We are the Millers

Dear Baby Girl,  you have been so sweet lately but what's with not wanting to eat dinner lately?  You eat your breakfast and your lunch but you totally boycott dinner for some reason.  You're becoming a little too picky of an eater for our liking. Dear Little Man,  Mommy loves you very much but she does not love your sleeping habits.  We have got to get you on a better sleeping schedule before Mommy goes completely insane.  Dear boobs,  you're really getting on my nerves.  I am working around the clock to get you to work the way you are supposed to work for my little guy and you're not cooperating.  One more thing to try before I give up completely. Dear Beamer, I love you very much.  You're so comfortable and fun to drive.  But I might actually have to agree with my husband on the fact that you are just too small for us now.  We have to take pieces of our stroller off just to get it in the back of you....

This week, I'm saying So What if... My son is one month old today. Already. Today is my 4 week post baby appointment and I know I'm not going to be happy with the scale. Why can't I be one of those girls where the baby weight just melts off? I started putting my little guy's hair in a Mohawk and I' m obsessed.  The Coach purse I bought to replace the last Coach purse has to be returned too. The straps are starting to rip off just like the last one. What the hell? The Voice started this week. Yay! I don't have an ultimate favorite yet but there are some good ones. Loving the original coaches. There are way too many good shows starting Thursday. Not only do I watch Grey's and Parenthood, I also want to watch the new Michael J Fox show. Looks funny. I finally sat and watched the movies Bridesmaids from beginning to end and it was terrible. I'd seen bits and pieces of it but never he whole thing. Just terrible. ...

So lately, I've been posting about experiences with breast feeding ( Breast Feeding Issues ) my little guy. I've been having nothing but trouble and I gave myself one more week to get on track. See The End is Near .  Well it's been a week and I thought I'd post an update on our progress. We haven't really gotten anywhere.  I nurse this kid every time he eats and he still cries for more after an hour long feeding frenzy.  He cluster feeds pretty much non stop.  That's ok except I can't exactly have him latched onto me 24/7.  I have another child to take care of. The pumping has gotten me nowhere.  I even had a friend give me a Medela pump and that hasn't made any difference.  I am taking the Fenugreek and started taking another supplement to boost my supply but I have seen no results so far. I thought that the problem was that I introduced the wrong kind of bottles to my little guy.  The bottles I was using were nothing like breast bottl...

Anyone have any advice in what kind of baby bottles to use? I currently have Nuk bottles and while I do believe they accurately mimic the breast, it takes my little guy FOREVER to drink a bottle! The other bottles I have are much faster but I believe they are part of the reason I'm having such a problem with breast feeding. More on that later. Any recommendations for good breast bottles? Also, I have a Lansinoh breast pump and that kind of sucks too. It was one of the pumps that the hospital recommended but I really don't get anything when I pump. I might get an ounce out of an entire day of pumping. Maybe it's not the pump. Maybe I just can't pump. That happens right? So what kinds of pumps are best? I'm going to be checking with my insurance company to see if they will provide a free pump. I've seen others do this so we'll see if my insurance does it. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

This week, I'm saying So What if... It's our 3 year anniversary and we have no plans and no gifts. Little man has been taking up so much of our time we just didn't have a chance. My little guy is almost a month old and I haven't really posted much about him they way I did with Ashlyn. I need to work on that. I am in serious need of a massage but I refuse to get one until I drop some more weight. It's a self conscious thing. I left Ashlyn alone for 5 minutes to wash dishes the other day and she covered her arms in blue dry erase marker. Good thing it's washable. I am more addicted to Instagram now than Facebook. If I'm not already following you, leave me a comment with your Instagram handle. Mine is vmiller0918. I don't watch Sons of Anarchy but I started watching it this season and now I'm kind of hooked. I also love Ink Master but I have to DVR that and watch it during the day because my husband hates the ...

We met 18 years ago...We started dating 13 years ago...We got married 3 years ago. Through ups and downs, ins and outs, it's always been us. We've made it through a hell of a lot and I know we will make it through a hell of a lot more! Happy Anniversary to a my kind, funny, hardworking man who also happens to be the best Daddy in the world. I can only hope that some day our children know how lucky they are just like I do.

Or is it? First of all, let me start by apologizing for all of the focus I have had on breast feeding lately.  It amazes me how much this has taken over my life right now.  If you follow me at all, you know that I haven't had the best of luck with breast feeding so far. It's been 3 weeks and we still don't have anything figured out.  I've gotten some really great advice from other bloggers and from friends so I am very grateful for that but we just don't seem to be making any progress.  It still hurts when I nurse and he still cries for a bottle after nursing. If I were able to say that I've given my all and it's just working, then I might be able to let it go but I can't say that yet.  So I've decided to dedicate this week to breast feeding.  It's going to be my one final push to make it work.  I have plan. More calories/protein - I know I'm not eating enough.  I literally just had breakfast at (12:30pm).  It's crazy how mu...

Not only did our little guy give us a bit of a scare at birth (see Boova's Birth Story ), he also decided to keep scaring us a bit during his first few days of birth. At birth, our little guy weighed in at 7lbs, 13oz, only 3oz smaller than his big sister, though he seems so much smaller. He had a hard time latching on at first so he really wasn't eating. He was circumcised the day after he was born and decided that he was going to sleep all day and not eat at all. He didn't latch the entire day...just slept. The nurses said that was normal but were concerned because he hadn't had a wet diaper at all. Their rule is day one should be one wet and one poopy diaper, day two, two of each and so on. Well the little guy had no wet diapers. The nurse decided it might be time to supplement the little guy with some formula since pumping didn't yield any milk for my guy and he refused to latch on. We needed to have a wet diaper before he could go home. No wet diaper meant...

