Pinterest Success- Happy Valentine's Day

Let me start by saying I am not one of those mom's.

One of those mom's that is crafty and spending large amount of time doing crafts either with or for their children.  

That being said I was looking something easy and inexpensive to do for Valentine's Day of all the family...

Enter Pinterest.  

I have had a couple successes and a couple of Failures...

and over all this was a success.

I purchased a 10 pack of canvas at Jo-Ann Fabrics.

It was on sale for $20 and then I had a 50% coupon

so it was 10 dollars.

Already had the red paint and the brushes.  

Then my husband helped me and this was a saving grace.

I think this would have been impossible to do on my own.  

At first we thought just having him place his food in paint would be the best idea but after the first one we discover the painting his foot with a brush worked better.

We did all the left feet first and let them dry,

then all the right feet.

Then one day during his nap I painted the rest.

All and all they turned out well and are very cute.

(Also a very inexpensive way to document footprints and hands.)  

We did a couple with his hand as the letter "O" in LOVE, 

and then painted the L---VE.  

I forgot to take a picture of this but they turned well also.

We found painting the hand with a paint brush also worked better for this.

Well Happy Valentine's Day!!!

11 Months!!!!!

Yeap!

11 Months

In less than 1 month you will be a year!

I just can not believe how much of a person you have become!

You are officially signing.

You can sign milk and all done.

We are working on more, cup, thank you, please and a couple others.

You said your official first word-

And much to my dismay it was not "Mama,"  it was "Dog."

You love Clemson so much and are finally getting the concept of "Gentle Pet the Puppy,"

which means Clemson is finally starting to warm up to you.

You are walking and I believe any day now you will be running.

You are climbing and just on the move constantly.

It is a shame I have to wait until you are two to sign you up for Tiny Soccer.

You are in most 18 month clothing and still in size 4 diaper.

You are pretty much on people food completely except for some veggie packs because you are not a fan of veggies- go figure.  You love Mac & Cheese, Manicotti, Chicken Pot Pie and Grandma's Soup.

You have become such a gentle soul- loving to share- you want to share everything now.

Your sleeping has been good but I think this week we have 4 teeth coming in at the same time so you are waking up occasionally crying but falling back to sleep shortly after.
You still sleep around 11-13 hours a night and take two naps which total about 2-3 hours a day.  

You are becoming more verbal- babbling all the time.  

You love to mimic me now which is funny.
You also said "Wubba" today for your nap time pacifier
and said "Mama" yesterday but not really sure if you truly meant "Mama."

You are waving now and clapping all the time.
You love the songs "If you are Happy and You Know it Clapp your Hands."

You love everything music.
If we ask you to go bang on your drum you will go into your play room, open the cabinet,
find your drum and start banging on it.
I think you are going to love your music class that we signed you up for starting in March.

This month we slowed down a little after the holidays which I think was much needed.

We had play dates with friends to occupy most of our time 

and our weekends now consist of trying to keep you busy since you are into everything!!!!

Coming up in your 1st Valentine's Day which will be small,

Followed by your first trim to Sarasota to see your other set of Grandparents.

And then before you know it - you will be 1!!!

Good Support

Now that I am officially done with pumping...

WAHOO.....

my bra size has drastically changed.  

After thinking that I have not really purchased myself a Bra in the last two years other than 3 very cheap Maternity Bras, I decided that I was ready for some support.

Either due to my changing breast size or bra's getting stretched out,

I completely felt unsupported and uncomfortable in my old bras.  

Some were too loose, some rode up in the back, and some were just uncomfortable.

My bra's up to this point were just bought a Macys, or Khols- never spending more than $30 on a bra. 

I decided that it was time to make an investment.

I reached out to some friends to see where they had gone to 

1) Be fitted

2) And to invest in some good bra's

The two names that kept coming up with Nordstroms and Trousseau in Vienna.  

After considering both options I decided to go with Troussea because

1) It had awesome reviews

2) It was closer to home

3) Their reviews were particularly good about actual bra fitting which is what I was the most interested in. 

I woke up on Saturday and after putting Collin down for a nap at 1000- I headed out.

The reviews said that Saturday's are crazy busy so I was expecting to have to wait.  

It is located in Vienna between Fairfax and Tysons on 123.  It took me less than 15 minutes to get there.  I walked in and was greeted by two women who asked in they could help me. 

I said "Yes actually, I just stopped breastfeeding and none of my bra's are fitting me so I would like to be fitted and possible purchase 2-3 bra's."

I was shown to the dressing room by Karleigh who was awesome.  

She first measured me- boy was I wearing the wrong size bras!!!

I was wearing to big of a band size and too small of a cup size.  

After measuring me she asked what I preferred in a bra.

I request a demi molded cup bra. 

 I advised what colors I liked vs dislikes. 

She returned in 5 minutes with 8 bras.

She then showed me how to adjust my breast tissue and also make sure it is on correctly.  

EXTREMELY HELPFUL.

She was great about answering questions and never made me feel pressured to buy anything.  

I was in and out in less than 30 minutes with 3 new amazing bras (all by Chantelle) that not only make me feel supported but also made me feel good about myself.    I purchased two from the Essensia line and 1 from the Hendona line.

I hate bra shopping and it is one of my body parts that I would change if I could- yes we all those body parts that we hate.  

The bra's ranged from 50-80 dollars on average.  

Yes you might this this is a lot for a bra-

but it is amazing how much more comfortable and confident I feel in them.

Totally worth it.  

I was home before Collin woke up for his nap.  

I would totally recommend going here to be fitted even if you just learn how to fit yourself.

