Breastfeeding fashion, DIYs, and maternity snafus...

SO EXCITED!  Today I ordered 3 teething necklaces and I cant wait for them to arrive! Kaylee has been grabbing my necklace lately while she is nursing and I thought it would be good to get something a little softer for her to grab. I got them from Koukku (Etsy) and they are super cute.  I ordered one in black, grey, and white. The lady I bought them from was incredibly nice and the price was reasonable.  I'll post pictures once they arrive!

I know I mentioned that we've been doing sign language for milk with Kaylee... Tim and I SWEAR she's actually doing it. When you do the sign for milk it looks like you are milking an invisible cow udder. Kaylee will do this thing where she stops moving except for her hand and its making the motion for milk.  When she stops like that it seems she's concentrating REALLY hard. :) I've also started using the sign for change diaper.  For a full dictionary of baby sign language shown my My Smart Hands click here.

I also have been busy!  I saw this cute headband holder on Pinterest and decided to make it for Kaylee.  I added the link to the pin but it seems the page with the directions is no longer available.  It seemed easy enough to make.  I love repurposing things... recycle, reuse, reduce.. and this headband holder involved repurposing an oatmeal can.  I just covered the oatmeal can with paper and added some decoration.  Here are some pictures... I love how it turned out! On a side note: I am OBSESSED with headbands!

We are still working with Dominic on night time potty training and we are seeing fruits of our labor.  The other night Tim and I were watching a movie and at about midnight we hear Dominic wake himself up and go to the potty.  This is the first time he has done this by himself... without us waking him up first.  Tim and I looked at each other and were so incredibly proud.  So we made a trip to the Lego store for Friday.   Dominic ended up getting some small Lego figurines and a $7.99 small bucket of Legos.  I am ever impressed by Dominic's growth this year and are pleased with his academic experience in Kindergarten.  Every night we read a book before bedtime and a few nights ago he read to me the entire book Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss (aside from about 3 words he didn't know, such as 'skate').  The book is almost written entirely with sight words and each week at school Dominic learns a new sight word.

An update on my Disability saga... I previously posted about what a nightmare I was having with filing a Disability claim and issues with my OB's office submitting their portion of the Disability claim... well, I finally got a hold of someone and CA EDD office and the person I talked to said that he looked up my claim and it is currently with an examiner but will likely be disqualified because the medical provider submitted their portion past the 49 day deadline. I should be getting the notice in the mail in about 2 weeks.  When I explained that my OB's office reported they faxed it within the time limit I was told I could appeal and when I got the notice of the disqualification it would state how to appeal... this is ridiculous   At this rate I won't get my first Disability check until I return to work!  RIDICULOUS!

I'm still working on New Year's Resolution #2: Be less squishy and continue to walk to pick up Dominic from school.  Sometimes Tim is working when Kaylee and I walk to pick up Dominic, if he isn't Tim usually walks with us.  On Friday, Kaylee and I also went hiking with a neighbor friend and it was nice to be out.. it was a good beginner hike and the view was lovely.  It would be great to take Dominic on the weekend as the area has cows so I think D would get a kick out of that!  After the hike, however, I dropped my cell phone in the gravel parking lot and my cell phone shattered... Blech!  So now I have a loaner cell phone and Best Buy is ordering me a new one... glad we bought their protection plan.

Here are some pictures of Kaylee..

My sweet girl and her giraffe.

Nap time.  Busted out of the
swaddle.

See you next week... should be an exciting week... Kaylee is getting her ears pierced tomorrow so I will post pics!

New Year's Resolutions...

Dominic and Kaylee on New Year's day.

New Year... new resolutions.

So this year I have several resolutions... First, to not let this blog go the way the last two did... unceremoniously dead.  The last few months (October-December 2012) were done retrospectively, last night to be exact.  I just started updating the blog yesterday so today is only day 2.  We shall see.

My second resolution is to be less squishy.  A family friend bought us the jogging stroller that we registered for, much to my surprise, so I've been taking the stroller out and going walking.  One of the things I've really started to like is walking with Kaylee to pick up Dominic from school... since his school is right down the street.

Headed to the park with my loves, 01/02/2013.

Happy Faces!

The other big development over the last few weeks is that Kaylee is talking and cooing a lot and is a smiley girl!    Here's a great picture of her smile...

Happy faces!

Kids in our bed on Tim's birthday morning.

Tim also celebrated his 35th birthday on 01/02/2013. He had a pretty relaxing day.. but then it was back to the grind of his work, a blessing that he has been very busy with work!





Kaylee continues to do well.. I weighed her the other day and she is now 12 pounds... a chunker!  She has the cutest rolls of skin and fat on her thighs!  She is still nursing well... too well as she still won't take a bottle.  :(  I love nursing her, please don't get me wrong, but I'm terrified that when it's time for me to go back to work she'll still be refusing the bottle.  I'm also getting nervous... she has her second consultation tomorrow morning with the Children's Hospital Pediatric Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist... this time it's the head of the ENT Department so that's comforting.  When I talked with the office staff on the phone they mentioned that if they can do the ear tag surgery in the Walnut Creek office they will do it likely on 1/24/2013.  I know I want to get it done but ITS . JUST . SO . NERVE . WRACKING.  I know I will be a mess that day.  What's funny is I think I've been on a journey with Kaylee's skin tag... At first I was shocked and worried, then embarrassed about the ear tag, then embarrassed about being embarrassed about my daughter.  When she was just born and probably up until last month I purposely tried to take pictures of only the right side of her face showing... and when we would go out I worried what friends and people would say/think.  Now I don't care.  She is beautiful to me. Kaylee, on the other hand has started tugging, pulling, and straight out yanking the ear tag.

Dominic is also doing well.. he has stopped (for the most part) having potty accidents at school.  We started a reward system where every day he is dry at school he gets a $1 to put in his treasure box.. then as his treasure box fund grows he can buy stuff.. so he bought a game for his LeapPad recently.  He told me what game he wanted to get, I told him how much it cost ($10), he counted out $10, gave me the money, and I bought the game.  I like this because he feels an ownership in the ability to buy stuff because he worked to get the $.  Dominic is still not the greatest listener but we are working on that.  He loves school, doing homework, and is able to read quite a few words.