More Randoms

The day before Casen's party I needed to run by the old house and I also needed to nurse Casen.  Hence this smiley baby on the floor of an empty house.

 

 

OMG he is so dang cute!

 

I still haven't done his party post but here he is trying out the bounce house the night before.

 

My sister, Angela gave me this awesome cake/cupcake holder.  It expands to hold 24 cupcakes.  So cute and handy!

 

Someone loved his birthday cupcake!!

 

These are the stairs of the town home.  The bottom three are wide and shaped weird so that baby gate wouldn't work for them.  Casen loved climbing up there and was so proud of himself.

 

I have been doing this 30 day Ab Challenge for the month of June.  Slowest month ever!  It has been very tough but I have been doing it with some other girls which has held me accountable.

 

My MIL came over and realized we could do the baby gate differently.  She is much smarter than us!  I am glad she thought of this because Casen fell down those three stairs right on his head.  I can't imagine if it had happened from higher.

 

The week after Casen's party we continued to enjoy cupcakes and Casen was a pro cupcake eater.  The dogs always hoped for crumbs but didn't get much.

 

Casen wore his birthday shirt to school on his birthday.

 

Sweet little birthday boy

 

Love these two

 

And I love how much they love each other

 

Casen conquering that sippy cup

 

Sweet best friends in their matching shirts.  LOVE those two so much!  I can't wait to have a whole collage of pictures like this in 20 years!

Good article

Just read this and thought of my weaning post and my breastfeeding journey...twice!

http://www.today.com/parents/why-working-moms-are-frenemies-our-breast-pumps-1D79840234

Weaning Casen

I am going to blog about this because I want to remember how it went.  Leading up to it I stressed and worried about it....all for nothing!  I shouldn't be surprised that he did great and you shouldn't be surprised that I was stressing!

On Friday, May 23rd Casen had his last bottle at school.  Up to that point he had some milk and water in a sippy cup with meals but would just take a couple of sips and be done.  This worried me.

On the weekends Casen doesn't get any bottles because I exclusively nurse unless he is staying with someone.  So on Monday, the 26th I decided not to nurse him in the morning (around 5) like I usually did.  I tried this the week before but it didn't work because he wasn't feeling good.  Since I didn't nurse him when we got to school he was hungry (thirsty) so the teachers heated his breast milk up and put it in a sippy cup.  He gulped it down no problem.  From that point on he had milk from a sippy cup and did great.

That same week at work was very hectic for me so it was hit or miss what time I pumped and if I got both sessions in or not.

Friday, the 30th I was off work and with Casen all day getting ready for his birthday party.  I gave him cow's milk with his breakfast and made it until 10 without nursing him.  He ended up nursing 10, 2, 6, and before bed that day.

Saturday was busy with the party so I nursed him at 10, 2, and 9.

Sunday I nursed him at 1 and 7 for bedtime.

Monday when Casen went to school I sent 8 ounces of milk for him to have. And I nursed him just once before bed.  I continued that throughout the week because of the frozen milk I had. I stopped pumping at work cold turkey that day. This wasn't an issue because of the inconsistent schedule the last month and the weaning over the weekend.

Friday, the 4th of June I nursed him for the last time before bed.  Casen had to adjust to a new bedtime routine.  He was used to me nursing him as a way to unwind and relax after bath.  It took a couple of day but he got used to it.

Things were fine for me until Wednesday or Thursday night when I started fill up again.  It was weird and random and I thought it would go away.  Unfortunately by Friday night I was engorged and uncomfortable.  I didn't sleep well Friday night and was hurting all day Saturday.  I was so sore and had trouble holding Casen because of the pain.  I even went to the grocery store and bought cabbage leaves to try to help.  Saturday was another horrible night of sleep and I finally decided I couldn't do it anymore.  I was very worried I would develop mastitis (an infection and flu like symptoms).  I decided to let Casen nurse just long enough to give me some relief, but not empty me and therefore stimulate production.  Stimulating production was my fear because then we would just start over.  It was horribly painful to let him nurse.  I won't go into the details of why, but seriously those first two seconds made tears roll down my face.

Lucky that little nursing is what did the trick.  It relieved the pressure and gave me a little relief.  Because I let it go on so long I was very sore for two days, but then I was done and have had no issues with production or discomfort since.

