Picture Site

Well I changed up our shutterfly picture site. I decided rather than keeping up both blogs, facebook and two shutterfly sites I would try to combine things a little better. So what I did was I got rid of both my Family Shutterfly site and the epp kids shutterfly site and combined them into one site

I also decided to protect Gabby's pictures on there. If you go to that site and want to see pictures of her you will have to become a member of the site. I apologize for those that were looking at it that don't want to be members, but I really want to try to protect them a little more than they were. There are too many people out there on the web. I won't be password protecting this site as of now, but might in the future, we will see. I know there are some out there that are following my blog that are lurking and not following it officially, which is fine and I don't want to lose you :)

Wordless Wednesday

I like Meatballs

Working and Pumping

I have been working and pumping since November 2010, going on 5 months now and I haven't really had many stumbling blocks or problems with it in the workplace. There are many women who have problems. They have to pump in rooms that don't lock, or rooms that are janitor closets or even bathrooms. They have to pump while driving, or in their car. They have managers who don't understand and don't want to give them the breaks. Even though this is the Law. Work places are supposed to offer women a place to pump that is NOT a bathroom. They also HAVE to give them the breaks within their day. We have come a long way, but have so much farther to go. 

Until this week that is. I started out in November working in the office 3 days a week and at home 2 days a week. My job is great and is very flexible, so it's been wonderful. The office has a great Mother's room. It's the best I have seen at any of my jobs and really only two of them have had them. There are two rooms that you can schedule. It's all through Outlook so it's nice. I have a 3 appointments the day I am in the office one at 9ish, 12ish and 3ish. It was working wonderful and then my work schedule got crazy. So after a discussion with my boss she allowed me to work from home 3 days a week instead of the 2. It allows me to pump whenever and not have to worry about scheduling the room.

Our Mothers room is awesome. Like I said it has two different rooms with locks on them. It has wireless or plug in for computers and a phone. We also have a microwave and a fridge along with a sink so you can wash the pump parts. It's super nice! We also leave notes for each other and have a great group of mothers.

It's all been going well like I said until this week. I had a training class at our corporate building...I was prepared and found out there was a mothers room over there, found out that I just needed to talk to the person at the front desk by the conference rooms and schedule it. What I didn't know is that it was going to be booked up. Yep that's right booked up, and it was the same as ours, but not through outlook. through the desk and it's also was only available at 10 and 3:30.

Day 1 of Training:
10:00 comes around and it worked out great. Our break from class was at 10 and I was able to go down there and use the room. The room consisted two cubicles with desks. It too had a phone and a cord for your computer, but you were in a open room with cubicles. If the Cube was occupied you had to turn a sheet of paper over to indicate as such. Not ideal!

12:00 came around and it was our lunch break. I walked all the way downstairs to the Women's locker room to use that - because the Mothers room was full and I was told that was "backup" for when it was full. Well first I didn't have access ,but once I did have access, it would have been better to go to my car. I know I would have felt more comfortable. In the locker room there was 1 plug in - Yep 1 plug in. and that was on the bench by the lockers. Which was by the showers as well. So I had to sit in the open, exposed pumping. not even a room nothing. The mothers room here was a dream vacation compared to the locker room. But I pumped, and I got about 4oz....which is a LOT lower than I normally do.

3:00 cam around - Well the Mother's room wasn't available at this time, so it was back to the locker room. and this time there were two people in it, so needless to say I was a bit uncomfortable! It was so not ideal.

Day 2 - I thought well at least I can get one of the pumpings in the mothers room at 10 and then pump at lunch in the locker room and then we are done around 3 or 3:30 and I can either pump or go pick up Gabby.  But of course it couldn't just work out all that nice could it? My instructor had to go and change the break time to 9am instead of 10am. So down to the locker room I go again at 9. This time at least there wasn't anyone there. I didn't pump that much because I had pumped like 8oz this morning at 6 when I woke up (Gabby slept the entire night! except for getting up at 1:00am).

Then at our lunch break I went down there, there were two people in there, stressed me out some and I ended up only pumping.about 3oz. So total for the day I pumped 15 which really is about normal. Except 5oz of that Gabby ate this morning. So I didn't pump what I normally do to keep up.

