Return from the dead!

Well... I've certainly been gone too long! Every since starting my cloth diaper co-op on Facebook I've been EXTREMELY busy. My first order ended up being over 5000 items! Yes, 5000 diapers all in my house at once. If that wasn't enough, 3 or 4 other orders all happened to come in at the same time. It was like a diaper explosion. You couldn't walk through any room of my house besides my bedroom (which is always a mess anyway). Things are finally calming down now and I've been doing mostly smaller orders. I've postponed the next Alva order until after my vacation because I just do not want my house taken over again.

 

Alva Shipment

Boston and his girlfriend inspecting the new diapers

"So many dipes!"

Boston's learned quite a few new tricks as well. He has been crawling since 8 months. Pulling himself to standing since a few days after that. Just yesterday he stood without holding on to anything for the first time. He's nursing 4 times a day now and eating 3 meals (if I remember, but food isn't important until a year anyway!). He still does not say any words but I've heard boys are slower. He has pretty much stopped gaining weight since 4 months, which is good because he was gaining a pound a week until then!! He's 17.6lbs and 28.25 inches tall. He actually wearing the correct size clothing for his age which was so not the case before. 

Some bad news for us. My husband is deploying for a year this week and I'm really hoping we can skype enough that Boston will know who he is when he returns. I'm just so glad that he is leaving now and not in April as had originally planned... Boston would have had no clue if he left at that age. He gets so so excited to see him now I can tell he's going to notice he is missing. And oh the dogs, they will just go into a deep depression. They are psychotic and cannot live without him (or me for that matter since they think I gave birth to them).

We are going back to Connecticut for two weeks at the end of September until mid-October. I will be there for my mom's 50th birthday, and my dad's 52nd birthday. I have a surprise planned for her. I know I've given her the link to this blog before and I don't know if she reads it's so I'll have to keep it a secret :)

Summer Blog Challenge: Day 9 [Your worst cooking disaster.]

My worst cooking disaster is definitely the time I tried to make homemade marshmallows. Worst idea ever. The ingredients are EXTREMELY sticky and it basically covered every surface of my kitchen. The sugar did not melt correctly, so they didn't even taste like marshmallows. My stove, bowls, sink, hands, floor, were all covered in white stick goo. It was very unpleasant to try to clean up.

Summer Blog Challenge: Day 7 [Picture of something that makes you smile]

Yeah, I missed day 6. But I don't have any nicknames and I was busy so, oh well!

Summer Blog Challenge: Day 5 [Short term goals for this month and why those goals.]

This month is definitely a good month for short term goals. My summer semester of school started on May 31st (my first semester back since getting pregnant last March). I cannot take my adderall for my attention-deficit disorder while breastfeeding, so it's going to be particularly hard. I've started taking a supplement called rhodiola yesterday, so hopefully that will help.

1. Get an A on all assignments in College Algebra and American Federal Government, and at least a B on all tests.

2. Lose 4lbs, I'm not sure if this will actually happen. Apparently my body refused to lose (or gain) weight while I breastfeed, so we'll see. I lost 35lbs right at first, and then nothing since then.

3. Keep the house cleaner. Do the dishes every day and pick up clutter. Vacuum every few days. At least make an attempt at putting away laundry other than Boston's. His room is the only room I seem to keep up with!

Summer Blog Challenge: Day 4 [Meaning behind your blog name.]

It took my awhile to come up with my blog name. I had my layout all done and my first post, but I didn't want to put it up until I had a good blog name! Well I finally decided on "Dogs, Dogtags and Diapers," for a few reasons. First of all I love alliteration. Second of all, the things described in my blog post kind of rule my life.

1. Dogs - I have two chiweenies, they were 7 days old when I got them and I bottle raised them. They didn't even have their eyes open when I got them so they think I gave birth to them. They are VERY attached to me, especially Lily who is a little bit smaller than her sister, Isabelle. On the rare occasion that my husband would hear me feeding them (every 3 hours, just like newborn twins) in the middle of the night, he would feed Isabelle, and I would feed Lily (she was harder to feed). So Lily developed a stronger attachment to me.

2. Dogtags - my husband is in the Army. Not much explanation needed there! I also have a set of dog tags with the date we started dating on them tattooed on my wrist. It will also have our wedding date but I haven't gotten around to getting them updated yet. (Even though it's been 1 1/2 years...)

