Eilee’s 5 Months Old

Today our baby girl is FIVE months old! It’s a super busy week for us so i haven’t had a lot of time to wallow in my heart ache that she’s growing so fast but i will say that month four was a huge month for little Leighton. She is 16 1/2 lbs and just broke 27 inches tall. She started sitting up unassisted for brief periods of time. She started blowing spit bubbles. She started growling all of the time which cracks me up. It’s hilarious. She tries to mimic noises and will be saying her first words soon I’m sure. (It better be ‘mama’ but Brian says it’ll be ‘booby’). She has 2 teeth that have broken skin with more on their way judging by the drool fest that is currently commencing. She found her feet then shortly after started putting them into her mouth. She full blown cackles when she laughs. She can still roll from back to belly and belly to back. She still sucks her thumb constantly. She’s on an awesome schedule and can be laid down while she’s awake. We play, then i nurse her/snuggle her, and when she’s full i lay her down in her play pen. She falls RIGHT to sleep. I did this with my bigs and it was a God send. I say it a lot but schedule is key to having multiple children and keeping your sanity. I’m not one to give up my baby cuddles though so every night i rock her to sleep as i nurse. I do it during the day too when I’ve got all of my chores done or if i can tell that she’s not wanting to go down. You can never cherish babyhood enough in my opinion. Relishing in it is top priority for me but her being able to be laid down to sleep in her own bed is nice. Last week she got Bronchitis and i held her/nursed her non stop pretty much. As soon as she got over it, her big sister ended up getting it so i was able to get Eilee back on schedule and devote my non stop cuddles to Char. Thankfully neither of them had it very long and so far no one else has gotten it. Essential oils, saline mist, and bulb suctions are life! (I’ll be doing a post on my favorite EO’s and brands tomorrow) 

Anyways back to E’s update, she’s sleeping 9 hours straight most nights. She’s still only had breast milk. No solids, water, or juice what so ever. She’s had 4-5 full bottles her entire life and breastfeeds 99% of the time. I won’t be entertaining the idea of baby led weaning onto solids until she’s atleast 6 months old. Physically whether she’s ready or not, her little virgin gut isn’t developed enough right now. Anyone who has spent any length of time with E will tell you that she’s the happiest baby ever. She hardly ever fusses. Smiles for days. Loves her swing, play gym, sit me up, jumper, etc. Her nickname is Smiley Eilee and it’s totally fitting. She’s just a very content girl. Don’t mistake content for quite though. Gosh no. She’s super chatty. Squealing and ‘talking’ is her thing. I love it so much. As you can tell, month four was a big one full of many firsts and milestones. On top of her developmental achievements we also celebrated her first Thanksgiving. Most definitely lots to be thankful for over here in the Lane family. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Thursday was Thanksgiving and we had a wonderful day. We started our morning off as we do every thanksgiving morning, a big breakfast and the Macy’s parade. We got ready then went to my dad’s family’s side get together. The food was yummy and the times were good. Everyone (but the kids, pregos, and breastfeeders) drank some beer and played corn hole. My family is super laid back and fun. Like, at our New Year’s Eve party last year we played Cards Against Humanity (a very vulgar card game) and this year we will be playing the holiday version on Christmas Eve ha. There’s typically drinking involved at our family functions. 

There was a sense of emptiness to our celebration this time though. My aunt wasn’t there. It was our first thanksgiving since she’s passed. She always greeted everyone with the biggest hugs. She also made a popular dessert and we all loved it. No one made it this year. It would have been too emotional i think. We miss her and my papa greatly but know that they were both there in spirit. Brian’s family had their get together at the same time that mine had theirs but we made it work. It was Eilee’s first Thanksgiving. She was all smiles despite being diagnosed with Bronchitis 2 days earlier. She’s not eating solids at all so she didn’t get any food but she did start eating on her toes for the first time that day. It was so cute and ironic timing. That evening B took the kids hunting. Believe it or not they actually were quite. They saw a doe and a big buck. Not big enough for Brian to shoot but still a deer no less. He’s picky on what he takes. It has to be a monster. Once they got home we enjoyed a lazy Christmas classics movie night eating left overs and cuddling. After bedtime i did a lot of online shopping for Christmas. I typically finish my shopping on Black Friday but this year there really wasn’t many good deals. I only got about half of my shopping done so I will be knocking another chunk of it out when we are in Branson next weekend. I love that the kids will be involved. They have big, giving hearts and get so excited to buy things for other people. It’ll be a fun weekend get away for sure. 

