Life Lately {just us girls}

I started this blog with the intention of it being more like a diary. Something I could look back on in years and be so thankful I documented all the wonderful days I spend with these little munchkins. But, I haven't been very good at it, so it's time I get better.

my church girls...Whit 2, Hailey 10 weeks

These two girls keep me very busy day in and day out. It's true when they say a mothers job is never done. Every day is a new adventure with them. Whitney is learning to potty train, we pretty much have it down, but I'm not brave enough to take her anywhere without a diaper on. Hailey is starting to stay awake a lot more during the day. I think she is trying to shift to two naps a day. When she's awake she likes watching big sis run and jump around her. Every now and then Whit will scare her if she jumps too close to her, or screams in her ear.  

10 weeks

I take Whit to the park almost every day. There are two parks in Prineville I switch between, and if I make a trip to Redmond I take her to one there. Hailey usually sleeps the whole time and I lug her around in her carseat, or if she's awake I carry her around and let her watch Whit climb everything imaginable. 

Lately they have been on the same nap schedule, so I get some serious mama time in the afternoon. I hate to say it, but I live for nap time...and of course the weekends. It's nice to have some time to myself during the day. I try to keep busy with projects for the house or etsy, but sometimes it's just a greys kinda day haha. I call it my social interaction time ;). 

I've been on this soy latte kick for a while now, and I just found out they do puppaccino's at starbucks. It's amazing, just a little cup of whipped cream for the toddler in the back seat. If we go to dutch brothers I usually get her a smoothie with whipped cream on the straw. It's so fun to see her face light up with excitement. I'm obsessed with that little lover bug, even if she sasses me all day long (at least I can't understand her right now). 

Hailey Sue {2 months}

Hailey is 2 months already. It seems like the last month went by sooo fast. We moved to Prineville a week and a half ago, so between the move, the babes and everything else...time has flown by.

8 weeks

I absolutely love this little girl, her and her big sis have a very special spot in my heart and they always will. She has such a gentle personality. She lets big sis smother her all the time without any fuss. When she wakes up she mostly just grunts, it's never a full scream, like her big sis did (sometimes still does). The only time she ever really fusses is when she is hungry or tired.

4 weeks

She is such a strong baby, she can basically hold her head up and has been able to for a long time. I still like to hold it just in case though. It's sometimes super difficult to get her clothes on because she goes all stiff arm on me, and it's almost impossible to bend them.

8 weeks

She is constantly moving, I don't know if she doesn't feel secure or what, but she is constantly flailing her arms and legs. Sometimes she really freaks herself out like she is going to fall or something and her eyes get really huge. It's so funny. She grunts and wiggles all night long still. Since the move, we've had her in the room with us and it bugs Brandon haha.

6 weeks

She isn't on any sort of schedule yet. I think with Whit we were already on a good schedule when she was this age. Hailey will wake up at 5am just long enough to eat, then sleep until about 7. Then she eats again and will be up for a while, then take a longer nap. After that it's totally random and she will sometimes eat every 30 minutes.

 8 weeks...haha

It's just amazing to me the different personalities between the two of them. It will be so much fun to watch them grow into young women.

9 weeks

Hailey Sue...
She loves her mama.
She sleeps every time she gets in the Ergo.
She still hates her carseat...but will sleep most of the time.
She is starting to love bath time.
She is sleeping through the night (from 9/10-5am)
She is wearing 6 month clothes.
She weighs 13 pounds.
She has the cutest rolls on her arms (and legs).
She has the prettiest blue eyes.
She has the cutest little smile.

Whitney Anne {26 months}

Oh my little lover bug. She is just too much fun. I wish I had a constant video camera on her haha. While she is definitely giving me a really hard time lately, I still love her with my whole heart and enjoy every second with her.

Rainy day in March

A few stories...

Before we moved I had Hailey laying on the floor in Hailey's room because I was going to change her diaper. I went to the kitchen to wash my hands and Whitney snuck behind me and went into the room. When I got in there Hailey was across the room. She was still on her back and facing the same way she was when I laid her down. So I am pretty sure she just drug her by her feet haha. Whitney was standing over her with a HUGE smile, like she was so proud of herself. It was so scary but sooo funny. Hailey didn't make a peep so I knew she didn't hurt her.

Hailey-2 weeks, Whit-2 years and 2 weeks

Brandon's brother so graciously helped us move last week and I'm pretty sure Whitney thought he moved with us. Saturday morning she woke up and yelled "Mama...Mama, Dada...Dada, ......Uncle" oh my goodness it was sooo funny. She loves Uncle Cake!

