Adventures of a Menstrual Cup! Day 2

Loving!! Seriously. After my first full day, I have no regrets. 

I put it in at the end of my shower, which on it's own was fantastic, as there was no mad dash to the toilet when I turned the water off. I dried off and moisturized my freshly shaved legs with much leisure :). A couple hours later, went to the bathroom, left it in, then went on a fairly long (7-8 km) walk/jog. Nooooo problems. I never would have left the house without changing a tampon first (and I always felt like I had to change one when I went to the bathroom)! Emptied and reinserted when I got home, but left it in the rest of the day with no discomfort, no leaks. Seriously love it. 

I don't see any other reason to continue this saga, so if you have any questions, you'll have to ask!

Adventures of a Menstrual Cup! Day 1

In case I still have a couple of readers out there, and in case they are interested in this sort of thing (like I obviously am), today I successfully used my first menstrual cup! Kind of weird, right? Wrong! Just like a tampon, but without the garbage and clogged septics! It's like the difference between cloth and disposable diapers, but even less mess. In case you are interested, the one I opted for was the lunette cup. Noteworthy notes:

1) I expected there would be a bit of a learning curve, so I waited to try it when I was home for the evening. So. Simple. Granted, this probably would not have been the case when I was 13. Or even 20. But, honestly, I was blown away by how easy it was to put in. I was even all, "no, that can't be right, that was way too easy". But - no leaks! 

2) Comfort. Just like a tampon, if done right, it's like there's nothing there. There's a little plastic thingy on the end, like the string of a tampon, I guess so it doesn't get lost somewhere up there.  This can be trimmed to your desired comfort level, and I did just this. It was a slight nuisance at first, but cut to half the length, I feel nothing. A+ for comfort. 

3) I get this (weird and disgusting) joy out of seeing how much blood there is each time I empty it. Which is waaaay more often than I need to. Because it holds a ton. 

4) It really worked! I was a little skeptical about this whole suction thing and its ability to catch everything, but I had no reason to worry. 

So I'm sold. Day 1 was a success.

My Soulmate

I love this man.

He is the hardest worker I know. He works double jobs whenever the opportunity arises, he supports us  and he loves that I get to stay home with Benjamin as much as I do.

He speaks to me in Taylor Swift song titles:

 

And when he writes me little notes and uses the wrong "your", I actually find it endearing:

He's a little romantic, and sends me photos like this:

He calls me sweet names:

And says sweet things. . .

And when I make myself look ridiculous, he makes himself look even sillier.

I cannot count the things I love about this man.

But texts like this are pretty near the top:

Crib napping!

We're "crib training" right now, and this feels like the first time in almost eight months that I've actually sat down and thought, "what should I do?" My arms are free. My coffee is made and in front of me. The laundry is in the dryer. The house is (mostly) clean. And Benjamin is napping. This is awesome.

I've actually really enjoyed co-sleeping. For a cuddler like Ben, I am definitely all for it. I am not for crying it out, for these reasons:
First, the first three months of a baby's life are like the "fourth trimester" (some good reading: http://www.becomingmamas.com/life-in-the-fourth-trimester/). If your baby wants to be attached to you (as Benjamin did, very, very much), it just seems so cruel to me not to allow that.
Second, where else in the animal kingdom do you see parents drop their kid off screaming and go wander off to sleep? It just doesn't happen.
Third, I love cuddles. I really miss Matthew when he isn't here at night, because he's very cuddly. When I'm exhausted or sad, all I want to do is cuddle up with him and it makes me feel instantly better. If he just walked away from me when I was crying, I would cry harder. And I would be MAD. So who can blame cuddly babies?
Fourth, and most important, if we didn't co-sleep, we would've spent the first few months like zombies. We like to sleep. This was the only way we could.
And, back on subject, it's not terrible to have to sit and watch tv while Benjamin naps in my arms. In the evening, Matt comes home and takes over as parent, and I have some time to get things done. Or I can say, "I have a sleeping baby, can you do the dishes?" But. . . now Matt is not here and there is no relief. Except, potentially, naps. 

On one hand, it seems mean to "abandon" him in his crib so soon after daddy "abandoned" him to go out to sea.  On the other, it's the perfect time for us to set up some routines. And mostly, I just need a way to have a break throughout the day. So I have tried to do it nicely. 

The first day, I put him in his crib, sat down beside him, and read to him. He screamed for an hour and a half, and he looked at me with tear filled eyes, and questioned why I wouldn't end his suffering. It was heartbreaking, but I couldn't feel too guilty - I was right beside him, so he couldn't feel alone! He eventually fell asleep and took a half hour nap. Just long enough for a bath. I was so proud, I took a picture. 

The next day, it took an hour for him to fall asleep, with only half as much crying. I took another picture. 

The last couple times it's taken 20 minutes tops! That's pretty awesome. He's always been a 45 minute napper, which I think will be just the right amount of time for me to do some dishes, fold some laundry, and sit down and think, "now what?" before he starts crying. 

Don't worry, that's probably the last picture I'll take of him napping for a while. 

Ben can continue to sleep with me at night, at least until Matthew comes home. I don't want to deprive him (or me!) of all sleepy time cuddles at once. But I sure do love those daytime crib naps. And I think they will be essential for my sanity in the coming weeks!

Note: I am not for or against crib sleeping - I am for happy babies! Some babies will happily go to sleep in their cribs from day one, and they have very lucky parents! Ben was just not one of those babies, and we had to find what worked for him. And for us. And we're pretty lucky parents too :)