Thank You

I write this post with a very heavy heart. You see, this will be my last post. After much thought I have decided to stop blogging. First, I want to thank all of the loyal readers who have stuck by my side from day one, offering advice, giving support and helping me survive those days when I didn’t know I could. This blog would not have survived without you….*I* would not have survived without you.  Second, thank you for making my journey from pregnancy into motherhood a memorable, unforgettable one. Sharing your wisdom and experiences with me has been priceless. I will continue my pathway through motherhood with that great knowledge you have provided.

I hope sharing my experiences with you over this past year and a half has helped in your own journey and I wish you all the very best of luck as you continue down the parenting road.

Finally, I leave you with a clip of what I believe is one of the best parts of having children.

Thank you again.

Want Big Boobs? Here’s What NOT to Do.

DON’T DRINK COFFEE!  Apparently a new study found that drinking coffee may actually SHRINK breasts.  Of course, I learn this after working a morning shift for 5 years, where I drank nearly a full pot of coffee everyday.  I guess it explains a lot.    You can read the full article here.

I always thought that having kids would make my boobs bigger.  At least, that’s what all of my friends told me.  But they conveniently forgot to tell me the most important part – that the ‘big’ boobs only last a few months while nursing.  They didn’t mention that after nursing, they shrink back to their previous size and in some cases, shrink to an even smaller size.  That has been disappointing.  I mean, sure, I’d love to have a full chest like everyone in L.A….but there’s no way in you-know-where I’d ever ‘pay’ for them.  I’ll keep what God gave me.  Besides, big boobs can kill!

PLEASE Feel Your Boobs!

Okay, that sounds a little perverted, but I mean it in the least perverted way.  October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a good time to remind all of the women I know to do monthly checks.  Unfortunately, I’ve known a few women who struggled with breast cancer and they both said “I never thought it would happen to me.”  I was surprised to learn that 80% of new breast cancer cases occur in women who don’t have any risk factors (cancer in family, obesity, etc).  I always thought that since it didn’t run in my family and I exercised, ate well, etc, I would be fine.  That statistic was a wake-up call.

The big wake-up call for me was last October when I found a lump in my breast.  Dillon was just a few months old and I was still nursing.  The only reason I found the lump was because I got mastitis and was trying to massage out the clogged duct.  A doctor’s appointment, ultrasound, referral, another doctor’s appointment and a biopsy later, I was cleared.  It was just a cyst.  But let me tell you – that was the scare of my life.  I found another lump in May.  That, too, turned out to be a cyst (it was just cleared a few weeks ago).  I feel extremely lucky, but I’m not going to take my health for granted.  That’s why I have started doing monthly exams and I am trying to get the word out to as many women as possible to do the same.  So, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE feel your boobs!

Now What?

It’s 25 degrees outside, Dillon is tired of playing with the same ol’ toys and seeing the same ol’ things, so now what?  I’ve tried whipping out the pots and pans for him to drum, taking him into the basement to see something new, even bundling him up so he can play outside in the snow.  But he’s still bored.  What can you do with kids in Alaska during the winter?  Thankfully there’s a HUGE list of potential boredom-busters, written by a fellow blogger and it can be found by clicking here.

There are many other possible activities.  For one, you can take your little one to Bouncing Bears.  Or, you can show your child a giant jumping pillow at Monkey Business in Wasilla (907-376-4191 or  907-354-0430).  One of the best things I’ve done for Dillon is to join my local MOMS club.  Not only have I met some great ladies, but Dillon has met some great kids.  The club has tons of activities for parents and kids so there are many opportunities to get your child out of the house.

My Little Playboy

From the time I was only 8 weeks pregnant, I knew I was having a boy.   At that time, I had been experiencing a very, very strange ’symptom’ of pregnancy.  However, I never read about it in any of my pregnancy books.  I never heard about it on television or from my doctor.  And I never saw a word about this particular ’symptom’ written anywhere in a magazine or on the internet (at least in the magazines and sites I read).  But I knew it needed to be added to the list of possible symptoms the moment I confessed it to my best friend, who is a mother of two.  After all, she, too, experienced the same symptom.  So did all of her mommy friends.  I dug deeper and asked other mommies or pregnant women I knew at the time and sure enough, they knew exactly what I was talking about and they, too, were glad to hear they weren’t alone!

The symptom started the night of conception.  Yes.  That early!  That very night, I had the strangest, most out-of-the-world dreams.  The distinctive part was that they were incredibly vivid.  Those shocking and sometimes disturbing dreams continued throughout my entire pregnancy.  I know everyone has weird dreams, but when I tell you weird, I mean WEIRD!  And now back to the part about knowing I had a boy.  From about the 7th week of pregnancy on, let’s just say I started having dreams that red-blooded males would have.   I won’t go into detail…but hopefully you get the point.  I dreamt of everything from strippers (female) deliving Starbucks coffee to Hugh Hefner and his girlfriends.  Hugh and the ladies actually became a big part of my life.    I dreamt of them often and to this day, I have no idea why.  I can only believe that it was the testosterone from the little boy growing inside me.  And that’s how I knew I was having a boy when I was only 8 weeks pregnant.

