The most exciting part of my day?

How much milk I was able to pump at work.  Yup, that's what I've become- The crazy ounce counter.  It was a good day though- 16 oz.  That's exactly what SYT takes while at daycare, so I was able to match him completely.  Honestly, as a new working mom, this is a really good feeling.  Being dairy free is going pretty well.  I honestly miss cheese WAY more than I miss ice cream!  Tacos without cheese just taste weird.

SYT seems to be doing well at daycare.  He's not taking great naps (I think it's probably too loud and he's just not used to that yet), but the teachers seem to like him, and he always smiles at me as soon as I walk in the door.  In my heart of hearts I wish I were home with him, but, for our current situation, I'm glad I trust them to take care of him.  I do really love what I do, and I know I make a difference in the lives of people, so being at work isn't at all bad.  I just wish I could do it with Spencer in the Ergo carrier!

Okay, I absolutely have to get to bed.  I'm so exhausted this week, and I still have to organize SYT and I for the a.m. and take a shower.  Sorry- I know I'm going to be a slacker when it comes to posting over the next week or two. 

**Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!  Entry deadline is Sunday.  And a little birdie told me there might be a Gybe-ho baseball cap coming the way of the winner as well!!**

Giveaway Time!

Remember my post where we had pictures on the boat as we were going out to dinner?  Remember how I said this pic looks like a Ralph Lauren ad?

Well, friends, I would like to introduce you to my friend Andy.  We've been friends since we were 5, and he's one of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet.  He's an elementary teacher, a sailor, a husband, a bulldog owner (TPP- Tilly would LOVE Ruby their dog!), and a small businessman. 

He has offered to do a giveaway in order to introduce you all to his small business, and I know that you all will love it!  Andy has designed a logo and created a company called Gybe-Ho.  He did men's and woman's for awhile (and for sure needs to bring back at least the adult baseball hats b/c they are awesome and EVERYONE I know who has one loves them!) but right now he is focusing strictly on babies and kids.  He has offered any item of your choosing off his website to one of my readers.  This could be for your child, for a gift to give away at a baby shower, for a new niece or nephew, or for your best friend's 3 year old who has a birthday coming up. 

A few of my favorite products are:

The lemon onsies with the blue sailboat

which has this on the back.......

 (too cute huh??)

The light blue infant tee with the red sail

The perfect shirt for the little sailor's 4th of July next year!

(Oh and this one is on sale!!)

The navy toddler tee

And the green toddler tee

(because it's never too early to start them in pink and green or put them on their first sailboat!)

So, if you know a little one who would look just adorable as all get out in their Gybe Ho clothing, enter this giveaway!  Here are the rules:

1.  Go to Gybe Ho's website, pick out your favorite product, and leave me a comment for one entry

2.  Become a follower (or let me know you already are one) for entry number 2

3.  Become a fan of Gybe Ho's facebook page.

(You must leave separate comments for each please!!)

I'll pick a winner Sunday night, so you have 5 days to get an entry in.  I know the kiddo in your life would look simply darling in one of these little shirts!!  Also, if you have any ideas for other products you would love to have with from this line (baby sun hats, toddler shorts, etc), let me know in the comments as well!

Oh, and you also must go look at the gallery page.  My besties twins are on it and they are sooo cute!!!!  The curls at the end of their hair are making us all swoon this summer!

Bottle labels?

Quick post......

I need to find a way to label SYT's bottles for daycare.  Something a little cuter and more durable than athletic tape and sharpie marker please!!  Any ideas for me?  Of course this would come up less than 12 hours before I take him for the first time!!

Please pray for me today............
Pray that I don't lose it too many times at work.
Pray that my son will take a few good naps without B or me putting him down. 
Pray that the providers in his infant room are careful with him and kind to him.
Pray that I made the right choice.
Pray that my heart will ache less someday than it does right now!

Just stuff........

Lots of randomness in this post

1.  We found a daycare!!!  It's the daycare that is associated with my work, and I walked into one of the infant rooms and immediately knew this was where SYT was supposed to be (since being at home in my arms isn't an option).  The two teachers are wonderful and the other little ones in the room were darling and so curious about SYT.  One of the little girls came over and gave him a kiss- it was too cute.  Apparently she just loves "babies" (funny, because she's only 13 months- just a baby herself!).  SYT starts Monday a.m.  I know he'll be fine, but I'm still slightly nervous that he'll have a bad day (or week) and will get all off schedule.  Ugggg.....hopefully it won't affect his nighttime sleep.

