Times they are a'changing

Here I am!  Feeling like my old self again, with some minor adjustments, of course.  Things have been quite hectic, hence the lack of blog posts.  I think about writing every day but actually getting (making) the time to do so requires some effort.  I'm not going to lie, I like to lay in bed every night with my boo-bear and watch Breaking Bad on Netflix or illegal downloads of Dexter.  But the boo-bear isn't here tonight so my pre-sleepytime activity is this.

Where to start...

School.  Oh yeah, that plan is taking a bit of a turn for the lengthy.  My problem is that I screwed around when I went to college straight out of high school and ended up with a (as it turns out) less than desirable GPA.  I have been doing well since returning but that "overall" GPA is keeping me from being eligible to even apply to the college of nursing this year.  I had to write a letter to the admissions committee asking them to waive the overall GPA requirement.  They denied it.  They want to see how I finish up this year and then I am to apply for the same waiver again next year (so even next year isn't a guarantee).  It sucks but I have learned that everything happens for a reason.

My plan for next summer is to go to a local "trade" school, if you will, and become a nurse technician.  That way I can at least get some experience under my belt and make some extra cash, not to mention, utilize my time... until I can find a way into a nursing school somewhere (preferably here, obviously).  Actually, it has to be here because I'm not moving.

Oh, speaking of moving... I am house hunting now, too.  I am ready to be on my own.  Well, I wont' be completely on my own.  I know single mothers do it all the time but I don't see why I would live alone when I have a perfectly great boyfriend with whom to live.  :)  That might sound a little crazy to some but remember, this is someone who I considered to be a good friend for a very long time; my husband's best friend no less... someone who was there for me and the kids - to help fill that void that was left after Matt died.  Noah's Godfather... an amazing man who keeps me laughing all the time... at this point in my life... after having been married once already... on the wrong side of 25 (that's just a joke)... I know what I want in a man and he is it.  I am extremely lucky.

So it's time.  I started house hunting last Friday and it went well.  We have zeroed in on one particular house that we really really like with a superb floorplan in a beautiful neighborhood... and I'm paranoid that it's going to sell before our second showing on Wednesday.  :-/  I try not to get too excited over it.

Running.  It has been treating me very well.  In fact, I ran my first half marathon today; the halfie that I've been training for since March!  My sister-in-law and I ran it together (it was her idea to begin with) and we finished 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 17 seconds.  It felt very rewarding to cross that finish line knowing that that moment symbolized everything I had gone through in the last 15 months.  All the pain, all the heartache, all the unwelcome change... running was a great outlet during my healing process.  And this is what it has become - such a feeling of victory and accomplishment!  All from a little 13 mile run.

We ran the halfie carrying roses for Matthew with the intention of putting them on his grave but I kind of forgot about that last part today.  But the important part was carried out!  We knew he was there with us, cheering us on, when we heard a Michael Jackson song come on at one of the aid stations between miles 9 and 10.

Life is good.

Our family has been ripped apart

Matt was killed in a car accident on July 20. I started a new blog at day-three.blogspot.com.

Chloe Rolls, Noah Poops

On July 11, 2011, Chloe rolled all by herself from back to belly for the first time. She was three months and 10 days old. I just saw it for the first time myself a couple days ago, lol. But her teachers informed me of this accomplishment the day it happened. Yay for Chloe! Now, I can barely lay her down all the way before she starts to roll over. She is all about it. But then she gets mad so I have to pick her up or roll her back.

Last night, Noah started taking off his diaper and saying "boop" (that's "poop"). So I brought him to the toilet and he sat right on there and had a nice conversation with me, which primarily consisted of the words "boop", "potty" and "uh oh". And guess what? He went poop! And he also wanted to tear off a bunch of toilet paper and put that into the toilet while he was doing so. I had to stop him after the second time for fear of a massive clog but he proceeded to tear off little tiny bits while I held the roll in place. But I was very proud of him! So good job, Noah! Over the weekend, he took off his diaper and peed on the living room floor because I was preoccupied with Chloe and no one else felt like doing anything. Slackers.

I love it when I'm expected to be in two different places doing two different things at the same time.

Speaking of which, Matt is leaving me in August for a WHOLE EFFING WEEK. WTF. I am going... to die.

