Big things coming....

It's been quite around here lately but for good reason. We're all on the mend now from the sickness that took over the house plus I've been working on something new for A Little Kloep! Hopefully I can get things situated, tested and ready for a big debut later this week. Until then things will probably remain quiet because these changes are taking up most of my evenings leaving little time to actually write blog posts.

Anywho...hold your horses, this is gonna be big...haha..

Books...books...books...

During my elementary school days I was the queen of BOOK IT!.  Each month you'd have a goal to reach - be it number of books, number of pages, time spent reading etc...and when you reached it  (as verified by your parents of course) your teacher would give you a reading certificate that you could exchange for a personal pan pizza at PizzaHut!  It never hurts that pizza was involved but for me, while pizza was nice, I was jones'n for those stars for on my cool arse hologram pin! I think I filled four or five pins during my elementary school days. And I ALWAY wore it proudly on my jean jacket (along side my dinner plate sized Donnie Wahlberg pin).   I'm actually glad to see that the program still exists and I hope that it continues to exist when Noah is old enough to read.

For now, I want to instill in him the same love for reading that I had.  A generous gift from my co-workers enabled me to just about buy out Amazon and their book section! I grabbed a few of my all time favorites (Where the Wild things Are, Tiki Tiki Tembo, Ferdinand the bull) along with a few of the newer published books (Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, Pickles to Pittsburgh)

Photo Credit Amazon

What were some of your favorites growing up??

3 months old!

So here we are - 3 months old!  My little Noey is growing up soo fast!  We did our monthly photo shoot this AM and I love love love that he's starting to be more responsive and actually smile when I ask him to (or rather coo and make funny high pitched noises until he smiles).

So, here's the recap:

- We're all getting more sleep!  He goes down around 7 or 8 and is up around 4am to eat then down again until 7 or 8 on most days (this is a relatively new development - normally he's up at 1am, 5am, 8am
- during the day he's eating 4 - 5 oz every 3-4 hours (we're up to 30-32oz a day!)
- he started daycare a few weeks ago and so far so good.  He seems to be thriving.
- he's figured out a few of his toys - if he bats long enough he gets them to flop and make noise.  It's pretty consistent now
- he smiles at everything - the walls, the drapes, other people (women especially - he has every woman in a 10 yard radius of him wrapped around his chubby little fingers almost instantly)
- he holds weight on his legs pretty well.  He'd rather be standing than anything these days. When he's on his back he's just kick kick kicking those little legs.
- still very much loves his baths and actually tolerates diaper changes pretty well.
- he's obsessed with his hands.  He plays with them, clasps them, stares at them and tries to fit both of them in his mouth at the same time.  Now and again he'll manage to get his thumb in but he'd rather just his fist.
- is in size 1 disposables although we're not using a ton as we've switched to cloth!
- he's on the tail end of his 0-3 month clothes and fits most of his 3 and 3-6 stuff.  I tend to size up on the pants due to the bulk of the cloth.

We didn't have a dr's appt for a well check up but did end up there for a sick visit (clogged tear duct) and found out that he's 13.5 lbs.  He soooo doesn't look like he weighs 13.5 lbs...

I calibrated my monitor and I'm not sure I like it...he looks green in all my pictures....I'm hoping he looks normal to everyone else.

The diaper question...

Before Noah was born I went thru all my options for diapering.  I'd always liked the idea of cloth diapers because for every diaper I reused, that was another that was kept out of the landfill. However I just couldn't get over having to put poop into my washing machine and without a utility basin that's basically what I'd be doing.  So, when I found gDiapers I thought I'd struck gold!  The gDiaper is a hybrid system with biodegradable disposable inserts and the reusable outter shells (i've blogged about them here, here, and here).  I really like them because they were the best of both worlds. However, after using them for a while I've found that for the work involved I think I'm just as well off doing full cloth.  Don't get me wrong, I like my g's (once they fit Noah) but for poopy diapers I had to rinse out and then wash the liner anyways so why not just go full cloth and keep everything out of the landfill (plus I finally got over poop..)!

