Ending Something Special

Just warning people, this post is about breastfeeding. Look away now if you don't want to read more!

Seven months ago I never thought I would make it this far breastfeeding Kellen. He got multiple teeth early, was a biter there for awhile, and I just never was able to pump milk at the rate I could with Noelle. I cried thinking I wouldn't have enough milk for my son, especially when he struggled early with any solids but pureed food. But somehow, we did it. Neither of my kids had formula. I know not all moms that want to can do this for their babies, and I know that moms that use formula are wonderful, loving parents, but this is what I wanted for my little ones and I feel extremely blessed to have been able to get there. We all have seen the studies of the benefits of breastmilk and I am so grateful that I was able to provide those benefits to my children, as well as get health benefits for myself. And with Noelle breastfeeding was all I had to do to almostly instantly lose the weight I gained durng my pregnancy. Too bad it wasn't that easy the second time around (although maybe that was a good thing since a lifestyle change was the end result)!

So I am a huge proponent of breastfeeding and the past few weeks I have really been struggling with giving it up. As Kellen is now 13 months, drinking his whole milk without throwing up (yay!), and isn't requesting to feed anymore, I feel like it is time to stop. I know deciding when to stop is a really personal decision. Good for you if you want to still feed your child when they are 2 or even 4, but that isn't the right decision for me or my family. So now is the time to end the breastfeeding era but I just didn't know how hard it would be for me. With Noelle it was different. She stopped showing interest about a week before she turned 1 and since I knew we'd have more kids someday, it didn't really bother me. Knowing Kellen has likely completed our family, it is just different this time.

I have been feeding Kellen at decreasing intervals (once a day, every day and a half, every two days) for the past two weeks and last night fed him for the first time in three days. I think we will have one last hurrah over the weekend and then will be done for good. So it is the end of an era. Pumping, can't say I'll ever miss you! But I will definitely miss those bedtime and early morning feedings! Thank goodness this doesn't mean the end of snuggle time. Kellen loves to give (and say) hugs right now so I guess I'll settle for that!

The New Basement!

Over the last few weeks we have been getting our basement finished. We are so excited to have our new TV/play room done! We still need to get furniture and the TV is supposed to come on Saturday morning but the walls are built and painted, closets constructed, and lights in. Here are some before pictures:

The workers tore out two of the three walls in the weirdly imagined room that the previous owners put down there and kept the final wall for the new room/closet divider. We wanted lots of storage space so have two big closets and had a utility sink put in to one of them since we didn't have one and we think that they are nice to have whenever you are doing work around the house. The workers built us new walls, did lots of sanding, and painted the light gray I picked out. We picked a dark gray carpet to hide stains. We opted for a drop ceiling since we have some condensation occasionally - just need to switch out a tile if we ever have problems! And the pole is now a lovely column. Here are the after pictures:

The plan is for our red furniture to make the move to the basement, along with a lovely 60 inch television. Thanks Black Friday for that one! I am also excited to get some slightly smaller furniture for upstairs in our combination living/kitchen area. And for most of the toys to journey downstairs!

Christmas Decor

On Black Friday we stayed home instead of battling the crazy shoppers out there and decorated for Christmas. Bryan put the tree up and then Noelle helped me to decorate. She did a great job on the two bottom right branches!

Kellen contributed by taking ornaments off the bottom of the tree and running around the house! He also played in the living room curtains!

Caught by dad!

When Noelle went to bed there was a little ornament rearrangement and I finished putting the breakable ornaments up out of little people reach!

Bryan worked on the rest of our decorations.

One month until Christmas!

Terps v Eagles

When Bryan learned that the Georgia Southern Eagles would be playing the Terps this year for the first time ever on Thanksgiving Saturday he requested his firms tickets. Since no clients were up for the game (it was a holiday weekend after all!), our family got to join him for the game. We decided to take the kids even though it would be a late night, invited our friends the Kaman's who have a son Noelle's age and daughter just a few months older than Kellen, and headed down to Comcast Center after a quick meal of spaghetti.

 

Kellen was an equal opportunity cheerer. He clapped and danced whenever he could garner up the energy. Noelle was mostly a fan of the Terps. This was most likely because they were in yellow for the game, forgoing their traditional red and white for the non-conference foe.

The first half wasn't pretty and the Terps went in to the half with just a 3-point lead. Thankfully they came out ready to play during the second half and made the win a bit more respectable. The kids had fun, my team won, and Noelle thought Testudo was super cool so the outing was definitely a win in my book!

Let's Go Terps!

Thanksgiving 2012

This year we had a relaxing Thanksgiving at home. Lindsay, Adam, and Christopher came over at lunchtime and we feasted on ham, turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes, apple sauce, and cranberries. Kellen loved all the Thanksgiving food and Noelle was partial to the ham, green beans, potatoes, and apple sauce.

After our lunch we all noted how we weren't as stuffed as usual. Then we saw the stuffing on the counter and the crescent rolls in the fridge. Oh no! We decided it was just Thanksgiving intermission. So we headed down to the tire park to play and then came home to eat round two!

 

On the way home we found that both Santa and Tom the Turkey had come to play on our street!

A little bit later we had round three, dessert. Pecan pie cake and vanilla ice cream! Yum! The boys played hard while we ate more food (and Kellen snuck in a few bites of dessert and stuffing on the side!)

 

It was a lovely afternoon and it was nice to just enjoy family and friends without the stress of traveling. While we missed family we definitely enjoyed the day! Happy Thanksgiving!

