Order of Chicken McNuggets and Fat Loss in a Can, please

Being a mom is pretty hard. On a variety of different levels. To actually have carried the child is pretty traumatizing to your body. Just think about it. You have somewhat of a good figure when you get pregnant, then your uterus and everything in its way blows up to the size of a fricking watermelon... A WATERMELON!!!! Then all of a sudden the watermelon is a removed and you are supposed to be normal looking again. Ever blow up a balloon.... keep it blown up for 9 months, then let the air out??? Chances are, that little balloon will not be the same small shape.

I've had three watermelons in my uterus and it definitely is not the same. I'm traumatized. It's traumatized. When I got pregnant the first time, I really didn't know what I was doing. I gained about SIXTY pounds. Yep, that's right. 6 - 0 - pounds. I weighed more than my husband who is 6 foot 4 inches. I blame it on the two trips downstairs to the cafe in the building in which I worked. I would stop for breakfast, then get to work and be hungry again. Twice. And the sciatica prevented me from working out. Yep, I'm going to blame it on that. Took me a while but I finally took off the weight and then some but it took a lot of hard work and the help of a small village (aka weight watchers) and throwing out all bad food in the house. It helped that my husband is a health nut and would blow an air horn every time I put a carb in my mouth. He was pretty supportive but I'm sure he got annoyed with me. I'm like the person who asks someone else to wake them up at a certain time... then that time comes and they come in to wake you up and you scream at them because you don't want to be woken up. I told my husband, PLEASE HELP ME DO THIS, I HAVE SIZE 4 JEANS I WANT TO WEAR. Then when time came and I was eating something bad, he would "gently remind me" and I would bite his head off and scream and he would throw his arms up in confusion. I'm a very angry person when I don't have carbs.

Being a mom on the go is pretty hard, especially when my kids have all this yummy food and I so want to finish what's on their plate. Ever go out to dinner and order a kids meal and you as the mom end up finishing the meal??? Yep that is me. I think the last straw for me after we had our first kid was I went to a party and the person I was talking to said something about a woman across the room. They mentioned that they didn't know she was pregnant and how excited they were for her. I knew for a 100% fact that SHE WAS NOT PREGNANT but that was definitely a maternity top because I had the same one. I prayed and prayed that this person did not go up and say something to her. I didn't want to be that person. The person who 10 months after the baby is born is still in her maternity clothes.

After the second child, I decided to resort to weight watchers. That for me was pretty easy and I made my goal within about 5 weeks. I loved it because you could add "activity points" and get to "earn food back". I was the youngest and most active person there by far. I think they looked at me a little weird when on my chart converting activity to food I put "14 mile run" and they didn't even know how many points to give me back. I'm pretty sure no one had ever run that far and asked that question. I do thank them for helping me. Another challenge was between my second and third child, we were actually pregnant for third time. I made it to second trimester when I found out that we had lost the baby. I had already gone into my maternity clothes and gained about 10 pounds because not only did I gain weight from the baby but it was also a Christmas holiday which I blame on the vast amount of food we consumed down in Florida. Getting home and being in stretchy pants was nice, but when we miscarried, I felt horrible that I had added some pounds and now didn't have any reason for it. I worked harder then ever. Emotionally it was upsetting because the weight reminded me of the loss, but over time, I stopped eating my kids Chicken McNuggets and my body and my mind healed.

I've decided now that since I'm 6 months post baby with my last child, our third and wonderful gift from God, that I'm not as excited about getting back into those size 4 pants as I once was. I guess I'll never have another excuse to not fit into them. I have no more maternity clothes in the house so I pretty much live in workout clothes because after all, they are stretchy. I have a goal of getting back into my size 4s in the next few months but right now I'm enjoying my light beer sitting on the back porch watching my children play in the backyard. I'm not that far off my goal, and I know it will come. But I'm really in no hurry. At least not this week. I've gotten back into the workout routine once I picked my uterus off the floor and healed my broken foot, so I guess I just need to get my kids back into school to focus on getting back to myself. As a mom, the hardest thing to do for me is to keep up with things that I NEED to do..... like workout, run, read books and find time for me. Not Mommy, but ME.

