Let's Get Ready for School!

It's coming. Another return. I have to go back to school.

Going back to school is so much scarier than going back to work or to derby. I have homework. I'm under constant evaluation. Okay, so it's a little like derby, but tougher. I can do squats while I wear a baby, but he's going to have little interest in my text books and research papers I'm pretty sure.

I've been working hard to stock up on milk for the little bug.

15 1-2 oz Frozen Bags

4 Fresh Bottles (Will stock up to 6 or 7)

Thankfully, his long night sleep stretches give me a good pump in the morning. This is just one breast!

I'm a lefty ;)

I pump after practice too and can usually get about 3 oz then.

I'm really anxious about this. I want to do well, and I'm kind of a perfectionist when it comes to my school work. I'm very blessed to have family to take care of little man for me, so that's one thing I don't have to worry much about. Any words of advice, comfort, or encouragement are greatly appreciated!

At least he's easing my worries about his napping a little bit. Today is the second day in a row that he has put himself down for a morning nap. Yesterday it was 45 minutes all on his own. We'll see how long today's goes, but isn't he just the most adorable little guy you've ever seen?

The Great Cloth Diaper Change 2012

At 12:30 today, over 200 Tampa Bay moms (and dads) and many others around the world all changed their babies into cloth diapers at once. We had to carefully plan what fluff we would be showing off to all the other cloth moms. Here we are getting ready to head out the door:

Before the change, though, we wandered around the Tampa Bay Baby Expo. There were a lot of great vendors like Green Mommy Diapers, Growing Up, Bippy Diapers, and more! I wore the Vegta Baby in the Boba:

I even figured out how to nurse in it by the end of the day. He was passed out from the time we got in line until I took him out to change his diaper.

He was in surprisingly good spirits as we waited for the change. He even made a little friend who kept saying how cute he was and kissing his forehead. It was sweet.

We changed into the diaper we got at a discount from Lotus Bumz after their cyber Easter egg hunt. It was the first time we got to wear it! There weren't a lot of dads there, but we had one!

Unfortunately, we didn't win either of the super nice stollers or diapers they raffled off, but here is what we did walk away with between raffles, samples, and door prizes:

BYO Rambler Lunch Bag; Gift Basket with Blankie, PJ's, and Socks; Small Wetbag,
Eco Nuts Sample, Rockin Green Sample, Eco Sprouts Sample,
Notepad, Magnets, and Hand Sanitizer

I'm excited to have some samples to try of detergent, and that lunch bag is worth $20! All in all, it was a pretty great experience. I loved seeing all those cloth using, babywearing, breastfeeding mamas!

On a related note, I got a package from my Gramma yesterday:

She sent me 40 cloth wipes! It's just cut up fleece, so it's super easy to add reusable wipes to your diaper regimen. I have about 50 now, so if anyone is in need, I can probably spare a few :)

On an unrelated note, I also won $10 from My Debt Free Road, a blog I found through the Ultimate Blog Party 12! Thank you! 

Well, it's time to finish cleaning up. The wife and her husband are coming over tonight. It's been too long!

And Back to Work Too

Not only did I make my long-awaited return to roller derby, Wednesday I made my way back to work. I had planned on taking a little bit more time off, but a teacher I subbed for a few months ago requested me. I'd had a good time with her class, so we decided to go ahead and accept. I know we're very lucky that Jonah's Nana lives nearby. It would be hard to find other reliable care with a substitute teacher's schedule.

As the day approached, I was definitely nervous. I was completely confident that Jonah would be okay with his Nana. I was more concerned about myself. It's really hard to wake up one or two times in the middle of the night to breastfeed and not get to go back to sleep after the second one. Then to go deal with a bunch of first graders? Needless to say, I had a long couple of days ahead of me.

The first day wasn't too bad. A couple of kids asked me if the baby "came out." :) I realized after that first day, though, that I went into it still in mommy-mode rather than teacher mode. I was a little too soft, and I lost some control as a result. At the end of the day, my class was reprimanded by another teacher for being crazy in the halls at dismissal which kind of made me feel like a failure. A few students were upset that I wasn't happy with their behavior and marked their planners as such, but I think giving them very honest feedback set us up for a better day to follow.

Thursday I went over my expectations again. I had them tell me what the consequences were for getting out of their seats without permission (negative tally mark), not finishing their work (no recess), talking in the halls (going back and walking again), and so forth. They also knew that if they did well, at the end of the day they would get a treat. And most of them did. A few of the same students went home without, but many were greatly improved. It gave me hope that I can get back into doing my job well.

I haven't napped much since Jonah was born, but we were both exhausted Wednesday. As soon as he was in my arms when I got home, his little eyes rolled back in his head. I nursed him, and he took a long nap. Even when I woke him up after three hours, he fell right back to sleep AND slept his normal amount. It must have been pretty exciting for him to have such a different routine. His Nana said he did much better with napping Thursday, and when I woke him up he was a very happy little boy.

