Great Lunch!

This was so good Justin even ate it! I pretty much just through a bunch of stuff I had together but it was really good so I thought I would share!

Baby Spinach
Water Chesnuts
Garbonso Beans
Edamame
Shredded Carrots
Cherry Tomatoes
Almonds
Tuna with a little bit of sour cream and vinagerette

YUMMMMMMMMMY!

I hope you have a yummy lunch too!

Happy Friday!

Pawleys Island, SC

For those of you that don't know my mom's family is from South Carolina. My grandpa and grandma were born there and my mom lived there for a few years before moving to Ohio. My Papa loved Pawley's Island and had vacationed there since he was a kid. Pawley's is south of Myrtle Beach and North of Charleston. It's a great old fashion area with beautiful Beaches and homes and wonderful restaurants. Lately we have been staying off the island on Litchfield beach but it's all pretty much the same thing to me! I love it and Justin has grown to love it and I think we will go every year!

So our trip this year was very different than in years past, in fact last years trip I was 5 month pregnant and dreamed about coming back year after year with Jackson. It was really neat bringing Jackson to a place that was so special to my Papa! Jacker liked the pool, the condo and hanging out with mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and cousin Koty but did not care much for the beach or going out to dinner, I know this will all change with time!

This is Litchefield Beach

This is Caledonia, a really beautiful area near Pawley's the road lined with gorgeous Live Oaks.

The view from our condo.

Jackson spent a lot of time in his Excersaucer in the condo smiling at his family.

Justin and I had date night thanks to my wonderful Parents! We took a nice romantic walk on the beach after dinner and came across a man that caught this......

Ahhhh! A baby shark, I thought Koty would never get back in the water after we showed him the picture...but he did!

We love the Aquarium!!!

Mom and I opted for shopping with Jackson but the other boys played putt putt!

What a ham!!

Jackson also slept very well while we were at the beach he liked to take naps in mommy and daddy's big bed!

As you can see we had a great time!! We have even decided to go for 2 weeks next year and hopefully more family will join us (for one of the weeks {wink})!!!

How have all your family vacations been this year, where did you go what did you do?

Wordless Wednesday

Stellan Needs Our Prayers

Please pray with me! I have come to love this family as many others have. You can read Stellan's story here http://www.mycharmingkids.net/
This family has been through so much yet they are so strong in their faith and conviction, I have learned so much from them.
I have been on Twitter all day waiting for updates on his condition and holding my boy tight! Stellan will be air lifted to Boston tonight for a risky but necessary procedure for someone so small.

......So will you please pray with me!

At Medieval Times with Koty and my Mom, the older boys opted to stay home with Jack! I'm excitd...eating with your hands and men on horses what could be better!

I am enjoying listening to my husband and nephew talk in the front seat. It is a mix of "guy talk" and questions for a inquisitive 10year old.

Busy week and now were off to the Beach!

We are off to the Beach today!

We are going to Pawleys Island SC with our Nephew Koty and My Mom and Dad. My family is originally from SC and my Papa loved to to take us to Pawleys because he grew up going to the beach there. I will think of him often while we are there and I know that we will be looking down smiling with my Ganma at the fact that we are carrying on the tradition with Jackson.

We will definitely be going here http://www.thehammockshops.com/ if you are ever in the area it is a neat place!

I will try and post some beach pics while we are gone! Wish me luck traveling with two kiddo's for the 1st time. We are leaving tonight in hopes that they will sleep most of the way.

Have a great week!

7 Months Old!

Dear Jackson,

Today is July 12, 2009 and you are 7 months old! I know you are probably tired of hearing this but I can't believe it you are growing so fast! I love you more every single day, when you were born I didn't know how I could love you so much and now I know that my love will just get stronger everyday.

This week has been an eventful week.......first of all we think you said your first word...."LADY" (our boxer) we are not surprised because we always have to say "Lady stop licking Jack! Lady ENOUGH!" about a million times a day. But you LOVE her! Y0u just looked at her and said "yad...yad...YADY"! WOW I can't believe it!

Secondly, had your first fall. You were laying on the couch playing with Lex and I turned around for a split second and you were on the floor. You landed on a blanket that was wadded up and only fell about a foot but you fell on your head and so I called the doctor right away ans took you in immediately. You were absolutely fine but I have never been so scared in my whole life. I was strong and held it together when it happened and just hugged you and looked you over but as soon as I got in the car to go to the doctor I lost it and I balled all the way there! I could not imagine if anything happened to you!

