Showing posts with label For the Mamas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label For the Mamas. Show all posts
Friday, June 17, 2011
Mama Tip #2
When you are potty training your 2-year-old with a 1-year-old in the house you are bound to run into problems. My solution is when someone is trying to potty (this can work for you too, I know I never get a moments peace, even in the bathroom) and my 1-year-old appears, entirely fascinated by the whole process, I put him/her in the bathtub. This worked with Asher and now its working pretty well with Izzy. They can still see what's going on, but they can't touch anything that will make you gag. Plus they are very distracted by the idea of being in the tub with their clothes on and no water, sometimes its hard to talk Izzy out of there! Just a little tip for you Mama's out there who are knocking your baby making time out like I am!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Mama Tip #1
Since I had several babies all at once fellow Mama's often ask me how I do things, and the answer is necessity. They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and that is a fact. When you need to get something done and you have 3 babies screaming all around you, you just have to work it out! It also helps to pay very close attention to the mothers around you, I am always picking up new tricks. Anyhow, I thought I would start to put a few tricks down to help me remember what I used to do and maybe help some other mamas out along the way. This is a tip I got from my friend Janine, and she got it from her friend Kim, who probably got it from her friend (fill in the blank), and so on, that's how we mama's roll. Any how it's brilliant and share it all the time...
juice box handles!
You just pull the little triangle box tabs from the side, it helps release the pressure and gives you kids something to squeeze besides the box itself, which when squeezed will send a fountain of (undoubtedly red or purple) juice all over everything. One of my biggest mom fears, the juice fountain, conquered. Now if only I can figure out how to conquer the fountain type mess these boys leave in my bathroom...
juice box handles!
 |
| You would think he would be more excited about getting some juice |
 |
| Ahh, there we go |
You just pull the little triangle box tabs from the side, it helps release the pressure and gives you kids something to squeeze besides the box itself, which when squeezed will send a fountain of (undoubtedly red or purple) juice all over everything. One of my biggest mom fears, the juice fountain, conquered. Now if only I can figure out how to conquer the fountain type mess these boys leave in my bathroom...
Have a Happy Juice Box Filled Summer!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Bodily Functions
If you are friends with me on FB then you know my week has been chalk FULL of bodily functions! Asher is coming into a real knowledge of his body and its excrement's, he refuses to leave a diaper on if he has "used" it which means there is a trail of dirty diapers throughout my house. On occasion there is also a trail left behind from those really really dirty diapers. I did attempt to start potty training, it was a fail. The instant that I put some big boy underwear on him, Asher freaked out, "I want my diaper, I want my diaper back!!!!" And now, because I am tired and J is very busy, I am going to just continue to clean up the trail of diapers and streaks of poop until I can get myself together enough to actually train Asher how to use the potty. Potty training requires a VERY put together mommy. Now DJ has been trained for quite awhile, and he does a great job of knowing when to go and washing his hands. Not so great a job at flushing or closing the lid, which was not a big deal until Iz became mobile. The other night, while cleaning up after Asher, I heard the toilet lid and the distinct sound of water splashing. I looked over at DJ changing into his PJ's and recalled that I had just sent him to use that potty and I did NOT hear a flush. I finished cleaning Asher as fast as humanly possible and ran to the bathroom to find sweet Iz just as happy as can be bent over the potty splashing away, in DJ's pee.
There are times in life you are never fully prepared for, the craziness of motherhood is one big season of never being prepared and always being amazed at the things your children can and will do. The thing that blows my mind is that even though I am on baby #3 I am still not prepared, I am still amazed, I am still learning. Not just with DJ but with each one of my children, they are so different from one another. I guess that's what makes motherhood so special, what makes God so amazing, the unique beauty in each of my babies; even if it is covered in poo.
