Wordless Wednesday (4 Weeks Old!)

First Day Back to School!

(What is up with Blogger? All my pictures are appearing blurry, but they are not blurry in my files) Anyway,

Our first day back to school did not go so well. Sweetie Pie decided not to take any naps without being in Mama's arms...if she was put down for a little while, Babycakes quickly went over to "I'm just kissin' her!" Already, Sweetie pretty much does what she is doing in the picture when Babycakes comes near!! Poor Babycakes, (not really) she does not mind at all and still wants/begs to hold her, even if she is screaming. Babycakes was on "time out" (locked in the high chair where there is no escaping) at least 4 times during school and I tried "nice mommy" and "screaming mama" (the latter, was no effort at all on my part)
Our fridge conked out, so everything was taken out to the garage fridge, where 7 milks were...we had to throw away all leftovers and anything that was opened, as we just don't have the room in the extra fridge, but counting blessings, we are thankful we have the extra fridge!
Quick question: Will these condiments still be good if not refrigerated even after they were opened? We left apples and onions in and Diet Coke and Slim Fast...yes, I'm resorting to Slim Fast, as it seems like I have not time to eat these days...I had the thought yesterday to find my Weight Watchers Points sheet, but then the thought went away with all the other lost thoughts I have every day and do not find the time to do!


Today is a new day and our fridge only needs a fan, that needs to be ordered from the Cities, so we will only be out our fridge for about a week, hopefully. Babycakes was better today, and Sweetie Pie is napping in my front pack right now as I type with arms outstretched!
But, the really good news is "Screaming Mama" is not around today...she knows sometimes there are days like these... and hey, the fridge needed cleaning anyway...

BMX Racing!

Jedi's new sport!

We are now a BMX Racing family! Jedi signed up Saturday, had practice and raced his first 2 races on Sunday. They let the new kids use paper plates for their numbers and borrowed them helmets.

Oh, how I wish we could all bike on these cool paths!! Don't they look fun?
Go Jedi! Go!
Now, every Saturday his practices are the same time as Ballerina Rosie's Soccer games and his races are every Sunday. The good thing is we can go as often as we want, or as little as we want, they are really flexible that way, so they sign up for each race when they get there.

Apple Art

The second picture with the blue background, (I forgot to take a close up picture) is ripped art. The kids rip the tree trunk, the green "circle" and red "apple" pieces and glue it together.
This is painted with a bath scrubbie and a round sponge painter and either painted trunk or construction paper trunk or painted.

This is a painted arm and hand (Babycakes did 3 or 4 of them-she loves to paint her whole arm) and with a sponge painter do the leaves and either the child's finger for the apples or a bingo dabber. The child can also draw a tree with a crayon and bingo dab the apples just for a simpler project.

Real apple painting. We start with halves and cut it into quarters. They really turn out nice. Last year, we painted with apples, using white paint on red paper, those were really nice too!

Our Favorite Book Comes to Life!

She also sprayed all the back windows, inside the open screen door, the trampoline and anyone who came within 20 feet of her! (this morning)

"This kid is driving me CRAZY!"
But,
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my Babycakes you'll be!

Our Lady of Sorrows

This year, we (I) did not get my act together enough to celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, like last year,(looking back, wow! I had a lot of energy and did do a lot...) but we did celebrate Our Lady of Sorrows yesterday! (yay for me!) Really, it was a major accomplishment to make brownies in my tiny spare time, holding the babe in my front pack! I got the idea of putting pretzels in the heart shape cake (brownies) from Barbara.

We also did do the 7 almonds, which represent 7 tears. (tear shaped nut) Picture 4 kiddos putting these nuts under their eyes to pretend they are tears....The coloring sheet was from Mathilda.



The Blessed Virgin told St Bridget of the seven graces given to all who honor her daily by saying seven Hail Mary's and meditating on her tears and dolors.


Here are the seven graces:

1. I will grant peace to their families.
2. They will be enlightened about the divine mysteries.
3. I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.
4. I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.
5. I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.
6. I will visibly help them at the moment of their death, they will see the face of their Mother.
7. I have obtained (This Grace) from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors, will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.

Seven Sorrows

1. The prophecy of Simeon.
2. The flight into Egypt.
3. The loss of the Child Jesus in the temple.
4. The meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross.
5. The Crucifixion.
6. The taking down of the Body of Christ from the Cross.
7. The burial of Jesus.

C-Section Nursing

****Warning****I don't think any men read my blog, but if you do, you might not want to read this one about nursing, and female stuff like that!!


Nursing is one of those gifts that I so look forward to with each baby. I enjoy the time I get with each baby, the feeling of feeding my baby and some usefulness for these large things that I was given.


One thing I always forget, is with c-sections, it takes 4 days for my milk to come in. I guess the average time is 3-4 days for c-sections. So, by the time I leave the hospital, the baby is fussy, and rightfully so, she is losing weight and basically I'm starving her. By the 3rd night, the nurses are wanting to supplement the baby and I'm in tears. I feel called to nurse and I know once the milk comes in, it all gets better, but until then, it is so hard.


With Sweetie Pie, the 3rd night, I decided to pump and got enough colostrum to supplement her and continued to pump every 2 hours, both breasts. By the time we left the hospital, she was down to 6lbs 6oz, from her birth weight of 7lb 1oz. My milk came in sometime Thursday in the wee hours (she was born Monday night) I was feeding her and pumping every 2 hours, to supplement, to make sure she got enough. We had a "one-day after leaving hospital appointment" to check her weight, thank goodness she had gained 2 ounces. Big sigh of relief, as I said, once my milk came in, I knew it would be fine.


Sweetie Pie had her 2 week appt on this past Friday and had gotten back to her birth weight of 7lbs 1oz, so another big sigh of relief.


Nursing is hard though, She is so tiny and has a hard time sucking out my nipples, so I use a nipple shield that is a soft rubber like thing that goes on my breast and she sucks the nipple out and gets milk. Sometimes I use it and sometimes I try to do it without it, if she can latch on, I don't use it, if she has a hard time, I use the shield.. I try to do both, but when they are this small, those darn nipples get so sore, it's hard to even hug anyone. It is so painful once she latches on, that it is eye cringing, toe curling pain the whole time she sucks!!! That pain only lasts a month or 6 weeks or so...if I'm remembering right and then it gets better! Once the baby is bigger, things go much better.


I am just writing this to I guess explain c-section nursing. The surgery slows down the body and since the body has not gone through labor, all of a sudden a few days after the baby has been taken out, the body kind of says "Hey, there's no baby, we better make milk!" The meds and just the healing process slows down everything. (including pooping...tmi?)


Note to self: Next baby, start pumping the 2nd day!!! Maybe my milk will come in sooner!
Another note to self: Next baby, maybe start pumping before the c-section (assuming baby won't go early like this one) like maybe a day or 2 before....just a thought to get things moving faster. (a nurse suggested this one...I don't know though...)


I don't really have much point to this post I guess, just things I've wanted to post since I was in the hospital!! If anyone out there reads this and ends up having a c-section, don't give up on nursing. It can work, just not without a little hard work and tears from mama!


In the end, it's all worth it!
I am in no way saying people who don't nurse are doing anything wrong, I'm just talking about my situation and my determination to use these giant things God gave me, it gives them purpose somehow in my mind!