Kid Updates

While the big kids do not change as rapidly as Lydia right now, they are growing up quickly. Here is a quick rundown of each big kid and how they're handling this pandemic.

Ashton:
Ashton officially finished kindergarten and passed. We loved her teacher this last year. While the teacher may not have been a great academic teacher, I truly appreciated how she helped Ashton emotionally. Ashton struggles with uncertainties in her day. For instance, if it was library day but the library was closed at school, Ashton would have a difficult time processing that and understanding the new plan/schedule. Her teacher decided to make Ashton the daily planner and put her in charge of explaining the day to the class. It was perfect and we never had any issues with it the rest of the year. Miss Garcia often told us that she would say a joke or something funny under her breath but Ashton would hear it and start laughing. They shared jokes throughout the year and always shared strawberries for lunch.

Ashton misses school. When I asked her if she'd want to be homeschooled, she quickly said, "No way!" She has adapted well to staying home so much. She is learning to write cursive as well as improve her drawing skills. Her reading and writing has just taken off. She can read most things now in English and Spanish. When she writes, she will sometimes mix up the letters/sounds in English and Spanish. So the word, "highest" is spelled with a "g" as that is the sound in Spanish. Her math is way beyond where she needs to be. I credit this to the hundreds of games of Yahtzee we've been playing this spring/summer. Ashton is excited to go to first grade and continue in the dual immersion program.

Ashton has continued piano lessons throughout all of this with remote teaching. Her big achievements are transitioning to playing a full C major scale (rather than the 5 finger scales) and learning G major scale.

Reading a book to her siblings

She often will do her chores with minimal complaining. But when she does, it makes up for all the times she doesn't complain.

Tanner:
Oh Tanner... He is at a tricky age. He desperately wants to be like Ashton and do everything she's doing but he physically can't. He really wants to draw intricate pictures but his fine motor skills aren't there quite yet. This leads to some complaining and tantrums. He loves all things space and Star Wars. I love this because he finds those books very interesting and loves to read them. I am working on him identifying his letters but I'm not too much in a rush. The plan right now is for him to attend preschool at a nearby church two days a week in the fall. But we will see how that goes. In the back of my mind, I am also preparing for the idea that he may need to have preschool at home. I think he really just wants something to be all his. He really thrived when Ashton was at school and Tanner was top dog at home. He misses that. I am excited that he will have a classroom and friends that are just his, not shared with Ashton.

His t-ball league started back up a few weeks ago. He really enjoys that and looks forward to his games. His first game got rained out so we'll try again next week. I don't know if this will stick for him or not. We were just saying that he'd probably love to visit the space center more. But we'll see how the rest of the season goes.

Gemma:
Oh sweet Gemma. She is the perfect mix between annoying little sister and the sweetest girl. She knows exactly which one to be at any given moment. Her verbal skills continue to explode and always surprises me with words I don't think most 2 year olds know. She is quite the flopper and knows exactly when to fall to the floor in desperation of attention. Gemma HATES her hair being touched, brushed, put in a hair tie, etc. So that's fun... She's pretty opinionated and that combined with her verbal skills, she can definitely tell us what she wants but more importantly, what she doesn't want. Overall, Gemma plays decently with her siblings except for stealing toys or destroying Lego creations. Our struggle with her right now is eating foods aside from milk. She continues to love drinking milk and doesn't consume much else. But I go with the idea of "pick your battles" and figure she'll eventually change.

Squirrel Walk

At some point this spring, Gemma started asking for "Squirrel Walks." She always asks with the saddest little voice that makes you want to take her right then and there. She loves looking at squirrels and hopes to catch one eventually. When one of us can take her on a short walk, we do. Last week, I took the three big kids on a squirrel walk on the nature trail by our home. The kids enjoyed yelling into the water drain and hearing their echo. Then, we found a huge field and the kids ran all around picking flowers. It was one of those moments I wanted to freeze in time. Just something about seeing your kids run free. We also visited our playground for the first time in over two months. It's still not open (technically) but no one else was there and I figured it was safer than if I had taken them to HEB. So we were rebels for a little bit.

