Dress Up

Natalie and Erica playing dressing up the other night.

Natalie put on Eric's uniform


and Erica put on every other cotton pickin thing she could find lol

winter hat and mittens, tutu, ballet shoes, necklace, backpack

sisterly love

6 months

Leah is 6 months old now! Half a year! Wow!

At 6 months old, Leah:
is wearing size 3-6 mos clothes (though I still have to pin any bottoms because they fall off of her)
is wearing a size 2 diaper
nurses 6-8 times a day - no bottles or pacifiers for this girl!
eats 1 jar of stage 1 baby food twice a day, most days
loves to eat bananas through the baby mesh feeder
is a rolling/scooting fool - she can get clear across the room in no time
can *almost* get up onto her hands and knees
can sit tripod very well, and can sit unassisted for a few seconds
loves to squeal, smile, and giggle
babbles "mamamamamamama"
takes one long nap in the afternoon, and 2 catnaps in the morning/evening
slept through the night 3 nights in a row, then blew her streak lol
wakes up once or twice most nights, but eats and goes right back to sleep
still sleeps swaddled and in her swing
is truly 100% a mama's girl... I finally got one of them! lol

More Updates

My appt. this morning went well. The biopsy came back benign. I'll go back in 6 months to get the nodule looked at again to see if it's growing or not. In the meantime, they've adjusted my Synthroid dosage.

The insurance called us and we found out how much we're getting for our van. Not quite as much as we were anticipating. The search is on for a replacement. We can't keep the rent car forever.

Natalie started piano lessons this morning at our church. She did great for her first lesson, and I think she's going to pick it up pretty quickly. We have to find her a keyboard to practice on.

While I was at church this morning, during Natalie's piano lesson, I signed Erica and Graham up for Kid's Day Out. They'll start next week and go on Mondays only. They will love it, and I will get some time to get things done with just Natalie & Leah. I'm foreseeing shopping excursions and mini field trips!

Update on the accident

The van is totalled. That's that. We'll find out probably next week how much we're getting for it. So on to find a "new" vehicle. I'm trying to stay positive, so that's all I'm gonna say about it for now. We did finally get a rental on Thursday night. It's a black 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan. My kids are gonna have fun breaking that in. LOL

I go to the dr. on Monday to get the results of my biopsy. I'm assuming everything must be ok since they've waited 2 weeks to get the results to me.

Leah turns 6 mos tomorrow, so keep an eye out for a big update on her!

Out of the mouths of babes

My kids say some darn funny things. And I wish I'd write them down sometimes. Erica's had a few pretty funny ones here recently that I thought I'd share.

As soon as walked in the door after our car accident Erica says "Going to the airport was a bad idea. It was a very bad idea. We should never go to the airport ever again."

Last night when Eric told Erica he was leaving to go pick up the rental car, she said to him, "Ok, but don't let a car bonk into you this time."

Erica got up from the kitchen table and she had a little brown *something* on her bottom, stuck to her shorts. I said, "Erica, you've got something stuck to your shorts." So she picks it off and EATS IT. Natalie goes, "ewwwww, what if it was a bug?" and Erica says, "It wasn't a bug!". And then I jokingly go, "what if it was poop!!" and she shrugs (as if to say, "oh well") and says "tasted like a brownie to me."

Oh these kids!

Our Afternoon Adventure

We got in a car accident yesterday. We're all fine, but I thought I'd just let everyone know what happened so I don't have to keep repeating the story over and over.

Eric's dad and stepmom had come in for the weekend - for Eric's brother's graduation on Friday in College Station, and then his dad worked some here on base on the weekend, and then attended Eric's promotion ceremony on Sunday afternoon. They had separate flights back to D.C. (I'm assuming because the military was covering his and they were paying for hers on their own). Well, her flight was supposed to connect in Houston, but because of the torrential downpour in Houston, her flight was delayed, then delayed some more, then finally canceled. She called Eric to see if he could come pick her up from the airport and stay with us until today when her flight would leave out. He had just gotten home from work and the girls didn't want him to leave, so I suggested we all go. The way we have the carseats situated in the van: Erica and Leah are in the middle row (there are only 2 seats), and Natalie and Graham are in the third row, with an empty seat between them. I sat in the back between Natalie and Graham, so that Christy could sit in the front when we picked her up.

