Anniversary

Jason and I are blessed. We have been married for seven years, have a beautiful baby boy, and wonderful families. Our families have blessed us with the gift of helping out. Jennifer, Mike, Ethan and Audrey were here on Thursday to help clean our house. They cleaned our kitchen and bathroom, Ethan washed dishes and cleaned a sink (with Jennifer supervising). Mike was nice enough to change the battery in our Pacifica that had gone dead the night before, and change the handle on our side screen door that wasn't cooperative in opening.
Yesterday, Jason's parents and grandma came out. Grandma Rose held and fed Jay and even got him to nap for several hours. Jason and his parents worked outside trimming bushes, plants, cutting down unwanted trees and working in the backyard. They piled all the brush us and now we have several loads of brush to take somewhere. (We haven't determined where yet.) Our house looks a lot nicer now! This is just some of the brush they were able to remove from our yard.
This is the front of our house. Notice how we actually have a sidewalk!
Next weekend, my parents are coming out to help with what didn't get done. And to spend time with Jay, of course.

As I said before, Jason and I are truly blessed. I know we will continue to be blessed, especially with Jay and our families. Thank you all very much!

Dry

Since Jay was born, I have been having trouble with producing enough milk for him to eat. We had been bottle feeding him since he was four days old since he was jaundiced and wasn't getting enough food to help get rid of it. I was still having problems with milk production after that and had called the lactation consultant at the hospital to ask for advice. She suggested to take fenugreek pills. I started taking the pills, and at the suggestion of Jennifer, drinking Mother's Milk tea (kinda tastes like licorice). There wasn't much improvement, but I did start having blocked ducts. I was able to handle getting rid of the blocked ducts on my own. A few weeks ago, I started having some pain and firmness in my right breast. When I went to see the lactation consultant, she thought it could be a lot of blocked ducts clumped together since I didn't have a fever or any other flu like symptoms for it to be mastitis. After a few days of different methods to get rid of the "blocked ducts" and still feeling fine without a fever, I went to the doctor. She was pretty stumped as well. She was sure it wasn't mastitis either. She talked to the lactation consultant and they called me back. They had decided that my right breast was engorged like my body had decided to stop producing milk. They didn't know why, and were worried that I wouldn't be able to produce enough milk once my breast had healed. So, I decided to listen to my body and stop brestfeeding. It was becoming very stressful. I would breastfeed Jay, then feed him a bottle, then pump to try to help stimulate milk production. The whole feeding cycle was taking almost an hour and a half. I felt like Jason or I was feeding Jay all the time. It wasn't an easy decision, but hopefully I'll be able to spend more time with my family and worrying about dirty diapers!

Memorial Day

We've had a fairly busy week. My mom came down last Wednesday to help out and play with Jay. She left Friday, but not before Jay pooped on her. It was really nice to have her here to help out. Saturday, Jason, Jay and I left for a trip to Olin. We had family reunions on both of Jason's side of the family. Well, not quite a reunion, more like a get together. Jason's cousin, Brooke, and her husband, Rick, were visiting. Brooke is due with their little boy, Oliver, in September. It was fun seeing Jason's family. There were people who were more than happy to hold Jay, especially Jason's mom.
We came back Monday. Jay was a little fussy and I had a headache, but it was very hot and humid on Monday. Once we got home, Jay calmed down a bit. My headache started to go away. Of course, I've had a headache most of the week due to the weather. Jay keeps me busy even though he still sleeps quite a bit. He is more active during the week, and still cute as ever!