Getting used to things

My body is like a whole new body, and it definitely takes some getting used to. I now have (what I consider) huge boobs which is like a whole new world for me because I've always had little boobs, like boarder-line flat chested. That definitely takes some getting used to. All my loose tops no longer look cute on me, they just make me look bigger. I have to learn how to re-dress myself and this body. I still have a little pooch, think someone who is about a month pregnant, that kind of pooch, just a little bump really. Right now there's really nothing I can do about it. I have my six week check up coming up so I'll be cleared to work out and what not. Once I get cleared to work out I plan on started to work out, nothing crazy just small. I can't wait for warmer weather this year, warmer weather means more walking and that will definitely help me. I do have a goal, not really a certain number of pounds to lose but just to look good by June. June is my best friends wedding, which I am in so I'd like to have my body back, although as long as I'm breast feeding I'll have these boobs for awhile. Luckily for my I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself because we did pick out our dresses and even if I'm not exactly where I want to be I'll still look good.

 UPDATE: Went to my check up today. Everything is back to normal and I am good to go. Also good news is I am only ten pounds away from the weight I was before I got pregnant with Nella.  So yay for that! Although once I lose those ten pounds I'd like to lose a few more, I wasn't exactly at my ideal weight or really in shape at all before I got pregnant so I've got some work to do!

Onto other news, we just celebrated Christmas. This Christmas was special, it was our Bean's very first Christmas, and although she won't remember it and really wasn't even awake for most of it it was still special. She got some presents, thankfully no one went crazy which I'm glad for. She really doesn't need anything quite yet. Aunt Julie got her a bumbo which even though my mom hates them I love them and really wanted one for her so I was excited about that! She got a baby doll, an Elmo doll that sings lullabies (which is so cute), she got diapers, a baby's first Christmas ornament, a new headband set, some new books and some money (which I plan on buying more books for her). Uncle Jeff is coming up tonight so I'm sure she'll have some new presents waiting for her.

UPDATE: Uncle Jeff, Autumn and Teagan got her the most awesome little red sox shoes/slippers and a caterpillar xylophone.

 All dolled up for a holiday party!

 Could she be any cuter?!

 My little bean on Christmas eve!

 Nella with her cousins

 Decorating cookies!

 Finished product, we worked hard!

 Christmas eve naps with Aunt Courtney

Hanging with her God-Momma on Christmas!

The only picture I got of her in her Christmas dress.

We are still working on sleeping in her crib, which I will admit I have been big time slacking on but starting today whenever we are home she will be in her crib! It's exciting to watch her grow everyday. So far at six weeks she still doesn't really do much. She's very alert when she is awake but she is still sleeping a lot, which is fine by me. The more she sleeps the more she grows. She's starting to look at people more when they talk to her, she loves to stare at ceiling fans and of course any type of light. She loves her mobile on her swing, she always smiles at it. I think she's actually starting to smile for real and not just when she has gas which is awesome! She's so stinking cute! I'm not sure exactly how far she can see right now, but I'm pretty sure unless things are fairly close then it's all a blur. She loves her baths, we do baths in the morning (by night time mommy's too tired to try to get a bath in). She just sits in her little tub while I wash her, she's so cute! 

UPDATE: My little bean has been doing wonderful in her crib! She's getting the hang of calming herself down in just a couple of minutes which is lovely (I hate listening to her cry!) We let her cry for five minutes then go in and calm her down. She really doesn't even cry and half the time when you go in to calm her down her eyes are closed, she's just being stubborn and trying to fight it. She's still in the rock n play at night just because I'm lazy and don't want to have to get out of bed to feed her, but she is sleeping five to six hour stretches at night which I am so thankful for!

I'm just having fun, I love to just watch her. I love when she's awake and looking around, and I love to watch her sleep, she just looks so peaceful. I love that I get to nurse her, it's such a peaceful time for us and she does so good. I'm a proud momma and I am enjoying every minute.

My sister recently got her little smile in full force! I am absolutely in love with these pictures!

Lightning speed!

I swear these days pass by so quick sometimes it's a blur! You think being a stay at home is easy?! Guess again! It's hard work, especially with a newborn! She  falls asleep and boom time for you to eat, or try to get in a quick shower or do something that needs to get done. I do try to take a nap at least once a day so I'm not completely worn out. It's hard work! If I'm not feeding her, changing her or trying to calm her I'm trying to get shit done! Excuse my language, and then before you know it hubby's home and it's dinner time. We are usually in bed by 8, do we sound old? Whatever, we're exhausted and we don't care.

As a breast feeding mom I do try to keep my supply up and I do that by pumping. I try to pump as often as I can after she gets done eating so keep my supply up. And we've started bottles which is really exciting for me! Dad feeds her usually after dinner and I will pump. I want her to get used to a bottle so we can get babysitters and actually go out just the two of us. And plus with my huge family I think we have four weddings to go to just this year! So yeah she needs to get used to a bottle and so far she's been doing really good!

Let's see our daily struggles as of late are trying to sleep in her crib, and working on her day time schedule. I know she's only a month old but she seems to be having trouble sleeping during the day. Where as before she would fall asleep after every feeding, now she seems to want to be awake more. So I'm not sure if we're heading towards certain "nap times" or she's just being weird right now. On the bright side she has been sleeping awesome at night! (Well I say that and it's really only been the past two nights, but seems like so much longer!) She'll sleep at least 5 or 6 hours in one shot which I am so grateful for. As for her crib, the last couple of days we've been slacking but I've tried to pick it back up. I put her in half asleep or awake and let her cry for just a couple of minutes, then I go in and soothe her. We do this probably three times before I give up and take her out. I think it's just to big for her right now. She sleeps awesome in her rock 'n' play at night and that keep her snuggled close so when she's in her crib it's a whole lot of space, which she's not used to. But we're gonna keep on working on it.

