Posted in Life, Mom Life

My Baby Girl is 3 Months Old

Writing this a few days late, but my baby girl is now 3 months old! Time went by so fast. She is getting so big. I went back to work two weeks ago. Only worked one day, it went well. I admit that it was very hard for me to leave my baby girl for a few hours. Couldn’t stop thinking about her while I was at work. I am currently working part time, which means I work 2-3 days a week, anywhere from 3 to 5 hours at a time. This is fine for now because it gives me a chance to get used to being away from my baby. Down the line, I plan to work more hours. I just hope it gets easier leaving her with her baby sitters. If it was up to me, I would be a stay at home mom with an at home business. For now it’s not possible, but it is something I want to do sometime in the future.

As I mentioned earlier, baby girl has grown so much. She’s getting taller and heavier too. She smiles a lot, baby talks, and is very curious about everything. She is also starting to sit up and she also does tummy time.  She sleeps through the night and has been since she was 2 months old. She started off sleeping 5-6 hours at a time and now she sleeps anywhere from 8 to 11 hours a night. It’s great for me too because I can get at least 7 hours of sleep, which is all I need to function.

I’m with my baby almost 24/7. I do take the time to have time for myself though. One of the things I do is try to go for a run or go to the gym early in the morning. I try to go to the gym at least 3 times a week. I normally wake up at 5am those days and I’m at the gym by 530am. I leave the baby with my mom since she usually doesn’t wake up until 630am or 7am. I also like to go running. If I am running alone, I can run 3+ miles. Sometimes I need to go for a run but don’t have anyone to watch my baby, so I will run on the track at the park while I push her in her stroller. Those days I only run 2 miles.

One thing that many people ask me is if I breastfeed her or give her formula. She drinks formula. When I was pregnant, I wanted to breastfeed because everyone always says it’s way better and healthier for the baby. But no one ever talks about how hard it is. Yes it’s natural, but it’s not as easy as it seems. I tried for the first few days. The nurses at the hospital would give me advice. In the end, it didn’t seem like I could do it and I decided to feed her formula instead. She is a very healthy baby even if she is drinking formula.

I want to raise my baby as eco friendly as I can. One way I am doing that is by having my baby use cloth diapers rather than disposable diapers. I had two baby showers, one thrown for me by my mom and one thrown for me by my coworkers, and I received so many boxes of disposable diapers. I was also given some from the nurses when I had my baby. I have enough to last me until she’s 4 months old. Once they finish , she will be in cloth diapers 90% of the time. The only time she will be in disposable diapers is when her dad watches her. It might seem gross to people having to wash and reuse diapers, but it is way better for the environment. I am also looking into buying some reusable wipes rather than using reusable wipes.

She will be starting to eat solids pretty soon. I plan to give her veggies and fruit and tofu when she turns 6 months. I’ve heard that there are parents who give their babies soda and french fries when they are 9-12 months old, but I plan to feed my baby girl healthy food. I don’t want her to become obese when she’s older or when she gets teeth to have cavities.

Although I was caught by surprise last year when I found out that I was pregnant, having this baby girl is one of the best things that has happened to me. I’m so grateful that I have been blessed with such a beautiful and wonderful baby girl. I look forward to seeing her reach all her milestones and watching her grow up.

 

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Posted in Life

Back to Work

I’ve been on maternity leave for about three months and tomorrow I am finally going back. This was the longest time I ever went without working since I started working back in late 2012. I don’t mind going back, esp since I work part time. I just wish my mom or sister could babysit for me while I work. My boyfriend and his mom will watch her while I work. Luckily, they only live five minutes away from my job. I’ve been so anxious about going back to work that I haven’t been able to sleep much these past few days. 

Posted in Life

January Baby 2019

I shared this news with friends and family a while back, but for those who don’t know, I’m pregnant with my first baby! I am almost 7 months pregnant. I am having a baby girl, she is due a week before my 28th birthday.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I cried. I was in shock. I texted my best friend immediately, but didn’t tell anyone else for about two or three weeks, not even my boyfriend. I was so stressed out that the first two weeks or so, I cried myself to sleep. Having a baby was not something that I had pictured myself doing. Finding out that I was pregnant was definitely scary. I heard about all the symptoms and the pain of giving birth. I didn’t think I could handle it. I also started thinking of everything that I was going to give up. Not just the things that I would give up during the 9 months of pregnancy, but also things I would have to give up in the long run and maybe even forever.

