Happy World Breastfeeding Week

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Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

I wish.

I was thinking of trying to make rum balls this year but then decided against it since my parents don't do the alcohol thing and my kids are too young for the alcohol thing and I technically shouldn't be doing the alcohol thing (breastfeeding) so... why bother. Cause I know I'd eat more than a couple.

Eh, maybe someday at a church party I'll stumble upon some and can finally cross "rum balls" off my bucket list.

In one of my father's anti-alcohol churches (which technically have been all his churches), they had a Christmas party one year and someone brought a friend who didn't attend their church and she brought rum balls. Well, one of the church ladies decided to try them (not knowing they had alcohol in them) and really liked them. And I guess she loaded up on them and basically got loaded.

Good times in the House of the Lord.

As of today, I have ALL my Christmas shopping done! And let me tell you people, this has been such a stress-free year of shopping that I'm almost sad it's done. (I said almost.) I started on Sunday and went to Target and Kohl's. Then on Monday I went to a few stores in the mall and back to Kohl's. Then today I stopped at Kohl's and Target again. And now, other than a few little things for stocking stuffers, I. Am. Done. (Well, except for the very worst part of all... the wrapping.)

Ohhh do I dislike the wrapping. And this year, I have to wrap! Can't just do the gift bag thing. (I can throw a gift in a bag with tissue paper like nobody's business!) But, I have an 18 month old who is gonna have a blast ripping the paper off his gifts and his mama is gonna have a blast watching it! So, with that thought, that's the end of my wrapping complaint.

And that's a wrap.

3 Days Late

I can't believe Halloween came and went and it's time to start thinking about Thanksgiving and soon after, Christmas. Where did 2010 go?!

So I did a crazy thing and signed up to blog each day this month. It's been a long time since I did the NaBloPoMo thing. I thought I could do it and I've already failed before I started. Oh well, we have a lot going on. I'm trying to do better, really I am.

Baby T turned 17 months old yesterday. 17 months!! Hard to believe. He's doing so much now and getting so big. He thinks he's a big boy but he's still my baby. He's still nursing like crazy and we're not even thinking of weaning at this point. He's got about 8 or 9 teeth and it seems like he's getting a new one every other day. He does great with them. Sometimes he'll get a little fussy and will chew on his fingers and I know he needs Tylenol or teething tablets (yes, I know about the recall and yes, I am still using them) but other than those very few times, he seems to handle them real well.

He's napping now and I have a very small window of time to get my dishes done and more laundry in before dinner so I better grab it while I can. We need to have a decent meal tonight. Monday we went to Applebee's, Tuesday we did the "clean out what's already opened in the freezer" thing, so tonight we need a good homemade meal. I haven't a clue what that will be yet, but I'm working on it.

Busy Week Ahead

I like busy weeks. They give me things to do and somewhat of a schedule. We haven't really had a schedule since Baby T joined our family. It's been nice but it's time for a schedule again.

Yesterday we were still at mam and paps (Baby T's version of grandma and grandpa) and I had things I needed to get done there. I signed Baby T up for "toddler storytime" at two libraries. One where they live and one where we live. He'll get storytime twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays. I figure we'll consider that part of his homeschooling.

Today I had bills to pay and errands to run... the bank, Dollar General and to the grocery store to pick something up for dinner. We're having tacos. Fast and easy. I still have laundry to do, the baby has no sheets on his bed and we're low on towels. Mr. R will be over later to visit Baby T.

Tomorrow I have two appointments. One early and one late afternoon. I hate early morning appointments because it disrupts Baby T's "wake-up and nurse for an hour" time. We do not get right out of bed in mornings, rather we sit and nurse and play and watch tv and nurse some more and then we get up. Normally it's about an hour after we first wake up. I know someday I'll miss that morning routine.

My parents will be here most of the day. I can't take the kids to my first appointment so they'll stay with them. Then the afternoon appointment is for T2, back to his allergist for his "fall" check.

Later tomorrow evening Baby T's aunts will be coming for a visit. It's always nice when they come and Baby T loves all the attention. He'll sleep good tomorrow night!

