Things Thursday: Things I Was Delusional About

1. All the projects around the house I was going to get done while on maternity leave.  I'm too busy cuddling with my love.

2. How I would start "sleep-training" my baby from day one.  Yeah right, sleep in any form is way too valuable to be picky.

3. How I would never think my baby was the prettiest, cutest, most adorable ever - there's no way she's the most beautiful.  Yes, in fact, she is the prettiest, cutest, most adorable, most beautiful baby I've ever seen.

4. That my house wouldn't get covered in baby shit all day, every day.  It's everywhere I look.

5. That I wouldn't casually talk about breastfeeding in everyday conversations.  It's hard when it may be the thing I have been doing most often every day for the past two+ months.

6. How I would never say "you'll see" or "just wait" to childless friends.  Oh, you'll see.  You just wait.

7. How you could look at a tiny little baby, and fall insanely in love in a moment's time.  Everyone told me about it, but you can't quite understand it until you're there.

8. That I would worry about how I could possibly love another baby the way I love Miss Emma.   I'm sure I will, but it is hard to imagine.

9. How completely awful I would feel about my body for the first few weeks postpartum.  I knew I would look pregnant still, but I didn't know how bad that would make me feel.

10. How much my medical knowledge with being a pediatric nurse would make me feel more prepared.  Ha.  It's so different when it's your baby.

3

Three years,

new jobs,

a condo,

a new car,

a year and a half of law school,

and the sweetest little baby later,

thank you for still loving me.

Happy Anniversary, my love.

Quotable Tuesdays

Baby Girl Emma: Month Two

What's new? Emma smiles at us on purpose now!  She giggles, but only in her sleep, which is the sweetest thing I've ever heard.

Stats: Emma is a little growing rockstar!  She went from below the 10% percentile at birth, to the 50% for weight and length by two months!  Her head is 15 1/2 inches, which is on the bigger side - 79% percentile for my smartie pants baby girl.

Hair: Still unsure what color this little lady is going to end up with - in some lights, her hair is SO red, and in some lights it is still very brown.  We will see!

Eyes: Pretty blue still, but I am thinking they will be changing to green or brown.

Clothes: She is officially out of all newborn clothes!  Made me very sad to pack them away, but excited to start putting her in the adorable 3 month outfits we had waiting for her!  She is even starting to get too big for some 0-3, but fits pretty perfectly in 3 month right now.

Sleep: Emma has started to have better nights, starting at the end of her second month.  She has started sleeping for 4-5 hours stretches, which is amazing compared to the two hours of her earlier weeks.  During the day, she has good days and bad days.  Some days she naps for 2 hours 2-3 times a day, others she only takes little cat naps throughout the day.  She can put herself to sleep sometimes if we put her down drowsy, which is nice.  She has taken a nap in her crib one time (which I was inordinately proud about), but she still sleeps in her pack n play in our room at night, and rock and play or swing for most naps.  She also naps in her car seat and stroller when we are out.  

Feeding: Every three hours during the day, and when she wakes up at night.  She is a great eater, though she is fussy when breastfeeding at times.  She also gets very mad when you take the food away from her before she is done, which we do many times when she is taking a bottle to make it last longer and get her to burp throughout the feeding.

Likes: Cuddling with Mommy in bed in the early morning hours, swinging in her swing - especially with the music playing, looking up at the ceiling, tracking Daddy with her eyes, and staring at the toys hanging in her new activity gym.

Dislikes: Waking up from naps - she sleeps until she's quite hungry, she so always wakes up upset.  I'm hoping this is a phase!

Mama Update: I am feeling like myself, and it is an amazing feeling!  The increased sleep, along with getting in the hang of things makes for one happy Mama.  I am not looking forward to readjusting after going back to work, but happy to have another month+ left to spend with my little girl before my new phase of life as a working mom (something I am both dreading and looking forward to - promise to update on that).  I was able to get out for a girls' night this month, and it was so fun to be out (wearing a normal bra - it's the little things) and get a little buzz on with my girls.  I have totally become THAT Mom I never thought I'd be though - constantly talked about Emma, and checked on her via text with HH multiple times.

Milestones:

First social smiles!
No more newborn clothes.

Nicknames: Chicken Girl, Buns, Princess, Shmemma, Sister (no idea why I call her this, being that she will not be becoming a sister anytime soon)

Quotable Tuesdays

A Model

Nine days after our little love was born, we headed to a local photographer's in-home studio to get some photos done.  Ashlynn Marie Photography certainly delivered - she is like the baby whisperer, and we are thrilled with these photos of our little doll.

Quotable Tuesdays

Homemade Turkey Non-Chimichanga Chimichangas Recipe

I'm not a huge Mexican food fan, but I do tend to make it a few times a month, as Handsome Husband is and it is one of the easier types of meals to whip up (though good and traditional Mexican cuisine is time consuming and takes skill I certainly don't possess, my mediocre Mexican meals work for us!).

When I saw this recipe for baked chimichangas, I knew I wanted to give it a try!  I did not end up following the recipe very closely, so today I'll share with you the "chimichangas" that I made, which I am calling Non-Chimichangas because I baked them for such a short amount of time, they were really more like super yummy burritos!  Yummy is all that mattered to me, and they were a big hit with HH as well!

Baked Turkey Non-Chimichanga Chimichangas 

Makes 8

3/4 lb Lean Ground Turkey

16 oz can Refried Beans

1 3/4 cup Salsa

4 1/2 oz Canned Diced Green Chilis

1/2 tsp Chili Powder

3 tbsp Diced Onion

1 cup Mexican Cheese

8 large Tortillas

Sour Cream, for garnish and topping as desired

Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and prep a glass 13x9 baking dish and a large skillet with a few sprays of cooking spray.

