cloth!

we originally planned to begin cloth diapering when bella was 2 months old. well, she is 7 weeks today and we are clothing it up! her little bum looks so cute in the cloth!

i think she likes them, what do you think?

stuck in alvaton :(

below is the road that adam usually takes to get to work....guess he won't be driving that way tomorrow!
and this one is mt. lebanon rd. if you've ever been to our house, you've driven 2.7 miles down this road, right over this spot. you can kayak to see us if you want to now!!

we are so thankful that we are safe in our happy little home. we have no flooding in our house and i know lots of folks aren't quite as lucky. how about you? how's life where you live?

the saddest thing i've ever seen

we saw docter fraser this morning. he suggested we try different bottles (since i'm basically exclusively pumping right now, although the hope is still to go back to nursing). anyway, we went to target in the monsoon to get some of said bottles. while there, we saw quite possibly the saddest thing i've ever seen.


these milk screening strips state that they are a "home test for alcohol in breast milk" because "every woman's metabolism is different".

so so sad. a product like this shouldn't have even needed to be created. such is life in a fallen world. so thankful its not my home.

sickness enters the jochim homestead

tuesday night was not a happy night. bella spit up, a lot, before adam got home. as the night went on, she continued to spit up (and when i say spit up, i mean more like throw up) after every feeding. we were of course freaking out. we called the after hours number at our pediatricians office. the doc on call told us to get some pedialyte and give her 2 ounces for two feedings. so we headed to kroger to get the goods. on the way back, i had to make adam stop the car in the middle of mt. lebanon rd so i could throw up! yuck!

so when we got home, adam tried to get some pedialyte in our baby girl. she didn't want a thing to do with it. so at her next feeding, we just went back to breast milk. rewind though. i continued throwing up as the night progressed. when her next feeding rolled around at 4am, i decided i would just pump so that i wouldn't throw up on her. i headed to the kitchen to get my pumping supplies and turned back toward our room. but i didn't make it there. i collapsed in the middle of our kitchen floor. adam rushed to the kitchen. i asked him to get me some sprite. so he headed to the little coke machine down the road from our house at 4am. he brought me the trash can first so i could stay on the floor. when he got back, he helped me to our room, i pumped and he fed bella. she threw up again. and then again one more time before we were finally able to call the doctor at 8am.

she threw up again last night. but we both seem to be feeling better now. we are having a super hard time getting bella to eat, whether by breast or bottle. it is very stressful. i know i am not a terrible mother, but i feel like i am when my baby won't eat! i know she is hungry! i don't know what the issue is, but i sure hope we get it figured out soon.

**did i mention that we are redoing our bathroom which means there is no toilet in there right now, so during all of the sickness, i had to go out to the garage halfbath to do my...business. that made it was more fun! :) what is fun is that hopefully by sunday, i'll be able to show pictures of our beautiful bathroom!

another first!

last night we took bella on her very first trip to pei wei! i know she is gonna love it when she gets bigger but yesterday, not so much. i took her in in her awesome (fake) moby wrap and started trying to eat my dinner while wearing her. we quickly realized she was up too high, so adam and i tried to lower her while ashmill sat and laughed. bella was getting hungry, so i nursed her in the moby wrap, or at least tried. i'm sure it was quite entertaining to anyone paying attention.

in other news, we saw the lactation consultant this morning. she didn't feel like my supply was low due to my pcos (PRAISE!) but does feel that it is low. bella's little tongue is made in a way that leads the lc to believe that it should be clipped, however our pediatrician doesn't do that. when i called his office, he said not to do it, no matter what! he said it wouldn't change our situation. so i suppose we are going with the doctors orders rather than the lc. bella was 8 lbs 9 oz at her weight check at 3 weeks. exactly 2 weeks later, she has finally surpassed her birth weight (8 lbs 15 1/2 oz) and is 9 lbs 12 oz!! go bella!!

our plan of action is a grueling one. i am supposed to feed bella every 2 hours. depending on how she nurses, i am to supplement the feeding with a bottle (whether breast milk or formula depends on our stock of breast milk). then i am to pump for at least 15 minutes to try to increase my supply. i am also taking 3 fenugreek 3 times a day. it is going to be very difficult, but if it allows us to breastfeed our baby girl, it will be so worth it! do any of you have any experience with the lactation consultant? what was your time like?

fab 5 friday

i'm joining my friends emily and jenny this week and letting you in on the little things that have made my week a little better.
1. the medela pump in style breast pump has made our nursing issues a little easier. sweet bella will take a bottle with ease, even when she won't take the breast. AND i pumped over 2 ounces in one sitting today! thats a record for us! praise God! and wahoo for the pump in style!
2. KEEN FOOTWEAR!!!!! i am probably their biggest fan! and my feet got bigger during pregnancy which made some of my keens not fit. the only thing is, these shoes can be pricey. luckily, today i discovered through some great friends, that there is a store in bowling green that has various kinds of keens for only 29.99! so i got this super fun orange pair in my new size 7!

3. church's chicken. i didn't even know we had one in bowling green. but my awesome uncle don and aunt paula came to visit us this evening and brought us the delicious fried goodness! and if i made a fab 6 and 7, it would be uncle don and aunt paula. they rock!

4. the woodland bouncey seat! what a glorious invention! bella loves this thing. she is only a month old and the batteries that make it vibrate are already dead! when we have dinner or our arms just need a rest, bella happily chills here.

5. yes, april 15 made my week better. not necessarily because it was tax day, but because bella turned 1 month old! and also one of my other most favorite people in the world turned 8! so our april 15 was filled with our growing girl and xander and his awesome momma and daddy!

yay for friday and the little things that make this imperfect world a happier place! :)

1 month old!

well, i don't know how it happened, but bella joy is already 1 month old! wahoo!!!! she is growing up so fast. the past few nights she has even gone to sleep at about 930! so exciting!

in the world of nursing, we've got some potentially sad news. because of my pcos, it is very likely that my milk supply is low. i am taking fenugreek and have an appointment scheduled with the lactation consultant on tuesday morning at 11. please pray that we are able to figure out a solution that will allow me to nurse bella until her first birthday.

happy first month of life outside the womb sweet baby girl! we love you so much!