Sunday, July 29, 2012

Blogger Break

Well, quite obviously my thoughts of returning to blogging on a regular basis have not happened!  And since our family life is quite busy at this time I am taking time to focus on that, and not posting here.   For  now, I will be taking a break from blogging for the time being.

I have a feeling our busy-ness will not be going anywhere as we look forward to the arrival of our second daughter this coming November!  We are so excited to prepare for going from one child to two(which I've heard is the hardest transition!) and for myself, to attempt breastfeeding with more knowledge and confidence this go around and set a goal of reaching a minimum of a year with this babe!  (see my post on breastfeeding here, if interested).

So, on that  note, thank you for reading and all your comments!  It has been a joy to write and share with all of you :)



Share

Monday, March 12, 2012

I have been dreaming of this project for about a year now - pretty much since moving into our new home if not before then!  A frosted mirror!

Hopefully not in a tacky way.

But I make no guarantees.

Here's some inspiration...








What do you think? What should my mirror say? What would yours say???

I'm heading out for some thrifting and perhaps pick up some frosting spray;)


Share

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Bathroom Reno Update

Here are our 'almost' pictures!  We are so close to being done but have had some car issues lately that are otherwise taking our time and attention right now:)   But as soon as I can do a trip to Ikea, we can finish up!

But for now - we are very pleased with our much improved bathroom!  Now, just to remind you - this is what we first were using.


and...now 






To be done: paint, add trim, change light, hang mirrors.  yay!
Share

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday family and friends came over to celebrate with us our little girl turning one! It was a fun day for her, hanging out with Oma & Opa - then having people over for a little party.  Check out how our day looked:)

 














Share

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Diary of a Lactation Failure (Or a tale of two titties): Motherlove More Milk Special Blend Giveaway! (Take...

Diary of a Lactation Failure (Or a tale of two titties): Motherlove More Milk Special Blend Giveaway! (Take...: We're in the homestretch of 1 whole year of nursing, and Motherlove wants to help us celebrate! They're giving away 12 bottles of More Mi...

Share

Monday, February 20, 2012

Shop Free Dinner Week!

In honor of my return to work this past week, and our need to watch where are money goes each week - I will be making meals all these week only from what is already in our house.  No running out that day to pick up whatever I feel like having, splurging on a fun meal.  There is always more in our house than we think there is - so much goes forgotten!

This may be a challenge as my parents are driving down to visit on Thursday but we'll see how it goes - for as many days as possible, outside of fresh produce needed, I will only cook with what is already in the house:) Doable? I hope so!

Day 1? Well, its family day here and we got invited to the in-laws for supper....well this is easy so far! ;)  Tomorrow though, I have some leftover tortilla wraps to use up - veggie quesadilla anyone?? Perhaps with fish as well:) Yum!

After this, I've been inspired by http://www.livinglaughingandloving.com to start planning meals and shopping for 2 weeks of meals at a time. Makes me nervous just thinking about it:S

Anyone want to join me? What would you find in your pantry??

Share

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Breastfeeding Story

I've spoke on here before about my PCOS issues.  I still feel there is an underlying issue causing PCOS that I haven't addressed but as my doctor is not interested in investigating this - its hard to prove that and treat it properly....but that's not the point here.  Very possibly thyroid as taking kelp seems to be helping a lot.   I have learned a lot about BFing and PCOS since having Carlee, and am saddened that with the right help we could have been more successful - but also feel encouraged that I am now more educated to work towards a better BFing relationship with out future children.   Well, anyways - this is a bit of my story. 


I worked my very hard to ensure I was able to get pregnant (lost weight, better diet, stabilizing hormones) and then have a very healthy weight and diet throughout my pregnancy.  I had very little PG symptoms which I thought was great, including no breast tenderness and little growth.   After asking my midwife if the PCOS was reason for any further concern, and being told no - I went into my pregnancy assuming I would have the normal problems of learning to latch, etc...but fully  prepared to BF my daughter for as long as we both felt beneficial. 

My daughter was born, a pretty easy labour and delivery - no drugs and afterwards I didn't even really feel tired....maybe that was the adrenalin:)  Carlee latched on like a pro - the midwife and nurses were all impressed and left us feeling certain everything would go great.  After 2 days she was down to 7lb 2oz, 4 days 7 lb 4 oz, 6 days 7 lb 4 oz - and we were absolutely shocked.  Thank goodness my mom was with me because I was inconsolable.   I went home and we thought maybe we weren't giving her enough time to finish eating...we spent two days just feeding her like mad, with no success.   

