Daddy's Girl

So I realized as I was organizing my photos in Picasa (what a great free program by the way) that I have quite a few photos of Stella and her daddy. Thought I'd share in the progression... maybe I'm the only one who thinks these are just too cute, but enjoy. (And no, Steve doesn't sleep ALL the time - but when they are passed out and exhausted, I just think it's the perfect time to take a photo).

Oops

okay. so i'm an idiot and deleted the web album in Google that had all the blog photos. I had no idea that it was actually LINKED with the blog.

Um, so all the photos in the most recent posts are gone.

Sorry gang. I'm an ejit.

A muse upon the breast

"A breastfeeding support group?" my brother says with a laugh. "Why do you need that? Isn't it easy?"

Ah. Such a misnomer. Breastfeeding is easy in that "boob will travel" and there is no "messy" bottle nonsense to ready or clean up, but man, easy?

I was thinking about all this today while in yoga (oh thank you to the boys for letting me disappear for a mere 90 minutes by myself). We were getting into a twist pose that I haven't been able to do in awhile, b/c the last time I tried to do the "prayer twist" my pregnant belly got in the way. I think it's been since like month 5 that I couldn't do it. So needless to say, it's been awhile. So I'm getting into the prayer twist, and start to do the "extended" version, which is where you put your other arm down towards the ground - see below - and no my ribs don't stick out like that -
anyway, so I'm getting into this pose, and my freaking boobs are in the way. First it was the belly, now the boobs! Now little A-cup me has never had this problem before. BUT NOW!! Ah, the milkers are just too big. never thought I would ever say that, but it's true folks. The body is an amazing thing and truly gave me the proportions I could live with... that is, until I became a human cow.

Now i'm not trying to belittle the fact that I'm breastfeeding. In fact, I'm actually very proud of myself that I've been able to last this far. I never understood why some moms say "oh, it just didn't work for me" - i was always like, come on! It's free! Formula is so expensive. But after 4 weeks of getting up ever 2 hours throughout to nurse Miss Stella, an act only I could accomplish, I understand. Boy, do I understand. And now that we've been battling the dreaded "thrush" for 6 weeks (see Goth baby post below) I feel like a hardened trooper, weary from a long-winded battle. (and now that I'm REALLY trying to get rid of the damn infection, I can't eat - ready for it? Dairy, anything with sugar, beer, bread, (aka anything with yeast), and mushrooms. Do you know how much dairy is a part of our lives? Holy cow. Literally.)

However, in support of the breast, breastmilk is pretty darn amazing. The fact that this little baby can SURVIVE on nothing but it for 6 months is pretty spectacular, and that my blessed boobs seem to "know" how much she needs as she grows. The BF group leader also mentioned that there is some immunoglobin in breastmilk that fights off bacteria that increases 3 times the amount when babies start to crawl, b/c of course, they will be coming in contact with more bacteria. SERIOUSLY? Pretty neat.

But back to the fact that it's hard work. It might have put me within 4 pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight (yeah burning calories!) but it's not easy. Not in the least.

And it wrecks up your prayer twist.

Word to the wise.

Father's Day Part Deux

So we had a great day - Steve took Scupper on a 3 miles run in the woods ( and he jumped into the San Diego River. ICK! Let's just say that stagnant river water and dog do NOT mix... Scupper, on the other hand, enjoyed it thoroughly).

Then Steve, Stella and I drove up to San Clemente (a little beach town about an hour away) and had lunch at our favorite pizza place - Pizza Port (good pizza and micro-brews, what a great place!) and took a walk through the downtown and along to the pier.

Steve and I stopped in a shop that had fun, funky, punky clothes and found this.
All the "dad" apparel was on sale, so we couldn't help ourselves. She'll grow into it in about October. Perfect.

Here are the rest of the pics from our day.

Happy Father's Day

to the bestest daddy a girl, a girl, and a pup could ever have.

oh the woods

We went on a much needed hike this weekend - got the hell out of Dodge, so to speak. It was a blast for the whole family. Well, at least we know that we and the dog liked it, and I assume Miss Stella had fun in the fresh air.

