Noah’s First Christmas

Leave a comment December 30, 2014 discoveringnaturalmotherhood

Hello! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and holiday season. Noah’s first Christmas was a great one! I wanted to share some pictures from our Holiday. We spent Christmas Eve at my Grandma’s house. Then on Christmas Day we had family time in the morning and then we had the family come over for Christmas dinner.

I’ve always loved Christmas: giving presents to loved ones, and spending times with those I care most about.

Christmas Eve:

Christmas Day:

 Santa’s gift!

 We had two Christmas tree’s this year! The first one was a real tree that we bought the day after Thanksgiving. It died a week before Christmas (BOO!) There was a sea of dead pine needles and broken branches all over the living room. So we had to put up this fake tree that we used to use in our tiny house. We called it our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree!

Month 4

Leave a comment December 27, 2014 discoveringnaturalmotherhood

Noah has made some incredible gains this month! It has been amazing to watch.

– First, Noah found his feet. He likes to stuff them into his mouth. It took him a while to get his toes all the way in his mouth. I would say it took a couple weeks of pulling at his feet before they ever found his mouth. But now that he’s found them, that’s all he wants to do!

– He has been talking more and more. He is still cooing, but now we hear much more babbling. He has also found out that he can scream a high pitch noise. It freaked Anthony and I out the first time he did it. We thought something was wrong, but he had a gigantic smile on his face while screaming. Ha!

– He has begun to roll! He looks like a roly-poly. It’s pretty cute and exciting that he can move a little bit more. He prefers to roll from his back to his stomach. He can roll from his stomach to his back, but the motion scares him, I think it’s because it is a pretty quick motion. He’s also getting frustrated that he can’t move more. He will see something in his view that he wants and starts to reach for it. If he can’t reach it, he starts to panic and wiggles trying to get to it.

– This month we also heard the best sound a mom can hear, a baby giggle! It is the best and cutest sound I have ever heard. I love hearing his giggle and seeing that gummy smile!

– The biggest accomplishment this past month was introducing rice cereal into his diet, and let me tell you, this kid LOVES his rice cereal! He literally shoves the spoon into his mouth trying to get more! I started with one teaspoon of rice cereal and one tablespoon of breast milk once per day. But I quickly realized that he wanted more, so I bumped him up to twice per day.

– Sleep has been hit or miss this past month. Mostly miss! He was doing great last month, but lately he’s been getting up every couple of hours. Boo! I’m hoping it’s just a phase and he’ll return to five to six hour stretches soon!

– I think he’s been teething a bit this past month. He’s been drooling like crazy and had a few fussy days. I bought a teether that goes in the fridge and a few that are soft to chew on. I’m glad I did because these have come in handy this past month. No teeth yet, though.

– He has begun to attempt to put his knees under his body to try to move! I have a feeling he’ll be crawling in no time! As he puts his knees under him, he pushes, but his core isn’t strong enough yet to get off of the floor. He’s also started to pull himself a little bit. I was folding laundry the other day and all of a sudden he was next to my folded laundry, it surprised me! I love watching him get stronger and closer to moving! (I’ll probably regret that statement later J)

– Noah has been loving books lately! I’m so excited about this. I hope that he loves reading as much as I do. We read everyday and he starts flapping his arms as soon as he sees a book! He loves books with bright primary colors. My mom gave him a book about trucks which really gets him excited!

Natural Care Products for Postpartum Recovery

Leave a comment December 16, 2014 discoveringnaturalmotherhood

Today, I wanted to share a few products with you that I found really helpful for recovering from birth and pregnancy. There are many different products out there that help with stretch marks, or sore/cracked nipples, and so many of them are natural and organic products; and the best part is they don’t come with all the synthetic chemicals! I strongly believe that whatever I put into my body my baby will get too. Even if I do not ingest the product I still feel like I’m adding un-necessary chemicals.