There are times in life you are never fully prepared for, the craziness of motherhood is one big season of never being prepared and always being amazed at the things your children can and will do. The thing that blows my mind is that even though I am on baby #3 I am still not prepared, I am still amazed, I am still learning. Not just with DJ but with each one of my children, they are so different from one another. I guess that's what makes motherhood so special, what makes God so amazing, the unique beauty in each of my babies; even if it is covered in poo.
Monday, May 2, 2011
The Nursing Mama
Note: This is a post about breast feeding so if you are a man this may be TMI, however if you are a man with a wife who is now or will soon be breast feeding you might want to stick this out to gain a little insight. On the flip side of this coin if you are a lady who has never experienced breast feeding, but you want to, I would skip reading this post. Let your experience be uniquely yours and if while your in it you need help or a laugh or a cry come back to this...
Without a doubt nursing has been the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life, ever (and I gave birth without any drugs, once). The toll that it takes on your body, your spirit and mind is incomprehensible until you are experiencing it. I am about to wean my third baby, she will be turning one this month and I am ready to have my body back. I have been pregnant or nursing since October of 2006 and I am tired, not to mention that since J and I still want one more baby, I will probably be prego again sometime this fall. That being said this summer, the summer of 2011, is my one shot in the next two years to just be Amber, not Amber + Baby.
Now in my quest to begin weaning Iz, I have been compelled to re-live some of my "greatest hits" as it were. I would like to write them down now, so that I can remember them when one of my sisters has a baby or when Iz is becoming a mother, to be more understanding and helpful. And perhaps, in the meantime, some of my stories will help the moms that read this blog.
DJ, my first born. I was terrified, I had heard all the stories from my mom friends and I knew what was coming down the pike, or at least I thought I knew. There was bleeding and blistering, and the special contractions that no one ever tells you about. That is the first 2 weeks, always just 2 weeks, and then the skies clear a rainbow appears and the pain is but a memory. So, if you have yet to experience nursing a baby, and you disregarded the warning at the beginning of this post, just know the pain only lasts 2 weeks. You carried a baby inside you for 9 months, pushed that baby out of you, and you are a strong and amazing woman that can do ANYTHING for 2 weeks. After the physical pain came everything emotional, I suffered from a mild postpartum depression. I felt like nursing DJ was equivalent to being trapped inside a prison. I was in no way discrete (in fact it took several weeks before I didn't actually need the help of another person) so if company was over I was locked away in a separate room. I was the only one to get up with DJ in the middle of the night, all hours of the night, and as this small person sucked the nutrients from me I would stare at my snoring hubby and curse. There were times I completely lost it, like when I spilled the entire first bottle I ever pumped. I collapsed on the floor and my sweet mom just rocked me saying "I know baby, you worked so hard for that," and my husband looked at us both like we were from another planet. I fell into a terrible habit of nursing DJ to sleep, I had a need to make sure he ate as much as humanly possible before bed. One night in particular, I had yet to eat dinner and DJ was taking forever to fall asleep. When he finally did fall asleep and I was able to go eat, lightning struck, and made the cheapo monitor in his room shriek, waking my baby boy. I ran upstairs, smashed the monitor, and let some 4 letter words fly before J rushed in and sent me back to my sandwich. However, when I arrived back to the sandwich I found my dog, standing on the coffee table, helping himself. I curled into the fetal position and sobbed!! These are just a few of the many stories I could tell, where the end result was me in a puddle sobbing on the floor. I finally admitted that I needed help and I got the book, The Secrets of a Baby Whisperer, AMAZING! It changed the way that I was parenting and brought me out of the slumps. Nursing DJ still felt like a job at times, but there was a method to my madness and I felt more in control. DJ was weaned at 9 months because I got pregnant with his brother and my milk changed so he was no longer interested.
