I donate.

I feel like I may be writing about breast milk and breastfeeding a lot these days, maybe even too much. However, for the past 5 months and 10 days I have been nursing my daughter and/or pumping (ie feeding my robot baby) approximately every 2-3 awake hours, and at least a couple of times a night still. So to say that breast milk is a large part of my life right now would be the world's biggest understatement.

Any working and breastfeeding mom knows how intense this whole process can be. When we aren't with our little ones and allowed to simply breastfeed, we must pump, and clean pump parts, and clean bottles, and properly store and transport milk, measuring out and sending the right amounts to school, etc., etc. I am not by any means patting myself on the back. This is a choice I have made and continue to stick with because I'm so confident in the benefits of breastfeeding and I very much enjoy our nursing relationship.  There are just some days if feels like a lot of work. Every Monday I start counting down to the weekend by how many pumping sessions I have left until Friday where I can just be, and just breastfeed my daughter. No pump, no parts, and no bottles. Freedom.

I began pumping and storing breast milk while I was on maternity leave at the recommendation of several other working and breastfeeding moms. The strategy is to provide yourself a nice little "freezer stash" for once you return to work and on days you are not able to pump enough to meet your baby's needs, you will have some breast milk to thaw out and send to school. I started pumping about 1-2 times aday in addition to breastfeeding at about 4 weeks postpartum,  I felt pretty comfortable with my little stash when I returned to work after 7 weeks.

I have been incredibly blessed by only having to dip into my freezer stash once, ever.  I also pump about 20-30 ounces extra from what I need to send to daycare a week.  Additionally, Olivia reversed-cycled for the first 4 weeks she was at daycare, meaning she would eat VERY little during the school day and compensate for it the minute we got home and throughout the night. Lucky me, right?

It was actually a blessing at the time.  I missed her so much when I first returned to work and was incredibly flattered by her preference of me versus the bottle. I also loved the time we got to spend together in the evening and night, even when it meant very little sleep. Thankfully the reverse-cycling eventually ended, but it meant that I had a huge surplus of expressed breast milk that I had continued to store and freeze. Our freezer was full. I had over 250 ounces that I did not know what to do with, and it killed me to think that I may have to throw it away.

My mother in law suggested that I try and contact La Leche League to donate some of my expressed breast milk. I looked into the LLL as well as the Austin Area Milk Bank about making donations. Both organizations required a large initial donation as well as an extensive screening process. The thought of all of that stressed me out, and with the return to work and very little sleep, I didn't feel like I could go through that process. I also had a strange feeling about donating my milk to an organization where a mom would have to pay for the milk, either out of her own pocket or through her health insurance company. I know a lot of the money goes towards the screening and pasteurization of the milk, but I still didn't like the thought of that.

I came across a group on Facebook (Human Milk for Human Babies & Eats On Feets) that helps link together moms that have extra frozen expressed breast milk with those that need it for their babies for a ton of different reasons. The idea seemed so strange and foreign to me at first. Like, someone else was seriously going to feed her baby my breast milk?! Whyyyyyy??? But then I realized that these mommas are doing whatever they can to provide their baby with breast milk when for whatever reasons their own bodies would not allow for it.

Well, I got in contact with a nearby mom awhile ago and I was able to meet her and give her about 200 ounces from my frozen stash. It felt so good! Since then my stash has continued to grow and I am ready to make another smaller donation to this same mom and baby once we are able to coordinate our crazy schedules. I love being able to help out another mom, even if it is just ever so slightly. It also makes me feel like all of this pumping and cleaning and storing is not only for my own baby, but I'm also helping another baby.  I guess that's when my true social worker type heart comes out. 

I don't want to get too deep about all of this because I know it's not like I'm out there helping to cure cancer or anything, but I did want to put this out there.  If, for whatever reason, anyone ever needs this type of information. 

Additionally, I ran all of this by Olivia first, she approved and was just as excited. 



Sweet Summer Treat

Olivia still has not had any solids, or anything other than breastmilk, yet.  I feel as though she is developmentally ready to begin eating solids, but we plan on waiting until she is at least 6 months old.  I want to be FOR SURE that she is physically ready to handle solids and there really isn't any rush, right?  She will be eating food for the rest of her life, so delaying it a couple of more weeks does no harm.    

I read about this fun way for Olivia to enjoy some breastmilk on a warm day and figured we would give it a shot!   

Breastmilk Pops! 

Simple: pour expressed breastmilk into an ice cube tray, stick a pacifier in the milk (provided a nice little familiar handle for baby), and then freeze.

As you can tell from the picture above, Olivia was not too sure about the cold factor.  She sort of got the hang of what she was supposed to do by the end.  It was a lot of fun to watch and see her try to figure this cold substance out.  Although, O isn't teething yet, I would imagine these breastmilk pops would feel nice on her gums once she does.  

