BAAA-Aa-aa-hhhHh

Remember my posting about "pump day" well here is a little update, I ended up pumping at every feeding for a week straight wanna know how many OZ I was able to store up in my fridge.. you got it NONE. Yeah I know I was so disappointed, turns out Jada was taking everything I had Plus she was showing signs Of needing more, after many shed tears ( by both of us) I entered into the daunting task of researching Formulas... I came across one from natures one called baby's only Soy, I like that it is Organic, and that they use brown rice instead of corn syrup.... plan was to order this and still breast feed and when she acted like she needed more ( which is not at every feeding) I would supplement with this, SO i went ahead and ordered 1 can to try it out.

well turns out Jada didn't have time to wait for it to come in the mail, and after a really hard day for the both of us I headed to our local health food store to talk to my trusted friend AKA my knight and shining baby saver named Aaron... He has always been so helpful with any ?'s I have had in the past all dealing with babies and or pregnancies, I know but hes a man well ladies he is an awesomely helpful man who happens to be a daddy himself and has done extensive research on everything babies...

So there I am running into the store with mascara running down my cheeks muttering out the words "my milk supply is not enough for my little girl" ( which my the way i look totally silly because a I am crying in a health food store and secondly my daughter has rolls all over her body... how is it possible that she is not getting enough milk)

so he recomends that I try some Fenugreek suplements and he garantees me that my milk will come in within days SOLD! he says this herb is great I now take 2 of these herbal capsules 4 times a day.. I just started today so I am hoping my supply increases ASAP.

in the mean time I am waiting on the formula to come in but Aarom opened by eyes to GOATS MILK, thats right folks goats milk, hence the title of this post if you were feeling a little lost :) I will admit that I had never thought of this before because I figured only breast milk or formula when have you ever heard of goats milk?! well i gave it a listen to what he had to say. because our family is a vegetarian who also does not drink cows milk, I didnt want to start Jada on a cow's milk based formula and then when she turns one introduce her to soy or nut milk.. so my choice of formula is soy base.... which Aaron agreed would be the right way to go for us.

however, they did not have that brand of formula I ordered ( although they sell it) they were out, therefore he said I would try goats milk, he said it is the most like breast-milk and once I looked at the ingredients I was happy, they read : goats milk, vitamin d3, and folic acid. Now like I said this isn't formula but I am not just giving her this, I am still and will continue to nurse as my number once choice therefore she is getting all of the vitamins that my milk naturally makes along with the DHA and the prenatal vitamins I am still taking, so the goats milk is solely a supplement...

it is advertised as a "real milk" alternative for toddlers.. meaning parents who don't want there toddlers drinking cows milk, this is the part that made me a little leery, but after coming home and doing research I was amazed at how many other families recommended this and are using this instead of formula, there are lots of reviews if you are interested on amazon, the brand that we are using is called Meyenberg..

I gave it to Jada and she LOVES it. I was very pleased that I now have something to use as i am waiting on my milk supply to increase, but so far I have been able to nurse her as much as I have been as well as mixed it up with pumping therefore when I make the bottles she is getting both goat and momma....

I am hoping that this fenugreek will kick in my supply so I can carry out my wish of breast-feeding for the fist 12 months... so stay tuned

and in the mean time

BAaahahah

watch out world

On May 15th, Jada decided she would roll over, and as I thought, she decided the perfect time would be while mommy was washing a dish and daddy was out on a run. when I discovered her on her tummy , I placed her on her back again and ran into the office to grab the camera, when I came back hoping to capture her in action I was too late, there she was on her tummy again... so I sat there for the next 45 minutes holding the camera trying to capture something great... and nothing, she wasn't going to show me.

shortly after she went down for a nap and when she woke up we headed over to grandmas for breakfast, and it was there that both Daddy and I witnessed her roll over for the first time, even if to her it was her third.

What you just watched was her rolling two days later, it's her new favorite thing now, it's funny how just one day it's like she just said well I think I am ready to roll over now, we look forward to all the many new things she will be learning!

