postpartum – Simply Stoops

Baby

Four Months of Baby

February 20, 2021February 1, 2021by Rachel StoopsLeave a Comment

And just like that we were into Vivian’s fourth month of life! This has been the most fun month yet, but I’m guessing that I will start to say this as each month passes. She just grows and learns so much, I cannot get over it!

This month she really took an interest in toys. She absolutely loves holding onto her little teething toys, and we found some great ones that were easy for her to grasp. Hence the teething toys, she loves to put absolutely everything into her mouth. I have another post planned with some of her favorites that I will share soon!

Vivian celebrated her first Hanukkah with the family via Zoom and we found some cute pajamas at Old Navy that I love! I have gotten as much use out of these as I could even past the holiday just because they are so dang adorable!

She also loves her sit me up from Uncle Scotty and Auntie Sima, and feels like such a big girl!

Otherwise, our days look the same as always, lots of playing, napping, and eating.

She has rolled from her tummy to back during tummy time, though I think that was an accident as she isn’t too consistent yet, and likes to turn onto her side when she’s on her back, but hasn’t rolled fully over from her back just yet.

She also really loves her daddy. 😍 She’s a pretty good video game buddy!

She had her four month check up, filled with more vaccines. 😫 I hate seeing her cry out in pain, though nursing her immediately following seems to help. I will say that she had the best sleep of her life the night after the vaccines, so that was the only bonus. She wasn’t running a fever, but seemed to be in pain so we attempted to give her some baby tylenol and that didn’t go so well. It was grape flavored (gross, I understand) and she spit it back out and then vomited all over me. 😂 I guess we will only use that in pure desperation from now on; note taken.

Otherwise, she is growing well – she has gained about 9 pounds total and grown 6.5 inches! She’s finally starting to take after her tall mom and dad. The pediatrician also began discussing when we can start introducing solids – how exciting! Though I am in no rush…

She has also gotten quite the flat spot on her head because she is very stubborn about her sleeping position, and will only sleep with her head to one side. We’ve tried stretches and changing her sleeping position, but have had no luck. It sounds like we will have to get her one of those baby helmets to help shape her head, so I will report back as we go through that process.

She is a healthy, happy, big girl and we love her so much!

She also has the sweetest little relationship with Olive. Okay, this doesn’t happen often, but is this not the most heart warming photo you have ever seen?!

Monthly milestone picture!

I wish I could slow down time and enjoy the baby cuddles forever, but am also so excited for all of the fun milestones ahead!

Laugh Often – Rachel

Baby, postpartum

Going dairy free for my baby

February 17, 2021February 1, 2021by Rachel Stoops1 Comment

As if my breastfeeding journey wasn’t already hard enough, I decided to see if giving up dairy would have any benefits for baby Viv. Starting between 2-3 weeks old, her tummy seemed to be constantly grumbly. She seemed to be in pain for a great deal of each day, grunting, and straining to pass gas, or poop. She would be okay in the morning, but as the day went on, she was more and more uncomfortable. It was so hard to see my sweet baby in pain, and I just wanted her to feel better.

She cried often, especially in the evening – sometimes for hours. I was so exhausted and just wanted her to sleep, but also couldn’t help but to feel guilty because I knew it wasn’t her fault that she was uncomfortable. So, I set out to be dairy free by first eliminating the obvious dairy – milk, cheese, ice cream, etc. I have been somewhat lactose intolerant for a number of years now, so I would always take Lactaid pills if I wanted to eat dairy and would be just fine. What I didn’t realize was that butter was dairy too! This was something that I had never noticed to bother me before, but I was on a mission to be completely dairy free for Vivian. This meant reading every label on anything before eating, and it was then that I realized dairy is in almost everything!

Luckily, being a major allergen, it needs to be clearly labeled on any packaging, but it seemed to be in just about everything, unfortunately. We had so many delicious snacks in our pantry that I could no longer enjoy. Cheese is basically Mike’s favorite food, so it was hard to find things to make for dinner that we could both enjoy.

Cutting dairy wasn’t an immediate fix for Baby Viv. It can take up to three weeks for the dairy to leave mom’s system, but then takes an additional three to four weeks to get out of baby’s system, so this was an almost two month process to tell if things were getting better. That in itself was pretty disheartening, but I knew just how important it was for me to take this seriously and give things a fair shot. On the bright side, we were not seeing any blood in Vivian’s stool – a sign of an allergy, versus an intolerance, and she also wasn’t having any rashes or any other allergic reactions. I also tried to remind myself that things could always be worse. Many moms have to cut both dairy and soy, or even more allergens, which seems nearly impossible!

Finally after almost two months, Vivian seemed to be starting to feel better. I wasn’t noticing as much grunting, and she was becoming a much happier baby. She didn’t cry nearly as often, and was able to use the restroom without issues. This was such a relief that all of my hard efforts, and missed treats had been worth it. It sure is hard to watch your husband eat an ooey, gooey, cheese pizza in front of you. It’s safe to say I will have quite the list of dairy filled goodness that I need to eat once we are finished breastfeeding.