2.  Last night my aunt, uncle, and three cousins had dinner here with us before heading up north for their vacation.  It was wonderful to see them.  Loud, crazy, and so much fun.  We did bone in chicken breasts on the grill, pasta with pesto (our basil is out of control!  Yea!), sauteed zucchini and squash, corn and tomato salad, and angel food cake with lemon curd and strawberries for dessert.  YUM!

3.  We picked our first tomato from our garden.  It was a big one!  We threw it into the corn and tomato salad and it tasted wonderful!  Not at all mealy or soft. 

4.  Did I tell you we have raspberry bushes?  We do and they are HUGE producers.  Last week I made a raspberry pie and though the crust wasn't perfect, the raspberries were great.  I had to make the pie with shortening instead of butter as I normall do.  The crust was amazingly flakey, but shrunk in the oven and just not as perfect as I would have hoped.  I'll try it again soon.  Tomorrow night we have dinner club, and the theme is "Farm Fresh Flavors" (basically locally grown food).  We're going to use the raspberries from our backyard to make a homemade raspberry vinagrette.  I'll post a few recipes next week for various summer foods we've been enjoying.

5.  B's parents were here all last week while I went back to work for the beginning of the week.  We had an area in our backyard where we had ripped out yew bushes and it was just sitting empty until we figured out what full sun plant we wanted to place there.  Well, B's dad ended up weeding the whole thing and filling it in with 7 hydrangea bushes and then mulched all around it.  It looks amazing.  I'll take pics to show you all soon.  He did a fantastic job, and we're so appreciative. 

6.  B worked 2 1/2 days last week (the 2 1/2 days I didn't work).  He is really liking his new job and it's keeping him very busy.  I'm SO happy!!  He seems to be doing really well there and has already found a few things to change in order to fix a few of the problems they've been having.  I'm really proud of him, and he's so excited to be using his brain again.

7.  I am NOT ready for my maternity leave to be over.  While I love my job and liked going back last week (I felt so productive!), I'm really just not ready to leave Spence.  Plus, how am I supposed to get everything done (groceries, work outs, errands, etc) now that I'm working 5 days a week and will want to come immediately home after work in order to get at least 3 hours in with my buddy before he goes down?  Honestly, it's going to be a hard transition.  We'll make it work, but it's going to be eye-opening!

8.  I have over 400 unread items in my blogger.  I hate feeling so behind.  I have a feeling this is going to be a chronic problem between full-time work and mommyhood. 

9.  Tacos are a little weird without cheese!  Other than that, dairy free is going pretty well this week :)

Wordless Wednesday- Family pics

(With results like this, getting a family Christmas card is going to be next to impossible!)

(SYT rockin a popped collar- accidentally :)!)

2 months old!

Spencer turned 2 months last week, but today was our drs apt, so I was able to get his stats.  Today he weighed 13 lbs 13 oz, was 23 inches long, and his head circumference was 16 inches.  He's a big boy with his weight in the 87th percentile!  He's meeting all his developmental milestones, and our pediatrician was quite impressed with his head control and how high he could lift his head when he was on his tummy. 

He adores his tummy time, so it wasn't surprising to me that he did so well for her!  He did have to have his shots today- NOT fun.  I bought some generic tylenol in case he is crabby tonight or tomorrow.  I feel bad for having to go to work tomorrow- I pray he doesn't hurt too badly.

Spencer had a "rough" afternoon today per my in-laws who are here this week helping B while I am back at work.  I'm not shocked as this is the first time he has been without me for more than 5 hours.  B also had a meeting this afternoon for his new job, so they watched him for about 2 hours and he was pretty fussy apparently.  I feel so sad for him as I'm sure he was missing either me, my smell, or nursing (really, probably a combo of all of them).  I'm glad B is home all day tomorrow so he can help him through his fussy time. 

(Okay, he looks so hysterically funny in this pic I just had to post it.  I have no idea what is going on with his lips, but it's awful and funny at the same time!)

We have looked at a few daycare centers this week and I'll be looking at one more on Thursday.  Pray for us in making this decision.  It's ROUGH!  I'm praying about it as much as I can and trying to make myself know that many people do this all the time and that the people at day care will be wonderful to him, right??

SYT is cooing and smiling all the time.  He'll even pull off the breast just to interact with me.  I love, love, love it.  He has rolled over from tummy to back 4 times now.  He is starting to look at his toys and realize there is life beyond Mommy and Daddy's faces.  He really likes his music before bedtime, and he loves his baths.  He also goes to bed totally awake and falls asleep on his own (at nighttime, not for naps)- it's a miracle, really!