The pops became a sticky mess and called for a quick rinse off in the kitchen sink which she loved!  It still hasn't been warm enough for the pool, unfortunately, but I'm thinking (hoping! praying!) she will enjoy the water.

I'm pumped about taking Olivia swimming for the first time.  My all time favorite thing to do as a kid, and even now, was to do anything in the water.  I even bought a new swimsuit this weekend.  A "mommy" swimsuit, meaning my first non-bikini since I was like 12.  I'm hoping by Memorial Day weekend the water will be warm enough and we can go for a dip.

Mother's Day, Mother's way

Dave kicked off my very first Mother's Day weekend with some Tiff's Treats delivered to my office.  Yes, I said weekend.  If you are familiar with my family and their ways, you will know that most days are celebrated for the entire weekend, or sometimes the entire week.  Birthdays, anniversaries, July 4th, Christmas, you name it.  Dave has really been a good sport about it, and now takes part in the over the top celebrating. 



Saturday we had a very nice and fun day.  Dave continued to spoil me by doing some serious deep cleaning in the house.  I'm almost embarrassed to admit that the house had not been given a real good deep cleaning since the week before I went into labor.  That was truly the second best present, after Olivia, of course.  Now my house is clean and thanks to my awesome husband for that. 

We then headed out and did some shopping, and had lunch at Wings and More, one of my favorites.  We stopped by the Copeland's house on our way home and got to spend time with Gammie and Grandpa.  Olivia was showing off lots of her tricks (rolling, sitting, talking, and push-ups!) and was having a blast with her grandparents. 

Sunday morning, Dave gave me another gift.  I was able to take a shower where I had time to shave my legs and wash my hair, and then get ready at my own pace.  This has been quite rare in my life lately, it's usually one or the other, or sometimes neither.  I felt like a new woman after my 30 minute shower.  It really is the little things.   

After we got ready and loaded up the Jeep, we headed to Harker Heights to spend the day with my parents.  It was a great day. 

We got to my parent's house while they were still at church.  We got in and made ourselves at home as we usually do.  Dave, Olivia and I spent some time in the backyard with my parent's dogs.  Dave was walking Olivia around the yard, pointing things out in the yard and just talking away to her.  He then took her to the pool and was dipping her toes in the water.  A million thoughts were running through my head.  I was thinking, "I hope she doesn't fall in.  Dave, don't drop her.  Dave, don't put her legs in too much, the water may be too cold.  Olivia should be wearing some sunscreen. Maybe I will go in the house and get her hat. I need to get her swimmer diapers, soon.  She needs another swimsuit.  Olivia needs to eat soon, and her diaper may need to be changed. My baby is 5 months old today. Holy. Crap. My baby is five months old today.  Another month until we start solids.  I hope we can wait that long.  She needs a nap.  Don't let me forget to pack her clean sheet for her crib at school. And some more wipes. Oh, and I need to defrost some milk for her daycare bottles." On and on and on and on.   

Then something clicked  and I thought to myself, "stop it, and enjoy this moment."  So I sat there, and just watched my husband hold my precious baby girl and dip her little feet in the pool.  Each time they would just sort of look at each other, both with a surprised face. 

There is seriously nothing sweeter in this world to me then seeing my husband with our daughter.  I love seeing both of their faces light up when they see each other.  I sat back and I enjoyed that momemt, and tried so hard to take it all in, and remind myself to never forget that very moment.  That moment was better than anything that could be bought or done for me on Mother's day.  A moment like that makes everything worth it.  Throughout the rest of the day I had more moments that I wanted to freeze.  I would just stand there and breathe it all in and try to remind myself to never forget this time in our lives.

Olivia's 48 hour doctor's appointment.

Olivia at 5 months old. (5-8-2011)

Olivia has blessed our lives in ways I cannot begin to explain.  Just typing that sentence brings happy tears to my eyes.  She just fits so perfectly.  I cannot get over how lucky we have been.  I was incredibly thankful yesterday to be in the mom club and also get to celebrate with my own absolutely incredible mother and my daughter. 

Discovering the Dogs

Olivia is slowly starting to realize that Thor exists.   Thor has been well aware that Olivia is around since the day we brought her home.  I'm not quite sure what he thinks about Olivia.  At first, he was extremely curious and would bully his head against our legs for just a sniff of her little toes.  Now he really isn't too interested in being near her unless we are all on the floor for tummy time.  At that time he just wants to be involved, I think.  We often find him in the guest bathroom downstairs when Livy is being particularly fussy.  Dave thinks that the crying stresses the poor guy out. 

