Tag: sf bloggers

I said I’d never; but I already have…

As a new mom this phrase, I said I’d never but, I already have, speaks to me. I’ve just barely dipped my toes in this motherhood journey & I’ve already quickly realized that you can have all these grandiose ideas about parenthood & how you plan to raise your babies & sometimes you have to throw things out the window.

“I said I’d never but I already have” pretty much encompasses how our first week of parenting went. We never planned to formula feed. We had mixed feelings on introducing pacifiers, we certainly never anticipated spending time in the NICU . In some ways I’m thankful that our journey forced us to toss our plans out the window & just move forward.

One of my biggest I said I never woulds – the Google machine. As an ER nurse I know googling random medical questions is a cardinal NO NO. In fact it’s one of the fastest ways to get an eyeroll in an emergency room. As a new mom I found myself struggling to fall back asleep after Will’s 5am feeding, knowing he’d be awake again in 90 minutes. So, I unhealthily spent most of that early morning time on Google: wondering if his baby acne was something more, if his head looked too flat, if I should worry that he favors looking to one side and on and on. Every nurse bone in my body would yell at me to stop! Usually by day break I would have talked myself down… Once William started sleeping through the night I found myself not doing it quite as much but every once and awhile I’ll find myself scrolling through a mom forum discussing things that I know I don’t need to worry about it typing something absurd into Google!

I think motherhood is all about walking this line of sticking to your guns but also making concessions on things when it’s what is needed. We weren’t super into the idea of pacifiers, but in the NICU they use them all the time for the babies, especially during procedures. I wasn’t about to sent him some of that comfort because of what I’d been told in a breastfeeding class. So our “no pacifiers” went straight out the window. And guess what? Life moved on. He continued to breastfeed without issue despite what lactation consultants would tell us and ironically at nearly 7 months William has little to no interest in pacifiers

What are some concessions you had made early on in motherhood? What are other things that you don’t budge on?

I know there will be more. Probably today. We’re leaving this morning for Miami & then tomorrow we’re heading to the Caribbean for a week. Wish us luck.

Weekly round up!

I’m trying something new & am posting some of the highlights from the week before along with some photos.

The best moment last week was waking up at 7am & realizing that Will had slept through the night!!! It was amazing. He slept through the night twice last week & the nights he didn’t he slept from 7pm until 5am! I have to say I feel like a whole new person getting so much sleep last week. I’m definitely hoping for more of the same this week.

My go to breakfast that is great for breastfeeding mamas has hands down been oatmeal, either regular or rolled oats. I love having it in the morning usually after Will goes down for his first nap. I usually top it with cut strawberries & walnuts & some brown sugar.

I’ve started working out again & this week is week 3 of BBG. I love that it’s only 28 minutes & it’s such a good workout. I’ve had to make some modifications but overall I’ve been able to keep up with it, plus I’m doing the 12 weeks with two other people so it’s nice to have some accountability.

Along with working out I’ve been making an effort to take Juno out for walks alone in the evening. It’s nice that the sun sets well after William is in bed & the weather has been really nice. So it’s been a great way to get some fresh air & clear my head after busy days with my busy boy! The photos of the USF cathedral were taken on my walk Friday night.

This might sound silly but I bought these ice cube trays last week because our old ones kept cracking and leaking water & honestly they are AMAZING. I remember listening to Gretchen Rubin’s podcast Happier & she would talk about how simple upgrades can make you happier & it’s so true. I love having ice water & I was drinking less water because I didn’t want to deal with our annoying old trays. Well $12 later problem solved!!

We took William to Costco for the first time. Chris & I don’t venture to Costco all that often although we have a few set things that we like to get there & it was time for a restock. Costco on a Saturday in general can be a nightmare but I feel like the Costco in San Francisco is made worse with the crowds & city size isles. Will did awesome though!! he was awake the whole time just taking everything in.

Will has been LOVING the play mat we got him a few weeks ago! It’s so fun to watch him swing his arms & try to grab the hanging toys, he also is such a little kicker that the paino part of the mat is great (although the same song on repeat can only get a liiiittttlllleee annoying haha!) If you have a newborn & are looking for an inexpensive activity mat I highly recommend this one.

We don’t have too much planned for the beginning of the week but the second half of the week Chris’ parents will be here visiting so we’re excited for that!

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

1 Month Old

Will turned a month old on Sunday & I can’t believe it. It feels like so much time has passed & that our week stay in the NICU was lifetimes ago, but then I think how he’s a month old & I can’t recall where that time went!! This month I’ve learned: he absolutely loves to eat, & when he’s starving he’ll angrily grunt while he chugs his bottle. He loves looking at the art we have in our apartment. He loathes being hot. He doesn’t mind bath time so long as his hair isn’t being scrubbed. He’s not at all interested in having his arms swaddled & he’ll gladly partake in morning snuggles.

The past three weeks at home we’ve worked on establishing some kind of routine & I think it’s finally starting to stick & I’m realizing I can kind of anticipate his sleep / wake cycles. He’s both bottle fed & breast fed. After some trial & error we found he’ll sleep longer stretches at night if we give him a bottle, otherwise it’s very hard to keep him awake nursing late at night.

