5.30.2012

How is it Possible?!

This little girl can't be two months old already!!


But somehow, she is. Sigh.

Basically? Time hasn't slowed down a bit since she got here. In fact, I feel like it's sped up a bit. So with her being here and Joe being here, time is just speeding right by me. While I love every minute of it, sometimes I wish it'd slow down for me a little!


This sweet little girl is still such a bean! Not sure how much she weighs, but I'd guess at least 8 or 9 pounds by now. I should probably put her on our scale, but I'm not sure how accurate it'd be. She still mostly wears her NB clothes, although she's beginning to fit into some 0-3 month clothes. She definitely doesn't fit in NB sleepers anymore because she's got her momma's long legs and feet! Poor girl. =P Every time I put a 0-3 month sleeper on her (which swallows her midsection) I apologize for giving her those things. Like she knows. 

Hey guys!

She's firmly in size 1 diapers now! We stuffed her into those NB diapers for as long as we could, lol! I guess that's what happens when you order 240 diapers (I looooove ordering from Amazon!) and don't take growth spurts into consideration.


As you can see in the pictures above, she has been making faces at us! She's such a smiley, happy girl (unless she's having a growth spurt - then she's suuuuper cranky). She's started to coo and talk to us some, too, but not all the time. She's really kind of quiet about her talking so far. She squealed twice last week, both times just for me, and hasn't done it since! I have a feeling it won't be too much longer before she really finds her voice.


This girl loves her daddy, though she doesn't spend just a whole lot of time with him. I think most of that is because I'm breastfeeding, which still takes up a considerable amount of the day. I do let him bottle feed her on occasion, but not much because she prefers the real thing. 

She's a pretty great sleeper (again, unless she's having a growth spurt) - she's been sleeping through the night for several weeks now! She's only woken me up before 0500 once in the last 3ish weeks. I still count waking up at 0500 or 0600 as sleeping through the night since, theoretically, I could start my day that early. If I were a crazy person. Every now and then she'll sleep until 0700, but that's not really the norm. Hopefully it will be in a few weeks! During the day her naps are about 1.5 hours long, though sometimes she'll go longer. Which puts her eating every 2.5-3.5 hrs. During her growth spurt last week, she about killed me and ate about every 2 hrs. Thankfully, though, she still slept through the night. I guess she was just tired from being awake so stinkin' much during the day.

All in all, we've got ourselves one adorable little girl. I mean, seriously. Look at this face!

LOVE.

Charlotte, Mommy and Daddy love you SOOOO much! We are lucky to have you and don't know what we'd do without you. You're already growing into such a sweet little girl and we look forward to watching you grow and change even more.

5.21.2012

Another First

A couple weeks ago, we decided we should probably give Charlotte her first bottle. "They" tell you not to give a breastfed baby a bottle until breastfeeding is well established. I felt like we were doing pretty good, and I was really kind of curious how she'd do with a bottle. Even though I have a Medela breast pump, I didn't have any nipples or rings or anything yet. So, we used what a good bloggie/twitter friend had given me - Tommy Tippee.

Source: toysrus.com via Sarah on Pinterest


Since this brand is supposed to be breastfeeding friendly, I had high hopes. I had Joe feed her the bottle because I read somewhere that babies who are breastfed take a bottle better from someone other than mom. It made sense to me because, well, she expects to get something else from me. ;-)


It started out sort of okay, but went quickly downhill as you can see by the flailing of arms. I think the main problem is just that the nipple was too big. I mean, geez, the thing covers her whole face! I also think that the milk came out pretty quick from it. She doesn't get it that fast from me, so I think it sorta freaked her out. She ate the whole thing, but it was definitely a struggle.

I had two doctor's appointments this week, {both for very different things} so I was hoping we could get her to take a bottle. You know, just in case.

Source: diapers.com via Sarah on Pinterest


The Medela nipples and rings I ordered {thanks again, Amazon!} finally came in and I was eager to see if these worked any better. They actually just revamped their nipples and made them more BF friendly. Anyway, I had Joe give her the bottle again and...

Don't you just love the shirtless Daddy and baby? =)

It was completely successful!! She didn't fuss a bit and seemed very happy with what she was getting. It still comes out way easier for her, but it doesn't just pour out like it seemed to with the Tommy Tippee bottle. Plus, look at the size difference! In case you didn't know, I have an itty bitty baby. I think she needs itty bitty bottles to match, don't you? ;-)

I actually left her for the very first time on Friday. I left her with Joe, who is really the only person I'd trust to leave her alone with right now. {Well, maybe other family members too, but they're not here.} I had an appointment at Tripler and we also had a farewell dinner to attend that evening. I didn't want to leave her, but I knew that two outings in one day would be a little bit much for her. So she stayed home with Daddy. According to him, she gobbled down lunch. This is the picture I got on my way home:


I'm thinking she had a good time with her daddy while I was gone. What do you think?


