A New Adventure

HELLO. HEllo. Hello. hello. hello...

Anyone still checking in here? It has been quite awhile since I posted anything. Life gets in the way...

But I wanted to check in and invite you check me out over at MoreThanMommies a new blog that I started with my best blogging friend: Janene from Pefecting Imperfection.  We are super excited about it and looking forward to the great things in store for us there and we hope that all of our readers will join us!

So follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and all that other fun stuff. You can do it all from the blog.  We would LOVE to hear what you think!

Huh? Blog? What's That?

Dedicated to: Jody, Thanks for reminding me that I have a blog!

This morning I decided to visit my discarded blog and things have certainly changed around the blogger site.  I hardly knew what to do because the "look" of my landing page had changed.  After a moment's pause I figured out how to create a new post and here I am with a bullet list of summer events to get everyone caught up:

•  Chloe turned 1!  She wasn't walking on her first birthday or within a couple of weeks of it like the other girls had, but I'm happy to report that just yesterday she took three steps in a row! Yippee for milestones.  She is like a little parrot repeating lots of new words every day! On her vocab list are: Ma-ma, Mummee, Dada, Daddee, King-ton, puppy, doggy, "woof", Baby, Dor-dan (Jordan), Li-Li (Livi), Eye-Uh (Ava), Bubba, wha dis (What's this) and more. Her favorites are eating anything set before her, babies, the dog, dancing, scribbling on the floor with discarded crayons and markers, and jabbering
• The girls had their dance recital and did wonderfully. Olivia's first time on the stage and she did great--even remembered a good bit of her routine. Super proud of her, and of the older girls too. Jordan and Ava did tumbling camp and all three are looking forward to "princess camp" later this summer.
• The garden is doing really well this year.  We are anxiously awaiting more red tomatoes. We've had a few small ones. I know in a few weeks we will have more than we know what to do with! Looking forward to that. I've discovered some pretty good zucchini recipes...we've eaten it grilled, frittered, Parmesan-ed, and in bread form so far.  I am happy with the garden and am anxious to try a few new veggies next year!
• We enjoyed some fireworks early this month and then headed to camp to celebrate Olivia's 4th birthday. I can't believe how much she has grown this year! Gone is my baby livi-tivi.  She has been replaced with a little girl who loves to snuggle and smooch, dance, sing, and play with her sisters.  She loves to put on lip glops (lip gloss) and jewelry (TONS of jewelry)... She is a girly girl for sure.  She is looking forward to starting preschool in the fall!
• Started running on the treadmill again.  Happy to say I am about 12lbs lighter than I was last year at this time. I used Couch to 5k for the treadmill and now I am running about 3.5 miles a day in a little over 30 minutes. I'm hoping to run my first road race toward the end of summer--hopefully!
• Trying to come to grips with the lack of a beach vacation this year. We knew when we bought the house that we would most likely have to forgo it for this summer.  Even though I knew and accepted that I wouldn't be sinking my feet in the sand, I still have a longing for ocean waves and sea breezes. I love my family at the beach! (I love them at home too)
• Jordan and Ava will be starting public school in the fall. With very mixed emotions! However, I am determined to face this new chapter with optimism.  There are good things ahead for sure.

That's the summer in a nutshell.  Hoping to add blogging back on to my summer schedule!  See you soon!

From Here to There: The Short Version

I can't believe I haven't written since March 1st.  I wanted to do it numerous times, but every time I sat down I thought...I don't have the time right now. I don't have anything interesting to say. It's been too long.  I mean after weeks pass, it almost seems odd to come back to, if that makes sense.  I am, by no means, ready to give up on this blog. 

Maybe it's because I'm not heading in any clear direction. I really just post when the mood strikes. If I had a clearer direction then I would know what to write about.  The blog seems like it should be about motherhood and raising girls (hence the name), but I never really write about that.  I'm no expert I guess so I don't feel the wealth of information trying to find its way through my keyboard. I like to share the funny moments of our day. There are many. But lots of times I feel like a Status Update will suffice--so I don't blog about them often.  Then there is my new found love of snapping shots and I could share those...but...this isn't that type of blog either. 

