Problem...

 

I have a huge problem.  Jade is a stinker when it comes to nursing.  I have had the hardest time with this child.  She takes forever to latch.  It's like the sight of my boobs makes her cringe or something.  I go to feed her and she turns away...constantly.  I have to wait til she screams or yawns to shove my boob in her mouth and then hope she actually takes it.  I am at a loss of what to do.  Does anyone have any good advise about this or has had the same problem? I feel like I have tried everything. I don't want to give up on nursing but getting frustrated and crying at every feeding is really wearing me down.  HELP!!!!

 

P.S  Did I mention I got another uterus infection?  Man, do I have bad luck!!!

Our little one has arrived!

Jade Avery Kowallis

Monday, November 26th

6 lbs. 3 oz. 19 inches long

 

She is so precious.  I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have two little girls in my life.  They both are so adorable and sweet.  Remee is a great big sister.  She's so concerned about Jade and worries when she cries.  Remee has been so great about the breastfeeding thing.  She completely understands what's going on.  When I'm feeding Jade, she tells me the Jade's eating milk from mommy's boobies.  It's just the cutest thing.  I feel so blessed and I am so grateful for another beautiful little girl.

5 years!!!

5 years ago today I was waking up to get married.  Today I'm waking up to get my 2 year old fed and pulling a sweatshirt over my big baby belly.  My, how time flies.  I can't believe it has already been 5 wonderful years since Mike and I got married.  It has been such a blessing to have Mike in my life.  What a comfort it is knowing that you love someone just as much as they love you.  I can't wait to spend eternity with my man. 

Now to the real interesting stuff.  This picture was taken about a year before we got married.  Only a month after dating Mike and I took a road trip down to Cali to visit my sister and her family and then on to Disneyland and visiting my grandparents.  We had so much fun, and who knew it would start our yearly Disneyland tradition?  Look at our hair!!!  Times have changed!!

The President Elect

Today was a sad day, but let us all keep in mind that whatever happened was meant to be.  Our prayers may have not been answered the way we wanted them to, but Heavenly Father has a plan.  It's our job now to prepare for the Last Days.  Pray for our President that he will make good decisions.  Love One Another!!!  God, bless these United States!!!

Another yummy recipe

These Asian Sloppy Joes were a huge hit. 

So easy and so good!  The best part?  This comes with a recipe of what to do with the left overs.  In fact it has you set aside some of everything you make to make a whole new meal the next night.  Genius?  Oh yeah!!!  Use this recipe to make the sloppy joes and rice and make sure you follow the directions to save some for the "round 2 recipe".

14 days of cooking!

I have started a challenge for myself. 

14 straight days of cooking dinner for our little family.  I know some of you are able to accomplish this with no sweat, but for me...I start out great and then get lazy and have Mike pick stuff up for dinner.  I have a right to be lazy, there's no doubt about that, but I also have a duty to feed my family a healthy meal.  So that's what I'm doing.  Not only are these meals home made and yummy, but they are all from my pinterest board.  I have almost 300 pins for food on pinterest and I think it's high time I start testing them out.  So everything I make will be new.  I can't wait to share some of the yummy recipes with you.  Here's what I made last night.  It was delish.  I paired it with a baked potato and some corn, and voila...an easy 15 minute meal!

Halloween

I just could not get enough of my little Remee in her skeleton costume.  Yes, they are pajamas, but I thought to myself, why would I buy a costume this year when all she really cares about is the candy!  Maybe next year she can pick out her own costume...or maybe not.  Ha ha!  Anyway, I made shirts for Mike and myself and it completed our skeleton family.  We ventured over to G-ma and G-pa's house and went trick of treating with all the cousins.  Remee had a blast, and of course Mike and I got a kick out of watching Remee wait patiently for her treats after a darling "trick r freat"!  She even remembered to say thank you a few times.  Can't wait til next year!