Family Art Night

Yesterday I rushed out of work right at 5 to get the kids at daycare. It was Family Art Night at Noelle's school, and as she apparently believes she is a little Picasso in training, she had to go. I walked in to daycare to find my daughter in full meltdown mode. Awesome. About 10 minutes, one bathroom visit, and 70 requests for her to calm down and take a deep breath later, we made it to the car and were on our way. I was fearing the worst but just as quick as Dr. Jekyll can turn in to Mr. Hyde, Noelle became pleasant and sang and chatted happily for the 7 minute journey to school.

We met Bryan in the pitch black parking lot and headed inside. Noelle and I created a lovely little fall-themed candle holder out of a mason jar and tissue paper.

Kellen decided that he is more of an escapist than an artist, so spent the evening running out of her classroom and down the hallways with Bryan chasing behind. When he was caught he liked to perform his favorte move (the wet noodle) and throw himself backwards to avoid being picked up.

So relaxing the evening was not. But Noelle loved doing her art project, absolutely loves (and seems to be loved) by her teachers, and everyone thought Kellen was cute. So we are calling the evening a success!

PS Check out the look on Kellen's face. He cracks me up.  

Costco!

This is kind of how I felt about my beloved store, Costco, the weekend before Thanksgiving too...

We made a quick trip on Sunday so Bryan could show me some TV's he has been eyeing for the basement. Since he would like one that takes up the whole wall and I feel the 42-inch we have upstairs is huge, he wanted to prove to me just how great 60+ inches could be. We'll see what deals he can find this week. In the meantime, the question I must ask is why Costco seems to be a weekend shopping excursion that extended families must experience together. Seriously, you don't need to come to the store, walk 5-wide down the narrow aisles, and take 16 samples for your next of kin. I can never get by grandma lollygagging with the huge carts they have there, my hungry kids never get samples unless I stalk down the 18-year old making them in the little toaster oven for the whole 6 minutes they take to cook, and I  understand the milk room is cold, but stop blocking the entrance with your 6 carts of pizza and rotisserie chicken while you dash in and out. Calm down people! This is why I generally go to Costco Friday afternoons with just Kellen in tow. Stay-at-home moms, how I envy your 10 am Tuesday morning Costco trips!

Operation Lights!

Thanksgiving is less than a week away! Sure it is early this year, but that means holiday season is around the corner. Yesterday, we decided to take advantage of another nice fall day. Bryan put the outside Christmas lights up (no, we will  not be lighting them yet!) while Noelle, Kellen, Maddie, and I played outside in the leaves and with cars and bikes. We like to get the lights up (and down) when the weather is agreeable. I am also looking forward to putting up the Christmas tree although we'll wait another week for that! Yes, I love Christmas. I did name my August baby Noelle after all, didn't I?

Bryan gets Santa's landing pad ready

Kellen supervises his work from the driveway

(Yes, Kellen is Bryan's mini-me. It is eerie how much they look alike.)


Noelle pushes Kellen around the court

Maddie and Noelle enjoy the leaves

Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Here We Come!

A Fun Fall Friday

Yesterday was really a perfect Friday. We started the morning running ahead of schedule. This pretty much never happens now that I have two little people. The kids played nicely with their Lego duplos after breakfast, stopped to get ready for the morning exactly when I asked, and got in the car with unprecedented speed. We quickly hit the Catonsville pharmacy for Kellen's special order iron supplement and headed over to Storyville to meet some friends.

This was Kellen's first "big kid" experience at Storyville and Noelle hadn't been since last winter. They had a great time, but I quickly learned that now that they both run and have personalities of their own, supervision there will be a little more challenging! Thank goodness for the wonderful mommy friends that helped me out when they ran different directions!

Kellen loved everything! Noelle was a particular fan of the huge kitchen and grocery store. They both spent some time playing on the train and wearing costumes. It was a great morning.

 

After about 90 minutes Noelle was getting hungry, Kellen was getting tired, and I was exhausted so we headed home for a quick lunch before Noelle had to get to school. We got to school with just enough time to play on the swings and then Noelle ran in to find out that her friend Will was going to school an extra day this week and would be in her class. Perfect! Kellen and I were off to do errands. Since he was so tired from not napping in the morning I did some drop-offs and pick-ups on my way to Costco and Trader Joes and then let him sleep in the car an extra 30 minutes when we arrived to get in a 50 minute nap. Not ideal, but with the workers at our house it was at least as good as he would have gotten at home. So we did some shopping and then headed back to the playground at school and got in some playtime on the slides together. Since we never get time to play on our own this was great!

After school we stayed to play for about 45 minutes with some friends. The kids ran like the wind and while a tiny bit chilly, it was really a beautiful fall day!

I always feel like supermom when it is 5 pm on a Friday and we haven't turned the TV on all day. At 5, Noelle was exhausted from not napping the past two days so I relinquished my mom of the year cape and put on Fresh Beats so she could rest. Kellen continued to play while I made the kids dinner. After dinner we all played some more together. The only part of the day that was less than perfection? The duplo Kellen took to the head when he repeatedly destroyed the "horse" and"barn" Noelle was building. Nothing a few kisses and a short timeout couldn't fix!


I love my Fridays home with these two. And I'm super excited for the long weekend coming up! The Saxton's are having a Thanksgiving lunch with friends and then are uncommitted for the rest of the long weekend with the exception of the Maryland/Georgia Southern basketball game. It should be fun to watch my Terps take down Bryan's Eagles!