The Best of 2013

January

The year started with Emma still in my belly. The first week I was sent home by the doctor because of my high blood pressure. I was extremely busy at work and stressed all the time. I "lost" 2 weeks at home with Emma because I was only allowed to take a total of 12 week leave from work. I really felt like I couldn't do it anymore. The swollen feet and the work load were too much for 38 weeks pregnant. It was the last time that I had time to do nothing and sleep late!

Emma's birthday was January 13th and after that my life was changed forever. 

February

I stayed 10 weeks at home when Emma was born. Watching her grow was an incredible experience. One that allowed me to take naps with her on my chest. Those were my favorite moments of the day. She was so tiny and she loved to sleep there too. She still does :)

March

The whole month of march I was still at home. Andre was in between jobs and he was also at home with us. I will always treasure those moments together plus he became really good at changing diapers. 

April

Going back to work was extremely difficult (emotionally). However, this also allowed me to get some of my "normal" life back and also not only talk about feedings and diapers. The few hours that I get to see my baby a day are the best hours of my day. I was exhausted because I had to be productive to leave on time, rush to pick Emma up, pump my breast milk several times a day, store the milk for the following day, wash the pump and the bottles, give her a bath and finally put her to sleep. She was waking up between 2 to 3 times every night. 

May

May was a busy month. We celebrated my dad's birthday, my first mother's Day, Emma's baptism and I had to do a lot of over time at work. I can't remember much of this month. That is probably because of the sleep deprivation. 

June

Three of my best friends visited us during June. I am extremely lucky to have friends which I can almost call sisters. They loved spending time with Emma and I was happy to see how at different stages in our lives we can still be great friends.

One of those friends, Andi, took some great pictures of Emma and I. I will treasure these pictures forever. Thank you Amiga :) next time you have to be in the pictures. 

July

Summertime in Florida means lots of pool and beach time to cool down. 

August

Emma loved going to the beach. We will have to go back next year. 

September 

My parents, Andre, Emma and I went to Canada during Labor Day weekend. Our trip to Canada was great. Emma was a great little traveler. After a bad New Year's Eve a long time ago, I made a promise to myself to travel to at least one new country every year. I have kept that promise even pregnant and now with a baby. Canada is not far but it was a good start. Traveling with a baby takes a lot of planning and it is exhausting but it is what I enjoy the most. 

October

October is my favorite month of the year, not only because it's my birthday. The temperature is nicer and I can finally enjoy being outdoors and not hate it because of the heat and humidity. Emma was very sick on my birthday for about one week. She had a strong respiratory virus that became bronchitis and ear infection. She was feeling better by Halloween. 

November

I was finally feeling like I was catching my breath at the whole working mom routine. We had another trip planned and I was counting the days to take a week off work. We went to Busch gardens several times. I loved watching Emma clap to the Sesame Street show and get excited with Elmo. We had a trip to Colombia planned and I broke my leg a week before the trip. We didn't travel and the good thing is that I have a voucher until October of 2014 with American Airlines. I have been using crutches since November and we can't do much these days. Andre has to take care of both of us when we go out. I want to take Emma to see Elmo again soon since our passes expire in April of next year. 

December

This year, Christmas was exciting  again. I want to create new traditions for Emma and also teach her some of my family's traditions. She got many gifts from our friends, family, Santa, and El Niño Dios (baby Jesus). 

Everyday, I am thankful for my supportive family and friends. Partcularly this year, I don't think I could have made it without them. At the beginning of the year learning how to be a mom and again at the end of the year to help me with the challenge of not walking or doing much by myself. I am ready for 2014 and I hope that we can take advantage of not paying for Emma's plane tickets for another year. Her passport is waiting and I can't wait to live new adventures with her and my loving husband. I have to get my 12 grapes ready for tomorrow and also pack a bag to "travel" in 2014. Do you have any New Year's Eve traditions? Happy 2014! 

Back to Busch Gardens with Emma

Every time I write a post about theme parks, I feel like I'm working on their marketing team. I just really like them and now that Emma likes Elmo, there is no better place for us to go. Unfortunately, I don't think that we will be going there in a while. I broke my tibia at the gym last week. I'm using crutches and this will be the case for at least 2 to 3 months. I'm very upset about the whole situation. We were going to Colombia tomorrow for 10 days and we decided to cancel the trip. It could be possible to go but I know that the best is to take care of this injury. 

Lory's Landing

Looking at the Flamingos

Snack time

The sunday before I got hurt, we went to Busch Gardens for less than 3 hours. It was enough time to catch the last Sesame Street show, ride the carrousel, look for Elmo and also see the birds at Lory Landing. Emma was very lucky because the park was almost empty and no kids were in line to meet Elmo. He played with her for a few minutes, she grabbed his nose and was not scared at all. She also had the chance to see Abby Cadabby and also grab her nose.

