grocery trip.

Success! We took our first trip together as a family of four to the grocery store today. It was a bold move, I must admit. One seven week old who likes to nurse almost non-stop and hates being in her carseat plus a very testy toddler who freaks out over anything that even remotely resembles a ball or balloon = recipe for disaster, right? Thankfully, it wasn't that bad. And Harris Teeter gives balloons to children so Noah gets a balloon every week. Oh, not to mention free cookies, too.

I nursed Chloe in the parking lot while Matt and Noah continued into the store. We caught up with them after Chloe seemed satisfied and I had her situated in the Beco. Well, let me just tell ya, Chloe is not exactly the babywearing type. I hope she grows into it but right now, it's just not her thing. I was able to wear her for maybe 10 minutes and she really started stressin'. I thought, "Oh, no... I'm going to have to sit on a bench in the front of the store and nurse her for all to see," lol. I would have, of course... but I tried just taking her out of the carrier first and holding her in a blankie. That made her happier and she actually fell asleep while I was carrying her and stayed asleep for the rest of the endeavor. Of course, that left me without any hands to help but I directed the cart and pointed out what we needed to Matt and he threw it in the cart. It worked out pretty well.

One frappuccino spill and a full shopping cart later, mission complete. Really not too bad. Matt had to go alert someone to the minor spill after Noah decided to pick up one of our fraps and drop it. I totally saw that coming but, like I said, my hands were tied with a sleeping infant so there wasn't too much I could do, lol.

But both kiddos did really well. And I think I'm going to up the ante on my carrier supply and order a ring sling for Chloe as soon as I can. Since she hates the wrap and hates the SSC, I might as well branch out and try a sling. :) Maybe, just maybe... she will be a sling baby. I hope so because I love to carry my babes. I'd actually like to try Noah in a back carry in the Ergo and see how he likes it since I haven't been able to wear him since early on in my pregnancy with Chloe!

Got Chloe's May Christmas gift! :D I was getting a little worried as the end of the month was getting close and I still didn't have anything for her! I'm trying to hold off on buying more clothes-y types of things (like what I just bought) because that's pretty much all she has so far! Besides a stuffed animal. So I don't want to get her anymore stuffed animals either. She has a couple of onesies that I'm going to get embroidered with her initial, another onesie with a little lion on it and a bloomer set. And now the headband. I hope the deal-a-day sites start coming up with some infant toys! But the headband is super cute anyway. :)

news flash.

I finally got Chloe to take a bottle... from ME! The only reason I tried is because I thawed some breast milk yesterday with the intention of having Matt give her a nighttime bottle but I completely forgot. Thawed breast milk is only good for 24 hours so I figured I better give it to her sooner rather than later.

I've been going back and forth about whether latex or silicone nipples are better for her so I started off using silicone because the last time we used latex, it collapsed. I also kept her in her swing so she would recognize it as a different way of feeding and not expect the breast. Well, that doesn't work for her. So I decided a.) I'm switching back to latex and b.) I'm holding her close. I made sure not to tighten the nipple ring too much because that contributes to the nipple collapsing. SO...

I held her close to my chest and put the bottle at the level of my breast to make it as close to BFing as possible. She accepted! Also, she was hungry but not starving. I think that trying to give her a bottle when she's starving just pisses her off. I was sure to snuggle her close and maintain eye contact since she was lacking the skin-to-skin contact of BFing and I think it's important for her to not feel disconnected while feeding. It worked. I offered a 2-1/2 ounce bottle and she ate two ounces. :) Then I nursed her for comfort, lol. Plus, I think she takes less from a bottle than she does from the breast because the bottle is inferior in her eyes so she doesn't take more than she must for survival. I'm sure this will improve over time.

I pumped this morning and I got over in ounce in like two minutes! I thought that was exciting, lol. I couldn't finish this awesomeness though because Chloe woke up. It is challenging to start a freezer stash! I'm in good shape though. I have plenty to start Chloe at daycare and for occasional babysitters. I could probably stop pumping if I wanted to but I still try to pump if I have some time just for back-up's sake. And I should probably at least try to continue to pump so my boobs will get used to it for once I'm pumping at work. I can't believe I'm going back in two weeks! Two weeks from tomorrow exactly.

