Personal Thoughts on Weaning

Rayna is my last baby. Everything she learns is the last "first" I'll get. Her first steps, her first word, her first wave bye-bye are the last firsts our family will get to experience, making them absolutely delightful and incredibly bittersweet at the same time. It's a weird feeling knowing the next baby we'll have in our family will be our grandchildren, so many years from now. I try not to think about that.

This month, Rayna completely weaned. We have only been doing nighttime feedings since she turned one because I wasn't ready to let go completely, but these past few weeks, Rayna was ready to let me go completely. The last few times I nursed her were a little more forced than I would've liked, so it was time. She doesn't reach for a drink or eagerly cuddle up anymore. My good ole pump that saw me through two kids is long gone. I've gone through the last of our storage bags. I feel a little like I'm deserted on the side of the road...

At the same time, I am very proud that we made it this long, that we had a relatively successful journey that many women aren't able to or don't get to experience. But this letting go is hard...

See, nursing is a war. It takes profound persistence and pain, extensive google searches and middle-of-the night questions in mommy nursing groups. It takes complete unwavering dedication from just one partner. It takes excruciating pain going into it for the first couple weeks. It takes tons of reading and preparation and research. It takes working around pumping schedules at work and disappointment when someone steals your time slot in the pumping room. It takes memorizing dozens of rules about the where's, when's and how long's of milk storage. It takes constant worry about how much baby is getting, if we have enough stored, if she's drinking enough while I'm gone, if she'll even take bottles, and on and on. It takes being the only one getting up in the night for feedings. It takes puddled shirts and let-downs in the middle of Walmart. It takes shopping for a new upper body wardrobe to suit the endowment. It takes nights of getting soaked and more pain. It takes not going away from home for more than two hours at a time for awhile. Rayna and I, we fought like bandits with bloody knuckles to get to this point, so it makes my heart bleed again to have to let it go.

Nursing offers the opportunity to stare into that beautiful face every few hours, every single day. It offers healing touch and the beautiful companionship of unconditional love. It offers nurturing and relationship building. It creates indestructible bonds of trust. It fine tunes a mother's instinct and intuition. If offers wisdom about and complete immersion in the life of another person. It gives you those sweet moments of sleeping babies in your arms. Not to mention reveling in all the wonderful benefits of that milky medicine. (I was even able to contribute 278 ounces to the nourishment of another baby when my freezer got too full!)

If you study the science of breast milk, it truly is one of life's miracles. The content of milk alone is enough evidence for me of God's existence. It changes as baby's needs change. It pumps out antibodies when it senses baby getting sick. It produces more fat when baby needs to grow. It just automatically produces exactly what baby needs with complete and utter perfection. And I won't get to experience or appreciate this again.

This week, right now even, there have been tears. There have been heavy-laden sighs. There has been one incremental move away from my daughter's dependency on me. It's been much harder than it was with my son since I know this time I won't get to do this again. I wasn't ready for this...

The phrase "they get big so fast" is so overused and yet no one can stop saying it or ever will because of the heavy truth and continual astonishment behind it. They really do grow so fast...

New Family Tradition: Jesse Tree

So, in years past, I have put together a fun Advent calendar for Kayne to make the countdown to Christmas meaningful and intentional. You can see some of our activities HERE and HERE. This year, I didn't know if I'd be able to maintain that level of involvement with our big move and everything. We'll still do a lot of those activities anyway, calendar or not. I was also thinking about how to make the countdown a bit more meaningful to the reason for the season.

So, I hopped on Etsy and typed in "Jesse Tree." My final decision came down to this set of ornaments. I just LOVE them. They came all wrapped up in a burlap sack with a printed scripture guide.

Starting a new tradition tonight with our new handmade Jesse tree. Wanted our countdown to Christmas to be extra meaningful this year. I found the ornaments on Etsy from Inspired Traditions. I can't wait to be able to pull these out each year! What are your family's favorite Christmas traditions? #christmastradition #jessetree #adventcalendar

A photo posted by Jessica Collins (@boun_seejess) on Dec 1, 2015 at 3:50pm PST

We've been sitting down every night, reading the verses in the guide and discussing the themes. Then, my son will place the ornament on the tree wherever he wants.

I can't wait to keep this tradition going. I'm thinking of buying the kids each their own set and tucking them away for when they move out of the house. I'm hoping that this is one of those traditions that they take with them for their own families and find comfort in the familiarity of the "back home" tradition.

Does your family do any sort of countdown to Christmas traditions? I love hearing stories about them!

An Alice in Wonderland Tea First Birthday Party

I love Alice in Wonderland. I've loved Alice in Wonderland since before loving it was cool, haha. That was one of the only kids' movies we owned growing up (we would rather have rented), so I saw it upwards of 50 times, no joke. So, when I was trying to decide on a theme for my daughter's first birthday, it was only natural that an Alice themed tea party would strike me as appropriate.