Off again I went to research what type of cloth I wanted.  I wanted something easy like a disposable so that hubs would buy in and that we could get our daycare to use.  Lucky for me cloth diapering has come a long way from the days of my parents!  There are a plethora of choices ranging from All-in-ones (AIOs) that have an outer shell and absorbent center all sewn together to traditional cloth diapers with covers, wool soakers, and the like.  Since I was looking for something simple the AIO's appealed to me a lot.  However, I read that they don't withstand the test of time because the waterproof outer cover wears out over time and you can't replace it.  Enter another hybrid called a pocket diaper!  It consists of a waterproof outer cover that has a pocket in it where a super absorbent soaker is inserted to catch the liquids and what not. 

Most cloth diapering mammas recommend a combination of systems depending on the situation (night time vs. day time, day care vs. home care etc...). However, since I'm just trying this out and haven't yet committed to all cloth diapering I settled on the bumgenius one size option for now.  It's a pocket diaper that has adjustable snaps that "grow" with the baby so you only have to buy one set of diapers (unlike other cloth options where the covers are sized). You do have to "stuff" them but you can adjust the absorbency by adding more soakers.

Today was our first day using them and everything went well - although I discovered that it's really nice to have a wet bag instead of using the sink to store the rinsed out but still not clean diapers - off to diapers.com I go!  They are a bit bulkier than the gDiaper and certainly more bulky than a disposable but nothing to the point where I'm putting him in a size up clothes to accommodate.

They absorb just as well as our disposables and don't leak either (and Noah's a heavy wetter!)  I was a little concerned that it kept his skin damp but I supposed that the lack of chemicals that you find in disposables out weigh that point.

I know I have a few followers that are debating right now so I wanted to put this out there.  The upfront cost of cloth seems huge but if you consider the number of disposables you go thru in a lifetime you'll save yourself a ton of cash in the long run!  You can also build your stash slowly...like I bought 3 to start with and just ordered 5 more to add to the stash. I'll mix g's, cloths, and disposables as necessary.  Ideally I'd be using cloth only but there are situations that disposables are just plain easier.  I want to get to the point where we're primarily cloth and only using a disposable in an emergency (or a very long car ride:) ). 

Anyways, I've gone on long enough. You can be sure I'll continue to talk about this as we get deeper into it.  As for the resources I found when looking I found some great info  here , here, and here during my search.

Mission Monkey...

As a mom, reading the story below makes my heart break over and over again.  Putting myself in her shoes and trying to imagine what she's feeling right now is difficult and I'm sure what I can imagine is only 1000000th the pain that she's feeling today.

Let's support our fellow mommy and blogger today (and every day until they kick this cancers butt!).  Go to mypixiedreams.com to read on and to leave your support - this momma and her family really need it now!

And if you want to help with the hospital bills that they're surely going to face, use the clicky below to donate to Monkey!

Daycare Day 1....

The day I've been dreading since I first found out we were expecting has finally arrived - the first day at daycare.  Dropping Noah off was torture…I made it to the car before the tears started and managed to gather myself enough to drive home.  However, walking into my office where his swing and bouncy seat were staring me in the face finished me off and I ended up curled up on the bed crying.  Macie (our Viszla) was soo upset that I was upset and didn't know what to do with me. I wanted to cuddle with her and all she wanted to do was lick my face and ears. I guess that's her way of saying, "It's okay mom.  It will all be okay."  Have I mentioned how much I love my dog??

I managed to make it thru the day with only a few more teary episodes (an hour of boxing did wonders as it had my endorphins pumping for most of the afternoon) and was ready and waiting by the front door when DH pulled up with little Noey in tow!  He seemed none worse for the wear and his daily report was wonderful.  He napped when he should have napped and ate like a champ at just the right times (guess we were on more of a schedule than I thought).  He did seem exhausted - guess there's lots going on at daycare.  So, we wrapped up his day with a quick walk, a nice bath, a bottle and some cuddle time (I just couldn't bear to put him in his crib even though he was fast asleep on my chest).  I finally put him down around 8:30 and he was out until 1am.

