Callie's Day... FInally!!

Yesterday was Callie's birthday. We have a definite birthday season in our house and Callie is the tail end of it. It's hard for her to have to wait through the rest of our birthdays since she is the last one in our family for the whole year- especially because Leah, Quinten and I are are within a couple weeks of each other. So, we try to make her day exactly how she wants it to be. Hopefully we did just that this year. Her birthday celebration(s) lasted three days, which is unheard of in our house. On Thursday we took Callie and her best friend Jaide to Pirate Island Pizza for dinner. Grandma Louisa and Aunt Andrea met us there.
This is the girls while we are waiting for our table. We had a great time, but Andrew and I are positive you pay for the atmosphere more than the food... not an easy thing for us because we love good food.
Saturday was Callie's actual birthday. She didn't wake up till almost 9 o'clock... she looks a little tired in this picture, huh? We tried to rush the morning festivities because she wanted to go hiking for her birthday.
Callie is all about music. Seriously. You'd think she was 14, not 4. Her presents consisted of a guitar, Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers CD's, and a Camp Rock dance mat. Not to mention the Camp Rock microphone from Grandma and PopPop, the Tinkerbell soundtrack from Andrea and Mike, and all the music junk she already has.... trust me, the list is LONG.
We headed to Zion National Park for the morning with Andrea. We "hiked" the trail to the start of the Narrows. We got to ride the buses through the park, played in the river, saw some not so wild squirrels who had no problem getting too close for comfort, and almost got caught in a torrential downpour. Just as we made it back to the bus, the clouds let loose. We timed it perfectly. And because of the cloudcover, it was perfect hiking weather. We had a great time.
I added this picture just because I thought it was beautiful. You'll notice the blue sky- I now know how flash flooding can occur before you even realize what is happening. The weather changes so fast!
Today we spent Father's Day with the family. Callie got to have her"family party" while we celebrated. We sang to her and she blew out her candles. Cupcakes with ultra pink frosting (so gross) and root beer floats were her requests. I think she was happy with her weekend. We love her so much. She has the funnest personality- we love that she loves to perform. It's great to watch her dance and sing all over our house. We hope it is something she will always enjoy. Happy Birthday, Callie!!

I'll Be Completely Honest With You...

So, I'm not one to hide what I'm thinking- I'm fairly open about how I feel when it comes to life's issues. So, here the latest: I hate nursing. I've always hated it, never thought it was this great mother child bonding experience, and all the benefits of it- well, I can refute the claim on several of them. Some of you may know that I didn't nurse Alexa. It was one of the most miserable experiences of my life. She couldn't do it, I was in so much pain that I could hardly stand it, and I just wasn't producing any milk... yeah, it was probably stress related or something- I will admit to that. I can remember laying in bed when she was a few days old and hearing her in the bassinet next to me and wanting to cry while I thought to myself, "Do I really have to get up and try to feed her?" It was awful. So, we switched her to formula when she was a couple weeks old and she did great. I felt guilty about it for a long time. It didn't help that I lived in Provo where everyone has babies and I swear I was the only one not nursing. OK, I know that can't be true, but it felt like it. I felt somewhat like a failure that the only thing I really had to do for this little baby was feed her and I couldn't even do it the "best" way. OK- so, I got over it. It was really a good thing for me to experience for a few reasons. It allowed me to truly decide for myself that I really didn't care what other people thought, and that has really stuck with me. Anyone who knows me now knows that is my attitude on almost everything. I'm not looking for approval from anyone and I am completely content to do what works best for me, not what is accepted as the norm. So, I told myself after Alexa that with future kids, it didn't matter how they were fed. If they could nurse- great; if not, I'd be the first person to stick a bottle in their hungry little mouths. For some bizarre reason, Callie and Leah had no problems nursing- I nursed them both for a full year and hated every minute of it. Sure, it's convenient in the middle of the night to not get out of bed to make a bottle and yeah, formula can get expensive, but the other "benefits"? Callie and Leah were both plagued with ear infections, had tubes put in, and are still my sick children. Alexa is NEVER sick. So I don't buy the whole "breastfed babies are healthier" bit. And for the "breastfed babies learn faster and are smarter"- do you know Alexa? You can't tell me she is behind because she was bottlefed. She is WAY beyond her years and I don't say that to brag- it's just the truth. So, this brings me to little Quinten. The kid can't suck for anything. In the hospital it would take me 45 minutes to get him to latch on so he could eat for 3 minutes. 2 lactations specialists and 4 nurses later they decided it may just take him a couple weeks to catch on- they had no answers for me. Well, a couple weeks later and the kid still didn't do it. He's too little to starve until he figures it out... which was one of the nurses suggestions. NO THANKS. So, I'm done. I'm done pumping and feeding him bottles- it's driving me CRAZY. I'm done trying. He's just not going to do it and I am happily switching him to formula. My nursing days are over and I am more than relieved to see them fade into the distant past. Besides, bottlefed babies can be fed by their Daddy, which means I get to leave my house sometimes for more than two hours at a time. Who can complain about that?? OK- thanks for reading my lengthy soapbox sob story... leave it to me to tell everyone all the junk no one really wants to talk about.

Updates

So, Quinten is now over two weeks old. He is doing great. He's actually gaining weight- we just wish he would gain it faster. He is so tiny that we have spent the first two weeks changing his clothes about ten times a day because he pees out of every diaper he wears- his legs are too skinny. And ten times a day is no joke- just ask my Mom. Sad, huh?? Well, sad for me. I have been doing one load of laundry a day that is just his clothes and blankets to try to keep up with him. Hopefully we will pass this obstacle soon. He is such a good baby- as all fourth children should be. He still is a little confused about day and night, but we will get there.
As for me- I feel great. I'm tired of course, but other than that things feel pretty much back to normal. More than anything it's just nice to be wearing normal clothes again. I am SICK of matenity clothes. I have AMAZING friends and neighbors who have taken great care of my kids and our family since before Quinten arrived. While my Mom was here she made the comment that I live in a neighborhood from another era: the kids just run around from house to house and everyone watches out for everyone. It's true- we live on a great street with great people. We are very blessed.
I have lots more pictures to post- my birthday, Leah's birthday, Callie's dance recital, Alexa's last day of school, family pictures... hopefully I will get to it soon. Until then, you will have to be content with just Quinten. Isn't he cute??

I know he looks sad and pathetic in this picture.... but. he was asleep and looked so cute till the flash went off on my camera.... I must have really bugged him. :)