How To Help Siblings Adjust To New Baby

One of my biggest fears about having a new baby was being outnumbered by my kids. Knowing that I was going to be pulled in 3 different directions and that each sibling was going to outdo each other. I'm a red head, and I don't have the longest fuse and can often feel overwhelmed easily and just the idea of being outnumbered FREAKED ME OUT! So what is a new mom to do with the demands of 3 kids?

Not going to lie, it was a bit rocky in the beginning with the 3 of them. I would hideout in my room with Elyse so I wouldn't get overwhelmed and we had people here to help meet the boys needs. But when it was up to me and I was all on my own, I didn't do too bad. We made it work. We all survived, and the house didn't burn down! It might of been a mess but we still survived. So here are my 5 tips to help with the transition for older siblings.

1) Talk about the new baby with your older children before the baby arrives. Let them know that a new baby is coming and things are going to change and be different. We actually watched the Daniel Tiger Episode about new baby Margaret joining the Tiger family. Those 3 episodes helped teach the changes that happen and even how Daniel had to be patient when wanting to talk to his parents but baby Margaret needed their attention.

2) Try to spend alone time with the kids after baby arrives. Your older child/children will want attention from you too. They might act out against you just to get your attention. That is what #2 did for us. Collin, we nicknamed him Gremlin after Elyse arrive, because he was always causing problems, on purpose! It was so frustrating but all he wanted to my attention again. And when I would snuggle with him, without sister he just loved it.

3) Have the older sibling be a mommy's helper. Give your older kids a job to do to help you around the house. Most siblings feel really awesome when they are a big brother or big sister because THEY ARE THE BIG ONE around the house. Giving them a job or duty to help with makes them feel extra special. And they will more than likely be excited to help out, most of the time at least!

4) Teach them boundaries and limits to the baby. If your kids are like mine, they want to be around the new baby ALL THE TIME! Which might not be the safest. If they are sick or if they don't know how to act gently around the baby they will need to be talked to for sure for the safety of the baby. Mason gets it. To be gentle and soft. He is 5. Collin is only 2, and I have to constantly remind him he has to be gentle and soft. He has almost fallen on her twice though just because he doesn't get it. So be diligent about safety and teaching safety to the older kids. Tell them that it is their big brother/sister duty to make sure that their new baby brother or sister is safe at all times!

5) Always show them love. All of them, no matter what. It is easy to yell and scream and get upset when the older kids don't listen. When they don't clean up their dinosaurs on the ground and you step on the T-Rex for the 5th time that day. Or when thy fight with each other. They are going through a big change too, and if you show them love they will respond so much better and there "should" be more peace in your house. I have to separate the boys sometimes when they are just picking on each other and being brothers. But always try to approach them with love and less screaming and yelling. It is a work in progress for me, but I am trying.

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Elyse's Perfect Newborn Session

A few weeks ago our family went to our favorite local photographer, Aaron Watson Photography, for our yearly family pictures and for Elyse's Newborn Session! It was so amazing. We had the family pictures for the first 30-40 minutes trying to bust out as many pictures with them as possible before they lost it.  With young kids, you only have a short amount of time to get really good pictures. And Collin proved it with that. He reached a point and then he was DONE with getting his picture taken. Over all our family pictures time went great!

The trick with finding a photographer is to really find one you click with. We have used a few in our area and love them all, but we have just loved the photos by Aaron and he has taken a majority of our family pictures and has literally watched our kids grow and will continue to watch our kids grow because he has become part of so many of our families memories! You can visit his FACEBOOK PAGE HERE or his WEBSITE PAGE HERE. Seriously go check out his website and see his magical photos! They are so breathtaking!

Looking for some inspiration? You can search online for some poses you really like and want to use for your newborn session. I found these great newborn photo ideas to help inspire the perfect pose for my birth announcements and pictures. And this photo by In The Little Photography is exactly like the pose our photographer used for our boys!

In The Little Photography

Before the session I was advised to nurse her about an hour before so that she was satisfied during the session would be more cooperative and hopefully fall asleep. We were also told that the studio would be more on the warm side and gentle music would be playing to help create a soothing session. And it was. It was really a special day for us.

Then it was Elyse's time to shine. Because we started with family photos I had to feed her for a bit before we got started with her individual pictures, where she lost her belly button stub because it got caught on my sweater, and then she was out cold for the rest of the session. She was just 6 days old when these pictures were taken. They just turned out amazing! Here are a few of my favorites!