So, we're heading down the road, going at least 50mph (as that was the speed limit). Eric said he saw a car start to pull out on our left, but he assumed they were going to turn into the lane and merge with traffic. Once he realized they were still going straight, he slammed on the brakes and swerved to avoid them, but they hit the driver side door and knocked us off the road. They must not have seen us at all (still not sure how you couldn't see a big minivan coming, but whatever) because they were still going full speed when they hit us.

Once I kind of figured out what was going on (I didn't see anything as it happened), I started looking around for the other car and didn't see it. All I remember is I was screaming about how I couldn't believe they'd hit us and drive off! I was so mad! Then I saw that the kids (mostly Graham and Erica) were getting upset, and I realized I had to calm down. So I made sure they were all ok, and got them calmed down. When I looked up to see how Eric was, he was already outside on the phone with the insurance company, getting a police officer to the scene. I got out and wasn't sure what to expect when I saw the damage. I knew we'd been hit on the driver side, but when I saw it was a direct hit where Eric had been sitting, I almost lost it. I ran up to him making sure he was ok, asking him if he'd been hurt etc. He said he was fine.

There was a couple who had been standing across the street who saw the whole thing. They came right over to make sure we were ok. They stayed with us and gave statements to the police officer. The car that hit us did stop about half a mile down the road. It was a 16 year old girl and she was pretty shaken up. She was fine too. I don't think she fled the scene maliciously, but more because she was freaked out and didn't know what to do. Not that that makes it right, but... it's up to the officer whether or not she'll be charged with a hit & run.

Eric thinks they're going to total our van, but we'll find out today. I hope not because I know they won't give us enough to get something equivalent. We paid cash and got a great steal on that van. Just really aggravates me. But I'm trying not to get bent out of shape about it til we know for sure.

The couple that came over and helped us offered to drive us home. So Leah, Graham, Erica and I went with them and then the police officer drove Natalie and Eric home.

I'm sure I'm leaving out some details, but that's the main story. Praise God that no one was hurt!!!

Our van


the other car

super random

Congrats to my brother-in-law Mason who graduated from Texas A&M today! WHOOOOOP!!! Wish I could have been there, but these kids wouldn't have tolerated a 3+ hour car ride there, a 2 hour ceremony, and a 3+ hour car ride back in the same day very well. :(

I still haven't heard anything about my biopsy results. I had it done on Monday and they said 2-3 days. So I called the dr. office today and they still haven't received the results from the pathologist. No news is good news, right?

Natalie is all signed up for soccer for the fall. But I haven't heard anything about her practice day/time, or what team she's on, or when practices start, or anything. I emailed the commissioner today to try and get some info. I took her this afternoon to get new cleats. She can't wait to start playing again!

I want to sign Erica up for gymnastics. I visited one place last night and wasn't terribly impressed. It was super crowded and the place was just dirty and run down. I found another place that looks good by the pics online, and she is signed up for a free trial class next Thursday. She is really excited and I hope this place works out.

I got two 16x20 poster frames from Hobby Lobby at 50% off yesterday. I'm going to put one in Leah's room with this pic:


And the other in the girls' room, with possibly one of these pics. Or I might opt to try and get something else. What do you think?
they'd be properly cropped with text




Natalie bought Monopoly with some of her birthday money because she's played it at church before on a game night. She calls it Monopolies, which I think is so cute. I played with her yesterday during naptime, and she was so funny because she kept selling me all her property for $100 so she could buy more houses and hotels for one set of property she had. I kept laughing, thinking how cute it was that she was just so excited to get a hotel. It wasn't so funny when I landed on that hotel and had to mortgage half my properties to pay rent. Twice. And then the third time, she completely wiped me out. LOL

She also bought Mario Kart for the Wii with some of her birthday money. She completely smokes me on that too.

