Update: Worst Phone Call...Ever

If you need to catch up, click here.

I got some advice from some of my lovely readers the other day, so first up – THANKS! I really appreciated all of you chiming in through comments and emails to help make me feel better and give me some advice on where to go from there.

Now on to the update.

First things first, the actual cut (or spot where he split his head open) was NOT on his eyelid, like originally reported to us. Tanner was pretty out of it that day, and we were getting information from Tanner’s mother. Who, as it turns out, didn’t even leave work to go and take care of this…she just let her Dad handle things, which is pretty typical. So what she was telling us was actually third-hand information and so entirely accurate. He actually busted his head right on his eyebrow bone (if that makes sense) and just the angle of it and all is what caused the ER physician to not be able to do proper stitches. But the butterflies have held, and the patch over his eye is keeping things clean. I believe that he goes back today to get it cleaned up and the patch removed.

Second, his also did strike his face to the side and slightly under the eye, which has given him a nice “raccoon” look and a heck of a shiner! It’s been pretty painful and he told us that he’s 4 different shades of green, blue, purple and yellow right now…at least the yellow indicates some healing, which is about the only good news that he’s got to offer.

As far as his future in sports for the next few months, he’s benched until #1 ) he loses the eye patch and #2) just until the wound above his eye heals enough to get wet and all. So they’re now expecting him to just be out for about two weeks, unlike the initial two months that we heard the other day. Baseball season still looks good, depending of course on how he feels. It shouldn’t be a problem though, and Tanner’s spirits were MUCH improved hearing that!

Now for the school and their reaction. I’m proud to say that the school district has come through and is going to be doing the right thing. The school principal called Tanner’s mother on Friday apologized profusely both for the Coach’s actions/negligence (to which he freely admitted) and for the manner in which the Asst. Principal had handled her call the previous day. He told her that the school was accepting full responsibility for the incident and that not only would they be covering any and ALL of Tanner’s medical bills, but that this was prompting a change in athletic procedure to include a temperature level at which the children should not be performing their athletics outdoors.

Common sense should really have covered that one, but I guess it really must be spelled out in black and white for some people…don’t get me started.

Basically he called to kiss her ass. And kiss it he did. But it got the desired effect; any and all discussions with/about lawyers have stopped. Like I said before, the point was for the school to accept responsibility and do the right thing by paying for the medical bills incurred from this accident. We were sort of worried that once the idea of a possible liability payout hit her brain that she would take that and run with it, because that’s just the type of person that she is. But it seems that she’s satisfied with the bills being covered and is happy with the situation now.

So thanks for all of your help, kind words and general warm fuzzies that you might have sent our way…it worked! I like to report good endings, don’t you?

Six Months…(and Two Weeks)

I know that I’m late…I won’t apologize. I’m not really sorry. Just kidding, I am sorry, but I doubt that many of you (other than my own mother) really care if I post this on time or not! Not to be hateful or anything, I’m just saying.

This month passed by in a blur of sickness, doctor’s visits and more doctor’s visits…and here I was thinking that things would slow down after the holidays! Who was I kidding? Myself, apparently. Since I’m already late enough, let’s get right to it!

Stats – Weight/Height, etc: I blame the lateness on this post on my inability to remember the official stats from the doctor’s office…but really, that’s not a good excuse. And now, don't you know, I can't find the blasted sheet!  I know that his weight was 17 lbs. 2 oz., but couldn't even guess on the height and head measurements.  Rats!  But I do know that although our actual stats changed, our overall percentages did not change – we’re still middle of the road, right where we need to be until you get to our honkin’ huge head! (Yep, still at 95th percentile on that one!) People keep assuring me that his head isn’t that big. I keep telling people that they need to learn to lie better. If you’re not a good liar (like me) then you just shouldn’t attempt to do it (also like me…most of the time!).

Bedtime: 7:30-8:00…yes, I’m trying to push it back a little bit earlier. But to be honest (see above about my bad lying skills) we start our bedtime routine at this time, not actually put him down for the night. Our bedtime routine includes bath time, getting dressed in our jammies (with lots of tickles and laughs from mom and dad), bedtime bottle and then his breathing treatment (for now). All of that starts sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 and takes about 30-45 minutes. This is starting to take longer as Jax becomes more and more enamored with the bath time part of the routine…which is why it got moved up a bit on the schedule.

“Wake Up!” time: Jax still wakes up around 6:30am on most days. On weekends, I have discovered that if I immediately give him a small bottle (4 oz) then I can get another hour to hour and a half of sleep out of him…that’s if he doesn’t poop right away upon awakening. If that happens, all bets are off! He’s still his happiest right after waking up in the morning…all grins and giggles for this guy!



Naps: We’re down to three naps a day…which can last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, or longer if I’m really, really, super-duper lucky. Usually two of the naps are on the shorter side, and then one of them will be longer. I like having the longer nap in the evenings during the week, since that’s when I’m trying to get dinner ready or eat my own dinner…but Jax doesn’t always cooperate with me. One time this month, during the height of his sickness, he slept for almost two hours in his crib…I checked on him repeatedly that second hour…just to make sure he was still breathing. Two hour naps are definitely NOT the norm around here!

Bottles: We can’t seem to move up from 6 ounce bottles, so we’re staying right there for now since giving him more in a bottle is just a waste of money as he won't drink it. Every once in a while, he is dropping one of the day time bottles, but it’s so sporadic that I don’t count it yet. Right now our schedule is something close to 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm and 2-3am. Yes, we’re hanging onto that last nighttime feeding with all that we’ve got!

Meals/Solids: Jax started taking some solid foods at day care this month…I just marked fruits and veggies for them to try only, no pasta or breads. I figured that since I knew that he would take those foods in baby food form, I was safe letting them try to give it to him in small, mashed up bites. So far, he’s not that interested in doing anything with it other than playing with it and making a mess…but the day care wanted to try it and I was willing to let them. I mean, it’s not me cleaning that mess up, right?

At home, he’s still just taking baby food and formula, but I’m going to transition him to Stage 2 foods as soon as we finish the Stage 1 foods that are on our pantry shelf…I’m pretty sure that he’s ready for a little thicker food. He’s gotten the hang of eating in the high chair and readily opens his mouth (like a little birdie) to be fed. He still takes 2 Tbsp of cereal mixed with fruit and juice in the mornings…and we introduced puffs and yogurt melt-aways as snacks this past month.

New Foods: Oops! Jumped the gun, didn’t I? Oh well…I already said that he’s starting to take some truly solid foods. And Brent gave him his first French fry the other night “just to see”…once again, he played with it more than anything. He might have gotten a little piece of it in his mouth, but I seriously doubt it.

Developmental Milestones and “Firsts”: Jax can completely sit on his own now! This is the biggest change for us, and opens up a whole new door on toys and such.


He can easily sit for 10-15 minutes at a time entertaining himself with toys within his reach…allowing us time to do important things like: use the bathroom, sweep the floor, run the vacuum, fold some laundry or play a hand of solitaire on our phones... you know, important stuff! After about 10 minutes, he prefers to have someone sitting close by…and this is where the older kids come in handy! Jax is still totally enamored with big brother and sister…they’re his favorite "toy!"



Even though he can sit on his own now, he will still topple over if he gets too excited about something. Like when he does his “arm dancing” thing…or if he decides that he would like to try to eat his foot while sitting. Luckily, we’ve learned the hard way to leave a blanket behind him “just in case” and the bumps from falling over are a bit easier to handle and soothe!



Since he’s sitting so well, we’re starting to spend more time with him in the bath tub out of his infant sling…actually sitting in the tub (with our hands always close by) and he’s learning how to splash the water. He doesn’t do it on his own yet, but he will start splashing once you show him it's done. Think arm dancing in the tub…which is why it’s important for a hand to always be close by. It’s also a good idea to lower the water level just a bit once he comes out of the sling…just useful tips that we’ve discovered the hard way!

