Well I am happy to say that three LONG days of babymooning (pretty much bed rest) worked!!! Little Levi gained 15 oz in 6 days! Wooo Hoooo! Words can not convey how excited I am! It was tough, the house was a mess (which was devastating for this OCD momma), the kids ran wild when my husband wasn’t home to help, and I was cranky due to the previous two things, along with a mix of being bed ridden on a weekend when normally we go and have fun as a family! But it was ALL worth it when I weighed my little bundle. Knowing that I overcame a challenge that causes most mommas who don’t have support or knowledge, to quit breastfeeding makes me refreshed and renewed in the whole BFing area. I’ve got even more advice I can offer mommas with challenges now! 🙂

Well it’s happened again. Low milk supply. THE most dreaded thing in a nursing mom’s world. Today I took my little Levi to the dr for a well check and he’s LOST weight. UGH! TERRIBLE NEWS! Babies traditionally gain around a pound every 2 weeks so he should be about 2 pounds heavier. And he wasn’t…

So, after talking with my mentor and IBCLC, I have been instructed to have a babymoon. This is an unfamiliar term for most people so I will explain. A babymoon is pretty much like a honeymoon. You stay in bed with your darling (baby) for 3 days straight. You get plenty of rest and nurse, nurse, nurse. Sounds great huh?! Well, it would be ideal if, well, if maybe I only had him in my life. But I don’t. I have two other precious darlings who seem to think that I have been placed in their world to solely take care of them. This will be interesting! Thank the Lord that it is almost the weekend so my husband will be home to help. However, I feel as though he secretly thinks that this is a plot to stay in bed, watch tv, do zero housework and just simply do absolutely nothing but ”take care of my little one.” 😀

I’m also going to go BACK on a miracle drug called Domperidone. It is an extremely safe medication that will increase milk supply when all other efforts have failed. Yea, I do feel like a failure. Aren’t our bodies just supposed to whip up this stuff and know exactly what to do? Well, yea, but mine apparently didn’t get the memo…all 3 times… Oh, well, it is a price I have to pay to give my Levi the absolute BEST thing out there. Whenever us breastfeeding mommas get discouraged, we have to go back to the basics and read ALL the statistics of what our BF babies get in breastmilk opposed to formula (YUCK!) I do have to say though, I have always envied those ladies who complain about having too much milk… leaking milk, having to use liners for their bras, and who sometimes have babies choke because their milk is just flowing so freely that their baby simply can not drink quick enough…yea, poor you…what a terrible problem to have…

But like I said before, lower chances of diabetes, heart disease, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, childhood lukemia, and a ton of other awful diseases for him and me, increased IQ, better immunity, and lots of money saved, makes every single bit of this worth it.

It’s crazy how before you have kids you watch people and think to yourself I will NEVER be like that. I will NEVER do that. I will NEVER *achhee hemmm* raise my kids THAT way…

Boy how we eat our words. Especially as mothers.

I have recently felt the strong urge to keep my darling Noah home with me next year and homeschool for his real, true, first year of preschool. I guess I’m pre homeschooling… I used to hear of these mothers who chose to homeschool and kind of make fun of them in my head. I would think about how their children would be awkward, sheltered, a little backwards, etc. Poor little things wouldn’t know how to have friends. So sad. Well, apparently God laughed at me during these smart alack thoughts and delighted in knowing that I would soon be walking in those wonder mothers’ shoes. As I began to really research all the homeschooling realms, I realized that there were LOTS of co-ops for HS kids. Lots of activities and in general, a lot of opportunities for children to develop and grow with playmates in that certain circle. I started to not feel so badly about that aspect of it. So, that was one problematic area (that everyone wants to bring up) fixed.

Throughout my journey I began to have a deep appreciation for homeschooling mommas. I realized just how much work went into planning and preparing lessons, fun activies and crafts! Gezz, it was crazy everything out there. As I reasearched I found tons and tons of ideas and cool things I could do with my kiddos. It was starting to get kind of fun looking for things to do with them and stuff to enhance their learning. At that point I was on an emotional high! Every since I’m constantly on Pinterest and other blogs researching ideas!

