This Girls Journey

she laughs

Nola Laughing

thank you anna!

Nola received three books in the mail last week from my good friend Anna who lives in TX. Anna one of those people who will just randomly buy something and put  it in the mail, and poof! You have a new book or a card with a gift certificate. She's good like that. Whereas I am awful when it comes to cards and such. I love making cards. I will make them, and never get around to sending them out. I guess thats the flake in me. The three books are all super cute, and we love them. I can't wait till Nola actually understands what is being read to her.  The books are Happy to Be Nappy, The Suns Daughter, and Oh Lords, I wish I was a buzzard.

THANK YOU ANNA!

cupcakes are a girls bestfriend

J'adore cupcakes!!! I made these cupcakes for my friend ShaQuans wedding "party." I say wedding party because she got married a few weeks ago in a very small intimate ceremony, and had a big party this weekend where she invited friends and family to celebrate. I made a cupcake tower based on a design by Louise at Cake Journal with vanilla cupcakes topped with vanilla and chocolate buttercream. The R's on top of the cupcakes are handmade with fondant. I really enjoyed making this, however I have one suggestion for anyone thinking of doing something similar. You might want to omit the fondant on humid days. The moisture in the air almost killed the R's. I say almost. I was sooo nervous, but everything worked out.

controlling birth

A few days ago I recieved a phone call from the Target pharmacy indicating that my birth control pills persciption has expired, and in order to get a refill I needed to get a new scrip from my doctor. I was genuinely confused, but then after more thought I remembered that at one point I had to take BC pills to regulate my cycle which was well over a year ago considering in the past year I have been pregnant, delivered, and as of Sunday I will have a 3 month old baby. I somehow feel like even though I have this beautiful little person lying next to me right now, I am still somehow haunted by the fact that I was not able to concieve her on my own, and may not be able to concieve a little brother or sister without the assisntance of modern day technology. With that being said, I certainly have no interest in taking birth control pills which would definately prevent me from at the very least having an "oops baby." I admit, and agree that getting pregnant right now would be extrememly soon after having Nola, but given what we have been through to have her, any additions to our family would be a welcome blessing. So my answer to Target pharmacy was "no thanks." It should have been "leave me alone!!!" I already have no control of my fertility, and what little control I have, I don't want to give it over to a pill called THE BIRTH CONTROL PILL.

 

still leaking

So, I am still leaking. The socks worked one night, but then not the next. I purchased a crib pad from Baby's R' Us and slept without a shirt altogether. That didn't work. Boob juice leaked straight through onto the bed.  Amy at Crazy? or Pregnant suggested Lily Padz. I'm not quite sure how I feel about something that basically plugs up my nipples so that they don't leak. That scares me, and my imagination is giving me vision of clogged ducts. Which is definitely something that I do not want. Someone from my La Lache League meeting suggested Hemp Pads because they are more absorbent. Once I find some good ones to purchase, I will be checking those out, and I will let you know. Do NOT go out and buy cotton pads. Those are not good ever. Awake nor sleeping. Personally, I soak straight through. When I nurse on one side, the other boob is activated and immediately begins to leak. So I have ruined many shirts and bras in the middle of the day trying to use cotton pads. Perhaps the ones I have aren't thick enough. I'm not sure. Wool is ok, but cotton sucks. The saga continues. Still in search of a solution, hopefully I will find it soon.

beautiful day, fun day

Today was a beautiful day. In fact it is actually the first really nice day we've had in a while. This entire week, with the exception of most of last Monday has been really cloudy and drizzly. Not rain, just random water sprinkles coming from the sky. So depressing. So when we woke up this morning and saw that the sun was actually showing it's pretty face we decided that we must go out and enjoy it. Besides the fact that I believe children should get as much fresh air as possible. Also my husband's daughter Alexis is visiting us for a couple of weeks. It's a shame that already half of her time with us has passed and the entire time we have been stuck in the house because of the poor weather. Don't get me wrong. I totally understand that we need rain. I love rain sometimes. But when you have an infant and an 8 year old being in the house all day is the last thing that you want to do. Ok... I'm rambling. The whole point of this post is to post pics of our day picking strawberries at Belkin Farm. It was so much fun. We plan on going back when the peaches and nectarines are in season. Can't wait. I can already taste the peach cobbler. YUM.

leak proof??

