Comment Away!

Ok, so I had 3 emails yesterday about having trouble leaving comments. Yargh. Then my Dad called me and he and my mom never can leave comments...so I have changed the settings so ANYONE can comment without ever signing in. However, I am still requiring typing in a code word to prevent spam comments. Also, please do sign your name. It drove me nuts when I was trying to guess who was leaving what comments. I can kind of guess who is saying what (like my brother Richie leaves usually highly entertaining comments) but it is just easier and doesn't leave me wondering about who could leave such a gross spelling mistake. I want to call you up and tell you that YOUR and YOU'RE are NOT THE SAME.

I think that the OPEN ID is hard to use for non-frequent users, but it is possible! Anyways, if you don't put your name in the top box, then sign it in the actual comment.

I don't know...I really don't think that my life is THAT INTERESTING that I need to make my blog private, but I think private blogs settings are annoying because they will not show up in my feedreader. If you don't know what a feedreader is (ahem, Mom and Dad) it is basically an email set-up that checks new blog posts. So 5 seconds after someone posts a new blog posting, it will show up in my feedreader, which uses the same Outlook set-up that I use for my email. I hope I didn't totally butcher that explanation. I am sure I will be corrected if I am wrong. HA!

So back to other annoying things. If you have a feedreader, I would really advise you to "follow" your own blog and subscribe to your own updates. This way you can see if there are ever any problems or broken pictures, etc. Also, if you have more than one author (like a spouse) you will be alerted to their post without them having to tell you.

Also a tip...change your settings in your blog layout for a FULL feedreader view. WHY? Well, I subscribe to some more commercially blogs, that sometimes post about stuff that interests me (breastfeeding and other parenting issues like discipline, etc...) but if my attention isn't caught in those first 2 AND ONLY lines...guess what...I'm not going to click on "VIEW ONLINE" -- ever. It will get deleted and never looked at...UNLESS...it becomes a big deal, which will be made clear because some other blogger will post about it, or I might see it on Twitter. Also, if you post a video or slideshow, try to remember to SAY you are posting a video, etc.. because it will show up as a little empty white space in the feedreader, and nobody will know it was ever there.

Also, if you do not have a profile picture, SET ONE...it takes all of 30 seconds! If you do not know how to do this, then leave a comment, and I will have to take 30 seconds to write a post on HOW TO. REALLY...it's under your profile...take 5 minutes to figure it out and stop annoying me with your little grey pictures. :) HEHE. Actually, on some other blogs that I follow, with lots more followers, I've noticed like 10 or more people that haven't set profile pictures. Seriously? You take the time to have a blog and post stuff, but can't set a profile picture. This is like leaving the default answering machine message on. Oh wait? You haven't set a personal voicemail...well ok, then...that explains everything. Hehe. No, I still love you all!!!

If you follow my blog and aren't listed as a follower (check the upper right where all the little blog profile pictures are)...FOLLOW ME! :)

If you have been following my blog as a silent stalker and are waiting for a chance to introduce yourself...do so now...open comments! SAY HI! Leave a link to your blog if you have one and I may start stalking you. Blogs are fun...they are so voyeuristic...as is Facebook...a sneak peek into someones life...what fun!

Ok, that's about it for my rants and complaints then...have a happy Monday! :)

Want your wallet returned?

If you ever are afraid you might lose your wallet, then keep a big picture of a baby in the front: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6681923.ece Then it will be more likely to be returned. Check it out!

Congrats to ALL Mamas!

All Moms deserve lots of trophies and recognition. I just wanted to say congrats to ALL mamas on nursing their babes...whether the nursing relationship was 3 hours, 3 days, 3 months, or 3 years plus...I think parenting is THE HARDEST JOB EVER. NOTHING can prepare anyone on what it is like to be a parent. And mothers in particular, because, let's face it, even working moms do the traditional brunt of the housework, cooking, and childcare. But I think especially, nursing Moms deserve a round of applause because in a bottle-feeding world, we don't know what to expect and sometimes feel a need to defend our choices.

