Life with Vera Charlotte
It’s been two whole months since we welcomed our sweet Vera Charlotte into the world. I’m trying to savor every single moment because I know she’s our last baby. Each night-time waking, each nursing snuggle, each little smile and even those heart-breaking pouts and sobs. She’s a sweet chub of a baby, so different than her older sister. I remember Emerson feeling so fragile in my arms whereas Vera feels so hefty – so solid.
We’ve all fallen into what feels like a good routine. I know the routine will constantly be changing, just as quickly as little Vera. But for now I feel like I’m slowly getting my groove back.
Emmie has been overall wonderful in the transition of being an only child to suddenly having to share her parents with another little human, who really doesn’t do much but sleep & cry. Emerson has already fallen comfortably into the role of big sister. She is constantly informing me when Vera starts to fuss that I need to either “pick her up,” or “give her breastmilk.” And my sweet, tenderhearted Emmie will tear up and join in the crying if Vera is left fussing or crying for too long. Car rides are the worst, when I can’t actively soothe Vera, no matter how loudly Emmie demands it.
Slowly and surely I’ll get back into writing more for the blog.
Birthday Memories
It was my birthday this weekend. We didn’t do much celebrating since Hubby is still in full force study mode since he defends his PhD thesis this week. I continued my normal daily duties of a stay at home mom, and mumbled about the fact that it snowed for the second year in a row on my birthday. Good grief!
Since the weekend produced nothing in the blog-worthy category, I thought we could reminisce about a birthday that happened last June. My sweet little lady bug turned one. I wrote this entry back on the eve of Emerson’s first birthday:
Today Emerson saw the ocean for the first time. She marched right up to the crest where dry sand meets sand frequently drenched with ocean waves, lifted her little arm and said ooh. Yes, my girl is one after my own heart, the beach is in her blood. She picked up handful after handful of sand, explored dried seaweed, and not once did she try to eat a “sand cookie,” something my younger self can’t claim.
It wasn’t until Kyle was wrapping Emmie up in a towel and asked her, “do you remember when we used to swaddle you?,” that it hit me. My little girl is no longer a baby. Her smooshy, cheeky baby face has thinned out into a peanut toddler face. She no longer needs me to hold her head, and rarely does she want me to hold her hand. Yes, my little one loves to walk, explore, reach, and climb. She loves to dance, read and snuggle her animals. My little girl is turning one tomorrow.
This year has flown by. While we had some hard moments, all that floods my memory are all the amazing times we’ve had as a family of three. I simply cannot remember what life was like without my little Emerson. I am so excited to see what this next year brings. I love you Emma Claire and you will always be my baby.
Little Things
A little love, a few flowers, a hug, a simple thank you or act of kindness can certainly go a long way. Here are the little things I’m enjoying lately.
1. Fresh flowers. I’m a sucker for fresh flowers. I recently spoiled myself and grabbed a bouquet for 3.99 when we ran to Trader Joe’s for some frozen goods. I split the bouquet for 3 vases and snipped some greenery off of our front bushes to help fill out the thinned bouquet. I’m not sure what it is about them, but they put a smile on my face every time I see them.
2. Free flowers: And just when you thought there was nothing that could beat fresh flowers? Free fresh flowers. The lot behind our house is a crummy garage that gets frequently overgrown. However, the other day I noticed these awesome flowers springing up. I went out there armed with my scissors and went to town. The icing on the cake? When I put them on the dresser I was so aghast with the state of the dresser top that I felt the dresser was unworthy of receiving the flowers. You better believe I cleaned that shit up. Now, not only do I have fresh flowers in the bedroom, but the bedroom is now clean! The gift that keeps on giving.
3. My little engineer. This girl and her alarming new ways to scale the furniture. Emmie’s always been a fan of being on the couch, but luckily was too short to climb up herself. Well, she’s still too short, but her smarts make up for the height she lacks. She’ll push, carry, tug anything over to the couch and test it out to see if it can be used to scale on up. This usually happens in less than a minute. While part of me is terrified, it’s pushed aside as the proud Momma barges through. My Claire-bear thinking through problems and finding creative solutions, and not giving up when one doesn’t work? Yup, I’ve got Proud Momma Syndrome.
4. The “Mama” stage. Boo boos? Mommy’s hugs are best. Hungry? Mama’s snack is delicious. Woke up cranky? Momma snuggles fix that. Need a midnight snuggle? Only Mom will do. Mother dearest is cooking and can’t pick you up? Mom leaves you with Dad to go upstairs to get dressed? End of the world. Yes, we are certainly in a Mama stage. I’ll take my extra snuggles while I can.
