Ice Cream for Breakfast!

Avalyn has a shirt that says: Ice Cream for Breakfast, and today she used the potty. How are these two things related? Simple! I rewarded her for using the potty with breakfast ice cream.

Now, before you tell me I'm a horrible, irresponsible parent I'll let you in on a secret... it wasn't real ice cream. That's right, I totally tricked my kid and I didn't have to clean up poop. Win! So, what did I give her? You ask. I gave her frozen banana's.

What? How did she miss that it wasn't ice cream? I'm so glad you asked, invisible internet person. It was so simple! I took three over ripe banana's, pealed them, sliced them up, and put them in the freezer overnight. This morning I put together my trusty ninja and put the banana's in it.

Oh, yeah, there's peanut butter there. Just wait.

Mmm... blended into a softy serve(ish) goodness.

Two teaspoons of peanut butter.

Oh yeah, she's so excited she's doing her French Stewart impression. Spot on, Avalyn, spot on.

I added some chocolate, too. Why not?

Avalyn's breakfast ice cream is served!

She wanted me to put the ice cream in each cup. That didn't work out for her.

She really did like it, but this "it's cold" face was priceless.

Mmm... delicious. She ate the whole bowl. This from the girl who doesn't eat fruits and veggies without a fight. Putting this in the win column!

And there are leftovers for tomorrow!

Yes, Matt called while I was taking the picture. Thanks speakerphone!

Want to know what else ripe banana's and peanut butter is good for?

Banana bread and peanut butter cookies. Yum!

Have any of you tricked your kids into eating fruits and veggies? What tricks do you use? Am I the only one who is super glad to have found the peanut butter cookie recipe that used to be on the giant 64 ounce tins of peanut butter (yey Google!)? Do you put butter on your banana bread? I know I do. The only thing that goes on my banana bread is butter. Nothing else touches it. Mmm... now I need to go get another piece. That reminds me, I need to buy butter...

The Math is Killing Me!

I'm back! I sure have missed blogging almost daily. It's not very easy to find time to blog when there's three kids in the house. Not sure how the pro's do it! But here I am, back and ready to blog!

Let me start by saying Nicolas has been on a pretty good schedule lately!

9:00AM - wake up/feeding

9:30AM - back to sleep

10:30AM - wake up/feeding

11:30AM - sleep

2:30PM -wake up/feeding

3:30-4:30PM - sleep

8:30-9:30PM - wake up/feeding

9:30PM-12:30AM - awake time with five-ten minute cat naps eating in between

12:30AM-4:30AM - sleep

4:30-4:45AM - feeding

4:45-9:00AM- sleep

Nice huh? During the sleeping time I try to spend time with Avalyn and Keith, and clean, and cook, and make things for my Etsy shop. Believe it or not I'm pretty busy during the day. Despite what Matt thinks. He wants me to work outside the house, but doesn't at the same time because he's afraid of the kids. As he should be. ^_~ Money has been really tight so he thinks me working will fix it. It won't. Daycare + gas = spending more money than what I'd make, unless he watches the kids. Which, as I already said, he's afraid to do by himself.

Note to past self: Don't take out student loans. If you can't pay for college outright, don't go. That simple. There's no jobs except minimum wage stuff anyway, so there's no point in going into debt for an education. If only I had done the math nine years ago. 

Minimum wage at forty hours a week: $15,000 per year = (about) $950 month after taxes.

My student loan debt (not including Matt's) $60,000 = $730 month

If I found a job in my field I would make between $10-$15/hour, so let's average $12.50 an hour which would be $1,600 after taxes.

Subtract my loans from that and I have $870. Even if I made $15 an hour and brought home $2,000, after student loans were paid I would have $1,270. Which is better, but at Alfie I made $1,300 a month after taxes. That's without an education! I would make $30 less with a higher paying job in my field than what I made at Alfie. Not that Alfie was a bad place to work (it was actually pretty great), I'm just saying it's crazy how useless college was for me.

I know in the long run (in fifteen years when my loans are gone) it will be worth it, but right now I'm super bummed that we can't save any money for our kids to go to school. Here's hoping when the kids are in school (in five years) the job market will be better and I will be able to start saving for my wee one's so they don't have to worry about going into debt before their adult lives even start!

Did anyone else major in debt? Or were you smarter than me when you were younger and save your pennies for college?

Meeting New People

When Nicolas was two weeks old, my mom brought my grandma up to see her new great-grandson. She was happy to meet him and see our house, and she made me laugh when she told me we were spoiling Nicolas by holding him. It was a nice visit and Nicolas slept through most of it, Grandma and Mom even played on the swings with Avalyn. I hope it can happen again,soon.

Just had to throw this in here, Nicolas had his first bath that day, too!

Getting lovin's from Grandma.

Avalyn was a wee bit jealous. She wanted Grandma's attention.

Looks like Nicolas is a hit with Grandma Betty!

Having fun on the swing set.

