Life’s tough being the second child

Life is tough being the second child.  I should know.  I totally have middle child syndrome and now that I have two kids I can totally see how it just happens.  Hazel is doing really well and growing really fast but I don’t post about her as much as I did with Olivia.  Everything Olivia does or accomplishes is new and exciting for everyone.  Not that Hazel isn’t exciting but when she rolls over or laughs or sits up, it is like I’ve been there and seen that.  It would be really sad when I get our blog printed for the year if there aren’t many posts or pictures of my little Hazel nut so I am being more proactive to get more pictures and posts.

Hazel has learned how to roll over onto her tummy but she has forgotten that she can also roll onto her back.  She loves to talk and talk and talk.  She loves to sit up and doesn’t require the bumbo seat anymore.  She always wants to be in an upright position so she can see what is going on and feel like she is included.  That just makes her day.  She is a girl that knows what she wants and will cry to let us know she isn’t happy.  Even at 5 months she has a fiesty attitude.  I’ll be starting her on solids soon and the sleep training has finally paid off.  She doesn’t need to be rocked or held to go to sleep and she sleeps through the night for the most part.

My favorite thing she has been doing lately is when I hold her upright she lays her little head on my shoulder and gives me a hug.  That little moment is worth all the sleepless nights that I have had the past 5 months.

Pumpkin fair

We checked out this book from the local library this spring and Olivia was obsessed with the pumpkin fair for weeks.  Luckily for me I found a groupon for a season pass to a local pumpkin patch.  The pumpkin patch has a bunch of free activities including a corn maze so it was worth the money to go there a couple of times and enjoy the last warm days of fall.  Here are some pictures from our excursions for the month of October:

Olivia feeding a pony.

Olivia riding a pony at the pumpkin fair.

Saving money on baby formula

Baby #2 has been quite an adventure.  Plan A was to breastfeed and she took to that really well except she was a weak sucker.  Plan B was to pump exclusively for as long as possible and I was thinking like 10 months.  Then I got a clogged duct and it never would go away.  Then a comment on my blog by a very dear friend made a lot of good points so I decided to stop.  Oh I felt really guilty at first but in the end it has been nice.  My life revolved around pumping and even though it was only three times a day I thought about it constantly:  was I producing enough milk, I need to build my freezer stash, how long to pump, taking a break to pump at work, pumping as soon as I woke up, pumping last thing before bedtime and rotating through the frozen milk. Blah!

 

Since I quit pumping my pregnancy rash went away.  Yeah!!!  I have been able to get some decent sleep.  I don’t know if my hormones were all messed up but I could never get into deep sleep while I was pumping.  I never have to worry about leaking anymore.  On to Plan C which is using formula.  Luckily I had about 1000 oz of BM in the freezer so I have been doing half BM and half formula for the last month and it should take me to about the end of this year.

 

Olivia used Similac for the last 3 months and I remember it being really expensive considering I never had to pay for BM.  I did my research while pregnant and found the Target brand called Up and Up.  It got really great reviews and it is half the price of all the brand name formula.  I naturally assumed that Hazel would like Similac but I was wrong.  She prefers Enfamil which is exactly opposite of Olivia.  I used all my Enfamil samples and slowly incorporated Up and Up and she loves it.  The best part is I order it online and the shipping is free.  Target has a line that is similar to Similac or Enfamil, soy-based, partially hydrolyzed and rice.  I realize that some babies are extremely picky and can only tolerate a certain brand but I think it is worth a try.

 

What Moms Choose: Stay at Home or Work?

I subscribe to a magazine called Working Mother and I really enjoy reading the articles.  Here is what working mom is about and they have an excellent website that features more than just the magazine. Working Mother Media is a company focused on culture change for working moms, women and diversity in the workplace.  There is an article from November’s issue that I would like to share.

What Moms Choose: Stay at Home or Work?

There isn’t a mom around who hasn’t looked at someone else’s work life choices and questioned her own decisions. “What Moms Choose,” a major new study from the Working Mother Research Institute, sheds light on how moms feel—and the paths they pick—today.

via What Moms Choose: Stay at Home or Work? | workingmother.com.

