Prayer request

Joshua and I have been living in KY for 1 1/2 years now.  He is in the process of looking for a new job in Atlanta so that we can move back home. He has been looking since the beginning of the year and hasn't had any luck.  Two weeks ago he got a call from a police department just outside Atlanta and they want him to come in for all day testing on the 31st!!!!! We are trying not to get our hopes up, but it's so hard not to. We want to move home so bad, so that we can be closer to our families.

I am not posting anything about this on facebook, so those of you who read this and are my friend on there, please don't say anything about it on there.  I am friends with one of Joshua's coworkers, and don't need him seeing anything about Josh looking for a new job. 

We do not know how long the process is going to take once the testing is done. They have stated that they are very interested in him due to his military experience, community ties, and degree. Please say a prayer that Joshua does his best on all the testing Wednesday. I've told him that lots of people will be praying for him to do well. 

Thanks!

Mom & Me

James and I have been going to a Mom & Me group through a local baptist church. It meets every Wednesday morning at different locations. Sometimes they meet at the church just to play, other times it's a local park, and then sometimes they plan outings to places that cost some money.  Our first time meeting up with the group was at a local pumpkin patch.  It was so cold that day, and windy.  We still had fun, and I got to pick out a pumpkin for James. 

 

Our second trip with the group was to one of the moms in-laws horse farm. The little kids got to ride horses which was really fun for them. Obviously James was too small to ride a horse, but he did enjoy getting to pet them.

 

 



This week the group met at a park and then went to get cider from a local farm.  James got to swing, and really enjoyed it.  I'm not the only one with an infant which is nice. It's so nice to get out of the house and have conversations with other mothers.  I don't mind messing up his schedule once a week so that he can be around other people and I can enjoy time out of the house. 

I am happy that I found this group and decided to go to it! I'm not a shy person but when I don't know people I can be. So it's a big deal for me to go to a new thing where I know no one.

Flashback Friday!

So I decided to link up with Emily today for a flash back post!

Back in August of 2009 Joshua and I took a trip to Disney World! There was a special deal for military members and their family members. The deal was the military member got a free 5 day park hopper, and could then purchase up to 5 more 5 day park hoppers for $125. Now that's a deal! We actually went in Jan with my whole family. So that trip my dad and Joshua got in for free! It was great.  Our first trip we used 3 days of the tickets, so we went back down in August to use the remaining days.

Going in August was not the ideal time due to the heat. But we still had a blast!! I don't think I could ever go to Disney and be unhappy!  I got an amazing deal on the place we stayed. I can't remember the name of it though. :( The deal was 4 nights for $149! It was a one bedroom condo with a full kitchen. I got it through the travel company that USAA uses. They have good deals all the time on vacations.

We went to Animal Kingdom, which I had never been to. I loved it. We did not do the safari, which I wish we had. But we will go again one day and do it. We absolutely loved Everest! It's right up there on our list next to Rockin' Roller coaster!

We also went to every park in our 2 days! We love everything about Disney. We spent a full day in Epcot, cause we really like it. We ran through Hollywood Studios. I think the only thing we rode there was Rockin' Roller coaster. Joshua isn't a big fan of Tower of Terror, although I like it.  We really wanted to ride Space Mountain, but it was closed for repairs, so we ate a pretzel and went back to the condo.  So our first day we went to Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Magic Kingdom. The second day was all Epcot!

 

 

We can't wait till James is old enough to go! It will be so much fun to take him. We talk all the time about going!

Nursing Issues

So for about a week now I have been having bad pain while nursing. James has started pulling off while still sucking. So he is causing me to be almost in tears with pain. I first was very concerned that I wasn't producing enough to satisfy him. I decided that I needed to talk to friends who nurse their babies and see if they had experienced the same problems as me.

I talked to Emily about my issues and took her advice and purchased some Hylands teething tablets. I gave them to James Tuesday and Wednesday, but at the 3pm feeding yesterday I was in so much pain I decided I would have to pump and give him bottles. So I gave him a bottle at 7pm, and this morning at 7am. I was able to get in to see a lactation consultant for his 11am feeding today.  She said that he latches on great, and he is obviously getting enough from me.  She believes that because he "plays" around and pulls off that is what is causing my pain.  So the plan for now is that when he starts to do the pull off thing I should tell him no and take him away from the breast. If that does not work she suggested giving him a bottle at the following feeding. He takes bottles like a pro, but I can tell he prefers the breast. She felt that "punishing" him with a bottle might get the point across. I'm really hoping that telling him no and taking him away from the breast will solve the problem. Because I took a break for two feedings I didn't hurt when nursing him today. I nursed him 3 times, so he only had one bottle today. 

I am not going to give up on nursing, I will make it to a year unless something beyond my control stops me! I've been blessed to really not have any issues until now. I think that it is probably normal for every woman to experience some kind of bump in the road while breast feeding. The key is to keep going after getting over the bump!