Then I started thinking of the new experiences that I will have with my baby and being a mom. These new experiences are so exciting that it makes me forget about the things I will miss out on. It makes those things seem less important. Once I have my baby, I will still be able to run, I can still travel, and I can even start a business if I want to. Having a baby won’t ruin my life or make me miss out on things. She will change my life for the better. I know it won’t always be easy, especially the first few months of her life.

It took me 3 pregnancy tests, an ultrasound, and hearing the heartbeat to finally accept that I was actually pregnant. As time went on and I started telling more people. My family and friends were happy about it. Funny thing is that I was so nervous and scared to tell my mom that I was pregnant because I had no idea how she would react. Lucky for me, she was happy about the idea of having her first grandbaby. I started feeling better about it. My mom and sisters are anxious to meet the baby. My mom and little brother wanted me to have a boy, but everyone else was hoping for a girl. Of course, I wanted a girl too. My sister Destiny went with me to the gender reveal. That same day, we had a little gender reveal party just for the family. Destiny decorated the dining room with streamers and balloons and I made cupcakes with pink and blue frosting. We had my mom cut into the cupcake which revealed pink filling on the inside.

Sometimes pregnancy sucks. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to meet my little one, but I definitely won’t be missing the annoying pregnancy symptoms like heartburn, leg cramps, back pain, and insomnia. I don’t feel cute or like I have that pregnancy glow. Sometimes I feel gross, esp. when I’m working out and see this little basketball popping out from under my shirt. But feeling the baby kicking and hearing her heartbeat is just an incredible feeling. I never really ever pictured myself as a mom to be honest, but throughout these last few months of my pregnancy, it’s become something that I can’t wait to do. I’m so anxious to meet her. I dreamt about her and can’t wait to hold her in my arms. I can tell she will be so loved and spoiled, not just by me, but by the rest of my family. I just hope my sister Ayanna, who is 4 years old and the baby of the family, doesn’t get too jealous.

There are many symptoms that I have yet to experience and I’m worried that I will eventually experience them in the upcoming weeks, such as my hands and feet swelling, getting stretch marks, and having even less energy to continue with my workouts. One thing that has surprised me is the fact that I haven’t gained much weight. It’s suggested that pregnant women gain 25-35 pounds, but at 28 weeks, I have only gained 12 pounds. I’m a little bit worried that I’m not gaining enough, but my doctor says the baby and I are both healthy. Maybe once I stop running and doing so much cardio, I can finally gain weight.

Cravings and pregnancy go hand in hand. I’ve had a few cravings, but nothing too crazy. Some things I’ve craved in my pregnancy are red meat-pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, pancakes, and ice cream. Of course, I can’t actually eat hot dogs, but that hasn’t stopped me from craving them. There are so many things I can’t eat during my pregnancy that I will definitely indulge in once I have the baby.

I always thought that once you get pregnant, women would be forced to stay in bed and take it easy during their entire pregnancy. That’s not the case. It’s amazing what women can do when pregnant. In the last month or so, I’ve climbed up 75 flights of stairs in 24 mins and ran a half marathon in 3 hours. I’ve heard of women who continue working out until days before they give birth. There are even women who run marathons weeks before giving birth. I give them props because running a half marathon at 6 months pregnant was hard enough for me. I have made the decision to stop running at 28 weeks. While there might be women who run throughout their whole pregnancy, I feel this is the best decision for me and my baby. I will continue walking and doing light exercise, but as the due date gets closer, I do plan to cut back.

I am now in my third trimester and it feels like time is going by so fast. I still have so much to do before the baby gets here. One of those major decisions is coming up with a name for her. We have a few options, but most likely we will wait until she’s born to pick a name for her. We are 2.5 months away from meeting our little princess and that will be the happiest moments of my life. I haven’t met her yet, but I already love her so much.