Baby Life - Change in Season

So it's finally becoming fall around here. It started to get cooler and then was back up in the 90's again. I'm excited for Fall, with no AC in this house I'm over the heat. However I never thought about the cooler weather when picking clothes for Ryley. So I didn't have a ton of pants in the 0-3 size range so I decided to make some for her!

Love these trendy pants!

So far I've made her two pair but they are little SO dang easy I'm totally going to make her more. This is even easier than the dresses I've made for her; they only take about 25 minutes. And making them various sizes is easy. I went through my closet a few weeks ago and kept a few of the stretchy jersey items to use for more pants.

One of my favorite of her outfits, love the colors!

I want to figure out how to do onsies too but that's a lot more difficult since they have nice seams and such. Maybe some day :) Next summer I plan on making more dresses too, those are fun to make. I also love making her those headbands, especially since her hair is so flat it gives her head a little something extra. Soon I'm going to open an Etsy store and sell those and some other things I sew. Not trying to make a living or anything, just something fun to do on the side.

Next I'll have to buy some fleece to make fleece pants for winter!

Thanks,

Fit Life - Weigh in Wednesday

So...let's start with me. I really still haven't lost any weight but I haven't been very strict on everything. I definitely haven't been watching closely what I eat, opps. I had a friend visit this past week so we went out a lot and drank a bit as well. It's hard finding the balance and remembering to always put in my food to my food diary thing. That is my goal for next week.

My goal for this week is to get to Barre class twice! I've already registered, Wednesday and Friday, so that definitely encourages me to go since I've already paid. Thank goodness for Sally and getting me to go to the first class. I'm always nervous going to the first class but once I do that, and enjoy it, then I'm ok going on my own.

With my moms group I'm trying to find someone to go to a stroller fitness class with me too. Again I just need a friend to start with me and then I'll feel more confident.

Now the fun part, RYLEY! She's doing great. She's been gaining more than well. She's up to about 11.5lbs now and over 23 inches long. I love seeing her grow! I was looking at past pictures and it is seriously just so crazy how much she's grown. Check it out:

A little blurry but she's so little!



Her little legs are getting so chunky!

Baby Life - Mommy Groups

Out for a mom's group play date!

One of the best things I did for myself, and likely for Ryley later in life, was to join moms groups. I absolutely LOVE my groups. Having them there, as someone to ask advice to and just a reason to get out of the house, is so helpful. We joined a group called Las Madres. We are in three playgroups within Las Madres. Las Madres is split up by year and then by area so we joined South Valley, Willow Glen and Los Gatos.

With the moms groups there is literally enough stuff for me to have something to do with her at least 4 days a week. I was a little nervous in the beginning, would it be too much? But honestly it keeps me sane. Right now she is feeding every 4 hours and doing 3 naps a day. So it's nice to get out during one of her awake times to do something. It helps the day go by faster and gives me some adult conversation.

I highly recommend moms to get involved, whether their little one is 1 month, 1 year or any age. It's great to have a support system. Plus it's nice that all the kids are within a year of her age. She's one of the younger right now but that just means I have other moms to ask questions to and give me advice. Having others that just went through it to talk to is great!

Plus as Ryley gets older she'll have immediate friends. My oldest friend is fourth grade; how cool would it be if Ryley had a friend from birth? Crazy! Likely that won't happen since we don't plan on staying in CA forever, but still that option could totally happen with these moms groups.

Heading out for moms group!

Like my usual self I'm doing plenty of volunteering with the group. I am a strong believer in volunteering for the organizations that you believe have helped you. It's just like the sorority, they supported me through college, and now my moms group is supporting me through this parenting thing. So here are my volunteer positions:

1. New Member Coordinator for Los Gatos and South Valley Play Group
2. Treasurer for Willow Glen Play Group
3. 2014 Club VP
4. Director at Large - Special Events for Las Madres

Typical me :) I got an email double checking that I was ok with all these positions...obviously I am. Totally my style to get myself crazy involved. I love keeping myself busy. Plus I have great support from Matt; he's SO helpful with Ryley and loves spending time with her. I won the husband and baby jackpot!

So for all the moms out there - if you haven't already I highly encourage you to check out moms groups in your areas. It's well worth it!

Thanks!

Baby Life - The Newborn Stage

So many of the baby books, blogs, community posts, etc. that I've read all talk about things that are really in the 3 months and older stages. Yet the first 3 months are some of the hardest. You have no idea what you are doing yet and it's all very overwhelming.

Some people say that there is no information on the newborn stage because you "can't spoil a newborn" so you shouldn't worry too much about figuring it all out. They say to focus on the cuddles and enjoy that part.

I'm not that type....sure I love cuddles with my little one but I'm just not the type who can't be in control, or at least trying to be. I started sleep training from the day we brought Ryley home. I wasn't crazy strict about it but I did try to stick with our same schedule every day. Part of me thinks that why she slept through the night so early. The structure worked well for Ryley; 1 - Matt and I like routine and since she's our kid it makes sense she would too, and 2 - babies like routine, they like to know what comes next.

Being in the newborn stage it was so hard feeling like there wasn't much out there to help me get through it all. And it was so hard to read things telling me to just enjoy those first few months and not worry about it. I personally can't do that. But I've learned that everyone does it differently and none of the ways are "wrong".

