Weekend Happenings

Does being a SAHM make time fly for anyone else like it does here or what?!

Man ok so Monday's gone and passed.. This weekend wasn't too too eventful, although miss Kenzie had a couple of "firsts"!

Saturday we all slept in til about 10! Yes it's great (of course that's with a few feedings in there for me and babygirl) but it was so nice to kinda just be lazy and hang out as a lil family. Bob likes to go fishing really early on the weekends so usually it's just us girls every morning. He of course couldn't last long at home without the itch to go out so later on that day he went fishing while we did some experimenting.

I tried out pumping for the first time. I'm still planning on BF'ing for as long as I can, but I want to start pumping to freeze. Also my first time pumping I did it straight into a bottle because I wanted to see how she'd do drinking from a bottle. The only plans we have where she's for sure going to need a bottle is when we go to a wedding in October and my sis needs to watch her for the day.. So we have plenty of time to practice, but lil miss did great! But not gonna lie.. this mama kinda wants to get her buzz on. I've had a beer here and there since about she was 3 1/2 weeks or so but I want to have a glass of wine or 2! The bottle had 3oz in it and she still wanted more so I gave her the other side and she wasn't that confused! I kinda had a feeling she'd be ok because in the beginning of BF'ing she was just fine when I had to use a nipple shield sometimes and then switch to my nipple. Now I just need to know more about when and how much I should pump.. Anyone have any tips or advice? I'm thinking I should pump once a day right after I get done feeding her, but not sure how much at a time..

Babygirl loving her first bottle!

Later that day Kenzie and I joined my dad for dinner, and this would be her first meal out! We survived! I've been a lil apprehensive taking her out because around "dinner time" is when she's been really fussy and has a hard time with her gas problems, but she was all smiles.. She was in and out of sleeping but would wake up every once in awhile and stare at her lil carseat toys or play with grandpa.

This night is also when I posted this pic on Insta and got some good feedback so we were set to try it out the next night.

Sunday was another great morning.. We only slept in til 8 this morning but it was perfect.. to me 10 is too close to 12 and then it's like 1/2 your day's almost already over!

While my hunny made us breakfast I did some damage on Etsy and VeryJane.. ohh and Gap.. I have a problem with shopping online! Especially with VeryJane and Groopdealz like I said.. it's just so easy cheap and cute!

Anyways we didn't really have any plans other than to get new water for the fish tank so we knew we had to go to Concord which is about a 30min drive.. I also made sure we got a stop into Babies R Us since we were right there.. hubbs HATES shopping unless it's for him..so this was kinda pulling teeth but it really wasn't that painful! 

When we got home Grandma was back from her quick lil vaca and missed her baby so we went over there to visit for a lil bit.. I got this adorable pic (kinda hard to see but I love it) when I was driving home..

We had a great weekend and even better was I got to finish it off with the Jersey housewives craziness..Love that ish!

We started Kenzie on her "routine" Sunday too.. Since she's so cranky towards the end of the day, we're trying feeding about an hour before bath time and then feeding before bed. Sunday it was a SUCCESS! But today (yes I'm posting this so late tonight).. we struggled a lil more. She's had such bad gas (not even one dirty diaper today! That's ok right?!).. finally though she's sleeping (an hour after bath time and lotsa screaming).. Sleep tight lil baby.

Also P.s.
Watch out for the next couple days I'm going to have a lil surprise for you all! So stay tuned!!

XoXo Rachel

Friday's Love List

Today I'm linking up with one of my fav mama's Britt for.. 

So many things I'm loving this week.. 

1. We took babygirl on her first trip to Tahoe. The first of so many to come! (Already one coming up next month- can't wait!) We only went for the day which is about a 2 1/2 hour drive there, so we left as soon as we woke up! I had packed everything the night before so once lil miss was fed and changed we loaded up and headed out.  We stopped at a Kmart on the way up because she woke up hungry (lately even after a feeding, she'll need a top off about an hour later).. while we were stopped there I ran in and picked up a beach shelter thing.. thanks Courtney for the suggestion!! We first stopped at our favorite little market where we always go for the deli to get sandwhiches. It was kinda special because we've been going in there every trip for the past 8 years and the mom and daughter are the sandwhich makers. Well we came around the corner and they said.. "You guys had a baby?!" They were so happy for us.. don't know anything about us really other than our names from when we order sandwhiches but I just loved it. The mom said to me.. "Girl, you don't even know.. you look so cute.. all these years you've been standing there and now you're holding a baby!" After that we went straight to the beach since it was the hottest it's ever been that I've seen Tahoe get.. 90 people! Bob fished a bit, we ate our sandwhiches, Kenzie slept most of it (in the shade it got a lil chilly for her) and we just enjoyed getting out of town and sitting at this beautiful lake. It's our favorite place. One day we will live here!

