10 Reasons to be content

I often find myself looking to the future for things to come so I'm determined to be content with what God has given me...here it is.

1. I have a wonderfully loving and committed husband

2. I have a healthy daughter who is absolutely adorable

3. I have a house that keeps us warm in the winter and shields us from the blazing heat

4. I have a God who loves me regardless and lavishes His grace on me

5. I have a working car to get me where I need/want to go

6. I get to stay at home with my daughter

7. I have friends and family that I love and who love me

8. I am healthy

9. I am part of a community that loves God and serves others

10.  I enjoy laughing with people

Stay tuned...more to come.

(obviously this blog has slightly deviated from posting about my "hobbies".)

Month 2

What a difference a month makes! I heard so many people say (even the nurses when we were at the hospital) if you can make it past the first 6 weeks you'll be fine. I think I do look back and those first 6 weeks were the hardest! I saw Dave White last night and he asked me what the hardest part of being a parent was so far and immediately I answered, "having to make decisions for Hadley". While our first month was flooded with trying to get the feeding down the second month has been plagued with making decisions. Conversely, Dave asked what the best part was and I replied, "just looking at her beautiful face" and adding to that, "knowing God has entrusted us with the cutest little girl".

So what decisions were facing us this month? (as if we weren't making decisions before this), How to help our little girl be happy. Sounds like an elusive job but we were starting to notice that she wasn't sleeping well and therefore becoming very fussy as would any of us! So I began thinking that she was becoming over-stimulated throughout the day and not being able to calm herself down to sleep. Much to my chagrin, I started making things quiet around the house during the day so she could get some much needed rest. I also started putting her on her stomach to sleep (gasp!!). We had started putting her to bed around 7 or 8 each night but I was not about to try a rigid schedule where she had to eat at certain times and sleep at certain times, that didn't seem logical to me. These tricks were helping but still not as much as we needed them to

After having days of lots of crying and little sleep (and no she isn't colicky) I begin to feel frustrated, confused, overwhelemed....and mad at myself for getting so worked up over this. Why couldn't I just relax and take it in stride? That was my nature pre-baby. I thought I should watch my diet, maybe I should force her to be on a schedule, maybe something is wrong physically with her and I was just missing it....I went on and on, read so many different things on the internet until finally I had over-exhausted myself mentally and emotionally and even laughed a little at how stressed out I had gotten, "this is ridiculous," I thought. I'm actually a little embarrased to share this because I really don't like to get so worked up and stressed out about things like this that are a natural part of life. What happened to my "mother's intution"?

I had read briefly about this parenting style called "baby wise" and how you should set up your child on an eat, play, sleep routine and at the moment our routine was eat, sleep, eat, sleep, cry, cry, cry...nothing routine about it. So Jon and I talked a little about it and though I haven't read the book and could possibly be sabotaging my own efforts I decided to give it a try at least it would create some kind of consistency. I figured it sounded easy enough even though I still have some questions. I started this past Wednesday and Hadley only took about 4 2o min naps, needless to say she was not liking falling asleep without eating. Thursday was about the same, but I did my best to stick with it, letting her do some crying before I'd go in and calm her down. Thursday seemed to go pretty well as far as she was crying herself to sleep fairly quickly but again not staying asleep for very long. I think after those two days she had exhausted herself because Friday I could hardly keep her awake!

Today has been a little rough, she still isn't sleeping real well during the day but I'm keeping to the routine, even if she only sleeps for 30 mins or plays for 15 min, we're sticking to the routine. I've also cut out a lot of dairy in my diet, which is super hard because I love milk!!! If things get better within this week I may try to start adding a little dairy back in to see how things go. Finally but certainly not least, I've been praying like crazy through this whole process just for some peace and confidence that something will help. I think God is teaching me to just calm down first of all, things will be fine no matter what routine we do but using a specific routine I think we'll be learning consistency early on because once we have to start in on the discipline we're going to need some consistency!! I can tell you already it's been easier to be consistent with my own child than it ever was with my students.

To sum things up, my stress level has decreased dramatically, I feel we have a goal we're working towards and I am seeing some positive results already. Praise God!! I love my little girl and am enjoying being a mom!