Thursday I don't think I have anything yet. I'm going to try and set up a play date with Baby T's cousin and his memaw. Maybe we can meet for lunch or they can come over.

Friday Baby T has a morning doctor's appointment. Shots! Ugh! Poor kiddo! We also need to have them recheck his little hernia while we're there just to make sure it's not getting worse. I keep praying it won't and he won't have to have surgery.

Then sometime this week I need to take T1 and T2 "Back to Home School" shopping. Notebooks, pens, folders, etc... and new shoes. They're pretty much good on clothes but really need new shoes. I also need to sit down and figure out their curriculum for the next month.

I also need to make dentist appointments for me and the older boys, make a doctor appointment for me and other little things like that.

OH and in the midst of all this, I need to find a job. One that does not include me watching other people's children, one I can do at home so I can still school the big boys and take care of the little one, and one that is flexible with good pay and benefits.

That one should be easy like Sunday morning.

Got Roast

Baby T was up earlier than normal today, but maybe that's because he went to bed a little earlier than normal. Our nightly routine is that I go to bed when he goes to bed, or vice versa. He nurses, then I just lay him down beside me (the whole co-sleeping thing) and I lay down, but last night was a rough night for me and I just needed some "me time". Now normally I roll my eyes at that phrase ("me time") because I feel like it's a cop out, but last night the baby was tired and I was not. I was hungry and I wanted to watch the season finale of The Real Housewives of New Jersey. So, I nursed him, put him in his crib and went downstairs and made some sinful and disgusting food to go with my sinful and disgusting show and sat my butt down and watched it. Twice actually, because Bravo played it over... and over... and over... I think I finally headed back upstairs around 1:00 feeling a little guilty that Baby T was in his crib and more guilty about watching grown women call each other "clowns" and "garbage" when clearly they are "tramps" and "trailer trash" in nice houses, possibly in foreclosure. But not to worry... this kid has instincts! As soon as I crawled into my bed, he popped up in his. I got him out, put him on my lap, nursed him and he fell right back to sleep in bed with mama. And I was happy.

So now we've had breakfast and I've got an English Roast in the slow cooker. Today I made up my own recipe... I added salt and pepper, onion flakes and then covered it with beef gravy. I normally use cream of mushroom soup, but I felt like trying something different. We'll have that with a salad, mashed potatoes, carrots and crescent rolls. I'm feeling all homemakery.

Later today I will be making new lace and crinoline outfits for the boys and leopard print outfits for my dogs. Cause that's the Danielle way.

Here's a recap if your interested:

Caroline: You know what you are? You're a clown.
Danielle: I'm a clown. Really?
Caroline: Your whole life is a joke.
Danielle: You're saying this, sitting there with red hair? I'm the clown?
Caroline: Yes, you are.
Danielle: Really?
Caroline: Yeah. No matter how hard you try, no matter what you do, no matter who you talk to, okay, you will not hurt me. Do you know why? I have integrity, okay, and I sit here and I tell you the truth, okay? And when I called you garbage, I meant you were garbage."

So worth losing those extra hours of sleep.

Best Breastfeeding Site Ev-ah

KELLYMOM is truly the best site for breastfeeding advice. I wish I would have known about this site 16 years ago. (Oh, and also it would have been nice to have internet.) And it's not just for advice about breastfeeding, but attachment parenting too! And we do some of that around here. :)

Happy World Breastfeeding Week - August 1-7

It's World Breastfeeding Week. Go HERE and see what the big hub bub is about.

New Laptop YAY!

Last week we went over to my parents on a whim. We were bored and felt like getting away, so we packed up and headed out for our 45 minute drive. When we arrived, they weren't home but drove up while we were carrying our bags in. My dad was still sitting in the car and it was still running and as I walked by he said to get in the car and that he needed me to go somewhere with him. Long story short, we were at Best Buy and looking at laptops in no time. I love my parents! It's so nice to have a computer again! You really don't know how much you need one until you don't have one. And it's not just about Facebook, blogging or People.com, it's about having so much information available to you at any time of the day. I remember when Baby T was sick at 3am and getting out old medical books and baby books to look up illnesses and symptoms when I could have gotten the same, if not better, information in just a couple of seconds online. There were many nights when I had no idea what to make for dinner or had things to make but wanted a new recipe or ideas on what I could do with what I had. Internet would have been helpful. Oh world wide web, what did we ever do without you?!

