Yep, every week is different. New last week... Mastitis...Oh man, is this painful!! For those of you not familiar, it is a breast infection. I had been having pain for maybe a week but it wasn't accompanied with any other symptoms so I didn't think much of it. The pain increased throughout the week, and then I had chills all night last Friday and I was really dizzy. I just thought I was really tired and I swore our heater was broken! I finally took my temperature the next morning and realized that I had a fever. So we went to urgent care and got some antibiotics. I'm feeling better now. Saturday I was so ready to throw in the towel and give up on breastfeeding, but then Sunday and everyday since Claire has really gotten into a rythmn!!! Feedings aren't taking an hour anymore. I was also still a little worried that she wasn't getting enough, so Colin borrowed a meat scale from a co-worker and she weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce last weekend!!! So she has gained even more than they recommend! yay!

Claire and I have such a good routine going now. I can really tell that it makes a HUGE difference. She sleeps amazingly at night when we stick to the routine during the day and when we don't she doesn't sleep quite as well. I read this great book called "On Becoming Babwise" that was recommended to me by several people and it is great. It's all about getting your baby on a schedule and helping them get great sleep. My only advice I will ever give to new moms is for them to realize that they are the mom and they don't have to take any advice from anyone. So this isn't advice I'm just going to share what has worked for us so far! One thing the book suggests is that you do a continuous eat/wake/sleep cycle throughout the day. This makes it so baby doesn't rely on being nursed to sleep. They also suggest that you don't give them any "sleep props" and let them cry it out so that they learn to fall asleep on their own. This way if they have to fall alseep somewhere new they won't have as much trouble with it. I will say this book does have controversy around it because many people don't believe in feeding your baby on a schedule or with letting newborns cry it out, but honestly I have to say it is totally working for us. Claire really only cries about 5 minutes before she is fast asleep and most babies need to cry a little to let off some energy before they can fall asleep anyway. And with the feeding on a schedule thing, the book recommends to get in full feedings, no little snacks here and there and naturally they fall into a 2.5-3 hour schedule anyway. And it's totally flexible. It just gives mom and baby some reassurance knowing what is coming next! For the first few weeks we had Claire sleeping in our room in a bassinette, but she makes little grunts and squeaks ALL night long! I wasn't getting ANY sleep, I also noticed that she slept great in her crib during the day so I finally transferred her there for night time sleep and we are all getting lots more sleep! I think it is really important that mom and baby get good sleep...a tired, worn out mom is no good!

With Claire taking naps in her crib I have more time to do things for me...like take showers :) and bake and do some little craft projects. I figured I should really take advantage of this time as stay at home mom and do some stay-at-home-momish stuff (instead of just watching hours of daytime TV). This week I made a necklace that I saw on pinterest and I started a fall wreath to hang on our door, I still need to buy a glue gun before I can finish it.

My mother in law bought me a cookbook called "Deceptively Delicious " that has all these fun recipes that add vegetable purees to them. It's basically hiding veggies to get your kids to eat more, but I totally need this to eat my veggies too! I made applesauce muffins that have a carrot puree and chocolate chip cookies that have carrot puree and chickpea puree. Um, so good. And it really wasn't that hard to make the purees. You can make a ton and freeze small amounts so you always have some to cook/bake with. I'm totally thinking about making some of my own baby food when that time comes...or start while I'm home and freeze for when that time comes! It's something you could spend one day a month doing (on a weekend) and have a ton of baby food for super cheap!

Yesterday I had my 6 week post-partum visit and I got the go ahead to resume regular exercise. I definitely need to start slow, I don't feel 100% yet and can't imagine just jumping right back into it. I have signed up for my first post-baby run though to give me a little motivation, the Jingle Bell Run 5k on Decemeber 2nd! So I will need to start running again soon so I don't die.