The Urban Farmhouse Saskatoon: A Brand New Day

Here we are. Brielle is already a month old, Rhonda is back to work today and I sit here wondering where the time has gone. It kind of sounds like that's all that's happened in this house this morning but that's not even close. 4 am feeding I took so that Rhonda could get some much needed sleep. Thus far, I haven't fed Brielle that much because she is being breast fed. We do top her up with formula from time to time but 99.9% of her feeding have been directly from Mommy. So the 4 am thing kind of threw me for a loop. I'm not used to getting up, feeding and then going back to bed, so I lay awake until 6:30 and was then up for the next 8:30 feeding. By that point, Rhonda had already showered, pottied and fed the animals and was down in her office working. She also pumped so that Brielle's breakfast was ready when we got up. Shift 2 of feeding for me, then a bath for Brielle, an outfit that's not a sleeper or a onesie (because she's finally growing into some of her newborn clothes!), a little parade down to Mommy in her office to show off the adorable little girl in her adorable pink ruffle shirt, brown pants, pink & brown socks and a bow in her hair....of course! Then it was back upstairs for a few pictures, a nap (Brielle's, not mine), some coffee for this Mommy, sanitize the new bottles, boil some water since we're moving onto powder formula for our fill-in feedings and here I sit in silence, typing up this blog post. Have I showered and dressed yet? Nope, but I'm sure I'll get to it soon.

Many have been asking about Rhonda's short leave from work, so here it is. From the beginning we always knew that a long maternity leave was not an option for us. As most of you know, the mat leave pay is not great and even at it's max, we wouldn't even have enough to cover our mortgage in a month. So the original plan was for Rhonda to take 3 weeks of holidays and then work casual time for 3 weeks, which would give her 6 weeks total. But sadly it didn't work out as planned and here we sit today, trying to work out how our new schedule (if that's what you'd call it) will go. We are sad that Rhonda has to be back to work so soon, but we also realize that such is life. We could sit and sulk about it or we can move forward with a good attitude.

For the past few weeks we've been trying to decide what "normal life" is? We still haven't figured it out. If I had to guess, it'll just happen with time. As we get better at this at-home-mom and working-mom thing? As Brielle gets older? As life just settles. We've been doing so much travelling within the past 3 weeks that at times, it feels like we're never home. Because we didn't have many people travel to us to meet Brielle, we took it upon ourselves to travel to them. Our little girl is so special and we are so proud of her, that travelling was the least we could do to have family & friends meet her.

Something good that has come out of all of the travelling is that Brielle is not one of those fussy kids who has to nap in her own bed, sleep in a darkened room or one you have to whisper around. This kid can sleep through anything and we love that! Rhonda & I are not home-bodies and therefore it was important to us to have our baby be adaptable to any situation, sound and place. And so far, that's happened for us. She never has daytime naps alone in a quiet, dark room. Her naps are in the heart of our home....our living room...where the dogs are running and playing, where we are talking, listening to music, cooking, the phone is ringing, people are coming and going, someone may be holding her, I'm vacuuming. Let's just say we do not tippy-toe around Brielle. And we attribute her awesome night-time sleep schedule to the daytime hustle and bustle she is around. All in all, it's working for us and we have a pretty happy and content little girl.

Brielle is doing awesome! As you can tell from the photos, she's gaining weight. She is sporting a double chin and a round belly. Her arms and legs are still long and skinny but they'll fill out in time. Baby steps! Haha!! Her hair is getting longer already and her eyes are a beautiful dark blue. She is awake for about 1-2 hours after feeding so we get to see her pretty eyes a lot. And she is smart! I know you're thinking "right...you're her mom and you're supposed to say that," but I believe it's true. Reading up on where babies are advancement wise for their age, Brielle is ahead of the game. I won't bore you with my motherly bragging, but I will say that she's been able to hold her head up since her first week of life, can hold her head up and look around for extended periods of time while on her tummy, has been non-gassy smiling (haha) since about 3 weeks old, can pull herself into a sitting position while holding onto your fingers, has started to reach for things....well, you get the picture. And don't forget, she's only due to be born this coming Friday. So I'd say she's doing great for a baby who came 5 weeks early. But again, I'm not trying to brag or anything!! ;)

And while our baby girl is smart, she is also stubborn. Let me say, this girl goes from 0-60 in about a half a second. When she wants something, she wants it NOW!! I think we'll have to work on patience. Haha!! If anything, she gets her fair share of lung exercise. But she really is a good baby and thankfully we don't have to deal with her stubborn streak all that often. She is typically quite happy and content.