3. Diapers - A LOT of this blog is about my son, Boston, and raising him. Thus the diapers part. I often blog about cloth diapering as well, so I guess that part of the name can go two ways!

Summer Blog Challenge: Day 3 [15 interesting facts about yourself]

1. I'm named after Sarah Jessica Parker, which sucks. However, my parents assure me they just liked how "Sarah Jessica" sounded together, they didn't name me for her acting skills

2. I have 13 tattoos and quite a few piercings

3. My dream job would be something that combines nursing, being a zoo keeper, and owning my own bakery, all in one

4. I have an addictive personality - luckily now that I'm a mother, I'm only addicted to cloth diapering and the diaper co-op I'm running

5. I'm Bipolar and have Attention Deficit Disorder

6. My vegetable steamer if my favorite thing in the kitchen, I use it almost every day

7. I could probably live on mango and watermelon

8. I have two chiweenies (half chihuahua-half dachshund) that I raised from 7 days old, they are sisters and I had to bottle feed them because their mother did't produce milk past day 4

9. I grew up in Connecticut, but since high school (2006) I have lived in New York, Massachusetts, California, Texas, and now Oklahoma

10. I haven't been drunk since November of 2010, which is saying a lot considering I was quite the party girl when I lived in Boston and Connecticut (apparently I now have a super high tolerance after having a baby?)

11. I've been breastfeeding my son for 7 months today, and plan to go to 14 months (I can't breastfeeding on my ADD medication and I need to take it to go back to school next January)

12. I'm going to school for Zoology, I want to work with elephants

13. If I could pick anywhere to live, I would live in San Diego. But if I could pick our next post (my husband is in the Army) I would pick Alaska (Anchorage) and so would my husband

14. I use to be a competitive gymnast, quitting is the biggest regret I have in my life

15. I've always wanted to be a runner, but a knee injury from when I was a gymnast prevents me. I've jogged 3 miles one time and that's as far as I can (rarely) get.

Summer Blog Challenge: Day 2 [A picture of you smiling]

Play At Home Mom LLC: Glow sticks.... thinking outside the box

Play At Home Mom LLC: Glow sticks.... thinking outside the box: I purchased these glow sticks at the dollar store.  Bracelets come in a pack of five.  You can also get some at Michaels Craft Store in a p...

Summer Blog Challenge: Day 1 [Why you are doing this challenge.]

Well today is Day One of the Summer Blog Challenge! I will be posting a blog everyday of that that's topic. Todays topic is: why you are doing this challenge.

I am doing this challenge because first of all, it sounds fun! It's a great way to get your readers more personalized with the blogger. A lot of times I talk about my son, or various child topics, but I don't often talk about myself! Secondly, I love writing. I think taking time out each day to write a simple blog post will be beneficial to me.

I'm excited to start reading all the other daily blog posts, and you can follow along by clicking the various blogs below!

Day 4: A photo that makes you happy.

Forgot to do this for a few days. O_o

First ultrasound after TTC for over a year

Day 3: Someone you love.

Running my first co-op!

So I've been ordering most of my cloth diapers from co-ops, mainly Alva Baby diapers. I also ordered through a Sunbaby co-op. I've decided to run my own! I started the group up today, and I already have 30 members. Co-ops are really great, because since it's only one person submitting the whole big order you get to pay wholesale pricing. If anyone is interested in joining, I'm offering solids, prints, and double gusset diapers, wetbags, microfiber inserts, bamboo and bamboo blend inserts.

Sarah F.'s Alva Co-op

Day 2: You, one year ago.

13 weeks pregnant.

Day 1: Facebook profile photo.

10 day photo challenge.

Saw this on Four A's and a D. Thought it would be fun!

