I took the kids skiing again and I took them all by myself. Yikes! I was a bit nervous wondering if I could take care of the two kiddos alone. It is so much work just getting the little tikes dressed in their snow gear and boots. And when we were all dressed and had our tickets ready to go we, of course, have to make a potty stop which requires undressing and redressing again. After the first 20 minutes I was completely worn out, short on patience, and sweating up a storm because all of my own snow gear. Wooh!

Luckily things improved once we got on the slopes. The kids can pretty much take on any green or blue slope at this point which is a lot more fun then the bunny hill. Despite a few breakdowns and an early retreat for hot chocolate, I had a great time and the kids did too. Isaac even requested that we go again today.

Ya, I think they like it.

I had to stick close to Isaac most of the time because when he falls down he has a hard time standing back up. Emma was all sad wondering why I didn’t stick with her more but when I told her it was because Isaac needed more help then her, she was happy and said she had “a lot of talent.” What a way to boost her self confidence.

I must be going through a video stage because I didn’t take one picture but have a couple video clips to share. I followed Emma into the trees without her knowing. She loves discovering new tree trails and is quite good at them. She rolls over the bumps like a champ.

Isaac wanted me to take a video of him because he had seen the previous one of Emma. It isn’t quite as exciting but when you consider that he is 3 and 1/2 then I guess it’s impressive. Seeing the little guy cruise down the slopes is pretty fun for me and he occasionally has people telling him good job and calling him a “little dude” or something like that when he passes by.

I’m already looking forward to next season when the kids are a little bit older.  I would recommend starting your kids early if you can. I think it’s easy for them to catch on and it will be something they can do for the rest of their lives.

Hi ya’ll. I managed to find a little bit of scrapbooking time today. Yea for me. I threw together this little page and am quite happy with the simplicity of it. If you like it you can download it here.

Here is what I did with it. I have to admit that I am a sucker for brownish neutrals no matter what I’m scrapping. I think it allows the photos to really pop with out any competition.

Enjoy.

I left the computer off all weekend. It was a wonderful break.

But now a new week is rolling forward. And a new month.
Hello March.

I woke up to a messy house, a bright blue sky and a baby with an exploding diaper. I’ve started supplementing Leah’s bottles. One bottle a day of mommy’s milk just wasn’t enough and I knew she wanted more. The problem is trying to figure out what to give her. We are a month and half away from being one year old. She’s much happier now with a fuller tummy but I’m not sure her bowels are.

This is happening in my front yard…

LOVE IT!

I took a blanket out to the front lawn today and spread it over the yellow dormant grass. Grabbed a book and the baby and soaked up as much vitamin D as we could. We watched brother zip around the circle on his scooter. It’s near 50 degrees. I can’t help but take a great big deep breath, lay back on the blanket and enjoy the warmth of the sun while the freckles pop out across my nose.

Feels so good…

…for a minute. And then I have to hop up and stop Leah from eating the flower beds. Does dirt and bark fill some sort of mineral deficiency in children? Hope so.

Yes, I’m feeling better. Getting on with things. I am looking forward to a new season of life but still enjoying Leah’s last little minutes of babyhood.

Ya know when you wake up in the morning, take a look at your little child and realize that they look different than yesterday; bigger, more intelligible, faster and swifter than you remember. Leah’s moving too fast these days. I had to put a lock on the cupboard under the sink to keep her out of the garbage. Super yuck!

Slow down, girl.

*** *** ***

I read this thought yesterday and it seemed to ring a bell with me. I thought that it was particularly a message I needed to hear. Thought I’d share…

“I urge you to examine your life. Determine where you are and what you need to do to be the kind of person you want to be. Create inspiring, noble, and righteous goals that fire your imagination and create excitement in your heart. And then keep your eye on them. Work consistently towards achieving them.”
–Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, “Life’s Lessons Learned”, May 2007 Ensign

Pretty good, eh?

*** *** ***

I’m wishing I had some photos to share but just haven’t been taking anything worth sharing. I do have a funny little clip of Isaac playing his “drums.” I think it’s cute… but then again… I’m the mother. It does give a pretty good idea of how his speech is coming along.

I kinda feel like I owe you guys a post…

First I want to say thank you for all the wonderful comments I’ve received from my depressing last post. I certainly have been having a bit of a struggle this past week and so I appreciate all the support.

Thank you, thank you.

I hardly want to talk about Leah’s strike because it’s still pretty upsetting to me so I’m just going to say I’ve given it my darnedest best. I’ve done all I can do with Leah and her lame-o strike. I declared a 3 day war. I did everything I possible could and it just wasn’t happening. I was a wreck. Leah was mad as heck at me; not to mention hungry and sleeping poorly. Neither of us have been fairing very well. But I had to try it. I had to. I had to know that I did everything I could.

So… after a ton of prayers, I gave up. It’s over.

Boo Hoo.

I’m still planning on pumping as long as I can because

A) she loves my milk via bottle and

B) it’s free and

C) it’s healthy and she wont drink formula anyway.

So on with life. Ahhhh. I will leave you with a very short little clip of Leah crawling… It’s something to cheer me up.

Completely

totally

discouraged.

It’s day 16 of Leah’s strike. She turned 10 months today.