Asher, my second boy. Asher was different than DJ, in that he would take a pacifier and he took a bottle right away. When there is something you can give to your baby for comfort, besides yourself, it is a very freeing feeling. It also happened to be absolutely necessary in this case since Asher had colic. If you have a baby with colic here is my advice, just hold on! Asher cried every day, 22 hours a day, for the first 12 weeks of his life. There was little to no sleeping for either of us, and on the rare occasion there was sleep it was only if we were attached, literally (Asher slept latched on and in my bed for the first 12 weeks of his life). Because of Asher's incessant crying I was sure that anyone but his Mama would loose their cool and shake him, so I cared for him and bore this burden alone. I even worried when leaving him with J for too long, but this was a mistake, had a let more people help I think that I would have been a better Mama and I would have realized the strength and love in the people around me. Like the time my sister, Danielle, came to visit and insisted that she would keep Asher from 9-midnight every night of her visit. On the second night I came out to check on her and found Danielle crying on the couch bouncing Asher on her knee. She had been bouncing him like that for hours because he had fallen asleep and she could not bear the thought of waking him up. So she sat and bounced and cried, because she love me, because she loved him, and all she wanted was to give us peace. What a precious sacrifice and gift that was, it still brings tears to my eyes. I decided to take my crazy train of a family back to my Mom's house (really I just needed MY Mommy) toward the end of those three months because J had to leave for 6 weeks of training. I knew that all three of us would never survive 6 weeks without at least one of us becoming wards of the state. During that time in CO, I went to the movies and dinner with friends (mostly bringing Asher with me, but leaving DJ with family) and I was recharged. Then it happened, at 12 weeks exactly, the crying went from 22 hours to 20 hours, it was incredible. I remember sitting at dinner with my mom and her husband and no one even dared to speak, we just watched as Asher played sweetly in his bouncer, we were in shock. Every day from then on got better and soon the colic was just a very fuzzy memory. If there is anything positive to say about colic it is that because of colic Asher and I will share a special bond for life. We fought in a war together and we came out on the other side a little bruised and a lot battered, but together. The colic also made nursing a side bar topic in our lives, no real big deal, and Asher also weaned himself at 9 months when I got pregnant with his sister, Iz.
My Izzy, the baby. Is still nursing at (nearly) one year old, and she has NEVER taken a bottle of any kind. "What?!" you say, "How can that be?!" Let me tell you, things are very very different the third time around. With DJ and Asher I could not wait to let someone else give them a bottle. With Izzy the thought of getting out the pump, sanitizing everything, and spending the time to actually pump just seemed like way more hassle then it was possibly worth. I had a 2 and a 1 year old to chase after, and I had become quite the acrobat when it comes to nursing and discretion, I could latch Izzy on while getting DJ dressed and still not flash anyone in the room. Finally at around 4 months I decided to give Iz a bottle so that I could have a real date with my husband, it was a massive failure. She literally screamed until she was purple and had made herself sick, so I gave in and nursed her, we tried a few more times but never really succeeded, and truthfully I didn't care. I loved nursing Iz in the quiet of her nursery while chaos raged outside her door. I didn't feel shut away, or like I was missing out on life, I drank up the peace and the quiet. Now things are a little different, Iz will not sit still and be rocked she wants in on all the action, but she wants the comfort too. We are in a stage I have never been a part of before, I have a baby who knows what I have, knows that she wants it, and knows where to go to get it. It feels a bit unsettling to have a wee one crawl into your lap and demand you lift your shirt. I feel like it is certainly time she moves on to big girl milk, but truthfully I am scared. How do you deny your baby and make her understand? Iz has never known anything different. I know moms who have had their babies chase them around the house looking for their morning feeding, I feel like that is coming. I guess I just have to leap into this unknown the way I have leaped into every unknown and when I come out on the other side I will let you know. Wish me luck on this, my first real adventure in baby weaning...
Without a doubt nursing has been the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life, ever (and I gave birth without any drugs, once). The toll that it takes on your body, your spirit and mind is incomprehensible until you are experiencing it. I am about to wean my third baby, she will be turning one this month and I am ready to have my body back. I have been pregnant or nursing since October of 2006 and I am tired, not to mention that since J and I still want one more baby, I will probably be prego again sometime this fall. That being said this summer, the summer of 2011, is my one shot in the next two years to just be Amber, not Amber + Baby.
