Birthday wishes & more!

     Brett and Emma had a busy weekend...like always!! They got to meet their new cousin, Asher, on Saturday night! He was born at the same hospital as Brett and Emma :) 

     A co-worker of mine and her family came to visit Sunday night and we had a great time! I took the cutest pictures of her two girls holding Brett and Emma and then accidentally deleted them when I was uploading my pictures! They were seriously adorable, I am so bummed. 

     Today is my good friend Stacey's 25th birthday! Brett and Emma wanted to wish her a Happy Birthday!

  
     Celebrating 25th birthdays can be tiring so Brett and Emma decided to have a little tummy time and then take a nap. 

   I was looking at an article on BabyCenter.com today and then began browsing the site. It was my first time ever really on this particular website but I started looking at the baby week-by-week and found this:


"Guilt over not breastfeeding can hit especially hard if you had planned during pregnancy to do so but then circumstances made it impossible or more difficult than you'd expected.  ...  The main thing to remember is that how you feed your baby is ultimately not as important as providing love and care."


     Brian knows that I have had some guilt about quitting breastfeeding so soon...but he always reminds me that we are still giving our babies the best in every way we can. Society puts a lot of pressure on moms to breastfeed today and it really is for good reason. But you would be surprised at how unaccepting some people can be with the choice to formula feed. I didn't realize it until I was lurking around on some online message boards. It took a lot for me to not butt in and tell some of those biznatches off, but that is another story :)


     Anywho - this is what I was looking for to begin with...

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's brain is expanding in size and complexity. It will grow about 5 centimeters during the first three months.

You may notice short periods of time when your newborn is quiet and alert. This is prime time for learning. Use these calm intervals to get better acquainted with your baby — talk to her, sing to her, describe the pictures on the walls. She may not be able to add to your conversation just yet, but she's learning nonetheless.

New textures for her hands to feel and new sights and sounds (all in moderation) are all learning opportunities. Even bath time becomes a laboratory for understanding the world around her.




     Brett and Emma have had a lot of quiet alert time recently. It is so fun to play with them and try to make them smile and make funny noises. They like to lay on their play mats, bounce around on our laps, sit up in their Boppy pilows, and all kinds of things! I cannot wait for Brett and Emma to start really noticing each other and wanting to play together. That will be the best!!

Weekend Update!

     On Saturday Brian and I enjoyed some fun at the Strawberry festival! We bought cowboy hats and wore them the whole time, it was hilarious! And we ate so much junk food. I won two goldfish but forgot to go back and get them before we left. Later Brian told me he remembered about the goldfish but didn't want to remind me!!! How rude. I was trying to rescue them from a life on the road, traveling across fairgrounds. Oh well. We also bought some strawberries. A half of a flat! I see some strawberry banana smoothies in my near future! 

     On the way home we stopped for dinner at a sushi/hibachi restaurant in Tampa called Koto. It was delicious! I had what seemed like the world's largest glass of wine. It hit me pretty fast so I knew I should not be pumping for a while. (Don't worry I waited over 2 hours!) It was so nice to have a dinner where we didn't have to jump up to take care of anyone. We could just enjoy ourselves. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!! 

     Sunday morning I snuck away to breakfast with Lauren, Katie, and Stephanie while Brian took care of Brett and Emma. I think he had it pretty easy. When I came home they were all cuddled up in bed! 

Rocco trying to squeeze in for some cuddles, too!

     So that was our weekend, it was pretty nice! Monday always comes too fast!

     In other news...Brett and Emma are going to be formula babies. GASP! I have to get back on an RA medication that can cross into my milk and harm the babies. I haven't been feeling too bad but I had an appointment with my rheumatologist today and she can tell my joints are swelling and I need to start the medication soon because it takes about a month to start working. I also really need to get off of the steroid I have been on since August. This is all bittersweet to me because I love knowing that I am giving them the best with breast milk (breast is best!) but I hate hate hate having to pump all the time (7x a day/night to be exact!) and am so glad to be done with it. So they got all the immunological benefits of breastmilk -and possibly excessive amounts of caffeine- for 6 weeks. I am good with that! 

     That's all for now...but I had to post the cutest YouTube video ever. In case you haven't seen this, get ready for a belly laugh! 

Thanks for reading!