People say you don't know love until you have a child and all childless people think, "um ya...okay...that's crazy" (i know i did) but boy was I wrong.  I know I love my husband with all my heart and I don't want to diminish because without him I'd not be me.  But my love for Noah exceeds anything I ever thought was possible.  It's a different kind of love than what I feel for my husband.  Noah is my heart! Part of me out in the world and quite vulnerable.  This quote said it best:

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.  ~Elizabeth Stone

So, here's to day 1 of daycare having come and gone and we're all still sane and happy and hoping that day 2 goes better!

My First Mothers day, a birthday, and a baptism...

This weekend was quite a weekend in our house hold!  Not only did I get to celebrate my very first mothers day and turn 30, we also celebrated Noah's baptism!

Yes, we're a little nutz for trying to fit it all in but it was the perfect opportunity to have all the moms in one place for mothers day.  Our birthday was just a bonus (or rather curse I'd rather forget - the bug 3 OH!) Anywho...since there's no flash during the church service our brother in law had his work cut out for him with the pics.

Noah did okay during the baptism.  He was hungry and proceeded to snack on my shoulder the entire time we were up there (much to the amusement of the congregation).  He started to squawk until Pastor Paul held him up in the air - my son the attention seeker.  He immediatley stopped crying and started looking around (and then started crying again when he was handed back to me).

All in all it was a great weekend.  We spent lots of time with our families and enjoyed celebrating Noah.

Sooo..that's the secret...

So, from day one from the hospital Noah was a fairly pleasant baby.  He slept like a newborn should sleep and when he was awake he was alert and looking around.  However, at about 1 month he started to show his cranky side. Generally around 6:00pm he'd start fussing/crying and only calm down if he was being held.  He'd be like this until 9:30pm or sometimes 10:00pm at which he fell asleep but only for a few hours.  At that point we'd repeat the process - I was exhausted!

Now, we tried a number of things thinking it was gas - gas drops, new bottles, different formula and each had an impact but it was minimal.  So, being the ever loving, ever doting, my-child-is-perfect-in-his-own-way mom that I am I just accepted that he was going to be a grumpy baby and prepared myself accordingly (and reminded myself that this too shall pass). Until one day I was reading a book on sleep training (in preparation for the months to come when we'd set a routine and hopefully have a happy, protest free naptime and bedtime). 

The book suggested that no newborn/infant should go more than 2 hours without a nap of some sort (and some nap every hour).  I looked back at my babybix.com sleep charts and realized that Noah was going for 4 and 5 hours during the day time hours without a single nap and that I was putting him down waaay late.  Little man was only getting 12 hours a sleep a day (which apparently is not enough).  His cranking in the evenings had to do with him being uber tired and unable to soothe himself to sleep (and I likely didn't help what with my singing, dancing, and trying to get him to play with me all the time)

So, I started to watch more closely for his sleepy queues and at that point would try to wind him down into a nap.  It took a while to get it right and I still fight it here and there but it seems to be working.  DH has even commented on how pleasant he is in the evenings now.  Plus, he's sleeping longer at night! Now, that may just be maturity but it could also be the naps!

Who'da thunk that more sleep during the day ='s more sleep at night and a happier baby! 

Here's his schedule:

6am he's up for a bottle and then back down till 8 or sometimes 9.  Then generally he's napping every 2 - 3 hours for at least 30 min each (there's usually one longer nap in the AM or early mid day and sometimes a second in the afternoon.  If he misses that then we just cat nap thru the afternoon ever hour or two).  We start the bed time ritual by 7:00 and he's generally out like a light by 8:00.  There he sleeps until 11, wakes for a bottle and immediately goes back down.  Then, depending on how much he took in that 11:00 bottle he'll be down until 3 or so.  Last night he went from 1am to 5am before he woke up!

