Meeting Uncle Brendan!

Some of these photos are blurry because I was trying to figure out camera/lens

So I embarked on my first flight with an infant to head to Evanston, IL to visit with my parents and little brother.  Kayla had not yet met Uncle Brendan, she only "saw" him on Skype when she was like 1 month old.  I actually flew into Milwaukee because it was $100 cheaper and Aunt Lauren picked us up and Papa (my dad) dropped us off.

Waiting to board my first airplane!

My parents had literally bought almost everything we needed except for clothes and my pump.  They borrowed a car seat, bought a pack n play, an activity mat, a stroller, bibs, towels, washcloths, burp rags (as you know I usually need a bunch of these), bowls, spoons and all the toiletries Kayla needed.  All I had to bring was clothes for her and me, my toiletries, my pump and her medicine.  This sounds glorious (and it was) however, I am possibly the worst over packer ever and I had like 3x as many clothes as either of us would need.  I guess I figured I had the extra room...

I slept during my first takeoff.

The flight to MKE wasn't too bad.  Justin dropped us off very early (before Kayla's normal wake up time) at the airport.  He helped me carry bags and check in.  The hardest part by far was getting through security.  Not to self (and any other new moms): don't bother packing a carry on for yourself with things to do or things you think you "need" to bring...you don't.  Literally, all I really needed on the plane was diapers, wipes, a change of clothes in case and my "hooter hider" so I could feed Kayla.  Oh and her binky since sucking is supposed to help equalize pressure in their little ears.  Along with these items, I also had: my camera bag (huge and heavy), my computer (huge and heavy but I wanted to play with my new Photoshop CS5 my mom got for me), books (mine and Kayla's...pointless) and toys.  The toys do turn out to be a bit helpful.

Don't worry, I spent the rest of the flight flashing my pearly whites...err...gums at other riders :)

The flight was a bit bumpy.  Anyone that knows me knows I'm not a great flyer.  I really dislike it and I get a lot of anxiety.  I had been up since 2 am even though Kayla wasn't for fear of flying and flying with an infant.  Kayla was great.  She slept for about 1/3 of the time and the rest of the time was so interested in everything going on around her and was way to busy smiling and hamming it up for the people around me to even bother thinking about crying.  We landed and Aunt Lauren helped us get our things in the car and it was off to Evanston.

I love being the center of attention

"Are you talking about me?"

The weekend ended up being a lot more eventful than I expected.  I hadn't told any extended family we were going to be there (not intentionally, just didn't), however, my parents did.  My Nanny and Gramps came by Saturday afternoon after we arrived.  Nanny was going to sleep over for a couple nights to spend some time with us.  Then Sunday morning, my Grammy, Papa and Aunt MEM came down to visit for a bit from Milwaukee, followed Sunday afternoon by my Aunt Lindy and cousin Kelsey (who were sleeping over).  So we had a busy weekend of family fun.

After the first weekend, everything was kinda like normal for me and Kayla, just with a few other people to entertain us: my brother, my mom for half the time, and my dad when he wasn't at work.  We took a lot of walks (when it wasn't either hot as **** or raining it's *** off), which ended up being about 3 days worth of walks.  My mom and I went shopping with Kayla where she totally spoiled her! :)  I tried to learn Photoshop while Kayla napped and her Gigi, Papa and Uncle Brendan played with her.  We played cards (a usual O'Neil family activity), laughed, lounged and generally had a great time.

On a walk to Lake Michigan

Notables:

• Sleep: Kayla started out sleeping like normal- two long naps and one shorter one and sleeping until 4 or 5 am with a dream feed at 10-11 pm.  Her wake up time was quite a bit earlier (5 am) which was HORRIBLE for me but what can you do.  And after a couple days, I decided I didn't want to do the dream feed anymore because I didn't want to teach her to wake up at 10 every night.  After that, along with teething, seriously learning to scoot, thrush, and just being too excited about everything around her, sleeping went downhill.  The last couple days there, she wouldn't nap longer than about 1 hr 15 min and sleeping overnight was terrible.  She would wake up at around 10 and I would soothe her back to sleep then up again around 1 or 2 to eat and after that, she would wake up on the hour, ever hour until morning.  This was by far the worst and most tired I have felt since she was born.  Luckily, since we've returned home, she is doing a little bit more like normal (although the middle of the day nap seems to be shortening...not sure why).
• Eating:  Kayla still wouldn't take ready made formula.  My mom thought it was funny how she gagged it up.  No one believed me but she seriously gags.  So by the end of the week, I gave her a bottle with 25% ready made formula and 75% breast milk.  I basically had to force her to take it but she did.  Since then, we've increased the ratio of formula:breastmilk and she seems to actually like it now.  I even mixed a small amount of formula with the rice cereal last night and she didn't seem to mind (although her poop today is quite a bit more solid...TMI but I'm not sure why.)
• Milestones:  Kayla seriously scooted ALL over my parents living room all week.  She's not quite as active here (maybe it's the floor, who knows, or maybe Mommy is boring). It's like in a day or two she went from struggling with rolling to scooting all over the place...including off the bed!)  Also, Kayla had her first time on a swing.  She LOVED every second of it and I got a great video I will post when I get around to it.
• Teething:  She is definitely getting a tooth.  I didn't know when I would know this, but I can see it and feel it in her gums and she's super fussy recently so I'm trying to go with the flow and comfort her while she's upset.  I have to admit, I really loved the rarely experienced cuddling time with my little girl on the plane rides and a couple times in the morning when I wanted her to go back to sleep for an hour or so.  I miss that cuddly baby!! :)

My first time in a swing

I like this gum massager

The flight back was a lot more eventful.  My dad and I got to the airport with about an hour and half to my flight time.  There was a long, long, long line at AirTran and not enough people working.  My dad was kinda irritated and tried to ask someone about it and to make a long story short...Kayla started to get angry (she needed a diaper change and doesn't like standing still) so I just figured, screw it, and walked myself right up to the kiosk to check myself in.  My checked bag was 56# but there was absolutely no way that lady was making us pay after my dad made a stink and my daughter was screaming in her face!  After that, everything was fine.  The flight was much smoother, but there were a lot of babies and they were all crying and talking and screaming, however, Kayla was pretty calm.  She cried a couple times for a few seconds because she was really tired (it was bedtime), but she slept for about 30 minutes and again was a ham for everyone around her.  The lady across from me with an 11 month old boy said, she's so calm, I'm jealous...since her son screamed for much of the flight.  I felt bad because he just wanted to crawl around.  Poor little boy's mommy couldn't make him stop, but she tried her darnedest.  

It's nice to be home and I'm definitely not afraid of flying with Kayla anymore, although still afraid of flying in general! :)

I love these last two photos!  Her faces kill me, and her little lips...sigh.  All photos are pre photoshop editing.  I'll make a post with before and afters when I figure it all out! 

NMM 6/13/11

Here's this week's edition of New Mom Mondays:

May your day be filled with hugs and giggles and silly things only a mother could love.


I know you moms know about all those silly things you relish in that your baby does.  And seriously, the giggles, I would do anything to get those from Kayla!  I'm pretty sure Kayla has the best laugh, but I think she's the best at everything! :)  And I sure do love waking up to this every morning...

Sorry it's so blurry, but she's very active and I can't control the shutter speed on my iPhone ;)

Stay tuned later this week for my 100th post!!  It will mostly likely be a recap of my week in Illinois.  I have to upload some photos.  I'll probably post them pre-photoshop editing so I have some time to learn!

Babies

There are a million and one reasons why I love my mom.  Way too many to list here, but I honestly believe that if everyone had a mom like mine, the world would be a better place.  She is the perfect balance of advice when you need it and staying out of your business until you ask.  She never complains about my constantly bothering her with my unwarranted new mom worries.  She just calmly tries to help me find solutions or reassures me that things are ok.  (I'm hoping she learned this amazing patience from her kids, because I'm pretty sure Kayla is teaching me.)  She's like the best best friend you could ask for while at the same time being the best mom.  I'm pretty sure she learned all this from her mom, my Nanny, because Nanny is exactly the same way.