I think we are heading up to Michigan on September 2. We will go straight up to Crystal Lake for a couple days and then head down to Grand Rapids and then leave on the 10th. Those are the plans for now. And we are hoping to have Chloe baptized while we are up there, too. We'll see! I guess we could have a joint birthday/baptism party for both of them. :)

what's all the fuss about?

That's what I originally thought about Aden + Anais swaddling blankets. Then someone mentioned how nice they were to use as nursing covers in the hot weather. So... Baby Steals had some up for grabs for cheap so I ordered one. Holy amazing. First of all, these blankets are gigantic. And they really are so light and breathable. It just makes me want a slingified woven wrap that much more! I don't love the idea of wearing Chloe in any of my carriers outside because it gets so hot but they are all I have! So a choice we have not. Someday. Anyway, I used my AA outside at the park last weekend to nurse her and it was perfect. Now, I just need to perfect my nursing in public skills because it is quite awkward to nurse without my Boppy, lol. I rely on that thing too much! I may have flashed a bit of boob. Hopefully no one was looking. Oh well if they were.

I find that a common question these days is, "How long will you breastfeed?" I just say... I really don't know, lol. I guess as long as everything is working out fine, I see no reason to put a deadline on it, you know? I'm not going to count on making it a whole year right now just because I learned from my last experience that smaller goals are best. I am just happy each day I continue to be able to breastfeed. If I do make it to a year and even longer... then awesome! The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months and then continuing to two years or more with the addition of solid foods.

Anyway, it was flooding downtown after work yesterday. That was pretty cray-cray. I had to turn around and take a very long detour to the daycare. And today, when I went to nurse Chloe on my lunch break, she decided she would just take a nap instead. So that means her extra 2-ounce emergency bottle will most certainly be used since her second bottle would have been given a lot earlier than if she had nursed. I hope she is not ravenous when I pick her up but she probably will be!

2-month checkup.

It is so amazing to look at Chloe, look at how much she has grown and know that every bit of that has come directly from me! Not only did I grow her inside my belly for nine months but I continue to provide 100% of her nourishment and keep her growing. :) Duh... that's what breastfeeding is but I guess I never thought of it that way before. It is sooo awesome. I'm still sad I missed out on this experience with Noah but at least I get to experience it once in my life... if not again in the future. :D


So, needless to say, her 2-month checkup went great. She is 12 lbs, 12 oz! And 23 inches long. I felt so bad that she was all smiley and happy... yet, little did she know, she was about to get three injections in her thighs. :( So she totally freaked out as soon as she received that first poke... she let out a heartbreaking cry for a second but as soon as I scooped her up, it was like she flipped the switch and stopped immediately. I nursed her and then we left. She was sleeping when I dropped her back off at daycare.


Pumping has been going... just okay. Let me tell ya, it's definitely not my preferred method of milk removal, lol. I have to work my butt off to get enough milk for Chloe's bottles the next day. I make 12 ounces: Two five-ounce bottles and one two-ounce bottle just in case she's extra hungry (but that bottle is not always used up). I have to pump at least four times a day to get that. I pump twice at work and as much as I can at home until I have enough. I'm more thankful every day that I am close enough to go nurse her on my lunch break! Somehow, today I managed to go over by three ounces so I have three extra ounces in the fridge right now. :) That's a good feeling! I think I hit that point where my supply regulates itself based on whatever Chloe takes. So, instead of that nice, hormone-driven "oversupply", so to speak, I'm just producing what she needs. And, of course, the pump is not nearly as efficient as the baby so I don't expect to get as much as I was getting when I pumped my first week back at work. Oh, well... all the hard work is definitely worth it. And if I do have to pull out some formula to mix into breast milk one day, oh well. It's not the end of the world. But I'm going to try to avoid that. :)

This morning, however, I discovered leaked through my shirt for the first time, lol! Chloe didn't eat at all from my left side all night long so I guess that's to be expected. She woke up once to eat at 4:00 so I brought her to bed (she had fallen asleep in her swing) and fed her from my right side. I obviously was too tired to think straight and just fell asleep without switching sides. I thought about it but I just couldn't do it, lol. Plus, she fell asleep, too, and I didn't want to wake her. At least it didn't result in a plugged duct! I've had like four of those now and they hurt! I just pumped first thing this morning to relieve the pressure and got an extra ounce and a half. :)


