Ok, to be fair, I “stepped” out during some random weekday, but who’s watching? The point is “I STEPPED OUT”.
These days just the act is worth a picture. Hopefully some day I’ll actually blowdry/straighten/curl my hair (whoa! Mind explosion!) and/or wear something more presentable than a church lady outfit. But I still don’t fit into most of my bottoms ( damn you, Elena, for liking your jeans and shorts too tight), so I resort to dresses and skirts, and I don’t own too many skirts, so yeah…. let’s just say I need to improve in that department and it started last night with a big order from Victoria’s Secret consisting mostly of …? You guessed right! SKIRTS!
Taking a simple picture of an outfit proved to be more challenging that I thought. My little girl is the complete opposite of a model sometimes. You’re either lucky – you point the camera at her and she STARES RIGHT at it, oooorrrrrr…. (which happens more often) stares right at it and makes a face/starts fussing right as you hit the shutter button (especially if I am holding her and REALLY REALLY REALLY want a good mommy/daughter picture).
When I get a chance, I’ll do a post of her Robin Scherbatsky faces ( you know what I mean if you’re a HIMYM fan)
{ Alexis: Banana onesie by Spunky Stork, Diaper by Apple Cheeks
Elena: grey ruffle top by Express, skirt from God knows where, diaper bag by Baby Kaed,
golden ballet flats from MyHabit by Yosi Samra, Tree of Life bracelet from Gilt by Tai Jewelry }
In other news, there are a ton of posts I am trying to write (pictures, experiences, giveaways, reviews, my favorite baby items, month #2 post) but OH MY GOD, Alexis won’t nap for longer than 10 minutes anywhere other than my arms for the past week. She’s definitely a handful, my little girl.
{ Right now as I type this, my husband is frantically trying to shush and rock her to sleep, because she’s overtired but she won’t sleep for longer than a few minutes, poor girl. Thank you husband for giving me these 20 minutes to write a quick post. }
My hopes are: this weekend I can get enough me time to edit some photos and write some things, but that might be wishful thinking…
{oh and just now she stopped crying and zonked out thanks to our white noise generator app, so as long as Andrew is holding her I can continue typing}
Also, we’ll attempt to go to a Butterfly releasing ceremony on Sunday (1000 butterflies) with Alexis. Cross your fingers that we survive the outting with the heat and her not being able to take more than 15-20 minutes in one place, be it stroller, carrier, wrap or sling, except for our arms ( hey, at least we’ve got that)
{and now she’s lying next to me in her swaddle and tossing and turning. Sleep, baby girl, sleep! How do you like my play-by-play? lol}
More {BETTER} outfit posts to come. I’ll definitely “model” some of the new purchases, since one of the posts I am writing is about how I am absolutely OBSESSED with buying clothes nowadays {it really is a problem and has to stop}
See you again soon!
I liked the play by play! I think it’s helpful for women (and men) who don’t have kids to understand how much of your time a newborn needs. I’m almost 5 months pregnant and find myself thinking about how I’ll still be able to do most of the same things when the baby is here. But reading your posts reminds me that especially early on, that may not be the case! So thanks for sharing the details ;). I’m excited to see the new skirts you ordered. I’m going shopping next week for new maternity clothes (kind of excited, kind of nervous!).
Always,
Bee
I’m glad you like it. The truth is if you end up having a baby that eats and sleeps more normally, then after the first month you would be able to some of the things. Most of my friends babies give them 2 hour naps and 2-3 hours between feedings. But then you still have growth spurts when the baby feeds all the time and sleeps little. That being said, there are a lot of people who have babies, like Alexis, won’t sleep unless in arms, and eats a lot. So that’s something to be prepared for. I knew about high needs babies, but I thought they just needed a lot of attention, I didn’t realize they didn’t sleep and ate every 30-60 minutes 🙂
Good luck to you! And have fun shopping for maternity. I don’t know if you were around when I was doing the maternity feature, but you can check out some of the awesome brands I found here (scroll past the gowns)
She sure is a beautiful baby though, even if she’s a little fussy! I will pray that things get a little easier for you soon!