A few nights ago she was having a hard time going to sleep so I went in there and she had to ask me where everyone was...sey Mimi, sey kaka, nanapapa, uncle, duke, dada, baby. It's so fun to see her put things together like that.

Family trip to Wallowa "lalala"

I think she is missing her cousins (kaka) and nana and papa quite a bit. We went in the other day to see Aunt Judy and she gave Whitney a picture of nana and papa. She was so excited she started kissing them haha.

Every time Brandon goes for a walk with Bently, he hooks the leash to his pants/shorts so he can have his hands free. So now when Whitney plays with the leash she grabs it and puts it in her diaper and acts like she is walking Bently :)!

I still need to get a video of her singing "Let it go" but it sooo funny. She gets her hands going and sings sooo loud. Definite performer.

A few words...

I think she is going to love it down here. There are so many more things to do for a little kid. Every day we have gotten to go to the park...she calls it "the pa".

During the move we got into a little habit of going to McDonalds for breakfast and she loves their hash browns, now she asks for a "haba".

She learned how to say "open it" but in her words it's "opega". We still need to work on manners haha.

She is such an independent little thing, everything is "I do".

She is learning new words every day and I am still waiting for her to wake up one day and say something clear as day.

Oh I love her so!

She loves mini smoothies

 Her best friend

Neighbor kids 

No shoes at the park...she does what she wants

First time she slept in until 8:30...also first time sleeping in Prineville

How To Heal Cracked and Sore Nipples {from breastfeeding}

HEAL SORE/CRACKED NIPPLES IN DAYS rather than weeks.

If any of you have read my posts about breastfeeding Whitney, part 1 and part 2 you know that I struggled with breastfeeding her. It was terribly hard, to the point where I questioned myself daily if I could keep going. This time around everyone was encouraging me, telling me that the soreness wouldn't last near as long and that I wouldn't have near as much trouble as I did last time. With all the encouragement I was still a little doubtful and scared...depressing I know. It led me to do a little research on healing tender, sore, cracked and scabbed nipples with essential oils.

I am not kidding, this stuff is AMAZING. I didn't have to use any lanolin or nipple cream (even though I stocked up on it). After a feeding I would just rub it on my nipples let it dry for all of about 30 seconds and then go about my business. It literally took about 3-4 days to completely heal. Obviously a lot of that depends on the latch and if everything else is going well.

I am a firm believer that in order to heal your nipples they need to have time to dry out. I think one of my biggest problems last time was that I would slather myself in lanolin, put a nursing pad in my bra or tank and just endure the deep burn of my nipples. Which makes no sense to me now. When wounds are healing, they heal so much faster if they are dry.

This little nipple healer is all-natural and safe for baby. It soaks in to your skin within minutes so you don't need to rub it off before each feeding (just make sure it's dry).

When using essential oils purity matters. I know everyone says this and there are so many conflicting things but it is very important to know where your oil came from and the purity of it. You don't want to be rubbing an oil on your nipple that could have residue of pesticides or other fillers. Purity also helps to get that therapeutic benefit.

I used a glass roller-bottle that I bought on amazon to house my nipple magic.

What you need:
10 ml Glass RollerBottle
doTERRA Lavender essential oil
doTERRA Helichrysum essential oil
Fractionated Coconut Oil

All it is, is 15 drops of helichrysum, 15 drops of lavender and I filled the rest up with fractionated coconut oil.
PURE MAGIC!

If any of you ladies out there are struggling with sore nipples I really hope you give it a try. I was completely amazed and I saved myself weeks of nipple pain.

Baby Girl Newborn Pictures {hailey sue}

I would have to say that newborn pictures are a must! Last time I felt like I wasn't completely prepared for them. This time was a little bitter sweet, I was prepared as far as what I wanted her to wear but I hadn't made arrangements for a photographer yet. So it was a little last minute and the stuff I bought for her to wear the photographer said wouldn't work with the way she photographs. Had I been a little more prepared I could have done something a little different. 

There were a few photos that I loved. My advice is to get a photographer in advance and talk to them about what you're thinking. Make sure it's exactly what you want because they are only a week old one time and it goes by super fast. I think next time I might just try and do them on my own. 

Hailey Sue {one month}

Hailey is already a month old and what a blessing she is. She hasn't been in our lives for very long but it literally seems like she has been a part of our family forever. I can't imagine our lives without her now. She is a little sweetheart and I'm so excited to see watch her grow.