We have so much to be thankful for and are very blessed. I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday. 

Holiday Home Tour: Sneak Peek

In less than 2 weeks our home is in the Holiday Home Tour. If you have young kids you can imagine how hard it is to keep things tidy and ‘staged’. I’ve redecorated our trees multiple times, had to repurchase center pieces because they’ve gotten “lost”, found decor in toy boxes, etc. I have also found things online that i just had to have so i paid rush shipping on them and I’ve added/am still adding things to the trees. I’m to the point that I’ve decided to put the rest of finishing touches up last minute because kids make it impossible to keep things neat. We always decorate for Christmas so this is a struggle each year but the difference is that we didn’t have a large amount of people touring every single room in our home in the past. Yes, they even tour the laundry room. If things weren’t picture perfect, it was fine. If things were misplaced, oh well. If the trees had balls clustered at the bottom or missing in big spots, it didn’t matter. This project is very fun for me but a little more overwhelming than i expected solely because of the kids. It’s hard to keep up with it all when you have 3 kids undoing things. Their rooms are the biggest challenge. They want to redecorate their trees over and over every single day. If we get asked again to do this i will probably pass ha. Not because i didn’t love decorating and preparing for the tour but because it’s been hard with mini tornadoes blowing through multiple times a day. Really though, it’s been so much fun and I’m very thankful to have been asked to do it. 

Anyways, i can’t share our Christmas decorations in full until the tour is over but i will share a tiny sneak peek. Stay tuned on December 3rd for a FULL home tour post. 

Health Scares & A Busy Week

This week has been rough to say the least. Last Thursday my dad was admitted back into the hospital for kidney issues. It’s been a year ago exactly since he was in a coma and we all were having major PTSD over it. Fears and emotions were overwhelming at times. The memories and pain came flooding back. On Tuesday Dad had a biopsy done again on his kidneys to see where things are at. The biopsy would tell us 1 of 3 things most likely. One, dad has a disease that attacks the kidneys. If that was the case he’d need aggressive chemo medication to attack the disease then he’d need long term dialysis. Two, dad has scarring in the kidneys that is not be treatable so he’d need a transplant. Or 3, things are exactly were there were prior to getting sick this time and the sickness did no further damage. Yesterday we got the results and PRAISE GOD there as been no further damage! He doesn’t need dialysis or a transplant at this time. That bridge will eventually have to be crossed. He can’t live long term in the condition that he’s in now but we want to keep him at this spot as long as possible. Most likely the flu shot caused an infection in his kidneys because they are too fragile to break down the toxins in the vaccine. My dad has remained right at that line of needing dialysis and not needing it plus he has a mechanical valve in his heart so any little injection or sickness is critical for him. He has a small amount of kidney function left but the fact that he doesn’t have LESS function is amazing. All great news for now but there’s another scare going on in our family. The same day that my dad got his biopsy done, we found out that my papa has cancer. He had emergency surgery to attempt to remove the mass and we should have the biopsy results next week that tell us if they missed any of the cancer or not. On top of healing from surgery he was given a flu shot and big surprise, the next day he woke up with full blown flu symptoms. His muscles hurt so bad that he’s having a hard time moving and he’s cold sweating. Prayers for him would be appreciated. I hate seeing my boys in pain. It kills me but i have faith that we will get good news on papa just like we did with my dad. The bigs all had Thanksgiving parties at school yesterday. On Wednesday I deep cleaned one of our rent houses so that some friends can move in this weekend then we went to the creek with different friends. We call it “family creek night” and it’s one of our favorite things to do. On Monday i went to Tulsa to visit my dad in the hospital. I’ve managed to get most of my house done for the Holiday Home Tour and next week the kids do not have school so hopefully it’s pretty enough that they can play outside while I finish decorating. It’s been a busy week and when I look at my calendar I’m reminded that every week will be busy until after the New Year. I’m stressed about finishing my house for the home tour. Every inch has to be picture perfect. I am going to knock that all out soon so that I focus on Thanksgiving and eating my face off with the ones that i love ha. THEN i get to focus on all things Christmas with my family. Shopping, baking, crafting, Santa, Silver Dollar City, The Christmas Cruise, parties, cooking, caroling, ect. All things that i loooooove! 