I kept Noah home sick on Monday. He had a fever early that morning but then it was gone when I checked him again at 8:30. What the heck? Okay... so after his more-demonic-than-usual-meltdowns and congestion, we thought, "Oh... no. Two year molars." It is about that time, after all. So... we're bracing ourselves. This is the big daddy of teething woes and, with all the trouble Noah has with his teeth coming in, we know this is definitely going to be the grand finale. In a not-so-fun way. I will keep you posted on that news front, internet world. But maybe it will turn out to be uneventful (yeah right).

Where do I begin? I don't know... I feel like my brain has melted in the last couple of weeks. Life is a whirlwind right now. It's rare that I have a few minutes to just sit and relax without a kid attached to me. :P But that *did* happen on Monday. Matt and Noah fell asleep on the couch and Chloe slept in her swing. So I had a few free minutes and it was amazing! And thank God for Fridays. Those are the days where I either leave at about 3:00 or 12:00 and it's really the only guaranteed "me" time I get. Of course, that is spent working on the house but at least I can do it without being interrupted. :D

This week my morning pumping output has been less than impressive. So this morning I tried double pumping instead of single and it gave me two more ounces! I ended up with 6 oz rather than 4 oz and Chloe eats 5 oz for her morning bottle so that's perfect. I also ate oatmeal when I got to work, which is said to help increase milk production. If I could get that much again this afternoon, that would be awesome but I'm happy with 4 oz for my afternoon sesh. At least I'm ahead 1 oz for today. :) I hope I don't have to pull from my freezer stash again tonight!

I'm also going to add in a short pumping session when I get home from work since I make a small bottle for Chloe to eat right before I pick her up from daycare. Only about 2-3 oz or so. I think I'm actually going to keep that one at 2 oz from now on. Just enough to hold her over until we get home. Then I can finish her feeding at home and pump afterwards or pump first thing if she seems satisfied.

Anyway, I bought June Christmas presents yesterday. :) I got some wooden M&D marionettes for Noah (a prince and a horse) and some Babylegs socks and leg warmers for Chloe... I just couldn't resist even though I'm trying to refrain from buying her more clothes, lol. Oh well. It's not like she'll know; she'll be 9 months old.

It looks like my mom will be paying us a visit on July 7! An extra pair of hands, yayyy, lol.

Brrrr....

It is COLD in this office today! But that's better than being sweltering hot... which is the norm, lol. Yes, I am back to work. My first day was last Wednesday. It has been going quite well. Chloe has adapted to daycare just fine it seems. She takes the bottle well. The only thing I had to change was the nipples. I increased it to a medium flow because the latex slow-flow nipples just made it take her forever to finish a bottle. That was probably part of the issue at home, too. So now she is on the silicone medium-flow ones. Anyway, she was sleeping when I dropped her off this morning so that made my job easy. I have been going to nurse her on my lunch break every day around 12:00 or so. That has been going well. And pumping has also been going well; I am getting great output! More than she eats so far so then I have a little extra if I need it.

We got a babysitter on Saturday night so Matt and I could go enjoy a nice dinner at Wasabi 88. Which is REALLY yummy! It might be my new favorite place for Japanese. But I still have love for Japan Inn. After that we went over to Coldstone. And then we stopped by Best Buy so that I could have my phone looked at, lol. Now we run errands on dates, too.

I am still in the process of painting Noah's room... have been for the past month, lol. I should be able to finish this Friday though since it is my half day. Fingers crossed! Although even if I finish I will probably still need another coat of brown. Curse that. I hate painting. And yet I still do it for the sake of cuteness in Noah's room. I can't wait until it's all finished but it will be a while because now we are on a strict budget, lol. So I will have to buy piece by piece each month. :P Hopefully by Christmas it's done! I still need new crib sheets, wall decals, floating shelves, art and changing pad covers.