Jax’s babbling continues on…and on and on. He can out-babble any baby - I’ll put him up to the challenge any day of the week. And if he thinks that he might lose? He’ll just up the volume a little bit, if you don’t mind. Heck, he’ll do it even if you mind. Like when he’s telling you something really important to him and you talk over his babble, effectively ignoring the baby speak…watch out, cover your ears, it’s gonna get loud! I told Brent not to complain about this new trick, as it was likely Brent who taught him to do that.  He denied it, but only until I reminded him of how he handles Jax's crying in the car...yep, you guessed it, he turns the radio up.  I suppose Jax thinks that if it works to make him be quiet, maybe turning up his own babble volume will work to quiet us down?  LOL!

Brent swears that he’s saying “Mama” these days, but I don’t count it yet. He only says it when he cries and it’s just a repeated sound…NOT the real thing.



Favorite Toys: Jax’s favorite toy right now is his Exer-saucer. Our favorite toy is also the Exer-saucer.



When he’s not sitting, he makes little effort towards crawling – he just wants to stand. And once he stands, he wants to bounce. Which gets tiring after a while, but might be the only form of exercise that I get on some days! Enter the bouncing Exer-saucer. Can I just say "Life Saver" and leave it at that?

He also enjoys anything that he can knock over…the stacking rings, stackable blocks, or anything that Mommy is trying to work on.

His second favorite toy? Anything that he can chew on. This list should include: toys, clothes, hands, other people’s fingers, Mom and Dad’s shirts, and if they would just stretch a little bit more...his own feet. He puts everything into his mouth and drools through about 2-3 bibs/outfits per day. Teeth have to be coming soon…or else we might drown!

 
Like I said earlier, this month was more challenging than some due to the pesky, never-ending ear infections that we were plagued with. And I use the word “we” most appropriately – maybe Brent and I didn’t have the actual ear ache that Jax had to deal with, but dealing with a baby with an ear ache? Yeah, we all suffered. Every single one of us!

Even dealing with all of that, there were still high points during the month…good times to cherish and remember forever as this stationary stage passes so quickly. Jax is getting such a little personality, and it’s starting to show in little bits and pieces…in the words of Jenna: “It’s cool now because he does more than just eat, sleep, cry and poop.”

Here’s to a healthier seventh month in our future…

These are the Faces that I've Missed!

Oh, man.  It is good to see this again...


I mean, who wouldn't just want to eat that up?!?!  Not only is he cute...but he's in a good mood...because he FINALLY feels better!  No, I didn't actually catch any smiles with my camera, but trust me - they were there. This was the closest that I got to an actual smile...


Yea!

Whew!  What a week last week was...wait, who am I kidding?  What a lousy last THREE weeks that we've been dealing with/fighting these blasted ear infections.  After 4 doctor's visits, two oral antibiotics and three shots of injectable antibiotics...we're finally feeling better.  His fever broke on Friday afternoon/evening and we haven't seen it since then.  We did NOT have to go and see an ENT...but that might be the first item of action the next time a little ear infection hits since we now know how "resistant" he (his body) is to them! 

I was just happy to have my little man back...drool and all!

A Quick Update on Our Household

So...the double ear infection that cleared up a bit and left only one ear still slightly infected quickly escalated into another double ear infection on Wednesday.  Yep, you read that right.  We're right back where we started.  Except that now it's worse...they're both red, swollen and VERY infected. 

Since this is an ongoing ear infection that's on it's third week now, Jax had no other options but to take the antibiotic shots, Rocephin.  (Forgive the spelling, I sounded it out and it's probably all wrong!)  Poor little guy.  He "gets" to take a shot everyday for three days straight and then we meet with the doctor again on the last day to see how he's responding. 

So far he's not responding well.  His fever is still dangerously close to the 103 degree mark, and he sleeps alot during the day/evening.  In fact, he pretty much only wakes up to eat and whine for a bit (not really crying) before going back to sleep.  His favorite place to sleep?  On Mommy.  So he and I have spent a lot of quality time together in my rocking recliner the last day or so. 

They tell me that his fever should break for good today after his second shot...I'm hopeful, but not holding my breath at this point.  In fact, I've almost resigned myself to the probability that on Friday his ears won't be any better and we'll be making an appointment with an ENT as soon as we can to get some tubes put in his ears.  I hate to put him through more, but at this point, I want to get him some relief too and tubes in his ears is the quickest route to that end. 

I don't want to pick up my child that's burning up with fever.  I don't want him to sleep so much and not play and smile at us anymore (we're the mean people that keep taking him to that place where he gets the shots after all!).  I don't want him to hold onto my finger with his little hand that's hot like a coal.  I don't want to see that glassy, fever-eyed look on his face anymore.  And I don't want him screaming at night anymore because it hurts his ears to lay down. 

There's a lot of things that I don't want.  What I DO want?  For my child to be better.  Whatever it takes.  If that's tubes, or shots, or a trip to the ER, then that's what it is.  I just want him to be well again.

Oh, and I'd like to be able to keep my job.  I've missed a lot of work with this little guy so far...my luck can only hold out so far, you know?  Here's to hoping! 

New Year...New Look...

That applies to both me and my blog!  Of course, changing the design of my blog was a LOT easier than changing the way that I look will be...but I'm going to bust out with a new look myself here pretty soon!  At least, that's what I'm hoping for here in a few weeks after I've spent some much needed time with Jillian.  She claims that she's TV's toughest trainer, and after a few days spent up close and personal with her, I'm not one to argue!  Wow - does that lady pack one hell of a workout in those 20 minutes or what?  And I'm only on Level ONE...times are looking tough ahead, that's for sure!

But, it's what I need to do to get rid of the last bit of baby weight.  Yeah, if you're a smart cookie, you might be scratching your head right about now.  You might remember a time when I boasted having lost more weight than my original starting pregnancy weight...yeah, that's what I get.  Weight took offense at those comments of mine, turned around, stuck it's fingers in it's ears, screwed up his face and went "na na na na boo boo!" right back at me...and graced me with the gift of weight gain instead of loss. 

So B (over at Our Journey) and I are on a work-out mission...we start officially today.  Here are my stats as taken by me two days ago:

Weight: 151
Waist: 35
Hips/Thighs: 39 / 22.5

Posting your measurements on the blog-o-sphere is always somewhat scary to me...but when I was a bride wanting to look smashing in my wedding dress, it really helped me to stay honest about my progress and kept me on track more often than not, knowing that I was going to have to post results in a few days.  Let's hope it works again for me.  We'll see, huh?

So that's one resolution.  Sort of.  I say sort of because I'm not normally a New Year's resolution type of gal.  It's just not my thing.  I have things that I want to work on or accomplish, but I tend to work on them all year long, not just at a particular time of year.  This year, I've got some specifics that I'll share with you all:

1. Healthy Body - this is two part.  It's not just weight loss, it's about how my clothes fit.  If it's my lot in life to stay the same weight, that's cool...I just want it to look a bit better on me.  So I'm trying to not be a slave to the number shown on the scale and to use how my clothes are fitting as a better tracker of my progress.  Right now, the pants...they are tight.  Guess that's telling me something, all right?!?! 

2. Healthy Mind - Having a sane mind goes hand in hand with the one before.  I need to work on taking time for myself.  I remember well what the first year of mommyhood was like from my first go-round on this ride...and I specifically remembering "waking up" about three years later wondering where the heck I went.  I had become Jenna's Mom (which was great and totally worthwhile!) and had lost Sandy somewhere along the way.  So I would like to avoid that all together this time.  I need to take time for me, and to learn to ask for help.  Yes, it might be easier to do it myself, the way that I want it done the first time around...but that doesn't lead to personal time.  It's ok if the bottles are washed "wrong" or if Jax cries for an extra minute or two waiting for Brent to wake up and get him instead of me doing the whole night shift.  It's not the end of the world...it's really ok. 