My midwife advised I go on Blessed Thistle and Fenugreek and start pumping every two hours, following each feed and supplementing her in between,  I did not know about HM4HB at the time so she got formula.  That killed me a little.  I couldn't even comprehend what was happening.  After 2 weeks of this and no noticeable difference we moved on to domperidone, again with no results.  I finally started my own research, knowing there had to be more to this - the only known issue is my PCOS and a quick google search brought up a multitude of information that this was most likely the culprit.   At that point I knew that a galactologue would not give me the tissue that did not grow so I quit the pumping and DOM, which I found out later was what was behind me gaining 20 lbs in 3 weeks.   I didn't know where to turn - my midwife did not offer any other alternatives or provide me with a reference for someone who would...I felt like I was stuck with having to supplement her and had no support to tell me otherwise.  With my mom having gone home, and no local family, - I felt very alone.  We moved on to enjoying each other finally. 

I was blessed though - my daughter kept up our breastfeeding relationship til 8 months so I knew she was at least getting some BM every day, and when she quit I found local donors so she had milk at least on a semi regular basis.  At that point I still felt like a failure and had immense guilt for the formula that I had to give to Carlee.   But God knows what He is doing - He gave me the desire to start a business with pre and postnatal women, leading me to network with local women who also specialize in this area.  What a surprising twist.   I met so many women who taught me to forgive myself and to be proud of the effort I did make in the situation I was put in.  And these women led to me to a huge online network of women dealing with the same issues, and a wealth of information.  

I still don't know the root of my issues but work with my naturopath to heal my body as much as possible, and now understand that I was one of a very small percentage that has not a low milk issue but a low tissue issue - most likely my progesterone levels did not increase as they should in pregnancy to stimulate an increase in mammary tissue.  I now have a list of things I can do in pregnancy and after birth to encourage growth and alternatives to domperidone with less side effects (the last thing a post natal woman wants is to take a drug that will cause crazy weight gain!!)   Maybe it won't work with our future children, maybe I'll still have to deal with uneducated women who believe 'anyone can BF'(mostly true, but not completely!) and judge me and the bottle feeding my baby, but I choose to think of the women I can now help and the support I can now be to other women based on my experiences, and finally to enjoy my children knowing I'm doing the best I can possibly do in the situation.  And I'll be happy with that:) 

And my plan for the next baby is as follows:
Tea of goat's rue/alfalfa/nettle/red raspberry daily during and after pregnancy
Regularly take: fish oil, B Complex, Kelp
Placenta Encapsulation after birth
Progesterone cream up until delivery starting as soon as pregnancy is known
Leptaden pills after birth


Thanks for listening to my Bfing rant!  Its healing to put pen to paper of our struggle and success of breastfeeding:) 

All you Canadians, have a great Family day!   I'll spend it thinking of way to make Carlee's birthday very fun as she turns the big 1 on Thursday! We can't wait:) 



PS - check out http://diaryofalactationfailure.blogspot.com for some great breastfeeding stories of igt and a whole lot more!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Back at Work

Hello all!
Well, Can you believe in a week it will be a year since Carlee joined our family? Tis true! Which means as of Tuesday I returned to my job, but just 2 days a week. I am so blessed to be able to be part time at my job, run a fairly successful business teaching fitness classes locally and stay home with my baby the majority of the week! Its pretty special.  I would love to be home full time at this point, but remind myself it will all come in time and I am very blessed to have the situation as it is - especially a close friend who lives very close to us to care for Carlee while we are working.   Next weekend we will have a little get together for Carlee's birthday which will be very fun too...Its very weird to go from having a __ month old to have a one year old!! Amazing!

The bathroom is SO close to being finished the construction phase and within the week I will be able to go in a paint and decorate!  The before and after is astounding and I can't wait to share with you very soon how its coming along!

