Miss Emilia is not a newborn anymore! Crazy to think that she’s turning into a baby and even looking back at her newborn photos, she looks so different already. She’s getting more fun every day and interacting with us and things around her so much. I’m looking forward to seeing how she grows and changes each month.
Sleep – Well things are good some days and not so good others, which I guess is still expected at this age. We were working on getting her to fall asleep on her own using the swing which worked for a while and then started not working without her crying a ton. She’s been skipping naps during the day and taking a really long time to fall asleep for the night. Her longest stretch of sleep also regressed at night but she’s at least been going back to sleep after her first feeding. The second feeding is iffy but sometimes she’ll go back down if I put her in the swing until after 6 a.m. Those are good mornings! I know she has so much going on right now that can affect her sleep so we’re just trying to take it one day at a time.
Breastfeeding – Still going strong in this area. She eats about 7 times a day and luckily will take a bottle as needed when I’m gone. I’m thankful that feedings are getting easier and shorter as she gets bigger. The only issue we have sometimes is she’ll get too distracted to eat so I usually feed her in her room which helps. If I try to feed her while watching TV or looking at my phone she wants to see what I’m doing. And sometimes she just wants to chat and smile at me instead of eating. 🙂
Milestones – She rolled from her tummy to her back the other day but doesn’t do it all the time. She is getting much better at tummy time and not screaming during it anymore. She’s also getting better at grabbing toys though she can’t always hang onto them for very long. Still loves smiling at people. She’s also been really interested in looking at the food we’re eating and reading books.
Mental Health – This has greatly improved over the last month. I’ve still had a few days here and there where her sleep (or lack of) greatly affects my mental health and gives me a ton of anxiety. This is an area that I constantly have to pray about and give to God over and over. It’s so hard for me to let it go but it’s a work in progress.
Exercise – This has greatly improved for me over the last month. I’ve been able to start doing harder workouts and have been a bit more consistent. Enzo has actually be gone for over a week (went on a trip with family) and I’ve had a ton more free time at home when Emilia is sleeping so I’m trying to exercise as much as I can while he’s gone. My favorite YouTube channels I’ve been using for workouts are POPSUGAR Fitness and Christine Salus.
Food – Over the past few weeks I’ve been transitioning to a vegan (whole foods plant-based diet) and it’s been going pretty well. I’ve considered being vegetarian or vegan for a while. I did eat Paleo (mostly meat and veggies w/no grains or legumes) for a couple of years because of a lot of digestive issues I had and felt pretty good. When trying to get pregnant with Enzo I was able to start incorporating some gluten free grains and beans again. I’ve been eating a mostly natural, gluten-free diet for a while now and recently watched the documentary What the Health. It had a lot of good information and points that I knew about regarding veganism but mostly chose to ignore. We also were spending a lot on groceries and I knew if I cut meat out it would help our budget a lot. I’ve already been avoiding dairy because I’m confident it hurts Emilia’s tummy (I learned that soy also bugs her since I increased it). I want to try and eat this way for at least a few months to see if I feel any improvement in my digestion and energy specifically. Joe did a 2 week vegetarian challenge and stuck with it but he wants to continue eating meat a few times a week which I’m fine with. I think we’re going to try and buy higher quality meat less often (locally from the farmer’s market) instead of buying lower quality, factory raised meat all the time. Enzo still has been eating dairy and eggs but he’s never been a big meat eater (he’ll choose beans over meat every time) so I don’t think he’ll miss it much! Luckily, there are a ton of protein options for vegetarians/vegans and I’ve been making a lot of new recipes over the past few weeks which has been fun.