Kindergarten starts in two weeks. My oldest is going off to "real school". Going on a bus. I'm kind of sad and kind of happy. I'm happy for her to start this new adventure. At our elementary school, they have this event on the first day of school called "Boo Hoo Yahoo". It's for a social for parents after they drop their kids off at school or have their kids jump on the bus. They can't either come and cry "boo hoo" that their child is going to school and all grown up or they can cry "yahoo" that they are super excited that their kids are going to school and they will have no more kids at home. I guess I will be doing both this year. I'm not too sad since I have two other kids still at home but I'm a little sad that my little one is old enough to go on this adventure by herself. I know she will do well. She makes friends very easily and I know that this is the first step that she has to do on her own.

I'm writing this I guess because I'm day 3 of my new workout program and healthy eating kick. A friend recently posted on how she is going "carb free" and I am attempting to do this. The only carb I have had today is this beer and so far I feel great. I have been doing TURBO FIRE workouts and P90X with my husband. I can't wait to see the results.

As for now, I'm enjoying my kids and trying to find time for ME, not for mommy. Mommy has plenty of time during the day.

Happy Baby Thoughts:)
R

That kid stole my stuff.... KID LABELS - MOM APPROVED

For the past few years, my kids have been going to some sort of school. Starting at 18 months, my oldest went to Mother's Day Out, then Montessori Preschool, now off to Kindergarten. You have to pack extra clothes, sippy cups, lunches. We have lost shoes, jackets, hats, lunch boxes etc. One time I actually some a girl walk out of school with my kids shoes on. Really? Well I guess I forgot to label her shoes! I was on a mission to find some good labels. I quickly discovered LABELYOURSTUFF.COM. It's a really great site that has all sort of labels for every occasion. I'll share with you some of my favorites.

Bag Tags: I have three girls. I have so many bags I have no where to put them. Label Your Stuff has some awesome labels. They have great designs. My oldest recently picked out this one for her school bag. We put her name and this unicorn picture on the front and we put our address and my phone number on the back. Great idea. For those of you who have children with allergies, they make an awesome Allergy Alert Tag. My second daughter was allergic to Soy, Dairy and Corn for the first three years of her life. We got her these allergy alert tags. We put one on her bag and one on her lunch box.

Another great option for Allergies are the allergy alert stickers. For my middle bean, we put these stickers on her back for the first few weeks of school until the teachers and aides were able to UNDERSTAND that she could not have certain foods. It really came in handy. They teachers loved them. If you have a child with allergies, consider getting these. 

Another great option from LabelYourStuff.com are the shoe labels. Especially during the winter, my kids were taking off their shoes at school and putting on boots. It helped the teachers identify the shoes. I found that these shoe labels lasted the entire school year. Instead of putting their first name on the labels I just got a bunch with our last name on them. That way they are interchangeable between children and it saves me money. Consider getting a "starter pack" which comes with several different types of labels.

My favorite labels are the WATERPROOF LABELS (by the way the shoe labels can be found in the waterproof section as they are waterproof. score.) These waterproof labels are great for baby bottles, sippy cups, plastic containers that go in lunch boxes. I have a packet of labels for each child with their first and last name. These have saved me several times as I tend to forget bottles and sippy cups.

Last but not least, another great label is the "gift label". We are constantly going to birthday parties and I splurged on these labels. They are cute, easy to use. I even gave some to a friend of mine as a gift for THEIR KIDS! They come with different designs and even for christmas! Once I stuck one on a bottle of wine :)

Bottom line, is if you have kids, I recommend this site. They have sales throughout the year. I believe they are having a promo right now for July - use coupon code "LABELS10".  I hope you like them as much as I do. They also have iron-on labels.  I own them as they came in my original "camp pack" that I bought a few years ago, but I don't own an iron so never used them! Give them a try.