Mom and I went to Midland today so Nicolas could meet his great grandparents (on my dad's side) and great aunt. The trip went fine until we were a few miles East of Cadillac, then the crying started. I stopped at a church and fed him in the parking lot. Mom sat in the back (switching places with Keith), to try to keep Nicolas calm for the rest of the trip. That didn't work out so well either. I ended up having to pull over on US-10 (near Clare), and switch spots with mom. Who knew I was flexible enough to nurse Nicolas while mom chauffeured us the rest of the way to Midland? ^_~ Nicolas did very well while we were there. He needed to eat twice, and most slept the rest of the time. He actually napped on Aunt Mary for quite a while. He knows when he's in safe arms.

He's a hit with Grandma Ellie, too!

So, clearly we've had a lot of first in the past couple weeks! First bath, first trip, and first time meeting his great grandparents! Good times all around. Hope everyone else is enjoying their summer, too!

Newborn Photo-Shoot!

As the title says. This is Nicolas's photo shoot. The pictures are not professional quality, I know, but I tried! :)

EDIT: I also made his birth announcement and forgot to post it. Thank you Pinterest for the idea. :)

Tutu 2.0

Remember Avalyn's best friend forever (and cousin) Alyssa? She's turning two! July 15 is the big day! Unfortunately, we can't make it to her party. Matt is on call and Nicolas hasn't taken a big trip yet. Not to mention I'm afraid of people playing "pass the baby" if they aren't vaccinated with whooping cough being the epidemic that it is. Call me overprotective. But the main reason is Matt being on call. I do not want to make the trip alone with two little ones, and be the only one who is there to watch them.

So, the problem now is getting Alyssa's present to her on time. Of course this present was hand made by me - like most of Alyssa's presents are. Every two year old needs a tutu, right? And since Alyssa's daddy doesn't want her to be a princess (nobody wants to have a spoiled tot on their hands), I made her a Sponge Bob tutu! Sponge Bob and princess do not go hand in hand, so I think we're safe!

It looks huge!

It's a Sponge Bob shirt!

Pink, yellow, and blue tutu!

This is the back of the shirt, the big bow on top of the tutu is the shirt's tie. :)

What do you think? I hope Alyssa likes it!

DIY Baby Wrap!

Woot woot! Pinterest Challenge time ya'll! Brought to you by the brilliant mind's Katie and Sherry.

For the summer addition of the Pinterest Challenge I decided to make a baby wrap. As seeing I have a new baby to wrap up in one! Nicolas is just a wee bit too small to fit in my other carrier (no infant insert), and I need to be able to be hands free and breastfeed on the go with a two year old running amok in my house. Was that a run on sentence? Probably. Not so good with the grammar right now. I can't blame pregnancy brain anymore. Can I blame having a two week old and two year old? I'll do that. ;)

Here's where I found my inspiration: Monkey Sew, Monkey Do! She had a great "how to" on a baby wrap. She used five yards of cotton gauze for hers. I went a different route. Two years ago I wanted to make a wrap but between school and having a newborn who cried whenever she wasn't being held, I was without time. Thank goodness Nicolas is such a happy baby! I have time to do things now. Whoa! Anyway, two years ago I bought six yards of cotton jersey fabric, so I used that for my wrap. I love using stuff that's just sitting around the house!

I cut the six yards of fabric in half length wise (I could make two if I wanted to!), and then I folded it in half (end to end) to find the center (so I know where to start when I wrap).

Lots of fabric!

From there I decided instead of marking it with a tag, I would to add a little something special. Enter the frog fabric I had left over from a different project. I cut it to size and pinned it to the wrap fabric and brought it downstairs to my serger.

I hooked up my serger with blue, orange, and yellow thread. I wanted to use green thread to match the frogs but I didn't have anything that really popped, so I went with yellow. Looking back now, I could have done red. Ah well! It still looks nice!

I put the orange thread on the front of the wrap, and yellow on the back. The orange looks great with the blue, and the frogs. I'm so excited! It took me about ten minutes to go around the whole six yards of fabric.

My results!

I hemmed the edge of the frog fabric, but didn't sew the sides onto the wrap. I'm going to sew them up halfway or three quarters of the way to create a pocket for my wallet or phone. I think that would be really neat.

Here's the finished product in use! Yep my baby boy loves it, and Mommy loves it, too! I can even nurse him in it. Yey! Please ignore my post baby flub. My belly is like jello right now. He was a big boy! Totally worth jello-belly.

 And I can give him lots of lovings and comfort while he's in it. Always a plus.

What did everyone else make? I'm so happy about this project. I can't wait to take it out on the town! And by out on the town, I mean the grocery store. I live an exciting life!

Birth Story Part 2

When I got in there, the doctor who saw me was the on-call doctor from Friday night. She was surprised to see me and to hear that my contractions were so painful. She did another cervical check (those are the most fun ever), and said, "Well, I've got to tell you something..." I was thinking, "Oh, no I still haven't progressed and I'm going home!" Turns out Matt was thinking the same thing. Thankfully she ended her sentence with, "You're four centimeters! I'll call the hospital and let them know you're on your way. You don't even need to check out, I'll do that for you."