Astronaut Tanner

Tanner LOVES space and astronauts. He is constantly acting out stories with space. He knows all about Neil and Buzz and continues to enjoy learning about space. With the SpaceX launch last week, I knew we had to celebrate. The initial launch was scheduled for Wednesday so we went all out for it. Then, with 17 minutes left, they cancelled it due to weather. Thankfully, they were able to launch on Saturday instead. Tanner was beyond excited and it reignited his love for traveling to space. He can't wait to be on a rocket one day. If that is what he wants to do, he will. No doubt.

4 Months Old

Weight:17 lbs 10 oz (90%)

Height: 25 inches (50%)


Clothing Size: All 6-9 month stuff. It's a little big still but better than being a little tight.

Daily Schedule:Lydia wakes up between 8 and 10. She takes 3-4 naps per day after being awake for about 1.5-2 hours. Goes to bed around 9 or 10pm. She gets up twice a night still but goes right back to sleep.

Special Outings: No where. She literally did not leave the house once for the last month.

Firsts: Lydia rolled from back to tummy once. She hated it.

Eating:She spits up a ton! The doctor gave us some suggestions so we'll see if that helps at all.

Sibling love: I noticed Tanner and Ashton interacting with Lydia more this month. They like to make her smile and chuckle.

Monthly Pictures: 

1 Nephi 1:1

Just over twelve years ago, I read the Book of Mormon for the first time. It was my senior year, winter/spring of 2008. A few months later, I would be baptized. I still vividly recall sitting in my room late one night and beginning the Book of Mormon. My intent in reading it was never to join the Church but rather to find fault with the book. Each morning I would take the book and hide it between my mattress and box spring. And every night I'd pull it back out to continue reading.

After I was baptized and especially after I was married, I longed for the day to share my love for that book with my children. I have a strong testimony of its truth and I looked forward to seeing my children gain their personal testimony.

The other night, Ashton began reading the Book of Mormon for the first time. Her reading skills are up to the level of reading scriptures so she began with 1 Nephi 1:1. It thrilled my heart to hear her read that verse and continue throughout the chapter. Many memories came flooding back; some good and some not so good. I reflected on the feeling I felt when I knew the book was true. I reflected on the feeling I felt when my family chose to not support my decision.

But my biggest feeling was pure joy. Joy in knowing that my children will read that book and will have the opportunity to know it's true. I do not know if my children will stay active in the Church. I do not know what their future will be. They each have their agency. But I do know that Ashton felt the spirit as she read those verses. It was pure joy to listen to her read the same verses that changed my life forever twelve years ago and to know that those verses can change her life forever as well.

Pumping Experience: The Beginning

I doubt I will need this information anytime soon. But just in case one of our children does in the future or a friend, I can have it all written down.

I'll start by being frank. I do not enjoy breastfeeding. I chose to breastfeed Ashton as I knew the benefits of it. Honestly, the biggest benefit for me was the lower risk of breast cancer. My grandma had breast cancer twice and my cousin died of breast cancer at 30 years old. I wanted to lower my chances of it. Breastfeeding quickly lost its thrill once I realized I was the only one to help soothe and feed my kids. The oldest three kids never took a bottle much despite my attempts. It became more stress of them refusing than it was to just breastfeed them. I gave in each time and succumbed to the fact that I'd be around my kids 24/7 (pretty much) until they were 12 months old.

My experience with breastfeeding Tanner was a little better as I knew what to expect. I had low expectations of the next year. I lucked out with him as I weaned him a few weeks shy of 12 months. I went on a trip right before his birthday and he stayed home. He weaned just fine and transitioned to whole milk well.