I posted a status on Facebook that I was excited to be coming up on our 2 year nursing anniversary with the approach of Claire's birthday. I did not mean this as a bragging insult to any other Mommas. Instead, I was just trying to say I am proud of myself for sticking with it. So if being proud of myself is bragging, then I guess I was bragging, but I wasn't trying to be. We had a rough start. I didn't know how people could nurse a whole year...or more! When Claire was born, the doctor used the vacuum extractor as she came out face-up. If I had been a smaller woman with a smaller frame, she would have totally been a C-Section baby. PLUS...my water had been broken more than 30 hours ago, etc...so anyways...why does this matter? Well, because her head freaking hurt and she would not nurse on both sides. She would only nurse on the left side, which is totally understandable because it hurt when the other side of her head (where the suction was). Anyways, we dealt with a sleepy (drugged up?), non-latching newborn baby. And when she did latch, she did not latch well...so she didn't get much milk out...so she NURSED CONSTANTLY for about the first 6 weeks. And she didn't latch right and I had sore nipples, bleeding and scabby...until one day I noticed the scab chunk was gone when Claire pulled off. The joke is always bleeding nipples give the baby some extra iron. Which...ewww...but anyways...she burped up the scab. I was glad she didn't not digest it, but I will stop talking about that grossness.

Another thing I dealt with was her getting too much foremilk as I was obsessed with switching sides. I would do 10 minutes on one side, 10 minutes on the other, then if she wanted more, it was back to the other. WHY? Well, this is what the hospital told me to do. And I wanted to take their "advice." Well their advice sucked. It was wrong. Well, she was never getting the hindmilk which is richer in fat. It took me about 2 months until I figured out I didn't need to time it, and I just went with the flow. In the hospital we were offered a nipple shield as Claire would not latch because she was asleep...DUH! Thankfully, from Cherish's experiences at LLL that I heard about, I refused the nipple shield. We were offered formula. The nurse even went as far as going to get a little bottle of it, and put some formula on my breast to "tempt" her to want to nurse. UGH. It ticks me off that I can't say she "never" had a drop of formula because I think a couple drops got in her mouth of that. She did not wake up that session and I threw that premade bottle of formula in the trash, angry that we'd probably been charged $12 or something unreal for it.

UGH. ANYWAYS...we had other struggles. She went from 7.15 at birth to about 6.9...some weight loss is normal, but even more weight loss is normal after an induction and IV meds like I had (pit, antibiotics, and some other painkillers to bring down my BP because it shot up so high from the pain of the pit/backlabor, etc.) Had I not known better, I might have supplemented because who wants to let their baby lose weight. So we also dealt with biting and bloody nipples at around 12 months, at which point I KNEW why women weaned for biting. But I figured out what worked for her to get her to stop. I didn't have a choice...she would not take solids. At 15 months Dr. W. labeled her at FTT (failure to thrive) which I laugh about now. NOW I think I had an oversupply because she gained weight sooo fast in the beginning. She was up to 19 lbs by 4 months! And 24 lbs by 9 months. Well at that point she grew taller, but her weight stayed the same then dropped. She was 23.5 lbs at 15 months. And Dr. W. did not like that she was not eating. Ha...of course she was eating! Every 2 hours plus. I drove myself crazy about this for awhile, but then decided she was fine. She was biting me when she didn't want to nurse because I was obsessed with trying to make sure she ate more. She finally clicked at about 18 months at Christmas and started eating. By 19 months at Holly's wedding shower, she was snatching candies off the table and cramming her little mouth full. Apparently, I just hadn't been offering anything she liked. :) When we go in for her 2 year check, the doc will probably tell me she is obese or something. LOL!

We've had days where she has only nursed at waking up, nap-time and bed-time, but it is usually more like she is still nursing at least 6 times a day and twice at night (AT LEAST!) and sometimes I wonder if she will ever wean. But then I remember...she is weaning! At any point when any other solids or liquids (water/juice/cow's milk/etc.) are given, weaning has started. Weaning just has to be a REALLY REALLY slow process to help the mom from becoming engorged which can lead to mastitis and/or plugged ducts...and the child needs to be weaned gently with love for obvious reasons. Whenever I have posted or will post about breastfeeding, I don't want anyone who has ever had trouble nursing to feel guilty or like they need to defend themselves. I know sometimes I've been in a situation where I feel like I need to defend my reasons for continuing to nurse for so long. I guess if you think about anything too much it will drive you crazy.

