Hoo Are You?

1. What are some of your pet peeves?
Oh gosh, I think of a lot of these throughout the day. My number one pet peeve is clicking, as in clicking pens or popping the back of your phone on and off repeatedly, or taking your watch on and off... drives me NUTS! A few others - when someone asks 'How are you?' and the person says 'Good.' and doesn't return the question. Orrrr...... not waving when someone lets you out in traffic.

2. Do you have a favorite or lucky number?
I really like the number 27. It is the date of my birthday along with my husband's, brother's, nephew's, niece's and uncle's.

3. What is one of your family traditions?
Going to church on Christmas Eve is the only one I can think of right now, but I hope there are a lot of new ones this year and to come since we have the baby! Kids make traditions so much fun!

4. Is there anything you are OC about?
This is a funny answer - as I was thinking about it, the strangeness of my answer came to me. I am OCD about my closet (a little) as in, I want the tank tops to be together, the short sleeve, then long sleeve, etc. Then they are mostly color coded and by the rainbow... yep, seriously. But the funniest part is how much I HATE to put clothes away. I put it off for WEEKS if I can. When I do actually put clothes away, its such an accomplishment I usually call Ben to tell him! Maybe its because of how orderly my closet is?! HA! Its just so hard to find anything if its not in order! And it already takes me long enough to decide what to wear we don't need to add any time to that ordeal.

5. What is your favorite kind of food?
Cereal :) I love all kinds of cereal (but I especially love the horrible, no-good-for-you kids cereal... I won't buy it, but I sure do LOVE it!)

I did it!

Remember how hard it was to get baby hand prints?!

Well, today I got it! And it turned out better than the first one. (The top left corner was done today.)


I also added my hand print to this canvas because I really had been racking my brain about what else to do with these canvases. At first I was just going to have the baby's hands and feet, but they were too tiny to fill up each canvas. Then I decided that it would be a fun memory to have our whole family on there! :)


Dogs included! (For the record, I don't like Ben's hand and my hand that close together so I'll have to figure out a way to display these that add some distance between the two.)

I think I want to write cute info on these with a paint pen, maybe names, or dates or nicknames (like baby, momma, etc.). But I'm not sure yet. Any suggestions? I just know I want something else on them to liven them up. But, I'm pleased that I have two hands and feet from an infant and two paws of each our dogs! None of which were happy about the project.

Things NOT to do while on maternity leave

forget how to walk....

This happened Wednesday attempting to walk from my car to my doctors appointment. It was the first time I had worn shoes with a heal bigger than an inch in months. Two steps out of my car and I went down... Thankfully I had not gotten the baby out of the car yet and only me and my iPhone landed on the pavement. I was up pretty quick to avoid any on-lookers coming to help. The worst part - I was on my way to the doctor for a yearly dermatology check where they look at your whole body... yeah, I had to tell several nurses and the doctor that no, I wasn't in a car accident or something dramatic that quite possibly wasn't my fault.
I just fell... outside... in your parking lot....

7 weeks

Noah,
Today you are 7 whole weeks old! You are precious and we think you are pretty much the best thing in the world. I pray for you every day, sometimes many many times a day and a lot of times the same prayers. I pray that God will protect you (A LOT), keep you healthy and help me to teach you his ways. I pray you will know and love the Lord and your life will be of service to him. He blessed us with you 7 weeks ago and we are so very thankful!



The past 7 weeks
- have flown by!
- you learned to smile. (you laughed a few times in your sleep, but it doesn't count yet.)
- I think you can now see me across the room.
- you can follow me with your eyes as I move away from you.
- you are eating 4 - 6 ounces of breastmilk every 3 to 4 hours! I think you are a piglet :)
- you are typically sleeping 5 - 6 hours in a row at night and surprised us with 8.5 last night!
- you LOVE your baths. Unfortunately the whole process only takes about 5 minutes and I try to stretch it to 10, but there just isn't that much to do in there yet.
- you hate being swaddled and want to be FREEE! :)
- you don't mind tummy time because you think that I'm actually letting you go to sleep on your tummy...
- you are sleeping in a swing because you don't like being swaddled and you can't stop wiggling around when we put you in your crib.
- you love your paci, and I mean LOVE!
- you have no idea that Logan and Sierra try to sneak licks to your feet every hour or so.
- you can hold on to things like your paci or a toy and wave it around, but I don't think you know you are doing it yet, lol.

We are definitely still figuring things out, but hopefully we'll all get better and better about that as you start to fall into a routine (which I think we are in the slow process of!).

I am going to miss you terribly when I go back to work next week, but I know that you have gotten bigger and stronger than you were a few weeks ago. I have loved every second of being home with you and learning who you are.

