Loves Mom's Technology and The Nursing Story

Right now I am typing this posts on my mom's new iPad! The school got her and the rest of the counselors one to use for testing and other work they have to do. I must say it is the coolest thing ever, especially when you have the wireless keyboard to go along with it. Reid is having fun watching The Office with Grandpa which gives me a needed break to blog.

I think I am done with Christmas shopping now, and almost done with wrapping thanks to my little man who slept for 2 hours (give or take a few minutes and few crying spells) today. Tomorrow we are heading to Dallas to do one family's Christmas get together. This should be fun, but yet another long trip in the car. Luckily those presents are wrapped and bought thanks to today.

Now that you are all caught up with life and the like, I guess I will fill you in on the nursing story. Oh the saga and drama that seemed to in sue with this in my life. You can read more of the background here in this post. Needless to say we thought the decision had been made. However after a couple of weeks on the formula we realized that it may not work. Actually I realized it first. Mark was just ready for it to be over and done with, and I can't blame him, I had been discussing it non stop in the previous weeks. When we switched him we tried to do it slowly and in varying degrees. We started with the ready made formula for a couple of weeks, then went to concentrate, then eventually to powder. The ENTIRE TIME the boy was "constipated". I say that in quotation marks because it wasn't for real medical constipation where his poop is hard, but he just wouldn't go for days and be MIERABLE. This in turn made us MISERABLE as one might imagine. Believe me I tried many remedies, including putting prune juice in each bottle.

Then one day about 2 weeks into the ordeal I wondered if he would still be able to breastfeed, because at least then he was pooping regularly, even if he was gassy. So we tried it out and he still remembered how! Now that is not to say he got much, I was pretty much almost dried up by then, but it was a start. I was still unsure of my decision until I talked to another mom that had asked if I ever thought it could have been my let down or oversupply. I looked up the symptoms and it seemed to be describing what he was going through before we switched. This gave me determination to go back and try to get my supply up. I started taking an herbal supplement called "Fenugreek" which is supposed to increase your milk supply as well as feeding him, then pumping after every feeding, and then offering him a bottle. Because of this feedings took 3 times as long as normal. It was a rough couple of weeks, part of which I came down with a bad sinus infection or a cold, which was not fun, but we made it through.

We are currently, just this week solely back to breastfeeding. I still carry around formula just in case he still appears hungry (we don't want him to starve), but for the most part we are back to one thing without a whole lot of pumping after feedings.

Tis The Season. . . For Sickness and Being on the Road

Yes, it is hear, the dreaded or loved Christmas bustle.  For us December is kind of crazy with family living all over various parts of east and central Texas.  We are busy busy, making the rounds and seeing everyone.  Such as right now, I am currently sitting at Mark's grandmother's computer (a huge iMac though, yeah be jealous) typing this, holding off feeding a little guy. . . Right now he is content in Pops' arms, but I can hear him working himself up.  This weekend we decided to take a trip with Mark's parents to Bryan and Houston, Texas to visit both sets of his grandparents.  We rarely see them, and wanted them to have a chance to meet baby Reid.  Well now he is really hungry, so  I better go!

* * * *

Ok back with a full baby.  Wish I could nurse him and type, but I am not that good yet.  Once again nursing story to come.  Anyway, we are on the road making the rounds, however doing this with a 2 month old presents it's challenges, especially when he is sick with a cold.  He has had the sniffles for the past 2 weeks or so, but last night it got real bad!  You could hear all the snot in his nose just stuck at the back (where the bugger sucker couldn't get to it) and him just trying with great difficulty to breath!  I felt so bad for the little dude.  I am at a loss of what to do.  I forgot the "Little Noses" at home, so I guess we will just keep the burp cloth handy for when those sneezes rocket the snot out of there!  The doctor said it was just that time of year, for the sniffles, just poor little guy!

Speaking of the doctor we went 2 days ago for his 2 week checkup.  The boy weighs 12lbs 7oz! That is in the 69th percentile people!  He is also 23 1/2 inches long, which is the 53rd percentile.  He did great and they loved him and he loved them, UNTIL he had to get 3 stinkin' shots.  It was so sad and so funny all at the same time, because he just wailed and then wouldn't make a sound (or breath) for 4-5 seconds, then take a DEEP breath, and wail again!!!  He only did that a couple of times, and then, though traumatized, he was fine.  He also had to take a vaccine orally, which they said was sour so they sometimes don't like it.  Not our boy, no he guzzled it down, no problem!  We then went home, where he whined and cried for a while and then finally fell into a deep sleep late afternoon.  Poor little guy was tuckered out!  

