Postpartum Week 8 by Teresa Palmer

What week

8

How big is baby

12lb 6oz

What’s something new this week

Grasping toys! I’m actually introducing some crinkling sounding toys with bright colors. My favorite brand for this age are done by the Lamaze company. Based on the Lamaze philosophy of healthy parenting and only giving babies very specific colors, fabrics and sounds based on where they are at developmentally.

Forest is just so much more alert with tons of smiles, coos, chatter and awake periods. I’m loving his new chatter it’s the sweetest. Mark and I took him to a game night this week with a bunch of our friends. He was just the most contented baby and sat with anyone and was very quiet and observant. It’s interesting to wonder whether his temperament now is a reflection on who he will be. Right now I would guess he will be very calm, inquisitive and affectionate but who knows?!

Most challenging moment

Losing things! Guys I have the worst memory. I will get in to the car after having got the kids ready and organized, we will be perfectly on time to make it to school and then I’ve realized I’ve lost my phone, my wallet or forgotten the baby wipes! I’m always just short one thing! Today I lost my purse and drove off without a credit card so I couldn’t get myself breakfast and then finally found it wedged in the car seat. My mind is like moosh since having these babies! To be fair I’ve always been forgetful, my Mum is the exact same way. Thank god for the Find My iPhone app, I don’t know where I would be without it hahaha!

We also just found out that we are traveling to Australia for 10 days as I have a (very exciting!) photo shoot there. I’ve decided to also go to Adelaide so that Bodhi can attend his pre-school there for a week before we head back to LA, just to meet his teachers and friends before we go there for longer in the middle of the year. Our lives can be very unpredictable and plans change rapidly so we have to always be flexible. We have embraced the quick change of plans and now we are excited, although it was initially overwhelming. I also had to do the same this weekend with Bodhi’s party, I had to move it a day back due to bad weather! Wahh going with the flow!

Lastly my sweet dog in Australia Saba died, she was my secret favorite of the 3 dogs I had since I was 18. She was a rescue dog, a black kelpie and I have so many beautiful memories of taking her to the beach, swimming with her in the water and I just loved the way the top of her head smelt, it wasn’t like a normal dog smell it was a Saba smell. She would always have to sit on my feet instead of the floor and I just really loved her way. She was the most loving and gentle dog. RIP my Saba Naba.

Something you loved this week

Seeing my Mum and Forest bonding, she loves him so much and he gives her lots of smiles and has really gotten used to her. I have such a new appreciation for her way and the gentle spirit she is. I think between Mark, myself and my mum the boys get such a nice balance of different energies. Forest and her seem to have a real kinship already. How precious it is to see my son loving my Mother, and Bodhi asking for Nanny to help him with things warms my heart too. She is a huge part of our family.

Mama time?

Actually right now as I write this! I snuggle Bodhi to sleep and then lay next to him cuddling. When he is asleep I’ll often just lie next to him in his little bed and do some blogging, write back to YZM emails, or just surf the net. I also love finding Instagram profiles of families I’m inspired by and then I reach out to them to see if they’d like to do a Folks We Love interview. It’s such a fun activity. Also Mark has been working/gymming a lot this week, so on Tuesday when he got home at 4pm I said that I was going to take an hour to have a bubble bath and take a 20 minute nap and oh was it GLORIOUS.

What am I eating?

Banana bread and smashed avocado sandwiches from Cafe Gratitude (I seriously go there every single day!) veggie steamed dumplings, vegan pizza, tons of sugar/treats this week! Pasta that I’ve been making myself, sundried tomatoes and olive quesadillas that I’ve also been making! Oh aaaand some ice cream and churros!

What’s working?

Our flow! It’s working, even though it’s a little different each day. Here is an insight in to what our days look like. A day in the life of the Palmer/Webbers (Forest and Bodhi are both Palmers!)

6am ish– Forest cries to nurse. I pull him out of the SNOO in to our bed and nurse him. Mark picks him up, burps him and places him back in the SNOO whilst I’ve already fallen back to sleep. Bodhi will often wake up at this time. He sleeps between Mark and I in the bed for the last half of the night (the one time night waking to get in to our bed has been a regression since Forest has arrived, we are going to help teach him to stay in bed once Forest isn’t so new) Bodhi will want to wake up at this time after Forest has awoken him but I say “Mama is still sleeping, it’s still nighttime” he will fall back to sleep snuggled right up to me.

7:15-7:30am- the boys are both well and truly ready to get up! Forest nurses again and we change his overnight nappy. He is always SUPER smiley and giggly in the morning. Mark goes upstairs to turn our house alarm off, let our dogs out and to start cooking breakfast while I stay in bed letting Forest and Bodhi have time cuddling and hanging together. Then we all get out of bed and I get both boys dressed and ready and then get ready myself. The Baby Bjorn Bouncer helps with this!

