Saturday, June 26, 2010

Do you want to win an Ergo? Ends 6/30

Review Retreat and ERGObaby are offering one lucky Review Retreat reader a chance to win their very own ERGObaby carrier!

Review Retreat also gives a great review of her experience with the carrier.  I've never tried one so I have no input but she states in her review :  
"My only regret is that it has taken me so long to discover ERGObaby. Each time I wear my carrier, I think back to the many times I was stuck lugging around a baby carrier by hand, or carrying my hefty child only to be sore throughout the night and into morning. Now that summer is here, I plan to use my carrier on a regular basis. It is such a relief to have a hands-free, comfortable, convenient carrier for both my son and I."
For more information on the giveaway, please visit Review Retreat


GOOD LUCK!!



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Friday, June 25, 2010

My Journey into the World that is Extended and Tandem Breastfeeding



Back to the Beginning:
    In February of 2002, I gave birth to my first beautiful baby boy- Adam. I was just about 16 when I had him and I didn't know anyone who breastfed so I formula fed him.  It wasn't a matter of it being gross or choosing to formula feed, it was just that it didn't even cross my mind.  Sure, I knew what breasts were for and sure I leaked like crazy during my pregnancy so I knew I had milk, I was just so used to the "Babies drink milk from a bottle" mentality that it seriously never even crossed my milk to breastfeed him.  Interestingly enough, I can't for the life of me remember anyone at my OB/GYN's office or at the hospital asking me if I was going to breastfeed or bottle feed.  I really don't remember being given an option- but they brought my baby to me (after a long fight but that's another story altogether) and showed me where the little glass jars of formula where.  I guess it was just assumed that I would be formula feeding.

    6 weeks later though and I held my crying baby and I wasn't able to console him.  I got this overwhelming urge to put him to the breast.  Did I? No, sadly I did not.  There are a few reasons why- 1.) I thought it was too late, 2.) I didn't think I'd be "allowed" to -which is nonsense because my parents have no problems with me breastfeeding my younger two.  I think teenagers are just overly worried about their parents not being accepting of certain things., and 3.) I didn't know the first thing about breastfeeding so I didn't know what to do.  Instead I suppressed this maternal instinct and have kicked myself since.  I felt incredibly guilty even at that moment when I didn't put him to the breast but I really thought it was too late.  To be 16 years old and really wish that you had chosen to breastfeed instead is pretty rare I think.  It's really one of the very few things that I'd change if I could go back in time.  Sure, I have a perfectly healthy 8 year old boy now but if I could redo things, I'd breastfeed him instead.


The Middle:
    When Adam was about 3 years old, my partner (Ed) and I decided we wanted to try for a baby.  Sure we were only 19 at that point but we were in love and we wanted to expand our family.  We tried for 3 months and decided to take a break until we bought a house.  We were still living with my parents but had tried to conceive because there was plenty of room and we had decent jobs.  The plan was to try to buy the house a few streets over from my parents.  We found out soon after that we had succeeded in creating a baby the month we gave up.  It's funny how things work out like that.
    During my pregnancy, I joined a birth board on www.pregnancy.org, a place that had become my home while teaching Adam to use the potty and trying to conceive.  On my new prospective birth board, the question was asked "Are you planning on breastfeeding or formula feeding?".  Well- then it all clicked.  Breasts were for feeding babies.  The milk that I leaked during my pregnancy with Adam was my body gearing up to nourish him.  The intense urge I had to put him at the breast when he was 6 weeks old wasn't crazy.  I was meant to breastfeed!  I became slightly crazed at this point and made it my mission to learn anything and everything I could about breastfeeding- how do I go about it? Why do people still do it if formula is available? What do I need?

    I found the Everything Breastfeeding board on Pregnancy.org, Kelly Mom, Le Leche League, Dr. Jack Newman, and Ask Dr. Sears and read everything I could.  I learned about latching, hold positions, the "C" cup hold for compression, overactive letdown, oversupply, adoptive nursing, induced lactation (sometimes called re-lactation, and much more.  You name it, I read it-even if it didn't seem to be relevant at the time.  At first, I told those around me that I'd only breastfeed for 6 months.  Then I read more and decided that I'd nurse him until he got teeth.  I held onto this thought process until I learned that when a little one is properly latched, they can't bite you.  It's a good thing I changed my mind about the teeth because he got his first teeth before he was 6 months.  As I read more, I decided that I would nurse him for at least his first year.  Then of course, I read even more and found that the current recommendation was to breastfeed for at least 2 years and then for as long as mutually desired. 

