Happy Birthday, Magnolia Raine!

Happy Birthday, sweet baby of mine! We had fun celebrating you and your amazing first year of life. Thank you for all the ways you challenge me and inspire me. I look forward to all the new stages and moments we have together. I am thankful every day for you and the gift of life that was given to you.

Sacrifice

When AJ and I began the process of deciding things we wanted to do for our baby once they were born, one of the biggest things for me was breastfeeding. It is pretty amazing and also pretty overwhelming but here's a few things I sacrificed along the way.

So off I embark into this world of unknown after Porter is born. So many questions come up and you feel like you are a deer in the headlights many times as you are trying to get this smooshy bundle of newborn baby to latch and eat from you. They don't work too well with you in the beginning but they are pretty resourceful the hungrier they are! It is amazing what the survival instinct will do and they can snuggle right up, latch on and go to town.

Well, I knew that the blissful days of on-demand feeding were going to come to an end once I had to go back to work. I wasn't going to work full time, but three days a week, Porter would have to take a bottle. Thus, this is where the sacrifice came in. I had to pump. Oh, the dread and the drudgery. Breastfeeding every two hours and sometimes more often than that often made me feel like I was just a warm food source, but pumping is probably my least favorite thing in the world to do. But knowing how much AJ and I felt the value of breast milk for our baby while I was at work, I embarked on this journey. So for a year, I pumped at work, 3 days a week.

Fast forward to now. Maggie is 13 months old and I still nurse her as she likes. We definitely still have the morning and night feeds and before naps feeds. Sometimes she will nurse more when I am home but she always gets a bottle before her nap, thus I pump. Every day at 3pm when I am at work, I grab my phone and take a pump break. Oh, the glamorous life I live! Who knows how long this will continue? I don't see a reason to end as I am still producing and Maggie is still drinking it. I have pumped for 2 plus years! Who does that?

I guess when I sit down and think how long I have been nursing, pumping and had babies in diapers and still to go, I get a little excited for these stages to be done. But then again, that really will signal the end of babyhood for us. So for now, I am cherishing the moment with my Medela pump and 3 o'clock breaks at work. Ah, the sacrifice.

I may be back...

Well, here it is some time since my last post and I may be back. I have been doing a lot of thinking and processing about life, love and the pursuit of happiness. But one of the things I have been thinking about a lot is my blogs and what I want to do with them. What direction do I want to go? Do I want people to pin my posts? Do I want to just put pictures up of my kids and dog? Do I want to write and write and write about something in particular? Maybe I just want to become a tv show critic and blog about all my favorite shows.

Well, in all my processing, I can't say I have come up with any brillant, gonna-make-me a millionaire ideas. And I haven't decided I have to pick one direction. I sort of am going to keep it the same format. Sometimes, if I feel like it, I will post pictures. I know my mom likes to see the grandkids. And then other times, when I need a soap box to rant on, I'll rant. Other times, I just might list all the 1001 shows I watch and the other 275 I wish I had time to and you all will realize I spend way too much time watching TV and judge me. Oh well. We all have our things, right? I do work out and am in a book club and that is how I justify my TV watching!

The title of my blog I feel is pretty appropriate. It is truly just a peek in to our lives. Come on by anytime, you never know when I might surprise you with another post!

A fun birthday lunch

On the last day of the month my friend Lauren took me out to lunch as the start of my birthday celebration. We have a bi-annual tradition where we take each other out for a birthday lunch. Her birthday is in May and mine is in December so we get to do lunch at least twice a year! And our favorite place to go is Wild Pear in downtown Salem. I honestly don't think I have ever been to that restaurant without Lauren. Yummy Yummy food and a great little cozy vibe to the place. We only had a lunch break but it was pretty divine as we were both without our kids and could talk and enjoy what the other person was saying without the interruption of a sippy cup being hurtled past us or a loud "Mommy" int interrupting our conversation. We love our kids and Lauren's son Cooper is 5 weeks older than Mags (they are super cute together) but we love the rare occasion to catch up on life. It was good. Not only was it good food but it was good food for the soul.

Thank you, Lauren, for the great kick off to my birthday week/weekend celebration! We really should try to do that more often. 

I am thankful that November is almost over

Well, ok, maybe not really but I am glad to be done with the month of blogging. It is funny, I commit to this as an exercise and I really enjoy for the most part but some days I am just tired. I have too many other things I want or need to do and blogging is not one of them. But my personality doesn't allow for me to not blog 30 times in the month of November. So even though it is technically December, I am still filling my commitment quota with a few more posts. But I guess you could say I am glad to be done with blogging month.

On to a very busy time of year. First up in December is my birthday! Yippee. Well, each year after I turned 21 sort of seem less and less exciting and as I am approaching 35 tomorrow, I am not all that excited about the number but I am excited for my friends and family who love me and for my wonderful amazing husband and my kids who are the sweetest things ever. And I am excited for some shopping. A favorite past time of mine as Porter and Maggie don't quite grasp the finer things of shopping yet. I have a feeling little Miss Mags will some day!

Let the countdown begin to the end of the year and on to Maggie's first birthday. November, you were a good month and treated us well but I am glad to be done with the 30 days of blogging.

Sunshine

Today was gorgeous, cold but gorgeous. We just got back on Saturday from spending 4 days in Bend and I was sad to come back to rain and gray skies. But today was beautiful and for that I was thankful.

After I watched Finn and all the kids were up from their naps, Jana and I took the kids on a walk to the park. It was cold but Maggie  and Finn love to swing and Porter and I had some fun on the 'big' kid's swings. It was a quick trip and dark by the time we got home but I was thankful to get out of the house and enjoy a few minutes of the sunshine!

P.S. I have had a really bad headache all day long and thus the short post. Sorry.

Tacos

We decided to invite some good friends over for tacos tonight and had a great time. I am thankful for friends who agree to an impromptu dinner!

We supplies the tacos and they brought the chips and salsa and beer and we were set. Maggie and Cooper are about 5 weeks apart and Corban and AJ grew up best buds so it is always fun to hang out with them.

Sunday nights are usually a night to get ready for the week but it was fun to do dinner together and have the house cleaned up and ready for the week by 8:30.

This month of November has been full of friends and family interactions and as I have blogged I have been blessed by all those who surround us. What an amazing month! In a few short days I will be celebrating my birthday that is half of 70. Man, that sounds old! I am blessed. My family is blessed.

Thank goodness for yummy tacos!