Love list: Movies, tasties, and shopping

1. Guardians of the Galaxy

The great thing about my little (not-so-little) brother moving in with us is that after Punkito heads off to Dreamland, we can sneak out and go see a movie. Which is exactly what we did the other night when we saw Guardians of the Galaxy. I didn't think the previews looked very good, but it was awesome! It was really, very funny. My favorite part was dancing Groot :)

2. Mycloud photo storage
My phone has been yelling at me for weeks that I am completely out of storage. This isn't the first time that this has happened, but usually I can offload stuff to Dropbox to clear space. Except... Dropbox is yelling at me that it's full, too. Oops. So we finally bit the bullet this week and got a MyCloud harddrive dedicated just to family photos. I have been worried for a while because we have some on my laptop, some on Hans' computers, each of our phones, etc, etc. What if something happened to them?? So now we have all our photos all in one place. If something ever happened to that hard drive we might be in trouble, but at least for now we can find them all. And my devices will stop yelling at me daily.

3. Fruit pizza

I had a huge craving for fruit pizza. I don't know why. It's kinda a kick I'm on. And this recipe from The Pioneer Woman is phenomenal. I think it's the orange peel in the dough. I've made it a couple times and I think the best combo for fruit toppings is blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and peaches. And now my mouth is watering again. SO. GOOD.

4. Tax free weekend
I'm kind of in denial, but it's officially time to move Punkito up to 2T. We're just skipping 18-24 months for the most part - she's too tall! And as long as I can find pants with adjustable waistbands, the length of 2T is a better fit. It worked out great that the timing for the size change coincided with tax free weekend. We went on a little shopping spree this weekend, taking advantage of all the sales and incentives.

We still need a bunch of other things, but it definitely put a dent in our shopping list! And I'm so excited about all the cute things we got her. It's so much more fun picking out clothes for her than for myself.

5. Time for real bras

(photo from Nordstrom.com)

After 18 months of no underwire and straps with clasps that unhook, I think it's finally time to ditch my awful nursing bras and return to the real world. Except... I don't even know where to start! It's been so long. And I have NO idea what size I am now. So ladies, please send me your recommendations! Where to go? Who does the best job sizing? Any specific bras you love and can recommend? Send them my way, please!

Grateful for Priesthood Blessings

Today has been rough. One for the books.

Em and I met Daddy for lunch at Chick Fil A. We were having a blast - she seemed happy and hungry. Then out of nowhere she just started vomiting. Over and over and over. I have never seen such quantities. All three of us were soaked, the entire table was covered, as was the floor. It was terrible.

With no fever and no other symptoms, we thought maybe it was something she ate or she choked a little on something and it triggered her gag reflex. We got home and cleaned up and put her down for a nap. She woke up throwing up again. Worried about dehydration, we tried to give her water, which she promptly threw up. So went the next 12 hours. She can't keep anything down, not water, not breastmilk, not pedialyte, not anything. So far we've gotten a record 30 minutes of sleep. It's going to be a long night.

This is right now.

Daddy rocked her and laid next to her and they are both asleep. For the moment. So I'm taking a minute to breathe.

Which leads me to today's spiritual thought: How grateful I am for priesthood blessings for the sick. She wasn't too thrilled tonight when Daddy put both hands on her head and gave her a blessing. She squirmed and cried. But I felt more peaceful, more protected. I am grateful for the priesthood power in our home and grateful that Heavenly Father allows us to be blessed through it.

"In the Church, blessings are available to all who are worthy through those authorized and even appointed to give priesthood blessings... Worthy fathers and grandfathers, as well as other Melchizedek Priesthood holders, may give blessings to members in times of sickness and when important events occur. Such individual blessings are part of the continuous revelation that we claim as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." - James E. Faust, October 1995 Conference

Send some healthy wishes our way. And maybe check tomorrow to make sure we're all still in one piece.

Random moments from our house

Since I wrote a novel yesterday, we'll just do some pics today. Plus we didn't have a very eventful weekend... just chillin' at home, playing together. Here's a little of what that looks like.

We told her to turn around so we could see how the dress fit. We got this for the next five minutes.

Sometimes... you spill water all over your shirt. And then decide to make up for it by rocking a headband.

TOMS catalogue makes for good reading. In fact, it's perfect for her since one of her favorite words (and things!) is "shoes"

Also endless amounts of fun? Stickers. Just put 'em on your nose. Isn't that funny?

Supposed to be Facetiming with Bapa... instead, pulling a baby teenager.

And that's life at the Sweeting house these days.

Mama Monday: Thoughts on Breastfeeding

I'm a bit late on this, but in honor of World Breastfeeding Week, I wanted to throw out my thoughts on the past 17.5 months of breastfeeding. (Hans says I should include a warning: Breastfeeding pictures included. Stop now if that kind of thing bothers you.) If you've spent any amount of time with me, you know I'm a huge advocate of nursing. Maybe not as big or as informed advocate as some of my friends, but it is still something near and dear to my heart.

