15 Month Update

Dear Jacob,

Well, I am only 9 days late for your 15 month update, but since you came two days after your due date, we will call it even OK?

I also am going to have to make this a quicker post.  I am typing this on my lunch break, because busy season has hit, daddy is traveling for work, and after spending the evening with you, then cleaning up and getting ready for the next day, I'm lucky if I can make it to 9 before crashing.

SO, here it is, 15 things about 15 months:

1.  Had your 15 month check up.  I unknowingly lied to you and said there would be no shots.  There were 4 shots.  You were not happy.  They also checked your ears.  That REALLY pissed you off.  It was not a good doc appt...  You weigh 23 lbs 10 oz and are still in the 40% for height and weight.

2.  You are going to eat me out of house and home.  I thought you wouldnt break the food budget until you were a teenager, but apparently you didn't get that message.  You eat.  A LOT.  the other night for dinner, you had a gerber container of pasta raviolis, an entire banana, a pouch of apple/sweet potato, a container of yogurt, 1/4 c of cottage cheese, 4 oz whole milk, and some puffs and goldfish.  Seriously, where do you put it??

3.  You have been getting lots of molars.  It's been *fun* to say the least.  Your poor little gums get so swollen.  But, you like to brush your teeth most mornings.  Sometimes you just suck on it, which is a little gross.  Being independent though, you wont let us do it for you.

4. Corn is a FAVORITE item to play with.  Daddy had a great idea of taking some dried corn and letting you go wild.  You love to dump it in and out, as well as driving the trucks through it.




5.  You still love books.  Current favorites are Moo, Baa, LALALA, Roadwork, Lots of Trucks, and of course, Little Blue Truck.

6.  Words:  you can say momma, dada, hi, bye, dog, truck, and duck.  i think you also say this or that, but can't quite tell yet.

7.  Sign language:  eat, drink, more, all done, bath, milk, water, banana, boat, itsy bitsy spider, and there are a couple of others that daycare must have taught you, becuase we have no idea what they are....

8.  We went to the Children's museum one Friday aftenoon, and you LOVED it.  The water area, and running up and down ramps were the best.  You also liked watching the trucks drive by in St. Paul.

9.  The tantrums have already started.  You get SO ticked if something doesnt go your way.  You will pitch yourself backwards and scream.  Or, if you dont like what I give you for dinner (which is at least twice a week) you fling your arms back and forth and everything goes flying.  Selby has been caught in the crossfire of this and has been covered in food.

10.  You think you are so big on your slide.  You go down all by yourself and clap when you are done. 

11.  Did i mention you love playing with corn?? this was the first time, you had layed down on top of it and did a snow angel, kicking those lil legs and swinging the arms.  Or you stomp on it and kick it standing up.  (if you find random corn at our house, now you know why)

12.  You know all kinds of animal sounds:  dog, cat, cow, pig, 3 singing pigs, sheep, goat, duck, fish, lizard, rhino, polar bear, dinosaur, horse, penguin and drum.  I LOVE the rhino and penguin.

13.  You are getting way too smart.  You know where items are kept in the kitchen.  When you are hungry (when aren't you really?) you will bring us in there and point at the cupboard you want or the fridge.  Otherwise, you just take the cereal out and bring it to us.  You remember things too.  You have a routine, and like it to stay that way.  At night, since we've stopped nursing, we read 2 books.  The SAME 2 books since night one.  If I try to read a new one, you slap it away.  YOu know how to work the iPad and our phones, your chubby lil fingers just swip away.

14.  you are a little ham.  You love having your picture taken and if i take out the camera, you grin like a maniac, and then run at me to get as closeasyoucantothecamera. the result - blurry baby and then extreme close ups.  Here's one that kind of turned out...

15.  other random facts:
Clothes:  12-18 month
Diapers:  size 4
fav fruit:  pears
Fav foods:  eggs, yogurt, smoothies, gerber pasta pick ups
Dont like:  meat, homemade baby food, veggies
Toys:  trucks, stacking cups, car puzzle
Song:  itsy bitsy spider


Love you more then you will ever know,
Mommy

Bittersweet Endings

Monday night was a bittersweet night for me.

