Honest Scrap Award

My best friend Cici from Giggle, Giggle, Hiccup! nominated me for the Honest Scrap Award. :) Blog awards are a silly fun thing - but are a good way to find out more about other bloggers, and discover some new blogs. I googled this award and apparently Honest Scrap is a logo for chewing tobacco. Random! Anyway...

The rules for the award? List 10 interesting, random facts about yourself & then nominate other blogs!

So hold onto your hats...here I go!

1) I love music of all kinds. I love to sing even when I don' t know the words. I love to dance like an idiot in the living room.
2) This one is really weird, but I have a secret fear. I fear finding an abandoned baby in a bathroom stall. I don't know when this started or why, but sometimes I'm afraid I'm going to open the stall door and find a baby sitting on the floor. Or worse, in the toilet. I know, I know - it's so twisted I can hardly bear to type it. :(
3) I like to eat cold pasta. I could happily live on cold Chef Boyardee for years.
4) I'm a scatterbrain. I lose everything I touch and tend to lock my keys in the car. I was always a scatterbrain but pregnancy & a baby made it worse. I have never lost my baby. :)
5) I like playing video games and get very vocal while doing so. If you want to hear me curse, have me play Super Mario Brothers!
6) I spend money obsessively at Babies R Us. I think I buy something every week. It's hard to resist.
7) Windshield wipers excite me. I love the noise when they push a window full of water off. I like the smell of washer fluid, and a clean window makes me a very happy person.
8) I love grocery shopping. It's seriously one of my favorite things to do. I do not enjoy carrying the groceries in the house or putting them away.
9) I used to have a cat named Mikey, but we always called him Kitty. He was an orange tabby who had to be re-homed because of my mom's allergies. I was devastated, but now barely remember him.
10) If I accidentally honk my horn while driving, I wave. I think I got this habit from my mom.

Whew that was fun! Now onto my nomimations:

*Beth - my sister! Her 101 challenge blog is just getting started and I love love her goals.
*Meredith - one of my playgroup friends. Her little girl Savannah is absolutely adorable. Mere is very honest on her blog and is always fun to read. Plus she's been having lots of giveaways lately!
*Natalia - another playgroup friend who is Mama to the handsome Nicolas. Nicolas is one day older than Caleb, and although Natalia & I have hung out several times our boys have yet to meet. Someday!!
*Kaity May is an internet friend who is trying for her first baby. She is blogging about her journey to becoming a mommy!
*Lindsay's blog is one of my favorites. She lost her perfect baby boy Ayden to SIDs and is now expecting his little brother. Her journey has been challenging but she absolutely inspires me.

Our breastfeeding story

I have wanted to write about our experience with breastfeeding for a long time. It was a journey that was entirely different than I expected and one I want to remember. This is a long post, and (obviously) talks about breasts. I included a picture of my sweet Caleb nursing at the end. Read on if you choose. :)

I, like many other new moms, was very naive about breastfeeding. How hard can it be? Put baby on boob, let him eat and repeat a few hours later. HA! I will 100% say that nursing was the hardest thing I ever did in my life. Harder than carrying a baby for 9 months, harder than having a c-section.

Caleb was born on February 24th. I was able to nurse him soon after he was born, and he did wonderfully. We had some latching issues in the hospital and the lactation consultant/nurses were very eager to help. When we came home, Caleb had a fairly severe case of jaundice. He was 5 days old when I saw one of the Physician's assistant at his pediatrician. I was having so much trouble getting Caleb to latch, he had not eaten in nearly 5 hours and the PA said "so, give him a bottle." I was SO mad at the PA and the lack of support he gave me. I'm not sure why I decided to be so strong about it, but I was determined to make nursing work.

Fast forward to 2 weeks later. I was in PAIN! I had shooting pains from my breast to my back, it hurt all the time. Caleb was still nursing, plus getting some breast milk from a syringe. My supply was great and I was able to pump for him. We made an appointment to visit D, the lactation consultant at the Pediatrician's office. D was very patient and praised my efforts. She diagnosed me with thrush and put both Caleb & I on prescriptions.

Two weeks later, after 3 or 4 more doctor visits - I still had thrush. My breasts hurt so badly I cried, a lot. Glen was amazing through this time, he never asked me to give up nursing and played the role of baby soother for me. A friend of mine referred me to Freeman Lactation Services. Cindi came to our apartment. She assured me I was doing great, Caleb was doing great and we just had to find a solution to stop the infection and let me heal. We made the hard decision to take a break from nursing and pump exclusively, for a time.

On April 1st, still in pain, still not healing, I was so frustrated. My obstetrician recommended I see Carolina Breast Care. That was the WORST visit of my life. She had no clue about nursing or any solutions for me. I felt so let down, that there was no one that could help me and ultimately that the medical community sucked. My obstetrician assured me that she would help and put me on stronger rounds of medicine. I continued working with my lactation consultants, and taking interim breaks from nursing. By the beginning of May, things were getting better. I had no trouble latching, the pain was gone and my breasts were healing. It had taken over 2 months before I was a confident nursing mother.

So many memories of those first few months....
I remember being so frustrated with Caleb not latching. I remember calling my sister and sobbing because I couldn't get Caleb to eat. I remember my best friend spending the night so I could pump and still get some sleep. I remember my mom letting me spend night after night with her so she could help with Caleb. I remember my "mommy" friends offering countless words of support and advice. I remember my lactation consultants and my obstetrician helping me try endless options and always reminding me that I was doing great. No one ever made me feel that I should quit, but no one ever forced me to continue.