There are the random thoughts and inspiring tidbits too.  I like to do those to but I haven't really had any major "aha" moments lately.

Then there are projects around the house and my beloved "before and afters".

As you can see it's really a hodgepodge.  That's okay. That's life and in the end that's what I want the blog to be...a blog about my life.

And so without further ado...

Yesterday after Olivia's dance class I was buttoning jackets and gathering my bags when a little scene went down. Nothing major but it made me think.  The girls came out (these are 3-year-olds mind you) Some of the girls had stamps on their hands and some of them did not.  (Livi did have a stamp, which she proudly showed off). The other moms asked to see the stamps but some of the girls didn't have stamps. When the moms asked why they didn't get stamps the little girls couldn't really say why they didn't have them...just kind of looked a little sad and confused.  "My hair wasn't in a pony tail...that's why I didn't get a stamp" one girl said.

What?

Livi's hair was pulled out of her face...but not in a pony tail either, but she got a stamp. Here hair is shorter though...

So the mom asked and almost immediately the teacher (who doesn't have children of her own yet), got kind of defensive and said, yes indeed it is because the child didn't have her hair in a ponytail.

The girls have to have their hair pulled up for safety reasons--so they don't get hurt when tumbling.  That makes perfect sense to me.

What doesn't make sense to me is "punishing" or "singling out" three year olds who can't articulate to their parents the need to have a pony tail for class. If you plan to give the girls stamps why not just make it a positive thing--give every girl a stamp for doing a good job, learning a new move, being a good listener etc. And then come out and announce to the parents that hair needs to be pulled up? 

It just seems to me an odd way to get that important information out there.  A three-year-old just doesn't get that. Can a three-year-old pull her own hair back in a pony tail? No. It's up to mommy or daddy or whoever grabs the comb for the day. So let's have a conversation with the parents instead of relying on the three-year-olds to relay the information.  I'm all for teaching kids responsibility. Did I mention these girls are three?
It's in the HANDBOOK. The teacher shot back.

Okay. It's been about 6 months since anyone has picked up the handbook--I don't even know where mine is! For most of these parents, this is the very first experience with dance class.  Is stamping the girl (good girl) or not stamping the girl (bad girl) really that much easier than coming out and simply saying to the parents--please have your child's hair pulled up from now on so they don't get hurt!?

Then the mom who got upset about it felt like a fool because she had made a little scene.  I didn't think she looked foolish and I told her so.

Maybe when these gals have kids of their own--a handbook sitting under a pile of school papers, children bugging them while they are on the phone, a poopy diaper to change, lunch to prepare, and at least three seperate bags to pack just to get out the door--they will understand. Or are we the crazy ones?

Post 101

I don't know how I missed this, but my last post: the sad story that broke everyone's heart and left everyone moist eyed (Okay, truth is I just wanted you to click on the link!) was my 100th POST! Yay! 

I could have gotten to that one a little sooner, but life gets in the way...Right now, I seem to be on a blogging roll. So I don't want to jinx it! 

Happy 101st Post To ME! :)

 

Ahhh...Blog, Sweet Blog.

Wow…I’ve been itching to get back to you blog. There have been so many times during the past three weeks when I have said, boy, I wish I just had a few minutes to get on and write about what has been going on here. Where have I been for three weeks, you ask?

