Juliana - Four Months Old

My littlest baby is getting so big! I'm constantly telling John that I wish she would stay this little. But, as she grows each day, more and more of her sweet personality starts to show. She's so funny and I can't help but to smile whenever she smiles.

At 24 inches long and 14 pounds, 4 ounces, Juliana finally fits comfortably into cloth diapers, so that what we've been using about 90% of the time. If we leave the house, I'll usually switch her into disposables, just to not have to deal with changing cloth while we're out.

She's still exclusively breastfed and will probably remain that way until six months. At that point, I plan to do Baby Led Weaning again since it was such a huge success with Adri.

She's finally accepted the fact that she can't be with mom 24/7 and is adapting well to being set down for short periods. She does well with self-soothing, as she's learned to stick her thumb in her mouth. It's the most adorable thing!

We've had a couple of back to tummy rolls since last month, but nothing too consistent yet. She is however, pretty solid on the tummy to back rolls. Juli is also reaching for her toys. We have this elephant on her car seat that she's constantly trying to grab and stuff in her mouth. 

Veronica and Adriana are now sharing a room, which left an entire room for Juli. She naps during the day in there and is able nap for four to five-ish hours at a time. At night, she starts off in her bassinet in our room and then transitions to our bed when she wakes up to eat. There is nothing that I love more than snuggling my tiny angel.

As you can see, the eyes are still in the blue realm. Daddy loves to call her his "light eyes." Everyone keeps telling me that if they've stayed light for this long, they're probably going to stay that way. Let's hope so!

Juliana - Three Months Old

My sweet girl is getting bigger and bigger by the day. I just wish I could keep her this little forever. I love our early morning snuggles and spending the day together while Veronica and Adriana are in preschool.

Since there is no three month well-baby check up, I don't know exactly how long or heavy she is. I can tell you that she is definitely gaining weight well though. This girl loves to eat! Pretty soon, she's going to be too heavy for me to be able to lug her around in her car seat. Juli is still in size 1 diapers, but we're slowly making the transition to cloth diapers. They're beginning to fit better, since she's chunking up a bit.

You can't really tell from these pictures, but her eyes are blue. Sort of a darker blue, but definitely not a brown like both of her big sisters. I'm hoping that her eyes stay that way. I keep Googling to try and see when a baby's eyes stop changing color. According to Dr. Google, we still have a few more months for them to possibly darken up.

As far as milestones go, this month, Juliana has learned to roll over from her belly to her back. She's working on the back to belly rolls, but isn't quite there yet. Although she isn't a huge fan of tummy time, she does a great job of holding herself up. She's also discovered her hands and will bring them together and put them in her mouth.

On Being A Stay At Home Mom

It's funny that today's Blogtober topic relates to what I was planning on blogging about anyway..

For almost as long as I can remember, I've wanted to be a stay at home mom. As a kid, my mom always worked and I always hated it. I never got to be the cool kid whose mom went on the field trips as a chaperone. And really, because of her schedule, there weren't many functions that she was able to attend outside of school either. Work started early in the mornings, way before I was awake, which also meant an early bedtime for her.

The one experience that has stuck with me for close to 20 years was the time that my third grade class put on a little tea party event for Mother's Day. Our class got to serve lunch to our mothers and then everyone did little performances along the lines of reciting poems and telling jokes. I was in two dance performances. I was also the only child whose mom (or some sort of mother figure) didn't attend. To this day, it still makes me want to cry.

There are days where I hate being a stay at home mom. It's rough to be around the same grumpy little people around the clock, day in and day out. I get frustrated easily and sometimes even annoyed that I'm not doing more with my life. After all, I didn't spend four and a half years in college to wipe asses and make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. There was a point where I wanted to be some big marketing superstar stomping around in $600 shoes in a highrise office building in Miami.

Yet, I have no regrets. I get to spend all day snuggling my tiniest munchkin. I'm the one who gets to hear the excited "mommy!" when I pick up the girls from daycare. I get to run to the front window and hold the blinds open as a fire truck zooms by the house. And soon, I'll be the one at PTA meetings, doing bake sales, and chaperoning field trips. Yeah, having a second income would be great, but for now, we're doing just fine making memories.

Juliana - Two Months Old

My sweet baby girl is already two whole months old! While it's exciting that she is finally gaining a personality of her own, I'm constantly reminding myself that she'll never be this little again, and it breaks my heart!

At her two month well-baby check up, everything looked great! They kinda sucked about giving my her measurements, but I did catch that she is now 11 pounds 5 ounces. That's two whole pounds that she's gained in a month.

In the last month, Juli has learned to smile and will smile at us when we speak to her. During tummy time, she uses her arms to push herself up and look around. She's doing great when it comes to sleeping. Most days, I can put her to nap at around 10 am. She'll wake up for lunch and usually fall back asleep until dinner time. At night, she snuggles with me, and manages to sleep for most of the night.

For the next month, I want to try to hopefully get her switched into cloth diapers. I haven't been happy with how they fit up until now, but I think she might finally be big enough for them. I also need to switch out her clothes from the newborn stuff to the 0-3 and 3-6 month stuff. I can't believe my baby is growing so quickly!

Juliana's First Beach Trip

Over the weekend, Juli had her very first beach outing. Up until this point, we've avoided the beach for a couple of reasons. 