She's under there somewhere!

Scupper the Mountain Goat

PB&J break

The view

Aimee's Bistro - always open, and available for take out

One tired pup

So big!

Today Miss Stella Ruth is 2 months old! Has it really been that long?

Steve, Stella and I went to the hospital last night to visit friends who just had a baby on the 13th (congrats Stephanie and Paul!) Little Hayes was so tiny compared to beefy Stella... and as I was rocking her last night during our bedtime routine, Steve whispered - wow, was she really that small once? Has it really been two months? I guess we do need to relish every moment.

And it hit us - so thank you little Hayes - for making us discover the joy of witnessing our daughter grow and change right before our eyes. Thank you for reminding us that even though we've been crabby with no sleep, are frustrated that she cries and we don't know why, that we've threatened her once to take her to the nearest firehouse (okay, really, it was in jest), that we really have had an amazing two months with our little girl.

Miss Stella - April 17, 2 am, 2 1/2 hours old
Miss Stella, June 13, 8:30pm, just shy of two months.

The joy of motherhood

Not that I really wanted to share this photo - but Steve thought it was funny.
This is what someone looks like when they went to bed at 10pm, got up at midnight, got up at 2:30, got up at 4am, got up at 6am, tried to go back to sleep while Dad tried to fed the baby, lay in bed awake for 45 minutes while said baby cried because she won't take a bottle, and finally, at 7am, got up, fed said baby, and cried and cried because said baby won't take a bottle or sleep for more than 2 hours at a stretch at night.

ah joy.

Goth Baby

So lucky for us, Stella has already gone through her Goth phase...

Seriously though... Stella and I have both been battling thrush - a common breastfeeding yeast infection (her in her mouth, me in my boobs - yah real fun) and finally, after 4 weeks of the prescription stuff not working, we tried an old remedy called Gentian violet - which stains the tongue - duh - violet. Neeedless to say, she looked pretty funny....
unfortunately, the thrush still isn't gone. ah well. but now at least we know what to do one year for Halloween?

I'm so cute

in my little dress that "Auntie" Ali gave me...

everyone say 'awww'

who me? cute?

no really, are you talking about me?

oh stop, you're too much.

and the energy is coming from where?

So last night was a bad sleep night for everyone - except maybe Scupper. No nap this morning, not really a nap this afternoon.

and yet, here I am - Scupper is asleep (he played at the park most of the day with the dog walker - I had to splurge and get him out of the house), Steve is passed out on the couch, Stella is passed out (finally, after an hour episode of crankiness), and what do I do, instead of sleeping too?

Make this. Blueberry brunch cake. It's so damn tasty - I've made it a bunch of times, so if blueberries are cheap at your local grocer, I highly recommend it. Cooking made me feel like a normal person again... probably b/c dinner was reheated soup that I had frozen before Stella was born. It's weird how much I miss cooking. I haven't made homemade bread in two months and it's killing me. Maybe later in the week I'll do a day-long Julia Child French bread... b/c hey, what else do I have to do?

But you didn't come to the blog to read about me - so here are my two new favorite pics of my favorite babies...

An in action shot of Scupper with his frisbee that he completely tore apart. So much for frisbee, but he had a great time ripping it up.

Stella's new glamour shot pose. Isn't she fabulous? ;)

Oh - and for those of you that felt sorry for the little one who was taking her baths in a roasting pan, she now has graduated to the big girl tub because her legs are so long, she doesn't fit in the pan anymore. Here was last night's try at a bath. Mind the big old lady in the picture.

A good night for bodily fluids

Tonight may have been a record -

i woke up at 4am in a puddle of my own breastmilk (and sadly, we just changed the sheets and washed the mattress pad and everything...)

Stella pooped on my hand while changing her.

Then she spit up curdled milk on my chest when i picked her up.

Nice.