It's a Donut Party!!!

This year Anna turned 5.  Whew, wipe away the tears.  Earlier this year we learned that June 2 is National Donut Day.  A donut birthday it became.  We had three days of celebration.

The Cake

Anna's first request was a chocolate layer cake with chocolate frosting. It needed to be five layers tall with five donut holes on top.  It also needed lots of sprinkles, five tall candles, and a big five candle in the middle.  The actual cake has four layers (I would have needed another mix to make five, plus it would not have fit in my cake holder.)  The fifth layer has the donuts on top.  I used Paula's Donuts, as it is the best place to get donuts where we live.  This cake was challenging, but really fun to make.

The Donut Decorations

They came from Hobby Lobby.  I got a banner, plates, and napkins with a donut theme.

The Friend Party

Anna had her birthday party at Hyatts, a local craft store.  She loves art, so this party was perfect. The teacher taught the children how to paint a parrot.  By painting the palm and fingers on one hand, they were able to make wonderful bird wings.  And, they got really messy.  It was awesome!  Each child also made a robot using Model Magic.

The children enjoyed some snack and cupcakes, Anna opened her presents, and the party was a hit! The store did a wonderful job.  They even provided favors, which included a sketch book and some actual artist tools like a charcoal pencil and pastel crayon. They embraced the donut theme, but also changed to birds once Anna changed her mind.

The Donut Outfits

Once the party theme was decided, I saw that Once Upon a Bowtique was taking preorders for a line of clothing called "Donut Party."  It was PERFECT!  The only hiccup was the clothes did not arrive until the week of her birthday.  Anna had a headband too, but she didn't want to wear it.

Grandma Sharon made Anna a donut shirt too.  I think this picture of our family turned out well.

So that was Anna's donut birthday.  It was a wild, sugar donut filled weekend.  Happy birthday Anna!

You are my Sunshine First Birthday Party

It is a cliche, but time really does fly.  Our youngest turned one this week, and to celebrate we invited everyone over for some BBQ and a sunshine party.  This theme turned out to be so much fun, and simple as well.

When I started thinking about this party, I wanted to keep it simple because as a full time working mom, my free time is sparse.  I made a list of what I really wanted to make.  This included painting a canvas:

I wanted to make a high chair banner (not sure if that is what this was called, but it was really fun using all the ribbon.

I wanted to make a banner using suns for Molly's picture each month. This was so easy and a lot of fun.

I also really like making cupcakes, and my MIL got me this really beautiful cupcake tower for Christmas. It is the first time I used it, and I loved how it looked.  The tablecloth is actually sun fabric.  The little spoons are for butterscotch banana pudding parfaits, which were delicious but were not as pretty as I thought they would be.  Molly loved her sun cake. I used funfetti cake, but used cream cheese as frosting.  Did you know that cream cheese frosting does not harden?  Oops!

At the last moment I bought some sun balloons, and I am so glad that I did.  I set up this table in our play room, and everyone ended up gathering there.

Molly really enjoyed her party.  We had a great time with friends and family.  She truly is sunshine in our lives.

Anna's "Santa" Hat

Anna did not want a traditional Santa hat. She picked out this yarn instead.  I enjoyed crocheting this while I was pumping at work.

Peg People Family and The Lakehouse

This year I really wanted to make some homemade gifts for my parents that actually meant something. With the birth of our second daughter, my parents have been helping us so much.  I wanted to make them something special.

When I was in seventh grade I had an amazing art teacher. One of our big projects was to use leftover wood and supplies from technology to make a model of something. I made our house out of leftover 2 by 4s and triangles.  It fell apart pretty quickly, but my dad and I have glued it back together many times, and it still makes an appearance under the tree each year.

My parents bought/built a new house about 12 years ago.  The Lakehouse really is a dream property on a lake.  I decided to make a wooden model of it.  I made a pattern and my husband cut it out of wood.  Then we glued it together and I painstakingly painted it.  I am a perfectionist, and this model is far from perfect. I'd like to believe that it's better than I would have done in seventh grade, but I am not sure.  However, my Dad got a little teary when he opened it.  Success!

I also got ambitious and decided to make my mom people for under the tree.  I found wooden peg people on Etsy from The Early American Shop.  This shop also sold snowmen and trees, which I made for each of my sisters and my husband's mother.  I painted 15 people, and it was a learning experience.  They turned out great.  I am not 100% satisfied, but content with them. My Mom loved them, and that is what mattered.

Turkey

Today we made some more Turkeys. I used an already painted canvas, scrapbook paper, modge podge , scrapbook letters, and googly eyes Anna dug out of a craft bin. It was fun to trace Anna's hand and foot. Molly gave us her "what in the world are you doing?" Look as Anna held her arm and I traced her little foot. Anna cut out the turkey legs, feet, and beak. I glued everything on. It was a great project because I bought nothing, and now have a new thanksgiving decoration. 

