Things I wish I had known before baby....

In the last month before I had Hope I had all these expectations if you will. I had her co-sleeper set up and just knew that she would sleep in there. I had all her clothes for her size washed (or size I thought she would be) and imagined putting her in so many of the outfits her first week. I thought breastfeeding would be painless and amazing. I thought regardless of what people said that it would be easy.

Here's the top ten realities of having a newborn were for me:

10.) That we should have had some preemie clothes on hand because she was so teeny. She wouldn't fit in any of her clothes for at least a month.

9.) That because breastfeeding can be an excruciating experience for some mothers; you should have a nipple shield on hand. I believe if I had one on hand, it would have saved us a very expensive visit to a lactation consultant.

8.) Breast pumps are not only for moms who go back to work. Having one when baby arrives is extremely helpful in pumping for engorgement, having someone feed a bottle of expressed milk so you can take a nap and if you add a couple pumpings on top of feedings you will establish a very plentiful supply.

7.) That your baby may not sleep in a crib or bassinet. This was my biggest shock becoming a mother. Every time (and to this day) I would lay Hope down when she was asleep she would wake up kicking screaming and punching out of her swaddle. If I had educated myself on safe cosleeping in our bed before she came, then I would have been a much happier and rested mama the first week.

6.) Having formula in the house as a "just in case" could have been breastfeeding sabotage. I harmlessly kept a sample can of formula that was mailed by a formula company and I was literally (this close) to using it when I had my breastfeeding issues. When a mother is hormonal, tired and frustrated this is a sure way to sabotage a breastfeeding relationship. If it weren't for my husband and close friends, who knows what would have happened with breastfeeding for us.

5.) I wish I had done cloth diaper research before having her. We spent a lot of money on disposables the first few months even with having many boxes from our baby shower. Newborns go through about 12 diapers a day. That is about 360 in just the first month. That is about $100 on disposable diapers in just the first month when you can get quite a large stash of cloth diapers that will last you forever.

4.) That you may have a rashy baby... Hope has very sensitive skin and she gets diaper rashes very easily and she has mild eczema. I used aquaphor, desitin, A&D, coconut oil, breastmilk, Caldesene (yikes dont use that) and even vaseline... Finally after her awful rash would NOT clear up I saw my lanolin nipple cream lying there. I thought "If that stuff could heal and soothe my blistered, raw and bleeding nips why wouldn't it help this?" BEST discovery I ever made. I have never used anything else for her rash it works EVERY single time. Plus a lot of the products above use petroleum which is a known potential cancer causing ingredient :(. Wish I had known that before. 

3.) That your baby can be allergic to milk in YOUR milk... Hope has always been quite the spitter upper but around 3 to 4 months it got really bad. Like projectile. Naturally, spitting up does peak around this time but something wasn't right. There was a little blood in her dirty diaper and it was greenish and her spit up was so aggressive. I was told to analyze my diet and if I had added something new. I had started having a bowl of cereal with milk every morning and JP and I had gotten into a bad ice cream habit at night. So it was determined she was having an allergy to the dairy in my milk (very common). I switched to almond milk, stopped the ice cream (good idea for me) and her spitting up decreased significantly over night. WISH I had known...

 2.) That there is such a thing as a small healthy baby. Hope was born at about the 25th percentile. She has continued to drop from this percentile gradually and was in the 2nd percentile at 6 months. She has never lost weight since her first week of birth but she just does not gain quick at all. I would say about a pound a month or so, sometimes less. Thankfully I don't have a pediatrician for her that is fixated on "fattening" her up. She is healthy and small and this is possible and normal. Phew....

1.) That they are only teeny babies for a few months... For some reason looking at all our newborn stuff in her room before her arrival I thought she would be using and in these things for months or for a year! Boy was I shown wrong. They grow so fast. My 8 month old is almost walking!


I just wanted to share some of the things ive learned for our family. I have my own parenting style than others. I am passionate about certain things and other moms are passionate about other things or maybe even the same things. I guess thats the journey of parenting though. You dont know what kind of parent you are going to be until little one gets here. I wish I had known those things as it would have made things easier but no matter what Im here regardless. Just educate yourself on every possible thing you can and you will do great. The real prize is that baby burrito in your arms! Oh boy mama is getting baby fever again... :-P

Hope is 8 months old!

Our little baby girl is 8 and a half months old now! Its taken me a few weeks to write because I feel like each month goes faster and faster! She is standing by herself often and working on those first steps now!

I dont have too much to update on as far as events in the past month. Im just enjoying her so much. I love being a stay at home mom and being able to just watch her grow and change every hour each day. I feel so blessed and lucky to be able to do this.

Our kitchen is ALMOST done. Tony, JP's dad, has been doing all the tile work in our kitchen and we are looking at finishing this weekend. I will post a before and after picture. That will be nice when its all done. I cant wait to have my kitchen 100% back!

This month Hope seems a little less interested in solids than last month. She will eat one good solid meal in the day (only if its sweet potatoes or blueberries) but if I offer more or different foods she just kind of plays with it. She would much rather just chew on her spoon. This is very normal as food before one is just for fun. Some babies just have more fun with it than others I guess. So I am still nursing a good 8 times a day and maybe more on extra cranky days where she just wants to pacify. Im convinced this is why I am not losing any weight. Im always sitting on my booty nursing lol! But Im not complaining who am I kidding. This is the life!

I need to schedule her next appointment but she is in the 14-15lb range. Teeny tiny little thing! She is getting to be so funny. She has this personality already. She says "dad" ALL the time! Just yesterday I repeated "mama,mama,mama,mama" and she looks at me and says..."dad." lol!! stinker! We missed her 6 month shoot due to just being so busy with the house stuff so we will be doing 9 month pictures. I will post those next month :-D!