Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A New Reality

Things are settling in here now that we're truly on our own. It was wonderful to have the Johnston's with us for a few days. Dan's Mom was such a blessing, cleaning & cooking & even doing our laundry - giving me more time to rest & recover. His Dad was a huge help to do some "man work" for us like getting the oil changed in the car, and the whole crew is just generally a whole lot of fun. We missed having Jewel but are looking forward to seeing her at Thanksgiving. Here's a quick picture of Dan & his sisters playing a friendly game of Settlers of Catan.




Aunt Amanda getting to know Caroline:


And Aunt Katee gave lots of snuggle time :)




We miss you guys!


The crew left Sunday morning and Dan and I began to realize that it's really just us now. That night I started feeling rather puny, then downright awful as I started running a fever which brought with it all the body aches & chills. No fun sir. And no fun for Dan either as it lead to a long night for all 3 of us when Caroline got really fussy (not fuzzy) during her feedings. As it turns out, I had a clogged milk duct, and after following some tips from my pediatrician, we got it worked out in a couple days.

Now I feel like we're just trying to really figure out what a normal day is supposed to look like. Caroline is showing us more of her sweet personality every day now and I am loving getting to spend my days with her. I am slowly implementing something of a schedule, although she has honestly worked into her own pretty easily as we've tried to stick to 2 1/2 - 3 hour feedings. Just out of curiosity, have any of you other moms out there read or used "Babywise" or some other form of putting baby on a schedule? I'd love to hear your thoughts - what worked for you, and what didn't. I'll write more about this as time goes on, I'm sure.


Anyway, here are some more Caroline pics for all of her fans out there. Enjoy!

So big!

And yet, so tiny in her big crib.

She loves to sit up and hang out with Mom & Dad.

Or sometimes lying down is even better :)

Precious

8 comments:

Mama Mote said...

Beautiful, beautiful! So glad the Johnstons got to come and meet their granddaughter/niece. Great family. As for the schedule thing, I don't remember much. I just remember trying to have a strict schedule didn't happen because things come around you don't expect and when you go out of the baby's 'comfort zone' it sometimes screwed up the schedule, too. But that was way back when. Don't know about you kids these days. You may get help from someone your own age who have been successful. Anyway, enjoy your little Caroline because the time will fly and she will grow so fast. Hugs to Dan

Megan said...

I read baby wise and implemented some of the ideas. I did not do a strict schedule but both mine soon fell into a routine. I just kinda let them lead the way but took tidbits of advice from Babywise. Its concepts are good but some were a little unrealistic to me. Love you all and see you soon.

Anonymous said...

Kali,
She's getting cuter by the day! Glad you're feeling better. I'll talk to you soon.
Love,
A.L.

Kate said...

we have raised all of our girls with "babywise". (although, by the third its much harder to keep the schedule). because of babywise, my first slept through the night at 8 weeks, my second at 2 1/2 weeks, and my third at 6 weeks. and i mean 7am to 6 am! they are better for it and so am i! lots of good tools are in the book and i'm sure you'll love it. caroline is beautiful!! and i love her name!

Anonymous said...

Mastitis is a bummer! They have a great shot that takes care of it when you're having the chills and fever. But, if you can catch it before it gets that far, it's fairly easy to prevent. I had it twice. No good. Glad you're feeling better! -Sarah Whigham

Ryan and Katie said...

We love Babywise! We started Orin on a schedule right away and it has really paid off! It is totally worth it and beneficial in my eyes. Orin slept through the night between 8 and 9 weeks. It's amazing how good a Mama can feel after getting some solid sleep. :)

Liv said...

So precious!!!
I think she is soooo pretty, very girly face. I did do baby wise to a t and I LOVED the fact she started sleeping through the night right away. But I think I will be a little less strict about the eating time- Aria wasn't big enough I will feed a lot more liberally next time. But the night schedule is so important to have really good sleeping patterns for the rest of their childhood. If you have some kind of schedule the baby will benifit- whatever schedule that is YOU as the mother will know by instinct.

Anonymous said...

Kali! We used a very modified version of Baby Wise with Ollie. The order of feeding, playtime, sleeping was great. With him, it was important not to let him get overtired - if he was it would be way harder to get him down. Feel free to call me if you want to talk about this more. Also, I struggled with clogged ducts multiple times - putting a heating pad on it (them) helped every time!ou guys seem to be doing so well - yeah for the Johnstons! Could you email/facebook me your address and phone number?

Love,
SJ

saraelizabethjames@gmail.com