WOW

So the past 6 weeks have FLOWN by. I can't even believe that

Penelope is already 6 weeks old.

Being a mama has been incredible in many ways. Incredibly great and incredibly stressful at times. I really didn't think I was going to survive those first few weeks; those weeks when Penelope would scream for hours on end and I had no idea how to help her, those weeks when we had to scrape for money to buy diapers and wipes instead of food for us, those weeks when I didn't sleep for more than an hour or two at a time because she was cluster feeding, those weeks that I didn't have a breast pump, those weeks when we worried about how bills would get paid when only Hubby would be going back to work, those weeks when I didn't shower for a few days in a row and felt terrible from the after-labor period. I really thought we wouldn't survive it, but miraculously we did! And we're going STRONG!

Penelope is thriving and growing like a weed. The power of breast milk blows me away! I always knew that I wanted to breastfeed my baby, from the moment I found out I was pregnant I knew that I wanted to give my baby the very best I could give her, and breast milk is it! That first doctor's appointment when my doctor told me that Penelope was doing great on my breast milk made me so happy. I was over the moon that she was doing so well and that we were succeeding with breastfeeding since I felt kind of like I wasn't doing it right and that I must be screwing something up, but NO! Penelope is doing great and growing so fast, almost too fast!

Just look that those blue eyes!

A lot has happened since Penelope's birth, and the main thing is this: WE'VE MOVED BACK TO MICHIGAN!!! Hubby got a great job and so we packed everything up and headed back home to MI, and we could not be happier about it! It was Penelope's first car ride longer than 30 minutes, so needless to say, we were a bit worried about how well she'd do in the car that long (3 DAYS, holy crap) Well, she did pretty darn good! She slept about 80% of the time,
and didn't make me want to pull my hair out! (well, except those few times I had to change her poopy diapers in the back of our cramped and packed to the brim Focus!) She only had one meltdown on the last day,
and it was a short one, she just had to get out of that dang car seat, and honestly, I do not blame her! Those things seem so terribly uncomfortable.

Rupert did great in the car too, except when Hubby had to get out of the car (to get gas/food/etc...), then he was all "Where's he going, why can't I go too?"

So we've been in MI for a few days now, and I gotta tell you, it's so good to be home. In some ways I feel really spoiled now because since we're staying with my folks for a few weeks, it's like, there's HELP available now. I'm so used to doing everything myself, and with Hubby's help, but now I've got Grandma and Grandpa too! I feel so lucky to have this help, I know many folks don't have the help they need, and a new baby is a crap ton of work! How single moms do this, I have no idea, but damn ladies, I admire you so very very much. It takes a lot of strength to do this mama gig, and to do it without support, wow. just wow.

Here's a few more cute pics of Penelope:

Breastfeeding has been going well. The 3 day road trip kind of screwed my stash I had going, I was about 10 or so feedings ahead of Penny, and now I'm just feeding on demand with no stash to back me up. So it's been stressful lately, but I made it to my first goal of 6 weeks! I'm so proud of myself, breastfeeding isn't a walk in the park, especially at first, but we've kind of gotten into a groove and it feels good to know that I'm giving Penny the best that I can give her! My next goal is 6 months! Wish me luck!

Right now, Hubby has started his new job, and it's on the other side of the state, so he's staying with my brother for now, and I'm with my folks. So I won't lie, it's been rough without him here, but he's laying the foundation for our lives, for our future, so I'm doing what I can and trying to keep busy. But I'm missing him like crazy! We'll see each other on weekends, but I hope we can be reunited for good soon! I'm so proud of him and feel so happy that he's found a job that will challenge him. He takes such good care of us, I'm a lucky woman.

I've recently found out that 5 of my friends are pregnant and are due in March, April, and May! I'm so excited for these ladies and their families! I honestly miss being pregnant and am so stoked that these gals are expanding their lives (and their bellies!) and bringing more beautiful babies into the world. I think I'll be busy painting for them next spring! :)

I promise I will try to update this thing more! I'm planning a new design and possibly a blog name change since I'm no longer residing in TX...we'll see though, that might be too big of a pain.