Baptism and Hurricane Sandy

R2D2 was baptized this weekend!  Fortunately the winds and forces of Hurricane Sandy didn't come until the evening.  I'm still finding my own way back to the Catholic Church, but I'm glad we've welcomed her formally in the church. 

We live on the East Coast and pretty darn close to where the eye of the storm passed.  We lost power for about 24 hours, but that was the worst of it for us.  I am beyond thankful we're so safe.  My mother in law had some roof leaks, which isn't good, and my parents had some mild flooding in the basement.  It could all be worse.  Thank you for all the workers who helped restore our power and with the clean-up!  I was fortunate to not be on inpatient rotations and given my distance to the hospital, I didn't have to voyage out.

3 Months Old!

Baby girl turned 3 months old last week!  I can't believe our little one has been in our lives for a quarter of a year already.  This month was different than the first two since I'm back to work now. It's been an adjustment for all, but we're starting to figure out a routine.  I miss spending as much time with her and hubby.  I also miss not having to wash bottles every night!  When I first went back to work, baby girl had some nipple confusion, but fortunately since switching to Tommee Tippee bottles, her latch has been much improved.  With breastfeeding, I'm always, and I mean always, hungry!  I'm about 10 pounds away from pre-pregnancy weight and I'm starting to feel frumpy.  I mentioned this to my mom and I just have to save her response forever.  In my mom's words "Your body is making you eat to produce the milk for R2D2.  You are doing a great thing nourishing your daughter.  You can worry about those couple pounds when you are done nursing."  So, that's that.  I'm going to continue to try to make healthy choices, but I know I personally can't diet while breastfeeding.  I'm also going to try to make more time to work out, which has been difficult since going back to work.

R2D2 is back to sleeping longer periods of time again :)  She'll sleep for closer to five hours now.

We didn't have a doctor's appointment this month, so it's difficult to say exactly how much she weighs.  Using our home scale, I think she's just over 11 pounds now.  She's wearing size 3 months clothing now and size 1 diapers.  She's up to eating about 4.5 ounces every 3-4 hours during the day.  I've been fortunate enough to be making enough milk. 

Baby girl's eyes are still blue!  One of her favorite things now is looking at her mobile.  She doesn't mind being in her crib when looking her mobile, but we're still working on naps in the crib.

I'm sure there's more, but honestly, being a working mom is exhausting! 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies by Noel Trujillo

Recipe from Food.com

This recipe made about 4 dozen cookies for me.  Honestly, I can't tell if it increased my supply because I'm not eating them regularly.  Regardless, they are absolutely delicious!!  I ended up freezing most of the batch and pull them out when I want a dessert.  My mom and brother loved them too!

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons flax seed meal
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 2 -4 tablespoons brewer's yeast

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Mix the flaxseed meal and water and let sit for 3-5 minutes.
3. Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar well.
4. Add eggs and mix well.
5. Add flaxseed mix and vanilla, beat well.
6. Sift together flour, brewers yeast, baking soda, and salt.
7. Add dry ingredients to butter mix.
8. Stir in oats and chips.
9. Scoop onto baking sheet.
10. Bake for 12 minutes

I love my husband

The difference a year makes

People tell you being a mom is unlike anything you've ever experienced before.  While I certainly listened to them, it didn't set in until I actually became a mom.  Seeing my baby girl look up and smile at me truly brought tears to my eyes today.  I have friends who have experienced losses and friends who are having difficulty getting pregnant.  I look at our daughter and hope these friends can experience this unconditional love too.

I've written before that I feel like I'm a mom to two children.  I think I would be in awe of our daughter even if I hadn't experienced a loss, but having experienced one, I know I appreciate our gift that much more.

When R2D2 gets old enough to understand, I imagine I'll tell her about my miscarriage (decades from now).  She and her sibling are connected.  I had my positive pregnancy test on June 10, 2011, unplanned, R2D2's baby shower was June 10, 2012.  R2D2 was born July 17, 2012, my D&C was July 18, 2011.  I hope one day to give R2D2 a living sibling, but unknown to her, she already has one.  So, while I will always grieve our little one that was never born, I'll love R2D2 that much more and be thankful for every day I have with her.

(This post also stems from being back to work and seeing terminally ill children and not even wanting to imagining what those parents are experiencing).