Nursing

I'm a nursing mother

BUT

I don't wear it as a badge or parade it around saying how people need to respect it more. I know - I just said that and yet here I am doing a blog post about it. I promise this is not a post about how every mom needs to breastfeed and if they don't they are the worst mom ever.

So here's my little soap box about nursing.

The first and foremost reason why I decided to nurse is that it's FREE! The second reason is that it's best for my babies - keeps them healthy and gives them all the nutrients they need. So, I'm all for it. That being said, I will never nurse in public - I'm not comfortable with it. If other women want to nurse in public, that's fine. But what I think is slightly annoying are all the women who say that all women should have the right to nurse in public and nursing power...yada, yada, yada. It's a personal decision I don't think it should be forced upon everyone. That's my opinion - take it or leave it. 

 

On the subject of nursing vs. formula - who cares? I already stated why I nurse and I already stated that I think it's a personal decision. I think THE most important part of feeding a baby is that they get fed and that they get fed enough. Where it comes from doesn't matter. I hate the studies that say...Breastfed babies are better because.....Oh, formula is better because.... As long as the baby is growing and healthy does it really matter where the nutrients come from? Well, I guess some would say yes - but I'm not one of them.

And here are some pictures of my breastfed babies - if you put them next to formula fed babies you probably couldn't tell a difference!

Let's be honest

Have you ever thought about the term that people often use....let's be honest? 

I mean, let's be honest, I use it (point and case). But I was thinking about it today and in doing so it made me come to realize just how strange that phrase is. We don't ever say, "I'm going to lie to you." or "Let's NOT be honest." So why is it that we feel the need to tell people when we're being honest? Has our society gotten so bad that you actually have to publicly announce that you are an honest person, or the exact moment that you are being honest? And does that mean that if you don't start your sentence out with this you're just not telling the truth the entire time?

Alright, alright, I know this is very random and I'm being pretty silly about it, but it was one of those phrases that was fun to think about and wonder how it came about and why people use it.

Let's be honest, you are curious now aren't you?

The Pirate and the Witch

 Benjamin LOVED Halloween this year, which made it even more fun for all of us...well, except for Josh because he wasn't feeling well. Last year on Halloween Benjamin had the flu. He puked on me at the grocery store. Luckily daddy was working at the store. Later that night I thought I just had morning sickness because I was pregnant with Lucy - nope, I had the flu. Good news - NO flu or puking this year!

Here are my two darling children. As you can tell, Lucy's "costume" was actually just witch pajamas. Sorry, I'm one of those mom's that doesn't like to spend money on a costume for my 4 month old who will only wear it once. So I got a multifunctional costume. I'm a fan. 

Benjamin's costume was from things we had around the house - sweet. The hook and the hat came from the awesome, Belinda Olsen. She and Benjamin had a pirate party one night. The shirt is just a long john shirt his grandma sent for winter. The rag on his head is Josh's. The scarf around his middle, is mine. His vest and his pants were things that he was given from cousins that were already a little worn and ripped, so I cut them up and ripped them up some more. The crazy thing? It was warm enough to wear sandals that night!!! It was an awesome home made costume if you ask me.

Me and Benjamin went around our neighborhood and went trick-or-treating. He would get so excited. We would be running to each door. People were very generous and Benjamin was just so happy to get candy. He would have eaten it all that night if we would have let him - but we didn't. He got two pieces for the night. I loved how he would say RRRRRR trick-R-treat to people. It was too cute. Halloween is definitely for the kids. I hated the holiday until I had kids. I love how excited the kids get over everything and how fun it is for them to dress up. Let's be honest, though, kids make everything about life a lot more fun and exciting! So grateful for my awesome pirate and flower power witch!

Our little FOUR year old

That's right, Benjamin is four. 