Four Months

Jada you are four months now and a handful of fun. You are seriously miss happy all day long and I LOVE it, makes a momma feel like she is doing a good job. you are always smiling and you recently enjoy sucking in a bunch of air making a squeal noise while to flail you arms and legs around and your eyes get really big, yeah thats probably one of my favorite things you do.

You are still so close to rolling over it just hasn't quite happened yet, its like you got all the way over to your side and then you are content with your new view there and you just hang out for a while. sometimes you like to be a little sneaker though and when I lay you down on your blankey and play your praise baby DVD and leave the room to go make the bed or something of that nature I come back in and you are in the process of the roll with your head lifted and all, so please stop that, momma wants to see you when you actually decide to go all the way.

We had your 4 month check up yesterday and you are 26 inches long and weighed 15.6 lbs, You still are only being fed BM but I did pick up the Super baby food book yesterday because I am just getting so excited to make you your food! we will still probably hold off on giving you any sort of solid for another month, especially because Daddy is going to be going away for a little while for his job training and he wouldn't want to miss all your cute and silly faces that we are guessing you will make the first time you taste foods.

you are wearing 6-9 month clothing now and are just about ready for some shoes, no not because you are ready to walk silly, but because your feet are starting to actually be a size instead of little itty bitty infant feet.

you still have all your cute little rolls, but it is actually pretty funny, you are a very thin baby..most people wouldn't guess this because they see you with your clothes on, but every night before bath time we give you nakey time for about 15 or 20 minutes and you hang out on your tummy and back and we even let you practice standing and seriously once that big ol cloth diaper is off of you and you are standing up you look like the cutest little string bean.... yes you have rolls, but really they are more like creases ha, either way you are adorable and I just love you so much!

you love to play patty cake on my lap while I bounce you up and down and act silly, that is usually when we get an out loud laugh.

your still in love with the bath tub and you kick and splash every time you are in there, we give you a bath every night and it is usually your special time with daddy and he gets you all dressed in your jammies and puts you to bed.

well your growing up kidO and well,

your just the cutest little buggy

Love Mamma

how it went down

here is how it all went down yesterday

pump time oz Ate

6:50 5 3

920 3 5 ( she ate the left over 2 oz from first feeding)

12:20 3 3

3:20 3 3

6:20 2 1/2 2 1/2

I fed her roughly an hour after I pumped, so her last feeding was at 7:00 and then we put her to bed, I pumped one last time at 9:20 and got another 2 1/2 oz and she woke up at 10 so I gave that to her. making her total 19 oz from roughly 6 am to midnight.

she slept great during all of her naps and even night time, she LOVED having her paci, I believe that is what helped her sleep because she just wanted something to sooth her, however at 3:40 she woke up and I tried to give her paci and she didnt want that so I knew she was hungry, so i nursed her instead of pumping b/c it was just easier at that time since she wanted it "now" so I am guessing since that was close to the morning hour where your milk supply is up pretty high I am going to say she got 3 oz... but I will go ahead and count those oz into todays feeding since it was past midnight... after she ate I laid her back down to sleep and she slept til 7 Am.

Todays plan is to pump again and see what we get out of today, but yesterday was much success.

Figuring it out... again

today had been a dedicated PUMP day.... you have heard of hump day well this is Pump day, after talking to my dear friend Mo about miss Jada's eating routine and how she has been fighting her nights sleep I have taken her two pieces of advice and we will see where it takes us.

instead of nursing I will be pumping and giving Jada a bottle that way I can measure out how much milk I am producing in a day and how much she takes at each feeding ultimately trying to figure out why at four months she is wanting to eat every 2 hours... no joke. because she eats so frequently I can never find the time to pump as i would literally be nursing her, then pumping and then nursing her again, and trust me thats no way to live... so this morning I pumped at 7 and got a total of 5oz, fed her and she only took 3oz she played for an hr then went down for an hour nap and woke up hungry putting her fists in her mouth, so I warmed up the other 2 oz from earlier and then pumped this time I got 3oz ( 2:30 hrs since the last time I pumped) and she took it all.. so so far this AM she has taken a total of 8 oz in 31/2 hrs. we will see how the rest of the day goes but so far this is making perfect sense to me, most 4 mo olds eat once every 4 hrs and and take in about 6-8 oz... where as my little jada bug eats twice within a 4 hr time span but still getting the same amt of oz, basically what I am saying is that her mamma just has small TaTa's that don't hold a lot of milk at once making her need to break up her feedings...

