Nobody can ever really make you understand just how much your life changes once you have a baby! I am not gonna lie, we are so looking forward to when our free time increases a bit once she’s older. Right now the constant need to be held is rough on us.

Finding the time to feed and care for ourselves is verging on impossible with little 7 week old Everly. That comes with the territory though, that’s what we’ve been told at least…

We had a good 6 week checkup with our midwife at The Farm this past weekend. We stayed in the cabin that Everly was born in, it was so cozy and quiet. We relaxed a bit but things weren’t quite as leisurely as we had expected.

Turns out little E doesn’t like being away from home right now. She was extremely overstimulated and had a pretty hard time going down for naps and sleeping at night. We even brought her beloved swing that she falls asleep in at night but the different surroundings left her acting uneasy and unable to relax, even in the swing.

Pamela examined us and said we were both very healthy and doing great. E got weighed and she was too big for the baby scale (almost 11lbs). She’s also gained 2 inches in length since birth so her growth is great which means breastfeeding is going great too.

My 4th degree tear repair was done very well according to Pamela. She was very impressed with how nicely the stitches healed up and she says my pelvic floor is very firm and all back together. By 3 weeks postpartum my bleeding had stopped and the tenderness of the stitches was gone, that is apparently remarkable healing for such a bad tear.

All in all things are on track following labor and delivery, we are glad to hear this. I still can’t believe we are parents though. Staying in the cabin and looking at the spot there on the floor where I delivered E is surreal.

Our midwife was telling me that she’s been sharing my birth experience with all her students too. She thinks it was pretty great how I was “in a trance” and so relaxed during labor and transition. She tells everyone how calm Everly’s birth was and keeps complementing me on it.

I still can’t grasp it all, I know I had a baby but it still hasn’t sunk in how truly huge and amazing that fact is.

Anyway, now we are home and getting back in to the swing of things. E seems much more relaxed and comfortable now that we are back too. She slept great last night and we had band rehearsal today which went well. Tomorrow E and I will have a day off to relax and get caught up on some stuff before another busy day on Thursday. Fun, fun!

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Yesterday was the start of my back to work adventure: teaching colorguard with a local marching band. It’s my super part time work that I am way passionate about.

I’ve always been able to handle the rehearsal schedules and the long hours outdoors but combining that with being a mom is way different!

Yesterday Everly and I went for a 6-9pm outdoor rehearsal. I had the stroller, baby seat and ring sling. She wouldn’t tolerate being in any of those for very long. I held her against on my left shoulder for almost the whole 3 hour rehearsal.

Things went well, she napped for a few min here and there on my shoulder but was awake for most of the time. She fussed and really only had a meltdown once right at the end of rehearsal while closing comments were being made by the staff.

Today we are back at it again! Dropped N off for work, came home to eat and try to get her to nap. This evening we head back out to rehearsal and then to bring N home from work.

It’s no doubt nice to get out of the house and do something other than care for Everly. It is exhausting as well. It also leaves like no time for blogging, paying the bills, laundry and all that other stuff that I’ve been slacking on.

I am still trying to figure out exactly how I’ll make it all work, this is obviously the hardest part with E being so young. I am thinking it will get better as she gets older, only time will tell.

Oh, E is 6 weeks old today! We are going to see Pamela for her 6 week checkup this weekend too, we are excited and so is Pamela. Well that is all to report for now, just wanted to let you know I wasn’t dead in a ditch somewhere. Wednesday we don’t have rehearsal so I’ll have time to update, if I can find the motivation.

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Choreographing routines and working band camps has ended for me. If you are interested to see what I have been putting together here is a video:

After the party today N has 1 more day of work left then we focus on last minute packing and cleaning. We move in 8 days it is pretty surreal for us but also exciting! Here we go!

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Dispite the station being shut down he will still be working until August 26th so he has a few days of work left before we head out. I’ll be teaching until Saturday so we both have some more days of work left.

I wanted to share this little treasure with you… She has not been named yet but she sure needed a loving home. When we saw her she was super dehydrated and was skin and bones. She was living outside in the arizona desert with her 2 other litter mates. As a result she hid all day and very rarely come out of hiding, even to eat or drink. She is unique with her tortoiseshell markings. She is doing much better now, here is a photo of her:

I am off to a NAU rehersal tonight and boy am I sore from the previous 2 days of rehersals. The dance moves are kind of making me feel old but it is also nice to stay active even if it does cause some major soreness. I have found that when your muscles are sore it is best to keep moving as opposed to babying the sore muscle. Muscles that stay active are less painful than muscles that sit idle and stiffen up after a workout. I guess I’ll go do some leaps and stretching now to loosen up my muscles. Here is what I’ll be working on:

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Channel 2 is officially off the air and now N is out covering some massive flood in the area, he is staying the night out in the middle of nowhere so he can go live for the phoenix news station after the Olympics tonight. Hopefully he will be home tomorrow but who knows… John McCain is apparently making an appearance out there so he may have to stay and cover that also.

Yesterday I was all excited about the possibility of doing some mystery shopping along the way to Indiana. Is that crazy of me? I personally think that any opportunity to make a little money is great, even if it is during our Arizona to Indiana road trip madness. I know I have the tendency to heap too much on myself but this could be fun you know.

So far we are signed up to visit a hardware store, a casino and a tanning salon. I am trying to find a restaurant an perhaps a coffee shop for us also, I figure those would be beneficial for us and also an easy money maker. Mystery shopping is great if you have an eye for detail and have some customer service experience (like I do).

In the past we have shopped places like ace hardware, buffalo wild wings and best buy. It’s kind of cool to be able to help improve customer service while getting paid to vist the places you probably already frequent. So that si something I am stoked about.

I am writing this as I relax between teaching sessions over at NAU today. I am working their summer band camp and am choreographing for them before I leave for Indiana, yeah I know we are moving in exactly 2 weeks.

Many have asked me why we aren’t just focusing on getting things in order for the move during these last 14 days… Well, N is working till the 26th anyway and we basically have most of the preparations for the move done already.

Plus, I am making us some moola for the move so it is all good right? That doesn’t mean I wont be 100% drained when this week is over though. Sigh, life is good.

Oh and guess who’s washer just shimmied across the floor as it’s gears were grinding to a pulp… Yep, you guessed it, it is ME! We are now without a washer in addition to having a leaking kitchen sink. Sweet huh?

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