Spotify

I am a big user of Pandora but I have come across this awesome software called Spotify.  With Pandora I type in an artist and it makes a station with music similar to and from that artist.  That’s nice but sometimes I don’t always like all the music from that artist and I just want to hear one or two songs.  Ta-dah!  Enter Spotify.

With Spotify, you can search by artist and find any song you want and create playlists.  You can share your playlists with friends and listen to theirs.  Spotify has free membership and paid ones as well.  The premium version allows you to sync your playlists and listen to it offline, no advertising, if you have a mobile phone you can have immediate access to all that music – wherever you are, on or offline and you get premium sound.  If you are a big music lover it might be worth the extra cost.

For me I use the free version and I love it. Spotify.com

Home Remedy for colds

Brand of children's drops I use for my kids.

 

Whenever Olivia gets sick which ranges from a fever to a running nose or cough, I always give her echinacea and goldenseal drops to help her immune system.  In my humble opinion, I think it really helps her recover from her colds faster and make her symptoms not as severe.

Home Remedy for a cough

When anyone in my family has a nagging cough at night, I always use vaporub or medicated chest rub on their feet and put on a pair of socks.  It works every time to relief the cough so they can sleep better.

I like to use home remedies before I have to turn to medication so I am constantly trying things out especially now that I have children.  I have shared this with family members, friends and coworkers and as crazy as it sounds it really works.

Happy and healthy living especially as we enter the cold and flu season.  Remember the best prevention is washing your hands with soap and warm water.  Lack of sleep, stress and poor eating habits also lower your immunity.

Keep the Faith

As a control freak this is a really hard concept for me to fully embrace.  I plan for everything.  Even to this day even though nothing has ever worked out the way I intended  that doesn’t stop me from planning.  Sometime it keeps me up at night for hours.   I can’t help it.  My mind racing 200/mph.

The only thing I can ever control is myself and even then that is hard.  Through all the heartache, tough decisions, and tears, I am learning to surrender.  Surrender my fate to God because I have to keep the faith that every thing will turn out okay.  Not the way I planned but the way it needed to be.  Hopefully I learned what I needed to from that experience.

I don’t always make it from point A to B without a lot of detours but it is the journey and not the destination that makes it life.  At this very moment I feel like I am wandering in circles.  I think I know what I want but it isn’t where God is directing me and my family.  Key word is think because only God can see the big picture.

I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel but my faith keeps me on the path and pressing forward.  To those that may feel like they are floundering, keep the faith because it will make the journey easier.

 

I found both picture via pintrest.com

Love this Ap: Dolphin Browser

I am not a big of the safari browser on my laptop, iPad, or iPhone.  I recently found this great browser called dolphin and I am hooked.  It is free and my favorite thing so far is the gesture feature.  It is also available for Droids so check it out if you have a smartphone or notepad.

Parade of Homes

Our original plan was to go to sacrament meeting and then go to the Parade of Homes.  I wish I could say we always keep the Sabbath day holy and never go out or spend money and only do Sunday appropriate activities but we aren’t quite there yet which is another post for another day.  Olivia got sick, Mike slept in and I lacked the motivation to get everyone going which led to missing church and not leaving the house until 2 pm.

We went to several homes with another family we met in the Treasure Valley which I will refer to as Family C.  They are great people and they have three kids that Olivia adores. We did Parade of Homes to dream build and envision what we wanted in our future homes.  It was my first time and it was really fun to see what the trends are in home building and to see the nice amenities that I didn’t even know existed.

I learned that even though I don’t think I have the energy some way and some how I find some to make it through the day.  I am a planner and control freak (I hate to admit it though) but I am learning how to do things on a whim and learning how to adjust as the situation arises.  Children are very adaptable and I could learn a lot from my kids.  I thrive well on a schedule which I would like to teach my kids but I also want them to learn how to adapt to changes as well.