All those positive things made me feel good about keeping him with me and teaching him myself, but the thing that got me really set on it was when I recently went to a Bible study about parenting. My pastor said these words to us mommas, “Ladies, nobody is going to ever love your baby the way you love them. No one is every going to hold, kiss, or take care of your babies the way you do.” (His point was directing us as to how rewarding mommyhood can be.) Wow! I don’t know if that speaks to you the way it does to me, but it really got me thinking. NO ONE will raise your babies with as much love, care, and tenderness as you do. Now there are 2 side notes to this. First, I know we all have moments, sometimes quite a few, where we aren’t exactly ”tender”. I know, I know, it doesn’t mean that we don’t love them any less or that we’re not good mommas. Remember that. Second, I know there are cases that others HAVE to step up and raise babies that aren’t theirs. This is among a few exceptions, so I don’t mean to direct this to those situations. With that being said, as I sat there it was very much confirmed that I needed to keep my Noah with me during his year of preschool. Who knows, I might even go on to be a true homeschooling momma. When I think of how much children are exposed to each day at school it makes me cringe. If I can keep my children with me and have a big say in what they get to see at an early age before they’re ready and maturally able to deal with things that only older children should confront, by golly I’m gonna do it. Sure, there will come a day that you have to release your kids and they need to be exposed to enough of the world to be able to make adult decisions and have knowledge with what they’re faced with, but that’s not (in my opinon) at the ripe old age of 6, or even 12.

It’s certainly not for everyone, I understand that. What God speaks to me isn’t what he’s speaking to my neighbor, but for this momma, the journey of finding the knowledge of how best to raise my kids is taking way. My goal is to TRY and blog on a regular basis to share this journey. I like the idea of watching myself grow during this time 🙂 I’m quite excited.

So, for now, this year, I am choosing to pre homeschool. I don’ know where it will take me but I guess I’m up to the challenge… Who would have thought?!

Alvin will be staying with us this holiday season to keep an eye on the kiddos and let Santa know how they are doing. He’s a pretty fun guy and is constantly staying busy…

He loves Noah’s cars 🙂

Recently I learned of a new Christmas tradition called “Elf on the Shelf”. I have to say, it is the cutest thing ever! For those of you who don’t know what it is, it is a little stuffed doll that is Santa’s elf. Each night it flies to the North Pole and tells Santa what he has observed at your house and whether the children there are naughty or nice. So it is useful for convincing mischievous toddlers that if they aren’t good, Santa will know because the elf will tell him. It is quite a fun tradition because each night that he comes back he will go to a different “place” to watch the household. So, you get to be creative and put him fun places all around the house. The little elf also comes with a book that explains his story so it was fun reading that to the kids

I ordered my elf on Amazon.com and knew just when he would be arriving. So, I set the stage and told the kids that he was on his way. I placed him at the door and rang the bell so that he could have a proper greeting. Berkeley informed me that his name was Alvin. He apparently had contacted her and told her he was coming to stay with her. Cute 🙂

Meet Alvin.

I have a very great fear of bugs. Particularly spiders. I always knew I had a fear but lately I’ve discovered that this fear is pretty ridiculous! We recently remodeled our basement and made it into a family room and bedroom. Lovely idea, however, scarey. Scarey because it seems like my family room used to be a critter abode. My poor husband has been made to spray a few times and is called on to kill any lingering demons that the spray doesn’t prevent from making their way into my space. I will admit that it has gotten to be somewhat rare for me to see a bug but when they come out, it’s bad, very bad. I try to be tough but as of late I have discovered just how awful my phobia is. When I moved into my new room downstairs I would lay in bed and pray that no bugs would get to me and I would flip my lamp on and off to make sure there were none near. It hasn’t gotten any better. I have, however, gotten to the point where I can kill them myself. When I do though it is a big production…

I feel like spiders are bad but not as bad as what we call the “hoppy bug”. The hoppy bug is a very large creature that has the body of a cricket on sterroids. It looks like you mixed a cricket and a spider to create this thing. It has these monster legs that empower them to jump hundreds of feet. If their appearance wasn’t bad enough, they will attack you. You think I’m kidding, but I am NOT. Hoppy bugs will charge at you and will hop around until they have intimidated you so much that you surrender and run. I believe their proper name is a camel cricket. But ever since I was little (due to their ability to jump higher than a sky scraper) I have called them a “hoppy bug”. These creatures apparently had the understanding that my basement was their home. So, after many bug sprays had been coated the surroundings of the house and after many of their family members were made examples of, you would think they would get the picture and go elsewhere but no. We still occasionally see one and have to do away with it.