So Baby T is getting so big! He's 13 months and he's SO active! He is walking (more like running) and climbing. He will climb on anything. He is always on the move and goes from one thing to the next faster than you can keep up with him. T1 and I took him to get some lab work done last Friday. He got allergy testing done for milk, eggs, wheat, nuts, etc. I had worried that he had a dairy allergy but the test came back negative for everything. At least now we don't have to worry that he could be allergic to anything, but it still leaves us scratching our heads as to what could be wrong with him. He's constipated a lot and right now is taking Miralax daily. I don't like that but until I find another option, he's gotta have it. His big thing right now is books and balls. He LOVES books and loves to be read to. Of course I've been reading to him since he was born. Not on a daily basis, but pretty often. I love reading to him and I love seeing him look at the pictures. He's always wanting to roll the ball with someone, although he likes to throw it most of the time. He loves my dad. He calls him "Pap". So right now we're calling him, "Pap" and calling my mom, "Mam". He calls his brothers "Bub". He calls me "Mama" most of the time, but also calls me "NeeNee"? Umm, too much Atlanta Housewives? (j/k) He's got 4 teeth on the top and 2 on the bottom. I had him get his MMR shot at his 1 yr well child check and I kind of wish I would have waited longer. He was sick for about two weeks after that. I know it had to do with the shot. He's still breastfeeding. And I don't care what anyone thinks about that. Actually, other than Mr. R's mom (Baby T's other grandma) telling me I needed to "quit that" last night on the phone and that we should have stopped doing that by now, no one has said anything else negative about it. And guess what, I don't really care who says what. It's my child and it's our choice. He's not ready, I'm not ready, so we're still doing it. I won't get in your business and you don't need in mine. Let's be friends, but let's not go there. K?!

T1, T2 and I went to the eye doctor yesterday. I'm shocked but happy to say that I still have 20/20 vision and the doctor said my eyes look great. T2's eyes were good as well. T1's, not so much. So, he gets glasses next week. They're really cool and trendy. Well, I guess the proper name is "hipster"? Whatever, I like them and I think they're gonna look really good on him! I'm almost jealous!

T1 hasn't mentioned anything about drivers ed yet and I'm not pushing it. I'm not ready to have a child who can drive. I have a child who just learned to walk. And really, it does go THAT fast. One day they're learning to walk and the next they're learning to drive.

T2 has been busy with friends this summer and doing yard work and basically anything that can keep him outdoors. The other night he came walking in asking if he could please stay out a little past dark so he and a couple of his friends could play flashlight tag. Of course I let him, that's a part of summer! Yay for being a kid! Today he went to Michigan with my mom and dad to visit my grandma.

We'll be going over to my parents' later today and we'll spend the night. I have a counseling appointment tomorrow and it's just easier to be there, rather than have to get up, get ready, get the baby fed and ready, and make the trip over there.

Oh yeah, I'm in counseling. And I'm not ashamed of it. I don't think there's anything wrong with talking to someone about issues in your life. It's different than just talking to family or friends. It's nice. I was putting up with a lot of emotional and verbal abuse from Baby T's father and it just needed to end. And for some reason, I wasn't strong enough to end it myself and I needed help. And I'm getting it and it's working and I'm happy! And I'm going for ME! I should have went a year ago, but at least I didn't wait another year.

Baby T is still napping and I've got laundry to get in the dryer before we leave, so I better go for now. I am so excited that I get to blog more.