Now in my quest to begin weaning Iz, I have been compelled to re-live some of my "greatest hits" as it were. I would like to write them down now, so that I can remember them when one of my sisters has a baby or when Iz is becoming a mother, to be more understanding and helpful. And perhaps, in the meantime, some of my stories will help the moms that read this blog.
DJ, my first born. I was terrified, I had heard all the stories from my mom friends and I knew what was coming down the pike, or at least I thought I knew. There was bleeding and blistering, and the special contractions that no one ever tells you about. That is the first 2 weeks, always just 2 weeks, and then the skies clear a rainbow appears and the pain is but a memory. So, if you have yet to experience nursing a baby, and you disregarded the warning at the beginning of this post, just know the pain only lasts 2 weeks. You carried a baby inside you for 9 months, pushed that baby out of you, and you are a strong and amazing woman that can do ANYTHING for 2 weeks. After the physical pain came everything emotional, I suffered from a mild postpartum depression. I felt like nursing DJ was equivalent to being trapped inside a prison. I was in no way discrete (in fact it took several weeks before I didn't actually need the help of another person) so if company was over I was locked away in a separate room. I was the only one to get up with DJ in the middle of the night, all hours of the night, and as this small person sucked the nutrients from me I would stare at my snoring hubby and curse. There were times I completely lost it, like when I spilled the entire first bottle I ever pumped. I collapsed on the floor and my sweet mom just rocked me saying "I know baby, you worked so hard for that," and my husband looked at us both like we were from another planet. I fell into a terrible habit of nursing DJ to sleep, I had a need to make sure he ate as much as humanly possible before bed. One night in particular, I had yet to eat dinner and DJ was taking forever to fall asleep. When he finally did fall asleep and I was able to go eat, lightning struck, and made the cheapo monitor in his room shriek, waking my baby boy. I ran upstairs, smashed the monitor, and let some 4 letter words fly before J rushed in and sent me back to my sandwich. However, when I arrived back to the sandwich I found my dog, standing on the coffee table, helping himself. I curled into the fetal position and sobbed!! These are just a few of the many stories I could tell, where the end result was me in a puddle sobbing on the floor. I finally admitted that I needed help and I got the book, The Secrets of a Baby Whisperer, AMAZING! It changed the way that I was parenting and brought me out of the slumps. Nursing DJ still felt like a job at times, but there was a method to my madness and I felt more in control. DJ was weaned at 9 months because I got pregnant with his brother and my milk changed so he was no longer interested.
Asher, my second boy. Asher was different than DJ, in that he would take a pacifier and he took a bottle right away. When there is something you can give to your baby for comfort, besides yourself, it is a very freeing feeling. It also happened to be absolutely necessary in this case since Asher had colic. If you have a baby with colic here is my advice, just hold on! Asher cried every day, 22 hours a day, for the first 12 weeks of his life. There was little to no sleeping for either of us, and on the rare occasion there was sleep it was only if we were attached, literally (Asher slept latched on and in my bed for the first 12 weeks of his life). Because of Asher's incessant crying I was sure that anyone but his Mama would loose their cool and shake him, so I cared for him and bore this burden alone. I even worried when leaving him with J for too long, but this was a mistake, had a let more people help I think that I would have been a better Mama and I would have realized the strength and love in the people around me. Like the time my sister, Danielle, came to visit and insisted that she would keep Asher from 9-midnight every night of her visit. On the second night I came out to check on her and found Danielle crying on the couch bouncing Asher on her knee. She had been bouncing him like that for hours because he had fallen asleep and she could not bear the thought of waking him up. So she sat and bounced and cried, because she love me, because she loved him, and all she wanted was to give us peace. What a precious sacrifice and gift that was, it still brings tears to my eyes. I decided to take my crazy train of a family back to my Mom's house (really I just needed MY Mommy) toward the end of those three months because J had to leave for 6 weeks of training. I knew that all three of us would never survive 6 weeks without at least one of us becoming wards of the state. During that time in CO, I went to the movies and dinner with friends (mostly bringing Asher with me, but leaving DJ with family) and I was recharged. Then it happened, at 12 weeks exactly, the crying went from 22 hours to 20 hours, it was incredible. I remember sitting at dinner with my mom and her husband and no one even dared to speak, we just watched as Asher played sweetly in his bouncer, we were in shock. Every day from then on got better and soon the colic was just a very fuzzy memory. If there is anything positive to say about colic it is that because of colic Asher and I will share a special bond for life. We fought in a war together and we came out on the other side a little bruised and a lot battered, but together. The colic also made nursing a side bar topic in our lives, no real big deal, and Asher also weaned himself at 9 months when I got pregnant with his sister, Iz.
