DIY Baby Sensory Bags

I made these for a baby sensory playdate with some mommy friends of mine.  They were a big hit!  And super easy to make!  Try it yourself!  :)


Materials:
Gallon Ziploc bags (wal-mart brand because there is no label/printing on the bag)
Decorative Duct Tape
1 bottle of CHEAP colored hair gel (green, yellow, pink)
Water
(there are items I used, you can use whatever you like!)
Pom Poms
Buttons
Pony Beads
Googly Eyes


Step 1: Pour 3/4 of the containter of gel into ziplock bag.  Add a little bit of water, I'm talking like 2-3 tablespoons.  Squish it around till gel is a little watered down.  Add more water or gel if needed, it won't hurt to have the whole bottle of gel.  Just depends on how much you want in the bag.

Step 2:  Add the sensory items of your choice.  I added the entire pom pom and button packages I bought.  For the googly eyes and pony beads, I added half of each package because so many came in them.  Squish them around some in there.  Add water to your disgression of suqishability.  :)

Step 3:  Close the Ziploc bag.  Make sure you get all the possible air out that you can.  Once done, start to duct tape each side, front and back.  It is easier if you do one edge at a time: do the front, then back, then go onto next edge.  Your all done!  

Texas Footprint Flag

Here is a super cute and fun craft to do with your little ones!   My son is 9 moths old and we had fun doing this!

Materials:
washable paint in red, white and blue
scissors
blue construction paper
large Popsicle sticks
glue stick
sharpie
paper plates
art sponges on a stick
toothpick

Step 1:  Take one piece of blue construction paper and folded it in half once, then in half again.  When you unfold it there will be 4 squares.  Cut them out the four squares.

Step 2: Pour the desired amount of red, white and blue paint onto paper plates.  First paint baby's foot with art sponge (left or right doesn't matter) white paint.  Put baby's footprint on blue paper.  Rinse foot with water.  Repeat process with red paint (use same foot as before) and put baby's foot print directly under white footprint.  Rinse foot with water.  Again same process, but we only need to paint the baby's heel with blue paint.  Put heel print on the baby's heel prints of red and white.  Let dry.  (be sure to wash out sponges, they can be reused many times!)

Step 3:  Take toothpick and draw a star with white paint.  Slowly and carefully fill in star you drew so that it is completely filled in with white paint.

Step 4:  Put a genrous amout of glue on the top 1/3 portion of popsicle stick.  The top of the popsicle stick should be in the middle of the blue paper when you glue it on, so you will have enough room to hold the stick at the bottom. 

Step 5:  Write baby's name and year on bottom of flag for keepsake.  Let dry and show off!   :)

3 Months of Catch Up!

I know....it's been 3 months.  I am getting back and slacking at my blogging.  Nothing in particular has stopped me from blogging, other than sheer laziness and not making time for it.  A lot has happened in the past three months.  Let's see what I can re-cap what's happened since April, and go!

--Holden has been in his helmet now for almost 3 months now, and doing swimmingly!  He is now at 7mm, when we started at 15!!  The goal is to get to 5mm or below.  We have a follow up in one week, so stay tuned!  He also got a custom designed helmet courtesy of his super duper cool Uncle Donald.  Check out the before and after helmet.

Here is the Camo helmet......and the super cute camo overalls Holden's Pappy got him!

                                               
                          And here is his custom made STARband helmet. 

 

The front has his name on it,                                 The back says "Fixin' My Flat!" and below his name it says "Firefighter".  
                                                                        

       
                                              

--My mom came to visit for the entire month of May.  It was amazing, fun, and not long enough.  Living a thousand miles away from your parents, who are now grandparents, is hard on both sides.  We had  blast and can't wait to see her again, and Pappy!

 Holden and Grandma Sharon the day she got here!
 

 --I quit pumping the end of May.  It was time....and my freezer could only hold so much milk.  It was a little harder easier than I thought quitting....but it was still emotional.  Good thing is though that I have enough to last Holden till he is a year, and that was my goal!