Olivia, on the other hand, LOVES her dog.  She is starting to get really excited whenever he walks into the room or into her line of sight.  She loves petting his big head, while being supervised, of course.  It has always been one of my biggest hopes for the two of them to be the best of friends.  Maybe one day!



The video below is of Olivia in the walker that Grandma Jimenez bought for her.  So far, we absolutely love the walker, even though her little legs don't quite reach the floor.  Olivia has been really happy getting to play and be upright while in the walker.  I think by the time that her feet actually touch the floor this little girl will already be walking!


I feel like Olivia's personality is really beginning to come out.  I'm still not quite sure how it is going to be for the most part, but I'm learning.  I'm slowly learning which toys she is beginning to prefer, and how she likes to be held when she is in a certain mood.  I'm learning that she has learned to get upset when I take something away from her, particularly paper, which she likes and I don't like her playing with, yet.  I've learned that her absolute sweetest cuddle times are right before bed.  Olivia loves to fall asleep holding one of our fingers with one hand, and a blankey with the other hand.  And almost every morning when Olivia wakes up, after she gives us her huge morning smiles, she starts blowing crazy loud raspberries.  Last weekend, Olivia has begun getting up on her knees ever so slightly.  There is zero coordination between her lower and upper body, so getting up on her knees has only caused her to do a little face plant. 

Oh, and we met another milestone recently.  Olivia has conquered her very first cold!  It took almost two full weeks, one sick day, and one doctor's visit before it seemed like it was finally gone.  I think both Dave and I must of caught it though.  At first Dave thought it was only allergies, so he was taking allergy medications, but that didn't seem to help at all.  I've just been trying to fight it with vitamins, OJ, sleep and rest.  Praying that it goes away soon, or at least doesn't get any worse. 

Each week brings something completely new and exciting to our lives. 

Playing Catch Up

Although we all had an absolutely fabulous time on our little mini-vacation visiting with family in Oklahoma, I am having an extremely hard time catching up this week.  (I'm also working on a blog for that trip.)  This morning I almost hit my breaking point.  I woke up with a pounding headache and a little bit later than normal.  Luckily, this was one of the mornings Olivia didn't wake us up, so I quietly slipped out of bed as to not disturb my little sleeping beauty.  I was able to get myself ready and most of Olivia's things packed for the day before I had to wake her up to get her fed and dressed.   

We rushed the rest of the morning and it was really quite a blur.  Usually Dave and I will do a run down and make sure we aren't forgetting anything, but in my cruddy mood I just dismissed it, and told him  I had everything.  Well, that was a mistake.  It took me a full hour to finally wake up and realize that I had forgotten Olivia's milk for the day in our fridge.   My wonderful husband dropped us off at the daycare, went to work to tell them he would have to run home and back to pick up the goods.   It was just a bit of a logistical nightmare this morning because we commute and drive my car, which we can't park at Dave's work because it doesn't have a permit, and blah blah blah.    Problem was solved, and it really wasn't that much of a crisis.  I just feel incredibly busy and tired this week. 

Anyways, there was some sweetness to today.  Olivia's daycare room had a little Easter celebration and it was just the cutest thing.  The babies have no idea what is going on and it's mostly for us crazy moms and dads.  There wasn't really any egg hunting going on for the babies,  it was more like just another photo opportunity. 

Some of the babies lined up for the "hunt."

Rockstar-haired Livy had a blast!

Wordless Wednesday - la buena vida

The 4-month check-up

Olivia is healthy and thriving. 

12 lbs 14 ounces (25%)

23 and 1/4 inches long (10%)

40 cen. head circumfrence (50%)

Showing off her war wounds in her most flattering picture yet.



Her four month check-up went very well and rather uneventfully.  She's itty bitty, but that's not surprising as neither mommy nor daddy are very big people.  We were given the doctor's recommendations as far as solid introductions and talked about other developmental milestones coming up.  I'm planning on waiting until O is 6 months old to introduce any solids, and most likely we will be skipping the traditional rice cereal route all together.  I haven't totally formulated my plan of attack for it yet, and I need to continue to do some more research.

Olivia got her shots and it about broke my heart.   Luckily, Dave was there this time, so he got the task of holding her upper body down while the nurse poked her chubby little legs.   She cried of course, but she really did well and stopped crying pretty quickly, which makes me wonder how she would handle getting her ears pierced...I've chickened out on it a couple of times already, and I just think we have missed the window of opportunity and will have to wait until she is much older.  This is so un-Mexican and I am reminded of that quite often. 

I cannot get over how wonderful this all is.  I keep waiting to come down from the, "omg, she is SOOOOO cute" and "Dave! Look at her, look at her, she's so beautiful" high that started on December 8, 2010.  But, nope, no luck.  We can't get enough of our little Olivia.