5/15/13 Good Bye

We said good bye to Grammy and Grampy today. They left to drive back home at 9:30. We took some pictures before they left.

three generations of Wrights

We just had a lazy and relaxing day. We watched TV, surfed the web, did a little laundry and took a walk. I wanted to experiment with the Moby Wrap positions. Turns out I didn't break out too far from the mold. I still wrapped it around me the exact same way, but I learned how to use the same wrap to leave Josiah's feet out, and how to let him face out with feet in or out.

He's wearing a puppy hat made by a patient I took care of when I was 36 weeks pregnant.

It was nice to get out an walk around since really all we did today was finish a complete season of the Amazing Race.

 

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5/13/13 Lazy Day

We have been gone from home so much and so busy, that we decided to just rest today. So we got out of bed around 11am (well actually I got up several times before that, I just didn't stay up until 11am). We ate a leisurely breakfast and puttered around. I got a text from Laura saying we should hang out, so I went over there for the afternoon and we talked, played with babies and sewed. It was nice. I got some more burp cloths finished for Nike, and I cut some flannel to surge the edge of for a swaddle blanket. Josiah tested out Jess's (note: Laura checked and this is grammatically correct due to the 's' making a soft sound. So, you add an apostrophe 's' to make the 'z' sound to make it possessive) activity mat. He sure got a kick out of talking to himself in the mirror.

While sewing he got a bit fussy after laying on the floor for a while, so I borrowed Laura's Moby Wrap to calm him down. It worked; he slept some in it and was happy until he got hungry. I wasn't finished with what I was working on so I decided it was time to get creative. I have heard people say that you can breast feed a baby in the Moby. Josiah has pretty consistent head control now, so I just loosened everything while he was in the newborn hold and got him down to the right level and scooted him a bit over to the left and he went to town. I thought it might be uncomfortable, but it was fine, and he was happy, so I finished my sewing project.

He's nursing in this picture

sleepy smiles before bed

 

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5/12/13 1st Mother's Day

Bryan said he wants to go to both churches today, so he hopped out of bed as soon as I told him it was 40 minutes until we needed to leave. He got himself all ready and was able to take Josiah when he was done eating, so that I could get ready. We made it mostly on time to early service at Southwest Bible.

The sermon was from Luke 10 about Mary sitting at Jesus's feet while Martha was distracted serving. Martha was so anxious about her tasks serving those at their house that she was upset that Mary was not helping her, and she was not even listening to what Jesus was teaching. This verse on the left is Psalm 94:19. It is a verse I want to memorize. I have a hard time not being distracted by things that give me anxiety and having this verse to quote to myself will help keep my mind in check. It was very fitting to be in this section on Mother's Day. It was purely coincidental, but fitting. It was the closest to a holiday sermon I have ever heard at Southwest and it was just because the next text in the series from Luke was fitting. ;)

 

Josiah slept in the pew most of the sermon. He fussed a little, but was able to be consoled without a bottle, and we didn't have to cary him out at all. I couldn't remember if BNC started service at 10:30 or 10:45, so we left early and headed there. I was able to feed Josiah in the "mother's room" before service started. It was very nicely arranged with a changing table, 3 gliders, a few toys, a bouncer, and a bumpo to keep babies entertained. It was dimly lit with mirrored windows into the sanctuary and sound so women don't have to miss the service to nurse. Once again Josiah slept though the sermon and only fussed a little during worship (He doesn't like clapping. It startles him.) The sermon was about Jesus's ascension being important to our faith. It was very Biblically sound, we were impressed and pleased.

 

 

 

 

For Mother's Day Twi and Jason came up and we took Mom and Dad and Bob and Edwina to Thai Bloom for lunch. It was very nice. We were glad we had made reservations (Twi's idea, but she made me do it.). We were in a room where a huge, and somewhat loud, extended family (maybe 12 adults and 18 children) were also seated. The wait staff handled it really well, and all the noise the large group made prevented me from being concerned about Josiah's occasional fussiness bothering anyone.

Holding the mum that I was given at BNC for Mother's Day.

After lunch we went to my parent's house for a game of crazy croquet. I don't think we'll ever play croquet normally. It's too fun to set it up like a mini golf course, and my parent's back yard holds endless obstacles. Bob didn't want to play, but he walked around with us and enjoyed the humor of it all. He only went inside once when it was raining pretty steadily. Mom had lawn chairs out under a big umbrella in the center of the yard, and we had our camp chairs and umbrellas out everywhere for comfort.

Jason broke the handle to a flimsy mallet right when he had his ball under the trampoline, so mom got him an extension handle.

Josiah wants to play!

 

 

Josiah hung out either in the Beco carrier with me or Bryan, or he laid under the big umbrella with all the chairs. We just had to make sure that while he was laying there someone stayed within his eye sight or he would cry. He didn't want to be left alone. He enjoyed looking around, whether laying there or in the carrier. Eventually he fell asleep, and Bryan used his hat to keep him dry. He fell asleep as soon as the hat was put on him, so I suspect the rain drops were keeping him awake.

Josiah sure had his share of fun. He loved being tossed up and down and all the people coming to talk to him trying to make him laugh. Mission get-Josiah-to-laugh-before-Grammy-leaves has not been successful yet, but it keeps us busy trying, and we sure get a lot of smiles!

Daredevil baby loves to be up high in the air or tossed. Bryan was using him like an umbrella for a few seconds, maybe not intentionally, but it's what it looked like.

 

This umbrella was so light weight that Josiah could move it all around. It was pretty cute to watch him mess with it.

 

Big Smiles from "flying"

 

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4/16/13 Updates

An update on the baby things that are important to me.

Running postpartum is going well. Today I did 3.2 miles in 31 minutes with a stroller. Josiah does really well in the stroller. Sometimes he looks around, sometimes he sleeps, and he has only cried once. It was a time when I started walking for a cool down and he was hungry. Stretching after running is still a challenge because frequently Josiah wants to eat within 20 minutes of the end of the run. We use the BOB stroller and a Graco seat for running. The only thing I could improve would be for the stroller to have the car seat in a slightly more upright position. I really like having the stroller there to hold a layer of clothing after I warm up, a water bottle, and my phone. I hope I don't become dependent on it. Also of note, I find that I am not using the fixed front wheel feature of the stroller. Our roads just aren't straight enough to not be constantly lifting the stroller to turn.

Ran for Boston today

 

Cloth diapering is going great! I still haven't used a disposable since leaving the hospital. The Kissaluvs newborn diapers fit well, are really absorbent, and Josiah didn't seem to cry about being wet. They fit well even now, but the newborn Prowraps don't fit well any more, and we really like his one size diapers which fit well now. We used 24 Kissaluvs with 8 Prowraps, 2 Lil'Joeys, and 3 Swaddlebees Simplex newborn one size. We did diaper laundry every 3 days when using the newborn diapers. For wipes have 12 Osocosy flannel single ply wipes, 12 Osocosy flannel double ply wipes, 12 Thirsties fab wipes, and 12 microfiber washcloths. I use the single ply wipes on the go and the thicker ones in the wipe warmer. We are now only changing Josiah's diapers in his room, so I did we'll in coming up with a no cost solution for the temporary changing station in the master bathroom. We may have one more station in the future in the hall bath when Josiah starts eating solids and we need to use the sprayer on his poopy diapers.

Swaddlebees Simplex

 

Breastfeeding is also going well. I think my over supply of milk is finally starting to regulate. Josiah is 100% weaned from the nipple shield. I was very worried that he would have trouble with that, but there was no problem. I still have that healing sore on the left side, so I use the football hold to keep his tongue and moving jaw away from it. Lying down also works when I am somewhere I can lie down. Bryan is still feeding 1-2 bottles at night between 1-7am. Josiah takes the bottle very well. The Playtex Nurser slow became too slow and the medium is still too fast, so we are using Avent with #1 nipples and that works well.

Upright football hold?

 

Baby wearing is something we do every day. We love both the Moby and the Beco Gemini. They are both very versatile and comfortable. They have both worked for Josiah from the first day home from the hospital. Bryan had a little trouble with the Beco in the very beginning with Josiah's head falling to his chest. We decided that my boobs were what prevented that from happening with me. Bryan wonders now if he just wasn't adjusting it correctly. It may have been fine all along.

Beco Gemini

 

Here are some pictures from today...

 

All smiles this morning.

 

Staring Contest

 

Thinking pose

Pacifier Skills

And a video of finding the pacifier on Josiah's nose...

 

 

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