But the story gets even stranger.  Yesterday I turned on the television and just about passed out.  There, on the list of recordings from my digital video recorder, was a series recording for the television show “The Girls Next Door.”  For those of you living in a bomb shelter for the last few years, it’s a reality show portraying Hugh Hefner and his three girlfriends, Holly, Bridget and Kendra.  Someone had not only recorded the show, but set a series recording for it, meaning it would record every single episode!!!!!!!!   Now, I know what you’re thinking…”your husband set the recording!”  Well, that would normally be a possibility and not a surprising one at that.  That wouldn’t cause me to faint.  The reason I was surprised and just about passed out was that my husband wasn’t even home!  The recording was set within the past hour, as I had been watching television while Dillon napped.  At some moment between those times, the series recording for the show was set.  Even stranger — the television had been turned off since Dillon woke up.  So….ghost in my house?  Nope.  I was completely freaked out by that event because Dillon did it.   Yup.  My 13-month-old recorded “The Girls Next Door.”  I got goose bumps and memories of my crazy sexcapade dreams came rushing back.  How in the world…?  What..?  When…?  The kid not only made me dream about this stuff while he was in the womb, but now he wants to WATCH it?  Whoa. 

If you have kids, then you know kids LOOOOOVE to play with the items that grown-ups play with.  In our house, one of those items is the remote control.  So, I often give it to Dillon and let him mess around with it.  I’ve done this numerous times and never, ever, has a show recorded.  At some point, he was obviously playing with it and set that recording.  But tell me what the odds are of him recording THAT show of all possible shows.  He would have had to press the correct numeric buttons to get the channel to change, before recording.  Even then, what are the odds that “The Girls Next Door” was actually playing at that moment? I am just flabbergasted. 

I guess the boy is starting early.  What’s next?  Oh wait!  I know!  I’ll find a Playboy magazine under his crib.  Ha! 

3 Apricots, 1 Cup Cereal, 4 Ounces Pureed Fruit……..

1/5 Cup Cheerios, 4 Ounces Milk, etc, etc.

THAT is a typical breakfast for Dillon.  Holy cow, is it just me or is that a lot of food?  I would never eat that much (unless I was preggo)!  A typical lunch for him consists of 1/2 cup veggies, stick of string cheese, 1/4 cup protein, 4 ounces milk, 1/2 cup carbs (wheat bagel, etc), 1/4 cup combo foods and some fruit.  He also gets a snack of cottage cheese or frozen yogurt or cheese and crackers before he eats dinner, which is just as much food as lunch.  I’m thinking to myself, if he eats this much now, I don’t even want to know how much he’ll eat when he’s a teenager!

I was in line to check out at the grocery store the other day and after seeing the price total, the man standing behind me said “I hope you’re shopping for the next three months!”  I said “Ya, me too, buddy….but this is for one week.”  The look on his face was priceless.   I’ve heard people talk about how boys will eat you out of house and home, but never thought they were serious!!! Ha Ha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(eating his b-day cake)

Hell Has Frozen Over

This past week has been really really weird.  Monday, Dillon ate peas!  He not only ate a heaping spoonful, he then asked for more and more and more and more!!!!!!!!  If you’ve been following the blog, then you know Dillon was never a fan for peas.  But that wasn’t the strangest part.  After all, Dillon is pretty good about eating his veggies.  The past two days he’s been scarfing broccoli.  I figure I should get lots of pictures and footage of him eating it so when he’s older and ‘hates’ some veggies, I can say ‘no you don’t! Here’s proof!”

Anyway, the event that had me feeling Dillon’s forehead to make sure he doesn’t have a fever also happened Monday.  A few hours after his huge feast of peas, we took him out to run some errands and once we were finished, we stopped by McDonald’s to get ice cream cones.  Dillon absolutely looooooooves ice cream…I mean, what kid doesn’t?  As soon as he sees it he claps his hands, saying ‘more, more, more!’  However, this time, he took one bite then shoved the stuff away like it was poison.  I tried to give it to him again and again, but he didn’t want any part of it.  Needless to say, I was and still am, baffled.  What kid turns down ice cream?  Wow!  I guess I should have gotten that on tape, too. 

Look Who’s One!

 

 

 

 

 

 

My little man turned 1-year-old almost 2 weeks ago.  He has grown up sooo fast!  In this past year he’s gone from just under 20 inches to 32 inches and almost 8 pounds to 26.5 pounds.  Dillon is also walking everywhere now.  Some of you warned me it would go by fast but holy cow I had no idea what you were talking about until now.  I am desperately trying to cherish every moment before he realizes that Mom is not cool like his other friends. Ha!

Not Your Typical Petting Zoo

This was Dillon’s first experience at a petting zoo.  Guess things have changed since I was a kid, ha ha!

The Boob(s)

They’re mine again!

Dillon is now officially weaned.  My goal was to make it one year and I did it!  I wont’ lie, it was extremely challenging at times.  The hardest part was not being able to be away from him for more than 3-4 hours without having to pump.  Of course, another hard part was getting up in the middle of the night to pump.  Otherwise, my supply would drop.  But breast is best for baby and I feel fortunate and blessed that I was able to do that for Dillon.

Now another challenge looms: how to get him to drink at least 16 ounces of milk from his sippy cup.  He’s been using his sippy cup for months now.  I fill it with watered down juice and he gulps it down like it’s ice cream.  The problem:  when milk is in his cup, he only drinks a few ounces.  So, I’m having to give him bottles to make up for it.  I’ve tried different cups, I’ve tried giving it to him during meals and other parts of the day, I’ve tried giving it to him like it’s a ‘bottle’ (holding him in my arms), I’ve tried NOT giving him a bottle so he gets thirsty and drinks from his cup, but nothing works.  He simply won’t drink more than 4 ounces of milk.  And I don’t think it’s that he doesn’t like the taste of vitamin D Milk, because he doesn’t make a face when he drinks it.  I’m not sure what it is.  I DID try giving it to him out of a ‘big person’ cup and he loved that.  The problem:  LOTS of spills and a wet shirt.  But, that may be my only solution.  Has anyone else experienced this?  Any suggestions?

I realize Dillon isn’t even 1-year-old  yet, but I figure the sooner I can get him off the bottle, the better.