5. Konmari-ing my clothes. I just finished this book, and finished tidying up my clothes in the method she describes. Afterwards, I finalized my capsule wardrobe. Just looking at my closet brings me inner peace. I’m finally excited to get dressed in the mornings.
6. Random kindness. Emerson and I were enjoying a Starbucks treat, people watching, when an expectant mother was experience some cart malfunctions. She had her toddler in the seat, with some cases of water underneath, and a couple of big plastic bins in the back. Well, one little bump and everything went wrong all at once. Water fell off, bins and other items fell overboard and toddler started crying. Two different gentlemen ran over and immediately started picking things up. One carried the bins and one pushed the cart, all the way to her car and helped her load it up while she consoled the crying boy. Moments like this restore my faith in humanity. They didn’t know each other, but those men didn’t even think twice about sacrificing their time to help someone in need out. While it’s easy to get caught up in all that is wrong in the world, moments like this one remind me that there is still so much love, so much kindness, to give and receive.
A Girl and Her Pup
There are some days where nothing in the world seems to be exactly what Emmie wants. I’m talking whiny, push me away, throw everything on the floor kinda days. This can be applied to almost anything; food, drinks, toys, and sometimes even books. I know, throwing books makes me cringe too. Toddlers, am I right?
It’s these days that I am so thankful for the big animal books we have (and can readily check out from the library). Cranky baby? Animal time. My girl is definitely following in her Daddy’s footsteps. She loves animals. Loves. Her first real sound made on purpose? An elephant sound. I kid you not! Of all the sounds and words to say, she chose the elephant. ‘Atta girl.
She’s quick to point out any picture or advertisement that includes the furry little things, and our animal books are on constant repeat. For a while though, she didn’t seem to pay Oliver, her very own live dog, any mind. He was nothing more than a nuisance trying to steal her crackers right outta her hands… until one day. One day recently it clicked. Oliver is a dog! I love doggies… therefore, I love Oliver!
Oliver now gets daily hugs, pats and snuggles. And if we’re being honest, the wide open mouth kisses still happen. And I still shudder every. single. time. Claire-bear will still steal his toys out of his mouth, or happily toss a ball for him, but her newest thing? It’s pretty darn cute. Out of the blue, Emerson will approach Oliver and rub his back, hug his neck, or stroke an ear. Every time, I find myself needing to mop up the puddle that is my heart. Oh, you sweet girl you, I hope your love for animals continues a very, very long time.
For now, Oliver is both, a nuisance and a joy. One thing you can count on? These two are always close to one another. Just a girl, and her pup.
She’s just a wee insomniac
Here we are, another week has flown by.
Can you believe that my little peanut is 11 weeks old already? I surely cannot!
For a while Emerson had been sleeping like a champ. She’d go down between 9 and 10 and sleep until between 4and 5:30, up to eat, then back down for another 3 hour stretch. It was fantastic!
However these past few days she’s been back to waking up at 2, then 4, then 6:30/7. Just when we think we see some sort of schedule emerge she throws us for a loop. Kyle still does any feed before 5 am so I can log some much needed continuous sleep, so while I might be “well rested” he’s awfully tired.
I’m about 80% sure that her regression of sleep at night is linked to her poor naps. Lately she had been taking a few cat naps instead of a few long naps. She’s just exhausted and it makes it harder to sleep well at night. I’m hoping for some good naps soon! They are desperately needed by both Momma and Baby.
The good news in all this sleep nonsense is that it can’t last forever ( unless she’s inherited her father’s insomnia and then I’ll have to bite my tongue!) Emerson will eventually figure out how to sleep for longer stretches and until then I’ll just have to keep telling my husband how much I love him!! Keep up the good nighttime work honey! 😉
Just go to sleep!
Emerson got her two month check up this past Wednesday. She weighed in at 8 lbs 6 oz. She’s 21.5 inches long now, and she still has a big ‘ole noggin. This was the appointment I was dreading! She had to get 8 vaccines; granted, some were combined into the same shot, but it still totaled one oral vaccine and 3 separate shots. Ever since, we’ve had a fussy, cranky, “I hate to sleep”, baby.
