Random Wednesday

Here are a few random things that I wanted to share.....

First, remember how I told you that Brody plays on a blanket on the floor in our bedroom while I get ready in the mornings (or afternoon)?Haha!! Well, the other day I decided i would let him play on our bed. I knew I would be able to see him from the bathroom, so i wasn't worried about him rolling off. I put some of his toys up there and laid him on his stomach. Apparently, he hated being on our bed. This is what he looked like.As soon as I put him back on the floor, he was happy and went right back to playing with his toys. Maybe this means he will not be one of those kids who wants to sleep with us if he hates our bed!! Haha!!

Yesterday, I was feeding Brody sweet potatoes again, which by the way, NO ONE mentioned the immediate change in the poop diaper once we started the baby food! Thanks a lot!! Haha! I knew it would change, but that was pretty fast and pretty nasty. I sent Josh a text message trying to describe what it was like. I realize that is disgusting that we do that, but lets face it, you talk about poop when you are a parent!! Haha!! Remember this post? Yeah, never again. Haha!!

Back to the sweet potatoes. He was more interested in eating his toes than eating his food, so he spent half the time doing this! His toes had food on them from being in his mouth so I guess he thought they were flavored. Yum.Last thing....I bought a new canvas for our living room. Maybe I should just say I finally bought a canvas for our living room. For over a year I have casually looked for one and never really found one that I just had to have, so we have had a blank wall. I found this one on Saturday. Josh hung it last night and I really like it. It's still weird to see something on that wall after a year though! It looks more gold in this picture than it really is. When I took the picture this morning, I had the curtains open and the sun was reflecting off of it. Think of it as more orangy-gold. I know orangy isn't a word, but it is on this blog. I think I'm going to go buy some burnt orange pillows to add to our sectional today, so that it brings out the orange in the canvas. I already have red, brown and blue pillows on there. What do you think???

I'm about to go do a few more things around here before Brody gets up!

Have a great day!!!

A BIG THANK YOU!!!

I am always amazed at how sweet and helpful my bloggy friends can be! Thank you sooooo much for all your wonderful and VERY HELPFUL suggestions regarding my pumping delima. I am soooo glad to know I am not the only one who gets bored while pumping, or who has had to work to increase their milk supply!

I bought two big bottles of Fenugreek this weekend. I have been taking these religiously 3 times a day. I read on kellymom to take 6 grams a day, so that is what I have been taking. I noticed that some of you mentioned I might smell like maple syrup. You were not even kidding! I have really noticed it today. I guess that means it is working!

As far as the milk supply goes, we are making progress! I have pumped about 30+ oz this weekend, on top of my regular nursing, so it is a good start! It's been very tough and I have felt like I have a newborn again doing this, but it is so worth it to be able to continue to feed Brody breastmilk.

He is such a little man eater! Seriously y'all, in an hour today, he took 10 oz out of a bottle! He didn't spit up any of it. Then, two hours later he ate some rice cereal. He seems so happy and full now. He has never been a fussy baby, always happy and pleasant, but he seems extra pleasant now that he is in a food coma! Haha! He has slept 12-13 hours at night all weekend and has taken some really good naps. I think this whole eating thing is going to work!

Tonight, we let him try sweet potatoes. Our pedi suggested introducing one food every three days, so we decided to start with a veggie. He LOVED it! He ate the entire container, then had a bottle. Then, he passed out! I'm really looking forward to watching him try all kinds of baby food. I thought it would make me sad that he was growing up, but we are just having so much fun watching him learn to eat and seeing his reactions, that I am really enjoying our new "big boy" phase! Once I figure out what he likes and dislikes, then I am going to try and make his baby food. Do any of you do that? We will definitely need a "help me make baby food" post very soon!

Thank you again for all your help. You girls are just the very best! I also am so glad some of you lurkers finally came out of hiding! I love "meeting" new readers!

I thought you might enjoy one of his first rice cereal experiences. We have tried it several ways but this seems to work better than mixing it in his bottle. Plus, if he decides not to take it, I'm not wasting any breastmilk. Our doctor said this is how her daughter liked it best, and it is working well for us. As always, excuse the accent!! haha! And yes, Josh really did take a bite! He is such a great sport! Thanks, Daddy!

Pumping Help!!!!!

Ok, mommas, I need some pumping advice!! Here is the deal...Mr. Brody is such an active thing, that he is burning calories like a crazy man! Because of that, the doctor wants me to bump up his feedings to 8 oz at a time and bottle feed at least 2 times a day, as well as nurse on our normal nursing schedule and do rice cereal twice a day! Basically, we will just be feeding and sleeping around here again! :)

I need some pumping help!! First, just so you know, I really get bored pumping, but I pump most mornings before Brody wakes up and has his first feeding. I can usually get about 8 oz in that one sitting. That will cover for one 8 oz bottle, but I need at least two a day. I nurse him about every 2-3 hours. What should my pumping schedule look like to get enough milk for the other bottle? I have tried pumping after I nurse and before I nurse. I get a whopping 2 or 3 oz each time. I realize that if I did that 3 or 4 times a day that would add enough for the other bottle, but I was just curious if there is anything that might work better. It would be great if I could increase my milk supply enough to be able to pump two times a day instead of all day long.

