Independence Weekend

We love our holidays so much we that we spend whole weekends celebrating them!

On Thursday, we participated in another park play group! 

  

Audrey (fingers), Adelynn (toes), and I made sure our nails were festive for the next day!

  On Friday, we went over to Eric's parents' home for a get together with everyone!

Audrey sang "Let It Go" the whole way there...

After our family picture, Aaron begged me to take one of him, Thomas, and Annie. Love it!

  

Eric's mom was out lying on the grass with Katie fanning her, Lucy massaging her feet (behind the bushes) and Audrey giving her kisses. Such is the life of a Grandma!

 

 Not sure that we'll ever outgrow the fun of bubbles!

  

 

 Audrey was SO tired! She eventually crashed in the swing for a brief nap.

Keeping up with the big kids is hard work!

 

There was a rousing game of Frisbee Golf that ended up with one of the frisbees on the roof! 

Aaron was quick to volunteer to go get it.

**side story - on our way to Eric's parents' home that day, Aaron mentioned wanting to go on the roof. I told him it was dangerous and he replied, "Oh, right. I could fall off and then I would die and then we would never see each other again..." We had a heart to heart discussion about how we are a forever family that is sealed in the temple, but it was still a bad idea to get on the roof... and then I went and let him get on the roof... *sigh* Here's hoping the lesson isn't ruined.

 

 At the request of Eric's mom, we brought a cake and sang to Aaron and Audrey. Then they got gifts. 

It's a request that I was ok with :)

 Adelynn was happy to watch her siblings open their gifts.

I love that smile!

 Once it got dark, we started the fireworks. Aaron enjoyed the poppers, but Audrey never quite got it. She didn't like the idea of throwing them, so she'd set them down gently on the ground.

 

 

 Aaron and Audrey enjoyed doing sparklers with Gramma and Grampa.

 

 It didn't take long for several kids to crash - we got home a little after 12, so it was super late!

 Saturday, the actual 4th of July, we enjoyed playing with our new gifts before prepping for our friends to join us for a party!

 

 

Don't worry - I won our game of Wackee Six!

 I enjoyed my BBQ pulled pork with some of the best girls!

  

 

 Today was much more mellow ...

Daddy makes the best pillow! All 3 asleep!

Breastfeeding Woes...

This is more of a journal entry than a blog post.

I am not a breastfeeding success story...

There is a lot of shame that is put on women who don't breastfeed.

It comes from doctors, nurses, lactation consultants, and worst of all, other moms...

blah blah blah...

Sometimes, it simply doesn't work!

Aaron never learned to latch. We tried everything. He'd start eating and the milk would just go everywhere. After 6 weeks, I was done and he was done. He needed food and he wasn't getting it.

So we switched to formula.

Audrey was a champion eater. She did fabulous.

Until she decided she was done. At 4 months old, she planted her hands on me and literally pushed me away. She refused to take me. I have no idea what prompted this - she hadn't had a bottle for a few weeks (we only used them with sitters after she became bottle trained).

So we switched to formula.

Adelynn was a very aggressive eater. She created scabs and bruises within the first few days despite her latch being what the consultants called "excellent." When your nipples feel pain, it shoots to your extremities. I also had carpal tunnel, so the pain shooting to my hands was even worse - to the point where I would writhe while she sucked. I switched to pumping and giving her a bottle while my nipples healed - throwing out the first, several, blood tinged ounces. After they healed, I tried to put her back on, and the pain was excruciating, scabs forming quickly. I had been pumping out 4x what Adelynn was eating per day already so I decided to continue with that for a month or so to build up a supply for her in the freezer. But pumping was already painful and slowly became more so - I had no idea that I had developed clogged ducts ... which developed into mastitis, an infection of the breast that causes multiple spikes of fever (102 degrees) and severe pain. It didn't take long for me to scrap that plan due to the pain. Plus, there are medications that I can be on when I'm not breastfeeding that would help with my chronic fatigue - allowing me be able to function and better care for my family.

So we going to switch to formula.

Sometimes I wonder what my breasts are even for...

I can't feed my children with them.

They manage to catch every food or drink item that misses my mouth.

They grow huge and are painful and then shrink back down to shriveled raisins.

If my husband didn't love them so much I honestly would get rid of them.