nursing no more

today is the day.

boob-free day.

yeah, that day.

 

i nursed brette for the last time yesterday

and had ronnie give her milk this morning out of her big-girl cup.

she is officially not breastfeeding anymore.

according to my schedule,

(yes, i have a weaning schedule)

i was not supposed to stop nursing until the 12th,

but since ronnie is going to be home for the next three days

i thought it would be good to take advantage of him being here

and have him do the morning routine for a couple of days.

just so she's used to not nursing by the time its just me and her again.

 

its been a really, really slow transition.

one we started back when she was just seven months old.

and now that she's eleven months,

i think we are both okay with moving on.

i was so nervous when i started weaning

that it was going to be so hard on brette.

but you know what?

i'm going to say it - - it was EASY.

so easy. 

slowly but surely is definitely my suggestion.

but not nursing anymore is still a weird feeling.

i have an amazing sense of accomplishment and pride

that brette and i lasted as long as we did.

e l e v e n   m o n t h s !

but i do feel a little hankering for the days

where i could sit and relax while brette lays on me.

she's not much for cuddling - - at all.

so unfortunately i don't know when the next time will be

that i'll get to snuggle this little one for an extended period of time.

i'll also miss the fact that nursing was my go-to when we're in crisis mode.

sick?

in pain?

won't nap?

tried everything?

have no fear - - - mom's boob is here!

and it worked.

every. time.

so now i'm going have to find another way to work

through some of our rough patches,

but, all in all, i'd say today is a good day.

 

f r e e   a t   l a s t.

 

now excuse me while i go to victoria secret.

i think it's time for a little bit of underwire to get back in my life.

 

 

 

 

my thoughts on nursing.

my thoughts on weaning.

an update on weaning.

 

 

 

where corn don't grown

brette will never live

where corn don't grow.

she loves it too much.

 

we held off on giving brette any corn

since its a little harder to digest

and i feel like you need some teeth to chew it

or it will just get swallowed whole.

but now that she's had it,

she is in love.

we made some corn on the cob the other night

and it was like christmas around here.

you can tell from the pictures that i started by

cutting it off the cob, but when she saw ronnie eating it,

she had to have it.

i think she liked all the salt and butter,

but she managed to eat the majority of corn too.

 

we might have a new favorite food.

and i couldn't pick which pic was the best,

so here's a play-by-play of b and her corn.

 

enjoy!

 

ps- for those of you not familiar with country music

where corn don't grow is a travis tritt song.

not just my bad grammar.

dreams don't work unless you do

well guys.

it happened.

for the last year,

i've been telling ronnie this:

 

 

but i decided to join the workforce once again.

kind of.

nothing too crazy.

just part-time, mondays and fridays.

exactly what i wanted.

but they are 10 hour days so i'll still get to bank 20 hrs a week.

you want to know the very best part?

my mom agreed to watch brette for me.

as of right now, ronnie is working

10 hour days monday through thursday.

 so he'll have her on fridays

and my mom gets her on mondays.

it couldn't have worked out more perfectly.

i get to earn a little bit of extra cash without

having to pay for part-time child care.

AND i still get to spend five days a week

with my sweet little girl.

i don't start for several more weeks,

but hopefully its a really easy transition for us.

all of us:

me, my mom, ronnie and brette

 

 

 

 

may day

happy may day!

 

i was thinking about the [one and only] time

i received flowers on may day.

i was in middle school and they were left from my boyfriend, drew.

it was very sweet and all i remember were flowers on my front porch

and his mom's big red suburban flying out of my neighborhood.

ahh to be 12.  hahaha.

no really.

coincidently my bf, shannon, ended up marrying the guy.

somehow drew and i managed to overcome our 12 year old love.

her and i were randomly texting this morning because

i was reminding her its her birthday month.

she wrote back that drew brought flowers to her classroom for may day

and said that he had only done this for one other girl.

apparently that gesture stuck in both our minds.

it just goes to show what you teach your kid
might just stick with them.

 

i texted ronnie this

and his reply:

 

i've never even heard of may day!

 

 

[hand to forehead]

 

you should totally go buy someone flowers

and leave them on their doorstep.
since obviously i stand no chance of getting any from ronnie,
i would like you all to know:

i will be home all day.
 

and, here are my flowers to you.

pretend that i rang the bell and ran away giggling.

 

 

 

game playing

brette and leia decided to play a game.

brette eats all her puffs and leia doesn't get any.

she thinks it is hilarious.

we'd never seen her play and giggle

without a person interacting with her,

so i grabbed the camera and shot

an unusually long video of my kid laughing.

 

you're welcome.

 

 

 

***disclaimer*** 

i totally don't normally give b food

while she's bouncing around.

seems like a good way to choke,

but for some reason - - that i can't remember - -

she was having some puffs in her bouncer.

i was probably distracted by all the cuteness that i didn't even notice.