    The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have policy statements advocating extended breastfeeding. The AAP states:

"Pediatricians and parents should be aware that exclusive breastfeeding is sufficient to support optimal growth and development for approximately the first 6 months of life{ddagger} and provides continuing protection against diarrhea and respiratory tract infection.  Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child."
and:
"There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding and no evidence of psychologic or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer."
  While the WHO states:
"On a population basis, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life is the recommended way of feeding infants, followed by continued breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods for up to two years or beyond."

    Well that definitely sold me on the idea of extended nursing.  I was one of those people who thought "breastfeeding is for babies", "if they're old enough to ask for it, they're too old", and "nursing a toddler is just WRONG".  Suddenly I found myself realizing how ignorant I was.  I decided at that point that my long term goal was to breastfeed for 2 years.  I'd be sad and disappointed if I couldn't make it that long.  2 years is a long time though so I set mini-goals for myself.  1 year was the first mini-goal because i wasn't willing to accept anything less. 

    In August of 2006, I gave birth to yet another baby boy (though Ed had been convinced that he would be a girl.  Our first ultrasound had proved differently)- Logan.

He was born via repeat cesarean section (a long story for another time) and the IV fluids had caused my nipples to be rather flat.  The hospital staff assured me that once the IV was removed that my nipples would return to their normal state but for the time being, I couldn't get Logan to latch properly. I kept trying but he'd just get frustrated because he was hungry and he couldn't get a good latch at all.  Several nurses tried to help (although one nurse squirted formula on my nipple insisting that he'd smell the formula and it would help him latch...which makes little to no sense to me.) and the hospital lactation consultant finally brought me a shield.

    I hadn't ever read about the use of nipple shields so this was new.  Funny little things, shields are.  They did the trick though! He nursed like a champ once he had something to latch onto!  The trouble was, when they removed the IV and my nipples returned to normal, I couldn't get him to latch without the shield!  As I quickly learned, nursing outside of my house with a shield made things very awkward.  I mean, I was awkward nursing in public anyway because I was so new at this.  I had Ed position the stroller in front of us to cover us up while I got him latched.  I had to get rid of this shield! It was making everything more difficult!  It took us about 4 weeks of picking up the instant he rooted, trying to latch him onto my nipple and switching to the shield if he fussed.  If I couldn't get him on the first nipple without the shield, sometimes after his belly had gotten the warmth of some milk, he'd be willing to try to latch onto the second breast.  Finally we ditched the shield.  It was lifesaver but we no longer needed it.



    We decided to wait until 6 months before starting solids as per the current recommendations so he was exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of his life.  This boy would not even take a pacifier for me so he had nothing but a breast that whole time.  At 6 months, he made it quite clear that he had no interest in solids whatsoever so we backed off and he continued to be exclusively breastfed.   Around 9 months or so, he expressed an interest in food but not purees.  He wanted nothing to do with them so I did more researching and learned about baby-led weaning.  We adopted that approach and just gave him appropriate sized pieces of whatever we were eating with a cup of diluted juice but he didn't want to eat often so he remained mostly breastfed.  This continued until he was a year old- my mini-goal!


     On his birthday he was given his own little cake to make a mess of- though truth be told, he ate very little of it.  We had reached our mini-goal so our next mini-goal was 18 months.  We were doing it!  As he started eating more and more solids, he started nursing less and less.  He was still nursing first thing in the morning, at naptime, and at bedtime with a few more times thrown in during the day by the time we reached 18 months.  At this point, I readjusted my goal and set course for the 2 year mark.  2 years came and went and by this time we had learned about child-lead weaning and decided to let him self wean.  Neither Ed nor I could find a reason to force him to stop. 


