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As cute as he is, it's still not my favorite stage.

I have a confession to make.  The newborn stage is not at all my favorite stage in the life of my kids.  I know, we’re all supposed to love newborns and their squishy little faces and thighs.  I just don’t.

Now, I love kids.  Obviously – I have three of them.  And I love all three of my kids.  I even loved them when they were newborns.  However, I am just not into the newborn stage.

This stage is hard – they’re born knowing how to do almost nothing.  You have to teach them how to eat and sleep, help them burp, hold up their head, the list goes on and on.  Throw in that they don’t know how to smile or communicate with you other than through crying and that you’re not getting enough sleep to competently handle any of these stressors, and the newborn stage is really difficult.

I get really excited when my kids start interacting through smiles and baby talk and you get to start seeing who they truly are.  You can get peeks at their personalities from birth, but it’s not until they’re older that you get to see who they will become.  As they get older, I love the positive feedback from their smiles, and I love them doing something other than cry, eat, sleep, burp, and fill their diapers.  Joshua is cute, but Nathan and Emily are fun.

I’m trying to do a better job of just enjoying the moments as our little ones grow up and not wishing them away.  I know that this phase will pass too quickly.  Joshua has already technically graduated from being a newborn and is now an infant.  That doesn’t mean that I’m not excited for the stage when I can put Joshua down in his crib wide awake and he can put himself to sleep.  I’m really excited for that day.

What are your feelings about newborns?  Love them or not so much?

My mother-in-law purchased the cradle of my choice as a baby gift when I was expecting with Michael.  I was so excited to use it that we had it assembled over two months before my due date.

Low and behold, Michael never slept in his cradle.  No matter what I did, I just couldn’t get him to sleep in it.  Every time I placed him on the mattress he would instantly wake up and begin screaming.  After a few weeks of this behavior I gave up trying and put the cradle away to hopefully use another day with another child.

That day I’d been waiting for has come and gone and I’m happy to say that the cradle is still currently in use.  Maeve has slept every night in it.  If she’s awake when I put her down, I simply rock her for a few minutes and she usually settles right down.  Michael reacted in the opposite manner and screamed even harder and louder when I rocked him.

Because I was afraid Maeve wouldn’t like the cradle as well, I didn’t purchase new bedding for it.  She sleeps on a blue sheet while surrounded by a blue bumper pad.  She doesn’t know the difference, right?  At least her blankets are pink.

Beside, by the time I get around to finding the bedding I like for the cradle, she’ll be out of the cradle and into the crib!

What does your baby sleep in?  Is it what you expected?

Doesn't look like it would be so difficult... wrong!

If you have read very many of my posts, you know I have been working quite diligently to get Braylin’s room “perfect.”  For the past couple weeks, I have been at a standstill.  About a month ago, I ordered a dresser/changing table combo online.  I was a little leery of the quality and how hard it would be to put together, but it had good reviews so I went for it.  It was shipped for free to a local store, so we picked it up and wanted to put it together as soon as we got home.  We got all of the parts (about fifty) out of the box and realized a piece was broken.  We decided to work up to the point that we needed that piece and stop until I could get the piece ordered and delivered.  Well, about ten minutes into the terrible directions, we found that we were missing several of the screws and bolts that we needed.

After a minor (ok… major) emotional breakdown, I ordered all of the pieces that were broken or missing.  I was told it would take ten days for processing plus shipping time.  At this point, the dresser was still in fifty pieces spread throughout her room, so I couldn’t do anything except close the door and pretend it wasn’t happening.  Meanwhile, I shopped online and planned out exactly how I wanted to arrange the furniture, paintings, etc.  Of course, that changes on a regular basis, but it is fun to pretend that I know what I want.

Will we ever get this room put together?  To be continued in Part 2…

The best part of my day - the fabric I found!

This week, we took our first day trip with Joshua.  And by we, I mean Nathan, Emily, and I took our first day trip with Joshua.  Chad was at work that day – lucky duck.  I had been ignoring the recall notice on our car for several months, but when my seatbelt started becoming difficult to unbuckle, the time had come to make the trip to the dealership in Wilmington.

I can’t say that I was excited about the trip.  Normally, the kids and I like going to Wilmington – well-stocked fabric shops, great parks, and lunch options beyond McDonald’s.  This trip, though, Joshua was joining us.  A nursing, two-month-old for a day trip with no other adult.  Yay.

So, we got up early and were on the road by 7:30.  The trip down was fine – Nathan and Emily are great in the car, and Joshua had a full tummy so he slept well.  We got to the dealership and settled into the playroom to hang out until the repair was completed.  A loaner car was available, but taking all three car seats out of our car, installing them in the loaner, and then repeating the process when we returned was more work than staying.

The dealership actually has a really nice little playroom, and Nathan and Emily had a great time playing the almost three hours we were there.  Joshua and I did not fare so well.  I am not a public nurser, and the toy room had glass for three of the four walls and salespeople and shoppers walking by regularly.  I’ll confess I probably cut both of Joshua’s feedings off before he was completely done because I wasn’t comfortable feeding him there.  The noise of Nathan and Emily playing, while at a normal, well-behaved level, was still more than Joshua was used to for naps, so he didn’t sleep well either.  I was relieved to leave.

Other than the fender bender outside the toy store, the rest of the day went fairly smoothly.  At the fabric shop, I found some fabric I had wanted, Nathan and Emily had a great time at the toy store, and everyone enjoyed their lunches.  This time, I just fed Joshua a bottle.  He didn’t care, and it was just so much simpler in a restaurant.

I was thrilled when everyone fell asleep about five minutes into the drive home.  While the day hadn’t been horrible, it had been quite stressful trying to keep all three of them quiet, well behaved, and entertained.  Throw in feeding Joshua, and it was a long day.  I now know we can successfully leave Jacksonville for a day trip on our own, but I’m just not sure I want to do it regularly with a nursing infant.

Have you ventured out much with your baby yet?  How did it go?

Along with a new crib and new toys, many expecting parents get their baby’s room ready with a new coat of paint. But before you strip the walls of the old paint, you should find out if your home has lead in it.

If you’re pregnant, it’s just as important for you to stay away from lead as it is to protect your children from it. Exposure to high levels of lead can pass to your baby and lead to miscarriage, preterm delivery, low birthweight and developmental delays in the infant.

As frightening as this may sound, there are things you can do to keep yourself and your baby safe. Begin by determining whether your home has lead in it. Many homes built before 1978 were painted with lead paint, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. A lead inspection of your home can tell you whether your house has lead paint. A lead water test can tell you if your water has lead in it. Call your local health department for information. If you rent, ask your landlord if your home has lead in it.

Click here to find out what to do if you find that your home has lead in it.