The cutest, most appropriate, invitations ever!

I added little AIW details like the party time: 3pm, don't be late for this very important date.

And the event: a very merry unbirthday to you and a happy first birthday to Rayna.

I tried not to go all out though and stress myself out. I wanted it to be about celebrating my little girl, not an over-the-top obligation. Kayne's first birthday party didn't even have a theme, and I'm not sure they're completely necessary. But I guess I was strung along by all the other mommas in my mommy groups that had set themes and picture-worthy decorations. You know how that goes... We wanted to keep it simple. Hubster and I definitely committed to easy food. The crockpot, some veggie trays and grape skewers were very easy food choices that took the pressure off.

Idea from here

I found some "drink me" labels to try

to recreate this Pinterest post

We really did serve tea too and set out a beautiful teacup collection from my mom.

Clean cup, clean cup, move dooooown!

For some reason, my mom also had some tea party themed balloons in her party stash which couldn't have been more perfect. This pic isn't the greatest, but we used the balloons, a doily bunting banner and a few hand-drawn (by my sister) Alice pictures for decorations. I forgot to get a picture of it up close, but I made a sign at the center bottom there that had arrows pointing "this way," "that way," "wrong way," "tea party" inspired by this Pinterest post.

I found the most adorable Alice dress from an Etsy shop for the pretty lady, although I'm not sure the 12 month size was accurate. She sure made an adorable Alice. And the most adorable card from the seller certainly made up for it.

We couldn't find a tea party or Alice in Wonderland cake at the grocery stores we tried, so we settled on a generic princess cake, that even came with a complimentary smash cake.

And smash it she did!

This kid was totally asking for it, lol. Like literally, "throw cake in my face, momma" asking for it.

All in all, Rayna did pretty well for all the noise and ruckus in our house. I loved it! Our house was filled with our closest family and friends. Especially ones I hadn't seen in a long time. I love having a full house! It had to be overstimulating for the baby, but she hung in there and begged us to open her new toys in her own baby way: by bringing them to us and whine-crying to get her point across. So darling!

We had a fabulous time ringing in this milestone day with our pretty little daughter (it's still weird for me to say "daughter." I have a daughter!). She's finally one! She finally has a number!

I'd like to thank all my friends and family that were able to make it. You know who you are! We couldn't have made Rayna's day so special without you. These precious moments will be captured in her memory book forever and we're so glad you were a part of it!

Happy birthday Rayna!

Lavender Earache Compress

Kayne complained one day when he had a cold that he had an earache. Unsure whether we needed to call the pediatrician for antibiotics yet, I thought I'd give a home remedy with essential oils a shot.

First, I consulted my book about essential oils for children. Did you know many essential oils that are safe for adults are not safe for children and especially babies? Do a little extra research before you use them with abandon. I also consulted the book for advice about earaches.

Out of the essential oils I already had in my cabinet, what I found was that lavender and tea tree (melaluca) are great for children's ears. So, here's what I did:

Supplies:

Sweet almond oil (or other carrier oil)

Lavender essential oil

Tea tree oil (optional)

Washcloth

Warm water

Directions:

1. Pour a small pool of oil in the palm of your hand. Drop in one drop of lavender oil. Add one drop of tea tree oil if you wish, too. Use your finger to stir the mixture in your hand.
2. Rub the mixture around the outside of the child's ear. DO NOT put any inside the ear.
3. Dip a washcloth in a bowl warm water (you can add a drop of lavender to the water too) and have your child rest their affected ear on the washcloth for about 10 minutes. You may want to put a plastic bag underneath so the wetness doesn't get on your furniture. Re-warm the washcloth if necessary. Alternately, you can have the child rest their head on a low-heat heating pad.

My son said his ear didn't hurt anymore after using the heating pad method. So, it worked! Some of the cure might have just been the coziness and tender loving care from his momma, but that just comes with the recipe:)

Any other home remedies for earaches that you've tried with success?

Baby's First Birthday

Oh my goodness, I know no other mother has said this before, but how did an entire year go by already?

This girl has brought more joy to our lives than I could ever have imagined. I never felt the desire to be a stay-at-home mom until she came along. I cried almost every day thinking about returning to work and begged Hubster to take a different position so that I could stay home, but it just isn't in the cards for us. I just had such enjoyment spending those first 9 weeks of her life with her. I so enjoyed reading her books, cuddling up with her for naps, taking her for walks, and letting her watch me sew and work on projects from her bouncy seat. I was at a different place in my life when her brother was born and I didn't have those same desires, although it cut me deep to leave him every day.