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| Baby that we have |
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| Baby that I miss |
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| Oh, sleeping child, how I miss thee! |
Grandma and Grandpa Overdeep had come down this weekend for a visit, and Emerson did nothing but squirm, cry and fuss. There was one twenty minute period of a happy baby complete with lots of smiles and coo’s, but that was about it! It was exhausting.
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| Again, I miss you sleepy head. |
After about 4 hours of Kyle trying to put her down to sleep – and 4 hours of me blocking my ears trying to catch some ZZ’s I pleaded with him:
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| Happy Baby! (Picture not from this week) |
“We just need to go get the mamaroo. It has all those different motions. At this point I’d buy anything to get her to go to sleep. It’s like 300 bucks, but I have a coupon, and I think we just need to go get it. Right now.”
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| She’s so cute when she’s not screaming! |
We talked about it for another 5 or so minutes and decided worse case scenario, we can just return it. At this point, we were the desperate first time parents willing to buy anything and everything that claims it’ll help your baby sleep! The exact parents I had mocked when making our registry. Oh, don’t mind me as a I crawl under this rock here… On the plus side, we got ready to go in under 3 minutes!
Emerson had finally fallen asleep when we got to the store (about 40 minutes before they closed) so we decided to take advantage and do a super quick grocery store run while we were out. We went to two stores, loaded up on groceries, and were headed home all within an hour.
Kyle set up the mamaroo while I fed her one last time. –She had woken up as we were checking out of the grocery store. She settled into the rocking motion, and just like that, out like a light. She proceeded to sleep for about 6 hours. One of her longest stretches. She gobbled up a 4.5 oz bottle at 5am, and then went back to sleep until 8:30. Best two hundred and something bucks we ever spent. The mamaroo was later deemed a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Overdeep, which we can’t thank them enough for.
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| MamaRoo in all it’s glory |
So here’s to outrageously expensive baby equipment, and the willingness to do anything for a few hours of sleep.
Mood Board
Progress in the nursery is still ongoing. We’ve managed to sell one desk and the coordinating chair making the room much more empty than before. Holes in the walls have been patched, and caulking of trim has begun! It won’t be long until we’re putting up a fresh coat(s) of paint. It’s this progress that had me thinking that I should develop a more concrete plan for this room. As the weeks go by it’ll be nice to have a ‘cheat sheet’ for reference. Without further ado a very simplistic version of Baby Overdeep’s Nursery.
I still am loving the idea of soft taupes, creams, and tans with a deep dark aubergine wall. We found a glider that isn’t offensive to look at <yea, I’m looking at you, you wooden gliders!> that won’t break the bank. The taupe weaved fabric will do well against everyday wear and tear, and the white piping adds a little contrast. We won’t be purchasing the matching ottoman seeing as the room is pretty tiny and the ottoman isn’t, in my book, a necessity.
We’ll most likely being going with a plain white crib. While we liked the look of a deep cherry colored crib, we’re bringing a medium walnut toned dresser into the room and I didn’t want crib and dresser to compete. The brown square of color represents the walnut color of the dresser. It’s a little less red in real life. The hardware on the dresser is a brushed gold, very similar to the honeycomb table.
I’d like to bring in a small table to have next to the glider. I’ve been eyeing the new Threshold line at Target (Target is my weakness people) and they have this fantastic metal honeycomb table that practically jumps into my cart each time we’re there. While it may not be the most practical table out there, it sure is easy on the eyes. I may or may not drool while I peruse the aisle of Target; please tell me I’m not the only one who is obsessed with their Threshold line the whole damn store?
On the same note, I’d love to bring in a soft table lamp so we’re not dependent upon the bright overhead light. There are plenty of options, but since it seems I’m obsessed with honeycombs,hexagons, and all things shiny I threw a Target Threshold lamp on the board as well. Weakness people, it’s a weakness.
I’d like to add some storage, whether it’s soft canvas bins or woven baskets to add texture, I think we’ll need the extra storage space. The closet is pretty limited in size, and it doesn’t help that we store out of season jackets (and in my case, dresses!) on one half of the closet. We’ll definitely be able to fit everything we need in terms of clothing into the closet- thanks to the organizer I built! Extras such as blankets, toys and cloth diapers will be housed in the dresser and any other storage we bring in.
The accent colors are still undecided. I’m really holding off until my anatomy scan tomorrow. I really am digging the deep orangey/coral and greens though more so than the light sea-glass colors. I’m really open to suggestions about accent colors! =)
Well there you have it folks.