Happy Baby Thoughts!
:)R

WAHMIES WET BAGS - because kids are sticky and wet

It seems that the second wave of friends are now starting to have babies. I have tons of friends who have kids who are around my kids' age but now I find that I'm going to a lot of "first time" baby showers. I love doing that. I love going to see the glowing mom and listen to her excitement. She is going to go through what I went through 6 years ago when I had my first shower. I like to be on the "outside" looking in. I was reminded today as I was shopping for a friend's baby shower about a great product that I have recently discovered. Here is the 411.

So as a mom of a little baby, you quickly find out that things get wet. Sippy cups leak in your purse. Things get knocked over and spill. You get thrown up on. Or they throw up on your neighbor. Kids pee out of their diaper or pee on you. Or pee on the floor. Or have a poop blow out in the store and you have forgotten a spare set of clothes. I remember being in Babies R Us several years ago with my oldest and she had a horrible blow out while she was in the shopping cart. I started to panic. I ran out of wipes, had to run to the diaper section and buy more wipes. Then I realized I had just used her last outfit for the last blow out she had right before we left so I had to rip the tags off of the new outfit I grabbed from Aisle 7 and put it on her. I think one time I even wheeled around my baby in just a diaper because I refused to buy more clothes. Not sure why I didn't have any with me.... maybe I just decided I had enough and decided I wanted to make as many people stare at me as possible and left my child naked in the cart. Anyways, back to the product, what do you do with the wet clothes? Say you are at a park and you need to stash things somewhere. You DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT, want to put that wet outfit in your purse. I've done that. I decided I need to find some sort of dri-fit bag that could hold things. Thus the  new product.

These bags are called WAHMIES. I love them. They are super waterproof. They are a durable, washable and have cute prints. They come in three sizes.... small, regular and all day size. We only have the small and the all day size. They are designed for my moms who use cloth diapers. As you know, crunchy moms like that need all the waterproofing they can get their hands on. The small holds one diaper and one outfit. I use them as a small holder for one small onsie, a small packet of wipes and a diaper. It's the perfect size for me to go to the gym. I actually keep it in my diaper bag so I have everything in one spot. The bag comes in handy in case I need to put anything wet in there. The regular size bag I believe holds a few diapers. Either way you can't lose. I have several of the small ones. I actually sometime just give the small bag to my husband so he doesn't have to lug the diaper bag to and from the gym or wherever he is taking the baby.

What I have discovered is my FAVORITE bag is the ALL DAY BAG. Its HUGE. It comes with a great quality snap hook on the top. I have one bag for swimming. Ever see that mom who lugs their kids to the pool with the huge open top boat bag spilling out with towels, suits, sunscreen, sand shovels, goggles???? Well that's me. I'm dropping things left and right. Well recently I decided to downgrade and not use that huge bag. When we go to swim lessons, I take my All Day bag. I put two towels, change of clothes for each and their goggles. When they are old enough, they will each get a day bag. My oldest loves carrying it because it's pretty and has a carrying handle. So I put their wet towels, wet suits and goggles in there when we leave. Take it directly to the laundry room, empty contents into the washer (sans goggles of course) and throw the bag in there as well. Viola. Done. I love this bag. It's a wet bag. It's a mom's best friend.

There are so many uses for this bag. So my suggestion to you is to check them out. If you are a seasoned mom going to a first time mom shower, think of giving them these. By the way, I buy them on Ebay. Much cheaper.

Let me know your stories. I hope I'm not alone in my debacles of being a crazy mommy running around the store because I've just been thrown up on. The best was one time I actually had to cut a onsie off my child because it was so bad I didn't want to pull it over her head and drag the stuff through her hair. And also, as a third time mom who is not having any more kids, I don't even save the badly soiled outfit. In the trash it goes, it's not even worth the worry. Either way, would have been great to have these bags in a lot of situations that I had with my first child.

If you do get them, I hope you enjoy them. Or give them to a new mom, I'm sure they will love them!