Elyse's tutu was purchased at: Cutie Pie Goodies on Etsy

One of my favorite outfits: Worth the wait by: Mama Bijou on Etsy

Thank you to Aaron Watson Photography for capturing these amazing and sweet moments with my baby girl! Those looking for an amazing photographer in and around central Virginia for family, senior, newborns and weddings, please consider Aaron as he has always delighted us with amazing photos when we just prayed for at least 1 good one! You will not regret the choice to use him, and be sure to let him know that I sent ya over to say hi!

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Elyse Cheyenne: 1 Month

Elyse turned 1 month old this past weekend. What a crazy month it has been. Surprisingly the month didn't go too fast or too slow. It was just right. I had plenty of help for the month which was a huge blessing. My family and Matt's family both came out at different times to help us and I was so glad that things worked out as well as they did so that we had someone here to help for the first 2 weeks. Then Matt had 2 weeks of half days after that.

Elyse has been such a good baby for us. The first couple of nights were rough in the hospital. All she wanted to do was cry, but once my milk came in she fell right into a schedule of eat for an hour, pass out for 3. She is a very regular baby in that regards still. Though she isn't feeding for an hour straight now, more like 30-40 minutes, but then she is good for at least 3 hours. She does give me generally 4-5 hour stints at night.

She sure has grown too! She currently weighs 9 pounds .3 ounces and is 21 inches long. Way to go baby girl!

Recovery has actually been really good. I didn't tear so I didn't hurt as badly as I had after having both boys. The only annoyance I have had has been the postpartum bleeding. It has been surprisingly light compared to the boys but it is just never ending as usual!


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Happy Halloween 2016

I hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween yesterday! Just wanted to send you all some love from my family to yours! We all had fun dressing up this year!

Matt: Captain America (logo hidden by Elyse) Me:Wonder Woman, Mason: The Flash, Collin: Batman and Elyse: Super Girl (outfit by TeacupsandMudpies1 on Etsy)

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Fad Diets Terms That SUCK!

LOW FAT/ NO FAT, SUGAR-FREE, LOW CARB----UGH! These are bad words in my mind. Why? Because they bring on the same thinking that the word SALAD does. It makes me think of DIETING! Which is the last thing I want to be doing, ever again. Diets don't work. Because you have to cut something from what you are eating. Cutting carbs, cutting fat, cutting calories. And those are impossible things to do long term. What does work is making true life changes to how you eat, learning to eat the right amounts of foods and the right kinds of food!

Why do I hate these words, because although the thought behind them might be right...the context that we think about them is incorrect.

LOW FAT/NO FAT- UGH! We need fat in our diet! WE NEED it for our bodies to work right. The key is eating the right kinds of fats that your body actually needs and the correct amount. Honestly, I drink whole milk, and I eat real butter. I can't stand skim or fat free milk. Reason....it has been overly processed to get the fat out of it for skim milk. But again we need the fat. Good sources of fat: Small amount of olive oil, thin slices of avocado, full fat greek yogurt, even a limited number of nuts. The key to fats, what we need is a LOW AMOUNTS OF FATS IN OUR DIET!

SUGAR FREE- If you see something listed as "sugar-free" stay far far away from it. Because yes, there might not be actual cane sugar or sugar in it, but instead there is going to be some kind of a sweetener in it that is man made. A chemical based sweetener or an artificial sweetener that your body won't know how to process as easily as just regular old plain sugar. Think High Fructose Corn Syrup. I'm not saying to go and start eating massive amounts of cane sugar. But if you make oatmeal and add a teaspoon of brown sugar to it, it's not going to ruin anything. The key is to reduce the amount of sugar that you eat. If you ditch sweets and treats and just eating processed foods you actually will cut a lot of sugars from your diet.

LOW CARB- Again, when I hear low carb I think no carbs at all. Because the first thing I used to think about as carbs was bread, pasta, pastries. And for the most part, yes this is true. We need carbs. And compared to the regular American diet, we actually need to LOWER THE AMOUNT OF CARBS EATEN! When our body processes a carbohydrate it turns it into a fast burning energy. It is the body's sugar in a way (protein is the slow burning energy). What you want to cut from your diet is the simple carbohydrates, sugar cereals, white flour breads, regular pasta. EAT THE COMPLEX CARBS! Complex carbs are: Oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice, brown pasta.

In the end, learning the context for these terms, not just the fad diet terms is what is going to help you in the long run. This is why I love the 21 Day Fix program so much because it encourages you to eat all the food groups, including sugar. (chocolate is allowed on 21 Day Fix!) Because we need our bodies to work correctly, and we still need treats, at least I do, otherwise a huge binge of the wrong kinds of food will happen and that is the last thing anyone wants to do while trying to change their eating habits!

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