A Very Furry Christmas

Sesame Street Safari Area

Elmo's Trek House

At the Carrousel

We ended up buying more souvenir pictures

Emma & Elmo

Abby Cadabby

Her face after touching Abby's nose is why we keep going back

Things Nobody Told me About Motherhood

When I was pregnant, I attended a birthing class, toured the hospital, and read the book "What to Expect when you are Expecting" cover to cover. I washed all the bodysuits and my clothes in hypoallergenic baby detergent. I heard all the birth stories from my friends and family. Being a mother is the BEST thing that has ever happened to me and also the hardest. I don't mean to scare my pregnant or soon to be pregnant friends but I wish I knew what to expect after the big day. After all that research I still wasn't ready. That's why I'm writing this. Maybe with my experience I can help a few soon to be new moms. Two of my best friends are pregnant and 2 more are planning to have a baby in 2014.

Motherhood has made me a big cry baby. I did not have postpartum depression, but I cried for different the reasons. The baby blues is when hormones play with all of your emotions after the baby is born until you get back to your normal self. Everything is very intense the first days or even weeks after you give birth. Make sure that you call a friend to vent when you get too overwhelmed and if you get too sad check with your doctor. You will also cry of happiness. Just thinking about the moment when I held my baby in my arms for the first time brings tears to my eyes. It's incredible to finally meet that baby that was inside of you for so long. By the way, she did look like the 3D scan that we did at 30 weeks pregnant.

You know that childbirth would be painful but it was more difficult than what I ever imagined. You will be poked with needles since you arrive to the hospital. Epidurals rock, but when the needle is going into your back the pain is intense. Pitocin is painful and contractions too. I only felt them for 2 hours before asking for my epidural and my life changed (for good) after I got it. I never wanted an induction but my blood pressure was too high to be safe for both of us. I didn't want pitocin and I still had to have it to get things rolling. Having my water break (by hand) was the most painful moment of my life. As a result of not having enough dilation, I ended up having an emergency C section. After 36 hours of waiting and suffering, I was relieved to go into the operating room. I was also happy when I found out that my daughter weighted 8.5 lbs. I was afraid to push a big baby. However, I was in pain another week because of the wound. One thing I learned the hard way is that birth plans are only plans, nothing really works out as planned when it comes to having a baby.

Hours before meeting my baby

Minutes after birth

After your bundle of joy is born, you get some skin to skin time and also you will have to start breastfeeding as son as possible. Breastfeeding is challenging. I knew it because my sister told me that it would take 2 weeks to be ok with it. Sore nipples are very sensitive. I was miserable for the first three weeks because of the pain. Every 2 or 3 hours when she needed to eat, I cried and I wanted to quit. My guilt wouldn't let me give up so I cried because I felt like a bad mother. A lactation consultant from the hospital came to the room and helped me figure out the most comfortable position and she also made sure that the baby was latching correctly. I never got used to leaking breast milk. By the way, you can't really go anywhere without worrying that in less than 3 hours you will be in pain because of a full breast, leaking, or publicly showing your breasts. Invest in a good breast pump even if you stay at home. They are worth every penny. I used my medela for 10 months so divide the cost and it's not that much. I never perfected the use of the "bebe au lait" cover so I ended up a few times in my car feeding Emma. Make sure that you bring your breast pump EVERYWHERE. There are lots of videos and information available to successfully breastfeed. I used BabyCenter all the time and I would recommended their app and website to everyone. I breastfed until last week. I feel happy to say that I breastfed Emma for 10 months. She only had breast milk until she was 6 months old and after that I slowly started to lower my supply to only nights and mornings. She did not wanted to stop but I was exhausted from pumping at work and I also wanted to get some good quality sleep at night. I loved our time together and I do think that it was a great bonding experience. After 2 days she completely forgot about it and never asked me for more. It was easier than what I thought. 

You also get very emotional when something is wrong with them or when they cry. I remember 2 particular bad days. The first one was when Emma was 2 days old, she had jaundice. She was away from me and the anxiety was high. I knew that she was safe at the nursery but I felt that she was so far from me and I couldn't stop crying. I also didn't want to go home and leave her at the hospital. We were lucky that she only had to stay for 24 hours and we went home together. The second time was when she was about a week old, she choked while she was breastfeeding. That moment when she didn't breathe, it was the scariest moment if my life. We had to call 911 when she would not breathe. She even started to turn purple. I was lucky that my mom was around and she knew what to do. I didn't know what to do and I was still very limited with my movements. After everything I was OK, I couldn't stop crying. My nerves were out of control for several hours. We signed up for a child's CPR class the weekend after this happened. I don't even want to think what would have happened if I was alone with her. After that time, I always had to have someone with me to feed her. I was too afraid to have the same problem. 

