Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Food

Becoming mom has changed the way I eat.  I can't just hop in the car and pick up Thai food every day anymore.  And I no longer have time to buy a variety of fresh ingredients for a recipe and spend time preparing a nice dinner in the kitchen to serve hot and fresh.  I shop, prep, cook and eat all around her schedule now, not mine.  It is important that I do this well because I am exclusively breastfeeding so essentially all her nourishment comes from me and what I eat.  I have to make sure that not only do I eat enough even though I don't have much time, but that I eat enough of the good stuff and less of the bad stuff.  I will swear to my grave that part of the reason she's so stinking cute is because of all the snickerdoodles I ate when I was pregnant with her.  But now that I see her and actually watch her belly grow instead of mine I have more motivation to snack on healthy things like cheese and fruit.  Don't get me wrong, I still indulge a lot, after all, I am supposed to eat 600 calories above a typical prepregnancy diet.  The key is balance. 
Amelia was born 2 days after Christmas so 2011 was the last year we celebrated as a couple and not as a family of 3.  I was huge and uncomfortable, but still had an amazing holiday shared with family and with all the excitement of what was and is to some.  Brian and I received the best gifts for expectant parents from everyone in our family. Among lots of other things we got a camcorder to record her milestones, and an iPad to store those videos.  We got worlds largest bag of Dunkin Donuts coffee which kept Brian functioning during those first few weeks when he had to do all the housework and diapering while I recovered from surgery.  And I got the best gift of all for a new mom, a crock pot.  (Insert here the heavens opening up, a chorus of angels, and light shining down on my amazing new kitchen gadget!!)  The crock pot has become my lifeline.  Brian broke it out first, on New Years Day, and made black eyed peas .  I've since made pork tenderloin and lots of other delicious meals, at my convenience.  I just kind of search recipes and pick my favorite parts of them based on what I have handy, and see what I come up with.  I've made stroganoff, chicken chili, london broil, beef stew and lots of other stuff.  But my favorite is the best breakfast ever, from my new favorite blog, The Yummy Life.  I put this in the crock pot before bed and wake up to a delicious healthy breakfast.  The leftovers (if there are any) go in the refrigerator and I have a delicious healthy snack for later.  If possible it's even better warmed up with a little milk in the microwave. 
So anyway, from time to time I will put on here some of the dinners I manage to prepare that are the best successes, but for now it's time to go feed my beautiful little girl.  This morning she will have steel cut oats and a delicious orange with her milk.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A Day in the Life of a New Mom

This might be fun to look back at in a few months to see how life changes. 

At 7 am I hear sweet little noises coming from the nursery so I crawl out of bed and sneak in.  I pick her up out of her bouncer and nurse her for about 15 minutes, burp her, and tuck her back in.  I head out to the living room, have a glass of water and hop on the computer and chat with my brother in NY about how I managed to get her to sleep last night by driving her all over town in the truck.   Then I decide to go lay back down in bed but I hear more sweet noises so I go get her and bring her to bed with me and we snuggle and she nurses again for about 10 minutes and we both doze off until hubbys alarm goes off at 10.  He's got to go to work because it's Valentines Day and it's the most important day of the year at the Cheesecake Factory!  So we go into her room and I pump 5 ounces while holding the sleeping baby and playing Scramble With Friends on my iPhone.  Hubby comes in and kisses us goodbye (what a sight he sees here).  Once done with the pumping I put her back in her bouncer to doze off and I go label and freeze the milk, wash the pump parts, and put dinner in the crock pot.  Slow Cooker Pepper Steak ,  (I'll let you know how it turns out).  Get the kitchen cleaned up and sanitized and go peek at the baby.  She's content.  OK good, I have time to go to the bathroom.  I pee, wipe the sink free of hubby's shaving remnants, straighten up the bed, pick up the clothes off the floor and bring them to the garage where our washer and dryer are.  Peek at the sleeping baby.  Then out to the living room to pick up our glasses and blankets and things from last night. Peek at the baby.  She's asleep.  It's noon.  I snap a picture.  I will blog for a few minutes, hop in the shower, throw clothes on and put hair in a ponytail and feed and change the starving baby.  We'll put on her Valentines Day outfit and hop over to CVS to print out dad a surprise Valentines Day card (shhh!  Don't tell!).  Then we'll come home, she'll have some milk, I'll have some pepper steak, and we will dance around the living room and play and wait for dad to come home and hang out with us.  Bedtime is unpredictable still so I will leave that part blank.  Right now I'm at the part where I hop in the shower.  Happy Valentines Day from me and my beautiful sleepy baby girl :)

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Bathtime!!

Amelia had a bath today and as promised, here is a blog post devoted to my little sweetheart.

And no one wants a cold peanut after a bath so she asked if she could wear her cute hat to keep her warm.  Of course I said yes!

Nursery Updates

Yesterday Grandma came over and me and her and Dad popped Amelia into her Baby Bjorn and took a trip to Ikea. (Mom didn'[t have a lot of time yesterday for hair or  make up, or to lose 20 lbs, so this is what we are dealing with right now)... but doesn't baby look SO CUTE???  She slept the entire time!

 We had a fun afternoon.  Ended up spending more money than we planned, and Dad wound up spending more time putting stuff together and hanging up safely in the nursery than he planned, but this morning it all paid off, because Amelia has the coolest room ever now. 

We'll start with the gate.  Since Stifler has been marking his territory there he has been banished. I understand his jealousy, but Amelia and I enjoy tummy time in her room and do not appreciate the smell of jealous dog pee.  So we got her rug properly cleaned and sanitized, and dad installed a gate that opens like a door so we don't have to step over it.



Then he hung some shelves to give her teddy bears more room to play.


He got mom a night stand to put her pump on and with drawers for her to keep her photo book materials to work on while she's pumping or has any down time.  (Can't forget the pink knobs). 

He also installed our internet camera so we can monitor her while (if) she sleeps in her crib.  It's pretty awesome, you can even watch her from his Android phone and my iPhone.  AND he hid the cords in the wall so it's not an eye sore. 

Wonder how long it will be before she makes us remove the camera from her room?  I really hope she doesn't grow up too fast, because look at all these cute tiny things  mom gets to dress her up in now!! (All stored in the new drawer organizers we picked up at Ikea)


OK that's enough about her nursery.  I  promise the next post will be all about the SWEETNESS that is Amelia!!