2. I got to have a reunion with 2 of my old BFF's. The last of us is expecting in a couple months. I haven't seen or talked to these girls in years but it was like we just saw each other yesterday. 

We caught up, I got advice, and we shared stories. Not to mention Kenzie was a big hit.. everyone wanted to hold the bebe.. It was a great baby shower and I'm so proud of all of us and the woman we've become!

3. I'm loving that my family lives so close. When Bob went fishing after work Tuesday, me and the baby went over to my parents and had dinner with my dad, sister and her boyfriend. Just to see my dad with his first grandbaby is the sweetest thing.

4. To end my Friday's Love List the blog or shop I'd like to give a shout out to is Joeylee at Sweet & Sassy Girls. She's got the cutest girls and I love following along as she shares beautiful pics of them! Also if you think fast, she's got a give away going on for another few hours for the cutest headbands. Go here to enter!

this week just flew right by! Already starting the next weekend!

----- and just a side note because I feel like I have to share.. -----

I just said to Bob- "look my boobs are already getting so much.." and he finished my sentence.."Saggy!? Saggy tits! haha!" Thanks hun. Another reason why i am definitely not opposed to getting a boob job once we're done with baby #2 (which may be sooner than I thought if I really have saggy tits).

XoXo Rachel

Our 1st Month Baby Favorites

Baby Milk Bibs- Our babygirl has some sensitive skin. After a couple weeks and realizing this, she now wears these bibs during feedings because if she spits up, the breast milk won't irritate her skin.

Little Remedie's kit- I added this to our registry not really knowing exactly all about it, but it just looked like something neat to have "just in case". Well I cracked into this baby during week 2 when I thought my fussy baby had colic- I turned to the Gripe water. Then during week 3 I realized my poor baby had bad gas- so we use the Gas Drops sorta religiously. Not really knowing too much about the kit it has come in handy!

Baby Gowns- These things! Love love them! I just picked up a pack at Target of pretty much basics right before I had her. I had a closet stocked of cutesy clothes but wanted some things that would be more practical or I wouldn't mind getting more wear out of. These gowns though are probably my fave pick of everything. They're best for her jammies and make night time diaper changes so painless.

Aveeno Baby Wash- This is the only soap we've tried so far but love it! She smells so good after her bath. It's great for sensitive skin which she has and smells great but not strong!

Mams Binky's- We discovered our love for these after I had to make an emergency stop to Target for pacifiers after I realized I made the mistake of opening up all the paci's and then didn't remember which size was what. Mams are the only binky's we like around here now! We definitely have our lil stockpile now since they are dropped constantly. 

Aquaphor Baby- Again with the sensitive skin.. Babygirl got diaper rash early on and still gets it if we don't put this stuff on every diaper change. We don't let her sit in a dirty diaper for very long at all, just poor thing goes and goes.. So far this has been our fave between it and Desitin.

Fisher- Price Rock 'n Play Sleeper- The 1st few nights at home was a blur we managed to get away with having the pack 'n play work for her sleeping in at night.. Then weeks 2 and 3 she would only sleep in my arms in bed.. kinda dangerous right? Hubbs thought so.. anyways.. then one day after thinking of buying one of these for awhile now..  during our 3rd week I saw Target had these on clearance! (not sure why as they're regular on-line) So it was a sign, I picked it up for $56! Lil miss loves it. And I love that I can sleep soundly without having to worry that my arms are going to drop. I do miss her snuggles at night but this will be much better.

There's a few more things I realized I left off after putting this lil collage together:

Burp Cloths- Seriously, you can't have too many. My babygirl at least, is the spit-up/throw-up princess. We think because she overeats or may have a reflux issue but either way.. If you think you have too many don't worry you'll need them.

Disposable Changing Pads- Someone gave to me from work. They were left over from when she had her baby so I said sure why not I'll take em.. They were great for diaper changes. We had a few messy diaper experiences in the beginning.. They've tapered off a lil bit lately but, grab some if you can! Makes for easy clean up!