The sad thing about all of this is that my dear 2 year old daughter has inheirted my phobia of bugs. I have tried from day one to convince her that there is no reason to be scared of bugs but it is difficult. Do you know how hard it is to try to tell a 2 year old, “No, honey, don’t been scared of that moth,” when you are running around the house dodging it out of fear yourself?! I do think I had made a pretty good effort up until today. Yes, today I failed. I was upstairs cleaning when Berkeley makes her way to me and in a stage of panic says, “Mommy, there’s a lady bug downstairs. You need to get it!” Well, every bug is a “lady bug” to her and I have never seen a lady bug downstairs, so I had a feeling it was more than a mere lady bug. Panic struck as I made my way downstairs. I cautiously examined the walls of the stairway (because these nasty things have sticky legs that give them the advantage and let them cling to the wall, ceiling or anything else they come in contact with). I reluctanly asked her to show me where the “lady bug” was and she pointed over towards the chair. There, between the chair and the couch it was….the hoppy bug. “Broom, mommy, go get the broom.” So, I followed her orders and got the broom….

There we were, both back 6 feet from the thing as I held the broom out as far away from my body as I could. I braced myself for what was about to happen (because the same thing happens every single time I try to kill one of these stupid things). I smacked the thing as hard as I could and up it jumped. It jumped all over the stinkin family room as I tried to hit it. When I did hit it, it would just hop back up as if it were immortal. That’s another thing about these creepy bugs, they can actually pretend to be dead and take a few good whackin’s. Just when you think it’s over, BOOM, they get back up!!! We chased it, it chased us. “Get it, mommy, GET IT!” She yelled, as if I wasn’t just as terrified of it as she was. At one point, I think we both cried. I whacked it and up it came, I whacked it again and up it came again. This went on for a good 5 minutes and then, finally, it ended. I guess I hit it just enough times to end its useless life. Then, we vacuumed it up. I wasn’t taking any chances of that thing hopping back up while trying to scoop it up with a piece of toilet paper. After the drama had ended I came to the conclusion that I was never, ever going to convince my children that I wasn’t scared of bugs. So, I’m not even going to try.

Among the many things a new mom of three has to try to figure out is how to adjust to getting out the door intact with all the kids (and herself of course). As any mother of a youngin would know, it is truly difficult to get out the door. There have been many, many, MANY things I’ve passed up because the mere thought of getting everything done freaked me out and made me utterly exhausted. But as any mother knows, staying at home endlessly can make you absolutely crazy. So, today I thought I would be a superb mom and take the kids to a local play place. So, I woke up and began the task of getting ready to leave. Breakfast for all three, clean up breakfast mess, dress my 2 and 3 year old, shoes and socks, hair done, teeth brushed, my newborn bathed and dressed, sippies made, diaper bag filled, beds made, and laundry started. Then I had to get ready, hair and make up, my clothes put on. And of course by that point, all of them had to go potty. So, a potty break, a new diaper for Levi. And of course (again) Levi would need a snack to last him to our destination. Jackets put on, Levi placed in his carseat, sippies tracked down, blankies found, car loaded up, seatbelts buckled, car started, DVD player started, and FINALLY off we went. I sighed a breath of accomplishment and started to think of how I was proud of myself. I had done all that by myself and only lost my cool a few times 🙂 I pulled out of the garage thinking that my first time out with all three kids by myself was probably going to go OK until I realized that my tire was flat as I tried to head up the drive way… Yea, all that work for NOTHING, Nada, Zilch, Zero….

I do have to be positive though and say I would MUCH rather have a flat tire in my own driveway then on the side of the road with 3 three screaming kids and a husband at work an hour away. Because I’m just going to admit, I am a girly girl and have never made the effort to learn to change a tire. And even if I had, I’m pretty sure this lady wouldn’t be doing it unless it was completely unavoidable! Yep, I think I got the better deal.

