Nursing

What does it take to keep this girl gaining weight?

All of this...

Some of you may know I have trouble keeping on weight when I am nursing. It turns out that I loose more weight and faster with each child. So with Megan being a preemie AND my third - my milk has seemed to turn to water. Nursing in important to me - so I need to bump up my protein and calories. I eat EVERYTHING I can and then I supplement with protein shakes, meal replacement bars, nutrition drinks, and I have to pump before I feed her so she just gets the hind milk.

We are doing good - she is bulking up.

What have we been up to?

Mostly just staying at home - except for when Karli sets up a play group...

We have gone on three fun ones... See the post below.

I love this play group and have missed it over the winter.

Zoo

Megan is using my wrap - and she likes it. She just sleeps in it - it was one of my best purchases.

This is our "main play group" - there are sometimes a few other moms - but these are the consistent ones. 5 moms, 13 kids (4 and under) , 3 sit and stand strollers, 2 double strollers, a lot of fun!

This is typical Noah. He LOVES to sit and look at something. His favorite thing is DVD covers. He will just sit and stare at it for 30 or so minutes - looking at it intently. He sat on the back of the stroller and stared at the zoo map for about 20 minutes. It is one of my favorite things about him.

Gym Cats

Karli has a new gymnastics place that has opened up by her house. They have open gym hours - so we went and checked it out. It was so much fun.

This is a crazy high platform that you jump off of into foam. Brock just jumped right off. Noah was DYING to jump off - but I wouldn't let him - it was too high. And as for me... well... Brock had to count to 3 like five times before I got the courage to jump.

I did let Noah jump off this smaller one - but only with me. That kind of satisfied him.

Discovery Gardens

We went to the Children's Discovery Garden's at Thanksgiving Point. One of the only reason I am sad that we moved to West Jordan instead of Lehi is because I wanted to get a pass at Thanksgiving Point - we love going to all the activities there. I would have loved to live closer.

My new stroller - I decided to go with a sit and stand. Both Brock and Noah can fit comfortably on the "stand" platform. I have loved it!

Payton and Brock are at a great age right now where they can just go off and play. They play really well together too - they never fight over a toy or hurt each other. They also love to wrestle together - they are really tough with each other. I wish we could spend more time with them.

This is what Megan did the whole time:

Why we keep journals (blogs)

I went to write a post about some of the discouragements I have in my life right now. The desires to do service, decorate my house, get really involved in my ward, etc, and the inability to find the time or energy to do them. As I started writing the post I remembered I had written a post kind of like it already, but instead of being negative, it was more positive. I searched my blog to find it and I did.

Funny, I wrote it in May of 2009, maybe it is something about the spring that gives me desires to stretch myself.

Click here if you want to read it.

This was exactly what I needed to read - and relearn.

I am grateful for my blog - I know that sounds dumb, but I have used it many times as a journal, and this blog really does show who I really am. I try really hard for it to be real and authentic (whether for good or for bad). I hope some of you find it enjoyable and interesting and have gotten to know me a little better along the way. (My most personal stuff is on my side bars - for all you google reader people :)

Some Meganness

And one of the boys...

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day was wonderful - thanks to my wonderful husband and three darling children. Jason worked extra hard to make sure that I felt very loved and appreciated this Mother's Day, and I sure did.

Here are some pic's with me and my kids:

Brock get's two because I couldn't decide which one I liked better

This was the best family picture we could get.

This is all the cousin's on my side. Brock, Audrey, Megan, Brad, Emma, and Noah

Brock and Emma got to bond while she was in town. They are only 8 weeks apart.

Noah has taken a liking to the cape

Status Report

So everybody is asking: "How are you handling three?"

Well... I don't really have a clear cut answer, it depends on the moment, but for the most part it hasn't been that hard. The BIGGEST reason I have been able to adjust is because of Jason. He stayed home from work the first week, and went part time the second week. The first week Megan and I just stayed up in my room and "got to know each other". She learned how to nurse really well and I was able to just stay in bed and heal. Then the second week I just eased back into things in the morning while Jason was a work, and then he came home and I took the rest of the day off. If it wasn't for these two weeks, I don't think I would be adjusting as well.

The postpartum hormones you get don't help the situation. I cry a couple times a day, not that I am really that sad, I just catch a glimpse of Megan sleeping and I wish that I could be holding her while she slept, or I see Noah reading a book to himself, or I have asked Brock to wait for something for the MILLIONTH time that day. I wish I could be everything all the time to all three of them, but I know this is good for them.

I am overwhelmed about cleaning my house. I am pretty good at keeping it picked up and surface cleaned, dishes are always done and toys are always put away. But I just don't know when I can find the time to do bathrooms, dust, floors, etc. Cleaning 1800 sq feet is a lot different than 500 sq feet. I wish I had would have had a few more weeks in the house before I had Megan, these were two huge life changes so close together.

Our days at home are really good. We have fun and everyone is usually well taken care of and happy. It is the days that we have to be somewhere by a certain time that mess me up. I just can't figure out how to get all three children out of the house without at least 2 of them screaming. No matter how long I have to prepare, it just all falls apart at the end. Plus, I am the type that likes to have the house clean before I leave, you know, so I come home to a clean house, and that has just gone out the window, and it really irritates me.

It is probably going to take me a few months, but I think we will be able to work out these kinks. The two biggest helps have been Jason and the scriptures. Jason has been amazing, I can't imagine doing this without him. He is the best dad and husband, he has made this adjustment so easy, thank you sweet heart. And as for the scriptures, usually after a baby the habit of daily scripture study goes out the window, and I really wanted to make sure that didn't happen this time, and it has made a world of difference. Even just being in them for 2 or 5 minutes makes a noticeable difference in my day. I am also writing in my journal everyday, just something about my day (or emotions) with the kids. These days with such young children are going to go by so fast, and I want to be able to remember what it was like.

Well, there is my status report. This is a work in progress, but I am loving every minute of the work.