awwwww....

Isn't she adorable?

happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! To celebrate Halloween, we took Brooke to a children's Halloween parade, put on the by the fire department. There were a lot of kids there, and I posted pics. Before we left I tried to take some pics but Brooke was NOT a happy camper!

Poor kid was angry because I put her hood up on her costume.

Summer was a lot more cooperative in her Halloween outfit :o)

At the parade. You can see Summer peeking out from my pouch.

Brooke had a blast at the parade, she just loved walking around with all the other kids. She was a chatterbox, and tried to give a lot of people hugs.

After the parade we took her trick or treating for a bit, but we only went to four houses. She was very cute and polite, always thanking the people when she got the candy. She will be trading in her candy for a toy....no need for all that sugar ;o).

Well that's it...have a good night!

 

HELLOOOO?

HELLOOOOOO! Does anyone even read this, or is it just an echo I hear?

You want to cut what off?!?!

Well most people that know me know that I would never circumcise my sons (if I had any) unless there was a legitimate reason. I believe circumcision is a personal decision that all parents make, much like whether or not to vaccinate. However, if I were to choose sides in the circumcision debate, I would choose the non-circ'd side. So, I thought this story was interesting. A judge ruled that circumcism is not a necessary procedure. This ruling occurred concerning a case where a mother wanted her son circumcised, but the father did not. Since the father had say in all non-emergency medical decisions, and since circumcism is not a medical emergency, the judge ruled in favor of the father. I do believe this is the first court ruling that has stated circumcism is medically unnecessary.

Judge rules boy's circumcision not medically necessary - Blogging Baby

Judge rules boy's circumcision not medically necessary

Posted Oct 26th 2006 9:30AM by J.D. Griffioen
Filed under: Child Development, Health and Safety, Lifestyle, Pregnancy and Birth, Divorce

A decision has come down in an important Illinois case that has been carefully watched by both sides of the circumcision debate, and a judge has issued a written opinion stating that a 9-year-old boy need not be circumcised for medial reasons as asserted by his mother. The mother has sole custody, but her 2003 parenting agreement gave her ex-husband (the boy's father) a say in non-emergency medical decisions.

That fact may make this different from other situations, but intactivists are celebrating this case as a major victory for their cause. As the only legal challenge to the medical necessity of circumcision to reach this level in any American court, all other judges who consider the issue will look to this decision for guidance. Circuit Judge Jordan Kaplan wrote, "this court finds that the medical evidence as provided by the testimony of the expert witnesses ... is inconclusive as to the medical benefits or non-benefits of circumcision as it relates to the 9-year-old child. . . the injury to the child as a result of an unnecessary circumcision would be irreversible," adding that his order would remain in effect until the boy turns 18 and can decide for himself whether or not he wants to undergo the procedure. The boy had issued a written statement to the court that he did not want to be circumcised.

This case will almost certainly set up the next challenge: spouses who will choose to litigate such a dispute when the child is a newborn.

From "family bed" to "family air mattress..."

Tonight Jason and I are taking the kiddos back to Wally World so we can pick up an air mattress. Four people squished together in one bed just isn't working well right now. I can only sleep in one position, which is the pain in the butt because my body falls asleep and I can't move. Jason experiences back pain. So we decided, that for now, we are going to get an air mattress to place next to our bed. Summer and I will sleep on the air mattress and Brooke and Jason will remain on the bed. That way we will still be cosleeping but everyone will have enough room to be happy. Not the ideal co sleeping situation that I would have liked, but close enough. I really don't want to kick Brooke out of the bed just yet because I really want to wait until she decides that she is ready, and I also don't want to make it seem like Summer has taken her place. For Christmas we are planning on buying Brooke a really cute Dora bed set, to get her all excited about her new "big girl" bed. Which we will place next to our bed, so we can slowly begin to transition her to sleeping in her own room. I really don't care if it goes so slowly it takes a year, as long as we don't push her before she is ready. I just want to give her small, baby nudges.

Brooke has once again changed her nap schedule. Yesterday she didn't take one at all and went to bed at 7:30 instead of the usual 9:30/10. I have yet to see if she is going to continue skipping them or just start taking them later in the day. To be honest, I think I would prefer if she just skipped them and went to bed earlier. I got more time to clean and excercise, and I had more flexibillity in my day, with not having to worry about being home in time for her nap. Only time will tell what she is going to do.

Well I am going to take the kiddos to the mall as soon as Summer wakes up and I feed her so I am off to get myself ready. Ciao!

Tadem mothering at its best..

