Ears Pierced

Since I have a little girl this has been a hot topic of discussion lately in my personal life and online.

I have decided we will wait until she tells us she wants it done. My mom did with me and in my opinion that's what's best. She is my daughter and that is how I see it.

See here's the thing I cried when she got her shots and those were things she needed. I couldn't imagine putting pointless holes into my daughter that will leave scars on her just because 'they look cute'. If she decides she wants her ears pierced than we will get them done for her. I want to be able to explain to her what is going on. People like to say the issue is pain. I got mine done at five and I can't remember the pain. I got my second holes done at 13 and I can't remember the pain. Just because a doctor's office will do it doesn't mean it is necessarily a good thing. Plus, when she is older I can teach her how to take care of them herself and I don't have to worry about one more thing as a new mom.

My husband and I agree on this issue. We have before she was born.

Another issue people point out is comparing it to circumcision. Yes, if we had/have a little boy we would get him circumcised. The reason we would do this is because his father is and we wouldn't want him to feel awkward. To me there is no comparison. They are two totally different things. And we are not saying we would NEVER get her ears pierced. We just don't want to until she's old enough to accept the responsibility herself since it is not a necessary thing. But we will only get them done if SHE CHOOSES to. It's her body, her ears, her decision.

Now I do not judge others who do it. I actually do think it looks cute. I just don't feel like it's my decision to make.

So Momma's with little girls (or soon-to-bes) what are you going to do? What's your view on the issue?

Evenflo Comfort Select Performance Dual Auto-Cycling Breast Pump Review



I feel that in order to do this review, I must give you a little back story first.
My daughter had undiagnosed lip tie. I did not know such a thing existed but now realized this is why she had so much trouble latching in the beginning.

Anyways, we worked through and I decided to start pumping (so her daddy could feed her) when she was about 6 weeks old. My sister-in-law gave me this breast pump. So at least there was no out of pocket for this. But I believe it could be the problem with why my sister-in-law's milk was never able to come in (her daughter was born 6 weeks premature).


About The Evenflo Comfort Select Performance Dual Auto-Cycling Breast Pump

- Supposed increased number of cycles per minute with a gradual vacuum curve for gentler, more effective pumping - compared to previous pump
- Tighter range adjustment to increase production on lower settings
- Dual motors in the dual pump for maximum production on both breasts
- Adjusted AC/DC adapter to deliver consistent power
- Does not contain bishenol-A (BPA)

What I Liked

- The bag that the pump comes in is nice and compact. There is one “cooler” compartment to keep the milk cold and freezer packs to go with it and another compartment for other parts.
- The pump was comfortable to use.
- The price - This pump retails for around $40 which is awesome as far as breast pumps go.
- BPA Free
- You can use the pump on batteries or electrical power, which makes it very portable.


What I Didn’t Like

- The pump was very loud. Until I did some research, I thought all pumps were this loud. If I had to pump at work,I could never do it discreetly. Anytime I tried to pump it would wake Sweet Pea up and she would cry if she was awake. PLUS I couldn’t hear the TV above the sound of the pump and who wants to do NOTHING while pumping.

- You can adjust the suction, but you can’t adjust the speed. Doing some research, I found that with high-end double electric pumps, moms can adjust the speed on a dial. With manual pumps, you can adjust the speed manually. But with this pump, there was no opportunity to adjust the speed at all. And I feel this is the reason I could never create a let down. It only worked if I had just stopped nursing.

- The motor for the pump is attached to the bottles/horns and is very heavy. This creates a few problems:
There are little placements for you to place the bottles in and if you do that, the bottles won’t tip over when placed on the counter. However, if you forget to put them in the placements, your pump is going to topple over and possibly spill the milk out all over the place. And I don't know about you but I have cried over spilled {breast} milk.

- The weight of the pump makes hands free pumping impossible. To me, the real value of a double electric pump is the ability to pump hands-free while doing something else (eating lunch, working at my computer) and that is not possible with this one since you need to hold the horns while pumping or perch yourself at exactly the right position (chair and table at exact right height) to have the horns sit in the little feet while you pump and then not move an inch. Again, who wants to do nothing while pumping. Also, the fact that you need to hold the horns while pumping makes it impossible to do breast compressions while pumping unless you are only pumping one side at a time. And I had to do breast compressions.

- There are a lot of small pieces that have to be put together. This is often the case, but with most pumps they stay together once you put them together. With this one, the valve keeps falling out unless you have the whole contraption put together. For me, that meant the valve hit the floor 4 times in the process of putting the pump together. Not ideal if you are trying to keep things sterile.

Recommendation

I do not recommend this pump. Although the price is right (especially for me since I was given it), I think that moms that are only pumping occaisionally would be better off with a quality manual pump. Moms that are working and pumping should get a quality double electric pump that can be used for hands-free pumping.

What else I recommend?
Trying to go through your insurance company to get a quality pump. Because this one is not it.