3. Savings - have you taken the time to check out where I am on my financial savings goals so far?  (If you haven't, just click out of your reader onto my actual blog and look on the right for the Savings button that I update weekly.)  It really added up as I did Xmas shopping and caught a lot of great sales!  You know what?  I'm already halfway to my original goal right now...and I've got almost a full year left to finish the other half - that's SO awesome to me! 

Those are my top three goals for 2011 right now.  How about you?  Did you set actual goals/resolutions for yourself this year?  I think that mine are pretty standard and nothing spectacularly original...but there you have it.  I've got some smaller things rattling around in this head of mine that also might "gel" into more concrete goals, but nothing that I'm ready to share just yet...maybe another day.

Five Months

5 months…150 days, give or take…150 nights of little sleep…time flies when you’re having fun, huh? There are days that it seems that time drags on and on…and then there are the days where time seems to be moving at warp speed. Days when you don’t know if you’re coming or going between feedings…and days when you cherish something close because you know that the time of them doing this or that is coming to an end soon.

So many changes are happening in Jax’s world right now. He’s learning so much, being exposed to so many new things, and going through some rough little pains as he moves from the “baby” stage to the “infant” stage of this first year. Looking back at my daughter, I thought that this time passed so quickly, as I suppose that it would eight years later. This time around, at 34 years old, time seems to be moving a bit slower. Maybe that’s because I know what to expect and am anticipating the change? I don’t know. Either way, it’s an exciting time in our house right now, that’s for sure!

I decided that I might need to organize these monthly posts a bit…Lord knows there are days that I need help remembering my own name, much less all that I’d like to cover in these posts! So here goes:

Stats – Weight/Height, etc.: We don’t go to see the Dr until next month, so I’ve just got guesses. I think that he’s grown about an inch in length from last month and put on maybe a pound or two. It seems to me that he’s “evening” out where his weight is…like his height is catching up on his weight gain, which is a good thing!

Bedtime: 8-8:30pm. Our routine is to start feeding him around 7ish at night, then he gets a bath right before 8ish and is out and dressed and ready for bed shortly thereafter. Some night vary, depending what’s going on, but he does MUCH better when we manage to stick to that schedule…and we’re all about doing our part to help him sleep at night!

“Wake-up!” time: This month I’ve seen a marked difference in his waking time. He managed to drop down to one nighttime feeding within the last two weeks and due to that, he’s up and awake a little bit earlier, usually between 6-6:30am on most mornings. On the weekends, I can sometimes convince him to “sleep” a little longer by bringing him into our bed, but that doesn’t always work. I’m not really sure why he wakes so early now…he’s not hungry, he’ll wait until closer to 8am before wanting his bottle, but he’s awake – happy and playful at this time! He usually does poop right around 6:30-7am, so maybe that’s it!

Naps: Jax still takes about three naps a day, ranging anywhere from short “cat naps” lasting about 30 minutes, to longer stretches of sleep that might run an hour and a half. There’s usually one long nap and two shorter naps in a day…and we’re trying really hard to keep him awake in the evenings, in the hopes that making him tired helps him sleep better. Hey – don’t knock it…I’ll take whatever help that I can get!

Bottles: He takes 6 ounces in his bottles now, eating 6 times each day. Four during and throughout the daytime (about 3 hours apart), one right before bedtime and one around 2-3am.

Meals/Solids: Jax started eating solid foods this past month – with much success! I had started him on cereal with juice a little before the magical 4 month mark, in hopes that it would help the sleeping situation at that time (it didn’t), so starting solids was somewhat easy. We’ve almost finished all of the 1st simple foods with no allergic reactions to anything yet. At this point, he’s taking a tablespoon of fruit in his 3 tablespoons of cereal (along with juice) in the mornings around 10am and then he’ll eat anywhere from a jar and a half to almost two full jars of baby food in the evenings around 7pm. We always start with the vegetable, to make sure that he finishes that one, and then if he finishes or doesn’t finish the fruit, that’s ok. Only one time has he come close to eating both containers. I’ll have to do another post about the joys/pitfalls of making my own baby food (which I DID do for the first few weeks)…let’s just sum it all up by saying that I now support Gerber wholeheartedly. Oh well…

New Foods: Everything! Sweet potatoes, apples, green beans, bananas, squash, peaches, carrots and pears.

Developmental Milestones and “Firsts”: Oh goodness – SO much is happening and changing for Jax right now. He babbles constantly – the teachers all remark on how much he talks for a baby of his age. Of course, none of it is more than baby babble and sounds, but it’s SO cute! And the noises range from quiet, soothing baby sounds/babble all the way to listen-to-me-women-I’m-talking-to-you types of conversations! He can make all sorts of noises, but the newest is figuring out how to make the “b” sound (which is just funny watching him struggle to get it out!) and he’s figured out in the last week how to blow bubbles with his spit. Yes, he’s very advanced – we’re perusing collegiate applications at the moment! Just kidding.

In terms of mobility, he’s freely moving back-to-front and front-to-back and attempting somewhat of an army crawl while on his belly.


He can hold his massive head up for quite a while now, although I haven’t timed it, and turn each way to see everything all around him.


When left alone on a pallet on the floor, 9 times out of 10 he will NOT be in the same spot 5 seconds later when you come back. He can turn a full 360 degree circle on his back to see that much more. He’s figuring out hand-to-eye coordination fairly well as he’s now able to pick up what he reaches for I’d say about 50% of the time. Of course, once the object is in his grasp it goes straight to his mouth…just a little taste test to figure it all out, I suppose. After not liking his high chair so much the first week we tried to use it, he’s settled himself into it and has discovered how fun it is to make toys and spoons fly off of the tray…of course, this is a total accident when it happens, but it’s funny none-the-less.

Another new trick? He’s almost sitting. By himself! He started this about a week or so ago (which was right on time according to when his big sister did stuff – she sat a week before she turned 5 months) but was pretty wobbly. Now he’s starting to correct his positions and brace his hands out to catch himself when he starts to topple over. Am I ready for this stage? Yes and no. Yes, because what a cool age – I remember this being when Jenna got really fun. No, because I remember with clarity this stage…and although lots of fun, I needed an extra head to watch her with and an extra limb or two to keep track of her and hold her down. I missed the immobile stage once she got to the mobile stage…so I know it’s coming.

And oh my goodness - we've got hair! This might not sound like much to you, but Jenna (and I) didn't have hair until almost 3 years old...check out all the hair...ignore the dazed and confused look on his face...



Favorite Toys: Exer-saucer is still a go-to favorite. But he got a new toy from Aunt Tiffany this past weekend that might eclipse the exer-saucer given some time. It’s a long caterpillar with chimes and rattles and all throughout it that is soft (read chewable) with lots of little doodads on it. Loves it. Oh, and then of course, there’s his hands and feet. He plays a lot with his feet when they’re uncovered and bare…not so much when they’re tucked away in sleep n’ play outfits, which amuses me, and makes for fun diaper times!

I think that covers all the main stuff. We’re entering a new stage – the mobile stage – and we’re so psyched about it! Apprehensive, nervous and excited all at the same time. Lucky for us, he’s sleeping so much better at night…we’re going to need the energy just to keep up with him soon! And being only 5 months old, he’s still my little snuggle man at nighttime…that bedtime feeding is still my favorite time with him during the day (other than the early mornings when he’s so extremely happy!) and I don’t even mind the 2am feedings since he’s such a snuggler during that time too. Of course, what mom wouldn’t mind getting that extra 30 minutes of sleep, I’m not gonna lie to you…but I enjoy the snuggles too!

Four Months

Where has the time gone, Jax? This last month passed in a blur of doctor’s visits, breathing treatments, sleepless nights and a sick household. It really seems like just the other day that I was writing out your 3 month update…oh well. Time flies when you’re having fun, right? Right!