The past two days the girls and I have gone out and about. That's right, I finally worked up the courage to take both girls out all by myself. It went really well. Yesterday I took the girls to the mall, to both walk around and get excercize and also to look for some new shoes for me. We walked around for about two hours, and although I didn't find a pair of shoes that I liked and was in my price range, I did get some excercise. I put Brookie in the stroller and Summer in the pouch and we started off. Summer spent half an hour looking around then decided she wanted to sleep the rest of the time, and I gave Brookie a rice cake and a fruit smoothie, so she was content in her stroller. I love my new pouch, she loves being in it and I can carry her around all day with no back pain. I got lots of compliments, on both the kiddos and the pouch.

Today I took the kiddos to Wally world to pick up a few things. Again, Brooke went in the carriage and Summer in the pouch. Spent about an hour there, and Summer once again slept the whole time. Brooke was a little cranky because she skipped her nap, but nothing major.

Yesterday we also gave Summer her first bottle of expressed breast milk. Not sure how I feel about that, but since I plan on working it had to be done.

Tomorrow I am hitting up a different mall to look for shoes again. Wish me luck!

And the leaves keep falling...

Today Jason decided to start raking up all the leaves in the yard and Brookie decided to help. Of course, her version of helping is to scoop up armful of leaves and dump them where Jason just finished raking, so needless to say, he didn't get much done. But they had a lot of fun playing together and that is the important thing.

Miss "Helpful" scooping up her next armful

Summer loves to be held, she really does. If she's awake, she wants to be held. If she falls asleep in your arms and you put her down she will wake up and want to be held. There is one block of time each day that I can actually put her down and she will sleep for a good three hours, but other than that she is in my arms. And I'm loving it. I've been wearing her a lot in my adjustable pouch from kangarookorner.com, so wearing her isn't difficult. I can carry her and wash the dishes at the same time, so I am still getting all my housework done, and I had intended to baby wear her anyways. I joined a baby wearing group for moms in the area and we are working on getting together and just hanging out with our babies in their slings :o)

Today I sterilized and put together my new breast pump, the Medela Pump in Style. I sat down, totally loving the cute little carrying bag with the cute cooler and bottles. I pumped for 15 minutes.

I got 11 oz of breastmilk.

In 15 minutes of pumping.

Wow.

To put this into perspective, with my old pump I would sit and pump for 30 minutes....and get 6 oz if I was very lucky. I would also have to realllly concentrate in order to stimulate my let down and really get any milk. With the PIS, my let down was stimulated immediately. And I had the pump on the lowest setting. I wonder how much I can pump when it is on the higher settings?

Tomorrow I think I am taking the kiddos to Wally world, I have a TON of pictures that I need to develope. It will really depend on how Brooke is acting. And after Jason gets home I am going to go shoe shopping, I really need to get myself a pair of shoes that fit properly.

That's it,have a good night!

New pictures

This morning Jason decided to have some fun with the camera. I posted the pics he took...some pics of the girls laying together in our bed, of Summer holding her head up(!) and Brookie watching TV. Also a nursing pic. These two are my favorites:

She is soo strong! She held her head up for quite a while, I was impressed!

I love this nursing pic. First nursing of the morning, the sun shining through the blinds....everything peaceful and serene. :o)

Family resemblance

Well tonight our plan was to go out for a fun shopping trip, but it is sooo windy and rainy here and since both girls still have the sniffles we decided to put it off until tomorrow.

Meanwhile my mom comes up and hands me a picture of Brooke. Only....it wasn't a picture of Brooke, it was a picture of me! What do you think, do we look alike?

Me

Brooke

This got me thinking of family resemblence in general and I went back for some old pictures. I personally feel that Brooke and Summer look alike, at least as infants.

Brooke as infant

Summer, of course.

Then I got curious of what Jason looked like as an infant. Back to the old photo albums, and this is what I found....

hehe..don't worry, he gets happier ;o) Day of Birth.

He was quite the chub-a-lubba, like Summer.

Awww...wasn't he adorable? 8 months old.

It's interesting to look back and see what people looked like as babies. I love looking at baby pictures, especially when the babies are now adults, and especially when the pictures are of family members and you can really see the resembelance.

Well that's it for my little walk down memory lane. Ciao!