I hope that y’all have a great weekend and that your week wasn’t as crazy as mind. 

Introducing a Breastfed Baby to a Bottle/Bottle Reviews

When Eilee was 3 1/2 months old I introduced her to a bottle for the first time. We tried so many different brands but she gagged like crazy as soon as the bottle nipple hit her mouth. I just knew that she’d never take a bottle and that we’d be nursing until she started school ha. Which would have been just fine with me aside from the fact that I have to get my wisdom teeth removed next week. I have one tooth that’s not breaking through and it’s causing me extreme discomfort. I’m not a fan of medicine if it can be avoided so I typically find natural remedies or just suffer through whatever is bothering me. This tooth has been trying to come through for several years now but it just can’t seem to make it all the way through. The dentist said that it being half in and half out is an infection risk so he advised me to just have them all removed to avoid any further issues. Surgery was a last resort for me and I wanted to wait until I was done nursing but I simply can’t. That was hard on me at first but I came to realize that Eilee being able to take a bottle on a few occasions is a nice idea. Sickness season is coming and I don’t want to have to take her to places in public so if she can take a bottle I can leave her at home with my husband. Also she’s 4 months old now and within a few months I had planned to introduce a sippy cup anyways. I will keep breast/bottle for milk only and cup for water or juice when that time comes but I think that her being exposed to the bottle now will help her merge over to a sippy. I still nurse her nearly all of the time. The only time that she takes a bottle was to get her used to it/practice eating from it and when I wasn’t with her on Friday night. The plan now that she takes it okay is to only have her take one if I am not physically with her. Breastfeeding is important to me not just because of the medical benefits through my milk but also the emotional benefits through the bond. I have been so terrified to do anything to jeopardize our nursing journey. That’s why I originally wasn’t going to ever bottle feed but now I know that you can successfully do both. My advice to moms who want to do both but are scared of nipple confusion like I was is to be sure and introduce a bottle at the perfect time. I introduced it too early with my oldest and she refused to nurse on me because of that. I waited too long with my youngest and getting her to take a bottle was hard. She still does not take it like she takes my breast. She gags occasionally and doesn’t eat as well from the bottle but we are getting there. Statistically 4-6 weeks of age is ideal for bottle introduction. We tried SO MANY BRANDS with Eilee. We tried Dr. Brown, Comotomo, Tommee Tippie, Spectra, Medela, Avent, Mimjimi, First Years, Nuk, Munchkin, Kiindle, ect to name a few but the one and ONLY bottle that she didn’t instantly gag on was the MAM brand. As I mentioned earlier she doesn’t feed on it like she does on me but she will actually eat from it and she wouldn’t any of the others. I know that every baby is different and some love the ones that didn’t work for us but hate the one that did however, if you’re bottle shopping I highly recommend MAM bottles. It’s easy to sanitize and clean. It breaks down into several separate pieces for cleaning. You sanitize it in the microwave. Eilee rarely burps up air or spits up after a bottle feeding. It’s cute and affordable as well. For 2, 5 oz bottles it’s around $11. Eilee rejected a lot of pacifiers too. She’d kind of take a Soothie brand but only for a few minutes then she’d spit it out. I encouraged her to take a bink. It’s been said to reduce the risk of SIDS so I personally just wanted to try and get her to take one. She never really did pick up on it though until I found out that the MAM bottles worked for her so I tried the MAM pacifiers. She took to it instantly and loves it.