Before I was a mom I was always afraid of the lack of sleep. I used to sleep until noon if I could. I was also very sleepy when I was pregnant. Sleep deprivation feels like a constant hangover. You are exhausted and at the same time sleeping during the day is difficult. Sometimes we were too tired to get to bed and just slept where we could. You learn to sleep when the baby sleeps. You never really get used to it but you learn how to survive. The worst part is having to be productive at work and since I had to watch my caffeine intake for my breast milk it made it even more difficult. As a nursing mom, you get very little rest. As much as others are willing to help, you have the food. You could pump but it also takes time and then you have to get the milk to a bottle before your hungry baby wakes up. 

Dads always feel left out after the baby comes home. They are an important part of all mother's mental health and in my case he was also my nurse. I couldn't even get out of bed by myself. They really need a lot of patience. Some days I had to ask him to cut me some slack because I was too sensitive and frustrated. I admire single mothers or mothers that can't get any help with their kids. I don't think I could have survived without Andre. I also had my mom helping us and that was a blessing. I have 2 nephews but I had no idea how to take care of a new born full time. I appreciate Andre so much more since he was been doing everything for me. He did everything I asked him to do even when  he was tired.

I have to say that the best part of being a mother is when they finally start smiling at you. They melt your heart and you remember that all the pain and the sleepless nights were all worth it. Your life is forever changed because you never knew that your heart could love SO much. 

Safari of Fun Days with Elmo and Emma

I have posted a few pictures of previews visits to Busch Gardens before. I'm a big fan of having at least one annual pass for theme parks in Florida. We currently have the Busch Gardens and Sea World Pass. Emma's first trip to Busch Gardens was last month. She has been there twice since then. This time, we explored a new area of the park: the kids zone!! I never spent too much time here since my nephew was "too old" for Sesame Street when it opened a few years ago and my other nephew lives in California. Now that I care about activities with kids, our annual pass is great! We have more friends that also have the pass and they have kids that are about Emma's age. I was surprised to see how much Emma enjoyed the live show. We show her videos of Elmo a few times, but it was the sweetest thing to see her clapping and smiling to the Sesame Street characters sing and dance. I wish the show was a bit longer. They only sing 3 songs and then they go to the picture areas. We ended up buying 2 picture frames with the (overpriced but totally worth) pictures of her first day at Busch Gardens. Most of the attractions are for toddlers so I know that we will keep going back many weekends.

A quick life/baby update

I have a confession to make: I'm doing everything that I'm not supposed to do regarding sleep training. Emma was almost sleeping the whole night and suddlenly she just wasn't. At 10 weeks old, I went back to work and she was still waking up 2 to 3 times every night. She gave me a few good nights and then she would go back to her normal routine. My memory fails me (a lot) but I think it was around 6 months old when she got worse. I still don't know why it happenned. No teething, no sickness, no trips during those days. Things were bad and I also felt pressured to move her out of our room and things really got worse. I simply could not keep up, so we started co-sleeping. This was something that I never thought I would do. But, it got us both more sleep because it would allow me to nurse her half asleep without getting up. This worked as I recovered, but she got too spoiled and wanted to nurse as much as every 1-2 hours. I sent my husband to the other room since our bed is not big enough for the 3 of us. I don't feel bad for him because he was sleeping the whole night. 

This past weekend we tried to make her sleep in her crib again. I was getting up 3 times again to feed her. Andre took charge and 3 nights later, he fed her the last bottle of the day, she protested and finally fell asleep. He was in charge of comforting her that night when she woke up. She was so upset when it wasn't me that he decided to sing/rock her to sleep and put her on the bed next to him until she stopped crying. I was inside of our room listening to everything, crying and holding myself from "rescuing" her. I didn't go just because her cry would take a few breaks. I waited because I knew that if I rescued her, she would do it again and again. I never got good at nursing on both sides without physically switching sides so I'm only nursing on one side. I think my breastmilk is slowly drying out. I'm relived and at the same time I feel a little nostalgic that she is a big girl and doesn't need me that way anymore. I'm anti "let your baby" cry methods, but I needed this situation to get better. The day after, last night, she slept the whole night! I wonder if that's going to be enough sleep training for Emma. I still woke up several times checking on her but I felt so good this morning! I cannot wait for her to have more nights like that. She will be 10 months old tomorrow. Time really flies. I'm already planning what to do for her birthday party! A lot more happened this past month but for now I need to get some sleep just in case we don't get another uninterrupted night. 

