How did we get here so fast? Yesterday marked the one month milestone in Liam's life - let me tell you, the last month has been bananas (in the best ways of course) and while my son has been growing, so have I. I have learned to be a little easy on myself, carry more grace than I do criticism, and take as much time/patience as I need to raise all three of my babies the best I can. That being said, Liam has been an absolute dream. This time last year we didn't know if we'd ever welcome another child into our family, and now here we are! As always, here's a rundown of the first four weeks with our newest babe. 

Week 1: We spent less than 48 hours of Liam's life in the hospital after he was born. This was the first time we'd ever left the hospital with one of our babies before that 48 hour mark. Liam nursed like a champ from the first latch, he was circumcised (I struggled with this decision heavily, and I still do) - Justin stayed with him during that procedure, and our son passed all those fresh 48 newborn tests the hospital administers. Coming home with Liam wasn't nearly as chaotic as I thought it would be. The kids' god mama was still here, Justin was still on paternity leave, and that left me with a lot of helping hands. I basically slept with Liam, changed him, and napped with our newbie constantly the first few days. I set three alarms in the middle of the night to change the babe, just for those first few days (I've done this with all three kids). We took our first family walk to the park, Liam had his first Moby wrap experience, and tummy time happened for the first time on his fifth day of life.

Week 2: Justin went back to work and this changed the whole dang game in our house. We did our first grocery shopping trip INSIDE a grocery store (I emphasize on this because I am a religious click list grocery orderer) and Liam did great.. he did start crying at check out, but I was able to wrap that up quickly and head to the car to nurse him. Liam had his two weeks check up with our NP and all went well. Gaining weight as he should, his level of alert behavior was noticed, and his circumcision area was healed correctly. I introduced the pacifier for car rides (Justin wasn't happy about this, but... sanity! and Liam doesn't care for it 98% of the time anyway). 

3 Weeks Old

This week completely flew by. Seriously. In a blink of an eye I have a one week old... and now, Olivia is three weeks old. I have been taking the time to soak in all the small details that make her, her. Her sweet little fingers and how they rest on my chest after a nursing session, the soft bottoms of her newborn feet, and her sweet smiles when she's in a deep sleep. I love her smell, and i take it in very often. I love her sweet cheeks and her nose. Her nose looks exactly like mine and I love it. We've been co-sleeping since the day Livy was born, but I am now able to get her to sleep in her bassinet beside our bed... as long as she's inclined. I've used the rocker from the pack and play so she's not laying flat on her back. She will sleep easily for 2-3 hours before waking. Sometimes it's nice if I'm looking to spend a little one on one time with Justin. 

She loves the sound of rain falling (which must be the pacific northwest gal in her), so I play those sounds on spotify every night. The "witching" hour reared it's ugly head and it's definitely something new in the parenting department for me. In the evening time right before we get Ava ready for her bath, Olivia will get fussy for no reason at all. She's been fed, she's been changed, she's being held.. and still, we will have 20 solid minutes of unexplainable tears. I initially thought she might just be a gassier babe, but that wasn't the case. In fact, she actually did a lot better her first week of life with digestive matters than Ava did and continues to show no signs of indigestion problems.

It hasn't been terrible crying, and each night the amount of time decreases, but none the less still something new. I did cave and buy a chicco stroller caddy this week. Being with the girls by myself, there is absolutely no way I can safely wear Olivia while chasing after Ava. Especially in this harsh rain we've been having. I have noticed (although I note this each week) how much stronger this baby girl gets by the day. She can hold her head up for a pretty significant amount of time and she continues to roll over on her tummy time mat. 

We tried the swing out once this week.. she is not a fan! I'm not disappointed though. I never did like the swing with Ava either. Olivia's eyes are still blue but I am so nervous they are going to change. She's still wearing newborn clothes even though she exceeds the weight. They aren't terribly tight or anything, but she could be in three months clothes if i wanted.. only she's about 2 inches too short for them. I think in the next 2-3 weeks newborn clothes won't be an option at all anymore. 