    We had plenty of reasons however to allow him to continue.  Sometime in January of 2009, I was nursing Logan to sleep and he started to seize.  I had never before in my life seen anything like what I was witnessing.  Before his seizure, he had been completely fine.  No fever, no symptoms of any kind of illness- just seizing.  My mother had been here for a visit and was standing behind me when I started screaming.  She looked at him and yelled "That's what you did!".  See I had had convulsions when I was 11 months old after having my DTP vaccine so she knew what she was looking at whereas I was just terrified because something was wrong with my precious baby!  Ed had been outside in the garage doing laundry so my mom went and yelled out the door for him to come quick while I was dialing 911.  No parent should ever have to experience something this frightening by the way.  It's AWFUL. Long story short- he had a massive ear infection that had presented no symptoms whatsoever until his temperature suddenly spiked up to 104 and he started to seize.  He had to have tubes placed in his ears because this wasn't his first ear infection- it was just the worst and had no symptoms.  Over the course of the next few months he had 2 more febrile seizures- oddly enough there were no ear infections present.  This whole incident meant it was even more important that he continue to receive breast milk.


   * We also discovered that he has a bit of a digestive issue and while the doctor is working to correct that, breastfeeding is helping him through the tummy pain that he's experiencing.*


    At this point he was only nursing in the morning, at nap time, and at bedtime.  Occasionally he'd hop up on my lap to nurse because he just needed the extra comfort.  I wasn't sure if he was actually getting much milk.  I knew he was getting some because I could hear him swallowing but I didn't know how much he could possibly be getting 2 years later but he needed the comfort so I let him continue.




The Here and the Now:
    In May of last year, I discovered that I was pregnant again.  Logan was still nursing but in most cases breastfeeding during pregnancy is fine (though one should always consult their midwife or doctor if they are concerned) so we proceeded with him nursing approximately 3-4 times a day.  At one point in my pregnancy, I lost my milk supply.  I thought we were done but he kept crying and crying because he wanted to nurse.  I cried with him because I felt so terrible for him.  I let him keep trying though and about 3 days later, things were back to normal!
   
    In October we all got hit with the H1N1 virus so obviously his breastfeeding was important.  He was less sick than the rest of the house.  I however felt like I had been hit by a bus.  He nursed more (almost constantly) during our bout with the virus.  We were all bed ridden.  I've never been so sick in my life!  I couldn't understand what was going on though as I watched those around me getting better and I was just getting worse.  I had a horrible fever and chills and still felt like garbage.  It wasn't until the red streaks appeared on my breast and I felt like it was on fire that I realized that I had mastitis.   I was no longer sick with the "Swine Flu" but felt just as ill.  After a nice round of antibiotics, I got through my first ever case of mastitis.  I consider myself fairly lucky that I went through 3 years of nursing before ever having to deal with that!
        Logan continued to nurse up until the day that I went into the have his baby brother- Xander.  Much to my chagrin, I had yet another c-section but this time I didn't have

any problems getting the baby to latch.  The hospital staff actually seemed quite impressed with the fact that I knew exactly what I was doing.  I was in the hospital for 3 days and my older children were not allowed to see me because the hospital would not allow any children under the age of 12 in the unit for fear of spreading the flu.  I tried to fight it because of Logan nursing but they were persistent and simply would not allow it.
   
    Adam and Logan spent those 3 days with at my brothers house.  Logan cried every morning when Ed went to pick Adam up for school.  Logan cried a lot in those 3 days.  The first thing he did when I came to pick him up was nurse.  Boy did he nurse! For the next few weeks, he nursed like a newborn again.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't overwhelmed.  It was then that I realized just how difficult it is for mothers of twins.  I mean I knew it was harder than a singleton but I could really empathize now.  When my milk first came in-well...I had milk before but my body was making colostrum along with the milk and then all the baby's milk came in so I just had more milk-Logan got mad.  The day he got that sudden gush of milk into his mouth he pulled off the breast, yelled "BABY DID IT! YUCKY!" and started crying.  He didn't like that there was milk.  A few days later he got used to it and resumed the crazy newborn nursing.  As I said, this went on for a few weeks.  He'd cry if I tried to nurse Xander without him.  He was beyond jealous.