8am– Upstairs for breakfast. I pack Bodhi’s lunch for preschool, he eats breakfast, we clean teeth and me and the boys are out the door by 8:35am. We listen to “cool” music as Bodhi calls it. It’s usually Peter Combe (oh yeah 90s children of Australia!) Sia, Florence and the Machine, La Roux, Moby and his new favorite Credence Clearwater Revival! Forest and I walk him inside preschool, we stay for about 5 mins and then leave as he zips around on one of the bikes!

9am- 12pm- Forest and I got to Café Gratitude for a breakfast date, if it’s a Monday we go to Mommy and Me, otherwise we will run an errand together, or just come back to the house and hang out!

12:30pm- Pick up Bodhi! There is always a negotiation as he wants to stay and play at school so I usually talk about taking him to the playground of building a fort or creating a castle of Magna tiles over the train tracks in his room. That gets him happy to leave!

1:30pm- 3:00pm- After playing for awhile or cooking him lunch if he is still hungry (they eat lunch at school each day) then we go down for a nap, either with Forest breastfeeding if he is awake or I’ll have Forest in the Baby Bjorn Bouncer next to us asleep while I lie in Bodhi’s bed (which is in our room) and read him a book and give “snuggly cuddleys” until he is asleep. He sleeps until about 2:45pm ish. In the meantime I use this hour and a bit to do house work, blog or a friend will swing by and visit.

3:30-5:30pm- We do some kind of activity, either I take them to Romp (an indoor play centre) we go to the park for “scooter missions”, we just play at the house or on Wednesday’s we have a soccer lesson. Mark usually gets home sometime in this bracket after spending the day working, going to the gym or running errands. (As I said in my previous 7 week post that in LA I’m the stay-at-home parent so this is why he is away most of the day!)

5:30- 7pm- We cook dinner, have last minute play, some days B will have a bath with or without Forest and me. I’m also cluster feeding Forest during this time so breastfeeding for 20 minutes each hour so he is full when he goes to sleep. He wants to nurse very frequently during these hours and just naturally fell in to a pattern of cluster feeding, maybe that’s why he sleeps so well?

7:30pm-8:30pm- Mark puts Forests night time nappy on, I rub some baby oil in to his skin for baby massage time, we put him in his SNOO swaddle, say goodnight and put him down for his sleep. I will then brush Bodhi’s teeth at this time, read him 2 books, give snuggly cuddly’s and then I lie next to him as he falls asleep. He is always asleep around 8:15pm.

8:30-10:30- Mark and me time yahooooo!!! We watch a show or both go on one of our phones and read articles, we snuggle and chat and just hang till we fall asleep at 10:30pm. It’s so nice to have the bed to ourselves for these few hours before we end up with them both in bed!

2:30-3am- Forest wakes up for his first feed. Bodhi will usually half sleep walk from his bed in to ours around this time too. Mark burps Forest, checks to see if he need to change him, then places him back in the SNOO whilst I’ve already fallen back to sleep (way to share nighttime parenting!!)

Then we are back to the 6am wake up!!

So there you have it. Obviously it changes somewhat depending on what’s going on, how the boys are sleeping, but that’s our loose schedule which has been very organic and serves us well. Forest feeds on and off during the day, sleeps a lot but there is still no solid structure to it yet, it’s all baby led which is the way it works for us!

My Body

Feels great, I’m still a little tired in the mornings (I’ve never drunk coffee before- Mark always tells me it’s the only way he survives!) but I have lots of energy in the afternoons. The pregnancy melasma has faded now, it’s still there but it’s going away slowly. I also love seeing my linea nigrea which is still there, with Bodhi it faded around 5 months post partum.

Note to future daughter- Do not get your belly button pierced if you want to be pregnant one day!! Does anyone else have the stretched out belly button piercing? A constant reminder of my 16 year old rebellion. Ugh. It actually makes me consider putting a belly ring back in there just to somewhat rectify the situation hahaha

Checking in

Throwing extra love on anything that feels challenging is really working. Mark and I, whenever we have some kind of conflict we throw love on it, the love creates the patience and the understanding. It’s quite simple yet hard to always follow, it’s something that we try and make as our default mode of being with each other. We do it with the kids and we do it with each other.

I was really missing Mark this week as he was away from the house so much when I had the 3 boys, but instead of being sad about it, I threw love on it. “Let’s go to Universal Studios boys!!” So I bundled all 3 in the car, brought my (reluctant at first!) Mum along so she could hang with Bodhi and Forest while I took Isaac on the rides and then I attempted to wrangle everyone through the crowds to have an afternoon of adventure/ice creams/tantrums/excitement and pure childhood magic. It was EPIC and I totally loved my crazy impromptu idea. Plus we did it! We had a great day, laughed a bunch and I had some deep connective moments with my oldest guy Isaac which is something I’ve been really trying to carve out with him. So important to nurture the stepchild and stepparent relationship! A successful day all round, as wild and wacky as it was!