It was Jacob's last nursing.  Yes, at just shy of 15 months, I am done with nursing. 

**This post might be TMI, but I warned you ahead of time***

The breastfeeding journey has been a bumpy road for us.  At first, I wasn't even really sure if I wanted to do it.  The dependence of always being nearby Jacob, the one to get up at night, if i was away, making sure I had time to pump, the thoughts/opinions of others, the ease of using formula, I could keep going on and on.

But I did research, I took a class on breastfeeding, and the benefits that Jacob would recieve far outweighed the negatives.  So, I figured I would breastfeed, and see how it goes, and my goal was to do it for 6-9 months. 

Jacob was what they call a "barracuda baby" at first.  That boy had no trouble latching.  The nurse we had for delivery joked that if latched onto a wall, he would hang there on his own.  He latched, and latched HARD.  It hurt. A lot.  One thing all the books don't tell you, is that the first 3 months of breastfeeding tends to be pure hell.  From 3 months on, it's a breeze, just like the books say.  But they don't tell the truth about the first 3. 

It's hard work.  You are not only trying something new, but with a newborn baby, and all these other changes going on as well.  You are a hormonal mess, you get massively engorged when your milk comes in, the first few weeks to a month, if feels like you are CONSTANTLY nursing.  One side took about 45 minutes.  then the next side was another 30.  And 90 minutes later, guess who's hungry again?  That's right.  Time to climb back on the couch and assume the "position". 

Your nipples crack and bleed.  And it hurts.  The baby gets frustrated, you get frustrated, and then everyone's in tears.  You leak, you get engorged, and it hurts.  But, if you can get thru those first few months, one day it just clicks.  The baby knows what to do, your body knows what to do, you are more comfortable, and suddenly, it doesn't hurt anymore.  Instead it's this great bonding time with your baby, and when they grow, you know it's because of you. 

I wish that was the only bumps in my story, but I had a few more.  We brought Jacob home on a Friday.  That same Saturday night, we were being rushed to Children's by ambulance because Jacob had thrown/spit up blood.  It was midnight, and I had just finished nursing him.  Mike was still up with us.  I had sat Jacob up to burp him and out comes bright red blood.  All over the boppy (a must have for nursing, btw).  I was panicked, had Mike call 911, because you aren't rationally thinking when your 4 day old baby pukes up blood.  They told us to keep him awake.  Seriously, it's not easy to keep a baby awake if they want to sleep.  So off to Children's we go, with the boppy.  Since we brought the boppy in, which had the blood on it, they ran tests off of that first, to not subject Jacob to any tests.  Turns out it was my blood.  Yep, mine. 

When Jacob had been nursing, somehow he had popped a blood vessel in me and swallowed the blood.  At this time, I had very cracked and bleeding nipples (buy lanolin cream, another must have for nursing).  By Wednesday, I had severe flu symptoms and a massive fever.  My breast become severly engorged and a deep nasty red.  I had mastitis. 

Mastitis is something that i would not wish on my worst enemy.  It's unbelievebly painful.  And you feel like you got hit by a Mac Truck.  The worst part, you should keep nursing through it, because it makes it worse if you don't.  But when you have a breast the size of a volleyball and you want to scream and shove razors in your eyes when a baby is nursing, it's not the most pleasurable thing in the world. 

I had several cases of mastitis from then until September, yes of this year.  I think i had it 9 times.  I learned during this that I am allergic to penicillan, had a fever over 105, and ended up hospitalized for 3 days.  But I kept nursing, which I know some people thought I had lost it at that point.  But, I figured if you should nurse through it, by the time i was over it, it didn't hurt again, so why stop? 

I also got a yeast infection on the nipples.  This was due to the antibiotics killing all the good bacteria.  This is also painful.  Like a deep throbbing ache.  This also happened multiple times. 

