Week 2 Catch Up

Okay, I've realized a few things after our first week with Ella.  1) There's no way I have the time / stamina to update this blog with daily postings.  2) There's probably only a few of you out there who want daily updates about our baby.  So, to get caught up chronologically, I'll do a big post now about the Ella's second week at home, and then reduce down to posting only about the exciting events and anecdotes.  Fair deal?

Week Number 2 started out pretty busy.  On Monday (Labor Day), we went to the grocery store.  It took all three of us!  John manned the cart, Mom manned Ella in the stroller, and I manned the shopping list.  We purposefully went to the fancy grocery store in case either Ella or I ran out of steam before all the shopping was done -- the big store has a little cafe in the front, and I could take Ella and sit for a bit if we needed to.  Thankfully, Ella was a trooper and slept the entire time.  (I know I was not really prepared for my first public feeding!)  I, however, got really tired about 75% of the way through the store and needed to sit while John finished up the last few items and checked us out.  Overall, it went really well.  And it was another moment where I was thankful for family helpers because Mom taking care of Ella allowed us to move faster through the store.

We love our personalized pearls!

Tuesday was Mom's last day with us before she had to return home for the week.  John's mom came over for the morning to watch Ella while we ran a few errands before Mom needed to hit the road.  Good news -- I had some returns to make and was able to immediately swap the gift card (store credit and all that) for a few cover-up cardigans.  You know, no one honestly tell you that breastfeeding is messy.  Yes, people like to scare you with horror stories about leaky boobs, but no one gives good advice like dressing in layers or wearing scarves / wraps to cover possible leak marks.  So I was excited to immediately find a few lightweight cardigans that would work perfectly until the weather cools off enough for real sweaters and scarves.

Sleep update -- again, we continue to alternate between fussiness and calm sleeping.  Just to keep me on my toes, right, Ella? I gave up the struggle and just cuddled her a few nights so that we could both get a few hours of sleep.  I know, not the pediatrician-approved manner, but you get desperate after a while.

On Wednesday, John picked me up for lunch, and we ate with the in-laws. It's always nice to get out of the house.  I had found a few recipes for homemade Hot Pockets (here or here. Thanks, Pinterest!) because I felt bad about not getting John breakfast since Ella arrived.  Yes, I'm the wife that made her husband breakfast each morning.  I enjoyed the few extra minutes with him before he went off to work and I had to wake up about the same time anyway, so why not? Anyway, obviously, me making breakfast after being up all night feeding the little one was not really happening, so I wanted to find something that John could grab and take with him that wasn't a pre-packaged pile of chemicals or that came from a drive-through window. (Don't read too much into that sentence. I love me some store-bought Pop Tarts or Hardee's biscuits, but I also realize you can't eat them every day.)  So my afternoon endeavor was making a batch of sausage & egg hot pockets.  And I do mean an endeavor that took my whole afternoon!  Ella was a trooper and at least only got really demanding at stages when I could pause cooking to deal with her.  All in all, the hot pockets were a success with ready-made pizza dough.  I'm excited to try making my own dough on the next batch.

Thursday was fine for Ella, but sort of rough for me.  We did all the things we were supposed to (pumped excess milk, went on walkies in the neighborhood, took a bath), but I was feeling a little bit of the postpartum blues.  After having visitors and helpers pretty consistently for the past eleven days, Thursday was the first day I was fully on my own until John came home from work.  I made it through, but I learned that I need an adult visitor each day for my own mental health. Boo, postpartum hormones!

Friday, I was feeling much better though!  We lined up my sister-in-law to come visit and watch Ella while I took a morning nap, and she ended up staying most of the day.  We both kept laughing at ourselves throughout the day -- she was reluctant to over-stay her welcome (even though she really wanted to spend a lot of time with Ella), and I was reluctant to wear her out by asking her to stay (even though I really wanted the adult social time).  It was a case of "I'll go if you want me to" / "You can stay as long as you want" with neither of us coming out and saying what we wanted. We just had to laugh at our attempts at politeness. But, wait! There's more! After such good company and help with Ella all afternoon, I felt perky enough to make it back to the gym.  Yes, yes, I took it much easier and slower than normal, but it felt good to get the muscles moving again.  I feel like I lost a lot of muscle strength while pregnant, and I am ready to get it back!  John also kept commenting that my complexion color was looking much better, too.  Apparently, I had been really pale since delivering Ella and was only just now starting to come around.

Gotta get my cuddles in while
she's small and can't talk back!

Sleep update since Thursday -- it's a swaddling miracle!!  We decided to give the baby wrap another try; Ella had not liked how we first were attempting to swaddle her when we came home from the hospital, so we had not really tried to force her into it.  Well, it seems that we were just not wrapping her tightly enough (her hands kept popping out) or something, because she slept like a log Thursday and Friday nights!  Yes, I did still have to wake up several times in the night, but getting a nap that's a few hours long is much better than getting one that's only 45min or so.  (Sleep deprivation is no joke.  There's a reason why it's used in POW torture situations.)  We have decided to release the kraken during the day so she can stretch and build muscle tone, but then keep her wrapped up and calm for the nights.  There's definitely some kind of magic involved.

Whew! What a busy week!  I'll try to keep the posts shorter and with more pictures from now on.  Thanks for sticking with me this long.