Month: November 2017

It was a GREAT, long weekend and we did it…we weaned!!!

Chris and I went on a trip this weekend so Kensie spent the last 4 days with Grandma! I️ missed KB a ton, but we had a great time with friends and K had the best time with her Gramma, Grampa and Uncles.

When I dropped her off, she hugged Gramma and wouldn’t even come back to me! That never happens with this mama’s girl.

So, I can’t remember how much detail I️ shared but I️ posted a while back that I planned to start weaning K once she tuned one. In my mind, the process was going to be a few months and I was going to keep a night and/or morning feeding for a while before completely stopping. I didn’t have an exact plan, just a loose timeline of what we were working toward.

For us, this weekend just happened to work out. Kensie wouldn’t drink any normal milk when I tried to give it to her. Her Pediatrician suggested having Dad offer it, since she knows I have something different to offer. That’s not an option for us since he’s at work 90% of the times she eats. I didn’t have enough breastmilk saved up to get Kensie through the whole weekend so I had my mom mix the milks to start introducing Whole milk. By Saturday morning, Gramma had her on 100% Whole milk and stopped the breastmilk all together!!

I didn’t think it would be that easy, but I was pretty excited it worked. (And relieved since she didn’t really have another option…lol).

I looked up some information on how to stop pumping so I could get my supply to slow down. Luckily, I had already done a lot of it the last few weeks as I started to spread out K’s feedings more and more and took some of them away completely.

Over the weekend I got down to 2 pumps – once when I wake up and once before bed, about 12-13 hours apart. Tonight, I only pumped one side and I stopped 1oz short of what I’ve been pumping to signal to my body that I don’t need that much anymore.

I️ am giving Kensie the rest of the breastmilk I’ve pumped until it’s gone, because no way I️’m letting it go to waste, she’s just going to get it from a bottle now instead of from me.

I was worried that once I saw K she’d dive for the boob; the thought of telling her no and her screaming slightly broke my heart. I wasn’t even sure if I’d turn her down or maybe still feed her once a night or something; hasn’t really thought through what I️ wanted to do. The good Lord must have known I couldn’t handle that kind of disappointment so by some miracle, she hasn’t done it!!! She even went to bed tonight without trying to get me to nurse her. It made me feel better that it seems like we were both ready for this transition.

I’ll admit I️ was (and am) feeling slightly guilty because I know the health benefits are great for her. A friend asked me a few weeks ago what made me decide a year was a good stopping point and my honest answer is slightly selfish. I️ was extremely proud of us for making it a whole year and am ready to have that little bit of freedom and my body back to myself for a while. Since she doesn’t necessarily need breastmilk or formula anymore, I️ wanted to take some steps toward weaning and see how it would go. After this weekend, I️’m confident the timing was right and this is just how it worked best for us!

It’s bittersweet but it was a chapter that would come to an end eventually.

The WordPress app updated and won’t let me caption photos now 🙄, but these are from what I thought may be our last time nursing! Chris actually made a joke about me taking one and I was like, hm, not a bad idea. Now I️’m glad I did!

I could write another 1,000 words and share photos of how great my weekend was, but since this is KB’s blog, I’ll leave you with photos from her weekend instead. 😜

And 2 of my now favorite videos. One of her first workout (squats for dayssss) and the other from dinner on our way back home tonight. Kensie always fake feeds herself when she has a fork and a plate and I find it hilarious. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

Okay – I think I covered it all! I️ hope Kensie is worn out enough to sleep in tomorrow because I could definitely use some extra shut eye…but no matter what time she wakes up I️’m excited tohave my babe back!

Guys. I realized I left out the highlight of the day yesterday. While Kensie was at swim lessons (pissed) she was working on her float. Heidi let go of her and was making her actually work for it. Kensie lifted her hands out of the water and signed “all done”. 😂😂😂 This kid kills me. 

The highlight of the day today was that she FINALLY did her float correctly again! It was strong and beautiful and made me feel much better! 

The not highlight of the day is I had to…discipline? Kens for the first time. I guess that’s what I’d call it. She’s started doing this high pitched scream when she wants something and it’s not cute. Okay, it’s kind of cute/funny right now but I refuse to encourage it because it’s the start of temper tantrums. I learned a lot about how well positive reinforcement works at her age from her swim lessons, so I took that and refused to give K what she wanted until she did what I told her to do. (Put her binky in and relax 🙄) 

Other than that episode, Kensie had a great day with awesome naps. She even got to spend some time with B (her Grandma) today while I packed! 

