He wants to draw a cat for you!

Do any of my readers watch Shark Tank? Well, I do. It's my Friday night must-watch show. I'm not paid to say so, I genuinely just love the show. :) It's an interesting concept. Entrepreneurs and businesspeople pitch their products, companies and ideas to the "sharks" who can choose to invest if they're interested. Anyway, a while back I saw a pretty hilarious pitch in which Steve Gadlin talked about... well... drawing little cartoon cats. Oh, just see for yourself.

Kind of catchy, right? I didn't know what to think at the beginning of Steve's pitch, but by the end, I wanted a dang cat drawing! Well, I forgot about it for about a year, and then one day... bam! Steve started following me on Twitter. I e-mailed him and heard back right away! Turns out Steve is the father of young children, saw a tweet of mine about parenting, and became a follower. After chatting with him about cat drawings, Shark Tank and babies, I feel like I've made a new friend! Here's the cat drawing he made just for me. That's Justin, me, and the boys in cat form. Cute, no?

So now that you're dying for a cat drawing of your very own, go check out www.iwanttodrawacatforyou.com. Steve will draw a customized cat drawing for you, post it on his website for all to admire, and blast it around the web using social media. Pretty sweet! You can also tweet @catdrawingguy and like him on Facebook. Tell him Katie sent you!

   

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Breastfeeding: Take 2

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might remember the struggles I had breastfeeding Colin. Looking back, and with the new experiences I've had, I think I gave up too quickly on it the first time. I have absolutely nothing against moms who feed their babies formula, but I really wanted to nurse Colin, and I felt a lot of personal guilt when I decided to stop after just a few weeks.

When I found out we were expecting another baby, I was determined to give breastfeeding another chance. I tried not to invest too much of myself in it emotionally, but it was really important to me to at least give it my best effort. While I was in labor, I told my nurse about the desire to breastfeed and asked to hold my baby as soon as possible after the c-section so I could put him to the breast.

Best laid plans... am I right? When Reid was born, he aspirated fluid and was whisked away to the NICU. I don't think I've ever felt so hopeless. That sounds extreme, but so are the emotions a mother experiences after giving birth. A counselor even visited me during Reid's NICU stay to talk about the signs of postpartum depression. It was that bad.

But, the show must go on, right? Just because I was bedridden until I could get myself into a wheelchair and visit my baby, that didn't mean I had to give up on breastfeeding. It was one more bump in the road, but I wasn't ready to give up.

photo by Callie Cothern, my dear sister :)

I waited patiently for my milk to come in, and pumped every couple hours, as instructed by the lactation consultants who visited me. My breasts were painfully swollen and engorged, but it's like they refused to let down for the pump. Every time I would get a little colostrum, I'd do a little happy dance, and I'd send it to the NICU to be given to Reid through a feeding tube. He was also supplemented with formula until finally, on day six, I was able to provide enough breast milk for a full feeding. That was the day we were discharged, and shortly before we left to go home, I got him to latch on for the first time. It was a great moment.

Once we were home, I had no idea what to expect. He had been fed through a tube and then a bottle. Would he have trouble latching? Would I continue to make enough milk? What would happen when I went back to work and he went to daycare? I tried to put my fears aside and just roll with it. And suddenly, everything just clicked. Despite our struggles in the beginning, Reid has always latched on beautifully, and pumping has gone well for me, too. He hasn't had formula since coming home from the hospital, and he's still gaining weight like a champ. He drinks his bottles at daycare and nurses in the evenings when we're together. The last couple nights, he has "cluster fed" leading up to bedtime and then slept a nice, long stretch, only waking once to eat around 3 am. He is my angel baby, and I am so very thankful things are working out so far! Being a nursing mother who works full time outside the home has presented its share of challenges, but it has been worth it.

a pretty typical evening at our house

 

If you have any questions for me on this subject, or would like to hear more about any particular aspect; pumping at work, nursing in public, Colin's reaction to a breastfed sibling, or anything else you can think of, please let me know and I'd be happy to address it in the next post. Thank you all for the encouragement and support I've received throughout this journey!

More to come.

 

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Self Portrait & 11 Things

The lovely Sarah at Nurse Loves Farmer started up the "11 Things" game, and I thought, "why not?" Here are the rules:

1. Post a photo of yourself
2. Answer the questions set for you in the original post.
3. Create 11 new questions and ask people to answer them.

Sarah's questions for me:

1. How did you choose your first child's name?

Believe it or not, Colin was a name my husband has thought about for a very long time. There's no particular reason, but it doesn't hurt that Colin Cowherd is at the top of his list of people he'd like to hang out with. When he brought up the name, I loved it too and it stuck.

2. If money wasn't an option, where would you love to live?

I actually think our location is pretty great right now (small town South Carolina), although it might be nice to live somewhere with more defined seasons. This former Michigander misses the snow. Yes, I am crazy. If I didn't have to worry about money, I might consider moving to the mountains of North Carolina.

3. What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever done?

The first thing that comes to mind is when I was in middle school. My family went to a public pool to swim, and I stupidly did a cannonball off the diving board while wearing a two piece swimsuit. The top was a tube top style, and it slipped right off and into the pool. Oops.

4. What catch-phrases annoy you?

I hate it when people say "at this point in time." Why can't you just say "at this time?" It just sounds so redundant.

5. Do you have any phobias?

I'm kind of phobic of vomiting. It is just the worst feeling in the world, and I get totally nervous and freaked out when someone close to me comes down with a stomach bug. If someone gets sick in public, I flee the scene. Toddler vomit is slightly less horrible, since it's my own kid, but it's still scary because you never know when it's going to strike and you have such little warning.

6. What's the best concert you've ever been to?

NEEDTOBREATHE. Favorite band. Boom.

7. Do you believe in love at first sight?

I don't. Love, by definition, is much more than an immediate attraction to someone. Love is something that must stand the test of time, and that takes work to maintain. Infatuation is not the same thing as love.

8. High school - loved it? Or hated it?

I had a love/hate relationship with high school. Looking back, though, it was more love than hate. I didn't belong in any cliques, other than maybe the fact that I was in band (drumline, to be more specific). I had a ton of acquaintances, but only a few close friends, and I liked it that way. I also had a job at a local coffee shop which taught me a lot.

9. Do you have a funny auto correct story to share?

It's not my own story, but my brother and his ex used to text, and auto correct turned "snuggle" into "smuggle." People in my family still sometimes say that they want to smuggle each other. :)

10. If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?

Being a Christian, I would love to witness Christ's resurrection. I can't even imagine.

11.  What is the hardest thing you've ever done?

Being a mother has been the hardest and the best thing I've ever done. 


My 11 questions for YOU:

1. What was your first job?

2. What food could you eat every day for a month and not get tired of it?

3. If you won the lottery today, what is the first material thing you'd purchase?

4. Are your toenails currently painted? What do they look like?

5. How do you feel about pets? Do you have any?

6. When was the last time you went out to a movie? What did you see?

7. Do you have any vacations coming up? If not, where would you love to go?

8. What would you do with a kid free night? If you're not a parent, what would you do with an evening all to yourself?

9. What's your guilty pleasure movie or TV show?

10. Which website do you waste the most time on?

11. What's for dinner tonight? Give me some ideas!


Please let me know if you decide to play along. I'd love to hear your answers!                       

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