Oh Goody!

Now I just found out from the doctor, that I've had thrush for about 3 weeks now! The only symptom I noticed was the stabbing pain I felt through and through while nursing. Who woulda thunk that nursing was supposed to be pain-free all along?!!! Meds were perscribed, and I'll be all betta!

Are my ladies just unlucky?

OK, so I've decided that my boobs are unlucky. That's right, unlucky, folks! My last post (oh my, I can't believe is pressed "publish post" on that one) told of the icky story of the "clogged milk duct". I've done research on how to NEVER have this happen again. One of them being, change your bra from an underwire to a non-wire bra. OK, I was wearing a non-wire one before, and found that the underwire was much more comfortable to wear (not to nurse with mind you) but wearing was great. Now my udder side (haha yes, I made a pun - Geeez!) is now blocked. Not as bad as my last one, but sheeesh, can a woman finally have a break? I find myself nipping this one in the bud, and making all preparations to heal this one up as fast as I can. That last one, made me quite sick. Like I've had a cold now for 4 days, with a wicked cough and sore throat. Gah!

I hate health issues with me. I'm normally a healthy woman, no problems. This is driving me nuts. This heat in my house is driving me nuts as well. I love the warm weather, but not in my house. It takes until 3am to cool off in my upstairs bedroom. Ah, C'est La vie right?

Jos and I went to a Canada Loyal BBQ last night in Airdrie. What a pretty town that is. I was quite surprised it was so lush, and full of trees! Not at all what I expected. The BBQ with the mosquitos was a hoot! It was BYOB (bring your own beef) and I bought 2 baseball cut steaks for me and Jos to eat. HOLY SMOKES, those things are HUUUUGE. Compare to a small roast beef for each of us!


I'm now at home, not at church where I should be, if I was feeling good. I should have gone, at least the church has A/C.

Next week is Lliam's baby blessing! Very much looking forward to it! Weeeeee.

**TMI warning** A Good Day gone bad: The clogged Milk duct story

It was such a great morning. I love seeing a nice down pour of rain, then sunshine for the rest of the day. Anthony spent the morning mostly doing fun things. We baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies, we turned some molding clay into foot impressions of the baby's foot, we worked on our phonics and math, we played Wii for hours!, we did laundry even.

Lliam was a little sleepy and did his thing. He's such a good baby. He's gained over 3 lbs since I brought him home. I know...mom calls me a jersey cow. I try to pump during the day with my hospital grade double pump, and I nurse at night. This is how I keep my appearantly large supply of milk up. So, theory says if you drain your milk fully, it refills itself automatically, and if you fail to drain it fully, you either get engorged, lose your milk, or get clogged milk ducts. Clogged milk ducts can also get infected if left untreated, and can cause you to get really sick with mastitis. Not fun.

I experienced a HUGE tennis ball-sized, painful lump in my right breast. What the heck? It felt like a constant let-down pain, and it was so hard to the touch. I did a little research, and found that my poor innocent milk duct was clogged !!! ME?!! My milk duct?!! How could it do this to me, when I felt that I did every measure to prevent this? ARGH. My wrists, and fingers, and arms were tired from massaging to get the milk to flow...and I tried all the "internet advice" for unclogging the milk duct. I had Jos come home from his important "making phone calls" time. I felt aweful about it, because he's been doing fantastic with his Financial Planning career with Canada Loyal. I felt it was a huge deterrant from his momentum. As guilty as I felt, I truly needed his help with this. I needed relief. I did NOT want to get this mastitis thingy. I needed someone else to take over with the massaging. Its not like I can call up a girlfriend and ask for their help on this...Debbi....Ok I'll pause for laughter....Still waiting cuz I know you are still revving up for a good inside joke with Cyn about this....alright. So Jos showed up, he's appearantly upset that I've called him home to massage my huge nasties.