Hot momma 🙂
I can see Andrew in the reflection lol
I think you look AMAZING!! You are doing a wonderful job with Alexis, she is definintely blessed to have you two as her parents! Keep up the good job Mama!!
You look great. It is so hard in the beginning to get out. I have two that are 18 months apart and I am sooo happy when I actually get to do my hair and get dressed properly. It is hard when they get to the “wake up” stage, when they are taking in sooo much of their environments and never want to sleep. That is a tough stage. That too shall pass. Well you look great and she is a beautiful baby!
Hi Lena! You look gorgeous, and remember it took you nine months to put weight on, it will take nine months or more for your body to return back to what it was. You’ll be there don’t worry. I kept worrying so much in the beginning, but now Danya is almost eight months and I can fit into all of my shorts and skinny jeans! I’ve started p90x recently, and boy it has helped me a lot. I do it in the evening after Danya falls asleep. If he wakes up I just put on pause go give him the boobie until he falls back asleep and the go back to the workout.
He also slept in my arms for the first four months after which I transitioned him into our bed and we lie together side by side while he nurses himself to sleep. I get lots of rest this way too. Most days I’ll just nap with him. They are little and needy for such a short time that enjoy every chance at closeness you get, as unfortunately, it will pass all to soon for us.
I know, I am not upset about it, but it’s impossible for me to work out right now. I can’t even do it when she goes to bed for the night, because in order to get 6 hours of sleep I have to go to sleep with her. So I’m ok with waiting until she can get into a jogging stroller, or sleep better to take care of myself.
Hey Elena, I would love it (I’m sure others would too) if you could do a post on how cloth diapering Alexis is going for you so far and what your washing routine, favorite diapers, etc 🙂
Oh I would love to write a post about it and plan on doing so. It’s just it’s soooooo hard to get any time with Alexis sleeping habits right now. I’ll definitely do it though! Thanks for the request!
I eagerly anticipate those posts you’ve got coming. Would you consider writing a cloth diapering post? I’d love to hear how many of each type/brand of diapers you started with and how you’re finding them fitting Alexis as well as wash routine and your fav and least fav things about cloth diapering. I’m absolutely obsessed with cloth diapers right now.
Were you always sure about your pregnancy or did you have fears/moments that you’d worry about the baby? I’m 2nd trimester almost 14 weeks now and just started getting into buying things but I’m really nervous after my miscarriage at 7 weeks last time that this one will end the same way even though the odds are like 2% at this point.
See response above on CD.
And omg of course I was always worried. Some days more than others. Read my post about Doppler. I found that was the best purchase EVER!
Hi Elena, you and Alexis look great! I hear you on the high needs…It was mind-blowing how much time I actually spent nursing/holding Lillian all her first months (I kept complete records for a while becuase I was so concerned that NOBODY I’d ever come across had babies remotely like that). I’d like to say it’s gotten better here, and it has to an extent, but Lillian still won’t sleep unless one of us is holding her. So Josh and I live separate hours still. 🙁 Well, we do what we have to and she’s so worth it!
Really? She still won’t sleep on her own? Wow, that’s tough! I guess I need to keep that in mind because it’s possible Alexis will be that way too!
Yes 🙁 It’s very tough! I don’t think it will happen with you guys though. Josh and I are pretty certain it’s our fault. See, Lillian had a scare just after she was 2 months old where she stopped breathing. She was fine, and started breathing again on her own (after a heart stopping minute) but Josh and I were so scarred emotionally from that that we decided to always have one of us watch her. Now whenever we try to have her sleep on her own she won’t sleep AT ALL! She always wakes up and needs the boob, so as you can imagine it’s too hard to try every night, when I’m already so exhausted!
I believe that had that event not happened, Lillian was on her way to becoming a very good sleeper! So I’m sure Alexis will get to that point too! I hope so for you guys!