Happy Baby Thoughts :)
R

How NOT to make your baby scream her head off - Mom's Fav New Tool

I think the worst day of my life as a new mommy was the day that I carelessly cut my daughter's fingernails. As we all know, baby's fingernails are always sharp and long. They scratch her face, your face, your arms, her belly. They are CONSTANTLY growing. You trim them one day, the next morning they are razor sharp and you have to do it again. When you walk through the baby store, you see lots of infant fingernail clippers. There are ones that look like adults, there are cheap ones and expensive ones. I think now they have the one with the magnifying glass and a flashlight on the end. We just had the plain Safety 1st ones that have a bigger handle. The problem with those are when you are attempting to cut their nails you really can't see "the underside" of the nail and you don't know when you hit skin. You don't know what's going on until you hear the shreeeeeeking coming from your child.

It happened to me one day when I was on vacation visiting my parents. My oldest was a few months old. I remember the night vividly. We were sitting on the couch and I had the TV in the background. I had just gotten off the phone. I started to cut little bean's nails and then I heard it. Screaming. OH MY GOD. I have never heard a child scream so loud in my life. I was thinking I was going to remove the nail clipper to find I had cut off her entire finger, but of course it was a little snip. It was bleeding a little but boy did she scream. I was crying. She was screaming. I called for my mom. I felt like a horrible mother. What the hell just happened? I caused pain to my child. Something I did hurt my child. My life was over. Okay, well if you know me, I'm a little dramatic. Anyways, I'm sure it was no big deal and that everyone has had this happen to them but wow did I feel bad. She calmed down after a little bit but I will never forget the look on her face. A happy smiling child...then a smile turned upside down, then a pink face turned red and she screamed and screamed. Cracked my heart right in half.

After I recovered from that I vowed never to cut her fingernails again. She of course was not scarred by it. I really just nicked the quick of her nail but to me it was traumatizing. I guess the moral of my story is, I know several people who have done this to their child so it made me feel better to know I was not alone.

And so, as a mom who loves gadgets and the fact that I'm in a constant search of something that's better than what I have, I wanted to see what other solution could I find to my fear of cutting my children's nails (by the way, the same thing goes with my dog..... I cut her nails once and never again - I pay the vet to do it).

This is my solution!!!! I recently found an article in a parenting magazine. It was a mom who reviewed this product and loved it. She too had cut her child's nails a little too short and caused excruciating pain to her infant. She too had been a bad mom. I ordered this product when my third daughter was born. I was a little hesitant because it's TEN DOLLARS for a nail clipper but let me tell you, I love it. I'm going to give it to every new mom I know. I'm sure there are other ones like it out there at the baby store, but I like this one. It got good reviews at Amazon.com (my favorite online store).

PIYO PIYO BABY NAIL SCISSORS (Precision made for baby's nails)

This product comes with a cute cover. Decorated with a fuzzy little duck. If you are going to be a new mom or dad, consider getting this tool. Or you could just wait until you try and cut your child's nails. Remember, the first few weeks the nails are LITERALLY PAPER THIN. My doc said don't try to cut their nails, just get some emory boards and file them down a bit. I love those shirts that have the hand covers on them. Or the little mittens. Once they are a little older you can actually cut their nails.

As a mom of three girls and a mom who has traumatized herself and her child, I highly recommend these. You can actually see the underneath when you cut and you can not only see the top of the nail but also the bottom. All from a good angle. Good precision and stability. If you don't believe me, read the reviews on amazon. You won't regret the purchase. 

That's my two cents. 

Happy Baby Thoughts

:)R

Car Seat Dilemma - 5pt or Booster?

So many people have different opinions on car seats. Do you need the top model? Are they all the same? What about using a 5pt harness for a longer period of time? Did you know they actually expire? When do you turn them forward facing? I have tons of these questions and I need other moms and dads to chime in.

Lets start with the last question. When do you turn them around??? According to a NYTimes article in 2011, Children should be rear facing until age 2. The advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics,  is based primarily on a 2007University of Virginia study finding that children under 2 are 75 percent less likely to suffer severe or fatal injuries in a crash if they are facing the rear. Now I turned my first child around the day before her first birthday. The second one we turned around about a week after her first birthday. Now with the third, they are telling us until age 2. Will you follow that recommendation? I know all of our children survived when they were forward facing at 1 but it only takes one time for that to change. I know it's frustrating to have a kid backwards. They can't see anything and it's easier just in general. Since my kids are so small, I think I better listen to the recommendations. You see online about those horrible accidents and the kid lived because they were backwards. Good advice. What will you do?