Nothing has improved and I’m getting tired of it. Every morning I wake up wondering if I’m going to give up or hope that maybe it will be my lucky day. It’s hard not to blame myself for giving into the bottle. She’s been particularly fussy at times and hard to comfort.

One day, I decided that I was going to give it 3 more days of a serious go. I had been to a La Leche League meeting and was feeling motivated. I was going to put away all bottles and pacifiers and deal with fussiness for 3 solid days. If she didn’t take me after that then I’d just give up knowing that I gave it my best. The day I decided to do it she came down with a fever.

Drats.

I thought I’d better get her healthy again. Whatever little bug she had, has cleared up and now it’s the weekend. I figure that I’ll wait until Tuesday when I have 3 uneventful days in a row. I’m so tired of this though. Honestly! I’ve had to have a couple crying break downs. Enough already.

Arggg.

Here is another template for you. I had super duper fun making this one. It just came together so easily. Actually, I was inspired by a layout I saw on some blog one day… I sure wish I could remember where I saw it so I could give some credit but I just can’t find it. My version is, of course, quite a bit different so think it’s okay (plus, I added a second page. Yea for 2 pagers!) I love the way the little pictures worked out on the side.

If you like download here.

I almost love my template more than I love my actual pages. But I have to love that little stinker of a girl no matter what kind of trouble she gives me these days. Credits are at flickr.

We are moving up in the technology world. I’ve had a dinosaur of a computer for years now and have finally upgraded to a computer that can actually handle all my photoshoping needs. Woo hoo. I’m loving how fast this thing is!.

And because my camera’s USB cord connection has stopped working, I now have a SD slot which makes uploading pictures a breeze. I’ve been wanting to share a video clip of Emma skiing from a couple weeks ago.

I realize that the main audience that will be interested in this video are the grandmas but hey, I’m a proud parent and it’s also fun for Emma to watch herself. I love the self confidence it gives her. She’s defiantly excited to hit the slopes again soon.

You can also catch a glimpse of Isaac attempting to snowboard at the very beginning of the clip.

Things have been a bit crazy around here but today I finally managed to create some sort of normalcy.

I have been working on this template/layout forever. I’d sit down to finish it and would hit a major mojo wall and have to get up and walk away. I just wasn’t loving it and I wasn’t sure where to take it.

I’m happy that I have finally finished it although I’m not sure what my feelings are about it. I’m still going to put it out there for you all because the amount of time I have spend on it is ridiculous and I might as well share it. I hope you guys like and can find a use for it.

I’ve decided that I’m a major fan of scallops as it seems to make a page complete. My last few templates have had scallops but of course if you are not a fan you can just delete them. Isn’t digital scrapping the best for that very reason.

You can find the download here.

Here are my pages-

If any of you are following Leah’s nursing strike, it’s still on with a vengeance. Today is day 6. Sigh.

Coming to the close of day 5 of Leah’s nursing strike.

She is continuing to get better and pretty much is just left with some congestion. She has her fussy moments but I think it is because she is hungry and secretly wanting to nurse.

I’ve learned a bit more about nursing strikes. It’s a real thing. I thought I’d even made up the term but when I checked out the La Leche League website they had a plethora of articles, advice and stories on the subject. I was both comforted and frustrated at the same time. So many women had very similar stories. One thing is for sure. This is not weening. A baby shouldn’t all of the sudden quit nursing. There is almost always a reason for the strike.

Here are some of the common triggers for nursing strikes.

• You’ve changed your deodorant, soap, perfume, lotion, etc. and you smell “different” to your baby.
• You’ve been under stress (such as having extra company, traveling, moving, dealing with a family crisis).
• Your baby or toddler has an illness or injury that makes nursing uncomfortable (an ear infection, a stuffy nose, thrush, a cut in the mouth).
• Your baby has sore gums from teething.
• You’ve recently changed your nursing patterns (started a new job, left the baby with a sitter more than usual, put off nursing because of being busy, etc.).
• You reacted strongly when your baby bit you, and the baby was frightened.

I think that Leah and I qualify for 3 of these triggers. She’s had an illness, she bit me and I screamed, and I’ve also been leaving her with a sitter more than usual. (Those fresh powder slopes were calling for me!)

Great so now what? La Leche suggests getting medical help for the illness (check), get extra help with household chores and older children so there is more time to spend with baby (uncheck),  try to relax and concentrate on making breastfeeding a pleasant experience (depends on the moment), make time for extra cuddling, stroking, and skin-to-skin contact (half check), try nursing when they are sleepy or in a dark quiet room (check but didn’t work), and put away all bottle nipples to avoid nipple confusion (tried super hard but gave in this afternoon because of all the crying and a super tired mommy.)

I guess the number one thing to do is be patient and persistence. This has been super hard for me. I have major moments when I want to just give up. It’s not easy but apparently babies will and should come back. I get the feeling that they just need to get over whatever made them strike in the first place.

Are there any types of organized unions for babies? Maybe Leah needs to get together with some friends and talk about her issues. Oh ya, I’m suppose to remember that it isn’t me she is rejecting. But apparently we need to “re-connect” somehow.

The amount of time I have spent pumping has been insane. My cheap pump and low supply have made it difficult. Ridiculous! But tonight I finally got my hands on a hospital grade pump and have finished the chore before this post was even finished. Yea! That’s a big difference compared to the hour and half it was taking before.