sleeping.like.a.baby

I refuse to brag. This has absolutely nothing to do with my parenting skills. It might be mercy, it might be good luck, it might simply be awesome baby products working together. I promise you that I don't know. This works for my baby...it might not work for yours, but I just can't NOT tell you about this.

Claire started sleeping "through the night" (I consider this like 11:00 pm to 5:00 am) at just under a month. I thought that was good. Amelia, on the other hand, was still waking up in the middle of the night at 11 months.  Totally different sleepers as babies, and we all survived.

Here's the deal with Olivia. She is 16 days old today. Since her 7th day of life, she has slept like a rock each and every night. At minimum, she gives me two 4-hour stretches, only waking up to nurse for 20 minutes. A couple of nights she's given me a 6-7 hour stretch. Last night? We put her down at 11:00 pm. I kid you not...she didn't wake up until 8:00 am!

It might just be my baby. Maybe she has her daddy's sleeping skills (quite possible). But this is what's working for her...

The hospital sent us home with one of these:

Halo Sleepsack (never had one before)

We cozy her right up in that at night (not at all during the day), and then we plop her right into this...

(only we bought the cute butterfly girly version at Target!)

Fisher Price Rock 'n Play Sleeper (you can see all the bells and whistles on Amazon's site)

Again, I'd never used one of these, but it got such great reviews online.  I now know why. :)  It was worth every penny of the $50 that it cost. 

I'm completely singing the praises to everyone I know regarding these products!  If you need a baby shower gift for someone, I wouldn't hesitate recommending either of these products.  How did I ever survive without these?!

Now that I've posted this, I'm fully prepared to be up all night tonight with Olivia.  I wouldn't be surprised if she proves me a liar.  And I'm totally ok with it. :)

Again, consider this a helpful post if you're expecting or are looking for a gift.  I have a couple of other items that I'll be posting about in the future that I didn't have with my other girls.  So, being that most of us are moms with young kids, what baby products did you use and love?    

brutally.honest

Having kids of thinking and talking age is, at times, completely humbling. Take for example my conversation with Meredith yesterday. I had just finished nursing Olivia, and my belly was exposed.

Meredith: Can I see your belly?
Me: Sure.
Meredith: Can I touch it?
Me: Sure.
(Keep in mind that post-baby bellies are anything but firm.)
Meredith: It feels like dough!

Like I said...brutally honest (even if it was funny).

so.in.love

I cannot tell you how much in love we are with this little girl. So, so much...and just a little bit more.

right.here

From Olivia: Mom, please put that camera down and feed me...right here. :)

it.

We've been calling the baby "it" for so long...Amelia can't get past it!

The other night she was holding Olivia, and she was ready to pass her off....

"I done holding it."

We're working on using her, baby, or Olivia instead. It might take a bit. :)

olivia.noelle

I have to start by apologizing for not posting this earlier! Sometimes I forget that there might be other people that read my blog other than my mom and my sister! :)

We welcomed Olivia Noelle into the world on Tuesday morning! She was 8 lbs. 9 oz. and about 20 inches long. We can hardly believe that we're the parents of 4 little girls...how great is that?!

The c-section went very well, but my recovery wasn't so great on Tuesday. The pain meds that they gave me following the c/s made me very sick. I vomited 6 or 7 times through the afternoon, and I could barely hold Olivia. Each time I sat up, I threw up. It wasn't a very fun day.

The doctor ordered a very strong anti-nausea medication which completely knocked me out and made me say really crazy and funny things. I'll share a few:

My nurse asked me: "On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate your pain?" My answer: "106/107". Ouch...I must have really been hurting! :)

Later, Josh asked me how the medicine was working. I looked at him, held my hand up in a fist-like shape, and said, "Better than this stapler!"

After a few hours, I woke up and realized that I was saying off-the-wall things. But, I still couldn't help myself! I was falling asleep in 10 seconds, having a dream, and waking back up to comment on it. I remember looking over at Josh at one point and saying, "You have to kill it!" I then apologized and told him that I was dreaming that there was a praying mantis on the floor. He had picked it up and thrown it into the trash without killing it. I knew if he didn't kill it that it would climb back out...hence the comment! :)

Anyway, that medicine completely worked, and I felt just fine after it wore off. I felt much better yesterday and today. They're struggling to find the best pain meds for me right now. The ones I'm on just don't seem strong enough with my current pain levels. The nurses are checking my past charts with the other girls to see what worked best with my other c-sections.

The girls loved meeting Olivia the other night. As you can tell by the pictures, Olivia has 3 very proud big sisters. I'm pretty sure she's going to be the most popular girl in the house for quite some time! :)

lovin'.my.baby

I spent a whole lot of my day doing this today...and I loved every minute of it! :)

stay.tuned

Hang in there!  I was having contractions this afternoon, and we headed to the hospital.  They're doing the c-section tomorrow (Tuesday)!