I tried the MAM bottle because I started looking for a bottle nipple that was the most similar to my own breast/nipple. I really think that’s why it worked for us so if you’re a mom whose trying to get your breastfed Baby to take a bottle, look for bottles that resemble your own nipple. Also look for bottles that are colic reducers and limit air intake. It may take you a few tries but it will get better. You’ll find the perfect one. I hope this post helped some of you that are trying to find the perfect bottle and I wish you the best of luck. 

I’m Not Just a Mom

Last night I left Eilee for the first time since she was born. My best friend Lauren and I went to the movies to see Bad Moms Christmas and had dinner/drinks during the show. With my older kids the first time I left them they were 10 plus months old. I’m really big on the whole ‘I had my kids, I’ll be the one who raises them’ thing. I take pride in being a mother who took/takes care of her children 98% of the time prior to them starting school. Being a mom and raising them makes me indescribably happy. I always say this but it’s a dream come true and was my biggest goal in life. However, I simply need a break sometimes. I’m a mom first, always but I’m also a young 27 year old free spirited girl. I enjoy adult fun from time to time and Iike going out for a few hours with my girl friends. Leaving E was hard on me. I originally wasn’t nervous at all. I was just pumped to have a reason to get dressed up and to go out for a bit. We introduced her to bottles 2 weeks ago. It took literally 15 plus brands to find one that she didn’t gag on. 

(I’ll be posting more specific details/a review on it as well as all of the others that we tried later today)

I knew that she’d take the bottle for Brian so that didn’t worry me or I obviously wouldn’t have left her but the entire drive to meet my friend I stressed out about leaving her. I kept calling and checking on her. I told Brian 20 times that I was just going to turn around and he told me to stop being psychotic ha. I think it offended him that I was checking on them so much. Like I didn’t trust him with her which again, obviously wasn’t the case or I wouldn’t have left her. It all boiled down to me feeling guilty. Extremely guilty. It hovered over me big time but I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t feel guilty. I’m going to give all of you the same lecture that I gave myself yesterday. 

We are moms. Our kids define us and become who we are. They take over every moment of our lives and turn us into someone who lives for, in my case, four tiny humans. They are my first thought when I wake up and my last thought when I go to sleep. I’m not ‘Callee’ anymore. I’m ‘mom’. My vehicle screams ‘mom’. My style screams ‘mom’. My cheesy childish sense of humor screams ‘mom’. My hand sanitizer hanging off of my Coach purse screams ‘mom’. My pathetically amazing knowledge of cartoons screams ‘mom’. I reek of motherhood and I (we) are internally grateful for that. We are grateful to be moms and to have a life that revolves solely around our kids. We can cry the big cry simply by thinking about how blessed we are and how much we love our babies. We emerge ourselves in taking care of others and we deserve breaks! We deserve a few hours out. We deserve to get our nails or lashes done. We deserve to have drinks with a friend. We deserve a date with our husband. We deserve a weekend get away kid free. We deserve to piss alone. We deserve to take time to find ourselves again and to simply be/feel young. My goal for this coming year is to spend more time finding ‘Callee’. To do more things for myself. That might sound selfish to some but you know what, I don’t care. I know how much I do for my family. I know that they define my every waking moment. I know that I can do things for me without sacrificing a single thing for them. SO CAN YOU. Don’t let guilt or shame stop you from being the part of you that isn’t JUST ‘mom’. 

Happy Halloween

We spent the day full of fun. Hudson and his classsmates went trick or treating at the businesses in town and the girls classes went to the pumpkin patch during the day. It was a blast. Every year we do the same thing on Halloween night and have since I was a young child. We trick or treat 2 certain neighborhoods in our town (houses of people that we know), we visit all of the grandparents/great grandparents, pass out candy at my grandma’s house who lives by the school in the middle of town, and we hit up trunk or treat in the courthouse square. We ended our evening watching Hocus Pocus. It was a great day all together for us and full of spooky fun. We hope that it was wonderful for all of you as well whether you celebrate it or not. 

Happy Halloween from the farmer and his adorable little farm animals; a pig, a sheep, and a cow 🎃