Sharing with Sister!

Learning to shares begins at home, right? Well, who better to learn to share with than your own big sister?!

I really thought Hanley would enjoy the Gerber cookies I bought him.  Well, it turns out he thought Roxy would enjoy them too.

"Yumm...this is pretty good"

"Hey Sis, you want a bite?"

"Oh okay, go ahead...eat the whole cookie"



Then, Hanley turned to me a signed "more" so he could feed another one to Roxy! A bite for the boy, then a bite for the girl...thats about how it went! Dinner time is getting pretty interesting at our house!

Faulk Baby and Familiy Run

We had a great weekend in Eugene.  It was actually one of the very few weekends that we did a lot but it didn't feel overwhelming.  I often overbook us so bad that we end up running around town and are on a time schedule constantly.

We went down to celebrate with The Faulk's.  It was a Faulk Baby Beaver Birthday Bash...one big party with lots of reasons to celebrate: Mindy and Clayton's birthday, Beaver football, and a Baby Shower/Reveal Party! IT'S A GIRL!!! We are soooo excited for them...they will make the best parents! Hanley had a great time at the party. Mindy showed him where her Mom hides all the toys for her grandkids.  He wasn't shy about helping himself to all the fun girly toys!

One of my favorite parts of the weekend though was simply getting up in the morning and going on our first family run.  Hanley and I have been on many runs together but we can't ever seem to convince Cody to join us :o)  You see, I like to think of myself as somewhat of a runner.  Cody, not so much. He doesn't share the same love for it as I do. We both grew up playing sports and have a little bit of a competitive side.  Each time we make a bet, I always say "If I win, we go on a family run and you push the stroller!".  The best part about this run was I didn't even have to win a bet to get him to come along.  The three of us enjoyed a 4 mile loop on a cold, foggy Saturday morning.  About halfway into the run, I asked Cody if how he was doing with the stroller.  His response, "The stroller is holding me up.  Not like slowing me down but literally keeping me from falling down." I started laughing so hard but I am happy to announce, he survived the run.

The rest of the weekend included breakfast with Grandma Tina, shopping with my Mom, dinner with the in-laws, watching football with friends and brunch at my parents house today before heading out of town.

Liquid Gold

It all started 3 or 4 weeks ago.  I had a clogged duct on the right side and started getting mastitis from another clogged duct on the left side.  My production was down and my emotions were up. 

To top it off, it was my first full week at work and by Thursday night I was having a hard time adjusting to being away from Hanley so much. I ran in the door at 7:30 pm hoping to spend as much time with Hanley before  his bedtime.  However, it turns out I came home to 10 oz of wasted breast milk sitting on the counter and my little man already in bed. To be honest, I had a catastrophic meltdown. I tried my hardest to explain to Cody that I wasn't mad at him but I was devastated about the milk.  I had spent 1 1/2 hours at work pumping and was only able to bring home 12 oz of milk (remember, my production was down- normally I would pump and send 18-20 oz of breast milk to daycare for Hanley). Our freezer supply was down and I knew I couldn't replace the wasted milk sitting right in front of me. I couldn't even bring myself to throw it away.  I let it sit there until Cody dumped it down the drain.

I cried myself to sleep that night.

The next morning I called the lactation specialist.  I told her my son was 10 months old and I was hoping to breastfeed until he was 12 months.  I then explained my meltdown and told her I was putting too much pressure on myself to keep up my supply. I wanted advice on formula or other options I may have but she just wanted to talk to me about how I can increase my supply, "Add more pumping sessions in while your at home and at work, pump in the morning and before bed, pump after nursing him on the days your home with him, take supplements, drink milk tea..." When I got off the phone, I felt worse.  Is she for real? Does she know what being a Mom is like? Do I have more time in my day to attach myself the pump more...NO! This is REAL life, woman!!

I felt discouraged. I refused to take supplements or to drink tea.  I am kind of a believer in nature.  If my body decides its time to stop production then that was just the way it was going to be.  I needed to accept it and figure out a game plan for Hanley.