--Holden had O.T. a few times and some follows up with a developmental specialist for his torticollis.  He did great with all the sessions we had and has full range of motion to turn his head to the left side.  Still working on the tilt, but that will just take time and patience.  He is not a big fan of the stretches and exercies.

--My friends and I started a mommy group called Moms Of Faith, and have met a whole lot of mommy friends, who I LOVE.  Holden and I go on about 2 play dates a week with them.  We are loving getting out and seeing new things and meeting new mommies and babies.

So yeah, that about sums up the past three months in a nutshell.  We are loving life and enjoying every minute of it.  Nothing earth shattering has happened, just living an everyday normal life, and happy to be just that, normal.  :)

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

Got (breast) Milk?

Fair warning, if you don't like the word BREAST and milk in the same sentence, or the talk of BREAST feeding makes you uncomfortable, then you best get to stepping, this entry ain't for you.

Now on to bigger and better things, and yes I'm talking about my boobs!  ;)  I have been breastfeeding my son since the day he was a newborn.  Scratch that, I have been pumping exclusively to breast feed my son since he was a newborn.  He had a hard time latching on when he was a newborn and he is tongue tied, so it made it difficult.  So after doing some research and joined a group on the great website Baby Center I found out that I could still breast feed through pumping.

I learned that the first 12 weeks are the most crucial and critical to obtain and create your supply.  Pumping every 2hrs is crucial, and a pain in the ass might I add.  Not only was I a first time mom and sleep deprived, but I had to do one "MOTN" pump, a middle of the night pump between 2 and 5am.  Because apparently our dear Lord thought it would be funny to make that the time of day when our boobs produce the most breast milk.  ;)  And man that ain't no joke, I would get between 25-30 ounces in that one pump session!!  Wowza! 

We had so much milk that our own food wasn't able to fit in our freezer and deep freezer in our garage.  There was only room for Holden's food!!  So I had to take action and donate.  After doing some research I found two milk banks to donate to Austin Milk Bank and Helping Hands.  After doing all the processing required to become a breast milk donor, I donated!  I sent off 300 ounces to Helping Hands via Fex Ed.  I drove to a local hospital that had a drop off location here in town and donated 300 ounces.  Then later that same month, I donated 325 ounces again to Helping Hands.  So to date I have donated 925 ounces.  It was no big thing for me to do, I just am glad that it's helping preemie babies and NICU babies.  :)  Warms my heart!  And I'm due for another donation because my freezer is getting full again.

Oh and don't worry, my son is eating plenty and just healthy!  He is by no way suffering from my donations!  He is fed first, then I fed the others!  :)

Here is my freezer stash from December 2012.  Around this time I had about 1000ozs frozen. 

This is my official Mother's Milk Bank donor card :)

 

The two coolers mailed to me so I could donate my 300 ounces this go around.

 

 So here are some tips and tricks that worked for me with my Exclusive Pumping. 

-First and foremost, get a hands free bra.  They sell them at Target/Wal-Mart for about $40, but that it is well worth its weight in gold and you will definitely get your forty dollars’ worth!  They come in sizes S-XXL, so no worries in finding a size that will fit.

-Set up your pump in a comfortable chair/couch.  When you’re being milked like a cow, you might as well be comfortable!

-Get a timer to leave with your pump.  Set it and forget.  DON’T WATCH THE CLOCK.  Rule of thumb is to pump 20-30 minutes each pump session.  Watch TV, play on your laptop, your phone, read a book.  Doing something to keep busy so the time passes. 

-Pump between 8-10 times a day till you reach your 12 week mark.  After about week 9 or 10 you can drop down to 6-7 pumps per day, but it all depends on your supply  Every momma is different. 

-Massage your breasts when you pump.  Overtime you will feel your breasts start to feel a little hard/full.  As you massage when you pump you might feel a knot (clogged duct), just keep massaging to get the knot out and the extra milk stored in there.  You don’t have to massage the whole session, but off and on throughout your session.

-Pump every 2-3hrs.  Breast milk is based on supply and demand. The more you pump, the more you make.  When you empty your breasts by pumping, they begin to fill up shortly after your “empty”. 