I know lots of ladies have had bad luck with LLL, which breaks my heart. Read this post and the comments here to see what I mean: http://www.phdinparenting.com/2009/06/22/lll-is-too/ But we also have to remember, that's like saying, well, I don't like public education, because Mrs. Smith who was my son's 1st grade teacher hit him (or whatever). LLL is a huge INTERNATIONALE organisation, and we have to remember each meeting is different. All the experiences we bring will change conversations at these meetings. And just because one meeting didn't go well for a person, does not mean that the whole organization sucks. I have found great friends there and really enjoy going to the meetings.

Anyway, I think it all goes back to we are all just looking out for ourselves and what works best for our families. Nursing works for ours, so that's what we do. I'm signing off for the moment!

My Little Helper

I went to Kroger earlier today. Great fun for Claire as she gets to ride in the shopping cart car. I also bought groceries, which are great fun for her to unpack. I just put the bags on the floor and let her unbag everything. She will find something fun to play with! She was playing with the square tissue boxes I got 10 for $10 and stacking them like blocks! Great fun!

We also went to the local hospital breastfeeding group tonight and had fun! When we got home she ate 2 orange cream Popsicles! Now she is playing with puzzles with Daddy. I should probably put her to bed....ahh...later...

So what I need to do now is Google flowers that I can plant around our patio. Our patio is pretty much done, except now I need to landscape around it. I am thinking Daisies, Black-Eyed Susans, Sea Grass (which I've always wanted to try)...but that's all I know is full-sun and very drought tolerant. This time of year is bad for planting, but I'm watering my tomatoes and peppers daily anyway...any ideas/tips/suggestions...please leave a comment and let me know!!!

Facebook is for OLDIES!

The oldies are taking over on Facebook! http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10281339-36.html You used to have to have a .edu address to sign up. No longer! That means that college kids might just be forming new networks!

Mom rolls over on Baby while Sleeping

Bedsharing has been safe since the dawn of time before the advent of formula. 20 bucks says this mom was NOT breastfeeding. http://www.indystar.com/article/20090709/LIVING01/907090412/Indianapolis+mother+rolls+over+on+baby+while+sleeping Bedsharing while doing it RIGHT is safe. NOT bedsharing safely (like if you or hubbie smokes...IS STUPID!)
I'd like more details on this. ARGH. And I hate the negativity on bedsharing. AND SERIOUSLY...AN 11 month old. I bet alcohol or drugs were involved. If I would've rolled over on Claire at 11 months...wait...how do you ROLL over on a large blob. That would be like sleeping on a bowling ball. I wonder if she was "trying" to off the child...

Sunflowers!

For our recent anniversary, Josh got me some flowers. Here are a couple shots of them:
Notice the water turned purple from something that was dyed purple. Even after I changed out the water, it dyed it purple again.

Here is a cool night shot. They still look great!

Nothing reminds me more of summer than sunflowers!

Newly Framed Pictures

We got some new pictures framed of Claire. We had to get this for our little July baby! I can't believe she is turning 2 in 2 weeks from today! We had to miss two 7-7-07 weddings because I was ready to pop any day! I REALLY wanted her to come early and have that awesome birthday, but no, she came late!

Don't you think she could be on the cover of a magazine? I like this because she is always in front of me, so it's like the view I see of her all the time!

And I really like the frame on this one. It's my favorite family one because we look so natural. Claire isn't exactly looking, but she has a great smile. I figure she has enough other photos of her around the house of her looking! :)

So next time you're over, you'll have to take a look and see where we hung them up!

College Friends!

This past weekend we visited with our college friends Mike and Jeremy. We enjoyed eating pizza as well as playing some board games after Claire went to bed. We played Sequence and my favorite, Scattergories. I kick butt and take names at the latter!

Daddy's Shoes!

Claire enjoys wearing Daddy's shoes and "walking around" in them, which is more like a drunken shuffle as they are quite heavy for her! Daddy snapped this with his phone today!

Cool little story

Check out this link: http://www.breastfeedingmomsunite.com/2009/07/the-princess-and-the-chick-pea-and-the-grape-and-the-walnut/ for a cool little story about breastfeeding!

Amazing Verb Usage!