All in all it was a stressful week for pumping. I plan on contacting our HR department and informing them of this situation. I am supposed to be provided an area to pump that is not a bathroom and technically the locker room is a bathroom....It's amazing what we have to go through to pump milk for our babies. I really have never had a problem. It makes me not want to take anymore training classes here until I am done pumping. or at least down to less than 3 times a day.

Wish me luck with the talk with HR.

Breastfeeding

Its been 7 months now since Gabby has been born and 7 months since we have been breastfeeding. I have to say that its been the most enjoyable 7 months of my life. I know there are so many women out there that don't have the option to breastfeed and I have been lucky enough in my life to be able to breastfeed my little one for 7 months.

Gabby feeding and trying to grab the camera at the same time.

Even in the middle of the night I love getting up with her and feeding her. As tired as I am,and 90% of the time I am exhausted from getting up with her, I still love it. I have been so excited to be able to breastfeed her as long as I have been. I just was thinking back to when she was first born and I almost gave up. I knew that it was going to be hard, but no one ever told me how hard it was going to be. I still remember I was exhausted, emotional and having such a hard time with her latch. I was spraying her in the face when she could latch and when she couldn't my nipples were hurting so bad because we never got a great latch. I could only hold her in the football hold and even then I had to lean back so she wouldn't drown. I remember Mike sitting next to me rubbing my shoulders and telling me that I could do it. Thinking back I am so glad I did, I NEVER thought I would make it this long.

Wordless Wednesday

Broken Legs or Life...

Okay, So I am probably being a bit dramatic, but I did get your attention didn't I? The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) came out with some new recommendations for Rear-Facing kids in Car Seats and all I have to say is its about darn time! While I am passionate about things, this ranks up there as one of my top things! Besides Breast Cancer awareness, Car Seat Safety is up there. In fact I keep thinking about maybe seeing what it would take to be certified in Car Seat inspection..Might have to talk to my friend Berta about that. It's because of her that I am have become so passionate about this.

Rear-Facing has so many benefits that I am really surprised that people want to turn their kids around sooner.As my friend Berta would say "Broken Legs = Cast, Broken Neck = Casket" and while that's blunt, to the point and a bit morbid it's totally true. I have read too many stories about young kids (over 1 year, which was the old recommendation) breaking their necks, or have internal decapitation because of 30 mph crashes. We aren't talking 60mph crashes on the highway. We are talking to and from the house to daycare, to the grocery store. Being hit at only 30mph is 600lbs of force.

If you think about it when a child is rear facing and you are in a car accident all that force is put into the car seat..not onto the harness. When a child is forward facing it all goes into that harness. You are expecting a 5 point harness to take the entire force of that accident. Why wouldn't you keep your child rear-facing as long as possible.

I have heard it all, their legs are all scrunched up (See my statement above). They want to see what's going on. They get cranky in the back. I understand how hard it is to have a screaming child in the car and not be able to do something about it. But really I would rather have my child be cranky for 20 minutes or even an hour (depending on the car ride) and save their life if something were to happen.


We don't let our child play with Glass or a Knife because they want to because that would be unsafe, why is this any different?? Lets stand up as parents and stand up for our kids. If you are on a long car ride and they  need to be entertained then one of you can sit in the back with them? or give them toys to play with? or a mirror or some food to eat. Lets keep these kids safe as possible for as long as possible!


Here is the link to the cnn article on the new standards...You can return to your regularly scheduled programming I am now off my soap box.

Look forward to an upcoming post about the Bundle Me's and car seats...I should have posted it before winter was over, but will post it anyway coming soon.

Letter to Daycare

Since we aren't following the typical path for baby food. Daycare is having a little bit of trouble with us...They are concerned that she isn't getting enough nutrients from my milk, which is not true. All the reading I have done on research with breastfed babies is that they don't need solids until they are a year old and that the mother's milk is the main source (90%) of nutrients for a baby until then. So last week I sent some puree's, I figured if they wanted to take the time to spoon feed her fine...She pretty much told them by blowing raspberries in her face. So then I sent some finger lengths of toast with her on Friday. Well one of her teachers only gave her 1 of them...not the point. She said all she did was mush it and play with it - well that is the point. So Mike and I decided some education needed to happen.