Advice? Suggestions? Your experience???

In case you are curious, we are still trying to avoid formula. There isn't anything wrong with my milk, just a child with a killer metabolism! Thank in advance for helping "the girls" out!!:)

Peek-A-Boo

Brody loves to sleep with a blanket over his head. He has such a routine when we lay him down in his crib. We have to put gripe water on his paci, then we lay the blanket on him and he pulls it over his face. He refuses to go to sleep unless it is covering his face. It scares people because they think he cannot breath, but we always make sure the top of the blanket has a little space so that he can breath just fine!

When I take a shower and get dressed (key word is when) I put Brody on a blanket in our bedroom floor with some toys so that I can keep an eye on him from our bathroom. Well, the other morning I was getting ready and he decided to take a little nap, so he pulled the blanket over his head and fell asleep. About 30 mintues later I could hear him moving in the room, so I looked in there and this is what I saw! He was awake, but didn't take the blanket off his head, so he looked like a little turtle. It was so cute to watch his little head move from side to side, but I couldn't see his face! I only had my phone in the bathroom with me, so I grabbed it and took a few pictures. The quality isn't that good, but you can tell what he is doing!

Lunch Date

Mimi and Pa Paw (Josh's grandpa) came up for a quick visit today. Brody and I spent some time with them at our house, before the four of us headed to Rogers to meet Josh for lunch. We were able to eat with him, then, we came back to our house and they headed back to Mt. Ida. it was a short trip, but we enjoyed being able to have lunch with them. Josh's grandpa had not seen Brody since Christmas, so he thought he had grown quite a bit! Here are a few pictures from our day!

One year ago today....

It was a Sunday, I woke up and fixed breakfast for my in-laws. They had come up for the weekend and had stayed until Sunday so that they could go to church with us. I made mini-fritatas, which I love, but that morning my stomach didn't love them so much. I went back to our bathroom and had my first real experience with morning sickness. At that point I knew I was pregnant!

There had been signs over the past two weeks. All of which I continued to dismiss as something else because I just couldn't be pregnant. We had only been married 3 months at that point and I was not ready for a baby. I was still trying to figure out how to be a wife and was in no place to be a mom. Or so I thought!

The two weeks prior to that I had been exhausted beyond description. I had never felt that tired in my entire life! So I assumed it was my job. I figured all day with twenty 4-year olds could make anyone tired. Plus, I was working my rear off at the gym 2 hours a day, 6 days a week trying to get into shape. I was stupid and had no idea I was in shape at the time!! I also knew that a lot of the kids in my class had been sick with colds and various stomach things, so I decided I had gotten a bug! Yes, a 9 month bug!

The week of my birthday and Valentine's Day, I felt extremely tired and sick. Josh cooked dinner for me on my birthday. I had been in an education class all evening and when I walked into the house I could smell the food and the smell almost made me sick! He cooked chicken with peanut sauce, which I love, but it just made me almost gag to smell it. I assumed it was still a virus.

There were several other obvious symptoms during those two weeks that when I look back now, they pointed straight to pregnancy. I guess I was just too oblivious to notice the nausea, frequent trips to the bathroom, headaches, backaches, exhaustion, skipped period, cramping, food adversions, and moodiness!! Haha!! Hello????

Back to the morning on the 17th. I realized then that no, I still hadn't started and maybe all those signs were something else. Yes, I had thought that I might be pregnant, but I just kept putting it off because I was on the pill and in my mind it wasn't likely!Ha! After his family left, we went to a birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese, which is birth control all on its own! A little boy in my class was turning 5, so the entire class had been invited. I remember leaving there thinking I didn't want kids for 10 more years!! hahaha! I'm only kidding! Josh and I left there and went to Chili's. Then, we went to Walgreen's and back home.

When we got home I went to the bathroom to take the test. Josh came in there to read me the directions because we had gotten a digital test. Well, I guess he was nervous, because he messed up the first test, so when we looked to see if we were pregnant or not, it said ERROR! I looked at him and asked, "what's an error? Does that mean error, you're pregnant?" Well, we had one more test. So we had to wait for the screen to clear which took about 10 minutes, but felt like 10 hours!!! I took the other one right after and Josh put it in correctly. I left it on the counter and then, we went back into the living room. A few minutes later I told him to go check it! Ha! He walked back out looked right at me and said, "you're pregnant!" I laughed at first. Then , ran into the bathroom and started laughing and crying. Then, crying harder. Then, really crying!