Leah took a nap from 10-11am this morning and hasn't slept since. Even though she is EXHAUSTED. And that makes ME exhausted.

I feel like I'm leaving Graham out, but everything I think of to tell about him, isn't really conveyed properly in written word. It's mostly about how he says or does certain things. Like this cute little dance he does, or the way he says "I don't know" or the sound he makes for feet. Like anytime he sees feet, he makes this sound that I can only describe as coughing up a hairball. It's funny. And kinda weird. But mostly funny.

7 years

I'm a day late because yesterday was jam-packed full of birthday fun!!! It's not very often that the kids' birthdays fall on a Saturday. I used to think it was so great when we'd get to do their party on their actual birthday. But now, I think it's kind of a rip! lol Usually, we do their party on the Saturday before or after (or somewhere near) their actual bday. Then on the actual birthday, we eat all their favorite foods and do something extra special. But when the party falls on the actual birthday, it all gets crammed together. Natalie didn't care or notice though, it's just my own belly-aching lol. I just love birthdays and like to milk them for all their worth!



The day started with a birthday breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and eggs - including a candle in the birthday girl's pancake! Then we just kind of hung out and got things ready to head over to the party - at Chuck E. Cheese. It was the first party we'd done at Chuck E. Cheese and I was very impressed with how down-pat they have their parties. Everything went really smoothly, even with some last minute changes. Natalie had so much fun playing with her friends. I was so excited to see so many of her friends come to the party. Last year was hard because we hadn't been attending our church for very long, and she didn't really know very many people. This year though, she had lots of friends and it was so great to see her surrounded by so many of them on her birthday! Another really fun thing was seeing how excited they were to give her her presents. You could tell the kids had each very carefully picked out something special for Natalie. After 2 hours of controlled chaos, we headed home. My family and one of my friends and her kids came over and we had more cake and presents and the kids just ran themselves silly all evening. After dinner, we tallied up Natalie's birthday money and giftcards and headed to Target to let her spend it. She ended up getting a new Wii game (Mario Kart), some board games (Monopoly, checkers/chess/backgamon set, and Dominoes), another Webkinz (she'd gotten one as a gift from a friend at the party too), and some soccer clothes. She was pretty proud of her loot! I'd say it was a pretty awesome day. Too bad I left my camera battery at home and didn't get pics of any of it!!! >:(



I can't say enough about how proud I am of Natalie. She is so smart, driven, sweet, and friendly. She is so determined to get things right. She will keep at something until she has it down. At the beginning of our school year, she was still just sounding out short words. Now, she is reading chapter books on a 3rd and 4th grade level. I remember when we couldn't even get her to say "hi" on the phone, and now she initiates calls to family members all on her own. She is an AWESOME hula-hooper. She is a very good mix of tomboy and girly girl. She is just an amazing person all around. I love that girl so much. She makes me so proud to be a mom!



Natalie, you have grown into such a beautiful young lady. I can't believe how fast you are growing right before my eyes. It's been 7 years since you set foot on this earth, and nothing has been the same since. You've impacted us all in a huge way, and for that I am so grateful. I love you little lady!

Mommy Rant

Used to - my biggest Mommy Rant was the horrible choices for kids' clothes and television programs. And while that is still a big rant of mine, NOW, my biggest rant is other Mommies who rant about that, yet still put their kids in appalling clothing and let them watch appalling tv, and then rant some more about that. Yes, there are some heinous things out there in the 4-6x clothes. And yes, there are some age-inappropriate tv shows on Disney and Nick. But you know what, there are other options!

Let's look at clothes. I recently took Natalie shopping to let her choose an outfit for her 7th birthday photo shoot. She wanted to go to Kohl's. Oh my, there were some horrible things!!! I kept telling her, "You are SIX, not SIXTEEN!" Some things were too old looking, and some things were just flat out ugly! Can you believe this stuff is back in style?





MY EYES!

There were however, things that were very appropriate for a 6 year old CHILD. I don't understand the need for making our CHILDREN look like teenagers. They will be a teenager soon enough, why rush it?