The dairy sensitivity in babies seems to be fairly common. I found a great group on Facebook that I follow that has lots of great advice, and dairy free options that people love. I always do a quick search on there if I am wondering if a product is dairy free, or if we are wanting to grab a quick dinner out. I will admit that dining out is a bit scary now because it is incredibly hard to trust that staff will take the dairy free requests seriously. I always check allergen menus online, but it’s hard to know how closely safety precautions are followed. I guess it’s a good thing that I am more inclined to eat at home now, though the convenience of eating out, especially on a day where I just don’t feel like cooking, can’t be beat.

With food allergies seeming more common these days, as well as specialty diets, there is a much wider offering of dairy free products now available. While I will admit that many of these alternatives are not so great, it is very refreshing to see that so many companies are trying to cater to those with allergies. Some of the dairy free products that I’ve tried are an absolute hit!

A few of our favorite dinners:

Maple-Pecan Salmon – this is an amazing recipe from Kate at Naptime Kitchen. It is so incredibly easy to make, with very little prep work, and is absolutely delicious! I also love to follow her on instagram – she is a hoot! I love to make this with rice pilaf and asparagus, but is very versatile and would go with just about any side dishes that you could think of!

Teriyaki Salmon – this has been another go-to recipe lately, once Mike decided he needed a break from the maple pecan salmon. This also requires little prep work, and is easy to throw into the oven. We’ve been loving this with rice and steamed veggies, but I also recently found a stir fry kit at the grocery store with noodles and veggies that is so delicious! Can you tell I am a huge salmon fan?

Brisket – this recipe is for brisket sandwiches, which Mike usually goes for. I prefer just eating the brisket on its own, and will usually make mashed potatoes with it, and have some sort of salad. It is so juicy and tender, and turns out sweet yet sassy. I learned the hard way not to put it in the crock pot on high. Definitely get it in there early so you can cook it on low all day. I actually cut a large brisket into smaller pieces and froze so we could just pull out a helping perfect for the two of us when we wanted it. If you can thaw it in the fridge overnight, six hours on low made it perfect. The day I tried it on high because I was worried about time, the sugar in the rub ended up burning onto the crock and it took days of soaking and scrubbing to get it off. 😂 That batch also didn’t taste so good.

Sheet Pan Pork Chops – this was a newer find that turned out to be delicious! I made a few tweaks to make it dairy free – omitted the parmesan cheese and substituted nutritional yeast, and also made sure to pick a ranch seasoning packet that was dairy free. Luckily, the Kroger brand does not contain dairy! I love that this was another recipe with minimal prep, and even better: minimal dishes! I love when you can just throw everything onto a pan and stick it in the oven. I always use tin foil on the sheet pan first to make clean up even easier. We don’t often eat pork, but this was nice to switch things up.

A few favorite treats: (because I deserve goodies too!!)

Non-Dairy Magnum Ice Cream Bars – I’ve tried the classic ones, as well as the almond ones and they are both AMAZING. Every time I eat them, I second guess if I am really eating a dairy free ice cream bar because they are so creamy and delicious.

Ben & Jerry’s Non-Dairy Netflix and Chilled – okay Ben & Jerry’s has tons of delicious non-dairy flavors, but this is a new favorite! The description makes it sound very weird – peanut butter ice cream with sweet and salty pretzel swirls, and fudge brownies. I personally had never heard of peanut butter ice cream before and thought it sounded super odd. At first bite, I still felt like it was super odd. But once you are a few bites in, you just can’t stop eating it! I don’t know about you, but I am a sucker for sweet and salty,

Oreos – no explanation needed. 😂 Who knew Oreos were Vegan?!

Poptarts – surprisingly, many flavors of poptarts are also dairy free! I am very aware that these probably have little to no nutritional value, but they are a great quick snack that bring me back to my childhood, so if I have them every now and then… no harm, right?

Duncan Hines Brownies – who doesn’t love a good brownie? I know that this is one of my very favorite desserts. When I found out that the Duncan Hines brand of boxed brownie mix was dairy free, I was so excited! This has been one of my go to desserts, because they are so easy to make at home, and something that both Mike and I can enjoy together.

Heavenly Hunks – the name says it all. These are the most delicious little cookie treats. I found them at Costco and bought two bags, but kind of wish I bought 17. After opening it says to keep them in the refrigerator, and it’s basically like eating oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough. So. Freaking. Delicious. Because they are oatmeal, I am telling myself they are helping my breastmilk supply. 😉

Annie’s Cinnamon Rolls – We had recently found a nearby bakery that makes the most delicious cinnamon rolls and sticky buns. They of course have no dairy free items in the bakery and understandably so. All of the buttery goodness involves dairy! To say I was missing cinnamon rolls was an understatement. These had become a staple to our special weekend breakfasts that we made from time to time. I luckily found that the Annie’s brand of cinnamon rolls are both organic and dairy free! And they are actually so delicious! I would never be able to tell these were dairy free – icing and all!

