beautiful babbles and gummy grins (2 videos)

I wanted to share my two newest videos of our little miss Tegan. She is always talking and smiling up a storm..she sure knows how to light up our day!! Ignore the non matching bow and head band in the one video. Tegan was trying on bows for mommy.

Tegan's taggie outfit

This is an outfit and matching bow that I made for Tegan. She loves playing with ribbon and always has her fingers latched on to something so I thought "why not make a little shirt that she can grab on to. She loves it! it looks cute too :)Of course it isn't perfect with it being my first attempt but I do like it and have ideas for others...

Tegan and her new friend Utter

While looking through my many parenting/baby magazines I can't help but look at all the new products and brands that they feature. I am a huge fan of all things that look vintage or retro, patch-worked or just plain different. Things that are so ugly that you can't help but think they are cute..Utter being one that falls under the so ugly she's cute category!! Utter came into our home as a happy mothers impulse buy..who knew that reading a magazine could turn into shopping so quickly?? Well the other day while reading my "baby talk" magazine I came across the cutest most unique little cow I have ever seen. I hunted online until I found the little gal they call "milkos" and ordered her for Tegan. It took some effort because she was sold out on so many websites and before settling for another one of deglingos friends (which are all uniquely adorable) I continued to hunt until I found milkos the cow. She ever so soft and perfect for little hands to cuddle with. Tegan loves her new friend who we renamed Utter. Here are some pictures of Tegan and Utter along with a few other photos that have been taken over the past few days.

Playing on her playmat


Asleep on Grandpa Kevin after a hard day at the Dr


Tegan and her new friend Utter!!



Tegan Eating Utter's nose haha


taking a little nap with Utter

9 weeks already???

Yes that is right, little Miss Tegan is now nine whole weeks old!!! Nine weeks two days to be exact! She had her 2 month check up and shots yesterday, which was both exciting and heartbreaking at the same time. She is growing so much each and every day. I swear I go to bed at night and awake to a bigger baby each morning!! She is looking less and less baby like and more and more like a little person! Tegan is now 11lbs 2oz and 22 whole inches long!!! She is beautiful and nice and healthy, Dr Shah was very happy with her growth and developmental progress. She had four shots while at the dr, her little tears just melt my heart into pieces. I felt so bad for her!!!! She laid there with those big blue eyes looking at me as the tears poured out..I hate it when she has to get her shots!!! She was cranky and slept most of the day following her shots so I cuddled with her to keep her comfy, after all there is nothing like mommy. Tegan is now a formula fed baby. I got very sick with the flu which caused my milk to nearly dry up. Tegan is doing very well with formula and she is liking her new bottles! I am so glad we found bottles that she likes! I have noticed that since going on formula she eats less and poops less but dr shah said that it is nothing to be worried about because she is gaining weight right on track and doing so well. For all those that said that formula will make her sleep longer through the night are nuts haha because Tegan sleeps just as much as she always has. She wakes every 3-4 hours at night, I have a feeling it will be a long time before we make it through the night. I still have a teeny tiny bit of milk, If I pump I can get a whole 1/4 oz from BOTH breasts combined :( it is enough to comfort her when she is really upset but that is about it. As long as she is growing nice and big that is all that matters. It is crazy that she is already 9 weeks old! She lights up the room with that big gummy smile and her little coos and gurgles. She contently plays and grabs her toys while kicking her legs up a storm..as long as she is on her back of course. Tummy time is torture time in Tegan's eyes!! She will lay on her tummy time mat and lick it for a few seconds lift her head up then start to whine which always leads to screaming. She is such a little sweetie pie!!! Oh how I love her! Here are some new pics of my big girl :) Enjoy!!!

Wearing my little girl

pictures of little miss

Tegan's first big event

Yesterday Tegan had her first big event to attend. After the snow storm we made the long drive to Chicago for Zach's brothers engagement party. What normally took 2 hours took close to 3 but we made it there safe and sound. We had an awesome time and Tegan was such a good girl! Half way through the party we changed her into comfy clothes but she went in her little dress. Everyone thought she looked like a little doll lol. We played silly little games, ate some yummy indian food and danced a bit. We got home at midnight and passed out!! I haven't stayed up that late since I had Tegan!

Thankfully I didn't leak through my clothes although I did get puked on haha. The breast issue is a lot better. I dont get engorged or sore anymore. There for a while I thought my boobs were going to burst. Tegan gets both breast and bottle now and both breast milk and formula, she doesn't at all seem to care what she gets as long as she gets food(just like her daddy). I am only breast feeding her in the morning when she wakes up and through the night, otherwise she gets bottle fed. All is going well!!! Here are some pics from last night.

released from my ob, sour milk and sour boobs

released from my OB, sour milk and sour boobs!