    He adjusted though and has gone back to nursing only a handful of times a day.  During the day, what usually happens is I breastfeed Xander on demand and if Logan wants to nurse, I ask him if he can wait his turn.  He'll say "Kape" (which means "Okay") and then go off and do his own thing until Xander is done.  At night, I nurse them both together and a lot of times, they hold hands while they nurse. If you've never tandem nursed, then I'm sure it's hard to imagine how one goes about doing so.  We cosleep so I put Xander in the bed first- so that he's between me and the wall and can't fall off the bed, then me, then Logan, then Ed on the nights he's not working.  Xander gets the left breast while I lay on half on my side/half on my back and Logan hops up and leans over top of me and gets the right breast.  When Logan is done nursing, he lays down and goes to sleep.  It's not the most comfortable thing in the world but it happens once a night on most nights so I just kind of deal with it for now.  They're not going to breastfeed forever so in the big scheme of things, I don't have to deal with the weird laying position for long.


    This time around, I've also set mini-goals for myself but I feel confident that we'll meet them all.  Xander is 5 months old today and at this point he is exclusively breastfed. 
     I plan on introducing solids next month but because we do baby-led weaning, he'll get very few purees and will start will table food.  If he's not interested in food then he'll continue to be exclusively breastfed until he is ready for solids.  He'll be allowed the same freedom of nursing until he's ready to quit just like Logan.  Some days I wonder if Logan will ever wean but he seems to be nursing less and less every time he nurses now so I'm sure it will happen on it's own in the near future.


    I love breastfeeding.  I love looking into my nursling's eyes while they stare up at me in a milky daze.  I love not having to get up in the middle of the night to fix a bottle or having to cram all that stuff in my diaper bag, or washing bottle parts.  I love all the benefits that breastfeeding gives me and my children.  It's easily one of the most amazing things in the world.


    The most important tool that a breastfeeding mom can have is her support system.  Without out that, everything would feel impossible.  My mother didn't feel comfortable breastfeeding me or my brother because she feared that she'd be ridiculed by her family and my father's family.  I think this can easily happen to anyone. She formula fed us because she lacked a good, solid, support system.  That's not to say that you can't breastfeed without support however it is a very valuable asset.  I was lucky enough to have a wonderful support system.  Ed supports just about any decision I make because he knows that I've thoroughly researched it first.  My parents are supportive as well.  I have some friends that are supportive of my choices even if they wouldn't make the same choices themselves and that's a good compromise.


    I'm glad I get to enjoy this time with my little ones!


 




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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Share your blog!

Do you want to get your blog out there? I've got a great way for you to share your blog with other people! Let's have a blog hop! What is a blog hop?

A blog hop is a linky list that is SHARED ON MULTIPLE BLOGS.
When several blogs put the same linky list code on their blog, the
exact same list appears on each blog.


Blog visitors can submit their entries on any blog that contains the list.
The entries will appear on each blog where the list resides.


Blog readers see the same list on each blog, and can "HOP" from blog
to blog seeing the same list of links to follow: BLOG HOP!
Just put your link in the McLinky and we'll create a list of blogs to share! Not only that, click the link below that says "Get the code here" and then post it on your blog!  I'm thinking about doing this every week, what do you think?




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Summer Bridge Activity Books Ends 7/11

 The Mom Buzz has a wonderful opportunity to keep your little ones gears cranking during the summer months!  Kid generally tend to forget some of the stuff that they learned in school during their summer vacations but the Summer Bridge Activity books are designed to help them practice and remember the previous years lessons.
 
The 2010 Summer Bridge Activities workbook series offers an efficient, inexpensive solution for parents looking for help in supporting their children academically. The recommended two pages of workbook activities require just 15 minutes per day to help children keep their academic skills sharp and costs $14.95. 

Just head on over to The Mom Buzz and check out the giveaway.
 
 

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My Live Signature

So I was admiring Shannon of Coupon Mommy of 3's signature in her posts when I discovered the link to www.mylivesignature.com and decided to go check it out.  I played around with it a bit and was pretty happy with the outcome.  Granted, it'd be nicer if I was able to use my real signature but I'm not talented enough to do it with the mouse and I don't have any other way besides scanning it to do it so rather than mess around with my scanner (it's a pain to do right now), I just fiddled around til I found one I like :)

What do you think?


