Day 1 - A picture of yourself with ten random facts

1. Somehow I got a Minnesotan accent, even though no one else in my family has one. Unfortunately, after living in Utah for over two years now, I've nearly lost it.
2. I have the most amazing family in the world! My husband and daughter mean everything to me.
3. I have way too many clothes. And strangely enough, I never have anything to wear.
4. I always told myself I would never, ever, live in Utah. Ever. I was wrong.
5. I was a pregnant teenager. Married, though.
6. I absolutely love photography. I wish I could be a photographer, but so far it just hasn't happened. I get overwhelmed with the competition.
7. I'm kind of big on grammar and saying things correctly, especially in writing or public speaking. Even though I'm definitely not perfect, I did get a 36 on the "Usage and Mechanics of English" part of the ACT.

8. I love bright colors. Orange, pink, green, blue, it's all good, as long as it's bright.
9. I can never have enough pajama pants!
10. When I'm stressed, I like to clean. Especially kitchens. ...But only when I'm stressed.

Going Exclusive

I have been contemplating writing this for a while. It's quite personal, but I really wanted those I am close to to know exactly what I have been through with Kaylee and why I chose to pump exclusively for her.

When I was pregnant, I was all for breastfeeding. It was the only way to go - I felt like there really was no choice in the matter. And why should there be? It's convenient, cheap, healthy, the list goes on. I learned about breastfeeding from my midwives, La Leche League, books, and the internet, and it looked simple enough. I heard people describe it as blissful, relaxing, enjoyable, natural, fulfilling...etc. I was excited to nurse and have that special, close bond with my baby. I was determined to have a natural labor, as pain medications sometimes dull the baby's senses as well and can interfere with nursing.

Labor was a breeze, a total of about 10 1/2 hours from the first contraction, and Kaylee was born, perfectly healthy and strong in every way. Imagine my utmost surprise and confusion when I brought her to my breast and...she wouldn't latch on. She just didn't know what to do. After a couple of weeks, things were going a bit better (she would actually latch), but still going pretty badly. She would latch on, but she clamped down (horribly painful - worse than labor), she wiggled, she choked, she cried, she wouldn't suck hard enough to get anything. I went to La Leche League, I asked my mom, I went to two lactation consultants, my midwives tried to help me, and I searched the internet for any bit of information that would help me.
Nothing worked.

I kept trying for weeks, but I was completely miserable, as was Kaylee. Every time she ate, it was something else. One time it would be her not getting enough milk, the next she would be choking like crazy and couldn't breathe. Another time she would be wiggling so much I couldn't get her to calm down enough to latch on, and the next she would be falling asleep instead of eating. For a couple of weeks, she wanted to eat for about two minutes at a time, every five minutes. All day long. I never knew what to expect and I never knew what to do - I tried everything that was suggested to me, over and over again. I was exhausted, sick and tired of fighting with her every single time she ate. I could deal with an occasional fit, but I could not deal with this. In those first few weeks I must have cried more than I have ever before in my life, put together. I got sick several times in those weeks, probably from the stress, which just made it even harder to deal with. I looked up pumping on the internet, and learned a bit about exclusive pumping. I'd never heard of it before, but it was intriguing to me. These women would do nearly anything to make sure their babies would get breast milk, even though their babies couldn't latch for whatever reason. The thought of doing this actually filled me with a sort of hope. I learned about it and for the first time I felt peace - that sounds corny, but it's exactly what I felt. I felt like something was telling me it was the right decision. Maybe I could still give her breast milk and not have to go through this anymore.

The bonding that everyone talks about with breastfeeding...well, we certainly weren't getting it. In fact, I didn't even LIKE my daughter. I loved her, yes. But I did not like her. I too often got so incredibly frustrated with her when she was hungry that I would have to put her down and leave her crying for a few minutes, in order to calm down. That was about the extent of our bonding from nursing. A couple of times I gave her a bottle, sometimes of pumped milk, a couple times of formula, and it was incredible, the difference. I was calm, I felt truly relaxed, and Kaylee was happy, actually getting plenty to eat. She seemed to just love eating from a bottle, which hurt me more than anything.