Chris goes back to work this week & it feels oh so bittersweet. It’s been incredible to have him home & for the 3 of us to bond & for myself to have help in order to really feel recovered from birth. Part of me is sad that this precious time has come to a close but like many things in life they’re this sweet because they’re short lived & I’m made even more grateful because I know this special time is limited. I’m excited to start a new phase of being at home with our little guy & getting our own routine & just growing into day to day life. As of now I’m not scheduled to go back to work until the beginning of September so I greatly looking forward to cherishing the summer & making wonderful memories.

We’re off to enjoy a BBQ in Sausalito this afternoon & will be back home to watch the Warriors game.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!!

 

iPhone upload + 10 things

1. I can’t get over little baby dreams, I posted a little video of Will dreaming after I fed him, & it’s the cutest. He cracks little smiles or peaks one of his eyes open. It’s so funny to me. I could watch it over & over. & in the middle of the night when I’m exhausted feeding him at 4am it still cracks me up.

2. We signed up for Hello Fresh now that Will is here & this week is our first delivery. I normally love to cook homemade meals each night, but with a new baby the idea of meal planning, grocery shopping & actually cooking the meals seemed very daunting! Now that a major portion of my day consists of feeding our son, we decided to split up the duties of making meals, & using a meal service was a far less intimidating approach for my husband who doesn’t cook dinners on the regular.

3. Giving the gift of sleep might be one of the nicest gifts to give your spouse / partner. This past weekend Chris & I alternated Saturday & Sunday letting the other person sleep in. On Saturday morning he took the baby & the dog into the front part of our apartment & let me sleep uninterrupted until 9:30. It was GLORIOUS. & I happily returned the favor the following day. Getting a few hours of good sleep can totally change your mood & I think it’s one of the nicest & totally free gifts you can give your partner. Chris & I have always agreed it’s something we would continue to gift one another with.

4. We are starting to lightweight make plans for the summer that extend beyond our apartment & our little neighborhood. Although the idea of travelling in a car for a few hours with an infant, or sleeping somewhere that isn’t his little crib seems so extreme to me we want to be able to take our son places & not be tethered to our little baby bubble we’ve created. The only way to get comfortable doing these things is… to actually do them.

5. Right before Will was born we bought this laundry hamper & it’s quickly become one of my favorite things. We sort our laundry by: colors, whites, delicates. & this makes life so much easier. I’m no longer dumping out a full laundry hamper on the ground trying to sort clothes! It’s funny how sometimes such little things can make life so much easier.

6. William will be 4 weeks old on Friday & I can not wrap my ahead around it. I’ve always known that people say time moves incredibly fast when you have children & it’s so true. He’s already growing & changing so much, it breaks my heart a little bit! But I’m also so excited to see little bits of his personality pop out.

7. We are going to our first Giants game of the year in two weeks. We’re taking Will & I’m pretty excited!

8. Chris is going back to work next week. I’m so grateful he’s been able to take time off & work from home / only respond to emails the last two weeks. It’s been so great to have him at home & I don’t know what I would have done without him. It’s definitely going to be a major adjustment being on my own with baby & dog but I’m excited for the challenge.

9. I went to acupuncture this week for the first time since birth & it felt SO good; besides getting a 45 minute nap it felt so nice to relax & do something super positive for my body!

10. We’re watching the last few episodes of The Americans. The second to last episode of the series aired last night, we haven’t watched it because I can’t manage to keep my eyes open past 10pm but I’m dying to see how they wrap the series up!!

Terrarium Build – DIY


Walk into a boutique or nursery in San Francisco & you’ll see terrariums like these priced upwards of $75-$100 (!!!!). However for about $40 & 30 minutes you can build your own. A few weeks ago I built these two, one I gave to my friend for her birthday & the small one I couldn’t resist keeping for myself.  I found these awesome geo terrarium containers at World Market. The containers were the priciest part of this DIY, so if you’re on a budget you can find cheaper options here & here . With the holidays just around the corner this is the perfect DIY gift for anyone on your list!

The items you’ll need:

Steps:

  1. Pour approx 1/2 – 1″ of sand in bottom of container.
  2. Layer large rocks on top of sand.
  3. Next add thin layer of activated charcoal, this helps prevent unwanted smells while watering.
  4. Add approx 1-2″ of soil
  5. Add succulents & air plant(s)
  6. Finally add moss & decorative rocks.

Care: Keep terrarium in indirect sunlight & mist once to twice a week.

Comment below if you build your own!

Wedding Card Keepsake

For those newlyweds out there trying to decide what to purge and what to save from the post wedding madness, this is a compact way to hold on to all the well wishes from your guests. All you need is a mini binder, a hole punch & about 40 minutes.

 

After our wedding there were so many odds & ends to handle, aside from changing my name, storing my dress etc. We had a pile of wedding cards from friends family that I couldn’t bring myself to toss. So they sat on a pile of other wedding leftovers that don’t have a home in our apartment yet…

Typically I am not one to save all my cards, I usually scan meaningful cards and incorporate them in the annual photo album I make, but for our wedding cards that seemed excessive. Instead, I purchased a small binder from Target & punched holes in the cards. There were a handful of cards that couldn’t be punched through because of their design so I added a small pocket on the inside of the binder to keep those cards safe. The binder found a home in the box holding onto the rest of the wedding mementos. All in all this project took me about 40 minutes & cost about $5!