Breastfeeding Update

How are we doing after 4 months of exclusively breast feeding? I thought it was time for an update!

I think we are doing quite well so far. I can't believe we've made it 4 months already. Seems like a pretty big accomplishment! When I started I said I really wanted to set a goal of going at least 6 months and we are almost there. Yay!

Baby Steven is still breastfeeding like a champ whenever we get a chance to be together. Now that I am working full time its more a mostly pumping situation unfortunately. But once in the morning, once in the evening on workdays I do get to BF with baby and its really nice. I think its a good bonding time for both of us and a time to relax and just be together. On the weekends, we get to BF much more and that's really nice.

Baby Steven is also a champ taking a bottle. I tell you this boy does not care where his milk comes from as long as you give to him now!!! He is taking about 5 4oz bottles during the day when I'm at work and has no problem with them. I'm so glad that he is able to transition from BFing to the bottle with no problem. That is huge or we wouldn't be able to do this! We were having a problem with gas, but since we switched to Dr. Brown's bottles, that hasn't been a problem. Yay, Dr. Brown!

                                                   
So how is pumping at work going? Pretty well! I mean I hate it of course. Pumping is really no fun at all and it doesn't compare at all to cuddling your little baby while you feed him. And its kind of awkward, uncomfortable and painful but that's what I need to do to feed my little man. Besides those general issues pumping at work is going well. The people at my work have been really supportive. They made an extra room the "pumping room" and even left a little fridge in there for me. So that has been really nice. While I'm pumping I get a chance to zone out, read a book, browse a magazine or even watch the occasional Disney movie on VHS. So that is actually kind of a nice break from work 3 times a day. I have only had a few problems making time for pumping when schedules conflicted at work. But I always get it done, just may have to schedule it a few minutes early or late depending on meetings or conference calls.

                                                 
I have the Medela Pump in Style Advanced pump and its pretty good. I like it for the most part. Those pumps are not cheap, though! Geez! I wish I had gotten a pump with a battery pack so I wouldn't have to always find an outlet when we are in a weird situation (like trying to pump in a hotel room with other people lol). Its also a pain to set up every time but I suppose that is every pump. But it seems to be getting the job done getting milk for my baby so I suppose its fine!

As far as problems go, I haven't had many at all. I had that one bought of mastitis but that's pretty much it. I haven't had more of that or any other problems really. I've been very lucky! I did have a massive drop in supply around 10 weeks and that really freaked me out! But I heard that it is normal for your supply to level off around that time to meet the exact demands of your baby instead of having an oversupply. So after I was done freaking out, that was kind of nice because now I don't have to worry too much about engorgement. (Which is really nice!)

                                                       
I am surprising myself with how much I love breastfeeding. The thought of it kind of freaked me out when I was pregnant and I was really worried it would not work out. But its actually been a really smooth transition and has been a really natural thing for us. I absolutely love it now and am so glad I've been able to provide food for my baby like that. Its pretty amazing how God created a woman's body to be able to do that. Its incredible to see my baby boy grow up and know that all he is eating is what I am giving him. Its incredible how my body has changed to meet his needs perfectly and how naturally he took to breastfeeding.

So overall we are doing really great breastfeeding! I am proud that we made it to 4 months. Baby Steven has not shown any interest in real food and really isn't holding his head up well enough to eat table food so for now we are going to continue breastfeeding exclusively. We can continue like that until he is 6 months old and then we will definitely start introducing solids. I hope I can keep up pumping and my supply for at least a few months more and see how long we can make it!

Fall Festivities

The weather has been cooler around here and it almost feels like fall is starting. Its putting me in a good mood because fall is my absolute favorite time of the year! This year, since we have Steven I want to get out and do more fall type activities around St. Louis. Here are some of the fall festivites I hope we can do with Steven this year:

• Apple picking at Eckerts
• Pumpkin patch/Hayride
• Rams football game (maybe with or without the baby)
• Soulard Oktoberfest
• Balloon Glow in Forest Park (we are going to miss this due to the date Sept 17)
• Trip to the Zoo
• Japanese Festival at the Botanical Gardens (missed this already, darn)

I'm not sure how many we will get to but it will be so fun experiencing these thing with the baby this year! I know he won't remember them at all but the pictures will be cute! What are you guys doing to celebrate fall? Love this time of year!

Going Green

Since Steven was born, Steve and I have been trying to be healtlhier in our diet and habits. We both want to be healthier in general and lose weight but we also want to get started on healthy eating and lifestyle habits to  have for the baby. We want him to grow up with around a healthy eating environment where foods that are good for you are the regular fare and not something you have to go out of your way to find. That's the idea at least :) We want it to be something like this: Doesn't that baby look happy about broccoli?

