Mommy's Milk

As most people who know me know, I am very pro breastfeeding. I nursed my oldest for 15 months, until my doctor requested I stop because I was pregnant with my second. And I plan on nursing my second just as long, if not longer if he wishes. I am very grateful that I am able to nurse my children as not everyone can. Some mothers for unknown reasons just can't. And my heart goes out to those women. Especially those women of premature babies who really need breastmilk. That's why I am so glad I can help them out. I made my first donation to the U of I's Milk Bank of Iowa yesterday and it felt so good! I donated 115 ounces of milk and plan on donating as much more as I can. God blessed me with an abundant supply of breastmilk this time around to share and help other babies. I am so grateful for that. And I want to spread the word of this wonderful opportunity many nursing mommies don't know about. The process to become a donor was relatively easy. There was a verbal screening that took maybe 5 mintues, then there was the written screening, a signed document by my doctor stating I am healthy, a signed document by my baby's doctor stating he is healthy and thriving, and a simple blood draw to check for diseases that would limit your donating ability. They have drop off sites a few places around Iowa so you don't have to go to Iowa City all the time. The closes to me was Des Moines at Mercy Hospital and they are SO nice and friendly there. I was very impressed. I am also very impressed with the strictness of donating milk. Don't take that as it's hard. They have rules so that the breastmilk premature babies are getting is the best breastmilk they can get. For example, if someone in the house has a high fever, I cannot donate my milk. The rules are in place to ensure the best health for the babies getting the breastmilk. You don't get any compensation for donating, just the great feeling of helping babies. (Not much could beat that!) I am so grateful and proud I have been given this opportunity to help other little babies. There will be some chubby little ones thanks to my milk!

Bittersweet

So, last night was a huge first. My oldest fall asleep without me by his side. (Sigh) (Tear) I am so proud of my little boy for doing so well with staying in his bed to fall asleep when I leave the room. He is doing amazing and doesn't try to get up. I am also very proud of him for falling asleep without someone next to him. But it is also so very sad for me. I didn't like not being there next to him when he went to dream land. It's just so bittersweet. And shows me once again how too quickly he is growing up. Someone please find a switch to slow life down a little bit, pretty please! I can't quite put my feelings about this first into writings. Perhaps there are no words to fully describe the mixed emotions I am feeling. But it's part of the "letting go" that Mommy must do even though Mommy doesn't want to! I want to keep my babies babies forever. And I know all Mommies know exactly what I mean!

Learning

As I was thinking about what I was going to write about in this post, I discovered it's another "It's funny that... when you have kids." passage. Didn't plan it but like I said in my previous post, there are a lot of these sentences! So here it goes....

It's funny that you learn so much about yourself when you have kids. I could write several, several paragraphs about this as you learn SO much about yourself when you are a parent. Maybe someday I will go into depth on the numerous other things I have learned. For now I will write about two that became aparent to me today.
One being I cannot use a straightening iron and curling iron on my hair and sing non-stop without becoming short of breath. And I'm not that out of shape! My boys keep me VERY active! I don't know what it is but it is impossible not to become short of breath doing these two things at once. I discovered this by only being able to get ready this morning but singing fun, crazy kiddie type songs constantly, otherwise my baby was crying at me. The songs made him happy and me get ready. Score!
The other thing I learned about myself thanks to my kids is actually another thanks to my youngest. I cannot sing "Rockin' and a rollin', rockin' and a rollin'...." without dancing. Yep, it's impossible. Go ahead, try it. I'll wait..... See? It's impossible not to shake your hips and bootie while singing this song. My youngest loves to roll and roll and roll and sometimes gets on all fours and rocks back and forth so I sing this song to him a lot anymore because it fits and it's fun. Every time, no matter what, I gotta dance. I tried not to and it's just not as fun. The song looses it's funness. :) Not a word, I know, but it works.

Now go ahead and sing and dance a little yourself! :)

Good Enough

I have come to the realization that there are SO many sentences I can begin with "It's funny that/how..." and end with "...when you have kids." So many sentences in fact I could easily write a book with each chapter beginning with the sentence "It's funny that/how . . . when you have kids." in which, of course, the . . . would be filled in with something different. So I thought I would write about one of them....

It's funny that your definition of clean changes when you have kids. -------
Before kids, I had to have my house a deep, sparkly clean all the time, no exceptions. I have come along ways, believe me. Now I am perfectly satisified with my house being "good enough clean". It's clean and picked up but not sparkly clean daily. It'll get a deep sparkle clean every once in awhile but most of the time it's "good enough clean". I don't want that to sound like my house isn't very clean because it is. It's probably cleaner than most would consider "good enough clean". But I have a problem, yes I admit it. I am a clean freak. I get greatly stressed if something isn't clean. But I have relaxed and accepted my house isn't going to get deeply cleaned like it used to and quite honestly as often as it should. Oh well. I don't care. Good enough clean is good enough for me and most people I know, especially mommies who understand. No one complains or makes comments when they come over anyways, or maybe that's just because they are being nice? :) You used to never find dust in my house. However with a very active 2 year old and an extremely active 7 month old, there's going to be dust and if I don't want to spend time with my children, enjoy them, teach them things, then I could make my house the always dust free house it used to be. Instead it will have dust every now and then. More than I like to admit. But being with my children is much, much more important. They grow up too fast and I want to savor it as much as possible and enjoy life with them. It's so wonderful to enjoy life through the eyes of a child. So until I have an empty nest (tear), my house will be good enough clean and we will be okay with that and very, very happy!

Short & Sweet Sunday Post

Apparently I call my husband "Hun" and "Hunny" too much. My 2 year old has been calling Daddy "Hun", "Hunny", or today's latest "Hun Hun". I think it's cute, adorable, and a little funny. My husband, not so much. Oh well, it could be worse. :)

Letting Go

There are a lot of hard things about being a mommy and mostly they are all hard because we love our children so So SO much! Right now I am struggling with "letting go". I'm not talking about my oldest going to school, oh how do I already dread that. He's growing up too quickly the way it is! I am talking about getting my oldest to fall asleep on his own, without mommy by his side. Oh how it is hard on me to let go. He doesn't need me laying next to him. He plays with my hair (his security blanket) for awhile but he knows how to fall asleep on his own. I feel like the gate keeper anymore.... laying there as the easy way to make sure he stays in his bed. He's old enough to do it on his own without mommy. (Oh that was hard to type, and no I will not be saying that out loud.) I had tried this before but was unable to let go but last night as I lay with him I decided it needed done. So I left the room for a little bit after explaining to him what was going on. He came to the door and I stopped him and told him he needed to go back to bed and back to bed he went. (He listens so well! He's an amazing little boy I am so proud of!) I went back in and layed with him for a little while, then left the room again. This time a little longer. And this time he didn't come to the door. He waited for me to come back. And when he saw me, he laughed. (He must think it's a game? My heart doesn't think so!) So I lay with him a little bit (each time a little less in length) and he quickly drifted off to sleep. He can do this. I can do this. I will just have to give myself a pep talk each night before his bedtime.