Mother's Day (The Day After)

I had a blessed Mother's Day. Not because of my gifts, but because of the fact that not only did I get to spend it with my mother, but because I am a mother. It's really all I ever wanted to be. I didn't have dreams of stealing Nancy Pelosi's job, or being a lawyer or doctor, I just wanted to have babies. And I have to say that despite the ups and downs, I have loved every minute of it. Having a baby to help me celebrate yesterday just made me realize how lucky I am and how I'm sure when I'm 60 years old, I'll still wish I had babies around. Do you really ever outgrow that kind of thing?


Moving on...


I'm still sitting here in my PJs and it's 2:00. It's just one of those Mondays. Baby T is still in his PJs as well. However, when he decided to get up at 7am, he was a little wet, so technically he has had his clothes changed today. Me, not so much. I thought I had him asleep for his nap around noon, but as soon as I tried to lay him down, his eyes popped open. So, I nursed him for about another 20 minutes thinking that surely had him knocked out, but NOPE... not gonna do it. I could have sat in bed and held him. He would have slept for 2 hours, but then that would defeat the purpose of getting him to sleep so I could get in the shower and get something done. Have you noticed who makes the rules around here?

He had his follow up appointment at the Neurologist on Friday and she said that she thinks he does have extra tailbone, but at this point there's nothing we need to do about it. He will need an MRI, but it would be better to do that 6 months from now when he's a little older due to him needing to be sedated. So, we'll leave it in God's hands and worry about it in 6 months.

I am so wanting to take him to the zoo!! I can't wait! I love going to the zoo. Right now the weather is too unstable. It's either too windy, or on the verge of pouring rain. So, we'll wait a little bit longer. Hopefully we can take him on his birthday next month. That's my plan. It's on a Wednesday, so it should be a good day to go. Of course the big party will either have to be sometime during the weekend or some evening so everyone in the family can come. I already have his "1st Birthday" shirt and bib. I think I've had that since last fall. I found it at Kohl's and didn't want to wait. I also have an idea in mind for his cake. Now to figure out where to have it...

Well, he's settled down in his pack n play. No, not asleep, but settled and playing happily enough that I should be able to sneek a quick shower. Wish me luck.

11 Months

Baby T is 11 months old today. Is that possible? Really? 11 months?! It's hard to believe in a month, I'll have a 1 year old. Where has this time gone?

Baby T is wonderful! He is crawling, walking around things, playing peek-a-boo, singing, clapping his hands, climbing the stairs, saying "Mama" and "Dada", learning how his toys work, grabbing books off the shelf for Mama to read to him, eating "Puffs", loving music, wishing he could get a hold of the doggies, and smiling... smiling... smiling. He is the happiest kid. I love his smile. He lights up the room! I told him that this morning.

He wakes up smiling. We co-sleep, so he's already right there beside me and our morning consists of him waking up, sitting up, moving over towards me, giving me a kiss and then it's on to the boobs. Yep, he's still a boobie baby... loves his boobies. For the last couple of weeks he's decided he's not interested in his baby food anymore and has gone back to nursing like a newborn. Oh well, I'm glad that we've made it this far and we don't plan on weaning anytime soon.

He was dedicated at church on Easter. A lot of his family on both sides was there and it was a really nice day. My mom made a great lunch for everyone and we ate at the church so there was more room.

His daddy, memaw, papaw, and the two little girls came and stayed in a hotel the night before his dedication. Daddy wanted to take him swimming for the first time and he loved the water. He has always loved water. I should have had a water birth! He's loved taking baths ever since we first put him in the tub. I have a feeling someone is going to be getting a little pool for his first birthday... :)

We're waiting for it to get a little warmer and less windy before we take him to the zoo but that is at the top of our "to do" list this month. I have a feeling we're going to be making many trips to the zoo this summer. He loves animals!

He's quite a baby! I'm blessed!

(*The picture above was taken on Easter*)

It's Me Again...

I had forgotten how addicting blogging is.

We didn't do much today. I got up around 7:30, fed Baby T and got him back to sleep, then ate my normal oatmeal (helps with bfing) and then decided to lay back down with Baby T. I ended up falling back to sleep for about an hour. We finally got up, Baby T ate again and then I got him his bath and got him ready for the day. I cleaned some things up around the house and watched some tv. I normally don't get my shower until he takes his afternoon nap (unless we're going somewhere important). Today I waited because the only place we needed to go was to the grocery store and I don't consider that important.