I was pretty impressed with my pumping that day, about 9.5 oz, but half of that is already gone from derby practice. It's a little intimidating knowing how much I have to pump to be able to do what I need to do, but I just have to add it to the routine.

I had another request to sub Monday. It's a good class, and I'm sure we'll all be fine.

On a different note, I'm trying to cash in on my baby's cuteness, so if you agree that he's adorable, please like this photo on Facebook!

First Month of Mommyhood

I've been trying to decide what I wanted to write about next. I've also been looking for the time. For now, I think I'll just do a sort of review of being a mommy so far. Unlike other blog reviews, however, I do not have a baby to giveaway to a lucky winner (not yet anyway).

For the first week, everything was pretty grand. I had a beautiful baby doing baby things. Eating, sleeping, and so on. Weeks two and three started to wear on me though. As someone who's breastfeeding exclusively, I started to despair at night, thinking about how I would never sleep through the night again. Particularly around the two week growth spurt, he would just eat continually for hours and scream if there wasn't a boob in his mouth for 5 minutes. My nipples stopped aching after about a week thankfully. I couldn't imagine how I would ever be able to have another baby and do this with another child. I can honestly say that for those two weeks or so, I did not like being a mom.

Thankfully, as I've mentioned before, I have a wonderful, supportive husband. I started pumping, and that gave me the freedom to get out of the house for a couple hours. I felt a little bad when I was out at the Tampa Bay Men's Roller Derby bout with my mom and wife, but it wasn't because I felt bad for leaving him. I felt bad that I didn't feel bad about leaving him. I felt bad that I wasn't worried about him. I needed the break. I needed to have some fun without someone latched on to my chest, and I did! I had so much fun! (By the way, have you ever tried to find a private outlet to pump at a roller skating rink? Next to impossible. I wound up hanging the cord over the edge of the skate rental desk and sitting on the floor behind it between games).

It's getting better, though. I am incredibly lucky to have a baby who will sleep anywhere from 3-5 hour stretches at night. I even have to wake him up sometimes (which is particularly hard for me). The current struggle is day time naps. He can fall asleep, but staying asleep is another story. Even our daily walk didn't keep him down for more than 20 minutes.

I can now say that I would do it again. I've developed some amnesia over the birth, and I can see that it does get better. I'm going back to work in just over a week, and I'm confident that he will be fine with his Nana. This mommy thing isn't so bad after all.

4 Weeks Old - 10 lbs 7 oz

In other news, I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award by a blog that makes my mouth water with every new post. Thank you Luminous Vegans! You inspire me to get back in the kitchen!

So I'm supposed to share seven things about myself. I don't know if I can come up with seven new things...

1. I'm so obsessed with cloth diapers right now, I dream about them.
2. I'm also obsessed with babywearing, and even though I have two fully functional carriers, I'm plotting my next purchase (either a Mei Tai or Bali Breeze woven wrap... or maybe a water wrap...)
3. I'm ordering new skates today!
4. I wish I was craftier than I am.
5. I just saw Melancholia. I give it two stars for being super boring.
6. I'm only on 6? Umm...
7. My reading has slowed way down. I want to get a couple more books in before I go back to school though.

I also get to nominate blogs I love, so:

1.  Bella Blogs - I worked with this mama in high school. It's amazing to read her blog because she has changed so much. She's still crazy funny though, and her little boy is adorable.
2.  Vegan Derby Girl - I love vegan derby girls (and boys)!
3. Leslie & Pete - I only met Leslie once to talk about veganism, but I love reading about her pregnancy journey. She also has a pretty cool blog called Salvaged Spaces.

The Scariest Moment

I had a really scary moment about a week and a half after Jonah was born, and I thought I would share in case my experience can help anyone else. I'd been feeling better, and I thought I would try out my new Moby Wrap. I was standing there putting it on and blood started flowing out of me, down my leg, and onto the floor.

I hurried to the bathroom to check out the situation, and there was just a puddle. It kept coming too. Mitch grabbed my phone and started getting ready in case we needed to go to the hospital. I called my midwife, and she told me to do two things: 1) Press as hard as I could into my uterus and 2) Get Jonah to latch on.

She said if it wasn't better after 30 minutes to go to the hospital. Jonah was of course up to the challenge. Breastfeeding helps your uterus contract. After half an hour it was definitely better, and we didn't have to go to the hospital! Within a day or two my bleeding was back to where it had been before.

So, if you experience something similar, don't panic. Definitely call your healthcare provider as soon as possible, but let your little one help you out too!

Boppy vs. My Brest Friend

We're trying to decide on a breastfeeding pillow. I kind of just figured I would go with the Boppy because it looks simpler and more comfortable. Mitch seems to think the Brest Friend is a better choice though. It looks bulky to me, but I don't know. Looking online, it seems like the Brest Friend gets better reviews. The Boppy is winning on my Facebook though. What are your thoughts?

Boppy?

Vs.

My Brest Friend?