Sophia is 1 month old!

 

Wow! A month sure goes by fast. I can't believe a month ago today, as I write this, I still had her in my tummy and I was anxious for my planned induction.

Sophia sure has changed our lives in the Meinkowsky house. Obviously for the better. She is just so cute and precious that I tend to find Billy just staring at her with a BIG smile :). He is so in love with her it just melts my heart.

Some of Sophia's likes that I've noticed so far include her Boppy pillow, her binky, cuddling before going to sleep, and the cutest of them all--Billy's nose!

Now I've been nursing Sophia since almost day one. She was on an IV the first 2 days of her life sinceshe was in the NICU. It has been such a privilege to provide for her in the most natural way. I tactually hasn't been a bumpy road as I thought it would be. From the books I read and some personal experiences from people I have known that had trouble with breast feeding; I really consider Sophia and I lucky that we have found our groove in this. In order for me to keep track of the feedings I downloaded a couple apps on my phone. I got the BabyNursing app. It's free, but it only comes with breast feeding option. It also has a pumping, bottle feeding, diaper changing, sleeping, and solid food options. Those you have to buy. You can buy them individually or as a full package. In hindsight I should have just got the bulk package but I bought up to diaper changing. What I really like about this app is the look of each feeding. You can set it up to view by day, week or month as well as just totals or average totals. You can customize it however works best for you. You can also set up reminders, add pictures, and even keep up with their weight.



Another app I got is the WebMD Baby app. This one is free as well. I love how it provides so muchinformation on the medical level that has kept me more at ease when it comes to Sophia. It goes by week by week with weekly features, daily tips,featured articles (this week it's about vaccines), and caters to dads as well. My favorite part is the journal where you can start your own baby book on your phone or tablet. They provide a template of all the milestones such as first day coming home to what happens to be your baby's favorite toy. The journal also has a growth chart, keeping track of sleeping (I use this), feeding, and diapers.These two apps have been very helpful so far and I highly recommend them.


Now that it has been a month since having Sophia, I'm back to my old self which means back to daily tasks around the house and the start of the job search. Taking care of the house still has been daunting some days when all I want to do is sleep if it was a rough night or Sophia is just clingy and needs constant attention. When she's down for her naps I usually get things done then OR I just nap with her :)

As far as the job search, my goal is to hopefully find one by October. I first need to update my resume and profile on monster.com since I received my certification a couple months ago. I would love to get back into the swing of things at a hospital or a private office but I'm also hesitant on leaving my little baby at daycare at such a young age. I know it's been the norm for working moms but just taking care of Sophia this first month has been so rewarding. I can't imagine how fun (and frustrating on some days) of taking care of a toddler could be. I'm still going to put myself out there and see what happens from there.

In other news, Billy and I are in the process of looking for our first home to buy. Unfortunately, the house we have been renting is out of our budget thanks to a unrealistic landlord that can hold grudges (whole new story on that one). A couple days ago Billy, Sophia, and I saw a dozen (that's right) homes in the westside part of ABQ and the southern part of Rio Rancho. Out of the dozen we have our top three. We already put an offer on one and we got a counter offer yesterday. We are hesitant to accept that offer for good reasons so we may go check out our #2 and #3 homes just in case we pass on #1. It's so frustrating to find the perfect home that fits all your criteria. For instance, #1 has a great big backyard, and a great, updated house but I can see it being somewhat difficult to grow into if and when we have more kids. As far as the second house goes, its a big house that we can grow into but has a very, very small backyard. That's an issue for me since we have a decent sized dog (and we may get a second dog once we have our own place). Plus, I would like to have the option to maybe get a playscape or hot tub or even a pool down the road. Just having that option to add something to a backyard is appealing to me. So, we are at that chapter in our lives and I guess I'll just think and pray for what is best for us. I'm excited none the less!!

Tune in for when Sophia turns 2 months and hopefully we will have found a house by then :)