Sleep much?

Any parent who has had a newborn knows sleep becomes a thing of the past for a little while. My first two kids did not sleep. Ever. At least if felt like that at the time. Neither one of them slept through the night until they were over a year old. My newest little guy has been a little different. Instead of waking up 5 or more times a night, he usually sleeps for a long stretch at the beginning of the night, then wakes up one or two more times after that. My problem is his daytime sleep. He is just not a napper! He loves to be close to me to sleep. A friend gave me a moby wrap and it has become my savior! In fact, he is sleeping in it as I write this.
When my oldest daughter was about 6 months old, I read a lot of books on sleep. I tried letting her cry it out when I was so exhausted I didn't think I could last another night. It was too hard on me and her so I gave up quickly. In the end, I survived their first years of life with little sleep. With that experience behind me, I have learned not to stress about whether or not my son will sleep through the night anytime soon. There is nothing more special than your little one (or two or three little ones) snuggled up in your bed, even if it means the couch for your husband! Time passes so quickly and even when you think you can't survive one more day with no sleep, you do!
As for me, I would rather be sleeping than doing pretty much anything else. I hate being tired!

Hot mama?

I have never been a pregnant woman with a cute little bump. When I am with child, I gain weight from my chins to my cankles. That's when your calves blend into your ankles for those of you not in the know! I typically add about 50-60 pounds to my 5'6" frame.  Every pregnancy I think to myself, this time I will work out and eat better, but I love food. I mean, I really LOVE food. I also have a ferocious sweet tooth. If there are sour gummy worms anywhere in sight, they belong to me. Forget about asian food. I'm surprised my kid didn't turn out half Thai. In between pregnancies, I am in decent shape. When I got married a little over a year and a half ago, I worked really hard and was in the best shape I had ever been. Unfortunately now I have that to compare my current body too.
Since having my third child almost 7 weeks ago, I have lost about half of my pregnancy weight. That leaves me with 28 extra pounds of solid jiggle. I have heard the saying that it took nine months to put the weight on and it might take as long to take it off. I don't think so.
You see, it was 90 degrees over the weekend and my kids wanted to go to the pool. My only choice was to buy a *gasp* bigger bathing suit. So off to target I went, with baby and one of my best friends in tow. She suggested a tankini, since my husband was appalled that I might buy a "onesie." Isn't he clever?
I found a tankini top and some shorts to go with it, but for some reason I bought them both in size medium, which is what I would normally wear. Why did I do that? I have no idea. When I got home and met my hubby and kids at the pool, his reaction went something like this: "Richard Simmons wants his shorts back." I told you he was clever. Ok maybe I should have gone up another size instead of squeezing myself into something a tad too small. I thought about posting a picture but I think I will wait until I have actually lost the weight to do a before and after.
Anyway, having weight to lose sucks. I have crazy motivation and serious desire to lose the weight but a very cranky newborn and two older kids who leave me with little time. Is this something other mommy's struggle with? It can't be just me!

My homebirth story

After 42 weeks of pregnancy, lots of walking (ok some walking), drinking various herbs, membrane stripping and listening to advice from just about everyone regarding how to start my labor, I finally gave in and drank a bottle of castor oil on the 294^th day of my pregnancy. 5 hours later, active labor started. I put my two daughters to bed just as labor was starting and hoped that they would fall asleep fast. I had always thought that when it finally started it was going to go fairly quickly and it seemed like it got intense right away. So around 10:30pm I had my husband call my good friend who was going to photograph the labor and birth and our midwives. Everyone showed up around 11:30 pm.

When I was checked, I was 4cm dilated. My first instinct was to get discouraged at that low number but instead I convinced myself that my body was working really hard and it would still move quickly. In the beginning, I moved around the house a lot trying to get comfortable. Eventually though I wanted to stay in our bedroom and labor pretty much on my own. My husband knows how I am in labor so he was there when I needed his presence and backed off when he sensed I didn’t. I kept asking when I could get into the birth tub but I couldn’t until I was at least 6 cms.

Finally around 1am (at least I think that’s what time it was!) I got into the tub. I was already in transition at that point so the water provided little relief. Every symptom of transition that you read about, I felt like I was having. My legs were trembling uncontrollably and it was driving me crazy! I asked one of my midwives to break my amniotic sac so that we could move it along a little. She did and I instantly felt like I needed to push. It is amazing the almost primal urges your body experiences in trying to get the baby out. Nothing else matters at that point. The baby had a little trouble coming out, due to his big size. I had to move into several positions to try and help him and finally he was out! All 9lbs 5ozs, 22ins of sweet baby boy. I am so thankful to have been able to give birth to my son in our home with the support of my husband and our wonderful midwives, and to have an amazing photographer to capture it all.