You will recall my mentioning how having a baby make you feel slightly insignificant to everyone around you.  Well this week, I've learned yet another reason my mom is awesome.  Because even when everyone is ooh-ing and aah-ing over my baby, my mom still makes me feel like I'm hers (her baby that is).  Even though I came to show off her first grandchild, she still makes me feel like I'm important to her as well.  By no means does this imply she loves Kayla any less than anyone else.  It just implies that I still hold a piece of her heart and she has room in it for my daughter as well.  And I have no doubt in my mind that my Nanny made my mom feel this way too.

I'm so lucky to have the family I do, and I can only hope that when Kayla grows up, she learns to appreciate her grandparents like I do and feels lucky to have known so many of her great grandparents.  And I sincerely hope that I make her feel the way my mom makes me feel when she has children of her own.  I pray she will always, not only know, but feel how special she is to me.

I hate this picture of me because I look really tired, which I am due to Kayla not sleeping so great, but I'll get into that in my next post...a Recap of our Trip.

Long days...

16+ hour days + no more than 3 hours of consolidated sleep + waking up every hour = extremely long days.

If you are one of those people that needs that alarm clock that rolls around on the floor so you have to get out of bed to shut it off, I give you this suggestion...have a baby.  No?  You are right, they do come with a lot of other crap.

That is all.

New Mom Mondays 6/6/11

I think I'm going to start a new Monday blog post ritual.  My Nanny purchased a little book for me from the place she works in Glen Ellyn, IL.  She told me that she thought of me when she saw it and after she read it, she really felt like it was something I could have written, or something I already have written on my blog.  The book is called Eat Your Peas for New Moms: A little wisdom. And a lasting promise.  


Now, by no means at all do I think I am an expert, considering I've only been a mom for 4.5 months.  However, I feel like I've gone through a lot of things in these months, and I'm one of those people that analyzes everything, so every once in a while I think I have something profound to say.  :)  So every Monday, I will try my hardest to impart on my awesome readers a little piece of information that I have learned or come across regarding being a new mom.

Without further ado, I give you "New Mom Mondays!"

The book starts out like this (before giving you little tidbits of wisdom):

Congratulations!  Life as you know it is about to change forever.  And for the better!

Will it be easy?  Not on your life.  But it will be wonderful.  Exhilarating.  Exhausting.  Sometimes scary.  And always surprising.  Which brings me to the reason for this little book.

With all this newness in your life, you are not alone.  I promise.  Want to talk?  Here's my number (in case fatigue affects your memory.)  Call me!  (Ok so I'm not gonna post my phone number here, but the idea behind this page applies to all of you from me.  Send me an email, shoot me a comment, or a message on facebook.  I am always willing to listen and talk and give you any advice I have come across or read about or heard.  I am not embarrassed by much and I'd love to lend a VERY sympathetic ear!)


If you ever want to brag a little (or a lot), if you ever need a good laugh, or a good cry, or just some good old adult conversation Call me!  (or write to me)


I promise to listen (really listen) with all my heart.  What's more, I promise I won't get carried away with free advice (unless of course you really, really want some.)

In the meantime, here's a little homegrown wisdom to go with the wonder of your new little sweet pea...

New Mom Monday 6/6/11:

Your baby is so lucky to be loved by you.


This is so very true.  He/she is lucky to have you, as is everyone else in your life.  Don't ever forget this! And don't ever forget, you may not be the perfect mom, but you are the perfect mom for your little peanut!

Family

There is something totally awesome about watching your husband with your child...like yesterday.  Kayla and I had to get up early to head to the airport for our trip to Chicago to visit my family.  I fed her when she woke up at about 4 or so and after I fed her she fell asleep on our bed.  I decided it was ok to cuddle with her for an hour or so before we had to leave.  I gently scooted her a little closer to her dad, and what followed, I really wish I had a picture of.  Justin, half asleep put his arm over Kayla's teeny body (she was lying on her left side, as was he) like he was spooning her, his hand flat on the bed.  She, also half asleep, sort of settled right into her dad and then gently placed her right hand flat, right on top of Justin's.  I would give anything to have a picture of that scene!

