Winter Continues...

I'll spare you excessive amounts of what you already know and say the obvious in two little sentences.

It's a cray-cray winter.

I want it to end.

In good news, my husband's team did well at states and one of his wrestlers will be going on to Nationals! GO DAN! We're all really excited, and it's cool that Joey is the first wrestling coach to send a wrestler to this next tournament. He'll be gone Thursday, and depending how well Dan does will come back either Friday or Saturday. I'm trying not to think too much of Daddy's absence for those days, but more that this is THE END of the season. I'll raise my glass to that!

In other news, Ignatius is still growing and growing. He says, "Mamma" and "Dadda" on the regular, and "Uh-Oh!" if he's feelin' it. He most enjoys playing games where he puts something into something else. 'Natius still loves giving his big brother a hard time by hitting him on his head or shoving him as he passes him with a gigantic smile on his face. Extremely mischievous that one...

Julian loves all things pirate and Spider Man-related. He's constantly repeating lines from favorite shows he watches only once or twice a week. He's getting better-and-better at throwing. His aim is incredible. Julian threw a ball from a 4-5 foot distance directly into my hand. I couldn't believe it! Granted, maybe this is something many, many 3 year olds can do, but he's my 3 year old who does it and that's enough reason for me to gush and brag! :)

So there you have it! I love my amazing kiddos!

And now for the obligatory pictures... Just so you know: these are not very high quality photos because my phone is not one of those fancy-schmancy iPhone types. Thank Goodness I have Picasa on my computer though. I heart photo editing!

 Riding on one of his favorite toys, the train.

 My silly monkey-head.

 I love this candid.

 Awww...

 Finishing his first big boy puzzle. He's saying, "Woo Hoo!"

 Our "Incredible Hunk" ... Get it? ;)

 I can't believe my baby's 1!

 Yummy, yummy chocolate!

 Peeking from the top of a cool fort Daddy made.

Just your friendly neighborhood Spider Man!

Happy Monday Night, everyone!

Happy 1st Birthday, Ignatius!

It's 12:09AM on February 10, 2014 and a year ago exactly I was holding my precious baby Ignatius as he first made his entrance into the world five minutes before. What a sweet, energetic, affectionate, feisty child God has blessed us with. He is our go-get-'em baby who's reached many milestones early. There's so much I could list about this little blessing in our lives. I can't believe how good God really is to us. Ignatius James, we love you so much!

Here are some pictures from Ignatius' Birthday Party Play-date which he shared with his good buddy, John. John was born only 3 days before him, which is a pretty cool thing I think. John's mom and great friend of mine Betsy was kind enough to send along pictures from this happy little event.

 Now he's curious...

 ...and now he just wants Mamma...

 Something salty & crunchy! Now we're talkin'!

That's John on the left. Ohmygosh the cuteness here...

There you have it, folks. I officially have a 3 and a 1 year old, and I couldn't be a happier mamma.

Keep on the Sunny Side

Ignatius is not a happy camper lately. He's just getting over a cold, and five teeth are coming in all at once. He needs to be held at all times, and at all times wants down. He yanks on my arm if I ever even think about going online. Making dinner is like telling him he isn't loved. Needless to say, my life is a bit challenging lately.

On top of this, my husband is in the midst of the craziness of wrestling season. For the next two Saturdays we will not have Daddy to play with or help out with parenting duties. Thank goodness he'll be home on Sundays, but this make life difficult because we need to get all our grocery shopping and errands done then which cuts in our family time. Prayers for strength, endurance and patience would be great if you can spare a few...

In light of this I will attempt to brighten up things by posting pictures. These will be the last set for a while as our camera bit the dust (NOOOOOO!!!!!). Hopefully soon we'll buy a new one, but don't quite know when that will be. I hope that the kids don't do anything extra cute or reach some amazing development milestone while we're sans camera (THIS STINKS!!!!).

 My almost 1 year old. He's so full of life and personality. I love him so...

This is me trying to get a picture of the both of us. Yes. Impossible is the word.

Julian with his favorite toy in the whole entire world: his Spider Man Set. The best Christmas present ever!

Is there anything cuter than a baby reading books on a couch?

Okay, maybe two adorable brothers exchanging innocent smiles to each other is the cutest thing ever.

I had to put these pictures side by side so you can see how much this kid looks like a crabby baby me.

Ah! I feel better already :)

Some Things About Childbirth & Beyond, Part 3.

One last thing about breastfeeding. The best book out there on the subject in my humble opinion is The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. The section on the how-to's of nursing is so informative. I'm very glad I read this before my first guy came along.