4.days

5.days

So, I have 5 days to go.  Here are 5 facts from my pregnancy:

1. cravings: plain Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Life cereal, grapefruit, pineapple, watermelon, Twix, cookies (not sure how this is different than any other time), milkshakes
2. avoided (at one time or another during this pregnancy):  Mexican food, green vegetables, anything spicy
3. weight gained: 28 lbs.  I was up to 35 lbs. with the water retention, but I dropped back down.
4. best to worst pregnancy rankings: Amelia (no problems), Meredith (2 weeks with bronchitis at 8 months), Claire (hives at 7 months...horrid), Baby #4 (was a breeze until February).  You'd think I might have been scared off by pregnancy, but none of them seemed so bad after the fact...and I figured that the odds of each of them happening again were kind of like lightning striking twice.  I guess I was kind of right. :)
5. best part of this pregnancy:  sharing it with the girls.  They couldn't be more excited about this baby...and honestly, we couldn't either!

6.days

7.days

Can I tell you the sweetest thing that my husband does for me these days?  He ties my shoes.  Whenever he's home, he ties my shoes before I leave.  I don't even ask him...he just offers. 

When he's not home?  I'm exhausted by the time I'm finished putting on my shoes and tying them...I feel like I need to sit for 15 minutes!  Thankfully, we're usually going somewhere, and I at least get to sit for the trip. :)

So, thank you Josh.  Thank you for doing the simplest task of tying my shoes.  I love you...more than cookies (and that's saying a lot).  Mwah!

8.days

Wow!!  I can't believe that a week from tomorrow we'll be having this baby!  He or she had given me a major break during the last week or so and barely moved at all.  Well, I believe that my rest time is over.  We're totally back to moving all over the place again (both of us, really!). 

After my second stay in the hospital, my legs swelled up like stovepipes.  They.were.huge.  I went to the doctor after being in the hospital, and I had gained 8 lbs. in two weeks.  Yikes.  Then, the following week I went to the doctor, and I had lost 4 lbs.  Not surprising since my legs actually looked like legs again instead of having to sport that stovepipe look (just not very practical for this momma that has to move a lot). 

In honor of my loss of weight, I bought a (small) bag of bite-sized twix and consumed them in about 12 hours.  (Shhhhh...don't tell Josh.)  In my defense, I did share a few with my kids.  Who really wants to claim that they ate an entire bag of candy themselves (even if it was the smaller bag)? 

Anyway, then, I had another doctor's appointment this week (one week after the 4 lb. loss), and I lost another 2 lbs.  Typically, they frown on 9-month preggos losing weight 2 weeks in a row, but believe me...I was losing all that fluid that I had swimming around in my thighs, calves, and ankles.  In honor of this weight loss, I decided to skip the bag of candy (sigh) and have a strawberry milkshake instead.  Much healthier, don't you think?! :)  (It was even a small...made with real strawberries.)

My ankles and feet are still swollen to the point that I can't wear my own shoes (thank you Kristi for letting me borrow yours!).  But they don't ache like they did for the first week.  They feel bruised, but all is well as long as no one touches them!  I can handle that for 8 more days. 

So, here I am with 8 days to go.  I'm ready.

• I have my bag packed.
• I have gifts for the girls (thank you dollar store!). 
• The pack-n-play is set up in the family room.
• The swing is set up in the kitchen.
• The sheets are washed.
• I have boy outfits and girl outfits ready to go.
• The house is in decent shape. 

So, bring it on!  I have mixed feelings on whether or not I'd prefer this baby to wait all the way to the 18th.  I've said over and over again that I think he or she will come early.  My original guess was March 11 (which is tomorrow!).  However, I've gotten to the place where I've got childcare set up for the dates following my c-section (the BEST part of having a c-section).

It would be nice to not have to scramble, but then again, I love surprises! :)  Either way, I'm definitely ok with it...actually, I don't really think I have a choice.  I'm just in it for the ride at this point. 

So, does anyone want to make any predictions?  I had my friends on facebook predict the baby's sex/date/weight.  I must say that based on the guesses, people think we're having a boy and most people think we're going early.  Out of the 25 people who guessed, 19 think it's a boy. 

I'm not spilling the beans, of course, but it seems to be getting harder and harder not to slip up.  I told Josh last night that we must be referring to the baby (between the two of us) more and more as what we're assuming it is!  I almost slipped up to my mom on the phone yesterday...wow...that would have been crazy! :)  I just find myself speaking more slowly and thinking so far ahead in my conversations...not the worst thing in the world!! 

Anyway, if you'd like to make a guess, please feel free!  I'd love it! :)  And I can't wait to introduce you to our newest little critter (as Josh likes to call all of them) once it makes its appearance!

