Garbage Day is Tuesday....

Our garbage day is Tuesdays and the kids love running to the door and watching the recycle truck first and then later in the morning they run again to see the garbage truck so much so if the garbage man is paying attention he will wave back to the kids. This morning was differant though. I was in the kitchen doing something and I heard the garbage truck/recylce truck come down our street. I yelled to the kids to stay in the house but that they could open the front door to watch the truck. The next thing I hear is not excitment but a sad voice saying, "a boy took Sammie's present." Dash was very concerned about the recycling man taking "sammie's birthday present." This is all because I had used the bag that he gave to her with her birthday present as a paper bag to hold the other papers to recycle and he saw the distinctly pink bag go into the truck. And then for 10 minutes I had to try to explain to him that the boy didnt take her present, but just the bag.

My Breast-Friend

When Sammie was born she improperly latched on and I ended up coming up with as system that worked for us. I had exclusively pumped and fed her breastmilk in a bottle. When I new we were expecting Ali I had planned on skipping trying to get her to latch and just pump like I did with Sammie. Thus began my life living at the pump.

I started out pumping every 2 hours to get my milk in and to get a good supply in(mission accomplished). When pumping every 2 hours it makes getting or going anywhere nearly impossable with 3 kids aged 3 and under. So I have streched it out to every 2.5 hours that I am pumping and have skipped through the night pumps since day 4 of Ali's life. So to this day I am pumping roughly every 2.5 hours. My pump comes with me to go shopping, to the zoo, or even to the park. I keep it in the van and usually end up pumping there since I purchased a car charger to save on batteries. Dash and Sammie have learned to entertain themselves the 10 min or so I need to pump in the van and have learned to cause rukus when we are at home. This is something that I have almost given up on a couple times with Ali because it gets hard with timings and the other kids.

My original goal date was to be done pumping 12-31-09 but it is looking like my realistic date is 10-31-09. With Sammie I pumped for 4.5 months and had 1.5-2 months stored up. Thus my goal again. Right now I have over 250 bags of frozen breastmilk with 2 months left to pump! I am glad that I can provided my daughter with breastmilk and I am very thankful to my friend Gretchen for giving me the pump. Without the Medela I would be unable to pump as much as I do a day, nearly 80oz!

Sammie 2 years

Sammie weighed in at 25.5lbs and measured 34 inches.

35th percentile for weight and 50th for height.

Sammie can be an adorable little girl one minute and an evil little girl the next. I would say that she is the typical 2 year old. Pushing limits, testing her boundaries, displaying her vocabulary, as well as her independance, all while needing mom right by her side :)She loves to flip around everything. She loves books, coloring, and playing in the water. She is creative and destructive! She can count to 10 and knows her ABCs. She trys to know her colors but doesn't get them too well. If she is unsure of the color it is deemed either green or yellow. Sammie is interested in going potty on the big potty, not the potty chair. As much as this should be exciting for me I find it rather annoying. She likes to do it typical Sammie style, "her way". I was not planning on potty training Sammie until I was done pumping. She had/has differant plans. We are now in pull ups and I am ever more convinced that they do nothing but delay potty training. I believe that if i had the time, she could be mostly potty trained by now. I believe in the straight to undies technique and that worked for Dash and it was working for her until I couldnt keep up with her and out came the pull ups. So for now she will go ucky on the potty once or twice a day and rarely goes potty. We shall see what this brings to us come November when I start to push the potty thing in undies not pull ups. I love Sammie and my favorite thing to hear her say is, "God loves you" when I ask her who loves Sammie. She loves to sing. Her favorite is Junior right now and well she has picked up on the songs qutie well.

I am interested in seeing what God has in store for this God-sensitive little girl

Ali 2 months

Ali weighed in at 12.65 lbs and measured 23.5 inches.

90th percentile for both.

In comparison to Dash(14lbs) and Sam(10lbs) she was in the middle which is interesting since she had them both beat at the 3 week check in. Ali's 2 month numbers are very close to what Sammie's 4 month numbers were!

As for her health everything looks pretty good. She is a great sleeper during the day and at night. Most nights she gives me from 9:30pm to 5:30ish of complete rest, unlike her sister. She eats pretty well. The only two things of concern are a possable lazy right eye(which comes from my side) and her lack of pooping. He was not overly concerned on either issue but something we are to keep an eye on. For now, she will be gettin 1tsp of karo syrup mixed with her milk twice a day to try to get her to go on her own with a suppository as needed(when she is crabby because she is so backed up).
Ali has a strong neck and can hold her head up pretty good. So much so I have put her in the bumbo for 10 min at a crack and she has even sat in her exersaucer. She still needs some good support for the saucer but it gives her something else to look at. Ali enjoys be swaddled tightly more so than the other two. She is a belly sleeper but also enjoys sleeping in her swing. She does not like being in her carseat when it is not moving, but then again, none of my kids have.

I have a fear of flat head syndrome with her since she is my 3rd and being so close in age to the other two. I try hard to make sure she is not in equipment all day, but some days it is hard. Especially with a destrutive 2 year old.

We need to get out more!

Dash wanted to be the baby and have Sammie feed him.

Sammie is still feeding Dash the baby, but is also picking his "booger" as she said.

Pushing Dash in the stroller wearing Mom's heals(there latest thing)

Ahh yes, the Pump pictures! The kids think it is a personal thrill to beable to pump like mommy

Sammies 2nd Birthday

Not sure why this is rotated, it kept turning it on me when I up loaded it. But this is Sammie's cake that she picked out.
This was her backup cake. The decorator cakes do not seem to feed as many people as a regular 9x13 cake does, even though it is the same amount of cake mix. So for the past few cakes Ryan has told me "last minute" that we need a second cake. Well this time I came prepared. I used the Wilton Candy Melts to make a mold of her cake and used that to decorate the back up cake...sure beets anything I could come up with.

Not so sure why Dash felt the need to take off his hat and put it over there.

Dash was uber excited about Sammie's birthday and her birthday cake. He is getting to the age and starting to understand what it all means~as much as a 3 year old can~presents and cake!

Sammie ate all of her Ice Cream First and then went on to the cake~

She spotted an ant..."mommie squish it please"

Mr. Winston and Ali

Dash up top playing Mc Donalds serving, Chicken, Fries and Applejuice to his cousins, Jason, Titus, and Sarah

Rachel, Jason, Sarah, and Dash playing on the swing set

Grandma Cohan and Ali

Jason, Titus, and Sarah

Sarah(8), Dash(3), Jason(6), and Rachel(4)

I have a feeling that this will be Sammie's new favorite book.

This photo was taken by Sammie

Beth and Sammie reading Sammie's new books

As a whole I would say that Sammie's birthday went great. Ryan took Dash and Sam to the park in the morning so I could frost the cake. They napped and then it was party time. You could tell near the end that she was getting tired because I dont even know the amount of times she fell.

Jay Bird

To Infinity and Beyond!

This is a Buzz Lightyear vest for a build a bear animal!

Mommie's "helper"

Can you tell what I do all day?

Homeless?!?