Marching right along, I'll now talk about diapering.

We are disposable diaper users here. We are definitely fans of Huggies, but who can afford them when you have two in diapers? Not us! Great alternatives are Walmart, Safeway and Aldi. Some of my friends don't like Walmart's generic brand, but we've never had problems with them. Aldi has great generic diapers as well, but only come in sizes 3, 4, and 5. Walmart and Aldi are the cheapest and have done this family great.

I do not like Target's generic diapers. They work great for so many of my friends, but the tabs on Target diapers snap like crazy for me and my husband.

Another piece of advice in regards to disposable diapering: when in doubt, go a size up. I learned through many a' trial and error with our first that once they leak through three outfits it's time to go up a size. We would have saved at least a dozen cute onesies if I'd known this trick early on!

Now a few words on sleep.

We love to co-sleep with our babies, and find so much joy in waking with our snuggle bugs next to us. Done safely this is a great way to bond with your child, and find lots of rest without having to get yourself out of bed to attend to your child for night feedings. We still co-sleep with Ignatius, but there are ways to wean children from the family bed without much fuss. A great book about this is The No-Cry Sleep Solution which helped us with Julian when he was ready to transition.

There are many who find other ways to a peaceful night sleep that differ from co-sleeping/bed-sharing. I could list many of those ways, but I'm sure Google's search bar can do the trick for you! :) I only want to write about what we do in this regard, and to tell you that your intuition is really your best guide to deciding what is best for you and your child. Please remember, however, that whatever path you take make sure that your milk supply is in tip-top shape before you wean your little one from night nursing. This is one of the controversies of parent-led nursing which I should hope you will take into consideration.

There are really so many things I could say, but I think it all narrows down to one piece of advice that I'll pass along to you, which is something I work on every day and am no where near as good at doing as I ought to be...

Pray.

I've been thinking about how each mother is different, and every child given to her is different. How can we know we're doing what we're supposed to do with all the complexities of life? The one thing that kept coming in my brain and heart was this prayer, "God, how shall I help Your son/daughter to _____?" The blank here could be so many things: sleep better, be nourished properly, deal with his emotions, and so on into infinity. We're given the task of raising them, but as Christian parents we believe that our children are really God's children first. How special is that? How privileged are we to raise God's children, that He has a plan for them, and we were called to be instrumental in this plan from the Mind and Heart of God Himself? This is a revelation I couldn't help but share. Yes, the first thing we all need to do is pray, and the Holy Spirit will gently help us to the answers. He speaks to us so often through the quiet intuition we're given as mothers. Listen, and you'll be ready to face all kinds of challenges.

My next topic is handling your baby's personality.

Every baby is different. Some love the limelight, others shutter from crowds. My eldest son was an incredibly shy baby. He was super happy and full of personality at home, but for the most part when around more than a few people he clung to me like white on rice. Some people who, through no fault of their own, reacted to his shy ways with curious expressions and sometimes thoughtless comments. One incident in particular I remember really bothered me. Julian was almost a year, and in a crowded room was he and another very lively, bubbly, personality-plus baby. Someone in the room made all kinds of comments about how happy this other baby was, and proceeded to ask the baby's mom what her secrets were to having such a perky, lively baby. To me and my Julian there was no attention. I at the time took great offense to this. I shouldn't have, because people are naturally going to talk about the outgoing and bubbly baby. It's not like this person was insulting me directly; she was just making harmless small talk. But when you're a new mom, your mamma bear comes out in all kinds of ways. I'm way, WAY over it and now look back and laugh at how sensitive I was. I want to say, however, that quiet babies are happy babies, too. Don't sweat it if your baby's personality is not automatically attracting positive attention from everyone you meet. Take it as a compliment that you are SUCH a great mom that your baby doesn't want to be with anyone but you! :)

I can't think of any other topics as of right now, but I may continue with this series down the road if I'm inspired.

Have a wonderful rest of your Thursday! Yay for tomorrow being FRIDAY! 

Some Things About Childbirth & Beyond, Part 2.

Let's continue, shall we?

On nursing:

I could go on and on about this one. I'll narrow it down to what I deem are the essentials.

The first few months will be challenging -- There's no going around it. You will face difficult moments with your little one. He might not latch well, your nipples might get excessively sore, it may be the most awkward endeavor of your life. What I say to this is: give it two and a half months. Work really hard those two and a half months. You will see the light at the end of the tunnel. It will get better; just hang in there!

