2 Major Milestones!

This past few days have been biggies for us! Two major milestones occurred. Lewis turned NINE on the 16th and our newest boy, Brayden, hit the ONE MONTH mark on the 14th!!! Here are the details of these two important events!

A PICTURE PERFECT BIRTHDAY!

What made this birthday so perfect? So many things! First, an AWESOME boy who was so excited and GRATEFUL for all of the attention and gifts of the day. He is such a good natured, sweet boy. He kept saying the cutest things to let us all know how much he loved everything. What a sweetheart! Here are some other things that made the day perfection:

Breakfast in Bed:

Family Gifts: He got tennis supplies and a racket from Dad, clothes, pajamas, Crocs and a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble (his favorite) from Mom and art supplies from Conner.

Perfect Weather: I was thrilled that it was an "overcast" kind of day. Lewis was having a swim party and overcast day equals less crowded pool! Yeah! It was ALMOST as if we had the pool to ourselves. Barely any other people. Plus, we were able to get the one good picnic table (under the shade tree) which is usually taken on a sunnier sort of day. Another bonus for an overcast day is that it was not so stinkin' hot! It was absolutely perfect and enjoyable and I could have sat out there by the pool all day!

Awesome Friends: We opted to have the party in Mesquite this year so that Lewis could invite some of his Beaver Dam friends. We ended up needing three vehicles to haul the St. George kids there, but it was worth it. They all had a blast!

The Cake: Cake decorating is not my forte. It is time consuming and tedious. I decorated a cake for Lewis' Blue and Gold banquet a few months back and it turned out pretty fabulous (I include this picture as proof),

so I thought I could save us a few bucks and do a baseball cake for this birthday. Quickly I was reminded why I usually opt to spend the thirty bucks on a store bought cake. It took me over an hour to frost the darn thing let alone try to "decorate" it. I guess back when I did the scout hat, I was a little less frazzled (no newborn yet) and I had a bigger time window to get it done, so the baseball cake did not fare so well this time around. Nope, Lewis' cake was not perfect this year. What WAS perfect though, is that Lewis is so not a picky kid and it didn't bother him in the slightest that the baseball did not turn out perfectly. After I attempted to do the first three or four red thread marks using this lame icing-in-a-can thing (with a "Cheez Whiz" type top which you'd think would make everything easier, but it actually was pretty hard to keep control of) I handed it over to Lewis to do the rest. I think he did a WAY better job than I could have done. It wasn't perfect, but it was artistic and made with love (and delicious)!

The Pinata:

For some reason, this is a tradition we cannot break the kids of (just yet anyway). I don't remember the first year we started doing a pinata for birthdays, but now it is just "expected." It isn't, "Can I have a pinata?" It is, "What kind of pinata shall I have this year?" Oh well, pinatas are fun. Steve couldn't find a "sports themed" pinata at Walmart, so Sponge Bob was the next best choice (ironically, we found a sports themed pinata today at K Mart while we shopped for Conner's birthday stuff). It took them FOREVER to break poor Sponge Bob into smithereens. So much so, that we lost track of time and had to rush through the present opening a bit. Oh well, at least happy kids got to leave sporting detached appendages of Sponge Bob as party favors to go along with the bags of candy. Boys are so easy to please.

Sweet Baby Brother: Brayden was AWESOME which, of course, is a relief to any new mom! It helped that Sunnie, my sister-in-law was there to help do all the technical stuff (cut the cake, blind fold the kids for the pinata, clean up the messes, take pictures etc)! She really made the day (and since she was behind the camera, avoided getting her picture taken-smart girl)! Also, Miss Maria (one of Lewis' good friends' grandma and my kindergarten classroom aide) came and stayed. She was in baby heaven snuggling Brayden and keeping him all smiles! These people in our lives are really the icing on the cake and the very reason any of this day was possible! Thanks a million gazillion Sunnie and Maria!

Super Nine Year Old Boy! We love you Lewis and are so proud of the boy that you are now and that you are quickly (too quickly) growing into! Happy Birthday!!!

ONE MONTH OF BABY BLISS!

So FINALLY all the constant feeding has paid off! This baby of ours is growing like a little weed and nursing is so much better now (hallelujah)! It is amazing the difference even just one week can make. On the 14th, we took our boy in for his one month well check and he is in tip top shape! I can't tell you how grateful I am for this. To go those long nine months, unsure of what the outcome would be, and then to have a perfectly healthy, sweet and gorgeous baby boy to call my own is just beyond words!

He weighs a healthy 9 pounds, 12 ounces now and is beginning to show us some of his spunk and personality. He prefers to have people around him all the time and he LOVES getting out and about (which has been tricky, considering he is constantly attached to me. I am lucky to get my teeth brushed and throw on a hat) but it is good for me to get out of the house! He is like my little personal trainer, constantly pushing me to get up and GO, GO, GO!

He especially loves to go on walks around our neighborhood and the boys LOVE this too. We try to come up with new destinations and try to go further each time we head out, much to Brayden's delight. Our goal is to tucker him out so he'll sleep a LITTLE longer than forty five minutes! He is improving in this area too.

He has already outgrown his "newborn" sized clothes and diapers. So sad. I took him to church for the first time last Sunday and he barely fit into his little Sunday outfit I got for him. I didn't realize it was going to take me a FULL month to be able to handle him at church. Again, the nursing posed a problem and our church starts at the strangest hour, 2:00 which is his like POWER nursing time and longest nap time too. We barely made it through our three hour block and I spent most of it in the "mother's lounge." Oh well, we did it and and he was able to wear his cute little outfit at LEAST one time! I forgot to snap a picture of him before church, so here is what Steve was able to get of him after church.

