Monday, February 29, 2016

Why I won't watch The Bachelor

1.
Well, this one is pretty necessary - we don't have cable/satellite.

Sure, we Netflix and check out shows on their websites, but TV doesn't 'happen' at our house.

2.
It goes against my morals and convictions.

HOW can we, in this day and age, be OK with a grown man 'dating' so many women at once?  We applaud him for kissing and/or having sex with these girls, yet get pissed when men in our real lives attempt to do the same.

Double standards much?

3.
It's so fake, it hurts.

It actually hurts to watch Reality TV.  Fake drama, fake situations, real stupidity.

4.
I don't like being tied to having to watch something at a designated time.  

Not having the ability to record shows means I check them out at later dates online.  Sometimes I watch entire seasons a year later.  I like not being tied to the TV.  It's a brain drain.

5.
#wiggydiggy doesn't have screen time.

Now, J and I were fighting a head cold this weekend so he spent most of his weekend on the couch watching a documentary.  #wiggydiggy did end up on his lap a few times, but he was more interested in Dad's snacks and the remote.  We try very hard to keep the TV and tablets turned off during the day, but with two sick parents, we struggled through best we could.  
I crawl into bed shortly after #wiggydiggy goes down (around 7/730) and watch an episode or two of West Wing on Netflix, but that's it!  During the day it's play time and lots of interaction.

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Thursday, February 25, 2016

The Man's Shelves

Once we started the shelves in the living room, I was bitten by the project bug and started in on J to get his "Man Room" (aka the Family Room) done too.




J  headed to Home Depot (the mother land) and ended up coming up with a different way to hang the shelves, thanks to an awesome tip from our favorite HD Employee.

A few hours later one weekend and the install was done!  I was left to stain.  Which - WHY DO WE DO THIS IN WINTER?!  Always winter?!  The dang stain took almost a week to fully dry.  J came up with the brilliant idea of the blanket rack and now this wall is almost done!

There is some painting I have to do over patchwork....it'll be done this weekend.



We still need to trim out the family room and install our new wireless speakers.  Also, we have quite a few items that need to be hung, but we haven't made it back to this room since the shelves went up.  I think I'll have to remedy that once warmer weather hits.



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Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Laundry Room Refresh

While we were waiting on the second set of closet doors to arrive, J decided that it would take no time at all to update the laundry room cabinets.

We took down the brown cabinetry (which J will use in the garage) and quick painted the wall to match the existing room.  I really loved this inspiration from Pinterest:

We picked up standard white cabinets from Home Depot and the hardware from Lowe's.  After building the shelves in the family room, I really liked the idea of using pipes for the hanging rack and adding in a shelf above the water valves.
Before we added the hanging rack and shelf



The finished product took a few hours to complete and really brightened the space up!  Laundry is easily one of my favorite chores and now I really love my laundry space.

I'm currently debating if I want a sign or print to put on the opposite wall; or if I want to put a drying rack up.




We are planning on replacing our backdoor this spring.  I have a bit of patchwork to do on the wall but I'm waiting for warmer weather so I can keep the back door open to speed up the process.


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Thursday, February 18, 2016

Our Breastfeeding Journey

**Warning - Nursing Pictures Included**

When you were born, the nurses put you directly on my chest and that's where you stayed for a few hours.  You showed no interest in latching, instead you just stared up at me and we were lost in each others eyes.


Throughout our hospital stay, you nursed a few times.  Each time resulted in dirty diapers (both kinds) and I was confidant you were doing just fine.  You never cried and you slept lots.  You slept so much the nurses were constantly insisting I wake you up and make you try to nurse.  You, my sleepy headed love bug, did not like being woke up and having a boob shoved in your face.  

After 24 hours, your father and I were DONE with the hospital and the lack of support from the lactation consultants.  At home, we did ok.  The first night was a bit rough because you had a shallow latch and wouldn't stay on very long.  After working with you for 24 hours on my own, I called an in house lactation consultant to come help us figure out what to do.  She was an angel.  For over an hour she taught your father and I better ways to hold you and how to help you get the best latch.  You nursed for over 30 minutes!  I was AMAZED.  The next day...BAM.  My milk came in.  I counted my lucky stars we called for help when we did.  You and I struggled with your latch over the next two weeks until you grew enough that you were able to latch on without any of my fancy maneuvers :)  

However - nipple sensitivity is REAL and it HURTS and lanolin was my best friend in the beginning.  By the time you grew enough to latch without help, it suddenly wasn't hurting either.  I was so proud that I persevered through the initial stages.  My goal all along was to nurse to 1 year, maybe longer if you still wanted to nurse in the morning or at night.  Each month that went by was a success in my book!

The day we brought you home, I brought out my pump.  I knew that I was going back to work and I wanted to have a few days worth of milk frozen; as well be comfortable with the pump.  This may have been a little overzealous - turns out I am an over producer.  I was able to pump enough milk to constitute us to buy a deep freezer to store it in!  At the highest point, I had 6 diaper boxes packed full of frozen milk (you were about 5 months old).  When you hit 6 months old, I began to taper off my pumping since we had so much frozen that I wasn't needing to keep up.  I dropped a pumping during the day and was still pumping more than you drank in a bottle at daycare.



We never had an issue with "nipple confusion".  You took a pacifier within your first week (from Dad, I didn't want to give you one at all) and still nursed great.  After you and I had nursing down pat, I wanted you to be comfortable with a bottle as well.  I didn't want you to struggle at daycare because of bottle issues.  The trick to getting you to take a bottle was Dad.  You would gobble up your milk if I was in another room pumping.