Despite the sickness and exhaustion that have plagued our house this month, you have been such a trooper Jax! Being sick is never easy (just ask your Dad!) and you handled it like a champ, just getting fussy a few of those days. Luckily for us, your stuff was mainly congestion and there were just a few days where you ran a fever and felt really bad. Hopefully, we’re all on the mend now!

What are you doing this month? EVERYTHING! LOL. In the past few weeks you have discovered SO much…your hands are still your favorite thing to chew on…although you’ll gladly chomp away on most anything, including everything that is within your reach! Blankets, burp cloths, my fingers, sister’s hair…just whatever you can get your hands on – you’re not picky. That’s probably because in the last month, you cut not only your FIRST tooth, but also your SECOND tooth! You are a drooling, smiling, little snaggle-tooth baby these days…chomping happily away on whatever you can reach!


Speaking of your reach, it’s getting better and better. You’ve figured out some of your toys this month, including a rattle and how it works. You’ve also discovered that big sister and I have hair and you think that it’s SO much fun to pull on! We, of course, don’t agree with your definition of “fun.” You’re doing better in your Bumbo chair, not quite so top-heavy…and you’ve moved on up to your Exer-saucer this past month, which you love, love, love! And we love that you love it…those 10-15 minutes that you’ll sit in it a few times a day give Mommy/Daddy the helping hand to rinse off dishes, sweep the floor, fold laundry or just relax if we need a minute.


Little guy, you’ve also discovered your voice. You are a little chatterbox…telling us what-not and all…sometimes you make noise just to make noise and other times you “conversate” back and forth with us. We can make your day if we’ll speak baby-talk right back at you…it’s like you’ve found your long-lost friend and you really get to talking then! The teachers at day care are constantly telling me how impressed they are at your vocal abilities at this young age…I smile and tell them that you come by it honestly!


Sleep? Well, that’s still a struggle for us sometimes. You do NOT sleep through the night yet, won’t even think about it. You usually wake up sometime between 12:30a-1:30a for your first nighttime feeding and then want to be fed again anywhere from 3:30a-5a…it just depends on many factors. You do still like to sleep in your swaddle blanket, although I’m wondering if we need to start seeing if you can sleep without it. And you still take really good naps during the day…usually a good, long nap either at 11a or 2p…and then short cat naps the rest of the time. It never fails that if I get you to sleep while we’re getting dinner ready, you wake up as soon as I try to eat my first bite! It’s like you know when Mom’s about to eat and you say “Oh no you don’t!”

We’re branching out a bit on your feedings…trying new things to see if you’ll sleep better at night, but you just keep right on reminding us that you’ll sleep through the night when you’re good and ready to do it, and that’s not yet. You started cereal this month…both rice and oatmeal. You prefer the rice cereal, and you like it mixed with apple juice better than formula. Some nights you’ll take almost the whole tablespoon that I mix up…other nights you want nothing to do with it. Since you’re not sitting upright on your own yet, it’s taken me a bit to figure out this whole feeding business. You wiggle around a LOT, and even food won’t keep you still. You always start off in your Bumbo chair for our feedings, and quickly move to my lap. (I don’t know what I was thinking buying a high chair that doesn’t recline…I clearly wasn’t thinking!) By the end of the feedings, we’re usually both covered in cereal and bath time has become much more intense due to the cleaning that is now needed. I can’t wait to start you on real food this next month…you’ve done so well with cereal…and I’m hopeful that real food will help the sleeping situation, but I’m not crossing my fingers or holding my breath!

Jax, you’ve started to laugh this month. Real laughs that are prompted by something specific are so cute! You smile all the time, but you smile the biggest for your big sister…you love her SO much right now. She loves you too, but she’s really ready for you to start talking in real words…not a day goes by that she doesn’t tell me what you were trying to say…it’s so cute. Your feet are a little ticklish, but the best spot to get that laugh out of you is low in your sides…that’s the golden spot that will make you wiggle away from me and laugh the hardest!

Mentioning wiggling away – I nearly forgot! You learned how to roll over this month. You can go from your back to your front and also go back the other way…but you don’t do it on command. It’s totally when YOU want to do it (much to Grammy’s dismay) and no one can entice you to do it if you don’t want to do it. It’s been nearly a week now since I’ve seen you do it, but I know that’s just because I’m watching for it!


I think that sums up the past month…there were fewer pictures this month since there were just fewer days when we felt like taking pictures! Sorry. You’ll still a cutie pie, and if I’m not mistaken, your hair is thickening up a bit and your eyes will turn colors this next month…can’t wait to see those changes!


Love you, baby boy!

Setting Our Goals

First, let me say a big “THANKS” for all of your tips/tricks/comments and suggestions on the post that I wrote about setting goals. Especially Pamela, who had LOTS of great advice! If you didn’t see her comment, click here and view the comments – it’s REALLY great advice!

After writing that post, I took a few days to let it all sink in, and talk everything over with Brent, as I feel that this isn’t just MY decision, but a joint decision that we need to make as a couple and both get behind and strive towards. Then we took a week to just process all that we’d talked about.

Lastly? I took him grocery shopping with me this past weekend. I normally run to the store alone, since it’s faster, but with just Jax along for the ride, Brent wanted to come along too. I jumped on the chance to have him there, since I knew that I had lots of coupons to use and wanted to really emphasize what our savings could be if we tried. I’d measure the trip as a complete, overwhelming success! Why, you ask? As we were pushing our cart full of a weeks’ worth of groceries out to the car, Brent was reading the receipt and said these EXACT words: “Babe! Our grocery bill went from $88 down to $77 and change!!!” Saying he was a little excited would be an understatement. (I’ll also say that our weekly bill isn’t normally that high, but we bought Halloween candy for the trick-or-treaters…)

I felt like he finally got it. I mean really understood the power of coupons.

So I took the momentum and enthusiasm that he had at that moment and we talked again about how our money could work smarter for us and all of the other things that we’d already covered a week before. It was like a completely different conversation, even though I didn’t really say anything new. Before when we talked, he agreed with all that I was saying, and was on board with whatever I wanted to do, but he didn’t completely understand nor have the enthusiasm for it that I did. He probably was thinking “What a dork!” about me, in fact. But now? He could see and measure what we could do. I mean, if we could save $10 in one shopping trip at just ONE store, what could we do over the course of a year, applying those principles to ALL of our purchases?

It’s just nice to have your partner “get” what you’re trying to do and go from a willing participant in what you want to do to an active participant, because there IS a difference. So after explaining it all again, here are some of the steps that we’ve come up with for us to start taking:

• Start couponing regularly (we already do this)
• Begin to stock pile on certain household items – something we’ve been a little hesitant to start, but are starting to see the advantages
• Make the most out of our rewards programs, like ebates.com and our credit card cash back rewards program (which we don’t currently utilize since we don’t use credit for purchases)
• Diligently track our savings so that we can measure our success
• Begin eating out less for lunches during the work week and putting that savings to work as well
• Actively look for new ways to make our money work smarter, not harder

Using all of those steps above, we set a goal that we would like to achieve. Following some of Pamela’s guidelines on goal setting, we kept it simple, straight forward and attainable. Here is our goal:

Save $5,000 using the measures outlined above

Since we both operate better on a work/reward method – keeping a tangible goal in mind - we also set our “reward” if we attain that goal. If we can meet our goal, we will take a vacation back to our honeymoon destination for our 2nd anniversary, paying cash for it all.

And since I like seeing progress, I’m going to set up a button on the side that shows our progress weekly so that you can follow along and encourage us to our success! (OK, so maybe that’s just to show off my mad new HTML skills more than anything…but it’s still fun!)

Now, if you’re one of the sharper tacks in the barrel, you’ll pick up on the fact that if we’re going to take the reward trip for our 2nd anniversary and we just passed our first anniversary, we have to start NOW on our goal and not wait for the new year like I had originally intended…which is fine. Brent said that since the goal that we've set is a little more than what we're currently saving that I could count all that we've saved so far this year too...so that we're starting off on the right foot.  I "opened a new savings account” today and will transfer on a weekly basis what we’re able to save into it and watch it total up! I can’t wait…it would only be cooler if I could make my computer make the cha-ching cash register sound when I put the money in each week!!