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Sunday, June 20, 2010

Toy Story 3 and a Breastfeeding Infant

We took the kids to see Toy Story 3 yesterday.  First of all, the kids looked absolutely adorable in their 3-D glasses!!! We got dirty looks walking into the theater (or at least I felt like people were glaring at us) because we had a baby in tow.  This is something the general population doesn't seem to understand- I, as an attachment parenting mom, know that her baby wishes to nurse before he cries.  My experience is- babies+move theaters=something that one should not fear :)

We get seated, Xander starts patting at my chest and trying to nurse through my shirt so I latch him on before the movie even starts.  He slept through almost the entire movie-waking up only at the very end to watch the movie for a little bit (maybe 20 minutes).  I tried playing with him silently to discourage him from watching the movie ONLY because without 3-D glasses, the movie kind of hurts your eyes.  He loved the little bit of the movie he saw though and just sat there happily.

We had an issue when we went to see Alice In Wonderland but Xander was very young yet and I think it was just too soon to venture into at theater with him.  Plus, Logan is a mommy's boy so Xander would cry, I'd attempt to leave the theater with my crying baby and Logan would throw a LOUD fit and scream because he wanted mommy.  If I tried to bring Logan with me, he just screamed because he wanted to watch the movie.  It was a mess and I felt horrible for ruining other people's experiences.

They're kids movies though so one can't really expect me to tell my children they can' t see the movie because of their baby brother who doesn't take a bottle- that wouldn't bode well.
 
There are seriously people out there that are appalled at the idea of bringing a baby into a theater at all- to those I ask- why should my older children suffer because I'm giving their baby brother the best possible start in life? The baby doesn't take a bottle so leaving him at a sitter is NOT an option.  He did once out of necessity (I was in the ER) but that was it. Should I be excluded from a family event and be forced to stay home with the baby while my children and husband enjoy the movie? Why should I be punished for doing something great for my baby? My babies are completely quiet in the theaters so I think its' a non-issue :)

Logan was a great theater baby. He'd always nurse right when we got there, fall asleep, wake up and watch some of the movie, nurse some more, sleep some more, ad infinitum. He did this every time we took him to a theater so we pretty much knew that we could freely go see any movie we wanted because he was always so pleasant.

 I suspect Xander will be the same way so we'll definitely be taking the whole family to see Harry Potter in the fall.

Anyway- the movie itself was great.  We laughed, we cried, we laughed some more, we all enjoyed it. Afterward, Ed said "I cried, did you cry?" and I told him that I had.  Adam just shared with me that he cried as well.

I won't give any spoilers but I will say that I expected the movie to be terrible and it wasn't.  I fully intend on buying it for the boys when it comes out on DVD.  It was great!

I'm a sucker for Disney movies anyway.  Well, not just Disney movies, lol, I tend to enjoy watching children's movies- especially if there is singing involved. <3

Friday, June 18, 2010

Lulu in the Fluff Giveaway Ends 7/1

Shannon at Coupon Mommy of 3 has paired up with Lulu's in the Fluff to give readers a chance to win a bag of 45/90 Lulu's in the Fluff laundry detergent!

You'll need to follow Shannon publicly, join the Lulu's in the fluff facebook group, and visit Lulu's in the Fluff and comment on Shannon's blog letting her know which scent you'd get if you won!

That's just the mandatory entry! She has lots of other ways to gain additional entries!!

Good luck!!

Bella Bottoms Giveaway Ends 6/30


Faith has be generous enough to offer My New Life As Mom readers a OS Incredibellas diaper in their choice of color!


Head on over to My New Life As Mom and check out her review and enter her giveaway!

Mandatory Entry: Follow her, publicly , on Google Friend Connect and visit Bella Bottoms and comment on what color you would like as well as another item that catches your eye.


Visit My New Life As Mom for information on additional entries as well as all the rules and instructions for the giveaway!