Hi Elena! I was like that too with buying clothes after I had my baby. I think it was b/c I was so sick of the maternity stuff, and it was SO exciting to be able to buy new things. I went a little nuts and bought tons of stuff. I couldn’t fit into my regular size though so I had to buy one size up. Now I don’t want to look at or wear any of those clothes (my baby is 2) because it reminds me of the infant stage when I was exhausted and miserable. Plus, a lot of the tops I bought were baggy to cover up that annoying roll. Anyway — congrats for getting out!! My baby was super laid back and the easiest baby ever but I still found it hard to get everything together to get out, and he always seemed to have those massive poop blowouts when I took him anywhere! Not fun!! 🙂
How do you like apple cheeks? We have yet to try those ones yet. Don’t worry as she gets older you will become a lot more efficient and become a mast at multi tasking. 🙂
Apple cheeks are interesting. I like the fit, they don’t have a traditional insert. They seem to leak a lot though.
I’ve always been an awesome multitasker- that’s not a problem. I just don’t get longer than 10 minutes to do anything. And for now I refuse to let her be on her own without me interacting with her when she’s awake.
I know that you want to spend all the time with your baby girl but you might considered letting her entertain herself every once and a while; it’s actually good for babies/toddlers and helps them to more independent and confident as they mature.
If only she’d entertain herself… ( well i guess she does at times, but I feel guilty that she needs face time for development, AND secretly I want to be with her lol)… she tends to fuss/cry when left alone though… And I don’t mind (much) 🙂
Out of curiosity, did you end up having a baby shower? Our little girl is due in two months, and we have bought NO CLOTHES so far! My husband keeps telling me everyone will get us clothes, but this is our second child and there seems to be a dramatic decrease in the spontaneous baby gifts this time around. So I’m thinking we need to go on a shopping spree! How much did you stock up before Alexis was born and did you buy just 0-3 month clothes or did you prepare for a full year, etc? Thanks!
I didn’t have a true baby shower but I’m still planning on doing a baby party.
2 of my gfs did throw me a mini shower just with the two of them but I don’t count that cuz that was more of a private thing.
As far as clothing I am doing organic so I couldn’t rely on people getting the right thing. I got most of 0-3 and surprisingly I didn’t need much since we do laundry daily because of cloth diapers. I also found types of clothes I liked/needed and ones that I hated. I say get some stuff but then depending on temperature and your preference this time around get more when baby arrives.
I just finished ordering 3-6 months clothes cuz shes growing out of 0-3
Hi Elena,
Hey..I just wanted to throw this suggestion out there. I totally understand having a high needs baby. I have 3 children ages 5 , 2 and 9 weeks tomorrow. I also co-sleep so this is not a push to get your Little One to sleep in her bed in any way. Just a thought. With my youngest baby I started putting him in his crib during the day he was awake…..after he had eaten..and I turn on his mobile. Not necessarily so he would go to sleep but just he would get comfortable with being in there and feeling safe at some point. He also takes a pacifier so that helps soothe him. If they don’t it makes it harder to satisfy them without nursing. I get lucky every now and then and he will nap for an hour or so. He still sleeps with me at night though because we both sleep better and longer.
I do understand if you are breastfeeding they eat more frequently so they don’t sleep long at all. 🙂 Sounds like you are doing a great job. It’s tough being on duty with the baby 24 hours a day. I had a similar experience with my second child. You have do what works for you. I believe in attachment parenting for the most part…just comforting them and holding them so they feel secure. You only have them at this age once so I say embrace it.
J
Hello, Elena!
I wanted to say thank you!! For the fact that you started this blog for the fact that I started reading it very seriously to prepare for pregnancy!!
You’re a good mom! Alexis just lovely!!
Just want to wish you and your family the most important – the health and happiness!
With love, Ksenia
OMG – I am embaressed I’ve read from start to now on your blog and I think the first outfit I have something close to is your “CHURCH LADY” OUTFIT!?!?! Crappp…
LOL!
And I bet you rock that outfit 🙂
Me? Not so much!
Don’t worry so much about “posing” your daughter with your for a picture. Those are not true moments and not what you will want to remember her childhood by. You will want to remember the spontanious moments- her smile, her laugh, her cry, the face she makes when she is hungry or tired or pooping. Before you know it she will be grown up and you will look back wishing you had more photos of the two of you when she was a baby.
Well I have plenty of those photos! 🙂 The real moments! Hair in a bun, no make up, Lexi fussing 🙂 I take A ton of photos every day. But once a month I want a cute shot. I don’t try to pose her, I just hope that she doesn’t fuss in the pic. )))