Before Emma was born, I knew that I wanted to nurse, but I hadn't really given it much thought. It's just... what you do. I'd read all the material about how much baby benefits from it. But I had this idea in my head that it just kind of happened. This is how our species has existed for thousands of years, right? It's what our bodies are made to do! Nursing will be easy.

So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that breastfeeding is HARD. I don't think anyone adequately prepared me for that. Sometimes the struggle was so hard I almost gave up. But something else interesting happened the very first time I nursed Emma. I fell in love with it. I loved feeling her tiny body next to mine. I loved having this quiet, still time to just watch her and marvel at her. I loved the feeling that comes from knowing that I am providing my baby with exactly what she needs. This love of nursing offset the hard times. I was determined that I would exclusively breastfeed until 6 months when we introduced solid food, and then continue to a year.

When her first birthday rolled around, we were still nursing 5-6 times a day. It was still a special time of day for us and continues to strengthen our bond. So we kept going. We weened off feedings and we are currently down to two a day. Most recently, my "goal" was to ween the morning feeding at 17 months and finish nursing at 18. Buuuuttt.... I couldn't give it up. So for now we will keep the two-a-days. I no longer have a goal, we will just see how it goes! I know the end is coming and I get incredibly emotional and teary when I think about it. So for now I'll just enjoy each moment.

I know it doesn't look like I'm "enjoying" it here... but we were just making faces at each other.

But I'm digressing from what I wanted to talk about. The hard stuff. Because it IS hard. And when I first hit the hard part, I felt very lost and alone and like I was just.... failing. I'm definitely no expert, but I'm hoping that my experience can help some new mom out there who is wondering whether she's doing this right and maybe it can help her. So without further ado...

Why breastfeed?
Once again, I'm not an expert, so I'll refer you to other reading materials. My choice to breastfeed has been primarily because of the benefits for baby: the perfect balance of vitamins, proteins, carbs, and fat that baby needs; antibodies and other immunities; and increased brain health (studies show that breastfed babies have higher intelligence). As an added bonus, breastfeeding has helped me emotionally and physically. The previously-mentioned bonding helped with the roller-coaster of emotions associated with new motherhood, and all those calories needed for producing milk helped me drop baby weight like crazy. And no, breastfeeding isn't necessarily free (nursing pads and bras, bottles, pumps, cost of food, etc), I'd argue it's way cheaper than formula, and you always have it with you. I remember being caught a couple places longer than we expected and being relieved that I could just go find a quiet place to nurse - and that I had an abundant supply of food for her always ready. If you need more convincing:

• 5 Great Reason to Breastfeed Your Baby
• Breastfeeding Basics from Women's Health
• Why Breastfeed? (Healthychildren.org)
• A really specific list from NursingMothers.org

Also, the Huffington Post had some neat infographics last week that had some pretty interesting data on breastfeeding in the U.S.

Erika's oh-so-expert (cough cough) tips

• Prepare ahead of time - A couple weeks before I gave birth, a sweet woman from our ward took me into the mother's lounge to talk to me about nursing. She advised me that each time I got out of the shower, I should rub a towel over my nipples, fairly roughly, to help toughen them up in preparation for nursing. Confession: I didn't do it. And I wish I would have. Because the first few days hurt like I have never hurt. Better bet I'll be doing this next time.
• Find your "helps" - There are so many products out there to help. Oh, sure, you can get by without them. But I certainly appreciated having them. The ones that came in most handy for me were a nipple shield (to help Em learn how to latch), these little ice packs that looked like donuts, and Mother Love nipple cream. Girls, I tried other ones, but this one was different and WONDERFUL. Don't waste your time on those other ones, get this one. Found at Central Market or People's Pharmacy, probably Whole Foods, and on Amazon.
• Before you get started, ask another mom - I had no clue where to begin. They handed me a tiny person and told me to nurse her. I didn't know how to hold her, I didn't know how to latch her, I didn't know how long she should eat, I didn't know it mattered which side. I made the mistake of leaving her on one side for almost half an hour the first day... it was so sore and raw I couldn't hardly nurse on that side for the next week. I was fortunate that on my very first night home from the hospital when I couldn't get the hang of nursing, I had three mommy friends show up at my house in the wee hours of the morning to help me out. That "takes a village" thing is no joke. Ask other moms who have been through it to walk you through it. I can promise they either had someone who helped them learn or they wish that they had.
• Try different positions - Em nurses lying down, in my bed (side-along nursing). We have tried other positions and she just doesn't like it. She likes to stretch out. If we are out and about and she has to nurse in public, obviously she will accept the traditional cradle-hold, but she's easily distracted and she won't nurse as long or as well. At times of desperation, when it was hardest to get her to nurse, we tried everything. I swore I'd never show anyone this picture, but we are far enough removed from that night that I can swallow my pride and fear of embarrassment and laugh about how ridiculous this was.
  