Maybe I will attempt another outing in the future who knows…

Cloth diapering is so very different when doing it on a newborn….or is it? I’m here to find out. I’m going to be journeying through cloth diapering a newborn. I have only ever done it with an 8 month old and older so I am eager to see what works and what is a complete disaster!

Today I am reviewing the Kissaluvs contours, Diaper Rite prefolds, and a Rumparooz cover and a Bummis cover. I am also using a snappi. Check back to see how it goes 🙂

LOVE LOVE LOVE it all. I never thought that I would like using prefolds and contours with a cover but I am in LOVE! It’s so easy! I love how easy they are to wash. You can bleach them if you need to without having to worry about messing up PUL or colors. They dry fast and you can put them on high without worrying. They both absorb a ton! I will say that if I HAD to pick one over the other, I would chose the Kissaluvs. It is already in the shape of a diaper. So, there is no folding of any kind. But they are both awesome!

Also, the covers stay clean 90% of the time but whenever you finally have to wash them, you can hand wash and hang them to dry if you would rather do it that way. They too dry very quick. The Bummis cover is velcro (aplix) which is super quick to close. The leg holes have a great amount of elastic so I NEVER had a blow out of any sort. The only thing I would change is that it isn’t a “One Size” so once he grows out of this he is done with it. However, the Rumparooz is a “One Size” but it has snaps. I like the snaps but it’s a little more time having to snap them. BUT I have found he PERFECT solution! I now have a Rumparooz One Size cover with aplix!!!! Yes, now I have perfected (for me) the prefold/contour with cover method!

Plus, the snappi is the coolest contraption 🙂

My precious Levi made his arrival in the world at 8:36 pm on Thursday, October, 6, 2011. He weighed 6 pounds and 12 ounces and was 20.5 inches long…this was my biggest baby…a whole pound bigger than the others and I could tell! Anyway, I’ve had lots of people…well, women, men don’t seem to care ;)….ask me about my birth story. So, here it is!

This story begins on Monday, October 3. Well, I guess technically it started 9 months ago, but you get the picture. I arrived at my doctor’s office being 36 weeks and 3 days his time (my time would have made me 37 weeks, 3 days). I was already a good 4 centimeters dilated and he seemed a bit concerned. He asked me if I had been having contractions and I replied, “yea, but nothing too painful or consistent.” So, off to the monitor I went to measure my contractions. I am proud to tell you that I apparently have a very high pain tolerance. My contractions were some GOOD contractions. My doctor asked, “You don’t FEEL that???” That is the result of being a momma. We don’t have time to lay around and “feel” contractions! We’ve got to keep on going, and dealing with children! Anyway, I was ordered to come back 2 hours later to be rechecked. Well, 2 hours later, there was no change so I was sent on my way still pregnant. After that, contractions stayed about the same in consistency but started to to be “felt” a little more. I was told to call my doctor the next day and to describe what I was feeling. Did that. Was told to come in Wednesday. Did that too. No big change, so once again I was sent on my way….still pregnant. Things became different that night. Now, I realize that mostly women will be reading this post so I have the ability to accurately describe exactly what was happening, but I will try to be discrete for those mommas who aren’t thrilled with “details”. We will put it this way, I became aware that my underwear we becoming very, very wet within hours of wearing them and it was not urine. Being a woman, my body has always continued to shock me, but when this happened I knew exactly what was happening. I knew I was leaking amniotic fluid. Google confirmed it. 🙂 I called the doctor the next day and again, had an appointment. At, this point I felt like I lived there. I felt like “that patient”…the one they all dreaded coming into the office. “Oh, no, here SHE comes…” I was reassured that it was “better to be safe than sorry” but I couldn’t help but worry that it was not amniotic fluid, it was simply that I was peeing on myself and was going to look silly. After a quick test, I was told that it was indeed amniotic fluid but there was another test they needed to do to confirm. Well, that test was “questionable”. So, I was off to the ultrasound room to check my fluid. Well that looked good so I was sent home again, still pregnant. But I was told to come back in 2 hours. Boy, little did I know my world would change that day 🙂