So I am really at the end of my rope when it comes to the constant leakage I am experience in my bra. My boobs are constantly leaking. I wear mulitple pads in my bra, and still. I leak. Up until the past couple of weeks, I was purchasing disposable pads, however they cost about $11 for 60 pads. I have two boobs so that's 30 wears. I change it about 2-3 times a day. New pad in the morning, and new pad before I got to bed, and sometimes I just have to change because it's so soaked. That's about 10 days of pads. You do the math. That's about $33 bucks a month. Before TAX.


Disposable Pads
Pros:
Throw them away
Convenient
Sticky backing so they don't move around in bra
Cons:
Expensive
Wasteful. It doesn't make sense for me to not fill landfills with baby's diapers, but instead fill landfills with boob pads.

So what I have decided to do was just use the washable pads that I already have. Unfortunately, they are not as absorbent as disposable pads, and I go through them so fast. In the middle of the night last night after completely soaking through my last pair of pads, I ended up putting my husbands gym socks in my bra. What I found out is, if you fold over a long gym sock into four you have some really nice absorbency. More than if you just use the pad that is made for nursing bras. I love it. I may continue to use all of his socks to catch milk from my leaking boobs. Only at night thought which seems to be my most difficult time of day when it comes to leakage.
 
Reusable Pads
Pros:
Affordable
Just throw them in the wash
Cons:
Leak
Have to double/triple up
Shift around in bra

Breast Pad Substitutions:
Cloth Diapers folded (I think they would be a bit too large)
Triple up washable pads (I've done this, and they still leak)
No pad/No bra sleeping (I've tried this too with a towel under me. I soaked straight through the towel)
Man gym socks folded
Any other ideas?????? I need them.
I may try to make my own and have like 10 ply wool or something. It might looks crazy, but at least I won't leak through any shirts.

what's going on?

Absolutely nothing. Nola is getting huge. As of 8 days ago, she weighed 10lbs 10 oz., and is 22 1/4 inches long. Which may not sound that big to some people, but to me, it's a lot considering she was down to 5lbs 11oz during her first week of life. So she has officially doubled in weight without me having to supplement. She has not had a bottle since... she had one at my friends wedding 2 weeks ago, and before that it had been about 2 oe 3 weeks. So she is gaining and growing very well.

In the past few weeks we have branched out of the house a little more and more. We have started attending La Leche League meetings. Which we have found to be very helpful and supportive for those people who decide that they want to breastfeed. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet with other breastfeeding moms to discuss the challenges and benefits of breastfeeding. It was very helpful for me to see that I am not the only person out there who may be struggling with nursing. I highly recommend LLL to anyone breastfeeding, or even considering breastfeeding. The age range of babies is varied, so you do not have to have a newborn to attend.

bumGenius 3.0 all in one

So these are the cloth diapers that we have decided that we were going to use. We started out using several different kind, and these made the cut. Since Nola has been growing like a little weed, we had to make an order for new diapers.

What I love about these diapers...

• the fit
• the color
• the overall price
• easy to clean
• hybrid-they can be used with or without a doubler which is great for overnight use, and prevents leakage
• they don't leak
• they won't be sitting in landfills when my grandchildren are graduating from college
  

I will soon post a picture of Nola in her diapers, because it is sooo cute. Gotta love that diaper booty. I purchased these diapers from Cotton Babies which is a great website, and has a lot of information on the care and use of cloth diapers for those who may be a little weary of trying it out. It's soooo much easier than people think. Either way you will always have to deal with poop. Poop gets on clothes no matter what babies are wearing.

look what they gone done to birth

I stumbled across this video today. I thought I would share.