Dear Baby Girl,  I am loving how much you are talking lately. I am having actual conversations with you now and it's funny what comes out of our mouth sometimes. I think you might be needing some more attention, though, because you become glued to any person who walks into our house lately. Mommy and Daddy will work on that. Dear Little Man,  you really are the sweetest little thing but Mommy would really appreciate it if you could sleep a little longer than 3 hour stretches. Oh and if you could stop peeling through your diapers every 5 minutes, that would be great. I have had to do more laundry this past week than I have in the past month! Dear Wal-Mart,   I think I'm done with you. While the birth announcements I ordered from you are adorable, it took 2 days for me to get them because you closed your photo center early. Then you refused to let my husband pick up the stroller I ordered even though he picked things up for me before. You really suck. Dea...

I wanted to have some cute pictures to use on Little Man's birth announcements but I didn't want to have them professionally done. We just don't have a lot of time for that right now. Plus we didn't do that for Baby Girl so I didn't want to do it this time. So, instead, I took a few photos myself and hoped for the best. I just have a little Kodak digital camera and I didn't have any cute props or anything but I don't think they are too bad.   And his announcement...    

September 11, 2001 ... I was a freshman in college. I had just started my first year at Penn State University and I was excited. I had also just gotten engaged...literally the day before. It was a Tuesday and my class didn't start until 10:40 so I was just waking up when my dad came to my room and asked me if I had seen what was going on. I went downstairs and watched TV with him. I watched the smoke pour out of the buildings. I listened to the news on what had happened. I watched the towers fall. I don't think I fully grasped what was going on but I knew it was big. I went to class not really knowing what else to do. The professor had a conversation with the class about what had happened and about counseling services available on campus and then sent us home. The campus was closed the next day as well. I watched the news all day.  I remember being scared. I didn't know anyone in those towers but I felt for all of them. I remember thinking about how scared t...

This week, I'm saying So What if... I have 11 blog posts drafted but not finished. I posted Little Man's birth story but no updates since. I will work on that this week. I've never seen a baby sweat as much as my son.  I never got a replacement purse from Coach. Instead, they sent me a gift card for what the purse was worth. So I got another purse! It's my favorite one yet. I'm so sick of the weird weather. It's September and it's hot and humid. Yuck! I can't wait until we get the double stroller we finally ordered so I can start taking the kids for walks. It's weird saying kids. I have two kids. Baby Girl has mastered the skill of selective hearing. Drives me crazy! Baby Girl takes all of my Scentsy bars out of the cabinet and makes everyone smell them. I was really nervous about taking both kids to Little Man's appointment on Monday but it wasn't that bad. Baby Girl was verbs well behaved so that helped...

  Dear Baby Girl,  let me just say that you have been a rock star in dealing with your little brother so far.  You have been a little more demanding but I'm not so sure that's because of your brother.  I just think that's normal toddler behavior.  You are an amazing child and we love you so much.  Dear Little Man,  you are the sweetest little guy.  You look so much like your sister and have so many of the same habits she did when she was a baby.  You have no idea how happy Mommy and Daddy are to finally have you here! Dear weather,  you are getting cooler which means Fall is coming.  My favorite time of year.  Bring on the Fall festivals and pumpkin flavored everything! Dear boobs,  I really need you to start cooperating a little better.  Little Man is growing very quickly and you are not doing your job.  Let's get moving. Dear husband, I really appreciate the help you have b...

I didn't breastfeed Ashlyn.  She wouldn't latch and I didn't push it.  So, I don't really know anything about breastfeeding.  I know what the lactation consultant told me, I know what information I read online and I know what advice people have given me.  Well I need more advice!! Breastfeeding has been a bit of an adventure.  Little Man didn't want to latch on at first and pretty much refused to eat all day the Monday after he was born.  The nurses said that was normal since he had been circumcised that morning.  Once he woke up and started feeling better, the little guy latched on like a champ and has been latching ever since.  He latches a little too hard if you ask me!  It has been quite painful to feed this little guy.  The lactation consultant said it shouldn't hurt if I'm doing it right but everyone I talk to says otherwise so I'm just trying to work through the pain.  My problem now is that after 12 days of nursin...

Well my Little Man is here and I am finally able to sit down and write his birth story.  What a story it is!  In case you haven't seen it before, Boova is Pennsylvania Dutch for little brother. We start out with Saturday (8/24) night.  I had a headache all day long Saturday and my husband made me call the doctor.  One of the symptoms of Pre-Eclampsia is a persistent headache so he wanted me to call.  The doctor sent me to the OB Triage at our local hospital to get checked out. We were only there for about an hour.  They took some blood and checked everything out and it all looked fine.  No signs of Pre-E or any other issues.  The nurse on duty checked my progress which was at 3.5 cm.  It wasn't anything to get excited about but I told my husband on the way home that she may have jump started my labor by checking me. I felt fine all day Sunday.  I was having some contractions throughout the day but nothing major and nothing regular....

  This week, I'm saying So What if... I had this post done yesterday and forgot to post it.  Oops. I haven't made a blog post in...um...a while.  I still haven't posted Little Man's birth story. I have it started I just have to get it finished. My house looks like hurricane came through it. There is shit everywhere.  I have a newborn and still have baby fever. I know....I'm bat shit crazy. I'm tired of people saying that (and acting like) the second kid isn't as important as the first. This is my first son. He is just as important as his sister....and just as cute! Those end of pregnancy headaches I had didn't go away. Maybe I need new glasses. I'm a little surprised by how well Baby Girl has adapted to this new little human in our house. She is not nearly as pissy as I expected her to be. I'm also surprised by the lack of support we got with our little guy as compared to his big sister.  Just goes back to that second kid isn't...