Yes, I’m a dork…

I’m really excited (if you haven’t picked up on it by this point) about our new plan. I’m excited to see what we can do if we try. I’m excited to actually set a goal, set steps to achieve the goal and be working towards the prize. I’m just excited in general…but that could be because the little man is breathing better and sleeping again at night – WOO HOO!!! But I’m also excited to start this new plan, too! Wish us luck!

Let’s Talk About Something Else

Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not…but I seem to talk a lot about my boobs these days. What’s that? You haven’t noticed?!?! Well, maybe you haven’t been reading long…that could be it. Otherwise, you’ve probably noticed that “the girls” get a lot of “attention” here on this blog.

I’m assuming that this is normal if you’re a breastfeeding mom…if you’re anything like me, then you’re whole schedule revolves around two things – feeding times or pumping times. Heaven forbid that I should try to do anything remotely spontaneous without checking my schedule first…it could be disastrous! LOL! And it’s completely fine for this to be my life right now, it’s what happens when you have a baby that you’re breastfeeding (I hope!). But what happens when that stage is over?

I thought all along that my journey with breastfeeding would be short-lived to say the least. I thought that I would do it until I went back to work. Then that day came and went, and I decided that it wasn’t going to be difficult to pump at work. Then my milk decided to take a mini-vacation and I worked really hard to get it back. I’m at a level now that I’m not 100% comfortable with, but works for us and seems to be the most that my body can do. So I was okay with sustaining that level for a while. Because after I saw that it wasn’t that difficult to pump at work, my cutoff time for stopping to breastfeed was when he started teething.

I hear you, I really do. Some of you might want to tell me again that it’s not that big of a deal once they have teeth…to me, it’s a big deal. He doesn’t have any teeth right now and every once in a blue moon he decides to “clamp down” on me and HOLY HECK!!! Yeah…so there’s no more once those little chompers decide to put in their appearance.

But with all of these scenarios that I’ve envisioned how my breastfeeding days would come to an end, never once did it cross my mind that it wouldn’t be my choice. (If it were up to Brent, I would have quit a month ago!) So how do you come to terms with it when it’s not your choice?

What do you do when your baby starts showing signs of weaning himself?

I’m sure that I could google it and find 101 ways to encourage your child to stay with the boob for a little while longer. There’s probably a million and one home remedies and stories out there about how to eek out a few more months. But you know what? I don’t know that I want to do that. I just can’t quite get my finger to click on the “Search” button…I just don’t know that I have the heart, energy or desire to do it.

I didn’t write another update to my breastfeeding series that I had started last week because I didn’t really know what I wanted to say. Or maybe I knew what I wanted to say and was afraid how it would be taken over this blog-o-sphere that I call home. You see, the weekend before last weekend, Jax started refusing me. He actually started doing this two weekends prior to that, but it got really bad two weeks ago. It actually took both myself and Brent to get him to feed from me that weekend. And by the time that Monday rolled around, and I would have taken some time one night to write up an update…I just didn’t quite have the words. After two long weeks, I think that I’ve found them.

I was crushed.

It’s as simple as that. All along, I’ve planned on stopping breastfeeding at some point…but it was always my call. Now it’s not my call. He’s the one that is refusing to nurse, and as much as I don’t want it to, it feels like I’m failing at something. I feel like he’s pushing away from me because I’m not providing what he needs.

And that breaks my heart. Literally breaks my heart and makes me cry.

Logically in my head I know that it’s not like that at all. What it really boils down to is that my son is lazy. He takes bottle feedings all week long at day care, and when the weekend rolls around, he wants to continue the ease and laziness that makes up his weekly feedings. He doesn’t want to work for it like he has to when he nurses. “What’s that? Wait a minute while the let down occurs before I get my milk???? Never! Just give me a bottle…” Those are maybe the little thoughts running through his head. (Except that they come out of his mouth at a decibel level that explodes human ear drums…)

I’m still trying. I still attempt to breastfeed him all weekend long so that I can keep my milk production up. But this weekend, I gave up the fight. I’m not going to “force feed” my boob to my child anymore. It’s too much for me emotionally, and I just can’t do it anymore. He will still eat at night from me, probably because he’s sleepy and doesn’t think about it as much, but this past weekend there were only two other times that I could convince him to breastfeed that weren’t during the middle of the night. I continued to pump and do everything else that I’ve been doing to increase my milk supply all weekend long, but I quit fighting with him over it.

And a wave of relief washed over me. Today at lunch, Brent and I talked about all of this again and I honestly think that he’s as relieved as I am. Although he would continue to help me hold Jax down to breastfeed, it’s really not fun for any of the three of us. So I’m committed to continuing to pump and feed at night as long as I can…I just don’t know how long my supply will last without those marathon nursing sessions helping my body produce the milk. Mondays always show a boost on my production numbers…and today I didn’t see that after two weekends of him flat-out refusing to nurse.

Hopefully, writing this post and hitting the “Publish” button will help me forgive myself the rest of the way. I’m at peace with my decision, I know that. I’m relieved that there’s no more struggle - that much is definitely true. Now I just hope that I can continue to listen to the logical side of my head and not my heart. I hope that writing this all out is good for my soul and really allows my eyes to see that I’ve done my part. And if it’s time to stop, then it’s time to stop. And that it’s not a reflection on me.

You know, for someone who wasn’t even sure that she wanted to breastfeed in the first place; I’ve become awfully attached, haven’t I? I suppose that’s normal too. I just thought that when it came time to stop nursing, that it would be because I was choosing to stop for whatever reason…not because my son won’t nurse anymore. Some might say that this is easier because there would be less guilt if it was his decision and not mine - that I could say “Well, I would have continued to nurse if he’d only cooperated.” I guess that I could say something like that. And at some point in time, I might.

But right now, I just feel incredibly sad to see this time coming to an end. Sadder than I thought that I would be. In another week, I’ll be able to focus on the positives, and I’ll do a post on all of the things that I can do now that I’m no longer Bessie the Cow…but for now, I’ll wallow a bit longer…and do all that I can to maintain the milking status for just one more day. Taking it one day at a time seems to be all that I can do.

Week 2 - Progress Update on "Milking the Cow"

After a really exhausting, tiring, make-you-go-to-bed-crying weekend I feel really good about where I stand right now on breastfeeding. It’s as if the girls and I have made a pact or called a truce of sorts…I gave a little and they met me halfway. And it couldn’t have happened any sooner, because as you know from this post I was literally on my last leg with this whole breastfeeding saga.

I vented to my husband and I felt a little better. He reminded me that I was only doing this because it was MY CHOICE to do so. That no one else was pressuring me to continue, and that I could choose to stop at any time. And he’s right. While he’s supportive of my choices/decisions, he couldn’t care less whether we feed Jax breast milk or formula. He knows that Jax will be healthy either way, so as he put it so simply “If it’s causing you this much stress, then stop.”

But I’m not a quitter. That’s just not me. At the same time though, I knew that I was doing all that I could do – there was nothing more for me to give because I’d given it all already – and if I didn’t see some improvement for all of my efforts, then I knew that I would quickly lose the drive to continue.

Lucky for me, the girls didn’t let me down. After the most stressful weekend ever they are rebounding with flying colors and producing amazing “come back” results for me and Jax. You know that I’ve got numbers for you, so here they are:

(Comparisons made between last week and this week)
I’m seeing a 48% increase in overall daily production.
I’m now able to produce an amount that is equal to what I need to send to day care each day. (Note: that is producing, not storing. I’m only able to store just over half of what I send to day care each day…so there’s still room for improvement!)
My per-pump-session amount is more consistent day-to-day and steadily increasing each day.