Add turkey to skillet and cook over medium-high heat until just browned, about 5 minutes.  

Meanwhile, wrap tortillas in foil and put in oven to warm and soften.

Add diced onions and continue cooking until onions are slightly translucent.  Drain any excess grease, though I find with lean turkey you do not have too much grease.

Add beans, salsa, chili peppers, and chili powder.  Stir and cook until heated through, about 3 minutes.  Stir in cheese and remove from heat.

Remove tortillas from oven, and put wraps together using a heaping 1/2 cup of the turkey mixture per tortilla.  Fold in ends and roll up.

Place in prepped baking dish.  As you can see, I was not concerned with keeping the size the same for all, but if you were planning to present these, you could be a little more careful when preparing the wraps.

Bake uncovered for 15 minutes.  Here is where you could extent the time if you prefer a crispier, more Chimichanga like taste.  Because I don't, I went for a softer texture and actually took them out just before 15 minutes was up.

I served mine with sour cream on top, and a side of Spanish Rice!

My Love, My Bump, and Me

Weeks before our daughter surprised us with her early arrival, Handsome Husband and I headed to Old Towne Orange to get some maternity photos done.  I was on the fence as to whether or not I felt the need to get maternity photos done, but I am so glad we decided to do them.  I love looking back at these, especially now that we've met the little blessing that was inside my belly during these pictures.

Our photographer for these photos, Jen from Simple Smiles Photography, was great and very reasonably priced if you're located in Orange County, California and looking for a family photographer!

Quotable Tuesdays

Baby Girl Emma: One Month

This is long overdue, but is an update for Month One of Little Emma's life!  

Baby Emma celebrated her one month "birthday" a few weeks ago already (where is the time going?!), but I am finally getting around to updating the blog!  You may have noticed that I am choosing not to use a nickname for my little love here on the blog.  I brainstormed for weeks on what to refer my sweet girl as here on the blog, but nothing felt right.  I want to use her name because I love it, and because nothing else fit the way I wanted it to!  She will probably be referred to by lots of nicknames, but I won't be keeping her name a secret here - it's just too darn pretty to do that!

What's new? Baby girl is starting to look at us like she can really see us, which is exciting!  I think we are getting close to a "real" smile here soon, we get lots of sweet little ones as Emma falls asleep.  I've heard her giggle to herself on her way to dreamland a few times too, might be my very favorite noise in the world.

Stats: Emma had a 2 week appointment, and was doing so wonderfully that she won't be seeing her pediatrician again until she is two months!  Her most recent weight was 7 lb 14 oz, but she is surely over 8 lbs by now.  She is eating like a champ despite a few breastfeeding challenges (to be discussed later, promise!), and getting so big so fast!

Hair: Her little rocker hairstyle has been put to rest, and we now brush her hair to the side, which makes her look so very sweet.  Some parts of her hair are growing in a very pretty golden red shade, so it should be interesting to see what color she ends up with!

Eyes: Beautiful deep blue, but I don't think they will stay this color.  I have brown and her daddy has pretty green - blue would be a shocker!

Clothes: She is still rocking newborn!  Within a few weeks she may be into 0-3, but at 1 month she still has a little room in her newborn onesies and outfits!

Sleep: Emma is doing wonderfully at night!  She has been getting one four-hour stretch between feedings at the beginning of the night, and then three to three-and-a-half hour stretches after that until early morning when she's up.  Sometimes she will go back to sleep after her 6-7am-ish feeding which is nice for me to get some more zzz's!  During the day, she gets two really good naps, and one shorter one before she starts her "witching hours" around 6ish until she finally goes down for the night.  We are still rocking/bouncing/cuddling her to sleep almost every time, and this is something we have got to try and work on!

Feeding: She is a little guzzler!  She loves to eat, and I think she'd eat all day if I let her.  She goes every three hours throughout the day (sometimes 2 1/2), until early evening when she likes to cluster feed every hour-and-a-half for a long stretch of time before she goes to sleep for the night.  We did have some breastfeeding struggles that I will share about soon, and we are still working on resolving them but luckily they did not seem to affect my supply or Emma's weight gain.  I started pumping around week 3 1/2, and Emma got her first bottle a few days after.  I pump once after her morning nursing session, and once while she is getting the bottle.  I am accumulating quite a frozen stash, which helps to ease my mind in case I am unable to pump as much as I need to once I go back to work.  More to come on pumping and breastfeeding soon!

Likes: Emma adores getting her hair washed, she makes the most adorable little face, and almost seems to turn her head for Daddy to get the water all over her little head.  She also loves sleeping on our chests, getting bounced to sleep by her Daddy, and lying on her changing pad!

Dislikes: She doesn't like going number two.  She almost always goes while nursing, and fusses right before.  She is also not a huge fan of getting her clothes put on!  

Mama Update: I am doing so much better than I ever would have thought I would be if you asked me at a week-and-a-half postpartum.  No one can quite prepare you for how hard the first month is, and how quickly you'll feel better because in the thick of it?  I was terrified that I would never feel the same.  I will share my "baby blues" experience, but I am happy to report I am feeling much MUCH better now!  Loving on my little lady, and getting used to this whole motherhood thing!

Milestones:

1.19.14 - 1 month old!

Nicknames: Shmoop (something I started calling her while she was in my belly, and just stuck once she popped out!), Pretty, Little Love, Princess Girl, Buns