We have been in cloth the last couple weeks and I have been given a run for my money here as well. Olivia already soaks through some of the smaller diapers that we have, and she has basically outgrown the newborn prefolds we have. I did order disposable diapers for the week because I plan to strip every single cloth diaper we have to make sure it's not a washing issue that's effecting the absorbency issue. Nursing is still going extremely strong and my milk supply is based off of when Olivia wants to feed. I don't wake her at night, I don't pump, I just let my baby girl nurse whenever she wants to. This has always worked best for me and I'm hoping it proves to be successful for this baby girl as well. 

Three weeks old.

♥- Leilani

Two Weeks Old

Day 7 (continued): I blogged about Olivia's 7th day of life and how her umbilical cord was still in tact... that totally changed after our first family trip to the park. I think her stump was being irritated by her onesies. It fell right off when I went to change her late in the day. With Ava, a nurse actually noticed her cord was dried up and ready to come off. He used alcohol pads to easily clean and remove the cord stump. With Olivia, I'm almost positive it came off a little too soon. It's continuing to heal and dry, and we are taking care of it accordingly.

Day 8: We made our first family trip of four to Target! It was a smooth trip and I ended up nursing our littlest love right in the middle of the store. No cover, no modesty.. it felt good to be this confident mama right from the start with my second babe. We also did some tummy time with our bean for the first time. She tolerated it longer than I was expecting. Right before we went to Target, we also experienced her first time spitting up. It was a minimal amount, but it still occurred. 

Day 9: This girl pretty much slept the entire day away. We did tummy time again today and she did such a great job. She is so incredibly strong and has excellent head control for a newborn. She was on the mat for well over 10 minutes and actually didn't fuss at all. It's nice seeing her beautiful eyes opened during "normal" hours of the day.

Day 10: We lounged around at home all day. Baby girl cuddled more with daddy than she did with mommy. Day 10 was a rough one, emotionally, for mama. I prayed that my vibes wouldn't rub off on you, but you were a little more fussy than usual. 

Day 11: We made our first trip to Seattle! While the circumstances weren't for the best reasons, you did get to meet your Grandma Esther for the first time. You slept most of our visit at the University Of Washington Medical Center, but you woke up during our lunch at Salty's. You also visited Alki Beach for the first time too. Olivia is an amazing car traveler and managed to sleep through afternoon traffic.

Day 12: Olivia went with mama to MOMS group. She weighs 8 lbs 4 ounces (past her birth weight). We made our first commissary trip... Olivia woke up crying. I knew she was hungry, I knew she wasn't in a deep sleep yet, so mama nursed her right on the floor in the commissary. I felt so terrible hearing my little newborn cry, but I was so proud of myself for stopping EVERYTHING I was doing to tend to the needs of my new babe. Had this been my first babe, I would have frantically rushed to the car.

Day 13: Olivia had her two week check up today and she checked out with a clean bill of health. We had our concerns about her umbilical stump.. but the doctor reassured us that it looks great, and that she looks wonderful. She has a stork bite on the back of her scalp, just like big sister Ava. We saw it at birth as well, but for some reason it stuck out more during her two week check up. She had a repeat of newborn metabolics taken (ouch), but she is completely jaundice and thrush free (Ava had both of these). Olivia rolled over for daddy and big sister Ava in the evening.. mommy missed it!

Day 14: We had our first 24 hours with only mama and her babies. Olivia, you did stupendous, as did your big sister. She helped with all of your needs.. grabbing blankets, diapers, wipes, etc. You slept most of the day.. I'm curious to see if you are going through a growth spurt already? You've been sleeping a bit more during the day, but also went to bed a little after 9pm. You've continued to co-sleep since the day you were born. I love sleeping so close to you, knowing you are safe and warm.

