Five Favorites: The Post Partum Edition

Linking up again with Hallie at Moxie Wife for Five Favorites!

1.

I went to my post partum OB appointment this week, and let me tell you, I'm thankful for a great midwife.  She is a mainstream medical professional, but I was so thankful to have someone who didn't try to push birth control on me!  She of course asked me what we were going to be using, but didn't try to push hormonal birth control or abortifacients on me, which I was pretty nervous about.  She did actually mention using natural methods, which was a real shock to me!

2.

Speaking of natural methods, I love this thing!  I've had it for 10 years and it shows no sign of slowing down.  I bought it initially when I was trying to conceive way back during my first marriage.  I successfully conceived my first child during my second marriage (no children conceived during the first marriage, thank goodness!), and was super excited when I found out it could be used to try to avoid pregnancy too when needed.  It gives me a little reassurance during this post partum time when I'm unsure of my signs.

3.

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Breastfeeding!

I have breastfed all of my kids with varying levels of success.  My first daughter was breastfed exclusively for the first 6 weeks then partially breastfed until she was 10 months old.  She was in daycare during the days and I didn't know enough about my rights to know that I could have taken a break during my work day to pump milk for her.  My son was exclusively breastfed for the first 6 weeks as well, and then only received breastmilk in his bottles for the first 5 months of his life.  After that point I was getting overwhelmed with the pumping and decided to go ahead and let him have formula during his time at daycare.  I continued to nurse him when he was with me for another few months as well.  Currently the baby is 7 weeks old and she has only ever had breastmilk.  She has had maybe a dozen bottles so far, only when I am not available.  I'm hoping that I am able to exclusively breastfeed, or bottle feed breastmilk, for the full year, but we'll see how it goes.  I don't take for granted that I've so far never had supply issues.  But you never know from one baby to the next what your body is going to do, right?

4.

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The ultimate example of motherhood.  I wish I could be even a fraction of the mother that she is.  I know I will never be as good of a mother as our Blessed Mother, but I can sure try.

5.

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Enough said!

Theme Thursday: Dad

Joining Clan Donaldson again today for Theme Thursday, this time we're talking about Dad!

I love this picture of my dad and my son, even though the picture is now 3 years old.  This picture was taken on our first family vacation, and by family vacation I mean my parents, all of us siblings, and our children.  Since this picture was taken there have been 3 more grandchildren added.  It was such a fun week spent on the banks of Lake Michigan in a tiny town called Beverly Shores, Indiana. 

I love watching my dad and my kids together.  He has a bad back, but it doesn't matter, he's always on the floor wrestling with them.  He will say, "I probably won't be able to get out of bed tomorrow, but that's okay, we're having fun!"  My dad is kind of amazing too.  When I was 17 my parents divorced and we lived with him as my mom was unfit to take care of us at that point in her life.  He was suddenly thrown into single parenthood with two teenage girls.  At 41 years old he was left to navigate the waters of training bras and estrogen on his own.  The poor guy couldn't help but get embarassed when we'd make the monthly grocery shopping trip and he'd have to ask us if we needed to go through the "feminine" aisle.  If the answer was yes he'd respond with, "I'll meet you in the next aisle!"  He remarried a few years later, and while I have a great relationship with them now, there was a time in my early 20's when I didn't speak to them for almost 3 years.  Blended families are hard, but he never gave up on any of us.  I'm glad he didn't.  They have been married for 15 years this year, and I honestly can't imagine my family any differently.  My parents' divorce was painful, but I'm thankful to have my stepmom and my two stepbrothers in my life too.  And I'm especially grateful for my awesome dad and thankful that he loves us all so much.

Theme Thursday: Girls!