There is also something almost equally as awesome about seeing the people you love (your family and friends) interact with and love your daughter.  It's obvious that Justin and I love her, and I just assume everyone else does as well.  My parents are totally doting over their first grandchild, and my sisters can't get enough.  My brother had a slightly different situation.  He hadn't gotten to meet Kayla until this weekend.  He talked to her on skype when she was little, but he was in California over the winter.  He is the youngest of four and the only boy, and I've been wondering how he would be with Kayla.  When we got here yesterday he immediately emerged from the bedroom and took her from Lauren, which was awesome to see.  Since then, there has been a lot of activity, but today, the magic happened! :)

My dad and my Nanny went to church when Lauren and I returned from a walk with Kayla and Layla.  Lauren was in the shower and my mom went to change Kayla in the living room where Brendan was.  After she finished, she and I started to get some things together to give Kayla a bath, leaving Kayla on the floor in the living room with Brendan alone.  It only took about 2 seconds for Brendan to pick her right up off the floor and talk to her.  Then he put her down and started making funny faces and noises at her and she was just giggling...  I guess I just expected my sisters (probably because they are women) to just adore my baby, but seeing my little brother adore her is extra special!

I just love seeing the people dear to me love my daughter.  Sort of like my favorite blogger talked about here.

As she so eloquently put it.."Can I get an "amen" for how good it feels to watch your friends love your babies? These kids are my heart and when you love them, you consequently just found yourself a deeper place in my own heart. Likewise, to let my friends know I love them...sometimes loving their kids is the best place to start." -Kelle Hampton

We (Read I) Survived.

Kayla and mommy (but really mostly mommy) survived our first accident.

Kayla has been rolling for a few weeks now, but just recently, maybe the last week or two, she has started scooting around on her belly.  She seriously loves tummy time and can tolerate being on her stomach for long periods.  Well this morning, she woke as she usually does talking to herself and her "Lambie" in the pack 'n play and straining to get out that big morning poop.  I was exhausted but decided I could probably take advantage of her being awake and happy and get in a few minutes of packing for our trip.  I picked her up and put her and Lambie on a towel in the dead center of our queen size bed.  She lay there and rolled a few times while I packed our bag to check on the bed right next to her.

When I was mostly packed, as much as I could be, I decided I could move the bag out of our room so that I could continue to pack while Kayla napped.  I grabbed the bag and rushed down the 7 stairs to place the bag in a spare room (I am usually rushing if I leave Kayla on her own to make the time I don't have my eyes on her as minimal as possible).  When I rushed up the stairs two at a time to get back, Kayla had clearly scooted herself to the edge of the bed.

As I ran walked through the doorway, she was mid fall.  Yes, I left my daughter for ten seconds and she flipped herself off the edge of the bed.  I have been replaying the scene in my head all day and here's what happened next...

Mommy: "Oh My God..Oh My God..Oh My God..Oh My God..Oh My God..." and on and on as I ran to her side and swiped her off my LuLuLemon bag (which she landed on) almost immediately as she hit the floor.  I literally don't think she was on the ground for more then .00001 seconds.  I hugged her and cuddled her while she cried.  Actually, she didn't even scream...just cried, some of those real tears that I hate, for about 1-2 minutes.  These couple minutes pretty much felt like an hour to me while I kept saying, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry Kayla.  I'm the worst mom!  I'm so sorry!" Over, and over, and over, while I kissed her and hugged her and rubbed her back.

I was mostly worried that, although she pretty much somersaulted and landed on her back, that she was have some sort of brain injury from hitting her head falling off a queen size pillow top mattress (the PT in me I guess).  So I spent the rest of the morning scrutinizing every single thing she did to try to determine if she was acting abnormally.  She seemed totally fine with the whole situation.  I, however, am scarred for life.  She's my little champion.  And Justin so kindly told me that the "worst mom in the world" wouldn't have cried or picked her up, she would have just let her lay there on the floor and cry.  He's probably right, but if there is a mother that would do this out there, I don't want to meet her!