Baby Pictures!

My second post yesterday inspired me to go back in my archives and look at pictures of my babies.  They were taken in the days BEFORE digital cameras - so the following pics were all 35mm shots that my mom scanned into the computer. So the quality ain't great - but oh, looking at those sweet baby pictures is still a wonderful thing!  Enjoy!

Erin, approx. 12 weeks?

Erin, approx 6 mos.

Katy, approx 4 mos.

Katy, approx 6 mos.

It is hard to tell from the pictures, but from birth, the girls were actually quite different - both in looks and in personality.  (Actually, they were completely different even before birth, but that is a story for another time.)

I know lots of you have digital baby pics - how about readers with older kids? Show me yours and I'll show you more of mine..... :)

Flashback - January 2001

Below is a story of a time when I disagreed with a doctor (pediatrician specifically.) It was inspired by this post by Casey over at Babble. Initially it was a comment on her post, but it turned into something more. :)

When my first daughter was born, we began seeing a pediatrician I had interviewed before the birth. All seemed good - she supported breastfeeding, attachment parenting, etc.  Erin was born almost 3 weeks early and was small-ish - but did well from the first.  She initially had trouble latching and she also had a very weak suck reflex, but once we sorted it out, she was awesome. 

By 3 weeks old, she had surpassed her birth weight (6lbs 8oz, after falling as low as 5lbs 5 oz) and I had had help from my midwife, a home nurse, and LLL.  At 3 weeks, her ped. told me I should not let her nurse longer than 10 minutes per side and that she should get both sides while nursing.  All because Erin wasn't following the "curve" of what the ped expected - even though she had made WONDERFUL weight gains.  Well, this was against what others had told me - and what I had seen myself.  When pumping in the early days, I had seen the differences in the "foremilk" and "hindmilk" and knew that it took Erin AT LEAST 15 minutes to get to the good, fatty stuff.

To make matters worse, the ped insisted I bring Erin back in a week for a "weight check."  She even tried to insinuate that if gains weren't made according to her expectations bad things would happen.  I cried all the way home.  I had felt proud of myself and my baby before the appointment - we had both come a long way in 3 weeks! After crying to my husband, I called LLL.  The leader there told me to trust my instincts - feed Erin however felt right - one side, both sides, on schedule, on demand.  So I did - one side per feeding for as long as she wanted, feeding on demand both daytime and nighttime. That was pretty much all I did for the next 5 days.

When we went for the weight check the next week (which wasn't a full week - original visit was a Thursday and weight check was a Tuesday) I made my husband take time off work to come with us. No way was I facing that old bat alone!  I loved the nurses - they knew why we were back and coo-ed and loved all over me and the baby.  One even commented that Erin looked significantly bigger.  Well the doctor came in and asked how the feeding was going.  I didn't respond - I just asked that we weigh Erin.  Turns out that baby girl had gained about 15 ounces (!) in that short time - the doctor didn't know what to say.  She asked again about feeding - and then I responded.

I told the ped. how I had spoken to LLL after our last appointment and about the info and support I had received.  I told the doctor that I appreciated her expert care and concern but that I was not going to take her breastfeeding advice.  I explained how I had been nursing Erin and how it was obviously working.  The doctor agreed that Erin was doing well but urged me not to listen to LLL about the differences in milk!

At this point, I politely asked the doctor if we were done.  We were, so I packed up and we left.  I'm happy to say we never went back - we moved shortly thereafter, but even if we hadn't I would have found a different pediatrician. 

As parents, we have to learn to trust our instincts.  I learned this lesson early - I'd only been a parent 3 weeks when I was called on to disagree with an "expert."  But this lesson was an important one - it gave me confidence in myself as a mom and it gave me the courage to research on my own and to find my own trustworthy experts.  And looking back I'm glad I learned this lesson over something as relatively minor as feeding on one side or both side - and when my daughter was too young to know any different.

Wordless Wednesday: Bug Eyes

Library Lists: Waiting

I've worked through several books this week but am not ready for a trip to the library.  I'm hoping I can hold out long enough to get a few of my books that are on hold.  I get into big "moods" and tear through Amazon, blogs, and Shelfari looking for recommendations.  Then I flood the library system with hold requests.  In a small library system like mine, this drives the librarians CRAZY.  The librarian actually told me not to put so many books on hold since, "You could never read them all if they all came in sweetie."  Gah! I love older folks - they have interesting stories to tell - but I loathe when they make assumptions about me as a reader (or as a mother, wife, etc.)  *oops, stepping off the soap box now*

So here are the books I'm looking forward to - some are on hold with my library and some are merely wishes on Shelfari since my library doesn't own copies.