Vegan Chocolates – My mom sent me a box of chocolates for my birthday. When Mike checked the mail and told me that someone had sent a box of chocolates, I was certain that I wouldn’t be able to eat them. To my surprise, my mom had searched high and low for the perfect chocolatey gift! She found Rose City Chocolates, and these did not disappoint! They are the most delicious variety of assorted fancy chocolates. I have a feeling I will be ordering these time and time again. Good thing Valentine’s Day is coming up! I was already getting bummed that I wasn’t going to be able to find any heart boxes of chocolates that were dairy free, but I am already planning to order myself a box of these delicious chocolates!

I also recently joined Thrive market, an online grocery store. They seem to have many great allergen friendly options and even allow you to narrow your search to specific dietary restrictions. I just received my first box of some goodies that I wanted to try. Once I become a little bit more familiar with everything and have some favorites, I’ll do another post.

Dietary changes to ensure a healthy, happy baby are so worth it! If it’s just a few months, or a year out of my life, to be able to offer my baby breastmilk, I am more than willing to do it. 😊

Laugh Often – Rachel

postpartum

My breastfeeding journey

February 8, 2021February 3, 2021by Rachel StoopsLeave a Comment

My golly, if there is one thing that no one warns you about, it is the breastfeeding journey. I assumed that it would come naturally and be easy. Boy was I wrong. Breastfeeding has been by far the most challenging part of becoming a new mom, mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Vivian seemed to latch okay in the hospital to start, but then I would try again later and she wouldn’t seem interested. Sometimes I could get her on for a bit, and other times, no luck. The nurses brought me a pump for the times that she didn’t seem to want to latch so that I could attempt to get some colostrum out. It looked like such a small amount, but they assured me that it was great! While I was pumping, she started to get fussy, so I tried latching her again and it worked! When the nurses came back, they also rubbed the expressed colostrum in her mouth and on her gums to make sure she was getting as much as possible. As I mentioned in a previous post, keeping her blood sugar up was super important at this early stage since she was so teeny tiny.

Once we got home, I continued to latch as often as possible to keep her happy. Not long after, the nipple pain set in. Having baby attached somewhat constantly was a new thing for my body and there was absolutely an adjustment period. It felt like Mike or my mom would bring Vivian to me, being time to eat again, and it felt like already?! It was so constant and I just couldn’t catch a break.

Was she eating so often because she wasn’t getting enough milk? The questions swirled through my mind, and I couldn’t help but constantly worry and think that I wasn’t enough for her. She also seemed to have the most outrageous tummy troubles, and I was certain that it was my fault and something that I was eating. Many resources that I found online stated that breastmilk is made from your blood rather than your diet, but a dairy allergy was a possibility. I quickly cut dairy from my diet to see if any improvements would be seen, but this was a long journey of its own and I will do another post on this portion.

Both nipples began cracking, and one got quite raw. It was so hard to allow them to heal because there was simply no time to rest. Luckily after a few days, one side seemed to have figured it out and was back to normal. The other side was quite the opposite and was completely raw. I started trying any home remedies that I could find – the organic nipple butters, coconut oil, saline soak, breastmilk, air drying, etc. You name it, I probably tried it. A mama Facebook group that I followed recommended asking the OB for a prescription for ‘All purpose nipple ointment’ (APNO) so I quickly made an appointment and was able to get in the same day. This was supposed to be magical and a quick fix. Again – this unfortunately was not the case for me and I couldn’t find any relief, it kept getting worse and worse.

I tried to rest the one side, feeding off the other side and bottle feeding in between for a couple of days, but pumping around the clock was exhausting, time consuming, and mentally draining, so I gave up after only a couple of days, and pressed on to keep Vivian fed.

To no surprise, my nipple was only getting worse. I tried making another appointment with the OB because I was so terrified that I was going to end up with an infection. At this point, my nipple was completely cracked open and totally raw. It luckily wasn’t bleeding, but was bright red. The OB recommended seeing the lactation consultants instead as they were the breastfeeding experts.

I packed up and brought Vivian in and held back tears as I explained my situation to the lactation consultant. I was so worried that I had let it get to the point of no return and would be told that there was no hope. The lactation consultant was so reassuring and said there was no need to end our breastfeeding journey unless that was what I wanted to do.

Vivian had been gaining weight well, so she was obviously eating just fine. The lactation consultant checked her latch and said that it looked great. Our guess was that there simply wasn’t time to allow the nipple to heal between feedings, which was why it hadn’t been getting any better. She said I could continue to feed on it if pumping was too hard, but to let it rest when I could. She also recommended purchasing some nipple shells from Amazon so the nipple could air dry after feeding. She said this wasn’t something she had seen before and would discuss with some of her colleagues for any additional advice. I left with a bit of relief, but still some concern for how it was going to heal.

