Baby T is 3 months

T's 3 month picture taken 2 days late because we have been so busy! I did take a picture of her on the 13th in her jammies because I remembered right before bed to get a picture- but she was so tired and ready for bed. She weighs 14 lb 2 oz (almost double her birth weight)!

 We took a trip to LA to visit the beach at the beginning of August and had so much fun! Everyone loved the beach even more than I expected them to. And the first family road trip in the mini van went wonderfully. We can't wait to go back- wish we could go every weekend to escape the Las Vegas heat. 

Tis now sleeping in her crib at night from 9pm-6am most nights and she is definitely not a newborn anymore, but she is laughing and cooing and really beginning to engage. I can't believe we have been living in Vegas for 4 1/2 months now and once preschool starts in another week, I know that time is going to start flying. 

Baby T is 2 Months

We have been blessed with a wonderfully happy baby girl. Some things have fallen right into place while other aspects of our life have struggled. 
Sleep- I would say this is one area where I have been doing pretty well. Wohoo- and probably due to the co-sleeping (see previous post). Baby T has yet to sleep in her crib at all... now she is often sleeping in the pack n play or baby rocker by our bed. She has also started feeding only about 6 times a day and usually at about the same times. It has really helped me be able to get out of the house and go to activities without always having my shirt up... or down. ha And start doing The Shred.

Most of our problems have had to do with the boys... at this age they don't exactly tell you that they do not like sharing mommy with a baby, and they don't even understand their frustration. But I could tell when J started crying for mommy every night and staying up crying for an hour or more till someone came to lay with him and all the sudden having separation anxiety at church when he NEVER faced this before. He did not have separation anxiety when we moved to San Antonio or here to Las Vegas, only since he has had a baby sister. J is doing better as he gets used to having sissy around and sharing mommy, but it has just been gradual. And we have put J in some soccer classes which we all go and watch, and he feels like he is getting to shine. He can dribble the ball all the way across the field! 

And D, oh my 4 year olds - I never thought he would try us so much... he was stubborn at 2 and so sweet at 3, but 4... He has learned how to talk back and to get his brother to do the 'dirty work' anytime he can to not get the punishment himself. We have been exasperated with him and he with us, but we have begun to make a dedicated effort to teaching him about respect and obeying right away with a happy heart and he has really does well with boundaries that are enforced. We have been re-reading "Don't Make Me Count to Three." We left Fort Worth right in the middle of reading this book and it was a perfect time to pick it back up. We have had to force ourselves to have more energy and not let our discipling slide now with having a newborn around. With this D has started karate, which he loves. I never thought of karate as an activity for my kids, I don't know what I did plan for them... I really don't understand boys! D loves it and mostly because he wants to learn to spar with other kids. Oh my- I guess at least it is controlled well. 

Co-Sleeping

I, well actually 'we,' have been co-sleeping with our baby girl since she was born. It wasn't intentional at first, we were just trying to get any sleep we could with each of our 3 kids waking up at different times throughout the night. And I really didn't co-sleep much with my boys much for lots of reasons (1) they were noisy sleepers, (2) daddy was worried of rolling over on them, (3) one of them would never stop nursing in bed ... ever, (4) I didn't insist on it. But, this sweet little girl is my last baby and she is such a doll! And she sleeps great next to me- 6 hours last night -at 5 weeks! Not sure I want to move her to a bed because I am just starting to get enough sleep to feel human again. And daddy has also encouraged co-sleeping this time around, as he also knows this will be our last baby. We are trying to soak up all this time with her because it seems like the more kids you have, the faster time goes by.

I know that co-sleeping is controversial and not recommended by many, but I am happy with our choice for now even if it may be difficult to move her into her own room later.

Naptime

Naptime has been sacred around my house since I put my firstborn on a schedule around 3 months old. We have lived our life around said schedule. This may be crazy to some but it is what has kept our family sane- well at least me! Our designated naptime is approximately 1-3 pm and this means we are home at this time EVERYDAY (weekends included). We have rarely made exceptions. Our firstborn is so much more well behaved when he is on a schedule and when he has his nap. Then when I got pregnant with our second child, I really need that nap. And the same when I got pregnant a third time.

Our second, J, has begun to realize he is now the middle child and getting less of my undivided attention than ever before. He screams when I leave him at school, naptime, bedtime ...oh and now at pick up time too! Now tell me, why in the world he would fake-cry at pick up time? If daddy puts him down at nap time, J slept almost 3 hours but then 1 hour for me! Oh and then I catch me eldest son, D, downstairs eating chips! And this entire time the baby has been sleeping for 5 min then fussing until I help her get back to sleep.

I guess it's about time that I give up my nap! And I think I can do it if baby T will only wake up once a night jan stead of twice. She is slowly beginning to sleep a 5 hour stretch (some nights). She went in for her 1 month appointment last Friday and already weighed 10 pounds!

