Wednesday, April 30, 2014

The Wednesday Links from Around The Web 4.30.2014

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It's been super busy around my house and now that the sun has decided to make an appearance, life feels even busier. I'm really looking forward to some lazy days in the backyard with the girls and our veggie garden. This week's links have me thinking about all the things that drive us forward through our busy-ness to enjoyment. 

How to Make Great Beans I'm having a bit of a love affair with beans right now so this article is right up my alley!


Why You Don't Have Anything to Wear I'm planning on revamping my wardrobe this year. After three years of pregnancy and many post-partum months, my body and lifestyle has changed. My wardrobe needs a big update!

Companion Planting: Putting Your Garden to Work I'll be keeping this in mind as I plant my garden in the coming weeks. 




Sunday, April 27, 2014

Eighteen Weeks with Chicken Nugget

Maggie - 18 Weeks

We had Maggie's 4 month appointment this week and she is a giant! She's in the 97% weighing in at 16 lbs, 11 oz and is 26 inches tall. Whoa! It's nice to have direct feedback that all my pumping is growing a healthy and hearty child. Maggie took her shots like a champ. She cried for about 10 seconds and then shook it off and went back to smiling. She is really such a happy little girl. 

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We celebrated Maggie's first Easter. She got a small basket with some teething toys, books and rabbit ears. We had a low key day at home. We did take the bus down to the Ballard Farmer's Market and had some coffee before heading back home. Molly found the bus adventure to be super awesome! Maggie didn't really care either way. 

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Maggie is really showing us that she doesn't like to be rocked to sleep. She just likes for us to put her down in her crib and walk away. She'll sleep on me in the carrier if there is no other choice but she'll loudly protest. Maggie's way is so different from Molly's that I keep forgetting and keep trying to rock her to sleep and wondering why she protests so much. Then I remember and put her down. She usually sighs and goes to sleep. 

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Overall it was a pretty quiet week. We stuck close to home and Maggie practiced more of her rolling skills. She is *almost* sitting up and she wants to do it so badly. It's fun watching her learn and acquire new skills. 
Friday, April 25, 2014

2014 Garden Plans

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I've wanted to plant a garden at our house for the past three summers but pregnancy, babies and life have stopped me. This year, I am not letting anything get in my way of a vegetable garden. 

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Earlier this month, Scott and I escaped to Home Depot without the girls and procured some great raised garden boxes. The next day, Molly helped me dig out the spots for them near our patio. I've been studying the light for the past few summers and this is the sunniest spot in our yard. The previous owners grew tomatoes here so I have high hopes for this area. 

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Now that I've gotten my boxes set up, I need to fill them with dirt and then start planting! I've been researching different delivery options for the 45 cubic feet of compost soil that I need for my gardens. The hard part is that most delivery places have a minimum order of 2 cubic yards which is about 1/2 cubic yard more than I need. I'm trying to decide if I could find a use for the extra soil. I'm also considering having landscape mulch delivered as we need to re-bark our yard. 

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Once I have the soil delivered, hopefully next week! I'll be ready to start planting my garden! I forgot how much work goes into setting up and planning one's garden but it's been fun. Next up, what I'm planning to grow! 
Monday, April 21, 2014

Four Months with Mag-Pie

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Maggie,

Happy Four Months! Things are starting to get real. You are starting to grab everything, wiggle like a worm and laughing so hard. I love it when you get a fit of the giggles. It gives me a fit of the giggles.

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The drool has really intensified in the past few days. I had to break out the bibs because Wow! there is so much drool! You have definitely started teething. I don't think we'll see teeth for a few months but you are so busy sticking your hands in your mouth when you aren't busy drooling. 


You and your sister are really starting to interact. You love watching her and her antics make you laugh. The two of you spend so much time cuddling. I love watching the two of you. 

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I'm pretty sure that you are going to be sitting up all by yourself in the next month. You are ALMOST there and your world is going to really open up once you get a grasp on that. Your Dad and I were talking about how eating out is going to be so much more fun when you can sit in a highchair and check out all the excitement. Right now you just try to crane your head around your carseat to see the action. You are also getting bored facing in when I wear you so I've started having you face out sometimes. You LOVE it! 

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You've established your own bedtime routine this month. You like to have one last bottle, be quickly rocked to sleep and then put in the co-sleeper for the night around 8 p.m. You usually sleep through until about 6:30 a.m. You are also starting to have a rough nap schedule. You take about three naps a day - one at 9:30 am ish, another around 11:30 a.m. and a nice long one around 2 p.m. Sometimes you sneak in a quick one around 5:30 p.m. You still sleep pretty good in your carseat but I can tell you really prefer sleeping in the crib so I am working to adjust our schedule to give you at least two good naps in the crib. 