Month 1

Ok so I'm a proud mother of a one month old sweet little girl and life is definitely different, not what I expected at all.  I've always thought it strange when people said they could never stay home with their kids, they'd get too bored.  What life are they living?  No offense to any readers who feel that way but holy crap, I feel like I have so much to do and so little time!  I actually got to plant a few plants today and do two loads of laundry.  Although, the little girl was fighting sleep all day so I was a little tied up.  

I've been reading through some friend's blogs and have picked up on a few things that I'd like to tryout.  Drum roll please......... since being a teacher my love for children's literature (and reading in general) was reawakened.  So I decided while staying at home with our kids I'd like to try to get at least one kids book published.  I've read about a friend trying out this Christian Writer's Guild program that is pretty much like a college course for people wanting to get their writing published.  I've looked through their website and am extremely interested, however I'm going to hold off joining for a few reasons.  Reason 1, because Hadley is still so young she still kind of needs me....A LOT (I know she'll get more energy as she gets older but at least she'll be a little more independent and on more of a schedule.).  Reason 2, I'm still adjusting to having a kid.  Reason 3, I'd like to hear from my friend how the program is before I commit.

I'm also ready to get back on the goal train.  A year or two ago Jon and I wrote down some goals and for the most part did ok accomplishing them.  But we haven't looked at them in quite some time so I looked at them yesterday and felt motivated again to get back on track with them.  Hopefully I don't overwhelm Jon with my motivation since he's got a lot going on now.  Anyway, I'm excited to have some direction while at home.

Meanwhile, on the "mom" front.  Things are going well.  I hate to say anything in fear of jinxing (sp?) it but for the last 3 nights Hadley has been sleeping well, only waking up once or twice during the night.  I'm trying to be thankful for each night it happens while maintaining a realistic outlook that she could revert back to waking up every hour or two.  I ordered a breast pump and I think we're going to try a bottle within the next week or so.  It's so weird, I've been a lot more uptight with her than I thought I would be since I'm generally a very laid back person.  I chalk it up to the fact that she's so darn cute and I love her so much that I don't want to miss a minute.  I have to confess it has been a process for me to be able to leave her (just in a different room) with anyone but Jon.  It's hard to let her cry when someone else is holding her, not because I don't think they can't handle it but because I just feel so bad for her when she cries.  I've come a long way and am a lot better with most of this, but I'm nervous about leaving her with a babysitter.  Again, not because I don't think they can't handle it, but because I don't want to miss anything with her. :)    I guess it's all a process and as she gets older maybe it will get easier.  I'm sure with the second kid, I'll gladly be handing him/her over to whoever so I can get a break.  

The newest addition

Again, taking a brief hiatus from talking about the hobbies as I've got little time since our newest addition arrived. Hadley Ann was born Wednesday May 13th at 11:05am. Labor and delivery went perfect, I woke up at 5am to use the restroom and when I got back in bed it felt like I was still going to the bathroom so I rushed back in and realized my water had broken. Jon and I rushed to get everything packed into the car and took off to the hospital. We got there about 5:20 and as Jon parked the car I went in to get checked into a delivery room. By 6:30am contractions started and to get them to be more regular the nurse started me on a low dose of pitocin. That's when the real contractions kicked in and I immediately asked for the epidural. By 8am the epidural had been administered by Dr. Funk (yes that was his name) and was pretty much in effect. I could still feel a little on the left side but I used my button to administer more and it took complete effect. Wow talk about a weird sensation. I could feel my legs, etc. but they were super tingley and of course I couldn't feel any pain. I had lost just about all control of them as well.

My dr. showed up around 8:30 and by 9:45 I was pushing. I pushed for an hour which was quite a challenge to do when you can't feel anything but everyone in there (my husband, the nurse, and my dr.'s intern) kept telling me I was doing great. My dr. was called back in at 10:45 and I pushed a few more times and baby Hadley was there. They put her on my chest and of course I cried a little. I was in shock that she was ours and that she just came out of me. She weighed 7lbs. 4oz. and was 19.5 in. long. Thus beginning a new era in our lives.

