Tag: baby

  • Status Report

    Status Report

    Calvin is seven weeks old, and I think we can call it now: he has been the easiest of our three babies. He rarely cries, as I can anticipate his needs and read his cues pretty well. We have the occasional bad night, but most of the time he goes to sleep around seven, wakes up to nurse once, and then sleeps again until morning. Five o’clock in the morning, but I’ll take it! He has been in a mama-only phase for the past couple of weeks so I’m not getting as much done as I’d like to, but the upside is that my days are positively filled with baby snuggles and smiles. The house is a mess and I have to do most of my typing with one hand when I work, but he’s worth it.

    Nicole and Calvin

    The only downside is that breastfeeding continues to be difficult. I think the worst of it was around four weeks (when I wrote this post), but I’d hoped we would be past the pain by now and that the early damage could heal. I indulge Calvin’s preference for me and let him sleep in my arms in part because it keeps him happy and/or asleep for longer, therefore extending the time between nursing sessions (giving me a bit of a reprieve). I wish I didn’t dread nursing so much, but it’s hard to willingly do something ten times a day that hurts. I stubbornly press on because I’m assuming it will get better and I actually like nursing when it’s no longer painful, but I wish we could get to that point soon.

    On a happier note, I just learned something new about baby clothes! I always assumed they had envelope necklines to fit over their big wobbly heads, but it’s so you can roll them down in case of a diaper blowout. (Did you know that?) Mind blown.

    Mind blown.

  • One Month Old (Calvin’s Monthly Photo)

    One Month Old (Calvin’s Monthly Photo)

    I made the pin for Calvin’s monthly photos over the weekend and while I worked on that, Eleanor made a bouquet of felt flowers. She said that they were for Calvin, so of course I had to include them in his photo!

    Calvin, One Month Old

    I did get a half-dozen photos of him in the chair before he started crying, but I had set the camera’s focus incorrectly at first, so those were all blurry. (Way to go, me.) He’s a pretty happy baby — it’s too bad his first monthly photo doesn’t reflect that. But he is a newborn and like all newborns he tends to cry a fair amount, so I suppose it’s an accurate enough representation!

    Calvin, One Month Old

    (I’ll be taking a photo of Calvin sitting in the Eames rocker and wearing his pin each month until he’s two years old. I also took monthly photos of his sister, Eleanor, and his brother, August.)

    View All of Calvin’s Monthly Photos

  • Adjusting

    Adjusting

    Calvin

    Calvin is nearly four weeks old already! I was always on my own with our babies before, but now with Brandon as a stay-at-home dad, we can team up on kid duties. I’m nursing and some days it feels nonstop, so I’m mostly taking care of Calvin while Brandon has Eleanor and August.

    Brandon and Calvin

    Nursing — I have such a hard time with it in the beginning. I’ve seen lactation consultants, I’ve read the entire La Leche League book, and my search engine history has been entirely taken over by various breastfeeding queries. Things got better with both Eleanor and August around six weeks, so I keep telling myself it will happen again, but right now it is incredibly difficult. It’s isolating and time-consuming, but the worst of it is that I dread sessions because of the anxiety around anticipating a painful latch. There are often tears, and I’m having a hard time right now.

    Calvin

    Baby Toes

    We are all doing so well though, in every other regard! We’re settling in nicely as a family of five, and the kids are sweet with the baby. Our normal morning routine has continued smoothly, we’re all sleeping as well as can be expected, and I get out of the house and see friends often enough to keep from going stir-crazy. Plus I love love love having a baby at home again. Calvin sleeps on me and is in my arms all day, and I adore his little snuggles.

    August, Nicole, Calvin, and Eleanor

    The good stuff is coming up: the smiles, the coos, the baby laughs. This is likely our last baby though, so while I’m eager to get past the nursing pain, I don’t want to wish this time away. There’s a lot of good stuff happening right now, too.

    Calvin

  • Calvin Edward Balch

    Calvin Edward Balch

    I joked on Wednesday evening that I had just bought some fancy flowers to photograph in my entryway for an upcoming post, thereby guaranteeing that I would go into labor before being able to take pictures the next day. Well?

    Calvin Edward Balch

    Calvin Edward Balch was born at 8:18 a.m. on Thursday, October 2, 2014. He weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces (the smallest of our three), and measured 21 inches long. He has fuzzy brown hair with a polka dot of a blonde spot, right in the center on top, and very dark blue eyes that make it impossible to predict what color they will stay.

    I’d given birth before without an epidural, so that part of the experience wasn’t new, but this delivery was the first that was free of complications (thank goodness). Calvin and I are happy and healthy, and our family of five is doing well!

  • Another Baby on the Way

    Another Baby on the Way

    We’re expecting our third baby this September!

    Baby Number Three: Coming Soon! #makingitlovely

    I bought these hooks back when Brandon and I had decided to try for another baby, and then tucked them away for a while. I was going to do a whole little setup like in the picture above to surprise him with the news. Instead what ended up happening was that I saw that faint second line on a pregnancy test, I ran and found the ‘number 3’ hook, then thrust it at a still-sleepy Brandon. It might have been a little confusing, being woken up by your wife with a hook in her hand and a very goofy smile on her face.

    We told the kids a couple of weeks ago, along with the rest of our family. August is happy, but I don’t know if he really gets it yet. Eleanor, on the other hand, is so excited. She talks about the baby all the time, and has come up with a few name suggestions: Cinderella if it’s a girl, otherwise Super-Boy. Brandon keeps joking with her it’s going to be Maudius or Claudius, and she wrinkles her nose up at the idea. Hers are just so much better, you know?

    We’re all looking forward to the baby’s arrival in September, but it’s a good thing we still have six months to think of some possible names. Or maybe Eleanor’s on to something?

  • Diaper Storage in the Nursery

    We’re starting to talk up the whole “big boy” thing with August, about how he’s going to start sleeping in a bed, and that soon he won’t need diapers. He was pretty adamant for a long time about his morning bottle of milk too until we somehow lost his favorite bottle, and that was the end of that. He’s in that transitional stage between toddler and little kid, but for a while longer, he’s still sleeping in a crib and wearing diapers.

    I showed his room not too long ago, when I took the doors off of one of the storage units in the space to convert it to a bookshelf. Here it is again, with even more books on the shelves. (Like toys, they seem to multiply.)

    August's Room

    We don’t need as much storage for baby gear now that August is older, but the remaining side with doors still holds essentials, like face and body lotion and healing balm. All of the diapers and wipes are in there too, along with refills for our diaper pail, tissues, and stacks of no-longer-needed burp cloths.

    Lotion, Wipes, and Diaper Storage

    I like to use Honest diapers because they’re plant-based and free of chemicals, but they still perform just as well as any other diaper out there. Plus they come in a skull and crossbones pattern! (OK, and cute little strawberries, anchors, and what-have-you. But the skulls are my favorite.) Their wipes are great too — nice and thick, and effective but still gentle. As with other Honest products, you can order diapers and wipes individually, or bundle them and save.

    Diaper Storage

    Skull and Crossbones Diapers!

    I’ll be a little sad when it’s time to change the nursery. It has been a good setup that has seen us through four years of active duty (starting with Eleanor, when it was hers), but eventually the changing pad will go, and the diapers and lotions will probably be replaced with toys. And that will be good too.

    August's Room

    If you’re curious about Honest, check out their free trial. Also, Making it Lovely readers can enjoy $10 off a minimum purchase of $40 using the code Lovely$10off$40. Limited to first-time buyers (one per customer) and expires May 22, 2013.