Two weeks old

♥- Leilani

One Week Old

And just like that, Olivia Rose is one week old. We have been on a blissful cloud of absolute joy and have experienced being incandescently happy as a family of four. We've been adjusting to life with two children so much more easily than I anticipated. Shockingly, the biggest factor in our new found normal is Ava bug (more on this in my postpartum update). Miss Livy is one of the sweetest newborn babes I have ever met (bias, totally), and her demeanor reminds me a lot of her big sister when she was a newborn. It's been five days since we left the hospital, but I wanted to do a full update of the first week of life so I can look back on it for always.

Day 1: She came out with a perfect latch, loved her skin/skin with mama and daddy, and co-slept in my hospital bed. I think Justin barely slept a real wink, as this was his first time experiencing a birth in person & staying the night with me during a hospital stay after baby. Very typical newborn attitude, with the exception of nursing. I never had to wake Olivia up to nurse. Each time I nodded off, this babe was up shortly after to nurse. Big sister came in the morning and we got pictures, bonding time, and our placenta was delivered to the gal that does placenta encapsulations. She had her first bath in the afternoon, and we got her first wet diaper and the infamous meconium poos as well. The 24 hour newborn testings were done as well, and daddy stayed with her each and everywhere she went. Livy passed her hearing test, bilirubin levels were normal ranged, and she had her metobalic screening done.

Day 2: Livy lost less than 5% of her newborn weight, her vitals looked excellent throughout our entire hospital stay, and each of the staff members (PEDS, RNS, LPNS) noted how strong this baby girl is. She has such great head control for a new babe. She's strong and insisted on trying to hold herself up during her weight check. She continued to poo at least 5 or 6 more times throughout the fresh 48 hours of her life, and the peeing was extremely consistent too. She co-slept with mama during her second day of life as well. When we got home, baby girl slept. I mean she slept for hours on end. Justin took care of Ava bug and allowed me to sleep as well. The first night how was extremely easy. Olivia nursed and she slept. I changed her after each feeding (she poos after each time she eats). As much as i didn't want to co-sleep in our bed, it happened.

Day 3: Livy was present for her first Broncos AFC Championship game! We tried out our sakura bloom ring sling for the first time, our moby wrap, and she slept a great deal. We noticed her bowel movements were more of the traditional yellow-seedy kind instead of the meconium. She indulged in mama's milk as it came in pretty noticeably. A lot of sleeping took place on day 3. For both baby and mama.

Day 4: Olivia was seen by the same PEDS doctor that sees big sister Ava. Everything looked great. Bilirubin levels were great, she passed her discharge birth weight from the hospital, and vitals were all great as well. PEDS doc noted (just like the mama/baby unit staff) that Olivia was very strong. We got our sweet girl enrolled in DEERS and  TRICARE, now we just have to wait out the turnaround for her birth certificate. She did great for our first family outing since leaving the hospital. No tears when placed in the carseat, and she slept in the car like a champ.

Day 5: Livy has been spending more time awake during the day... but we experienced our first "all nighter" since she was born. Mama was exhausted, baby fussed quite a bit.. it was a long night. This little girl has not slept more than 30 minutes in her bassinet since we brought her home, and i've resorted to trying to swaddle her (against her liking) to try and help ease her into the transition from mama's bed to her own.

Day 6: Since we had our first long night, i decided to try and assist in Olivia's days and night being mixed up. We opened all the windows, interacted with her a lot more during the daylight, and Ava bug was able to get some one on one time with sister too. Olivia is so alert. When her eyes are opened, she's looking around, smiling, and engaged with whoever is talking to her. At this point, she nurses a few times in an hour if she's awake. She definitely empties both breasts and she passes a bowel movement pretty much after every feeding. She's a little more irritable in the afternoon, especially when we tried to take pictures of her. She loves being warm (like any newborn), and she loves to snuggle. She went to bed with total ease this evening, no all nighter, and mama woke up feel refreshed.

