Formula

We ran out of donated milk so G has been getting formula bottles when we supplement. G's digestive system is not a fan of this brand, so today we bought a different brand tonight in the hopes it helps. He definitely prefers breastmilk though, but what baby wouldn't? On breastmilk he's less fussy, less gassy, his poops aren't as smelly, and his bum doesn't get so red. I'm really hoping these formula issues are due to the brand and not formula in general otherwise we're in for a LONG year of supplementing.

In completely unrelated news, it looks like I'll get to do my student teaching at El Camino - woot! It will be neat to teach at my Alma Mater... especially since some of my old teachers still work there.

Oh, and at 6 weeks G is 24.5 inches and 11.11 lbs. So he's grown 2 inches in 6 weeks - and is in size 3-6 months!

18 months and 6 weeks

So Monday Penelope had her 18 month appointment. She's 30lbs and 35", her head is 19.5" around - in the 97% on all counts. The Pediatrician evaluated her walking and posture and doesn't think physical therapy is necessary, the exercises we've been doing at home seem to be working quite well. Bryan and I have noticed a difference already so we'll continue to do what we're doing. She starts gymnastics next week and that should help as well.

Language and motor skills wise she's right on track. Her vocab gets larger every day - she has over 15 signs and half a dozen words that she uses regularly. She repeats more words, but doesn't use them all the time so those are harder to count and keep track of.

She's doing really well with Griffin - she really loves him. She enjoys showing him off and giving him kisses.

Speaking of G, his 6 week check up is tomorrow (with the midwives). We'll hopefully get the approval for Healthy Families this week or next so we can make an appointment for a Pediatrician and get him his first round of shots. No hurries though, shots aren't fun. He's getting so huge, I've had to pack away all his 0-3 month clothes and his 3 month jumpers are too small! Luckily his 3 month onesies still fit, but when it comes to footie pajamas he's in 6 month size.

We're still nursing - and still supplementing. He gets about 1/2 from the bottle and 1/2 from me. I stopped pumping and am still on the domperidone... we just ran out of donated breastmilk so we're on formula now. He seems to be gassier on formula, so we may have to experiment with different brands.

My decision to continue nursing is day by day at this point. Last week I passed the mark where I gave up nursing with Penelope - I'm happy to have made it to 6 weeks, but still very disappointed that we're having to supplement. Some days I love breastfeeding and other days I hate it. But I'm not quite ready to give it up... so we'll nurse until one of us is done. I'll probably be ready to stop long before he is, but who knows. Our situation is what it is, and no amount of wishing is going to make me produce enough milk to feed him on my own...

Our nursing struggle, plus all the aches and pains of pregnancy, the post-pregnancy body issues, and the lovely no-sleep newborn phase have made me very glad that this will be our last baby. Don't get me wrong, I love Griffin and am glad we have him - but I'm also glad that his baby stage is our last. We have two beautiful, healthy, and happy children - we're very lucky and very happy with the size of our family.

There's a lot more I wanted to talk about, but typing around a sleeping baby is difficult so I'll end here. I hope to be able to update semi-regularly now that Griffin is slightly less needy. Of course I'll be student teaching in the Fall so that will make opportunities to post even more scarce.

Family time at the ballpark

Bryan had the afternoon off so we decided to get in some family time... between school, work, and everything else we don't really spend a lot of time doing fun family things. It was a pretty nice day (bit on the windy side) and we all had a nice time. Penny decided she loves peanuts and Griffin and I were able to successfully nurse without the nursing pillow.

Here are some pictures:

Hoping to get in a post before the babies wake up

I have no idea what to talk about. I had an entire post composed in my head early this morning when Griffin was awake and refusing to go back to sleep (he was up for about 3 hours between 2-5am). It was an awesome post, wonderfully written, hilarious, witty... and a dozen other super flattering adjectives. Of course, I was half asleep and exhausted, so it's quite possible that my perception of the post would not have matched its reality. Nah, it would have been legendary.

Penny's new trick is to hand you the remote and demand that you turn on Sesame Street... she can get to the OnDemand menu on her own, but can't get it to the Sprout/Sesame Street channel without assistance. She'll even ask you "please" before she throws a colossal tantrum when you either 1) refuse to oblige or 2) don't turn it on fast enough. It's super awesome (/s).

And can I say that teething sucks donkey tail? Because it does. Her 2 year molars are coming in, but they're taking their sweet-ass time. I hope Griffin holds out on teething for awhile.