The next day, another lactation consultant called me back, and recommended making an appointment with a wound care center since it seemed like an open wound. This was incredibly disheartening because I was so sure that they would be the ones to now encourage ending the breastfeeding journey. All of the hope I had regained was now lost.

I found a local wound care center and called to make an appointment. They had nothing available for a week, so my anxiety rose as I awaited this appointment that I was so nervous for. I was now determined to let this nipple rest until my appointment to see if it would get any better. I pumped the left side exclusively and we bottle fed Vivian during those feedings. The times that Mike was available to help made it a little bit more convenient, but the times he was working would make it feel like a juggling session to pump and get her fed without a fuss.

I decided I would try allowing Viv to feed off the damaged side about 36 hours before my appointment to see how it went. That way I would still have time to cancel the appointment if I needed to. At this time, my nipple seemed to be quite a bit better – it no longer looked completely opened, but was still the slightest bit raw and red after the feeding. I decided to call and push my appointment back one week in hopes of completely solving the issue on my own.

I continued the cycle of feeding on the opposite side and pumping for another tiring week, and to my very happy surprise by this next 36 hour mark, my nipple was back to a new normal and was no longer raw. I was overjoyed and cancelled my appointment. I was so glad that I could carry on breastfeeding in a much more comfortable way.

Throughout this journey of just a few short (or long) months, I have already learned so much. Most importantly, is to give yourself a little grace, because as a new mom, there are so many new experiences and not everything will go as planned. It is so easy to hope to breastfeed your little one, and it is so important to know that not everything will come easily. I have absolutely nothing against formula feeding my baby, but the thought of how expensive that was going to be when I was already out of a job seemed daunting.

There were so many days when I just wanted to throw the towel in from pure exhaustion, but I am so glad that I pushed through. The best thing that I did was set mini goals for my breastfeeding journey so that it didn’t seem like one never-ending adventure. Ideally, I would love to make it a full year of breastfeeding, but when each day was so questionable, this seemed unachievable. I first wanted to make it to six weeks, then two months, three months, etc. Now, here we are at almost five months and still going strong.

I’m sure more challenges will come my way over these next few months, but I feel much more confident in taking these on, and coming out stronger on the other side now. For now, it’s a wonderful bonding experience for the two of us, filled with snuggles, and now her active self loves to play with my face while she eats or snap my bra strap on me. 😖😂

Mamas supporting other mamas through the wild ride of breastfeeding is so important, and I am lucky to have so many great ladies in my life that I could talk to about this. Most importantly, remember that a fed baby is the best, so if breastfeeding doesn’t work out, that is perfectly fine too!

Laugh Often – Rachel

Baby

Favorite Books to Read to Baby

February 5, 2021January 31, 2021by Rachel Stoops1 Comment

Vivian loves a good book, especially before naptime or bedtime! Okay… maybe it’s me who loves to read all of the fun children’s books. 🤔Either way, we have some favorites that I find myself choosing over and over! I assume I will get tired of them eventually, but for now I am loving them, and even find myself quoting some of them after she’s gone to bed.

Dear Girl – this is such a fun one that I have a feeling we will appreciate more and more as she grows. It is all about empowering little girls to be themselves and addresses real life topics but in a very kid-friendly way. I feel that this book would’ve been helpful in getting through elementary school with some positivity and confidence. This was a gift from my sister-in-law as a family favorite from our little niece. I can’t wait for the little girls to read it together!

ABC What Can She Be? – this book is a double bonus! It can help to teach the alphabet, while learning a variety of different jobs, teaching baby girl that she can grow up to be anything her heart desires. I love that it has some out-of-the-box jobs, and strays from gender norms. It also portrays girls of all color, race, ethnicity, ability, hair color, etc.

A is For Awesome! 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World – are we sensing a theme? Okay this is the last one that is geared toward girls specifically, but it is never too early for our sweet babe to learn what a difference she can make! This one also goes through the alphabet, naming women for each letter and some even have a quote along with what they accomplished.

A Moment Like This – this is a cute little story about animal moms and their babies. It is just so soothing to read, probably because it’s a rhyming book, but I just can’t get enough of it! I picture reading it to Viv when she’s a little bit older and it will be fun to interact with. For example, there’s a part about tickling her tummy, and nose, and down to her toes, and I can’t wait for her to giggle with tickles!

Cozy – this one was a gift from my mom who visited a musk ox farm on her trip to Alaska. She was able to pre-order it and have it signed and personalized to Vivian, so this one is extra special to us! It really is a cute story though about all of the arctic animals staying warm in the ox’s fur and setting house rules so they can all get along. The artwork is also beautiful!

Giraffes Can’t Dance – this is just a fun one, and another rhyming book so I had to mention it. I am just such a sucker for rhymes! It’s about animals all coming together to a big dance, but they make fun of the giraffe because he’s tall and awkward, but then he figures out that he really can dance, but just had to find the right music for him. Another heartwarming kids story, with bright, colorful pages.