                                               

So to accomplish this goal, Steve and I recently joined our local Gold's Gym. We've been doing really well there and have been working out pretty frequently. I have a lot less time to work out so its been something like 3-4 days a week for me while Steve has been going pretty much every day. He is working with a personal traininer too and losing weight like crazy. Now, neither of us wants to look like this:

But we do both want to lose some weight and gain muscle. We basically just want to be healthier overall. In order to accomplish this, I've started to change the way I eat and what I eat. I've decided to try becoming a vegetarian. I am going to still eat fish and seafood so I guess technically that's a pescaterian.  But basically I am going to try to eat a lot more of these:

                     

This is something I've actually been thinking about for a long time. I've never been a huge fan of meat anyways and really only eat chicken and turkey on the regular. Some of our friends and family are vegetarians and it has always interested me what they eat and don't eat.  A few of them have lost a bunch of weight going veggie so that was a motivating factor for me too! So I talked to a couple of our friends and discussed what the eat and how they get in their protein, etc. I thought about how I could make this diet work for me. I need to make sure to get all the nutrition that I need to keep up my milk supply. I also researched about breastfeeding and being vegetarian and it looked like there were no issues so I figured why not give it a try.

I've actually always liked vegetables and fruits but just never at too many of them, mostly because I'm lazy and don't want to cook them but also because I was filling up on other things like meat and carbs. Steve was not the most agreeable to eating vegetables either, but now that he's agreed to eating healthier he has been asking me to make more vegetables with our meals. So it seemed like a great time to try out this new way of eating!

I decided not to do a true vegetarian only diet, because I'm going to eat seafood. I really enjoy fish and its good for the baby and good for me so I decied I would still include it. Plus, it will give me many more options of foods to make and help me ease into this new way of eating, instead of just going cold turkey (or cold tofu, ha!).

                                

So what am I eating? For breakfasts, I usually eat cereal or oatmeal, sometimes eggs and toast. Which is not all that different than what I was eating. Sometimes I will drink a protein shake with breakfast too just to make sure I'm getting enough protein in. I usually will have a morning snack of yogurt and a banana. For lunch I have been having lots of salads, bags of veggies, sometimes a vegetarian lean cuisine like pumpkin squash ravioli (yum) or lobster pasta (double yum), and usually an apple of another piece of fruit. For dinners I've been making lots of yummy things but usually either a fish dish with veggies or tuna salad, or a pasta with veggies. I also bought some ready made things from CostCo that have turned out be super yummy. We had zucchini, squash and pepper ravioli one night that was delicious and also citrus cous cous that was very good as well. I'm trying lots of new foods eating this way and that is a great thing since I really was too picky of an eater. I'm also trying new recipes and I will try to start posting them as I try them and let you know how they are. So wish me luck!

Kris's Bridal Shower Weekend!

This past labor day weekend was my cousin Kris's bachelorette party and bridal shower. We had so much fun! Um, did I mention how excited I am for her wedding??? Can't wait! I'm so happy for her and she is marrying a great guy. Yay!

So on Friday night we had her bachelorette party at the Cardinals game and then on the landing. We were having a major heat wave in St. Louis that day and it was soooooo hot! It was like 100 degrees. Awful! But we still had fun! A ton of Kris's friends came in town for her party. There were only 2 of us that lived in St. Louis, since she is from Illinois and she went to college in Ohio. I couldn't believe how many girls there were and they were all from out of town! I think there were over 20 girls there. She is loved!!

We had fun at the Cardinals game even though they suck pretty bad lately. Some of her friends are crazy! They got her on the jumbo-tron. She was so embarrassed! It was adorable.

Afterwards we went to the landing. First we went to the Big Bang Piano Bar. That was a lot of fun. They got her on stage and made some random guys sing to her. It was hilarious.

After that we went to Morgan Street Brewery but I didn't stay too long. It had been about 5 hours since I'd pumped and I was feeling it! It was also about 12:30 at night by that point. I went back to the hotel room to pump but decided that I was probably done for the night and went home. I heard they had a pretty crazy time after I left though!

The next morning (really, really early) we drove up to Springfield for her bridal shower. It was so much fun! My mom, her sister Cindy and her sister in law Lauren and I all put on the shower. I think it went really well and everyone had a great time. The food was awesome and the place was super cute. Kris got a ton of great presents and got to hang out with her friends and family. So I would say that was a huge success!

I made Kris a scrapbook of pages that her friends and family submitted and I think that went over really well. It was a loooooong process and took a lot of time to put together, but it was totally worth it. I think she even shed a few tears while she was reading it. So cute! That made it totally worth the effort!

So overall it was a very fun (and exhausting) weekend and we had a great time! Congratulations, Kris! I can't wait for her wedding!!

A Crazy Video

Look at how crazy our baby is! Gabbymaw took this video of Steven. He's a monster eating poor Grandpa's hands! LOL

Baby Steven's First Year: 4 Months

Another month has flown by for us, my baby boy! You are so big now, measuring almost 26 inches long (95th percentile) and you weigh almost 16lbs (75th percentile). So according to the pediatrician you are long and skinny, and a very healthy baby!! I can't believe how much you have grown up this month!

You have definitely found your voice lately. You are babbling to yourself all the time now. You will hold long "conversations" with us much more than you ever did before. You will respond to sounds we make and mimic them back. You even squeal and scream sometimes when you are excited, which is usually quite a surprise to us! But its also super cute.