I'm sooo happy my pleasant baby is back!  Now, when he's away he's calm and usually smiley (unless he's hungry).  But as soon as he starts to zone out or rub his eyes we know it's time to wind him done and try for a nap!  Hopefully this continues thru our first days at daycare!!

Little Miss Macie...

I've mentioned her before plenty - Macie, our 2 year old Vizsla.  In fact, she's all I blogged about before Noah (on our Photography Blog). Seems silly to spend so much time documenting an animal but I'll contest that Macie is not just any animal.  She's one of the best dogs I've ever known (and I've known alot of dogs!).

Vizslas are known for their gentle nature, need-to-be-an-equal-member-of-the-family mentality, full-of-energy-please-exercise-me look, and this-is-my-baby-now protectiveness.  They're affectionately referred to as Velcro Vizslas because they must be with you at all times (if you don't want help going to the bathroom or showering ever again - don't get a V) and they forget that they're 40+lbs when they climb into your lap.  Macie's no exception!  She exhibits all the best qualities of  V and more:)

She follows you from room to room and then finds the softest comfiest spot to plop down and relax.  Often times that's an 8"x8" square pillow on our couch that she turns and turns until she finds a comfortable way to drop down.  If there is a pillow handy she's using it. If there's a blanket in the vicinity she's under it.  This dog is all about comfort.

More than that she's so laid back and what we all "pliable."  She will let you pick her up, man handle her, rearrange her, pull on her tail, pull on her ears, sit on her back whatever...she just takes it.  Sometimes you get the look like "are you done yet?" but most times she just lays there and waits for you to finish so she can snuggle in again and get comfy.

She has a borderline unhealthy obsession with tennis balls and will do anything for those mini carrots or a cheese cube.  She only eats when she's told, loves to cuddle in bed but only when you say it's okay, loves dogs more than she loves people and would be happy as a clam to spend her day chasing balls down at the field.  Her recall is not so great but add a tennis ball or the possibility at cheese and your odds at getting her to come to you increase dramatically!

At the end of a long day of playing all she wants to do is cuddle up next to her people and snooze.  If she can rest her head on your lap (or put herself fully in your lap) she's happiest. She appears to love Noah and plants the occasional kiss on him (although it's a mini kiss with just the tip of her tongue rather than a full out slurp) when we're not looking.  She's become fiercely protective and will bark at anyone that comes to the door  but she's more likely to cover you in kisses than bite you once you come in - don't tell the door to door solicitors that!

I gush about her and could probably go on for days but it's all because I realize how lucky we are to have a pup that loves everyone in our family and has taken to the new baby with grace and ease. 

Okay...I'm done being sappy about my dog now:)

My new reality,,,,

Back to work...

So Monday was my first day back to work.  I would say that I'm super sad and missing Noah but I can't  - YET.  See, hubsy is home now for two weeks with little man and since I work from home I can just walk downstairs and get my Noah fix any time I want.  I'm hoping this two week pd will allow me to ease into not seeing him 24 hours a day.  As much as I thought I would need a break from him after 9 straight weeks of Noah 24/7, I'm physically anxious when he's not here where I can see him anytime I please.

Case in point: Hubs took him to the store the other day and while I know he's perfectly safe with him and nothing is going to happen I was sooo anxious. Like hole in the pit of my stomach - couldn't concentrate - want to get in the car and drive to wherever they are to see him anxious.  And when he was back all I wanted to do was sit and stare at his beautiful little cheeks!  I just feel like I'm going to miss something while he's at daycare and that he'll become attached to our daycare provider instead of me.  I know these are totally irrational thoughts but that doesn't stop me from having them.

I keep running thru our budget and trying to arrange it so that I can just quit my job and stay with him for the next 9 - 12 months but no matter how I slice it it won't work.  We can either keep the house and eat or keep the house and have heat and electricity.  We can't have the house, eat and pay utilities off of one salary:(   And selling the house in this market is not a wise decision for us so...we're stuck.  Little man goes to daycare in just over a week and i'm a wreck about it.

