Stretch Marks

Or stretchies.
Marks of motherhood.
And probably a few other names for them that I can't think of right now.

I've got them. In abundance. They mar and span across my belly. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a little vain and dislike them greatly.

They definitely aren't the prettiest to look at and feel weird. Some are deep. Okay, the majority of them are deep. And they pucker up my skin and are in all sorts of shades ranging from silver to purple. I expect eventually they will all turn silver and be less noticeable. They "disfigure" my body. They make me want to cover up and never put on a swim suit again. And they aren't restricted to my middle. I've got them on my bum, my thighs, and my breasts. I scraped by puberty without a one but not pregnancy...

Yet they are beautiful. They tell the story of changes. Changes my body went through, the fear of another loss, the joy of seeing her heartbeat for the first time, the aches, the heaviness, the delights of feeling her first movements and rolls, the painful jabs and belly contortions.

I'm afraid to wish them away cause then I'd feel like I was wishing her away. I won't regret those marks of motherhood, my tiger stripes, for they brought me her.

Maybe they aren't so bad after all.

Outtakes

The post where a bunch of things that have happened this week get mentioned cause I can't elaborate on each one enough for a separate post without sounding redundant.

**It's pretty obvious that before long, I'm going to have a teething baby on my hands. Case in point? I woke up the other morning to Vera trying to chew on my face. Not latch and suckle but legitimately chew.**

**I usually put my breast pump paraphernalia in the dish drain by my sink after I'm done cleaning and sanitizing them. Bottles and breast pump parts are usually the only things that go in there since we have a dish washer. We had a friend come over and he was helping S do the dishes since I cooked for everyone. He picks up a flange or shield (whatever it's called) and asked where do I put this funnel? And why do we have so many?**

**conversation with husband- S: I don't see why you talk to the baby like she can understand you or say something back!
Me: You do realize that it's either talk to her and the dogs or the walls...now which one would I be more likely to become institutionalized for?
S: the walls...unless you told me the baby and dogs talk back, then...well, I'll send pictures and write often.**

**I might have nearly given S a stroke a few days ago. I got my hair cut again and he asked me to text him the amount so he could go ahead and take it out of our checkbook... I accidentally texted $250.00 instead of $25.00 for a wash, cut, and style. Oops. He did have the good humor to ask if my girl started cutting famous people's hair if she's charging that much these days! Ha!**

**And so what if my mom came over for lunch and instead of actually cooking a dish, I threw the night before's grilled chicken cut into chunks in with some rigatoni noodles, a little bit of butter sauce, and sprinkled parmesan cheese and some Tony Cachere's seasoning on it and called it Cajun Pasta? It was delicious.**

Vera at 5 Months

Wow. Where has the time gone? I personally find it hard to believe that it's already been 5 months! My girl is growing up so fast. I feel like yesterday I gave birth and tomorrow I'll see you graduate high school. It's scary. And in such a short time, you've grown and learned so much!

Before, I could leave you on the floor for the 30 seconds it takes of get a glass of water, not any longer. Already you are into everything and anything.
 If I thought you knew how to roll proficiently last month, this past month has proved me wrong. You are all over the place. See above comment.
Your personality is really shinning through, you are a flirt through and through, playing coy with those smiles then peeking up from a hiding spot post smile.
 I love to hear you giggle! Maybe I'm lame or you get bored of me but I only get a tiny bit of laughter and I have to work hard for it but if grandma or grandpa are playing with you, even if they do the same things I do? It's hilarious to you and you just spout off with the laughter!
You can now get up on your knees and rest on them, now all you've got left to figure out is how to do that and put your hands under your torso and you'll be set to try to crawl. But no rush honey, I'm not ready for that just yet!
 I feel sitting up unassisted is coming soon just by your coordination and movements. This will make bath time 100 times more fun and I'm sure I'll get even more drenched every time. Not that you don't do a good enough job as is :)
You can reach and grab for things with amazing precision. And if it's beyond your reach, you find ways to get it whether it's rotating and rolling to it or grabbing the blanket and pulling that corner to you to bring the toy closer. You're a determined little thing when you want a favorite toy.
 And I am ever so proud to report that you can now grab your soothie and pop it back into your mouth. You even do this at night from time to time! Sometimes it takes you a few tries to get the right end in your mouth and even then, you'll forget to let go before you move your hand but after getting frustrated, you get it right. It's amazing to watch you figure it out for yourself.

Watching my daughter grow and learn and play so far has been such a blessing and fun experience!

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Lesson Learned In Motherhood: Diapers

If you little one hasn't pooped in a day or so, don't let them lay/run around without a diaper for longer than 5 minutes, even if they need to air out. They will poop. And it will be massive. But you'll thank God you put them on a blanket and not the carpet.

You'll be on the phone with your husband and mid-sentence you will smell something and look down to see your child happily squealing and kicking and squirming in a puddle of it.

At this point, it's best to hang up, grab the kid, and wash them off in the tub.

Just another day in my life.

Bedtimes

So we talked about sleep training just the other evening...
How about conflicting bedtimes?

