Challenges of motherhood, listening to my gut feelings.

So, Daniel returned to work on the 14th of September after a nice 6 week maternity leave. I was so nervous that I would do something to my house, or my kids in my exhausted state of mind especially when me and both children are tired and hungry. I am super estatic! I have survived with my house and children intact! I even cooked dinner, done laundry, the dishes, fed and bathed my kids :) In the midst of all this, I have discovered that the doctors, nurses and lactation consultant's advice to breastfeed my daughter every 2-3 hours in the first month or two is totally wrong. Breastmilk is like cherrios for breakfast. Your hungry again in less than 2 hours. I wish someone would have said to me, feed your child on demand, meaning with breastmilk, that means 1-2 hours at max during the day and max 4 hours at night.  I feel like a first time mom again. I should trust my instinct and go with my gut. I knew with my first daughter Hannah, she had the signs of a milk protein intolerance and that she needed formula as well because apparently, I make skim milk. I have a Medela double electric breast pump, and I get lots of foremilk, but very little hindmilk, even with 30 minutes of pumping. So yeah, no wonder my newest daughter isn't sleeping well. Let's just say I have learned my lesson to listen to my gut feeling. Now looking back, I had impressions that if I formula fed this time around, that I shouldn't be ashamed and my second child would thrive on it like my first child did. Lesson learned. So, to note, if you can breastfed every 1-2 hours, eat your 2500 calories a day, sleep 6-8 hours a day, take a shower, take care of a 4 year old who started preschool this year, do dishes, do laundry and clean your house so you don't get sick or get bugs, you deserve to be mother of the year! So forgive me if I give my daughter a bottle or two or three or every single feeding. I don't care how my child gets fed. I realized that I can't do it all, and if formula feeding my daughter allows me to do more and be less stressed about my daughter getting fed and full, so be it! Hail formula!  The best thing is Hannah loves her little sister and can't wait for her to be big enough to play with her. I love these girls with all my heart, being a mother to them is the greatest challenge and privilege. Well, here are some pics of the past few weeks of my survival. Enjoy!

August has arrived and so has baby girl! Birth story!

The summer has flown by! I am somewhat relieved and sad at the same time, because lots of fun things have come to an end and new things have begun. In May of this year, Daniel and I celebrated 7 years of being together! We decided that we needed a short trip away, so we took a weekend to visit Asheville. It was much needed. Then June came! My family had our family reunion at Oak Island. It was such a blast! Of course, our family got sick, but despite that we had a good time. We then celebrated Hannah's 4th birthday this year! July was spent getting ready for baby sister and doing things out of the house with Hannah, so that we didn't get bored. We went to the library once a week, had playdates with my sister Jill, and friends from our ward at church. As for baby stuff, I had everything ready to go; clothes were washed, and my hospital bag was packed. My friends from church also had a diaper party for me. It was so nice of them! As July came to a close, I realized I needed one last thing made for baby, so I went to my mom's house on Friday July 31 after my 39 week checkup. For the appointment, my mom insisted that she come with me, to inform the doctors that I had a family history of fast labors, and that if I was dilated at all, that they needed to be aware. So the doctor there that day, checked me. She said that I was actually dilated to a 2. Not enough to be concerned, but the doctor was confident that I would not make it to my 40 week appointment. I came home that night and being tired, we went to bed early. I woke up about two to go the bathroom.  For some reason after my bathroom trip, I was wide awake and feeling like I had to have a bowel movement. Within 30 mintues, I felt strong abdominal pains that became painful. So I woke up Daniel, and we drove the 30 minutes to Duke Hospital. We arrived on the Birthing unit, where they had me get in a gown, and reassured me that someone would check me, before I would be admitted to a room. My husband and I both told them, that my contractions were very close together and I go fast once they get that close. They didn't seem too concerned, but once they Triage nurse checked me, and found out that I was in fact 7 cm dilated instead of 4 that the resident doctor said I was, she went into action. Not 5 min, later I was fully dilated, so Daniel called the nurse back in. All of sudden 5 or so nurses were in there helping along with the doctor and with 5 pushes, no epidural and an episiotomy, baby girl was here. After debating on names, we finally decided on Abigail Eleanor. She is now three weeks old, and we can already see that she has a personality. She is a mommy's girl, a great nurser, and loves to be held. All of us are doing our best to adjust. Hannah is doing much better than we ever thought and loves interacting with her baby sister. Well, here are the pics. Enjoy!