I met with a lactation consultant because of the mastitis issues, and had tried exclusively pumping for awhile.  This was a joke.  You are doing all the work of breastfeeding, plus the work of bottle feeding.  It's hard.  I did this for almost a month, before going back to nursing.  Luckily Jacob did not have nipple confusion switching from breast to bottle.  The LC had told me I wasn't producing enough and I would have to supplement with formula.  Mike says if the LC hadn't told me that, I would have given up BFing sooner, but since someone told me I can't do something, I was going to prove them wrong.  (He's probably pretty right on this aspect).  I refused to supplement and tried harder.  I took fenugreek, ate oatmeal, drank tea, took acidophylus, prenatal vitamins, and read kellymom.com like it was my Bible.  (it is the go to bible for BFing)

When I had mastitis, I would drink uber cold water when Jacob latched on to decrease the pain.  I wore cabbage leaves on my breasts (also for pain), i would soak my breast in hot water before nursing to have a quicker letdown so it didn't hurt as much.  I read more of kellymom.com.  I got great advice, never quite nursing on a bad day.  And not to have a goal of a month, 3 weeks, or a week.  Just have a daily goal.  Today I will nurse.  Or even, at 1 I will nurse, and then decide if i will again after that. 

It was hard, and I don't think all people have the struggles I did.  But I also think not everyone tells you the truth about how difficult the first few months are.  And unless you have support, it's even harder.  But, I got thru each round of mastitis, and kept nursing, I flew by the 6-9 months and kept nursing, I stopped pumping in Oct and kept nursing before bedtime.  Just once a day.

But, it was time to end.  I am not producing as much, and I have doubled the amount of time i thought I would nurse.  I loved it, and hated it.  But, when it was the last time last night, and I looked down at his fuzzy head as his little chubby hand rubbed my chest and arm, I was already missing it.  I know BFing isn't for everyone, and this is not a post about what someone should do.  This was my experience, and I wanted to share it.  That way if others go thru similar stuff, or have questions on it, I can hopefully help.

I will miss that special snuggle time with Jacob, but I know I will get still get his snuggles. 

Hawaiin Ham & Cheese Sliders

Seriously, these little things taste as amazing as they look. 

And suprisingly quick and easy to make.  Which has been a huge priority lately, since Jacob has been underfoot and demanding to be read to, played with and held.  Or all three at once.  Which makes it hard to stand by a stove and try to do something that tastes good, without being labor intensive.

I've made these a couple times, and have frozen the leftovers.  They taste good reheated, but much better if you reheat in the oven then the microwave. 

Here's what you'll need....

1-2 packages of Hawaiian sweet rolls
1 onion, minced
1 stick of butter
3 Tbs of Dijon Mustard
2-3 teaspoons of Worcestershire Sauce
3 teaspoons of poppy seeds
1 pound of shaved deli ham- or more depends how thick you want them
8-10 slices of Swiss cheese

Directions:
In a sauce pan melt your butter. Add onion and cook until soft.
Then add in your mustard, Worcestershire, and poppy seeds. Simmer for 5 mins
Slice your rolls right down the middle. Place them in a pan with foil.
place 2/3 of mixture on bottom of rolls.
Add your ham and then your cheese.
Top with the other side of the rolls and add the rest of the mixture on top.
Bake for 20 mins on 350! Cut where the lines are in the Hawaiian rolls and you know have perfectly melted sliders. Enjoy!!!

Slacking Off

I just realized the last post I did was before Christmas, which seems FOREVER ago. 

We've been busy with holiday celebrations, last minute shopping, spending time together with just our little family before Mike starts traveling for work, dealing with illness, ear infections, and work picking back up. 

I haven't really cooked or baked in forever.

No real new pinterest projects.

I have pictures, but still haven't uploaded them.

Jacob is still cute, learning new things, and taking over our house one toy at a time.

Yep, I'm a slacker.  If I made that my resolution for NY, I would be rocking the resolution.

SO, I'm hoping I keep the blog up during tax season, but realistically it probably won't be as often as I want.