MOOOOOOOO.

Fair warning: In this post I ramble on and on and on about the topic of my boobs.



Can I just tell you what a fan I am of breast feeding? It really is just the best thing ever. It is the healthiest option for my baby. It helps in the shedding of the pounds that found me while I was pregnant and don't want to leave. There are no middle of the night bottle making sessions that have me totally forgetting how many scoops of formula I have already put in and wondering if I put too many or too few will it HARM MY BABY FOREVER?!?!?!? There is no hauling around all the equipment that goes along with bottle feeding. And best of all...there is no cost! Yep, I am all for breast feeding.



With both of my older girls I was able to nurse for about 4 or 5 months. I hope to go even longer with Allison. It is finally going well for us. I say finally even though she is only a week and half old. It's not like we struggled with it for a long time. It just seemed like forever when my milk was not coming in. At one point I talked to the doctor and he said to give it 24 more hours and if I still wasn't making enough to satisfy my baby I could supplement a couple of times a day with formula. My milk came in that day. I was beyond thrilled, I didn't want to offer her the "easy" way of eating and then expect for her to start working for it again. I was afraid she would want to take the easy way out and reject my boobs. I shouldn't have worried. I don't think this child would reject my boobs for anything at this point!



It all started off great in the hospital. I was SO hungry so I had the nurse order my food for me with every intention of nursing Allie for the first time before they delivered it. That didn't happen, so when the food came and I was just starting to feed the baby the nurse offered to set it to the side for me. I told her she could leave it and I would get it after I was done feeding. Allie latched on right away and was sucking to her hearts content, but oh my goodness I was HUNGRY! So I tucked the baby into my chest and pulled up the tray in front of me. The nurse came back into the room and just started laughing. There I was breast feeding my newborn baby for the first time and trying not to drop too much of my chicken ceaser salad on her little tiny head. But I will tell ya, I ate, Allison ate and we were all happier for it.



When we got home it was still going ok, but Allison would get so frustrated when she would be sucking and not getting full. She was on me at least every thirty minutes, sometimes more often. It felt like my milk would never come in. Then finally my boobs felt a little fuller. They started tingling when the baby would cry. And then miracle of miracles one day I had her on the left side and the right side started dripping. I was so happy you would have thought I had just won a major prize (like a bowling alley or a leg lamp...yeah, I'm already in Christmas Story mode). Since then we have had no problem with the milk supply. In fact, yesterday I was trying to get Allison to open her mouth wider and squirted her right in the face with breast milk! That never gets old or less funny...believe me! Today when I went to pick up Natalie from school I sat in the van and fed the baby while we waited. Yep, I sure do love breast feeding.



Alright, I'm done. I promise that I will try not to post about my boobs and the miraculous things they can do for a while. Try being the operative word there.

Marking her territory

On Tuesday Allison had her first doctor's appointment. It was just a quick look-over and a weight check. She of course had a poopy diaper the minute we entered the examination room. I cleaned her up and then took her up to the scale. She had to be completely naked, so I just left everything off after the diaper change. When I got up to the room where they weigh the babies there was already a little girl on the scale. She wasn't exactly cooperating and it was taking a few minutes. The nurse apologized for the wait and I said something to the effect of, "it's fine, but she will probably poop on me". The words had barely left my mouth when I began to feel warm wetness in my hand. I held her out in front of me and announced to everyone listening that she was peeing in my hand. It was a good long pee (actually kind of reassuring since I was having questions about the amount of milk she was getting at the time). I have to say, it was hilarious. The nurse was impressed that she seemed to potty on que! I cleaned up while they wiped up the floor and then we weighed her...7 pounds, 1 ounce. She looked healthy and we go in next week for another weight check. Maybe next time I won't get wet!

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I will close with some cute pics of my girls. First, here are my two oldest cuddling in bed and watching Dragon Tales.

And here is Allison doing what she does...just laying around being cute!

Gasp.

I'm just trying to catch my breath here. This is the first time I have been able to sit down at the computer and attempt to type out a post...but I already hear baby squeaks and gurgles, so we will see how much I can get done.