Some of these are on the longer side, which I have been enjoying now while she is so young, because I’m mostly reading them for her to settle down and fall asleep to. I have a feeling that once she is bigger and more interactive with the books and wants to look at pictures and talk about each page, I will favor the shorter books so it doesn’t take an hour to get through one book. 😂

The Sandra Boynton board books are really great for a quick read, filled with cute illustrations as well and we have quite a few!

Oh and this honorable mention. 😂 My brother sent this to us during a very rough sleeping period. It really is so funny to read when they have no idea what you are saying. Clearly Viv loves it. 😉

Laugh Often – Rachel

Baby, Pregnancy

Belly Montage

January 30, 2021January 9, 2021by Rachel Stoops1 Comment

Each week I looked forward to taking these photos! It was a way to count the passing time, that on days felt like an eternity, though now looking back, my pregnancy zoomed by. Sometimes I miss feeling that tiny life within me. It really was a special time, but I am also very happy to have here her to hangout with me now!

What a fun transformation! It sure is amazing that our bodies know how to grow a tiny new life. 🥰

Laugh Often – Rachel

Baby

Favorite Postpartum Products for Mom

January 27, 2021January 15, 2021by Rachel StoopsLeave a Comment

So many people choose to focus on the newborn baby (and understandably so!). However, it is so important to remember mama too, and to take care of yourself! If you don’t take care of yourself, it is extremely hard to take care of a tiny human.

Aside from my postpartum kits that I wrote about earlier on, I’ve rounded up a few items that I often reach for that have helped me through the newborn/new mom period.

Nursing Pads – As your milk supply comes in and your body is figuring out how to regulate to baby’s needs, you will constantly leak! I remember being shocked in the early days of just how crazy this was. Your body thinks it’s time for baby to eat? Milk starts coming out. You hear your baby crying? Milk starts coming out. Just trying to enjoy a nice, warm shower for once? Boom: milk. I guess it’s a great thing, but at the same time, I was constantly soaking bras, and having to change them. I ordered these nursing pads on Amazon and have not gone a day without them since. The leaking has certainly slowed down, but I’m not quite ready to test skipping the pads. These disposable pads are extremely absorbent and have been such a life saver for me! The only downside is that they are disposable and I feel like I have gone through so many of them. Lately, I can make it through a whole day with just one set, but earlier on, I was finding that I would need to change them often. I did try ordering a pack of reusable bamboo nursing pads to cut back on waste and spending, but they unfortunately were not as comfortable for me. When they would start getting wet, you could feel the wetness against you, versus the disposable ones seemed to suck the moisture deeper inside. I also found that my nipple would stick to the reusable ones, which was quite uncomfortable to pull them off. Perhaps now that the leaking has slowed, I should give these another shot.

Nursing Bras – Similar to the story above with nursing pads, I was going through bras like hotcakes! Not only were they getting soaked with breastmilk, but they would also often get covered with spit up. Oh the joys of breastfeeding. 😉 I could put on a fresh bra in the morning, and then next time I went to feed Viv, she would spit up allllllllll over me, and it would be time for a new bra. For this reason, I highly recommend purchasing more nursing bras than you think you need, otherwise you will be doing so. much. laundry. I started with a two pack from Amazon during pregnancy because I knew I would be able to get long term use out of these, and they were so comfortable! Once Vivian arrived, I ordered another larger pack because I realized I needed way more. One of the great things about these two brands from Amazon is that they come with the extender pieces, so even if you aren’t quite sure what size you will need, this was so helpful! The prices were also unbeatable. I also ended up ordering some from H&M that are a little bit cuter (if that matters), and I really like those as well.

Comfortable Outfits – I don’t think this one even needs to be mentioned, but I’m going to mention it anyways. After having a baby, you want nothing restrictive, just loose, flowy, comfy, cozy, etc. Time of year can probably make a difference, but a variety of sweatpants/PJ pants, and shorts are a must! It was still quite warm in September when I gave birth (aside from the snow day, lol), so I often found myself in comfy shorts and a tank top, or just my nursing bra. Not to mention the hot flashes that would quickly come on, and I would wake up sweaty if I had on anything more. Now that we are into winter, I am loving the sweat pants and oversized sweatshirts, so I’m glad I have a variety to choose from to suit my mood. Sounds like the ultimate mom uniform, right? I feel slightly lazy when getting dressed means changing my pajamas, but we are stuck at home, so why wear anything fancy? I tend to lean toward joggers because they feel slightly less slob-ish to me (is that a word?), but I think I’m just trying to make myself feel better. 😂 Again, Old Navy is a favorite for both joggers/sweats and pajama bottoms. Having a variety of sizes was also helpful in the beginning because coming home from the hospital you are still quite swollen and holding onto excess fluids, and you also need room for the adult diapers! 😂😂