My Izzy, the baby. Is still nursing at (nearly) one year old, and she has NEVER taken a bottle of any kind. "What?!" you say, "How can that be?!" Let me tell you, things are very very different the third time around. With DJ and Asher I could not wait to let someone else give them a bottle. With Izzy the thought of getting out the pump, sanitizing everything, and spending the time to actually pump just seemed like way more hassle then it was possibly worth. I had a 2 and a 1 year old to chase after, and I had become quite the acrobat when it comes to nursing and discretion, I could latch Izzy on while getting DJ dressed and still not flash anyone in the room. Finally at around 4 months I decided to give Iz a bottle so that I could have a real date with my husband, it was a massive failure. She literally screamed until she was purple and had made herself sick, so I gave in and nursed her, we tried a few more times but never really succeeded, and truthfully I didn't care. I loved nursing Iz in the quiet of her nursery while chaos raged outside her door. I didn't feel shut away, or like I was missing out on life, I drank up the peace and the quiet. Now things are a little different, Iz will not sit still and be rocked she wants in on all the action, but she wants the comfort too. We are in a stage I have never been a part of before, I have a baby who knows what I have, knows that she wants it, and knows where to go to get it. It feels a bit unsettling to have a wee one crawl into your lap and demand you lift your shirt. I feel like it is certainly time she moves on to big girl milk, but truthfully I am scared. How do you deny your baby and make her understand? Iz has never known anything different. I know moms who have had their babies chase them around the house looking for their morning feeding, I feel like that is coming. I guess I just have to leap into this unknown the way I have leaped into every unknown and when I come out on the other side I will let you know. Wish me luck on this, my first real adventure in baby weaning...
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Turning 30
Well I realize that I have not posted in quite awhile, things have been buzzing along like crazy here at the hive and I just haven't had the chance to take a breath, but yesterday I turned 30 and I realized that life is too short not to stop and breath. So here I am **BIG EXHALE** to write about my family and remember the things that are important now, for they will be forgotten tomorrow unless they are written.
I am actually going to start this post with me for a change, I had what some might consider a very boring birthday, but it was heaven to me!! A date with my J, which literally was an hour long dinner b/c we live in the smallest town ever. We went to the one restaurant that had a wait so we felt too guilty to loiter at our table drinking margs like we originally planned. Instead we came home and cuddled while watching Robin Hood. At first I was disappointed until I had the revelation that if I, at the age of 20, could see what my life would be at the age of 30, would be overjoyed. Then to emphesize my point, sweet J made plans with some dear friends to meet at a park with our kids and the pint sized 4-wheelers. J brought a cake and candles (just a 3 b/c he forgot the 0) and we had a blast. My little birthday party at 30 reminded me of one I would have at 3 (appropriate since that's what my cake said). I am in a wonderful marriage with a man who Loves me with a capitol L. We have BEAUTIFUL, sweet, and amazing children whom we Love with a capitol L. I get to stay home with my babies to experience every first, every smile, every tear. And yet I still get to have a creative outlet through my sewing, and at this point my creative sewing endeavors are beginning to pay for themselves. Who knows this year I might even contribute to the family income (probably not, but that's fine with me). I have amazing friends from all over the world and their outpouring of love yesterday brought me to tears. I even got to meet some of these amazing friends to have drinks last night, real drinks at a real bar. It's wonderful to be thirty, I can't wait to see what happens in the next 10 years.
