Happy family at the zoo

We went to the zoo today and had the best time!!!! This was us on the train ride!!

Could he be any more happier?!? =)

Big girl!!!

Look who climbed up in her chair by herself to enjoy her snacks =)

The joys of breastfeeding!!!

Yes, I am STiLL nursing my 17 (almost 18) month old !!!!=). It has been hard but the most wonderful experience ever!!! I always new I would breastfeed especially after all the research, many papers, etc that I did in nursing school! It was silly not to! It is the best thing for your child! So, I was determined to make I work!!!

Starting out, it was rocky!!! It was not as easy as I had thought and I had a lactation consultant stop by every day in the hospital to help! Iris was eager to nurse and she loved it!!! She loved to suck and our latch was never right initially! She also had a STRONG suck!! I was so sore and we had everything you could buy in the breastfeeding isle!!! I had the cream (love lanolin!!!!), gel pads ($20 for one set!! And they were only good for 3 days!), ice packs, nipple shield,... You name it, I had it! My nipples were bruised, cracked, and bleeding but I was determined! She would latch and I would scream and Doug would keep coaxing me on telling me I was a great momma and doing the right thing! He was a saint! I swear, if it wasn't for him, I might have given up!

Finally, after a few weeks, I was healed and the nipple shield helped so much! Breastfeeding was going well!!!

On mother's day, we had been breastfeeding for a month and I started to nurse without the nipple shield and we were able to do it! The soreness was minimal and I was relieved!!!!

So, months passed and we have mastered it!!!!! Iris was nursing about every 3 hrs during the day and anywhere from 4-6 hrs at night! Many times I thought iris was weaning herself and we were done so I would panic but I just had to relax!!! Babies change all the time so our nursing would too!!!

Pumping became my new hobby!!! =). I pumped all the time! Our freezer was full of 5oz bags of breast milk! I was my own dairy cow! I was determined to not use formula if I didn't need to!! (nothing against formula but I wanted to only feed her my milk and I had a great supply)

Around 9 months,my supply really started to decrease. Iris was starting to sleep through the whole night!!! Yay!! Work was stressful and finding time to relax and pump was tricky. So I consulted the lactation consultants at work and they advised me to keep pumping!! I was thankful for all the frozen breast milk I had in the freezer!!! On the weekends, Doug would bring Iris to work so I could nurse her! I loved those bonding moments!!!

We reached 12 months and I was so happy!!! We reached our goal!!! My supply was still low so we started adding a little organic whole milk with DHA to make her bottles when I worked! She was taking 4-4.5oz in her bottles and so I would pump 2oz and add 2-2.5 oz of whole milk. That seemed to work perfectly!!!! She only had to have 2 bottles while I worked and I would nurse her the other times!!!

At 16 months, I stopped pumping!!! I would only get 1 oz when I would pump so I decided to stop. We also stopped giving Iris her 4pm bottle so it seemed appropriate and a good time to finally put my old friend away! I definitely got
my money's worth out of my medela breast pump!!! Best investment ever!!!

So she would nurse in the morning, before her am nap then before I would leave for work. Doug would giver her a bottle at bedtime! (on days I worked. When I was off, she would nurse every 4 hrs)

Now, we are officially starting the weaning process! I am sad but it's time! I will miss our bonding moments but we still snuggle and I rock her to sleep before naps and at bedtime!!! We are continuing our morning and bedtime nursings for now and we are skipping nursing before naps. It's been almost a week and it's going better than expected! She will cry and ask for milk but I give her a paci and we snuggle and rock instead! She only cries for about a minute and she's over it!

We'll see how this goes for awhile then we will tackle the morning and bedtime nursings!!! =)

We have tried getting her to take milk out of a cup but she refuses it! Grrr! She will take it warm and in a bottle but not out of a cup! We even tried many cups but still no luck! She will drink ANYTHING else out of a cup but milk! That will be our next challenge!

So, that's our breastfeeding journey! I am so blessed that it worked for us!!!! I feel my journey has helped me be a better teacher at work! I try to encourage new moms and help empower them to hopefully be successful at breastfeeding!!

The face of a little girl who loves her dad!!!

We (well Doug did last night while I worked) rearranged our baby gates to find a better fit! He moved them closer to the steps to give us more space. Needless to say, this opened up the doorway and front step and it's iris' new favorite spot!!!

Last night she drank her bottle on the step and today she waited for her dad to get home from work!!!! This picture was taken just as he was pulling up!!!! This girl loves her dad and he adores her just as much =)

2 ingredient cupcakes!!!

I found this on pintrest and they were so yummy!!!!! Just 2 ingredients! No eggs or oil needed! Just mix the box mix and pumpkin together and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes!! I did add a little cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg and they were super moist and yummy!!! I just dusted the cupcakes with powdered sugar but Doug requested a little cream cheese icing next time =)

Very yummy and a simple recipe for last minute guests =)

Enjoy!!!

I have the whole day with this cuteness!

Calling dadda!!!!

Best words!!!

We were eating pancakes and raspberries and this classy lady said "love momma". My heart stopped and I had the biggest smile on my face. I asked her if she loves her momma and she smiled and shook her head yes!!!!

I love my baby girl!!

Iris loves hanging out with her nana!!

Checking out the ducks!!

Day with nana!

Nana came to spend the day with us! We had story time the lunch! We took her to our favorite park and had ran through the tunnels!! Such a fun day! Thanks for hanging out with us!!!

Good morning!!!!