When she was about two months old, I finally broke down and bought a good pump. I cried when I bought it, knowing in my heart that if we started using bottles, she would never go back. I felt like a complete failure for not being able to nurse her like I was "supposed" to. For a few weeks, things went really well. In fact, pumping and giving her bottles when she wouldn't nurse seemed to even be helping! She was happier and more willing to nurse more often. But when she turned 3 months old, it all just ended. One night she woke up and wouldn't nurse (she had always nursed well at night and in the morning), and I thought "Oh well, whatever. Just a fluke." Nope. My worst fear was confirmed - too many bottles, and she didn't want to nurse at all anymore.

I still cry sometimes when I think about it. I feel like maybe, maybe if I had given it a bit longer...maybe if I had tried just a little bit harder, we would be able to nurse. Maybe I should have tried more alternate feeding methods...so many possibilities. But then I remember all those terribly frustrating times we had. I remember her screaming at 2am because she was hungry and just couldn't latch right, just couldn't get the milk out. I remember feeling angry, hopeless, confused, lost, not good enough.

Exclusively pumping is definitely no walk in the park, though. It's very hard - just a different kind of hard. It's hard to rearrange my schedule (however flexible it may be!) around pumping. It's hard to be with family and have to excuse myself for 20 minutes to go sit on the bathroom floor alone. It's hard to miss out on spontaneity. It's hard to have my husband go to bed alone, and stay up and pump by myself instead of being with him. It's hard to get up at night and feed the baby, and then spend another 20 minutes pumping before I can go back to sleep. It's hard to keep up! A pump does not work as well as a baby in keeping a milk supply stable. I wasn't sure if I could do it, but so far I haven't had to supplement with formula at all. She has gotten 100% breast milk since I started.

I will never, ever again judge a women for not nursing their baby. I will never look at a baby eating formula and think "She just didn't try hard enough". Because maybe she did.

Decorations

I decided that our bedroom was way too bland and boring, so I to made some frames and painted pictures to go in them above our bed. I'm very happy with how they turned out!!! Now I just need to finish our quilt I've been working on...don't know when that will ever happen though.

Kaylee's 6 month Birthday!!!

I can't believe Kaylee is already 6 months old. She is getting so big!

A Day in the Life of Kaylee

Mommy doesn't know why I'm always crabby when I wake up in the morning. Well, this is what I see when I wake up, plus I'm covered in drool, my diaper is wet, and I'm STARVING. After all, I did just sleep for 9 hours straight. You'd be hungry too.

Mommy feeds me with a bottle now. She tried to get me to nurse for about 9 weeks, but I just didn't like it and told her by being as much of a pain as possible. It was awful! I never got enough, or I got too much, or Mommy would yell "ouch!!" and I didn't know why...it scared me.

Mommy says it's playtime now. In other words, it's "Mommy is going to leave you here while she goes and does something else." time. I don't understand this at ALL. Why wouldn't she want to play WITH me??

I just don't know what to do with all these funny looking toys. Sometimes they make funny noises, but I haven't quite figured out what makes them do that. I do like to hit them, and it happens a lot then.

 And now Mommy is attached to this weird machine again. She does this so much, and I can't figure out what it's for. She started it when she decided to stop trying to get me to nurse so much.

I hate it when she uses that machine. I usually cry. She came to get me so I could be right next to her, but it didn't help...I still cried.

Well, I guess it's not all THAT bad. At least she can talk to me and play with me.

 It's kind of fun. I guess.

Now it's tummy time! I like tummy time, I'm getting strong. I didn't like it as much when I was little, my neck got so tired.

I'm getting kind of tired though. Mommy says it's about time for a nap.

Note for all babies: Don't go to sleep too easily for naps. If you do, your mommy will try to put you down while you're sleeping. NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN!!! She'll never rock you to sleep again.

I finally succumbed. It took a while though.

Augh! I knew it. Mommy tried to put me down even though I fought sleep for a LONG time. She just won't learn!! You have to train those mommies. Fight harder, and then when you do fall asleep, they're so scared to move that they won't put you down.

