Aili Update: Month Three

Hey everyone!

Time has continued to fly and we now have a three month old on our hands! This month we had a lot of firsts that we checked off including first time in a pool (at Grammy’s house), first road trip (11 hour drive to Florida) and first day back to work for Mama. 

The long car rides to and from Florida went pretty well, but Aili is definitely not a car loving baby yet. We had a blowout (or two ;) ) on our journey but luckily none bad enough to get all over the car seat! Our trip was great and we saw our families and extended family as well as some of our best friends. It was so good to spend the time with everyone and I’m so glad I took part of my maternity leave to do so! I had been kind of looking forward to getting back into a good routine, which included going back to work. Now that I’m back at work, I’m wondering why I wanted to go back. Just kidding ;). Going back to work has been great. I love seeing my friends and patients again. My work colleagues are truly like a second family for me so it felt so unnatural to be away for so long. I do miss seeing baby girl as much though. We’re pretty blessed that my mom is able to come and stay with us almost the whole month of June so that Aili girl didn’t have to start daycare right when I started back at work. She’s the best! 

Breastfeeding has still been going pretty well. I am a little worried about my supply dropping now that I’m back at work. So far it’s balanced out and we haven’t had to supplement with formula or use any of our freezer stash yet. 

Products I loved this month:

- Milk Snob Car Seat Cover was a lifesaver for us! We used it a lot to let Aili sleep while we were out and about in combination with the shusher or white noise. 

- Medela hands free pumping bra is a must for going back to work with the frequent pumping sessions 

 Look out world here she comes!! Love watching this baby girl grow!

Thanks for keeping up with us,

- Olivia 

Aili Update: Month Two

Month Two

It’s hard to believe how fast this month went by. We have a two month old!! Aili girl has been progressing so much this month and I can’t wait to see what the coming months have in store!

Sleep has been up and down. She had been doing so good with four hour stretches in her fourth week of life and then had a regression her fifth week of not sleeping well at all. Hard to go down, only sleeping two hours at a time maybe. Not napping well during the day. Extra fussy. But then I took a class from Taking Cara Babies online called “will I ever sleep again” (LOL RELEVANT MUCH??) that is done by a NICU/L&D nurse who’s husband is a pediatrician. It seriously changed our lives. It isn’t sleep training but tricks and tips to help your baby go down on their on in their own space. It isn’t a strict schedule but more flexible to help your baby adjust to life from weeks 5-12 of life and then how to keep things going after that in the 3-4 month class. The FIRST night we did it, she slept 7 hours. No joke. Now she didn’t sleep seven hours every night but she slept better and went down easier. Before this at night she was sometimes sleeping in the pack n play great and sometimes on me because she would not go down in her own space. Same for naps, she now takes 1-2 naps per day in the pack n play. The naps range from 2.5 hours to 30 mins lol but they are on her own and give me time to take a freaking shower and sit without another human attached to me. But she gives you grace to feel like you can also hold your baby for some naps and sometimes she will nap in the car, ALL OKAY. It’s incredibly freeing. So needless to say, if you have a baby and your sleeping isn’t great check her Instagram and blog out but seriously TAKE THE CLASS. Best money I’ve spent on baby items. 

She has been doing awesome with tummy time! She actually enjoys it and is very talkative during it as well! She’s holding her head up a lot and pushing up on her arms a lot for good amounts of time as well. She has rolled belly to back now multiple times as well! Just not consistently yet. This is one of my favorite parts of the day with her! Nike loves to watch her during tummy time too, probably because she’s so vocal during it haha. 

We definitely have been having lots of social smiles and lots of coos and “conversations”. The car rides have been hit or miss. If we keep moving she doesn’t seem to mind it and will fall asleep but if we are stop and go she is NOT a fan. We will be heading to Florida next week and so I will be curious to see how she does on the journey! Hopefully we don’t run into any bad traffic. 

This month has been really hard in the area of emotions. I’ve had some postpartum anxiety and have had a hard time with being alone during the day. There were many times where I would burst into tears for no real reason and would have gripping anxiety about things that aren’t a big deal. Talking to and with people have been really helpful for this and I’m hoping getting back to work and into a routine will help my mental health greatly.

Favorite products this month:

- TAKING CARA BABIES CLASS

- Shussher for on the go car rides or stroller walks it helps her fall asleep for real. Only lasts 30 mins before shutting off and the design is kind of poor because of you set it up the speaker is on the bottom but otherwise we love it! It seriously has made going out so much easier. 

- Haaka silicone milk catcher and manual pump. We got a combo deal on Amazon for these two gadgets (but they weren’t the actual Haaaka brand) and it was well worth the $30. The Haaka is this genius device that you use on the opposite breast to catch your letdown milk on the side opposite of which you baby is feeding. If you are exclusively breast feeding this gadget is SO worth your money!! You can build a small freezer stash from it easily! I wish I would have bought it sooner to have in the early days when my oversupply was really bad before everything regulated. The manual pump is something I never thought I’d need, but now since Aili has had some 8-10 hour nights, I keep it by my bedside and if I wake up before she does (or after 8 hours) I go ahead and use the manual pump and put that in the fridge to avoid clogged ducts and mastitis. SO much easier then getting up and pumping with my electric pump!!!

So that’s it for this month! Now we head into our last month before I go back to work! Can’t wait to see her progress over this month! 

Thanks for keeping up,

- Olivia :)

{Real Talk}: Where Will You Be In 5 Years Part Two

Hey all,

Today my blogpost from five years ago came up on my memories. It was about where do you think you will be in five years? You can read the whole post here, which was funny because it talked about how five years prior to that I thought I would be living a pretty different life. This time I want to look at what I said five years ago: 

“5 years from now hopefully: I will be married to Madi, about to celebrate our four years of marriage anniversary, Nike will be six, Madi will be done with PT school, we will be expecting or have had a child. I hope to still be working as an RN in oncology or obstetrics. Possibly living in Tennessee or North Carolina.”

So this is pretty spot on hah! I married the love of my life May 30, 2015. We are about to celebrate four years of marriage. Nike is six! So crazy! Madi is working now as a physical therapist. I’m still working in oncology as an RN. And we live in North Carolina! So crazy! Five years ago Madi hadn’t been accepted to PT school yet and I hadn’t even graduated quite yet. AND we have had our first baby, Aili Anne. It’s incredible what God does in our lives.

Five years from today, April 29, 2024, I hope Nike is still hanging with us at eleven years old. Aili will be five years old, about to start kindergarten in the fall. I hope to still be working in oncology and for Madi to be in a job that he loves. Madi will also be done with residency. Maybe baby number two will be in our lives then also. We hope to have traveled to Europe and taken Aili to Disney World a time or two. Hopefully about to buy or have bought our first home. 

It’ll be fun to see in another five years where our little family is at. For right now we are just trying to enjoy the ride! 

Thanks for keeping up with us,

- Olivia :)