Lastly, you are having a very hard time going to sleep this week. It has been taking me an hour to get you to bed at night and naps forget about it! You are growing up and I guess I better get used to sleepless nights and bumps and bruises!

Let's see since I posted on your 5 month birthday.....

• You now weigh 18.6lbs and you are very long! (I will measure you soon, you are asleep now)
• You are eating fruit and oatmeal...NO VEGGIES you gag every time I try any veggie!
• You are sitting up on your own although you do tip over sometimes.
• You sleep from about 8:00 pm to 5:30 or 6:00 am and then you come in bed with me and go to sleep for a while. Mommy loves that! I hope I am not starting too bad of a habit but that is what you want and I figure you sleep so good on your own most of the night!
• You "talk" all the time I know you can't wait to be able to really communicate with us. You are figuring out how to get by until the real talking begins. When I think you are getting hungry I say "Do you want a BaBa" and you do this little giggle and I know you want one!
• You are a fish! You love the pool, we did a month of "swim lessons" and you loved it. We are going to Pawleys Island, SC next week and we think you are going to be in hog heaven. Koty, Grandma Mary and Grandpa Rick are going so that is just the icing on the cake...you adore all three of them.
• Speaking of Cousins...Lex and Koty both love you soo much! You love them too but Lex is a little overwhelming for you just because she can't get enough. I keep telling you to put up with it because I am sure it won't be long until you are going to be following her everywhere and the tables will be turned besides that little girl is going to be a knockout! Koty is so good with you and he ALWAYS makes you laugh, it will be great to have him on vacation with us! Oh and I still get a daily call from Auntie Katy asking about her boy! She loves you sooooooo much!
• Even though you are a mama's boy about certain things you have definitely turned into a Daddy's boy too. You LOVE to play with Daddy and you absolutely light up when he comes in a room! He is so good with you I think he especially loves this age.
• You are so much fun, you keep us laughing all the time.
• You are also a real cuddle bug you love the weekends when all of us sleep in!
• Bath time is still your favorite time of the day...now you squeal when we take you in the bathroom and you always know that after we get you out and wrapped up we look in the mirror. You crank your neck around to get to the mirror and just smile! You can see in the pictures above.
• Mommy and Daddy and the whole family love you more than words can say and I can tell even though you can't say that you love us too very much!

Happy 7 months baby boy!!!

I love you higher than the sky and deeper than the ocean and that never ends!

Mommy

XOXO

Bumbo vs. Bebe Pod

**Okay I first would like to say that I am not being paid by either company! I am so not a cool enough blogger yet to have someone offer to pay me for anything! **


So this all started because a friend of mine registered for a Bebe Pod when she had her 1st baby and I just happened to get it for her. So when I registered I did the same.


This is the Pod...

If you don't know this about me already here goes I am very blunt! I hated it! Jackson could not even sit up in it, it's slippery. He would fall to one side and want out.

I kept seeing all of these blogger mom's that Bumbo seats and they looked like they used them a lot, they always were in their Bumbo in pictures. So today I took my Bebe Pod to Once Upon a Child and sold it for $13.50 then I went to Target and got a Bumbo and paid $37.89 and it was worth every penny!

This is the BUMBO!

So if your asking me this is the only way to go! Jackson LOVES it! No problems sliding or anything. They were out of the trays that fit on it so I think I will order one on Amazon.

Just a little sidebar I love to SHOP! If you don't order stuff from Amazon you should, I get everything on Amazon! If it is something you can wash or if you don't care you can even get great deals on used stuff, they ship really quickly too! Also I mentioned Once Upon a Child, if you have one in your area check it out. I never pay full price for Jack's clothes but he has tons of really nice name brand stuff that I get for super cheap at OUAC. It's fun you can buy more because it is cheaper and you can sell your old stuff!

Tell me what you think! Do you have one or the other? Or do you have something else? I would love to hear about anything that you have discovered!

Happy Shopping!

"Favorite Photo" Blog Hop

Welcome I'm Stacy, thanks for stopping by! I plan on hoping a lot more this week, my little Monkey went to bed early tonight, so if I missed you last week I will stop by this week. Oh Sh$&*!#t..... scratch that the boy is awake! Well......I will be back at wine:30!

This weeks theme is "Favorite Photo". I am in awe of this photo! How can they be so cute, I just want to eat them up! This is my Jackson taking a bath in his Auntie Katy's sink. Lex is the beauty kissing him on the cheek. She is in L-O-V-E with him and I am sure it will not be long before he is following her EVERYWHERE!

