Breastfeeding

Can I say breastfeeding on here?

Wow, I am finally done breastfeeding kiddo number 1 and boy was that a roller coaster.

People always say that it is such a good time to bond and enjoy with your little one but they left a few details out.

Breastfeeding hurts until everything becomes numb(?) and then you become a pro. 

It is worth it though and saves so much money.

Lactation specialists aren't really that great....don't have one come talk to you...they charge you $30+ for looking at you.

It is a great time to bond and I really did love that! My busy guy actually would sit still for the entire 10 minutes, another plus!!

I was entirely blessed with a lot of milk production...too much info again? Sorry! Zac would eat on both sides and be done in 10 minutes. That's awesome!!

Nursing pads were a joke for me. 

I would leak through my shirts every day in the beginning. I finally found AWESOME nursing pads.

I tried using disposable pads and went through them so fast that I would have spent $100 a week on those things. I used washable and they were amazing and comfortable. Funny story, I was in babies r us looking to buy some washable ones and this guy saw me looking at them and said out loud to his wife in front of me, "EWWWWW, can you imagine what someone would smell like if they used washable nursing pads!" I wanted to turn around and karate chop him in the jugular. Any way, you don't stink, if you were wondering. I used FuzziBunz nursing pads and you can get them on Amazon so that you don't have to have people look at you funny :). 

Back to the producing too much, my poor little guy would have to get used to the milk shooting him in the eyes, face, and back of the throat because there was no stopping my supply. I was grateful, don't get me wrong, and it was HILARIOUS!!

I could hit a target 10 feet away. Just kidding. But maybe 5 feet away hahaha.

I wanted to feed Zac for a year and I did it!!! WAHOO!!! 

Even after breastfeeding for a year, I still couldn't really do it in public. I need tips from people on this one. I felt like I had to strip down to do it and there's no way i'm doing that in front of everyone.
Weening: I was going to Hawaii and so I wanted to be done before we left. Weening was harder than I thought, if you want to do it gradually, and so I got him down to morning and night. I thought that that was good enough and then I'd only have to pump twice a day and I wanted to ensure that my monthly friend wouldn't come while on vacation.

I completely forgot the pump though. YIKES!!!

Last tip from me and for future weening reference:

Benadryl and Sudafed dry everything right on up!

Last Last comment, promise, your milk producers will go back to smaller than before you were pregnant in two days flat. 

I have problems

There was this one time that I was pregnant and didn't really exercise.

Not a good idea.

Now my baby is 10.5 months old and I still have a hard time exercising.

What happened? I used to exercise all of the time and was in such good shape.

I went running today for 1.1 miles, did some lunges, and 68 jump rope jumps.

Then I came inside and had a cookie, some chocolate and a bowl of ice cream.

I need some motivation to stop.haha

Ideas?

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The membership is $45, you get a $20 voucher and $19.84 in food vouchers.

Awesome!!!

Let me know if you get one and we can go browse together :)

Favorite Video

Me and Mark love this!

We may or may not watch this everyday....3 times.

Even though it is hard and sometimes you wonder, "How could you do this to me?", I still need to remember that Heavenly Father is the master gardener and he loves me enough to hurt me because he knows what I can do/become! 

Hmmm...

So...Mr. Zac is 9 months old and he is walking? Is this normal? 

As much as I love that he is walking, it terrifies me. 

He is mega mobile and super hyper - difficult combo. 

I'm tired. I'm proud of him. I'm in love with him. I'm exhausted.

I am just waiting for him to start running, which scares me more because he is already a speedy crawler. 

All of those times that I giggled to myself as I watched mom's chasing their little ones to the pulpit in church, or out of the store into the road, or...that might be me. It's ok if you giggle, but be understanding too!

DIY - Making your own Canvas

Ok, so this year for Christmas I wanted to give my mom a canvas of Zac. I debated and debated on whether I should buy one or make one. I had seen tons of pinterest posts on making one and it seemed so easy. Lies...all lies. Alright, I'm being dramatic but seriously...lies. The canvas on the right is crap and my sweet mother was so sweet about the gift and said that she would hang that on her wall. That right there shows the unconditional love that a mother has for her child because I would never hang that on my wall. hahaha so after two attempts here is how to create your own canvas and I'm telling the truth!!! 

 1. Purchase blank canvases. I would get yours at Hobby Lobby, they carry twin packs for around $6. I did an 11X14. 

2. Choose the picture that you want transposed onto the canvas. You will need a laser copy of the picture. Do not use photo paper. They are less than $1 at your local office store. FYI - Costco does not carry a laser printer and so don't go there for your copy. Also, your picture will be in reverse and so if that makes a difference, get your copy backwards.

3. You will need a paint brush and this Liquitex Matte Gel in medium. You can probably use other types of gel medium but this is what I used and it worked great! The Liquitex is around $24 at Hobby Lobby but I would use a 40% coupon and it makes it a great deal :). 

4. With the paint brush, paint the entire canvas with the gel medium

5. Add the photo, ink down, to the gel medium 

6. Let the medium completely dry

7. This is the fun part! Get a spray bottle and spray the paper in small sections and then use your fingers to gently rub the paper until it is removed off of the canvas. The photo/ink will remain. This is where I went wrong on the pic on the right. I thought that I had gotten all of the paper removed and hadn't. This step actually took me weeks to do when it worked out. I did a little every day because my fingers would rub raw. Exciting!! Also, if you do it over a few days/weeks then, when it dries, you will be able to see if the paper was removed entirely. 

8. Once all of the paper is removed, then apply the gel medium over the top and you are done. 

I absolutely love how the canvas, on the left, turned out!! It is antiqued. Some of the photo/ink comes off with the paper but it gives it character and I LOVE it!! It sounds easy enough but be patient and give yourself plenty of time to do step 7. 

Good luck!! If you have questions, ask away!

Rite of Passage

Ok, I think that after a baby turns 6 months, they start progressing at the fastest speeds. It was nuts!!! It was as if it was Zac's rite of passage and he was now allowed to be a man child.

He was rolling everywhere and off of everything...whoops!! 

He was sitting up, nice and tall. 

He was talking, err babbling, and it just felt like he was an actual human.

Now, that he is almost 9 months, it must be coming on to a second rite of passage?

He has been doing this adorable army crawl and has it down to an art using a combination of rolls and scoots and army crawls to get exactly where he wants to be. It's impressive.

Zac only wants to stand. Never sit. Never lay. It feels like he stands half of the day with no help at all. He walks, with help, and it really good at it. 

He actually crawled up the stairs...I think I'm doomed with this child. He stands on his own, with no help, for a few seconds.

January 31, he actually did his first "real" crawl on his hands and knees. I was so happy, that I only allowed him to do two slow crawls before I swept him off of the floor in excitement and started running around the house. Weird? Not at all. 

Then, today, he has his first little peek-a-boo of a tooth. Barely poking through the gums. Couldn't be more excited/scared. 

I may have to end breastfeeding.