Casen did awesome with the whole weaning process.  Some babies struggle with it and have a tough time pulling at your shirt or crying when you hold them.  Casen did fine.  He even did fine after the one time nursing on that Sunday.

I enjoyed nursing Casen.  I enjoy the satisfaction of knowing I provided him with the most important nutrition for his first year of life.  I enjoyed the bonding time with him and sweet snuggle time built into each day.  But I think we all know that I was ready to be done and glad it is over.  It was a little sad to nurse him the final time but ultimately I knew we were both ready and he would be okay with out it.  I reached my goal and proud of us both. 

We fought kidney stones, thrush, clogged milk ducts, supply issues, and probably other things.  But we made it and we are done.

Now lets see if I can start wearing some of my clothes that didn't work with my fuller figure!!

Randoms

I thought about using a different title because I feel like I use it a lot, but let's be honest.  It is random pictures therefore it gets the random title.

Most of these pictures mean nothing, but they are on my phone and I want to capture them.  My sweet boy was walking around this bench singing his ABCs very loudly.  A little embarrassing, but mostly adorable.

Casne loves the four wheeler that Cooper got last year for his birthday. He thinks he is so big when he is on it.

Checking things out.

Sweet picture of my boy.  Right now he is in a good phase where he doesn't mind taking pictures for me.  I am trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

Casen was too busy playing to stop for a picture.

I saw this in a birthday party supplies catalog and it cracked me up.  Future Halloween costume?

Not sure why I stopped for this picture?

My baby falling asleep in my arms was something else I was trying to enjoy knowing that phase is about over.

Cooper playing ball with his great-grandfather.

Casen was sick right before we moved so I had a cuddly day at home with him.

Milk coma!

I found these while packing and Cooper thought they were cool.  He listened to his monkey song with them.

Babi spent the night with us the night before we moved.

The town home has stairs which required a baby gate to keep Casen from tumbling down.  Unfortunately he isn't a fan of the gate and either of the dogs because they get stuck sometimes.

Memorial day the boys wore the cute outfits from Mimi and Grandpa at a cookout.

I have a lot more pictures so get ready for more random posts.

My Momma Is The Best

Casen has been cranky the past couple of days and I wondered if something was wrong, but he is also going through a clingy phase so I wasn't sure.  Well he has had a snotty green nose and I was a little worried he had an ear infection.  I had planned to call the doctor on Tuesday but forgot.

Then right before I headed into 3 meetings that were back to back for 4 hours I got a phone call that Casen had to be picked up from school.  I panicked at first and then called Kyle and told him that I really needed him to get Casen.  Of course he was fine getting him but we both knew that meant he would have to take unpaid time off because of the way things work at his job and how he accrues vacation. Not that big of a deal, but still...

After that I called the doctor and got him an appointment first thing this morning and then called my mom to see if she could keep him today.  I knew she couldn't help me with picking him up from school because she had an appointment and was too far way at the time.  Of course she said yes right away and worked out the details. 

Within the 5 minutes before my meetings I had called Kyle twice, made a doctor appointment, and arranged my mom to watch him on Wednesday.

Because my mom had some things to do, but knew I go to work early she drove to our house at 9pm last night instead of coming super early in the morning.  She didn't hesitate to switch things around to help us out.

Then she kept me updated throughout the day on my sweet boy.  I think it is evident that Babi was all he needed to feel better.

Having his breakfast of waffle and milk

Waiting to see the doctor- the doctor said it is probably something viral.  No ear infection but since he still has fluid in one ear we are calling to get him and ENT appointment for a consult on tubes.  I hate to do it, but am just ready for him to feel better instead of constantly wondering. 

Play time

This sweet smile was after a refreshing 3 hour nap.

Now my mom is headed to pick my sister's girls up from day-care so she can watch them while they are out of town.  And my older sister and her family are staying with my mom. And my dad had shoulder surgery on Monday so he is still recuperating.  My mom has a lot on her plate but she still made it all work.  And luckily she is a teacher and able to help us out right now while she is out of school.

Thank you Daddy for sharing your nurse with us.  It looks like Casen enjoyed his Babi time.

Thank you Momma for taking care of my boy!