Now, I know there are some kids who would not agree to wear some of the younger looking styles. Lucky for me, Natalie still likes to. But I know she won't forever. But there are some compromises out there. And guess what, they're usually cheaper too!



Now, let's look at TV. Turn on Disney Channel in the afternoon and you'll find shows like Hannah Montana, Suite Life on Deck, and Wizards of Waverly Place. I used to be under the assumption that "it's on Disney channel, it can't be too bad" and I let Natalie watch those shows. And granted, they are relatively wholesome. The kids on the show aren't out doing drugs or robbing banks. But if you will notice, the main characters of these shows, marketed to kids, are all teenagers. And they deal with teenage issues. I'm sorry, but I don't think my 4 and 6 year olds need to be watching shows about teenage issues. They don't need to be learning about french kissing or cheating boyfriends.

Some people may say, "Well, my kids have outgrown Sesame Street. And they have to watch SOMETHING. At least they're not watching Jersey Shore."

First of all, no they don't HAVE TO watch something. They could read a book, or play a game, or pretend to be a rocket scientist. But, I know, I know, sometimes it's nice for them to be able to sit down in front of the tv. Did you know that PBS has shows for older kids? Fetch with Ruff Ruffman and Wordgirl are favorites of my kids'. And the characters are KIDS who learn stuff! Imagine that! And my kids love to watch DVDs of their favorite movies. If you'd like God-centered shows, there is a cable channel called Smile of a Child that has great kids programming 24/7.

I'm not trying to say that the shows I mentioned are evil. Like I said, they are relatively wholesome. That just isn't good enough for me though.

So, the gist of my Mommy Rant is: if you don't like the clothes out there for kids to wear, then don't buy them. If you don't like the kid's programming, then don't watch it. There are alternatives. But if you do CHOOSE the clothes/shows, then don't complain about how bad they are.

Gee, I don't rant often, but that felt good to get off my chest. And I still love all of you, even if your 5 year old is wearing a neon Hannah Montana tube top to her first day of Kindergarten! :)

Dr. Updates and pics

I took Leah back to her pedi on Monday, for a follow-up on the weight issue. I shared with her what the LC told me, and how she wasn't concerned at all about Leah's weight. She let me know in no uncertain terms, that NO, it was NOT normal for her to "drop" like that (which bothers me that she says it like that, because Leah never lost weight, she was gaining, she just dropped percentiles), and that NO, it was NOT perfectly fine. However, she did have a lovely gain over the past week, so the dr. is not concerned anymore at this point. She goes back in another month for her 6 mos. checkup, and we'll just check it again then anyway. I felt all along that Leah was ok, and I still stand by that. I am glad that she gained more though, so the dr. will get off my case about it.

I went to the endocrinologist on Tuesday. I have Hashimoto's Disease, which is an auto immune disease that attacks my thyroid. Basically, my thyroid has been failing, because of this. Luckily, my TSH levels are still in normal range, so I can just continue on with my current dosage of Synthroid (synthetic thyroid hormone) for now. I also have a 1.6cm nodule on my thyroid. Due to the location of the nodule, the endo could not feel it externally. So we have to schedule an ultrasound-lead biopsy. I should be finding out today or tomorrow when that will be. He told me that 98% of the time, the nodules are benign. If that is the case, then we will continue to monitor it via u/s and if it's not growing, then we don't need to do anything else other than monitor it. If it is growing, or if it's malignant, then it would have to be removed. I'm not really worried about any of it right now. There's no point to be. It's not going to change anything, and I don't need to stress myself out over it.

And just some pics I took last week.

Leah loves to suck on her toes!


If Leah is awake when Graham gets up from his nap, I will sometimes lay her in his bed next to him. He LOVES it. He cracks up when she's in there with him.

World Breastfeeding Week

In honor of World Breastfeeding Week, I thought I'd share my breastfeeding story.

