Miss Attittude

I finally looked through the pictures we took at home after we brought Blanche home from the hospital. I laughed when I saw this one. This little one apparently has had an attitude from day one. Watch out world!

Easily Impressed

BG has been using the word "impressive" lately. I think it's pretty funny coming from a 3 year old. Today's usage had me laughing out loud.

BG: Mom, my poop is green.
Me: Ok honey.
BG: Is that impressive?

Yes, very impressive.

Working Girl

It really is happening. I have to go back to work soon. I have to kiss my babies good-bye and drop them off to spend the day with someone else.

This whole time I have been thinking that it won't be too hard. After all, my manager has agreed to letting me job share. I have been mentally preparing for working 3 days a week. I can handle part time! But today I found out that in order to keep my exempt status (a very nice thing) I have to work 30 hours/week. My three days will only give me 24.

Thankfully my manager is great and willing to work with me. She is willing to let me work fewer long days or more shorter days. I can even alternate every other week to get in the hours - as long as it adds up to 60 over the pay period.

But now I'm bummed out. Technically I could say that I don't want to keep my exempt status and just punch the clock. But my manager made it clear that her preference is for me to keep that status. It really is nice to not have to punch the clock, worry about having lunch go a little long or being a few minutes late. But I didn't want to work 30 hours a week. I only wanted to work 3 days a week. *sigh

And they smell good!

This is a funny conversation I had with BG the other day.

BG: I mell something.
Me: What do you smell?
BG: I mell cookies.
Me: Where is it coming from?
BG: The store.

A Ponytail

Blanche is 7 weeks old yesterday. After her bath I thought I'd give a ponytail a try. She has lots of hair and I managed to pull together a little one of the top of her head. I was so excited I had to take some pictures. Getting out the camera meant BG had to get in on the action too. It's a little hard to see since her hair is dark and they are against a dark background, but that little white thing on top of her head is an elastic.




Blanche is fattening up. Her cheeks are getting heavier and more jowl-like. BG is a loving big sister. She helps a lot with getting me burp rags, binkies, etc. Yesterday I left them alone for a minute while I ran upstairs. When I came back down BG was putting Blanche back into her chair. I nearly had a heart attack and we had a discussion about who is allowed to pick up the baby. Three year olds don't make that list.

Ready for Bed

The girls have cute matching jammies. After baths we decided to take some pictures. I'm not a great photographer so most of my pictures end up with red eye, but these ones were pretty cute.

Blanche is getting bigger all the time and doesn't look like a newborn any more. Her cheeks are filling out nicely and she's getting good and fat. She is smiling more and more but I haven't been able to catch it on camera.

Can I just say I'm in a perpetual state of "ready for bed". I am tired and could fall asleep just about any time of day.

Making the Switch

Mommy Brain posted today on Nipple Confusion and reading it made my eyes sting a little with tears. So, I thought I'd tell my story thus far with breast feeding.

BG was breast fed. It took us both a little while to figure it out after birth, but once we got the hang of it, we did great. My goal was to exclusively breast feed her for 6 months and I did that. After 6 months, we started weening, mostly because pumping at work was such a hassle. By 8 months we had switched to bottles full time.

When I was pregnant this time around, I had every anticipation of exclusive breast feeding again. In fact, I was thinking I would try to do it for longer that I did with BG. Since it was never a problem with BG, I never supposed I would have any issues this time around.

After Blanche was born, she took to the breast and latched like a champ. I was surprised how easily she latched and thought we were off to a great start. I knew that it would hurt for some period of time while my body adjusted to nursing. After four weeks, I was cracked, it was still incredibly painful and I knew something was not right. I pumped and cried the first time I gave her a bottle.

Last week I went to the lactation specialist who gave me all kinds of gizmos to try and let the cracks heal while still nursing. She told me that Blanche latches fine; she is a strong sucker which is part of the problem. I stopped nursing and pumped for two days while trying to heal. I told myself I would give it another week.

Blanche did ok with the bottle. She did figure it out, but it took a lot of sputtering and soaking burp rags first. I started nursing again slowly and she latched well, but seemed frustrated that the milk wasn't coming out fast enough. That first nursing didn't hurt at all and I thought "Hurray! I've healed and we can move past this." But the more I nurse, the more it hurts. I have tried doing a combination of nursing and bottles, but that is confusing for Blanche. She chokes on the bottles and doesn't get enough on the breast. JM suggested pumping and giving it to her in a bottle. She acts like I'm starving her and sucks down formula faster that I can produce breast milk.

So now I'm to the end of the week I told myself I would try. I'm still cracked. My daughter is confused from switching from breast to bottle and mama's own to formula. I cry when I work hard to pump and she spits out most of it. I never thought I would be a formula mom but all this making me change my tune. I think are going to make the switch.