Happy Birthday Madison!

Yesterday was Madison's birthday. Miss Brooke who was her teacher at school and now baby-sits for us MADE her this outfit!!! can you believe it??

Big Plans

So I am off to the Crowley WOW. (Women only Weekend) I am excited - Hana is coming with me, as only nursing kids are welcome. Otherwise you have to be over 21. Madison is here with Daddy-o and they are going to have their longest weekend together to date.

Here are some recent pictures of the girls, just to show 'em off!

Hana's crooked but adorable devious smile

Madison in her pool happy as can be. Water baby...

adult conversation

NO not that kind :)

My friend Lauren came up from Houston today to visit. It was not only nice to see her and for her to meet Hana, but selfishly it was nice to have another adult around to talk to!! THANK YOU Lauren!!

I have Madison in bed and Hana fighting going to bed. I can hear her sucking the living crap out of her hand right now. Not sure what she thinks she will get from it, but maybe she will at least fall asleep. :)

More books

Just started reading "a ship made of paper"

I can't for the life of me remember if I have read it or not. I think I have, but I am not certain, so I am reading it again... :)

I need some book recommendations.

Swimming with Pandas

So we went over to one of our houses today and went swimming. We are trying to teach Madison how to swim but I think it might take some professional help. I got her a little float that is the shape of a panda that she sits in so she can hang out in the pool without one of us holding her.

She thinks it is "kung fu panda" (which I am learning that a lot of the kids movies really aren't that bad. not only for the adult humor that goes right over their heads, but for the calming effect it seems to have on Madison and usually puts her to sleep within a few minutes!)

Both girls are sleeping right now - amazing. Rob is mowing the yard and I am just enjoying the silence... and a beer ;)

Reading List

So I have not been reading quite the 1 book a month that I set out to do this year, but I am trying. So far I have read

- $64 Dollar Tomato

- (most of) In Defense for Food

- B is for Beer (thanks to my sister!)

- When you are Engulfed in Flames

- Gods Behaving Badly

Good start so far... and with nursing, I have been getting a good couple hours a day to read. :)

Morning Light

Here is a picture of Hana from this morning. I took about 20 but this was the best one. She does smile now, but refused to do so on camera... Oh well

Liquid Gold

So, this in really something that only the breast-feeding mommies will understand. But I had to throw out a 3.5 oz bottle this morning. I pumped it on friday and tried to give it to Hana last night but she was tired so she only took an ounce. It's the first one I have thrown out this time around. With Madison, she never would take the bottle so I was always throwing it out. Plus I was home with her so it was more like liquid silver, not gold -

Though on the flip side, I can pump off about 8 oz every morning (after she eats) in about 5 minutes, so maybe it isn't liquid gold at all for me... Maybe it had always been liquid aluminum. Or maybe with the weight my babies gain, it is liquid bacon fat... you know, important and valuable during times of famine, depression and war, but totally under-appreciated the rest of the time.

Copycat

So - I am posting this, not as a reminder to me of where I was but as a signal of how far I have come. April is Cesarean Awareness month (1 in 3 women will have a c/s!!!) but really July is my c/s awareness month, since that is when Madison was born. My friend Catherine posted this on her blog, and I had read this before - before Hana was born and I cried and cried because it was so fitting to the emotions. And it still is spot on as to how you feel after an unnecessary c/s. And in all the ways I have tried to explain to someone about what I was going through, this is a great example. And look how far I've come!

http://ican-online.org/community/users/ican-blog/blog/healthy-baby-all-matters

I am STRONG advocate of natural birth, breast feeding and VBAC's. I am severely anti-cesarean section (except in a true emergency) and pretty anti-hospital and doctors. Though there are many many GOOD DOCTORS out there. Like the one I had the second time around. So I am still on a mission to try and help at least 1 person. If I can help that 1 person, then maybe what I went through is all worth it after all. Because sometimes having the healthy baby just really isn't enough.

Here is a test

Just wanted to see if you all out there in cyber land can tell the difference. Which kiddo is which?

Dustin & Kristina's Wedding

Kristina brought us a CD of the wedding photos from last fall. Madison was a flower girl. Here are the pictures! :)

4th of July

We had an amazing weekend! And of course I managed to not take 1 picture!

Rob's brother Dustin and his wife Kristina came in from LA to visit, and meet baby Hana. We also had Derrik (Rob's other brother who lives in Austin), his girl friend Leigh and his daughter Claudia come down to visit, as well as Rob's dad and some other friends. George and Amie and their daughter came and Mandie came over too. It was great. Rob did ribs and chicken on the grill and there was an over abundance of beer and sangria. We did fireworks and unfortunately Madison was very scared and then at the end some how she managed to get slightly burned from one of the shells. Talk about feeling like shit!!! Rob & I are still feeling horrible about that!

Hana is in her room right now, on the baby einstein mat just babbling and playing. Saturday night she slept from 10pm to 8am straight, but that was in our bed. Last night, in HER bed she slept from 9:30-2 and then 2:30-4:30. She woke up with tummy aches so I brought her into our bed and she slept off and of until about 7.

This weekend went by just WAY too fast.