Thursday, June 17, 2010

Inspired By Finn Review





We were given a chance to review a light bean baltic amber youth necklace from Inspired By Finn.  Xander is only 4.5 months old but he's already going through the teething process.  He cut 2 teeth about a week ago.  We had a teething necklace for Logan and loved it but it has disappeared so now was a perfect time to get one for Xander.

It didn't take us long to notice that he's drooling A LOT less.  I mean he still drools like nobody's business but it's not nearly as bad as it was before.  He's also in a better mood more often.  Now, he does have fussy times but usually when he's tired and doesn't want to go to sleep.  He still mouths things but he's not chomping on my hand anywhere near as often as he was before.

This is the necklace we received to review (please ignore my ugly floor):

 It has a screw clasp which is fairly easy to use.  Inspired by Finn also offers magnetic clasps if you'd prefer (but please do see the caution about magnetic clasps http://hyenacart.com/inspiredbyfinn/index.php?c=120&p=30201) There are also necklace alternatives such as bracelets or adjustable anklets.

We love our necklace though.  Here's some pictures of my happy boy! (Lol, yes I know the clasp is in the front, he squirms a lot so sometimes that's where it lands ;))

Ease of use:
 The screw clasp is very easy to figure out
Appearance:
I love the way it looks, I love the unique look of each bead. 
Fit:
The fit is awesome! It's not too tight so he'll be able to wear it for awhile but it's not loose enough that he looks goofy.
Performance:
As I stated earlier, we've seen a drastic reduction in drool, crankiness, and the chomping of my fingers and he's only had it for 5 days.





Want 25% off? Visit Inspired By Finn on Facebook

TO SAVE 20% on an order with us, join us by clicking the "Like" button toward the top of our "Wall" tab.


TO SAVE 25%, join us by clicking the "Like" button + use the "Suggest to Friends" link near the top left of this "Wall" tab to suggest this page to your Facebook friends.


The discount code is entered/applied during checkout, and the discount is given off of prices on our website - www.InspiredByFinn.com

The codes to use once you have completed the criteria above -

To save 20%: FB20
To save 25%: FB25



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Nursing in Public

I just read a GREAT article on nursing in public! 

This is a topic that hits close to home.  Adam was formula fed and as we all know, formula fed babies can be fed just about anywhere with very little complaints from anyone!  Not once did I worry what someone might think as I prepared my babies bottle of artificial breast milk.  Not once did I fear that someone would chastise me for feeding my child there.  I certainly never expected anyone to suggest that I prepare or feed my child in a germ infested public restroom.  I mean really, who would have a problem with me feeding my baby?


I'd imagine this is how most bottle feeding mothers are- completely oblivious to the blatant discrimination and alienation that breastfeeding mothers must endure.

I'll be honest, when I had Adam, I was 16 and didn't know my ass from a hole in the ground-excuse the verbage.  I formula fed him because I didn't know anyone who breastfed (or I thought I didn't...turns out my aunt breastfed her kids but I guess I just don't remember it as her youngest are 2 years younger than me and the rest are all older than me) so the thought never even crossed my mind.  When Adam was about 6 weeks old, he was crying like something fierce.  I couldn't calm him but I got this OVERWHELMING urge to put him to the breast.  I didn't because I thought it was too late and didn't have any idea how to even go about latching a child on or anything like that.  I did not know that a lactation consultant existed.  I did not know ANYTHING about breastfeeding.  In fact, I don't even recall being asked in the hospital if I was planning on formula feeding or breastfeeding!
I'm not sure how I would have reacted had I seen someone breastfeed in public, I mean, they're just boobs.  Maybe I would have stared for a minute but certainly not out of disrespect- but out of curiosity  because as I said, I'd never seen something so beautiful.

When I was trying to potty train Adam, a friend of mine pointed me in the direction of www.pregnancy.org where I've been a member since.  I joined my prospective birth board of August 2006 when I found out I was pregnant with Logan.  Then the question was asked "are you planning on breastfeeding or formula feeding".  What? I need to know more about this breastfeeding! I mean yes, I KNEW what they were for but I needed to know WHY people still did it, how, and I wanted to learn everything I possibly could about the subject.
 
In 2006, my beautiful baby Logan joined our family and at first it was akward for me to nurse in the presence of other people but after I went home and got some more practice nursing, things became second nature.