Gabby - My very grown up girl wrote the following letter to her teachers:

Dear Teachers –

I just wanted mom to write you a letter for me to tell you a little bit about my eating habits. Especially since my new favorite game is to blow raspberries back at mom and dad while eating my purees J

My parents have been giving me mostly finger foods mixed with some purees here and there. However like I said I don’t really like the purees but would appreciate you trying every once in awhile when Mom brings them in.

When you give me finger foods I mostly just play with it, I know that most of it will be smeared or sent flying onto the floor. I do love to make a mess and that’s okay. I am learning about textures and how to feed myself. So while it may look like I am not eating, if you can let me play with my food for awhile eventually I will get things into my mouth.

As long as you just watch me I can sit in my chair for as long as needed to eat. Another tip that mom does is she feeds me her milk right before I eat. When I am not so hungry then I eat a lot better.

Thanks for taking such great care of me! I know it’s a bit different then the other kids, but mom has printed off some information for you from the Baby-Led Weaning book that she really likes.

Love
Gabriella

She also had me attach some copies of pages from my Baby-Led Weaning book to provide some further information to them. Hopefully it works and hopefully her main teachers can explain to the teachers in her other room (especially the one that doesn't speak English) the point of Baby-Led Weaning.

When is the right time?

The right time for what you may be asking...The right time to add to our family again. As Gabby turns 7 months today it's something that has come up in my mine. Mike and I always talked about waiting - at least until Tuesday I thought that waiting was until in 2012 sometime. so that I had PLENTY of time. I am not saying we are trying now, so don't get your panties in a bunch.

The reason this discussion came up is we are currently going through an issue with our roof. You might ask yourself how does roof get you to talk about spacing of your kids. Well our roof is leaking and it's need of repair. We are playing the "We might as well..." game that some good friends of ours played and are still going through with their remodel. We currently have 2 bedrooms upstairs and one large one downstairs. Well if we want to add to our family again and we want the kids to have their own rooms, because face it, I can't sleep with them in my room and Gabby's room is WAY too small for two kids. So We set out a few years ago to have some drawings made up. The short story is that we are adding on two bedrooms upstairs above the garage and turning the two bedrooms we have currently into a master suite.

This is where the "We might as well" game comes into play. If we are replacing the back side of the roof on the house we might as well start the remodel sooner, which means we might as well get all new siding, all new windows and add on the two bedrooms and get everything roughed in...this "We might as well" game got me thinking about our baby and the one we want to add to our family.

My plan had been wait until the summer of 2012 to start trying for another little one. Hopefully (I know it can change) my cycle will be back and it won't take long to get pregnant and we can have a Spring 2013 baby and Gabby will be almost 3 by then. a good 2 1/2 year spacing! Well when discussing with Mike he thought I was meaning to try this summer which would give us a Spring 2012 baby ( EEK!) and have about a 20 to 22 month difference. I don't know if I am ready for that.

So that really got me thinking. what is a good spacing for kids? Longer, shorter in between. We know we don't want to go more than 4 years apart. But I am an only and Mike's brother is 22 months younger than him...so we don't have a lot of things to compare it to. I am looking for thoughts on this so all those lurkers out there and non lurkers please comment. If you don't want to comment on the blog then send me an email! or comment anonymously!

Getting Ready for Bed

Last night Grandma & Grandpa Epp were nice enough to come babysit Gabby for us while we went to hang out with some friends. When we returned Gabby was soundly sleeping in her crib (which was awesome!). She had been down for about an hour and a half. Mike and I went to bed around 10:45 or so. As I was laying in bed and Mike was finishing getting ready for bed, Gabby starts to fuss. Which I figured because she has been doing that around that time every once in awhile. but this time instead of just full out crying, it went a little like this....

Waaahaaaa...Ga Ga Ga...Waahaa

Goo Goo Ga...Ga Ga Ga. smack smack (her hitting the crib mattress with her hands).

Lips smacking...Ga Waaahaaa waaahaaa gaa...

This went on for about 10 minutes. It had to be the cutest thing ever. She was apparently trying to figure out if she was hungry or not. After those 10 minutes she went into a full on wail and wanted to eat, but I have to say if she could wake up like that all the time I would be fine with that :)

I also went in to wake her up this morning and she was angled in her crib holding on to her stuffed puppy and had her seahorse at the top of her head with her other hand hanging on to his fins...again the cutest thing ever. Had I been thinking I would have had a camera with me.