I know you hear this all the time, but it's amazing how fast time goes by. I'm learning to relish in each moment of my life because I know it does go by too quickly. At any rate, we now have a four year old in our home. He is very quick to tell us how big he is. I love that now he can do so many things because he's four and, according to him, so big now. If you don't know Benjamin personally, you're missing out. He is one of the most energetic, fun, and loving little boys you will ever meet. He loves his sister...I mean, he really loves her. His voice goes up about 10 octaves when he talks to her and he just wants to touch her head or her face or her hand all the time. He loves to burp his sister and he gets so excited when she burps after she eats and he's the one to have burped her. When I go to feed Lucy my conversation with Benjamin usually goes something like this: "Mom, you going to feed Wucy?" To which I reply in the affirmative. "Can I buup her?" (He can't pronounce his R's just yet) Me - "You sure can!" He looks at me with a serious face and says, "Promise?" Cracks me up. Benjamin also loves people. When he goes to the park and he sees someone his size he immediately starts to play with them. Then he tells everyone that this new little play mate is his friend. I love it. He will also make you feel like the most important person in the world. If he asks me for something and I tell him yes, he gets  a huge smile on his face and he tells me I'm the best ever and he gives me a huge hug. If we tell him someone is coming over to our house or we're going to their house, he gets so excited. It doesn't matter who it is, either - he just loves people. Then when whoever it is comes over he is so excited to see them. He is a great example that way. He also doesn't say his L's just yet. We try to help him by saying La, la la la la...Lucy. To which he says, la, la, la, la, la...Wucy! It's too cute. Another thing Benjamin likes is to say the prayer. He still likes to bless the hole in daddy's pants that Josh got at the beginning of August. He was more concerned with the fact that dad had a hole in his pants than with the fact that his dad almost fell all the way through a roof. That's another story. Anyway, he can say the prayer all by himself and he loves to do it. In fact, the kids were practicing for the Primary program and the teacher had helped Benjamin with his part and when his part was done, he continued on to say a prayer. I just laughed. Benjamin is a smart kid and I'm totally okay with the fact that I'm about to brag about my child. He can say his ABC's and he can identify all of the letters with all of the sounds they make. He knows his colors and his shapes. He can count to 30 and he loves to count objects. Often when we are reading a book he will make me stop so he can count the people or animals or whatever. He has Brown Bear Brown Bear memorized so he often asks if he can "read" that story to me. He also has Red Hat Green Hat memorized as well. He loves to read the scriptures and acts like he knows exactly where we are when we have family scripture study. Okay, I'm done bragging for now. :-) Sure, my son has his bad traits and his bad moments and his bad days....but all in all - he is an amazing kid! He is such a huge blessing to us and to our home. He will make an amazing missionary one day...at the age of 18...if he wants to go that early. :-) He is my favorite little boy in the whole world and we're so glad he decided to come to us four years ago!

Lucy's Blessing Day

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

I LOVE my son. He is such a joy and so wonderful and darling. I'm grateful that he is my first born. However, there is just a sweet spirit that comes with a little girl. I'll be the first to admit, I was SCARED to have a girl. I know, I AM a girl...I should have this down. However, girls scare me. Okay, wait, let me say I have some amazing girlfriends out there - Jessie, Andrea, Beth, Heidi, Belinda - all awesome friends - who are girls. :-) So I guess I should re-phrase and say that RAISING a girl scares me. Why? Well, my mom had 4 boys, then us 2 girls then another boy. I commonly heard her say, "I would take 5 more boys over another girl!" I'm CERTAIN she was referring to my sister.... because I'm an angel! At any rate, I was terrified for this little girl to come. But when she came, it was not like I expected it at all. We've had many mom and daughter special times. I just look at her and feel this giant of a spirit that just humbles and amazes me. Don't get me wrong, when I see Benjamin, I know he'll do great things, but there is just something so special about my little girl. At any rate, her blessing day was just as special as she is. Not because it was elaborate or anything, but because her actual blessing was just perfect. (I must add that I'm SO grateful to be married to the most amazing father and priesthood holder who is in tune with the Spirit...end soap box) Lucy was almost 3 months old when we blessed her and one of our bishopric members said, "You know, the older they get, the squirmier they are!" He obviously didn't know our sweet Lucy. She had fallen asleep right before Josh took her to be blessed. When Josh picked her up, she woke up. She had her eyes open the entire time and she was perfectly still...just staring and taking it all in. She even kept her pacifier in the whole time.  What made it even more special for me was that she was wearing my blessing dress. It was the same dress I was blessed in when I was her age. It is a long beautiful white dress...and slippery. Josh did a good job at not letting her slide out - Swen commented that he was afraid one time that she was going to slip right out of their hands. Good thing she didn't squirm! So here are some pictures of our sweet little Lucy on her blessing day. We are grateful she's a part of our eternal family!

that is her dress that is behind her head...she was in the process of getting dressed

Mom Howard, Me and Lucy, and Mom Huff

Something to grab onto and insert into mouth!

Lucy's Birth Story

Remember how I wrote in my last post how the awesome Belinda Olsen did a birth story of our experience with having Lucy? Well, here it is. Scroll down and you will see the video. So awesome. Thanks Belinda!

http://blog.belindaolsen.com/babies/baby-lucys-birth-story/

So...if anyone out there wants photos - go see Belinda - you won't be disappointed!

Lucy Marie

I know, I'm horrible. I've gotten many comments from friends saying how they're sick of going to my blog and still seeing the depression post being up...I know - how depressing. Ha ha. Anyway,

WE HAVE  A NEW BABY! 