Anyone know of any college kids in NoVa that want to nanny for cheap??:) 

My kids...

I always say that Macie is my first child - the 4 legged furry one with a significant speech impediment. She's been so amazing with Noah and the new living arrangement (not being the center of attention).  I couldn't have asked for a better dog!  The picture below took the coaxing on a carrot can do but it worked, she sat still enough to get a picture of my "kids":)

Dare I say it...

We had an almost 5 hour stretch of sleep last night!  We put Noah down at 9:00pm and he woke at 1am for a bottle then not again until 6am!  Now he's back down (it's 6:30am)!

Not going to jinx myself by saying those words (acronyms are okay though - STTN) but we may be on to something here!

 ETA:  nope...total fluke!  he was back to his old self last night!

Feedback time...

It's funny the things you think about at 5am when you should be sleeping or feeding a baby and are doing neither because by some stroke of luck your little one is actually sleeping longer than 2 hours at a stretch but unfortunately your internal clock missed the memo.

I was trying to think of topics for this blog that would interest people and make them want to come back again and again to read.  I know my life is oh so exciting and all but I think we need more substance around here...so...loyal readers (all 11 of you) the big question is:

"What makes you want to read a blog?"

What topics etc do you like to read about that I can potentially cover? 

Perhaps a rhetorical question....

What is it about being a new parent that renders you completely unable to hold a conversation where no less than 80% of it revolves around your child?  It's like someone flipped a switch the day he was born and you lost all ability to hold a adult conversation with nary the mention of  pee, poop, and how darn cute he is when he grunts.  You can't help it.  You try for an adult convo without the mention of the little one but somehow, somewhere he slips in. And like a crack in a dam, all it takes is one little mention to open the flood gates and take over the conversation.

Your poor non-child-rearing friends totally think you've lost your marbles (which you very well may have).  You watch as they slowly back out of the room at the first mention of grunting and as they run for the hills at the mention of poop.

Same goes for pregnancy - I think we all realize that non pregnant folks (aside from those that are looking to be pregnant soon) really don't care about your aches, pains, odd bodily functions, and what not.  However, that doesn't stop us from being unable to get thru one conversation without one mention of  the pregnancy.

So, non affected folks - cut us a break. There's something biological that forces us to say these things.  Haha

Disclaimer:  This blog is brought to you by 5AM insomnia when Noah is sleeping by I'm not (written out on a sheet of paper in the dark because I kept thinking I could fool my brain into going back to sleep if I kept the lights off...it worked - right about the time the sun was coming up).  It's not coming from any specific experience or situation but rather a realization I've come to over the last few weeks and is a recognition of my insanity:)

Saving for college...

Yup...Noah's not even 2 months old and we're already stressing about sending him to college in 18 odd years.  According to savingforcollege.com it will cost us upwards in  $300,000 to send Noah to private out of state college.  Make that an in-state public institution and we're only dropping just over $200,000 - ONLY $200k!  And that's assuming that he only goes for 4 years! Kids these days are taking 5 sometimes 6 years to complete school.  Ack!

DH and I would like to be in the position to pay for our child's education and know that we would like to have two kids so doing the math we're looking at a cool half million dollars (almost) to have saved up by the time they reach 18!  Um yea....anyone know how to grow a money tree? because I'm goign to need to grow a whole forest to afford that!

Enter the 529 plan.  Now, I'm still learning but here's what I've found out so far:

1.  There are two types of 529's - savings plans and prepaid. Prepaids sound like an interesting option because they essentially allow you to lock in a price today and continue to pay towards that.  However,  I'm noticing that not all prepaids allow you to pay for room and board with the funds.  They simply cover tuition.  This makes sense since you're essentially signing a contract to pay a certain amt for tuition and it's left to the institution to honor that price when the time comes.  They risk a chance that tuition will have increased more than they'd anticipated and will have to take a loss when your child starts school.  They can make that up with room and board to a large extent.