I'm really shooting myself in the foot with my own sleep, y'all. I put Vera down to bed at 8pm and she's asleep soon after almost every night. Me? And I know you commiserate with me on this one but there are never enough hours in the day to do things. Any thing, really. I've heard that it gets easier as they get older, that you find ways to warp time out how to reconfigure your schedule and I guess I'm just not really there yet. I don't get to bed until dang near midnight every night. Some nights a bit later. There's the kitchen to clean up, one more load of laundry to do, bathroom tiles that are looking neglected, time to be spent with my equally neglected husband, floors to vacuum, posts to write, books to read, and by the time I'm trying to remember what I did all day and all the things I didn't do I forgot that somewhere in there I'm supposed to go to sleep!!!

And Vera doesn't nap anything longer than an hour at the most and I kinda have to admit, I'm either trying to catch up on my own sleep during that time or relishing in the silence of the house on the couch gathering my thoughts. Or I'll talk to S while he's at work for a few minutes while I drink another cup of coffee.

Something has got to give but we all know how it is when you THINK you're going to get to bed early that night...

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Wordless Wednesday- Fluffy Bum

Campus Book Rentals for College Textbooks

So I know most of you are grown ladies that are either finishing school or have been out of school for quite some time and you might think that this post isn't going to pertain to you but bear with me cause you might be interested after all or might know someone who could benefit with the savings :)

Buying college textbooks can be an expensive pain and sadly, when you sell them back you don't get even a quarter of what you paid, even if you bought it brand new and kept it in pristine condition. And when you go back and see the "Used Price" for books...well, you now know where the campus book stores make their money. Hint: It's not in the scantrons and backpacks.

That's where Campus Book Rentals comes in...

Instead of paying full price for your textbook, you can rent it and save your money so it can go to more important things (like making sure you or whomever is going off to college isn't eating ramen noodles for the semester!)

Here's a few examples:

Say I took a marketing class since it would help me understand, oh you, marketing! And I needed this book: Essentials of Marketing.
I could pay about $180 for this book (Amazon has it listed with a price that varies from $200-$160) or I could rent it for the semester for only $35... At the campus store, I'd pay $180 for the semester, turn around and sell it back receiving (this is an EXTREMELY generous estimate) maybe $50. I'd be out $130 or I could rent it and only be out $35...it just makes sense this way!

Or even this book about research design... the same math goes! I'd be paying way less than the list price (even for used) and I wouldn't even have to worry about selling it back, just returning it when I was done renting. You end up saving anywhere from 40%-90% on each book you rent.

I wish I would have known about this before I went to college but if and when I do decide to go back? I know where I'm getting my books from!

The best part? Especially if you are already out of school? You can sell the textbooks you bought from the campus stores to Campus Book Rentals for more than what the store was going to buy it back for. I sold my old theatre books to Campus Book Rentals, I was going to keep them after the campus store told me they'd give me $15 for a book I paid closer to $100 for...Now I'm not getting my money back by any means and you never will, that's just the nature of things but I did get around $40 for it and they paid for shipping and everything. And just a few days after receiving my book, they deposited the money in my PayPal account. That's another pretty cool thing, I was able to choose to get paid through either PayPal, Amazon Gift Card, or they would mail me a check. Of course I chose PayPal because I have an Etsy addiction but that's neither here nor there ;)

And one thing I REALLY like about this company? Other than the fact that you can chose how long you rent the book for and the price is prorated for the time period, they don't mind you highlighting in the books and making notes, AND a 30 day refund from date of order for any reason with free shipping both ways? They are partnered with Operation Smile.

Operation Smile is an international children's medical charity that provides safe, effective reconstructive surgery for children with facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate, forever changing their lives. The stats go something along the lines of every 3 minutes a child is born with a cleft- often unable to eat, speak, socialize, or smile and sadly, in some places, these children are shunned and rejected. I know I don't talk about my friend Brock a whole lot, his job doesn't allow me to (military) but he was born with a cleft lip and was unable to eat without special aids. Luckily, his parents were able to afford the surgery to fix it but in too many cases, these children's parents can't afford to give them the surgeries they need to live a normal live.

That's where they come in as an international charity providing the much needed surgical services. In the past 20 years, through the help of dedicated medical volunteers, Operation Smile has provided more than 2 million patient evaluations and over 200,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with cleft lips, cleft palates, and other facial deformities.

CampusBookRentals.com donates between 35% to 45% of every textbook rental to Operation Smile meaning if a customer rents a book that costs $50 on the site, $20 is donated to Operation Smile, so with every textbook rented, a customer is not only furthering their education, saving money, but also making a difference in a child's life.


This is sponsored post with sponsored post content. All opinions are my own
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Breastfeeding Yoga

If you've ever breastfed any amount of time, I'm sure you've been introduced to all the different holds...cross cradle, cradle, football hold, and so on. And it's all pretty relaxing and peaceful and quiet...and their sweet milk drunk faces makes you sigh contentedly and think something along the lines of "this is perfection."

