Time for Pictures!!

So nothing really to post about, just wanted to show off my adorable children :)

 Prairie smiles A LOT now, and I love it!

 Saturday morning family time.

 Daddy snuck Gabriel some chocolate and thought I wouldn't notice....

Gabriel playing with his "Choo-choos"

Prairie Update (*warning- there is boobage in this post)

I know I am WAY behind in posting this! By like 2 weeks...sorry. Prairie is now 6 weeks old as of January 15th. At her 1 month check-up she was 22 1/4 inches long and weighed 10lbs 1oz! Which is VERY, VERY exciting for us! I have been exclusively breastfeeding Prairie, which is a miracle since I have had the breast reduction surgery and nearly 4lbs of my breast tissue was removed. Most BFAR (breastfeeding after reduction) moms are not able to exclusively breastfeed and have to supplement with formula. So the fact that I have not had to supplement and Prairie is gaining exactly what she needs to is amazing. I feel so blessed!

 Baby girl at 1 month

 She is so big already!

 Happy milk drunk baby :)

You know those breast feeding pictures you always see in books, posters, and pamphlets talking about the benefits of breastfeeding, breastfeeding support, etc.? The ones with the adorable baby latched perfectly onto an average-sized, perky boob? They make breastfeeding look like the most natural, easy, and satisfying thing in the world. Don't get me wrong, breastfeeding is satisfying, but it is definitely NOT easy and nor does it come naturally for many women. With Gabriel he had a tied tongue, I have flat nipples and large breast, and this led to many breastfeeding problems (along with the fact the the hospital LC advised me to give him a bottle after feeding instead of helping me address his latch issues, which at the time I didn't realize was the problem). I never had that peaceful feeding experience, he never did manage to perfect his latch, and by 6 weeks he was done at the breast. 

Luckily, Prairie does not have the tongue tie, my boobs are smaller now, and I have a lot more patience, support, and knowledge this time around. The first 2 weeks sucked, by the 3rd week she latched properly and ate well most of the time, but it wasn't until the end of 5 weeks that we really got good at breastfeeding. I'd say she latches properly 94% of the time and no longer takes 1 1/2hrs to feed. 

This is my "poster" picture....and I'm proud of it because it's real. Not everybody has convenient-sized boobs that don't have to be propped up during feedings, not every baby learns as quickly, and not all moms can 100% breastfeed. I am 100% for breastfeeding, but all of that positive pro-breastfeeding propaganda can be misleading to first-time moms or those attempting breastfeeding for the first time. It takes work, determination, and support from loved ones to maintain a successful breastfeeding relationship with your child. 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Prairie Rose Sandoval, born December 4th, 2012 (birth story to come later).

1st ever bath.

Fall...Such a Dangerous Time of Year...

About a week ago here in Iowa the weather started to turn fall-ish; 60 degree days with a light breeze, cool mornings and chilly evenings. Combined with the GORGEOUS color changes happening to trees and bushes all around town, this made for perfect evening walks. Every night this week Jaime, Gabriel and I have gone on a walk around the neighborhood before "nakey time" (this is the time, usually between 6:30 and 7p.m., when we dim the lights, strip Gabriel down to his birthday suit because the boy loves being naked, and sit on the couch to read books before bed). Well Thursday I finally remembered to bring my camera and get some action shots of the Fall changes in our neighborhood.

The tree outside of our bedroom window.

 Pretty red and gold.

 My handsome little man always has to touch the pine trees :)

 30 weeks 5 days prego.

But on to the real reason fall is dangerous. The cooler weather and deep colors sends me into what my husband calls a baking binge. This time of year I always have the urge to whip up snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, apple cinnamon muffins, and all types of baked goodies! The difference this year?!? I discovered Pinterest this summer...Yep. Originally I used it to find sewing tutorials, but today I stumbled upon this recipe, which then led me to a multitude of other yummy fall recipes (you know how at the bottom of blog posts there's that section titled "you may also like..."? well I kept clicking on those because yummy pictures kept appearing!) The problem with drooling over all of these pumpkin, apple, and crock pot recipes is that I am supposed to be eating healthy for baby (and avoiding an overload of carbs). I'm guessing my midwife wouldn't consider baking pumpkin inspired goodies every other day as healthy so I'm compromising and have promised my husband I will only bake one dessert a week. Only 8-10 weeks left of pregnancy depending on when baby girl decides to arrive (Gabriel came during my 38th week so that's why I say 8 to 10, she could come early or decide to bake a lil' longer than her brother) so lets hope I can be good and not gain a monstrous amount. 

Gabriel is 2!!!

