**Juangela**

nicoleabrock

How are you?  How do you like being a Mom?  How is Liam?  Is BFing going well?  Is he STTN?  When did he start to smile at you?  What is your day like?

That's a lot of questions!  I just was curious how things are going for you! 

juangela

Hey! Sorry, we've been out an about the past few days. Things are good, busy! I'm down to 4 weeks left of maternity leave and I'm totally dreading back to work .

Being a mom is wonderful and terrifying and exhausting all at the same time. I keep worrying that I'm doing the wrong things and second guessing decisions but I guess that is the way it will always be.

Liam is wonderful! I love him more every day. I always thought I knew what mom's meant when they said they had never known love until they had their child but it really takes on a whole new meaning when you are a mom yourself, you know? (Of course you do ). He has such a strong personality already, though, and a very short fuse (he cries himself purple when he doesn't get what he wants...yeah, that will stop being cute when he is about 18 months or so). But he is super cuddly and sweet most of the time!

BFing is freaking hard. We came home from the hospital supplementing and I got him off of the formula about 2 weeks ago...but we are back to supplementing because he was wanting to eat every 1 to 1.5 hours! I couldn't get anything done because he'd finish and I'd get him settled and start doing something else and he would want to eat again. I felt really guilty about supplementing at first, but he clearly needs it. I've already also introduced him to rice cereal. We started with it in his bottle because he has acid reflux and we have progressed to me feeding it to him with a spoon at night before bed! He eats like a champ, though .

He sleeps about 4-5 hours at night. I try to get him down for the night between 11 and 12 so it covers most of the wee hours of the morning. He is great about bfing for a bit and falling back asleep usually, which is also great. It isn't a full 8 hours but I'll take what I can get .

He started smiling about a week ago, actually, and now he'll lay on his changing table (his favorite place to be for some reason) and coo and laugh and "talk" to us. We are getting a flip video cam for christmas so expect some video once we get it! He definitely keeps us laughing, too. The other night Juan and I were watching Arrested Development and he, no joke, looked at the tv and started cracking up. My dad also taught him how to stick his tongue out, which he seems to find hilarious, because he now does it all the time.

Our day is pretty unscheduled still (I need to get on that before he starts going to daycare!) But he generally takes a pretty good nap in the mornings then is up most of the afternoon with just some catnaps so we play in between those (and eat a ton!), then Juan gets home from work and he plays with him while I make dinner, then he usually takes another nap in the evening. He gets his cereal around 10 and then he and I take a shower (which he loves, including having his head put under the water), swaddle him and it is time for sleep. I try to get out of the house at least a few days during the week and we usually do some visiting to family and friends on the weekends...I get SO stir-crazy being in the house all the time.

So, all in all, I'm loving being a mom. How about you? How are things going with your little lady?

nicoleabrock

I'll be honest... I really had no idea how hard it is to be a mom.  I thought I did, but wow... it's challenging!  Adelina (like Liam) is a great communicator and lets you know when she is upset.  She has colic which was confirmed by her doctor so I did a ton of research and found that probiotics are supposed to help.  We've been adding probiotics to her milk for the last three days and I am crossing my fingers for an improvement.

I exclusively pumped my breast milk until she was 3 weeks old.  That is when we found out she had colic and I was so stressed out my supply totally tanked.  That coupled with her growth spurt has us supplementing with formula and still feeding her my breast milk.  I felt really guilty about that too but now I feel relieved.  I was so stressed being her primary source of food.  It was a ton of pressure!

Adelina coos and tries to talk to us but we have yet to see a smile out of joy.  She smiles in her sleep a lot but I can't wait until she smiles at us when she is awake!  

She only sleeps 2 or 3 hours at a time at night which is so hard!  I feel like a total zombie some days.  I try to nap when she does but I just am not a good day time napper. 

I get cabin fever too from being in the house so much.  We've been out alone a few times which has gone really well but is a total production in that you have to pack so much just to go to the grocery store or Target!

And like you, it really hit me how strong a mother's love is once she got here.  My heart swells just looking at her!

So glad to hear you are doing well!  I can't wait to see video of your little man! 

juangela

I'm glad to hear things are going well and I hope she starts stretching her night sleeps a little!

I think it is a hard adjustment when the baby gets here. As much as we all try not to have certain expectations of what it will be like, we all do. My mom keeps reminding me that we need to do what we need to do to survive, be that giving them formula/sleeping with them/spending the entire night dancing around the house to keep them happy. I keep trying to remind myself that while these things are a big deal/total pain now, it will seem like nothing when they are trying to sneak out of the house and stuff when they get older!