She gives us lots and lots of sleeping smiles.
She has the cutest little coos.
She isn't the biggest fan of bath time.
She sleeps like an angel (5-6 hours at night)
She loves her big sister.
She wiggles and grunts ALL night long.
She loves to nurse.
She sleeps better swaddled.
She hates her car seat.
She gets a little fussy every evening until bed time.
She is gorgeous.

Basically, she is amazing.

Labor With The Flu

I thought I would share my birth story because before I went into labor I tried to search "having the flu while in labor" and I came up with NOTHING helpful. Maybe if I share my birth story someone will find it a little comforting to know that they aren't the only person to go through labor while having the flu.

Monday April 6, 2015 my husband and I came down with flu. Pretty much at the exact same time. I was in one bathroom and Brandon was in the other. So my Mom came and got Whitney so we didn't have to worry about her. The next question was, I'm 38 weeks pregnant, what is this going to do to me?! I called the doctor and got exactly what I knew they would say...stay hydrated and if you feel faint go in and get fluid, also there is a chance it can put you into labor...great! So I was chugging water and a little Gatorade to stay hydrated in between my bathroom episodes. Every now and then  Brandon and I would check on each other to see how things were going and if the other was OK. Brandon unfortunately continued to get worse and worse until he finally said he needed to go in. So, I took him to the ER.

The ER was crazy busy at the time but thankfully I only had one bathroom episode while we were waiting for him to get called back. Anyway, once we got called back I started to feel really faint and uncomfortable so I asked one of the nurses about it because I knew she once worked on the OB floor. So she thought I should go up stairs and get some fluid, which made me feel better because then they could monitor the baby. Well, sure enough I was completely dehydrated, baby's heart rate was a little high, I was contracting and at a 3. They hooked me up to an IV, gave me some anti-nausea and started watching my contractions. Around midnight I begged to go home because I needed some sleep and I really wanted to get the house clean before we had a baby. I was NOT ready for her. They actually let me leave even though I was dilated to a 4-5. We came home, I took a little nap and woke up because I was sick again. As I had my head in the toilet heaving away I felt a squirt of water come out. So, we packed our stuff and headed back to the hospital.

I was still at a 4-5, but almost a 5. She couldn't tell if it was my water or not because the test wouldn't work because of too much blood. So they just monitored everything and let me get some rest. The doctor came in and said he wanted to put me on pitocin to get things going. Which I was very hesitant about because I've heard terrible things about how it makes everything much more painful and I was already in tons of achy pain from the flu. But I let them anyway, and it actually wasn't too bad. I could feel the contractions a lot more but they were still bearable. I finally got to about a 6-7 but was still slowly moving.

At about 11:30 the doctor came back in and broke my water. All hell broke loose after that. My contractions started getting unbelievably intense. So intense that I was basically screaming through them because that was the only thing that sort of helped. About 10 mins later my contractions started making me feel like I need to go poop, and they reassured me that it was just baby coming down. So they checked me and I was almost fully dilated and ready to have a baby. They called the doctor to come back in a panic and they made me hold my urge to push until he got there. Once he got there I actually got a little laugh out of myself by asking "does this mean I don't get the epidural" hahaha. Good one huh? They got everything to have a baby ready and I gave a handful of pushes and she was here...at 12:03 p.m.! That's 30 minutes after he broke my water.

Thankfully she was OK, healthy and beautiful. But our next concern was the flu. Brandon was still feeling pretty cruddy, I was basically over it because well I just pushed a baby out, the flu was the least of my worries. But basically my advice is to not stress about the baby getting the flu, but do stress about hand washing and basic hygiene.

So, if any of you ever find yourself in labor with the flu, you will find some comfort to know that once they put you on an IV your life gets much better. You still might have a few bathroom episodes but it is comforting to know you are in a hospital and they are watching the baby closely. Giving birth while you have the flu is completely doable.

Make sure to have someone come by and clean the bathrooms for you before you get home, maybe the house too. Also make sure and bring a pillow and blanket for both you and your husband to help you feel a little more comfortable at the hospital. All in all it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it is something I never want to ever have to do again.

If you ever find yourself full term with the flu, make sure and keep an eye on yourself. If for any reason you feel faint or just not right, go in because you never really know how dehydrated you really are.

Hailey Sue graced us with her presence April 7, 2015 at 12:03. 7lbs, 10oz. and 20 inches long!