  We tried everything and couldn't get her to nurse. This is what finally worked. She was smiling the whole time like she knew *exactly* what she was doing. "Ha ha, look what I'm making mama do." Punk. Here's a good reference from kidshealth.org if you're looking for different positions to try. I never knew there was anything besides the cradle!
• Drink water - This is pretty much the number one rule with nursing. Drink water until you feel like it's going to leak out your pores and eyeballs. My boss told me that her rule of thumb was that every time she sat down to nurse, she would drink a Big Gulp size cup of water. Thought you went to the bathroom a lot when you were pregnant? Ha. That doesn't end. Drink, Drink, Drink. 
• Eat enough and the right things -
  
  I know there's an urge to "get your body back" after baby and so you want to curtail what you eat. Don't. Your body needs the calories to make that milk! And if you're like me, you'll be hungry as a horse after nursing. Listen to your body and feed it. My doctor told me she didn't care if all I ate was snickers bars, just keep eating. If you're struggling with milk production, there are things you can eat and drink to help stimulate milk production. Yeast (especially brewer's yeast), oats, flax, fennel, - all these things help get that milk flowing. I ate a lot of these cookies (mostly because they are delicious) and would immediately see an increase in production. KellyMom (Love that site!) has a great list of tips if you are having production issues.
• Don't kill it at the gym - This goes hand-in-hand with the diet one. It's a delicate balance between wanting to lose the baby weight and wanting to be able to produce enough milk. Exercise is a good thing and I can say it really helped me deal with some baby blues, among other things. So I'm definitely not saying "don't work out." I'm just saying... Don't go to the extreme. I can't remember where I read it, but when I started doing more serious running again (about six months post partum) I did some research to make sure my milk would be ok and the general consensus I found was to keep hard, vigorous exercise to 30 minutes or less. Additionally, I like what La Leche League has to say about exercise and breastfeeding: http://www.llli.org/faq/exercise.html
• Pump - Eek. Not my favorite thing. Actually, I hate it. But I did it every night until Em was a year old. I know I'm probably gonna get some hate mail for this, but my kid was one of those rare ones who was doing 10-12 hour nights by three months old. Yeah that whole midnight feeding thing? We really didn't do that much. Sorry. Send the hate mail. It's cool. I can take it. I sleep all night :) But since she was sleeping so much, I didn't want to go 12 hours without anything. So I would pump every night before I went to bed. It gave me a good supply in the freezer for supplementing as needed, but I did end up having a ton of milk that I donated to other mothers. Especially in the beginning, if you can't feed your baby every 2-3 hours, make sure you pump. Your body produces as much milk as your baby needs. So pumping can help to stimulate production.
• Ask for help - I'm listing this twice because you need to do it in the beginning, but down the road you will have questions. I went to local La Leche League meetings and they were extraordinarily helpful. I was nervous for the first one I went to, but it's just a bunch of moms all bringing their questions to the table. You learn what you need to and sometimes you get to share something you know, that you didn't realize you know. That's a cool feeling.
• Bonus suggestion: Get a good app - This is a bit of my OCD coming out here... but I track everything. This was after the first two nights at the hospital the nurse kept asking me "Well how long did she nurse for?" and I had no clue. Shortly after getting home, I downloaded the Sprout Baby app.
  
  You can track feedings (bottle and breast), sleep, medications, diapers, you name it. I use it mostly for feeding and sleeping. I think of it a lot like people who count calories. Sometimes our perceptions of how we are doing just don't match how we're actually doing. I thought she was getting enough sleep but when I started tracking it, I realized it was all over the map and not as much as I thought she was getting. The feeding app really helped me keep track of how often ("What? Really, it's been three hours? I swear I JUST did it!!") and, to an extent, how much. It's hard with breastfeeding to know if baby's getting enough milk. It's not like with a bottle you know she got 4 ounces. The app helped me identify patterns. I could pinpoint when my letdowns came (one minute and again around 8-9 minutes). I could see that she likes shorter feeds in the morning and then 20 minutes for every feeding after that. Keeping track also let me pinpoint days where she ate for less time than usual and I would pump to compensate or give her an extra feeding to make sure she was getting enough that day. I know it's a bit Type-A of me to track everything, but it's really made me feel more organized and on top of my nursing habits.

After allllll of this, I would like to say that while I strongly urge breastfeeding for as long as possible, I also feel it's so important to note that not everyone can. And that doesn't make you any less of a good mom. I have a close friend who, due to her own health complications, was only able to breastfeed each of her children for one week. And I think it is incredibly awesome that she was able to do that. Every bit of breastmilk your baby can have is chock full of benefits. How great is this mom that she wanted that for her kids?

