Wordless Wednesday

Mr. Quinn...I think he looks like a little elf!

Monkey boy climbed INTO the pack n play on top of the stuff I piled inside...he thought it was great!

6 week appointment

First off....who said Quinn can be 6 weeks old already? It doesn't seem remotely even possible! I am really hoping he grows out of this fussy/I need to be held all the time stage soon! Its starting to wear on my poor back...and daddy is loosing sleep at night! He seems to be sleeping better at night in the bassinet, as long as he doesn't loose the binky.I may have to try yet another one....

I made it to 6 weeks breastfeeding!!! YAY!! Never thought I would see the end of that very hard and long tunnel but I did! A friend asked me last week if I would keep doing it and I said, YES! After all I made it through the hard part and it should be somewhat easier now.

I went to my 6 week appt today. I don't think I will really miss having to go there every week! Although the staff and dr's are great! I met with the dr who did the c/s and I had no problems or complaints. I did ask why the surgery seemed to take longer( it really was almost 2 hrs long and should have been 45 mins or so). He said no major reason, other than it being my second c/s, I had some adhesions(scaring), and sometimes it takes longer to put things back in. I had minimal blood loss. But other than that, nothing major happened that would prevent me from having another...not that I plan on it! But ask me when the birth isn't so fresh in my mind! He looked at my scar and was boasting about how great of a job he did on stitching me up! It was quite humorous and we both got a good laugh..."I don't mean to brag, but I did a great job!" So all in all everything is fine and I healed perfectly...good thing after all of that.

I also asked about Quinn being breech and he said that he wasn't born breech. Apparently, he turned in 20 mins.

So now I don't go back until Aug, unless I decide on an IUD...but Keith and I have some reading and talking to do first! but so far I'm leaning towards that!

Crunchier than I thought i would be...

this topic has been on my mind for a couple days now. I've seen it alot in some of the online forums that I frequent...alot! I need to do something with my 5 mins of downtime!

Anywho, I never thought I would be a cloth diapering, breastfeeding, baby wearing mama! Let's just say those first 2 are saving us a boat load of money right now!

Diapers: $60(assuming we used a pkg a week at $10/pkg)
Formula: $90(assuming we use a can a week at $15/can)

That's quite a bit of money for one little 6 week old!(he will be 6 weeks on monday)

As for the babywearing...I apparently have a high needs baby that just likes to be held esp. when I'm trying to make dinner. I've tried numerous wraps, slings, and a snugli and NONE seem to be working at the moment. They all pull on my back and it ends up hurting. I'm currently in the process of buying a babyhawk...well a mama made babyhawk. We got a little money when we had the baby so I'll use that towards the purchase of one...for my sanity at least. I was reading today that babies that are held more and carried cry less...let's hope it works! Quinn just has a fussy period in the evening, conviently when Keith gets home, which is good in some sense, but I'm exhausted by then and just want to crash. With a 2 yr old and a 6 week old this can't always happen...so I tend to get the baby. So i'm hoping by wearing him more it might benefit us all and Ill have some sanity left...

Although, I'm pretty "crunchy" I do still vaccinate my kids. But that's a WHOLE other blog and everyone is entitled to their own opinion and this is mine.end.of.story.

what to do, what to do...

Back when I was contemplating closing the daycare for maternity leave, I had thought about closing until september. I figured this would give us PLENTY of time to adjust and hope that Quinn would be sleeping better...or at least I would be sleeping better. In the end I decided not to close that long knowing if I did I would probably loose both kids I watched and we needed the money. So I let go extra time with my boys and my sanity and decided to close for 10 weeks. Reasonable I thought considering i was adjusting to 2 kids and add to that the recovery of the c/s. I still had some resistance.

Well we all know how crappy this economy is so I was thinking about taking the kids back earlier than my June 1st deadline. Until I contacted both parents and now it looks like NEITHER child is coming back and if they do its only part time...ugh.

Now I'm left with a decision...do I readvertise and get a couple more kids and completely loose my sanity or do I just close for the summer and pick it back up in the fall, or not do it at all? For those that think its an easy job its not...but it allowed me to stay home. It doesn't make ANY sense to put both kids in daycare as I wouldn't be making enough full time to make it worth it. Plus I might have separation anxiety. I find after doing daycare for a 1.5 yrs my heart just isn't it to it.

Never leaving the house and dealing with bratty kids and parents drives on a person after a while. So I'm left to decide what do I do?

After talking to Keith he has no problem with me not doing the daycare...the problem lies in our bills and needing the money to cover them. Right now we are riding in the red as Keith's hours got cut and as for the savings, we have none.

I'm hoping to find a part time job I can do at home, data entry or something, but so far all of those are complete crap. Can't work in a restaurant b/c the hours won't work with keith's hours. I have one around to stay with the kids for a couple hours...well my mil but well...no.