Bath thermometer- As new parents we're a lil extra cautious as usually expected right? So when it's bath time, we use our Disney's Cinderella carriage bath thermometer that tells us if the water is Cold- Hot- Ideal. Love this thing.

I can't find the exact one anymore on Babies R Us.com (where we got it) but any bath thermometer should work! Ours looks just like this though but a cutesy Cinderella one.

Anyways I hope this is helpful for some! Maybe it'll be pinterest worthy? I know I pinned something like this when I was preparing! Feel free to pin if you'd like! Now if only I had a Pin it button.. That's on my list for Blog To-Do's.:)

XoXo Rachel

Kenzie's Birth Story Part 2

So if you missed Part 1, it's here..
I left off at, it was 11:30pm and we were just checked into our room.

Bob quickly passed out on the couch as soon as I was hooked up and we were told it'd probably be awhile since I wasn't experiencing contractions or anything..

Well that quickly changed.. I was feeling contractions but still not too bad.. And one of my biggest fears for my labor was getting the epidural too early and then it wearing off before she came so whenever asked I would just say my pain level was low.. Then around 1am the contractions were not hurting too too bad but they wanted me to sleep and there was no way I could sleep through those. My nurse thought it may still be too early for the epidural so she gave me a lil shot of fenadrine (sp?) anyways this one.. man they tell you "it's gonna feel like you just had a few glasses of wine" to that i said "hell ya! I've missed my wine!" but know this stuff definitely knocked me out, but it didn't feel like just 3 glasses of wine.. it felt like that + some good drugs mixed in. I got to enjoy that lil high for a good minute maybe before I was out for bout an hour.

Around 2:30 I decided I couldn't take it anymore and I wanted to be checked to see how dialated I was and get the epidural..meanwhile Bob was still passed out and I wanted him to hold my freakin hand or something while I got this big ass needle stuck in my back.. I tried quietly yelling at him to wake up for like 5mins.. nothing.. finally when the nurse came in she woke him up and there was really nothing to be afraid of with the epi.. I felt the numbing shot but not the huge epi shot. While we were waiting for the anesteisologist I had Bob text my mom..I told him to tell her that I was getting the epi, but not "U should come"..my poor mom was sleeping and woke up to that and rushed over... and when she got there I was gooodd. I didn't need her to wake up at 3am and hurry on over, poor thing.

Anyways things were much better once my mama was there.. 

Here's us all cozy. I think this is when I started to develop a fever maybe? Cuz I was freezing!

Around 7am I got checked and was at 6cm dialated. The epidural started to slow me down so they gave me some pitocin. 

Around this time Bob went home to check on the dogs, eat, shower.. We knew we still had a lil bit.. and if I were to somehow jump to 10 that soon we don't live too far from the hospital so we weren't worried.

So far I'd say my pregnancy was great! Bob came back around 8 and shortly after my sis showed.

I was dialated at 10 by 9am and midwife said i'll probably be pushing in an hour so we were getting ready..Bff's showed up, MIL came.. My other sis was on a plane from So Cal headed up and my dad was picking her up, everyone was in their places ;)

Originally I had always planned on besides Bob being in the room during labor, I also wanted my mom. She's my rock and I needed her to help me get through it cuz I was so scared. Well after Sammy was there I told her to stay too and she could be camera girl. I was always on the fence of video taping the actual labor but when it came down to the minute I told her to stay and video tape..I was gonna put the video up since this blog is like my diary but that one's a lil too personal to just share with EVERYONE. Everytime I watch it though (seriously watched it like 5x just while writing this paragraph) I cry.

I started pushing at about 10:30am, 2 hours later, at 12:18pm my lil girl was here.

  

The 2 hours of pushing wasn't that bad actually..The whole time her head was right there, it would pop out and then go back in.. Towards the last hour I needed oxygen and my fever got bad, I had ice packs all over my head and neck.. and I started to get a lil worried because through my whole labor (since I got the epi) my right leg was dead.. well now.. the last hour I could feel my leg and lift it. Inside I was starting to panic a little that I was going to feel everything! Was my worst nightmare of the epi wearing off coming true?! I started to feel a lil nauseous and always hear of labor stories where the mom is throwing up so I spoke up and they gave me a lil shot of something so I started feeling much better.