Anna made a few more projects with the leftovers. She is so crafty. 

I've also been crocheting a bit. This week while I pumped at work I whipped up this beauty. It turned out pretty nice, and I didn't even use a pattern. Anna chose the yarn. 

Back to Breast - Our Lip and Tongue Tie Story

A little back story. Molly was born 9lbs 2oz after a failed induction and unplanned c-section. At 10 days old she was 8lbs 3oz, and we were forced to supplement with formula and then pumped milk, once I started making enough. The doctors were satisfied with her slow, poor weight gain, but I knew something was wrong. 

I had nurses my older daughter with no problems for 16 months. 

An IBCLC I know and love suggested I take Molly to a dentist trained in diagnosing and revising lip and tongue tied. She had just been to a conference on the very subject. I was nervous and hesitant, but I needed to know if this would help me and Molly. 

We took her to the dentist and he diagnosed her with both an upper lip tie and posterior tongue tie at five weeks old. He offered to complete the procedure that day, and we had it done. I had no idea the pain it would cause both my daughter and myself. 

Molly refused to nurse for ten days, which triggered extreme postpartum anxiety. I literally felt like I was losing my mind and that I was a terrible mother.  I was pumping every three hours and fed Molly with a bottle, which I hated. 

She was in pain. I gave her tiny amounts of Tylenol, which the pediatrician had said was not allowed in babies so tiny. I used oragel natural on her wounds when I did the stretches (yeah, every 4-6 hours I had to go in and break open both the tongue and lip wound, which was HORRIBLE), which didn't do anything.  

Five days after her revision I worked with an IBCLC to help me get her back to nursing and she couldn't get her to latch. We used 4oz of pumped milk in a bottle and syringe and came close enough to give me hope. 

I took Molly to the pediatrician a week and a day after the revision. This was the nurse practitioner who is also an IBCLC, who had been helping us all along with Molly's slow weight gain. She had previously checked for ties twice at my insistence and told us she didn't have any. When she found out I was basically exclusively pumping and bottle feeding it's almost as if she breathed a sigh of relief. I was so disheartened that this woman who was supposed to be helping us was not. 

I am a member of the Lip and Tongue Tie Baby Support Group on Facebook. Everyone on there suggests body work and cranio sacral therepy (CST) post revision. It helps the baby relearn how to nurse. I had asked the pediatrician about this and she didn't have much to say , only that she didn't think it would make a difference. I made an appointment with a chiropractor who specializes in infants and children for the following week. 

 The night after that pediatrician visit my cousin came over because she could tell I needed help. She gave me the number of a hard core IBCLC (different than the first one) who came over to my house. 

Carol* told me my baby was nipple confused (really she had a nipple preference) and if I continued to give her bottles she would never return to the breast. She told me I needed to tell my baby who was in charge and take control. 

She helped me, with my husband, get the baby to latch. We used expressed milk in a syringe. The next day I got a medela supplemental nursing system. My supply is great so between that and the Sns my daughter came to learn that milk comes from mommy. 

It took many feedings to get her comfortable at the breast. I was basically topless and covered in wet and dried breast milk all weekend. Molly would cry and scream and I almost lost my mind a few times. I sent my older daughter to her grandmothers house for the weekend. 

It's been amazing to have her nursing again. 

I waited to do this until a week and a half after the revision. She was pretty well healed and feeling much better. 

On Tuesday, 13 days post revision Molly had her first chiropractor visit. I was skeptical, as I've never been to a  chiropractor myself. The visit was... Refreshing? Invigorating? Validating? 

She was the first person who listened to me and helped me feel like we made the right choice by fixing her ties. It was the follow up visit the pediatrician and dentist never truly gave us. I took Molly twice a week for three weeks then once a week for the rest of the summer. 

Now we are five weeks past and she has not been gaining weight fast enough. I still use the Sns to supplement about six or seven ounces per day. 

She still gets sleepy and it takes a long time for a whole feeding. We are trying to introduce a bottle back in because she will have to take one when I return to work in a few months. She prefers to nurse. 

Update - Molly is 16 weeks old - almost 4 months. 

I have not touched the SNS in two weeks! She is up to 12lbs 12oz. I've figured out she loves my right side and gets frustrated on the left. So now she almost only nurses on the right now. I pump the left in the morning, at 1pm and at 10pm. That milk goes right in the freezer. 

I'm hoping she will continue nursing as long as possible. 

The next hurdle is my return to work, which is soon. She will have to have bottles during the day and I'm hoping she won't get too spoiled and will continue to take the breast.