So, that's my buddy this month.  Full of smiles, bright eyes, and sugar!!

Things I learned last week

I like this

MUCH better than this

Soy milk tastes funny to me, but almond milk tastes like milk.  Perfect for cereal, and, while I need to read a little more, I think I'll be able to use it in recipes too!!

_________________________________________

I really want to order at least 5 of these.

I pack my lunch every day, and these would come in so handy.  Plus, though I try to be really good and use tupperware as much as I can or reuse my sandwich bags, these would work really well and are dishwasher safe.  Definitely an awesome find!

__________________________________________

Either this

or this

is destroying our garden.  One of them (or both?) ate our first cucumber and our only slightly red tomato.  Plus a ton of our leaves on our squash and cucumber plants are gone.  So today, B is out getting fencing and a spray to keep them away.  I've worked hard on this garden and I would like to harvest some of these veggies for myself, darn it!!

____________________________________

I do not like

the British Open nearly as much as the other 3 majors.  I don't have a reason for this, but it is just not as enthralling to me as the others.  It is cool/interesting to see the balls just FLY because of the wind, but other than that, I feel very meh about golf this week.

That's what's on my mind.  What's on yours?

Pink and Green Thursday

Okay, prior to this dress, I would have said that I was a lover of all things pink and green.  Love the Lilly, love kelly green pants and a light pink shirt on a man, etc.  But this????  I saw it in a boutique in Harbor Springs over the 4th of July and just about died.  I honestly didn't even look at the price tag (but should have)- I'm sure it was ridiculous.  I knew immediately what my first Pink and Green Thursday post was going to be dedicated to. 

And just in case you wanted a close up...........

A new diet

I'm sure that most of you are thinking that because I just had a baby, I am dieting in order to lose the last of my baby weight.  That's a pretty normal assumption, I would think.  However, I really have to say that working out through pregnancy really did help me to keep my weight at a very reasonable level, and almost all of that weight has come off in the past 8 weeks.  I'm currently about 6-7 lbs (depending on the scale) over what I weight prior to getting preggers.  I'm pretty happy with that, and I know if I could fit a little more workout time into my schedule, I'd lose even more. 

Today's post is, unfortunately, a lot more heartwrenching (for me at least) that just a few lbs.  About two weeks ago I noticed that SYT had some blood in his stool when I changed his diaper.  Knowing that nothing about that was normal, I called the pediatrician's office to see if I needed to make an apointment, get a stool sample, etc.  Our pedi called me back, we discussed all the symptoms, and then, just like that, my next 6 months to a year are seriously changed. 

SYT is growing like a weed, has no symptoms of pain, is a generally happy baby, etc, etc.  The number one cause of blood in stools when the baby is healthy and growing well?  The inability to break down Cow's milk protein.  What's this you say?  What is cow's milk protein- it's dairy, ladies, DAIRY!  Oh, and it's just found in EVERY SINGLE FRICKIN THING AT THE GROCERY STORE!!!!!!  Yes, my friends, this woman is now on a dairy free diet.  DAIRY FREE!!!!!!!!!!  As in no milk products, none, nada, zip zilch.  Okay, so you think, ahhhh, stop whining and just get some soy milk for your cereal.  Oh no, I can have NO CHEESE, no butter, no yogurt, no cottage cheese, NO ICE CREAM, nothing with whey or caesin (pretty much all breads at the normal grocery store have at least one of these), no pesto (parmesan), no caprese salads, NO ICE CREAM, no baked cheetos or cheese-its (my go to salty snacks), no chocolate, no sour cream, no cream cheese, NO CHEESE, pretty much no baked goods (due to the butter) etc.  If you look on labels, most of them will give allergy information on the back.  Go ahead, look at the labels and see how many of them contain milk- it's a lot.  I have zero food allergies, so I've never realized how hard this could be, and I am now one very sympathetic person!

The pedi asked me right away how committed to breastfeeding I am.  I said that my plan was to nurse for a year.  I'm going to pump at work and, while I can't guarantee that SYT won't wean himself earlier than that, that's my current goal.  I still feel that way, but boy is it a lot more of a big deal now.  I have read a few articles that she sent me and have done some of my own research, and this isn't uncommon for babies to have.  There are many symptoms (fussiness, frequen spit ups, etc) that may take a while to diagnose, but bloody stools are really easy to spot and they immediately stopped after I gave up dairy.  In fact, one night up north, I took in dairy without even thinking about it (old habits die hard) and the next morning SYT had blood in his stool again.  That makes it pretty obvious to me that his little GI tract is having a hard time breaking those proteins down, and he needs me to be vigilant about not eating dairy in order to help him out. 