Can't wait to see all of your favorite photo's! I am a newbie blogger and don't have many followers....if you want to follow my blog I will surely return the favor!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

We are having a great low key day! I just wanted to share my boys and my favorite patriotic song with you.

I don't think I could say it any better than this song does!!

Happy Independence Day everyone!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the Men and Women that serve and have served our wonderful country!

MckLinky Blog Hop

Welcome to a Boy Makes 3!!! I'm Stacy and I am a newbie blogger. I had a wonderful baby boy (almost seven months ago now) with my computer geek wonderful husband and we are just figuring it out as we go! I love being a wife, mother and working part time at a real estate company that provides housing for people with disabilities but all of this along with a crazy bunch of inlaws and my own group of nuts family makes for a crazy/wonderful/challenging life. I hope you enjoy my blog and come back as I hopefully keep getting better at this!

Formula Feeding: How it all Started Didn't Start

I thought it was imported, with all the blogs out there about breastfeeding, to talk about formula feeding for those of you who are like me and couldn't or choose not to. Just so you know there will be no judging from me! (also no judging under comments, please and thank you!)

So before I had Jackson I tried to prepare myself for breastfeeding or the possibility that I couldn't. My doctor told me with ahem "larger" breast it would be harder. I bought all of the stuff....nursing bras, pads, Lansinoh Lanolin Nursing Cream. I even started using the cream the last few months of my pregnancy! I though I was cool either way I just knew I wanted to try.

After I had Jackson, in the Hospital I tried to breastfeed him, I had all of the nurses help me I even went to the nursing class the hospital offered with Justin. Jackson would SCREAM every time I tried, they told me that was because my milk had not come in. They instructed me to just do "low key attempts" i.e. let him lay with me skin to skin near my breast. I was also supposed to pump every 2-3 hours which I did with this whole rigamarole of holding a warm cloth on my nipples, stimulating my nipples then pressing down on my breasts in a sweeping motion. I pumped and pumped and pumped with not even any colostrum and to top it off my baby was HUNGRY!!! He was 9lbs when he was born so he was big and HUNGRY and so after much crying and not knowing what to do we gave him formula with the hopes that when my milk came in he would be interested and would easily transition to the breast. In the meantime I was happy that my son was full and happy but I was (surprisingly to me) having a very hard time with the fact that I couldn't yet successfully breast feed my baby. I felt like a faliure! I know now that I was having a little baby blues or postpartum depression which didn't help! My doctor prescribed me Zoloft (I will talk about this more in another post) for my blues and I kept pumping with no avail! Even after I got home for almost 10 days I only got a little colostrum.

Finally I took Jackson to the pediatrician and he asked me about feeding and I started to cry. He was so sweet, I told him the whole story. He told me that after so long the likelihood that my milk would come in was very slim. He then told me to enjoy my baby and know that formula was very healthy for him. He went on to say that I made a VERY healthy 9lb baby and that was a feet in itself. This is just what I needed to hear, I stopped pumping and I enjoyed Christmas and my baby! But it was very hard for me to "give up" but I knew it was what I had to do for my sanity! I mean having a new baby and feeding every couple hours is hard enough without adding a half hour or more of the pumping production to it!

So now Jackson is almost 7 months old and he weighs 17lbs 9ounces and he is doing GREAT! I will probably try with my next baby but I tell ya it was nice that Daddy and Grandma could take over some feedings when I was exhausted!

So if there are any of you out there that are having the same issue believe me I know it sucks! But your baby will be fine and you are still a wonderful mother! Don't let anyone including you put pressure on yourself or make you feel guilty even if it just a choice. We do the best we can do with what we are given and I think that making the best of things will make us fantastic moms!

Next Formula Feeding post will be on the tricks and products I have discovered!

New New New!!

So I have been presumably slacking lately....right? True in a way but I have also been working on some changes to my blog!

I have a new layout......how do you like it? The other just wasn't me, I know I have a boy but I am girly!

I have also switched to Blogger.......yea! It seemed like everyone was on Blogger so I thought I would join the club! I like it much better it is more user friendly for the none "code writer" like me! It's kind of cool how it all links up to google since I use google fore everything....searching, email, chatting, blog reader, Picasa online etc.

I also am starting a commitment to post at lease 5 times a week! I really love doing this and I want to take it to the next level with the help of my hubby! With that being said look for my new little formula feeding series!