Haaka – this thing was my best friend in the early days. I still use it (and should probably use it more often), but now that Vivian has gotten bigger and more wiggly, it just took one time of her kicking it off and spilling almost three ounces of precious breastmilk for me to set it aside and take a break. But in all reality, it is a great way to build up a little milk stash in those early days. You suction this to the opposite side that you are feeding on to catch your let down and any leaking. It isn’t quite as strong as a pump, but can still get a few ounces in a feeding. I highly recommend ordering one that comes with a lid, such as this one, so that you can just pop the lid on and stick the whole thing in the fridge once you are done with your feeding session. Before I had a lid, I would pour it either into a different bottle that had a lid, or straight into the milk storage bags, adding one more step. This doesn’t sound so bad, but at 3 in the morning, the less steps, the better. I actually have two of these, which has been so great in case one was in the fridge, or dirty. Often the collection from one session would be a smaller portion than what I wanted to freeze, so leaving it in the fridge until I had enough to freeze was key.

Milk Storage Bags – I guess I’ll mention this one too since most of this list has to do with breastfeeding. The Lansinoh brand storage bags have been my favorite, though admittedly these are the only ones I’ve tried so far. My sister-in-law had gifted me some that she had leftover, and since they seemed to work great, I keep ordering more as needed. I have had no issues with the bags leaking, so I count it as a win in my book! They are easy to label and are essential in building a freezer stash for backup. Don’t forget to freeze your milk laying flat so that you can easily store them and they’ll take up less space in the long haul!

Bonus: Find a good show (or shows) to watch! You spend so much time feeding the baby, it is helpful to have something to help keep you awake during all hours of the night. Something on Netflix or Hulu that has a lot of episodes/seasons was a must for me. I started with New Girl and was really enjoying it! I’m not quite sure why I stopped watching it, but it was entertaining! I also have my usual Youtubers that I would keep up-to-date on their videos and then any shows that had current seasons going, but it was always nice to have something to fall back on, so you are never out of options.

Laugh Often – Rachel

Baby

Favorite Newborn Products

January 24, 2021January 15, 2021by Rachel StoopsLeave a Comment

To say that our house is covered with baby stuff is an understatement. It’s everywhere!! We were gifted many, many wonderful baby treasures, and I of course went wild buying tons of cute things to make sure that we were set and ready for Vivian’s arrival. Of course every baby is different, so you don’t know exactly what they will like or not until they are here, but we were set with a plethora of options! I have noted some of our personal favorites below that we use every single day and simply could not live without!

Zip up Pajamas a.k.a. Sleep n Plays – Vivian lives in her pajamas. Is it because we are in a pandemic and don’t go anywhere? Possibly, but either way these are so dang convenient, and also cozy and cute; perfect for babe! There are so many wonderful versions of these. Target sells a great brand called Cloud Island, and we also love Old Navy. Both of these have zippers that can go from the bottom up to make diaper changes extra easy! They also have the fold over mitts so you can tuck baby’s hands in if needed. Many of the different baby brands make a version of these that work great! We prefer zippers over snaps, simply for ease, but now that we’re becoming seasoned professionals (lol), snaps don’t seem quite so bad anymore. Pretty much every photo of Vivian are in these types of PJ’s!

Burp cloths – Babies love to spit up, so having an abundance of burp cloths is a must! Thanks to my moms lovely recommendation, these cloth diapers from target are our favorite for burp cloths! They are large, greatly absorbent, and inexpensive. We loved them so much, that I bought a second pack because these too end up all over the house and then in the wash and you never want to be caught without a burp cloth handy!

Waterproof Changing Pad Liners – These changing pad liners are another must have! We have our changing pad and changing pad cover, and then set one of these on top for an added layer of absorption. Often times, once the diaper is off, baby will decide to start peeing. Or better yet, might not be done pooping. 🤦‍♀️ This liner will catch any of these lovely bodily fluids, saving the changing pad cover from getting dirty. This way, you just toss the liner into the laundry bin and pull out another one instead of having to change the whole cover. We loved these so much we went back for another pack as well!

Love to Dream Swaddle up – There are soooo many swaddles out there from as simple as a blanket, to fancy Velcro wraps. I stocked up on quite a variety so that we had different options to try. Vivian didn’t like many of the fancy Velcro ones. For weeks, we just swaddled her in the hospital style blankets, but those were easier to bust out of. Finally, we found the swaddle up, and we were instantly in love! This one keeps baby tightly swaddled, but allows their hands to be up by their face, where many babies naturally love keeping their hands. All while still being contained. This was so perfect, and stretches of sleep started to improve! This will probably be very personal to the baby, but this was our must have, and it was always a bummer when it was in the wash!