We went back to the cardiologist this past Monday and everything is fine. The doctor said her holes already seem to getting smaller and he thinks they're just going to go away on their own. He also said even if they don't it won't affect her in any way so I'm a happy momma. We also went to her one-month check up and this little bean is growing like a weed! She's 10 pounds and 22 inches long! As a breast feeding mom you really have no clue how much they're getting so to hear that she's gained over two pounds in a month makes me so incredibly happy! Especially since sometimes at night she will only eat from one side and because I don't feel like fighting to keep her awake for the other side I just put her down and she'll sleep for another  two or three hours. I was worried that she may not be getting enough but apparently she is and I am so happy!

Life is so good right now. We may not have much money but I couldn't be more happier. I still can't believe Christmas is only five days away! I think we did great with our Christmas budget this year, I told myself I was not going to go crazy this year. I've spent almost $500 in past years and this year I refused, not only because it's stupid but we just couldn't do it this year and we didn't and I am so glad. I am less stressed and just plain happy. That's what the holidays are supposed to be about right? Being happy with what we have, spending time with the ones we love and just enjoying each other, and that is what I plan on doing. Besides we have the best gift of all already, our little Nella!

Our little bean at 1 month!

Despite her face, she really does enjoy her baths

Modeling her shirt from Aunt Julie

Getting a bottle from Daddy!

We love Christmas!

As for me I'm doing good. Healing up well down there, well as far as I know. I have my six week check up coming up so we'll know for sure soon enough. I will tell you a shower or a half an hour nap can really do wonders, it's the little things.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

So far, so good.

Well we're going on week three over here and doing fairly well. We've hit some bumps along the road but that's to be expected. I mean she's only two and a half weeks old for pete's sake, and that's what I have to keep reminding myself.

Her first week of life was pretty rocky, more so for me than her I think. We went to the doctors (mind you she was only three days old) for the first time. She had lost another two ounces since leaving the hospital so we had to come back the following Monday to check up on that. (Good news- went back to the doctor and she got back up to her birth weight! Yay!) The doctor also wanted to get some blood work done because she was still yellow. (Good news- no more blood work the yellow is gone!) And the big thing was our doctor still heard her heart murmur. They first heard it at the hospital, it was light but still could be heard so we had to keep an eye on it. So when her doctor said she could still hear it my heart dropped. She got us an appointment for that same day at St. Peter's. She had to have an ekg and an ultrasound on her heart. I was freaking out but she did great. She slept through everything. The doctor said she had two small holes in the bottom of her heart, everything else looked normal so they think they'll just go away with time. We have a follow up appointment in a month to check the pressure of the right side of her heart and then we go back in a year to see if the holes are gone. Then we proceeded to Belleuve to get her blood drawn. So what we thought would be just a simple doctors appointment, ended up being a very long day. We left the house at 9:45 and got back to the house at 4:45. Needless to say it was a crazy day but we made it through.

I've been trying to keep her in her crib at night but just recently it seems she wants nothing to do with her crib. I feed her, burp her and she's asleep so in her crib she goes and not even ten minutes later she's up. It drives me bonkers. And I know this is a big no no, but sometimes I'm so tired if she falls asleep on me I'll close my eyes and instantly fall asleep and wake up hours later. I know, I know it's bad and I don't want to make it a habit but it's hard. The past couple of nights she thinks it's fun to just be up for a couple of hours. Sometimes she's fussy, sometimes she's just up. It drives me crazy, because of course I want nothing more than to just sleep, even if it's only for an hour. But she's just not having it. It's frustrating but we make it through. We brought her bouncy chair in our room simply because I don't want to get up 15 times to get her from her crib and I don't want to hold her and sleep so that's how we're dealing with it for now.

And of course as a breast feeding mom you think "Oh jeeze was it something I ate?" So you're sitting there at 1 in the morning wondering if your kid is just gassy or if it's something you did or something you ate or if they're just having an off day. I think she's gassy, she burps good but I always think she has another one hiding in there and that keeps her up, or wakes her up.

Besides our night troubles things have been good. I consider myself lucky that she is doing so good with the boob. She has a great latch and just hooks right on. I started pumping this past week to help to increase my milk supply and that's going good too. I can usually get around 4 ounces extra to freeze and stock up. The only down size to that is my boobs get so sore.

I'd have to say so far, over all things are going good. If we could just fix the night I'd be good to go. Until then I just try to sleep when she sleeps although sometimes that seems impossible. I've been learning to just let the dishes sit in the sink, let the laundry pile because if I'm not taking care of myself my baby isn't going to benefit at all, and we'll both end up cranky.

Some little things about our Nella:
-she has a new nickname, we call her Bean
-she sleeps with her mouth open
-she loves to have her hands by her face,  she tries to suck them but just can't fit them in her mouth yet 
-she likes the pacifier
-she's a loud pooper, when she poops you know, she's a true Francisco

Our little family is doing well and can't wait for all the adventures this journey is sure to bring us. Here's some pictures of our bean:

 Her coming home outfit

 Hanging out with dad

 Wide awake

 All snuggled up

 First bath, she looks nervous but she seemed to like it.

 Nella on her first Thanksgiving!

Always has to have her hands by her face.