Well I better go back and enjoy the family, sorry no pictures, maybe next time!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Yep, it is that time again, CHRISTMAS TIME!  I absolutely love this holiday and it makes it all the more special now that we have a little one to share it with.  Granted he wont know what is going on, but it is still fun to be a for real family lol.  


This past week much has gone on.  For starters Mark and I began decorating the house for the holidays!  It was so much fun to get out all the Christmas items again and listen to Christmas music as we steadily put stuff up.  We are almost done.  I will post pics of the completed decor in a later post.  Until then partially finished pics will have to do.  


We also took Reid to go and see Santa Clause and have his picture made!  He did wonderful and the picture turned out amazing!  I do have one cute little boy!!

Here is Mark with nails in his mouth to hang our lights on the outside of the house

He is ready!

Garland around our front door.  Yes the house is blue, not my choice, but somewhere to live!

Little Man hanging out while we decorated

The tree

decorating!

Paying ever so much attention to detail!

Me and Reid hanging his first ornament!

asking him if he thought that was a good spot. . .

Now Daddy and Reid's turn!  The picture looks somewhat better because I changed the setting

Putting the tree skirt on

Waiting in line to go and see Santa in our new outfit from Kohls where there were 23 formal little girl dresses and 2 formal boy outfits!  Grr!

Still waiting

Santa loved him!

The finished product!  Isn't he a doll???!!!!

Christmas Time Photos!

Thanks Lee Ann for this wonderful post you did!  I had to share as well!

I have a great site to share with yall! I'm sure you are all familiar with Shutterfly but if you haven't checked them out this year for your Christmas card then you have got to go check out their precious photo cards. Here are a few of the possible cards you may be finding in your mail box from me very soon.

My favorites are cards where the picture is the main focus.



These are fun and a little funky. I love the pink!


These are classic and both beautiful

Pick out your own dream card here! 

Also, are you looking for a great gift? Check out the calendars Shutterfly has to offer! Mom has one with pictures of my sister and I, some months with recent pictures, some with childhood pictures, some with a mix. Last year for Christmas, my cousin Shelby gave our grandparents a Shutterfly calendar with a photo of Daisy from every month of her first year. They travel a lot and this was a great way to display her picture all the time in their motor home. Everyone needs a calendar! The best part?! Personalize the dates with family birthdays and special messages!

Ok, one last thing! Are you planning a party this holiday season? Unfortunately after throwing a Halloween bash I won't be but if you know me you know I love to throw a good party. If you do have a party coming up either for Christmas or to ring in 2011, Shutterfly also has the invites you're going to be looking for!

Now... Why did I post about Shutterfly today? If you have your own blog, go here to find out! Happy shopping!

Thanksgiving Greatness

Well, we are finally back from a whirlwind Thanksgiving weekend.  What a crazy, but fun time it was.

First we headed out to my maternal family's side for a huge get together.  We are talking 50 people!  Anyway, we went there first for lunch, even though it was technically Mark's family's year to decide how everything would work and for where we would go, they were gracious enough to move their festivities to dinner so we could make the first celebration.  My great grandmother, Reid's great-great grandmother was going to be there, and we wanted a chance for him to meet her and to take a five generation picture.  Believe me when I say I know how rare it is to have 5 generations all together, but even more rare to have a pair of them.  My paternal great grandmother is still alive too.  Here is the five generation picture.

5 generations! Me, my grandmother, mother, and great-grandmother, and Reid

We left from Maud and headed out to Tyler to spend the rest of our weekend with Mark's family.  We even got their early, which is great for us!  Here is a picture we all got together!

The Clifton Clan

Of course the real star of the show was Mr. Man.  He was held ALL WEEKEND LONG!  Every diaper change and feeding (when he wasn't nursing, more on that story later though) was at least a 3 person event.  It was wonderful to get a mini break, take a shower, you know all the things that those of you without a newborn now take for granted lol.  