10 DAY PHOTO CHALLENGE

1. Facebook profile photo.

2. You, one year ago.

3. Someone you love.

4. A photo that makes you happy.

5. You, making a funny face.

6. Your celebrity crush.

7. You & your best friends.

8. You and your siblings.

9. Most recent photo of yourself.

10. A favorite photo you took yourself.

Mom Blog Monday Blog Hop

I am the featured blogger this week on the blog hop! So welcome to all my new readers and followers :) I now almost have a crawler on my hands! Perfect timing too. Tomorrow afternoon, my dad is flying in from Connecticut to visit for the week. I was hoping Boston would start crawling in time for his grandpa to see. He gets up on his knees and rocks, then goes flat. He did crawl forward one time today. He got up then threw his body forward, it was pretty hilarious. A few other "milestones" from this week. He has discovered his toes and can now grab both feet. He also discovered it's fun to suck on them! That makes diaper changes pretty challenging. He also sat in a high chair in a restaurant on his own for the first time. I went to Applebees for a baby shower (I had THREE this week, and two next week) and I ordered rice with my meal because on Wednesday he ate all my rice. Well, he didn't want the rice so I could've gotten the fries I WANTED to eat and instead he ate all the turkey off my sandwich. So many babies this week too, my friend had her son on Thursday, and another friend had her daughter on Friday!

Yum, toes

Not so sure he wants to try the asparagus. 

This is month #4 TTC #2. Got VERY positive OPK's for the last 3 days, so I'm thinking today will be the day I ovulate. I'm hoping it doesn't take as long as last time. I found out I was pregnant with Boston 3 days before I was suppose to see the infertility specialist. Tried constantly for one full year, and wasn't on birth control for 1-2 years before that (my husband was however, deployed that whole year). Wish me luck! I would really like to get pregnant when Boston is 9 months, I think 18 months apart would be perfect.

Mommy Talk Tuesday! {Breastfeeding}

This week's topic Breastfeeding!  

Did/do you breastfeed? If you do/did what was your biggest challenge during breastfeeding? What was/is your favorite part of breastfeeding? Do you think it's ok to nurse in public, covered or not? Do/did you ever nurse in public? Do you have any tips for moms struggling with breastfeeding or expectant moms who plan to breastfeed?
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I have been breastfeeding my son now for a little over 6 months. It for SURE was not easy for us in the beginning. He was born a month early, and I didn't get to see him (besides right when he was born) for 4 hours after birth. He wouldn't latch when they brought him to me. Instead of having me try for awhile, the lactation consultant nurse just handed me a nipple shield (which ended up being the wrong size for his mouth, didn't find that out until he was 5 weeks old). The first week, I supplemented with formula since he would not latch. I was pumping and had already pretty much given up on breastfeeding normally. He just couldn't do it, he wouldn't get much even with the shield and he would be mad after. Pumping every 2-3 hours around the clock is NOT fun.
When he was 5 weeks old I had my WIC appointment to see the lactation consultant. She immediately figured out that he was tongue tied, and that the nipple shield I was given was the wrong size. She weighed him, gave me the correct nipple shield size, and then I fed him. She weighed him after and he had taken a full feeding for the first time, with the new nipple shield size. She also gave me a brand new Medela Pump In Style (I had been using a used one I bought locally because I could not afford a new one). I immediately called our pediatrician when I got to the car about the tongue tie.
The nurse called me back and said he had seen that he had a slight tongue tie at birth. She told me he would check it out at our next appointment in January (it was early December at this point). I told her no, I wanted to be seen immediately and get it taken care of, not "checked out." She scheduled me an appointment for the next day. I expected the doctor to tell me it wasn't bad and we would just keep an eye on it, that's what I was warned would happen, but he took him and fixed it immediately. It took two seconds and he was fine immediately after, took a bottle with no pain.
It was still two weeks after this until he latched, we went on vacation for Christmas and it was exhuasting. I was pumping but not enough because we had to much to do and so many people to see. Pumping in hotel bathrooms while your entire family is in the other room is not a good way to spend a holiday. I ran out of bottles on the airplane home, and had to use the breast shield in the airport which was annoying. But, the day after we got home he latched perfectly with no breast shield! We have had no issues since then. Now he hates bottles and is on a great schedule. 
My favorite part of breastfeeding is that I can tell how much we have bonded from it. I am his main source of nutrition and he needs me. He holds on to me while he eats and I can tell he loves it! I think it's fine to nurse in public. I personally use a cover, but I don't think anyone should have to. Breasts are for feeding a baby, that's the only reason we have them, so people shouldn't think its weird or gross to feed a child in public. No one has ever said anything about it to me, but I've heard a lot of horror stories that people have had comments made to them while nursing in public. 
My main tip for anyone struggling, or who plans to breastfeed, is JUST KEEP TRYING. It took us almost 2 months for him to latch and I never gave up. Having to wake up all night long to pump was more important to me than sleeping, knowing he was getting breast milk instead of formula. 