• Bossypants by Tina Fey - I'm next for this one! Yay!
• Divergent by Veronica Roth - #2 on the list
• Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster Cline and Jim Fay - #2 on the list
• Night Game by Christine Feehan - wish
• In Other Worlds by Sherrilyn Kenyon - next on the list from the NC Digital Library
• Caine's Reckoning by Sarah McCarty - next on the list from the NC Digital Library

I'm hoping some of these come in soon - I'm anxious to spend more time reading!

Weekend Wrap Up - 7/18

We had a pretty laid back weekend!  Friday and Saturday I had wicked headaches, so I didn't do much.  We did hit Target on Friday - Advil, Tylenol, and exercise was enough to banish Friday's headache.  Saturday we played a family game of Monopoly! The girls managed to get property sets early and Katy prevailed in the end.  Friday and Saturday were both cloudy and much cooler - I actually wore jeans to Target on Friday night.

 Sunday dawned cloudy but I held firm to the plan - POOL!  The girls needed the exercise and I needed some Vitamin D (aka sunshine!)  We even managed to bring the husband along - whoa! Mark this day on the calendar!  He usually poo-poos trips like this, preferring to stay home and play on Second Life.  We guilted him into it though, and he willingly came along. 

This is where I'd insert the great pictures I took and maybe a video of the girls coming down the slides. Except, I can't.  I completely forgot to take pictures! However, maybe you'll enjoy this picture...

Because that is what my husband and I look like. Yep. Who'd have thought you could burn that fast?  The girls are only slightly pink.  So, we're sticking with the "pool everyday" plan for the remainder of the week, but everyone will get SLATHERED in sunscreen before leaving the house - and I'll be sitting in the shade until at least Wednesday.

Overall, a good weekend.  Would've been great if not for the headaches (and a few minor meltdowns from Katy!)  What did you do this weekend?

Weekly Menu and Activities

This week is going to be "Eat From the Freezer" week in our hungry household. We're firmly in the "mid-month" budget crisis. I'm planning quesadillas, hamburgers, possibly chicken soup, definitely chicken alfredo, and maybe pancakes and bacon. All easy meals because this week is also going to be POOL week!  We missed the pool this past week because Katy had a nasty case of swimmer's ear. That is all cleared up - so we're going to try to go to the pool every day.  The kids are SO much easier to handle when they've gotten a) out of the house and b) some exercise.

Other big activities this week will include a trip to Michael's (yay for email coupons!) and a trip to Belk's (yay for snail mail coupons!).  We'll also hit the library one morning.  Other than that, I plan to clean the house.  Even though I saw this on Pinterest:

via Pinterest

It just HAS to be done. I've spent the weekend (well, Friday and Saturday) run down with a monster migraine. I'm hoping to get caught up a little bit at a time on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.  Maybe the idea of pool in the afternoon will get the kids motivated to help!

Have you got any kid-tested ways of getting them to clean up - and not whine?  How about budget-friendly meals? Headache fixers? I'm all ears! Leave your suggestions in the comments or find me on Twitter!

Ye Olde Walnut Tree

So, yesterday's This Moment post shows how thrilled we were to have the huge walnut tree over our driveway taken out.  Here are some pictures to help you understand why we were so happy:

This is the tree after the Stormy Thursday. You can see where there are gaps - by this point, we had lost about 10 good sized branches from this tree in a span of 2 weeks. I was afraid of parking my car anywhere near the tree - I got lucky twice and didn't figure to get lucky again!

 Here are branches from that tree... they fell during that big storm and landed on our outside stairs - a solid 20 feet or more away. Scary!

And lastly... see those little green ball looking things? Those are walnuts - and they are killer on unwary feet and ankles. They live to make you fall and they LOVE to clog up the lawn mower.  (They also loved to fall onto the roof rack of my Suburban where they'd get stuck.  As we drove around town we'd hear them "thumpa-thumpa-thumpa" as we turned, sped up, slowed down, etc. Amusing but annoying too!)

So, we were glad to see the end of the tree. I'll miss its shade but I won't miss feeling terrified that this storm might be THE one. Rest in peace, old walnut, you did your job!

My girls tried to count the rings - but the wood was too dark!