FF: December 2006

This is Katie 33 weeks pregnant with her twins and me 27 weeks pregnant with my second son Owen. She is pregnant again now…but don’t get any sneaky ideas, I have Mirena! LOL

Aren’t we cute, belly to belly? You can barely see the tree =)

P Dub Free Actions

Pioneer Woman must be the most famous blogger in the world, right? And she gives us free actions for PhotoShop. Love her.

Check out her photography blog.

TT: Herbs

In the beginning of November I got really sick. It was a Tuesday, my day off, so I was out and about with the boys...Costco and then the park. I started to get a tummy ache at the park and it rapidly progressed over the next few hours to include body aches, extreme tiredness, headache, nausea (I had my barf bucket ready...but it stayed empty), diarrhea, chills, and slight fever. At first I thought I had a stomach virus b/c I had NO respiratory symptoms. My back pain lasted for days so then I went to the doctor to get checked. They tested everything under the sun and all tests were normal (even though initially they thought bladder infection so I took antibiotics)...

SO, looking back I think I had H1N1 or some other FLU. I've never had the FLU in my life! I was pretty proud I actually made the thermometer move b/c my normal temp is 97.5 and it was 99.1. My first recorded fever! I thought I was dieing and could not do anything. Luckily my Auntie Sharon came to my rescue the first night and my babysitter Beth in the morning (I couldn't walk). She fed the kids breakfast, dropped Jackson off at school, and took Owen and Gavin for the day. I slept all day, except to pump and drink Ginger Ale. I was able to drive to pick them up but it took all my energy and I was walking like I'd just given birth...ssssllllloooowww. My sister came the second night and my mother-in-law came the third night. You might be wondering why I needed all this help when I'm married. My husband happened to be 8 hours away on business with no cell phone reception! The irony of it all.

The moral of the story is that my milk supply went down. I've never had this problem before. The first baby I nursed (Jackson) created such a good supply, I could've feed 4 babies. Literally. I had an entire freezer devoted to his milk. It was very painful. I even tried to donate it! My second nursing baby (Owen) made just enough and it was more comfortable. We didn't have excess so used a tad bit of formula when I wouldn't pump enough for the sitter. This is my third nursing baby (Gavin) and again I had an oversupply which caused clogs and mastitis and pain... it was more than surprising to be low! He actually cried at the breast b/c he wasn't getting enough (after the week of illness) and drank an entire bottle of formula in seconds (he hates the stuff!). Wow. Way to hurt a mom's ego.

I called upon my resources. Facebook friends. My doula Rosie. My natural friend who gave birth at home and couldn't breastfeed her first baby (but it worked with the second!). My Bradley class friend. Etc. They all recommended some herbs. So I was obedient and took them. THEY WORK! A week into it the dairy was back in action - and strong! I love nursing and was not about to give up, so I am so very very thankful for these natural remedies.

More Milk by Motherlove, purchased at Babies In Bloom for $26.


Fenugreek tablets purchased at Henry's on sale for $16.

Organic herbal teas for nursing moms purchased at Henry's for about $6.
Have you ever used any of these herbs? What was your experience?

CoffeeShop Photography

Meet Rita. SAHM who loves photography and Photoshop. She gives us actions for free. Love her. Read her story here and get some free stuff here. Want to learn something? Try one of her tutorials here. She’s been in my Google Reader for over a year but I’ve been admiring from a far due to my loss of Photoshop… soon, I’ll be back in action. Literally! Woot woot.

WW: Silly Jammie Boys

Heartbroken

16 oz of liquid gold...forgotten...found spoiled in the car. It was a very very sad day. Luckily it happened a few weeks ago. Right now I'm happy. But that day...not so much!

Thank You Santa!

Photoshop is in the mail and on the way to my house! YIPEEEE. Santa does love me =) Hopefully MY CAMERA will soon follow, but I might not have enough for another 6 months. Luckily I have time to practice with the new camera and macro lens my employers bought! fun fun fun! Wait, they will let me, right? Right?! They must...or I might combust.

Hanukkah is coming

(photo from this Flickr account)

Friday, December 11th, Hanukkah begins at sundown. We started celebrating a few years ago and my kids absolutely love it. I just found a great 8 day study that we will read and meditate on this year during the 8 days of Hanukkah.

The Eight Devotions on Light are titled:

• The Lord is our Light
• The Word is our Light
• We should be a Light to others
• The Light of the Body is the Eye
• Messiah is the Light of the World
• Paul saw the Light
• No Longer in the Darkness
• We need to let our Light Shine

Doesn’t it sound encouraging? I’m so excited! Join me.

Workin’ on it

I've been without Photoshop most of the year (enter loud sad gasp). When I got my new computer for Christmas 2008 it came with Vista. NO BEUNO to say the least. My PSE 3.0 no longer worked. My mom gave me her PSE 5.0 but it wasn't compatible either! I borrowed PSE 7.0 from my work and it is compatible. Finally. Problem is that I don't like it and therefore don't use it. I'm working on getting PS CS4 (enter loud happy gasp) this year for Christmas. I just couldn't deal with a header-less blog any longer though so I finally broke down and created one in PSE 7.0. Aren't those children adorable? Those are my boys (big smile, warm fuzzies...milk letdown).

Two Toofs

I've been using these tablets like crazy lately, and even some infant Tylenol.

See, Mr. Gavi here has been teething for about 6 weeks.

He's always got his fingers or fist in his mouth with drool a flowin'.

Lately he's been using his binky to teethe on too. He takes it out, screams at it, puts it back in and then repeats.

Gavin Edward. AKA "Two Toofs"

He's 5 1/2 months old...and such a sweet baby. I couldn't ask for anything more...except some sleep =)