5.18.2012

Sad But True

Remember how I said that we did a little bit of shopping last weekend? Well, during our mini shopping trip I grabbed some of this from WalMart:




For some unknown reason, I had been really reluctant to try it. I mean, it's really kind of strange considering the number of people I see tweet/blog/Facebook/talk about how amazing it is. Maybe I was afraid it wouldn't live up to the hype? I'm not sure.

But this weekend, I saw it and being in a go-with-the-flow mood I grabbed some. Like the true fraidy-cat I am, I had my husband try it first. I had to make sure it was actually worth trying and whose opinion do I trust more?

So I tried it.

The verdict?

L-O-V-E, love. I guess you guys were right all along! I just didn't know what I was missing. And now, sadly, I am out of this delicious Nutella and grocery shopping day is still a few days away. I don't know how I'll survive....

Also. I think I may have to search for some Nutella-using recipes. Suggestions? And what do you guys put Nutella on? Toast? Waffles? Pancakes?

5.17.2012

The Little Miss

I've been told that I need to stop in and update y'all on how we're doing. You know who you are. ;-)

Well, we're doing pretty great! So great that, in fact, I feel like we're kind of boring these days.


Charlotte is doing pretty great and it's making me a very happy momma. I mentioned before she arrived that we were going to do the Babywise method for sleep training and such. For the first couple of weeks, I wasn't sure that I was doing anything right. In fact, I did a few Babywise no-nos like rocking her to sleep and using her Sleep Sheep as a sleep prop. But really, in those first couple weeks, you do what works. She was already sleeping in her room, in her own bed, so I figure we were ahead of the game already. Once my in-laws left I realized I couldn't hold her all the time or spend time rocking her to sleep for every nap. So back to Babywise we went! 

I've made pretty good use of the blog Chronicles of a Babywise Mom, and I found out about the 4 S's. Basically, it's what you do before you put your baby down for a nap or bedtime. You can click the link to find out about it, but it's been a lifesaver for us. Since Charlotte is still so young, she's adjusted easily to the pre-nap/bedtime routine change. For the most part, she's on a 2.5-3.5 hour eat/wake/sleep schedule. Which basically means she eats every 2.5 - 3.5 hours, is awake for about 45 minutes and then goes down for a nap. Some days she sleeps 1.5 hours, other days it's 60 mins and every once in a while she wakes up after 45 mins. It's a toss up every day, but on a good day she sleeps for 1.5 hours at every nap. 

Just recently she's started sleeping through the night! [Insert Allelujah chorus here] So far she only does it every other night or so, but I am totally okay with that! The first time she did it, I about had a heart attack. I woke up at about 0500, freaking out thinking she was dead {you know you did it too =P} and in serious pain because my boobs were full from missing a feeding. Of course I woke Joe up too {remember, he's on a weird schedule now} and we both rushed to her room to find her sound asleep. I went ahead and woke her up to feed her because I had a feeling that if I pumped, she'd just wake up in an hour. So, the first night she went from 2130 to 0500 without a feeding. The next few times she's slept through the night she's gone until about 0600. Just a couple days ago, she went until 0700. That, my friends, was fan-freakin-tastic! ;-) 

According to the Babywise book, most infants who start out on the Babywise method are sleeping through the night by 8 weeks. Unless something changes, I feel pretty confident that she'll be sleeping through the night pretty regularly by then. And if not, as long as she gives me good sleep every other night I think we'll get through it. =)

I think it goes without saying that we're doing great on the Babywise method. I really, really don't understand the problems people have with it. My baby is perfectly healthy, growing and happy


Though I can't always catch it on camera, she's all smiles these days and is beginning to "talk" to us every once in a while. I love, love, love it!

5.15.2012

The First of Many

Yesterday was my very first Mother's Day. It was a happy day, but kind of surreal. Though I guess the last month and a half has been surreal. Sometimes I just really can't believe that she's here and she's all ours. =)


Joe bought me a gift from Etsy, but didn't realize it would take a while to get here so I don't have it yet. Which is fine with me. If there's one thing I've learned in this military life, it's that it's really not totally necessary to celebrate something on a specific day. It's just a day, even if it's significant. Anyway. Saturday, we did a little bit of shopping and I got a super cute maxi dress, some new nail polish and a nursing tank top. I think those will hold me over till I get my "real" gift. ;-)

Sunday morning, Joe made me some french toast for breakfast! The funny thing is that I thought I didn't like french toast until recently. =P While I was in the hospital they served it for breakfast and I figured I might as well try it since I didn't have to pay for it. I was still skeptical, but it was there in front of me. And what do you know... I liked it! And Joe offered to make it for me for Mother's Day breakfast. I gotta say I liked his better. And now I want more. Figures.

Charlotte was nice to her mommy and slept through the night again! I woke her up on Sunday morning so that we could get on schedule and be at church on time. She was very cooperative...before church, that is. I guess that's just the way things go sometimes!

All dressed up and ready for church!

It was really nice to be back at church this weekend, and especially for my first Mother's Day. Not all churches do it, but ours gave a pretty plant to the oldest mother and the mother with the youngest child. I'll let you guess who the latter was. ;-) Now let's hope I don't kill it! 