Last Sunday, Gabriel celebrated his 2nd birthday with both sets of grandparents. He is getting so big and grown-up already!!

 The cool cake Grandma Smart got him (he LOVES Mater and McQueen, though he's never even seen the movie, lol).

 Give me some cake already!! 

 Gabriel was actually more excited about the car figurines than the cake :)

 But he still helped himself to some chocolate cupcake :)

 Being a chunk on the couch with Daddy and Uncle Nick.

 Playing with Mater and McQueen (from the cake).

And of course Lavender spent the day happily chewing on ballon ribbons. 

Bye-Bye Daddy

This is from Wednesday morning (I'm just slow...ok).

Gabriel usually tries to convince Daddy to take him to school with him, but this was the first time he actually blocked the door and shook his head no when Daddy tried to leave! It was adorable :) but of course it made it that much harder for Jaime to leave without feeling guilty. He sure does love his Daddy.

Big Boy

This past week has been a crazy one for me. Gabriel lost his last binky on Labor day, and since he will be 2 in a few weeks we decided not to buy anymore and quite cold turkey (we'd always said we would wean him by age 2 and figured might as well do it!). I'm pretty sure that the following 3 days I missed his binky more than he did. Those days were filled with major tantrums (I mean rolling on the floor, banging against walls, screaming tantrums...), unsatisfying and difficult naps, and teething! Not to mention we had 3 huge thunderstorms in a row at night, which woke everyone up, including Gabriel. Then, Wednesday after a mere 40min nap and during a monster tantrum, I put Gabriel in his crib to cry it out because he kept hurting himself in the living room by flinging himself into things. All of a sudden I hear a crash, run into the room, and Gabriel had finally figured out how to propel himself out of his crib. As you can imagined I was freaked out and then I was frustrated...what was I supposed to do during tantrums now if he could escape his crib/safe place?

And then things started to click. For a little over a week Gabriel had not been wanting to go into his crib during nap and bedtime. He would fall asleep on the chaise/reading couch in his room while we sang to him, but when we went to put him in the crib he would cry and point at the chaise. Taa-daa!!! By Thursday the lightbulb went on that he was ready for a toddler bed! So our plan was to transition him Friday, until we discovered that the toddler railing piece that converts the crib was in my parents attic in Des Moines. Luckily, my mom loves me and brought it up Saturday!

So after dinner Saturday, Daddy went to work turing Gabriel's crib into a big boy bed.

 Gabriel helping Daddy.

 He was very excited about his first ever pillow!

And of course, Lavender had to help as well. 

But then we ran into a problem. Turns out, a piece was still missing :( By this time it was about a quarter to 7p.m. and we called up my parents who double checked their attic. Sure enough, a piece had been left behind! Because my parents are awesome (and we may have bribed them with cookies...) they drove up to Ames to give us the extra piece. The difficult part was keeping Gabriel happy while he waited for his bed to be put together. Every night between 6:30 and 7p.m. we settle down for the night by dimming the lights and reading together on the couch, so by 7 o'clock Gabriel was getting cranky! We went for a walk to waste some time and when we got back I even let Gabriel watch a little TV to keep distracted until Grandma got here with the missing part. 

 Watching Baby Einstein & wearing the pocket diaper I made him.

 Waiting for Grandma...much past his bedtime. 

Shortly before 9p.m. the new big boy bed was put together and Gabriel was able to go to sleep soon after! I was prepared for crying, multiple trips to put him back in the bed, and a night of sheer exhaustion. But none of that happened! He woke ONCE during the night around 4a.m. and went right back to sleep once mommy tucked him back in and sang to him for a few moments. I thought surely it's because he was so exhausted from the long day...tomorrow the chaos will come. However, I am happy to announce that it is now his 4th night in the big boy bed and every night has gone amazing!!! The most he wakes up is once, and a few times I think he has woken up around 1a.m. because I hear his music box going off but not a peep from him. I'm pretty sure that he either bumped into and turned it on or woke up, pushed the music button, and lulled himself back to sleep. Either way I am so proud of him!!! 

Checking out his big boy bed the next morning (he already carried his pillow and blankie to the living room :)

Yesterday's nap time was an absolute disaster. Two hours of pure fruitless struggle, but today went much better. I learned a few things from yesterday. Like he appears to be freaked out about being in the big boy bed by himself during the day, whereas night time he loves it. So today I sat on the edge of the bed until he dosed off and then tip-toed out. I thought he would wake up but it worked, he slept a whole hour!! 

So, my little man is now binky-free, sleeping in a big boy bed, and using a booster seat.