Noah's bedtime has been all sorts of messed up. Well, he goes to bed perfectly whenever we have a sitter. But when we're home, he cries and whines for hours and then just ends up falling asleep on the couch with Matt. :/ And this morning he also decided to wake up at 5:00... so of course, he fell asleep on the way to daycare, lol. Matt takes him to daycare now and I take Chloe. But I have to do drop-off and pick-up for both on Thursday because Matt has a seminar thing at 5:00. That is going to be interesting.

That's pretty much all that has been going on lately. Home projects, toddler craziness and back to work. It's our new normal!

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!

more newborn pics, pumping, bottles, etc.

Well, I will start with Chloe's newborn session part two. It went so much better than her first one! It probably helped that Matt and Noah weren't there to disturb the peace, lol. Or maybe moreso just Noah... bless his sweet little heart. This is one of my absolute favs from the session. She's so perfect! And I'm glad we did these when we did because her baby acne is getting worse by the day, LOL. I guess she got her mom's terrible skin genes. Sorry, Chloe.

Today we ventured out to Babies R Us... which, as we all know, is dangerous territory. Today was especially dangerous because it was my first time ever going out to look for things for Chloe. All the clearance items were BOGO free but I really didn't find as much as I was hoping to find. I ended up getting a cute onesie for her and some shorts for Noah. I also got her a set of sleeveless onesies from Carter's and an Amy Coe onesie. Then I got an Amy Coe tee for Noah that will go with a pair of plaid shorts he has that didn't really go with any of his current shirts. And I got a 4th of July t-shirt for him. Chloe already has an adorable 4th of July dress. Since I'm on the topic of clothing, Chloe has moved up to the 3 mos size already! She's growing so fast. Even one of her 6 mos sunsuits fits her loosely now. I guess that says good things about my milk supply! ;)

Tomorrow, I'm going to start pumping. I'm kind of nervous about it. I just want to make sure I do everything "right". So I think I will start in the morning after Chloe wakes to eat and then goes back to sleep. And I guess I'll just pump next when she is eating from a bottle and during her naps. I'm really not trying to build a "stash" but I guess it couldn't hurt to have some extra around the house for babysitters and whatnot. I just want to pump enough to make her next bottle that Matt will feed her with and also enough to begin her first day at daycare. So we will try that tomorrow for the first time and see how it goes. I got the Playtex Drop-Ins nurser starter set today. These bottles have gotten the best reviews across the board so that is why I'm going to try them first. My Avent bottles worked out fine for Noah in terms of him liking them... but we had plenty of leaking issues if the nipple wasn't screwed on JUST right and that's not something I'm willing to toy around with when it comes to breastmilk... for obvious reasons!

newborn photos.

There is a sneak peek of one of Chloe's newborn pictures up there. Will is coming back over on Wednesday to try some more poses and whatnot. Let's just say Chloe was less than cooperative for the photo shoot, lol! The one day she finally gets incurably fussy is the day she needs to be an angel! But he still managed to get some really cute shots. In between the meltdowns and nursing sessions... which pretty much left him with a 30-minute window of time. So I feel kind of bad about that even though I guess there's really not much you can do, right? Actually, I did consult with some others who've been through the same thing and it seems that is just the way that newborn sessions go. All the super cute pictures you see when you Google "newborn photography" are just split-seconds where the photographer got lucky. :P And I am not the only one who's gotten pooped on nor is Chloe the first baby to have peed on her props, hahahaha. Oh, man... I am thinking I will keep her swaddled on Wednesday. Maybe that will help. And I will crank the heat up to 80 instead of 75, lol. Here is one more preview!

happy easter!

Well, today was a wee bit stressful but not as bad as yesterday. At least Chloe took naps today! And she slept most of the night but it took forever for her to GET to sleep. She finally stayed asleep at about 2:00 and slept until 8:00. Ate at 8:00 and then slept until about 11:30. I guess she had some catching up to do. I'm so glad she slept so well because I had a terrible headache last night and had been wanting to take a nap all afternoon yesterday and didn't get to. :( Chloe was pretty fussy last night so instead of nursing her in the bed, which didn't seem to be working, I moved the glider and the swing into the bedroom and tried nursing her while rocking and then moving her to the swing... that failed. Twice. So then I went back to the old trick and she finally fell asleep. I just don't know what her deal was.