Another sound you make all the time is laughing. You laugh out loud now and it so adorable. We can make you laugh for a long time now and it is just the sweetest thing ever. You have also started rubbing your eyes when you are sleepy. Its hilarious and makes you look so big already!

You are definitely recognizing mommy and daddy now and smile and giggle when we come in the room. I swear you even held your arms out for me a couple times. That just warms my heart and makes me smile so big when you do that!

This month you are so interested in the world around you. You just look around everywhere we go. When you are in a new situation you get a sort of glazed over look on your face like its just too much to handle right now and you are taking it all in. So precious! You are also much more interested in your toys these days. You can reach them easily now and will hold onto them, shake them and stare at them for a long time. You love to chew on the burp rags Grandma Riegerix made for you. You have decided those make pretty good toys too!

You have been going through some major mood swings this month, being a little crab at times. When you get in that kind of mood...watch out!!

You have also decided that you're totally over that sleeping through the night thing...which makes mommy crabby! You are waking up once each night to eat still and once in the early morning around 4am to eat again. We are working on that and on getting your naps adjusted! Being swaddled at nap time is helping some. Hopefully you will get adjusted soon and we can all get some more sleep! You are no longer sleeping in our room little man. Since you are sleeping long stretches at night you are in your crib now. So big!



You are so over your pacifier lately. You don't need it at all during the day and only use it for about the first minute when you fall asleep. Once you are asleep you spit it right back out! During the day, you still love to suck on your hands and fingers for comfort, even though you can't yet put yourself to sleep by doing that...We swear you are going to start popping out teeth soon. Although we can't feel any coming in you seem to suck on your hands way more on one side. I think teething is in our near future.

So 4 months old and you are still just the cutest, most precious thing our lives, baby boy! You are having major mood swings, chewing on your hands, burp cloths and anything you can stick in your mouth and smiling/giggling/talking/screaming up a storm now! We love you so much, boo!

Breaking My Heart

Generally on this blog, I keep it light and upbeat but I'm having a little pity party for myself right now so if you don't want to hear it might want to skip this entry. You were warned....

I absolutely love being a mom. LOVE! It is the best thing that I've ever done in my life and my baby boy is the greatest blessing I could ever ask for. But being away from my him 5 days a week for 10 hours each day is killing me...I hate it. I want so badly to be able to be home with him. The time I got on my maternity leave was a huge blessing and some of the best months of my whole life. There is nothing quite like being able to see your sweet baby's face anytime you want to, being able to love on him as much as you want and knowing that he is making a connection with you. Its just amazing. Now that I am back at work full time, its really, really hard. All I want to do is be home with Steven. I don't want to be at work, I just want to take care of my baby. I want to be able to see him all day again and kiss and hug him as much as I want.

The worst part is I feel like I am missing out on so much. On the days I work I see him for almost no time in the morning because we are rushing around to get ready. I pick him up at 4 and by the time we get home I have approximately 2 hours before he is asleep for the night (and most nights he takes a nap in there too!). The worst part is that he is pretty much spent by that time in the day and is tired, crabby and generally unresponsive to me. It literally breaks my heart. It is so difficult not getting quality time with him everyday. He grows up so much everyday and I feel like I am missing out.

Steve is off work again. He's not laid off but there's no work for him at the shop he's at so he is at home. He's been home for about 3 weeks now. And I am so jealous. I know it sounds awful but I am. I can't help it. Steve gets to be home with Steven everyday if he wants to and I have to get up and go to work. It sucks...big time. I am so glad that Steve is getting to spend quality time with our son, for sure. This week, Steven has started letting Steve put him to sleep without a fight for the first time ever. That is a great thing! But also, it seems like Steven is pulling away from me a little bit and that is just literally breaking my heart. Usually when I come home from work, Steven gets a big smile on his face and instantly connects with me. Last night when I came home he just had a blank expression and wouldn't even make eye contact with me. When I held him, he just followed Steve around with his eyes and wouldn't even look at me. I swear I almost broke down crying. I feel like I am losing that intimate connection I had with my son and its killing me. I'm glad he is getting closer to his daddy, I just wish it didn't mean he was getting farther from me.

My mom told me that parenthood is wasted on the young because we don't have enough financial stability to be home with our kids and really get to know them the way their day to day person does. She said to me that she never got to be with me day to day when I was a baby the way she is with Steven because she was always working. I feel like that is happening to me and I hate it. I just want to be there for him everyday to see him grow up and I don't want to go to stupid work. I just know that pretty soon he is going to start rolling over and other important events in his development and its just going to kill me that I probably won't be able to see him do it for the first time. (I am super, super grateful for my parents for watching him and they certainly are the next best thing to us. I just want it to be me who sees him roll over for the first time!)

See, I said I was having a pity party! I know its important to work for his future and our financial stability but its just so difficult to not be there everyday. Especially with Steve's job being so unreliable there is no way I could quit my job right now. I have to learn to deal with it but for some reason it is just really hard for me right now. Trust me, if I could quit I would do it in a heartbeat. I really hope Steve can get a better job and we can have more stability so I can work part time in the furture but who knows.

Ok I'm done complaining! Promise my next post will be happier. Also, I know I am late in his 4 months update, I am working on it. Promise!