-Do one MOTN (middle of the night) pump between 2am and 5am.  Your boobs produce the most milk at this time of night, so be ready to fill up about 3 or 4 bottles at this time. 

-Pump until you feel empty.  Yes, I said pump 20-30 minutes, but some sessions you might need to pump a little longer if you still see milk coming out after your 20-30min mark.  I’m not saying pump for an hour, but this will take a learning curve on knowing your body and knowing the “empty” feeling. 

-Boobs are sisters, not twins.  Both boobs won’t always produce the same amount every time—and that is OK!  My right always produces more than my left.  So don’t get discourage when you see less milk come out of one boob.

-Keep track of your output.   I would track till week 12 so you can see your progression.  Makes me feel happy when I see the numbers go up.  I will also attach my weekly average outputs so you can get an idea of what a ballpark figure is. 

-Drink plenty of water!  Tea is okay too, I’m not all that great at drinking my water, but I try. Being hydrated helps your milk supply.

Didn't Your Momma Teach You Manners!?

From my last entry, (to my tiny pool of people that follow me) you know that we got Holden's STARband Cranial Remolding Orthosis, which is fancy for, we got his helmet.  The whole process of getting him fitted for it wasn't all that bad, he cried of course when it first went on.  Check out the epic crying shot below and Darren, our Orthotist (who we love love love!) showing Holden his helmet for the first time.  ;)  But after 2 adjustments, he tolerated it pretty well.  He even napped in it on the way home. 

We are in day 2 of day 5 of the "break in" period.  The break in period goes as follows:
Day 1-- Helmet on for 1hr/off for 1hr, repeat
Day 2--Helmet on for 2hrs/off for 1hr, repeat
Day 3--Helmet on for 4hrs/off for 1hr, repeat
Day 4--Helmet on for 8hrs/off 1hr, repeat
Day 5--Helmet on for 23hrs/off for 1hr

So getting it on first thing in the morning isn't his favorite thing to do, but throughout the day when I was taking it on/off on the allotted time frames I had scheduled, he didn't cry!  He just gave me a funny look as to why I kept putting this clunky thing on his head.  So, I'm anxious to see how tomorrow goes with having it on for 4hrs at a time.  When we took it off before he went to bed tonight, his skin was a little irritated, but nothing to be concerned about.  Just gonna take some time.

Now what's really gonna take some time is for me to get used to all the looks/gawks I get when Holden and I go out.  Today was major test of my nerves and my mouth!  TWICE in once day I got comments made at Holden and his helmet, along with several stares, double takes, walking away and staring us as they walk, just plain ol' staring as we walk around.  Our first instance was from some lil'l 6 or 7ish yr old I wanted to pop in the mouth.  We were at the grocery store and walking down the aisle, this little boy was sitting in the basket part of the cart, as we walked by he pointed right at Holden laughed and yelled loudly "Haha!  He looks silly!"  I about came unglued....at that age your momma taught you that it's not nice to poke fun at other kids.  His momma must have missed that etiquette lesson because she didn't even correct the lil' booger, she just looked at me and then gawked at Holden.  Let me tell you, if looks could kill, she'd be dead!  I shot her daggers like you wouldn't believe!  I just walked off and kept shopping, trying to hold back the tears.  Take two, fast forward to this evening.  We are at the grocery store again (we had a sweet tooth and went to get some goodies) and I'm in the baking aisle looking at the cake mixes.  This lady, had to be in her late twenties walked by us.  As Holden is sitting in the cart babbling away and looking up at her as she walks by she says "hey there helmet boy...hi there lil' helmet boy" and continues to walk off.  I again am just shocked at this, because this isn't a child, but and adult.  On her way back up the aisle she commented on the cart protector I had Holden sitting on and made a comment of how her sister has "those stupid things for her kids".  I just smile and nodded and walked away.  How am I supposed to respond to these types of things?  The momma bear in me whats to rip these peoples faces off and feed it to them for dinner.