Praise the Lord! By the time we got to the hospital (it's literally across the street from my OB's office), and got the car parked, it was a little after noon. We got all checked in and found our room. The nurse gave me some water to drink and a beautiful hospital gown to wear and I got into the bed and time flew while I was hooked up to a billion machines. My contractions were still killing me, but I was just happy to be in the hospital where I was going to get those amazing antibiotics for my beautiful baby!

I wasn't hooked up to an IV until around 2:00PM and my epidural came shortly after that. I didn't need pitocin this go-round (thank goodness, that stuff is awful!) because I was actually progressing on my own. The on call doctor came in to introduce himself, but there really was no need, we knew each other. It was Dr. Wright! The person who helped deliver Avalyn! I was so happy. We exchanged pleasentries and he went on his way, he said he'd be back soon to break my water if need be. 

Anyway before I knew it Dr. Wright was in the room, ready to break my water. It was around six o'clock at this point. He made a face when he broke my water and said something that made my heart sink, "There's a lot of thick meconium in the amniotic fluid." I looked at Matt and my expression must have given away my worry because he told me everything was going to be okay. I was terrified. This had happened with Avalyn as well, and she was fine, but it's still a very real danger for the baby.

I asked the nurse if the hospital ever experienced complications with this issue with babies, and unfortunately, she reminded me that she was new to this facility and wasn't sure. She explained the risks to me and basically said it was 50-50 that he would be okay. On top of being worried, I also had a selfish reason for being upset. This is my last pregnancy, and I really wanted to know what it was like to have the baby placed on my chest right away. I wanted that instant bond and I wanted him to not have a traumatic first start.

Around 6:35PM I really felt like I had to go to the bathroom, my nurse said no way and checked me again and Nicolas was on his way. My doctor, a couple pediatricians, and four or five nurses rushed into the room and got everything ready for Nicolas's arrival. The doctors and nurses were barking codes and orders to each other while I felt like my bits were on fire! At 6:40PM I started pushing, and oh my goodness did it hurt! I actually screamed - something I swore I'd never do. I blame the days of active labor, lack of sleep, and added stress and worry from the meconium in my bag of waters. It was a bad situation and I was hurting in more ways than one. Dr. Wright told me to take the effort I was putting into screaming into pushing. I understood what he meant. Shut up and do your job!

Nicolas Ira made his arrival at 6:54PM weighing in at 9 pounds, and was 24 inches long. Big boy! Boy did I feel his biggness. The nurses swept him away and Matt went over to him instantly (unlike with Avalyn where he hung back to make sure I was okay). Nicolas didn't cry and didn't make eye contact with me the way Avalyn did. In fact, he didn't look good at all. He was limp and I couldn't tell if he was okay or not. The doctors and nurses got him all cleaned up and cleaned out, he still wasn't crying, just making little grunting whining sounds. I don't know what his Apgar score was and I don't want to know. It was really scary. Even worse I kept asking if he was okay and no one would answer me.

Meanwhile, my doctor was telling me he was surprised with such a big baby I didn't tear too much. He gave me one stitch just to be safe. I was squeezing my thigh out of worry while he stitched and he must have been worried because he said, "Don't try to help me down here, you can trust me." I told him I just needed to hold onto something.

Finally I saw a nurse hand Nicolas to Matt, who brought him over to meet me. He was so beautiful! He had dark brown hair and Matt's nose! He also had petechiae on his face (they looked like little freckles), and a broken blood vessel in his eye which were from the pressure of pushing - and from the cord being wrapped around his neck, my poor little guy!

Like his sister, Nicolas latched on right away and we didn't need help from a lactation consultant (again, she said he was a natural). He's also an amazing little sleeper. I was able to put him in his bassinet and take a shower as soon as he was done eating. Avalyn was not as easy going about that. When I was done with my shower, the nurse who helped deliver Nicolas was back to monitor him and seemed very pleased. I asked her how Nicolas was and she admitted he had a very rough start. Between the meconium, the cord being wrapped around his neck, not getting an adequate amount of antibiotics (I was positive for GBS), and a low apgar they were worried. She told me that he seemed perfectly healthy and bounced back very well. A few nurses had to come in to see if he was really as long as he was measured as well. Apparently, he was unusually tall!

Matt, Nicolas, and I were alone for the first couple days (we had to stay an extra day because of the GBS). And Mom and Dad brought the kids up on the day we were discharged. It really was nice getting to know Nicolas for two days all to ourselves. So far, I can say: He's not a crier. It makes it a little difficult to know when he needs something but I'm sure that will change. He's also an amazing sleeper - I know I already said that but seriously it's wonderful!

First smile ;)

Mommy and Nicolas

Daddy and Nicolas

Grandma introducing Nicolas to Avalyn and Keith.

With Grandpa and Grandma

First family photo

Meeting Aunt Penny - he slept on her for at least an hour.

Meeting Nana and Papa.