Well, we planned on a quick shopping trip but ended up having to meet my parents at our usual "half way" meeting spot so that I could get my phone charger. I went to charge it before we left and realized I had left it at their house from being there this weekend. So, we ended up grocery shopping at Meijer. I wouldn't normally go there because I really don't care for that store, but it was close and my parents needed to get some stuff too, so we got to see them for a little longer.

Baby T was not a happy camper on the way home and pretty much screamed the whole way. He's been doing a lot better though and I'm pretty sure he was just tired and hungry. I got him home, fed him and he fell right to sleep.

Then I had all the groceries to put away and dinner to make. We had ham, broccoli with cheese sauce and mashed potatoes. We had chocolate cake for dessert but I was a good girl and didn't have any. Yet. The night's not over.

Well, I guess I should be getting some school work done before I have to feed Baby T again. OH yeah, I think I forgot to mention that I'm taking a class online. I'm going to get my certification for Medical Transcription. I'm gonna have to work now and I want to be able to still stay home and I do not want to go back to doing daycare, so... after much thought and research I decided to give it a try. I know a couple of people who do it and they make really good money at it. Let's hope I'm good at it.

I JUST Put The Baby Down

Not really, but close. (You know, since I haven't updated this thing since May 21.) Yeah, I've been kinda busy. OH, that's right, I had a baby and...

Oh my gosh do I ever have the cutest baby in the whole world!! And yes, my babymoon has lasted longer than normal, but I'm SO in love! This little guy came into the world so easily and won everyone's hearts right away.

So... Tanner Aaron was born on June 2, 2009 at 1:06pm. He weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 22 inches long. And his skin... OH MY GOODNESS his skin was absolutely perfect, his color was great and he was just the most alert thing!

My delivery was awesome!! No drugs other than an epidural. I was so close to a c-section because my contractions stopped, but then I sat up and BAM they started again. I guess Tanner figured if I was laying down and resting, he may as well rest too. He came out in 3 sets of pushes and I only had a few little stitches. The only thing that hurt was my back from the epidural, other than that, I was up and around as soon as I could get on my feet. SO different from my other 2 births. So there, who says having a baby at 36 is harder than at 20?!?!

We were in the hospital for 2 days and came home. I don't think I've stopped looking at him since.

Oh, and I'm breastfeeding and it's been easy and wonderful. He hasn't had a bottle yet and I don't plan on him getting one anytime soon.

I'm doing most vaccines but they're being spaced out so he's not getting too many at one time. So far I've decided on no flu shots and no chicken pox vaccine... I'm researching the rest to see what I could leave out. I do think vaccines are important but I want to do what's best for his little body.

He is SO long... he's got the longest little legs ever. We call him "froggy". And he LOVES water. LOVES his bath. LOVES to splash and kick his feet.

He also LOVES to be held and does NOT love to be put down. He also loves boobs but thankfully only for eating at this point. The boy loves to eat.

He is just now starting to like to ride in the car. I don't think it was the car ride, but the car seat. He's hated it from day one. Seriously, when we put him in it at the hospital, he screamed. It's just been in the last couple of weeks that he's actually starting to enjoy it. And let me tell you, when your parents live 45 minutes away and your child's father lives 45 minutes the other way, that pretty much meant you were going to listen to 45 minutes of screaming THERE and 45 minutes of screaming BACK. I'm SO thankful that is starting to get better.

He's a lover. LOVER LOVER LOVER. He loves to be loved and loves to love. He gives kisses already and it just makes your heart explode.

He's almost 16 weeks old and I've loved every minute of the last 16 weeks. And trust me, we hit some pretty rough rocks along the way, but we're good. We're all good. We're in God's hands. I think I may have needed to be reminded of that.

Well, my baby needs me... I love that he needs me!! Hopefully I can update more and I'll get T1 to post some pics (IF you think you can handle the cuteness!!).

Welcome T3... you're loved more than you'll ever know! And it was ALL worth it!