Between Tanner and Gemma, a family moved into our ward in Lake Jackson. She had twins and had pumped exclusively for them. I was very intrigued by this. Soon after, we were pregnant with Gemma and I thought a lot about pumping for her. I ordered the nicest pump I could through our insurance, got used bottles from someone in our ward, etc. I researched pumping schedules and what to do. I planned to nurse Gemma for a few days/weeks until my milk came in and then switch to pumping. Well, Gemma was born and soon after, we found out about her heart. I couldn't bring myself to bottle feed her. I thought, "if she has surgery, I can at least soothe her by nursing." The mom guilt increased drastically with my child with a heart defect. I chose to continue nursing. Gemma was a little like Ashton. She was very attached to me. I weaned her just past a year old and she was still very attached. But it subsided and she got over it. She switched to milk well also.

Then comes Lydia. I decided ahead of time that I'd be nursing her. I knew she was most likely our last child and I could "suck it up" for 12 months to nurse her. In some ways, breastfeeding is convenient and I was going to relish in the convenience aspects of it. Also, having four kids, I was looking forward to being "stuck" at home with Lydia and sending Joseph out with the older kids.

Lydia was born and latched after a little bit of work. She seemed to nurse well in the hospital. She weighed 9 lbs 3 oz at birth and was discharged at 8 pounds 12 ounces. While she had lost a little, it seemed to already be increasing. Her blood sugar levels looked good. We assumed nursing was going well.

At home, Lydia was a hard baby. I spent several nights with her on my chest in a chair as that was the only place she would sleep. Many tears were shed at the thought of having a colicky baby. I never thought she wasn't getting enough breastmilk. She seemed to latch fine and nursed enough times per day. Joseph commented several times that she was either sleeping or eating with no alert periods. I said she was probably just a sleepy newborn.

At her two week doctor appointment, she was down to eight pounds. This alarmed the pediatrician who recommended a lactation consultant. This appointment was on a Friday and I was able to get a consultant for a home visit the next Monday. We did a weighted feeding and found out Lydia transferred no milk after nursing for about 30 minutes. The consultant tried some position changes and noticed Lydia just wasn't getting the right latch and seal. She recommended I pump some milk to at least give Lydia something and then we would try nursing again. I went to pump and was shocked that I barely had any milk. With my others, I always dealt with drastic oversupply. To barely produce an ounce surprised me. We ended up learning that Lydia wasn't transferring much milk for two weeks and therefore, my body stopped producing. We gave Lydia what little milk I could pump and she scarfed it down so quickly. Thankfully, we had some formula samples still around so we could feed her until my body caught back up. It was a shock at how much Lydia changed with just one feeding. She went from a fussy, sleepy, irritable baby to so calm and still. I still feel immense guilt over her starving for so long and me not realizing it.

For a week, we tried nursing and then bottle feeding. Between those I would try to pump to increase my supply. Despite my supply increasing, Lydia still wasn't latching well. The following week, the consultant came back. She was fairly certain Lydia had a tongue and/or lip tie and instructed us to go see a dentist. We got Lydia into our pediatric dentist the same day. After her exam, she said Lydia had a lip tie and a tongue tie. But before the dentist would clip it, we had to go see a chiropractor. Of course the chiropractor part of our insurance is only for people over the age of four. So we would have to pay out of pocket for it. The chiropractor said typical newborns take 6-8 sessions before they sign off on the clip. And at $200/session, that was out of the question. This also meant I spent three days calling our insurance and talking to this and that person to figure out our benefits exactly. It was such a headache.

Meanwhile, I continued to pump for Lydia and had actually stopped trying to nurse her. She took to a bottle well and I saw how nice it was to leave her with Joseph for 30 minutes to go pick up Ashton from school or another errand. I wasn't going to spend what little time I had to be the big kids on just trying to nurse Lydia. It became easier to skip that step.

I did quite a bit of research on lip/tongue ties. I consulted with my sister who is a speech therapist and professor at a university. Her colleague specializes in pediatric oral development. After discussing it with my sister and her colleague, their opinion was to hold off on the clip/release. If the ties caused speech development issues later, then we could address them. However, if the baby was taking to a bottle okay then why put Lydia through the pain/ordeal of clipping. Lydia gained weight quickly once we switched to bottles so it no longer was a detriment to her health. Our pediatrician recommended waiting as well. Lydia also has a shallow roof of her mouth. This would not change even if we clipped the ties. With that oral restriction, there was no guarantee that she would nurse even after the procedure. Our dentist also wanted to clip the lip tie only to see if that worked and if not, then come back for the tongue tie. So that meant possibly two painful procedures for my 4 week old baby.