9.days

10.days

aldi.love

Aldi.  Can I tell you how much I'm in love with Aldi?  It's my newest favorite place to shop.  I've been doing a lot of Aldi talk lately, and I couldn't be more impressed with their business model and products on the whole. 

My main reason for loving Aldi is their prices.  They are so much cheaper than even the big box stores.  Why?  They don't carry everything...just the basics.  No frills.  We are extremely fortunate to have a brand new Aldi near our shopping area, and I believe it was my friend, Stacy, that turned me onto it.  Thank you!!

Like I said, there is nothing fancy about Aldi.  Here are some things that you need to be prepared for when you shop:
1.  Bring a quarter for your shopping cart.  (You'll get it back when you return it, but they don't pay anyone to collect carts in the parking lot.
2.  Bring your own bags.  (I think you can buy them there for 5 cents each if you forget your own.)
3.  You will bag your own groceries.  (This is actually something that I love.  I can't believe how horribly they bag my groceries at the regular grocery store.)
4.  A super-low grocery bill.  (You will be in complete shock when you fill your cart and spend $100 or less.)

Here are some of my favorite things to buy at Aldi (along with a few prices that I can remember...or come close to...off the top of my head):

• nuts
• tortilla chips ($1.19)
• pretzels
• oyster crackers
• graham crackers
• animal crackers ($0.99)
• granola bars ($1.29)
• trail mix bars ($1.59)
• peanut butter (I'm not a fan of the Aldi brand, but my kids don't mind...AND I use it for baking.)
• honey
• cereal (most $1.99 a box or less)
• flour ($1.19 for 5 lbs.)
• sugar
• oil
• brown sugar
• powdered sugar
• chocolate chips
• marshmallows
• raisins
• canned fruit
• apple juice
• canned tomatoes/sauce/paste
• canned veggies
• string cheese
• shredded cheese
• bar cheese
• cream of chicken/mushroom
• sour cream
• cream cheese
• milk ($1.89 per gallon...it was on sale last week for $1.49!  Wow.)
• eggs
• garlic toast
• produce (not the best selection, but they usually have whole Del Monte or Dole pineapples for around $2 each!!)

There are a few things that I've decided that I don't like (tortillas, spaghetti sauce, and their Fit and Active brand (their "healthy" brand) come to mind immediately).  However, I think their products are worth a try, especially if you aren't particular about a certain brand. 

I seriously feel like they're not charging me enough every time I check out!  I try to guess (based on the amount of groceries in my cart) what my final bill will be.  I even try to guess low, and I'm still usually about $10-$20 too high. 

So, when I go grocery shopping, I go to Aldi first.  Then, I hit the other store.  It's brought our grocery bill down immensely.  I think I'm easily saving $0.50 per item (if not more).  I haven't done an actual comparison, but I really would love to (if I had the time and energy). 

Basically, what I'm trying to say is this:  If you haven't at least tried Aldi, please do!!  And report back to me, and we'll be giddy together.  :)

pregnancy.brain.round.6

So, thankfully, I'm only going to be in this shape (actually bigger than this...this was in January) for about 12 more days.  Can you hear the excitement in my voice?  It's totally there! 

Anyway, so I fell into a bit more pregnancy brain the other day.  Josh was reading a book to Amelia.  It was an I See Me book.  They are so cute.  My mom buys one for each of the kids for Christmas after they're born.  It goes through each of the letters of their name and tells about how all of these animals have brought a specific letter.  The letters all spell the perfect name, of course! 

Anyway, so I was doing laundry as Josh was reading to Amelia.  I was bragging on the fact I knew all the words to this book because I had read it sooooo many times.  So true.  However, now I'm pregnant, and we all know that pride comes just before the fall...right?!  Things that used to be so clear in my head are now a bit cloudy and turned around. 

So, we come to the eagle who brings an "E" for the name.  This is how the line is supposed to go:

 The eagle pronounced, "We must use an E, so the name will sound majestic like me!"  

I proudly said it this way instead:

The eagle pronounced, "We must use an E, so the name will sound domestic like me!"

Josh completely lost it.  I thought I was going to pee my pants.  Josh then responded, "You've been pregnant way too long!" 

Agreed. :)

broken.legs

I was just sitting here on the computer updating my facebook page and checking emails.  It's been 10 or 15 minutes since I saw Amelia (always a bit scary).  I assumed she was back in the bedroom playing with the girls. 

Claire comes out to get some supplies from the playroom. 

Me:  Is Amelia with you?
Claire:  Yeah.  She's with Meredith and me.  She's fine.  She just has a broken leg...so does Meredith.

Oh, yeah, sure...not a problem at all.  Playing doctor is the best! :)