Pictures!

These are not very recent. They were probably taken around six weeks. I think she already looks different than this. I realized I have not posted a ton of pictures of her on here and I want to post more. I need to take more actually. I mostly take the same photo of her leaning back in the boppy pillow on the couch, because that is when I remember and the camera is always right there.

Photos were taken by a friend, photographer extraordinaire, Kelly Lawson

Three Months

Today Kennedy is 13 weeks old and tomorrow she will be three months old. The time has gone by so fast. Next week I go back to school at night. I will still be with her during the day but her daddy will now put her to bed every night, I will miss that!

We were having issues with breastfeeding this last week, I was scared that I would have to give it up. She just wasn't taking my breast. We are combination feeding and I think that she just likes that the bottle flows easier, without much effort on her part. I would offer the breast, she would start crying, so I would just give up and offer a bottle. But after looking into it I decided to not offer a bottle and just wait until she got even hungrier. It only took like five minutes of her crying and then she took my breast, just like that! Such a relief. We still struggle with it some, but I am determined to keep breastfeeding.

Kennedy is super strong. She loves to stand on my legs and prefers sitting up to lying down, assisted of course, if I let go she falls right over. We just got her a Baby Einstein Jumper which she is still a little small for so I add blankets to cushion it with and a book underneath for her feet to reach. She likes it ok, but I just know she will love it soon because she always wants to be upright.

I love the expressions that Kennedy makes, not only her smiles which melt me, but sometimes I see epressions of confusion and awe and they are just as cute. Her eyes hold such intelligence, like she understands already what is going on all around her.

I have heard many times that we are very lucky because Kennedy is a very easy baby. I can say that motherhood is pretty close to what I expected, even better because she is such a great sleeper.

They didn't have it all together

My sister was born when I was two and a half, when she about three weeks old, I broke my arm. I was sleeping with my parents in their waterbed and ended up falling off the bed and hitting my arm on the frame on the way down. My mom consoled me, made sure I could bend my elbow and wrist; I stopped crying and went back to sleep. In the morning my dad was about to go to work, my mom was caring for my sister and another baby she watched, when I walked out and said, "My arm still hurts." When my mom looked over, she could see my arm bone making my skin protrude. My dad said, "Okay, well I'm off to work!" and just left my mom to deal with it. She says he got a godsmack later that day when his pen exploded on his shirt.



I love this story.



I was talking to my mom last night and we were talking about other things that were going on at that time. My dad had been in a car accident when he was delivering papers for extra money and they were having trouble with the other guy's insurance company. My grandma, and both grandpas called the insurance company and gave them a piece of their minds. My parents ended up getting like $8,000 but had to use it to pay the hospital because when my sister was born they didn't have insurance. Also when my sister was born we were living in a house in Texas and my mom told me last night that my dad's mom helped them buy the house and paid half their house payment.



I think those times must have been really hard for them, but it makes me feel much better about where Brad and I are. I always thought of my parents as having it all together, but knowing that they were struggling financially when they first had us gives me hope about our situation now. Also knowing that their parents were still helping them fight their battles helps my pride. My car got towed about a month ago and my Mom went with me to fight the guy about it. I know now how my mom became the warrior she is today, for us. I see can see myself becoming more like that for Kennedy.



My parents are also the reason I will never be scared to change careers, they both went back to school in their fourties for their masters and my dad is even working on his doctorate right now. My dad completely changed his career (back) over ten years ago from accounting to ministry.



That is what makes me sad for many, many men out there. I think they feel that when they get married they must stop having fun and provide for their family even if it makes them completely unhappy. Yeah, some days I wish Brad made a lot of money, but I would rather he find what makes him completely fulfilled and happy and do that, and hopefully he makes money doing it too. I would rather be happy and poor than well off and unhappy. I always am aghast at the couple who adopts the baby in the movie Juno, but I think it is like that a lot, the wife pressures the husband to give up on his dreams because he is a "grown up" now. I would never ask Brad to stop playing music, or to move all of his "stuff" into one room because those things make him happy and he has just as much right to have his Godzilla toys on display as I have to keep my Twilight books out (we are dorks).

Summer

It is so hot here!!! It was 110 degrees the other day. I can't imagine what it will be like next summer when Kennedy is actually mobile and wanting to play outside and such. It is hard even now taking her places because she gets really hot and sweaty in her car seat and gets fussy.

Two things that I am really loving this summer and every summer:

1. Our pool. We have a diving pool in our backyard. I only started swimming in it a couple of weeks ago. It is like ten feet deep so it takes a long time for the water to get warm enough to tolerate. Swimming is my main form of exercise, okay, my only form. I am trying to do laps every couple of days.

2. My ice cream maker. This was in storage, but I made Brad get it out for me. I don't want to be making ice cream all the time, but I am making slushies. I just pour juice in it and turn it on and in like ten minutes I have a slushie, yummy! Mine is the fancy kind that doesn't need ice and salt, you just freeze the container. Right now I am doing an expiriment and making frozen hot chocolate.

Kennedy, she is awesome. She smiles all the time. She just had her two month appointment and weighs over 11 pounds now and is 21 1/2 inches. She got her first vaccinations, sob. It was so sad the face she made when the shots went in. Brad and I discussed vaccinations a lot. I read the Vaccine Book and was on the fence about them. I thought I wanted to do delayed selective, getting some of them, waiting to do some of them later. But we are just doing the regular schedule. Kennedy is a very healthy baby, we have no reason to think that the vaccines will effect her in any harmful way. I could change my mind later and when we have a second child I could feel differently then, who knows; but this is the right choice for us now.

I feel like I might be jinxing things by saying this, but Kennedy is a great sleeper. At least at night. Sometimes she doesn't take long naps during the day, which is frustrating for me; I get nothing done. But at night she sleeps at least 8 hours in a row then wakes up for diaper and some boob and then we sleep another couple of hours. I am very thankful, maybe deep down she knows that mama looooovvves to sleep!

Cloth diapers are going good. They are super easy, especially the urine only ones. Everyone should do them! We still use disposables too, probably two or three a day. My local Target just started carrying the Seventh Generation Chlorine Free diapers and I am happy! They are the same price and the others so why wouldn't you use them? For one second I fell for the, "Oh, these are plain brown and kinda ugly." but then I remember these are recepticles for my child shit and felt pretty stupid. Do I really need Pooh or Blue on my diaper's? NO!

Breastfeeding is going good too. We are still doing half from the boob, half formula. Pumping doesn't work for me really, I can't seem to let down. The one thing I am concerned about is going overnight without her eating or pumping, will that effect my supply? She breastfeeds about 5 or 6 times during the day, but none at all at night.

Here is a pic from today of Kennedy and my mom.