For all the new moms out there - do what works for you. Don't read books or blogs or whatever and think that something you are doing is wrong or worry about anything. You WILL figure it out...and once you do something else will change and you'll have to figure that thing out. Do enjoy the cuddles. Enjoy everything about being a new mom. Be excited about each new thing they do. You get to make the decisions about you and your little one; trust yourself.

Whatever you decide is just fine! I have strong opinions about the way we decided to make things work with Ryley but it doesn't make the way we did it the RIGHT way, just the way that worked for us. And if it doesn't work you just try something else. I think that's the best advice for any stage of child rearing, although I don't know since I'm not there yet. You will get through whatever that little rascal throws at you. Every stage only lasts a short while so enjoy each and every one of them :)

Thanks!

Married Life - SURPRISE!!

One of my favorite things, post baby, about being involved as an alumna with my sorority? All the babysitters I have! Matt and I have been able to enjoy 2 date nights in the past month with one of the collegians watching Ryley.

Last Friday I got my Gap items I had ordered online. They were my first post baby clothes and after trying them on I felt pretty. It was nice to wear non maternity clothes that fit nicely. Looking good I decided I wanted a fun night out with my hubby all dressed up! I messaged one of the ladies at 4pm to get a babysitter for 6 and it worked!!

Matt arrived a bit after 6 to find me ready for date night. He was very surprised, I'm not the spontaneous type. So we headed out for a great night out! We went to San Pedro square and did a bit of "bar hoping". It's how we used to do things before a baby was in the picture - a drink and an appetizer and each place. Vino Vino was first on the list and we enjoyed a delicious flight of wine and meat/cheeses. I drank the most I had since before I was pregnant, it was a ton of fun. Felt like old times :)

Deliciousness!!

I love getting to spend alone time with my husband - it really keeps us close...so thank goodness for all the potential babysitters I have! :)

Home after date night and a few drinks :)

Baby Life - Sleep Is A Wonderful Thing

I probably shouldn't write this post - it may jinx the amazing thing we have going for us....SLEEP! Sleep has been had in this household, it's amazing!!!!

Little Miss Ryley, at 6 weeks old, slept through the night for the first time on August 16th. She slept 7 hours!! What 6 week old does that? Apparently mine. Since that Saturday night there have only been 2 nights where she hasn't slept from about 10pm until 5am. And for the past week she's slept until 7am. Sleep is the most wonderful thing!

Sleepy baby!

I read a crap ton of books about sleeping so I thought I'd share a bit about how we "think" we made it work. First off I want to say - it's not normal for a 6 week old to be this good of a sleeper (now 9 weeks) so if your little one isn't sleeping this much, don't worry as you are actually the norm.

Let's start by saying that Ryley has always been a good sleeper. For the first 6 weeks of her life she only once woke up 3 times during the night, every other time it was either once, at 3am, or twice, at 1 and 4am. We never really had to do any training to get her to that point so we started out very lucky.

I read Babywise, Baby Whisperer, and 12 Hours of Sleep by 12 Weeks. All of the books had great ideas that I made my own. The main thing was creating a consistent plan but being flexible with what your child wants.

We focused on a few key points (**note that this is what worked for us, it may not work for everyone and we are definitely not experts, this is just my experience**):

1. Eat, Play, Sleep and repeat - this pattern helps the baby get into a habit so they know what to expect next and you to better understand the needs of the baby
2. Yawning? Time for a nap - during play time as soon as I see the first yawn it's time for a nap
3. Crying isn't bad - depending on her age I let her cry for a certain amount of time before I go in to comfort her. This isn't a hard and fast rule, I base it on her crying but I do let her cry. Plus if you go in for every sound you may actually wake the baby up - there have been many times where she will let out a little squawk while in the middle of a nap and then be asleep again
4. Put her down for a nap awake - I get longer naps when she gets herself to sleep over me getting her to sleep and then putting her down

These are all things that I've been very consistent about and it seems to have worked. We also LOVE our footie PJ's. The first night she slept through the night was the first nice we put her in the footie PJ's so now we put her in them every night - it's adorable!!

Footie pajamas are my friend!

I'll post more posts with additional information on each of the things we found helpful so be on the lookout.

Thanks!

Fit Life - Weigh in Thursday

Today was a great day; it's my daughters 2 month birthday!

We had her 2 month check up, and for any of you with babies you know what that means - SHOTS! Poor little lady got 3 shots today. She was such a trooper! She cried of course, and Matt almost did too, but once we were home she was great. She slept much of the day and was fussy early on but got better as the day went on. Taking off the bandaids was the hard part for me, making her cry hurt :(

But the great news was that she weighed in at 10.5lbs! She was born 6.5lbs so she is doing great in the weight department. It feels good to know that I'm helping her grow. It's a proud momma moment today!
Now for my weigh in....drum roll....I'm down 2 lbs, yeah. Better than nothing lol. I did start exercising with my first Barre class. It was hard work, but it was great. I'm going to start going every Wednesday. I haven't gone to the baby boot camp yet but I'm hoping next week. It's hard to find the time to fit in the exercise, but I know I need to, just so busy.

Life is good!