Wordless Wednesday

Bath Time!

Thankful Tuesday!

Stylish Blogger Award

My Friend Adrienne awarded me with the Stylish Blogger Award! Awesome. I sometimes forget that people actually are reading what I write :) I met Adrienne years ago on IV message board and we have gone from both waiting to try for our babies, to trying, and now to having them! James is the cutest thing in the world.

Here is Adrienne's Blog! She is an amazing person and has a lot of great things on her blog from a completely different perspective than mine. Which is what makes this world unique

The rules to follow for those receiving the Stylish Blogger Award are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

7 things about myself...
1. I am totally loving being a Mom! I knew I would, but didn't know how much I would truly love my little one.
2. I love to scrapbook, I don't get all fancy, but it's my own special thing that I love to do.
3. My Husband and I have been together for almost 11 years!! and married for 6 1/2.
4. Gabby is almost 7 months old - seriously where did time go
5. I have two dogs - Mac who is 6 years old and lives with us and Jager who is 4 and lives with my parents (who treat her great!!).
6. I miss my grandmother who we named Gabby after more than anything and I know that she is in heaven watching over Gabby and all her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
7. I have started cooking and started a cooking blog.

I don't know if I even know 15 people, but I will try to send this to as many people as possible! Thanks again Adrienne!

Separation Anxiety

This past weekend we have come into something that I wasn't quite prepared for...Separation Anxiety! With Gabby it tends to be at weird times and for weird things. I really noticed it when we were at Giants Ridge this past weekend. She would be quietly playing on the floor in the hotel. I would walk literally to the other side of the room into the kitchen - still in full view. and she would wail! I started to say Good Bye to her, wave to her when I left and I would come back right away. We usually can leave her in the morning while we are getting ready for work just fine and no problems, but apparently at certain times she is having trouble.

I got to daycare yesterday and her teachers were like "her new thing is getting upset when we walk away." Apparently whenever Tamara or Erika would step more than 2 feet from Gabby she would start to cry and want them right by her. I guess she even did this when she heard Erika's voice while she was asleep in her crib.

Not really anything we can do, because it's like it's with people she isn't used to. She knows me, Mike, Erika and Tamara. She loves her teachers at daycare...Hopefully it won't be too big of a deal when she transitions to the bigger infant room at the end of the month. My little girl is growing up so fast!

Wordless Wednesday

How to Sleep Train Your Baby

The one thing I have learned about being a parent is that you don't sleep. When they tell you to sleep when the baby sleeps you really should. I never did and I am really regretting that. It was difficult for me to take naps during the day, and now that I am working I wish I could...oh how I long for maternity leave again.

Regular readers of my blog know that we have been battling ear infections since the middle of January. Well after some good sleep last week, we had another awful few days and last night I was exhausted. I went down to my mom's yesterday to pick up the puppy after being gone for the weekend and I was starting to fall asleep. I broke my no pop & no caffeine rule last night and had some pop to keep me awake going home. So last night I decided that we were going to do some Sleep Training...

From what I read there are some different things you should do.

1. Let them cry it out for as long as it takes for them to fall asleep exhausted 

2. Don't let them cry it out at all and pick them up and rock them and soothe them.

3. Give them things in their crib so they feel secure.

4. Don't give them anything in their crib as they might suffocate on it.

5. Put them in a swing/car seat etc to help them sleep

6. Don't put them in anything but their crib to sleep.

I could go on and on...but you can see how it's confusing. A parent really gets their head spinning if they try to make sure they are doing the right thing. That on top of all the advice you get from family and friends. Which is great, because you really never know when something is going to work..so always good to have things to try, but it becomes overwhelming. So I decided to say screw it all and make up my own and figure out what works for us. So here it is!

The Epp Family Sleep Training Guide:

1. Kick your significant other out of the bed and downstairs or somewhere where they won't get annoyed. As much as I love my Husband he gets frustrated when he doesn't get his 8 hours of sleep. As helpful as he is with Peanut, I feel much more comfortable not worrying about his sleep too. 

