Going Solo - Night #2

Last night was either better than the 1st night or I am quickly getting used to get up so often. Jim fed her at 11pm and then she got up at 1am hungry again. That's when I took over. She gobbled down her food and then I put her back in her crib where she stayed for about an hour before getting hungry again. So at around 3:30 I admitted to myself that I was not going to be able to sleep in my bed again and went downstairs. Since I am not really supposed to be going up and down the stairs, I thought this would be the healthiest option for me. I fed Miss Libby again and she finally fell asleep around 5am again. I was trying to let her sleep in my arms with a boppy supporting us and was hoping to take a quick snooze myself...but I didn't trust myself not to drop her. I was just too tired. I finally got her asleep in her pack 'n play around 5:20 and I was zonked on the couch 5 seconds later until she woke me up at 6:30. I was so proud of her for making it 3 hours between feedings again. So, I think I got about 4 or 5 hours total last night of sleep...only 3 being in an actual bed. There will be naps today. =) The good news is that her umbilical cord has almost fallen off! Of course I have nothing to do with that whole process really - it just falls off when it wants to...but once it does, we can give her a bath in her baby tub. I am so excited about that!

But going back to night #2 - I think it was much better than the first night cause at least I knew I wasn't going to get much sleep. =)

I survived!

Well today was the first day I went solo while Jim was at work. It wasn't too bad...not like I thought it would be. I was tired from last night but I just took it easy and took a quick power nap (assuming you can call a 10-20 minute sleep a nap). Being the only one here takes a lot out of a person...but I was pretty pleased overall. I even got to take a quick shower! Libby was great...she started out with her weird feeding schedule of every 2 hours and eventually we got back into every 3 to 3.5 hours between feedings. Tonight I even made a full dinner consisting of chicken, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. It was the first time I have cooked since being home. Thankfully Jim came home on time because Miss Libby only made it 2 hours between feedings and then ate more than her usually 3-3.5 ounces by downing 6.5 ounces. Yeah, I am not kidding! She's a piglet! She's asleep now and rightfully so because eating all of that had to be exhausting!

My plan is to end my day in a few hours and have Jim take over so I can go to bed early. I would categorize today as a success. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

No Luck

So it is 2:15 am and I am sadly awake and in between cries. Jim brought Libby into the crib around 1 am this morning and she turned into a fussy mess instantly. I swooped in and took over so Jim could get some sleep. The problem is mostly that she didn't eat enough at 2 consecutive feedings and now our 'schedule' (ha!!) is off and I have no idea how much she could even want. So every time she gives me the 'I'm hungry signal' (which has been 3 times in less than an hour), I just feed her more and more. Wowzers - what a first night going solo. Glad I went to bed around 9:15! I don't think I'll be going back to my bed tonight - guess it is the couch for me! Glad it is comfy =)

A Public Thank You

Some of you may not know but Jim has been home for the last 2 weeks. This has been a huge help while I continue to heal from the surgery and adjust to having a baby. We've been doing shift work so that we both can get some sleep but all of that ends today. Jim, sadly, officially returns to work tomorrow. I'm not only sad because I know I'll be sleeping less but mostly because I'll miss him and his help. So, I'd like to tell everyone that Jim is a wonderful Daddy. And to Jim...

Thank you for all you have done for us! I know I would not have healed this quickly nor adjusted to this whole 'baby thing' nearly as fast. =) --- Holly

Thank you for taking care of me at night! I hope Mommy can do half as good as you! --- Libby

We love you!!!

Sleeping and Eating

I still say we have the best baby in the planet...very calm, a great eater, and a great sleeper. Well...she sleeps great in our arms and she eats constantly. =) It is very strange (to me)...but maybe it is normal...you'll have to tell me. During the day Libby likes to be held and at night (after midnight or so), she is usually ok to sleep on her own. So it doesn't affect us too much when sleeping but during the day it is crazy. Eating is similar. At night she eats and makes it a good 3-4 hours (usually closers to 4 hours) but during the day, it can range between 2-4 hours...usually closer to 2 hours. I'm not entirely sure why the schedule changes during the day. Craziness!

Tales of a Laptop

Wednesday night I noticed my laptop was funnier than normal. Late afternoon I closed it so I could spend time with Libby and then it never came back on. I was hopeful it would just be a quick fix and so I took it to Best Buy on Thursday. After two hours after waiting in line and talking with people from the 'Geek Squad' that knew even less than I did about hard drives in laptops, they told me it looks like my hard drive went bad. The guy put the hard drive in some magic machine to see how bad and how hard it would be to recover the data and it couldn't even read the thing. It was a bit more than I could take. You see it was my first time out solo since having Libby and I had only planned on being gone for maybe an hour (maximum). Then for them to tell me that my computer with 3-4 years worth of data is dead? I just thought of the 2000+ pictures, tax information, budget information...I could go on and on....that I just 'lost'. So I just stood there with the bad news and the prospect of spending $600-1500 to recover this precious information and cried. It didn't help there was a woman next to me with a newborn baby girl which made me miss Libby. So I called Jim to see what he wanted me to do. Best case scenario was that they could put in a new hard drive in my old laptop for $400, ship the hard drive off and recover the data for $600, and they tell me my computer would be 'as good as new'. Well, uh, yeah? For $1000 it better be new....and that was the cheapest it would have been to recover my data. He thought it would be the highest level to recover it - $1500 - which I kid you not, he said it would require them to be in a clean room with biohazard suits to get it out. He said that to me to justify how much it cost. I don't think he expected me to laugh and then just say I want my laptop back so I can kick it in the parking lot. So, I called Jim and we decided that we would have them run a diagnostic test for $65 and I got a new computer (since I would have spent more to get my old one 'returned to normal'). I had no idea how hard it would be to try to recreate what I had with my old computer while taking care of a newborn. Each of them have their own challenges but you can't focus on one at a time...so needless to say, 2 full days later, I am still no where close to having this computer being fully functional. Really I am just missing mailing addresses from people (I lost my entire wedding list and updated addresses for the past 2 years) and my 2000+ songs. Loading hundreds of CDs into iTunes just makes me shudder...but I am slowly getting there. The first thing I need to fix is the address list so I can get the birth announcements out. So, for those of you reading this, and have recently moved (in the last 2 years), if you don't get an announcement or if I email you asking you for your address and you think i'm flaky, sorry! I'm trying to start over from scratch!

Oy! Computers!

I can drive!

I just had my 2 week appointment to check how I am healing from the c-section and everything looks great. The Doctor has given me the green light to drive again. That helps me feel more human again! I still can only go up and down the stairs 1 time a day (shh, I usually go up 2-3 times) and I can only lift anything as heavy as Miss Libby. Given the rate she is gaining, that could be anything soon! =)

I have to keep these restrictions for the next 4 weeks. Oh to be back to normal again. I guess that will happen in 4 more weeks for me and 6 for Libby. Until then, I am going to volunteer to drive everywhere - except I can't really go anywhere cause I can't bring Libby.