I was shocked, scared, surprised, excited, nervous, the list goes on! After a few minutes of Josh reminding me that we were going to be fine, I calmed down and got really excited!! I immediately got on the computer to try and figure out my due date. It was at that point that I realized I was 7 1/2 weeks pregnant! Oh my!

Now, a year later, that sweet baby is even more than I could have imagined or hoped for a year ago. One year ago today, our lives changed forever and I am incredibly thankful for that. I know I always say that God's plan are better than our own, but it is soooo true! At the time, I would not have chosen to get pregnant as soon as we did, but now I look back and think about what a blessing we would be missing out on if we had not. What in the world would we be doing? I can't even stand to think about our lives without Brody! He is just the most amazing thing!

Thank you Lord for such a sweet surprise!

Happy Valentine's Day....

To the two people I love the most!!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

This is Jill, I hacked into Jennifer's blog! I still remember the password to the blog from when Brody was born!

This is Jennifer's first birthday as a mommy, so I snapped this sweet picture of Brody while I was baby-sitting him last night, he wanted to wish her a Happy Birthday!!

We love you very much!

Valentine's Fun

I have to brag on my sweet husband. Every day this week he has come home from work with a small gift for me leading up to Valentine's Day. They have all been so sweet and he really thought about what I like! Chocolate-A true love of mine!!

Pretty roses!
Sugar cookies. I actually just love to eat the dough and he knows that! It's good for my figure!
Father of the Bride I and II are my VERY FAVORITE movies! The problem is that I didn't have them on DVD (only on VHS) so he bought those for me as well as Facing the Giants, which we both love!

Tonight he is taking me to eat at P.F. Changs for my birthday, since we are having dinner with my family tomorrow night. Jill is going to keep Brody for us. I love P.F. Changs and I love dates with Josh, so it should be a good night!!

I thought I would show you a picture of my other Valentine eating his toes this morning. I could eat him!

Afternoon Nap

Brody was little tired after MDO today! Usually he wants to come home and nurse, but we were not even out of the parking lot today before I could hear him snoring. If you don't believe me when I say he snore, then see this post!

Anyways, he is usually taking his afternoon nap when I go to pick him up, but today he was wide awake when I got there. I was so excited to see him! I started saying his name, thinking he might be excited to see me, too. He looked over at me for a second or two, then looked back at the other babies like I never walked in there. I'm sure he was a little embarrassed that his mom was practically jumping the gate to get to him while all his little friends watched. Sorry Brody! I will try and control my excitement next time! Ha!

We are back home and little man is out!

I'm going to try and get started on supper before he wakes up!!

Quick Trip

This weekend, we made a quick trip to Benton. When I say quick, I mean we were there for less than 24 hours. That usually isn't difficult, but with a baby, it can make for one tired momma and daddy! Despite the short amount of time we were there, we had a lot of fun!

We left here around 5:30 Friday night and met Josh's parents for dinner in Little Rock around 8:30. Yes, it took 3 hours to LR because of the 2 stops we made on the way down. After dinner, we went to Benton and spent the night then, got up, ran a few errands, ate lunch and then headed back here around 5:00. We stopped at Butcher Boy in Russellville to eat dinner last night and ran into some friends from Benton who were heading back to Benton from being up here! Kind of funny! It was good to visit with all of them. We wanted to get back for church today so that is why we rushed down and back! Here are a couple of pictures from our weekend!

Poor Little Brody was trying his best to cheer the Razorbacks to victory, but no such luck! He did look very cute still in his little Hog attire!

Happy 4 Month Birthday!

Today, Brody turned 4 months old! I cannot believe how fast time is flying by around here! I just love ever second we are getting with out little man.

This month, Brody started rolling from his back to his stomach, and for that matter, he barrel rolls now! He is laughing and cooing at us all the time. He has started reacting to Josh and I when we walk into the room or when we leave the room. He is spending a lot less time in the swing and bouncy seat and a lot more time rolling around and playing on the floor. He is still sleeping very well! Most nights he sleeps 10 hours. He sleeps for about 2 hours during is morning nap and 3 hours in the afternoon! Yes, I know we are blessed with a good baby!

I know I say it almost everyday, but we love him sooooo much! We have had the best 4 months with Brody. He is just so much fun! We are so thankful to be his parents and feel so incredibly blessed that he is our boy!

Here are some pictures from our little cake party tonight!!

His cute cake from Rick's.

I could eat him up! And he could eat his whole hand! Ha!

He loves to find his hands and feet!

"Are those my feet?"

Getting kisses from me!

Jill, me, and Julee

happy 4 month birthday sweet boy! we love you so much!

Snoring

Sweet Brody snores like a grown man! I'm not even kidding. Josh went to get Brody out of the car yesterday and we could hear him doing some serious snoring, so I grabbed the camera and tried to catch it! The sound isn't very good, but if you turn up the volume and listen closely you can hear it! Brody can almost beat Josh snoring! Enjoy watching our little man sleep!

(For some reason this video is sideways. I assure you he doesn't lay sideways in the car! Ha!)