3 Month Update

William is 3 months old! I can't believe how fast the weeks are flying by! 

I was hoping to get back into a blogging routine by now, but time just flies by. With 3 kids, homeschool, household chores preparing 3 meals a day, I am surprised I have time to pee. LOL
But I will try, because I really miss.

This little guy is growing so fast, its hard to believe that a little over 3 months ago, he was still in my tummy:

Weight:  At his 2 month check up (which actually was more of a 2 and 1/2 month update) He was 17.5 lbs! Which means he is a bit bigger now. The doctor said that he is off the charts, 100 percentile for both hight and weight! I have to say this little guy is my biggest baby yet. I guess mommy has good milk. 

Sleep: He sleeps awesome during the night! Goes down anywhere from 9pm-10:30pm and sleeps till 6:30-7:30 in the morning. We co sleep, so as soon as I hear him moving around, and starting to wake up, I nurse him and he continues to sleep. He doesn't poop at night, so I don't change his diaper till he wakes up in the morning. 

Day time sleep however is a different story, maybe because he sleeps so much during the night, he doesn't sleep much during the day. I am lucky if he takes a 1 hour nap. But if I carry him in my moby sling, then he can nap up to 2 hours!

Eating: He is such a great nurser now! I don't pump anymore if we are going anywhere, I am just more confident in latching him on and nursing him. He definitely likes to nurse laying down best. 

Mongolian Beef

Lets just say I am SOO glad to be eating meat again. When I was pregnant, I couldn't stand the sight or smell of any meat. Now I can not get enough!

This recipe is so easy and SO GOOD! I mean just look at it! My mouth is drooling and I am already planning on making it again.

Ingredients:


2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
vegetable oil, for frying (about 1 cup)
1 lb flank steak
1/4 cup cornstarch
4 large green onions, sliced

Directions:


Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat.

Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches.

Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

Remove it from the heat.

Slice the flank steak against the grain into strips. 

Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch.

Heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil).

Add the beef to the oil and sauté for just two-three minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges.
Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly.

After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet.

Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute.

Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add half the  green onions.

Serve over rice, garnish with the other half of green onions.  

CLICK HERE TO PRINT

Enjoy!

Thanks for visiting,

Rita

Nursing Update/ Nursing Clothes

I have wanted to share my nursing journey for a few weeks now, hoping it will help someone. Because I know from experience that Nursing is not easy, Especially in the beginning. 

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I nursed my daughter for 8 months (while I was working full time) So I pumped at work and nursed at home. The only reason I stopped was because I had 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled, and was taking Ibuprofen for 4 days after for pain and swelling. So I was pumping and dumping, but the supply just ran out. I am sure I could have tried more if I wanted. 

With my 2nd baby, My son was in the NICU for 7 days. But I kept pumping every 3 hours and got my supply started. After that, I nursed my son for 2 years. 

Since this is my third baby I was going to be nursing, I really didn't think much about it. 

I thought, Oh I have this in the bag!  But, boy was I wrong. 

This time around I had supply issues and William had a very hard time latching on. We went to 2 visits to a lactation consultant and tried nipple shields, syringes and then I gave up! 

I didn't give up "breast feeding" just nursing. 

My insurance covered a Medela Pump in Style , which was a life saver!

I pumped ALOT (every 2 hours- day and night) for the first few weeks, trying to get my supply up. I drank nursing tea and goats rue drops. For the first few days I had to supplement with formula about 2 X a day. Then slowly my supply grew. I was able to pump 3 oz and stopped supplementing with formula. 

William ate every 2 hours, so it seemed that I was constantly either pumping, bottle feeding or washing pumping parts. It was so hard. I applaud all the mamas out there who exclusively pump! It is a lot of work!

Even though I was pumping and bottle feeding, I still tried to nurse William at least once a day. He would suck a few times then burst out crying. I am pretty sure it was because he liked that he didn't have to work so hard with a bottle. 

Then when he was 4 weeks old, he latched on and nursed!! You can not imagine how happy I was.

He is now 9 weeks old and I still have my pump out, and pump in the mornings and put the milk in the freezer. I also pump before I need to go out so Hubby can give the bottle to William. 

Now when I pump, I get anywhere between 4-5 oz. This is like liquid gold!

Anyone who have had supply issues can relate, I am sure. 

Now William nurses every 2-3 hours. I don't really time it, So I guess you can say I nurse on demand. 

During the day, I nurse him sitting on the couch or bed, during the night, (we co-sleep) I just nurse him laying in bed and he goes right back to sleep.

Sunday Linky #44

Welcome back everyone! Thank you to all who linked up last week. 

Don't forget to enter the Cutting Edge Stencil join on now:

Here are a few of my favorites from last week:

Christy from A Confessions of a Serial DIYer shared her gorgeous spring wreath. 

March Birchbox 2014

I am always eagerly awaiting my monthly birchbox. It's like a little present for me every month.

Let me tell you what birch box is, just in case you are not familiar with it.

It's a monthly subscription service which is $10.00 a month where you get sent 4-5 high-end samples each month. First you take a little survey so they can find out more about your skin, make up likes and dislikes so they know what to send you.

You then get to try out the products and review them on birchbox.com. For each review you get 10 points. Every 100 points equals $10 you can use in the shop. So if you review your 5 samples each month, thats $5 going back to you to use in the shop. So technically each box costs $5! Now, you can't beat a $5 little present for yourself, now can you? :)

With the birch box, I can try high end products without having to buy full size products. If I love the product, then I can go buy it :)

If you are interested in checking it out, go to Birch Box

Lets see what I got this month:

Cutting Edge Stencil Review and Giveaway- CLOSED

Have I got a treat for you today! 

As you may know, I love stenciled walls! In fact I have stenciled 4 rooms in my house using cutting edge stencils! 

When Cutting Edge emailed me and asked if I could do a review and giveaway, I was so excited! 

I am one of those people who will get every penny for my dollar, I reused the Moroccan stencil 3 times! Just use different paint colors and you have a whole new room!

Here are a few ways I used the cutting edge stencils in my home:

The Moroccan Stencil:

In my living room, I did something very subtle. 

I used Sterling paint color by BEHR in flat all over the wall, for the stencil, I used the same color in high gloss. 

In my bathroom, I have the same wall color (Sterling by BEHR)

 and this time I used a very creamy white for the stencil :