Stopped peeing on Dad for the most part. And doesn’t poop when Dad changes him anymore. Constantly smiling and noticing his family a lot more. Hadley is still counting when he smiles at her, he’s over 200 now! He’s such a patient baby, he’ll sleep 6-8 hours at night, wake up in the morning, take Hadley to school, and be fine to eat until we get home. Still loves to sleep in his swing during the day. He’s getting better at burping after eating. Taking the bottle pretty good when he occasionally gets one from Dad or the grandparents. Soo close to rolling over! Overall, pretty happy and content most of the time!
Cinco de Mayo is a yearly celebration held on May 5th, which commemorates the anniversary of Mexico’s victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza (source). In reality, it’s just a day to drink margaritas and have white cheese and chips am I right?
While my daughter was at school, I rummaged through our basement storage closet and found these fiesta decorations from my grad party a few years ago. Perfect to celebrate today!
It’s always a good day when your baby sleeps long enough for you to shower and feel human! Wore my favorite “Mama Cita” shirt for the day, and some fun earrings from Amazon.
After school, I surprised Hadley by picking up white cheese to go. She would have white cheese everyday if we’d let her, she loves it that much. She was beyond excited. I couldn’t wait for her to see the table when we got home.
When we got home, Huxley had fallen asleep in his car seat, so we left him in there for a little bit. Long enough for us to enjoy our white cheese just the two of us! She was super happy to have some one on one time with me.
We attempted to put Huxley in his burrito outfit / swaddle, and he squirmed his way out of it super-fast. He’s not a fan of the swaddle, but it was so cute not to take a photo at least. My friend Kristin gifted this to him, and it came with the cutest little taco booties! He was moving so fast it was hard to take a good photo.
After the failed burrito swaddle attempt, we changed him into his taco footies, much comfier!
Once Huxley woke up, we brought him out with us to keep him occupied. He loves this swing, and after he’s fed, he’ll just chill in there for a while. We got to have a nice peaceful dinner tonight! Love a day that celebrates white cheese! Didn’t have any margaritas, but still enjoyed the day with my girl! Super simple things to make after school and dinner a little extra.
So what goes in a diaper bag? Especially a newborn diaper bag? It’s a lot to think about, every time you leave the house with your baby. I thought I’d share what I currently am using for our two month old son.
The diaper bag we use is nothing fancy or special. And trust me, there are so many diaper bags out there that are ridiculous in cost. I like a good-looking bag but being a new mom for the second time, I need something that is more functional than pretty if you will. How I landed this bag was through insurance if you can believe that! I ordered a breast pump through Aeroflow, and after talking to one of my friends that just had a baby, she told me about this pump that comes with a bag for $30 more through insurance. After doing some research on breast pumps, I decided I wanted the Spectra S2 and when I saw that it came with its own bag, I thought that’s the one for me. The actual bag I have is the breast pump backpack, and I love it!
Wipes on this side.
Wallet on this side.
The top part of the inside has small little compartments that I’ll put in socks, travel sound machine, hand sanitizer, etc.
The bottom outside pocket has small little pockets for things also.
This diaper bag isn’t anything fancy, but it’s not hideous either. It works for me. I love gray, and I love that it’s a backpack. Before I had my son, all I wore was a backpack purse anyway, so this was perfect.
Inside my diaper bag: – two outfits (always like to have extra) – burp cloth – nursing cover – changing mat – socks (usually have two pair) – traveling sound machine – mini trash bags for diapers – hand sanitizer – diapers – wipes – wallet – Desitin (not pictured, forgot to take it out of the bag)
It’s nice to be prepared when you have a baby, because you just never know what will/can happen when you are out and about. I’d rather have too many things than not enough. If I notice the wipes are getting low, I’ll throw another pack in the diaper bag because you will run out when you least expect it. This diaper bag is super functional, and easy to carry, and can hold all the things. Super happy with this diaper bag!
Everyone knows there really isn’t such a thing as a newborn schedule now is there? In the first few weeks, all babies do is eat, sleep, poop and repeat. So why bother having a schedule some might ask?
Babies, kids, and adults, all thrive on routines and schedules.
We are two months into the newborn phase of our son Huxley. The schedule we’ve adapted to, is followed pretty loosely but for the most part we stick to it as a guideline.
Here is the schedule I’ve followed for two weeks now. I wish I would’ve started it from day one, but it is what it is. I started it at seven weeks, and so glad I did. For two weeks in a row, our newborn has slept from anywhere to 4-7 hours straight at night. I feel like that is awesome at this stage for newborns!