 

Brooke's birth story

I'm a big fan of blogs, especially ones written by mothers. One thing I have noticed while reading them is that when a child's birthday comes up, often the mother will post the child's birth story and write a letter to the child. I thought this was a nice idea. Although Brooke's second birthday was over a month ago, I've decided to post her birth story anyway. I figured better late than never, and also to provide a perspective on the differences between my two birth experiences. So, without further ado, the birth of Brooke Sarah:

Birth Story of Brooke Sarah

 

I started feeling back pain on September 2nd. Brooke was already four days overdue, so I went to the doctor. He hooked me up to the fetal monitor and told me that I was not in labor, and that I probably wouldn’t go into labor for another 48 hours. When Jason got home I told him what happened and how the back pain was now much more worse, and felt more like cramps then back pain. We put pillows and blankets on the living room floor and lay down, watching all the Batman movies as the night progressed and my cramps got worse. Finally, around midnight, I somehow fell asleep. I was woken up at 2am by the cramps, which had gotten much worse. I rolled over to wake Jason up and that is when my water broke. I told Jason that my water broke and he asked me if I was sure. At this point I stood up and another gush of water came and I said, “Yes, I’m sure.” I went to change my clothes and get my bag while Jason called the doctor to tell her we were going to the hospital. We also called my mom because I wanted her in the room with us, and she said she would meet us there.

We got in the car and drove and the cramps were really bad and I was yelling. We got to the hospital and I was shaking, the pain was so bad. We got to the hospital and after filling out paperwork the nurse said, “OK we’re going to hook you up to the monitor now to make sure you are in labor” but the doctor walked up and said “It’s obvious she is in labor, get her ready” They brought me to the private room and had me change, then had me lay in the bed. They gave me medication through an IV, which didn’t take away the pain, but made me feel really drunk so that the pain was tolerable. My mom was already there and she sat with Jason in the room with me, talking me through the contractions. I remember one point laughing because of the way the medication made me feel. About a half hour later they gave me the epidural. They kept saying how I was progressing really fast, especially for a woman who has never given birth before. Right after the epidural hit I told them that I felt the urge to push. They checked me and said I was close to ready, and that I would be doing 3 hours of pushing. The nurse took one leg and Jason took the other and the nurse said I could do a little push “for practice.” So I gave a little push and all of a sudden everyone started yelling that they could see the head! I kind of freaked out because it was all happening so fast, and I asked for a mirror so I could see what was going on. They lugged this huge mirror down the hallway and when I looked in it I got scared and asked them to take it away. After 45 minutes of pushing, Brooke Sarah  was born into this world at Memorial Hospital on September 3rd, 2004 at 7:33am, after only 5 hours of labor and 45 minutes of pushing. They placed her right on my stomach and she was crying so loud and she was so beautiful!! She weighed 7 pounds, 9 oz and was 20.5 inches long. Her eyes were blue, she had thick black hair, and angel kisses on her eye, forehead, and back of neck

So there you have it. And, of course, what birth story would be complete without pictures? Here are some pictures of Brooke as a newborn:

new pics

Here are some new pics of me and the girls. Not bad, considering all three of us were sick as dogs when the pics were taken!

 

inspired

A truly inspirational video. One you must watch.

 

Sick babies :o(

The past couple days have been a little hectic around here. Brooke came down with a horrible cold on Sunday while at the IL's. She had a runny nose, cough, and slight fever. By the time she went to bed she was absolutely miserable. She kept waking up all night screaming because she was frustrated that she couldn't breathe. Also because her throat hurt. I know her throat hurt because I now have her cold, and so does poor Summer. Brooke is almost totally recovered, she only has the sniffles now, but it looks like this is one of those things that has to run through the entire family before going away :o(. Summer and I were up all night, poor Summer was so upset that her nose wasn't cooperating and my throat was killing me. Thank God Brooke is feeling better, with the way she was acting when she was really sick I couldn't handle taking care of them both at the same time.

Last night I went to my first La Leche League meeting. The women there were very nice. The meeting was a tad boring, b/c they were just answering questions about nursing and most of it I knew already. But I did get invite to the daytime meetings, which are more like playgroups, and to the other meetings at people's houses. So it is nice to finally meet other breastfeeding moms, yay!

Well poor Summer is starting to get fussy so I have to go. I do have more pictures of Summer, but I will have to post them later when I find the time. Ciao!

Differences

Well Summer will be three weeks old on Tuesday and it is still hard to believe that she is really in our lives. She brings such a joy to our days and she really does add to our family.

It's funny because Summer is my second child and I find myself comparing her to Brooke a lot. When Brooke was born I didn't really think of her having a personality until later. I just assumed that everything she did was what all babies did. Now that Summer is here I find myself seeing her personality already because she acts differently from how Brooke acted, which made me realize that all baby behavior is not the same and that her personality is shining through already. I think it's fun to think back and remember how things were with Brooke and compare them to how things are with Summer.

