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Hi all! My name is Heidi and I blog on and off over at Crooked Shmooked about life, thrifting, home decor, fashion, and whatever else comes out of my brain. I’m a stay at home wife and mom. I've been married for 5 years this month and we have a 15 month old kook of a daughter named Adelaide and another on the way due to arrive in the end of February. Right now I'm having a no blogging streak as I am 11 1/2 weeks pregnant and am spending my days resting/attempting to keep my stomach happy and most of all entertaining/keeping my 15 month old daughter Adelaide happy and out of trouble. Here’s a sampling of what that looks like.
7am: The babe wakes up crying. I bring her in bed with me to nurse her and we drift off for 30 mins.
7:30am: I wake up when babe starts wiggling and put her back in her crib to sleep longer and hope it works. She sleeps 11 1/2 to 12 hrs a night and she went to bed at 9 last night so I'm praying she'll sleep till 9 today. After 5 mins of complaining, she falls back asleep.
8am: I wake up to more complain crying. It lasts another 5 mins before she's silent and back asleep. Whew!
9am: I hear a happy, rested baby yelling. Victory! I see a smiling babe when I enter her room. Evidence of a rested child which makes mama happy. We spend a few minutes peeking out the window at the goat and horses. This little girl loves animals and is lucky that our neighbor’s donkeys, goats, and horses are kept in the pasture right outside her window. She's recently learned to say "hi goat!" and it’s one of the cutest things ever.
9:10am: I turn on Veggie Tales for the girl while we eat breakfast. All she pays attention to at this point are the songs. I'm not a morning person, especially in my first trimester of pregnancy so sitting in my la-z-boy to eat breakfast while the gal eats and plays is survival at this point. She eats half of an organic unfrosted blueberry poptart, a banana and some organic O's. I have some apple cider vinegar/honey water and eat a banana.
9:24: I feel the baby move. I'm in my 12th week and felt him/her move for the first time over the wknd. I'm still shocked I can feel movement so early, but I felt Adelaide at 14 weeks so I guess everything is just happening earlier the second time around.
10:15-11: I sit and nibble on some pretzels and hope my stomach settles while the gal plays with toys, wanders around the house, climbs on me, and brings me treasures like ear plugs and hangers. I sneak in a mommy show while she's playing happily. I watch super random shows since we have no cable, just Netflix On Demand. Right now I'm watching through the show Beautiful People.
11am: This is normally naptime but the gal is still playing happily and eating some Happy Baby kale puffs so I let her be for a little bit longer.
11:30am: Time to attempt a nap. The gal still takes 2 naps- one at 11am and one at 5pm. She woke up an hour later than usual today so I'm not sure how the nap will turn out. I snack on some more pretzels and turn on another Beautiful People episode with plans to nap in a bit. I take a couple minutes to check my email, instagram and Facebook. Nothing terribly exciting to report. I hear a kitchen cabinet door move and remember I heard a rodent scratching around this morning. Ick. Mental note to tell Hubby to set traps. The babe only fusses a couple minutes and is silent. Wonderful.
11:50- The babe fusses and I hear her rattling her crib rail. Pleeeeease fall asleep, child.
12:10- Aaaand she's in there talking to herself. I'm positive the crazy girl hasn't slept a wink yet.
12:30- No nap for me because my stomach has announced it's hungry. Lunch is a veggie burger on sprouted wheat bread with mayonnaise and tomatoes and salted kettle chips. One of very few lunches that don't make me feel sick at this point. And since I want to be honest- I'm still in my pjs under a blanket and am watching tv from my la-z-boy. "My" because Hubby got it for me for the Valentine’s day before Adelaide was born. It is a pregnant body's dream and has been amazing for nursing too.
1:30- Time to shower and beautify. I hope the babe doesn't wake up while I'm in the shower. I hate hearing her yell when I'm sudsy. Oh! Perfect timing. She just woke up. Adelaide plays on the floor of the tub while I shower and then I wash her up. She adores water and laughs through it all.
2pm- David gets home and takes Adelaide to dress her while I quickly get ready for my 2:30 prenatal appointment.
2:15- I leave and Adelaide heads with dada to feed the cows and play outside for a bit. We live on a farm next door to my parents and every couple of years they raise steer to slaughter. The last month of the steer’s lives they are fed good grain to fatten them up. Hubby took over the task this time around because he was so anxious to have some good organic beef to eat. I can only recall maybe 3 times we’ve bought beef since we’ve been married because my parents fill our freezer with the tastiest organic beef ever. Adelaide will miss seeing the cows every day but that’s just part of life on a farm.
