Summer Flew By!

I can't believe I start my new job next week! This past summer has flown by so fast. Mike's soccer team is already having games and Zachary is starting kindergarten on Wednesday. Our family has had so many changes the past few months . We are still trying to get the hang of our new family and attempting to stick to schedule.

I've had some ask me how Ben is doing with both formula and breast milk. I have created a schedule we follow daily. It starts out with the first feeding in the morning is me nursing Ben, the next two feedings are formula and then the next two are breast milk. We continue alternating every two feedings until the 9pm bottle and that is a formula bottle, usually 4-5oz. Ben sleeps better with a full tummy of formula than he does with mommy's milk. I then get up with him every 2 1/2 - 3 hrs at night and nurse him until we start the next day's schedule. On the day before I know Mike will be responsible for a breast milk feeding if I'm not going to be here I make sure to put at least 8 oz of frozen milk in the fridge so it starts to thaw. We have a plastic bowl that we keep with water in it near the bottles and we put it in the microwave for 2 1/2 minutes, we use this to warm formula bottles and to thaw out breast milk baggies. Ben's digestive system is now responding much better than it originally did. The first two weeks he was constipated and had a lot of belly issues. Now he is having at least one BM daily which is which okay according to his doctor. I continue to pump when I'm not nursing and I have gotten quite a supply of milk. So much I've gone back and tossed frozen milk that's over 2 weeks old. I feel bad tossing it but since I am pumping so much and I know we won't ever use the supply I have. I have been able to pump 6-9 oz each time I pump and that equals 1 1/2 to 2 feedings per pump.

I don't know if I've written about the babysitter schedule for Ben (I don't feel like going back to check.) Ben is going to LoAnna "Nanna" from 7 - 12:30 Tuesday through Friday. His Memaw (Mike's mom) picks him up when she gets off work and watches him the rest of the afternoon until either Mike or I get off work (which ever one can pick him up earliest). She watched Zachary from the time he was 6 weeks old until last week and has also watched our neice and nephew (Allie and Kyle) since they were babies as well. We feel so blessed that Mike's mom has volunteered to watch the kids, it has created a very special relationship between her and Zachary and we hope Ben is able to get the same relationship.

After I drop Ben off at the babysitters I am going to drop Zachary off at his preschool. They have a before and after school program that he will participate in. His preschool is located right next door to the elementary school he will be attending (it's walking distance away!). And it also is less than a 1/2 mile away from Ben's babysitter.

I'm happy we have the kids (it's still weird to say kids rather than it being just one!) daily schedule taken care of. Now we just have to work on our daily and evening schedules once I get back to work. I have to admit, the house is a darn wreck - I don't think I've vacuumed in over a week. Don't even ask me the last time I dusted. Bed sheets haven't been washed in weeks and my kitchen needs to be mopped. It was much easier for me to keep the house clean right after I had Ben, but the past few weeks has been very difficult because he's been attached to me. I hope that when I go back to work we will be able to include cleaning into our daily routine, even if it's just one small task and one large task at night. The only tasks we've been keeping up with are laundry and dishes. Oh, well - if you stop by unexpected just know I don't let people in my house if I think it's messy.

Mike's soccer team is off to a slow start, they lost their first game to their rival team. He has a bunch of new girls on the team who are just learning the sport. After his game last week he came home so upset with the girls. He is having a hard time coaching girls, he says they have a lack of spirit for the game they are playing and he doesn't know how to get them to put their heart into the game. His complaint is girls have too much drama and girls are more stubborn than boys are. He reminds me after practice every day how thankful he is that we have two boys and not girls.

One of my blogger friends who was pregnant the same time I was has been in the hospital for almost a month now due to a seizure that ended up being a brain aneurysm. She had her baby girl 4 days before I had Ben and has been in the hospital since she was 2 weeks old. Her family has asked that we do not disclose any other information. They created a Care Pages Blog account for her through their hospital and are keeping friends informed on a daily basis. I'm asking that you send a special prayer to her for a full recovery. She has two small adorable little girls that I am sure would like for their Mommy to come home.

As the title of my post states, Summer Flew By so fast. I am very thankful that I was able to spend the summer with both of my boys. We didn't get everything done that I had wanted to do, but that's okay. Instead I spent time with Mike, Zachary and Ben which is more important to me than getting flowers planted around my house or getting our back porch repainted. Although I am not scratching everything off my list - it will get done sometime.

Ben is calling, time to go try to get him back to sleep.