to me..this was his first time having independent playtime!

This week wasn’t enjoyable for me, and it should have been. Kye had a great week but I didn’t even appreciate that! I feel very drained and very tired. I’ve been suffering through this migraine and dealing with all the body image issues still. While it’s a blessing that he sleeps so wonderfully at night it’s so so so hard to deal with his horrible naps all day. My back is KILLING me from being constantly bent over the crib and always hearing crying will wear on you. It has made me in an awful mood and I can’t remember the last time I had one solid day where I was happy the whole day. I’ve been a total butthole to Zach all week and I know it but can’t help myself! It’s like I’m so miserable so shouldn’t he be miserable too? So not fair but it’s how I feel.

Zach isn’t around Kye all day every day and isn’t able to understand why it affects me so much. I try and try all different things to get him to sleep a full nap but he won’t. It’s a mega self-esteem killer b/c at his age he SHOULD be sleeping better for naps dangit! And then I feel so alone b/c I don’t have anyone to talk to about it! Zach doesn’t get it and IF Kye does have a great nap it’s ALWAYS when Zach is home and it makes it seem like I’m just making things out worse than they are ya know? Isn’t that typical?

My weight is really making it all that much worse…I weighed in today and only lost 1/2 lb last week. YUCK. I know I need to start working out but with a baby crying every 3 min for his paci who has the time? If I could wish for one wish right now it’d be a full 24 hours ALONE. Just completely alone. Not at this house either! No baby, No house, No dogs, Not even Zach…just ME. What would I do? No clue but it’d still be wonderful. Honestly, I’d probably sit there reading a freaking baby book haha.

I really need to find a hobby that I enjoy. It seems like everything I love doing ends up feeling like a chore. I used to love laying out but now it’s more like “I have to lay out or I’ll lose my tan” and I don’t enjoy it anymore. I used to love writing on the blog but now it’s “I HAVE to blog” and therefore I don’t enjoy it anymore. Guys have it so easy. Zach can go play basketball. He can play nintendo (yes, I still call it that…to me all game systems are nintendo). He has so many things he enjoys. What do I have? Nothing! Maybe someday I’ll figure all this out and feel good about myself and my little place in the world again!!! Maybe week 11 will be a week filled with great full naps and a happier Mommy 🙂

journeyofphood

My work has been featured on Today Parenting and Chronicles of a Babywise Mom. I’m also honored to be a member of the Babywise Friendly Blog Network.

You can read more about our family on my About Me page. Also be sure to follow along with me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!

Find me on: Web | Twitter | Facebook

4 Comments

Katherine Brown
February 28, 2012 / 5:37 am

Landon's first weeks of life, he took about an hour and a half to eat! He did that for almost the first 8 weeks! And he would eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours! I definitely felt like I was always nursing! I remember my friends saying that one day he would only take about 10 minutes! I just couldn't imagine it! Eventually it happened though! 🙂 Such special memories with him though!

Ann Elizabeth
February 28, 2012 / 5:33 pm

Hi Emily! I have been reading your blog for a while…I think this is my first time to comment. I was wondering if it makes you nervous to lay Britt down flat in her crib with her reflux issues. My daughter (Kye's age) was a horrible spitter upper! I mean I have no idea how the child gained weight. I was always soooo nervous to lay her down flat. For the first six months of her life she slept in a bouncy seat or in her car seat. The child has never slept through the night (consistently) and I really think it is because we were always changing where/how she slept. Anyway, I was just wondering if you propped her or her mattress up or anything????

emilysparker
February 29, 2012 / 4:15 am

@3453a07940e0194c0ed84553d8f7d038 kye was a BIG spitter too,..we tried using a wedge with her (under the sheet of course) and she just slides right down it. She moves a TON in her sleep so there really isn't anything we can think of to try. she seriously spits up SO much like it soaks through a thick burp rag and everything. I think it's because I produce so much milk…she is getting too much and spits up what she doesn't need??? kye was the same way!!! i have had one time where she spit up and it went in her nose and she couldn't breathe. thankfully we have both an angel care monitor and a video monitor so i feel like we'd catch it if it were to happen while in her crib. I also find she typically spits up at lot right after eating but then it stops soon after. we have always done sleep training so i've never had either of my kids sleep in a car seat or anything like that. I have heard a lot of people love to put their babies in the swing though with relux issues. and i would recommend to hold her upright after feeding her for awhile as that tends to help!

emilysparker
February 29, 2012 / 4:16 am

Katherine Brown i am SO glad you commented!!!!! i feel like i am the only mama to have such a slllllow nurser, i'm so thankful to hear that someday she WILL speed up 😉

2 Comments

Danielle
May 20, 2009 / 8:54 pm

I completely understand the ALONE thing. Since Jason was deployed until Clayton was 1 I was his only caretaker and when he got home I asked for a day in a hotel. he gave me my wish and I was so excited to get back home to them but I needed the break and you do too. On another note Clayton still wakes up in the middle of the night at 14months old…why? B/c he misses me. Really I can go in there and tell him hey and to go back to sleep and he does, but he will cry until I go in there. Babies are a mystery but a fun one I think

sara jackson
May 21, 2009 / 1:44 am

Just wanted to let you know that the feelings you are feeling are totally NORMAL. There is not a mom out there that hasn’t felt this same way. As for the naptime, you definately need it. It will help you keep your sanity. Any normal person needs a little peace and quiet. That is my favorite part of the day when my 4 year old and 2 year old nap from 12:45-3:00. That is MY TIME!! Have you tried the swing for naps. My kids LOVED the swing. I have never done the babywise thing. I just did what I needed to keep my sanity. Sometimes if you try too much structure it will stress you out which might be the reason he is cranky during the day. Kids seem to pick up on our mommy feelings. It always helped me to get together with other moms (many of which had kids the same age). We would share stories and it would get me out of the house and being by myself with THE SCREAMING child. I want to encourage you to be HAPPY with who you are and how you look. The weight will come off but don’t rush it. Your husband and baby love you just the way you are. I am sure you are bothered by it but give yourself some time, you just had a BABY, girl. I would like to recommend a fun book. You can read it in your “spare time” (ha!). It is called The Girlfriend’s Guide to the First Year. It is a funny book and will allow you to laugh because all of this will pass soon, even the lack of napping 🙂 Take care of yourself. Just remember you are not the only one with those feelings. All of us moms are with you!!!

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