Over the weekend, Cody and I had a long discussion about introducing cows milk or formula to take some of the pressure off of me. However, by Monday my production was back to normal we never had to worry about supplementing.

Then, Friday last week, Hanley started to bite me. I flicked his cheek and told him "no" but that didn't seem to phase him.  I lightly popped him on the mouth once and sat him down to cry while I prepared him a bottle instead.  By Sunday morning, I felt like HE was the one trying to tell ME "no", he didn't want it.

It's not like he was slowly losing interest or anything.  He just flat out woke up and decided that he was done.I honestly see so much of Cody in him.  When Cody decides on something, that it.  It's a done deal and he is all in. Cody is also all about efficiency.  I think it may have clicked with Hanley that he can get the milk a lot faster from the bottle.

So...after trying so hard to avoid being attached to that damn pump all the time, I have spent the week attached to it more than ever. I have 4 more weeks to go but I am taking it one day at a time.  Thankfully we have now have a freezer supply so it's not like I feel an overwhelming amount of pressure.  However, I think I have scarred Cody. He is so afraid to waste any of that liquid gold.

My emotions seem to be in check for the most part.  I think Hanley weaning himself probably took a lot of the emotional aspect out of the process. I am thankful for our 10+ months of bonding while I nursed him but I have realized that I am still able to enjoy his cuddles, even with a bottle feeding....

I took this picture on Thursday last week.  I had NO IDEA it would be one of our last nursing sessions. It was early morning, we laid in bed, he cuddled his alligator blanked and held my hand.  I am pretty sure I will remember this moment forever.

11 MONTHS

Wow. This was a big month.  Nobody prepared me for the jump from 10 to 11 months.  In 4 weeks time, he's like a new boy!

At 11 months old...

 

-He took his first steps 2 weeks ago.  He is taking anywhere from 2-5 steps at a time now and can stand up on his own without the assistance of nearby furniture.

 

-I started signing to him this month.  I started signing "more" and he picked it up quickly! The only problem now is he will often sign for "more" before he is even done with his bite! I am now trying to teach him "eat", "all done" and "milk".

 

-Him and Roxy are finally starting to bond....bond over food that is! He loves to drop her food from his high chair!!! Since we don't feed Roxy table scraps, this is a pretty big deal to her.  Probably the highlight of her day!

 

-Exactly 7 days ago today, He decided he was done nursing and it came as a complete shock. If I can work up the courage, I will have a separate post about this at a later time.  For now, I am attached to the pump for what seems like all day!

 

-We spent a lot of time in Eugene the past month which means Hanley got a lot of time in with the Grandparents! Probably my favorite moment was when I went to pick him up at my parents house after the Dirty Duck race, I asked my Mom how he was and she said, "I don't know, your Dad HOGGED him the whole time!" There's just something about seeing my Dad with Hanley that makes my heart happy.

 

-Our babysitter was on vacation which made me realize it really does take a village to raise a child! He spent one day with my friend Sarah and her two girls (Josie and Brooklyn), one day with my co-worker Shaira (and her nieces!), and one day with my neighbor and her daughter (Kate), then Cody and I had to both take one day off work to fill in some childcare gaps. As much fun as Hanley had getting passed around, I think we were all happy to have April back in town!

Mari's Visit/Stuebing Wedding

I have been wanting to post about Mari's visit and Wayne and Brooke's Wedding but I keep getting side tracked with life!

Mari flew in the Monday before the Wedding. Cody and I took the week off work and headed to Elk Lake where we met the rest of the crew.  We rented a little cabin on the lake and enjoyed a few days of relaxing before all the Wedding festivities began!



Group pic!

 

Fun with Meme!

 

The view from our cabin

 

Getting ready to take the ski lift up Mount Bachelor
 

Mountain top brews!

