My First Mother's Day

The past week has been quite busy around the Kane household... My birthday, Mother's Day and Teacher Appreciation Week! I had a great Birthday and Mother's Day and definitely got spoiled by my hubby and the little stinker. The hubby got me a piece of art that I had really been wanting (for my bday) and then a spa day complete with facial and massage (for mother's day). Spoiled. Too bad I couldn't schedule the spa day until the end of June because we are jam packed with events every weekend until Zach starts residency mid-June! Oh well, it will be great whenever it is! 

Adventures in Sleep Training

First off, Happy 5 Month Birthday to my little stinker! 

Well, we started sleep training about three weeks ago. Spoiler alert - it works! It's pretty much the MOST AMAZING THING EVER. Here's a little recap.

We had been thinking about sleep training for a few weeks after a rough holiday season with a lot of interrupted sleep (baby with a cold + growth spurt + traveling = the perfect sleep storm). SO... we decided to start sleep training one night after two hours of trying to put Miss Emerson to to sleep. Two frustrating, cry-filled hours. We had been doing a strict bedtime routine for a week or so (this was also a huge improvement), which was working great to get her down. But, she would wake up after about a half an hour and then it would take up to two hours to get her back down to sleep. Goodbye nightly adult time... The past couple weeks I had also been getting very short tempered and cranky. I don't function well with such little sleep (does anyone?). She had also started waking up ever few hours again throughout the night (and this was after she had been doing good with 5-6 hour stretches). Dang the holidays and messing up our schedule! :) I was beyond frustrated. So, after some research on what to actually do, we decided to just go for it.

Emerson's Birth Announcement

We sent out birth announcements for Emerson a little while ago. I'm kind of old fashioned that way. I still send out the paper Christmas cards, birth announcements and of course, thank you cards (thanks to my lovely Mama who instilled in me very young to always send a thank you card).

After looking around on a bunch of different sites and pricing out birth announcements (Shutterfly, Tiny Prints, Snapfish, Costco) I ended up just making my own design using Picasa and ordering through the custom option at Costco. Don't get me wrong, I love the designs at Shutterfly and Tiny Prints. They are beautiful, but also expensive. The cheapest I found were $50 for 50 through Shutterfly, but I just can't justify spending that much on announcements - especially on our tight med school budget. 

But, as usual, Costco for the win. While I didn't like their designs, I was able to just create my own and upload to a blank card. $16.99 for 50 which includes envelopes! That's more like it! The quality was great and I love how they turned out! They are large at 5 x 7 show there is plenty of picture. So far, the grandparents have been thrilled with them - my grandma (GG - for "great grandma" now) even wanted to hang it up outside the elevator in her retirement home for everyone to see. :) 

Photo by Katia Hudson Photography

5 Baby Items I Can't Live Without (So Far)

Hi all! Now that I'm two months into motherhood, I thought I'd share some of my go-to items that have made raising this little girl much easier. Before we had Em, I was kind of intimidated about motherhood and the impending Ineedtokeepahumanalivenow mentality. I had no idea how to take care of an infant - the little bit of babysitting I did when I was younger was with older kids. I was very nervous and wondered if I would get the "mother's instinct." What the heck was this supposed instinct that everyone talks about. What if I didn't get it? What if I was so super awkward and didn't catch on? Well, turns out no matter who you are or what you do, it will be super awkward at first. BUT, it's amazing how things happen and you just pick things up. There truly is this feeling where you would do anything for your baby and you just figure it out as you go.

Anyways, motherhood is wonderful and here are just a few items that make my life much easier these days!