I do believe that breastfed babies do tend to eat more often than formula fed babies, because breastmilk doesn’t leave them full for as long as formula does. I always feed him if nothing else is soothing him, even if it’s before the “scheduled” time to eat. Babies are human beings, not robots, your motherly instincts kick in and you do what you have to do.
With this being my second child, I am much more relaxed with everything. And I mean everything. If he doesn’t eat at the time he should, then he doesn’t eat. He eats when he eats, and you adjust accordingly. You’ll figure it out, trust me!
The main idea of this schedule is to not let your baby sleep more than an hour and a half during the day, between feedings. Some days he might sleep for 45 minutes, or an hour, or not at all. When that happens, I try my best to keep him awake and happy until the next feeding time. Now he doesn’t always make it to the time exactly, he might be off 30 minutes, or even an hour. And that is okay! Like I said before, these are babies, not robots. They are trying to figure out this life in the short time they’ve been here. Which is our job as mothers and parents, to help them figure it out because they need help!
You can adjust the schedule to fit your lifestyle. For example, if you start your day at 5am then have that be the start time and go from there. If you’re a working parent, adjust it to give you time to get yourself ready then get the baby up, etc. Some mornings, my son wakes up at 6am, instead of 7am. It’s all however it’ll work for you!
I have to say, this schedule has been a lot of work, but worth every second. Having a baby is a lot of work. Feeding your baby is a lot of work, however you choose to feed them. Everything about babies is lots of work (but I love every second of it!). And it’s very easy to let them nap for 3+ hours so you can get things done or even rest! But remember, babies need routines and structure. The more you do it, the more likely they will stick to it.
For naps during the day, he’ll either sleep in his swing downstairs, sometimes the car seat, or in his crib. Wherever he ends up napping, I always leave it light in the room. Sometimes we use a sound machine, sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we are loud, sometimes we are not. All depends on the day, and what is going on.
For bedtime, I do the same thing every single night. He sleeps in his crib; the room is dark except for his sound machine which is also a nightlight. It’s the Hatch Rest+, which is a sound machine, night light, kids alarm clock, all in one. It’s awesome. We turn that on, put the same color on (you can choose the colors), change his diaper, put some lotion on his legs and sort of massage him, feed him, and then off to bed!
Not every night is the same as far as the amount of sleep he gets, again, they are babies not robots! His record so far has been four to seven hours straight of sleeping at night since we started this schedule. I don’t know if it’s all because of the schedule, or all because of how he is growing? Either way, I think it’s a little bit of both. Now from my experience as a mom, I recommend going to bed as soon as your baby does. The laundry can wait, or whatever it may be, getting rest is far more important at this stage. Unless you are breastfeeding, then I’d recommend pumping really quick before you go to bed, so your boobies aren’t hurting hours later. After you pump, then hit the sheets!
With my daughter Hadley who is now seven, I’ve learned to make bedtime a fun thing! She loves to sleep, always has since she was itty bitty. We’ve always told her how good of a sleeper she is, how she can sleep through thunderstorms, make it a big deal, things like that. She’s never been the type that won’t go to bed for fomo (fear of missing out). Which has been a god send! I know boys are different, but hoping our son feels the same way about sleep as his sister does!
For morning wake time, if he’s awake I say, “good morning” and turn off the sound machine/night light, open the blinds and let all the light in. Anything to help them differentiate morning time, from nighttime. If he’s sleeping, I will wake him but not let him go past 8am. It all depends on your lifestyle, and you adjust things to adapt.
So, there you have it, the schedule we’ve been using for our newborn! I understand this might not work for everyone, but if you aren’t following some type of schedule, I recommend trying to find one that works for your lifestyle. I never followed a schedule this early with my daughter, and she is the best sleeper! I found this particular schedule on one of the mom groups I follow on Facebook. The group is called Baby Sleep Training Tips & Help, which can be found here.
Hope this can help you, or at least lead you on the path to find something that works for you and your baby!
I wanted to share some of the items that we have used nearly every day these past two months with our little man Huxley. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed with all the things to choose from pre-baby. When you have no idea what will work and what won’t work, etc. Even after having my daughter who is now seven, things have drastically changed since then. Everything here I would highly recommend. You can view the actual item’s site by clicking on the pink link.
1.Nursing Pillow – I’ve used this nursing pillow pretty much every day since Huxley was born 6 weeks ago today. The couch is pretty much where I live at right now 24/7. Having a nursing pillow around all the time, helps tremendously when breastfeeding.