I'm thinking maybe ill look into doing a paper route and hope that brings in just a little and will allow me to get out of the house...kid free.

Life just likes to throw me curveballs and I can only hope and pray that God will provide for us!

Wordless Wednesday

avery loved to help give Quinn a bath!

Menu Planning...

ok the object of the game this week is NOT to buy groceries or keep it under $20(have to buy 2 gallons of milk and bread at least). so here is a menu plan I will be FORCED to use for the next few weeks!

Frozen pizza
waffles
pancakes
grilled cheese and soup
Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Turkey(that I'm sure I can stretch into at least 2 more meals)
chili
mac and cheese
steak with rice

sadly all my veggies have depleted! Keith won't mind I'm sure! Unless I find a really good sale!

other things in my pantry:
chicken broth
tomato soup
cream of mush, chicken, and celery
1 box spaghetti
1 box elbow macacroni
1/2 box lasagna noodles
pork tenderloin
ground beef(2 lbs,separated)
ground turkey
1 lb chicken breast
potatoes
long grain rice, minute rice
2 cans black beans
1 can kidney beans
2 jars of salsa(mango and lime, gr. chili)
eggs
bacon

I'm trying to get as many meals as I can out of what I have so I don't want to use more than one protein per meal(ex. beans and chicken) so if i make taco soup it will only be with beans and no chicken

anyone have any good recipes?

Take time to hug and enjoy your children!

So for that past hour I have been reading about little Maddie Spohr...my friend Amy has mentiond her in her blog and released purple balloons for her. While reading another blog today I happened upon her again so I decided to read her mom's blog and see her tribute videos.

As I sit here in the silence of nap time reading and watching this beautiful, sweet, 18 month old, little girl I can't imagine not having my boys in my life. I read and watched with tears and goosebumps and my heart truly aches for her parents. Rest in Peace sweet Maddie and keep an eye over your parents.

In this hustle and bustle we call life, I think we forget to stop and smell...well the baby of course!(go ahead and smell some flowers too!) For anyone, who has kids and especially experiencing the joys(and hardship) of a newborn know how the first month can be. I am very sleep deprived and can loose my patience very easily. Even through all this I try to take a moment to enjoy the simple things that come with having a baby.

As I sit with Quinn nursing I try to savor every moment even if it is 3 am and I can't seem to keep my eyeballs peeled open! I sit and play with his tiny toes and hold his tiny fingers. I listen to him breath and swallow, and stroke his peach fuzz head. I know all to well that they grow way to fast as I pick Avery up and wonder how he got so big!

I love to watch Avery sing as he walks around the yard or count as we are washing his hands. There are very few quiet moments with him as he is a busy 2 yr old. I am always hugging and kissing him even if he doesn't want to reciprocate, he needs to know he is loved and he won't always be this little and will grow up to be a man. So I will cherish every tantrum now...b/c they will only get worse when he becomes a teenager.

I even find I get frustrated with my husband and probably overreact to everything he does lately...I can't help it and know it won't last forever. I miss him as it seems our bed has been taken over by a 1 month old. We will hurry to bed while Quinn is sleeping in the bassinet just to have a few moments to cuddle...yes only cuddling. As we never know when Quinn will wake up and demand to sleep with us, a habit we hope to soon break. But for now its nice to cuddle with a tiny little body, although my husband will do too!

I'm stressed out with lack of money we seem to have right now and the amount of bills we need to pay with such money. So I really try to not dwell on it, but focus on those sweet boys even though I may be frustrated.

I am lucky to have such wonderful people in my life including friends and family. So give your kids an extra hug and kiss and let them know they are loved b/c some people in this world won't get to hold their children again and thos of us who can should never take them for granted...even in tough and stressful times!

I'm still looking for that money tree....

and I still haven't found it!

Our budget has always been tight since I stopped working and stayed home with Avery. But in all honesty my ENTIRE paycheck would have gone to daycare so why should I have to work?

For the most part we have been doing well...until this week anyway. We cut out all extras such as eating out a lot, spending money on ourselves, netflix, and our water delivery. We bundled our internet/phone/cable, I dry clothes outside when its nice, and I cloth diaper both boys now. I also clip coupons, shop sales(never buy anything full price), and menu plan.

Once I had Quinn keith worked only a few days/half days so that didn't help our money situation, then I also didn't have daycare money coming in either and that helped buffer some costs. Well in the past 3 weeks or so Keith has lost his overtime...not that we truly depend on overtime to get by, but he was hired to work 42.5 hrs/week and just that little bit of extra helped...well we have felt the crunch this week.

We haven't really done any extra spending, but have just gotten through another holiday and a few things I needed for Quinn. After all the kid can't really go naked when its 40 out.