Uncle Blake

Everyone took a turn feeding him

Uncle Scott

Uncle Wade and Reid in the cutest overalls ever!

Pops and Reid

 To end our weekend in Tyler, we stopped by a high school friend of Mark's for a mini thanksgiving reunion.  It was great to see Mark's friends from high school who have graciously accepted me into their circle!  We are blessed.  At this get together we also got to finally meet Reid's future wife in person.  Our dear friends Amy and Brant Gutherie had sweet little Allison just 4 days before Reid was born.  Here they are getting to know each other.

Reid flirting with Allison

 Reid also found yet another friend in the living room fan.

Checking out the ever so intriguing fan

 We all had a fun time visiting before going home to rest!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

All the gals and Reid

All tuckered out!

Ohh Yeah

Yeah the weekend is here! Hooray! Not that it matters really in the life of a stay at home mom. The only way I know what day is whatt is thanks to church. I know Mark has to work on Sundays and Wednesdays so I think about how long it has been since he has gone to work late without me.

I have come to realize that I desperately need something to do to break up my mundane days. I have nothng to blog about, nothing to do really that is for me. You see my problem is I am a jack of all trades but a master of none, I don't have anything that I really specialize in, nothing that I can say I enjoy this and am good at it! I have thought about taking up several things, scrapbooking (but I am not creative or patient enough), taking a dance class (but that cost money), photography (photoshop costs too much to), I mean honestly. I have gotten so bored I have even thought about taking up running again like training for a 5k or something. However, then I think to myself, "If I can't find the time to take a decent shower, how in the world am I going to have time to take a run?" Hence the dilema. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.


Until then, here are some recent pictures.

Me and the munchkin before heading to town. 

 

So cute in his Longhorn outfit

Cutie!

Beautiful scenery at my parents house (disregard the power lines, the trees were just so pretty)

Here is our Lab mix puppy, Sadie, she loves it out here.

Sadie and Ellie again. 

Here we are for a walk down to the school to visit Grammy.

But here is what we really look like.

Here is a one month picture with our Mister Monkey.

Road Trip!

So this weekend we took a road trip to Dallas. By we I do mean the whole family, Mark, myself, and Reid. Believe me I was as nervous taking this trip as you are probably reading this sentence. It is unbelievable how much stuff you must take for a baby for just really a day and a half solid. Ugghh. . .

Anyway, the night before we left, we had some friends stop by that had a littlle baby girl 5 days after I had Reid. This poor girl, was due 2 weeks before me, and I ended up having him early and she went 2 days late. I felt for her. Anyway, her baby, Audy, is adorable, and oh so tiny, or maybe it is just my son is a beast of a man. Here is a pic to justify

Big huh?

Anyway the reason we went was for Mark and the Cliftones to play a set at a mission's organization's coffee shop thing they had for students. It was good and Reid did well, sleeping through most of it (considering it started 30 minutes late, at 10:30 P.M. and they played for an hour, I would hope he would have. Sorry, no picture from that night :-(

After we finished there we headed back to the hotel room that Mark's parents had graciously purchased for us to stay in. This was such a blessing and I thank them from the bottom of my heart, as I am sure that everyone else at Scott and Blake's apartment would have. Because you see, the poor boy was constipated, which meant that from 2:20 to 5 he was up atleast every 45 mins. We just went over and did what we could, until we finally gave him a suppository at 5. Well then he was asleep for another 45 mins and then he was hungry and then fussy after that. Needless to say it was a long night. We are lucky duckies though, becuase even when he is uncomfortable he doesn't scream non-stop, he squeals and grunts, but doesn't really ever just cry and cry! Thank you Lord for this blessing!

"So what I was up all night, I'm still cute!! (And wet!)"

After getting him up and dressed and another big (and unaided mind you) poopy, we headed to Daddy's favorite place in Dallas, Guitar Center. While the Little Man ate, daddy played around on a few guitars, deciding which one he would get for a near future purchase. The man needs one, he has been playing the same hand-me-down guitar from his brother since high school. Granted it is a good guitar, one he fell in love with playing on, but it is time for something else. Of course we had to commemorate this event in our son's life.

Lastly we went to Ft. Worth to visit a family friend of mine who had a baby boy this past Tuesday. Here they are together!

Welp going home finally from this crazy weekend!