Pacifier – We were told to wait until at least 6 weeks to introduce the pacifier to make sure we had established a good breastfeeding relationship. Looking back I probably would’ve done this earlier simply to save some tears and so that Mike could help soothe Vivian. Not using pacifiers for the first few weeks meant that my boobs were pretty much the only thing that could calm her down. Oh well… we are past that now! We tried SO many different brands, and the Nanobebe brand is the only one that she likes! A few of these had come in sample baby boxes, and I’ve since ordered more because she can actually hold them in her mouth and enjoys them. We have a giant bag of rejected paci’s on our counter that she is just not a fan of. 😔

Bottles – Similar to the pacifiers, we also waited a few weeks to try bottle feeding to ensure that breastfeeding was moving in a positive direction. Again, she is very particular with bottles. We first tried the Mam, and it is still the only one that she will take. I tried a few others I had as samples when the Mam bottle was dirty, but had no luck. I have also stocked up on a few of these so that Mike can help out from time to time. Side note: we specifically use the extra slow flow nipples (size 0) as she seems to like that best. Those are ordered separately as the bottles come with a size 1. We also wanted to make sure that she would take a bottle! She wasn’t the biggest fan at first. My mom was the first to try giving her a bottle and she would spit it out often, but finally ended up drinking it. She wouldn’t take a bottle from Mike or me for quite some time, but we kept trying, and I think one day she was finally hungry enough and realized the milk in there was just as good. 😂 Thankful that worked out! Mama needs a break every now and then! I had also received a sample pacifier from Mam and was shocked when Vivian didn’t like it! You would think if she liked the bottle she would like the pacifier too, but no such luck!

A bonus tip: (if you have a two-story house) Set up a changing station downstairs as well. Her changing table and main diapering supplies are upstairs in her nursery, which is great for nighttime, etc. However, if you spend much of your time on the main level of the house during the day, it can be a pain to run all the way upstairs to change a quick diaper, especially during those early days when you are still recovering. It is also helpful if you find yourself in a pinch with a blowout! We grabbed a diaper caddy and just added a waterproof changing pad, diapers, wipes, butt paste, etc. Our pack ‘n play had a diaper changing attachment that was convenient to lay her on for the change.

Hopefully some of these products will work great for you too! Otherwise, these would all be great baby shower gifts for an expectant mama!

Laugh Often – Rachel

Baby

One Month of Baby

January 21, 2021January 11, 2021by Rachel Stoops1 Comment

The first month of Vivian’s life was an absolute whirlwind. I was sleep deprived, overwhelmed, emotional, and the list goes on. I kept reminding myself that she sure was lucky to be cute because boy was it hard! Luckily, all I had to do was look down at her and I would instantly fall back in love with this tiny creature that was keeping me awake all night.

Vivian was nocturnal for the beginning of her life, as most babies are. Perhaps another thing no one tells you? You just assume that new babies sleep all the time. While kind of true, it’s also so false. 😂 They are happy to sleep in your arms, but as soon as you’d like to put them down somewhere so you can get some shut eye too, their eyes instantly pop back open. At 2am, this was no longer cute.

When babies are awake, they like to eat. And boy did Vivian find her voice quickly. She could go from zero to 100 in a matter of seconds and would scream at us if she was hungry. Not necessarily a bad thing – girl just knows what she wants. New babies need to eat every 2-3 hours because their stomachs are so tiny in the beginning. This doesn’t sound so bad, right? What I didn’t realize beforehand was that the timer starts at the beginning of the feed, not the end. So really, it could end up closer to an hour in between feeds, depending on how long she ate for, burping, settling back down, etc.

In those early days, I constantly had the timer on my phone going and would reset that 3 hour timer as soon as she began to feed. Rarely did we make it to the 3 hour mark before she was ready to eat again. It was sometimes only an hour and a half. She was a hungry girl!

In this first month of life, we were simply running in survival mode. Mike went back to work after two weeks, so I did my best to let him get his rest, though he did help out in the evenings so I could take a nap after dinner. For those first few weeks, it seemed that as soon as the sun would set and it would get dark out, my body would go into shut down mode, and I could barely keep my eyes open any longer. I assume this was a response to knowing another sleepless night was coming my way. Mike also moved into the guest room to get better sleep, so I had our big bed all to myself, and Vivian in her bassinet next to me. It was quite luxurious after being used to sharing the bed with Mike plus our two dogs!

During many of her night wakings, it would be hard to get her back into her bassinet afterwards. She just wanted to snuggle me. It was so hard to resist, but I knew that we both needed our rest, and safely where we belonged.

I took my sleep for any number of minutes I could get. I often awoke in a state of confusion. For a while, there was a period where I always thought I fell asleep holding her so I would wake up cradling my pillow or blanket, assuming it was Vivian. As I opened my eyes, I would realize that she was in fact in her bassinet, and I had lost my mind. There were even times that I dreamt I was feeding her, so when Mike walked over and said ‘the baby is hungry,’ I told him I that I was already feeding her and closed my eyes. This was when I realized how real sleep deprivation was. It is kind of funny to think back on now, but was quite awful in the moment.