Anyway, Chloe and I attempted to make it out the door for church at 1:30 this afternoon but she had spit up on two different outfits and I was half-dressed (really not even sure what I was going to wear), it was almost 1:00 and I just said, "Forget it!" Matt took Noah by himself. Not something I would have ever attempted, that's for sure.

Chloe does spit up a lot. The symptoms of GED and a forceful letdown/oversupply of breastmilk are annoyingly similar. So any time she is fussy, I worry about her being in pain (like last night). But even if she does have a mild case of reflux, I can take comfort in the fact that breastfeeding is the best thing you can do because it digests quickly, therefore leaving much less time for reflux to occur. Plus, breastmilk is a natural antacid, which kind of makes me wonder if that's why she nurses SO OFTEN. Who knows... she only really became fussier a couple days ago because she NEVER fussed in her first couple weeks. I let her sleep on her side. Sometimes it sounds like she's burping and gulping... which isn't a good sign (silent reflux). Anyway, it's probably more comfortable for her to sleep on her side and I'm right there next to her so that makes me feel better.

We let Noah eat quite a bit of candy today, LOL. Sign us up for parents of the year! ;) So he's been pretty wild. And definitely not going to bed yet like he should be. He just dumped his basket of toys out in the living room. I set up an "egg hunt" in the backyard for him. We will have to upload that video! He was all excited to go search for eggs and put them in his basket. He also did an egg hunt on Friday at his daycare's Easter party. We've got that one on video, too.

Ooh, so Express had free shipping on all orders today. I purchased this large tote thinking I might be able to use it as another diaper bag for Chloe. It's cute and summery. I also got some black sequin sandals.

And Papa John's had everything 50% off today if you ordered online. We definitely took advantage of that for our Easter dinner. :) Yum yum!

karma.

Noah GOT BITTEN at daycare yesterday! I mean, I know it's no laughing matter but we have to laugh a little bit (no pun intended) because he bit someone just the day before, LOL. Apparently, four of the boys were brawling over pillows and Noah ended up at the bottom of the pile. :P Noah does not mess around when it comes to pillows.

Thank God he went to bed easily tonight. It's so hit and miss with him. His teeth must not be too bad tonight.

And ((AI SPOILER ALERT))...

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Just received notice that Stefano is voted off American Idol. Boohoo. I liked him okay but his performance last night was not good.

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I would have loved to see Jacob go though. LOVED.

My girl April gave me a bunch more clothes for Chloe today. :D Thanks, April! AND a super adorable flower headband. :) We went to visit the office this afternoon. It was pretty quiet since most everyone was gone but Chloe got to meet two of my co-workers!

Tomorrow Chloe is getting her "newborn" pictures done (even though she barely qualifies as a newborn anymore, lol). I'm super excited for them! Should be a lot of fun... maybe not for her as much as it will be for me. :P I have a few ideas for her "outfits", one of course being her birthday suit with the headband on that April bought for her. And I also have these cute little beanies that my cousin knit. Then I have this red knit hoodie sweater that buttons and the buttons are little ladybugs. That's all I have so far!

Our TV has been broken for a week now. The lamp burnt out so we ordered a new one that we actually received in the mail today but now that we have that, we discovered that our DirecTV got fried when lightning basically struck in our backyard during the storms last weekend. It had also fried the board on our air unit. That was one crazy and LOUD (and bright) lightning strike, for sure.

Well, Chloe slept pretty great last night... although the fact that she sleeps next to me probably helps her sleep so well. And it's great for me because I can basically nurse her while I sleep when she does wake up. The only one who doesn't really win in this situation is my husband, lol! But if we had a KING SIZE bed, I'm sure he could still sleep in there with us, no problem. Sigh. If only.

april christmas gifts... check.

I was able to purchase something "gender-specific" finally... for the "noob" (whom we now know as Chloe)! I got the diaper set (pic on the far left). It's a pink paisley top with chambray bloomers. :) Too cute. I got it in size 12 mos so she can wear it in the spring.
And Noah's gift this month is probably going to be a stocking stuffer - it's a children's orchestral CD. I know he loves music so I think he will like this. :)

April is all done! Now I have to wait until May before I can buy some more goodies for the kids.