When I found out I was pregnant, in December of 2002, I quickly started reading everything I could about pregnancy/birth/babies. I knew nothing. I'd babysat some here and there, but I knew pretty much nothing about being pregnant, giving birth, or taking care of babies. One thing that I realized early on, was that I wanted to breastfeed. Nutritionally, it's hands down the best thing for babies. I didn't expect it to be a walk in the park, but I figured if I was well prepared, I could do it. I enrolled in a breastfeeding class, along with the usual childbirth/taking care of baby classes that the hospital offered. I read a lot of literature on the subject. I bought nursing bras, lanolin, a boppy pillow, nursing pads, and anything else I thought I might need. Eric was completely supportive. I was set. Then on August 7, 2003, little miss Natalie Elizabeth entered this world. They had me nurse her within her first hour of life, and she did great. In fact, she nursed A LOT that first night, and next day. So much so that when the pediatrician on call checked in on us the next day, he said to me, "All you're gonna get from nursing her so often is sore nipples." I cried. No, I bawled. Here I was, a brand new (hormonal mess of a) mom, doing what I thought was best for my baby. And a MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, who I was putting my trust into, basically told me I was doing it all wrong. I was naive then, and thought "they must know better than me, I have no idea what I'm doing". So, I nursed her, but only for x amount of time, every x hours. When she "wasn't getting enough", I caved and gave her some formula in the hospital. When we went for her 2 week checkup, she had not gotten back up to her birth weight. Instead of giving me tips to get her to nurse more, or to increase my supply, my pediatrician just told me to start supplementing with an oz. of formula after each feeding. Of course, who was I to argue with the dr, so we did just that. It didn't take long before she was needing more and more formula supplement after each feeding. And by 6 mos old, she had stopped breastfeeding altogether.

When I got pregnant with Erica, I wanted it to go differently. I read even more. I didn't even keep formula in the house because I didn't want to be tempted. I was going to nurse her around the clock if I had to. And that's pretty much what I did. At her 2 week check up, she too, had not gotten back up to her birth weight. The dr (a different pedi) did suggest supplementing as a first course of action. I told her that I would really rather try harder to breastfeed and see what happened. She agreed and said we'd check her again at 1 month. So I took fenugreek, I pumped after feedings, I ate oatmeal, and I nurse her all.the.time. If she was awake, I was nursing her. When we went back for her 1 month checkup, she had passed her birth weight, but still not gained "enough". I was exhausted. I was getting next to no sleep, and was having a heck of a time keeping up with an active toddler (Natalie was a little over 2 years old at the time) and nursing nonstop. So I caved and started giving her formula after feedings. And then we met the slippery slope again, and by 4 mos old, Erica was done with nursing.

As many of you know, after I had Erica, I suffered 2 miscarriages. After the second one, my dr. ran all kinds of test to see what was going on. One of the things they discovered was that I had hypothyroidism. That can dramatically affect your milk supply, so there is a good chance I'd had it back when I was nursing the girls, but it was not discovered. Once I got that corrected, with medication, I went on to get pregnant with Graham.