To say that I’m thrilled with the progress that I’ve made would be the understatement of the year, especially when made following this past weekend. I wish that I could pinpoint what “turned the tide” so to speak, but I’ve been doing SO many things to increase my milk production that I can’t say with any degree of certainty which one (or combination) did the trick. I can share with you what I have been doing though, in case this might help someone else.

Drink plenty of fluids – no caffeine, no carbonated beverages and LOTS of water.  I do cheat and have one glass of normal tea each day, so I am taking in a small amount of caffeine but I figure one glass isn't gonna ruin anything. I’ve also taken to drinking a cup of the Mother’s Milk tea each day, maybe two per day. On a personal note, the stuff tastes awful. But somewhere someone told me to mix it half and half with apple juice. It’s not great, but it’s 1 million times better that way!

Pump regularly and pump often – right now I’m staying on a two hour time schedule for pumping when I’m away from Jax. When I’m at home, he’s allowed to eat as often as he needs to eat, but typically that’s every 2.5 to 3 hours. We’ll talk more about letting him feed in a minute…

Eat. Eat. Eat. I’m taking in what feels like 10,000 calories each day just to give my body the raw material that it needs to make breast milk. And I’m trying to make sure that most of it is healthy – you know, good choices for snacking and eating - not all of it can be chocolate, pizza and ice cream. Believe me, if my body isn’t getting enough calories, it lets me know with some intense hunger pains. So I feed the machine frequently – I snack on something every hour at work. I eat oatmeal once a day – this is an old wives tale, but I figured it couldn’t hurt. There’s some debate about not using the instant type, but that’s what I use and my results are going the right direction so I’m not sure if it really matters.

Vitamins/Supplements – I still take my pre-natal vitamin daily. I started taking my Iron supplement pills again toward the end of last week and for now I’m taking three of those each day. I anticipate dropping back down to one per day once my milk supply is back to where it used to be. I also take Fenugreek pills (per doctor’s instructions) three pills three times a day every OTHER day. I read somewhere that some people can build up a tolerance to Fenugreek, and once I paid attention to my progress (thank goodness for my chart-making anal self!) I could definitely see spikes of improvement when I started the pills and then it slowly tapered off. Since this past weekend, I’ve taken to using them every other day, and it seems to work better for me.

That’s it. You know, typed out like that it doesn’t seem like all that much. But it’s a lot in reality. There are meals that I take 6-7 pills on certain days with some meals, so it seems like a lot on those days.

The only other thing that I did differently this past weekend was to let Jax feed from me. The weekend before, I was trying to build up my “supply” of milk in my freezer for day care, so I fed him formula all weekend and just pumped at his feeding times. Both my doctor and his pediatrician kept emphasizing to me the importance of letting him cluster feed from me…but of course, I thought that I knew better. So what if they have a fancy schmancy medical degree backing up their argument? I had Sandy-logic backing up my theory…but maybe this one time Sandy-logic let me down. I pushed through it all weekend long, the crying (his and mine), the fussiness of him not wanting to “work” to get his meal, and the tiredness that comes from having someone attached to a part of your body every time you turn around. And maybe those doctors knew what they were talking about after all…I saw an immediate increase on Saturday and then again on Sunday.

So now, I’m trying to do two or three feedings each day (the work days are hard to do this on) and I’ll continue with the breastfeeding only schedule on the weekends. While at work, I’m still pumping every two hours, but I could probably go two and a half or three hours, if I needed to. I don’t want to push it so soon though, so at least for this week I’m sticking with what’s worked in the past.

And you know what? It’s not as bad being Bessie the milk cow when you’re actually able to produce a decent amount of milk! It’s like seeing my progress makes it all worth it…

Two Months

Goodness, baby boy.  Where has the time gone?  It really seems to fly by now that I'm back at work.  I just finished my first full week back at work, and man...let me tell you...I'm POOPED!  This working-mother-to-an-infant thing is HARD!  It's a constant struggle between mom and wife and worker...balancing all these hats is difficult.  I remember with my daughter that the first few months were the hardest, and thought that was mainly because I did it all with little to no help from the ex.  I get LOTS and LOTS of help now...and it's still challenging.  Maybe it's just supposed to be that way, or maybe I'm just 8 years older!  LOL!

Anyway, we took the little man to the doctor yesterday for his two month check up.  I have to tell you, I was worried about his weight gain a little bit, but he turned out totally normal.  Here's the stats:

Weight - 12 lbs, 7 ounces - 50th percentile

Length - 23" - also 50th percentile

They didn't write down the head circumference for me, but that was the only measurement that he was in the 90th percentile on!  He's got quite the noggin!  But we say that's just because he's so smart...got to have somewhere to store all those brains...but my favorite part of him?  Those little feet!!  They're just so cute!

But even being as cute as a button, performing well on tummy time for the doctor and looking great everywhere else didn't save him from the dreaded shots.  He got three injections and one oral vaccine.  Yuck!  (While we were there, big sister also got her first flu shot...she has to go back in 4 weeks for the secondary one...but she lucked out and it's a sniffer "shot" of mist through the nose!)  He was totally happy...

Picture taken with cell phone RIGHT before the nurse walked in...

And then all hell broke loose.  That first needle got him and he was like "What the HECK?"  I know that it was totally unexpected and startled him more than anything.  On that one he cried, but not that badly.  It was the two injections that came next that had him turning fourteen different shades of red and crying so hard that no sound was coming out of his little mouth.  Don't worry, though.  The lungs only malfunctioned for a few moments and then the real screams started.  I don't know who cried harder, him or me!

Afterwards, he slept.  A lot.  He ate too, but not like normal.  He was pretty restless all night long and ran a little bit of fever, but so far this morning he's been a peach.  Let's hope the day continues in this trend, because after getting up with him all night every 30-60 minutes to settle him back down...this house is tired!

Let's move on to your tricks!  Jax, you're changing so much each and every day.  You still don't really like tummy time, but you push up with your arms a little bit and hold your head up really well.  You like to play on your back on your play mat and are starting to actually reach for the toys that hang in your face. 
You smile, laugh and coo at us after your belly is full...and when it's empty you have NO problem letting us know that we're slacking in that department!  You're eating 3.5 or 4 ounces every 2.5 or 3 hours.  I break it down that way because at day care you eat less in each bottle because you want to feed more often.  At home, you take the fuller bottle less often. 

Your sleeping patterns have improved drastically over the past month!  You used to sleep from 8p for about 4-5 hours before being hungry and you will now stretch it to 5-6 hours each night.  And knock on wood, but the other night you went 7 hours before feeding with only waking up once for your pacifier.  I'd like to see that particular trend become more regular, so let's work on that, ok?  Thanks!  Since doctors define any stretch of sleep lasting longer between 5-6 hours as sleeping through the night, I guess you're there!  You also like to feed again in the early morning hours sometime between 5a-6a, but most days Mom's already up and about by then!

You are wearing clothes in the 0-3 month range with a few smaller 3-6 month outfits thrown in for good measure.  You are just starting to take an interest in some of your rattle-y type of toys, but not much else.  Your absolute favorite thing to play with right now are your hands.  You keep making the attempt to suck on your thumb, but since you keep it tucked into your fist you end up trying to suck on your whole fist - pretty comical!  You hold your hands constantly and once or twice you've snagged Mommy's and Sissy's hair.
You still love your swing most days, and you've taken to sleeping on your side.  You sleep each night in your crib...but still using the Boppy pillow.  You will NOT sleep unless you are swaddled.  And you have one swaddle blanket in particular that you're fond of.  I swear, it's got baby crack in it or something...maybe it's magic?  You will start fussing, and Dad or I will wrap you into that swaddle and you go out like a light.  Regular blankets will work in a pinch (if the magic crack swaddle blanket is being washed) but you don't like them as much. 

You recognize our voices and turn your head to find us when we come into the room.  When Dad picks you up from day care in the afternoons, you are just starting to squeal with happiness when you hear him...that really tickles him!

