The End

A couple weeks ago, I decided I was going to quit pumping. I went through a time where I really felt guilty about stopping, like I am doing a big disservice to Toots. I know that breastmilk is the best source of nutrition for him and I am really glad he was able to get it for a little over 5 months and I hope to be able to keep it up with our next kid longer than that, but with having to solely pump and never being able to actually breastfeed him, it was becoming so tiring and challenging. I started pumping only twice per day at the beginning of June and did that for two weeks, then I went to once a day and then I stopped.

I almost feel like it made it harder to pump since I stay home with him. I know that probably sounds kind of crazy, but here's what I mean: If I pumped while he was awake, I would have to hope he could entertain himself for 30-40 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes two to three more times during the day. You moms out there know that it's hard to keep a very small child occupied without crying for that amount of time without playing with them yourself. I tried to do it while he was napping sometimes but I have SO many other things that I need to do while he's napping - cleaning, doing work, preparing food. I couldn't do work while I was pumping because I have to have a ton of documents spread around since I am doing title work and it was nearly impossible to be able to have everything out along with the pump and be able to move around like I needed to.

I also felt like I pretty much had to revolve my life around pumping. I had to make sure I had time to do it everyday, if we were at a family member's house for the weekend or travelling elsewhere, I would have to leave everyone for 20 to 40 minutes to go pump, bring the pump and all the accessories with me everywhere, etc. If Toots would still have breastfed off of me, there is no question in my mind that I would still be doing it. I had just gotten to the point where I enjoyed it when he got the cold and decided he wouldn't nurse anymore. I think some people probably think I am making it up when I say he refused to nurse anymore or think that I didn't try hard enough to get him to start again, but I WANTED him to continue nursing, so I promise I am not making it up and I didn't just take the easy way out. I feel that pumping was much, much more work than him just breastfeeding, so I was definitely not doing it by choice.

He doesn't seem to notice any difference that he's not getting breastmilk anymore and hasn't had any issues. I did try to switch him from Similac Sensitive to Earth's Best Organic Formula and it made him gassy and constipated, so I had to switch back. I'm planning on asking the doctor at his six month appointment if there's anyway to gradually switch him over.

Anyway, I just wanted to write a post on here about it as kind of an update of something going on in our lives at this point. I'm still a little sad about it but happy I was able to do it for the amount of time I did. And, like I said, I plan on trying to do it longer with the next kid.

La Ti Da

Toots is 5 months old! It's been two weeks, but I haven't been a good poster, so I'm just now talking about that :) I did his five month stats myself and he is 19.6 pounds, 27 1/2 inches long, and his head circumference is 17 3/4 inches. All those are 95th percentile. He's still my BIG boy!

Currently, his favorite thing to do is scream. Not even necessarily when he's upset, just because he can do it. He refuses to roll from his back to his stomach. He did it once on the bed but never since then. He'll get all the way turned up on his side and we'll even put his leg over for him and he will.not.roll. But, when we put him on his stomach, he will kick his legs like he's trying to move. Who knows. Also, whenever we are holding him, he frequently tries to "leap" out of our arms like he wants to go somewhere but, of course, he can't move if he gets down so I don't know what he's thinking. He talks still and also makes whiny noises when he's falling asleep.

He doesn't sleep well, still. In fact, the past few weeks have been pretty much terrible. He starts waking up around 1 AM and wakes up 6 or 8 times after that. Awful. We are trying to figure out what the deal is and are considering letting him cry it out. I tried it today for a nap and it was terrible and I hard a hard time even calming him down after I went in and picked him up. But, if things don't get better, we will have to have some desperate measures because none of us are getting enough sleep at this point. We do have a very strict day-time schedule down so we aren't still trying to get a schedule down during the day, but just not good sleeping at night.

He is starting to like the pool. We went to Waco this weekend for my friend, Lindsey's, baby shower (baby Caroline due August 5th! Toots can't wait to meet his new friend), and swam in my dad and stepmom's new pool. He is still a little unsure about it sometimes but seems to be getting more and more comfortable and liking it more and more.

I'm still trying to get work done for Tim's firm. It's been difficult to get anything accomplished with Toot's terrible sleeping patterns the past few weeks, but I'm hoping things will get better soon and I will start getting up with Tim at 6:00 AM and getting everything I need to get done around the house done and get dressed for the day so that way when Toots naps, I can work during his naps instead of having to do house stuff. Luckily, Tim's boss is super patient and awesome and understands that I can't get a lot of work done right now.

What else is going on...ummm...I still haven't gotten anything hung on the walls at the house, so I still don't have pictures for y'all. But, I think Tim is having friends over to play poker on Friday so it WILL all be hung up by then and I will post pictures.

Here's some pictures.

I'm FIVE months old! Aren't I cute?!

I know you can't seem the "5" on his shirt in this one, but I thought this might be the most adorable picture ever with the way he has his hands and his cute facial expression.

This is his favorite way to be in the jumper, with his arms in it. Usually, he doesn't even have that one hand on the top of it. He keeps both arms inside of it and leans back like his lounging and turns around and around. No jumping so far, much to my dismay because I think jumping is the cutest thing.

We copied my friend, Lacey, and got a duck tub for Toots. He's looking at me in this picture like, "um, mom, I still can't sit up good on the dry floor. Why would you think I could sit up in a slippery duck tub?" Love the tub, and I think he likes it, too, but we're going to put it away until he can sit up better.

I accidentally put the wrong one of these pictures in this post but it's too difficult to switch them out. I meant to put one where his face wasn't blurry, but you get the idea. Just thought he looked cute moving around in just his diaper :)

Happy boy! (I can't remember if I already posted this. If I did, oh well. It's always okay to see a happy baby more than once)

Today, Toots decided he would like to have some orange juice.