Differences:

One major difference, of course, is size and other physical characteristics. Brooke was 7 lbs 9 oz when born and had trouble with weight gain in the beginning. Summer was 9 lbs 4 oz and has already gained a pound, no trouble there. Although Brooke and Summer do look alike, Summer had my eyes while Brooke has Jason's, and Brooke had huge feet for an infant while Summer's feet look tiny to me. Brooke never got diaper rashes, ever, and yet Summer has had one since day 2. I have yet to use all those cute cloth diapers I bought her because I keep having to use Desitin on her rash. Her skin is definately more sensitive to things than Brooke's ever was. Summer is also more sensitive to what I eat. With Brooke I could eat what I want, drink five cups of coffee a day (and being in school at the time, I often would) and it wouldn't effect her. With Summer, I can't have caffeine (or she won't sleep) and I can't have anything carbonated (she'll projectile vomit).

I think these other differences show the differences in their personalities. Brooke hated to be held like an infant. She always wanted to be held so that she was sitting up. She liked to look around. Summer is the opposite, she hates being held sitting up and loves to be held like a typical infant. Brooke was never a crier per say but she didn't have qualms with crying. Summer is almost three weeks old and I've only heard her cry four times...she loves to communicate in other ways. Brooke hated being swaddled, Summer loves it. Brooke slept more than Summer does, Summer loves to have times where she just looks around and absorbs things.

Similarities:

There are a lot of similarities that I notice. Both love(d) to cluster feed then spend long blocks of time napping. Both sleep really well at night. Both love the boobie milk. And finally, the most striking similarity I find between the two is that they are both major Daddy's girls. That's right, Summer is barely three weeks old and she is a major Daddy's girl. If she isn't eating, then she wants to be in Daddy's arms. She is most content in his arms (unless she is hungry, of course).

Right now Summer is napping and Brooke is out with her Daddy to pick up a few things for tonight. We are having two couples come over for a poker/hang out night. It will be nice to interact with other adults. Ciao!

Long Friday

Well I was so proud of myself yesterday. I had both girls up, dressed and ready and in the car by 9am, a huge accomplishment considering I usually don't even fully wake up by 10am. I was excited and rearing to go to the playgroup. So, how was it? I don't know, we never made it.

I got lost.

Hopelessly lost.

As in we drove around for two and a half hours before I found my way back to someplace I recognized.

That pretty much put a huge damper in the day. Luckily, by some miracle, Summer slept through the entire trip and Brooke slept through most of it. The rest of the time she kept herself pretty occupied. But I still felt horrible because I had gotten her all excited by telling her we were going to a playgroup and I think she didn't understand why we never went. But we did end up going by Jason's work and taking him out to eat on his lunch break, so that was good. Later when he got home we went to Target and then just hung out at the house.

I still want to go to that playgroup, and when it happens next month I plan on trying again. Jason and I have examined his maps and we pretty much figured out where I went wrong, so next time I should actually get there (fingers crossed).

Pediatrician appt

Today Jason took the day off of work and we took the girls to the pediatrician. Their normal pediatrician is on maternity leave until January and I was nervous about how the fill in doctor would react to our homebirthing, non vaxing ways. Turns out she didn't bat an eye. In fact, she was wonderful....I like her better than the normal doctor and I will be sorry to see her go. She could not get over how alert and strong Summer is, how healthy she is and gave lots of kudos to me for having a homebirth. Brooke is also in perfect health and is growing great. Brooke now weighs 27lns and Summer weighs 10 lbs 4 oz. Another thing about this doctor that I liked was that she spent a lot of time talking with us, explaining everything that she was doing and why she was doing it. She also took the time to let Brooke get used to her before examining her, which helped calm Brooke, who really hates the doctor's office.

After our appointment we went out to lunch and then ran the errands needed to get Summer's birth on file for her birth certificate. Then we came home and just chilled for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow morning there is a LLL playgroup happening and I really really want to go to it. But taking both kids out by myself still overwhelms me, so I am not sure if I am going to go. I hope I am able to.

Well that's the update for now. Ciao!

