The end of an era, and a few tears

I knew the day would come when Nolan no longer needed/wanted to nurse, and would sleep beautifully through the night. The time has finally come for both, and now I wish I wouldn't have wanted both of those things. What the heck is wrong with me, why wouldn't I want sleep? It's all because I know these things make my baby boy more grown up =( Both of our kids were terrible sleepers for the first year plus, but then they become great sleepers. Also, neither of them would ever take a bottle. We tried several bottles, & nipples, but they wouldn't have anything to do with them. Not even a bink!

Olivia nursed for 17 months, and her little brother beat her by 8 days. He has nursed for 17 months and 8 days. I still remember the day Olivia stopped nursing. I cried all day long, and when I looked at her, I thought she was all grown up and in a sense didn't need me for certain "things." I was sad that I'd never nurse her again. The same goes for my little buddy. I'm writing this with tears in my eyes. I knew it was time, especially since he goes around looking at women and says "boobies," or walks up to me and says "momma feed you." The other day he grabbed one of my bras and smelled it, then he looked at Shane and said "momma feed you." When he says that he means momma feed me, but he replaces me with the word you. Olivia used to say things like mama hold you, instead of mama hold me. Guess it's just a part of them learning how to speak properly? Back to what I was saying. Nolan has finally weaned himself, and I know this chapter is finally closed. Even if he asks me at this point, I can't, because it's been 2 days and that would just be way too confusing to not only my body(which is slightly engorged,) but also to him. It's kind of like when you're potty training your child, you wouldn't have them start going on the potty, but then put them back in a diaper. This entire blog may sound really strange, but for a mom who loved nursing, it's hard to let go of something that has been a part of my daily routine from the moment my son was born. I was telling Shane, that now I want another one! He said, "we needed a bigger house first." Typical guy response!

A Sweet Day in Pre-K

Olivia had a mommy-and-me(Yaya showed up too)valentine's day party today at school. When we got there the kids sang a couple songs, and then had a performance that revolved around the verse 1Corinthians 13(Love is patient, love is kind.) Olivia was in the front row, and I could tell she was a little shy to be "on stage." There were a couple other kids who were sitting down, and wouldn't even make eye contact with the crowd, too cute! The kids made their mommy's a darling valentine, and then we sat at the table and decorated heart shaped sugar cookies. There was an impressive variety of candy to decorate with. The kids made valentine bags to hold all the cards, and treats they would be getting today. Cute bags with lots of colored polka dots on them. At the end of the day they all got a red heart shaped balloon(which Olivia and Nolan are now fighting over.) It was a sweet day!

I LOVE my husband!

I worked a super long shift today, and my feet can usually keep up with me while I run around on a concrete floor all day--but not today. My feet were so sore, guess my ballet flats didn't do the job. All the girls I worked with today had the same complaint. I was going to take a picture of my wounded feet, but figured that might be a little too much. All I could think about was soaking my feet tonight, and when I went to look underneath my bathroom sink for my fave foot soak, it was gone. I'm so desperate to soak them, so I'm going to come up with my own concoction to make that happen. Of course I'm out of Epsom salt too, darn it! Shane just headed out to the store to get me a bag of Epsom salt so I can soak my feet. I thought it was very sweet, I love him! The cherry on top would be a cup of sleepy time tea, and the book I'm currently reading, Firefly Lane. I have both, which makes for a perfect trio. Here's to relaxing!

One of my BIGGEST petpeeves!

There is nothing that drives me more crazy than moms who take there sick kids out in public when they should be AT HOME! Ew, and equally important, when you get invited to a "play date" and a parent forgets to mention they have sick kids, but that "they're fine now" even though they were throwing up the night before. Hmmm...I clearly don't understand it. First of all, the poor kid probably wants to be at home in their comfy cozies on the couch or in bed, so why drag them out? Second of all, it exposes my children to the "crap" that they're carrying into target, mobius, story time, school...the list goes on. I'm tired of it! I can't count how many times I've run in to moms that tell me that "ya, little Lucy was throwing up all night, and had diarrhea this morning, but we just had to get out of the house." Or when I'm out with my kids and there's a sick kiddo who's hacking up a lung, with a loose, phlegmy cough, bright red cheeks, and a nose that's running green snot. I know what it's like to feel cooped up and want to escape after being at home with sick kids. But guess what, that's part of the job that comes with being a parent. I think it's stems from selfishness, and have I mentioned I just don't get it? I quarantine my entire family if any of the above are going on, because I'd feel terrible to expose anyone to our germee's. And believe me, my kids and I have missed some very important events, but there's no way I'm bringing our crud to a child's birthday party. I just wish other parents had the same respect. I think I'm just bitter because my daughter has caught something from a person who clearly knew they had a sick child and didn't bother to keep them at home. This isn't the first time I've had this happen. Sadly, I've talked with two other moms today who have sick kids for the same reason. So frustrating!