Even though we ended the day with Joe going to work, a power outage, and a very upset baby, it was a pretty good Mother's Day. And really, how could it not be when I get to be this precious little girl's mommy?


I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

5.11.2012

Military Spouse Appreciation Day

Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day! Today I am linking up with Roller Coaster and Household 6 Diva for a little celebration of our day. {Also, today is my mom's birthday! Not that the two or related... Or that she reads my blog... Anyway, moving on...}


For those of you visiting from the blog hop, I'm Sarah and this is my blog. Welcome! And as the locals say, Aloooooooha!

{One of my maternity photos. I have no great recent photos of just me. Sorry, folks.}

I named my blog GI Joe's Wife mainly because my hubby's name is Joe. {I know, real original. ;-)} I started blogging when he went to basic training almost 3 years ago and quickly fell in love with the milspouse blogging community. I had no idea what to expect when I started blogging, so to find a whole bunch of awesome friends was a little surprising. Definitely a good surprise. =)

I blog about pretty much everything...  Army life, the ups and downs of living in Hawaii {there really can be a downside sometimes!}, deployment {we completed our first year long deployment last June}, family stuff, sewing {and other crafty things}, and - most recently - all things motherhood.

A little bit about me... I'm {obviously} an Army wife and head over heels in love with my hubby and our sweet little girl, Charlotte.


She was born almost two months ago, and I can hardly believe it!! It seems like just yesterday I was welcoming Joe home from Iraq and now we have this sweet little homecoming baby in our arms. =)


So, that's me, my blog and my little family! I haven't been around too much lately - still getting used to being a mommy - but please hang out here, take a look around, and say hi! =) Once you get done with that, you can come find me on Twitter. I'm almost always on Twitter because, well, I just can't live without my tweeps! ;-)

5.01.2012

How Time Flies...

This past Saturday, my sweet baby girl turned one month old!!


I can hardly believe it's been a month...although sometimes it feels like she's been here with us forever. I'm glad it feels that way, because Joe and I felt the same way when we got married. It was just a natural change for us. Anyway.

It's been one heck of a month, that's for sure. My MIL arrived on the island the day after we came home from the hospital and stayed to help for 2 weeks {my FIL also came out to visit, during her 2nd week here}. And, omg, I didn't lift a finger while she was here. Well, other than to feed/take care of Charlotte. She even got up with me in the middle of the night to feed her! I didn't make dinner, do laundry or dishes...nothing. I slept a lot and feed Charlotte a lot. That was it. Oh, and I cried a lot too. Hello, postpartum hormones.

That's what I really wasn't prepared for. No one told me I'd feel like crying all the stinkin' time for no apparent reason. Or that I'd cry because I was overwhelmed and exhausted by this whole motherhood thing. I also wasn't told that breastfeeding is incredibly painful (at least for the first few weeks) and that I'd want to cry every time she latched on. Oh, and a word to you new moms-to-be: getting up to go to the bathroom a zillion times a night does NOT prepare you for the 2 and 4 am wake up calls. Do not be deceived.

So, what's happened during the last month?

Charlotte got her first sponge bath at home.

Daddy wanted to be the first to buy/bring her flowers.
{I cried at the sweetness.}

Her icky umbilical stump finally fell off and she got her first real bath!

We went to church and dedicated Charlotte to our Lord and Savior. =)

We took a much better family photo at church.

Charlotte spent lots of time getting loved on by Bossi and Pop. =)

And she finally started enjoying the swing!

I'm not sure how much she weighs now, but she's definitely grown!! However, my little bean is still very much wearing her newborn clothes and diapers. I have a feeling we'll be in those for a while. =) I suppose it can only be expected when you have a 5lb 5oz baby! She's a lot more awake these days, though she pretty much always falls asleep during her feedings. She's still kind of a sleepy baby... I have to wake her for some of her daytime feedings, mainly because I want her to be awake during the day and sleep better at night. She usually goes between 4 and 5 hours at night which is very nice. {It's sad the things I'm happy about these days...}

Last week was my first week alone with Charlotte - meaning Joe went back to work. =P The first day was a little rough, but we're getting the hang of being on our own will Daddy is at work. Sadly, they put Joe on a swing shift. What that means is he goes to PT at either 1400 or 1430 and doesn't get home until around 0200. =( I know I should be thankful that he doesn't have to go anywhere to do this training exercise thing, but nights with little miss priss are kinda hard. She's always a little bit fussier at night and my patience starts to wear thin. Plus, I really just don't like being alone at night. I'm hoping this schedule is only going to last one month instead of two, but with the Army I might as well prepare for it to last two. {Side note: who in their right mind schedules a brand new dad to work nights!? So considerate. Oh wait. I forgot I was talking about the Army. Sigh.}

We've certainly had our ups and downs the past month, but it's all worth it when I see this sweet, pretty little girl smiling at me! {So she's not smiling in the pic, deal with it. =}


I know I've been off the radar for the last month, but I'm hoping I'll get the hang of this mommy thing soon and find some time to get back to blogging regularly! Until then you can keep up with me on Twitter. I'm always on the Twitter. ;-)