The first few days were a whirlwind. I wasn't really in much pain at all, just cramping, although I did faint in the bathroom before I was moved into the couplet room. Luckily Jon was there to catch me. However, the breastfeeding was the biggest struggle. She didn't want to latch on right away and she also didn't want to wake up to eat either. We had to work pretty hard to even get her to open one eye. The pediatrician that came in the first day said he wasn't worried about her not eating right away, it was perfectly normal for her to be very sleepy the first few days. The nurses on the other hand were very adimant that if she hadn't eaten in the first 24 hours then she needed to be bottlefed. Our pediatrician said, "no, let's wait it out and keep trying." Which we were thankful for. The next day the lactation consultant came in and worked with us as had one of the nursery nurses that night and we were feeling a little better about it. By the evening of Thursday she was latching on and doing a little better, but not latching on correctly. Having read that if it hurts the baby is not latched on correctly I knew something wasn't right but I hated to take her off because we had worked so hard to get her on. Anyways, this mistake cost me for the next few days. I had super sore nipples and found it almost unbearable to nurse her whenever we hd the opportunity.

Much to our dismay we had to stay an extra day in the hospital since she still wasn't eating all that great. But by Friday around 2 we got discharged! Finally! Poor Jon was tired of sleeping on the hard pull out bed and we were both tired of being cooped up in the hospital room. Friday and Saturday proved to be two of the most challenging days for us as we tried to get her to eat. We had used a syringe with formula and our finger to "train her tongue" and get her going now this seemed to be the only method she would accept for eating. Saturday morning we had to take her for a weight check and she had lost 1lb which was too much. The pediatrician gave us until the following Monday to get her to eat better and gain some weight or we'd have to look at pumping and bottlefeeding.

My milk had come in Saturday so we were hoping this would make things better. While her appetite seemed to be getting better she still was not latching on. Saturday night I think Jon and I were wondering if this was going to work. I was becoming more comfortable with the idea of pumping just to save all three of us the frustration, but as the story goes she started latching on better and by Sunday night I think a huge weight was lifted off of us. We didn't have to use syringes anymore and I was able to bear any pain that came with the feeding because I knew we could fine tune stuff as long as she got the latching on. Monday morning brought another trip to the pediatrician for a weight check and she had gained 6oz! Which was a lot. Woohoo Hadley! Although in my head I wonder if the nurse didn't read the scale right but whatever, she had gained some weight and that's all that mattered.

The rest of the first week went better. We've had a lot of visitors, not much sleep and tons of food brought to us. We almost didn't have room for our precious gallons of milk. Just recently Hadley has started being really fussy from about 9pm-2am. She'll want to nurse about every hour and for only 5 or 10 minutes. As soon as we try to lay her down in her cradle she'll wake up wanting more. We haven't given her a pacifier yet (well we did for a few minutes and then decided against it) mainly because of all the breastfeeding issues we had. We didn't want to sabotage any of that until she was a pro at it. I certainly do welcome this change in schedule though as opposed to the not eating at all!

We went again this morning for another weight check (office policy is that if they're under 7lbs they keep a close eye on them). She was only 6lbs 12oz so still gaining weight but not as fast as before. We have her two week check up next Thursday so they'll check her again (obviously) and hopefully by then she's up to 7lbs. or past it.

Jon has been a great support through all of this and is already a wonderful dad! He's going to go back to work next week and while I'm a little nervous I'm also ready to get into a routine of being at home all the time with the baby. Hopefully soon little miss Hadley will get into a regular feeding schedule so we can start to plan things a little better.

We have certainly appreciated all the prayer, encouragement, and support from everybody! We look forward to watching our little girl grow into the person God wants her to become. We think she's the cutest baby we've ever seen and feel blessed that God gave her to us. I think that's the majority of the story, if I left something out or someone has a question let me know.

Little Hadley with mommy and daddy just an hour old.

Lounging at home on her first day

The happy family (can you tell we're losing sleep?)

Roses and Weeds

I've decided to do a hodge podge entry, focusing not just on my hobbies as there is more going on in life at the moment.

