What a Jumbled Mess!

So yes, I am still here and kicking. ;) Between long hours of training at my new job and the girls, I never have time for anything anymore. I honestly feel like I never get a free minute, even after 4 months. I really don't understand!

Hopefully within a month, I'll be working from home, and get a breather. Everything is going great with my new job/training, the girls are growing like crazy (Olivia is up to 25 words, which is a huge improvement from her 5 at 18 months), and I'm in a much better place mentally than I have been since Deanna was born.

Last week would've been Papaw's 85th birthday, and I will freely admit it was very hard for me. It still hurts every.single.day, but I know he is happier now than ever! My dad (who has been super awesome and supportive!) took me to get a new tattoo last weekend, and it brings me joy to know it represents my Papaw and his unfailing love for me. I just can't wait for the day I see him again, so I try not to dwell on the sadness.

Cloth diapering is still fantastic -- and super addicting. I'm still slowly adding to our collection, and have bought a ton of new Alva prints lately! I definitely recommend checking them out if you use pockets and have a little girl. A-freaking-dorable. :)

I promise to try my best to get my blog-groove back. It's gotta get easier soon, right? 4 months and counting..

Day and Night

It's funny how different two kids can be. Same parents, same gender, born pretty close together. Boy, I thought both my kids would be "easy."

Olivia slept through the night at about 6 weeks old. She was a great sleeper, a great eater, and super laid back. She would hang out wherever, whenever, and always be smiling. Deanna? Not so much.

We're coming up on 4 months already, and she still doesn't sleep through the night. Each night is pretty different also; she has no schedule at all! Some nights, she'll wake once, some night twice, some night more than that. She might sleep a 6 hour stretch followed by a 3 hour one.. maybe a 4 hour stretch then up every 2 hours. We've gotten lucky a couple times with an 8 hour (!!) stretch, but those are few and far between. Naps? Fighting them every second of the way. Today, she screamed non-stop for about 30 minutes before she passed out on the floor on her belly. (2 hours and counting!)

She also hates to eat. She'd much rather be sitting up watching Olivia run around on play on the floor. She is still only eating about 4 ounces at a time, every 3-4 hours. She also makes the biggest mess, and probably only ends up actually drinking about 3/4 of what is in her bottle. We go through bibs like crazy! I'm hoping to move her up to 5 ounces soon, but who knows. She also takes forever to eat! That's definitely no fun for a middle-of-the-night 30 minute feeding. I have a feeling that we'll be on slow nipples for awhile at this rate, too.

And of course, she's a diva already. She loves being the center of attention, and don't you even think about being in a room with her without holding her. Deanna gets so frustrated that she can't sit on her own yet, that she wants to be held upright all.the.time. Thank goodness for the Bumbo! I can't count how many meals that has gotten me through during the days at home! She doesn't mind tummy time, but she only holds her head up for so long before she uses it to push herself forward. (Honey, you have to keep your head up before you can learn to crawl!)

The differences are like night and day to me. Sometimes I feel like she should be able to do some of the things Olivia did at this age, that I'm not doing enough with her, etc, but I know she will on her own time. She can do more than she lets on, but she just have to have everything her way.. Boy, are we in trouble in about 15 years. ;)

She's lucky she's so cute! haha. As much as I love her and being a mommy, I can't wait to get past this newborn stage! Sleeping a full 8+ hours is sounding pretty good right about now.

BOOM!

Friends! Guess what?!

MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

I'm officially down 20 pounds in a few days less than 8 weeks! :)

66 pounds left to go!

My mommy friend, Amber, over at Blissful and Wishful is weighing in too! Check out her Slimming Down Sunday posts to follow her progress as well.

The Grass Isn't Greener.. At Least Not Currently

Let me share something with you. Something you may or may not know, but that I've never really discussed with anyone in the same situation.

Transitioning from working mom to stay-at-home mom is awesome! You get to enjoy your little one(s) so much more than you did before. You see the firsts, the smiles, the laughs, all of it. Of course, you also get to enjoy the tantrums, screamfests, and poopsplosions. But, it's all worth it! I love being home with my girls all day.

You know what is the total opposite of awesome?

Transitioning back into the working world after staying home with your babies for 11 months. Worst.thing.ever. For me, at least. I hate not being in control of what my girls are eating, playing with, doing, experiencing. I know these periods are temporary, but while you're in them, they are HARD. No one ever told me how bad this would be. Sure, I went back to work after 6 weeks home with Olivia, but 11 months is quite a bit longer.

And honestly, I still hold some resentment at things that have happened to us recently. I was not supposed to go back to work right now. We had a plan in place, and once that was taken out from under us, I had no choice. But, no one ever said life was a cakewalk. You just gotta roll with the punches. Little by little, I know it will get easier; it has to, right?

The plus side to my work situation? This full-time schedule will be over quickly! Before long, I'll transition to working a split shift at home, which is an amazing thing! A few hours of work in the morning, afternoons with my girls, then working a little more during the evenings. I just wish I could fast-forward to then. :)

I know I'm not alone in the SAHM to working mom transition! How did you handle it? What made it easier for you?

Green Bees Fluff! CLOSED

As we continue on our cloth diapering adventure, I've been looking at different brands and styles. We use some pockets and a few AIOs (all-in-ones). I've heard great things about Flips, fitteds, the list goes on! So, when we got the opportunity to work with Green Bees, I was super thrilled!

Never heard of Green Bees? Here's a little about the company! She really is amazing. :)

For me the cloth diapering decision was and easy one, I never really considered the alternative. I have witnessed the wonderful effects and ease of cloth diapering my son, and I want to make it just as easy for everyone else. Cloth diapering has saved us so much money, and kept at least 1,500 diapers out of landfills. The main goal of this project is to further the use of cloth diapering. For every 10 diapers sold, one diaper will be donated to Emergency Infant Services in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so that a family in need can benefit from the money saving abilities of cloth.

Raye was nice enough to send us a couple diapers to try out! We received a minky purple hearts pocket with 2 microfiber inserts and a royal blue diaper cover with a microfiber insert (one side is bamboo so no worries about touching her delicate skin). To be honest, I'd never really given covers a chance because after using mainly pockets, I was scared of change already.

But, we would at least give it a shot! I loved how easy it was to "stuff" the diaper (a couple seconds vs. a minute or so to get the pocket inserts just right in some diapers!) and that we only needed one cover for every 2-3 changes/inserts. All diapers have the choice of one or two microfiber inserts. They can be upgraded to bamboo for $1 per diaper.

Let me tell you, I'm now a believer! I absolutely love the Green Bees diaper cover! Love love love. The fabric is super stretchy and soft, and the snaps give even more options than the other diapers we've used so far. These even fit Olivia's big ol' booty. ;)

Of course, I still love pockets, and the minky one we tried was so soft! The girls love the feeling on their fingers, and Olivia loves picking out her favorite pretty diaper each change. The customer service, quality, and value of Green Bees is superior. I absolutely recommend these to new moms starting out, especially on a budget!

How to Enter: This is a Rafflecopter giveaway. Click "Read More" below and then follow the instructions on the widget. All currents count! This is open to US residents only.

The first 3 entries are mandatory - Visiting Green Bees, and commenting telling me what your favorite diaper is, following Another Day in Paradise, and liking Green Bees on Facebook.