I called my mom (and my husband who was on edge an hr away at work worried the child would pop out any second) and she told me that she was taking off work and heading my way to go back with me. THANK GOD! Because I don’t know what I would have done if I had been there alone! I again got tested to see if it was indeed amniotic fluid that I was leaking and again the test was “questionable”. I was drilled with a million questions about “how much, how often, the consistency, the feelings” of this mystery fluid that was happening…GEZZ! I was hooked to the monitors again to test for contractions and they were picking up for sure! They were about 4 minutes apart and were starting to get a tad strong. In and out my doctor came looking and thinking and talking about the results, the outcome, the probability, the complications, etc. We were all in a complete atmosphere of STRESS! He felt like I was too early for labor, and was hoping that my body would stop what it was doing. Yet, he knew with it being my third, there was a big chance the baby was coming soon. One last check determined the outcome. I had dilated another centimeter in that short time span and was 70% effaced. YAY! I was sent to the hospital!

At this point it was about 3:30 and we did not realize he was only 5 hours away! We arrived at the hospital and checked it. The doctor arrived and broke my water at 6:15. The contractions were 3 minutes apart and I was 5 centimeters dilated and 80% thinned out and so very close! The anesthesiologist arrived about an hr later to put in my epidural and I really wish I wouldn’t have even had it! Seriously did more harm than good. According to the anesthesiologist I had “C-Section doses” and I shouldn’t feel a thing, BUT I was also told the way that little Levi was moving down was coming too quickly for even an epidural to help. About 20 minutes after that lovely epidural I asked to be checked and I was 8 centimeters, and then 10 minutes after that I felt like he was about to slip out. I was checked again (unwillingly by the nurse because I know she was convinced nothing had really changed in that 10 minutes). Bless her heart, she was in disbelief that I had no cervix left and was 100% effaced! Soon the doctor arrived and I began to push. But at that point, that lovely epidural (the one I was actually starting to loathe) was causing more harm that good. It was so powerful that my arms (a part of my body I was supposed to still feel) couldn’t even help hold up my body. I pushed for what felt like hours, big baby I know….it was only 45 minutes but Levi was difficult! He got hung on the cord, so tight that as I pushed it contracted more and more and the doctor actually had to pull his head out and clamp and cut the cord around his neck to let the poor child have air. Once they got the shoulders out, which was also hard apparently because his little arms and shoulders were so bruised it made me cry, they whisked him away and started oxygen and stimulation because he wasn’t breathing. You could have heard a pin drop in that room apart from the monitor sounding an alarm and nurses shouting orders and receiving them from the doctor. I can’t begin to explain to you how scared I was. Yet, I had a strange God-given peace. After about 10 minutes he was fine and in my arms. 🙂

Five days later and I am utterly in love. It’s amazing how much you can share your love with your children. I have enough love that allows me to be madly in love with all three of them. It’s incredible! So far he is a wonderful baby and is a champ at nursing. A friend of mine works with my doctor and asked him if he felt that maybe, just maybe because my child was a POUND heavier and supposedly 2 weeks earlier than the others, if maybe, just maybe, he was wrong about my due and MY due date was right and he replied, “yes” LOL 🙂

Soooo, today I had a dr appointment and apparently I am 4 centimeters dilated. I am “technically” 36 weeks and 3 days but my due date has been changed a week, so by “my time”, I am 37 weeks and 3 days. I have been measuring a week ahead (what’s new…I am pretty sure I knew my DOO but what do I know?!) haha! They hooked me up to the monitors and I am apparently having some good contractions but didn’t think half of them were very painful….guess this momma has a high pain tolerance….never would have assumed that 😉 But, my doctor thinks I could go another week but isn’t 100% convinced. The sucky part is that he is out of town this weekend so this child has to either come Friday when I’m technically 37 weeks, or wait until Monday. Whether he gets that message or not we will see. I am so beyond ready to not have all this discomfort, but I am not quite sure I am ready for THREE!!!!!!!

I think the worst part of all of it is not knowing when it is going to happen! I want to have a plan and I am going crazy waiting!!!!!