With all of this lasting for two weeks and constantly calling the next person for another opinion, I felt I needed to stop. It was taking too much of my energy to chase after the medical opinions. I felt strongly that I would continue to pump for Lydia and instead spend my time with my family. Joseph was just about to start a big work project at this time and I knew I couldn't keep up with medical appointments and the kids plus pumping and nursing.

The recommendation for exclusively pumping is to pump at least eight times per day for the first 12 weeks. At roughly 12 weeks, most mothers have their supply regulate. Most days, I fit in seven pumping sessions. I produced about 60 ounces/day until Lydia was about 10 weeks old. I filled our deep freezer and then found out Lydia didn't love frozen breastmilk. She drank it but seemed super fussy with it. I found a local mom in another ward who needed breastmilk to supplement for her infant. I cut back to 5 sessions a day around 12 weeks and still do that now. I lost about 10 ounces so I produce about 50ish ounces/day. Lydia drinks about 30 ounces and I freeze the rest for the mom.

I plan to keep pumping until about 9-10 months and hope that Lydia takes a freezer stash then. By that point, the other mom will not need breastmilk anymore. I could potentially freeze extra and be done with pumping. We will see. I am okay pumping until 12 months.

I really do like pumping and bottle feeding. I like not having to stress about what time an appointment is for me. With all this COVID stuff, I had a few postpartum appointments pushed back and it is nice to be free to schedule them anytime. I love that Joseph can feed Lydia so I can play with the big kids. I still wake up at night and do all that but Joseph handles work and the morning "shift" so it's all good. If we were to ever have another kid, I think I'd do it again. We'll see, I'm only at 3.5 months right now. It could change in a month or two. So far, I don't complain nearly as much as I did when I was breastfeeding. So that's a win.

Another week at our house

Yet another week at home. Texas is starting to slowly open back up but Houston is staying closed a little longer. For example, libraries could open on May 1st but Harris County (Houston's county) is choosing to stay closed until June 1st. Even when they do open, it will be at reduced occupancy and no children's activities. But at least we could pick up books. I put a ton of Spanish books on hold back in March for Ashton and right before they were ready for pick up, the library system shut down. I'm happy we can at least get new books over the summer break.

I found Ashton like this one day after I put the other kids down for naps. I love catching a kid in the act of free play.

Toy Wash morning. AKA my attempt to keep them busy for a little bit.

Chore time in order to play tag with Dad when he got home from work.

This was one of those toddler activities that took longer to set up than the kids actually played with it. Plus I spelled Gemma's name wrong. Gemma painted for a few minutes and then decided to play in water.

Tanner made it about ten minutes before giving up.

Ashton made her A a rainbow and then got frustrated with how long it would take her to do the rest of the letters. We took them down and rolled the paper up so we can do it another day.

I let the kids pick a dinner meal once a week for both Ashton and Tanner. It helps me plan meals too. Ashton desperately wanted rainbow pizza. So she made one with colorful peppers and Tanner made his normal pepperoni one. Ashton ended up not liking the pepper one. I think she is okay with not making rainbow pizza again.

 

Definitely not lacking in calories

In other news, we've been building with Legos with Tanner and playing lots of Yahtzee with Ashton. Her math skills are wonderful now that she is counting dice all day long. Tanner is writing a lot more too. We got him a Star Wars workbook for letters/numbers and he loves it. We are enjoying the nicer weather before the heat comes later this week. We got water guns and water balloons out yesterday with some neighbor kids. It was so fun to see such big smiles on the kids' faces. I truly hope Ashton sees this situation as a positive event in her life rather than a "I couldn't do this and this and this..."