Wordless Wednesday : You can't win them all ...

"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last.  You can say, 'I have finished.'  There is a lot of satisfaction in that." 
     --Fred Lebow

....I came in the middle for my age & gender - just saying !



 
                                           
  ♥

Grateful for Battery operated Toys ...

Are you among women {like me} who assume they are incapable of  resolving a situation that needs something screwed to fix it ?

Keep your clothes on - I meant - like with a power drill ...

When DH offered to buy me this battery operated device for Mother's day -

(Makita DF330DWXP 10.8V)

I was secretly thrilled and grateful {he would even let me near one}


(yes totally sexist but somewhat true with me )

Once we become inspired to help ourselves , there is no limit to the inspiration we can give other  women.
 
My husband has quite an array of power tools and he can fix most things - should I abort fail my projects.

I am looking forward to my journey toward self-sufficiency , grateful at least , I will be equipped to try my hand at it.

If not he'll I'll laugh at my mistakes and let him fix them ...might be a way to get things completed quicker !!

Tell me your experiences with cordless hand tools ?

Do you have any tips regarding proper tools, tips, techniques to help inspire me to tackle basic projects on my own ?

I'm also grateful Pinterest has given me a few ideas. That is a post for another day.

Would just buy it because it is pink ?

Ps I'm not allowed to touch it yet and this is not a sponsored post but $10 from the sale goes to NBCF.I'm telling you in case you want one too.

Express ...

Heads : E X P R E S S

This word evokes many memories ... of course for me ... to do with breastfeeding my twin sons.

My twins were born a month premature and most babies under 36 weeks don't have a good sucking reflex.

Though many can start to breastfeed or bottle feed they also have nasogastric tubes (NGT) because sucking exhausts them easily.


So they space the NG tube feeds with a breast or bottle feed initially. I started hand expressing colostrum the same day - like 1-2 mls. Yes mls.

It was a few days before I my milk came in ... then I spent the next three weeks hooked up this pump 5- 6 times a day for 20-30 mins or more each session. I was so determined to breast feed.

S was having a bottle of expressed breast milk (EBM) about every 9 hrs and two tube feeds in between.He was very reluctant to suck the teat.

The midwives in the Nursery were not that keen for me to breastfeed, it seemed, and I had to fight to let him suck at the nipple at all while he was having a tube feed. He just wasn't interested in the teat/bottle. They kept saying he wouldn't suck. They said not to "tire him out".

J - took to the bottle with expressed breast milk very well and being so little at 2 kgs with a tiny mouth he was having problems attaching. *sigh* So we didn't try him as much but he was up to having a bottle of EBM every six hours, days before his brother, who 800gm heavier.

We were only in the nursery for them to gain weight and feed ...

Finally at19 days old they let us go home. J - was only having bottle feeds. S only got his NG tube out the day before we left. He was having breastfeeds with bottle feed top up and bottle feeds overnight when I wasn't there. He wasn't keen on top ups ... wasn't hungry obviously.

We left hospital with a long list of do's and don'ts. The main one was to overfeed and force top ups on S offer S extra top up feeds after a breastfeed and feed both at least every 3 -4 hrs.

S never had another bottle . Ever !

I knew my mother's intuition was he didn't want the top up and I knew he was p o o ping and p e e ing enough plus gaining weight. It wasn't that I didn't have the supply.

I was pumping milk for J round the clock. I knew that while I could I wanted to give them both breast milk.

I felt guilty I wasn't able to get J to attach to the n i p p l e. I saw a lactation consultant but we had no luck. We tried shields - no luck. He just screamed and arched his back. He had a touch of reflux too so we added thickener Karicare .I knew it was upsetting him to push him any more. I let it go. I tried every him so often if he nuzzled me.

Having a twin still breastfeeding meant I was able to maintain a good supply for both. I know people expressing for just one baby have a lot of difficulty maintaining supply. A baby sucking is the best method for making milk.

So for the next 4-5 months I expressed - sometimes 5-6 times a day. Sometimes with the tandem collection kit, sometimes whilst breastfeeding S on one side and sometimes while bottle feeding J . Sometimes, I did all at once. I juggled everything with the help of my dear husband. He enjoyed participating in feeding J his bottle too.

Then I mastered three times day expressing.I wish I had known about the pumping bra though ... I spilt a few precious bottles juggling my books or keyboard and holding bottles/pump kits.

One day J was screaming for his milk ...I had to warm the bottle from the fridge. I had just set up to express and thought I would try him.

He was also in a Pavlik harness for his hips (from 4-6 months) to make matters more complicated in trying to position him the right way to breastfeed.


But surprising he attached and I could feel him feeding, hungrily, properly for the first time. He did it again later .Over the next few days he was down to one -two EMB bottles at night ( so I could sleep LOL and Daddy could still help)

I continued to express one feed because he had been diagnosed also with the kidney VUR reflux and I wanted to make sure he was getting a good drink to flush his kidneys out. Then one day at about 7 -8 months I stopped expressing.

S & J continue to breastfeed at 21 months.

See more Heads & Tails hosted by Skittles at its new blog..

♥

Family Time

yesterday I came across a new prompt ....@ Wrapped Emotions about expressing yourself (Thanks Tiff @ Three Ring Circus).
This weeks prompt is to Enjoy Your Family.

This is what Melody said, “This week’s prompt is simple. Go, spend time with your family. Do one little bitty special thing with your children or your spouse or your mother or your sibling or your pet. Even if it’s just a great big extra squishy hug…do it.

So….here goes!

Lately, my husband has been very busy working 12- 14 hrs a day on work project. It has been hard both ends.

My first thing was last night to offer my DH a long, soothing back massage ...sorry I couldn't take any photos *wink*

Today we are heading for lunch at Avoca Beach and a little scavenging adventure - save a few things from being landfill that are in a caravan park being demolished. Well , it is to help my DH and to spend the day as a family too.

We have also had my Uncle stay with us helping my DH the last few days. I realised last night how much my Uncle reminds me of my Dad. They look a bit alike (he is 2 yrs older than Dad), sound alike, laugh alike and think alike. Uncanny but I guess being brothers and sharing DNA. I mentioned it to my DH and he agreed he noticed it too.

Seeing my Uncle with my little boys too has made me feel the loss of my Dad more... that he never got to meet them either and they him.

Family is so important and we need to take the extra time and effort to cherish the times we have with them.