Day 7: Today has been a fairly easy day too. It rained all last night, but baby girl slept right through the pitter pats from the storm. She woke up happy and ready to eat (this is her favorite pass time). We took pictures of her with big sister Ava and she was so alert and mellow through it all. She cuddled with daddy while mommy cleaned up around the house a bit, and she offered up some sweet smiles in her sleep. As of today her umbilical stump is still present, though it's starting to fall off. Her newborn skin is peeling, and baby acne is fading away.

One week old 

♥- Leilani

Cloth and Breast

A lot of changes are being made in our home this month and I couldn't be more thrilled. For starters, cloth diapers. YES we are still cloth diapering Ava. We will continue to cloth diaper her until she is set for potty training. Ava just recently outgrew her newborn stash of prefolds. Justin is so excited because this means she finally fits into ALL of her pocket diapers we purchased for her! (He now favors them over any other diaper) I tried a birth to potty training diaper on Miss A and her bum looks so stinkin' cute in them. We have decided to continue to utilize the newborn prefolds by using a different fold method:

tri-folding the prefold and inserting it into a diaper cover. The neat thing about diaper covers are that they have a designated flap on the front of the diaper were you can tuck the prefold in. Just ensuring that any waste is being kept inside the diaper. Once Ava outgrows the absorbency we will retire the newborn stash and use them with baby # 2. So far everything with cloth diapering continues to be a breeze, even on the go. In fact, my husband changed our daughter while on the go for the first time yesterday. We ate dinner at the Olive Garden and they indeed have a changing area in the men's restroom. He carted Ava, her infant seat, and our diaper bag into the restroom and had no trouble. Diapering on the go is different anyways, diapering with cloth adds more steps. I was so proud of him for feeling confident about that. A lot of people have asked what my wash routine looks like with my HE washer and dryer, so here it goes:

On a medium light cycle (I wash every other day)

Two tablespoons of rockin' green

Normal cycle

cold wash

Two tablespoons of rockin' green

Normal cycle

hot wash

No soap

rinse and spin

tap water 

Dry on high heat

two cycles to maximize quilts in prefolds

I do not dry inserts, covers, or pocket diaper shells. I continue to hang dry them. 

I'm feeling extremely confident about cloth and continue to spread the word about how much better of a diapering system it is for little ones. A friend of mine mentioned how much money we would have spent by now on disposable diapers, diaper rash cream and formula, I calculated it with just a generic brand of diapers and even then the savings were outrageous! 

Even though we will be using biodegradable disposables for our trip to New York in a couple weeks, I already budgeted that into our diapering costs, and that's for 10 days. I feel better knowing biodegradable diapers won't end up in landfills.

Speaking of breast feeding...

I'm over 6 weeks in and I continue to love all the benefits of sole breastfeeding. I went back and forth with this decision and sadly, my exclusively breastfeeding journey is coming to an end. We are still breastfeeding, but starting SOON I will be pumping and expressing milk into bottles for Miss A. Even with Ava still being so tiny Justin wants to be able to have that bonding time that feedings present. I feel like that's fair. I know having a bottle will be a little easier than nursing all the time. I'm also going to start up a freezer stash! We decided not to invest in a bottle warmer. They are so unnecessary if you are patient. I'm going to defrost by allowing the sealed milk to soak in lukewarm water. That's the plan for now anyway. 

I love how financially aware parenting has made Justin and I. We are firm believers that there never needs to be a penny of wasted money. I've noticed a lot of new parents invest in items that really aren't needed or used. I've lost the whole, "but, it's cute" factor while out and about. Rather than splurging on something sweet that will last Ava a couple months, I'm investing that money into her college savings.  

This whole, "investments paying you back" ordeal has taken a huge toll on us. 

Also, I was nervous to share. Going back and forth with mixed feelings about publicly breastfeeding with my husband caused me to shy away from being daring with breastfeeding photos. He is slowly but surely coming around more and more. Feeling comfortable with me feeding in public was his challenge. Here is a photo from the Father's day shoot we had! 

Ava started fussing. And I, feeling comfortable as ever, pulled my dress down without cover in tow and fed her. I was so proud of myself this day.