emolychan

MENTAL LEAP (4.5-5.5 weeks) Our baby went through her first mental leap where she can start seeing shadows and contrasts. She's starting to look like she actually SEES us and is actually trying to listen when we talk to her. She's starting to look at the hanging toys on her play gym too, aka be able to keep herself entertained by herself sometimes (which is super nice, lol). It's nice to see her taking in the world. That's the main change so far, besides the fact that she's gotten HUGE within the last week or so. Like, significantly longer in the body, and bigger/rounder in the head circumference. Getting a lot harder to maneuver! POOPY ADVENTURES Her poops have also gotten HUGE! Since she's solely eating breastmilk, she doesn't have solid poop like we do, it's more like.. brown soft serve.. lol, sorry for the visual xD. She used to pretty much have yellowy, liquidy poop at EVERY diaper change, but now she only poops 1-3x a day. But when it...

F IRST OUTING I went out with Carlo for the first time in 5.5 weeks (sans baby). It was the first time I had been out, period, not counting the two doctor appointments. It was nice to have a short break. Will definitely take more of those now that the baby is bigger and the weather is getting nicer. Of course, she had a tantrum the 90 minutes I was gone but I had prepared a bottle of milk beforehand for my mom before I left. But yeah, nothing exciting, just a quick Costco run. I realized that was also the first time I'd been in a car since we came back home from the hospital. Kind of strange that it was also the first time in MONTHS that I got in the car without a preggo belly or having to take extra effort to get in the car, haha. We did also have a SECOND outing on Sunday, this time, WITH baby, just taking a 40 minute walk around the neighborhood. So nice to be outside, holding hands with Carlo, and then Carlo having the baby in the carrier. Us three as a family all together....

Bleh. Today was the first time I lost patience with Mya. She got up at 4:30, so I fed her, then tried lulling her to sleep for about an hour and a half, with a diaper change and two spit-up sessions in between. Kept crying even after trying all the 'solutions' and it turns out, she was just hungry again at 6:00 AM.. another cluster feeding session. I mean, nothing out of the ordinary, just normal baby things. I wasn't mad that I was up early or anything, you get out of the state of sleepiness once you have to be up for over an hour. I was frustrated because I had envisioned a productive morning and was excited to 'SEIZE THE DAY': feed her, have her sleep by 5:30, pump, nap, then be ready for her second morning feeding. Of course, it didn't go that way and my 'plans' were ruined. But then I thought about why I was even frustrated in the first place. Do I NEED to breastpump? Why am I even mad? She's just doing what babies do. I'm not even sleepy o...

It was Mya's second doctor appointment today at about 5 weeks. She gained two pounds in two weeks! Average is usually 0.5 lbs per week for newborns.. the doctor exclaimed, "Whoa! You're definitely making enough breastmilk!" Haha.. well shiet. All that cluster feeding. I definitely can see and FEEL her growth! While the baby was being weighed, I happened to see a regular scale and asked the nurse if I could weigh myself too ^___^;.. I gained about 20 pounds over the course of the pregnancy and lost about 13 pounds so far, which means I have 7 pounds to lose. (*I hate using weight for numbers, I usually just go by how my stomach looks and how my pants fit.) When I unpacked my clothes over the weekend, I also was able to try on some pants and I'm about 1 size up from pre-pregnancy weight. Thankfully I saved some jeans/pants in one size up - we all have our "fat" jeans and our "skinny" jeans, don't we?? When you breastfeed, it's hard to l...

I finally had time yesterday to unpack all of my pre-pregnancy clothes. Since I was pregnant, there was only a select few tops and pants that I could fit, so we stored everything else away for the time being since it was winter here in New York and I knew I wouldn't need any of my Californian clothes for quite a few months. I already knew that I wanted to do an overhaul on my entire wardrobe after having the baby. I've been wanting to cut down on the amount of clothing that I've had to fit in with our more minimalist lifestyle - plus, now that I'm 30, I want to invest in having nicer and more high quality things. These past 2 years, I've moved twice: once out of my house in SF to his in Daly City, and then again to New York this past year. I've already pared down A LOT of my clothing, but I knew my wardrobe in its current state still didn't entirely spark joy for me. Damn that Marie Kondo.. I had about 3 big plastic storage bins' worth of clothing tha...

A month - we all survived!! I can't say if it's been the longest or shortest month of my life. It's just.. been a blur. All three of us collectively (Me, Carlo, and Mya!) have progressed and grown so much these last 30 days. I hope it's easier from here! Though I'm sure each timeframe will present itself with its own challenges.. for now, I'm celebrating the fact that we survived one month! Going to tell Carlo to buy cake or something to commemorate :) or maybe pie? I realized her one month is also Pi Day. ME: Sleep is everything - my mood has definitely gotten better now that I'm starting to get more sleep. Hopefully no more negative posts about the lack of it. I prioritized napping about a week ago, instead of trying to get some light exercise or trying to educate myself (via articles or Youtube videos) more about baby stuff. After all, childbirth is considered a disability and you get 6 weeks off from work for a reason. I was seriously dying from the l...

Man.. when you're at home for 3 weeks straight in a row without going outside AT ALL, the days really blend into each other. Every day that passes by is literally the same routine (see my previous post). At least, probably until next week, when she hits one month old and starts more mental development and being more awake and aware - FINALLY BECOMING A HUMAN BEAN and not just a widdo alien that just needs sleep and food. Every day / every night is an accomplishment though. ESPECIALLY every night. Every time Mya wakes up for a night feeding, I peek at the time and PRAY that at least 2 hours have passed. Just give me that little bit. I'm pretty much a hermit and I don't really mind staying at home. But ZERO interaction with the outside world and not being able to go out to eat kind of sucks. I could probably go on short walks outside but it takes so much effort to put on 'real' clothes and trying to look decent just to go out for 15-30 minutes. I ain't sp...

SLEEP: The most valuable and important thing in my life, outside of Mya, IS SLEEP. You can probably tell based on it being mentioned in every post. I swear to G every time I post about it being the worst night ever, there's a night that magically tops it. Definitely had the worst night this week. I think it's also because it's combined with the accumulated lack of sleep over the course of three weeks and we're at wits' end. Breastfeeding: The hardest part of new motherhood is definitely the breastfeeding. The act itself is not bad, but feeling like you're constantly tied down every 3-4 hours is pretty hellish. And every time you DO nurse, it's at least 30 minutes to an hour, and then you need to nap / snack in between. Hardly get enough time to do anything super nice for yourself. Like, it's a bit nervewracking when I want to take a nice, long, hot shower - I have to go RIGHT after a feeding to make sure I don't have to rush. People don't...