As for which seat to use after they are in their "convertible car seat", I have to recommend a model in which the child can stay in the 5pt harness for up to 85 pounds. Yep, 85 pounds. It's called a Frontier 85 from Britax and I love it. It's not more expensive than the other seats such as a Marathon or a Boulevard. Both my children who are 3 and 5 have them. I know people complain about keeping their 5 year old 50 pounds kid in a 5 point harness but until she complains and it becomes a daily struggle that I can't handle it anymore, she is staying in it. I got her the fun cow print so she actually loves her seat. She shows it to everyone. It's got a flat bottom and it's very roomy. You don't have to re-thread the straps so it just lifts up and the straps get bigger. My mini 24 pounds 3.5 year old is also in one. Hers is on the lowest setting. My 5 year old still has plenty of room. We went from the Graco Nautilus to this one. The crotch strap on the Nautilus was getting too tight and it was on the largest setting. Could we use a booster? Well, for the older one, yes. The younger one, no. I don't know why I don't like them. I just don't. They feel flimsy. I guess we could use the Nautilus as a booster, but we have it in dad's car for the 3 year old. I'm just not ready to rely on a seat belt for a child. Am I being paranoid? Yes. Is this making it harder on myself? Probably. I just hope no one tells my kids that they don't have to be in a 5pt harness at 5 years old and they can be in the one with the seat belt. Here is the Frontier 85. I paid $219 for it on AlbeeBaby.com. We have one in hot pink and one in cow print :

Do you see how it's flat at the bottom? I like that. Lots of room for the kids legs. I like the double cup holder. The backrest goes up and down. The arm rests are not huge. I'm just a big fan. Check online for good deals but I find amazon.com and albeebaby.com have good sales.


If you want to be more informed, check out these videos on the benefits of keeping your child in a 5pt harness longer. 


Kyle Miller's Story of 5pt Harness Safety
Belle's Gift - 5pt Harness Story


As for seats expiring, they really do. The plastic begins to breakdown. Even if it has not been in a crash and has been stored covered and inside, they still expire. We have to get a new convertible car seat for our third daughter which is why I'm looking now and starting to think about new seats. Back to the research board on getting a rear facing to front facing car seat. Hopefully this is the last or second to last one that I will ever buy!


Happy Baby Thoughts :)
R

Baby's First Foods

Something I always had questions about was first foods for baby. I think I started with my first child around 4-5 months. That was over 5 years ago so it's kind of a blurr so I'll touch on my last two kids and relay what I learned there.

How to know they are ready? My kids always "told" me when they were ready. My newest bean is almost 5 months and about a week ago I noticed she was smacking her lips together. My doctor always said that was a sign. Last week we started with a little rice cereal mixed with formula. I made it as thin as possible. She didn't quite get how to put it in her mouth. She smushed it around around and stuck out her tongue. I tried a few spoonfuls, she didn't really get any in there. I tried a few hours later. The next day we started with some sweet potatoes. My doctor always said try the same vegetable for three days... as many times as she is interested, then move on to a next vegetable. But give it three days. If she tolerates it (meaning doesn't get sick etc) then you can go onto the next step. Little Bean is doing great on sweet potatoes right now. We have done three days of that, today we are trying carrots.

Now what can go wrong you ask??? Well lets revisit my second child which as you have already been told has had MASSIVE digestive issues. We didn't start her on cereal/solid foods until 6 months or so. Some background information: The middle bean was projectile vomiting for 10-12 times a day from birth. I'm not talking spit up, I'm talking across the room, hit the wall, soak your mother kind of vomiting. You had to see it to believe it. We started putting rice cereal in her bottles when she was young per recommendation from the doctor to help her keep her food down. I think it just made it worse. She just threw that stuff up and it made her choke on it. She got so constipated that we had to put corn syrup in her bottle. Again, made it worse. It was a cyclical issue and it was one problem after another. We decided giving her "real food" was just adding fuel to the fire. We tried Oatmeal to start with (since we figured she had enough of the rice) and she was pretty miserable. I think when those issues were solved we did the solid food. She was still really plugged up. Just kind of a bad experience. Now for our first child, we never had those problems and we are hoping and assuming that this newest and last bean won't have any issues. SOOOO, the middle bean started with organic sweet potatoes, then carrots, then green beans, then we went to the fruits... apples, pears, prunes. Eventually she was eating normal but we went VERY VERY SLOW. You don't have to do that. That is the game plan for the newest addition. Slow and steady to make sure she has no reactions.

