What a week!

Hey everyone!

Well, it's been kind of a rough week, and that's why I haven't been blogging much.

For one thing, this cold I have has been kicking my tail. It's one of those things where you cough and cough so hard you pee your pants (moms, you know what I mean!) and still can't budge that horrid tickle in your throat. I am nursing so I can't really take any good decongestants or cough medicine and I don't even want to take the stuff that is supposedly OK because it probably reduces milk supply and I am having supply issues (more about that later). So, I've just been suffering.

Logan has been coughing and sneezing and Jordan is also a snot box. With the baby, I can't tell if it's teething or a cold, but one thing is for sure, he has NOT been sleeping! He fights me tooth and nail when I start to head for the crib. He HOWLS and CRIES and SCREAMS and sometimes it can go on for over an hour before he'll fall asleep. Then he's up multiple times in the night doing the same thing.

Add all that to the fact that hubby was out of town for work for three days and two nights, therefore I had NO BREAK, and you'll see why I haven't really had much time to blog! I've been a tired, icky-feeling Mommy! Still feeling kind of icky, but Jordan slept a bit better last night. He took about 10 minutes to go down and only got up twice (and one of those times was around 5:30 and I was just finishing pumping, so I was able to give him a bottle and get him back to bed).

Hopefully things will start looking up!

In addition to all that, I have this boo-boo on my boobie still. Now that I have been pumping, it's going away. I have been trying to keep lanolin on it because it appears to be a crack that keeps re-cracking.

Yes. Ouch. Mucho oucho!

I learned the hard way that nursing will cause it to re-crack, so I have been pumping on that side twice a day. What a pain.

The pumping got me all freaked out, though, because I am realizing that I don't make a lot of milk! I know pumping won't get out quite as much as a baby can get when nursing, but a couple times I could barely get a few ounces, and that makes me think that maybe I have been starving my baby for months without knowing it! I wonder if the problem is I don't drink enough water, and I'm really trying to do better about that! I am also offering him more solid food at meals, and a touch of whole milk here and there. Jordan will be 10 months on Monday, and the pediatrician said I could start giving him cow's milk (a third of his daily milk) at 10 months.

I don't know. Maybe the gradual weaning process is beginning. I planned to nurse for a year like I did with Logan, but it's making me kind of sad because I know I will never nurse a baby again. It's hard to let go. How did this kid grow up so fast?!

Anyway, my Christmas shopping is about done and we'll probably get our tree tomorrow. We are going with the preschool class to get the school's tree today. It's only going to be a high of 32 today, so I'll have to bundle up the boys! It's December, so I'm ready for some winter! Plus, I totally missed winter last year due to bed rest. I want to play in the snow!

The other day, my best friend and I took the kids to Bronners CHRISTmas Wonderland, which is a HUGE all-Christmas store up in Frankenmuth. It was a nut house trying to keep the kiddies from breaking any of the millions of glass ornaments in the store. It's a cool place, though. Kind of overwhelming, actually. If you ever need an ornament as a gift, they have EVERY theme you could ever think of, including stuff in different languages. They personalize them too. I bought some really cool ones with the Serenity Prayer on them for the boys' godparents.

Check out the Web site. This place is realllllly Christmasy!

Here are a couple photos inside the store.





They have lots of themed displays, and the kids were so crazy I couldn't take many photos, but I thought this wedding dress display was kind of neat.



I also got the boys each a Santa hat. Logan wanted the one with reindeer antlers on it and I got Jordan a baby one with a snowman face. Aren't they cute?





So, anyway, sorry I've been kind of absent. Hopefully I'm on the up-swing now!

Have a great weekend!