115 Days to Love Myself

I'm burned out.

In taking this saying to heart "if you resent it, change it" ( I believe Martha sears said this in The Fussy Baby Book). I'm going to focus a little more love on myself.

In 115 days Reef will be one!! We will be at a huge luau in honor of his first year of life and I want to be the mom full of love that takes care of herself...not the zombie I am right now.

So...each day I'm going to make an effort to love myself and take care of myself. I know right?! I'm wild.

But, it really is hard for me. Yadda yadda yadda. I know I'm not the only mama like this.

Here's to loving ourselves!

Xo
J

Ps Reef is soooo close to crawling.

SLEEP HELP PLEASE

You guys, I'm so desperate. Like shootmeintheface desperate.

I need sleep.

&

I need advice.

For three weeks now Reef has been waking up every hour and a half to two hours to nurse at night...let me repeat...EVERY HOUR AND A HALF TO TWO HOURS... I'm going insane. And it is full on nursing not just nibble, resettle, and pass back out. If he doesnt get the boob fast enough he totally flips out and nurses with such a vigorous hunger you'd think I never feed him.

He used to sleep for about four to six hours before nursing. I dont know what happened.

I've been reading everything I can get my hands on. Apparently many high needs babies just have a need to nurse more at night (thanks, universe).

And, when he nurses his eyes dont even open. Yep, he's half asleep just gettin some grub.

Soooo...if you have advice please please please leave it in a comment below or email me at joyceufollis@gmail.com.

Oh and just so we're all on the same page, there's nothing medically wrong, he's healthy as can be according to his doctor. He plays hard all day long and eats and nurses constantly.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I sincerely appreciate it.

Xo,

J

This is seriously what he looks like at 6am, bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Hands.

Reef has big chunky hands.

They've been this way since he popped out at birth. These are not my hands, they're definitely Zach's.

On my first ultra sound he shoved his little fist up and I thought I had a giant growing in me because there was no way that was a normal sized hand!

He's now seven months old and his coordination is just getting insane.
He loves to get in a crawling position (alas, he doesn't actually crawl yet) and examine his hands. It's absolutely precious.

Anyone else's cute lil one obsessed with their adorable babeh hands?!

Xo
J

GET INSPIRED: Derek, a blind surfer surfing Pipeline!

I've been really out of it lately. Between Reef being sick and attempting to move into our new digs I haven't posted much. I've also been a bitch lately.

Then, I saw this...and my entire attitude changed.

Xo
J

Sleep or something like it

So, Reef has had a sleep pattern (kind of) of three short naps during the day. One at 10am one at 2pm and his last one around 6pm which would leave him WIRED until 11pm or midnight...my loving "mommy voice" is really taxed by 10pm. I wish I could say I'm lovely and super fun until Reef passes into dreamland but I'M SO NOT and I don't want to lie.

As soon as Reef usually gets into a sleep pattern he changes so I figured I could do the late nights until his sleep developed into something different...hahaha I know, right?!

Okay, after three weeks of this ridiculousness I decided something must be done. On Saturday, since Reef seemed to be feeling WAY better, I skipped his 6pm cat nap. I almost chickened out. He was grouchy...okay he was quite the handful...alright, he was a monsterrrrr from 7pm to 8:40pm...Zach and I kept taking turns on entertaining him (which was more like keeping him from having a mental breakdown) but then magic happened. He took a bath, nursed, and paaaased out. It's a whole new world for me. I didn't have to bounce, rock, dance, or sing...he just concked out.

Even though he still woke up every 3 hours to nurse he didn't wake up until 9am!!

I thought it was a fluke...no way...

But, same thing happened last night AND tonight.

I kind of feel mean though. He's so cranky and tired and just wants his nap but I'm sticking with it and hoping it continues to work and create better napping habits.

I would like to, one day, be able to actually hang out with Zach when he gets home from work at 8pm. Even though Reef is passing out at 9ish I still have to be a 5 second dash away unless he's UP. And our (mine and reef and zachs) living area with our electronics etc are too far from the main house (our wonderful in laws' house) for me to enjoy with my hubby.

If you have any sleep advice for the high needs, cosleeping, reefy I would greatly appreciate it!!

Xo
J

Ps I couldn't help but take this photo of reef passed out the first night.

Reef has le flu

It's finally happened. Reef got the flu.

I feel terrible in a million different ways. I mean, honestly, I should be able to punch a germ in the face so it can't touch Reef. Now that is a super power worth having.

It just reminds me that I can't be too careful...ever.

My doctor has utterly scared the beegeezuz out of me on how bad it could get so I'm sure I won't be sleeping until he's better.

As you can see from the photo below, this kid is miserable. I expected him to be much more fussy and demanding due to him being high needs but he's just gotten more needy in the area of being held...and who doesn't want to be held when they're sick?!

Xo
J

Happy Aloha Friday: My Dad saved a sailboat

I really think very highly of my dad.

I've always been a daddy's girl, with a dad like mine it was hard not to be.

He's done everything for me. He worked SO hard to make sure we had what we needed. It is no secret we grew up poor but i never felt poor because damn, there was A LOT of love in our house. My dad went spear fishing everyday for a few months just so we could eat and ummm that was the best fish I've ever eaten in my life. No complaints from me.

Since the early 90's my dad has been Captain Tom. He's a fantastic boat captain and has worked for numerous companies on The Big Island of Hawaii. Yep, he's pretty freaking cool.

Due to his awesome captainess I grew up on boats. I grew up snorkeling with Dolphins and singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to humpback whales (I kid you not). Every year on my birthday I would get to hang out on a catamaran singing to my favorite humpback whales. Talk about a childhood to remember! I got open water certified with PADI when I was 15 and lucky for me my dad started working for a scuba company...So, I've gotten to dive in eel gardens, with manta rays at night, and have even kissed a moray eel...yep, I'm THAT girl.

My dad is 53 almost 54 years old and he still has the fun loving attitude of a 22 year old. How the man does this, I still don't know. He is ALWAYS happy, seriously. He is the complete embodiment of ALOHA. He still says aloha to random people while running errands, he's just that nice.

So, how did he save a sailboat you ask? The other day after they docked and had unloaded all of their passengers my dad was waiting to refuel the boat...well...apparently there was a gorgeous sail boat tied up at the fuel dock...ahem...it was supposed to be tied up...but for whatever reason it came untied and started ramming into the dock and another boat...my dad saw this just before it happend and jumped in to grab the rope and pull the boat back so it wouldn't get completely damaged. I have no clue where it's owners were but, of course, my dad is now BFF's with them. He says they're super nice people from Austria who are still in Kona waiting for a new part from France for their boat (no, they're not loaded or anything...i had to say it ha). Luckily my dad, with the help from a few coworkers, was able to minimalize damage for this lovely sailboat.

Anyways, this is the kind of guy my dad is. Jumping in harbor water (if you've ever seen it, it's gross even in Hawaii) to save a stranger's boat. He always picks up hitch hikers and drives them all the way to where they're going, even if it's an hour away from his destination and gives homeless people all the cash he has. I wish I was more like my dad.

Xo
J

Captian Tom!

Someone got a pic of him saving the sail boat!

I