Click To Vote For Us @ the Top Baby Blogs Directory! The most popular baby blogs

7 Things I Won't Feel Guilty About

I was going through my Facebook feed and I follow babycenter. They posted an interesting blog, so I thought I would share my views. :)

"I always knew that the moment I held my baby in my arms for the first time I’d feel love like never before. What I didn’t know was that with great love, comes paralyzing fear and massive guilt. Wasn’t quite prepared for that." - read more posted in Honor of BabyCenter's Guilt-Free Parenting Week. So here are the things I won't feel guilty about as a new mom:

Making Parenting Mistakes 1. Making Mistakes. (At least I'll try not to feel guilty.) This is my first baby so I'm going to make mistakes. Example: We took Sweet Pea to the park on Sunday. It was windy and sunny. We forgot a sun hat. I rocked her to sleep on the swing, making sure to cover her face, and then I put her in her stroller so the wind and sun would be off her. As they say, 'You live and learn.'

2. Breastfeeding. Sometimes I have to nurse in public. My baby doesn't take a bottle from me. And I am a terrible pumper (or it could be my pump). Why would she when mommy is so close by? She is also already developing a stranger anxiety with people she doesn't see often (I didn't know they developed it this early but apparently they do). So please explain to me what I'm suppose to do? I cover up and it's the most natural thing in the world. All mammals do it. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, don't look.

Daddy Helping Out 3. Passing her off to Daddy when he gets home from work. Two reasons this doesn’t bother me: One, being the only caregiver all night and day is tiring, and I am appropriately exhausted by the time someone else walks in the door, and two, I know daddy misses his baby time as much as Sweet Pea misses her daddy time. :]

Not Doing Housework 4. Not Doing Housework. I won’t feel guilty about putting my baby before my housework. Some things are more important in life. She will only be this age once, the housework will still be there.

5. Letting her be a Kid. I will not feel guilty about her watching TV or eating out every once in a while when she gets older. I did when I was a kid and so did my husband and we are capable, functioning adults. I will raise my kid and not have the TV do it for me. I will not feel guilty about letting her get dirty and be a kid. Jumping in puddles is dirty and fun. And as I said before they are only this age once.

Co-Sleeping 6. Co-sleeping. Nursing has been great for us so far but I was completely incapable of sitting up to nurse at 12, 2, 4, and 6 when she was a newborn. We figured out the side-lying nursing thing and haven’t looked back. Now she doesn't sleep in our bed the entire night like she did when she was a newborn but I enjoyed every minute of it when she did and I actually miss it now.

Our Birth Story 7. My Birth Story. Lastly, I was induced because of my blood pressure, I had an epidural because I'm a wuss. I only wanted my husband in there with me because no one was there when we created her. I love my birth story and no one is going to make me feel guilty or try to steal my joy about it one way or the other. And that is that.





So mommas or soon-to-bes, what are some things you refuse to feel guilty about?




Click To Vote For Us @ the Top Baby Blogs Directory! The most popular baby blogs


In remembrance of Maddie....

This blog touched me. I cried when I read it. I don't even know the women who wrote this blog but a friend of mine posted her blog on Facebook and I had to tell people about it.

Please read the blog listed below. Beware it'll break your heart.

http://kandjstaats.blogspot.com/

They are raising money for them, here's the link to the Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=153900798000716

2 Month Check In

These pictures were taken on 2/9/2011:
2 Month Old Lizzie
2 Month Old Lizzie

Her newest accomplishments are (maybe I should say so far):
1- Holding her head up:

Lizzie can hold her head up!

2- Smiling:

Lizzie Smiling

3- Rolling over. She hasn't officially rolled over but the other day she was crying while I was in the bathroom and when I came out she had rolled over in her swing. So needless to stay we have to make sure we strap her in everywhere.

4- Sleeping through the night in her bassinet. She sleeps for two five hour stretches which makes me one happy momma! :)

Valentine's Day was this month and here she is all dressed up (Isn't she cute? :]):

Valentine's Day

Her 2 month check up was today (we are still behind from the ice storm). But we will be caught up by the next one. I got there early because I thought then maybe we could go back early, which we did. While we were waiting in the lobby, I had to feed her and these people sitting across from us were giving us dirty looks. I wanted to smack them. I'm feeding my baby. This is a very natural thing. Get over it. If it makes you fee uncomfortable move. There are two doctors in the practice and we saw the one we usually haven't been seeing. I didn't really care for him. She weighed 10.4 pounds (40%), 22 inches long (%25), and her head measured 40cm (%75). So she is a short, average weight baby with a big head. :) He said her spitting up wasn't reflux and he talked about the possibility of giving her food at four months....I don't know what to think about that. Well once the doctor left we waited for EVER! I poked my head out and then a nurse asked what we were waiting for, shots or to see the doctor. Then she apologized for the wait and came in. Baby girl had fallen asleep:



They had to wake her up so she could get an oral shot. And they had to give her FOUR SHOTS, two in each thigh. :C Poor baby girl cried like I have never heard. it broke my heart but I didn't cry this time! :) Which helped her get over it faster.

Don't forget to vote for us for this photo contest!:
Sign and Vote, Please!

That's it for the monthly update! :D