We got a babysitter for the first time since Chloe was born last weekend. I felt so bad leaving her because she was crying and I warmed up a bottle for the sitter to give her but she wasn't taking the bottle and Noah had just nailed her in the face with one of his toys... it was awful. I wanted nothing more than to nurse her but we were just barely leaving in time to make the movie and I didn't want to ruin it for Matt, lol. So I just sucked it up, trusted the babysitter to handle two under two and spent the duration of the movie stressing out. Matt called her right afterwards and everything turned out just fine. Noah went to bed SO easy for her (of course) and Chloe eventually took to the bottle.

We got paint for Noah's bedroom makeover! Well, the transition from it being Noah's nursery to a bedroom for Chloe and Noah. :) I'm excited to get started; I just need to find the time! I have a feeling this is going to be a looong process.

I had my post-partum checkup yesterday. Everything checked out fine although we didn't really spend time talking about me and just chatted about Chloe and whatnot, lol. But I'm assuming everything checked out fine since my midwife didn't say otherwise! :P

Well, Chloe is sleeping on me and I would like to move her so I can get some laundry done and do the dishes, prep the room for painting, etc. Lots to do! I didn't get anything done yesterday because I had my appointment at 10:30, got home at 12:00, ate lunch and then took a four-hour nap. :x

i'm confused.

When somebody says they need to have surgery to get their gallbladder removed, the typical reaction is something along the lines of, "I'm sorry... [etc. etc. etc.]".

But when somebody announces they have c-section surgery scheduled, the typical response seems to start with something along the lines of, "YAY!!!!"

??? Oh well.

bottle rejection.

Ahh, Chloe decided she wasn't going to take a bottle from Dad tonight. And I felt so bad watching her cry that I just nursed her. I think maybe her plan was to nurse herself to sleep so that's why she was so pissed because now she's falling asleep. I tried the silicone nipple instead of latex but that was just as bad if not worse. So now I have 3 oz of thawed/warmed up breast milk that I will end up having to dump if she doesn't take a bottle at all tonight! If she takes a good nap, we'll try again when she wakes up. We'll try the latex nipple on the Drop-Ins and if that still doesn't fly then I guess I will try one of the Avent bottles... even though those nipples are similarly shaped so I'm not confident that will make a big difference. But she's taken this bottle twice now so she should be able to take it again! Maybe I waited too long between bottles. Her last one was on Tuesday. :/ So note to self: Don't go longer than three days between bottles...

So now that we have our two munchkins, I am so excited about taking family trips in the future! Noah has already gotten a decent amount of trips in... Charlotte, Mt. Vernon, Washington DC, Myrtle Beach, Michigan, Boston and Charleston. We will probably take them to Disney World for the first time when Chloe is 3 and Noah is 4-1/2. That... I am SUPER excited for. :)

We just need a big family car before we can start doing things as a family, lol. Which we will HOPEFULLY be getting this month! I even looked at a minivan. I know. But I don't think we will ever get one. We will probably end up going with a Chevrolet Traverse since it's a three-row crossover and Matt gets the GM family discount. I really can't wait!

I gotta run to CVS while I have a good window of opportunity (right after Chloe ate)... until next time... !

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I found Noah's May Christmas gift already! It's the tool set, shown in the upper right of the picture. That could be dangerous... but hopefully by the time Christmas comes around, he'll understand that it's NOT funny to bang a toy hammer on the TV screen.

I've been pumping since Saturday. I wonder if the frequency of Chloe's nursing sessions affects how much I'm getting when I pump. It must be. The first time I tried was in the morning and I ended up with about two ounces total. I tried again while Matt was feeding her my pumped milk with a bottle (which worked out great) but then she finished her bottle before I was finished pumping so I switched to just nursing her because she wanted more than the two ounces. I ended up with a half ounce from just one side. I will combine that with my output from Sunday morning, which was three ounces so the next bottle she receives will be 3-1/2 ounces. That will give us a better idea of how much she needs to eat at each feeding. We obviously know it's more than two ounces!

Anyway, I'm hoping that once I start pumping on more of a regular schedule, I will get more. As long as I can pump enough in one session to satisfy what she needs to eat each time, I'll be happy. If not, I will look into getting a new pump. But I will definitely plan to go nurse her on my lunch break daily because she is the most effective "pump" I will ever have, haha. That will help ensure my supply and one less pumping session during the day is fine by me. Pumping is kind of pain. I don't know how or why exclusive pumpers do it, lol!