What I Wish I Knew Before My First Child

What I Wish I Knew Before My First Child

This post is sponsored by Evivo but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

I don’t think anyone is actually fully prepared when it comes to being a new parent. You’ll get solicited and unsolicited advice and you’ll do some research, but none of that compares to what you’ll actually experience.

I didn’t know what I was doing and pretty much flew by the seat of my pants on the daily.

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The Birth Story of Delilah

The Birth Story of Delilah

A few weeks before Delilah was born, we decided to do a cervix check. My OBGYN said I was at 4cm and 80% effaced, so I was walking around like that for who knows how long before that. My doctor was sure I wouldn’t be in labor long and would be having her soon, but, I knew to take what she said with a grain of salt since she said the same thing when I was pregnant with Arya, and dilation isn’t really an indicator of labor progression. Basically, you can walk around like that for months.

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My Baby Girl is 2 Today

My Baby Girl is 2 Today

Time flies by when you’re older, but even more so when you’re a mom.

I am so thankful for this little girl who’s helped brighten my days with her cheerfulness and quirks. Life would be dull without her, let’s just put it that way.

In the blink of an eye, she went from my chubby and cute, helpless baby to my sweet, cute, independent toddler who’s full of personality.

In celebration of her birth, I decided I would take her to a bakery or ice cream shop since she has a major sweet tooth like mom. Every day, she’ll be like “mommy, chocolate?” which is cute but kind of bad. I’ve got her hooked on chocolate peanut butter. I mean,  no one can resist that and if you can, well then, you’re a weirdo. LOL

I ended up meeting up with my mom and sister and had lunch at DQ. I declined the ice cream because well, we don’t want any of that soft serve nonsense! We want the good, real stuff from Ice Cream Renaissance in Downtown, Vancouver.

I selected the brownie sundae to share which was delicious of course.

Everyone says to be prepared for the “terrible two’s” but I feel like everything has been a joy so far. I enjoy watching her learn and pick up new words, seeing her recognize animals, shapes, and foods. She amazes me every day with how intelligent she is.

Random Facts at 2:

She thinks farts are funny like mommy.

She likes to hide, which consists of putting things over her face and saying “where’s Arya?” If I can’t see mommy and daddy, mommy and daddy can’t see me either!

She loves picking her boogies and handing them to me.

She loves her tablet, almost a little too much. My grandma was amazed at how well she can control it since she herself needs help turning hers on. LOL

She loves books and story time.

She loves singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Every morning I go into her room after I see her awake on the baby monitor, she says “Hi, Mommy!” first thing. Melts my heart.

She only wants mommy to lay in bed with her at bedtime.

She is a total mama’s girl.

Looks more like daddy with his blue eyes, but has mama’s hair color. Mine started out strawberry-blonde like hers and now it’s a bit darker.

 

Although I want her to slow down on growing, I can’t wait to see what this little lady becomes.

Happy Birthday my baby girl, mama loves you.

Transitioning: No More Sleeping in Mommy and Daddys Bed

Transitioning: No More Sleeping in Mommy and Daddys Bed

If I had it my way, I’d still cosleep, but since daddy keeps complaining and friends and family make comments about how I need to get her out of our bed or it’ll only get harder, I figured I’d give transitioning a try with our 15-month-old.

Since she’s too tall for her crib, I decided to order these foam bed bumpers for our old queen bed that’s currently in our daughter’s room so that I know she’s safe from falling off of the bed. They came all rolled up like a sleeping bag in a box. I unrolled them and let them expand to their intended shape for a couple of hours.

After they fluffed up, I stuck them under the sheets and showed her her new bed.

She loved the security feeling of the padded bumpers. She was so excited and happy to be in her new big bed.

So 9 pm rolls around and I breastfed her in her room, but she was too amped up to sleep and wouldn’t settle down until around 11:30 which I then had to give the feeding another try. This time she was tired and decided to stop fighting it, so after she passed out, I put her in her bed and I quietly turned on the baby monitor and went to bed in my own bed with my husband.

I was too worried to sleep though, not knowing if these bumpers would actually work since she often wakes up every 2 hours with us and sits up and falls back asleep in a random position and spot on the bed. I figured she’d sit up, and then plop over the side and onto the floor. luckily it isn’t a huge fall since we don’t have the box spring and mattress on a frame ATM, but still.

I’m waking up every 30 minutes to an hour and glancing over at the baby monitor and she’ll be in a different position a couple times, but she did not fully wake or make one peep until morning, and I had the monitor on full blast so I could hear the slightest sounds over our AC.

I was amazed because she had constantly been waking me up every 2-6 hours to breastfeed since birth besides the occasional few times of sleeping through the night.

Overall…

Getting her into her own bed to sleep was not difficult, as every kid and situation is different. The difficult task for us is going to be weaning, which I’ll try to do around the age of 2 since she’s showing no signs of giving it up yet.

Either way, this is what works for us and has been successful the past 4 nights. I’m thankful it’s been easy, now I can catch up on some much-needed sleep!

UPDATE:

Now that she’s a toddler and weaned from the breast, we lay down with her in her bed until she falls asleep. I don’t like sleeping by myself either, so this is what we do and has actually worked well with our child.

When did you transition your child to their own bed?

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What Do You Know, I Have Another Niece…

What Do You Know, I Have Another Niece…

It’s only the 20th one. Lol No, just kidding.

I have 3 sisters.

my first sister had 2 girls, then a boy (guess 3rd time was the charm) and now shes due with another girl in October. Then she’ll have 3 kids under 3. I think she’s kinda crazy… but, that’s just me.

my 2nd sister, has 2 girls and just had her 3rd girl arrive August 1st (the reason for this post).

my 3rd sister has 1 girl, but i imagine she’ll be pregnant again in no time and it’ll be a girl.

And I of course have my daughter.

So as you can see, we’re an all girl posse.

My poor nephew Braylon doesn’t stand a chance with his siblings and cousins. Poor fella.

They say it’s all dependent on the male for which sex you get, but I think it goes a little deeper than that. I’ve found some information online (that I of course take with a grain of salt) that states some findings suggest that it also has to do with the vaginal PH. This results in the sperm of each deciding sex to live longer or die faster.

Apparently you can test your vaginal PH with a test strip and find out if you’re more alkaline (to get a boy) or acidic (to get a girl). A vaginal PH of between 4 and 4.5 is ideal for conceiving a girl, while a vaginal PH of between 7.5 to 9 is perfect for conceiving a boy.

I think im going to order the strips and have myself and my siblings do the test since I’m curious. And if we’re all acidic that would explain the reasoning for all the girls, at least in my mind it would.

Anyways, id like to welcome my new baby neice Alexis. Isn’t she adorable? She weighed 8lbs, 4oz and 19 and 3/4″ long. Her biggest baby yet, but still not bigger than mine. heh.

alexis

Has anyone tested the PH theory?