Sleep When the Baby Sleeps

While I consider myself a rather intelligent person, I've always been a bit on the stubborn side. Take for instance the bit of baby advice that people love to offer - "Make sure you sleep when the baby sleeps!" Why would I do that? Charlie's naps are the perfect time to make the bed, do laundry, wash dishes, vacuum, play with the dogs, update my blog, organize the baby book... and the list goes on. But truthfully, as I sat in the glider from midnight to 2 AM with a wide awake baby (not sure who was crying more at one point), I decided that today would be the day I started following that advice. So for the first two morning naps, along with one in the afternoon, mommy and baby slept. Charlie was in the newborn napper of his pack and play and mommy was on the couch (with Molly and Maggie, who also love a good nap session). If our little guy is going to insist on being awake for two hours in the middle of night, then I have to be ready!

I also froze my first bag of breastmilk today. Yay! I pump after the first morning feeding while Charlie hangs out with me on his Boppy and JA gets ready for work. So there is one bag of 4 oz. in our freezer. One down, a bajillion to go! ;)  My goal is to get a good stash going so John can take over the first nightime feeding (around 10 or 11 PM). Our pediatrician recommended this so that I can sleep from about 8 PM to 2 AM or so, which sounds pretty fantastic to me! Actually, any sleep at all sounds pretty fantastic to me. If you know me, you know how much I love to sleep. And while I knew that the newborn phase would be rough, I don't think I was quite prepared for the total exhaustion and frustration. It makes me think of the scene from Sex and the City 2 when Charlotte has a breakdown about how hard it is being a mom. She then sobs, "And I have full-time help! I don't know how other women do it!" ;)

So when the frustration gets to be too much, I just have to take a step back and take a deep breath. He won't be a newborn forever, and when he's grown I will long for the moments when his big, beautiful eyes look up at me. I try to focus on what an amazing time this is now.

Tuesday
Breakfast - two organic, scrambled eggs; roasted potatoes with organic ketchup; cranberry juice
Snack - organic apple
Lunch - vegetable, bean, and rice burrito; handful of tortulla chips with salsa
Snack - Fiber One granola bar
Dinner - piece of vegetable lasagna (broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower)
Dessert - PB&J on an English muffin

Wednesday
Breakfast - natural PB on an English muffin
Lunch - "chicken" strips, one slice of American cheese, light honey mustard, and romaine lettuce on a whole wheat tortilla; baked fries
Snack - orange
Dinner - whole grain rice with broccoli and corn and a few pieces of vegan spareribs (too spicy!); bowl of Fiber Plus Cinnamon Oats cereal with organic skim milk