Maybe you can't exclusively breastfeed and you supplement. AWESOME. Maybe you don't produce milk at all or you simply choose to bottle-feed. AWESOME. Good for you for knowing what you can and can't do and making sure your baby has a full, happy tummy. I really don't like some of the "I'm better than you because I breastfeed" things I see out in the blogosphere these days so I really want to stress that while it's something special and important to me, I don't think anyone is less of a fantastic mom because they don't. We cool?

Yes, breastfeeding can be difficult. But it can also be really wonderful. Know that if you're having trouble, you're not alone. I'm definitely no expert, but I have learned so much from my experience and if you ever need me to be your breastfeeding cheerleader, just let me know!

Love List: She's a funny kid

This week's Lovelist is all about Punkito's funny little quirks. She has been making us laugh so hard lately! I love her little personality. It shoes more and more each day.

1. Tunnel fun
We got a fun little surprise in the mail from Bapa yesterday. Since Emma's been kind of down lately with teething and trouble sleeping, he thought it might cheer her up. Boy, did it ever. She spent the next 30 minutes going in and out, in and out, giggling the whole time. It was wonderful to hear her laughing. Thanks, Bapa!

I tried to chase her through and got stuck...

2. Mama's little helper
Lately, Em really wants to help Mama in the kitchen. Most of the time she's content to cook in her play kitchen, but often she grabs my legs and wants to sit on the counter and help me.

Mama, let me help! 

3. Rocking the bad sunglasses
Hans and I both had to get our eyes dilated this week. Booooo. I must be getting old, because I don't remember it affecting me so adversely in the past. I was nauseous and useless for hours.

Emma thought the glasses were pretty great, though. She rocked them all over the house for a couple days. They fell off her face easily and it was really cute how she kept bringing them to us to put them back on her.

4. Stealing Shoes
The other day I am in the living room and I hear this THUMP shuffle THUMP shuffle THUMP shuffle over and over again. I turn the corner to see that she has managed to put on just one of daddy's sandals and is parading around the house in it.

A few days later it was Uncle's lifting shoes.

What is it with this kid and shoes??

5. S'mores Cupcakes
Did you know I love s'mores? I'm kind of obsessed with them. Since Em came along, I bake far less than I used to. But every once in a while, I get the itch to whip something up.

Marshmallow cream filling!

These Cinnamon Graham S'mores Cupcakes from Baked By Rachel are out of this world. May be my new favorite cupcake. May be the only cupcake I make from now on. Tryyyy them. Or come here so I have an excuse to bake them for you. (P.S. I doubled the recipe and used half white sugar, half brown sugar).

Spiritual Thought: Favorite Scripture

When I was graduating from high school, someone asked me what my favorite scripture was. They wanted to have it embroidered on a blanket. The question kind of caught me off guard because it made me realize that I didn't really have one.

Now things are different. There is one scripture that always comes to mind as my favorite, because it's one that I read over and over again. It always brings me peace, and hope, and strength.

"Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." Alma 37:37

For a long time I made decisions all on my own. And I made a lot of bad ones. When I course corrected, I kind of... over-corrected. And didn't trust myself to be able to make good decisions anymore. I wanted Heavenly Father to tell me what to do in every situation. As time passed, I became more confident in my ability to listen to Heavenly Father's promptings and be guided by them, but also to come to conclusions on my own and seek for confirmation. But this scripture has always been my reminder that we should pray ALWAYS. First thing in the morning, last thing before bed. Seek for that guidance and he will never lead you wrong.

Don't Mess with Emma

After our big Schlitterbahn adventure, we decided to take it easy this weekend. We slept in and then headed to the downtown Austin Farmer's Market to wander around.

There were more booths than I expected, yet I didn't see anything I was interested in buying. While I'm sure the prices were pretty standard for a farmer's market, I couldn't get over how much they were. Like five bucks for this basket of peaches. Yikes. Hans and I were talking about how you have to be really committed to organic, local produce.

It's sure a great place to get breakfast, though! Lots of fresh bakery items, tamales, teas, and, of course, breakfast tacos. We got a few Taco Deli ones and they were delish. Great salsa. Emma's favorite part was the sticker on the tacos.

Our next stop was to take our weekly mural pic. This one was a bit tricky to do because it's right on the feeder of I-35. And it's huge, so we look really tiny!

I sure love this one of Em and Hans though. One of my favorites in our little project so far.

We topped off our night with a family favorite - homemade pizza - and a movie, The Lego Movie. Punkito loves this meal so much it always becomes a giant mess and it ends with a good, strong bath. I'm just happy to see her happily cramming her mouth.

It was an nice, relaxing day. Lego Dude's got it right, everything IS awesome.