This afternoon as we got ready to leave, I was walking around the house turning off lights, locking the back door…all that responsible stuff. Kens was wandering around and I was telling her it’s time to go. Next thing I know, she was at the front door, reaching for the handle saying “go, go, go”. 😳

Tomorrow she’s off to Grandma’s for the weekend and we officially have her on weaning duty. 😳 I came up with a (hopefully good) plan to get Kens on more solids and regular milk while I’m away from her for a few days. My original plan had this process drawn out a little longer, but to be honest now that she has 4 top teeth that shiz is starting to HURT. 🤷🏼‍♀️ 

Anyways, fingers crossed this works out. You know I’ll update you on the progress. 😉 I’m going to miss this little boog this weekend so I snuck her out of her crib onto the couch with me tonight to watch the CMAs. K snuggles are the BEST. 

I guess I should today’s post by clarifying that Kensie is completely fine. She only threw up because her genius mom (🙋🏻) gave her milk and spinach before swim lessons yesterday. I learned from my mistakes and we had zero puking today, phew! 

When Kensie started her swim lessons originally back in July, the instructor sent out some dos and don’ts that included foods to avoid during lessons. Since K didn’t really eat anything other than breastmilk at that point I didn’t hone in on the details too much. I DID know dairy was a no-no a certain amount of hours before but…I forgot. #mombrain 

However, I had no clue about Spinach! Fun fact: Spinach causes peri-oral cyanosis and restricts air from getting in the lungs. That might explain why I ended up wearing it after she attempted to regulate her breathing in the pool. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Anyways, K’s float was a little better today. Her fall refresher lessons was only supposed to be one week. We’re thankful for Mrs. Heidi for taking some extra time with us to make sure Kens gets it right!

If you read yesterday’s post, last night went as expected. Way too many wake ups and a fussy day because of it! (For both of us 😝). I think her teeth are the culprit. I’ve been giving K Motrin before bed because she just had 2 teeth cut through and she was waking up crying in pain. While I hate having to give her meds, I also hate us both waking up multiple times a night and her discomfort. The tooth broke through and  she’s seemed okay the last couple days so I was trying to skip it. That’s the only thing I can correlate between the bad nights of sleep lately and the good. It looks like she’s getting 2 more on the bottom now so I went back to the medicine tonight…and she’s been out for 4.5 hours so far. 

In better news, we got to visit with my sweet friend Robin and Baby Charlie today!!! Kensie was too preoccupied redecorating their whole house to be too jealous that I was holding another baby. 

And for all of you about to comment something about me having another baby: Pump your brakes. Kensie is going to live up that only child life a little longer. 

What started out as a promising day (minus the traffic ticket I got 🙄) ended with me wearing Kensie’s vomit. 

I’ll start from the beginning. (Saying that makes me want to break out in song from the Sound of Music. “A very good place to starrrrtt”. Just me? Okay, anyways…) 

K went to the gym with me, came home and took an awesome nap, and then we ran a few errands. Of course one of them conveniently involved Target. And Target conveniently has a Starbucks. 

Starbucks, the new cup designs are cute and all, but bring back the RED!! Please and thank you. 

We got home just in time for lunch and in typical Kensie fashion, she wasn’t eating much. She refuses veggies if they aren’t in a pouch. I gave her chicken, turkey and some cheese…and a little cereal because the girl needs some iron. She ate some bites here and there but a few minutes in she was signing “all done”. 

I remembered seeing a mom ask for advice in a group I’m in because her kid wouldn’t eat. Someone suggested smoothies. So, I gave it a go. 

Strawberries, Blueberries, Spinach, Whole Milk Yogurt with Probiotics and Whole milk. (Zero breastmilk)  Blend. 

HOLY SHIT SHE LIKED IT! (“Mikey likes it!” 😂)

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So, I was pumped. Felt like we really accomplished something big. She went down for another nap and then she got up and we headed to swim lessons. 

Her float was still crappy today 😩 and she wasn’t exhaling when she needed to. She got out and I took off her wet clothes and wrapped her in a towel. Then it came. A big burp. Followed by a warm sensation all down my side. Yeah, that’s vomit. 

I froze for a second as everything ran through my head. Um what do I clean this up with? Where should I set her in the meantime? How do I get this off of me? Do I have time to make it home for a change of clothes before I go coach? (No). Super. 