So we sat down last night and added up our expenses and our earnings...that was NOT so good. we will skim by the seat of our pants, but I hate feeling like this and have to worry about it. We don't have any money to even buy groceries and we don't qualify for anything as keith still makes to much money. I'm all for the programs out there to help and I have no problem asking for it, but we can't get it.

We've cut everything we possibly can...last night we cut our home phone and our cable down. Still have internet as I "need" it. It helps us save a little extra, but not a whole lot. I'm really hoping the economy will pick up and things will get better! at least I can hope right?

Thank goodness I don't need to buy diapers and formula for the baby as I have no idea how we would manage that!

Happy 1 month birthday, Quinny!(easter and updates)

I can't believe my itty bitty baby is one month old!(well technically it won't be until the 16th, but he is 4 weeks old today). He is still tiny, he was 7 lb 9 oz last week at the dr. Everything else checked out good.

I have made it 4 WHOLE WEEKS nursing! Who knew that would happen? I figured something would have happened and it would go south, but so far so good! for those that have nursed you know how hard it is in the beginning I'm sure! You find a whole new respect for bfing moms now!

Quinn sleeps about 3-6 hours at night. Once at 6 hours straight, it must have been a fluke as it hasn't happened again. I would love to have it though! We are slowly starting to get back into a routine and once that happens maybe I won't be such a scatter brain.

Yesterday, was Quinn's first Easter he got mostly some summer clothes and my mom did buy him a toy. Not that I need either of those things.

Avery made out like a bandit...thank you grandma jo. He had 2 easter egg hunts and my mom even put money in some. He's not spoiled though...

We are now cloth diapering both boys again! YAY! Avery has them 90% of the time and Quinn is in them 100%. Saves us a bunch of money.

Here is a funny story...my dear husband decides he is going to potty train Avery yesterday(or at least start too). He has no interest in it at all, but he got some new big boy underroos so Keith decided to give it a go. 20 mins into it, he peed. So he got changed and the floor got cleaned. 20 mins later he pooped...again daddy got to take care of it! Afterall it was his idea...after that he was back in diapers! i think i need to get keith a potty training 101 book...it was quite humerous! I know it will come in time though!

Best Diet I've Ever been on!

Well I'm not about to disclose how much I weigh, but I could definately be a contestant on Biggest Loser.

During my pregnancy with Quinn I gained a whopping 4 lbs...so I knew after having him I'd definately loose that!

So on monday when Quinn turned 3 weeks old I decided to jump on the scale...I held my breath and closed my eyes. To my suprise I've lost 31 lbs since having him! I didn't believe it and thought my scale was wacky...so I climbed back on it. Yup its true I really have lost that much!!

It must be the breastfeeding...I'll take it! Now if I would eat a bit more healthier...not that I'm eating total crap, but I have a serious addiction and cravings for chocolate lately and I haven't been limiting really what I've been eating.

So now that the weather is getting nicer, I'll start walking more and being more active. It is also coming into fruit and veggie season so chances are my poor husband will be forced to eat them and I'll loose even more!

I struggle so much with my weight regardless of what I do I was SHOCKED when the scale said those numbers!

3 weeks..

I can't believe my itty bitty Quinn is 3 weeks old today! Those weeks flew by and I didn't even do anything but stay home!

He went for a 3 week check up...which will count as his one month appointment. He is weighing in at 7lb 9 oz so above his birth weight. This is also up from the 6 lbs 8 oz he was when he left the hospital. So I guess my milk is good! He is still nursing great and saving us a bunch of money! He will still feed for about an hour each time, but hopefully he will not be as sleepy soon so I get more sleep! I am half way through the tough 6 weeks of nursing...I just keep thinking of that and I know I'll make it! He is slowing starting to sleep in his bassinet...i think its going to take some time to get him used to it. He goes about half the night and then ends up with us. Its better than nothing! Quinn will be starting with vitamins as soon as I get to the store to get them!

My recovery is finally so much better! I can actually move and get comfy in bed. I could still use more sleep as any mom can attest too!

Avery is doing ok...he seems to be adjusting well and once we are back on a schedule I'm sure it will be better for him. Avery's iron level is up a little, but he is still on the supplements.

We went out for the first time shopping this past friday. We had a diaper explosion at Kohl's and I actually nursed in public...well kinda. It was in the dressing room. I have a small fear of REALLY doing it out in the open. But one of these days I'll have to do it and just get over it! Right now he is still little and I'm still new so we are still learning it! I was glad my mom and sister went with us. Avery was a bit rambuctious but over all he was very good! After riding in the car for 1.5 hours, you'd be active too! Plus we had lunch he had to sit through as well. Quinn slept most of the time.

We got family pictures done 2 weeks ago and they came out fabulous! If you would like to see them let me know as they are on a special website!

Well I guess that's all I can write today as Quinn conviently has woken up!

Wordless Wednesday

A brother's love....