It was only 30 minutes in my day but left me feeling very happy!!~

Chibis

Now the Collin is officially on the move,

he wants to be moving all the time.  

With the crazy weather lately it has been hard to get out of the house.

So we asked some friends for some recommendation and 

one of the recommendations was Chibis,

an children indoor play center in Ashburn.

It is located not even 5 minutes from my parents so we decided to head out there 

on a cold Saturday.  

(We went after to visit them so they could see Collin.)

It is 10 $ per child for 90 minutes.  

We got there around 1230.

At first we went to the room that is just for children under 3.

Collin took a little time to warm up 

but was in love with all the balls!

After about 20 minutes we headed in to the bigger kid play 

area and the rest was history.

He was off walking and playing.

 We played in cars...

 And absolutely loved all the balls.

 We went in tunnels.

 We climbed....

 We looked thru fun objects...

 We played Peek A Boo...

All and all he had a blast and totally worth doing again

especially on a cold wintery day.

We ended up staying almost the entire 90 minutes 

and we were lucky that it was not that crowded but busy.

If it had been crowded I could see it being a little hard since Collin

is still mastering walking.  

Yeah for a family day of FUN!

Groupon #3

 I had another groupon

that I had been saving which expired the end of January 

so I decided to get some last photos of Collin.

After her turns 1,

I will probably only get pictures yearly. 

The Groupon was $15 dollars which included

a sitting fee

and 8 sheets of photos

at Picture People.

I have now use Picture People twice and

target once- 

Picture people wins hands down 

for a couple of reasons

1)You photos are ready in like 15 minutes

(Target you have to come back to pick them up 1-2 weeks later)

2) They have more background and props

3) Their photographers are much more helpful with suggestions.

Judging by the photos you would think Collin was having a ball

when in fact he was kind of difficult the whole time

but the photographer just did a great job.  

Goodbye....

Right now it is 7:40pm.

I should be getting ready to pump so I can get to bed before a long day at work tomorrow.

But tonight- there is no pump.  

After a difficult week with the "lady friends" and pumping- 

I AM DONE.  

It started last Monday.  

Collin woke me up crying at 0700 am, within two minutes of standing up I felt faint like I was going to pass out.  I could barely make it down stairs to heat his bottle up.  

I went back up stairs and let him hold his own bottle while I laid with him on the floor- 

Not one of my best moments.  

It was apparent to me that I could not even pick him up and my coloring was white as a piece of paper.  So I called Joe and told him that he had to come home from work.  

Joe came home and I got back into bed and woke feeling a little better but with this pain in my left breast.  I had a clogged duct!

I sent Joe back to work and I managed to take care of Collin for the rest of the day- 

Thank God he was an easy baby that day!  

He just keep bringing me books to read him.  

I did everything I could to help to clear the duct- massage, heat, showers, extra pumping (at this point I was only pumping twice a day) but Wednesday morning I felt worse and now had a big red mass on my breast-  Mastitis!!

I called my midwife and she prescribed an antibiotic which I started taking and continued to do all the listed above.  By Saturday I was starting to feel better and my breast was cleared up.  

Then Sunday I just felt like I had the chills all day- just thought I was over tired from work and Collin.  But today rolled around and again the same thing happened- this time it was my other breast- a clogged duct again.  I cried!  It was so painful- imagine someone taking a knife and stabbing you in the boob- that is what it feels like.  

I quickly texted my midwife friend and lactation consultant friend- 

they both said the same thing.  

I just need to be done- My body is done!

I agree- I am mentally there!  

Collin is 10 1/2 months and I still have enough breastmilk stored to get him to 1 year which was my end all goal.  

So tonight I placed my pump in the closet to put away with the other baby stuff and while I did I had a minute of sadness not because I am sad to not be pumping anymore but because this meant that Collin was indeed becoming my little man!  

Pumping has been a journey for me- 

A hard one.

One that I have faced some criticism along the way - "Well why don't you just breastfeed!"

I hated these comments....

But I just had to remind myself that pumping was breastfeeding.

I pumped for 10 1/2 months and for this I am proud of myself

and as we were having dinner tonight and I started to get a little teary eyed with my husband as I felt guilty about not making it to a year (even though I have enough milk)-

He told me he was proud of me too and that Collin thanks me every day!

Totally worth 10 1/2 months.

But now the question is what do I do with all that time I spend pumping....

Tonight it will be sleep!!

You may be asking- isn't not expressing your milk going to hurt more.

The answer is yes for 1-4 days.  

I am doing things to help-

1)Wearing two sports bras around the clock.

2) No stimulation which means no showers- I am bathing right now until my milk dries up.

3) Motrin and Tylenol- Alternating. 

4) Continuing my antibiotics.

5) Ice

I have been asked if we have another child what I will do next time,

and the truth is

- I do not know if there will be another child &

-I do not know what I will do next time!

So goodbye pump...

Nighty Nighy!

We are Walking....

You may remember that on New Year's Eve Day, Collin took his first couple of steps (assisted)- 

meaning Joe and I would start walking with him and then let him go and he would take

2-8 steps on his own.

Since then we have been trying to get him to walk assisted ALOT and

I have found what works best is having him hold on 1 hand.  

We worked on it all day.  

So when Joe got home early from work today and it was still nice outside 

I suggested we go for a walk.

We bundled up and I was standing with Collin closing the garage door when he just started walking to Joe.

He kept walking and walking!!!

Joe who was quick thinking- thanks to an early Valentine/Birthday gift, 

whipped out his I-phone to get some pictures.