Now, 15 months after that sweet boy entered my life, we have finished our nursing journey. Caleb weaned right around the end of May. It's a bittersweet feeling. I'm so grateful for being able to nurse him, to nourish his life for over a year. My heart melts remembering all the times I held his body close to mine and stared into those sweet blue eyes. When he was older he would laugh and smile at me, milk dribbling out of his little lips. Those are the times I will remember about nursing, those are the time I will always cherish.

15 months

Caleb turned 15 months old last week, time is seeming to move faster as he gets older. Some days I wish I could just freeze time because he is just so sweet, so precious and I want to remember this stage forever. But I also remind myself that every day with him is precious and will only get sweeter as time marches on.

We had his check-up today and Caleb is doing great! He had 4 shots - MMR, Dtap, HepA and PCV13. He was NOT a happy camper about the shots. His mouth was frozen in the kind of silent cry/scream where you don't breath for a good 30 seconds before he let loose. =(
Here are his stats:
Weight: 26lbs, 1oz (70%)
Height: 31.5 inches (55%)
Head: 48.6cm (85%)

So let's see if I can remember all the new things Caleb is doing!

• His vocabulary is expanding quickly. He can say up, uh-oh, Mama, Dada, wiggle, and woah. He tends to repeat sounds that we say, a few I can think of are mail and Cailou.
• Caleb knows where his eyes are & can point them out. We're working on the other body parts!
• He is getting much more involved with his toys. He knows that trucks/cars should be pushed and make a sound. He (tries) to stack blocks, but still prefers to knock down Mama's towers!
  
• Caleb is fascinated with trucks and motorcycles when they drive by. He points and waves, but if they get too close the noise scares him.
  
• Waving is one of his favorite things to do. Caleb will wave at cars and people. He is at the stage where he usually waves before they acknowledge him or after they look away. I love the waving, he is such a sweet boy!
  
• Caleb is still nursing each morning. He gets really mad if I make him wait too long! He loves cow's milk too! Caleb is finally to the point where he eat what we eat (if he wants to!) and its much easier to plan meals now.
• He can climb up and down stairs. He knows to use the railing and take the steps one at a time.
  

Please #helpSam

Mommy blogger Jill over at Baby Rabies has setup a fundraiser/giveaway in honor of baby Sam. Sam is 5 months old and is diagnosed with stage Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma and given a 30% cure rate. Read more about his story here, and if you want to donate here.

#helpSam

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Wordless Wednesday: Picking Strawberries

Grandma & Grandpa's Farm

I've been meaning to post some pictures of my parent's house. We all love visiting there. It's not "home" to me because I never lived there, but it still feels like going home. I'm so glad that Caleb will have the chance to be around so many animals and experience the outdoors. My nephews & niece are true country kids, and I hope some of that rubs off on Caleb.
My parents live in a log cabin that they designed and built.
This is my Dad's tractor. (notice there is no house in the background). The big kids enjoy going for rides. Caleb & Daniel both enjoy it, while the tractor is off!
My parents started out with 2 goats in December of 2004, Holly & Noel. Now they have more than a dozen Pygmy goats. They are friendly and love love love to eat!

The newest addition is a bunch of peafowl. This is one of the peacocks strutting his stuff for the ladies. I named him Kevin after the bird on "Up," but I'm not sure that name will stick.
There are lots of chickens! One of the many perks of staying at my mom's house is breakfast made with farm fresh eggs. They taste so much better than the ones from Food Lion. (There are some ducks and geese hanging around here too)
And this is Tom the turkey. He is the only turkey that survived from some poults (the name for baby turkeys!) and is very friendly. He hangs out by the back door waiting for table scraps.

And here is Moo, the pig! Moo is around 6 years old. She has her own little house and free reign to wander around the woods. I named Moo after the pig on the movie Uptown Girls, moo means pork in Thai. I thought that was hilarious!

14 months old

• April was a fun & busy month for us. We've been playing outside a lot, Caleb loves being outdoors. We usually play with his toys on the back deck, or walk to get the mail. Caleb carries the key for me and tries to unlock the mail box.
  
• I'm trying to check out all the parks in Wilson to find the best ones. Caleb can navigate his way up stairs and down the slide, which he loves! He also enjoys the swings. Most of the time, he just walks around and investigate.
• We are still nursing 2x a day, morning and night. Some nights we skip it because Caleb isn't interested, but he's very attached to our morning time together.
  
• Caleb had his first encounter with camping. We met Aunt Beth and the kids at Falls Lake for a 1 night stay in their tent. Caleb had lots of fun, and enjoyed his first s'more and cup of hot chocolate!
• COOL TRICKS, COOL TRICKS! My name is Caleb, and my cool trick is blowing raspberries. (If you don't get the reference, you need to watch Yo Gabba Gabba - the best kids show ever.) Anyway....Caleb loves to blow raspberries. He finds a bare patch of skin and surprises us with the wettest raspberries ever. It's so funny!
• Caleb still naps 2x a day, morning and afternoon. His bedtime is around 7:30p and he usually wakes up by 6:30a.
• This month we stayed at Grandma's house for a night and also took a trip to Petsmart - just for fun!
• Aunt Beth bought Caleb his very own table & chair set. He loves to sit there and have snacks.