By this point, I had been massaging for about 2 hours straight. After a new set of hands to work on it...I felt even more pain. His hands were obviously stronger, and hadn't been massaging for 2 hours already. It was truly painful. I went up for a hot shower, and that seemed to help quite a bit. You know what also helped? Prayer. I honestly asked for help for relief of my boob! I know. Sorta embarrassing to ask Heavenly Father for some boob help. Immediately after I finished my prayer, a milky-spray came out. Not for very long, but long enough to at least relieve some of the pressure. I went down stairs to have Jos work on it more...3 hours later. After all our hard work, I truly felt relief enough to go to bed. I changed nursing bras, and headed to bed. When I woke up 90% of the swelling had gone down and I feel that much better!!

There...you can have a TMI post about clogged milk ducts. Enjoy.

Summer has begun!

Well I can truly feel summer starting. The weather is heating up, my lawn needs mowing (Ok Debbi, my lawn really does need mowing, and not the double entendre kind), I bought my bottle of bubbles for blowing, made camping plans for next month, have gone hiking, and kite flying already. I love summer. I love the long nights, the time you spend with family, and most of all the outdoor activities you can finally do.




In Calgary, the weather is good for about 3 months of the year, so I feel that I must get all my fun stuff done during those 3 months. I love the outdoors, but not enough to find things to do during the winter months at -22 degrees!

My summertime faves:

Camping


Fishing



Hiking



Family Reunions



Softball Tournaments



To name a few. I love the family time, and the sun tans, and the lemonade, and the pictures from wild and crazy nights.

Just the other day I went to Nose hill Park to fly a few kites with my Sister-In-law Theresa, and her kids. I really wanted to do something fun, and outdoors, and had no one to hang out with. So I called her up, and was thrilled to hang out with each other. Her kids, were delighted to see Anthony as well. After some minor setbacks, we finally hooked up and started our walk deep into the park for some prime Kite-flying spots. Lets just say that 3 Jensen kids, and 2 Willard kids, do not mix when it comes to kite-flying. What a disaster. We really needed an another adult there to help out with the launching of the kites. We had tangled strings, lost items, and frankly, we couldn't get the friggin' kites in the air long enough to have fun with them. So we started on back to the cars. On the path back, we ran into Kelsie B. I just love that girl, what a cutie patootie. It was nice to be get back home and relax, and count my bug bites and check out my farmer burn.

My Big Little Boy Lliam

Here a few pics of him lately. He's outgrown his newborn outfits. When people say this phase doesn't last, so enjoy it...they weren't kidding.

I bet you he's closer to 9 lbs now, though I haven't got him weighed yet.

Here are some pictures to get by with. Does he look red-headed to you?

Long Day

I'm so happy the rain subsided enough for me to get out of the house. My sister, Kennedy, and her son Will, both came up from Lethbridge to pay me a visit. We all woke up early (6:15am) to be out of the house by 7:15 to head down to Heritage park. I was under the impression that the pancake breakfast was at 7-9am that is free, and offered at Heritage Park. So we showed up at 8am...no one in sight. No open doors...we bumped into someone that informed us that the park doesn't open until 9am. Boy, that was hard to haul all the kids back to the car. Good thing we found a spot in the upper parking lot. I managed to squeeze in some nursing time for Lliam before we got into the park.

Anthony and I purchased our Season Pass at the counter. I am so happy that now I have a place to go during the week with my boys if I get bored. I just love Heritage park.

We made it for the pancake breakfast, we just had to fall in line with the other senior citizens who were getting their monies worth of the pancake breakfast. LOL too funny. We hit all the nice fun kid-friendly parts of the park. It was a breezy day, which made the SS Moyie quite a cold trip for me. I didn't bring my coat (I was optimistic of the weather) Then we made it to the Steam Engine and had a few rides around the park. Then the kids discovered the midway,and we took them on a bunch of rides. I love seeing pure joy in Anthony's face.

After a long day, we decided to let the kids have a nap, and we headed home. I even got to have a nap.