Speaking of the G-man, he's doing well. Breastfeeding is what it is - and I don't really want to go into it anymore (talking about it that is, we're still nursing as much as we can). The whole thing is alternately disappointing, frustrating, and pleasant. So there's a wide range there. I will note that we had three nights in a row of all-nursing, so that was nice. We still have to give him 16-20oz a day in supplement, so we're nowhere near where I wanted to be, but you really can't always get what you want.

G is getting stronger, I can't wait until we can put him in the Bumpo. He's also getting onto a pseudo-schedule which makes it slightly easier to take him and the P-monster out and about. Which is good since Pen starts gymnastics in a week, we have moms group, music class, and park play dates to attend. Getting out helps ensure a good afternoon nap for Pen, keeps mommy sane, gives daddy a chance to have uninterrupted work time, and makes the day pass by much more quickly.

Classes start up again in June (for me, B's been taking classes since April) and I have 4 more before I'm finished with coursework. I have student teaching this Fall and that's going to be a challenge for all of us. I'll be on a high school campus all day and we'll need to figure out childcare. Bryan will be working from home, but if he has to watch the kids he'll never be able to get anything done. We have awhile to figure it out - school doesn't start until August... so we'll see what happens.

I'll be so glad when this is all over and I have my credential and degree... then I can take a break and teach for a few years before I go back to school again for my doctorate. I'm determined to get my PhD.

What else?

Ummmm....

Yeah, can't think of anything. I'll try and post again Monday afternoon - Pen has her Ped appt then.

1 month & 17 months

Tomorrow Griffin will be one month old! In some ways the time has passed by very quickly, but in others it seems like it's been a lot longer... I think in most ways we all feel like he's been around longer than a month :) I can't remember life without him - well, yeah I can, but even just a month in he feels like he's always been a part of our family. Pictures of P, B, & I before G's arrival seem somehow incomplete. He completes us.

Cue cheesy music.

We took him over to our midwives for a weight check since we're still struggling with breastfeeding. He's at 10 lbs 13 oz - which is great. We still have to supplement with either donated breastmilk or formula - even on the domperidone I don't make enough to exclusively breastfeed. My supply has jumped 200% but that's still not enough to pack up the bottles. If I'm being realistic, it's unlikely that I'll be able to give up supplementing, although it's possible once he starts solids and his milk needs decrease then my production and his needs will synch up and we can finally pack away the bottles. We'll see...

I will stop pumping at the end of the month. We can't really afford to rent the pump for another month and I'm not really a fan of pumping.

So it's been a struggle - but we're getting through and he's doing really well. He doesn't hate tummy time as much as Penelope did and he hates his carseat much more than she did. He's having longer periods of being awake and social (as opposed to awake and eating) and I'm looking forward to when I can put him in the Bumpo and he and Penelope can entertain each other.

His sleep is pretty good. We're usually up twice during the night and he generally gives us at least one stretch of 3 hours. Sometimes 2 stretches of 3, which is super nice... he's been congested lately and I think he might have a cold (no fever though) and that makes it harder for him to go back down at night.

All in all, he's doing well and we're all adjusting nicely.

Penelope turned 17 months last week! I haven't weighed or measured her, but she has a Pediatrician appointment next week so we'll get her stats then.

At that visit we'll also ask for a referral to a physical therapist or pediatric orthopedic doctor. She has some walking/posture issues that we want to get resolved sooner rather than later so they don't become bigger issues. She drags one of her feet, doesn't walk quite like she should, and has terrible posture - she doesn't stand up straight, bends her knees when standing, and leans forward. It's pretty subtle but concerning enough to get a referral. Our midwifes gave us some exercises to try, so hopefully they produce results. She might have grown out of it on her own, but it won't hurt to get her evaluated and into physical therapy.

...and G-man woke up so no time to blog about anything else. I'll end with some pictures.

Fun at the zoo with Uncle Nic

Today my brother came with us to the zoo. Penny LOVES her Uncle Nic and she had a good time - and Nic got a great work-out since she didn't want him to put her down almost the entire time we were there.

Here are some pics!

Adventures in Breastfeeding

The kids and I have been out and about recently, and since Griffin and I are still trying to make nursing work this means we've had to nurse in a variety of places. With Penelope I only ever nursed at home, MSN, or in a relative's house. G-man and I are much more adventurous, here are some of the places we've nursed:

*JC Penny bathroom (and can I say - ick. There really weren't any places in the store for me to sit so we had to use the ladies room. Thankfully they had a chair b/c I would have been even more grossed out if I was forced to nurse in a bathroom stall.)