And I'm back in Mommy's arms. She says maybe we'll try again tomorrow. DON'T GIVE IN!!! Mommies are very capable of learning.

 

Mommy decided to do a photo shoot with me today. She took way too many pictures. I didn't cry, but there was no way I would smile. That only leads to more pictures.

I'm helping Mommy cook dinner now. It smells funny.

While we wait for dinner to cook, Mommy plays the piano. I'm helping.

Then it's my turn.

Daddy's home!!! I usually cry at dinner time so someone holds me.

After dinner, it's time for a bath. I like baths. I get to splash Mommy and Daddy. I do hate getting OUT of the bath though.

 When my bath is done, I cuddle with Mommy and get a bottle. Then she tries to put me down for the night. I'm having trouble going to sleep tonight.

 It's going to be a long night for Mommy and Daddy. I'm starting some vigorous sleep training with them. My plan is to be very difficult to get to sleep, then as soon as they put me down, cry. Repeat until they bring me into their bed. It's going to be a long, hard process, but they'll learn eventually.

So much!!

Well it has definitely been long enough since I've updated this! But I have good reason to be such a slacker - with the new baby, things had been a little crazy. To put it short, Kaylee has given me so many difficult things to deal with I didn't even know what to do. She didn't eat well, she was very fussy, she couldn't keep my milk supply up, etc., I got sick about 5 times in the first 7 weeks of having her, AND I got my wisdom teeth out the 7th week. The one thing she has done well is sleep, for the most part. When she was first born, she would usually sleep 4-5 hour stretches at night (yeah, amazing!), and now it's up to 6-8 hours, sometimes even 10. The hours aren't the best, she likes to go to sleep at around 8 and wake up for the day at 4, but hey...we're getting there. She just started playing with toys a little bit today, and she "talks" a lot. So cute! It's a good thing.

Everything else is going pretty well for us too. School and work are both going well for Will. he only has the rest of this semester and next semester, and he'll be ready to teach. As for me, I'm just trying to keep the house clean, the baby happy (that's the hardest one) and myself from going completely insane (I'm only a little bit insane right now).

 So in our new ward, I didn't have a calling till last week. I knew they were looking for a choir pianist and director, so I thought maybe I would be the pianist. Last Sunday the bishopric called me in to talk to me, and Will told me that I would for SURE be the choir director. I said "No, I don't even know how to lead music! And I told them I play the piano. I'm sure I'll be the pianist." Well, things were mixed up that day and the person that was supposed to talk to me wasn't there, so they had to ask someone that wasn't in charge of that area to talk to me. They called me in, and asked me...to be the director. I was more than a little surprised and VERY nervous, but of course I said I would do it. Will said "Nah, it's a mistake. You're not the director, I bet when they sustain you next Sunday they'll say pianist." And I replied "Of course not, they wouldn't make a mistake on that. I'm the director. They wouldn't call a pianist before a director anyway, that wouldn't make sense." All week I stressed out, chose songs and practiced and practiced conducting different hymns. On Sunday as they were announcing the new callings, they said my name and...choir pianist. I was a little confused - so what WAS my calling? Was the original call a mistake? Or was the sustaining a mistake? I asked the bishopric afterward, and sure enough...with the confusion last Sunday, the bishopric member thought I was going to be the director. Whoops!!

Campout

Our ward had a campout last weekend, which I wanted to go to but I thought we might be moved out by then (hah!), so I wasn't planning on going - plus I wasn't sure if I'd be up to it anyway. But the week of the camp out came and I was feeling great, and we were still in the ward...so we borrowed a tent and air mattress from Will's parents and went. A few people thought I was insane to go camping, but it wasn't that far from home and only for one night, so I wasn't too worried about it.

This is Will during the relay races - they had three teams of one adult and three kids, and they had to do a backpack race first and then set up a tent. Will's team won, of course.
The campout was a lot of fun. We all brought our own dinners, but they made cobbler for dessert and even had ice cream to go with it. Then for breakfast they made fry bread, which was surprising to me...seems like a lot of work to me, to get that much oil heated up and have the dough ready and everything, but it was good.