We didn’t do a whole lot during Vivian’s first month of life. Mostly because I was exhausted and it was too much effort to get packed up to go anywhere, but also because the world was pretty much still shut down due to the pandemic. I figured we would keep Vivian even more safely away from those big, scary germs out in the world.

If we did leave the house, it was typically for a walk around the neighborhood because the weather was still beautiful through September and into October; lucky us! We had very few visitors, again due to the circumstances, so it was snuggles at home for us!

Exhausted and sleep deprived, it was also an accomplishment to have made it through one month! Everyone assured us that things would get easier with time, which they have. She is only that tiny once, so enjoying those newborn snuggles is so cherished.

Laugh Often – Rachel

Baby

Newborn Photo Shoot

January 18, 2021January 9, 2021by Rachel Stoops1 Comment

We scheduled a newborn photo shoot for Vivian’s one week birthday and I was so excited to see how it would come out! I couldn’t help but melt over the sample photos I had seen of the squishy babies in buckets, and all wrapped up.

Our shoot was scheduled for 10am, so another frantic morning of attempting to get ready. This time I actually had to look half-way decent. 😂 I was smart enough to book an in-home photo shoot so at least we didn’t need to leave the house to get anywhere on time.

We were instructed to crank up the heat in the house, and feed baby upon arrival so she would be nice and sleepy and easy to pose for the photos. The photographer brought all of her amazing props and was a dream to work with. Vivian loved her, and she was magically able to capture the tiny, sleepy smiles and cute faces.

I was a little bit hesitant to book a shoot because so many photographers seemed to be quite expensive, but I am SO glad we did this. The photos turned out absolutely amazing and I love having them to look back on. She has already changed and grown so much – I cannot believe she was once this tiny! After seeing all of the work that goes into the shoots, and how long it takes, I completely understand the price point. Either way, I highly recommend.

Here are some of my favorites! It is so hard to choose because they are all perfect! Mind you we ended up with around 250 pictures from this session!

Photo credit: Andrea Rae Photography

Laugh Often – Rachel

Baby

First Week with Baby

January 15, 2021January 9, 2021by Rachel Stoops1 Comment

After bringing baby home and surviving the first night on our own, it was time to take our next venture out into the world – to the pediatrician! They like to see the baby 24-48 hours after leaving the hospital, and since we left Thursday evening, Friday was our only option before the weekend. Attempting to get the baby all packed up and get semi-dressed with my newly postpartum body that was now somewhere in between maternity clothes and normal, was a challenge to say the least. I have no idea what I ended up wearing, but getting some clothes on was a win. 😂

Another scary car ride, this time a little bit longer. I can’t quite remember, but I have a feeling she may have screamed the whole way, or at least part of it. We did figure out that she liked classical music and this would calm her down, luckily. She also spit up, and pooped along the way so we had to change her in the trunk once we got to the office. Thank goodness the snow and freezing temperatures from earlier in the week had passed!

Our pediatrician is such a gem! She has a sweet and friendly demeanor, and helped to put us tired, and uncertain new parents at ease.

Vivian was born weighing 5 pounds and 12 ounces. When leaving the hospital, she weighed 5 pounds and 9 ounces. At her first pediatrician appointment, she was down to 5 pounds and 4 ounces. It is completely normal for newborns to lose a certain percentage of their weight in those first few days because mama’s milk hasn’t quite come in yet, and since she was especially small, it was extra important to keep any eye on her.

Because she was so tiny, the pediatrician wanted to see us back in on Monday to see how her weight was looking after the weekend, and she recommended that I try to pump some colostrum over the weekend and give it to her in between feedings to get her as many calories as possible.

Saturday morning, I pulled out my pump to see what would happen. To my surprise, not only did colostrum come out, but in a moment, it was actually milk! As a new mom, this was the most exciting thing! Especially with a hungry baby who wanted to eat 24/7.

Over the weekend, the exhaustion intensified. Vivian seemed to be eating constantly, which made me fearful that I wasn’t able to give her enough milk. The hard part about breastfeeding is that you have no idea how much they are getting, and I was getting very discouraged.

Come Monday morning, we prepared for our second visit to the pediatrician. I was terrified that Vivian was going to have lost more weight, and I could feel myself getting emotional as they got ready to weigh her. To my surprise, she was back up to 5 pounds and 12 ounces; her birth weight! She had gained a whole 8 ounces over the weekend. The pediatrician was overjoyed as getting back up to birth weight that quickly seemed to be unheard of. I was so unbelievably relieved that my milk was working out for the both of us. This was just the boost that I needed.

The rest of the first week was a bit of a whirlwind. Not much sleep was involved so I was tired and emotional, which is to be expected after having a baby. My body would grow tired very easily, or if I tried to do too much. We went for a short walk around the block, and I washed some dishes and that was enough for my aching body.

Here are some pictures from Vivian’s first week: