Mila's 1st Time Swimming!

She loved it! <3

Monday Hits & Misses (Mom Stuff) : August 6th, 2012

I got this razor as a sample and it is by far the best razor I have ever used. It has 5 blades which is nice for getting a really close shave. The only reason it is a hit & a miss for me is because of the price of new blades. They are expensive and need to be changed often. Still worth trying though!

I got my Cargo lip gloss quad in my luxe box subscription. I was thrilled that it was a full size product valuing at $25. The quality of the lip gloss is great. They are very pigmented, long lasting and have little to no scent. Three of the shades have shimmer in them and are really beautiful. The coral shade is my favourite! They are also not overly sticky which is a nice change from many of the lip glosses I already own.

I have been using CHI silk infusion for years and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It is a great heat protectant,  gives my hair a great shine and smells fantastic! The only down fall for me is the price. It is a bit expensive but lasts a long time so it is worth it over all. A must try for sure!

I started using this again after switching to a new shampoo & conditioner a couple of months ago. I completely forgot how much I love it. The scent is amazing! It makes my hair feel really clean & doesn't dry it out. It could be compared to some salon quality products but is a much more affordable price!  

Mila's 8 Week Update

Weight

9lbs 12 1/2 oz

Height 

21 1/2"

Clothing Size

Newborn & starting to wear some 0-3 months

Eating

We are still exclusively breastfeeding. She is doing great & we are both enjoying it very much! Prefers the breast over having a bottle. Mila is seems to have a sensitive stomach. There are a few things that I have eaten which make her extra fussy : asian food, cherries & carbonated drinks.

Sleeping

Sleeps 1 long stretch each night from around 11pm - 12am until 7am - 8am then she feeds once more and sleeps again to around 10am - 11am. She takes lots of short naps during the day. We are still co-sleeping and will continue to do so until she is 6 months old. 

Crying

She really doesn't cry very much. Only when she needs something. 

Fussy Periods

Mila has one very fussy period each evening. Anywhere from 6-11pm, lasting 2-3 hours each time.

Bath Time

She enjoys her baths but loves to have showers with Steve or I. 

Pacifier

Mila likes the pacifier occasionally but doesn't need it all the time.

Mila's Favourite Things

She loves to be held. 

Sleep in a cool room.

Bath time & warm showers.

Her swing.

Bouncer seat.

Kisses from her big sister! 

Mila Dislikes

Having a wet / poopy diaper.

Being too warm.

Being swaddled. 

A lot of loud noise.

2 Hours Old 

1 Week Old 

2 Weeks Old 

3 Weeks Old 

4 Weeks Old 

5 Weeks Old 

6 Weeks Old

7 Weeks Old

8 Weeks Old

My Exclusive Breastfeeding Diary - 8 Weeks

Every week  I will be writing about my experience exclusively breastfeeding Mila. I will talk about all the ups and downs and tips I have. 

So I have 8 weeks to update you on! This will be my longest post about this topic! So I have exclusively breastfed Mila since the day she was born. I pump daily to store the milk for times when I am not with Mila (which is rare) During the first 6 days I noticed that it was extremely difficult to get a good latch with Mila. She had a very shallow latch which I had a hard time fixing. When I went to my 1 week doctors appointment we talked about my problems with feeding her. While my doctor was examining her she noticed that Mila was tongue tied! Something I had never heard of before but was assured was very common. She recommended cutting it which I was against. I decided to give it a few days and see if the problem sorted itself. Well it didn't so we went back to the doctor to have the tie snipped. She was fine when they did it and hardly cried...thank goodness. Ever since then her latch has been perfect! 

I don't feed Mila on a schedule, I feed on demand. She eats approx. 12 times each day and those feedings are usually between 10am - 12am. She is usually always asleep at 12am and sleeps her longest stretch till around 8am. After her 8am feeding she will sleep till around 10:30am which is great since that is when Eva wakes up. Then I start feeding her on demand throughout the day. 

I have had little to no pain since the first couple of weeks, just soreness when my breasts are very full. I have been using lanolin cream to keep my nipples moist & ice packs if I do experience any pain after feedings. I have found that I have too much milk. Mila has never been able drain my breasts completely so I do pump the extra milk. I usually pump 1-2oz per breasts. We store the pumped milk in the fridge if I know I will use it within the next few days if not I freeze it. Mila isn't a huge fan of bottles so it can be tough to get her to drink from anything other than the breast. When we do bottle feed the pumped milk we use slow flow Dr. Browns bottles (review to come)

Overall my experience breastfeeding Mila has been fantastic. I love breastfeeding and plan to continue until she is at least 1 year of age! 

Any questions about the last 8 weeks of breastfeeding can be left in the comments on this post or on my Facebook fan page!

 

Monday Hits & Misses (Kids Stuff) : August 6th, 2012

I got my Balboa Baby sling when Mila was 4 weeks old. Mine is in the pattern shown in the image on the left. It looks great and is very comfortable on (with no baby in it) They give you a small booklet with pictures of ways to position your baby in the sling. Mila does not like the position they suggest for newborns, she prefers to be in a laying position with her head close to my chest. When she's in the sling I feel like she is safe & I can be hands free which is nice. The major down side to me is that I feel like you are carrying your baby on your shoulder. After 1/2 an hour of baby wearing my shoulder is very sore. I have also been unable to nurse in the sling which is disappointing. Both a hit & a miss for me. 

I love love LOVE Sudocrem. I have used many different diaper creams and this one is by far my favourite. It is very smooth, not too thick and easy to remove. I found with most diaper creams that they can be extremely difficult to remove during each diaper change, but not with Sudocrem. It is easy to remove between changes! It also has a nice light scent. If you get it on your own clothing or your babies clothing it also comes off easily in the wash. If you haven't tried it make sure you get some!

Since Eva just learned to use a straw properly a few months ago and we are starting to get her away from using a bottle I decided to pick up a double pack of Playtex insulator straw cups. They claim to keep cold drinks cold which I have found they do. They also claim to be spill proof which they are! They aren't too heavy & come in cute patterns. Best part of all is that Eva seems to enjoy using them! A hit for us for sure!

Nuk pacifiers were Eva's favourite and they are now Mila's favourite too. She especially loves the ones with the handles which are great for when I choose to use a pacifier clip!

Newborn Pictures - 7 Days Old

Enjoy!

My Labor & Delivery Story

After weeks of irregular contractions, on June 14th around 3pm I started getting more regular contractions. The contractions were around every 10-15 minutes but would last 2-3 minutes. I went about my day since I assumed these were just practise contractions. Hubby & I went for a long walk, cleaned the house and made dinner that evening. While I was having my dinner I started to feel a bit nauseous. Didn't think too much into it. That evening we were watching a movie and I started to get really intense back pain. Contractions were still far apart so I didn't keep my hopes up. The back pain was probably the worst I have ever had. It was extremely intense and did not let up. We went to bed and I immediately fell asleep. I woke up with every contraction in the night but they still weren't strong enough or close enough together to make me call my doctor. At 4:45am I woke up with an intense urge to pee. I quickly went to the bathroom and noticed that I had lost my mucus plug & had my bloody show. I went back to bed to tell hubby what was going on. We got back in bed and relaxed. Contractions started to come on really strong! At 6:00am, my contractions were about 5 minutes apart. I  was in a lot of pain but I was able to breathe through the pain and relax as much as I could. I called my Dad to arrange for him to come over to look after Eva when we left for the hospital. After that I called L&D to let them know I would be coming in very soon. I got all my things together and got Eva fed & dressed. I made our bed & folded some laundry! HAHA I was holding off going as long as possible because I really hate being in the hospital. We left at 7:40am and arrived at the hospital at 7:50. I walked myself up to L&D and told my doctor "this baby is coming really soon" She got me into a bed to check me, I was already 7, almost 8cms dilated. No time for an epidural, which was fine with me. I feel like I was doing really well with the pain and was managing to stay as calm as possible. My nurse came in at 8am and I was thrilled to see that she was the same nurse who was there at Eva's birth. She checked me and I was a full 10cms. My doctor then came in (she had to leave a c-section to be with me). She was very supportive and encouraging. I let them know when I needed to push and pushed when I felt the urge. After 1 hour & 13 minutes of pushing. Mila was born at 9:13am! 8lbs 2oz, 20 1/4"! No tearing or scrapes! She was immediately placed on my chest! We waited about 5 minutes before we cut the cord. As soon as the cord was cut they cleaned her off a bit but allowed me to continue skin to skin for the next hour. In that hour I breastfed her for the 1st time. She latched on great! My nurse then took Mila to weigh her, take her prints, clean her up some more & swaddle. Considering I had just given birth & with no pain relief at all I was feeling fantastic. Steve left to pick up Eva to come meet her baby sister, so during that time I took a shower. Eva was there about 2 hours after Mila's birth. She really wasn't too interested in Mila but was excited to give me a BIG hug!

I feel like my labor was great. I pretty much did all my labouring at home which was nice. I was able to move around when I got to the hospital which really helped with the pain. The birth was perfect. I never thought for a second that I would be able to give birth to a baby naturally but I did it! I am still so proud of how well I did! Should we choose to have a 3rd child I will plan to have no pain relief again. There was a huge difference in how I felt as I recovered from this birth as apposed to how I felt when I had pain relief with Eva.

Any questions you have about my labor & delivery can be posted in the comments!