The savings plans are basically like your 401k plan. There's a risk that the market won't do well and the value of your savings fund will decrease or at least not maintain.  If tuition is inflating at 6% a year, you need to make sure you have a savings fun that makes at least that if not more otherwise you'll essentially be losing money.   The plus to a savings plan is that they funds can be used for tuition, room and board for an approved institution.

2.  Every state has at least one 529 plan but participation in a specific states plan does not mean you have to pick a school in that state.  So you can live in NC, purchase a VA savings plan and go to school in PA. 

3.  There are tax benefits to a 529 plan for most plans.  The earnings grow tax-deferred and distributions are tax-free when used for qualified post-secondary education costs. 

4.  You can enroll directly or go thru a broker.  The plans differ depending on how you enroll.  There are benefits to a broker because they can guide you thru the process and often times have plans available that don't exist to the general public.

Again, there's so much to learn about it so I'm going to dive back in and see what I can figure out.  There's a savings plan out of Nevada that looks great.  It's connected to Upromise and has options to grandparents or others to make gift deposits into the account.  

Once we select one, I'll do a follow up post to review the process and how easy/hard it was to establish the account.

The misadventure of a new mom..

Hubs keeps telling me that my mommy instincts have really kicked in and that I'm a natural with Noah...well, today I felt like anything but!  Mom's plan, they're prepared, they anticipate....I did none of that and that made for quite the adventure on our walk this AM. Now, I'm not going to take all the blame - hubs had a hand in this too...

It all started with hubs urging me to go for a walk and live it up these last few days on my maternity leave.  I mentioned to him that it was due to rain and while I'm perfectly okay walking in the rain, we had a baby to think about now when we go out.  He still pushed noting that we have umbrellas and rain coats that would keep things dry...so I gave in - a quick check of the weather and making note of where the rain was I figured we had a few hours to get out and back - plenty of time to get up to Starbucks and back before it started raining.  I did pack an umbrella, rain coat and our diaper bag (which was the extent of my planning).


The walk started out easy enough - it took me two tries to find the right path that would take us up the road without actually having to walk on the road (we're lucky to have a network of paths that traverse the flood basins which allow us to walk place to place with minimal time on actual roads).  Noah was awake but quiet.  A quick look at my watch I realized that he'd be wanting to eat in about an hour - mistake #1.  I should have waited to go until I can feed him to have the max amt of time possible out without having to take a break for food.  In my haste to try to beat the rain however, I overlooked this point which will come back to bite me later.

About 3/4 of the way up to Starbucks he started to fuss and I knew it was hunger setting in.  I checked the diaper bag only to find that I'd given my emergency water for making a bottle to hubs during church at Easter (Mistake #2 - didn't check the diaper bag for all the necessities).  I'd need to stop at the grocery store to get some bottled water to make a bottle. However, I was still 10 min out from the store.  So I started to high tail it as fast as possible replacing his binky every 100 feet because in his anger he kept spitting it out.  By the time I hit the grocery store Noah had hit code red and was wailing at the top of his lungs.  I pulled him out of his stroller and tried like heck to comfort him while I ran down the end caps at the store looking for the little fridge that had just plain water (they had everything else but..).  Last end cap had it and I made a bee line for check out.  I checked out, wailing baby in tow (and gathering sympathetic looks along the way), and walk as quickly as I can to Starbucks where they have chairs outside so I can get things situated.

It takes me hours longer than normal to assemble the bottle (at least that's what it felt like) but I finally had it all together.  A sympathetic Quiznos owner, thinking we were cold, offered to let Noah cry it out in his store:)  Having fed Noah, I popped into Starbucks for my Chai.  Noah was still cranky so I had to carry him - which meant abandoning the jogger outside.  A very nice gentleman offered to carry my drink since my arms were full (funny how a baby brings out kindness in just about everyone).  After all of this we were on our way only to have Noah freak out before I even got out of the plaza.

