4 New Posts

Make sure you scroll all the way down...

I posted 4 posts today just FULL of awesome pictures. These posts I had backed up waiting for time to upload all the pictures that I wanted to add. If you don't scroll down, you will miss them.

Enjoy! :)

Halloween Parades ... Past and Present!

Today we participated in the annual Halloween parade that my hometown throws every year. We have been doing it for the last 3 years and just couldn't miss it, especially since the weather so freaking gorgeous today. It was in the upper 60's, maybe even the 70's. It was awesome.

Here is the run down of all the costumes the Kid has been to date:

1st: (3 months) He was a Dalmatian puppy that I made from scratch ... This was the only year we weren't in the parade. And this was the year before I had my digital camera...so I had to scan it in from a picture I have in a frame.

How much does the Baby look JUST like him?!?!

2nd: (1 Year, 3 months) I was a butterfly and the Kid was a bumble bee. I loved that costume. He even had wings. I bought silver angel wings and painted where the silver sparkles were black and covered the paint with gold sparkles before it dried. I pulled him in his wagon that was decorated with fall colored flowers. He won 2nd place in his age group for that one!

3rd: (2 Years, 3 months)I was a witch and he was my black cat. I decorated his wagon to look like a broom that he was sitting on. We didn't win anything, but it was so fun!

This was at a Halloween party. I didn't get a good picture of me at the parade. It was too cold and windy. My wig and hat kept flying off.

4th: (last year- 3 Years, 3 months) He was a knight in shining armor and his buddy was a dragon. We didn't plan that one at all! My friend decorated her wagon to look like a castle. They looked great!

This year: (Kid- 4 years, 3 months. Baby- 1 month) The Baby is a little pumpkin, I am an Indian with my little papoose pumpkin baby and the Kid is a cowboy. No wagon decorating this year, but I got a lot of "Is that a real baby in there??" LOL! And I actually had one woman tell me that I should have the Baby inside where it was warm! huh?? He was quite cozy and warm in my Hotsling.

Just got my litle pumpkin dressed and I got an adorable little smile.

That darn horse head he has had since his first Christmas. It bit the dust today. The head detached from the pole.

The Kid and his "Stinker" buddy...His buddy won 2nd place in his age group. (They are a year apart and in different age groups some years.)

I have NO idea what he is doing in that picture.

I know Pocahontas had a cool set of Maui Jim shades and Uggs. The view looking into my papoose. He slept the whole 2 hours!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Ride 'Em Cowboy!

Today we went to a really nice little fall festival at the local convalescent center (old person's home.) They love to see all the little kids. I am sure many of them don't have family that visits and an occasional visit from kids just brightens their day. When the Kid was little we used to go to one that my Aunt works at every month. She is the activity director and she'd bring them all to the common room and the Kid would just sit in the middle of the room and play with whatever toy I brought for him. They got such a kick out of him.

This fair had a costume contest...so he was all decked out in his cowboy costume. He didn't win anything, but he still had a blast.

First he went on the pony rides...so fitting for the Sheriff

Then there was a petting zoo. And we checked out the ducks...

...and fed the goats

It was a nice day, but was really windy and started to rain while we were there. We went inside and the Kid decorated a pumpkin with stickers, trick or treated around the room, got a bat painted on his hand, got a sword made out of a balloon and had a hot dog, cookie and juice box. All for free. It was so nice. I had the baby in the Baby Bjorn, it is so nice to have hands free. :)

Hay Ride

Yesterday we went on a hayride with a bunch of friends that we haven't seen in a long time. Mostly because we moved about a half an hour away from them all last February, but also since I was hibernating the last week or so of pregnancy and of course the last 4 weeks of the Baby's life.

The Kid picked a perfect pumpkin.

It was so wonderful to see them all again. It was the Baby's first hayride, and the Kid's 3rd year going to this same one.

Even Elmo and Shrek were there too!

Yep, we are back out doing things all the time again! The weather has been too nice just to sit in with a newborn. And how do you really stay in when you have a 4 year old at home. That just isn't fair to him to miss out on everything in such a fun season, just because he has a baby brother, right?

Just wait until my posts for the weekend. I know I am really posting 4 posts in a day and past dating them...I have had these posts written, but I was waiting on time to upload the pictures.

1 Month Old

It seems surreal that my little baby is already one month old. These last 4 weeks seemed to last forever, yet they went so fast. Our nursing is doing much much better since he had his tongue clipped. I am so relieved about that. I had many nights crying, feeling guilty that I wouldn't be able to give him all goodness that I was able to give to his brother. And I was hoping I wouldn't have to pump full time. I felt so detached when I had to leave the room and go pump just to give him a bottle. It was so time consuming. But that is all over. Now, I just give a bottle occasionally because I want to not because I am in so much pain that I have to. Now it's for my own piece of mind and to sleep and for Hubby to have the baby for a while.

I went over to my pediatrician's office to weigh and measure the Baby. I checked out the Kid's baby book.... this is too weird.