We're making pancakes!!!! What are you having for Sunday breakfast?!?

An afternoon at young's dairy

We met the family at young's dairy for the yearly wool gathering and it was so much fun!!! We went last year and Iris seemed to enjoy the animals but this year she was bigger and old enough to do more!!! She played music, saw sheep, goats, alpachas, angora bunnies, dairy cows and chickens!!!! We road the movers and shakers ride and she REALLY enjoyed that!!! We also had lunch there and went to have ice cream in yellow springs since the line was too long at the dairy!! It was a great fall day =)

A perfect ending to a perfect day!

With working 4 evenings, those 3 nights that I am home are pretty special! We try to have the tv off and cell phone, computers away until after Iris is asleep! We eat dinner together and spend family time together playing with blocks, tickling, singing and dancing, reading lots of books or playing outside!

I cherish these moments and are something we look forward to!!

Cool girl

Yes, she did this herself and was walking around haha

Then a nice evening walk!

Notice Wes is pulling iris along?!? He always wanted to be a sled dog =)

This girl loves her shoes!

See my new shoes!!!

A playdate and a first juice box to end the evening!!

First shoe fitting at Stride Rite

She measured a big size 4!!!! We went with 4.5 as they recommended to have room for growth! We picked level 3 (off and running) but with a flexible sole!

Hello fall!!

Happy grandparents day!!!!

Love,
Iris

Then and now!

Iris was 1 month old and Brandon was 5 months!

Now iris is 17 months and Brandon is 21 months!!

Iris screaming and laughing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cVOndPrKnI

Iris and Doug were having fun last night!!! Her screams were hysterical!!

Play date and some girl time!

Amber is home visiting from California so we squeezed in a quick visit and play date at sam's!!! Amber, Sam, and I went to nursing school together and so much has changed in the 2.5 years since we graduated!!!! Sam had Brandon, I had Iris, and Amber moved to California to be a labor & delivery nurse!!! It was so nice to all get together for some girl time!!!

And Iris enjoyed giving and receiving some love from Brandon!!! They were so cute together and had a blast playing!!!

What a great afternoon!!! We must do it again soon =)

Look who I found sharing a dog bed!!

They have become little buddies!!! Iris loves hugging him and he enjoys stealing snacks and licks!!! They sat (still are sitting) for quite some time just loving on each other!!!

This is why we call her crazy daisy!!

Happy 17 months to my sweet baby girl!

And loves Elmo if you couldn't tell! Wes jumped in to say hey as well!

First day!! Fun at the beach and pier

Iris seeing the ocean for the first time and hanging out on the pier

Crabs with a side of jelly fish

Fun at pawley's

Mom and I, and mom and Steve at pawley's Island!! I think they liked it there!!! Lots of neat things to see! We caught crabs, star fish, pestered jelly fish and took a bunch of neat shells!

Bye bye beach

Last photo on the beach and Iris napping before our departure!!! We had dinner at sam's corner where we had yummy hot dogs and fries!!! We left around 9pm and made it back home around 10 am! Iris did great on the drive! She slept the entire way except for when we would stop to switch drivers. She would wake up and we would get her out and then I would nurse her and she would sleep until the next stop! She was never fussy!!! We were lucky!!!

The drive seemed much longer on the way home! I think exhaustion set in!! On Saturday, we unloaded and took a nap around 11 am for 3 hrs then iris and I passed out around 5 pm and didn't wake up until 7 am today!!!! We needed the sleep!

Today, we headed home to pick up Wesley and to drop off our beach gear at Doug's parent's house! His parents cooked us a yummy lunch then we headed back home to do more laundry! We both had tomorrow off still so we intend to be lazy!!!

Hope everyone has a great labor day!!!

Last few pictures

Our last day and Iris napping on the beach. She was so sleepy and we wanted to stay on the beach as long as we could!!! I nursed her and then sat and rocked her for 1 1/2 hrs!!! My butt was so numb and sore but I enjoyed every moment!!! These little snuggles are going to slowly come to an end as she gets older!!! She's not a baby any more =(

And then a picture of the Deppen's packed beach buggy!!! Thanks for letting us borrow it!!

Iris loves Elmo

A freshly bathed Iris in her new Elmo shirt and her Elmo!!! So adorable!

Last day at the beach =(

Friday was our last day at the beach!!! We were so sad that the week came and went so quickly!! We had the best time and we were not anticipating the long drive back to Ohio!!! We played hard at the beach and tried to savor every minute!!!

Iris was ready for the beach as soon as she woke up like she was every morning! She would walk to the door and whine as if to say "let's go already!!". We would load up our beach gear and pack our lunch and she would run right to the ocean, let the water touch her feet then run back and start digging!!! She was so cute! She really loved everything about the beach!!! I hope she is always like that!!

Around 4, we packed up and headed back to the condo to get our showers, naps, and load up all our crap!!! Boy did we pack a lot!!! We were sad to leave! The ocean is a magical place and it was the best vacation!!! It was great seeing it through Iris' eyes!!! We can't wait to go back next year!!!

Date night!

After Iris went to bed, we got dressed up and went out to dinner!!! We ate at the divine fish at murrel's inlet and it was yummy!!! It was nice to have a quiet dinner out alone. We do not do it very often because I still do not like to be away from Iris so when we do, we try to really enjoy the moment!!!

After dinner we walked along the boardwalk and along the other restaurants and bars and listened to the bands play and drinking rum punch =). We had a great time!! Thanks mom and Steve for watching iris!!!