Mom Blog Monday

Something amazing has happened. Boston slept 9 hours in a row!! I decided last Thursday to begin CIO for sleep training. I decided I no longer care if he wakes my husband up. Yes, he has to get up at 5am every morning for work, but who cares, does that mean I should still be getting up 3 hours during the night and getting no sleep? No thanks! So he went to sleep at 7:30 on Wednesday, and woke up at 3! Thursday, he went to sleep but then was up at 10:30, he cried for 40 minutes and went back to sleep, cried at 11:30 for 10 minutes, then back to sleep. I fed him at 2:30 and he slept until 7:30. Friday was fine, I think he woke up only at 4:30 to eat. And then on Saturday, he slept 7:30 to 5! It was awesome. Everyone says he must have known it was mothers day :) Last night he slept until 4, so it's looking like 3:30 - 4:30 is about average. And I'm completely fine with one night feed, the 3 was just getting to be too much since I knew he wasn't actually waking because he was hungry! I really should either pump before I go to bed though, or set an alarm. They are so full by the time he eats, but I also have no milk left in the freezer and haven't in months, so it would be a good idea to start stocking up again in case we want to go somewhere without him. 
So anyways, yesterday was Mother's Day. In the morning we went up to Medicine Park. We walked around for awhile. We were suppose to go in the shops but we had to wait quite awhile since we got there at 9 and apparently nothing opens until noon. Boston didn't nap the entire time we were there (he usually sleeps 10 - 11:30) so he fell right asleep when we got home at a weird time and it messed the whole day up. We went to dinner later on and he was pissed most of the time. This guy in medicine park held him in one of the shops, and apparently Boston likes beards, he grabbed right on with both hands! It was hilarious. Today is back to the routine, hate when that gets messed up. Today at 12:30 we are going to the WIC breastfeeding support group, which my friend who is a breastfeeding peer counselor there runs each month. But this month we decided to do cloth diapering as the topic! I have a few new Alva diapers coming in today, hopefully the mail comes before I leave so I can bring them. 

Night one: sleep training.

Finally decided to give night CIO a go. Two nights ago, he slept from 730 - 330 without waking up. He has slept until 2 or so quite a few times so I KNOW he can do it. I know he isn't waking out of hunger. He has recently been getting up at 10:30, only 3 hours after going to sleep and it's time to break him of that habit. We finally weaned from the swaddle earlier this week. He is still struggling a bit with naps, but not too badly, he gets at least one really good nap in the afternoon nap and his evening nap is still the same. Just waking early from the morning nap. So last night, he woke at 10:30 and I just let him cry. Luckily my husband was already asleep (he doesn't hear him cry when he's asleep) so he didn't complain about it! He cried for 40 minutes before going back to bed. Ugh. Hopefully tonight it's shorter. He woke again an hour later but fell back asleep within 5 - 10 minutes. At 2:30am I fed him, and then he woke up around 6:30 for a little bit (didn't get him up), fell back asleep and woke at his usual time of 8:00. So I'm hoping tonight he will cry a little less and so on until he just sleeps! I have no issue with him waking once at night to eat, but 2-3 times is just unnecessary at this point. If he keeps waking only once I'll actually be able to pump again too and have some milk in the freezer!

On a side note, I made some chicken the other night. I made them lightly breaded, and then a plain one for Boston. OMG he loved it. I served it with broccoli which is usually his favorite... well once he tasted the chicken he didn't even want to look at the broccoli.

And... painting daddy's birthday card :)

6 months!

So yesterday we had Boston's 6 month appointment. He now weighs 18lbs 12oz, and is 26 1/4 inches long. His height it finally catching up to his weight! He had to get shots and he was more upset this time than the other times, but he was hungry too and we had been waiting around for awhile so it's understandable. I gave him some tylenol before the appointment, and before bed and he's fine this morning. Also last night... NO SWADDLE! He has has one arm out for at LEAST a month now, but still had troubles with both arms out. Well I decided to just go for it last night instead of trying it out during naps and he only woke to eat one extra time. Now if only the dogs would stop whining, not sure what's gotten into them the past few nights. He's down for his first nap now without the swaddle, so hopefully he will sleep a normal amount of time and not wake early.