Speaking of doctor's appointments, I feel like we are constantly going -- today it was for our dog Lily. She is healthy, just past due for her annual shots. And I got het some medicine for her 'crazies.' Yes, our dog is crazy! She is a very sweet border collie, but is very obsessive since she hurt her leg in 2010, coincidentally around the same time our first child was born. Lily was not allowed to run at all for about 6 months and began to obsessively lick and destroy anywhere she saw light flickering. I know that she needs more exercise, but even after a long walk or run she will lick/ destroy an area where the light flickers. She was also bit in 2008 by another dog and gets scared and aggressive around other dogs. It scares me to take Lily on a walk with all my kids because she growls at other dogs and may instigate a dog to attack. So, all this to say she is not exercised like she should be. Maybe this should motivate me to get up early and run her... But so far sleep is still winning. 

And thinking about exercise, that is really a goal of mine. I would like to lose 10 pounds to be back at my pre-pregnancy weight but I have a hard time losing it while breastfeeding. Maybe because it's hard to run until after a feeding, maybe my body just wants to hold onto it for reserves, or maybe I am just hungry. But whatever the reason I really would like to, but I will be ok if it takes awhile as long as I can find a time to exercise. Any suggestions when to exercise with 3 kids around? And my other problem is that my abdominals split during my pregnancy and I'm not sure how to be careful with them - so I've been trying to research that.

Recent Recipes

Dairy-free Chocolate Chocolate- Chip Banana Bread 

3 ripe bananas mashed
1/3 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a loaf pan. 

Mix bananas, oil, sugar, egg, and vanilla.

Mix dry ingredient separately. Flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, baking powder. 

Slowly add dry ingredients to wet and mix. Stir in chocolate chips. 

Bake for 45min.



Quick Smoothie

1 cup Frozen fruit - tropical blend (strawberry, mango, papaya, pineapple)
1 cup Spinach
1/3 cup Coconut almond milk blend
2/3 cup coconut yogurt (any flavor)
2 tsp chia seeds

Blend well

New School

Today is my boys' first day of preschool in Las Vegas. It was so hard for me to leave them in a new place with new people. I'm glad there wasn't any tears, well at least not from their side. My oldest was totally thrilled to be at 'school' and immediately went in and was saying 'wow, look at this!' He is such an outgoing little boy! J was a little bit more nervous and has been having a really difficult time saying goodbye to anyone, since Miss T was born. Especially when daddy leaves for work, J will run after him to get more hugs until I have to hold him. Thankfully, Miss T slept in her car seat during the whole drop-off procedure. And daddy made bacon, blueberry pancakes, and coconut whipped cream for the boys special breakfast. Mmmmm As J was finishing eating he began to put bacon in his sock! I guess the kid was trying to find a way to save it for later! HA

Also, Miss T is 4 weeks old today! Time is slipping by way too quickly. She slept 5 hours 3 times last week, but stopped this weekend. And on Sunday I woke up with a 100 degree fever and awful pain on my right breast-- yep, mastitis. I was achey and had chill all day but decided to wait and call the doctor on Monday to see how serious they thought it was. I had been trying lots of home remedies over the past few weeks: shower, pumping, massage, lavender essential oil, heat, ice packs, varying nursing positions- but nothing helped. The doctor's office fit me in yesterday afternoon, and good thing because the infection was beginning to spread, and I still had the 100 degree fever. So now I have to remember to take antibiotics every 6 hours! I can barely remember to take a daily vitamin. One good thing that came out of this is that -- the doctor went ahead and cleared me to start swimming! Wohoo - It is SO HOT in Vegas! Now to find a swimsuit... I'm thinking peplum tankini to hide my post baby belly. I love the one at Anthropologie, but it is on backorder till the end of July. I'm thinking I'll just go hit up Target :)

3 Weeks Already

Our sweet baby girl is 3 weeks old already! Last week I had my first day at home alone with all 3 kids- and I'm not going to lie- I was a little scared to leave my house! It was 104 degrees and I don't want to have baby in the heat at the park... although the boys would love to play in the fountains. What if one boy runs off, or when I need to help J in the bathroom but am trying to feed T. I know I will have to deal with all of these issues and more, but I'm just not ready- not yet. T slept most of the morning in her bassinet in my room, which has been great, but I am going to need to start organizing activities if we are going to be staying around the house a lot this summer. At least my mother-in-law has graciously offered to take the boys swimming/ to the park lots this summer! And the boys will both be starting pre-school classes soon- which I am sure they will love. 

The newborn stage is difficult, but I really love it. I wish I could just hold her all the time and do nothing else. It's mostly what I did these past few weeks, but I know that my boys need me now to be present. It is hard waking up to feed her in the middle of the night, but I always miss it once it is gone. Kids grow up so quickly, and my boys are very independent. Which makes it feel great to be so needed for now in this baby stage. Also, we know that this is our last child...which makes this time even more precious. I don't want her to grow up, but I am excited to see her personality and do non-baby activities some day. But, for now I am excited to try a mommy & baby yoga class, take all the kids to the beach, and enjoy this last year with all my babies before the oldest starts kindergarten in 2015. Wow, what a big transition that will be and I get anxious just thinking about it. 

These are some of the pictures we got taken when T was only 6 days old. I love that we were able to get newborn photos of her. We waited with the boys till they were 3 months to get professional pictures taken, but I knew that I couldn't wait with this one since it this is my last baby.