Naked Kens is now standing on the pool deck with a towel half around her. I used the other towel to clean up the puke. Mid puke cleaning Kensie starts PEEING. ON THE POOL DECK. NAKED. Lawdy! Now one towel is covered in vomit. The other in piss. I’m covered in vomit still. My child is naked, wet and crying. 

It was definitely one of the finer moments in my parenting journey. 

We managed to get our shit together and make it to the gym on time. At least one of us was in clean clothes (hint hint: it wasn’t me). 

Before class I am telling one of the other moms who brings her daughter to the same swim lessons about what happened. Mid story, K takes her pacifier out of her mouth and hands it to her. I look at Kensie’s and luckily move my face to the side – vomit. Again. Twice. Luckily this time it resembled water instead of her spinach smoothie that I was oh so proud of just hours before. 🤦🏼‍♀️ (Thanks for helping us clean up, Suzanne!!) Kens seemed much happier after that episode. 

Daddy came to the rescue and took Kensie home early. 

At this point, Kensie has woken up twice in the last 4 hours screaming at the top of her lungs wanting me to nurse her back to sleep. (Yes, screaming. Not crying.) I’m going to give up any hope of a good nights sleep before I even brush my teeth. 😩

In this weekends developments: Kensie now screams at the top of her lungs when she wants something, refuses to eat real food (mind you it’s the same food she was all about eating last week) and has lost the ability to sleep through the night. It’s charming. 

Also, daylight savings, you’re ruining my life. 

Kensie is NOT one of those babies that you put down later and they wake up later. She wakes up around 7-7:30 whether she goes to bed on time (by 7p) or 3 hours later. Last week, she started being an angel and sleeping until 8-8:30! Then today happened; daylight savings. UGH. It was a struggle to keep her up until even 6:45p and this morning we had a 6:15 wake up. I am going to need her to adjust STAT. 

This morning we went to brunch with Aunt Shell before she had to head back to Afghan land. 😢 Our food took a while to come out and Kensie is the high chair Houdini; so, instead of letting her wander all around the restaurant we did what any great parent would do, we let her climb on the table. 🤦🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️ 

This kid has zero volume control. If she has something to say, she’s going to make sure the WHOLE building knows it. So, the whole restaurant was aware that she was sitting on the table. Luckily there were enough of us there they weren’t sure who the mom was. 😂

I ordered the SAME eggs and pancake as last time. The ones Kensie LOVED last time. This time? Nope. Just played with them. Refused to eat a single bite. And I didn’t feed her before, so I know she was hungry. 🙄 

KB does this new thing where she HAS to hold a fork and pretend eat off it. She smacks it on the plate, sometimes on food, and even if it’s empty she puts it in her mouth. Sometimes she’ll offer it to me or someone else as well. One thing is for sure, Kensie is the BEST at sharing. 

K even shared her pacifier with Henley…then we upgraded her babysitting skills so she’d give her the right one. 

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Over the weekend Kensie mastered the “stand up”! She usually uses something, a wall, a person, anything to help her stand up. Kens now has the squat to stand down and didn’t crawl anywhere today! 

Our weekend ended with having to drop Aunt Shell off at the airport. 😔 Kensie gave her a big hug and 2 sweet kisses. We already miss her but luckily she isn’t gone nearly as long this time!! 

Luckily KB’s fever went away in time for her very first trip to Disney!!!

Her fever was gone before she went to bed Thursday night and thankfully, it stayed gone. On Friday we went to the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot and I am pretty certain Kensie had as great of a time as the rest of us!

Kensie was loving that there was so much to look at! 

Sometimes Kensie walks all over the place on her own. Other times, she takes you on a walk with her. If she grabs your fingers – it’s game over.

We made the mistake of letting her walk in one of the stores. That meant she wanted to walk EVERYWHERE. 

As you can see above, she isn’t shy. All the employees would comment on how cute she was and reach down and she just grabbed their hands. 🤦🏼‍♀️ We really have to work on that “stranger danger” concept. 

All the walking wore this babe out and she took a solid afternoon nap. I was pretty jealous. 

Between napping and walking, KB got extra spoiled. Rob was dancing with her and they disappeared into the store. He let her pick out her first Christmas ornament and said “she picked two”. 🙈😂 you know this Christmas loving mama was 100% in support of that purchase. 