During the unbelievably annoying wind-storms a while back disaster struck my veggies.  The wind managed to move my greenhouse along the patio, therefore carrying the plastic shelving inside with it.  Resulting in my peat pots on the ground spilling their guts of soil and veggie seeds. Alas, maybe a veggie garden is not ready to be sown in the Hasbrouck household.

I also finally started my own nursing wrap.  As I started measuring and cutting I realized I couldn't remember what I had measured the last nursing wrap I made and Elaine seems to like the size.  So I continued on, just making it and I got to making the straps and totally messed up, I made one of them a little too short. I decided how ridiculous it was that I didn't write measurements down so I went ahead and did that with my nursing wrap and am almost finished.  This is a good thing seeing as how I could have this baby at any moment.

Which leads me to the part that's not about my hobbies.  I'm off of work, doctor's orders as I've progressed to 3 cm already and technically still have 4 weeks until my due date.  Of course I'm excited to be having a baby and not have to go to a job every morning.  However, I hadn't prepared myself to leave quite so quickly and it was harder than I thought leaving my students.  They were really sweet my last day though and the student I struggled with all year almost laughed at a joke I made and gave me a hug on the way out the door.  I realize he could have been more happy to have me leave, but I'll pretend that I did make a difference in his life and hopefully he won't forget what he learned (and not just the academics).

It's been a whirlwind the past few days, as I rushed to clean out my classroom and make sure things are in fact in order for the baby when she comes.  Now I guess Jon and I should go pack our bags for the hospital so we are, ourselves are ready.  HURRY UP HADLEY!!!

Gardening

The Cardinal that joined me out in the backyard. Perhaps he was looking to snack on the grubs I threw out.

So I've been able to do a little gardening (although the bending over gives me heartburn). I bought some peat pots to start some veggies in. I've got green onions, roma tomatoes, watermelon, and green beans. A strange mix but veggies I know we'll eat/use in cooking. So here's how much of a gardener I am, I just found out these peat pots are made to plant directly into the ground when your plants are ready. Amazing! Even though I don't know where we're going to plant them yet. I also received a Hydrangea bush from my grandma. She said it wasn't blooming at her house because it wasn't getting enough sun so she gave it to me to put in a sunny spot. Hopefully it does well because every other plant that has been planted in that spot has died from heat exhaustion. Things are moving slowly when it comes to gardening but things are moving.

I moved all of my potted plants out of the greenhouse and did some pruning. They're looking a little scraggly (sp?) but they'll be back in "full bloom" very shortly. I think this week I'll give them some miracle grow. Unfortunately all the limes I thought we were going to have died. I'm not sure if the tree got too hot in the greenhouse or what happened but all the little buds turned black and fuzzy and fell off. I'm hoping I can get a few blossoms out of it before it's too late.

The greenhouse my husband built for me for Christmas. It's now housing my little veggie pots.

The peat pot that can be planted right into the ground

Green Onions starting their journey nice and warm! I'm hoping to get some shelves to put in the green house so everything doesn't have to be on the ground.

The hydrangea plant from my grandma.

My bag of soil was full of yummy grubs! Happy eating to the birds!

It's finished

These are the straps pulled together.



This is one end of the strap with a button so it can be removed.




This is the long end of the strap that can be adjusted tighter as needed and also removed.

This is the entire finished product. Big enough to be used as a blanket without worrying about the straps getting in the way.

Well I did it! I finished the nursing wrap and I think it's going to work. Again, I just started with the basic blanket template that I've done before. I did make it a little larger so it would leave room to wrap around the sides. I sewed the straps together and was ready to attach the buttons. For some reason the option on my sewing machine to attach buttons wasn't working well. After many failed attempts and readings of the manual to make sure I was doing everything right, it worked. I'm not sure what it was that wasn't working, I have a theory that the bobbin thread was wound wrong and eventually, after my failed tries, was working the way it needed to.

One step I was unsure of and will only know the answer to after the wrap is used is how far apart to put the button holes. I put them just a bit wider than the width of my shoulders hoping the straps would cinch up the fabric to "wrap" around the shoulders. I've got a while to hear the reviews on it but am looking forward to making one for myself.