The following is a list of natural care products I recommend:

1. Organic Coconut Oil– This product is my number one go-to! There are so many different reasons that you can use coconut oil. I use coconut oil to rub on my stretch marks; which have drastically reduced in redness and size and I think it’s because of the oil. I also use the oil for lotion and make-up remover. Throughout my pregnancy I used The Honest Company’s stretch mark lotion; which can be used for postpartum as well. This product is awesome because it has minimal chemicals and you can feel good about using it!

2. Olive Oil– This may sound weird but I used olive oil on my sore and cracked nipples after Noah was born. It really helped to moisturize without being too thick.

3. Alba Lavender body wash– This is not as natural as the previous products but I feel that it has less chemical than most body washes. I love the smell of lavender; it calms me. I’ve always made it a goal to shower everyday since Noah was born. There have been a few days that the showers were later in the day, but I still made it! This body wash smell relaxed me and gave me a few minutes just to myself; which is much needed, especially when you haven’t slept in what feels like years.

4. Witch hazel and aloe vera– I made my own freeze pads to help with the swelling after Noah was born. These products eased the pain without using harsh chemicals.

5. Seventh Generation pads– I use these pads because they have no harmful chemicals. There have been studies on pads that you buy at drugstores that have proven to contain cancer causing chemicals within the pads. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to risk giving myself cancer because of those pads.

Malakhai Meets Noah

1 Comment December 11, 2014 discoveringnaturalmotherhood

I consider our dog, Malakhai, to be our first-born child. He acts more “human” than dog most times! So, naturally, I was worried about introducing our new little one to Malakhai. When I first found out I was pregnant I was over-joyed but I also had a knot in my stomach because I knew Malakhai’s life would be altered forever. He would no longer be the center of our world; we would have to share our attention with the little one.

I think Malakhai knew I was pregnant from the beginning. Shortly after finding out I was pregnant we were laying on the couch watching a movie. Malakhai was lying down by my legs. Later he jumped over my legs and smelled my belly and curled up with me laying his head on my belly. Of course, being in the first trimester I was a basket case anyhow, but this set me over the edge I could hardly stop crying! I thought that meant Malakhai was accepting that I was having a baby.

Throughout my pregnancy I would research ways to prepare dogs for babies, I was ask friends and family who had babies and dogs what they did and how their dogs reacted. For the most part I got the same answer: the dog will accept the new little one into their life, but it will take time. But knowing Malakhai, I felt like he might not accept the little one so easily.

After giving birth to Noah, we were so excited to get home and start our lives as a family. But at the same time I dreaded coming home because I felt guilty that Malakhai’s life would never be the same. I had read that you should get a piece of clothing or blanket that the baby slept in and give it to the dog before you head home. That way they are at least familiar with their smell. So I had my mom take a hat Noah had worn with her to give to Malakhai. When given the hat, he curled up with it and slept! Finally, we drove home. When we came in Malakhai was ecstatic to see us! He kind of sniffed Noah but didn’t seem to interested in him. I breathed a sigh of relief thinking the worst was over. But I was wrong.

In the coming days Malakhai would not come near me or Noah. He wanted nothing to do with me. He would sit in his bed with his back towards me. When I’d call him, he moved his ear back but wouldn’t turn around. As if saying, “I hear you mom, but I’m mad.”

I cried a couple times because he wouldn’t come near me for at least two weeks. Then finally one day I was feeding Noah on the couch and Malakhai jumped up on the couch and lay down on the opposite side of Noah and I. I was really happy because I felt like this was progress; even if it were baby steps, it was progress! Little by little, Malakhai inched closer and closer to us as Noah fed. All in all, it took about six weeks for Malakhai to lay next to me.

Now, Noah is four months old and Malakhai still isn’t crazy about Noah. But he has accepted him. I think there will always be a part of him that is still mad at me about bringing home another baby. But I’m so relieved that he has at least come around and isn’t as unhappy as those first few days and weeks.