And then they figure out how their limbs work and how to move their heads with purpose and direction. And they get curious. And fidgety (is that even a real word?!) And they learn a preference, gain opinions, and want to do things THEIR way.

source: mammalingo.tumblr.com

So I present to you: Breastfeeding Yoga.

The Feeding Trough.
When your baby wants nothing to do with being held, not even in your lap, but is still ravenously hungry so you abandon all cares and lean over your baby with a breast dangling in their face for them to nurse off of.
Normal Yoga Equivalent: The Plank

Sitting Flamingo.
When your baby isn't quite big and strong enough to sit unassisted but there's no other way to get them to come at the breast so you end up sitting awkwardly with a knee up and body turned in an ungodly manner to brace the child.
Normal Yoga Equivalent: Half Lord of the Fishes

The Twizzler.
A variation of the Sitting Flamingo. Hold the child on the opposite side of your body because they won't sit still to save anyone's life and turn your upper body to look over your shoulder.
Normal Yoga Equivalent: Bharadvaja's Twist

And I'm sure we will find more crazy positions as Vera and I continue on with breastfeeding. Did you find any weird body contortions you found you put yourself in while breastfeeding?

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Source of Yoga Poses Pictured: http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/finder/browse_categories

Sleep Training

Or as we like to call it in my house, Rants from a Delusional, Sleep Deprived Momma. I will go on the record here and say we did a form of cry it out...and while some may not approve, I'm not looking for judgement and if you have harsh opinions, please keep them to yourself :) What works for us may not be what's right for your family and vice versa and I respect that and ask that you do the same!

Anyways (it really sucks, having to put disclaimers like that on things but such is the world! :) We are coming up on week 3 of sleep training and I've got to say, already it's paying off. We just have to fix a few hitches here and there. She still wakes up quite a bit at night and still wants to breastfeed a lot at night as well. Naps are never longer than an hour and if they do reach the hour mark? I hit my knees and thank God. We also have an established schedule and routine for the evening; it's so established that if we are off by 10 minutes it all goes to hell in a handbasket and Vera is NOT a happy camper. At all.

Here's a small, condensed version of what we've been going through, in case you were curious.

Every night at 7:30pm Vera gets a bath with giggles and splashes and lots of fun. It helps her expel any energy pent up and lets her know it's time to wind down. After her bath, she gets smothered in lotion, plays naked to release the last dregs of energy, then gets diapered, dressed, tells Daddy night-night and we retire to the nursery. There in the rocking chair we get a story, a song, a bedtime prayer, a boob, and kisses from Mommy while I tell her how much I love her (cause, you know, I don't do enough of that EVER ;) then she gets put into her crib while drowsy but awake with her soother (paci) and her lovey. 

Night 1- Hardest night of my life as a mom so far, to not immediately respond to her cries? I cried right along with her in the other room and at one point, handed the video monitor over to S and went outside and sat with the dogs on the back porch. She screamed for 90 minutes straight without much reprieve.

Night 2- Much easier. I was definitely dreading it but she only cried for about 35 minutes before falling asleep.

Night 3- Vera was awake off and on almost all of night 2. On the up side? She only cried 23 minutes before falling asleep.  Naps are still sucking during the day and short as ever. Night time wake ups were less.

Night 4- Cried only 10 minutes. It was actually more fussing than anything.

Night 5- She was put into her crib at 8:05pm and was asleep by 8:10pm after some tossing and turning but no crying.

Night 6- Now. If she does cry, it only lasts about 5-10 minutes tops then she settles in and goes to sleep.

Our main hurdle these days is getting Vera to stop the 3-4 nap schedule of only 30-45 minutes at a time and condense that into less naps of longer duration. Also, she can't fall asleep without the pacifier so she's either got to learn how to plug that thing back in during the middle of the night (wishful thinking?) I tried to get her to suck her thumb but nope! Not happening. And she LOVES to smush her face with her lovey.

And if anyone wants to say that I am psychologically scarring my child, she wakes up every morning with smiles and grins for us and still gets hours and hours and hours of love and cuddles during the day. If I can't function from lack of decent sleep, what kind of mother will I be for my daughter? I'll tell you what kind, not a very good one.

But, a few questions for you Moms that have put your little ones through some sleep learning/training:
1. At what age were they able to sleep through the night without night feedings (she gets them every 4 hours unless she wakes up, then I nurse her back to sleep...bad, I know!) so I know when to start tapering that off?
2. When were they able to figure out the whole paci to mouth thing on their own at night?
3. Any suggestions as we take the next step to either teach her to fall back asleep in the middle of the night or take a longer nap?

Edited to Add: She does not cry it out alone, without anyone responding to her cries as me and her father laugh it up and party in the other rooms/outside. We have a video monitor that we watch and listen in on. Every 5-10 minutes while she is crying, one of us goes in and soothes her, gives her the lovey and the paci. She is NOT left to cry when she is hungry, scared, sick, too cold/hot, or has a dirty or wet diaper. She is not worse for the wear and come morning, she is smiley, coos, and plays in her crib for about 5-10 minutes before she cries out for me to come get her (we know this because I've watched it on the monitor.)
 
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