When we got back to Eugene, we had a full schedule ahead of us that included: American sushi dinner at Izumi's, shopping, lunch at Café Yumm, Rehearsal dinner, hair appointments then finally, the WEDDING!

I took my camera to the Wedding but I didn't take many pictures.  Hanley was being really clingy and pretty much wouldn't let me put him down or let anyone else take him (I can't blame he kid, he hadn't pooped the entire week and he was a clearly uncomfortable!).

It was a beautiful wedding at Deep Woods! (Photo Credit: By Tania Vargas)

Hanley and Kallen meeting for the first time!

Before we left town on Sunday, my parents held a BBQ at their house for my Step-Grandpa's birthday.  We had friends and family come from California, Alaska, Texas, Colorado, Mexico, and Canada (and of course Japan) join us for the BBQ!

 

It was a fun packed week but saying good-bye to Mari is never easy...

 

10 MONTHS!

Our little man is already 10 months old.  That means his first birthday is right around the corner. Let the party planning begin!

At 10 months old...

 

-We have gotten into a pretty good bedtime routine.  Cody puts him to bed each night. We often hear him chatting in his room before drifting off to sleep.

-He switched up his nap time routine on us and I am hating it.  I prefer it when he is predictable!

-This week he SCREAMED with JOY the minute Cody walked in the door after work.  I think my heart about melted right on the spot.

-We are teaching him to wave.  It's pretty cute.

-He spent his first full week at the babysitters.  He did much better than I did.

-We have introduced the sippy cup in preparation for weaning.

-He is learning to self-feed with sweet potato puffs! When we first started, they mostly ended up on the ground which meant Roxy always made sure to be nearby so she could scoop them up. Now he makes most of them into his mouth and he loves them!

-He eats oatmeal cereal each morning.  I wish we would have started doing this much sooner.  It helps keep him "regular" if ya know what I mean...! (Yes, we celebrate messy diapers in this house because a boy who hasn't pooped in a couple days in a handful!).

What? Four Years?!

 

It's hard to believe that 4 years has passed since our beautiful Wedding day! It's been 4 jam packed years of home projects, traveling, long work hours, and of course baby making & parenting!

We spent our anniversary dinner with my entire Hoot to Coast team at Denicola's Italian Restaurant carb loading on Thursday night. Romantic, eh?

That weekend we spent a part since I was running and Cody stayed at home to be Mr. Mom.  So, we decided to postpone the celebration until the following weekend, which happened to be Labor Day weekend.

We dropped the boy off at the in-laws and spent one night away in Florence. Just the TWO of us! Our first night together away from our little man.

As crazy as it sounds, I really wanted to go somewhere I have never been: The Sea Lion Caves. Despite Cody's resistance, he took me there only to find out there was an issue with the elevator and it was currently down. Nobody would be going down into the cave...

Next he took me somewhere else I have never been: Honeyman State Park.  Cody was shocked when he realized I had never been there either! (Side note: He spend a lot of our courtship complaining that all the places he took me to ended up being places I had already been to! Little did he know, he just needed to take me to Florence, Oregon! Haha...)

We spent the rest of the day in Old Town, enjoying lunch on the water, watching the both games in the hotel bar and going out for dinner.

We got back from dinner with plans to go down to the hot tub but we both just wanted to crash.  I guess it's fair to say that parenting really ages you!

I dreamed of sleeping in until noon but our internal clocks had us both wide awake at the 6 o'clock hour! Good thing it was a beautiful morning for a walk on the beach.

After breakfast, we stopped by the Casino to come home not a dime richer.

Sometimes as parents, its easy to focus so much on the baby that you lose sight of the love you have for each other. For this reason, I think it was really important for us to experience a night re-kindling that love and attention without the distraction of naps, dirty diapers, tears, feedings, etc (although, I can't wait for the day that I can ditch the pump and we can really have 100% freedom!).

When we got back into Eugene, Oma and Opa were happy to report that Hanley was awesome while we were away! Thank goodness because we would like to repeat our night away some other time!