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.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
summer lovin'
today we played in the sprinklers,
it is officially summer
*sigh*
it is officially summer
*sigh*
 |
| a bit of a tantrum from the resident 2 year old |
 |
| SO MUCH FUN |
 |
| They LOVED the water |
 |
| and they LOVED their super strong Daddy |
 |
| they called this one the helicopter |
 |
| Brother Helping Brother (of course it was DJ who knocked him down) |
 |
| we tried to get Izzy in on the fun |
 |
| but she would rather eat snacks |
 |
| and share them with Harley |
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| and this is the face that means its time to go inside :) |
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
sewing
Lately I have been "binge sewing" (as J calls it). I can't help myself, I have all these ideas in my head and they are clamoring to get out, along with the things that I "have" to make like a sunbonnet for Iz and sweet baby clothes for my BFF's new baby girl. I have been posting pics on FB and people seem to like what I am putting out, but my secret is that all the things I am making have been inspired by the much more talented bloggers on the Internet and I feel like I have to share the creative L.O.V.E. So with my hubby's blessing I am going to begin blogging about my crafting love and hopefully share some wonderful information and inspiration for you along the way. I will always give credit where credit is due, so if you are a crafty type please do the same. Use these posts as a jumping off point to create something unique and your own, then you can share your creations with me! If you are not the crafty type and you would be interested in having me make something couture for you, please leave me a comment and let me know.
Since Izzy's birthday was this week I think I will start with her precious birthday outfit.
The cupcake shirt, not super original, I didn't base this design off of anything I recall seeing but check out its similarity to the birthday outfit my MIL sent...
I also used some of the left over material to make him a bib, I just traced a bib we had for the pattern and used a washcloth to back it. Since this little one is a bit of a drooler, I knew his mama would appreciate some extra absorbency:)
Since Izzy's birthday was this week I think I will start with her precious birthday outfit.
If you read my blog via my link on FB you are probably sick to death of this little number, but I am obsessed with it. I used coordinating Moda fabrics that I purchased from a local shop in my small town, but I think you can find them anywhere. I made the skirt using this tutorial on MADE, which is also the same tutorial I used to make my Easter skirt
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| I will post more on this later |
(she popped this sweet thing in the mail the very day I posted the pics of the outfit I made, crazy right?)
I think its safe to assume the idea was floating around in my head from lots of other places.
I found the tutorial for the precious hat online, and I also made one for a baby boy we know who's birthday is the week before Izzy's.
I also used some of the left over material to make him a bib, I just traced a bib we had for the pattern and used a washcloth to back it. Since this little one is a bit of a drooler, I knew his mama would appreciate some extra absorbency:)And there you have it, a birthday outfit or gift perfect for any baby :)
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| I also made these little mommy shorts, not too long, not too short. I will post on them later too :) |
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Bubby
Izzy has been growing by leaps and bounds lately, tonight at dinner she tried to use a fork and spoon for the first time, insisted that she use them really. Iz crawls into a room and the second she gets a smile from you she bursts into a giggle fit and falls to the floor, she laughs almost constantly and it is contagious! Tonight at dinner she was eating some french fries (don't judge) from J's plate and she started dipping them into phantom ketchup mimicking what her brothers were doing, she mimics everything they do. Iz loves and hugs on all babies, few adults, and she melts the hearts of everyone who catches her eye. Izabella is amazingly special, and she will do great things with this incredible light that shines from within her, I feel so blessed to be her Mommy. Happy Birthday My sweet Bubby, I will always remember this year as one of the best of my life because it was the year that I met you.
I had to add a pic of the boys just because :)
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...
Friday, April 22, 2011
Will I Ever...
Again, its been awhile, and J informs me that these moments are precious and I am missing them by not writing them all down. I do agree with him some funny stuff is going on right now, like Asher suddenly deciding that diapers are the worst so he just takes them off and runs around naked. Generally cute and adorable and I have taken tons of pics (which you all will unfortunately never see because I have to draw the line somewhere), but really memorable when he takes off a poopy diaper and then jumps into J's arms! DJ is very into the 10 Commandments right now and every other conversation we have is about God's rules, which I really love. With Easter right around the corner I found these clips http://ministry-to-children.com/animated-video-of-the-easter-story/ and used Resurrection eggs http://www.christianbook.com/resurrection-eggs-updated-edition/9781602003927/pd/003927?kw=003927&en=froogle&p=1013824&cm_mmc=CBDfeeds-_-froogle-_-gifts-_-003927&gclid=CLrl3LbCsagCFYTr7QodbV8zDA (mine are homemade b/c I forgot to order them) tonight to teach the boys the real reason we celebrate Easter. DJ is pretty stuck on the whole crucifixion part, so I just know that my conversations for the next month or so will be on the challenging side to say the least. Izzy is just a crack up always giggling and being adorable. Its so hard to believe that she is almost one, she still seems like such a baby to me, probably because she is so petite and still has no teeth. She is starting to say words like daddy, done, bra (which I am pretty sure means brother) and mama.
Last weekend we had the greatest Saturday, the kind of day that just makes you sigh.
While I know that these days and these moments are fleeting and precious I just can't help but to feel like there are some things that there will never be an end to, like...
will I ever take a shower / poop / talk on the phone in peace again?
will I ever be on time anywhere ever again?
will my children always use me like a glorified paper towel?
will I ever leave somewhere and make it from the door to putting my car in drive in less than 20 minutes?
will I ever sleep an uninterrupted 8+ hours again?
Can I leave a store without having my bra flashed to at least 5 strangers?
Can I make a dinner that pleases all of my family members and can I do it without getting pants'd?
Will I ever make it through a whole day without feeling guilty about some parenting choice I made?
Will I ever go a whole day without loosing my cool?
Can I keep the super human mommy power to fix anything with a kiss?
Will my boys always ask me to "rock a bit" when it's time for bed?
Last weekend we had the greatest Saturday, the kind of day that just makes you sigh.
We took the whole family on a long bike ride that ended at Braums for some cheese burgers and ice cream. Like I said a perfect day.
While I know that these days and these moments are fleeting and precious I just can't help but to feel like there are some things that there will never be an end to, like...
will I ever take a shower / poop / talk on the phone in peace again?
will I ever be on time anywhere ever again?
will my children always use me like a glorified paper towel?
will I ever leave somewhere and make it from the door to putting my car in drive in less than 20 minutes?
will I ever sleep an uninterrupted 8+ hours again?
Can I leave a store without having my bra flashed to at least 5 strangers?
Can I make a dinner that pleases all of my family members and can I do it without getting pants'd?
Will I ever make it through a whole day without feeling guilty about some parenting choice I made?
Will I ever go a whole day without loosing my cool?
Can I keep the super human mommy power to fix anything with a kiss?
Will my boys always ask me to "rock a bit" when it's time for bed?
OK, the last two would actually be dreams come true, but you get my point. I just can't see that these things end, do they? What would you add to this list? And if you are a seasoned mommy, what things do end and you find yourself missing? I am just a little curious...
Until I have all the answers I guess I will just keep loving ferociously, cleaning constantly, crying occasionally, laughing often, and of course blogging so I can look back and remember when.
sweet Izzy in her PJ's, I could snuggle her all day long!
This is one of DJ's epic battles that he creates daily in our playroom, the kid is a warrior in his soul!
Don't you just want to eat him up?!!!
Our Major Daddy, comes home for work and is immediately placed on dragon duty :)
Please forgive my poor photo quality, crappy camera + zero patients for editing = these pictures
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