To Live is to Learn

So, I hadn't planned to start cloth diapering yet, however; Being that Maggie is already almost 12 lbs and I'm seeing how much I'm spending on disposables, I decided I would start and so I did, yesterday. The first day went well, then came today. I had a little breakdown today. I only have 4 covers and she had two blowouts first thing this morning back to back, the projectile vomited all over the third so here I am she's wearing the last cover and I'm feeling overwhelmed.  Side not here, I thought that cloth diapering had gotten so advanced that barring and explosive diaper the covers would be spared. Ha! Not so much! So feeling discouraged, I phoned my sister in law. Two of my sister in laws cloth diaper and I knew they would be the perfect resources and they were.  First of all, I had to adjust my expectations. Apparently, it's normal when they poop for it to get on the cover, now knowing this I can adjust my expectations and go from there. Also, my SIL said...

Our little lady is 6 weeks old, once in a while she does these cute little smirks and I finally captured one on camera  :) So fun! It lights up my momma's heart to see her smile! Two more weeks and she'll be 2 months, awesome! Two months also marks the time that we get to start taking her out, I'm so ready to not be home bound all the time. :) Maggie is also in another growth spurt. I know she's growing constantly but during growth spurts she feeds ever 1-1.5 hrs when normally she goes 2-3 hours. So again, I find myself strapped to the couch. The bright side is, breastfeeding no longer hurts and she's gotten so efficient it only takes her 10-15 minutes to empty me, which is great!

So, it's been a good ten days and I'm happy to report all my plants are alive and my lettuce has germinated, woot woot!! It's kind of like Christmas time. You wait and wait to see if your plant germinated successfully and then one day you got to look and sure enough little plants appear, it's so fun! The not so good news is I forgot to soak the bean seeds before planting so they haven't germinated yet and I wonder if I ruined them so I have replanted and we will see if replanting helps.  :)

I can't believe our little Maggie is 5 weeks old already. I Still can't get over how cute she is. Love her so much! So, the big thing Mag's did this week was she rolled over. I put her down for tummy time and she did it so fast I wasn't sure I put her on her tummy, but sure enough I put her back on her tummy and she did it again. WOW! I guess she is her mothers daughter, I rolled over at 16 days old! So far five weeks has been quite eventful. Though we have tried to everything to protect her by not taking her out in public, our sweet girl has caught and cold. Poor baby. She is all stuffy and has a terrible cough. She has been less fussy and more cuddly and sleepy. We have been spending our nights with me again on the couch, I had finally gotten off, and her sleeping in the swing upright so she can breathe. My heart aches for my sick baby. Pray she gets better and quick!

Alrighty, so I have wanted to try my hand at gardening for a long time but, first we lived in an apartment that didn't face a favorable direction for morning sun. Then when we moved into our current house I was working and figured plants would die with me being at work all day. So, even though I'm a new mom with plenty of other things to do, I've been researching how to do some container gardening. So I introduce to you, my lil garden... Being that I am now a stay at home mom, I figure I'll at least be home enough to water them so I'm gonna give it a shot. I bought three starter plants from Lowes. I bought one roma tomato, one cherry tomato and one early girl. I also planted from seeds lettuce and green beans. I pray they both germinate. Just have to wait and see  :)

As you may have guessed from the picture, I'm giving up dairy. We went to Maggie's one month appointment tonight and per the pediatrician, I'm giving up dairy. Maggie has had some pretty bad crying episodes and also she rears her head back like she is in pain. I love my milk but I love our daughter more and it breaks my heart to think something I'm eating is causing her pain. Prayers would be appreciated as I have a heavy dairy diet and this will be extremely challenging for me. We bought some almond milk, I will update how I like it.  So, Maggie is exclusively breastfed but there must be pure cream in there. Our baby gained 3 lbs in her first month. At birth she was 7-15.5 and at our appointment tonight she was 10-15.5. She is also 22 inches long. She is in 90th % for her weight, ha, what a chunk. Praise God for no concerns on whether she is getting enough  :) That's all for now, until next time  :0

One month old, cracking a smile  :) Wow one month old! This month has gone by surprisingly fast. Maggie is getting big! Can't wait to see what she weighs at her one month appt on Thursday. Breastfeeding is going well. Maggie eats every 1-3 hrs in the day and between 3-4 hrs at night. This being the first month was of course a rough one. The first two weeks I dealt with a lot of spiritual warfare. Gratefully, that is basically gone now. Things that surprised me was how unrealistic my expectations of motherhood were. I knew it would be hard but to know it in your head and experience it in real life are two completely different things. Motherhood is amazing and wonderful but it is also very hard. Motherhood demands instant selflessness which was a shock at first. My life is no longer my own. My schedule is now whatever Maggie needs. Restful sleep is a thing of the past. I can't believe how much I took a shower for granted.(A 5 min shower makes me feel like a million bucks)...

So...I was two days into Maggie eating every 1-2 hrs when I realized, duh! She's in a growth spurt. Boy is she ever. The small amount of type A I have in me has to die this week. I can't get anything done. I'm a slave to the couch with my little baby girl attached to my breast. Oh well, this too shall pass, at least until 6 weeks when she goes through another one. I'm learning to love and live in grace with all the new challenges that come with motherhood. Love our little girl!