If anyone ever tells you that having an almost five-year-old, a nineteen-month-old, and a newborn is easy I give you full permission to slap them upside their heads. Hard. It is certainly NOT easy. I haven't had more than an hour and a half of continuous sleep since Friday. I am always feeding someone, or changing someones diaper, or comforting someone while they cry. It is a never ending assembly line of kid related issues. I'm not complaining....ok, maybe I am a little!

Now, that being said, it has also been a lot of fun. The older girls love their new sister and CONSTANTLY want to be all over her. I have to beat them away with a stick (not literally, of course). I have had to tell Natalie many more times than once that she is NOT the mommy and I am perfectly capable of taking care of Allison. That is kind of driving me nuts, but it is better than the alternative I guess. Vanessa has taken to the baby also. When Allie cries Vanessa comes over and pats her so gently on the head with so much love that my heart swells and just about bursts out of my chest. I just love my three little girls SO much, no matter how crazy they make me.

My milk is s-l-o-w-l-y getting established. Nursing hasn't been easy this time, but I'm sticking with it and it is getting better. She is finally getting enough at a time to fill up her tummy for a while. We were nursing every thirty minutes for a while and she and I were getting very frustrated at the low amount that was coming out. With the other two girls once my milk came in it was abundant. This time it is just moving a little more slowly. She is a good eater and is not shy about letting me know how hungry she is. At the doctor yesterday (remind me to tell you that story soon) she was up from 7 pounds even to 7 pounds, 1 ounce. So she is gaining a little which is better than losing!

I will get into all the other dirty details some other time. For now Natalie is at school, Vanessa is playing with a baby doll in Allison's swing, and Allison is (GASP) laying in her bassinet sleeping. I think I might just have a minute or two to eat something without standing at the counter shoveling it in as fast as I can. Thank you to all of you for your thoughts and good wishes. And to my husband and my mom....I wouldn't still be functioning without you. I have no idea how people do this without the support system I have. I am a very, very, very lucky girl. And yes I'm crying right now..how did you guess?

Allison Kaia

Birthday: 11/14

Time of birth: 3:09 pm

Weight: 7 pounds 5.6 ounces

Length: 18 1/4 inches

Welcome to the world Baby Girl!!!!!!!!!!

TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going in tomorrow at 7am to have this baby. AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

I will post as soon as I can with cute wittle baby pictures and hopefully a story of an easy and relatively pain free delivery.

What's up?

So, it's my birthday. I am officially 29. Yeah.
Onto other news....good baby news!!! We will meet our baby girl by the end of the week. I had my membrane's stripped today (nice b-day present, huh?) and other than being a little crampy I am good. I was very nervous. People were telling me how awful it was going to be, but it wasn't that bad. It helped that I was already dilated quite a bit. My doctor said the membranes around the baby were pretty thin and my water might break. If so I am off to the hospital to have myself a baby! If not, then on Friday I check into the hospital at 7am to be "helped along". Either way we will have a baby by the weekend. Crazy. This pregnancy seemed to take for-ev-er, but now we are almost done. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!
I can't wait to see what Allison looks like. Will she look just like me? Or just like Larry? Or a good combination of both like Natalie and Vanessa? I can't wait to hear her first scream. Or change her first little diaper. Or sing her her first lullaby. Or just hold her and kiss on her little head until she gets sick of it. Yeah, I'm pretty excited. There are things I am NOT excited about, of course. The newborn stage is very intense without a lot of sleep. But, hey, I've been through it twice before and survived. It will pass so quickly and all of a sudden I will have three little girls running around the house, talking and screaming and arguing and laughing and hugging and being my girls.
Well, I am off to get us all ready to go out to lunch and then spend the day hanging out and having fun. I will post again soon...maybe with cute little baby pictures!

My kids...in all their glory!

Natalie and I talked a lot about the election on Tuesday. She wanted to know who I was voting for and I told her Barack Obama. She thought that was great and was very supportive of my decision. Later in the day we saw one of those commercials that end with "I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message". She perked up and said, "HEY!! That's who we want!" So later on we were again talking about going to vote and I excitedly asked her who we wanted to win. Her answer...."THE JAYHAWKS!!!" Yeah, I've got her pretty good and brainwashed, huh?