Christmas in January--Better late than never!

Here are some of my favorite pictures taken over the winter, and holiday season. Hopefully I'll be a little more on top of things next year, when I'm not working during the holidays! Shane and I are still laughing at the fact that we didn't even put together some of the kids "BIG" gifts. Instead they just opened up these ginormous boxes and were teased by the picture on the front~like an easle, work benche, and a piano. What were we thinking??? O well, we'll make up for it next year. I even had to break the tradition of sending out Christmas cards--instead a Happy New Year card would have to do.

Maybe there's a new avenue for migraine sufferers?

When I woke Tuesday morning I was thinking of all the "things" I planned to get done while Olivia was at school~the few errands I'd run, the dinner I'd try and put together, and a few other odd & ends to take care of. I was making the bed and felt like my vision was very disrupted out of my right eye, and pretty soon noticed my peripheral vision out of that eye was gone. It totally freaked me out! It was sort like the feeling you have after you've looked into the sun, or into the bright snow on a sunny day. It was very disorienting to say the least. I have had this before, & remembered the last time this visual aura happened was about 15 minutes before I had a migraine. At this point I'm thinking "please God, no!" I was going to that dark place in my head when my Dad had called and I explained what had just happened to my vision. He then said, "you're going to have a migraine." Unfortunately my Dad has suffered from them most of his adult life, and I've been unlucky enough to inherit them. I didn't want to believe I was getting one, and sure enough, like clockwork, 15 minutes later the PAIN came. My entire forehead, temples, and down the sides of my nose were THROBBING! I downed some ibuprofen and hoped it would do the trick. Ha, it didn't really do a thing! It did take away some of the throbbing, but one side of my head was in constant pain. Nausea shortly followed the throbbing, my senses were off(ew, especially my sense of smell, reminded me of morning sickness,) in a nutshell, I started to feel debilitated! Those of you that have suffered from a migraine know what this is like. I just wanted to curl up in a ball. Every time I even opened up my mouth to yawn I thought I'd be sick. I continued to feel pretty green around the gills for most of the day.

Oddly enough, I had scheduled a pedicure for that day a couple weeks prior. I thought I'd give myself until 4 o'clock to see if I could make the appt. Shane told me I was nutz and that I should go and lay down. I thought, well the salon I was going to is SUPER relaxing, there's only one pedicure at a time, in a very serene environment, I'll go there and relax. So, off I went. I have to tell you that after the pedicure, I realized that my lingering migraine pain was diminishing. My girlfriend Jenny(who is also a nurse,) told me it was probably because of all the pressure points being touched in my feet. I thought, you're right, reflexology therapy! Jodi had spent over an hour on my feet, and I truly believe it helped. When I got home and told Shane, he kind of laughed, but then I explained pressure points etc... Believe what you will, I just think It helped and wanted to share my story. For those of you that suffer from migraines, give this a try if you are able to get out of the house. I think it was a blessing that my day ended with the pedicure. I wish I could say that I'm headache free, but I'm not. I feel like this one has had and "aftershock" effect, like after an earthquake.
Salon Info~
Incognito 838-1888
Jodi~she's amazing, and there is no other place in Spokane that will give you this kind of pedicure!

What this boy is made of~Snips and snails, And puppy dog tails!

I haven't blogged much about my sweet boy lately. My Nolan, he's such a spark plug. He is now 16 months old, ahh, could shed a tear over that one! I think back to the journey I went through to finally get to Nolan J. Patrick~the terrible morning sickness piggybacked with Zofran/prometrium, a baby aspirin each day, the shots in my tummy for 8 months, I could list a few more things, but I'll spare you the details, besides most of you know what those things are :") what a ride it was. I know a lot of other moms who have gone through an awful lot to get to their blessings. The truth is most of us would go through it over and over for them. I'm in love with him! He's the polar opposite of his big sister, and that has made it even more interesting to watch him evolve. We have our reserved, docile Livvy, and then there's our determined, constant ball of energy, Nolan. He's trying to say everything we're saying now, very cute, and fun because he's becoming a great little communicator. Seems like he's always trying to figure "things" out. To test them, he might pull it a part, climb on it, break it, eat it, jump on it/or off of it, or whatever else he thinks he needs to do to figure it out. My friend D always says he's "frisky" like a cat, and boy that's the truth! Or Olivia likes to call him a "cub bear." But then, there's his sweet, soft, tenderhearted side. Like when he just wants his B (his silky blanket,) for a bit of cuddle time, sits on my lap for a story, give hugs, or my favorite, kisses. Here are some new photos of NJP. You'll notice his new trend is to rub his food in his hair during mealtime, fun times! I absolutely love having a little boy, it's a whole new world!