Cruff Family Chronicles

Dear Future Me, This week you got a tubal ligation. While you have no regrets and peace about it at the time of this writing, I wanted to write to you in case in 2.5~ years or so (that's when the craziness usually hit) you get mad at me for the permanent decision. Let me tell you, it was not something you chose lightly. From about 20 weeks into the pregnancy with Ari, you thought "Why not 1 more?". You had an appointment to talk about birth control options where you were going to sign the tubal ligation papers. While you were adamant that you were done, 2 days beforehand, you held a baby. (You also held a baby that talked you into a 3rd) Note to present self: STOP HOLDING BABIES. I digress. You decided then and there, you could do one more. Even in (what I saw someone else refer to) the 100 days of darkness (after Ari's birth), you still tossed the idea back and forth. Never mind that she's a terrible sleeper or that the house you live in could not hold anothe...

I've been a mom of 3 kids for SIX months already. Geez! Time is flying. The first week of August was World Breastfeeding Week and I shared 7 pictures of me breastfeeding to spread awareness. Now, I'm not sure how much good it did but I hope it did some. I've been thinking about my first real goal in breastfeeding was to make it 6 months and through blood, sweat and lots of ugly tears, we made it. There's my little badge ;-). Now I know that posting about it probably hurt some feelings or ruffled some feathers because I think people assume that if you're pro-breastfeeding you must not like moms who formula feed and I will tell you that is so far from the truth for me. I will break it down for you. Bri: I had a ton of trouble and got the hang of it by going to a lactation consultant. You know what? I hated it. I remember asking my friend Keri when I could quit (she was 3 months old I think). She said she did it for a year and didn't know how to help me. I...

Lately there's been lots of talk from mostly non-parents and parents alike about all the things they would never let their kid do. They would never take their eyes off their kids long enough to let them climb into a gorilla exhibit. Never mind if the mom was tending to another kid or taking a picture or having a baby melting down. Listen, kids can be jerks. They can be sneaky and it only takes 0.2 seconds to wonder WTH you were thinking leaving your house with them. I know. I question this often. They would never have let their kid be out at 9 pm to get snatched by a gator. Never mind that they WERE ON VACATION and isn't bed time supposed to be flexible on vacation? Never mind that the parents were RIGHT THERE. Now you don't need to read another blog post about defending these 2 moms. I stand with them. I pray for them. I pray for the people who have such hate/spite/judgement for them. I pray for those who value an animal life over a human life. So I'm just going to p...

It's sort of fitting that exactly 1 year ago today I wrote about portraying our Best vs. Our Real selves on social media. I had a very sweet friend tell me that I was handling this 3 kids business with such poise. I made sure to remind her I was just surviving! I certainly don't think I'm doing very well at all of this. For example, last night was horrid. Now, it might sound like complaining but I'm just telling my truth here. Last week Ari got on this beautiful schedule of easy bed time at 10:30, wake up 2:30/3 for a feed, go back down beautifully and get up at 6/7am. Well, the last few days she hasn't wanted to go to sleep any earlier than midnight which sucks. It does. There's no sugar coating it. I had been reading Baby Wise with a grain of salt but she started to sleep better so I stopped. Yesterday, I adhered to their schedule except for evening time feedings. I don't mind clustering if it's going to get me sleep. The point is feed, wake, sleep...

In the video game of life, that's the stage we are in now. I've been meaning to write this blog forever but didn't know quite how to put it into words so I'm just going to go with the flow. Ari is sleeping better which is making all our lives better. Is it perfect? No, but infinitely better than a month ago. I'm still tired. Most days, I hang out in my pjs although I have managed to shower every single day since she's been born. It's a thing of mine so go me! She's nursing so much better, she's gaining weight, we aren't supplementing anymore but she will take a bottle so again, go me! The girls still love her. Avi is really into "her" baby. Any time I'm not nursing, she wants to be in her face. It's cute and annoying at the same time. For now, I'm choosing to feel happy that she's doing well with her. From past experience, it takes until the baby gets in your stuff for the dislike to seep in. Number one reason we a...

"How are you doing?" is probably the most  common question I've had since Ari's been born. So I'm going to lay down some truths, lol. Some days are better than others. Obviously, there's lots of factors that contribute to this but I would say overall, things get better/easier and then you have a bad day or 2 and re-figure out what works for you. I dread night time. It's so hard to know if this will be a good night or bad. Adam says there's no sense worrying about it because she's going to do whatever she wants regardless. I told him if I had a choice in feeling anxious, I obviously would choose not to be. Sleeping patterns. The best ones we've had have been the following: Finally get her to sleep at 11. She wakes up to nurse at 2. Back down by 3. Up at 5:30. Back down by 6:30. Start day at 7 with older girls while she sleeps. Does that happen every night? Oh I wish. Last night was a rough one. I attempted to go to sleep early ...

I wasn’t quite sure where to begin my birth story so I’ll start with my 38 week checkup. I was 3-4 cm and 75-80% effaced so I had my membranes swept. It seemed like if anything was going to happen it would in 48 hours or so. The next day I was having contractions and they were bearable but I decided to go in and see if there was any progress. There was a bit but no consistent labor. It was an emotional couple of days thinking she was going to come, arranging for our other 2 girls to go somewhere and then to have it stop altogether. So at my 39 week checkup, I had another sweep where I was 4-5 cm and 80-85% effaced. Still nothing!! 3 days later I’m pretty much a wreck and call the office to see when I can get another sweep because I could not go past 40 weeks (I know, I know, it’s safe until 42 but emotionally and physically, I was just done!). Jenny said to give it a couple of days and if nothing had happened, we could do another sweep.  At this point, I had been getting harde...

Wow. So it's been a hectic few months! Recap: Traveling to Grand Rapids area for Thanksgiving to see Adam's uncle from Australia and a big portion of his mom's family. Our oldest turning SIX! Visiting my brother's family in Cheboygan. Christmas. My in-laws visiting for 2-1/2 weeks. My Sister-in-law's wedding. Teaching a class at a conference. Last vacation for while. Adam listed all these things off because he was thinking "Whew, now we can breathe" then quickly realizing there'll be a baby here next month! It never ends, lol. So the Great Wolf Lodge: so many things, so little time, space or energy to write about it all. Our room was nice, the kids didn't have any major meltdowns (yay for us!), they had fun, Avi still napped and they slept great both nights. We made it through crazy snow on the way up there and back home through back roads that looked like this for 64 miles: THANK GOD FOR SNOW TIRES! Anyone who knows me k...