I just love this boy!

5 months old!

James is 5 months old now! I can't believe how fast time is going by. He's trying so hard to sit up, and can do it for a few minutes at a time. But he's definitely got a ways to go till he's sitting up right. He leans forward still. He can roll over like a champ, and will get himself off any blanket I put him on. Since he was seen for his 4 month appointment on Oct. 9th I am going to take him to get weighed on Nov. 9th, just to see how much he has gained. 

I am thinking about starting him on some food, but haven't fully decided if I should yet. I will probably end up waiting till he is closer to 6 months old.  I do think that he is trying to get some teeth, although I can't see or feel any yet.  He is constantly "talking", and at times it seems like he is frustrated that he can't actually speak. It's so cute! I'm working on getting him to say mama, but he hasn't done it yet.

Help me please!

I am having trouble with nursing, and need some advice.  For the past few days James has been pulling off and crying and acting like he isn't getting anything after a few minutes on one side. I will switch him to the other side, and he will do the same thing. So then I will go back to the original side and start over. Some feedings he will seem happy after getting each boob twice, and other times he still seems hungry. I can't figure out why he is doing this to me.  Has anyone experienced this problem?

Toys For Tots

I was reading over at Kelly's Korner and she did a linkup of favorite charities. I decided to join in!

My favorite charity is Toys For Tots . It is run by the Marine Corps Reserve, and holds a special place in my heart. My dad was in the Marine Corps Reserves and always took my brother and I to get toys to donate. It has been something that I continued even after moving out of my parents house. I started volunteering with T4T in Atlanta at their warehouse. It was so much fun to help sort the toys and get the orders ready for the different organizations. I made friends over the years, and in 2007 actually met Joshua there! He was doing his 2 weeks duty at the warehouse!



If you are looking for a charity to donate to this holiday season, please consider Toys For Tots!

Moving on up!

We live in a two bedroom apartment. When we moved in we decided that based on the setup it would be best to put our cats things in the spare room. Well when we found out I was pregnant there was a dilemma as to where to put the crib.  I didn't want it in the spare room since the cat's litter box and food were in there. So we decided to put James' crib in our room.

Having him in our room worked out great when he would need to nurse in the middle of the night. Now that he is getting older and doesn't nurse at night we decided it was time to move him. We first had to move the cat out of the spare room. Now our front coat closet houses his litter box and he gets fed in the pantry/laundry room. He is pissed that we won't let him in the spare room any more. But he will eventually get used to it. 

We finally got the spare room cleaned and as fur free as possible yesterday during James' morning nap time. We moved his crib during his awake time after he nursed at 11am. He then took two naps and slept the whole night in there. He woke up around 1am and I gave him a passy and I think he went back to sleep. I was a bad momma and turned the monitor off....I remember doing it, but don't think I realized what I was doing. I woke up around 5am and turned it back on and he was awake and moving around. When he started to get fussy I went in and gave him his passy and he went back to sleep until 7am. 

Today he has barely made a peep at all 3 of his nap times! I'm hoping that he does not wake up at 5am tomorrow. He has done so well with sleeping until 7am, and I don't understand why he has started waking up early. I'm hoping it's just a phase, cause I really like sleeping till 7!

Question for the few that actually read this and are nursing mommas: Did your baby change their latch around the time they started teething? I've started having pain while nursing and can't figure out why.

Our week

My birthday was Sunday the 7th. We went to church that morning, and James was great in the nursery! After church we came home and hung out watching football all day! James and I were sporting our Falcons gear and helped cheer them onto a win!

Last Monday James and I had a lazy day...I was recovering from a cold. James decided that napping in his bed was not going to happen, so we snuggled on the couch and got a good nap in!  I love it when he wants to snuggle with me. Makes my heart happy.

Sleeping on mommy

 Happy after our nap!

 

Wednesday we went to a pumpkin patch with a group called Mom & Me from the church. It was fun, but crazy windy and cold! It really was more for me than James, since he stayed in his stroller the whole time. We did take a "hay" ride to the pumpkin patch, and got to pick out our pumpkin. I still need to take a picture of James with the one I picked out for him.

On the hay ride





Thursday night Joshua and I watched the Vice Presidential debate. That's always good entertainment! James decided that night that 11:30pm was a good time to wake up. I'm not sure why he did, he hadn't done that in over a month. I went ahead and nursed him so he would go back to sleep. I ended up having to rock him for a while, cause he was wide awake.  I'll take the extra snuggles though, cause I know they won't last forever.

He did the wake up at 11 thing two nights in a row. I have no clue why he did it. Just like I don't know why he decided that 5:30 this morning was a good time to start the day. Thankfully Josh took him in the living room so I could keep sleeping.