Well, exactly three weeks ago I was gearing up for our newest arrival. Let me introduce her formally: Little Miss Chloe Susan, born May 27, 2010 at 8:12 pm. Weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs. even and measuring 20.5 inches. Here she is fresh out of the womb, chubby as can be:

Now that labor and delivery is behind us, I am trying to hold on to the memories of what will most likely be my last pregnancy, labor, and delivery. I love to be pregnant and I love being a mother, more so than I ever thought I would as I was growing up. I really enjoyed this last pregnancy with no complications except for the nagging foot in the rib that plagued me continually throughout the last month or so. I gained 42 lbs. this time. Better than the 55 lbs that I gained with Olivia—who was my smallest baby at 7 lbs. 15 oz coincidentally. I was induced and my water was broken and pitocin started at 3:30 pm. I did opt for an epidural which worked like a charm and by 8:05 I was ready to push. I pushed through 2 contractions and she was here! Easy peasy! Don’t be jealous, that’s just how I do it! :)

The biggest question when she arrived—besides, is it really another girl?—was whether or not she had a cleft palate. Upon an initial inspection the pediatrician was not quite sure, but we have since confirmed that Chloe does indeed have one. It is a different type than the ones her sisters Ava and Olivia have. They call it a sub mucous cleft palate. Basically she has skin on the roof of her mouth covering the hole that is her cleft. The bone and muscle is not properly formed, but she has a good suck—which neither Ava nor Olivia had.

I thought I would be able to nurse successfully and was overjoyed. They don’t surgically repair these types of clefts unless there is a significant speech issue…which of course we won’t know about until this little one starts to talk. If her speech is very nasal then they will do a correction much like the one that her sisters had. I’m praying that she won’t need the surgery. It is quite a bear and frankly, I don’t want to go through it again, let alone put another little one through it. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

So on to the nursing thing…why is this such a big deal you may wonder? Well, besides the fact that it’s free food for the baby, it’s convenient, and it’s the healthiest option…I just really missed out on the experience with Ava and Olivia. If I hadn’t had a successful experience with Jordan, I suppose it wouldn’t be such a big deal but I did and it is. It IS a big deal when providing the most basic thing that a newborn needs becomes so difficult. Ava had a complete oral aversion. She didn’t like anything coming at her mouth, food or otherwise. Feeding her took so long and was so difficult. I wasn’t able to nurse, however I did manage to pump for the first 6 months. I had a large quantity of milk to give, but she just wouldn’t take it. She came home with a Nasal Gastronomy Tube and later we put in a more stable Gastronomy Tube called a Mickey. With Olivia it wasn’t as bad: she wasn’t able to nurse but she at least wanted to eat. I pumped for 6 months with her too. Feedings did take a little longer and it took her a long time to plump up but she is my chubby little cutie now.

So this time…I nursed for the first week. I thought everything was going fine, but I had a little suspicion after my milk came in that something might not be right. After I talked to the clinical coordinator at our Children’s Hospital my suspicions were confirmed. Even though it seems like Chloe might have a strong suck, she still might not be able to get all the milk she needs from nursing because the muscles just aren’t properly formed…Well, after hearing that I jumped into survival mode. I made Jim run out and buy a pump that very day. I had a little bit of a breakdown after my first session produced one measly ounce of milk. My supply was dwindling because she wasn’t able to build it. We ran out and bought a can of formula. I also must express my dissatisfaction with Magee’s Lactation department. I put a call into them on a Friday and didn’t hear back until the following Tuesday—yeah, thank God it wasn’t an emergency right?? By day three my supply came back, I’m happy to report. And now I’m able to exclusively feed her breast milk. I’m very happy about that. She can suck down a bottle like a champ, so no worries that she isn’t getting enough this time and even though pumping IS a little more time consuming, it isn’t nearly taking as much time as it did with the other two. I’m happy and grateful for the first week of nursing, even if it was only a case of ignorant bliss. We’ll see how long I can keep up with the pumping. I hope I can make it to a year….only 49 more weeks to go! :)

This is it…my first blog back…there’s so much more to say, but I’ll stick to topic here and just give you a sneak peak of some other subjects I may touch on later…if I can ever find the time again!

Future blog topics:

Jordan and Ava’s first dance recital
The CSA Share
More mommy stuff
Briefings on the house sale and house hunt
Anything else that strikes my fancy!