2. Cosy Nation Baby Lounger – This lounger is THE best! It’s comparable to the DockATot or Snuggle Me at half the price. I love how you can pull the strings at the end tight, for when they are super tiny, which helps them feel more snug. When they start to grow, you can untie the strings, and the lounger gets wider and grows with them. It’s a safe place to put baby until they start rolling over.
3. Burt’s Bees Reversible Blanket – You can never have enough blankets, right? We keep the temperature at our house around 71-73 degrees right now. And babies cannot control their body temperatures just yet, so he gets lots of blankets to snuggle up with and stay warm. The Burt’s Bees blanket is my favorite out of all of the blankets we have, it keeps him super warm.
4. Water Bottle – This brand “Simple Modern” is my favorite for water bottles. We bought Hadley the 14oz size for school, and she loves it! The water stays super cold, and it doesn’t leak. I bought myself the larger 32oz size, since I’m breastfeeding, I need to drink more water than normal. So why not get a new fun water bottle to make drinking water more fun.
5. Racerback Nursing Bra – Out of the three different nursing bras I bought, this one is my favorite. I’m fairly large chested so I like the racer back bras, it feels more like a sports bra, and hold me up while not being too tight on the girls.
6. Portable Sound Machine – I always have this in the diaper bag, or in the diaper caddy in the living room where we are most of the time. It’s always nice to have to distract the babe if need be. It comes with a USB cord to charge, but the key is to remember to charge it before you go somewhere!
7. Footie Outfits – Footie outfits with zippers are the way to go when they are teeny tiny. Since having my daughter Hadley seven years ago, they now have two zippers in footies now! It makes it easier for diaper changes, you can unzip from the feet verses the top and expose their little bellies.
8. Spectra S2 Plus Breast Pump – Pumping is not my favorite thing to do, but I’m so glad I got the Spectra S2 pump. It’s very easy to figure out, and I’ve had no problems with it so far. I paid an extra $30 I think or something like that through insurance, but it came with a backpack and extra bottles. I ended up returning the diaper bag I originally had and using this one!
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what newborn items you love during this phase of having a new baby! It’s so hard to figure out what will work until the baby actually arrives, but thankfully, most things are returnable if they don’t work!
Huxley was a surprise. One of the biggest of my life. Some call you an “oops.” Some call you a surprise. The baby that wasn’t planned.
I hesitate even saying unplanned, because God has a plan. He always does. Sometimes the timing doesn’t always pan out to what we had hoped for. We just have to remember; things happen for a reason and it’s up to us to figure that out.
When we announced, we were going to have another baby, the majority of the responses were wonderful. Friends and family were so happy for us. But there were those few that had the comments that weren’t so positive. We heard things like…
– “Don’t you know how that works?” – “How old are you again?” – “Are you excited?” – “You’re going to be this age when your baby is this age” – “Was this planned?”
The one that gets me every time, is when people would ask if we were excited. Yes, how can you not be excited about a new baby coming? We were elated! I don’t know where some of those comments stemmed from but I’m glad that part of the pregnancy is over.
I call you the best surprise ever! You weren’t even a thought in my head when you were forming in the womb, but God had a plan before time began. He knew every detail of your precious face. Every hair on your lovely head. He saw your entire life set out in front of you with a reason specific to you.
There is absolutely nothing unexpected about you, my sweet little man.
You are no “oops.” You, my love, are a constant sign that his ways are better than mine. His plans are better than mine. You are a part of God’s great plan. And I’m so, so thankful my plans didn’t get in the way. Because you are the greatest surprise I’ve ever known.
“Sometimes the littlest things take up the most room in your heart.” – Winnie the Pooh
Meet the newest addition to our family, Huxley Beau!
He was born on a Monday afternoon in February. 2.21.22 at 3:40 PM. He was 8 lbs 7 oz and 21.5 inches. He came one day early.
I was scheduled for an induction on Sunday night at 10 PM. They gave me two doses of Cytotec, and was then dilated to 2cm. This was going into Monday morning, ate breakfast and then they started Pitocin. After about an hour, I was already to 5-6 cm. At this point, the contractions weren’t too bad, they hurt but bearable. This is when I ordered the epidural, because with my daughter I waited until I was 8 cm for the epidural, and it wasn’t fun. The epidural was at 2:10pm, I felt the urge to push around 3:00pm. They held me off to push because my doctor was tied up in a surgery, so the resident doctor had to deliver me. I swear, it felt like there were a million people in the room but I could’ve cared less. The urge to push was the most intense wonderful feeling I’ve ever felt. To try and describe it, was almost like when you have to pee really bad, and you hold it in but it feels like it’s going to come out any second. Felt just like that, but multiplied by a hundred! I managed to wait to push until 3:36pm, little man was born at 3:40pm. Literally pushed for four minutes and he was born.