You are eating about half formula and half breastmilk these days as I struggle with my milk production.  This weekend, we're trying to let you cluster-feed to help with that, but it's a struggle to not give you any formula when you're crying and I know it's because you're hungry and there's nothing else for you from me.  It's early in the weekend though, so we'll see how that goes...I make no promises. 

Most of the time, you're a happy baby boy...
But we all have our days, right?
 
We love you SO much, Jax!  Looking forward to all the changes that will continue to come our way!

Week 1 – Progress Update on "Milking the Cow"

Cute title, huh? I swear when you hook “the girls” up what feels like 14 million times a day just to pump out all excess milk and ferret it away like liquid gold…that’s sort of what it feels like. I definitely have a new respect for the dairy cows of the world!

So it’s been a week now since I spoke with my doctor and she started me on my new pumping regimen to try to increase my milk production. I would love to report that in just one week all is well in my household and I no longer have to sweat it when I pump because I’m getting enough during the day to replace what I’m sending out.

While that would make a nice, neat and happy fairy tale of a story…it wouldn’t be exactly accurate. LOL!

In truth, this is harder than getting my milk to come in right after birth. (Well, I guess most anything would be, since you don’t really have to “do” anything to get that milk in…you just have to work at stopping it if you didn’t opt for breastfeeding.) You know me, my analytical-number-crunching self has some stats for you – comparisons and what not. Here goes:

Before any of these troubles started, I was pumping between 4-5 ounces every three hours. I would go 4-5 hours at night without feeding/pumping around his sleeping schedule, so that first “take” of the morning might be closer to 6 ounces, but on average I could easily feed my son 4-5 ounces every three hours like clockwork.

By the time that I realized that I had created a monster a problem and started charting my progress with all of this I was pumping just a little over an ounce every 2-3 hours. My first pump of the morning would be closer to 3 ounces, but I could only produce a grand total of 8.5 ounces FOR THE WHOLE DAY. Wow. When you put numbers to it like that, it really smack you upside your face, huh? I went from 28-35 ounces per day down to 8.5 – yeah. I would say that making that call to my doctor was a smart move.

But let’s not focus on the negatives. I started pumping religiously (okay, maybe not those first two days but NOW it’s religiously…a girl has to make the habit again!), upped my water intake and started taking the herbal supplement Fenugreek in an attempt to increase my milk supply. After one week of doing these things, I was able to note a 21% increase in my production.

Now, before you get all crazy and start throwing your hats up in the air or doing the happy dance with me, let me give you a quantitative number: I can now pump 10.7 ounces each day.

Yeah, it doesn’t look as great now, does it? 21% sounded SO much better! I don’t know why that is.

Truthfully, I’m not super impressed with those numbers. So, I debated long and hard about calling my doctor again and seeing what else could be done. But I wondered if since it took almost two weeks to get to this point where I wasn’t producing, if I was jumping the gun a bit on expecting it to come back quicker. Instead of picking up the phone, I did what any self-respecting, smart, savvy woman of the 21st century would do…I googled it.

Using this resource, which came from a reader (THANKS!) and is a GREAT resource, I read that however long it took to get into the situation, it could take at least that long to recover from it. So I relaxed a little bit. And once on that site, I clicked on some other links and read some other parts of her site and found some other helpful tips. The one thing that I REALLY like about her site is that she explains the WHY and HOW behind it all. Like explaining how your body makes breastmilk and why it would make more…this clued me into massaging while pumping – and I can honestly say that although a little weird the first time (think doing a self-exam while holding cups onto your boobs) it really does help drain all of the milk out so that my body will get the signal to make more than it was currently making. Check out her site, you’ll love it!

One that I should have thought of if I was using half of my brain is Iron. If you’re anemic or border-line anemic (like I was during my pregnancy) your body can’t produce breastmilk. It’s like asking your body to climb Mt. Everest without any training – it just can’t happen. And with the complications that I had during Jax’s birth, my blood levels were really low when I left the hospital, if you remember. The first month of his life, I was taking 3 iron pills each day – one with each meal. After that first 30 days, I dropped down to just one pill a day with breakfast, like I did during my pregnancy. Now, a smarter person would understand without having to read it on the internet that you need to continue to take that extra supplement while you’re asking your body to do extra things like making breastmilk. That’s what a smarter person would do.

Me? Nah, as soon as that last box of pills ran out I just quit taking them. Who needs the stomach problems that go hand in hand with taking Iron? Not this mama! Yeah, maybe I jumped the gun on that one…so I stopped on my way home last night and picked up some more Iron pills. I’ll take 3 a day for a few days to get my levels built back up and then go back to just 1 each day…hopefully this will give my milk production a boost.

I also read about eating oatmeal to increase milk production. It’s not really explainable the site said, but it’s documented that it helps. And since it’s not like taking a supplement or medication that needs to be cleared by a doctor, I also grabbed some Quaker (Apple & Cinnamon – the BEST!) oatmeal to eat either for breakfast or as a mid-morning snack. Something else that I grabbed? Some Mother’s Milk tea. Again, this is something that isn’t dangerous for me to take and just contains more of what I’m already taking per my doctor’s orders. I can’t say that I enjoyed the tea, but I don’t really like flavored teas all that much – read not at all. My Mom would be SO proud of me for putting on my big girl panties and finishing the cup of tea this morning anyway…even if I wanted to hold my nose like a 5 year-old.

So we’ll see if these new things, in addition to what I was already doing continue to help my production increase. Don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled that I see an improvement from last week to this week. I would just like to see MORE of an improvement without going off of my BC pills. Which might be inevitable…but we’ll give it the rest of this week and the weekend before I really start to worry and call my doctor.

Have you heard of any of these supplements or “old wives tales” working for other breastfeeding moms? I would love to hear some positive stories just to boost my moral a little bit more! Thanks for sharing…

Houston - We Have Smiles!

You know, the for real kind, not the ones that you're pretty sure are gas but you'd rather think were real! He's been working on them for about a week now, but they're harder than heck to catch on camera...and I've tried and tried!

I still haven't caught a really good one, but here's the best one - sorry it's blurry, he was moving...Even though it's blurry, isn't it just the cutest?!?! Usually now when he finishes eating, he'll spend anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour happily sitting in your lap, laying on the floor beside you, or reclining in his Boppy pillow happily "chatting" away. He makes all the grunts like normal, but he's adding in some cooing noises and baby gurgles.

And his tongue and mouth...Lord help us! He's got them going all OVER the place! Check out these other cute facial expressions that I did catch, you know when I couldn't catch the smile...The faces that boy makes -they just make a mama smile! Does your heart melt like mine when your little one smiles???

Operation Clean-Out the Closet

Is a HUGE success! And it only took me two days...well, one day for the actual closet and a couple of hours of another day for the dresser drawers that are not inside my closet. Either way, a resounding success.

Would you like to see some pictures? Oh yeah, I was proud of myself so you know that I remembered to take some! Here's the overall picture...

Don't worry, I did go back and clean off the top of that dresser there in front of the window...even though those were NOT my clothes!

You think that it doesn't look that different??? Here, let's take a closer look, shall we? We can do some Before and After shots, ok? Here's the overall look Before...

Here's After...

A closer look at the Before pile o' shoes...

And After...

Was there a top shelf Before picture? Hmmm, nope, don't see one. Oh well, here's the after! And check out how much SPACE there is on my hanging clothes now...

Can you tell that I'm proud of myself or what?!?! I worked HARD! You can see the floor on my side of the closet...I got rid of clothes that I haven't worn since I moved in here, and those that I will never fit into again after two children...I neatly organized all of my PWA stuff, and like I said before all of this doesn't even cover what I did on my dresser drawers!

Mentioning getting rid of clothes, check out this mountain of clothes that I have set aside to donate!

Those stacks filled up two garbage bags. And here's a whole other stack of just maternity clothes!

