Channing's First Three Weeks

You can learn a lot of new things in three weeks!

Your Mom is awesome. Kiss her lots. 

Your Dad is awesome. Well if he's anything like my Dad or husband. Kiss him lots too.

Midwives are the best. So is the bill for a home birth and midwivery prenatal care. Is it really possible to have a birth and entire 10 months of care that costs less than an ultrasound? We've got a winning strategy going here for the next one(s).

The majority of people in North Idaho are simultaneously blown away, and fascinated, with baby wearing. 

 

Picking a good God parent is like picking a great pair of shoes. Plus, if they ask to wear your baby on hikes, you made the right choice. 

It's a great success when your kid is hungry enough to eat off both boobs.

Spicy food, is a no. And green peppers.

A baby that sleeps 4-5 hours since birth is a true winner. Thanks pumpkin.

Baby hair. People are shocked by it. Hers is identical to mine at birth, but not as red. Seriously.

A BOB stroller is a worthy investment. Now that I think about it, it cost more than the birth itself, but it pulls it's weight and more.

A good fart can take lots of work, and a successful outcome should be celebrated. 

Sometimes, it's okay to sleep through a baseball game. Let's embrace that idea.

Don't believe what you hear around town, cloth diapers are great and easy to use.

Don't drive your newborn for the first time at 4 pm on the Friday before a holiday weekend. Unless you plan to wear your cloth diaper.

Sometimes you buy tons of things for your kid to sleep in, and then they just like to sleep in your bed. #AmazonPrimeReturns4TheWin

Baby sisters are the best companions for kindergarten orientation.

 Good baby photography means someone gets peed on. No exceptions!

 

  

 

4Moms MamaRoo. If you're planning on (or not) procreating, write that down.  

Discounted wipe warmers for upstairs and downstairs...worth every dollar

Being a brand rep, it's the new thing. But if your husband calls your baby a beluga in-utero for months, you should obviously enter her into the Beluga Baby brand rep contest! (We're super excited about this by the way, thanks for choosing us represent you guys, Haley and Beluga Baby!) 

Having two kids, is more than twice as hard. But it's also more than twice as awesome.

    

PS: Lets have a real talk about post partum momma bodies. I ate moderately well during my pregnancy, which isn't unusual for me, and I exercised a bit. Not nearly as much as I would have liked to. Many of you know that I've always been a competitive athlete and most recently I used to be a real gym junky. I was dedicated to Crossfit, HIIT and 5k races. I was in pretty impressive shape for most of my life and it would be fair to say I've done some outrageously tough work outs through out the years. That all considered, I'm still blown away by the physical feat my body accomplished on August 28th. No WOD, race or competitive match could compare. My body and everything it accomplished the day Channing arrived still blows me away. Last week, someone asked me when I was planning to, "lose the rest of my baby weight." (I gained 32 pounds while I was pregnant, while it made me mentally uncomfortable, this is in the healthy normal range.) I was really tempted to ask, "When do you plan on growing and birthing another human life?" Instead, I decided to document MY body that accomplished something incredible. I debated sharing these photos, but I ultimately decided that I want my girls to know pregnancy and birth bodies aren't something to be ashamed of, and that strong women come in different shapes and sizes. Which means I also want all women to know how incredible their bodies are. Don't let anyone bring you down Momma's, honor your strong and beautiful post partum bodies!