If your hospital offers a free lactation consultant class while you're there, GO! -- It really can't hurt to go even if you find yourself the world's most perfect nursing mom. Thus far I have been blessed not to have any issues nursing, but I always benefited from talking to the lactation consultant on staff while I stayed at the hospital. They're extremely helpful and encouraging, which leads me to the next thing...

Read encouraging stories about nursing, and learn to RELAX! -- Remember what I was telling you in Part 1 about reading encouraging birth stories? Same thing goes with nursing. Breastfeeding actually doesn't start in your boobs; it begins with hormonal changes in your brain. I am absolutely convinced if you seek encouraging advice along with doing and thinking about things that calm you, it will help your brain do what it needs to do to feed your baby.

Sleep near baby, at least until you know your milk supply is in tip-top shape -- Co-sleeping really, truly, scientifically increases your milk supply to the level it needs to be. This doesn't necessarily mean bed-sharing. Co-sleeping simply means sleeping near your baby to where it is easy to access him when he wakes to feed. I highly encourage you to at least consider doing this for the first few months. Not only for your milk supply, but for your sleep's sake. Studies have shown women who sleep near their babies get more sleep than moms who don't. There are wonderful resources to continue your reading on this issue at La Leche League International's website.

Nursing tanks are a new mom's breast best friend -- They're awesome, and you should get them in every color. I've found, however, when I leave the house and need to put a nursing bra on that having a cami over it is crucial so when I nurse my tummy remains under wraps. These stretchy maternity tanks are great for this purpose. They are well worth the price. I've had the same two since I was pregnant with Julian, and they are still in great shape.

This nursing bra will change your life! -- I thought that I would totally never go for anything other than underwire, but after I became a nursing mamma I found them to be so uncomfortable for this stage in my life.  That's why I can't get enough of this bra. Ohmygoodness it is so comfortable, and there's a thin cup that lifts and shapes your boobs. Oh it's the best. I hope to get every color!

Personally, I prefer My Breast Friend versus the Boppy -- Here's why I like it. It has an adjustable strap, so it stays put better than the Boppy and you can get it much closer to yourself because of this as well. It has such a soft, cuddly liner with two little bumps for your little one's resting head. And that's why. I heart My Breast Friend.

I know there are more things on this matter to mention, but let's face the music... it's 11:49PM and we're all battling colds here. Yuck! So until next time --

Happy Monday!

Some Things About Childbirth & Beyond, Part 1.

My sourdough bread post will have to wait until I figure out what's going wrong. My bread used to rise, but now it's not. Boo! Until that day comes, I'm going to write for my peeps out there who have embarked on their journey into motherhood. Hello New Moms! This is for you!

I am not -- by any stretch of the imagination -- an Expert Mom. I constantly make errors, think that I know everything only to learn I didn't at all, and fall flat on my face on so many mommy levels. My purpose in this and the following few posts is to simply share how things have panned out thus far in my rearing two young boys. If you like what you see, awesome. If not, that's ok too. So here goes; we'll start with childbirth.

I only have the perspective of someone who has labored and delivered without the use of drugs, so if this is what you think you want to do here is my advice if you want to be successful --

First off: You Can Do It! -- Read these 110 Positive Natural Birth Stories that will encourage and educate you. If natural childbirth truly is your goal, please pay lots 'n lots more attention to stories like these than the horror stories. Set yourself on the right foot rather than a worried one. Or something. I get sayings mixed up all the time. :)

Exercise! -- Do something which gets your heart pumping for at least 30 minutes a day. I walked a ton during my pregnancy with Ignatius, and it definitely helped me withstand my 22 hours of labor. Walking also helps get the baby to engage your pelvis, which is good news in the arena of natural delivery. Ignatius was WELL engaged and he came only 2 days after his due date. Score!

Eat well! -- Maybe you can get away with it, but I have huge babies. I wasn't watching my sugar with Julian, and he was born via c-section due to his massive size (11 pounds 3 ounces). My VBAC babe was 10 pounds and I was watching my sugar (It's crazy to type that number!). I wonder how big Ignatius would have been if I wasn't watching my sugar?

PRENATAL YOGA! -- Learning to relax while doing something uncomfortable is the key to learning how to relax during contractions. What better way to practice this than the stretching and breathing exercises given in yoga? Relaxing during contractions is the labor of birthing your child. If you can do this, you can deliver naturally, without drugs. It's hard work, but if you do prenatal yoga consistently and frequently you will be able to keep to your goal of birthing naturally.

