You never know what you'll find when you change a diaper...

"We {heart} you Mommy"

The Boy is so sweet.

But next time he might want to think about writing it on the diaper before putting the diaper on The Kid.

DISASTROUS!

Last night when The Boy got home from work, he watched The Kid so I could get out of the house to buy some diapers. When I got home, I pumped, got ready for bed, and then went to pump again. It was about midnight and...MY PUMP WOULDN'T WORK!!! Can you say, "DISASTROUS"??? Holy smokes! It just lost all suction, and was making a faint funny sound when turned up high.

So, this morning I called my super great friend, Laurie, and she met me in the parking lot of Babies 'R' Us to sit in the car with The Kid (since he still can't be exposed to the public yet) and I went in and bought pretty much the best pump out there with my 20 percent off coupon--a Medela Pump In Style Advanced--I should have bought that pump in the first place. The one I initially got cost almost half as much as the new one. I got it because it had great reviews, but after a few weeks my milk supply went from 800ML to 550ML. Bad, huh? And it just can't handle 5-8x a day use. I had it for less than two months. It was a Lansinoh Lightweight Double Electric pump. Bad choice.

I felt bad buying such a nice pump today when we're hoping that The Kid will learn how to breastfeed shortly, and if the pros say hope is slim, I planed on stopping pumping soon and living off of the ridiculously huge amount of breast milk I have stored in our deep freezer. But now, for the first time in the past 4.5 months, I look forward to pumping! And that, my friends, is worth every penny.

I'm happy now, and as they say, "When momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy!"There are 12 grocery bags in our freezer, each with over 60 2.5 oz bottles. That's over 1800 oz of milk! Now lets pray we don't have a power outage. I would cry. For days.

Evolution of Sneezes

When The Kid was XXS (I'm talkin' under 4 lbs), his sneezes went like this: His arms would stretch out straight and then clap together over his body. Sometimes, his hands would miss each other and he would give himself a hug. It would happen for every "a-choo," and there would be multiple "a-choos" each time.

As he got bigger, his elbows would bend and he would hit himself in his face while sneezing. See (if you want to skip to the sneeze, it's at about 43 seconds):

That was just a few weeks ago.

More recently, he just brings his fists in towards his shoulders. I hope that when he's an adult he gains some control over his arms while sneezing, or else he may end up with a black eye, spilled drinks, etc. It may be embarrassing for him. Until then, I just think it's adorable.

Mission: Possible!

The Boy's sister, Marissa, secretly put in her mission papers and got called to serve in the Philippines Iloilo mission! She leaves in late June to learn Tagalog in the Missionary Training Center before she goes to her island country in the sun...and clouds. Apparently it rains there a lot.

We're all going to miss her terribly, but it's worth it to give the Filipino people a wonderful missionary to bring them the most wonderful gift possible--the gospel.

The Birthday and The Blessing

The Kid and I shared a special day last week. I got a cake full of candles and The Kid got a name and a blessing! It was all together beautiful. The Nana was here and made The Cake. I've had the same birthday cake for as long as I can remember: a wacky cake with pink frosting. Recipe here:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon vinegar

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup water

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	Sift flour, sugar, salt, soda, and cocoa together into a medium bowl. Make three depressions. Pour oil into one well, vinegar into second, and vanilla into third well. Pour water over all, and stir well with fork. Place in a greased and floured 8x8 cake pan.
3.	Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Frost with your favorite icing.

The Kid had a beautiful blessing, stating that he will be an animal lover and that he will continue to be mild-mannered throughout his life. Wonderful things for his mama to hear. The Boy did a great job. And The Kid stayed awake the whole time, and never cried.

The blessing was at our home, since The Kid can't be exposed to lots of people for another two months.

How on earth did he get to be so cute?

He wasn't a fan of the hat.
But, he's easily calmed. See? Mild-mannered.
Don't you dare count those candles!

The Doctor & The Dentist

The Kid went to The Doc a few days ago. He now weighs 9 lbs 2.5 oz and measures 21.5 in. long! I feel sorry for all of you who gave birth to babies who were similar in size. In fact, I feel sorry for anyone who gave birth to a baby over 5 lbs. It doesn't look like fun. Not that giving birth to a 2.7 baby was fun...it would have been much better if he was full-term. Anyway...back to the topic at hand. The Kid is in the 25th percentile for height, 10th percentile for weight, and his head circumference...50th percentile. Poor kid has a Claypool head. Hopefully it's because of his humongo brain, not because of his very mild hydrocephalus.

As for The Dentist...we are becoming good friends. Let me preface this by saying that The Boy never flosses and he brushes at least twice a day, but he gags if he brushes for longer than about 20 seconds. I, on the other hand, always brush for a good long time twice a day and I floss (not every day, but a few times a week, anyway). Neither of us drink much pop. I do like my sweets, but I'm not over-the-top.

I have seen The Dentist three times in the past week. Once for a routine check-up and cleaning, once for a stinkin' ROOT CANAL!!!, and once for fillings. I still have two appointments to go back for more fillings and for a cap on my root canal tooth. Can you believe it? Unbelievable. I must have just inherited those awful British teeth. I could have sworn that I heard the hygienist saying to the dentist, "You know, for needing a root canal, she has pretty nice teeth." Never again will I go more than 6 months without getting x-rays. Is it even worth it to get pregnant again?? Well, at least if I have another 6 month pregnancy it won't mess up my tooth x-ray schedule that badly. Ugh.

And the worst part...after getting Novocaine, not only do I have to take crazy amounts of pain killers to be able to function, but I swell like mad! I seriously looked like I had a wisdom tooth out. Misery.

This was me a day or two after getting my wisdom teeth out my junior year of college. I'm the second from the left in the front row (coral shirt, khaki skirt). Life just isn't fair.

The Nana

My mom was visiting for the past week, helping out by washing dishes, feeding The Kid when I needed to pump, cleaning my house, and babysitting when I went to the dentist (more on that later...). I miss her. It was fun having her here, especially since it was her first time meeting The Kid.


The Nana brought with her The Dog--Meggie! Yes, it's spelled with an "e." It's short for Megan. And that way it forces you to pronounce it with a Minnesotan accent. HA! That's what you get for teasing me about the way I say "flag," and "bag," and "wagon." And for my use of the word supper. You wouldn't call it "the last dinner," now, would you??? That's what I thought.

The Dog and me during my high school years.