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I took Natalie to vote with me and even let her push most of the touchscreen buttons. For one office she accidentally pushed the wrong button. I immediately pushed the right one and we went on. When we left the building we discussed how well she did and how proud I was of her. She said that she liked it but was upset that she pushed one wrong button.

"Who did I vote for Mom?"

"You voted for a republican."

"And you would NEVER vote for a republican, right?"

ummmmmm....."Well, we should never say never."

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Vanessa just brought me the bottle of red wine vinegar and her sippy cup. She was NOT happy with me when I wouldn't just give her a fill-up.

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Natalie was playing outside today and found a dead worm. I told her that it certainly didn't belong inside. She declared that it was too cold outside for it. I told her to bury it under some leaves and that would protect it and keep it warm.

"But it's my pet."

"Ok, but it's dead."

"It is my gentle, dead pet."

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What a Night!

As I sat on my couch last night and watched the map on tv turn red and blue I felt proud. I was proud of my country that finally seems to "get it". The numbers of voters were outstanding. People didn't just sit back complacently, they got involved. The young, the old, and so many in between. It was just a really nice feeling of unity and patriotism, no matter which candidate we were all for.
Of course I am thrilled with the outcome! I really, truly feel that the right man was elected at the right time. There are not many people who can (or would) argue that this country hasn't been on a downward spiral for quite some time now. We are in desperate need of some REAL change. Let's hope that the congress and the new president can all come together and make some of that change happen.
Let me make it clear that contrary to what you may think, I do not hate John McCain (it is a completely different story with Sarah Palin). I think he is a smart, savvy, courageous politician. I just don't agree with him on his policies and views. I thought his concession speech was really great. It felt real and made even this liberal democrat feel a pang of sorrow for him. But not too much. I was way too over the moon happy about Obama winning to feel to bad for the republicans last night.
So that is that. The election is over. I still live in a very red state (Buchanan and Tiahrt both won...again), but I live in a country that has come so far. I live in a country that elected it's first African American to lead our country when not so long ago he wouldn't have even been allowed to vote. I can only think that this is opening the door for so many great people to run for our highest office that wouldn't have been considered last election. No matter the race, no matter the gender, no matter the economic status or sexual orientation or any other distinguishing characteristic...the dream is alive. All of our kids can have realistic dreams about becoming president when they grow up. We really have come so far! Go Obama!!

Baby News

I think I am broken.
For some reason my cervix just won't cooperate. I dilate just fine (I am currently at a three). This baby girl is so low it still surprises the nurse and doctor every week when they find her way down there. Everything is a go...except that my cervix just stays very long. Same thing happened with my first two kids and I was eventually induced with both of them. I was hoping to go naturally this time. That is not looking very realistic at this time. So the plan has changed a little bit. Next Tuesday (my birthday) I will have my membranes stripped to see if that gets anything going. If not we hope that it will at least make the induction we are scheduling for FRIDAY THE 14TH easier. With Vanessa I had to go through two rounds of cervadil before my body finally decided to let her out. Hopefully this time I will skip that part and go right to the pitocin. But I am firm in my determination to go with the flow and be content with however it happens.
So it looks like this will be our last babyless weekend. We don't have any big plans as of right now. Just waiting to meet little Allison. I am so not ready in so many ways. I need to get her clothes all sorted and put in drawers. I need to figure out exactly where we are going to be putting the bassinet. I still have to pack the rest of my hospital bag. Yeah, I have a lot to do. But I did get the infant car seat back out of the closet in the basement and with my mom's help it is all cleaned up. I have a stock of newborn and size one diapers sitting and waiting to collect all those tiny baby poops and pees. I bought a baby book for her and have every intention of beginning to fill it out...sometime. I'm sure it will all come together. I am so much less stressed about being "ready" then I was with either Natalie or Vanessa. It's not like we can't bring her home until all the cloth diapers are bleached and folded. Everything will be fine, even if we still are getting ready after she is already here.
I will end with this message: GO VOTE!!!! If you vote you are helping to make the decision. If you don't you are putting it solely in the hands of others. I am going this afternoon to cast my vote for Barack Obama!!

Halloween Cuteness

The Little Witch

The Little Pumpkin

The Trunk or Treat party at the church

The Carving of the Pumpkin!

Autumnfest at the Preschool

Halloween Night