Here are some sentences that Claire has said that have amazed me:

• I finding book.
• I making dinner. (Playing with play food!)
• Daddy mow grass.
• Mommy take shower.
• I drink white milk.
• I take bath!
• Holly sexy!
• I love you TEDDY BEAR too! (she will say "I love you ............ too" to about anything she likes)
• Mommy garage sale!
• I sleep bath tub. (She wanted to pretend to sleep in the tub! LOL!)
• Daddy fix boat! (Blow-up toy boat had deflated!)
• I want story-time now!
• I want sad baby book. (She is very interested and concerned about books that have pictures of sad people, esp. if they have tears.)
• I want Gobi! (She says "Gobi" for spaghetti. She is getting the G and I sounds.)
• Kiss boo-boo. Fall down.
• Bump head.
• I naked girl! (when naked)
• Our neighborhood! (when we pull into it)
• Terrible, Horrible (at Alexander's expense, if you know the book!)
• I want nummy milky!
• Daddy car all gone!
• Mommy! Phone ringing!
• Mommy! Pizza! (If the doorbell rings! Hmm...maybe we order pizza too much!)
• I want bite chicky!
• I want bite cereal!
• I want bite crunch! (for captain crunch)
• Richie help pedal! (Every time we play on her new trike bike! She remembers!)
• Opa pull wagon! (Again, amazing memory for her little mind!)
• Daddy working?
• I hunggggggggggrrrrrrreeeeeee! (hungry, but always drawn out!)
• Good girl Mommy! Go on potty! (that is always hilarious!)

Daily Sex Helps Improve Fertility

Wow. More sex means "more better" for chances of conception...seems like that would be a no-brainer. All that blood has gone somewhere else. Read more here: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1242-Science-News-Examiner~y2009m7d1-Daily-sex-helps-improve-fertility

Happy 8 Years!

Well here is a photo from the Spring of 1998...we have been together for 12 years, and married for 8.
AHH! Josh's dorm his soph. year of college. This is a photo from a webcam, hence the poor quality!

This is from when I was studying in Germany, and Josh came to visit me. I thought I would include some photos in the post from before we were married.

Yesterday, Josh and I celebrated our 8th anniversary. We have done many things in the past 8 years. I highlighted several things that we have done since being married. Of course, there is having sweet baby Claire who is going to be 2 soon! Here she was not quite 2 months:

Josh got a job in Indy, hence, why we ended up here!

Josh at his job. I think we had to bribe him to get this photo:

Here I am about 33 weeks along with Claire:

And with good times, come bad. My car was totalled by a jerk turning left in front of me on my way to school one day. You can see the airbags in the window:

We lived in an apartment complex with this awesome view of this lake:

We started going to the Melting Pot every year for our anniversary:

I shot a gun other than a BB gun for the first time with Josh!

We would spent quite time in parks when we lived in TH. It was calmer than campus life!

Ahh, the joys of playing with camera settings!

This was another house we rented, hence the horrible curtains, but I loved this arched doorway. Here is Josh on his way to an interview in college. I also had to bribe him to get this photo.

Aww, just a couple of college kids at the park!

This is another one of the places we lived, which was above a flower shop. It was my favorite rental ever!

Ahh, this was a new car "Once-Upon-A-Time." It was then smashed by a HUMMER while we were signing papers to get the car I drive now after my Red Dodge was smashed. I only wish I were kidding. It was parked, and fixed, but it was never the same to us. :)

So then Josh adopted his first baby:

We continue to enjoy dressing up for Halloween parties and pretending to do silly things, like bite Snuggles:

I was a "Vampire." I was obsessed with pretending to bite things for pictures this day!

We decided to rehome our Snuggles and Yoda to some college friends, because, although I am more of a cat than dog person, we were *sick* of changing the catbox. And since women are not supposed to change catboxes while pregnant or breastfeeding, and Josh did not want to do it...either...

We have spent a lot of time on the road to visit various family and friends!

We almost died in a little airplane crash. Never again will I fly in a small plane like this! LOL!

I substitute taught for a year. Then I taught English for a year. Then I taught German until having Claire!

We settled into our newly built home. All the dirt shall be ours!

We settled near Indy, and we still enjoy eating downtown often!

We took obsessive amounts of pictures of our new house being built stick by stick!

During college, we spent a lot of time hanging out with my sister Holly, including trick-or-treating ;) LOL. I was a naughty teacher or schoolgirl, your choice! She was a much tamer butterfly.

I told you that I was naughty. I am going to make this so you can't blow it up when you click on it. LOL:

We both graduated from college. I would upload one from my college graduation, but I think we were between digital cameras at that point. And I don't feel like scanning in a paper copy. Here we are in front of the house where we lived behind the tax agency. I think I have all of our apartments represented on here, except the dorms and our first place together.