I couldn't think of what else to do so I picked him up and zipped him up in my coat so I could carry him easier.  This is how we started our way home.  That's also the same time the rain started.  It just started sprinkling but I knew it would pick up in no time so, with Noah nestled in my coat, I walked as quickly as I could (pushing an empty stroller) trying to make it back to the path and the cover of trees.  At that point Noah was asleep so I put him back in the stroller and covered it with my rain coat.

As the rain started to come down harder I pulled out the umbrella I'd packed and opened it up.  It took me about 10 min to figure out that it would actually be easier for me to wear the coat and to use the umbrella to cover Noah in the stroller - we must have looked like quite the sight!

Anywho...long story short (okay, long story longer) we made it home.  Noah was bone dry and warm while I was a bit soggy and starting to chill.  I learned a bunch of lessons on this walk:

1.  Always try to start out with a full belly
2.  Premake the bottle before you head out if you can
3.  Check the diaper bag to make sure you have all the essentials
4.  Don't assume anything will go as planned with an infant!


Bonus - I got to try out the music speakers on our jogging stroller!  While it doesn't make up for not having a BoB stroller, it certainly makes using that jogger much more fun and walks more pleasurable with a few tunes! 

Boobies = FAIL

I've always known that I wanted to breastfeed my children.  The benefits are just too great to ignore and if you can do it, why not?  So, as soon as he was born I asked the nurse to help us get latched and what not.  Noah was a natural!  He latched easily and seemed to get the hang of it pretty quickly - I was so happy!  This was going to be easy!  Then jaundice set in and we needed to supplement with formula to help him clear out the billirubin (in addition to the photo therapy lights).  I wasn't too happy with adding formula at first but you gotta do what you gotta do and it was what Noah needed to get better.  Turns out that he's as laid back and flexible as his mom! He moved from bottle to breast and back with no problems what so ever.

We were sent home and that's when the panic set in! My milk had not yet come in and he was still as yellow as a banana.  I didn't want the jaundice to return so we continued to supplement for the next few weeks until it just became habit.  It was easy.  I was comforted by being able to see the volume in the bottles disappear into his tummy and was reassured he was getting enough to eat. Thus begins our transition to exclusive pumping and bottle feeding.

In my early weeks as a new mom anything that I could do to regain some control over my life I was all for so, pumping it was.  I'd still nurse him at night but my day times were filled with a meeting with my pump every 2 hours yielding 4oz at best each session.  As he grew that simply was not enough to keep up with him.  I tried everything - fenugreek/milk thistle, gallons of water a day, nursing then pumping (holy time consuming), hot compresses, etc.  You name it, I likely tried it but in the end I was simply not able to keep up with my growing boy:(

So, ultimately I made it 7.5 weeks.  That's 7.5 weeks of my milk and antibodies that he may have not had otherwise.  It may not be 6 months or a year but it's something and I have to be happy with that.  In the end I really had a hard time giving up that last night time session but when I had to feed him and then finish with a bottle, the hour or more it took to get thru that process left little time for sleep before we had to do it all over again and with going back to work looming, I needed to find a night time pattern that worked for everyone.  And for us, that now means formula around the clock.


I'm still sad I couldn't go longer but I have to get over it and recognize that getting Noah what he needs to grow is more important.

Flashlight?

Today was my 6 week check up with the OB.  Everything's fine and dandy and I've been cleared for all activity - whoohoo....however, that's not what I wanted to post about.  While sitting waiting for the doc (and listening to all the office ladies oogle over Noah) I noticed that there was a flashlight on the counter top.  Now, lights are necessary in their line of work however, I expected something more high tech.  The flashlight was the type that you buy at the hardware store and keep in your kitchen drawer for when a storm knocks the lights out.  I really wonder when they choose to use that over the high powered gooseneck one next to the bed....hmph..

Family Pic!

Finally got a good pic of the family - our first one had us looking a bit haggard (DH in a bathrobe and me on about an hour of sleep:) ).  These are much better!:)