Green-ISH

So, I have recently put my family on a diet of sorts. I have been trying to buy good REAL food. No preservatives or additives and organic for a lot of stuff also. It has actually made me want to cook more (and as I've said before, I DO NOT cook). I've made 2 or 3 cakes from scratch also. I think what it is is that it feels good to know that I am feeding my family good food. Now don't get me wrong we are still eating some bad stuff too, I'm not one of those hardcore organic green people. The whole reason that this came about is that I watched a few talk shows about pesticides and the things that are in beauty products, talks about BPA and other dangers in food. I also watched the documentary Food Inc (I highly recommend). All these things got me thinking about what we are eating and it made me want to change how we eat. I also started trying to be a little more green in other areas of my life: i make sure to save napkins, plastic spoons and all the other things that dont get used from fast food, etc., i've been saving baby food and other glass jars even though I have no clue what I am going to use them for LOL (i've been trying to buy things in glass as much as possible bc of the whole BPA thing), I have been using my re-usable shopping bags fairly religiously, I even planted some herbs and tomatoes and peppers. I've been reading a book about green living that has given me a lot of ideas that I cant wait to use when we buy another house (hopefully next year).
I dont really know where this blog is going I was just thinking about it. It really does make me proud of myself and I feel so good to be doing any little bit I can for my family and the planet :) I don't think I could ever cut out a lot of conveniences that are non-green but something is always better than nothing!

bye bye boobie

well its official, i've been bitten and you know what that means? no more boobie for the baby! Yes i have decided that teeth mark the ending to my breastfeeding. I must say though I am so proud of myself for doing it for 8 months, even though it is now only once maybe twice a day I still never thought i would have lasted this long. and now if only my boobs would magically realign themselves to their former position.....

(hey we can all dream a little)

pincher fingers...

well its been a while. the holidays went great! i loved being home with my family who i love and miss so much. just to catch up on a few things. I am still breastfeeding (only usually once a day) but my little one is finally getting his bottom two teeth and I really feel that we will be weaning in the very near future (he already thinks they are a chew toy without teeth, i dont think i want to risk the possibility!) He is also sleeping through the night now!!! YAY! im now putting him in his crib for his daytime naps and he sleeps from about 8pm to 6 or 7am! it is a beautiful thing i tell you.
he is starting to get up like hes ready to crawl but is still a no go. he has ended up across the room by scooting backwards but i dont think he means to do it. i am fine with that my older son only crawled for about a month and a half and then by 9 months he was walking like a pro, this time around i know i can wait! immobility will be fleeting and once it is over, well, it is OVER! :) and oh already little hands must touch EVERYTHING! its driving me crazy! i love seeing him explore his environment but i miss the peaceful moments of holding and cuddling with him. it is now impossible, if he spots something, ANYTHING he zooms in on it. i need to know why is it that babies are in love with remote controls? i just dont get it, he will about break his neck to grab it off the table. (and break my back in the process, he is no skinny baby!) and he has now gotten down what my husband and i call the pincher fingers (the fine motor skill of grabbing small objects between the thumb and forefinger). he is seven months old today and i cant believe it has been that long already. although i cant believe my oldest is 7 years old!!
speaking of my seven year old he is doing great, it seems like just yesterday he was a baby too (oh the cliches). things are finally settling out into a routine for my family and i, and i am so grateful for that. my mind is still hanging out somewehere else but it does return more frequently now that i am getting more rest. I also found out i have hypothyroidism caused by my pregnancy which i feel may be contributing to my spaciness.
well the little man of the house has decided its time to start our day. until we meet again....

o by golly have a holly jolly.....

i love the holidays but then again, i hate the holidays. so much stress trying to remember everyone u need to send a card to and everyone u need to buy presents for. dont get me wrong i love shopping & therefore i love having a reason to do it and not feel guilty for it but this year i just want to get it over with. my mind has still not wondered back to its rightful place (with me, that is) and i cant remember normal things on a regular basis so adding all the extra stuff is sending my mind into overload. the upside is that i will be heading home for christmas ready to see my family and spend 2 long weeks home. while i love our new place i miss my family and friends. so im excited to get to spend the holidays with them.
well i might have had many more intriguing things to say but little eyeballs have just opened and u know what that means....bye bye mommy time:)
happy holidays everyone!

oh where oh where has my little mind gone?

