Hi Friends!
Whew, we’ve been busy over here. Like I said earlier, we had family in town for a week and a half which was great! Reid was so excited to see everyone! Unfortunately, I think the excitement did impact his sleep and eating schedule, and now we’re I’m paying the price this week. He’d been regularly sleeping through the night (8-12 hours) for quite a bit, which I got used to, so it’s been rough re-adjusting. Also, after successfully shifting up his bedtime, it has now has shifted back to 12am, which means by the time I clean up a bit, check some emails, pump, get ready for bed, and fall asleep, it’s 2am…and then Reid’s up. His eating patterns have also shifted so that he doesn’t want to eat during the day, and gets hungry in the middle of the night, which contributes to the waking up – argh! This might also have to do with the infamous 4 month sleep regression (caused by a change in babies’ sleep cycles). I hear some babies will wake every 45 min! Please no.
Another reason Reid might not be sleeping as well is because he’s had eczema for a few weeks. It’s set me off on a frenzy of research, trying to figure out what triggered it. My sister gets moderate eczema regularly, and I have had very minor cases during Chicago winters, so I think it’s a combination of genetics, the heat/weather we had recently, and his sweat irritating his skin. More frequent baths were drying and made the issue worse. We also tried to switch up our laundry detergent and the cycles we used but might have made the wrong switch. Anyways, I’m really hoping it’s not food allergy related because that would mean the 1000+ ounces of breastmilk I have frozen wouldn’t be good anymore! (I’ve looked into donation, but it’s actually kind of a complicated process. Since I have excess lipase – an enzyme – which impacts the taste after being frozen, many banks will not take it since many babies would refuse to drink it).
Reid’s eczema appears to be clearing this week after incessant moisturizing, the 70 degree weather, and fewer baths! I’m not attempting a complete elimination diet until we see his pediatrician next week, but I have cut back on dairy and eggs, so maybe that helped. (I’m having macadamia nut milk with my cereal, but still eating cheese, and have stopped doing omelettes and hard boiled eggs, but still eating foods with egg in them.) Other common food triggers could be soy, nuts, gluten/wheat, citrus or fish. It would be hard to go on a super restrictive diet when we’re so busy, but after going carb/sugar free during my pregnancy due to gestational diabetes, I feel like I could do anything!
To moisturize, I’ve been using Beautycounter products on Reid, specifically this cleanser, oil, balm, and lotion. Most of the common products like Cetaphil, Aveeno, Eucerin, Cerave, Aquaphor, and Vaseline, that are dermatologist recommended for sensitive skin and eczema, are actually full of chemicals per the EWG Skin Deep database. While effective at treating the issue at hand, I didn’t want to be healing Reid’s eczema, but adding to potentially other health issues down the line. I drastically cleaned up my beauty routine when I got pregnant, but some of the “cleanest” makeup products on the market don’t work very well.
I previously purchased some Beautycounter products, conservatively deciding against others that I didn’t think were not clean enough. But I figure I can be less restrictive now that Reid’s been born, and start adding things I’d cut out, like foundation, back into the mix. (But I still want to be careful about what I use since he’s constantly rubbing his little face and hands on me). Many Beautycounter products are pretty good though, so I decided to sign up to be a consultant since you get a good discount for your own purchases and I can try lots of items. I’m not planning on pitching their products a bunch to you guys since I HATE sales/being a salesperson. And I feel like Instagram is already inundated with bloggers preaching Beautycounter. But if anyone has any questions for me regarding the products I’m ordering for myself, just let me know. I’ll tell you what I like and don’t like. But I guess if I do end up making some money, great, because….
On to my big life update – some of you might be wondering why I’m still home with Reid even though he turned 4 months old recently. That is because…I got laid off from my job on my maternity leave! Literally every single person I’ve told has exclaimed “is that legal???” and yes, it is. It’s only illegal if you’re laid off from your job and replaced with someone else in the exact same capacity. If your company is going through re-organization, and moving teams, roles, and responsibilities around, then it’s not. If your role is “eliminated,” it’s not. Or if your company loses business or downsizes, it’s not. My company argued that all of the above happened. I can speak more about this in another post if you guys are interested.
I’m very, very fortunate that we’re fine on Chris’s salary. He is so smart, works so hard, and is so so good at his job. (You can read more about what Chris does here). So I have the luxury of taking some time to figure out what I’m going to do next. So far, I think being home with a new baby is harder than working in an office! Right now, I’m leaning towards finishing my master’s degree in Management at Harvard (I go part-time) before looking for another office job. But it’s challenging to keep up with school when I’m so occupied with Reid, and hard to make the travel commitments to Cambridge, MA, even if I do some classes online.
But yes, I guess I’m officially a stay-at-home mom for now which is the most bizarre thing ever to say out loud. And a part-time blogger since I haven’t been able to find to time to blog full-time (which I would love!) And a part-time student. So we shall see!
Thank you guys for sticking with me as I figure out next steps 😀
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