2:35-4pm: My 11 week appointment goes well and I get an ultrasound since they couldn't hear a heartbeat. We see the heartbeat and all is well. And I get a bonus ultrasound picture. The worst part is having to wait for bloodwork in a lab waiting room crowded with sick people. I stand away from everyone like the germaphobe I am until I get called in.
4pm: I get home to a tired Hubby and energetic baby. Another veggie patty for me, a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for Hubby and the gal is snacking on more O's. We all hang out in the living room. Hubby and I watch the kook run around while we talk about our days. She's quite the entertainer.
5-5:20pm: We play around a bit. Adelaide finds the alley next to her crib and hides there as I pretend I'm looking for her. I corner her and she giggles uncontrollably. Looks like we found a new game.
5:20pm: Nap time. She is not happy about it but falls asleep after some complaining. Hubby and I start an old Henry Fonda movie my college film professor recommended- A Big Hand for The Little Lady
6:20: Someone is awake and fussy but awake nonetheless. I have leftovers of a tofu burrito for dinner and share some pinto beans with the babe. Hubby makes himself a breakfast quesadilla with guac and the babe has some multigrain cereal mixed with chicken and stars. For the record, the movie ended up being pretty cute.
7:25pm: Hubby gets Adelaide ready for bed. She waddles around the house in her nightgown and I hear Hubby doing dishes and explaining to her how the spoons and bowls need baths. She plays the piano for a while and dances for a bit before it's time for her bedtime "buhb" (boob). Hubby says gnite to us both and heads to bed.
8pm: One more diaper change for the night. I realize the diapers aren’t in the nursery and leave Adelaide on the ground while I grab one. She makes a break for it and runs to our room to see dada. She gets one more kiss goodnight and then it’s time to change the diaper and go to bed. I turn on her sound machine set to heartbeat. She’s slept with it since she was a few months old and it helps let her know it’s time to sleep. I position numnum and button, her two favorite stuffed animals, a couple inches apart and lay her on her stomach between them. She stands up and fusses when I walk out, but the fussing only lasts a couple minutes before she is quiet and sleeping.
8:15pm: It’s just me against the world at this point. I’m the night owl--- although I’m not sure being up after 8pm really qualifies me as a night owl. Time to clean up all the toys, straighten up the living room, and get food/snacks ready for the morning so I don’t have to move around the kitchen in my queasy morning state. It’s also time to have my nightly snack of a banana and peanut butter. Once things are all clean and ready for tomorrow, I sit and eat and watch some more randomness on Netflix. Tonight it’s the last episode of Beautiful People and some of The Hills although I truly don’t know why I watch that show. Spencer drives me crazy.
10pm: By this point I’m about ready to fall asleep in my chair which means time for bed! I sneak a peek at Adelaide because I love to see her sleeping cuteness. The babe is crazy and tiring, but seeing her sweet face before going to bed at night reminds me how worth it all the madness is.
What is the most surprising thing about being a mom?
How so much of being a mom is instinct. I did not like babies before Adelaide was born and had very little exposure to them. The whole time I was pregnant I was SO worried that I wouldn’t know what to do, but as soon as she was born my mom instinct kicked into action. I knew how to hold her, nursing came easily to us both which was a blessing, and I wasn’t scared anymore. She was mine to take care of. Granted, I have asked a lot of questions since she was born and sought a lot of advice, but I am still shocked how much is natural.
What is some advice you’d give to new or soon-to-be moms?
Do what works for you. I am not a high energy, rigidly scheduled person so doing feedings on demand and letting Adelaide nap at the random times when she was tired worked for us. I did very little else besides hang out with my baby and nurse every 1-2 hours for months, but that was okay for me. I have friends who did the Babywise thing and were taking their newborn out grocery shopping at week 3 and had their baby on a schedule and sleeping through the night by week 8. That’s what worked for them and that’s awesome. Find what works for you and what stresses you out the least amount possible.
What are your top three baby products?
- Baby carriers. We have the Moby wrap and the Baby Bjorn. Adelaide was colicky and hated the car seat and the stroller for 7 months and lived in those carriers when we were out and about. I would not have survived without them.
- A swing. Adelaide napped on me exclusively for 3 months and it was pure bliss when we got a swing and she started napping in it. I felt like I had more freedom than I ever had before.
- The Dex Baby Sounds Sleeper. Like I mentioned before, she has slept with the heartbeat sound since she was a few months old. As soon as we are in her room and she hears it, she knows it’s time to sleep. We’ve taken it on vacation and to the grandparents’ houses for naps and it always helps soothe her to sleep.
Thank you for sharing your day with us Heidi! Hope the rest of your pregnancy is happy and healthy!
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