Spring has sprung!

Not a moment too soon, as well! I am loving this weather, and the warm sun! Winter has this nasty habit of keeping me inside, and it just makes everyone in our house, stir crazy and grumpy. So thank goodness. With the end of winter, I am also grateful to be feeling better, and being outside has helped. The first event that comes after winter break and holidays, is my husband's birthday! This year makes 32! This year Daniel got a special birthday present, a plane ticket to visit his sister and her family in New Mexico. He loved every minute! Of course, Hannah and I missed him, but it was a much needed vacation for him. As every year goes around Daniel's birthday, we got snow :( The snow came in and then the cold temperatures. Like I said, the winter has a way of turning our mood sour, so needless to say, we are SO done with cold. February did finally come to an end, and March came. The first week of March was kinda exciting for us, not just the end of the snow and cold, but we got to see and find out that we are having another girl coming to our family in August! Strangely enough, all of us are excited even Daniel, to have another girl. I was so sure with the onset of all those unwanted pregnancy symptoms so early and lasting forever, which I didn't experience hardly at all first time around, I thought for sure was having a boy but the tech was pretty sure it was a girl. So yeah for more pink and sisterly love! Since Daniel's birthday, life has settled in. Hannah and I travel to playgroup each week, and are doing preschool with some friends in our ward. As always, we get to see family. My mom had surgery a month ago, and we had the opportunity to help her, as well as I see my sisters at least once a week. April is here, and that means General Conference came and the Easter Holiday. It was so nice to have both on the same day this year. This year keeps getting better as the months go by! I am doing my best to enjoy each moment, although as always, there are moments that are just not enjoyable, but I do my best. Especially right now when life isn't too hectic, I am learning to enjoy each moment, since I know my daughter will only be 3 once. Despite the tantrums and her all too familiar perfectionist personality, she warms my heart when she says," I like you mommy", and her little voice as she sings, "For the family is of God," With kids, things are hard, but oh so worth it. Here are some pictures of those moments. Enjoy!

Holidays 2014!

Well, its now 2015, and I'm officially behind on blogging. The Holidays were real nice, it was great to see and spend time with family, but I am glad they are past. The holidays always come with someone being sick, and yes Hannah got the stomach bug twice this year in the past three months. Stomach bug is my least favorite sickness but oh well. We survived but it seems to have left some scars. Hannah is now officially scared to eat something and it seems since then, no matter what she eats, she complains that he tummy always hurts. Granted she also doesn't drink enough water, and since she is scared to death of eating anything, she is eating things that ultimately are constipating her, making her tummy hurt even more. How do you explain and encourage a three year old to eat, when she is so scared of hurting her tummy? I just want to scream! But of course, forcing a child to eat doesn't work well, and encouraging a three year old to even listen to you is the challenge. Lord, help me. Anyway, we did have some fun in there, by going to the NC Zoo recently. Hannah loved seeing all the animals, but of course we couldn't go fast enough. She kept saying, "let's go see more animals."Other than the Holidays, and doing the best to spend time as a family, we are just here doing our daily thing. Each week, I do my best to overcome myself and take Hannah to playgroup with church friends and play with her cousins at my sister's house, provided that no one is sick, even us. I am SO ready for the warmer months to be here, so that we can finally go outside more, and not be sick. Here are the pictures of the Holidays and latest things we have been up to. Thanks for reading!