Hooray for springtime!

I'm changing my background seasonally to keep myself from changing it too often. It was time to lose the snow and brighten things up. The above picture I took from the very back of our yard looking toward the house. The twigs are limbs of one of our peach trees which Matthew excitedly noticed began flowering recently. We pray this means it will bear fruit next year! How fun to pick apples, pears and peaches from our back yard (we have six fruit trees)! Spring time also means more playing outside. Hopefully in the next two weeks, we'll have a new wooden swingset constructed in the backyard. My grandparents sent money for Juliet. I didn't want to earmark it for diapers so after some thought, I decided a swingset would be a blessing to all three kids for years to come. We'll get Juliet into a baby swing by summer or fall at the latest, and Philip and Braewyn can burn off the extra energy they have and get some fresh air at the same time. I look forward to watching them enjoy it like my brother Mike and I enjoyed our swingset as kids!

Better Yet Worse

As far as adjusting to being a mom of three, I feel like I'm moving one step forward two steps back. Each morning I wake up feeling ready for the day but sometime during that day I begin feeling quite beat down. I'm partly to blame as I'm not getting enough rest (somewhat hard to do with three kids at home all day) and not eating meals in a timely manner (pushing lunch back to finish school or nurse Juliet when I'm starving).

That being said, I am now completely in love with my newest little daughter. It just takes me a while to emotionally bond with my children. I don't see it as a fault but just the part of my personality which cringes at big changes. A good friend gave me great advice before having Braewyn. She said that even though I'm already a mom and know how to be a mom, a new baby is a brand new person and I should give myself time to get to know her. Great advice and it helped me adjust to have Juliet around too.

Juliet and I are getting over thrush (I pray!). It's kind of like when you are on antibiotics and the bottle says, "Take complete dosage even if symptoms disappear before doing so." I know I need to keep up the routine for another week, but I'm not feeling as compelled to do so as when Juliet was having trouble nursing. She still has some whiteness on her tongue but nursing is going so much better. She no longer fusses and even eats great at night (yeah, no longer pumping at night!). She is really coming around as far as not being so severely sleepy all day. Juliet has reached that normal infant state of crying at night to eat and then crying once I put her back to bed afterward. Still trying to decide if she really likes pacifiers and if I want to get her to like them or not. Matthew and I are definitely feeling the effects of sleep deprivation. I'm feeling pretty good physically however I'm struggling with avoiding dairy and sweets. I'm rationalizing how much I can get away with and still combat the thrush.

Philip and Braewyn seemed fairly well adjusted to having Juliet around. They are getting more comfortable with her which means I have to watch them closer. Braewyn really would like to carry Juliet around but we've restricted her to holding the baby while sitting down. Philip likes to place blankets over Juliet's face and watch her squirm around underneath. He really does love her but just has a funny of showing it.

One Bottle of Milk in the Night, One Bottle of Milk!

So I thought I was adjusting well to three kids and then this week happened. On Monday, I began homeschooling Philip again attempting to get our daily schedule back on track as it had been before having Juliet. Also on Monday, I realized why Juliet has been such a fussy eater and why I'm feeling out of sorts... we're both battling thrush! Her little tongue is white and throat probably hurts. I had been experiencing some pain while nursing. It made for a bad combination and an emotional struggle to feed my newborn. Additionally, Juliet is still the sleepiest baby I've had yet. She is three weeks old today and still, day and night, I have to wake her up to eat every 3-4 hours. The daytime is not too bad as she rouses pretty well after I change her diaper and talk to her for a few minutes. However the nights were wearing me down very quickly. To maintain my milk supply, my body needs to feed Juliet every 3-4 hours (preferably every 2-3 but she is just too sleepy). That said, I've been setting the alarm clock for 3AM to wake up to then wake her up. Monday and Tuesday night were just horrible. After dragging myself out of bed, I would change her diaper. She ends up wetting on her pajamas while I'm trying to change her and that gets her screaming. I get her redressed and then try to nurse her. I guess her mouth hurts extra badly at night because as she's still crying, she arches away from my body and I struggle to get her to latch on. Once she would latch on, she falls back asleep. I would get frustrated and almost resentful of having to care for my precious new baby. After enduring that on Monday and Tuesday night, I decided on Wednesday night to pump and then give Juliet the bottle. I had the alarm set for 3AM but she began grunting at 2:30AM. I pumped and was so happy to see Juliet happily drink 3 ounces of milk from a bottle without fussing. It made for a much more pleasant late night feeding.

My mini-pharmacy in our bathroom...
I pray the thrush will be gone within another week with the regimen I'm currently using so I won't have to use the purple-colored dying liquid Gentian Violet which I used with Braewyn. After each feeding, I swab Juliet's mouth with liquid Nystatin. At each diaper change, I dab her bottom with vinegar water, let air dry and then apply Lotrimin cream. For myself, after each feeding, I rinse my nipples with water, pat dry, dab with vinegar water, let air dry and then apply Lotrimin cream. I'm eating plain yogurt but avoiding all other dairy and sweets. Also four times a day, I take an Echinacea pill and a Garlic pill. The first day, it seemed like a lot of hassle. It still is adding more to my days but I'm used to it and feeling better. Now I just need to make myself get more rest so my emotional state can get back to normal along with my physical state.

I bought this little blanket in Charleston in December when we didn't know Juliet's gender. Reading the words on it, "God's Little Lamb" has brought me peace when I've felt frustrated with caring for her. He has made her just the way she should be for whatever plans He has for her in life. I look forward to getting to know Juliet like I know Philip and Braewyn.


Here's proof that Juliet is occasionally awake.


Our newest student and her big sister...