MW appt

Yesterday was my two week checkup appointment with my Midwife. My lovely sister watched Brooke for me so it was just Summer and I. The appointment was wonderful. My midwife oohed and aahhed over Summer, took a lot of pictures, and made a lot of nice comments about how healthy and nice she looked and how nice her temperment is. We talked for about an hour, most of the time I was nursing Summer. We talked about the differences between Summer and Brooke, cord compression during labor (I had asked out of curiosity what her procedures where if cord compression occurred), my homebirth, and how good I was feeling. My mw weighed Summer and she is now up to 10lbs 4 oz, about. She didn't want to make Summer cold by stripping her down so she just subtracted a few oz for her clothes and diaper. We will know her official weight tomorrow when she has her first appointment with the pediatrician. Well it was a wonderful visit and I left feeling generally good. Can't wait for the six week checkup!

new pictures

Just thought I would post some new pics of Summer. Some of them are dark, my flash was acting funny :o/

Back in the groove

Let's face it, nursing a newborn can be very awkward. It's hard to remain discreet and modest when you are just trying to get the baby to latch on correctly. Which is why I was a little nervous about having to nurse in public, or NIP. But I found this past weekend I didn't do too bad.

Saturday night Jason and I took the kiddos to the mall....it was our first real outing as a family. Of course, Summer was wanting to nurse every 20 minutes and needed a diaper change every 15, but we managed. First we went and got a bite to eat at TGIF's. I nursed twice there, my first time NIP with Summer. Jason was a little nervous but he seemed very relieved when I managed to nurse her while remaining discreet. No one batted an eye, as far as I could tell. Then after walking around for a bit we sat down at a bench in the middle of the mall so I could nurse her again before we left. Again, I managed to be completely discreet....Summer was not completely covered, as I don't believe in making a baby eat under a blanket, but all of my skin was covered. You couldn't see anything. Yet when I happened to glance up, I noticed two older woman stop walking, and turn to look at me in disgust. I've never had a bad experience NIP, so I honestly thought for a minute I was imagining it. But no, they were clearly glaring at me b/c I dared to feed my baby in public @@.

Yesterday Jason was home due to Columbus Day, and we decided to go to Target to pick some things up. We got there and as we were walking around Summer wanted to nurse. I carried her over to a corner, stood facing the wall, latched her on, covered my skin with a burping cloth, and continued to walk around and shop. It was much easier than I thought it would be, and again, no one batted an eye. In fact, it took Jason a bit before he realized what I was doing :o)

So now that I've had those practice sessions I find that I am completely confident with NIP, and I like that feeling. :o) When Brooke was a newborn, I would pump and feed her the expressed milk in a bottle when we were out because I wasn't confident enough in my abilities to nurse discreetly. Now I am glad that I don't have to worry about pumping for that purpose :o)

cool article

I just thought I would share this article, it's a pretty interesting read. A reporter nurses her baby in various locations in NY to see how people respond.

New York Daily News - Home - The great New York breast-feeding test

birth pic

Summer is such a nursing champ but I actually have a break from nursing at the moment. My cousin took a lot of wonderful pictures at the birth and I have shared them with people although a lot of them are pretty graphic. Out of all the pictures, though, this is my favorite:

At first glance you would have to wonder why this would be my favorite. Nothing is posed pretty, heads are cut off, no one is looking at the camera. But I love this photo. In this photo, I am fully dialated and going through transition. The midwife is checking the baby's heartbeat, which is strong. I am surrounded by my husband, my sister, my daughter, my midwife, and my cousin (who is taking the picture). All eyes are focused on my belly, on the source of the strong heartbeat that fills the air through the doppler. When I look at this picture, I can't describe it, but I sense something larger than what meets the eye.....words that come to my mind are: support, community, love, friendship, welcoming, excitement, anticipation. When I look at Summer, this is what I like to think about, how when she was born she was surrounded by a peaceful and supportive environment with friends and family, how she never left my or Jason's side, how she wasn't pricked, poked at, or disturbed for the first three days of her life (on the fourth day she got her heel prick test done). That is why I love this photo.

update

Things here have been going great. Despite the fact that I haven't been out of the house in over a week, I couldn't be happier. Summer is nursing like a champ now and my nipples are just about healed. Jason is beaming with happiness, I swear I can literally see him emit it when he is home. He loves being a family of four, a father to two little girls. He thrives in his fatherhood, it's so wonderful to just sit back and relax and watch him play with Brooke and hold Summer and talk to her for hours. I swear he is a baby hog LOL.

I'm feeling much better. I feel like I never had a baby at all LOL. I just have to lose all the weight now. But I am amazed at how much faster I am healing this time around, how much less pain there is. Sometimes I have to remind myself to slow down, that I just had a baby and not to overdo it. Of course, with Summer nursing as much as she is, I am forced to sit down and relax, which is a good thing.

Well that's pretty much it. Ciao!!