Jada has never been a paci fan and instead was using her thumb, and lately the thumb hasn't been cutting it,so I have become a human pacifier... not so fun when I am trying to get things done around the house... so I went out and purchased a 6mo paci hoping that maybe the bigger nipple will be what she is looking for, because all of her other paci's that she never liked were all newborn size, so we will see how she does with this and my thinking with her frequent night waking being that she wants to be soothed back to sleep instead of actually being hungry.

I truly think a Mom's job is never done, aren't we always trying to figure out our little ones.

Jada's Dedication

This past weekend was full of fun events for our family, On saturday we had Jada dedicated at our church, we had lots of family and a few friends that were able to join in on this very special day. As you may recall a post I did was back in December about the christmas gift I received from my mom where she had my wedding dress cut and used the pieces and the beads to make a nice gown for Jada ( or future children ) to wear to their dedication, well this weekend she got to wear it.

At the moment in time we were running a bit late to the church and we had family scattered all over I didn't realize how special it was to me knowing that she was wearing the dress I married her daddy in when we vowed before God, but as we were standing in the line I looked over at her in her daddies arms as she was chewing on a part of the gown and my heart was warmed over.

It was such a special day for our family, we have now proclaimed in front of our friends and family and church, that we will raise our little girl to know who Jesus is and to put her trust in God. Her daddy and I committed to trust God's promises made to us and Jada in his word. To seek God and seep scriptural guidance in the way we live and parent Jada, to discipline and show her grace, to teach God's word to her and live out the gospel in our home, to pray for her and teach her to pray, and to partner with the church community seeking accountability and leading Jada to do the same.

After the dedication we all came back to our house for a nice cook out, it was great spending time with family and friends, we had lots of delicious food and everyone was able to give Jada a nice kiss on her plump cheeks :) Thank you to all who shared in this very special day.

on this Mothers Day

Dear Mom:

Happy Mothers Day . Thank you for always being there for me when I needed you most, You have truly showed me what it means to be a mom. Not only are you a wonderful mother but you are also a phenomenal grandma , so thank you mom, thank you for all that you do and all that you are, and thank you for giving birth to me so that I too could grow up one day and experience the great Joy that being a mother brings.

Love- your Beaner

To my Jada Buggy: Thank you for being you, for all of the smiles that you bring to my face. you are the most amazing little girl who melts mommies heart with every coo that you make, there is nothing in this world that I have enjoyed more than spending each and every day with you , watching you grow and learn. I will always love you forever and ever.

Xoxo-Mom

I can not believe I am doing this, repeat, I CAN NOT BELIEVE I AM DOING THIS

remember how I talked about getting serious and wanted to tighten up by after baby Bod and committed myself to 90 days of work outs... and I mentioned how I took my before pictures and how icky icky ew ew they were and that I would only post the before pictures if the after pictures showed a whole new me .... and holy stinking cow, this AM we took my 30 day pictures, just 30 days, and I am not kidding you it brought tears to my eyes! this is just 30 days 30, 30, 30 .... thats not many at all and there is so much change. I honestly thought it over a million times, chels do you really want to post these photos? but this is a huge milestone for me, I have 60 more days of this transformation and it can only get better, and this is my journal, only its open for public review :/

icky icky ew ew .... there is nothing about this picture that made me feel comfortable with posting it, but I did it.... look at that stomach... do you see the rounding from under my chest down to my hips, even the width of my hips...thats the biggest area I noticed the change, but all around my body just feels lifted and tighter.

and to be completely honest.... I have enjoyed every second of the past 30 days, My work outs have taken anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes 6 days a week and are based off of crossfit training. I did not change my diet because I feel as though we are already a family of clean eaters,in both of these pictures my body was receiving the same nutrition but with the addition of working out my body has changed. At first I was sceptical, I thought here I am wanting p90x which the work outs take anywehre from 60 mins to 90 mins and Nick says he can train me and I will get results by just working out 5 - 20 minutes 6 days a week? but I trusted him, and OMW these work outs are not just 5-20 minutes of casual lifts... it's serious stuff... I used to be timid of heavy weights but I am really enjoying the challenge.. my moto has been " if I can give Birth, I can lift that"

and so the journey continues....