2. Feed your little one and make bedtime a soothing time. We do a routine of Bath (if it's bath night), Change into PJ's, Put into the 1/2 swaddle (We are trying to break Peanut of the swaddle), Feed Peanut and let her eat as long as possible, Read a story. When done eating I try to slip in the pacifier so she thinks she is still eating.

3. Rock her to sleep and then put her into her car seat - we will be working on the crib after we can get a few hours of sleep in a row...and Pray to the Gods above she doesn't wake up in the transfer....

4. Cross your fingers and leave the room and hope she stays asleep.

For us this usually works - at least when I do it. I love my husband, but he hasn't mastered the art of putting a sleeping baby from arms into her car seat. I could write an entire post just on that! It's an skill that has to be mastered and it does take time. All you mothers out there know what I am talking about.

Last night we did the above and it worked for about a 1 hour. Until Peanut woke up with a wet diaper, so I had to repeat the process over again. Plus at this time she was hungry again. I have a grazer I think. 

So I did the process above, but when I it was done this time it had to be modified a bit because she woke up and I was not able to complete step 4. So if that happens follow the steps below.

If baby does not stay asleep: 
1. Leave baby in crib/carseat/swing whatever your choice of "bed" is...

2. Give baby pacifier. Peanut fights it sometimes - likes to blow raspberries in my face but in the end I KNOW that she will sleep longer with a pacifier than without, she just sometimes doesn't know it.

3. Place a hand on her stomach/chest and making a loud shhing noise. At first when I used to try this, it never worked. she would get more agitated and pretty much say "Yeah Right mom! you want me to do what?" but for some reason the last few times I have tried this it worked. So for now we are going with it.
4. Do step #3 until the baby falls asleep and quietly sneak out of the room. and Go back to step 4 Above..

Repeat this as many times. I let her cry for about 5 minutes before going in and doing anything because there are times when she does the "I am going to cry out to see if anyone is listening" cry or she is having a nightmare and just making noises in her sleep.

Last night we did this and we went from waking up every hour to 2 hours to every 3 to 3 1/2 hours....she was seriously hungry and/or needed a diaper change when we woke up each time. Except for the first hour when we had to do the 2nd group of steps to get her back to sleep.

All joking aside, it's amazing what we parents to do - both mom's and dads to get our kids to sleep. What's more amazing is the look on people's faces when I tell them that she isn't sleeping through the night. Like because I can't get my child to sleep through the night I am some how depriving them of a great childhood. That I am some how a bad parent because my kid sleeps in her crib in her car seat...I mean really? Another thing that people need to realize is that what works for one child may not/will not work for another child....

For us, the Epp family. We are not going to be forcing solids/oatmeal/puree's of any sort down Peanut's throat just to make her sleep longer. I am not worried that my child will never sleep in her crib just because she is sleeping in her carseat right now. I am not worried that she is still swaddled even 1/2 way because the way I figure it as long as she is out of her swaddle and carseat by the time she goes to college we will be good to go.

Each family is different and my whole point of this entire long drawn out post is the fact that we are all different. That's what makes this world unique. What some people do with their children is none of my business and while I may not agree with it, it's what works for them. Just like for us we are a table food, baby led, car seat sleeping, rear facing for as long as possible, breastfeeding past a year family. It's what we do. We need to stop judging parents and mothers in particular and celebrating the uniqueness of it all! 

Wordless Wednesday

 

4th Time's the Charm

Well it wasn't the third round of antibiotics but the fourth and probably the combination of the chiropractor that was the charm in healing Gabby's ear infection. On Monday we got the all clear from the Doctor. Her right ear is almost 100% better and her left ear is 75% better. The chiropractor today said that makes sense because the muscles behind her left ear where the tightest. She said that if everything aligns at her appointment on Friday that we can start going to her monthly until the cold season is over and then we are planning on going when ever Gabby has a major milestone. I.E. Crawling, standing, walking etc.

I love my puppy

Gabby was able to get her shots on Monday for her 6 month vaccinations, she ended up getting the flu shot so we are getting some of the other ones and her 2nd flu shot booster in a month. I didn't want her getting so many shots at once.

Our baby girl is finally feeling better!! I am so happy for her. She is sleeping better, going usually 3 to 4 hours at a time at night which is so much better than the 1 to 2 hours she was for weeks on end. Hopefully now we can just get through spring without major illnesses.