I started this blog in March 2017, my birth month and also the month I found out I was expecting. So much has changed since then both in our lives as a whole and in my blogging experience. I’ve had blogs for longer in duration, yet this is the most consistent blog I’ve had, and even though the other were related to the part-time wedding business I then owned, most likely has many more photos.
I had a concept in mind for William’s three month shoot based on some fun outfits he had received as a present from his Godparents on the day they met him. While I did use one of those for this shoot, the set turned out to be a bit big for him. So I adapted my photo shoot ideas and believe this came out even better than I had originally intended. This time this collection only includes one landmark date photo, actually the only one I took of him. While he’s not smiling in it, it perfectly captures the awareness in his eyes, his happy feet and how the W casually leans and he is inadvertently holding it up.
I’ve reviewed products on my blog on most Friday’s since I’ve started it in March of 2017. Some products I know as soon as I receive them I want to review them, others I want to review, though I have to wait for William to be developmentally ready for him to use, so I have wait. This one will be more of an overview, with a review to occur later in the future.
In recent weeks he’d been crying more, drooling a bit more and sucking on his fingers and fist more. Our friend Stephen suggested that he might be early teething, so I bough two products I’d had my eye on for a while, The Teething Egg and the Nummie Lovey Security Blanket with Attachment. The egg is shaped very similarly to chicken eggs and comes with an attachable lanyard. They have a variety of colors, I chose this blue in part of it’s almost a robin’s egg blue and I enjoyed finding robin eggs when going on walks with my dad in my early childhood.
Last year on January 21st, I participated in the Women’s March in San Jose. It was a historic day for myself and many women, men, and children of all ages as we participated to show our feelings and responses to the results of the Presidential election. I was honored to be one of the Peace Ambassadors chosen, along with my friend, Mei-Hsia, to help with crowd control so that the event would be an orderly one. That day I wore a pink cat hat as did many women and a Giving Key with Faith on it.
Midway through my pregnancy I knew that under the Affordable Care Act, I would be able to receive a free breast pump. I know now that I really didn’t do enough research on my options. I asked for a Medela as that is the manufacturer that William’s pediatrician had recommended. I had asked if I could have a hospital grade one as they are more efficient, but I was told my insurance did not cover the cost of that one for the Medela. So I ordered the one they did cover, the Medela Pump in Style.
For this review I had to reread the book to truly review it. Upon first reading William was fussing and uninterested. I read it faster than I may normally have, trying to keep his attention. Neither this book, nor the other one I read, which I will review soon held his interest, though at his age, that may be expected. I formed my first opinion of the book during that hurried read, and now have reread it to fully form and report on my opinion.
Today William is twelve weeks or three months old. We’ve tried to read to him before this milestone and now and as the app suggests, he doesn’t always pay attention. Last week I tried to read him two books in a row, one of which I’ll be reviewing tomorrow He didn’t seem interested, in either book though as I had tried in part to give him an activity in case he was crying out of boredom. The app suggested that I should take cues from him when it’s time to read or not, and this is great advice I will follow.
Continue reading “William is Twelve Weeks / Three Months Old “
Matt and I have officially been parents for three months as of tomorrow. A lot of ideas we’ve had, things that have worked for the most part or perhaps almost worked, come from a sense of trying to use whatever tools we have at hand even if we have to use extra imagination to make them work. I think of this as MacGuyvering Parenthood as we try out these ideas. We definitely had to think on our feet when we brought William to his very first Pleasanton Holiday Parade. We had a stuffed diaper bag, we had a stroller, we had everything but a changing table, ooops. Luckily, we did have his blanket for a soft surface, so we were able to do a quick and painless diaper check and change for him.
Some articles I’ve read about pumping breast milk at work suggest looking at a photo of your child to help the pumping process. One photo I’ve used is this of William in his high chair at daycare, alert and ready to eat.
Continue reading “Mother’s Room at Work – Updates and Challenges “
As a new mom returning to work, one of the most important parts of my day is the opportunity to pump breast milk. Frequent readers of my blog will know that I’ve been through a few breast pump options from electrical, the Medela Pump in Style that I received free from insurance and a few manual pump options that I bought on my own. Last week I spent a lot of time talking with a fellow pumping mom at work and on her recommendation decided to buy a pump from a different manufacturer, Spectra.
Over 40 First Time Mom 