When we were pregnant with Amelia, we went to the 20 week ultrasound and had already decided that we were going to find out the gender.  For whatever reason, we were both convinced that we were having a boy.  When the tech moved the wand into place and asked us to guess what we were having, we had no clue how to respond as we really didn't know what we were looking at!  She said, "It's a Girl!"  I was shocked and excited as I looked over at John.....and saw his face fall and his entire body deflate!  When we left the room I asked him how he was feeling.  He said, "A girl will be good.  I don't know what to do with girls though, and I was really hoping to have a boy first, then a girl, so he could help me be his sister's protector."  Of course as soon as Amelia arrived she had him wrapped around his finger.  I remember immediately after giving birth to her, looking up to meet John's eyes and seeing them full of tears.  We did have a son 2 1/2 years later, and I think he will still be his sisters' protector.



Meeting Baby Sissy



 These two are going to be partners in crime.  Amelia had been praying for a baby sister for a LONG time.  I was willing to oblige, but her daddy didn't want any more babies.  Of course God knows better than we do what we need.  As I've said in a previous post, Lydia was a very unexpected surprise.  I had just had my IUD removed due to a possible early miscarriage and having just learned about its abortifacient properties (that I was of course NOT informed of when I had it placed).  I couldn't morally continue to use it knowing that bit of information and also having just learned what the Church believes about contraception (I'm a Catholic convert and this was during the midst of my conversion).  We don't have any NFP instructors near us without having to travel quite far, so I was trying to learn NFP on my own.  When I got that positive pregnancy test, I almost cried.  I knew what the reaction would be from my husband, and I was right.



Partners in crime



Several rough weeks went by before John was okay with the idea of another baby.  As the pregnancy went on we both became excited about the prospect of a third child.  Amelia had been saying all along that she was having a baby sister.  We tried to prepare her for the possibility of having another baby brother, but she would have none of it.  "I already have a little brother, so I'm getting a baby sister." 



Keeping Baby Sissy occupied while Mommy cleans



We took Amelia with us to the 20 week ultrasound so she could be with us when we learned the gender.  The ultrasound tech started the scan and asked, "Do you want to know the gender if we're able to get a good view?"  I told her we did and she proceeded to move the wand to the area in question.  She asked, "Do you want to guess or do you want me to tell you?"  John and I looked at the screen, and having seen both of our other children's ultrasounds immediately knew what we were seeing.  In unison we said, "Looks like another girl!"  We repeated it to Amelia and she immediately responded with a loud cheer.



I love the look on Lydia's face.  You can tell she thinks Big Sissy is pretty awesome.

As the tech left the room for a minute to check on something, John said, "Oh good, I think we were all hoping for another girl, especially since Amelia was already convinced that we were having another one.  That's good, I was wanting another girl."

I said, "Yeah, just think, Daddy.  You get to pay for TWO weddings now!"

The look on Daddy's face was priceless.  :)

Join Cari for more Theme Thursday posts!

Five Favorites Vol. 1

Joining Hallie and the much cooler crew for my first round of Five Favorites!

1.

Our newest blessing, Lydia Irene.  She is 6 weeks old this week, and has been such a joy.

2.

Watching Big Sister Amelia be a big helper.  She has so much love for her little sister and it has been so much fun to watch her thrive in her role as Big Sister to her Baby Sissy.

3.

Watching this Little Man adapt to no longer being the baby of the family has been challenging.  Thomas was the baby for 3 1/2 years before his Baby Sissy arrived.  He has been acting out some, but he LOVES his Baby Sissy completely.  Every time we turn around he is in her face trying to love on her.  He means well, but he can be a little rough with her.  Overall he is doing better than we expected.

4.

This guy.....my husband for almost 8 years and father of my 3 kiddos.  We dated for 6 weeks before we got engaged.  We were married almost exactly 6 months after our first date.  You know when you've found your match.

5.

We are so thankful for Amelia's fabulous Kindergarten teacher.  Amelia started out the year well but as we got closer to Lydia's arrival she started having trouble controlling her emotions at school.  She had several outbursts that got her in trouble and weren't consistent with her normal behavior.  Mrs. A was so good at helping her through the issues and also helped her succeed in her learning.  She finished the year reading at a mid-year first grade level and far surpassing the expectations on all of her testing.  I'm so grateful that she cared so much about Amelia.

Go see Hallie to check out more favorites!