No, really. He wants some. Give me some juice, mom!

A little bit about solids. I know there is a lot of controversy with starting solids sooner than six months. I realize there are studies saying it can cause problems in babies to start solids sooner than six months. I talked to our pediatrician at length about this and ended up deciding I was okay with it. We started at 4.5 months or a little later with some rice cereal. We did that for a little while but he didn't like it very much and we had to mix it with prune juice because it made him constipated. He never had the tongue thrust or anything, he was super about eating from the start. Next, we tried sweet potatoes. He LOVES them. Along with butternut squash, those two things might be his favorite things ever and he eats a ton of them. He's not so sure about carrots. He thinks he might like them, but maybe not. He doesn't like green beans so far. He gags whenever he eats them. We started trying peas last night and he seems to like them okay. Not love them like sweet potatoes and butternut squash, but he doesn't gag on them. He also had bananas for the first time. He liked them unless he got a bite that wasn't mashed up enough and then he would gag a little. He eats a pretty big amount of food at dinner. Probably around 6 tablespoons. At lunch, probably about four and he just started having breakfast today and probably just ate one or two tablespoons of bananas. He sometimes has a little bit of water when he's eating and we've started using a sippy cup for that. He loves chewing on the spout of it and likes to hold it but doesn't understand how to turn it up to get the water out yet.

I make his food with the KidCo Feeding System. I didn't win the one I blogged about awhile back, but Tim's Aunt Pattie e-mailed me after reading my post and offered to buy one for us so that I could make Toot's food myself. She had it sent to us and I've used it to make every bit of food Toots has eaten. It's awesome and makes home-making baby food super easy. Thanks so much, Aunt Pattie! Whenever I am preparing, cooking, and pureeing the food, Toots sits on the counter in his Bumbo chair and watches me. He also likes to touch, look at, and sometimes attempt to eat this decorative bear I have on the counter. This is what I get to see while making the food:

The food making is quick anyway, but seeing this adorableness makes it even quicker!

I've got some other things to write about but this is a very long post so I think I'll save it for some other posts throughout the week. Hope everyone had a great weekend! Sorry for the blogging drought!

*The title of the post has nothing to do with anything. I just couldn't think of a title!

Where Oh Where...

...have I been? I promise I'll do a blog post after Toots goes to bed tonight! Sorry I didn't post at all last week!

One Year Ago...

One year ago yesterday (June 2), I thought about how I had been feeling a little "off" lately and snuck into the guest bathroom to take a pregnancy test while Tim was in the shower. A couple minutes later, I saw this: (it says "pregnant" I know it's hard to read)


A week and a half later, we saw this on the ultrasound:

Twelve weeks later, "it" turned into "he" this on the ultrasound:

And 18 weeks after that, he became this:

Now, 21 weeks after that (and one year after that "pregnant" popped up), he has become this:

My, oh my, how things change in a year!

Help Sam

You may have noticed a new badge on the right-hand side of my blog. A sweet baby boy named Sam Sartin was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma. This really hit home for me because he is only 6 months old - almost the same age as Toots. The Sartins have soaring medical costs and Cassie, Sam's mom, has had to quit her job to be with Sam because he is in the hospital so much. Her job was where they got their medical coverage. Right now, they are using COBRA but it is very expensive and Alex's, Sam's dad, job only covers their immediate bills.

Baby Rabies blog (babyrabies.com) is doing a fundraiser to help them with all their costs. For only $5 to help the Sartin family, you can be entered to win a TON of great prizes and help out a worthy family. Please go here (click "here" or copy and past this website address:
http://babyrabies.com/helpsam-fundraiser/) and donate to Sam. Whether or not you decide to donate, please pray for Sam and his family that he is able to overcome this cancer and grow up and experience all the things we all want our children to experience in their lives.

A Montage of Sorts

Here are some pictures from the past couple weeks.

Right after we closed on the house. Toots is concerned about the whole process :)
Look what I can do now!!

I got a new chair so I can be just like my Daddy!

Just chillin' with his BFF Colt

Sharing a seat together so they can lounge

What? I'm just trying to hang out over here.

Sitting in the big boy chair because I am such a BIG boy in my cool outfit!

After the zoo...Toots and mommy were worn out!

Relaxin', resting my hand on my leg

Sleepy from so much moving and excitement

Such a happy boy! (Note, I'm not discussing solids on here, yet. Please don't turn my picture montage into a solids discussion. Be distracted by the adorableness of my sweet baby.)

I LOVE playing!

Trying out a high chair for the first time. I promise, it wasn't nearly as terrifying as it looks and he sits in one everytime we go eat now. We have one of those high chair covers that give him some more support and cushion and he seems to love it.

Bath time! My favorite part of the day!

Hope everyone has had a great week so far! Thanks for putting up with the blog hiatus with all our moving and such. Hope you enjoyed lots of pictures to make up for it :)

Splish Splash

We took Toots to the pool for the first time this past Saturday. Our new neighborhood has a hugeeee community pool and it was open for the first time this weekend. It was pretty crowded, but there was still plenty of room and a great pool that started out very shallow for us to be able to sit with him in. Here's some pictures:

Showing off his new shades for the occassion (they are Thomas the Train). He's too cool.

Daddy and Toots when we got to the pool.

Trying out the water for the first time....He was actually really tired and was fine when Daddy was holding him on his leg and he was in the water, but when he was put in the water on his own (like below) it resulted in crying.

Five minutes after the above picture, this is what happened...

After a 20 minute nap, he went back in the pool for a little more and was okay with being set in the water on his own. We only stayed about an hour because we didn't want him to be out in the heat too long. The pool will open up daily next week, so I plan on taking him some during the day during the week when it won't be as crowded. I'd say it was a success, though, because he didn't hate it :)