This past Saturday was a big day for me, and honestly, a day I was pretty nervous about. It was one of my closest friend’s bachelorette party, which meant a night out and away from my tiny pumpkin.

Other than the bachelorette party, I had only ever been away from Charlotte for about an hour or two when I went to get a mani / pedi with my mom and sister.

Anyway, I pumped all week in anticipation of the big night out and had 13 ounces for the hubby to feed her with. I was gone from about 5 until 12 and in that time, my little milk monster drank it all! As a side note, I somehow survived without pumping at all during the night, which then got everything (my supply) all out of whack.

When I got home, Charlotte was sleeping, so I decided to pump. Of course, an hour later, she was up and ready to eat. SO, hubs ended up bottle feeding her the 7 or so ounces I had just pumped. I was super frustrated that she had to take another bottle.

The next morning, I fed her and pumped after. I had to clean my pump parts, so I was a little too delayed in pumping and she was screaming for more milk before my bits could replenish. F*ck! Another bottle needed. Pumping fail.

After that, we were just in a weird little routine. I literally fed her nonstop from about 4 until 10 when we went to bed. BUT, after that, she slept 6.5 hours, woke up for 20 minutes to eat and then slept for another 3 hours. Best night ever.

Anyway, I’ve totally digressed. Back to the bachelorette party… It was really great! Despite having the mom guilt pit in my stomach the whole way over to my friend’s house, I was really able to relax and enjoy myself. Of course, I missed my girl like crazy, but it was nice to just be me for a few hours. And of course, enjoy my friends!

</a

Yesterday was a big day. It was the first day I was apart from Charlotte. Granted it was only for a little less than 2 hours (to get my nails done), but still… I was leaving her. As I was prepping to go, I started getting really nervous that she was going to be a total milk monster and give Mark hell while I was gone. So, going off the fact that the doc gave us the okay to give her a paci since she’s such a pro nurser (which we gave her for the first time two days ago), I figured I would pump so I could leave a “just in case” bottle for Mark.

It would be my first time pumping since her arrival. In pure Melissa fashion, I was running late, so I fed her on one side, then switched her to the other while I pumped the first side. Talk about feeling like a cow… I had baby milking one utter, machine milking another. Yikes. Anyway, when she was done with side two, I pumped on that side and got a little over 4 ounces total. Then, I was out the door. But not before Mark could say in a borderline annoyed tone, “what are you so worried about?”

The second I left, I had a pit of guilt in my stomach. Stupid mom guilt. I started worrying about the bottle… Did Mark know how to heat it up? We’ve never used a bottle. Would she take it? Would it mess with her latch? What if she didn’t want to nurse after that? Oy.

Needless to say, it wasn’t my most relaxing mani/pedi, but I tried to enjoy myself. Even when I asked Mark for an update and he informed me that she took 2 ounces chilled… He read that you didn’t need to heat it up. Urgh. What if she only likes chilled milk and refuses my warm milk from the utter? Deep breaths.

After some worried words from me, he warmed up the next bottle and she conked out right at first taste.

When I got home, I snuggled my sweet girl and felt a huge sigh of relief. It was good to be home and of course, everything was fine. And of course, she had no problem taking the breast.

Later in the evening, as we were getting ready to watch the baseball game with some friends downtown, Mark called me into the nursery to show me Charlotte’s first tear. It was adorable. One single tear running down her little cheek. Likely flowing because she wanted more milk.

To continue in the firsts, Mark finally dragged me out of the house to see friends. I’ve been so nervous about Charlotte. Would she have a meltdown? Would I have to be feeding her the whole time? Etc. As soon as we got there, she wanted to eat, but luckily, our friends have a 10 mo, so we excused ourselves to the nursery and gave the milk monster some fuel. After that, it was smooth sailing and really quite nice to get out of the house and visit with friends.

The morning started off chaotic with a cranky baby and sleep deprived mama. Yes, after bragging that our nights are pretty good with 3 hours sleep, .5-1.5 hours of feeding, then 3 more hours of sleep, etc, our sweet Charlotte had a bad night. She slept 3 hours and then decided to boycott sleep for the next 2.5 hours, then sleep for 2 hours and then only permit sleeping if it was on mommy. And then, it was time to wake up.

We were meeting up with my aunt and uncle for brunch and literally, until we walked into the place for brunch, Charlotte was fussing. But somehow, she kept it together for the entire 1.5 hour brunch. Then, feeling in control, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. When we got back, we plopped Charlie in her crib and I got cooking.

I was about 5-10 minutes from being done, when Mark walked by and this happened…

Broken glass, cherished apple juice all over (including all over me), and worst of all, woken baby. To help delay the feeding Charlotte was instantly demanding, Mark left the glass and went to change her… And then, this happened…

Projectile shit all over… Everything. The changing table and every container/item on it, the dresser, the carpet, the wall, my husband. Everywhere.

Needless to say, my last 5-10 minutes prepping dinner became pure chaos until all of a sudden, the kitchen looked like this…

Now, we’re eating (and by we I mean the child) and all is right with the world.

It still shocks me that they let us take this tiny fragile little lady home with us to take care of forever. What the hell do we know about being parents?

I literally know that I should feed her pretty much all the time (or whenever she asks for more milk in her high pitched, silly little way), she needs lots of sleep, and tummy time is important. Past that, I’m a little lost. Hence, today’s google search.

Charlotte has been having more awake times or maybe longer awake times and seems to be looking for more stimulation, but is still, well, two weeks old. And really can only do so much. I didn’t end up finding much from my search, but coincidentally, I did have a great playtime with her.

It lasted about 10-15 minutes! She laid on the floor on her quilt from Grandma while I cooed at her, made noises, gave her kisses, and so on. At moments, she even seemed responsive. I guess for now, that’s how we’ll play! She’s just so uninterested in toys.

Anyway, play time obviously resulted in one hungry little milk monster, so we had to conclude quickly and move directly into nursing. It’s hard being two weeks old.

And for fun, check out the tiny person enjoying her nap…

And here’s her post playtime, post nursing catnap before nursing some more…