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I finally figured out how to bathe both you and your sister at the same time this month. I put your whale tub in the big tub and fill them both with water. Then I place you in the whale tub and your sister in the big tub. She helps me bathe you and as soon as you are clean, she insists that I take you out so she can sit in the whale tub. It's super cute! 

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We love you Mag-Pie! You are such an amazing baby and we are so lucky to have your relaxing presence in our family. We have your four month check up at the end of the week so I hope you keep chill through your check-up and shots. 
Sunday, April 20, 2014

Easter Favorites

It's a rainy weekend here in Seattle but I know that Spring is around the corner. I've seen hints! We're going to have a low-key Easter at home today with a visit to the Ballard Farmer's Market after an indoor egg hunt. We celebrated Easter with my family yesterday so today will be spent enjoying the day, just the four of us. Maybe I'll even get some time to check out more of the awesome photos I keep seeing on Flickr. Flickr continues to provide so many wonderful photos. I just had to share some of them today. Enjoy!


1. Whit's Knit's: Woven Pearl Cowl, 2. IMG_5831IMG1231, 3. Whit's Knits: Chick-in-an-Egg, 4. They should have carpooled., 5. ., 6. Mimosa, 7. The Marching of the Machines, 8. Golden Gardens Park Rocks - Seattle, 9. Day 3: Plans & Machinations, 10. Pralined Almonds, 11. Bathurst Hat, 12. Day 2608, 13. Turned the heel & just have the gusset decreases and foot left on my second March sock! #sasockclub #operationsockdrawer, 14. Looking out on the lake, 15. _E5A5640.jpg, 16. my Alberta, 17. IMG_02338ed, 18. Untitled, 19. pond, 20. Whit's Knits: Stitch Block Cowl, 21. Untitled, 22. Glasses in black, 23. wool-eater, 24. majorly blackified, 25. Abate
Saturday, April 19, 2014

Seventeen Weeks with Chicken Nugget

Maggie - 17 Weeks

This week, Maggie has developed so many new skills! She's now able to grab her wubanub and sometimes gets it in her mouth! Her grip is getting super strong and she's really into rolling over. She's also tracking so much more with her eyes and is starting to show interest  in what we are eating. I think she's realizing that we eat differently than she does.

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We started out the week with lovely sunshine and a walk around Greenlake with a PEPS friend by Wednesday the rain had returned so we headed inside. We dyed Easter Eggs this week, had a playdate at the local coffee shop and then on Thursday, Maggie went to her first library story time. She LOVED it! I'm going to try to make this a more regular part of our routine. Friday we went to a new Tot Gym at the Magnolia CC. Maggie had fun watching her sister play and chatted a bit with Baby Vivi.

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We celebrated Easter early today with my family. We had waited too long to make Easter brunch reservations so we decided to go early. It worked out fantastically! Maggie spent most of the meal in her Grandfather's lap. He was thrilled! I was happy to eat a hot meal with two hands. 

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Friday, April 18, 2014

Tales of an Exclusive Pumper

I've always held exclusive pumpers in high respect. Why would anyone subject themselves to hours of pumping every day just to give their child breast milk when there is perfectly fine formula? Pumping is not comfortable and the pump never gets faster at pulling milk out like a baby does. There is so much cleaning involved and logistics, so many logistics. You can't pump at the park in an Ergo.

8:42 am I wash my pump parts and bottles. #adayinthelifephotochallenge

When Maggie was a few days old, I told the doctor that I'd give her a month to get better at nursing and that I just couldn't see myself pumping for every feed. And yet somehow, here we are almost 17 weeks in and I pump for every feed. I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. I'm honestly not sure why I do it. Formula would probably be easier. I could pick up a few cans at Costco, pre-mix the bottles at night and not worry about when I needed to pump. But there is a part of me that says, I'm making enough milk for Maggie and breast milk is potentially better for her so I keep on pumping.

4:32 am Time to pump and feed Maggie. Molly is also up and refusing to sleep. #adayinthelifephotochallenge

It is limiting. We can't really go on any long car trips/flights right now because I have to pump. The good side to this is we can't really go on any long car trips/flights right now. We also have to leave playdates before Molly is ready because I have to go home and pump. Molly does not like the pump. I often hear, "Mommy, No PUMP!" It's hard explaining all this to an almost 2 1/2 year old when I can't quite fully explain it to myself.


