Drying up...

Warning, may contain TMI
So I breastfed Kai until the beginning of November. So less than 3 months. I have been pumping exclusively since then. 9 months....9 months of pumping everyday. Setting the time aside to pump. And I work full time. At first it was 5 to 6 times a day. Now it is 1 or 2 times a day. At first I had to supplement with a little formula, then when he started eating cereal I had enough milk...more than enough. My fridge was full. As I started tapering off a little, I am now supplementing a little again. I don't feel too full if I pump twice a day now. Its really not all that bad. I am quite excited to stop having to set aside this time everyday. But in a way I'm a little sad. I'm sad because my baby is growing up! 4 days from today he turns ONE! Holy crap!! Its very surreal. Next monday is his 12 month appointment, so we'll get to see his stats, which I am excited for. He hasn't been to the Dr. since 6 months. His Dr. is my uncle, so he was like, "eh, he can skip his 9 month, he's doing good". The only thing I am worried about is his reflux. The medicine he's on helps quite a bit, but with how easily he still pukes, I am worried that if we take him off he'll get really bad again. :( I am a little excited to have him try cows milk though! I wonder what he'll think of that. We put his carseat facing forward yesterday for the first time. I konw its 5 days early...but hey...he's bigger than a lot of 1 year olds, so I figure he'll be fine. He likes it a lot, being able to see everything.
We're gearing up for his party, which will be next Saturday, the 21st. We're doing a fish theme, and my awesome friend, Amanda, is making the cakes (one for Kai and one for everyone!) It's going to be way fun! I'm so excited! I will definately be posting a bunch of pictures from it! This is the invite I made for the event!

And in addition, I have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful neice! Today she is 8 years old! We're doing a family celebration when she gets baptised! I can't beleive how old she is! WOW.

Happy Birthday "Gummy-cita"!!

My friend....the Sister Wife

I have a friend that is involved in a controversial situation. Rob asked me tonight, when we saw it on the news, how I felt about it. I will stand by this:
I am so proud of my best friend. She is an amazing person no matter what anyone else thinks. I have been friends with her since we were 12. Almost 20 years will give you an idea on someones character. While this may not be MY lifestyle choice, she is happy and I am SO immensely happy for her. I am looking forward to this show, "Sister Wives" on TLC in September! It will be interesting! ;)

Random

So I really think this song is beautiful, but the radio plays it so much, I will get sick of it, I'm sure. But this performance is very impressive too. I'm not really a Pink fan...but this was cool. All that and she kept singing!

LoL

So I have kind of been toying with the idea for a while...but with how Kai has been swinging from my locks like Tarzan in the jungle...I decided to just do it before I got too psyched out. To make it easier, I recruited a fellow long-haired-brunette just 2 days ago to join me. She had been thinking about donating her hair for a while too. Its quite a change. The last time I cut my hair was to my chin 7 and a half years ago. Since then I have just regularly trimmed it and grown it out. I didn't realize how long it really was until I saw my before picture, though:

Thats Amanda on the left and me on the right.
I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but with help from the hair dresser, and this as kind of an idea, we ended up with this:

My hair is shorter than the picture I was going for, but I think I like it. :D
Change is always good, and its just hair, right? It'll grow out...
What do YOU think?

Beautiful Neices

I could take pictures of these girls for days!!




Aren't they gorgeous?

And I slack....so here are some pictures....

A couple with April:



This one was just too funny!


I just wanted to post SOMETHING...so these are some pics I took of April's boyfriend and his baby.

2:57 a.m.

"Wwwwaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh..................wwwwwwAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Crap...Kai's awake. Gosh, he was so good about sleeping through the night for so long, why is he waking up in the middle of the night, every night this week! I get up, stumbling in the dark, and rush to Kai's room. I try to give him his binky, hoping maybe he'll just go back to sleep....no such luck, still crying. I go into the kitchen, block his eyes from the bright light of the fridge, while I grab a bottle. I turn on the hot water and start warming the milk. Rob comes in the kitchen to check on us, Kai has his eyes closed and is kind of tiredly half-heartedly crying (sounds very fake). I finally get the bottle to a decent temperature and take our routine spot on the recliner. I rock him as he sucks down his bottle very quickly. I'm hoping he'll easily go back to sleep. As he finishes, I do a switcheroo with the bottle for the binky. I pull him up onto my shoulder to burp him, and his head goes limp against my shoulder. As I am patting his back, I start to think of how sweet and innocent children are. I think of how Kai will be in 17, or so, years. These are the kind of moments I will think back on. When I could hold him in my arms and kiss his cheek softly. It makes me grateful that I have this moment with him. Just the two of us cuddling. I get a little burp out of him, so I gather him and his blanky up and walk softly to his room. I give him several more kisses on his cheek and whisper "I love you, bud" and in one swift move, lay him gently in his crib. He doesn't make a sound and I creep out of his room and softly close his door, my heart full. I love that little boy. I tip-toe back to my room, and crawl into bed. 3:11 a.m. Not bad... I gradually fall asleep again, thankful that my little boy woke me up to remind me how much I love him.