Another crunchy step

I have never tried cloth diapering. I could list the reasons why not, but I am sure you can imagine. The other day, my midwives put a link on their facebook page from a website called www.theecochic.com. The article they linked to was called "How to cloth diaper your baby for only $50 from birth to potty training." Well I am always looking for ways to save money so I'm really considering it! I have to admit, while I was pregnant, I stocked up on diapers. I mean really stocked up. Anytime they were on sale, or clearance, or I had coupons, I bought diapers. I thought I would be covered for quite awhile. When my son was born, he was over 9 lbs. That meant that he wore newborn sized diapers for 3 days. Literally. In the past 6 weeks, he has blown through all of the size 1 diapers. Today I finally took apart the really cute diaper motorcycle centerpiece my friend made us for our baby shower so I could use those diapers!
Do they have a cloth diapering class for semi-crunchies? I wouldn't even know where to start....

The Greater Good

I recently gave birth to a son, who is 6 weeks old now. When I took him in for his 2 week checkup at his pediatrician's office, I was asked if I wanted to do the Hep B vaccination. Normally, this shot is given in the hospital at birth. However, my son was born at home so he was spared this. I politely declined and my pediatrician (who I love and have been seeing with my older children for over 2 years), didn't push the issue. This got me thinking about the many times in the future I would be asked about shots for my son. With my first daughter 6 years ago, I was a young mom who really didn't question much. When my second daughter was born two years after that, I had learned more about vaccines and I decided I would allow her to get all the recommended shots but we spaced them out. Most people have heard the controversy in the news recently about vaccinations and injuries caused by them. Whether there is a link between autism and vaccines, we may never know. But the fact is that there is a much higher incidence of autism in males than females. That is just not a risk I want to take with my son. I know this is a sensitive subject for a lot of parents and I would never condemn someone for their beliefs. As parents, we choose what is best for our child. A documentary has come out recently called The Greater Good. (www.greatergoodmovie.org) I thought it was a moving and insightful film about vaccinations and the damage they may cause. I mentioned in a previous post that my husband is very much un-crunchy. He thought I was crazy for even questioning getting all the recommended shots for our son. Forty minutes in to the film he said, "I don't need to watch any more. We aren't getting him vaccinated." I couldn't believe my ears. I wasn't even sure how I felt yet! For those of you Californians, a very important issue is at stake. Please read about California Bill AB2109! This bill has passed the first stage of becoming a law. It isn't about whether or not you vaccinate. It is about the freedom of making that choice for your own child.

The Pinterest Obsession

Isn't it fascinating how so many people can become "obsessed" with the same thing? In my social circle, pinterest spread like wildfire. The site gives an inside glimpse of people's thoughts,dreams and inspiration. For me, I love getting new recipes, finding fun activities for my kids and discovering new blogs to read. Here's the thing, do we spend too much time "pinning" ideas that we never get around to trying them out? Does looking at other mom's boards give us unrealistic expectations for ourselves? Maybe its just me but it takes much less time to pin something to a virtual board than it does to actually do something. Personally, I have tried out quite a few recipes I've found on pinterest and I have done a few craft projects with my kids but most of my pins never see the light of day. I wonder how many moms out there feel guilty about never getting around to doing half of the ideas they pinned. I know a few times when I have looked back at the boards I have labeled "kids" and "homeschool" I feel a little guilty about the lack of follow through! Luckily, I have enough other mommy things to feel guilty about, so the feeling quickly passes!

What the heck is crunchy?

According to urbandictionary.com, "crunchy" is defined as someone who has changed their lifestyle for environmental reasons. It gives this example: "I need more crunchy guys in my life. I'm so tired of dating preppy metrosexual assholes." Awesome, right? When I say don't call me crunchy, it's not because I don't identify with this lifestyle, I do!  I just don't think I deserve the title. Who the heck comes up with these words anyway?
Why might I be considered crunchy? Well, I homeschool my kids, I recently had a homebirth with my third baby, I breastfeed, co-sleep and babywear, and I am super weary of overmedicating and overvaccinating children. Is that enough to be a crunchy mama? I don't think so. I don't cloth diaper, I don't have any chickens in my backyard (although that would be cool!), and I don't do meatless mondays. Maybe I am semi-crunchy or a neo-hippie...Can someone please come up with a title for me?? It was hard enough to name this blog!
Anyways, I'm a stay at home mama of 3, a recent college grad and a wife to a fantastic husband who is the complete opposite of crunchy (or whatever we are calling me!).
I am excited to share my thoughts, stories and even some current research with everyone. Follow me!