It was amazing.
Huxley was the easiest birth compared to my daughter Hadley. I had no plans as far as a birth plan goes. I know some people like an idea of what they want, but I just want what’s best for the baby and myself. All I wanted was for myself and the baby to be healthy. With him being my second child, knowing what to expect made it so much easier. I know every delivery is different, but the general gist is the same. Labor, contractions, etc.
This man right here has been THE best. Let me start off by saying I feel extremely lucky to have him by my side. He has truly been there for us as a family since Huxley was born. Checking on him at the hospital right after delivery, watching the nurses weigh him, measure him, and to make sure they don’t give him any vaccinations we weren’t aware of. Never know nowadays! The first and only night at the hospital, we were super lucky and Huxley slept the entire night! I think it was the amazing sleep sack they put on him, and sadly didn’t let us take it home.
My husband is lucky in the sense he gets so much time off from work for this birth. We take turns at night, which has been a godsend. Since I am breastfeeding, I’ll feed him for the late after dinner feeding like 10/11pm whenever the time comes. I’ll go upstairs and sleep in our bed, while the hubby will stay downstairs and sleep on the couch while Huxley sleeps. When he wakes up, Kevin will either text me or come upstairs and get me and then I’ll feed him and stay downstairs with him while Kevin sleeps in our bed. It has worked so much better this way! We both are getting decent sleep, versus having the baby in our room and both of us get woken up during the night. I can’t wait for Huxley to be in his crib, which we will introduce soon.
Kevin has been cooking lunch and dinner almost everyday. I’ve been so spoiled, I don’t want him to go back to work! He’s just been amazing throughout this entire time. Hadley and Huxley are lucky to have him home this long too. He takes and picks up Hadley for school, helps with homework, while managing to cook and sometimes clean! When I’m able to, I’ll take or pick up Hadley for school, and do the homework, and all the things. When I am able to do those things, Hadley gets so excited. It’s been a little tough for her to get used to having a new baby in the house. She’s adjusting just like any other kid, who’s used to having Mom and Dad’s undivided attention.
First bath at the hospital. It amazes me how they whip these little newborns around like they are baby dolls. They are so fragile to me in those first few weeks. He loved the bath, didn’t cry just looked super relaxed. He smelled so good after he finally got all the “birth” smell off him.
Huxley laying on Daddy’s firefighter hoodie.
The hospital had a team of nursing students that asked to take Huxley for a few minutes. They did a few assessments on him, and was so good. He was gone for more than a few minutes, so me being the Mama bear that I am, had to go check on him. He was loving life, with all these nurses giving him so much attention and stimulation.
Recovery this time around was absolutely…amazing! I truly believe it was all the exercise I was doing prior to getting pregnant, and then continuing the exercise throughout the pregnancy. Highly highly recommend exercising if you are pregnant, or plan to become pregnant!
Everything about this pregnancy and birth was seriously amazing. After he was born, I had such a small tear (down there), that wasn’t even big enough for a stitch so I had zero stitches! That alone was awesome! The hard part after birth was the delivery of the placenta, that wasn’t as fun. All the nurses tending to my lady bits, and pushing on my stomach every 15 minutes, ugh that sucked. The ice pads they give you in the hospital are the best, and once I got home I used the Tucks pads and cream they recommended which helped so much too. 4 weeks postpartum now and the bleeding has almost completely stopped! Also, I recommend taking ibuprofen around the clock the first few days to help with the random bursts of pain down there.
First trip to Daddy’s firehouse, first of many many more to come!
2 weeks / first bath at home. Big sister Hadley slowly started wanting more and more to do with her baby brother. Helping with baths was a huge stepping stone for her.
3 weeks / first walk.
3 weeks / Big sister finally held him! Hadley has always done everything on her own terms, when she is ready. We followed her lead, and kept asking if she wanted to help with little things here and there and eventually she did!
Our little lucky charm.
All the kiddos together! Brady, Natalie, Hadley, and Huxley. They loved taking this picture, I had them all lay on the carpet in the family room as I stood on the couch.
4 weeks / Introduced a pacifier. With my daughter Hadley, she wanted nothing to do with a pacifier because she was a thumb sucker. Still is at night too. Huxley has not found his thumb yet, and some days he gets extra cranky with either having trouble passing gas or burp after a feeding. So one random night this week, we whipped out the paci they give you at the hospital and he took it and immediately calmed down! I might be jinxing myself, but he’s had very good sleeping nights since this photo was taken which has been almost a week.
Huxley Beau, you are a dream. We are so glad you are here.
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