At one month, his favorite things are: long walks,

sleeping in his car seat (ONLY, much to our dismay),

attention from his brothers,

nursing, nursing and more nursing, and

being burped and carried around by his dad.

Things he currently hates (but we hope he'll like soon):

sleeping in his bed (one day he just decided he didn't like it anymore?!),

being in a quiet room,

taking a bath,

and a binky.

We have purchased every size and shape of pacifier on the market. He still prefers sleeping with his mouth wide open! Occasionally, we can get him to take the green one on the far left. It is the Nuk brand. I was hoping he would like the little Mam brand (the one next to it). Those were the kind Conner liked and I think they are the cutest (if it is possible for a binky to be cute) but hey, we will settle for whatever! He is starting to realize that sucking a binky can be almost as satisfying as the real deal (the human pacifier). He will take it for a good three to five minutes here and there, giving me a tiny bit of a break!

He is getting better about day versus night. He'll wake about every two hours, eat for about 20 minutes and sleep again for another two. So, he still gets me out of bed about three times each night, but at least he isn't wide awake, waiting for some major entertainment! He just eats with his eyes closed and pretty much stays asleep, even through burping. I am proud of him!

Yep, it has been a month of GROWING and getting to know the world a bit more. He is being a real trooper through it all and I have to say, the rest of our family is too! We are so glad to have him in our lives!

The Ups and the Downs

This past couple of weeks have been so full of ups and downs and highs and lows. One day, I will feel ON TOP of the world for getting through the night without too much sleep lost and then the next I will be at my wits end because I did not get a chance to shower or make dinner for the boys. It has been a series of back and forth and tug and pull, one day actually making it to the movie theatre with Lewis (we saw the movie, Up, so cute!) and the next, finding myself stranded at home AGAIN because my baby's schedule does not coincide with what the rest of my family has planned. All of these highs and lows are dominated by the simple fact that I am NOT a cow and I really wish I were! What I mean is, nursing does NOT come easy for me. In fact, it has been down right HARD this time around. Looking back on my experiences with Lewis and Conner, I can see why I was successful at nursing Lewis and why I completely GAVE UP on the idea of nursing Conner. Brayden is somewhere in between. He is really a CHAMPION at eating when he is ravenously hungry, but he constantly wants to nurse and it takes me a little over one full hour to feed him! Then he falls asleep for literally 30-45 minutes and wants to do it all over again! It has been exhausting. Add on a heaping dose of GUILT for neglecting the rest of my family while I have been doing all this and it is easy to see why the downs have really been dragging me, well, DOWN.

It all started at about his two week mark. The lactation lady told me he would be going through a growth spurt and that I might need to be "on the clock" for feeding more often until my body "catches up". Most people only have to endure this non stop nursing for a few days, but this literally has been going on for over a week and I STILL am not satisfying the hunger needs of my growing boy. I have tried every trick under the sun to bump up my milk supply. I have a really great pump. I have the lactation lady on speed dial. I have tried supplementing with a tube attached to the side while he nurses. I have been taking the herbs that are supposed to bump up the mil supply as well as drinking gallons of water each day. I have literally tried it all and while I think it is starting to level off (yeah!) it has left me a bit battle scarred.

I just really would like the ups to start outwaying the downs. I would like to feel NORMAL and go places with my family without being completely TERRIFIED that my baby will wake up and need me to do the full on feeding fest! We have been supplementing a little bit with formula and pumped milk here and there, but my motivation to keep going with nursing is still strong. Just walking up the formula aisle in Target is enough of a boost for me. Formula is expensive. Nursing is free. However, it is NOT without its challenges and apparently, does not come as easily for some as it does for others.

The other day, Lewis said to me, "Mom, I am sorry it is so hard to feed Brayden." I said back, "That's okay Lewis. It will get easier and isn't he worth it?" Lewis smiled and said, "Yeah! Besides mom, we can DO HARD THINGS!" Which is sooo true. It is our family "motto". We CAN do hard things and it is usually the HARD things that are soooo worth the effort.

So, for now, I will keep plugging away at this. As long as I have a few ups to go with the many downs, I can keep my eye on the prize. I am just grateful that I am in a place where I CAN keep working at this. I gave up with Conner because I had a two-year-old running around and demanding my attention too and Conner was a fall asleep and barely suck kind of kid. When Lewis was nursing, well, he was all I had to focus on. Plus, he was AWESOME at nursing! It was literally ten minutes on each side and then he wanted DOWN! I think my milk came in better for him too because he was so great at doing it and I had time to pump after almost every meal with him-he was no nonsense! Brayden will start off strong and then laze around, barely sucking if I'd let him and because the whole process takes so long, the idea of pumping is usually too much.

But, there are some ups that have come from this crazy two weeks of "power nursing" (it's what the lactation lady calls it). I have FINALLY been able to READ real books!!!!!! I have six under my belt so far and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. I MIGHT actually be on the road to recovery for the FIFTY book challenge that I vowed I would do this year. I am sooo excited to be able to have time to read again. It has been great. I will make sure to update at Goodreads as well as post about my latest reads as soon as I can. As for now, my little baby's dinner bell is ringing this very instant. I better go clock back in! Time to nurse!