Favorite Baby Items & Great Tips

I've been thinking of helpful things to tell some of my friends who are expecting lately and I decided to post them in a blog in case it helps anyone else out there. I was VERY thankful when my friend Johnna would send me emails about what she had learned along the way with her almost two-year-old (and many of these things may be from her, my friend Jessica or other friends who thankfully lent us lots of baby items or advice!).

Some of my most favorite must-have baby items & advice:

Baby Jogger City Mini - My #1 favorite item! I stressed about the stroller for a long time. This was my original choice after reading tons of reviews and websites. I wanted something light weight and easy to fold (you HAVE to watch the thing fold!) that turned and could be pushed with one hand easily. City mini does all those things. I went back to Buy Buy Baby at least 10 times and played with all their strollers just to be sure. The one aspect I didn't love about the City Mini was the storage basket underneath, its not huge. I was worried about it. After stressing over getting a larger stroller or one that doesn't fold as easy, I ended up going with the City Mini and am so glad I did. We of course got the infant car seat adapter, which works perfectly with our Peg Perego and a few other add-ons like a drink holder, a mommy-hook and the cooler (you know for all those picnics I go on).

- Dr. Brown's (or probably any kind) Microwave Sterilizer - this is so easy to throw everything in and stick it in the microwave. I don't know about you, but I don't run my dishwasher everyday and the thought of hand-washing pump, bottle, pacifiers, etc everyday makes me want to step on a nail. I just rinse things as we use them and when I have enough to fill up the basket throw them in. Its done in 6 minutes! (Which is just enough time for me to not forget that I need to get them out and pack things up for the next day, will come in handy when getting ready for work in the morning... if I had to get them out of the dishwasher I'd never remember all my items!)

Two tiered drying racks - definitely cleared up some counter space!

Aden & Anais Burpy Bibs (and pretty much everything they make)- these things are so fabulous, they actually snap so you can use them as a bib, but are big and super absorbent for burp cloths too!

- Mabel's Labels - LOVE these. My friend Jessica had these on the Dr. Brown's bottles she gave us and I ordered my own set for Noah. They are dishwasher AND microwave safe! We just received ours today and I'm very happy with them and the peace of mind that Noah won't be given any other baby's bottles at the sitters :). (Shipping takes a little while, so don't expect them to be in quickly.) I would love other items they have to see how they hold up too - like their clothing labels!

- Cooshee Diaper Changer - Again, thank you Jessica! No more changing sheets! And if you have changed a boy's diaper once or twice, you know their tendency to hose you down. I can't imagine changing a sheet at 3 am... no fun. When we have an accident I just wipe it down with a clorox wipe. Easy peasy. :)

- Baby Elephant Ears - these are great for all those things that baby doesn't quite fit in yet.

- Get a no-touch thermometer BEFORE the baby arrives. Lots of people may want to know his temp those first few days/weeks and its hard to get a wiggly baby's temp in his armpit and I'm not tough enough to stick it anywhere else. (That is the one we have and our doctor uses.)

- Breastfeeding - if pumping hurts, get a different size flange! I am still struggling with this a bit, but just ordered Pumpin' Pals Comfort Pack, so we'll see if these help. I've tried to research a good bit of how things are supposed to fit, but amazingly there aren't many pictures of what things are supposed to look like while pumping (don't worry I won't be doing that sort of review!)

- I have the Medela Pump & Style Advanced that my sister-in-law lent me, it works great. I don't have anything to compare it to, but it does the job and is very easy to cart around. It comes in the little black bag with plenty of room to toss in all your items, including a little cooler it comes with.

- Medela Hands-Free Pumping Bustier - I knew I wanted this straight from the hospital, one time of holding those things while trying to turn the machine on, off or to a different setting and I was done, I don't know how people pump without it!

- How to label breast milk in the fridge? Painter's tape and a sharpie! The tape doesn't leave behind any residue and stays on very well in the fridge. For the freezer I love the Lanisoh storage bags. Easy to label and zip up.

- Johnna told me a very helpful tip - if you are buying a convertible crib, go ahead and buy the converter kit. She found out that her crib was discontinued and couldn't find the kit when it was time to actually convert it.

- Something I wish I had gotten earlier - The Woombie - Noah hates to be swaddled, but didn't mind it when he was tiny. I think had we had this several weeks ago we could have transitioned to this from being swaddled, but still given him some room to wiggle. Currently he doesn't sleep well in his crib because he wakes himself up by smacking himself in the head or knocking his paci out, but he gets VERY angry if he's swaddled. We are using a swing that has a tilt to it because it keeps him snug but he can still move his hands/arms freely. (I think he really wants to be a stomach sleeper because anytime we do 'tummy time' he tucks his arms in and falls asleep! ha!) Another option - Peke Moe. (The Woombie didn't work for us because he still was very mad he couldn't flail his arms around :)

- Join Shutterfly if you haven't already. They have GREAT promotions. I just received a free photobook in the mail from them and got our birth announcements for a very good price and the quality was great! (Also, most of the baby marketing I've received in the mail has had promotion codes on them to use at Shutterfly, $20 off here, 15 free cards here... they all add up! That reminds me, sign up for all the free baby stuff you are offered including all the formula wesbites, they will send LOTS of coupons!)