Pumpkin Patch Fun

This is Emma's first Halloween and it was my first time visiting a pumpkin patch and a corn maze. We have other friends that have kids and we are learning new things everyday about what kids like to do. We went to Sweetfield Farms located about 40 minutes north of Tampa. We will be back next year, I'm sure that Emma will enjoy it more. 

Like always, we end up using our phones and the last 2 pictures were my favorite pictures of the day. 

What we learned on our 1st trip with a Baby

Our last day in Canada was spent traveling by car to buffalo and then flying to Tampa. Emma was so good at her flight that the people sitting behind us said they didn't notice that there was a baby in front of them. She slept most of the flight. We got upgraded to first class thanks to the random seat assignment from AirTran and probably good luck that the flight was full to sit Andre and me together with Emma. I can see that she is going to like traveling and I'm more than happy to say that we had an amazing time with her. It was exhausting and by the time I was done with the cycles of feeding (milk), applying sunblock, feeding her solids and keeping her entertained it was time to start over again. I have to admit that the first night I was so tired that I told Andre that I don't like traveling anymore. I was wrong because as soon as we came back I started to think where we would go next. It is a lot of work traveling with a baby, but it's not impossible. I'm not ready to go alone with her on a trip just yet but I'm sure that I will get there.

For our next trip I'm ready to do a few things different:

• Keep my ID and phone in a separate bag than the baby bag. I have a small cross body bag that I take to theme parks and it is perfect. We have been to Busch gardens a few times and that way I can keep my things separate from the baby things. Diaper bags get heavy and things get "lost" in them. 

• Clorox wipes are still coming with me even if I embarrass those who travel with me. Changing tables are not the most appealing places to lay your child. I became an expert on changing diapers on my lap or using the stroller. This is only OK for wet diapers. 

• Keep clean toys in separate bags. I used a few zip lock bags to help me during the trip and I would clean them at the end of the day. Airplane floors are probably never cleaned. Next time I will take less plush toys and more plastic ones that are easy to clean. 

• We took a portable bed rail to install in the hotel bed. It was the best way to be safe when the 3 of us shared a king bed. I requested a crib once and it was not that great. They are metal and extremely cold. Sleeping is a privilege these days and if she gets cold is another reason to wake up. 

• Most hotels have microwaves if you request one. I had no idea you could get one. At the end of the day we sterilized her bottles and pacifiers. 

• Take at least 3 outfits a day. I took 2 per day and I was running out of clean clothes by the end of the trip. 

• There is baby food everywhere but babies are picky with new flavors. Take enough food even if it means a heavy bag to check in its worth it. I bought a few things in Canada that according to me tasted better than the ones Emma eats but she hated them. She now wants to eat what we eat and it was difficult to find something that she could eat. She can have fish or chicken or veggies but they are mostly too seasoned or cooked in ways that she is not used to. As gets older this will get easier. 

I'm sure that as we travel more often I will add more lessons to my list. We have a trip planned next month and I am more prepared this time. 

Canada Day 4, Sightseeing in Toronto

Since we only had one full day in Toronto, we decided to buy tickets for the double decker bus. We followed the tour from our hotel towards the CN Tower and the waterfront. The bus tour included a free boat tour. I'm a big fan of doing this kind of tours when the time is limited. It is flexible and they follow the best routes to show you the most popular places.  We needed it because Emma is heavy and that way we could also take a break while doing some sightseeing. It was the best decision. I feel that we saw a lot more of Toronto than if we tried to take the subway or any other way of public transportation to the tourist places. 

When we were on the boat it was the first and only time that I took my camera out this day. I was more concerned about the baby's sunblock, hat and food than to take pictures. Maybe I just need to go back to my point a shoot camera otherwise I will just have iphone pictures. 

Toronto Skyline

Emma fell asleep on the boat and we took the tour bus back to Dundas Square. It was almost 5:00 PM and that was one of the last full tours of the day. We were able to see all the stops included in the tour. I decided to stay on the bottom level to let Emma sleep comfortably. After having a late lunch/early dinner, we walked back to the hotel. I was exhausted from the day. It sounds silly but I was exhausted physically and also mentally. I'm Emma's favorite person (which I love) but this also means she wants to be held (by me) most of the time. A 20 lb baby is heavy enough to leave you exhausted at the end of the day. I think that I did a good job keeping her out of the sun, taking naps, drinking water, eating solid foods and also drinking her bottles. Traveling with her was a challenge and we didn't get to see as much in one day. However, I'm happy with what we saw and for our first trip, I think we did great! She was a great tourist. I'm really proud of her.