The PCOS continues to be a daily battle for me - my lymph drainage is very 'stuck' according to my naturopath and to date nothing has helped it move.  Our newest attempt is to increase my iodine intake, with the thought that as closely related the thyroid function is to pcos...perhaps this is part of what is holding me back yet - maybe even what triggered pcos in the first place. So that has started for the last few weeks, we will see if that helps matters at all:)

And my newest addition to my healthy eating? To ensure I am eating enough green vegetables eat day I added a smoothie into my day - harder on days I work but regularly:)  I am eating what are called 'Green Monsters'.  There are many different versions of this but mine consists of spinach, avacado, cucumber, alternative milk of some type, hemp protein powder with maca and flax, berries, banana and sometimes kiwi or peaches.  I've found i HAVE to have berries - nothing else covers of the taste to make it enjoyable. But I enjoy it, and feel good that I've added a good amount of healthy food in the morning - a time that was usually filled with some sort of mediocre carbs:)



What are you doing today to help rather than hinder your health? 

Share

Friday, February 10, 2012

A Simple Moment

A precious moment from earlier today...Carlee wanted to just sit and lay her head on my chest.  It happens so rarely and was so nice to sit and enjoy a few cuddles:)  Of course this usually means she is not feeling great, maybe some teeth on the way again, but I'll take it!


Share

Thursday, January 26, 2012

A Step at a Time

My exciting news? My bathtub is now in the bathroom, not my living room:) Yup, that's the good life...it doesn't actually have running water yet, but suddenly my living room looks huge so I'm happy!

Last weekend my FIL came over and we were able to put the new flooring down and put the bathtub in place and prepare the plumbing for the vanity to be put in place...each weekend we get a little done, a step at a time. It would be nice to have several days and get it all done at once, but for now I'm perfectly happy just having a toilet upstairs again:)  Going down to the basement each time was getting old...

Here are some new pictures of how the bathroom is looking now!



Bathtub ready to have plumbing attached and wall surround installed.
















Sorry, didn't put the lid down for pictures, gross...

Vent will be replaced as well from our 1970's edition:)












So, the bathroom reno continues.  Once this is out of the way I'm getting inspired to make a space in the main floor for Carlee to be creative as she gets older...a little table and chairs with craft supplies...can't wait!



Share

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Tubbin' Around

The bathroom reno continues...with a bathtub in the living room:) The life of renovations eh?


 Saturday the walls came down and new walls put up, and we are now working on the putty between the pieces of drywall...that's a new technique to learn for the hubby but his skills are coming along:)  That pretty much took all day for them so then Monday we called up my FIL(who is super awesome by the way - apparently 25+ years of homeowning teaches you ALOT!) to come by and hopefully put in the new bathtub...well, we got the bathtub, but once we got the old one out we saw the flooring had been getting damp under the tub so it would be wise to put a new layer of flooring down first:)  So the bathtub sits in my living room, but we have a lovely new floor waiting for new flooring now!  Perfect!  The plan is for that to go in Friday - will let you know how it goes! 

Life continues to be busy as I am running a little business from the home as well as planning to go back to work 2 days a week come February!  its gonna be a bit crazy as we settle into that routine but I think it will work well once we get used to it.   My business is taking off well too, and I look forward to doing that part time and quitting my regular job at some point....exciting and scary! 


My weight loss journey? Going well:) I am down to within 10 lbs of the pre-pregnancy weight.  I have been doing some research and found out that pcos was not to blame for my weight gain after I had initially lost most of the weight after having Carlee - nope...that responsibility lays on the drug domperidone!  I had been told to take it to try to increase my milk supply when I ran into problems due to pcos inhibiting the production of glandular tissue, which didn't work....but did give me some 20 lbs extra for fun!  So in a roundabout way, still PCOS issue, but not directly related:)   I still find it hard to stay on a healthy diet when surrounded by friends who don't, but most days, I do ok....  And stay motivated to be healthy so we can attack the hormones with our next child and try BFing again.  We did continue partially BF til 8 months, but I would love to BF exclusively for a full year or more with the next one:)  A fun/stressful challenge to face for the future! 

That's it for now!  I will be back soon with pictures of our new bathroom! 

Krista


Share


Sunday, January 08, 2012

Bathroom Reno has begun...


 Well, what do you think? Is it better yet;)

                                                                        BEFORE

                                                                          DEMO


The start of the bathroom reno came with wall paper down and tiles shattering to the ground:) No more white with blue flowers left except for on the countertop.   The walls need to be taken down and new ones put up, new vanity put in, new bath tub put in and fix the flooring.  Then the final touches of painting and such...that doesn't sound like much right?? ;)  Excited to get the blue bathroom in the past!!



Share