so we have had a whole WEEK of success with my LO in his crib!! i can't believe i did not do this sooner. it did take some crying but he has hasn't cried for longer than 15 mins on any night and in fact two nights he has went down wide awake and fell asleep NO CRYING! i am elated! not to mention i am getting a little more sleep it seems that now that he is alone in his bed he is sleeping at longer stretches (or maybe it just seems that way because im not scrunched up next to him trying not to move so he doesnt wake up).
on another note... tonight i spent about 30 minutes researching "forgetfulness after baby". seriously i was beginning to think that i was losing my mind. and in fact that could still be the case but apparently there are quite a few others losing theirs too so i feel better :) sometimes ill be having a conversation and just stop in the middle and stare into space because i literally forgot the next word i was going to say! i must ashamedly admit that i forgot my son on early release day (to my credit early release day is only once a month, but still...) luckily i have a wonderful friend who is my neighbor that came down and reminded me so even though i ended up being at the very end of the line, i made it before they had to call me. i forget small stuff all the time. my son will be like "mommy we forgot to....(fill in the blank cause it could be anything from go to the library to sign my folder for school)" i keep telling him "oops...i told you to remind me".i am counting on my seven year old to remind me of stuff and well (obviously) its not working out too well. i have 3 dry erase boards plastered all around my house, the only problem with that is i forget to look at them. i've always been the person who remembers all the little details that run our household and i feel a bit inadequate forgetting all the time. granted i do remember the stuff (it just might a bit later than it was needed). i hear it gets better. i dont remember having it with my first (but then again i dont remember what i was doing five minutes ago either) im just hoping that at some point (preferably in the very near future) i will get my mind back. i could kind of use it......

oh sleepless nights...

its one of those days. my day has just started and i already feel defeated. i had quite a night with my baby boy. it could be worse, i know, but it still was rough. he cried (bc of some gas pains, i think) until about midnight, at which time my husband and I had a discussion about our stresses. So i didnt get to bed until around 12:45 and he woke up at 3:30 then again at 5:30 and decided he was going to hang out for a while. to top it off i was not feeling well myself. he stayed up for over an hour! needless to say i feel it is like an omen for the rest of my day. im hoping i can get out of this funk to attempt something productive today because i have a couple mounds of laundry that really need to be done. have i mentioned i hate laundry? well eventually it will become quite apparent. its my most despised chore and i will admit i make sure my family has enough clothes to last a week and a few days because i know that i will not do the laundry on any kind of schedule. i probably make it even worse on myself because by the time we get to it its at least a weeks worth. i give many props to women who keep up with laundry i only have a 4 people household i could not imagine having more.
so my husband and i were discussing putting our little one (lo) in his crib. while i am ready i must admit that i am just fretting it because his sleeping pattern is still erratic. i dont want to have to wake up and go all the way across the hall to feed him, i worry i might wake myself up in the process and have trouble getting back to sleep. its just easier to have him next to the bed in his bassinet. but i know also that that increases the possibility that i will put him in the bed with us if he's being fussy in the middle of the night and im tired ( i did last night).and that is a habit i hoped to avoid this time around it took forever to get my older son in his bed. i know that my husband is having trouble sleeping thru the night time cries (shockingly bc he sleeps thru everything!)and that is something i dont want to put him through bc even i i dont get enough sleep i can possibly make it up during the day or relax the next day but my hubby cant he has to get up and go to work...and he does everyday. this weekend will be testing time, we will try for the second time (i gave up the first) to get my son sleeping in his own room. cross your fingers for me. (for good measure do the toes too)...p.s excuse the typos and/or grammatical errors this was typed one handed. can i get an amen for multi-tasking?

boobies....planning not to plan

ok so i began my pregnancy knowing that this time i would try my best to breastfeed. with my older son i was young (19) and impatient and i tried once in the hospital and quickly gave up. going into it this time i knew that i would try harder but also knew i would probably still not last that long. and i didnt last very long breastfeeding exclusively. maybe the first couple weeks. and then i slowly began to supplement. by the time my son was one month old i was what i call "supplementing breastmilk". really kind of expecting my supply to diminish. but to my surprise it wasnt, and then i would randomly breastfeed more some days than others and now i breastfeed my 3 month old 2-5 times a day (for a few weeks now all his nighttime feedings have been breast). well now i am on an antibiotic and can not breastfeed. i told myself that i would just go ahead and wean now (i mean afterall i never really expected to last so long anyway) since i cant BF with the meds. but now i find myself pumping daily to keep up my supply because i am not sure that i dont want to anymore. i know there are huge debates about breastfeeding and there are probably people that would read this and think that i am selfish but i do feel like i want my breasts back. im kind of tired of leaking and i want them back for my husband. plus i find i sleep worse when i BF every feeding at night because i end up letting my son stay in the bed, and he snacks at his leisure LOL. but i just cant seem to give it up. i cant wait to be able to give him back at least one of our night feedings. its just one of those things we go through as mothers that lets you know having a plan about parenting is not necessary and many times it doesnt go the way u planned anyways. i have five more days of meds and my plan going forward with breastfeeding is to not have a plan.