Me and my boys

This house has been sick lately. I had mastitis, Nolan pink eye (twice), all of us had the flu... Ugh. But today I'm feeling like my head is above water as far a health and responsibilities go.

Nolan has been home 3/5 "school days" the past few weeks making me paranoid that daycare is thinking we're keeping him home to hide abuse or something (I've been watching a lot of law and order svu). 

Right now I just feel pretty happy holding my boys all squeezed onto the same little recliner. These little butts are nice and tiny so we can all share the same chair, but they're going to grow up soon enough and be content in their own chair. It's one of those days where I'm thankful that we're all under one roof because one day they're going to go to college and/or move out and I won't have us all together anymore.

Before I finished typing that last sentence Nolan just climbed off my lap and started screaming that he wants yogurt...

Murphy's Law

All before noon today, just about everything that could go wrong did.

Regular MOTN  feeding for Max - he actually slept quite well with about 5-6 hours since his last feed he woke up around 3:30. As per usual, I don't go to sleep right away after feeding because by the time I'm in bed after a feeding my mind is awake so I am messing around on Reddit when I hear Nolan crying in the distance around 4:30 so I hop right up to help him. He was making moaning and groaning sounds... and he throws up. Not a great deal, mind you, especially compared to what happened the other night which was like that scene from the exorcist. But yeah.

So I try to get him back to sleep since the puking incident wasn't particularly noteworthy. Isn't that sad? Well, he's awake and ready to roll and in his usual demeanor (ie very cheerful boy with too much energy - poor mama!). He convinces me that it's time to go "houses" (that's what it sounds like when he says "downstairs") because he's "hungy". He's a fibber - he wasn't hungry. It was a rouse to get himself down one flight of stairs... one flight closer to the TV room where Paw Patrol is sitting on the DVR.

Well, we go downstairs and of course he doesn't eat anything which is fine. I hem and haw about whether or not he should go to daycare because I'm already feeling useless as a human, let alone as a mom! He didn't seem that sick after all.

Then the poopsplosions began.

I'm talking pure liquid brown disgusting stuff.

I took pictures but for the sake of your lunch I'm not going to post them. I took pictures because around 8:00, just 1.5 hours after Brian left for work, I called him and told him to come home right away and not to give me any grief about it (he didn't).

But basically the poop didn't absorb into his diaper but instead was everywhere and literally... just... poured out of his diaper when I finally cleaned off his body to lay him down to change him. The horror.

So I get Brian to come home and deal with the puking (oh yes, there was puke in between the poopsplosions) and all that jazz.

Guess who clogs the toilet? This girl. Y'welcome America. We plunge it clear. NBD. Move along with our lives until...

The basement is flooded. Whattheeverlivingf*ck?

I'm not going to go into details, but I had a strong concern that my actions resulted in this mess (which wasn't smelly at all! the liquid flooding was thankfully ONLY water).

Had to call Roto Rooter (is that a national thing or a local to Iowa company?). They came out and fixed it right away. $112 well spent.

I'm glossing over the fact that it was because of the toilet I eventually flushed that the basement flooded. By way of background, I'd hear that toilet being flushed and a loud splash in the basement when I was watching TV several times. So I know what I did was the complete cause of the splashing that was occurring in the basement now for several weeks... blugh.

But yeah. While the basement was flooding my mom was driving down from her house to help me out. I sent an SOS message out to her shortly after Nolan puked. So thankfully with Brian there and my mom OTW reinforcements were forthcoming.

By the time my mom gets here, I have Maxwell down for a nap IN HIS CRIB (where's my trophy?) and Nolan is doing *meh*, but way better than before.

Seriously my mom arrived around 10:00, Roto Rooter around 11:00, and by noon everything seemed in control.

My state was "floppy" - if that makes sense. I was (and still am) exhausted from a general lack of sleep and everything going on. I say floppy because I was on the recliner with no bone structure to speak of and limp on the chair while feeding Maxwell, so literally energy is being drained from my body.

I go back and forth on this, but by 12 everything was in control. I honestly felt bad that I had my mom drive an hour and a half to sit on the couch. She got to see the kiddos and she did DEFINITELY help but I felt bad still. "I wish you had some poop to clean up," I say jokingly. I'm sure she's glad everything was under control!

Adventures in motherhood.

Send coffee.

PS I'm wearing a bra since the Roto Rooter guy came out. This thing does not fit right and the girls are falling out. #notforpublicviewing

Getting The Hang Of Things

It's been an eventful month since I last posted! Eventful in the sense that I can't hardly believe the time has gone by that fast, but I can't really say I've done anything concrete. But here's an update:

Breastfeeding:
Breastfeeding has been going really well for "little little man" (ie Maxwell). We started off rocky though with... ummm... scabs. And now we're using the nipple shield which is a lifesaver for me. Yes, I would like to not need it but every time I try to go without it he compresses the nip so it looks like a football. Not comfortable. Nope.

I've been using "galactogogues" which I'm not sure if I'm spelling correctly, but basically it means that you eat stuff that helps with your milk production. This includes some supplements in pill form, a tea, and of course the lactation cookie. All in all it's definitely going really well and even after easing myself off the lactation cookie (they're tasty and I'd eat like 6 a day without even blinking) my supply still seems to be holding out well. And based on the chubbiness of the cheeks of Maxwell, I'd say we're doing pretty well.

I haven't told really anyone this, but in the beginning at the hospital we were supplementing with donor milk that they got from the Milk Bank of Iowa. The milk was pasteurized so that no communicable diseases would transfer to Maxwell and they say that it's good for his "gut" - whatever that really means. When we came home I think we had to supplement with about 2-4 ounces of formula a day because of the aforementioned scabs and me needing a break. When we started going back at breastfeeding it all actually came together.

Now I've got a really decent freezer stash. At this point I don't even know how many ounce I have in the freezer! I'm guessing 20-30 ounces easily. As a goal, I've been pumping 2-4 ounces extra a day and throwing it in the stash. I find that I can easily get 2 ounces at nighttime when Maxwell wakes up for his MOTN feeding and then I'm still pretty engorged.

It's... It's glorious!

Sleeping:
This is actually going pretty well as well! We don't have a schedule decided just yet, but I'm aiming to start putting him down for bed around 8:30 by feeding him and then in bed by 9:00ish with me in bed shortly thereafter. He'll then wake up around midnight or 2:00 in the morning. Napping during the day is a little more of a task, but I've found that I can take him for walks or car rides and that usually gets him sleepy. Now that the weather is FINALLY starting to be in the high 50's low 60's it is perfect for going outside for a walk so I've made it a goal to get out of the house for an hour a day while I go for a walk!

Other things:

• When Maxwell cries, it sometimes incorporates this adorably pathetic snort that is just so cute, but I also have to "fix" it right away.
• Maxwell hates the pacifier sometimes, and then is meh with it at other times. He's really only meh with it when it's after he's been fed. Otherwise he likes to use me as a pacifier.
• Just today he is starting to wear cloth diapers (like his big bro did!)
• His hair is really long! Easily an inch long that can stick up and be molded into a faux hawk. Everyone comments about how much hair he has! (no bald spot... yet!)
• Big Brother Nolan is doing SO well! Not really jealous at all! He does have some moments though where he wants to act like a baby mimicking Maxwell's squeaks.

That's about all I've got right now. Maybe I'll update more soon... or maybe it'll be another month! Who knows!?