What type of baby food you ask???? Well with my first one, we bought a mini Cuisinart Food Processor with some credit we had left over from our wedding. Its a great little gadget. I boiled my own sweet potatoes, peas, apples, and anything else I could think of. We had a great book called HOMEMADE BABY FOOD PURE AND SIMPLE. Loved that book. Probably not in print any more but you get the idea that there are plenty of books out there. Now if you are a first time parent, go ahead and make your own baby food. Go out and get the Baby Bullet by Magic Bullet. I would have been all over that when I was a first time mom. Second time mom???? Well, if you are able to do it, then that's awesome. I'm a third time mom. I don't even go to the store. I buy ALL MY BABY FOOD AND DIAPERS ONLINE. Never go into a store. That's my rule.

We buy organic. I figure if I can't make it, it might as well be organic. We buy the cases of Earth's Best baby food. They come in starter packs. First Fruits. First Veggies.

When they get into the Stage 2 and they can tolerate thicker foods, we move onto the next step. Earth's Best makes some awesome mixes of food. My favorite are the fruit and grain combinations. We definitely are going to order online. Try Amazon.com, Diapers.com, Drugstore.com, Target.com. I love free shipping. Anywhere that has sales. My kids tend to eat TONS but don't buy too much in advance as you never know if they will like a certain type. Also, remember they make pouches of babyfood now and the company Plum Organics makes those spoons that screw onto the top of them. Check this out:

What was your kid's favorite babyfood?

As for the STAGE 3. We never really made it there. By the time my kids had teeth and could chew those little noodles in there, we were onto table food. I started with soft avocados, then moved onto edamame and cut them up after I took them out of their shell. They loved them. I tried to do a few jars of the Stage 2 combinations and some table food. Again, it depends on when they had teeth. My children had teeth early. A full mouth by age one. No wonder my 5 year old has lost 2 teeth and has 3 more loose. 

As for what to put your kid into when they are starting out? My mini bean is in her swing right now and I'm getting ready to give her more carrots. Just letting her tummy settle. She will be eating in that thing or her car seat until she can sit up and go in her high chair. 

Speaking of high chair, one chair I always recommend for moms and dads is a great product from Fisher Price. It's the Healthy Care Booster Seat. We take this thing everywhere. Restaurants, friends houses. We use it in our own kitchen. Love love love. It comes in two models.... one with a tray top and one without one. DON'T get the one with a top, you will never use it. Best $30 we ever spent.

Well better go finish feeding the baby. By the way, feeding solids helps my kids sleep better. :) Yeah for sleeping more. 

Let me know your thoughts on feeding.

Happy Baby Thoughts

:)R

0 to 1...1 to 2...or 2 to 3???

The most common question I get when I'm at the store as a mother of three girls ages 5 and under -besides for "Ma'am can I help you????" (usually from someone who has only one child or two young children is.... "was it harder to go from 1 to 2, or 2 to 3 kids???". I'm pretty sure I asked someone that same question when I was pregnant with my third child. You are always a little concerned about taking the next step... having the next child. Will you be able to handle that second child? Will that third child throw you over the edge??? I think for some people the answer to that question depends on their children. Did the first child sleep through the night pretty quickly? Were they up all night still with the first one when the second one was born? I was asked this exact question a few weeks ago from a mom who was pregnant with her third. She asked how old my two oldest were and figured out they are the same age as hers. I told her that of course the worst was behind her, that having the third was not that bad. Pretty much told her the truth but left out the haze of the first few weeks of having the third child. After all, we all have selective amnesia, right? We don't remember those days. And if we do, we sure don't tell an 8 month pregnant lady ready to take on the same task.

