Kids Say: March

Sean seems to have been the talkative one this month:

Let's start with some of Sean words:

fidg-e-ater = refrigerator

Engine turtles = ninja turtles

Beaner sistle = wiener schnitzel

Wha-bay ...your guess is as good as mine!!

Sean woke up from nap and Maddy and daycare baby (10 months) were still asleep. I went to check on them and Sean asks me "Are the kids still asleep?"

"When I grow up I'm going to be a cowboy. After I'm a cowboy, I'm going to be a firefighter!!"

"I'm hungry. My tummy's growling like a race car."

"Do you know why runners drink water? Because they run out of running power."

Serta commercial comes on and Sean tells me "Mama, we need that bed." Why? "My bed isn't comfortable because I keep moving around."

"When I be a dad and get a mom, I want her van to be blue."

Talking about batman- "This thing is called a slimer. It'll cut your head off and might give you a bleed."

"When I be a dad, I don't want hair." I asked where because I thought he was talking about facial hair. He answered "my head!"

I was complaining about how much pollen was in the house with only 1 window open. Sean then explained to me that a walking key opened all the windows the night before.

Sean wiped my kiss off of him so I asked him why. "because I can only have Granddad and Justin kisses."

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Week in Review: Week 12

Wow! I'm getting behind on these week in review posts. I should be working on this week's but have just finished up last weeks. Oops! We had another beautiful week last week. It was the first week of spring and we got to spend a lot of time outside.

Who knew! I have 2 airplanes!

And a thumb sucker!

We also started a project: worm composting. 

Here's a handful of the pound of worms we adopted:

Putting them in their new home:

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Emily: 3 Months

Another month with my little one is gone. She's 3 months old today. She's done a lot of growing and changing this past month. She's still very much a happy baby. She loves to smile and "talk" to people. Earlier this month (March 2nd to be exact) she laughed for the first time. As much as she loves to smile you wouldn't think she'd be so selective about her laughs but she is. Her most recent talent is she's grabbing at and holding onto toys now. She has also gone from sucking on her fist to sucking on her thumb. This is new territory for me. Sean and Maddy also refused pacis but never tried their thumbs. Emily loves her thumb.

Last month, the pediatrician referred us to an ENT. We had that appointment yesterday. The spot on Emily's neck is a branchial remnant (branchial cleft remnant) not a birth mark as we were hoping. The good news is we don't need to do anything about it now and possibly never. The ENT says that since it hasn't started leaking by now than there's a good chance it never will. That's what we're looking out for because if it does, she may need surgery to remove it. At least if she needs surgery later, she will be older and able to handle it better. I'm posting another picture of the spot. I'd done a lot of googling to find out as much info on branchial remnants and since the location of hers is a rare location, there's not many pictures to find. Maybe another mom searching will be comforted by finding my blog.

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Week in Review: Week 11 (video bonus!)

What a beautiful week last week was! Good bye winter, make room for spring!! I finally decided to embrace the over supply I have this time around and donate my milk again. We also signed up for rent-a-chick at a local farm. What that means is we're going to the farm on the Saturday before Easter, pick up a few chicks and supplies, raise them for a couple weeks and return them to the farm. The kids and I can't wait! ..maybe me more than them..

This week it's just the girls in the pictures and video:

Working on hand/eye coordination:

My little artist:

And FINALLY!! I captured my camera shy baby talking on camera! 

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Milk Donation

About 2 and a half years ago I found myself producing more than enough milk for my five month old and my almost two year old nurslings. I would pump the extra but neither of my children would drink what I pumped. They preferred it straight from the tap I guess. I couldn't bring myself to toss it so I looked around for other options. First was milk banks. Milk banks are great. Especially for hospitalized babies. But many families can't afford the $4-$5 an ounce that banks charge. That was only one of the reasons I chose not to go that route. I was also treating postpartum depression. I was on a breastfeeding safe antidepressant but I had read that banks won't take your milk if you regularly take meds.


So, I went the informal route and found a mom of a little girl named Emerson. Emerson's mom would send me a cooler and milk storage bags. I'd fill it up and the UPS man to take it to Emerson. I donated 800+oz to baby Emerson and she was able to make it to her first birthday completely on breastmilk. I'm extremely happy to say that I was one of the milk donors that made it possible. To the right is the cooler I filled a couple of times for her.