Later on in the evening, me and Kennedy went to girls night. We watched 27 Dresses. It was kind of a cute movie. Lliam made his rounds with the girls. He's such a doll and I love that other ladies want to hold and snuggle with him too.

I"m fighting a huge headache right now...so my creativity is shot.

Thats all folks.

Rain, rain go away!!!

I am so sick of this gloomy rain. I left the west coast in search of some prairie sunshine. This is ridiculous! Now, I'm all supporting our ranchers and farmers that need the rain for their crops to grow, but they also need some sunshine. I feel so trapped in my own home. I know that there are places that I can go indoors to curb my cabin-fever, but in reality, it costs money. Even gas money to get somewhere is something I need to consider. So sucky.







Thank goodness Jos invested in a Wii, because that has been my crutch these last few days. Anthony has thoroughly enjoyed kicking my hind parts at sports. He's just starting out, and doing very well. I like this console, because it still allows you to be active. Maybe I should invest in a Wii Fit. Those sound pretty nifty.

Sometimes I wish that 8GV night was every night, not just thursdays, just so that I can vent, get out, and laugh again. I'm not depressed or anything...just lonely. I'm so used to going to an office full of colleagues, and friends that this is such a different world for me. I feel like I'm always on the phone, calling random people just so I can have some adult conversation. I love my boys and I cherish the time I have at home....its just...I'm a little bored at times. My daily routine isn't the "funnest" yet.


Lliam is too young and little to fit in my jogging stroller, and besides, its rainy outside anyway. I can't wait for some sunshine. I'm dying to get out to Heritage Park. That is Anthony and I's favorite spot to be in. Season pass, here I come.

Ahhhh, now that's better

OK OK I have had some serious cabin fever this week. Yesterday was the first time I stepped ou of my house since SUNDAY! I know its my fault, but it was so nice to get out and let Anthony run amok at VSLC jungle gym with a girlfriend and her 2 boys. We went over to her place to veg a bit, and let the boys continue to play. Anthony missed his nap, and was a tired boy when we got home, but managed to stay awake until his bedtime.

At his bedtime is when I leave the house on thursdays for 8GV night. Let me tell you, how refreshing it was to sit and gab, laugh, and get to know these girls better each and every time I see them. I absolutely love this group of girls. We aren't the most reverent of bunch, but I think that's what makes us so unique.

There was a part in our dirty discussions where I actually felt a strong bond. I'm not going to get too much into it, but I sincerely felt like a stronger bond with all of us. I surely appreciated Cyndi making it out, eventhough she was dead tired. I love it when Elise makes it out to these nights. Its such a long drive for her, and I super appreciate when she makes it out. She's a hoot!

I got home at about 2:20am, and my long night started. Lliam just wanted to eat and eat and eat. Then poop poop poop, and then I was able to doze off for an hour before it starts up again.

Ok I'm tired.

Argh, I wish I had a nap time.

All is well....

We just came back from Lliams first doctors visit. We was measured, weighed and poked and prodded. Doc was pleased to say that he is doing FABULOUS. He's regained the weight he lost after birth. He was 8lbs 1oz when he was born, and now 8 days later, he's 8lbs 4oz!! YAY. He's even flushed the jaundice out. He's sleeping well, and such a good baby. I'm so proud.

Anthony is acting up more than usual, but that's expected, and I'm really trying to have some one-on-one time with him lots. So today we are doing some painting crafts, and then baking choc chip cookies. But more than anything, he's such a great help for me and Lliam.

My house is starting to feel more like a home. I have new drapes up, all my photos up, and my living room furniture is re-arranged. I'm trying to get used to being a stay at home mom. I really hope I find my groove soon, and that I'll be a great wife, and mother and home maker.

I've lost a lot of muscle in this pregnancy, so now, more than ever, I'm squishy. I'm now 2 lbs lighter than before I got pregnant. So I will be starting my strengthening and toning routine, with some light cardio to start. I'll keep updating, as I don't want to be a nasty, squishy milk cow for too much longer.