For one, I was advised not to swim for four weeks after giving birth. There was no way I was going to sit at the hot beach without a efficient way of cooling myself off. Since my littlest munchkin has been attached to me like a little suckling pig, she wasn't going without me.

There's also the fact that Juli heats up pretty quickly, and I wasn't going to dunk her in the ocean to cool her off. Even though we bought a tent to use at the beach to keep the sun off of her, it can get pretty warm in the shade. 

Juli turns two months old today, so last weekend we figured it would finally be a good time for her to experience the HI life. Her and I snuggled beneath a tent for the majority of our time at the beach, but she did get a chance to dip her tiny toes in the water for a bit. When they're this little, they're not supposed to wear sunscreen, so I also did my best to keep wrapped in a light blanket to avoid the sun's rays.

She was much better behaved than I expected her to be, which has me thinking that we'll be back to being beach bums sooner rather than later.

Don't forget to check out both of the great giveaways that I have going on here and here!

8 Weeks Postpartum

This is that blog post where I strip down and show off my post-baby body and all of the progress I have or haven't made since giving birth exactly eight weeks ago. Well, it was supposed to be.. I just plugged my SD card into the computer to upload the images, and I'm definitely not sharing. There is plenty of work to be done before that can happen.

Yesterday, I did finally start that process. I joined a friend at a work out group that I've been wanting to join for a while. Sort of like a Stroller Strides, but not. I had seen a flier when I was still pregnant and told myself that I wanted to join. It's a good thing my friend was already going though, or I would have chickened out. The anxiety leading up to my first workout was ridiculous.

Now that my first class is over, I feel much better. Except for my legs. Those are like jello.. Juli cried for a good portion of the class and eventually one of the ladies came over and picked her up. Unless she's sleeping, she hates not being held! It can become a bit of a pain sometimes. I'm hoping that the next class goes a little bit better for her.

So.. For now I won't be posting a body photo. In an effort not to bore you, I only plan on doing these postpartum fitness every four weeks, sort of like my bumpdates. Maybe after I've made some progress, I'll feel comfortable sharing the before picture. For now, enjoy some post-bath baby shots.

Be sure to come back next week! Bring your baby safety tips, because on Monday, I'm co-hosting a baby safety linkup and giveaway. On Wednesday, I'll be giving away two of those state-shaped picture frames that were awfully popular on Instagram.

Oh, Hey There..

Hi! Remember me?! It's been a while.. I've been having the hardest time actually finding time to blog lately. Juggling three kids has proven to be quite the challenge. Once I find my balance though, I should be good to go.

So.. Yesterday was Hubster's birthday. For the most part, it was like any other day. He worked. I woke up, got Veronica and Adri ready for school, then spent the rest of the day with Juli. To celebrate, we went to dinner at what has become one of our favorite restaurants, Monkeypod Kitchen.

As you can see, Juli came along for the fun. For someone who spends the majority of their day crying, she behaved rather well at the restaurant. I did have to pop her on the boob a couple of times, but can you blame her for wanting to eat at this yummy restaurant too..?!

You may remember that finding a favorite local restaurant was on my Hawaiian bucket list. I think it's safe to say that we can scratch that off of the list. Several other items have been accomplished from my list, so it may be time to do a bit of a recap/update post.

Last night I chose a winner for the Dr. Brown's giveaway with the help of Random.org. The winner has been notified.

Thanks for sticking around, friends! I have a feeling that once my parents head back home next week, I might have an easier time updating this blog thing. 

One Week New

Today is my due date, but Juliana is already one week old! I've spent the past week in absolute bliss. For the most part, Juli spends her time asleep on my chest. I spend that time planting kisses on her sweet little head. 

On Monday, we had her first pediatrician appointment. My bitty bear was all the way down to 6 pounds and 1 ounce. She was a tiny bit jaundice on Monday, so we had to go back on Wednesday for a follow up. By then, she was back up to 6 pounds and 6 ounces. All of those extra feedings definitely did the trick.

Nursing has been going well, although I kinda screwed myself by pumping between feedings. Now I have too much milk, and no desire to pump. 

Nights have been difficult, but for the past two, I've just been snuggling with her in my bed, and we've both slept great.

I've been terrible when it comes to photos. I don't think I've used my real camera once since leaving the hospital. Occasionally, I'll snap a few phone pics, but the quality is pretty terrible. I hope to remedy that soon.

Other than that, life has been uneventful. My parents are in town for a while, which has given me a chance to relax a bit. I've sucked at blogging as well as keeping up with other blogs, but that should change once John is back to work and my big girls are both in school.

She's Here!

And she's absolutely perfect!

My little Juliana Elisa was born on Friday, July 18, 2014 at 4:57 pm, measuring 19 inches long and 6 pounds 8 ounces. She's a tiny little booger compared to her big sisters. She's been eating like a champ though.

The entire induction went smoothly. The epidural, not so much. I'll get into that when I post a birth story. The hospital staff was phenomenal.

We only had to stay at the hospital for 24 hours after the birth. It was nice to have our complete little family at home for most of the weekend. The girls love her, but are still adjusting and trying to learn the rules, like no touching her head and to be quiet while she naps.

We have a follow up appointment this morning with the pediatrician, and I'm looking forward to seeing how much my baby has already grown.

I haven't had a chance to capture too many pictures of her yet, but I know I need to get on it since she'll only be this little once.

Thank you for all of your kind messages and comments over the weekend!

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