I've been told all my life I'm highly sensitive to pain, and I birthed naturally. It's because I knew I had to work hard before the day came. You have to view the day of delivery as a marathon you'll be running in, which means you need to train yourself for your baby's Big Arrival as much as you can. Prenatal yoga was such a key to this training for me. Here's the prenatal yoga video I did. I loved what the instructor says in it. Her words and the way she says them were super encouraging to me.

Read Hypnobirthing -- You can take it or leave it with some of things she says in her book, but I still think it's a fantastic natural birthing educational book to read, and it's short which is a bonus.

Read Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way -- This book is jam-packed with great information. I love how the book explains the different parts of labor and what "sign posts" to look for in each stage. I must say, there's lots of mamma nudity, so be prepared! I had to say it!

Get a doula or a female friend to help you during labor! -- This was so important for us, both my husband and myself. My good friend stayed with me during the entire process, and I can't tell you how grateful we are to her. I know my husband was so thankful to have someone there to share in caring for me. As for myself, there was something completely special about another woman there that helped me get through the contractions, someone to mother me when I needed it the most. I can't put into words how supported I felt.

Here is DONA International's website; they have a listing of people who are certified or are trying to get their certification hours (meaning, they can be your doula for very cheap/free as they want the certification!). Mamma friends are great, too. That's what I had and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Don't go crazy in your birth plan -- Try keeping your birth plan as realistic and common-sense as you can be. There are great templates out there I'm sure floating around the inter-webs; but attempt, however, to find one that speaks of the big issues you feel most strongly about. The Bump has a nice checklist which will help you narrow down these strong points. My midwifery firm already had a blank checklist birth plan on hand which they give every mom, making my life easy-peasy.

Try to labor as long as you can at home -- This is where having a learned doula is great. She can accurately gauge when it's the right time to go to the hospital much better than you or your nervously concerned hubby. We went in just as I went into transition. It was great because I had the bulk of my labor under my belt, and knew I avoided potential needless interventions from the hospital staff because of how little time I spent laboring there. Obviously, you'll want to make sure to follow the advice of your doctor's, especially if you have a high-risk pregnancy, excessive bleeding, etc. etc. Follow your gut instinct before all else, especially in regards to birthing. Do, however, your best to labor at home at least a good portion of the time. It will really do you good!

There are so many more things I want to say, but alas! it is WAY past my bedtime! Good night!

7 Quick Takes, Oasis-Style!

1.

Thank Goodness we've had several warm days this week. It's been a long streak of cold/snowy/icky around here, so you can imagine how cooped up we've all been since about Christmas Eve. It was Ignatius' first time toddling around outside, which of course is too adorable not share the adorableness by lots and lots of pictures.

I really can't get over how cute my kids are!

2.

You think I'd forget about my other cutie? Maybe we've never met. Hi, I'm Liz! Nice to meet you. I love posting pictures of my kids; how are you?

3.

We spotted at least five beautiful robins outside during our little outing. Gorgeous! It reminded me of how my parents have an ongoing contest to see which of them will spot the first robin of spring. My dad teases my mother in saying that she must somehow cheat because she wins every stinkin' time. This one's for you, Dad! :)

4.

I'm reading The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. I should be done by now as it was December's book for book club (Margaret and Patty, you didn't read that!) AND it's such a short book. What I've read so far is amazing. I hope you all -- young, old, Catholic, and non-Catholic -- get a chance to read it. It will make you think about how to live each moment meaningfully and for & with the Lord, despite how insignificant your life may seem.

5.

Pray for me, because after this weekend the next three will be Joey-less. End of wrestling season = no daddy on Saturdays for a while. Thankfully, my mother and father-in-law have invited the boys and me over to liven things up a bit while he's gone. It's still, however, going to be challenging. 

6.

The most notable trait I've seen in my three-year-old which I hope is just a phase is his becoming obsessed with certain things. I mean, he is completely obsessed with all things Spider Man, when's the next time he can watch a show, and anything revolving around the feeling, "Scary." Tell me your three-year-old is the same way, because I sure hope it's just a three-year-old thing!

7.

Two of my best friends are having their first babies, and I really want to do a "Things To Know" post because of this awesome fact. I first have to give you what I promised about sourdough bread, then I'll deliver on this. "Get on-the-ball, Liz!" Ok ok... I will... Someday! :) But really, my goal is Monday the sourdough bread post and the following Saturday "Things To Know", provided I listen and oblige my inner voice's promptings.

Head over to Conversation Diary for more Quick Takes!

Happy Friday!