Those last 10mins or so, it kinda got a lil scary.. the heart monitor strap thing for the baby kept losing her heartbeat so the midwife asked my permission to do something else where they stick (drill in otherwords) a monitor into the top of her head..I said ok (I didn't really understand what was going on, I just wanted her out and safe). Then as we were approaching 12:18, midwife told me, if I couldn't get her out on this next push she was going to have to cut me. With those words, my next push, I was crying " I can't, I can't" but I managed to get that lil 7lb 8oz babygirl out.

After that tears from everyone. I was so relieved it was done. She was here. I was exhausted!

Turned out lil miss came out head first, sunny side up (face up) and her cord was wrapped around her neck which made things a lil tricky. But in the end she was ok, all 10fingers and toes were there.. She didn't have a fever like I did, she was healthy and perfect!

Here's a screen grab from the video. I looked up at Bob like I can't believe it, she's here and he was crying..

We stayed for 1 more night after this, and the rest of our stay I had to be pumped with meds to treat my fever and infection I got from labor. We really didn't know until about 2 hours before we were released if we could go home or not because we were still awaiting the results for babygirl to see if she also had an infection. She didn't have a fever so they didn't pump her with antibiotics but just wanted to make sure. As for nursing, we had some issues at first. Not really latching issues, but lil miss wanted to cluster feed the whole time and I still was only producing colostrum. It made for 1 tired and hurting new mama. By the time we left she was down to 8lbs 6oz.

By Wed. @ 6pm we were eager to go home and start our life as a family of 3.

XoXo Rachel

McKenzie's Birth Story

I was 39weeks and 3 days pregnant, ready to evict lil miss on my next appointment that was just a couple days away.

On Monday night (June 17th, 2013) at about 9pm I was finishing up my latest tv show hulu addiction (Revenge) on my laptop. When I got done with the last episode (perfect timing i'd say?) I got up off the couch and all of a sudden as I was walking to the kitchen to finally eat dinner.. I felt a gush of water in my pants..It literally felt like a water balloon just popped. I yelled out to Bob who was in the kitchen.. "Babe?! I think my water just broke!!" Bob: "What the hell does that mean?!"

So I waddled into the bathroom feeling gross, checked everything out and called my mom. That ish just kept coming out, and honestly at first I couldn't tell if I just pee'd my pants! I knew it couldn't have been.. and my mom was pretty sure that this was it. Funny thing about it is she had just texted me telling me she was going to bed early since she had a long day.. well guess not mom! ;)

I called Kaiser's advice nurse and she told me to take my time, get my bags packed, hop in the shower if I wanted and come down when we were done.

So what'd I do.. of course i hopped in the shower! I was feeling disgusting! After my shower I got out and started doing my hair and makeup. I washed my hair earlier that day, thankgoodness but let it air dry so it was a bit wavy for my liking.. so I started straightening it a lil bit and made it look somewhat decent for pictures.

this is my oh shit, we're about to have a baby face!

As I got dressed I was contemplating what to wear to the hospital.. I had on a gray skirt and tank and then changed to some sweat pants even though it was pretty warm out. I'm so happy I changed because that gray skirt woulda looked like I peed my pants over and over by the time I got to the hospital.

The whole time we were getting ready to leave I was just running around the house, picking up clothes, dishes to the sink, going through my bags as if I hadn't had them all ready for days..

Finally we were off.. only a 15min drive to the hospital, the whole time not feeling anything we get upstairs to the Labor & Delivery dept just after 10. While there my water kept breaking and I by now was so thankful I just wore sweats.. those quickly went into a bag and and I was just in a gown from then on out! After all the paperwork I finally was seen by a midwife.. There was no checking my cervix or anything because since it was obvious my water broke they didn't want to risk an infection by checking. 

Me cheesin and mr anti pictures was getting tired, after such a long day at work

We were sent right to our room. This was it!! By now it was about 11:30 and we were just encouraged to rest, rest, rest!

To be continued.. 

XoXo Rachel

Hospital Bag Checklist

Thank god for pinterest these days! 
I got a lot of my "what to pack" from several different places.. some things I didn't even use. Here's just one more person's (lil ol me) point of view or suggestions of what you should pack.

I had 2 bags I packed.. well technically we had 3 cuz Hubbs insisted on packing his last minute in his backpack.. his was just stocked with some Rockstars, beef jerky, and a change of clothes and some sweats to sleep in. Also we brought along a pillow and blanket which hubs used for his nights on the hospital room couch.. 