Not long after Emily was born I realized that I, once again, had oversupply. Over active letdown accompanied it and was making things difficult for Em. She would choke and pull off at let down. She'd also end up eating more than she needed and silent reflux began to show up. I could tell she was in pain. After nursing she'd gag and the look on her face told me it was coming back up in her poor little throat. I had to do something to help her out so I started pumping just to slow down the flow, hoping I wasn't making things worse. It worked. Then Em got an ear infection and had a hard time nursing off one side. That took care of the over supply on that side but since she was doing most of her nursing on the other, that side's supply increased. I'm now pumping again to make it comfortable for her and am easily getting 5 oz a day. She will not take a bottle but even if she would, she'd never drink the 81oz I have stashed in the freezer. I posted on facebook that I was ready to just embrace my oversupply and pump to donate. A friend commented saying that she had a friend that could use my milk. That was perfect because I wanted to find someone local this time. She put us in contact and now the milk in my freezer is for little baby London. I'm really excited to be able to do this again. Pumping when it was just to remove the extra milk to make breastfeeding easier was sometimes a pain. It's all changed now that I'm pumping to give the milk to a child that needs it. I'm more than happy to pump for London.

Do you have extra milk? Here's a few links for banks and informal donation groups:

Human Milk Banking Association of North America

Milk Share (where I found Emerson's mom)

Human Milk 4 Human babies

Eats on Feets

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© Mama Dani's Musings

Week in Review: Week 10

Even though it seemed like we had a busy week this week, I really don't have much to report. It felt like a busy week mostly because it was a week of adjustments as one of my daycare kids went full time. To make up for the lack of updates, I have more pictures to share than normal. 

Over supply/over active letdown = an occasional milk bath

  Sean's solution to "boys can't nurse" is a sling and a bottle in the pocket

Smiles!!

Sibling love! They just had to join sissy.

        

Daddy time! ..melts my heart 

Lincoln logs = a good time

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Car Seat Safety Revisited

Last March I wrote (with help from a car seat safety tech friend) a four part series on car seat safety. Car seat safety is my number one passion and I'm very out spoken about it. Friends know that I'll speak up if I notice a chest clip too low or straps too loose. Some even come to me with their car seat questions. I loved last year's posts because I believe I covered most, if not all, the basics. For that reason, I believe it's worth repeating.

If you missed it last year, here it is again:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Please share!

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Week in Review: Week 9

This week Emily recovered from her first ear infection and had her 2 month check up. She also laughed for the first time! What a wonderful sound!! Maddy's doing wonderfully with potty training. I don't hesitate to take her out in underwear. The only thing is she does not poop in the potty. ..and I don't know why. Sean, he's his normal crazy self but he's back to taking naps daily. It's wonderful and he's less moody. Just don't tell him he naps. He thinks he just lays in bed waiting for the music on the alarm clock to come on.

Walking to Grandma's after a lazy day at home.

They dressed themselves..

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Kids Say: February

Maddy- "Emily's a baby. She came out of your belly. It hurt. It don't hurt anymore!!"

Sean, pointing to the middle of my chest "Boys don't have these things. ..these deep things." ...yea, he was talking about cleavage.

Sean saw a picture of Dierks Bentley and said he had "rubbly" ...beard stubble.

Sean telling us how big something was "It's 10 feet hundred!"

Sean on a warm but windy day (windows were open) "Mama, you need to close the window so the wind will stop bugging the curtains."

Maddy to me "You have problems. " Me- "No, you do." Maddy- "I don't have problems! I have a computer!"

A little bonus this month. Sean made up a lullaby for Emily:

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Emily: 2 Months

That's my little 2 month old! She's such a happy baby! She nurses great now that I have my over supply under control and she still sleeps wonderfully. What more can I ask for!? She's "talking" a lot now. Unfortunately, she's camera shy. She just lights up when Sean talks to her. I love it! We've tried introducing bottles and pacis but she won't have any of it. She however, likes to suck on her fist. She didn't like it much a month ago but Emily has started enjoying rides in the sling. It's a good thing too because that's the easiest thing to use around the house; it's the fastest to put on.

Emily's stats from her check up today:
10lbs 6oz - She's dropped from the 50th percentile to the 25th
23in - looks like she was working on height this month more than weight!

I was happy to hear that even though there's still some fluid in her ear, Emily's ear infection has cleared up. I also brought up the spot on Em's chest this appointment. At her newborn and 1 month check up, the doctor thought it was just a birth mark, possibly a third nipple. It's an odd place for a third nipple but it looks like one...they run in the family so it didn't surprise me. He also mentioned a branchial cleft abnormality. He really didn't think it was that because it wasn't leaking and didn't seem to be attached. He told me to keep an eye on it and let him know if I noticed any changes. ..I have noticed something. When she nurses, usually when she's nursing fast or gulping, the spot goes in and out. Doc says it could be just the fact that the skin is thin there but it would be best to get it looked at and have the branchial cleft abnormality ruled out. He's sending us to a ear, nose and throat doctor.

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