Being only day 2 of possible 3-6 months of Holden's helmet wearing I know I need to get used to it and get some thick skin about this issue, but it still hurts.  Make fun of me all you want, hell I was made fun of all my life growing up for having really unruly curly hair and being really tall and lanky.  I can take it all day everyday....but not when it comes to my son.  The gloves are off.  They ain't lying when they say being a momma ain't easy.....I would give my last breath for Holden.....and throw a punch.....or two....if I have to.  I'm just saying......

Countdown To Molding A Melon

Tomorrow at two in the afternoon we are going to get Holden's helmet.  I am excited, scared, nervous, anxious; all of the above and then some.  I know this is this just the beginning of our journey with the correction of Holden's plagiocephaly, it just seems so far off.  I calculated (and this is just a guesstimation of how long he might be in the helmet) that around 9-12 months old he'll be out of the helmet if all goes well.  That's 3- 6 whole months of this....

-not being able to kiss his lil' head at night when I rock him to sleep
-not being able to rub his head when I rock him to sleep
-not being able to kiss his forehead when we take our naps together
-not snuggle *comfortably*
-not hold him in my arms/against my chest and feel his sweet lil' head against my bosom
-explaining to everyone that I'm not an overprotective Mommy and that the helmet is NOT for his safety
-checking the weather to see if in this great state of HOT ASS TEXAS if we can go outside and not drown my son in sweat with his helmet
-figuring out what is the best time for his 1hr out of the helmet should be
-seeing which clothes will fit over his helmet---this should be fun!

I know this is the best for him and it's only temporary, but I can still be a lil' sad about those things right now!  I mean that's 3-6 months of his life that I won't get to kiss on his lil' noggin, see it grow, see his hair grow!  That's something I never thought I'd look foward to seeing, but damn if it ain't now! 

I have been doing some more research online and reading about this and seeing what I can do on my end to be a good mommy with it.  I've read several mom's gave in to the screaming and crying of their babies wearing it through the night for the first time and took it off because they couldn't take their baby crying.  I just hope and pray I am strong enough to get through the tough times with this.  I have three mommy friends I know who have either had their children in helmets or are in a helmet now that will help me through this.  They are going to be my go-to people and support through this.  And I always have my wonderful Kenny, he will definitely be my rock through this, as he is always.

We got Holden's helmet in "military camo" from the options that Star Cranial had......BUT.....the one cool thing about this helmet is that we already have an appointment made on May 2 to get Holden's helmet personally customized.  This awesome company in town called Traffic Graphics designs these helmets for FREE with whatever design we want on it.  So I was thinking about getting some kind of owl design and on the back of it say "Owl Be Okay" or "Owl Be Okay, Just Fixin' My Flat"  hehehehe  :)  I have a few weeks to play with designs, so we'll see what we can come up with and we'll show you when we get it made!  

Mad About Mad Men

I am a HUGE fan of the show "Mad Men" on AMC.  Or maybe it's that I'm a huge fan of the lead character Don Draper and how cool it would be to live in that era.  If you haven't heard of the show or seen it, you need to!  It's a show based in the 60's about an advertising company, their clients and the ones they try to get.  All the men wear suits and hats to work, the women are housewives and wear aprons in the kitchen, and the TV's are black and white.  It's a simpler time, a time that we think back on now as to how did we ever make it back then?!  How did we make it with TV without a remote or having no computers but have to use a typewriter?  That's ludacris, us not having a smartphone to get through your day and use a phone with a cord on the end of it instead. Geez....we are to reliant on technology. I'm just as guilty. Hell I'm writing this blog from my spartphone-- in bed!!

Granted they all smoke like freight trains and drink like fish, just the lifestyle they had kind of amazes me. I dont think I'd survive one day in the 60's if I got thrown back in time tonight.  I just think of all the challanges I'd be up against knowing what I could do to make that one task less challenging by using something from the future. But then I also think how much thought or effort I wouldn't be putting into those certian tasks because technology CAN do it for me.  It's a vicious cycle technology and the future.  If I were in Mad Men times id like to think id be a mixture of Joan and Peggy....brains and beauty. Dont we all want that?  In a perfect 60's themed world...... oh the possibilities.

Enjoy some eye candy ladies.....