You and I have had a wonderful nursing experience.  Only once did I start to get a clogged duct, I immediately put heat on it and nursed you on the same side for a whole day (while pumping the other side) and the clog went away.

I'm grateful your daycare was right across the street.  I was able to nurse you every day at lunch and as soon as we get home.  For a while, you stopped getting bottles at daycare because I was there instead!
Napping post Nursing

I had a moment of fear/anxiety right before Thanksgiving.  When I cleaned out the fridge freezer and went to organize the deep freezer, I realized that there was only 1 box half-full of milk left.  For two days I was stressed thinking how we were going to get the milk to stretch out two more months.  Then it hit me - two WEEKS, not MONTHS!  You were two weeks from turning one!  Right then and there I started mixing some whole milk into some bottles.  You already loved yogurt and cheese, why hold off two more weeks of milk?

And....you hated it.  Right then and there you started hating bottles and reusing to take one.  You hadn't taken a bottle in a few weeks and you were only nursing at night and in the morning, so we began to put milk in a sippy cup.

Within a few days of your first birthday, you started sleeping past your morning nursing session so we stopped.  I was sad and grateful that we were still nursing at night, but you still struggled with cows' milk.  Daycare offered it to you all day long and sometimes you would refuse to drink until you had water.  Over the next few weeks you started nursing for a shorter period of time at night and the week of January 24th, you started to 'play' with me instead of nursing.  My dear lovebug, it wasn't fun for mom :(  So Tuesday January 26th I told your Dad that we had just nursed for the last time.  The next night you took almost two extra hours to fall asleep.  You were happy and calm, just not sleeping!  Your poor Dad was more stressed about you not nursing before sleep than you were.  Haha.

That Friday, the 29th, we nursed officially for the very last time.  You had a rough day (molars were starting to come in) and I was so upset we were done nursing that we snuggled up in your rocking chair and I nursed you to sleep.  After that night you weren't really interested anymore!  Bedtime routine went seamlessly and only twice in one month did you try to latch on for a quick snack.  And both times you looked up at me in annoyance and walked off to find your sippy cup!  Haha.

The past 14 months nursing you were the most enjoyable.  I loved every minute of it with you (pumping, not so much.)  If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a minute.




Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Laughing at Myself

Last Monday I was so proud of myself.   I had three posts all written and ready to go - I scheduled them and EVERYTHING!  Only.....I forgot to hit Publish when I was all done!

Hahahah.  So all last week I was positive my posts went up and I didn't even bother to check until this weekend while we were out of town.

So now I'm proof reading and editing all of my post from last week so that they can go up in the next few days.  Such a goober!  Haha.

But in the meantime; I hope you had a lovely long weekend and an easy work week.

My Valentine's


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Friday, February 5, 2016

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday Folks!

Work has slowed down (hallelujah!) and I'm finally feeling like I can balance everything that is going on.  Which is ironic considering we are doing twice as much as before!  Haha.

1.
#wiggydiggy is in swim lessons!

At first J laughed at me and asked repeatedly "Why?".  My answer has been the same.  I want him comfortable in large bodies of water.  With a boat and access all summer to a pool, he needs to know what to expect.  Turns out, Dad loves the lessons as much as he does! #winning

2.
 My birthday was on the 30th.  It.  Was.  Wonderful.  So great, only a single picture was taken!
Birthday gift!  New Converse

Breakfast was at a delicious crepe place downtown, we stopped at Starbucks for my Birthday drink (a Venti of course) and then walked around the Boat Show for a bit.  Afternoon was a family nap and then I headed off to meet a girl friend for a mani/shopping date.  I also cashed in my free Redbox movie and picked up sushi for myself.  I don't think I stopped smiling all day.

3.
I'm on a major purge at home.  There are closets that haven't been touched since we moved in three years ago.  I want it gone.  All gone.  Stop by Goodwill off Montana St this weekend to see our goodies!

4.
Haircut time!

The ends were just too....blah.  I needed to hit the refresh button.

5.
The lil guy is cutting his molars :(  We lucked out with his first 8 teeth, but not the pain is heartbreaking.
So we are spending lots of time cuddling and letting him use his paci during they day.
I already had to throw one away because he chewed a hole in it!



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Thursday, February 4, 2016

Visits with Santa

For #wiggydiggy's first visits with Santa, I'd say they went pretty expected.  However, Daddy dressed up like Santa for daycare's Santa day - that turned out better than expected (in a 'we laugh at it now' kind of way)

Santa visit at the Club: 
All other photos on Santa's lap are blurry - because the lil man was adamant about being far away from the Jolly Man in Red.  I didn't want to torture him.


The candy cane afterward was totally worth it.  Right?

Santa at Daycare
*Santa is Daddy*






My favorite Santa!







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Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Christmas

For our 1 year old, I asked for only 1 gift.  But you know grandparents - they spoil :)

Our one gift was the Anywhere Chair from PBK.  This is by far his favorite gift and everyday he will toddle as quickly as he can over to his chair to sit and look out the window.  I have a feeling this chair will be a fixture in our living room for years to come :)



We spent the morning at home, just the three of us.  I made a big and delicious breakfast then we sat around the living room opening presents.  I wrote out some thank you notes before we got ready to head over to my in-law's for Christmas dinner and more presents.




With 5 grandchildren, chaos is an understatement!  At #wiggydiggy's nap time we headed home (just a few blocks away) for a family nap.  We returned about 2 hours later for a light dinner and some more family time.











I love this family of mine.





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