When he was 4 weeks old, Ed's step mother threw me a "baby shower" that she had intentionally had after he was born so everyone could meet him.  Great but when he clearly started rooting, SMIL (step-mother in-law) told me that I could go into the spare bedroom to nurse him.  Now, in her defense, she was not hostile or anything when she said this.  It was definitely said in a friendly tone.  She meant well and was probably trying to make me comfortable but not one of the women at my party offered to keep me company or suggested that I just nurse him out there, I mean we were all women afterall and it was a party for me and my baby.  So off we went into the spare room all alone while they continued without us.  I nearly cried because I felt so hurt having to be left out.

It's not as though I was doing anything wrong, I was just feeding my little guy.  Had he been formula fed, I would have been welcome to continue participating in the party but because I had to bare my breast, things were different.
Because of this instance, I just naturally assumed that I should retreat to the spare room every time we were there.  I also went into a different room at Ed's moms.  It was strange because I had no problems nursing out in public or around my own family!  One day though, I pretty much just snapped and just nursed him right there on SMIL's couch.  I was doing something and wasn't going to exclude myself anymore.  I do still go into another room at Ed's family functions because I'd rather not have to constantly defend myself.  I am comfortable, it's the rest of the family that is close minded and would prefer that I hide so to save myself from the stress, I just do it.
At the beginning of this year we welcomed Xander into our lives and he is fed openly except for at family functions.  I hate the way it is and wish they weren't so immature and obnoxious about something so natural but I've decided to pick my battles- I don't see these people often enough to warrant fighting with them ;)


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

A day of fun!



Ed had gotten some nifty coupons off our local radio station which basically offers deals for half price.  He was able to buy 5 $10 gift certificates for our local bouncy place for $25!
Well, for that price, why not take the kids right?  It was seriously only about $6.95 per kid anyway so it's not an expensive place to begin with and the kids had a blast so we plan on going back.

Before our adventure had started, we'd never been to That Bounce Place so neither Adam nor Logan knew what to expect.  I remember Logan looked at me like I had about 3 heads when I told him he had to put socks on with his shoes.


Believe it or not, Logan, who normally loves "cheeses" (pictures), would not hold still for some pics! Adam had to hold him there!! Oh and you see how red my little guy is?  I kept telling him to take a break and get a drink but he was having way too much fun and just kept telling me "no!" LOL!


There were 2 different bounce rooms there.  This pic was from the first room we were in.




The following are panoramic pics of the second room.












I think Logan took this picture of his brother- it's really the only good shot we got of Adam because he was running around so quick.  If I'm not mistaken, he only stopped for a drink and that's how Logan was able to capture him on camera. ;)






Last but not least, we have our obligatory Logan "cheeses".  We can't have the camera out without him getting his cheese on!












 We all had a blast.  There were no weight limits so Ed and I took turns holding the baby while the other went and played with the kids!  It's DEFINITELY something we'll be doing more of!


I shot a few videos too-


Font

WOOT! I finally got this set up so that I have a half decent font! YAY for me :) I know that may seem kind of silly but I do love a good font.  The built in blogger fonts are boring and make me feel all "blah" when I'm typing.  Nice fonts are fun!  I'm really happy that I figured it out!!




Not only did I figure out the font for my posts themselves, I also seemed to have figured out how to change the font on the entire blog! Wootness!


Now, what I need from you-
Vote on the new font in the sidebar -->

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Forgive the construction

I'm not sure what's going on but my blog does not want to accept the template I'm trying to apply to it! It was working perfectly fine before and I was loving it but now, well now it just seems to be flipping me the bird and laughing at me. So please excuse the mess while I sort this out. If it really won't take one of the new template designs for me then I'll revert to the old set up but I don't really want to do that....

What do you think?

I'll be hosting a giveaway for a $20 GC for Inspired By Finn. The information will all be put up on my blog in the next few days (once I've had a proper chance to review the product).


How should I choose the winner?



Also, what kind of things would you like to know?


The closure style?
Ease of use?
Appearance?
Fit?
Performance?


Is there anything else? Go ahead and tell me in the comments!
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