This weekend, we headed down to Fort Worth for Saturday and Sunday and stayed at my husband's aunts house. His cousins son had his first birthday on Sunday, so Saturday we went to the Fort Worth Zoo. One of the elephants there was picking up this big donut ring with her mouth, and pushing two big balls around with her truck and it was so cute. Apparently that zoo is the #5 zoo in the country... it was cool and all like all other zoo's, but I can't imagine only 5 other zoo's being better? It wasn't all that big, but I guess when you go to zoos practically every weekend you start to get critical! haha

So milestones recently: he finally rolled from back to stomach! And he hasn't stopped rolling since. He rolls across the floor, and mostly only likes to roll to the left, so he gets mad when he reaches a wall or the entertainment center. He's trying to crawl, he can get up on his knees but he can't go forwards or backwards yet. He started solids a little over a week ago, his favorite so far is carrots!

In other news... my husband might not have to deploy! They were suppose to leave mid April, then beginning of May, now they have no clue when they are going. His class date for military police school should be coming in any day now (hopefully tomorrow for his birthday!) so there's a much bigger chance now that he will get to do that instead of deploy. And that means we can move away from Oklahoma!!

Trying to crawl

Destroying the paper on the doctor table

LJ KILLING his smash cake

Indiana Vacation.

So we took a very last minute trip to Indiana for the past week or so. My husband's unit decided to give them 36 hours notice that they would be allowed to take leave before deployment. So we bought some last minute plane tickets on Thursday! On Saturday, after dropping our dogs off at my friends house, we headed up to Tulsa. We stopped at the Tulsa Aquarium (Boston loves fish tanks), and then headed over to the hotel. Well, the hotel had changed names and was now a Motel 6, so it was gross... but oh well! We stayed over up there because Tulsa is 3 hours away and our flight was at 6am the next morning.

Matt feeding turtles

A big cuddly looking beaver

Boston looking at the moon jellies

Tired at 5am at the airport

So Sunday morning, we get up super early, and head out front to the shuttle. We make it about a mile before the transmission goes out. So we have to wait on the side of the road for his boss to come pick us up in his car. Our stuff BARELY fit in there and I basically had Boston and he stroller laying across my lap. But we finally get to the airport with plenty of time. Boston did fine on the planes, same as last time we flew. We had a 3 or so hour layover in Detroit which sucked. Pretty boring airport, Boston just slept and played on the floor the whole time. Once we got to Indianapolis, Matt's mom was there to pick us up. We went straight to his grandma's house since she has never met Boston before.

That night Matt's MANY aunts came over for dinner and them, their husbands, and his cousins all got to meet him. I think everyone on both sides of the family have met him now! The rest of the week we went out to eat a lot, did some shopping (there's a giant Target there! Stupid Fort Sill for not having one within an hour). We went two a very small zoo, and then Saturday we went to the Indianapolis Zoo. That was still a lot smaller than most zoos I've been too. But they had elephants (my favorite) and giraffes (my husbands favorite) so it was still awesome! We saw a really cool dolphin show too. The baby elephant was SO cute. She is 9 months old, and some zoo keepers came in to clean up and she was chasing them all around! And she even nursed on her mom :) Her mom put her trunk around her middle like a hug. After that we went to Ruby Tuesday's (another thing Fort Sill doesn't have) and then headed back to the hotel. We stayed in a Comfort Suites like usual this time so it was actually a nice hotel.

Heading to the third zoo in a week! It was COLD out

Looking up at the dolphin tank

Baby giraffe laying in the grass :)

Either itchy or giving the other one some love :)

Mom & baby

Hard to see, but baby elephant chasing the zoo keepers

Boston slept HORRIBLY the whole time we were there. He hated being in the car so often and when we would be in the car he'd only take short naps. I don't think he likes the pack n play because he slept like crap at night. Last night when we got home he cried a lot from being overtired, but once he fell asleep he slept fine like he usually does. We had fun but I'm very glad to be home.