This girl was a champion sleeper right from the beginning (she's regressed a bit recently, which is odd), and for that we have been so blessed. She has been such an easy baby. She only cried when she was tired or hungry, never for no reason.

She surprised us with her shocks of bright red hair when she was born. I didn't think she would be born with any hair at all. And the fact that she did and it was RED just blew me away.

She is a very active, curious, smart child. Forget toys! She wants to investigate nooks, crannies, books and...well...everything. She is also a huge garbage picker. I mean, I know babies like to stick everything in their mouths, but this girl will find the tiniest hair on the carpet or piece of dust on a windowsill and try to taste it. And she literally loves to pick out of every garbage can in the house.

This girl also skipped right over pureed baby food and went straight to table food. She would literally have NOTHING to do with purees or baby cereal. I even made some pea and squash purees from scratch for her that may never be used. She wants what we're eating. So, we started her on soft things, but she pretty much eats what we eat already.

She is a water baby, loving baths and sticking her own head underwater. She's super funny, like the times she puts clothes on her head and crawls around laughing. Or when she clunks heads on purpose or blows raspberries on momma's belly. She is a huge daddy's girl and she especially loves her Auntie Jenny and her daddy's friend David.

She beat her brother with not only hair and birth weight, but also teeth. She has had four for months where her brother cut his first on his first birthday.

I love the place she is at now. She understands many things and she rushes to meet me when I get home. She waves and gives hugs. She's easy to make laugh. She has quite a personality, even though she can't really talk yet. And she always gets her way. If baby ain't happy, ain't no one happy.

Her nicknames have been Raynaliscious, Rayna Pants, Dolly, Miss Thing and currently, Booga. She is also the prettiest girl in the world:)


Her brother made me a mother. And she is the one who completed our family. They both have such a special place in our family and lives. I am so elated that I get to have both a boy and a girl. I can't wait until she's a little older and we can do girl stuff together. We'll probably get our nails done together by the time she's 3, haha. I just looooooooove this little girl and thank God for sending her to me.

Happy Birthday Booga!

Baby's First Pumpkin Patch

Seeing as Rayna was fresh out of the baby factory last year, we never made it to any of our normal pumpkin patches. It somehow seemed like an unfinished fall without a hay ride and a glass of cider. This year, it was perfect because she was so interactive with the animals. Her face lights up and she has this high-pitched screech sound she makes when she sees animals. She tried to pet the baby chicks like she pets our big moose of a dog.

My workplace is amazing. They sponsor a day for their employees every year to check out Mulberry Lanes Farm. Rayna's due date was the exact date that the trip fell on last year, so we obviously didn't RSVP.

Mulberry Lanes offers hay rides, horse rides, and a bunch of petting zoo stuff. You can try to catch a chicken or a turkey. You can feed the goats and hang out in the pig pen. We always spend way too much time in the little cage where they keep the kittens.

Momma, you didn't save me any coffee!

Dunkin Donuts has the best.

Our favorite spot

No, you can't bring one home

After you're done petting all the animals, each person gets to choose a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch to take home. 

My cabbage patch kid

And my cool kid

The weather was absolutely perfect for this trip. The kids were wearing flannel and I was in long sleeves and we got a bit hot, but it was a perfect day. See you next year Mulberry Lanes!

Milwaukee Zoo Trip 2015

Every year Hubster's work sponsors a picnic at the Milwaukee zoo and we always try to make it. One year Hubster was in a wheelchair due to an injury to his knee. Last year he insisted I stay in a wheelchair because I was only a few days away from my due date.

That yellow sign behind me says "Baby on Board"

They always do such a great job providing lunch, drinks and attraction tickets. One of the attractions we went to was the dinosaur exhibit. We tried that about 3 years ago, and Kayne was just as scared this year as he was then. 

Our first stop was the petting zoo. Rayna gave the goats hugs as is normal for her with animals. She has this high-pitched squeal she makes when she sees an animal and she pats them really nicely. She's already an animal lover.

My boys tried out the ropes course this year, which was so cool to see too. Rayna and I hit the air conditioned shops for some souvenirs while they were doing that. Kayne got a necklace with an encapsulated scorpion. Just up his alley.

Then, we walked through all the requisite exhibits.

At one point, Kayne excitedly pointed out a momma peacock walking across the path with her babies. After the video, the momma peacock decided to fly over one of the motes around one of the bear exhibits. Everyone stood around and watched to see if she was really just going to abandon her babies. But actually, after hesitation, unsure of themselves, they each flew, one by one, to momma.

Baby peacock crossing #milwaukeezoo

A video posted by Jessica Collins (@boun_seejess) on Sep 6, 2015 at 1:35pm PDT

After that, we headed back to the petting zoo and had one last run through the ice cream shop and headed home. Another amazing summer day!