They're in a different bag, because they're NOT going to the charity that's coming around collecting clothes next week. I also threw away 5 or 6 pairs of nasty shoes, and finally purged all my purses that I've been hanging onto like we women tend to do...I did shed a small tear over one of two of them!

But check out how many hangers I know have available to me...

Now, maybe I won't feel bad about doing that post-baby shopping, since I have somewhere to put it all!

I'm SO glad that it's done. So check that one off of my list of things-to-do with what's left of my maternity leave...on to the next challenge!

Breastfeeding 102

So I got a little carried away the other day with this post. Well, maybe not carried away, but I forgot to finish the story...

I mentioned during my research online that one link led to another link that led to another link as these things typically happen, but I forgot to mention that the last link that resounded to me with a majority of the "symptoms" that Jax and I were having during feedings wasn't about over-production of milk.

Yeah, I know - it's a major thing to leave out, the real culprit that I was working with! What I happened upon was a few articles about forceful let-down during feedings. Whether you have too much milk or just the right amount, if there's a lot of pressure behind those let-downs during feeding, you can experience painful let-downs that can also be difficult for your baby to feed from. Your milk can come out with such a "gush" or "spray" that it can be hard for your baby to keep up with it all - the volume of milk is too much for him/her to swallow, suck and breathe all at the same time. It's a lot for a little guy or gal to learn how to do!

So to help with this, you have a few options. You can pump a little bit out before you actually start feeding your baby so that the let-down portion of the feeding is over with before you let him/her latch on. (Typically the let-down process will only last for a minute or so, at least that's how it is for me.) That option didn't thrill me, since when our little guy wants to eat, he wants to EAT NOW! I just couldn't see dragging out the pump, pumping for a few minutes and the whole time he's screaming and hungry...you know? Especially during the midle of the night.

Another option is to allow your baby to latch onto your breast, and then simply remove him during the let-down process is over with and the volume of milk has reduced from a strong stream/spray to a normal volume. You can just express this milk into your burp rag or nearby towel if you have enough milk production to lose a minute or two. This is the option that I chose. Especially using the Medela nipple shields, they made it easy to see how fast the milk filled up the shield. So I would let him latch on and start feeding, then as soon as I felt the let-down process start, I pulled him off and caught the "overflow" into his burp rag. Yes, he cried while this happened, but luckily for me, my let-down process only lasted a minute or two. Once the volume slowed down, I would put him back on.

And since it was only on my left side, this option worked really well for me. The feeding times that I started on the right side, I wouldn't have to express during the let-down period, even when I switched to the left side. It was only necessary when I started on the left side. So this worked for us, and Jax got a lot better. A lot less fussy. He choked a lot less.

I also learned from my research that I was pumping too often. I was letting him feed, and then halfway between feedings, I would pump. That was a great and necessary thing when my milk was first coming in so that my milk supply/production got to the level that he needed for growth. But once the level was reached, pumping more frequently was only increasing my supply and he wasn't able to drain all that I was making during his feedings.

So that's another thing that I stopped doing. No more pumping between feedings. Simple. The really great news? Within two days my milk supply evened out, I was no longer in pain between feedings at night (when he would go past the 3 hour feeding mark) and we were better able to feed without fussing and choking by avoiding the let-down process.

And you know what? Once my milk supply evened out, the let-down process became manageable. For the last few days, I haven't had to take him off to avoid that minute or two. He's able to handle the flow of milk better now that there's not so much there for him to take in.

So see...I didn't really leave it all out, I just didn't finish the story. I'm still keeping the feeding journal, since we're still having spit up problems, but they're getting easier to deal with as I'm noticing patterns to that too through my journal.

The past two days he's been taking bottles of breastmilk only, to prepare him for starting day care next week when I won't be there to feed him myself. This is also to let me have a trial on pumping during the day while at work to see how I like it. He's been taking bottles (both breastmilk and formula) since birth, so I'm not really worried about making the transition between breastfeeding and bottle feeding...but I'm still my overly cautious self!

Did you have issues to deal with and/or learn about while you were breastfeeding? I'd love to hear about it!

One Month

Jax...you're one month old today. In some ways the time has just flown by and I can't believe that we've had you for a month already, and in other ways, it seems like you've always been here with us! Maybe that's the lack of sleep causing us to lose track of time as you've kept us hopping on our toes all month long!

But we're getting better...slowly but surely we're learning all of your signals. Which cries are for real, which ones are fake. Which ones mean "Feed Me!" and which ones mean "Change me, please!" and which ones just indicate a need to be held for a few minites. At first they all sounded the same, but you're teaching us each and we've really appreciated your patience with us while we're figuring you out. (That was sarcasm, in case you didn't get it..)

At one month old, you're really getting a handle on holding your head up all by yourself. I would say that you can hold up your head for about 30 seconds before you go all "floppy" on me again, and that's excellent progress! It helps with the burping...and your eyes aren't quite as cross-eyed as they used to be. You're starting to focus them in (without crossing them!) and you stare intently at nothing on the ceiling for long periods of time. You also stare at us, too. You follow voices with your eyes and since you can move your head so well, you follow with your head too...especially mommy's and daddy's voice. You are fascinated (it seems) with big brother and big sister. You stare at them very intently for long stretches, which is nice because it occupies you and gives mom and dad a much-needed break every once in a while.

You are starting to smile. On cue, and not from gas. We think that in the last week we've heard a laugh/chuckle or two out of you, but it's not quite so frequent to say that you're actually laughing. But you're getting there!

You have mastered the art of rolling onto your side. Especially to the right side. Which makes diaper changes even more challenging than they already were - dodging pee and all is SO much fun! You prefer to lay on your side now, but still sleep mostly on your back as I'm a little nervous about the side-sleeping thing. Since you can move your head so well, I probably shouldn't be, but that's how moms are...

Your digestive tract seems to have settled itself within the last week. You're still taking mainly breastmilk, and the diarrhea that plagued you (and us!) those first few weeks seems to be slowly going away. You're still dirty at most diaper changes, but it's a LOT less than it was, in both volume and messiness - sorry if that's TMI! And that's helping the constant diaper rash that you had the first few weeks of your life. Does that mean that nakey-nakey time on the front porch has to stop? Oh no, no, no - you LOVE being nakey-nakey outside and I wouldn't take that away from you for anything! So obviously we're still working on the focusing without crossing our eyes thing...maybe I shouldn't mark that skill down as "Mastered" quite yet...

You also love your bath time still, especially at the end after all the washing is done and mom/dad take you out of the infant sling and let you "float" in the water. That's your favorite thing!! (And no, he's not really floating, we're holding him in the water, just allowing him to move around freely in it...we're not just seeing if he can swim.)

You've finally got your days and nights fixed it seems...for the most part. You still like to act up once in a while and not sleep one night here and there, but that's normal too. You're sleeping 4-5 hours at a time now, which we really appreciate. Now, if you could just stop with the grunting and groaning sounds...they're SUPER loud and wake us up still during that last hour before you actually wake up. Mainly because we think that they're a signal that you're about to wake up and so we get ready to get up...then come to find out, you're just squirming around and making noise while you're sound asleep! Let's work on NOT doing that, ok? Thanks! I think that he's thinking "Whatever, crazy lady!"

You're eating 3.5 ounces right now during the day, every three hours. And I've started slipping you a full 4 ounces in the bottle that daddy feeds you before bedtime...maybe that's helping you sleep better, huh? A full belly! You're still taking mainly breastmilk, but I've got three or four types of formula on standby awaiting my decision about whether to continue breastfeeding or not within the next week or two. The past few days I've noticed a change in my milk production, so it may be decided for me...who knows? All I know is that you're growing well...some of the newborn size clothes are getting too tight across your belly, so I know that you're being well-fed for now!

You're just too cute for words...but then again, I'm biased. You are a blessing to us...even on those hard days/nights. We wouldn't trade you for anything, and we're just so excited to see more and more of your personality show itself during these next few months!

Love you, baby boy!