Another good one - Pampers Gifts to Grow codes - you are using all those diapers and wipes, why not make them worth something?

Okay... is that enough information for one post? What is your can't-live-without baby item or advice? We'd all love to hear!

Baby Handprints... seriously?!

Everyone has seen those precious baby hand prints stamped on canvases, mugs, t-shirts... right? They look like that above.

Well, my question is, who is able to capture this and more importantly HOW?!

Ben so lovingly bought me a baby book for our anniversary (4 year was fabric and the book has a fabric cover, pretty creative!). In this book are two pages that have been haunting me for over 6 weeks now: Handprints and Footprints.

I definitely want to capture these precious hands and feet and remember how tiny they are, but I haven't exactly known how. I also knew I wanted them on the wall in some way too.



So, this week I made a trip to Michael's and bought my supplies: 4 canvases, blue, green, brown, orange and non-toxic white crayola paint for his hands and feet.

I carefully painted each canvas and gave them ample time to dry...

Then I waited and waited until Noah fell asleep and was moveable, which I thought would be the best time. You agree right?

Wrong...

This was the best of one of our attempts... Seriously, most of them looked like a smashed blob of paint. And then poor Noah looked like this:



Look carefully and yes, there is paint (non-toxic!) on his face, clothes, arms, hands, bouncer....ugh!

Well, two days, three tries, several repainted canvases, a few tears and one freakout at Ben when he tried to leave me alone with a painted baby later:

We have one, albeit, sloppy hand print.

The thing that worked out pretty well though, was the footprint:

This also took a few attempts, which is why one is lighter than the other and I had to repaint this canvas several times, BUT... we have two feet! And a left and a right one at that!

We still have another attempt to capture that right hand... let's hope its soon enough that its not significantly larger than the left one already on the canvas. I may be a professional when this is all said and done.


And a few pictures from this week:

I love him :)

Milkin' Cookies Review

This is a breastfeeding post so if you don't want to know anything else about breastfeeding, you may want to stop here. If you would like to know more about breastfeeding and cookies, keep reading!

A friend recommended Milkin' Cookies to me after I was telling her that I had started to pump in preparation for going back to work, but because Noah was the slowest eater alive, I wasn't producing as much as I thought I needed to get ready to leave him at day care. I was even pumping after we finished nursing in hopes to get more, but it was very little. So I started to panic (keep in mind, I'm sure he would have gotten plenty and I was probably panicking too soon), and wanted to see what I could do to pump more milk and get ready for leaving him all day.

When looking up what to eat to increase milk production there is a lot of talk of herbs and even prescriptions, but I didn't want to go to that extent, I just wanted to eat things that I may already be eating or should be, but didn't know. That's where Milkin' Cookies comes in. I thought it was worth a try since a 14 day supply (14 cookies) was only $20. I tried to search for reviews of them, but couldn't really find a lot of people who were talking about if they were successful or not so I gave it a shot.

I ordered the cookies and they were at my door 3 days later. Very fast!

I ordered the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. They came individually wrapped which was good, I have been able to throw them in my lunch bag on days I am trying to pack everything I need to take a 6-week-old out of the house (a surprisingly large amount of stuff!).

After buying Voortman Oatmeal Flax Seed Omega-3 cookies (why would anyone ever buy those?! I actually do like these cookies, but an Oatmeal Flax Seed Omega-3 cookie just sounds terrible!), I wasn't expecting these Milkin' Cookies to be much different. BUT, they are delicious! They taste homemade (which the website says they are made upon order) and taste amazing considering the healthier ingredients.

One downfall is that there are almost 200 calories per cookie... that is A LOT! The Voortman cookies only have around 100, which still is high, but has similar ingredients and is A LOT cheaper. $3 for 20 or so. They just don't taste quite as good.

So the real question is, do they help boost milk production? I think this is sort of a what came first the chicken or the egg question. Am I producing more milk today than I was before I started eating these cookies? Yes! About 5 or 6 ounces more per day. But, I've also been working at that by pumping an extra feeding per day and pumping longer than normal. So its very hard to tell if the reason is the cookies or the other factors.

I will most likely not order more of these cookies due to the high cost and calories and will instead stick to the Voortman brand along with other diet choices like oatmeal and higher protein meals. If once I run out of cookies my milk suddenly drops, I will be shocked, but will update the review and give all the credit to Milkin' Cookies... I have about 5 cookies left so we will see! :)