 

 

 

 

the down low on hair

i've written about my hair several times.
remember this?
oh geez.


but i got the sweetest message on facebook

from a friend of a friend, caroline, who reads this ol' blog

and was crushing on my hair.

um, thanks!

seriously.

because it was just a couple weeks ago

i was telling dana how much my hair was bothering me.

during my pregnancy and after i had brette

my hair was awesome.

i don't want to brag, but seriously,

it was so thick. and long. and healthy.

i thought pantene was going to call for a hair commercial any minute.

all those pregnancy hormones did w o n d e r s.

but then it started falling out.

and it went from wonderful to ehh.

and now that it's growing back in

it feels so limp.

and the fly aways around my face are killer.

blah.

so when i got this message,

i was totally surprised considering its recent condition.

caroline has really thick hair with natural wave.

just like mine.

she was asking for some tips or product suggestions.

 

so here it goes.

you will not be surprised to learn that i am way

too cheap to go to the salon and get my hair done.

those crazy broads want to charge me $150 or more for a cut and a color.

um thanks, but i'll pass.

luckily for me my aunt was a beautician back in the day.

every september and march i schedule a little afternoon with her.

i never let her cut more than a couple inches off because i am

a crazy-train about my length.

i want long-ass hair,
that's why i only cut it twice a year.

then i always buy revolon's highlighting kit (medium blonde)

and she foils my hair.

so basically i get a cut and color for $12.

oh wait, i guess i spend more like $24 dollars because i

always buy two highlighting kits.

the second kit is for my ombre.

i do that myself

and i totally think anyone can do it.

it's really super easy.

i blogged about it a couple years ago,

so you can read here for more on that.

 

as for styling it...

i basically only have three options.

straight.

naturally wavy.

or curled with a curling iron.

 

straight is obvious.

i blow dry my hair

and bust out my chi.

no product used.

wah la. done.

 

naturally wavy is even easier.

when my hair is wet i add

mousse and get and start scrunching.

i use hair spray (but not aerosol) too when it starts getting dryer.
you need a hair spray that will still allow your hair movement.

and when its about half way dry,

i use a blow dryer on the roots to help with the volume.

i tease the roots and straighten the very ends to make sure

most of the volume is at the top.

that's basically it.

as for products i just buy all my stuff from wal-mart.
no aveda products for this girl.
right now here is what is in my bathroom:
 

 

but here's a little tip for those of you that

don't have any natural wave/curl in your hair:

gel and mousse won't cut it and

your hair will fall flat.

however, if you take egg whites and whisk them until foamy

and use that instead of gel or mousse,

your hair WILL wave.

my roommate in college tried it and she has

 straight, super thick hair and it still worked.

 

as for curling it,

i actually blogged about that too

so you can read more tips and tricks here.

i actually write out a step by step process

so its pretty helpful.

pay close attention to step 6.

it's the most important or your hair will fall flat.

i hope this helps caroline..
or anyone else needing a few insider notes on hair.

 

 

 

 

chicken alfredo pizza

are you tired of hearing about my pizza adventures?

too bad.

i made pizza on wednesday,

but i did it the super fast and super easy way.

and i mixed it up a little bit by doing

a chicken alfredo version.

lots of short cuts and hardly any actually cooking.

i bet this took me around 10 minutes to put together.

impressive.
 

 

instead of making my own pizza dough,

i bought a tube.

instead of making my own alfredo sauce,

i bought a jar. 

then i diced up some onion and garlic and

cooked it in a little bit of oil and butter.

i removed the onion and garlic and threw in

some chicken strips.

i browned them on each side for 3 minutes in the

garlicky remains and then cubed the pieces.

i spread out the dough on my pizza pan and

added a little alfredo sauce.

don't add too much because alfredo is runnier than

marinara and i feel like it can make pizza soggy. 

then i sprinkled on my onion and garlic,

(you could totally add mushrooms too,

but ronnie would have killed me.)

and added some seasonings.

[italian seasoning, garlic salt and red pepper]

then i diced up some fresh spinach,

(you could leave it whole,

but ronnie and i don't roll that way.)

added my chicken cubes and

(here's the best part)

sliced up some fresh mozzarella.

waaaaaay better than the stuff shredded in a bag.

and here's a little tip i learned from watching the pioneer woman:

put your fresh mozzarella in the freezer before you start

so by the time you're ready to slice it up,

it's has a solid consistency that makes it easier to cut.

totally worked.
 

 
 

then i threw it in the oven at 425 for about 15 mins.

 

easy easy easy

and ronnie dominated it.

like for real,

we hardly have any left.

 

 

*** this is also really good as an appetizer too. see here for more details. ***