Maggie usually sleeps through the night and yet I don't. I get up to pump. It's a quiet thing and I've started to enjoy my middle of the night sessions (I might not get much alone time). I'm quick and efficient at 3 a.m. I head to the den where I pump while checking Twitter and Facebook. Then I put my efforts into a cooler and head back to bed.

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During the day, I try to pump when Scott is here (in the morning) or Molly is napping (in the afternoon) as toddlers can get into quick trouble when their Mommies are busy. I still usually end up having two pump sessions while alone with the girls as I'm pumping 6-7 times a day.

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I figured out the other day that I spend about 4 1/2 hours of my day making milk and cleaning up. That is a HUGE chunk of time! I will admit to looking forward to getting that time back when I pump wean. The funny thing though is that I think I spend less time on milk production with Maggie than I did with Molly. I used to breast feed Molly, pump and then bottle feed her the results. I also spent a lot more time worrying if I made enough milk for Molly. Due to my former breast reduction, I've had to supplement both girls. This time around though I've been producing more milk.

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I thought I'd lay out my tips for future pumpers who might stumble upon this post. I've gotten some great support from ex-pumpers and since it helps keep me going, I feel like I need to pass it along.
  1. Get a cooler for pumping in the middle of the night with a re-useable ice pack. In the beginning, you might be pumping 3-4 times a night and you want to be efficient. I pump, put my stuff (flanges, bottles, etc) back in the cooler along with the filled bottle and then go back to sleep. 
  2. Have two sets of everything so that you don't have to wash your parts after every pump.
  3. Alternatively you can keep your parts in a ziplock bag and place it in the fridge after every pump throughout the day. Then give your parts a good wash at night. 
  4. Don't be afraid to supplement. I don't have to supplement Maggie as much as I did Molly which is nice but sometimes Maggie gets hungry and I just don't have enough of my milk to give her. That is when formula comes to the rescue. 
  5. Keep a regular pump schedule. It's important that your body thinks that the baby needs milk. I try to pump as many times as Maggie takes a bottle.  
Sunday, April 13, 2014

Sixteen Weeks with Chicken Nugget

Maggie - 16 Weeks

Time is flying by and Maggie is getting bigger and bigger each day. She can now reliably hold her head up and when you put her down for tummy time, she quickly rolls over. She giggles all the time! In fact, sometimes she gets herself going and can't stop laughing so she can eat because bottles are hilarious! 

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This week started out with a playdate with Thurston. He came to play with Molly but is so enamored with Maggie. They had some fun playing on the activity mat before Molly demanded that he play with her.

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This week has also featured lots of cuddle time with Big Sister, Molly!

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Maggie also had her first carousel ride at the Zoo. Molly, as usual, LOVED it. Maggie was 'Eh, that was OK.

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This week was also Maggie's first time in a swing. She was not amused and lasted about 3.2 seconds. Maybe next time she'll like it more.

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We are closing in on four months with Mag-Pie. I'm preparing myself for the 4 month sleep regression but getting excited about more fun times with Maggie. Her little personality is really starting to shine through!



Sunday, April 06, 2014

Fifteen Weeks with Chicken Nugget

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It was a cranky week around our house. We started potty training with Molly (and have subsequently taken a break) which was really stressful for everyone. Poor Maggie did not know what was going on around her usually happy house. We did end the week on a high note with a dinner playdate with one of Scott's co-workers and his new little baby girl. As you can tell, Maggie and her really whooped it up!

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Maggie displayed some of her hilarious sleeping skills this week by falling asleep during floor time. I put her down on her tummy and then turned away to get something for Molly. I looked back and Maggie was on her back, sound asleep. Already taking after her big sister who used to pass out on the floor all the time.

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I finally broke out the whale tub for Maggie. I've been just taking baths with her but she needed a bath and I didn't so I got out the tub. She did not like it very much but hey, she's now clean and smells good! Scott and I were laughing at the difference in how we bathed Molly and how we bath Maggie. It was a BIG DEAL with Molly and something we did every other night as part of our bedtime routine. Maggie gets bathed when I remember (or she smells) and it happens at any time of the day. Poor second child!

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Maggie is getting so big! I weighed her and she is closing on a hearty 14 pounds. She holds her head up all by herself and is almost sitting up on her own. She's so close and she really wants to sit up. There is lots of work going into sitting up on her own. She'll get there.
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
 
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