It's true. Most everyone knows this, but here is where I tell all the details of the event. I was due June 19th. I was scheduled to have my c-section on June 19th. I had the week before my scheduled c-section all planned out. June 12th I had a hair appointment, June 13th I had an OB appointment, June 14th I was going to lunch with my co-workers because one of them was retiring, and June 15th I had an ortho appointment. June 17th (Father's Day) Elder Bednar was coming to our stake conference and I was going to be singing in the choir. Then on the 18th I was going to take off the day from work to get everything organized and ready. So June 19th at 7:30 a.m. I was going to have Lucy. I had a plan - that's the kind of girl I am - a girl with a plan. Well, come to find out - the Lord (and Lucy) also had plans - but we did not have the same plans in mind. Dang it. June 12th, I had my hair appointment - awesome-ness. June 13th, I woke up at 4 a.m. and really had to go to the bathroom. So I got up and went to the bathroom....and after I had gone to the bathroom, the fluid just kept coming. When my water broke with Benjamin I was also going to the bathroom (but at the hospital) when it happened, so I knew what to look for. At any rate, I looked in the toilet and I was pretty certain my water had just broke...well, I thought I was. I stood up and had to sit back down on the toilet. Dang it!!! Not in the plan. So I was thinking that maybe I was just over reacting. So I went and laid down. I got an occasional cramp (contractions apparently) but nothing painful or consistent. So after going to the bathroom again to let some of the fluid out, I decided that I should probably just get up and get ready. So at 5:30 a.m. I took a shower and started getting ready. I didn't want to wake Josh up because I knew he would need the sleep, I didn't want to alarm him, and I wasn't having contractions too painful to bare. So finally at 6 a.m. I decided it was a good time to tell him. He was a little taken back, but then started to hyper ventilate just a little bit. Mostly he was not sure what we were going to do with Benjamin. I knew exactly what we were going to do - we don't have the best neighbors in the world for nothing. So I told Josh to call Jessie. She knew right away what was going on. Josh says, "We think my wife's water broke." Yeah, not sure why he said "my wife" but it was funny. Anyway, she willingly took the day off of work and took care of Benjamin. If you don't know Jessica Lyn Nash Hylton - just know that she's nothing short of AMAZING!!!! So Josh took Benjamin over while I finished getting ready and packing. Josh had to ask the question of why on earth I was taking a shower and getting ready. He said that in the movies when a woman's water breaks they all start freaking out and run to the hospital. Thank goodness that I'd done this before - I knew I was alright because of my lack of contractions. Anyway, off to the hospital we went. We got there at 7 a.m. I told them I was scheduled for a c-section next week, but I thought that my water had broke. The nurses behind her and everyone else in the room immediately looked at me. The receptionist says - well that moves you up to the front of the list. They checked me in and the nurse came in. They told me it was good that I came in because it's better to be safe than sorry. PHEW - I was hoping to not feel dumb if this was a false alarm. The first nurse had me do a pee test in the toilet to check my urine. She asked if I had high blood pressure - I said no. She said that I had something in my urine that shows high blood pressure - OR it's amniotic fluid from my water breaking. So at that point I was pretty sure I was staying there that day to have a baby. The next two cute nurses came in (Marie -picture - and Sana) and sure enough my water had, indeed, broke. We called some people on our way to the hospital, to tell them we were going to the hospital because we could possibly be having the baby that day - but now we had to tell them that we were for sure having this baby.  SIX days before she was supposed to come - sigh. My mom was supposed to come on Sunday, so we told her if she couldn't be here right away, we understood. She said she might not make it till the next day, but she would see what she could do. I sent a text to my boss and she was not prepared for that either. Even my doctor was a little surprised. I told him that I wouldn't be making my appointment later that day. We had a good laugh about that. There were 2 c-sections ahead of me, so we had to wait till 11:15 to go in. We ended up having to wait a little longer. We got back there and they did a spinal block - not my favorite thing. However, I LOVED how great it worked. With Benjamin I had a fever of 101 and so when they finally got to the c-section I was shivering. With this one - I was completely relaxed. It was awesome. My doctor was cracking jokes as he was cutting me open. He said that they were taking their time with the c-section but if they needed to, they could be in the Olympics for how fast they can do a c-section. He asked what the sex of the baby was supposed to be right before he pulled her out...then he told us the good news that we didn't have to take the pink back. Awesome! The best thing that happened, that didn't happen with Benjamin, they gave her to me to hold as I was getting sewn up. I loved it. I also got to nurse her in the recovery room - also didn't happen with Benjamin. I was very grateful to have Miss Belinda there taking pictures of everything (but not the operation - only 1 other person allowed with me) so Josh didn't have to worry about it. The pictures are amazing. I'll try to post a few. When she has the slideshow on her blog, I will post a link to it. Amazing! Anyway, Lucy Marie was born at 12:04 p.m. June 13, 2012. She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz, 19.5 inches long and 8/9 apgar scores! Woot woot. And...she's beautiful. She has the most amazing spirit about her as well. I love thinking that she was just a short time ago with our Father in Heaven. I had post pardum depression with Benjamin so there were a lot of things I didn't sit and think about. With Lucy I am a lot more aware of the Spirit. It is very humbling. I do know that she is an amazing little girl who will do amazing things. As I look at her and feel of her spirit and just know she will do great things, I think of our Heavenly Father and what He sees when He looks at us. It makes me realize just how much potential we all have and who we all can become. I love this little baby Lucy so much and I'm ever so grateful to be her mother - terrified and nervous - but so grateful. I didn't understand when people said, "I love being a mom." Especially when you hear people COMPLAIN so much about their kids. At any rate, I've become one of those people. I didn't get it before - how you could love these children who take and take and take so much out of you - but I get it now. Even on the days when everything seems frustrating - there are tender mercies in the form of a smile from my new baby, a funny joke from my 3 yr old, or my husband coming in as my relief pitcher.  Wife and Mother are my two favorite titles because I have an amazing husband and two beautiful and inspiring children.