What's new with the babies?
DJ is becoming cooler and cooler with every day that passes, just becoming much more of a little boy and such a delight to be around. He is really starting to miss his daddy a ton, and whenever J leaves for work we deal with some mini depressions. I am so thankful to be here in OK where the ops tempo is nowhere near what is was in SC. My favorite things he says right now are "Hokima City" (Oklahoma City) and "Mama, I can't stop growing because I am just bigger and bigger and bigger!" He also tells me, as he performs feats of strength, "wanna see I'm strong of it?"
Asher is the naughtiest child on earth, SO NAUGHTY!! But with his huge cheeks that make his eyes disappear when he smiles (oh, and those huge teeth that light up my life) I always end up giggling as I punish him, sending mixed signals to say the least! Asher can officially come and go from his bed as he pleases, so we will be moving him to the bottom floor of the "stuck together" bed very soon, which is a huge milestone. Asher still gives me 100 kisses a day and is the ultimate mama's boy. My favorite thing he says right now is "of course" instead of yes or no.
"Asher, do you want to play?"
"Of Course!"
"Asher, did you hit your sister?"
"Of course not!"
Its hysterical.
My Izzy is crawling and pulling up and making my every moment with her better than the last. She is barely surviving life with 2 big brothers, I don't know how many times a day I pull a brother off of her head, snatch her from her brothers well meaning arms as they try to pick her up, or finger swipe a sticker or car part or other small toy that made its way up from the play room into her mouth. Izzy has a smile and a glow about her that stops even strangers in their tracks. What an overwhelming job that lies in front of me to make her humble and sweet, to make sure that she knows the light inside of her is a gift from God to be used for His glory, not her own.
J is continuing to excel at work and has been so blessed to be able to fly his plane in air shows and travel all over lately. We miss him at home, but he is surely out living his childhood dreams, and what could be more amazing than that?
I am actually going to start this post with me for a change, I had what some might consider a very boring birthday, but it was heaven to me!! A date with my J, which literally was an hour long dinner b/c we live in the smallest town ever. We went to the one restaurant that had a wait so we felt too guilty to loiter at our table drinking margs like we originally planned. Instead we came home and cuddled while watching Robin Hood. At first I was disappointed until I had the revelation that if I, at the age of 20, could see what my life would be at the age of 30, would be overjoyed. Then to emphesize my point, sweet J made plans with some dear friends to meet at a park with our kids and the pint sized 4-wheelers. J brought a cake and candles (just a 3 b/c he forgot the 0) and we had a blast. My little birthday party at 30 reminded me of one I would have at 3 (appropriate since that's what my cake said). I am in a wonderful marriage with a man who Loves me with a capitol L. We have BEAUTIFUL, sweet, and amazing children whom we Love with a capitol L. I get to stay home with my babies to experience every first, every smile, every tear. And yet I still get to have a creative outlet through my sewing, and at this point my creative sewing endeavors are beginning to pay for themselves. Who knows this year I might even contribute to the family income (probably not, but that's fine with me). I have amazing friends from all over the world and their outpouring of love yesterday brought me to tears. I even got to meet some of these amazing friends to have drinks last night, real drinks at a real bar. It's wonderful to be thirty, I can't wait to see what happens in the next 10 years.
What's new with the babies?
"Asher, do you want to play?"
"Of Course!"
"Asher, did you hit your sister?"
"Of course not!"
Its hysterical.
J is continuing to excel at work and has been so blessed to be able to fly his plane in air shows and travel all over lately. We miss him at home, but he is surely out living his childhood dreams, and what could be more amazing than that?
Sorry for the long post, if you made it this far I promise to be back more frequently!
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