I had my final postpartum dr's apt yesterday!! I am finally released and free from my ob's office! yay!!!! I passed my postpartum depression test..obviously seems how I am not at all depressed in any way. My csection scar is looking awesome and I am down to 134.5lbs (with all my clothes and shoes on..woot!). All is well!!! I am going to slowly cut back on breast feeding. I have decided that skipping feedings and tricking my body to cut back on breast milk is best for Tegan and I. I will still breast feed her here and there but I will supplement with formula in between. I need to cut back my milk production majorly!! We went to babies r us after my appointment to pick up some bottles and some nestle good start to have on hand. We decided to give the MAM bottles a try. They have awesome reviews from breast feeding mothers and they have an anti colic design so I really wanted to give them a shot. I read about them online and babiesrus.com said that they weren't available in stores but they were!!!! I was soo excited! We got to my moms house for dinner and I washed them right away so we could try them. Tegan guzzled down 4oz of pumped milk in no time. yay for an awesome bottle that my baby likes! They have a natural shapped nipple that is super soft just like the breast, they are wide neck bottles and perfect for her. She doesn't drain the milk out of her mouth like she did with the dr browns bottles and she doesn't look at me like Im crazy for giving her a bottle anymore. I gave her some good start last night and she didn't seem to care! Thankfully she likes it so much better than the enfamil lipil..she hated that stuff! Yesterday was the first day of me cutting back my milk supply and let me just say that last night was hell! I went through millions of breast pads and my bra, shirt and bed sheets were always soaked. I smell like sour milk and my boobs hurt like heck. Tegan slept for her first 5 hour span ever last night, she woke up ate and got her butt changed and slept for another 4 hours!! When she did awake for a feeding I only did a one breast feeding, and I have been doing so ever since. She only gets one breast for a 3 hour span before I offer the other side this way she gets the rich hind milk rather than tons of foremilk. I hope this works soon and my production slows because I hate being wet and I really dont like smelling like icky sour milk! I leak through 3 breast pads in a matter of 10 mins when I am engorged..not fun at all! I know so many women are upset when they have too little milk but I would honestly not have enough and have to supplement then have to much and be going through this. I am so scared of getting mastitis again, being engorged and leaking is what causes it and here I have to allow myself to be full to cut back my supply. Hopefully with this and skipping a feeding a day will slow my supply asap! lol. I have an engagement party to go to tomorrow, please pray that I dont leak all over myself!! I am going to go pick up some of the super thick johnsons breast pads to help keep me dry, these thin ones are like pouring a cup of water over one ply toilet paper..lol doesn't do much! Thankfully I have tons of frozen milk that needs used so I can use some of that while out and about tomorrow.

7 weeks! pictures :) I need advice from some mommys!

Today little miss Tegan is a whole 7 weeks old! She is growing up so darn fast. It doesn't even seem as though I have been short on sleep for 7 weeks or that I have changed 7 weeks worth of diapers (that is alot of diapers too!). It seems that time flies faster than it ever has, I dont dare look away or blink for a second. I want to share every minute with my sweet little miracle. I cherish every little thing, every single millisecond..everything! I try to take as many pictures as I can, I dont want to forget anything and it always seems that as time goes by things become more and more cloudy and you forget little moments.

I need some advice from some mommies about bottles. It is very rare for me to ask for advice but I dont know what to do at this point. We are having some issues involving breast feeding and such. Tegan is still getting only the breast unless we are somewhere that I can't breast feed then she gets pumped milk in a bottle. Well issues have arised with both of those situations. It seems that everything I eat gives my poor baby horrible gas. Gas drops are now part of our daily routine and even then she still has gas and cries. At times she gets upset while feeding and will cry at the breast while flinging her arms about. I thought that maybe I didnt have enough milk but when she pulls away milk is flowing out. This is now a nightly thing for us, at least it has been for the past 3 nights. I decided to try giving her some formula the other night and she guzzled it down and passed out with no complaints. I of course sat there and cried while feeding my baby formula but it is what she needed and I have to except that. We have had issues with bottles since day one..we have always used dr. browns bottles but the flow is simply too fast for Tegan. She gulps and gulps while half of the bottles drains out of her mouth. I went back to using the medela bottle with special nipple I got from the hospital...no milk comes out unless you suck, and it has a breast like flow. The down fall is that I only have one of these nipples..and they dont have caps which is a down fall for when we are away from home. So any ideas on what bottles would work better for us??? I have read that the sassy MAM bottles are good...but I want to know if anyone has had similar issues and what bottles worked best.

a few of the many firsts

With Tegan growing older and bigger each and everyday we have started to experience a few of Tegan's many firsts. She rolled over the other night for the first time!! At only 6 weeks 1 day old I watched my little girl get on her side and fall to her belly, I was so excited that I had tears in my eyes. She had her first new years, which we slept through. Last night Tegan had her first play date; her and little Owen layed on the floor staring at each other smiling. It was too cute!! She may have just found her first boyfriend haha. This morning we took Tegan to church for the first time. She slept through singing and made a nice big poop for me haha. I took her to the bathroom and changed what was almost her first big blow out. She was starving to death so I sat in the nursing room and fed her through all of preaching. Wide awake after her feeding I took her back out to show her off..everyone thought she was a doll! I love her so much!! here are many new pics of my little cuppy cake.