Beach Maternity Pictures

My sister took my maternity pictures at the beach while we were in California, and I am so obsessed with these pics I could die.  I must admit it took trying on a million swimsuits to finally decide to buy whatever was cheap, because let's be real...I will never fit in that swimsuit again.  My poor boobs will collapse after nursing and my butt will go back to the normal flat self it loves to be.  In the mean time I can bask in the fact that I have a curvy woman figure and not a man stick figure like I'm used to.  Thank you so much Courtney for taking these amazing pictures for me and for being the awesome sister you are.  I love you!  Can't wait for baby girl #2 to get here!!!!  Check out my sister's website if you are interested in getting any photos taken.  She's amazing!!!

Vote

I would normally not post something about politics.  As much as I love watching the debates and get lost in watching way too much CNN, politics is just one of those subjects that makes people's worst come out.  However, this year's election is just too important not to say anything about.  Some of you reading might be voting for Obama, and if you are please do not leave me mean messages.  I am not bashing the man, I am bashing his leadership.  My opinion?  I believe that if someone can't do what he has promised then it's time to let someone else have a turn.  That's why I'm voting for Mitt Romney. 

This clip below made me laugh a bit.  It was replayed on CNN a few days ago and I just can't help but continue to think about it.  In the video from 2008, Obama says George Bush is unpatriotic because he has raised the deficit 4 trillion dollars in 8 years.  Newsflash Obama, you've raised the deficit 6 trillion dollars in only 4 years.  Hypocritical?  I think so!

Mike completed Tough Mudder

I can't tell you how proud I am of Mike.  What a huge challenge this race was and he mastered it with flying colors.  Ok...he's little bruised, but such a great job.  Way to go babe!

Disneyland and such...

Disneyland is always a good time, but this year was super busy.  I feel like we waited in line longer than we ever have.  I guess I'm just spoiled because every year we go, we usually only wait for 20 minutes max.  This year was more like 40 minutes.  Oh well.  This was our first year taking Remee for the entire Disneyland experience.  She loved every ride and every show.  She waved at pretty much every person she saw, and it was more fun to watch her experiencing the rides than it was for Mike and me riding them.  It was so wonderful spending time with family and enjoying the California sun.  When we came home, it was fall.  One of my favorite seasons... but I missed the warm sun.  We spent time at the beach(where my sis took my maternity pics...coming soon).  Remee didn't like the cold water but instead sat on a towel and watched daddy play in the sand.  We had a wonderful trip. 

Now it's back to reality.  Getting ready for baby #2 to come and 'nesting'.  There are lots of project on my list to complete before our sweet little girl comes.  So stay tuned for pictures and what nots on this here blog!

Mike was picked from the audience for one of the shows as a "bachelor" to marry the mayor's ugly daughter.  When asked if he could describe himself as an animal his response was a lion, and this was the daughter's response.  It was hilarious to watch these guys!  Luckily he was not chosen by the daughter to marry, so Mike and I are still happily married!

Anthropologie inspired Polka Dot Jeans DIY

THE ANTHRO INSPIRATION



I have had the hardest time buying clothes lately.  Everything is so trendy, and while I love all of the styles, I hesitate buying them and spending all this money when they will probably be out of style by next year.  So my solution is to make it on the cheap.  I saw a tutorial for these polka dots pants on pinterest.  The originals are from Anthropologie and are super expensive(for me to spend anyway).  So I decided to take inspiration from the tutorial(which used jeans from target $22.00 and a bleach pen $3.00) and from the originals from Anthro and put my own spin on it.  I found these jeans from Forever21 $10.80 and fabric paint $2.00 to start my project.  I used the end of an unused eraser to make my polka dots, and eyeballed the pattern.  I think they turned out adorable.  And for only about $13.00...who cares if they go out of style next year?

BEFORE





AFTER

AFTER

Growing and growing

Visit from Grandma Leesa

Even though my mom was here a few days, it seems the only day I took any pictures was the day we went up to Bridalveil falls for a walk.  The canyon is starting to show signs of fall.  Leaves are changing and there's a crispness to the air.  It was a gorgeous day to be out and about up in the canyon.  Remee LOVED feeding the fish up at the falls and mom and I really enjoyed watching Remee prance around.  She has quite a stride!  I also love having my mommy around.  She's fun to laugh with and I can't wait to have her all to myself for a few weeks after I deliver baby girl.