For Mama: 
1. Nightgown (the hospital gown got annoying after the first day, either my butt was showing or my boobs were since they have openings in the front I guess for easy access for nursing)
2. Robe (I didn't really need this, as my water broke and I didn't have to walk the floors, but you may need to so having a robe to cover your hiney would be nice)
3. Flip Flops (yes especially when I got to take a shower!)
4. Socks (I bought some cute socks and wore em for during delivery as my mom pointed out my feet were dirty lol!)
5. Going home clothes for mom. Something comfy and loose for the bottoms as you'll be wearing a nice big pad. And a loose top since you'll still look about 6mos preggers.
6. Nursing bra (check out Motherhood.com for how to decide what size you'll most likely need- mine is pretty acurate!)
7. Toiletries (shampoo/conditioner, soap, toothpaste and toothbrush, deodorant)
8. Hairbrush and hair ties, clip (whatever to pull your hair back if you don't want it in your face)
9. Tablet (& charger), magazines- (Although I really didn't have any time to look at a magazine and only used my tablet once while baby was sleeping and my sister wanted to show me something online..)
10. Camera (& charger)/ flip cam
11. Chargers for phones! (I was texting away like cray the whole time- posting pictures so we needed our chargers!)

Stuff I packed that I didn't even need:
- Undies (I actually loved the lil mesh panties the hospital gave me.. even took home a few pairs)
- Pads (the hospital made sure i was prepared.. even gave me packs to take home)
- A can of Dermoplast (this stuff you need! Heaven! but hospital had some for me )
- Portable speaker & ipod (I didn't even use.. any quiet/down time I was encouraged or needed to sleep)
- Nursing cover (umm you do not care to cover up after all you went through)

For Baby:
1. Newborn size outfit
2. 3 mos size outfit
3. Little hat & mittens
4. Blanket
5. Car seat! (Installed!)
6. Hair bow for cute going home pics (I brought a few options!)

Leave the diapers, wipes etc at home! Hospital will take care of you!

Some tips for those that may find this helpful:
Once we were at the hospital and ready to go home we stocked up on pretty much everything that was in our room! In the baby's cart we were allowed to take everything except the blankets and shirts. This included the tiny baby hats, the blue bulb thing, diapers, we took it all! Every day we took them out and the nurses would just keep re-stocking. We were set on Newborn diapers! 

Also I made sure to stock up on a few things for me- "chuckies" the blue pads that you wore in your mesh undies for the pads.. I actually stocked up and use them still for on her changing table. Some of our changing sessions have been a lil messy so it's a quick clean up.
The other favorites were the mesh underwear, pads, ice pack pads, and the paper towel wipes. These wipes were used so much the first 2 weeks when it's suggested you don't use real wipes.. Just warm water to clean them.. Especially on our 2nd week lil miss broke out with a diaper rash so we used warm water to clean.. 

I think I covered everything! If you have any questions feel free to ask! It was amazing to have some of my friends to turn to and ask advice from! Shout out to Taush! My lifesaver! She made sure I was prepped! I even stocked up on stuff to take care of the dreaded hemorrhoids but luckily I was saved from those! Plus if you don't stock up.. the hospital also gave me stuff to help with them like Tucks witch hazel pads.. 

XoXo Rachel

Happiness

As we adjust to life with baby and I gather and edit baby pics, stories and put together my nursery reveal post I'm stealing and sharing this picture that I saw Amber post today.. It was a nice reminder that my life is complete.. I am so HAPPY with our life.no matter how calm and sometimes not so exciting it can be. We've never been the couple that goes out, we'd rather have friends over than go out places.. and now that we are a +3, and our life (now) is going to be a lot more calmer.. I am perfectly okay with that. No fun summer trips really planned this year except for 1, heck I can probably say goodbye to Summer 2013 as so far I've spent most days in bed or on the couch enjoying the cool A/C and cuddling with my little girl, changing poopy diapers and breastfeeding.



Tomorrow my little one will already be 2 weeks old! I can't believe it's only been 2 weeks.. Just last night I was telling hubbs that she just doesn't seem like a newborn anymore..feels like we've had her with us for longer! Her 2 week appt is coming up this Friday and I'm anxious to see what she weighs already. I have a feeling she's been doing really well with eating. We've had a couple incidents where she's thrown up and I think it has to be because she's over eating..we'll see though!

XoXo Rachel