We did the backpacking around Europe to celebrate college graduation. It was the hottest summer on record. Most of Europe does not have A/C. Oh joy. This is blurry, but it was the only one that showed the bags!

We met up with my bro Richie who was doing a HS program in Austria. We also hit up Germany, Amsterdam, France, and met up with my friend Anja....it was a busy 2 weeks!

Josh lost his wedding ring while wakeboarding. I tried very hard not to laugh at him while he looked for it in the lake. I got him a new one a half size smaller!

We went to Vegas and the Grand Canyon in March. Don't go in March. You will freeze your tail off!

We've been to FL several times to see Josh's mom and family as well as enjoyed traveling other places.

Well that's all I have time for! Happy 8 years Josh! Here's too many more! I love you to Infinity and Beyond! You are a great Daddy to Claire. She misses you every day while you are at work. I'm so glad you're mah baby-daddy. I tried to not make this post too much about Claire. Hehe. It was very hard for me! LOL!

It gets worse before it gets better!

So I haven't posted for awhile...Claire got sick. Ugh.

I will warn you now. This post will talk about baby poop and barf. So if you get grossed out and do not want to read this (my DAD!) then do not read this post. LOL!

Last Thursday she was fine. We went to story time and played at the library afterwards, etc. She had a few loose stools, but I thought maybe she had been having too much fruit and/or fruit juice for her system...Then Friday morning we went to the Teddy Bear Picnic at the library and swimming at the Community Pool. Well, if already had the runs at this point, we did our part by spreading it around. She did not go poo in the pool, but still... She did have a swim diaper on, but she had more loose stools the rest of the day.

On Saturday, I knew for sure it was "the runs" like I have never seen before, and we went through several outfits. Ugh. During the night between Saturday and Sunday, she vomited in the bed. I was right there, THANK HEAVENS FOR BEDSHARING! I was able to quickly scoop her up to keep her from gagging worse on it and got her to our tub so fast! She threw up two more times in the tub. She was crying of course. This was 2 AM. And I had to give both of us a shower. Josh stripped the bed...ugh. I had messy clothes to strip off of us. So nasty. Well...she also had the runs several times during the night...it was worse than a newborn. It continued with vomiting and the runs Sunday. Luckily by Monday, it was just the runs, no more poops. The runs were the worst Sunday to Monday, with about 7 runs between midnight and 6 am. I felt like I hadn't slept all night. I told Josh he had to stay home to help me. Thankfully he did. He also took Claire for a couple hours in the morning so I could sleep for a solid 2 hours uninterrupted.

Yesterday, we just had about 6 runny stools all day, but none of the outfit leakage like we had before. I have so so so much laundry right now it's not even funny. It's all clean, but just piled sky high waiting to be folded. Want to come over and help? LOL!

So today is Wed. and it's pretty much the first morning she's eaten a substantial breakfast. She also had a mushy poo afterwards...yay! I've never been so happy to see that mushy consistency!!! I am glad that we are still nursing or she probably would've ended up in the hospital with dehydration, or had a bloody butt from the acidity of the stomach acid going right through her without any breastmilk in there to neutralize it. Her butt got a little red but I took her outside in the backyard and let her run around nekkid a few times to "air it out" --nothing like fresh air and sunshine! I am also glad that she never got sick like this before!!! Wow. I can't imagine a younger baby/child going through this! We've made it to almost 2 with only 2 ear infections, herpangina once, and the runs/vomits this once...I wonder if it would be better if we stayed home all day everyday...riiight...I so want to get her out and explore this world!

Anyway, I think Sunday to Monday night was the worst. I can decide if vomiting or the runs is worse. I don't like the vomits as it gets everywhere, esp. at an age where she just vomits anywhere...not in a bowl or trash can even if there is one. I don't like the poops as that is harder on her skin I think, but it stays "more contained" even if it leaks out. So we are on the mend! Now I just need to Google if I should take her out yet, like to the store. She's had one mush stool, so I'm wondering if she's better. It was almost like a breastfed mush stool, but I could tell it was still slightly the runs, but enough about the poops and the barfs...did anyone even read this far? LOL!

I'm glad I didn't take away her immune system (my breastmilk!) and wean her early! She nursed nursed nursed like crazy for a few days there! It could have been a lot worse!