Tinsley Turns 1

The day before Mother's Day this sweet girl turned 1.

She is such a little ham and I just love her!

Cooper loved playing with all of their toys and who cares about them being pink.  It is a four-wheeler!!

Casen had fun too

She loved her cupcake

 

Big sister, MacKenzie helped open presents

This party made me sad because I knew that just 3 short weeks later my baby would be 1 also.

Casen's 11 Month Post

I am finally getting around to writing this post and he is already over a year.  I have been avoiding it because I made an mistake.  Right before Casen's party I took his 12 month pictures.  It wasn't until I got ready to upload them that I realized I didn't have a memory card in my camera so really I didn't get a single one of those pictures.  Then I realized that meant I didn't have a memory card in my camera when I did the 11 month pictures.  I didn't realize it sooner because I hadn't tried to upload them yet.  And of course I threw away the 11 month sticker.  So this post won't have any pictures.

Poor second child always gets the shaft.

***************

Stats:

Weigh 19.1 lbs

29 inches long

No teeth

Wearing 9 month and 12 month clothes.  Usually 12 month shirts and 9 month shorts.

You wore shoes this month and you fit in size 2.

Size 3 diapers

You continue with the same milk/bottle schedule as last month.  I had supply issues which was very frustrating for me but didn't phase you at all.  I had plenty of stored milk in the freezer to supplement while I worked through it.

And you are an awesome eater when it comes to table food.  You eat a variety of foods and rarely turn away from something new.  You definitely out eat your brother, but that is common for toddlers.

You still love baths and I tell everyone that the bath is your happy place.  You will play until I make you get out.  I would say until the water gets cold but even then I think you would be fine.  I look forward to seeing how you like the swimming pool.

You still love to still out your tongue and play with it.  It is kinda your signature thing.

We have noticed that your hemangioma seems to be looking smaller and less red this month.  Even though it isn't a big deal I still hoped that it would go away completely at some point.

This month you figured out how to walk around furniture while holding on and have even reached from the coffee table to the couch a time or two.  You also figured out how to lower yourself to the floor instead of falling to the floor.

This month you took your first trip out of Texas to Oklahoma to Nana and Papa's cabin.  On that trip you also sat in a big boy car seat for the first time rear facing.

This month you also figured out how to wave consistently.  The funny thing is that it was kind of a weird wave with your arm straight in the are and with your whole arm.  It is adorable.

The week after you turned 10 months old you got hand, foot, and mouth disease.  It was going around your class and you got your turn.  In hopes that the sores around your mouth would heal faster we asked day-care to minimize your pacifier usage.  Well 2 days later Ms. Christina said you were doing awesome with no pacifier so we decided to stop using it at home.  You haven't had a pacifier since then.  It was a little hard for about 5 days mostly because we went to Ennis several times and you wanted to soothe to fall asleep.  But really you were easy to wean and it nice that we are done with that.  Your brother had his until about 20 months.

Other comparison's to Cooper-

I just looked at Cooper's 11 month post and you are nearly 2 lbs lighter which surprises me.  You don't seem lighter than him.  Like Cooper you love meat, mexican food, and tomatoes!  You also love fruit.

Your 11 month was very busy for us but wonderful...now I need to do your 1 year post!

His 10 month post and Cooper's 11 month post

Mother's Day

I am finally sharing the pictures from Mother's Day.

We went to church then headed to Mimi and Grandpa's house.  We went to lunch at a yummy pizza place and then went back to their house to play a little.

I remembered to get a family picture!! Yay!

After that we headed to find some new shoes for Cooper and Kyle.  Cooper's were really worn out and had gotten left at my mom's house the day before.  He was walking around this bench singing his ABCs while Daddy looked for shoes.

We gave Mimi this stepping stone for her yard. She takes a lot of pride in her yard and enjoys yard work so we thought this would be a good little gift. (We should have pushed Casen's hand down in it further)

I got this sweet hand print bouquet from Cooper.

And this clay mold hand print from Casen.  I love these gifts because they capture a moment in time of my boys.  We get a lot of artwork sent home from school and I can't keep it all.  The things I always keep are hand print and footprint art.  I want to remember how small those precious fingers and toes were.

We celebrated Mother's Day with my mom the day before at Melisa's house along with Tinsley's first birthday.