11-1-3-5-7

what's up with the title of my post right? well those my friends are the times I was up last night, you got it 11, 1, 3, 5, and then 7 AM so what was going on ? I will tell you.

I gave Jada her night time feeding and put her to bed at 8:00 I however wanted to stay up til 10:30 last night because of the HILLS ( yes the drama still captures me) So I headed into the bed room and shortly after the ever two hour awakenings began.

11:00 Jada is playing in her crib and starts getting fussy, I get her out and feed her and place her right back to bed, she made a bunch of sweet noises and we were all off to bed again

1:00 she is awake again, bright eyed and playing in her bed and began getting fussy like mom come get me out... so I feed her and place her back to bed

3:00 Same thing

5:00 Same thing only this time, after I fed her she didn't want to go back to bed she was laughing and cooing and well she just was awake, so I decided to come out in the living room and lay her out on a blankey on the floor and popped in her Praise baby DVD ( 30 minute video thats A lot like the baby einstein videos) I however grabbed a pillow and a blanket and made a nice little bed on the sofa.

the video was 30 minutes long and when it was over she was wide awake so yes i started it over and let it play about 1/4th of the way through and then realized it was now 6 something and It would be time for her first nap....

I put her in her crib and went back to bed, thinking she would sleep for her typical first nap of the day time ( 2 to 3 hours) and well folks she was wide awake shortly after 7...

I think what is going on is a mixture of two things.... one she is in the beginning stages of teething therefore she is wanting to nurse to sooth her b/c she doesn't take a passy and although you have seen the great pictures of her sucking on her thumb she hasn't been so impressed with that lately, its just not cuttin it for her... I have bought her teething toys which she enjoys but there isn't one that she is drawn to for more than a few minutes. I have purchased the Hylands all natural teething tablets and those my friends do work, when she is in an ever so frustrated state and trying to jam both fists into her mouth, these suckers work wonders..

secondly I think my little buggy is ready to venture into the world of solids, obviously starting with the rice cereal and then later introducing the fruits and veggies. while it is obvious by the looks of my little chunker monkers she is very healthy just off mommas breast milk but I think that if she was on rice cereal and breast milk she would be more balanced. I have always heard of introducing solids at 6 months but the more research I have done I have discovered that some babies are ready at 4 months, I picked up a cute little baby cook book the other day from the library and discovered that they had the meals listed out by age the first foods starting from 4-7 months. so this is something I plan on discussing with our pediatrician at Jada's 4 month appointment which is coming up next week. she is already so interested in what mommy and daddy are eating and she lights up she she sees me drinking my morning smoothie...

so thats just my mothers intuition of what could be causing the frequent waking up at night time... although I would enjoy a full nights rest of more than a two hour span I do enjoy those moments between just me and her ,holding her while she falls asleep, there is something so sweet about those moments that I never want to forget.

Four Generations

this past Sunday after church we drove out to my grandmas house for Jada to meet her great-grandparents for the first time. You see they live in arizona during our midwestern winters and then spend the summers back here. I was so excited to have Jada meet them, although they have seen the gobs and gobs of pictures that we send them via e mail every day there is nothing like holding and breathing in the scent of out little chunker monkers.

you may be looking at that photo and thinking 4 generations... who is that little girl in the purple, that my friends is my little sister. she is 7 yrs old, thats right Jada has a 7yr old aunt but boy does she just love her to the moon and back, they are so cute together, Madison loves to read and play with her.

it was a day well spend this past sunday, church, eating lunch and visiting with family. Those are my kind of Sundays :)