Breastfeeding Update

I never thought that we would make it this far but here we are 9 months in and still breastfeeding. This has been one tough journey. I knew that breastfeeding wouldn't be easy but I thought that was only for the first few weeks. I on the other hand struggled for the first 8 weeks then things were great! Breastfeeding was amazingly easy and I loved it. Then, at 4 month in, I got my first blocked milk duct and they kept recurring after that. I have probably had 10 or more.

My original goal was to BF for 6 months but when we got to 6 months Chelsea was WAY too attached and would not take a bottle. We tried to wean a few times but having a baby that will not take a bottle makes it very difficult and we would give up every time. Every time I get a new blocked milk duct I break down and cry and say I'm DONE!!! but how can I be done when Chelsea wont drink from anything but me? I feel so alone! I feel like the only person going through this and I have no support. It's funny because in the beginning I fought SO hard to increase my milk supply to get Chelsea to be OFF the bottle and now here I am wishing I could go back in time and do it all over again. If I knew then what I know now, I honestly would have stopped BF back then. Breastfeeding has now become a negative thing for me and I never really loved it in the first place. I don't feel the wonderful bond it brings because all I can do is worry. "I wonder when I will get another blocked milk duct" "I wonder how long it will last" "I wonder if it will become worse" "I wonder if there is something else going on" "why is it only happening on my one breast"...those are just some of the things that constantly run through my head.

So here I am with another blocked milk duct and taking antibiotics for possible Thrush but nobody really knows if that's what I have. It's frustrating not having answers. I have some symptoms for Thrush, Blocked milk duct and Mastitis but no idea what one it could be (if any). It has been a week now since I started feeling the pain and I really hope it goes away soon! As soon as this is gone I will be starting the weaning process again by taking away the "dinner time" feeding. Chelsea now drinks every 4 hours and all night long, so my goal is to only be nursing at night and then hopefully cutting that out too by the time I got back to work. Wish me luck! I need it.

Easter Picture Frames

A few weeks ago we had the kids pictures taken for Easter and I thought it would be fun to make picture frames for their grandparents to display them in. We made a trip to the dollar store and bought everything you see here (minus the hot glue gun) and we purchased the frames from the dollar store as well. So this project was very inexpensive and very fun.

Blake picked what and where he wanted things to go and I put the glue in place. They turned out so cute that I wish I would have got him to make one for me :)

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last week I finally decided to make oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies! I heard about this recipe a while back and never got around to making them. Then, a few weeks later I saw a video on YouTube on how to make them and that is when I decided to give it a try!

The cookies were a big hit!!! They were easy to make and they were huge so I only made a few!!! But my family loved them! So Thank you to Sierra for posting that video! :)

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 package Oreo cookies -- I used Double Stuf
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add to the wet mixture and combine thoroughly. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough for 15 minutes to make it easier to work with and to keep the dough from spreading when baking.

Using a cookie scoop place one scoop of dough on top of an Oreo cookie. Place another single scoop on the bottom of the Oreo to create a cookie sandwich. Seal the edges together to completely close in the Oreo.

Place the balls of cookie dough on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 9-13 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

Bunny Pictures!

Went to a friends house to get the kids pictures taken with real live bunnies!!

Chelsea wasn't sure at first and would not crack a smile at all.

Blake did amazing! I love my handsome little man :)

Chelsea finally warmed up and gave us a big smile. Blake was a big help acting silly trying to make her laugh. and mommy might have also had to sing and dance too ;)

The photo shoot turned out so well. I love all the pictures and I have printed them all already! Also, Blake and I made a special project with the pictures to send off to the grandparents. I will post pictures of what we made as soon as I send them in the mail and know that the grandparents received them.

Package Exchange

Over the past year I have "met" some amazing mommies on YouTube!!! I watch their video's all the time and it's not only mommies I watch but lots of other wonderful girls that are trying to conceive/adopt. It gets very lonely staying at home all the time and this has been a great way to connect with other mommies that relate to me. I have learned so much from these ladies and it has given me a place to talk about all things baby (without boring people in my real life that may not be in the same place as me right now)

But the real reason for this blog post is to talk about this exciting thing that I am taking part in. One of the girls Kelley has already sent me something a while back and it was amazingly sweet of her! I could not believe that she would do something so sweet for our family! We have since sent something back to her and her sweet baby girl Amanda but now that I was shopping for souvenir type gifts I thought it would be fun to send her some too. Now.... Candace is the one who came up with the idea of wanting to send and receive packages from around the world. She picked a few girls and I was the one from Canada. I have been having SO much fun shopping for Canadian souvenirs and I cannot wait to send this package off! I know this may sound crazy to some of you but I trust these girls and I think it is so much fun! It actually brings me back to my young school days when we had pen pals :) I will be mailing these packages out this week and I will update again as soon as I get my package from Texas!!

Easter Craft for Kids

Wow..It has been a long time since I've been on here....oops :) I never feel like I have anything interesting enough to chat about. But now that Easter is fast approaching I thought it would be fun to start some Easter crafts with Blake. Today we decided to make an Easter Egg Wreath, it was simple to make and we had lots of fun doing it.

1. What you will need:
• brightly coloured paper
• scissors, markers, glue,
• ribbon, paint, stickers
• Egg shaped stencil and a coat hanger
2. Cut out egg shapes with your coloured paper
3. Let the kids decorate the eggs any way they want (It doesn't have to be perfect)
4. Stretch your coat hanger into a circle shape
5. Use a hot glue gun to attach the eggs to the coat hanger
6. Tie some ribbon around the the top of the hanger
7. Hang your Easter Egg Wreath on your door 

And....Ta-da you have a beautiful Eater Egg Wreath! It's Fun, Easy and Inexpensive (since you can make it with things you already have laying around the house) Enjoy!

Washing Cloth Diapers

We have been cloth diapering for 3 months now and one of my biggest challenges has been trying to find a wash routine that works for us. My main issue was that the diapers were not getting clean enough. I found that the diapers would smell really bad when baby went pee, the kind of smell that reminded me of dirty wet towels. I played around with different wash routines, I even stripped the diapers more then a few times thinking the issue may be a build up of some sort. I contacted Rock n Green to see if maybe they could help. I tried using more detergent, I tried using less detergent but nothing seemed to work. Finally, one day I took the time to watch the wash cycle and noticed that the hot water would run out when the water level hit medium (I was using large) and by the time the water made it to a large load the water was cold. So with that being said, this is how I wash our cloth diapers:

1. Cold rinse & spin
2. Hot soak/wash (2-3tbs RnG, our washing machine offers a soak feature before it washes using the same water)
3. Cold rinse & spin
4. Extra cold rinse & spin
5. Tumble dry the inserts for 30 minutes (just to that they are not soaking wet)
6. Hang dry everything on a drying rack

I should also add that we use Rockin' Green detergent and use a medium water level.

After using this method for a few weeks now, I noticed that our diapers have become SO much cleaner but still not 100% clean. The reason I think is due to the fact that we have a very cheap washing machine that doesn't agitate strong enough. If only I could just go out and buy a new one :)