The good news is that I try reintroducing dairy into my diet when he is 6 months to see what happens.  50% of children outgrow this by then, and 98% outgrow it by their 1st birthday, so sometime between November and May, I should be able to add cheese, greek yogurt, and ice cream back into their normal place in my world.  I'm so glad that there is such a small risk of him actually having a dairy allergy, as it wouldn't be fun at all for him to miss out on so much food!  Giving it up for 6 months or 9 months is one thing, never experiencing a grilled cheese sandwich, an ice cream cone, or a glass of milk with a fresh baked cookie is another. 

So, yes, this is going to be hard.  I could just quit breastfeeding him and try out different formulas, but I love knowing that I'm able to provide something special for him, especially since I will be going back to work soon.  I also love that we have bonding time multiple times a day.  To me, breastfeeding is way worth it.  Living dairy free seems to be a healthy way of living.  I'll be eating lots of protein, lots of vegetables, lots of fruits, and very little processed foods.  Hopefully this will help to get off these last few pounds as well!!  (Especially if I can create a good schedule that allows me at least 45 min to work out- but that's another post!)

Any great dairy free recipes out there that you would like to share?  Does anyone have good baking recipes that DON"T involve butter, milk, or chocolate?  I just don't know how I'll survive if I don't get my time in the kitchen!  Any bloggers who have been through this that I need to be reading about?  I'd love any info you guys have!

HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BYT, SYT, and I went for dinner tonight at our favorite Grand Rapid's restaurant (so far).  The reason we went on a family date in the middle of the week?

TO CELEBRATE MY HUSBAND'S NEW JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, today he was offered a position with a local logistics company after a lengthy interview process.  It's currently a 6 month contract gig (they are really busy) but as long as everything goes well, they'll be discussing permanent employment in December!  My oh my, we are sooooo excited around here today. 

They wanted him to start today (um, yes, today!) but he is starting Thursday and it'll kind of be part time over the next two weeks while we get day care figured out (as I am going back to work on Monday).  I'm feeling a lot little overwhelmed with the fact that they want him right now and baby SYT doesn't have anywhere to go yet.  Anyone want to come live in GR for 6 weeks while we get stuff organized?  Starting next week?  We're great cooks, we have a fully furnished extra bed and bath, and B's really funny! :)  Hopefully I'll have great things to report by the end of the week re: all this stuff.

Want to know what big dorks we are?  Our first financial discussion after figuring out what B's paychecks would be revolved around which college acct we would open.  Yup, not "oooh, can I finally get the graduation present I wanted" or "oh, I've been eyeing this great new dress", but hey, we have a kid now and college is only 18 years away, so let's get on it!!  Oh yeah, and the fact that at the next grocery store run we need diapers as SYT has grown out of his size ones and is into size 2s.  Oh, the excitement of new parents :)

But, in all seriousness, I'm SO proud of my husband and so glad that he will be able to use his brain cells for the good of this new company.  They're lucky to have him!! 

Our first night out!

Last Saturday night we were invited out with 11 others to meet at the Bay View dock and head out for cocktails and appetizers on two friends boats and then have dinner at a restaurant in Bay Harbor called Knot, Just a Bar.  It was a gorgeous "up north" day and a perfect day to be on the water.  My mom and Ralph watched Spence so we were truly able to enjoy ourselves. 

One of the two boats we took across the bay.

So not my normal look, but I totally fell in love with this one shouldered top.  It made me feel sexy- hard to do being 8 weeks post-partum.  Another plus about the top?  I can nurse in it so easily.  That's a huge benefit these days :)

Couldn't the pic on the left be in an add for Polo?

We had a wonderful time- one of the best nights of the summer so far.  While I couldn't wait to get home and check on our little one, it was great to feel like a woman instead of a mom for 5 hours!!

4th of July Fun

The 4th was desperately hot up north, but still worth the trip.  A few of my favorite pics are below!

Love the Americana feel to this one!

At the Harbor Springs Art Show

Trying to find a picture for above our mantel.  My favorite cost over $1000, so it's on the wish list for now!

I adore hostas!

The parade begins

The bagpipers.  They must have been DYING of heat!

The kids love all the bands in the parade (almost as much as the candy!)

Old timey cars (there are always tons of them)

Our friends kids and BYT holding SYT and trying to keep him shaded by the burp cloth.

Mommy and SYT in the shade.