*Chilis - not too bad, they have plenty of places to sit and I have one of those nursing covers.

*Fremont Park - it was nice to nurse outside. Got a little warm in the sun though... used a blanket to cover G but only so he wouldn't get sunburned.

*Safeway - that was interesting. I took G to the grocery store (just G and I, P was at home with Daddy)... he had just eaten so I figured he'd be good to go in the Moby wrap and he'd eventually fall asleep. Hahahaha. I should have known better. If I'm the one trying to get him to sleep the ONLY way he'll sleep is if I nurse him or we bounce on my yoga ball. Since Safeway doesn't have a yoga ball I ended up having to nurse him IN THE STORE. Not really a big deal for nursing pros, but a big deal for me. I got him situated in the Moby and was able to make it work, but it wasn't easy at first. He fell asleep after a few sips but would wake up if I tried to put everything away - so I ended up doing the rest of my shopping with him snuggling my breast in the Moby. Such a boy.

I keep promising new pictures, but haven't found the time to take any yet. Soon!!

Too big

Penelope is now solidly in size 3T - at 17 months.

Griffin in now solidly in size 3months and fits 3-6 month clothes... they're all too wide for our skinny dude, but length-wise they're perfect. We also had to move up the straps in his car seat and his newborn hat doesn't fit anymore. He's 24 days old.

We have seriously big kids.

Naked!

Today we headed over to Kim's place for a playgroup. It used to be a part of our weekly routine, but we haven't been since a week before Griffin was born. It was a small group today (just us, Kim & Orson, and Kimberly & Ava) but it was fun. Felt great to get out of the house and back to a semblance of our routine - and Penelope had a blast.

Kim had set up the little pool in her backyard so we stripped the kids down and let them play naked. Miraculously no one peed! Penny did not want to leave the backyard and punished me for making her leave by only taking a 45 minute nap and then being super fussy for the rest of the day. She didn't sleep well last night either. Fun and a half.

So here are some pictures...

Getting Out

After Griffin was born I didn't leave our room for 3 days. I didn't leave the house for over a week, and I didn't put him in his car seat for a week and a half. It was nice to stay in and just be with our family (and nurse constantly - ok, so that wasn't "nice" but necessary), but I was starting to go a little stir crazy.

So yesterday (Monday) I packed up both kids and went to MSN for a breastfeeding support group (which didn't happen). Luckily some of our mom/kid friends showed up for a parenting discussion group so Penny and I both got in some social time.

Today we picked up my dad and took my mom out to lunch for her birthday, and tomorrow we're heading over to Kim & Orson's place for a play group (we've missed it the last few weeks!).

It feels good to get out of the house and get back into a semi-normal routine, but leaving w/ Griffin still makes me a little nervous. None of the places we're going are very far away from home... I'm not quite ready for a long trip (i.e. anything further than 20 minutes from the house). I'm still pumping at least 6x a day, so I can't really stay away for long anyway.

And let me say, I dislike pumping... I could use stronger language but I won't. But until my supply is maximized I need to pump as often as I can. It's worth it, but it's exhausting.

Ok, on to Penny stuff. She's mastered zippers, the "locks" on the "tupperware" we have (technically it's not tupperware), can reach the door handles on the Rav (which are pretty high), can jump, and is in size 3T.

She turns 17 months old tomorrow and I can't believe how fast the time has gone by!

I promise to try to remember to take pictures tomorrow.

Typing one handed

Griffin prefers to sleep on me, so I'm learning how to type one handed. It's not easy, so I'll get to it.

Started domperidone Saturday, just 40mg for 2 days, then 60 for 2 days, and then up to the full dose of 90. So far I've noticed a little increase in supply, so I'm hopeful that the full dose will dramatically increase my supply. No side effects thus far.

There's a lot of Penny updates, but I don't know how much I can detail with my limited one-handed typing skills. She and Bryan had batting practice yesterday, I wish I had caught it on video but it's hard to nurse and operate a camcorder.

We've put P back in her crib for now... the transition to a big girl bed was a bit too much change all at once (did I already talk about this?).

She loves to practice jumping now, which is so cute.

And now baby bubba is awake so it's time to go!