 

 I feel so blessed to have Remee.  I find myself waiting for her to wake up everyday from her nap because I'm bored.  She keeps me on my toes and she brightens my days.  Her vocabulary is getting better, and it 's such a joy hearing her view on the world around her.  I can't wait to see what our newest little one will be like.  If she's anything like Remee we'll be more than thrilled.  Of course, if she's not, we will still be so excited and filled with glee to have her. 

 

Tonight I was explaining to Mike where baby girl likes to kick me and where I feel her the most.  I can feel her little feet in the same spots everyday and if you get them in the right area you can actually feel the outline of them.  They are so tiny, and I can't wait to nibble on her adorable toes.  All the while, as I'm explaining this, Mike seems to have no interest so I say,sarcastically,'You don't even care if our child has feet'...Mike's reply, 'Well it would save us on having to buy her shoes!'  I love his sense of humor.  Good one Mike...but I hope our baby girl has feet, and ones that look mine!

Our weekend in pictures

I really had a lot of fun this last week.  Though I had a few days of feeling under the weather, it definitely picked up!  I canned just about all I can.  All I have left is spaghetti sauce(which sadly takes the longest time) and then I'm done canning til next year! We went to the Midway Swiss Days Sheepdog Herding Competition.  Mike and I had never gone before and Mike had heard some good things about it.  It was freakin hot outside and there was no shade in sight.  Good thing we had sunscreen and an umbrella in the car or else I think I would have died from heat exhaustion.  It was fascinating watching these dogs herd the stupidest animal on the planet...sheep.  Then we watched the splash dogs.  That was a hoot and Remee really liked seeing the dogs swim.  We ended our weekend in Park City on Labor Day for some yummy breakfast and shopping at the outlets.  Little did we know it was Park City's Miners' Day, so Main Street was blocked off and we enjoyed the spectacle of the Running of the Balls.  We bought a golf ball hoping we would win something, but no...we aren't that lucky. 

 

Potty Training

What a difference a few days can make in potty training a two year old.  Obviously I was frustrated the first two days.  Fighting a little one who didn't even want to sit on her potty is now(5 days in) jumping for joy when she goes! I know it's not over from here.  I'm sure it will take a few weeks to really get it down and feel comfortable with trusting her that she will go on her own, but for now I am basking in the joy of Remee's happiness when she goes in the potty!  Here's what worked for us. 

 

-Day 1-

Remee was naked from the waste down...for two reasons.  One, she's a tiny little girl and no one carries 18 month size training pants.  So, I had to order them online.  That took a few days to get here so I chose to just keep her undie-less.  Second, I read about keeping the toddler without pants on so they understand the feeling of pee pee running down their legs.  It's not a good feeling so they learn to hold it over time.  I set the timer every 15 minutes at first and loaded her up with her favorite juices.  Most of the time I would sit her down on the potty and she would just sit there for 5-10 minutes while I read her books and sang songs.  Nothing happened.  I let her get up from the potty and reset the timer for 5 more minutes.  Sometimes she would pee before the 5 minutes were over, and if that happened I would say to her,"Oh no, run to the potty...we go pee pee in the potty".  She would run over there and by the time she was there she had emptied her bladder all over the carpet. (See why I was so frustrated?)  Other times she would continue to hold it and the 5 minutes would be up.  I would say, "It's potty time!" She'd sit back on the potty, reluctantly, and I'd make her sit for a few more minutes.  I would continue this until she went...either on the floor or in the potty and then reset the timer for 15 more minutes.  If she did go in the potty I would give her a treat and make a big celebration out of the pee pee and then set the timer for 20 minutes.  So on and so forth.  This was my whole first day.  Cleaning up the carpet and setting the timer.  Night time and nap time I put her in her diaper still.

 

-Day 2-

 The beginning of the day was rough.  I was on the verge of giving up.  It was as if everything I had worked on the day before had been forgotten.  I continued to set the timer, but for every 30 minutes or so because I found that she was doing a little better holding it. When the timer would go off she would tell me it's potty time. Other times she would dribble and then say,"Pee pee in the potty mama".  I would tell her to go sit on the potty.  If she got any pee pee in the potty she got a treat and a big celebration dance from me!  We had a lot of accidents!  I didn't quite feel like she was emptying herself all the way! I still felt like she wasn't getting it.  And I think she was really getting bored of being in the same room as me the whole day.  Poor thing.  Night time and nap time I still put her in a diaper.