I was more determined than ever to make breastfeeding work this time around. I was hopeful that I would not have the supply issues I'd had in the past now that my thyroid was being regulated. When he was born, I nursed him right away. Well, I tried nursing him right away. We had a bit of a problem getting him to latch properly. I never thought this would be an issue, because neither of the girls had a problem with it at all. And of course because he was born on a Friday night, there was not a Lactation Consultant there for the weekend. (and this was at a big hospital in the Houston medical center!) My nurse was so nice though, and she did everything she could to help me get him to latch. We did get him nursing, but it was very bumpy. I ended up taking him in to the pedi (a different one again) before he was 2 weeks old, because his jaundice was not getting better. I told him how often I was nursing (all the time) and he did not suggest supplementing at all (YAY!), but to keep nursing often. I had to take him daily to get his bilirubin levels checked. At around 10 days old, I headed to a local lactation center for some help. He was still not latching great, he was not back to his birth weight, and his jaundice didn't seem to be clearing up quickly enough for my liking. I just had a feeling something wasn't right. After an assessment, she concluded that he had a minor tongue tie (where the frenulum that attaches your tongue to the bottom of your mouth, is too short/tight and causes you to not be able to move your tongue enough). She suggested that I pump after each feeding and give him what I'd pumped as a supplement. He was not removing the milk effectively, and if we continued on like this, he would not gain weight and my supply would diminish. We had an appt. 2 days later with a pediatric dentist to get a laser frenectomy, to clip the frenulum. The LC said that once that was clipped, he'd be able to nurse easier and things would hopefully get better. At 11 days old, we took Graham to get the frenectomy. It was very quick and easy and had pretty much no recovery time. However, I still couldn't get him to nurse. By this point, he'd been latching ok, but taking really well to the bottle supplements. I kept pumping, nursing, feeding. Eric went back to work, and I had 2 other kids at home to take care of as well, and I just couldn't keep up. At around 3-4 weeks, I gave up on trying to get him to nurse, and I started exclusively pumping. At least he was getting breastmilk, right? I took some mega herbs to help my supply. I had even rented a hospital grade pump from the LC. But it didn't help. Finally, at just shy of 6 weeks, I was pumping no less than 8 times a day, and only getting enough for one feeding using the rented pump, and not getting ANYTHING using my own (Medela Pump in Style). At that point, it wasn't worth it. I threw in the towel completely. It was devastating for me because at that point, I didn't know if we were going to have any more kids, and I felt totally robbed. I had worked SO HARD to make it work. There were women out there who didn't even WANT to breastfeed, and I wanted it SO BAD. WHY couldn't I make it work?

Then, when Graham was 7 months old, I got pregnant with Leah. I was cautiously hopeful that breastfeeding would be successful this time. I knew I was gonna give it all I had, but I was scared of being crushed again. I knew I wanted to pump more in the beginning, to help increase my supply, and also to build a stash so that if I did need to supplement, I could use my milk instead of formula. She nursed great in the hospital. Once we got home was another story. She was a lazy nurser. She fell asleep almost immediately when I put her to the breast. We did all the usual things to keep her awake (undress her, tickle her feet, use a cool washcloth on her etc) but it didn't help. I was pumping a lot because the milk was there, but she wasn't getting it. We started giving her bottles of my milk, just so she'd eat *something*. At one point, I decided I was going to give up trying to get her to nurse because with now FOUR kids to take care of all day, I just couldn't keep up with the nurse/pump/feed every 2 hours routine. I figured I'd just pump as long as I could, and that was that. I had actually accepted that. Then one night, a friend from church brought us dinner. She was pregnant with her 2nd son, and we were talking about breastfeeding and the struggles I was having. She said something to the affect of "well, I'm sure she'll nurse again. And she'll probably even get to the point of only nursing." Yeah right, I thought. By then, it had been at least a couple days since I'd attempted to get Leah to nurse. But what she said just kept ringing in my head. Over and over. Maybe she was right? And what harm could come from trying to put Leah to the breast a couple times a day? Worst case, I'm in the same spot I am right now anyway. So that's what I did. I tried a couple times each day to get her to latch on and nurse. And lo and behold, one day she did it! And then after a few days, she was actually nursing several times a day. And actually getting milk! Before too long, she was taking full feedings at the breast and the supplements was getting fewer and farther between. By 6 weeks old, we had dumped the pump, and she was exclusively breastfeeding! I couldn't believe it. She was gaining well - our first to ever get back to their birth weight by 2 weeks - until her 4 month checkup. Her pedi (yet a different one again) was concerned about her slow weight gain at that point. At first, I just tried to get her to nurse more and tried to increase my supply. But when they reweighed her a week later, she said we really needed to get her to gain. We actually TRIED supplementing, but the girl would not take the bottle. We tried breastmilk (still had a stash in the freezer) and we tried formula (because she wasn't taking it and I didn't want to waste anymore of my milk if she was just refusing it anyway). We even tried using a supplemental nursing system. But nothing was successful. She didn't want anything but boobs. So I continued to take herbs to increase my supply, and I offered the breast to her constantly. I am proud to report that we had a follow up with her pedi today and she is gaining beautifully again! She's no longer worried about her weight gain, and we can stop trying to force the supplements! We are just a few weeks shy of our 6 month milestone! And now there's no looking back!!! :)