February 27, 2010

I am still pumping and Dane is still not taking a bottle very well.

As you can see, even though I am only pumping three times a day,

I am still making more milk than he is drinking.

On the bright side, he did get another tooth in this week, so we are up to three.

I am still hoping life will improve when the forth finally makes its arrival.

Megan was such an easy teether.

I didn't even know she was teething until the tooth was visible.

It's like Dane's teeth on a roller coaster ride with all the up and down they do.

Anyway, sorry about SO many posts on teething, milk, and pumping,

but this IS what my life has become these last two weeks.

February 26, 2010

"Hey, you're lucky, we're bowling tonight!"

February 25, 2010

Confession: I watch (and record) this ultra cheesy Utah talk show called Studio 5. Eric is constantly making fun of me when it's on or when I tell him about something that I saw on it. Today was an exception though. They recently did a segment about "date nights" and had a phone interview with the creator of the blog www.simplymodernmom.com, Tiffany, and one of her New Year's Resolutions. She came up with a contract and a plan for her and her husband to have date night once a week. They have a set time each week (with the ability to move it if they need to, of course), some guidelines, and they don't have to actually go out each week to have a date. Eric and I are pretty good about having date night. It's not quite once a week, but we almost always go out either to dinner or a movie, so it can be a little expensive and we are sort of in a rut. I really do love going out and we are fortunate enough to babysitters that we feel comfortable leaving our kids with who are usually available. I was excited to see that Tiffany and her husband usually have their date nights at home after the kids go to be since they are both still in school. Megan and Dane are both in bed by 8 each night, so I am thinking that we will try some stay at home dates too. She posts what they do each week and links to what other people have done. I am really excited to take part in this challenge! I am most looking forward to the part where Eric has to plan the dates every other month and you can't do the same thing twice in one month. If any of you are also in a date night rut with your hubby, I suggest you try this too!

February 23, 2010

Found out this evening that his tooth HAS finally appeared.

No wonder he wasn't wanted to eat very well lately.

That little sucker looks like it hurts!

I am keeping fingers crossed that he'll start nursing again!

I am ready to throw Big Bertha out the window.

February 22, 2010

I'm thinking that it's no longer such a good idea to put Dane in the bouncy chair...

February 21, 2010

We count ourselves very lucky to live by most of Eric's brothers and their families.

We had Eric's brother, Lance, and his 2 boys over for dinner last night.

Megan LOVES her cousin, Trevor, and I was fortunate to capture this shot of them last night.

These two are crazy when they are together, but have a great time!

February 20, 2010

Here's to being 29 forever!

February 19, 2010

And I thought Spring was right around the corner.

Silly me...

February 17, 2010

Someone woke up GRUMPY from her nap.

I asked her if she wanted to come downstairs.

"I just want to cry," was her response,

and she knelt down on the landing of our stairs and did just that for about 20 minutes

for no reason at all.

Heaven help us when this girl is a teenager. We are going to need it!

February 16, 2010

Meet Big Bertha!

She is my nursing pump and the two of us have been inseparable these last 5 days.

I named her that because I thought it was a good cow name and that's how I've felt these last several days - like a cow.

Dane has decided to stop nursing on Friday (he has a tooth that is coming in) and won't take a bottle very well. So, I have been pumping every three hours during to day to keep my milk in the hopes that when this darned tooth finally pops through he'll want to nurse again.

In the meantime, this is how feeding him works right now:

1. Try to nurse

2. Heat up milk that has already been pumped to try a bottle

3. Try to give Dane a bottle (he has yet to drink more than three ounces from it)

4. Mix the rest of the milk he didn't drink with baby oatmeal and feed that to him.

5. Pump

The whole process takes at least 30 minutes and it's getting really old, really fast...

P.S. We are going to the doctor in about an hour to make sure there is nothing else going on.

Wish me luck!

February 15, 2010

I think it's finally time...

I have been anxious to get Megan potty-trained for quite some time. We tried once when Dane was 1 month old and it didn't go very well. Ok, it was awful! I have asked her several times since if she wants to go potty in the toilet and wear "big girl" underwear. The answer is always "no". We talked it up one night a few months back and she seemed to be on board until she woke up the next morning. When I tried to get her to take off her diaper and put on her princess underwear, she said, "Never mind, Mom." This was after showing her the princess potty chart that I had made, stickers to put on the chart after she goes, and the prizes she can get once she gets enough stickers. So I was a little shocked when I asked her tonight before her bath if she wanted to sit on the toilet and get a candy after she goes (she hasn't been too interested before). She said yes and actually went a little bit. She then asked to go again about an hour later, not producing very much, but it's at least a start. We'll see how tomorrow goes (I'm trying not to get my hopes up), but maybe this candy thing will work this time.

February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day from my "Love Bugs" to yours!

February 13, 2010

This is my nightly addiction.

My friend told me the easiest way to make popcorn in the microwave:

Put about 3 T. of popcorn kernels in a brown paper lunch bag

Fold the top over and put in the microwave

Hit the popcorn button on the microwave and...

Voila!

Perfect popcorn that you can add however much salt and butter you want.

It comes out perfect every time.

Maybe that's why I crave it every night...

February 12, 2010

I had a little Valentine's Day Party with some of our friends today.

I made these for all the little girls (the boys got sweet Spiderman cars from the dollar store):

We had pizza for lunch and then each kid made one of these:

Cookie Lollipops!

My house always feels a little small when you add 6 extra kids running around, but we had a fun time and look forward to doing it again next year!

February 9, 2010

I made rice crispy treats for my Activity Day girls today. I LOVE rice crispy treats, but need to make them for other people, otherwise I'll eat the whole pan by myself.

I craved them when I was pregnant with Dane like crazy and amazingly still really like them. Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays, so I'm looking for any excuse to make a treat and wrap it up cute this time of year.

PS I know I've been a little MIA these last few weeks. I was still taking a picture everyday, but got a little lazy about posting them and then we were out of town for almost a week. I'm getting pack into the swing of things again though...