While I’m aware that K won’t remember this and it was more of an “adult” trip, at least the photos will prove to her that she had a GREAT first time at Disney World. Thankful for such a fun, happy little girl that loves to be out and about with us! And of course for the best friends ever that help us take care of her (and spoil her rotten). 

Kensie had her very first fever today. 😔

The good news is she isn’t sick. The other good news is I got a LOT of extra hugs and snuggles today. The bad news is she definitely wasn’t feeling great. 

Grandma B came over yesterday to hang out with Kens. She told me she felt a little warm and just sat with her the whole time I was gone and didn’t really want to do much, then went down for an early nap (that never happens). 

Last night K woke up crying around 3am and felt extremely warm. I took her temp and it was 99.8.  When I got her up just after 7 to go to the gym I  took it again. 101.6. 😩 She went right back to sleep and slept until 9. Which also never happens (but damn was it nice 😂). 

Since she didn’t seem sick, I assumed it was teething. Then it hit me. 

Kens got her measles shot at her 12 mo check up last week. The nurse warned me it could give her a fever about a week later. I kind of wrote it off since she’s never reacted to shots before.  

Once she was up I gave her some Tylenol and her fever started going down. The few seconds she’d take not attached to me she was in pretty good spirits. 

Since she’s been in her big girl car seat she doesn’t sleep in the car as much. She likes to look out the window. Today, every time I put her in there she was out in less than 30 seconds. 

K was a stage 5 clinger all day, but I miss the days she actually sat still that long so I was more than okay with it. I tried to squeeze in a workout so I put Kensie right next to me to attempt to keep her semi happy for a few minutes. It almost worked. 

Murii showed up and held her while I finished and then K was in better spirits. She seemed to feel a lot better as the afternoon went on. I took her temp before bed and she was back down to 97.4. So, her screaming bloody murder at me for giving her a bath is a slight mystery. 🙄 

Yesterday morning Kensie and I went grocery shopping and I got a ton of new foods to get her to try. So far she’s turned down everything but yogurt, turkey and bananas. I’m going to chalk it up to not feeling well and keep attempting it throughout the weekend…and well, for forever. She’s gotta give in and eat real food eventually, right? 🤦🏼‍♀️

Once these next 2 teeth break through she will have a total of 8, so this weaning thing is about to go into overdrive.

Whoa. I thought I’d start spacing the blog out to every couple days…terrible idea. This is way too much to post at once. 😂 Part of the reason for my slackerness (I know it’s not a word, just go with it), is because we have been NON-STOP the last few days! 

We got back from Colorado super late Sunday night, spent Monday recovering and getting ready for a crazy, fun, busy week, and tonight we celebrated Halloween with the best of friends! 

As you can see, a lot of DIY happening with the costumes this year! Kensie was going to be a pineapple but I didn’t like any of the outfits I found. A friend of mine dressed up for a high school event as Alvin and then I got the idea to call in the squad and create the cutest little costumes for them! Simple, yet effective. I figured it was extra appropriate with how good Kensie is at storing food in her cheeks. 

I was also extremely impressed with Casey’s dump truck skills. Riley really wanted to be one (last photo)…mama for the win!!

K spent Halloween morning at the gym and got her first babysitting gig! 

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I started to push Henley around while Ashley finished her workout and Kens came and took over. She did that nonstop for a solid 5 minutes and only stopped because they left. 😂

Yesterday was nothing special to report. K took the day trying to get adjusted back to her schedule. She was definitely crankier than usual and didn’t sleep as much as I thought she would, and she has another tooth breaking through. 

And that brings us back to Sunday! We had so much fun celebrating Uncle Andrew’s birthday! 

Since we had to catch a flight out of Denver that evening, we went to a brewery on the way. Wanna talk about a small world? We ran into Rob’s whole family there! (The guy Kensie calls “Bah Bah”). K LOVED playing in the leaves and Wake shared all of his toys with her! 

The flight home was smooth and quick and we lucked out with an empty middle seat! Kensie fought it for a while, but about 2 hours in she finally gave in and went the heck to sleep. 

 

Phew! Okay. All caught up. 

Oh, and I watched Baby Einstein’s this morning while I had it on for K and learned the sign for “mom”. Pretty sure Kensie has been signing it for months. That and another word that I can’t remember now because I was just way too excited that she says mama in at least one language. Ha!!!