The Baby (@ 1 mo, 1 day old) 8 lbs. 6 oz. 20 1/2 in.
The Kid (@ 1 mo, 3 days old) 8 lbs. 6 oz. 20 3/4 in.

I can't even remember the Kid being that small anymore. It goes so quick.

First Smile

This is the first smile that I was able to catch on camera. He had a few smiles last week. I am so glad one was for my grandmother. She and my grandfather left for Florida yesterday morning and we miss them already.
These are from my phone since I was sitting trying to nurse and he was smiling at me. He knew what was coming...

The Kid is all better. He woke up Friday with no fever, and the spots in his mouth were gone by Saturday. He went back to school today, and the baby *knock wood* never got sick. I think it's going to be a long night tonight. The baby has been napping all day with a brief break to eat now and then. I can't believe tomorrow will be 4 weeks already! We'll be going on our first hayride on Thursday. Can't wait!

When it rains...

It really pours.

So the Baby had his tongue clipped on Monday. It was horrible. I cried the whole time, but the Baby was just fine. He was given stuff under his tongue to numb it, so he really didn't feel a thing. It was the doctor holding his mouth open so he could actually clip the frenulum that made he cry. As soon as he was done, he stopped crying.

He was 3 weeks old yesterday. He is latching on a bit better. But the damage was done. I am still so sore, so it still hurts. But not as bad as it did...if he gives me a break and naps. This Baby is just cat napping and wanting to nurse SO often now.


On to the pouring part... yesterday when the Baby finally took a 2 hour nap and I was able to lie down for about an hour and get some rest. The Kid was watching TV in the living room. I woke up to him crying. I called his name but he didn't come into the bedroom, so I went out to him. I found him in the foyer with his pants around his ankles, crying because he had wet his pants. I went to hug him and he felt all warm. I got him in a shower to rinse off and cool off and then took his temp and it was 101.7. Later last night I took it again and it was 102.7. He didn't even remember me giving him a shower when I told Hubby when he got home from work. He was so delirious from the fever. We gave him some Motrin and hoped after a good nights sleep he'd be better in the morning.

Well, today he sounded like he was talking with a mouth full of saliva or like he just got out of the dentist and was slurring a little or something like that and still had a fever over 102. So I looked into his mouth and he had red spots in his mouth. So off to the doctor again. Even though the doctor took a strep test to see if he'd need antibiotics, it was exactly what I feared. The Kid has Coxsakie virus (Hand,Foot Mouth Disease). Friken wonderful. Luckily the spots in his mouth don't seem to be bothering him at all, I am hoping it stays that way and PRAYING that the Baby doesn't get it too.

Who needs help?

I DID!

I was talking to a neighbor of mine about my nursing problems. She said she had the same problems with her son, who is also 4 like the Kid. But she didn't know why until she brought him to the dentist at 3 years old. She ended up quiting nursing at 6 weeks because the pain was too much for her. It turned out the dentist found that he had a short frenulum...also called a tongue tie.

I told Hubby about it and he remembered that one of his best friend's kid had that AND had it clipped. And another friend of mine said her son has a slight one, but not enough to be clipped. I never heard of that before and now in 2 days I knew of 3 kids that had it, so I started to do a little research online. It turns out that we have MOST of the signs of a short frenulum; pain throughout the nursing session, the frenulum (the little piece of skin under your tongue that holds it down) is really close to the tip, there is a small indent in the tip of his tongue, a white line across my nipple from where he was trying to nurse, but actually biting...the list goes on and on.

I knew from day one that something didn't feel right...but I, thinking I am an "expert" breast feeder and breast fed the Kid for 19 1/2 months, figured we could work through it and he'd learn how to latch better. Well, it wasn't the poor baby's fault, or mine. He couldn't get his poor little tongue over those bottom gums to nurse correctly so he really was just biting me.

I've been pumping around the clock to keep my supply up and to let the girls heal and to give him my milk and not have to supplement so much, so hopefully after our appointment at the ENT (Ears/Nose/Throat) doctor today the frenulum will be clipped (they do it right in the office for babies) and we can start re-learning how to nurse together.

I have been so heart broken thinking that I wouldn't be able to nurse my baby for the first year of his life. I was not enjoying leaving the room and sitting attached to a pump for 20 minutes at a time every 3-4 hours. I enjoyed nursing so much with the Kid and I didn't want to 'short change' the Baby. Plus...the economy being the way it is, I was just cringing at the thought of having to buy formula for the next year. Breast feeding is an unbelievable savings.

I guess the moral of my story is...even if you think you know what you are doing. Don't be too proud to ask for a little help. If I had gotten a little more help and actually told the lactation consultant at the hospital I thought something wasn't right instead of telling her about my over 19 months experience and that we'd work through it, this may have been taken care of in the hospital and I could have saved a lot of tears.

LLL

Ooops, I forgot to link to LLL - Le Leche League. It's an international breast feeding support group.

To some they are a little extreme, but I went for a while before and after I had the Kid and it was a great support system and you can take out of it what you need and I never felt uncomfortable. I actually still have a very good friend that I met at a meeting over 5 years ago, she is now on her 3rd baby and her oldest daughter is good friends with my Kid.