Now for us, our first child was pretty good. Sleeping through night at around 4 months of age. Lots of ear infections but nothing we couldn't handle. I was tired. Very tired. But with a little Starbucks and spending 8 hours a day at our local gym in Nebraska and the help of a great friend and some bottles of wine for mom, I was fine (of course not while I was watching the baby). We were ready to take on number 2 when she was around 18 months of age. Well, ready to THINK about taking on #2. Our second child was a whole new ball game. Not sleeping through the night until FOURTEEN MONTHS...thats right, 14 months. She was up every hour on the hour for about 4 months. No joke. It was pretty bad. Then it kind of spread out and she stopped projectile vomiting and screaming so things got better just wasn't a big sleeper. The "colic" stopped and we all felt like we were going to survive. I didn't want to think about having more kids until she was about 2 or later.... we just wouldn't be able to handle it.

I met a woman the other day who started talking to me about her want to have another child but they are having so many issues with their first (allergy, sleeping, possible autism and/or behavioral issues) that they  want to have another child but are afraid that the second one will be just as big of a challenge. I guess you never know what God is going to give you. I was on the fence with a third but wow, what a difference a few months makes. Our third is a God-Send. Literally "sent from God" to put a calming peace in our lives. She sleeps 12 hours a night and I'm just hoping that she stays as happy and healthy and continues to light up the room when people come in. She slept through the night at 7 weeks. Yep, 7 weeks. I couldn't believe it. I think God was trying to tell me something. Still a little crying here and there, but overall, pretty awesome.

I think all men whenever they talk about kids, I always hear them say... "Much easier to go from 'man on man' defense to 'zone defense'. They love the basketball metaphor. I guess they are right. We are now outnumbered by our three girls. If I could sprout another set of hands for the baby, that would be better. For me, it was harder for me to have that second child than to have the third. When you have the first, your world actually stops. You can stay home. You don't have to work for three months. You can stay in your pajamas all day long. Everyone says, "nap when the baby naps". Really?? I hadn't thought of that. You are so fricking tired, you have never been up this much in your life without alcohol being involved. You sleep standing up. You fall asleep with the baby in your arms and somehow not manage to drop her. I remember feeding her in the chair and somehow I wake up and it's three hours later and neither of us have moved. Not sure how that happened.

With your second, you probably have to get up at some point to feed the older one but the first one probably still naps so you can sleep when the older one sleeps and nap when the baby naps. You are once again tired but you manage to make it through the day. Its the art of juggling that you learn when you have your second. If you were not a multitasker before, you quickly learn how to do it. My second was definitely the hardest. She screamed for 6 hours a day straight. Straight. And always when no one else was home. Projectile vomited. Several times a day. And when no one else was home. I was beginning to think no one believed me until she did it on my husband and he was a believer. AND I still had to watch the older one. I still had to get up. I still had to make breakfast. And it seemed like once I got the baby to bed, the toddler would be up. It never ended. I was ready to call it quits on kids right there but somehow, someway, you forget and you realize that your life is not complete yet. You want a third.

The third child. The world does not stop. There is no break. No downtime. As soon as family leaves and your husband goes back to work... BAM... you are back. Still have to drive to preschool or Kindergarten. You still have to go to playdates and soccer and swimming. Still have a routine. You can't miss a step. The third baby kind of gets the short end of the stick. No scheduled nap times. We are not home from standard 1-4pm for nap time. They sleep in the car all the time. You keep moving on and driving. You have two other kids. I once asked someone if it was hard to go from 3 to 4 and they said "No... what's one more when you are up that high". When I was growing up, there was a family with SEVEN GIRLS in their family. No idea how their mother did it. I guess "when you are up that high, what's one more". By the way, they are the awesomest family ever (if that's even a word). I'm sure they had their share of chaos, but ORGANIZED chaos from what I could see. Very cool.

So Mom and Dads, I want to know..... was it harder to go from 0 to 1? 1 to 2? or 2 to 3? or were they all the same??????

BE SURE TO VISIT THE POLL ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE PAGE REGARDING WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE.

Happy Baby Thoughts
:)R