Shelby Meets Her Feet
Stroller Upgrade
Tonight we took Shelby on a short walk in her "big girl" stroller. The infant car seat was just getting too hot for the dog days of summer and we think she enjoyed facing out and being able to look around. She's getting so big!
Pump It Up
Pumping at work is not the most enjoyable thing in the world, but I am committed to it because I want Shelby to have the best nutrition possible. Here's my pump-at-work set up:
- Medela Pump in Style - a heavy duty double electric pump is a must if you're pumping multiple times a day. It's expensive, but very worth it. The cost is still probably less than if you switched to formula!
- Hands free pumping bra - so you can keep typing while pumping!
- Extra storage containers - the Pump in Style comes with four bottles, but you will need more since there will always be containers being washed, stored, frozen, etc. For any milk that I freeze, I pump and then pour it into plastic storage bags.
- Nursing cover - just in case anyone accidentally barges into your office!
- Dry erase markers - I write the day of the week on the caps so I know which milk to use first.
- Large Ziploc bags - I use one to store clean bottles and caps and one to store my pump parts or anything else that needs sterilizing at the end of the day.
- Microwave steam sterilizer - we don't run our dishwasher every day so this is nice to have for sanitizing bottles and pump parts daily.
And just for fun, here are some "pumped up" 90s jams to inspire you:
Roll With It
Shelby is quite the rolling champ but she only seems to want to practice her new skill in the middle of the night! We have yet to see her actually roll over when she's not in her crib - I guess that rock hard crib mattress gives her the leverage she needs to kick her little legs over. Scott has been great about going in her room multiple times a night to flip her back over like a little pancake. She rolls from back to tummy but hasn't quite figured out how to roll back over from tummy to back (we've only seen her do it once). She gets stuck in the "cobra" yoga position and gets mad!
Parents: Did you assist your babies in rolling back over or let them figure it out for themselves? Did they eventually just fall asleep on their tummies? Did they try to keep their rolling skills a secret from you, as Shelby seems to be doing?
Shelby Rolled Over!
At almost exactly four months to the day, Shelby accomplished one of her first big milestones: rolling over! It was also exactly one year ago today that we found out I was pregnant. What a year it's been!
Perspective
A friend of mine had a baby recently and I’ve had multiple conversations with her about breastfeeding, offering up my tips and advice and sharing what’s worked for me. Earlier today, I gave some gift registry advice to a friend whose baby is due this winter. It was a funny position to be in, because it seems like I was there just such a short time ago and now I was the one giving advice. What! When did that happen? When did I turn into any kind of expert on anything?
Shelby is four months old today, but it seems like just yesterday I was devouring baby sleep books* and being driven to tears because she wasn’t napping “regularly” (no such thing at this age) and calling the pediatrician to ask if it was okay to bulb a booger out of her nose (true story).
Oh, how my questions and problems seem so silly now! I’d pry any mom I knew for any precious nugget of information or wisdom and they just kept telling me, “all babies are different” and “it does get better.” At times I just wanted to tell them to cram it. I WANTED ANSWERS!! I WANTED THEM NOW!!!
Parenting is a crucible. A science lab. A NASCAR race. A study in the effects of sleep deprivation and how it can be applied to torture situations. Some days you feel like it’s nothing more than a fight for survival to just get to the end of that day.
But then a month passes. And then two. And then four. And then a funny thing happens. You look back and many months have gone by and you think, “Hey, maybe I have this parenting thing just a tiny bit figured out. At least for the moment.” And then the moment changes and you have a bigger epiphany: As soon as you have something figured out, it changes, so you might as well resign yourself to not really knowing what’s going on at any given moment and roll with it.
Months have passed and many more will. The weeks turn into months and the months turn into years. And you know what? So far we survived. She’s survived. She’s thrived. She’s a happy, healthy baby right now and that is all we can ask for in this moment. Sure, there are worries and trials, but the joys and small victories make them seem insignificant in comparison. It does get better. So much better. And we can look forward to it continuing to get better.
I can tell my friends what kind of car seat to register for or how clean pump parts but I’ll also tell them this:
All babies are different.
Trust your instincts.
This too shall pass.
Do what it takes to get through the day.
You're most likely not doing anything wrong.
And it does get better.
And it's okay if they tell me to cram it.
* I’ll save my rant on those for another day. But oh do I ever have a rant for those frakking baby sleep books.
A Terrific Trip
Whew! We are back from our marathon road trip and I think we are just now recovering. Traveling with a baby can be exhilarating and exhausting all at once. Shelby was an absolute champ and she did great in the car. Atlanta to Folly was a breeze with a lunch stop in Augusta. It was stop and go from Folly to Wrightsville, but I think she just didn't like Myrtle Beach ;) We finally had to stop at a rest stop at the border and just get out and walk around for a bit. Scott said he finally understood what rest stops were for... for people with pets and babies! On our "long haul" from North Carolina back to Georgia, we only stopped once, in Columbia! I could not believe it.
Folly was fabulous. We rented a beach house with my childhood friend and her husband and baby. "Baby bungalow" was so much fun. Seeing the babies interact with each other was so sweet and it was really enjoyable to take them strolling in the mornings, stop for smoothies, and walk on the pier. One morning we saw a fisherman catch a 4-foot black tip shark! We were there to attend a friend's wedding and it was gorgeous. A bagpiper on the beach overlooking the light house... yellow flowers in the bride's hair... dainty fans to cool the guests... it was perfect.
From there, we made our way up to Wrightsville to visit my family, and boy was there a lot of family around! We had a clam bake on our last night there with nearly 20 family members in attendance. It was really nice that Shelby got to meet so many relatives - greats and grands and first and second cousins "removed" in some way... I could not keep track of it all. Scott likes to joke that our family does two things when we get together: look at old photographs and talk about how everyone is related. And that's exactly what we did!
Shelby also received some special family heirlooms (no shortage of those floating around, either!)
- A quilt that was pieced by her great great great grandmother and great great grandmother and finished by her great aunt and grandmother
- A child-size rocking chair that belonged to her great great grandfather
- A rocking horse and step stool that was made by her great grandfather for me when I was a baby
The Perfect Traveler
Summer Road Trip
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