I wanted to post a disclaimer about my walking last week! LOL! I was walking rrrrrreeeeeeeaaaaalllllyyyyy slow. Plus we stopped half way so the Kid could play on the rocks at the beach with Hubby and I sat and watched from the benches. Thanks for all the awe, but it really wasn't much. And the next day I walked about 20 min, slowly, and was beat. I haven't walked since. But plan to get into some sort of routine soon. I didn't want you guys thinking I was power walking 1 week post partum! ;)

Pump It Up

Well, today is Hubby's first day back to work. I am not completely by myself, my grandmother came with me to drop the Kid off at school so I didn't have to carry the car seat down the stairs to drop him off. (She sat with the baby in the car.)
But, Hubby will be taking off tomorrow anyway! LOL! He has 2 guys coming to work upstairs and he wants to be here, plus he takes the Kid to his woodworking class. Then he is off again for 5 days starting Wednesday. :) There are some perks married to a cop with a nice schedule. But....my grandparents are going back to Florida on Saturday the 18th and of course Hubby will be working M-F the next week, so I really WILL be on my own.

My nipples feel like they are going to fall off. Baby and I have been having nursing/latching issues. So I have been pumping as much as I can to give them a break from what I like to call the baby jaws of death....serious tears here people. He is sleeping now, and instead of napping I have to go pump. Sucks. I am going to a LLL meeting on Wed, so I am hoping to get a little help before I have to call in a lactation consultant (at $150-$200 an HOUR!) I am hoping to get some help at LLL for FREE. I think it's his little tongue not coming out and covering his bottom gums and he is squeezing with his 'teeth'. I am NOT ready to quit.
He even slept from 9pm until 5:30 this morning (in his car seat - we were at my mom's last night) and that still wasn't enough rest for the nips. ugh.

Well, that's my quickie update of the week! ;)

Off to pump for this sweet little face...

2 weeks old

I wish I could use my brain and form some complete thoughts and have the time to come on here at least every other day and give updates on how we are doing...but for those of you that have had a newborn in your home pretty much know how we are doing. He's eating, peeing, pooping, sleeping and crying. Yep, that pretty much it. So I am at least going to try to post here once a week.

2 weeks old

Still sleeping at 9AM this morning!

(And still has quite a cone head!)

If I had written something yesterday I would have told you how freaking exhausted I was. I only got 4 hours of sleep and one of those hours was sitting up on the chair after nursing and still holding the baby. Funny how you just know not to move and drop the baby. I did that SO many times with the Kid. (Not the dropping, just the sleeping in the chair.)

But last night changed that. I pumped about 2 oz for Hubby to give the Baby at around 9PM. Then he got him to sleep and the Baby didn't wake up until THREE AM! Wow. That was a nice stretch of sleep! So I got up and nursed the Baby and put him back down and it's now around 8:50 AM and he is STILL sleeping!! I know it's a fluke and tonight he will be back to feeding every 2 hours. I have no delusions that the Baby will be sleeping in 6 hour stretches again any time soon! LOL!

The Kid went to the Safari at Great Adventure with my MIL and SIL on Sunday. It was a nice quiet day here at the house. Of course, I wasn't able to nap. Every time I put the Baby down I had to clean up. We had my mom, step-dad, MIL, FIL and my grandparents here for dinner. All I had to do was clean up our stuff. My grandmother did all the cooking. They are leaving for Florida in a couple weeks and wanted to have a nice Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner since they won't see us until May, unless we go down there and visit during the winter.

On Saturday's the Kid is going to a kid's woodworking class with daddy. It is some nice bonding time for them and some quiet time for me. He has been an awesome big brother!!

Covered in paint from class.

And I have finished a post and it's 9:20...and the Baby is STILL sleeping, even though I went and took that picture of him at 9am and he flinched at the flash but still didn't wake up. My milk machines are starting to get full and sore!!

1 Week Old

That's the Hubby and the Kid walking onto the beach in the background.

It's been a week. It seems like a year...but he's still so tiny.

Monday we went on our first outing to...where else? The beach! I walked about 40 minutes and felt great. The Kid was riding on his tricycle while daddy was chasing him. It was such a nice day.
And then yesterday we went to the boardwalk and the Kid got to go to the aquarium with daddy and my MIL. I went for another walk.

I am beat. The Baby has been up all night the last 2 nights. The poor thing has been nursing non-stop and has only pooped twice since we've been home. And once was just meconium. The last time he pooped was Sunday around 6pm. The doctor has been keeping a close eye on him and as of yesterday he had gained 2 oz since last Friday's appointment. So that's good. I am just praying for poop....soon. On the plus side I was able to pump one side for less than 5 min and got 3 oz. so I know there is milk in there! LOL! Now I can save that for daddy to give tonight so I can get a little more than 2 hours sleep.

He is falling asleep in my arms....the Kid is in school...gotta go put him down and get some shut eye.