Baby Mania

Our friends Devin and Carina Hedrick and Merry Todd were in town for a wedding this weekend. It was really good to see them all and we used their visit as an excuse to get all the new 2008 babies together at a fabulous brunch at Deirdre's house. I love going to Deirdre's house, she never does anything halfway. In my opinion she is superwoman. She has two beautiful kids and somehow manages to host the best get togethers. This was a brunch with delicious homemade food - bread pudding, quiche, pastries...unbelievable.

It was so fun to introduce the babies. Samantha is the oldest of the bunch, born on July 3rd. Connor Fayfield is up next, born on September 10th and Mason Misner is the newest arrival, born on October 22nd. I love thinking of these kids growing up together and being great friends. As you can see, Samantha loves them both already.

You can view all the baby photos along with pictures from our trip to Key West and Samantha's latest adventures here.

One Final Post on Breastfeeding

My friend and former boss Jennifer Wilson has given me some great advice and words of wisdom over the years. I consider her one of my "role model moms". During my pregnancy when I was stressed about breastfeeding I told her some of the horror stories I had heard and she told me that people only talk about breastfeeding when they are having a difficult time and they forget to discuss it once things are going smoothly. She encouraged me to give it a try and told me what a wonderful experience she had breastfeeding her kids.

That is why I wanted to write one final blog post about breastfeeding and how happy I am that I stuck with it. I know it sounds all hippie Boulder but I love sharing feeding time with Samantha. It truly is a bonding experience. Along with all the benefits for Samantha like boosting intelligence and helping fight and protect against infections, allergies, respiratory problems and disease, it also makes me feel good. I've heard before that you have a release of oxytocin while you nurse and I believe it. Plus, it has definitely helped burn the calories after giving birth.

Don't worry, I won't continue past the year mark but I want to encourage the new moms I know to hang in there and stick with it, in my opinion it really is worth it. Thanks again Jennifer for all your insight and encouragement and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

What a Difference Some Sleep Makes!

For whatever reason, ever since our trip to Florida, Samantha has not been sleeping well. Last week was difficult and Samantha began waking in the night to eat which she has not done for almost two months. I was irritable and emotional, it is hard to go without sleep but it is even harder to go without sleep while you work and entertain friends.

I have also been putting off moving Samantha into her crib at night. She has slept in her bassinet next to our bed from the beginning and I love being able to peek at her at any moment. I was really having abandonment issues putting her in the other room. But, I decided on Friday that it was time to make the move (God help me when she leaves for college). She slept okay on Friday and Saturday night but I didn't...I was glued to the monitor and racing into her room after any peep.

Then, this morning I awoke after more than 8 glorious, uninterrupted hours of sleep and felt a wave of panic. I looked to monitor and the light was off, the battery had died! I ran to her room where she was making some fussy noises and immediately began to feel guilty. Guilty yes, but refreshed too. Plus, everyone tells me that if she was really crying and needed me, I would have heard her - her room is about two feet from ours after all. I have to admit, I feel like a new person - I might have to turn the monitor off more often!

No Tears from Mom

We went to Samantha's four month doctor's appointment today. I didn't even cry during the shots this time and the doctor says she is perfect, just as I suspected. We brought the following list of paranoid new parent questions which the doctor answered:

1. A lot of people have been commenting on her weight, is she too heavy? The doctor said absolutely not. As long as I am not feeding her every time she fusses and she is on a schedule, she is doing great. Breast fed babies double and triple their weight sooner than formula fed babies and the fact that she is gaining weight means she is healthy.
   
2. Dave thinks her ears are different sizes, should we be worried? The doctor said absolutely not and did not notice any difference.
3. Should she have a set nap schedule now? The doctor said we should aim for a morning and afternoon nap, roughly at the same time of day.
4. Her belly button still looks like it has dark spots from the umbilical cord, is that normal? He told us that we can clean those remnants of her umbilical cord right out of there and showed us how.
5. Should I begin introducing cereal into her diet? He said I could but said he would prefer if we waited until she was closer to six months.

Her stats were:

Length - 24.5 inches/55 percentile
Weight - 15 lbs 3 oz/ 80 percentile
Head Circumference - 16.5 inches/75 percentile

I can't believe she is already four months old! The time is really flying by.

Guilty Mom

I have always been easily guilted. It is something I am working on because I believe that I should do things because I want to, not just because I feel like someone will be upset with me or because I have to do it. At some point you have to trust yourself too but this whole guilt thing can get really out of hand in motherhood.

Because Samantha is a baby and can't tell me "why" she is upset, I automatically blame myself. If she wakes in the night, I can only assume it is because of something I did. If she is hot or cold, or hungry or tired it is hard not to think of a million things I must have done wrong.

She did great on our first plane ride to Florida but once we arrived she had her first major meltdown. She cried hysterically for over an hour - it was horrible and she wasn't quite herself the whole weekend. I'm sure it didn't help that we were in a new place and a lot of different people were trying to hold her and offer suggestions of what I should do. Was it the altitude change, the plane ride, her ears, the people....it is hard not to feel guilty when you don't know what to do to make her happy.

Everyone warned me that the unsolicited advice I complained about in pregnancy here, would continue after the baby is born. Now, according to others, she eats too much, is getting too fat, is out too late, needs to take her nap, etc. I have even had strangers stop me to offer tidbits of advice. Pretty soon I'm going to start replying to them with suggestions on how they should style their hair or lose weight as well!

I've noticed that all my blog posts are beginning to tie together. The biggest lesson that I have had as a mother is to encourage moms, don't offer any advice, be sensitive and think before you talk. Moms are already doubting themselves and worrying about their kids without new reasons from others to feel guilty. I'm going to focus on not being so hard on moms, including myself!