 

-Day 3-

This was our breakthrough day.  When she woke up she didn't want to sit on the potty at all.  She threw a huge fit and refused, so I took her diaper off and let her roam around for a bit.  I kept asking her if she needed to go potty and she would say no, of course!  I gave her some juice to get things going and soon she started dribbling and would run over to the potty by herself, only getting a few drops in the potty.  She would get a treat and a celebration from me!  After nap time was when things changed.  I got her up and put her on the potty, nothing happened.  So I let her go play.  Soon she would come to me and say,"Pee pee in the potty". We would rush over to the potty and she would go...and I mean all the way.  Empty bladder.  She got so excited and so did I. She got a treat and a happy dance from me!  Her most favorite thing was pouring out her pee in the big toilet and then flushing it to say goodbye.  She liked washing her hands too.  The rest of the day went just like that.  She would play in the same room I was in so I could keep an eye on her and then she would come to me to go potty.  Nap time and night time she was in a diaper.

 

-Day 4-

Easy peasy.  She woke up, sat on the potty, went pee.  Treat and celebration.  She even went poop in the potty.  That took some work.  I kept smelling her.  I asked her if she needed to go poo poo and she's say no.  Then, she gave me the face.  The face that says...mom, I have been holding this poop for way to long and it's just going to come right out of me this second.  I put her on the potty, she was reluctant, and then sang her some songs and sure enough distracting her was what she needed.  The whole day not an accident.  In fact I was upstairs making dinner and she was downstairs in the play room and I would hear her yell for me.  I went down there and she'd say,"I went pee pee in the potty mama."  All by herself!!!!!!  This happened a few times while I was making dinner.  Nap and night time she's still in a diaper.

 

Today has gone just as good.   She goes by herself, or tells me when she needs to go.  I have put her in undies today.  She can't pull them all the way down by herself, so I help with that, but she's doing amazing.  We are still working on the pooping thing.  I think it scares her or something.  Not sure but it will come.  I feel like I have climbed Mt. Everest or something.  Those first two days were pure hell and now I think...it's all worth it.  If you are trying this too, don't give up.  They will get it sooner or later.  I know every kid is different, but you know your kid better than anybody, therefore, do what works for them. I think I will wait to take her diaper off during sleep time once I find that she's holding her pee during the day for longer than 30-40 minutes. She still takes a 3 hour nap and I just don't think she can hold her pee for that long. 

 I hope this helps someone out there feeling just as discouraged as I did.  Now, once baby number 2 comes, I'll only have one kid in diapers.  That saves me lot of money!!!!  Good luck, and sorry this was so freaking long!!!

Am I really prepared for this?

I'm potty training Remee.  I'm frustrated and impatient.  Why in the world would I decide to do this while I'm pregnant?  It's funny though.  I think back to when Remee was born and weeks later trying to sleep train her...it took a few days of frustration and then bam, just like that she was sleeping 10 hours a night.  Now she's the best sleeper there is. 

 I have to keep reminding myself that it will just be a few weeks of sticking to it and reminding her and then she'll have it down.  I just wish there was someone I could pay to come train her for a month and I wouldn't have to deal with it. 

 It's only day 1.  I have to keep telling myself that.  So far...she understands the need to go.  I watch her do the pee pee dance cause she doesn't want to miss out on what she's doing. She can hold her pee pretty darn good.  She'll dribble a little bit and then say to me,"Pee pee on the potty".  We'll run into the bathroom and I'll sit her on the potty and then she doesn't want to go.  I have to keep her sitting there for a while before she actaully starts to go.  Meanwhile she's throwing a tantrum because she wants to get down, but she's peeing.  I don't get it.  Then she's happy she went and gets a treat for peeing in the potty.  I'm at a loss.  Any advice on what worked for you?  I'm willing to try anything at this point.  Gosh, it's only day 1.  It's only day 1!!!