Be Wild and Free

This is how we roll. Dishes needed done, baby needed bathed and so we do them together while Big Brother helps out!  Everyone, including myself, had a blast! Splashing around is so much fun and my sanity is saved from trying to do dishes with a screaming baby behind me! This is why we ended up in this predicament... Like I said, Judge your mother. How do you think us super mom's get shit done around here?  Until next time, friends

I've debated on writing about this for awhile. But it's such a big part of my life now. It's something I never want to forget because forgetting would suggest it didn't happen... and it has shaped me to be who I am today. It has made possible many of the blessings I have today. To not write about would be to hide it. To be ashamed of it. To be embarrassed by it. But it did happen. It did make me cry, scream and beg for it to be changed. It did change my outlook on life. To not come forward with it would suggest that it should be hidden, locked away tight as to not upset anyone. But that's not doing my baby any justice. That suggests I don't love my baby.  So here it is.  The story of Baby July.  The heartbreaking day that changed my life forever and made me who I am today. The reason why I'm more passionate than ever. The reason why my gorgeous baby girl is called my beautiful Rainbow Baby. Why she is even possible to be here right now.  Aro...

I'm usually a very positive person. I've heard people say I can be obnoxiously happy at times. Normally I can see the silver lining in every rain cloud.  But lately, it's been hard. Dealing with PPD for the second time, life handing us lemons everywhere we turn and feeling suffocated with the million irons we have in the fire; I've been run down and negative. I've been frustrated and irritated. We've dealt with a bent rim on our car twice now. A transmission line on our truck blew. Frozen water pipes so many times that I've lost count. Our dog was hit and killed in the road. If it wasn't for breakers, our house would have likely burnt down due to an electric fire in our basement. The list goes on and on and on. Instead of getting down about it, we stand back up and continue fighting...  but I would be lying if I didn't say that some days I just want to throw in the towel. So, I've decided that it's time to start focusing on the pos...

Hey readers! Hope you haven't forgotten about me! I'm still here! It's been crazy here at the Sloan Homestead. We're all sick! Oh joy! Bentley shared his cold with his sister and I'm sick from starting my Greens up again after months upon months of not being able to stomach them. So my body is being purged of all things yucky. I am also battling Plugged Ducts that I'm trying to prevent from turning into Mastitis. ... I thought it was Mastitis last night, but starting to lean towards just Plugged Ducts. With Bailey being sick, she isn't nursing as well and since she's extra fussy due to this cold, her growth spurt, the 5th developmental leap (We're going to have a crawler soon! This girl is really on-the-go!) and her two bottom teething pushing good; I am not being allowed to pump thoroughly like I need with my oversupply. So I'm fighting that and trying to get the kids healthy again... and trying to make some big decisions... and trying to e...

In order to normalize breastfeeding, those of us who do it have a big job on our hands. People need to see it. Need to realize that it's OK and need to support it. It's no secret that I'm a huge breastfeeding advocate. But, what many overlook or just flat out ignore is I wasn't always a breastfeeding mother. Bentley was not breastfed past the first week of his life. I didn't have the support from friends, from family and I was on the fence as it was. I also didn't have the education nor did I have anyone to turn to for advice.  When Bentley was born, I wasn't educated enough to know that milk doesn't come out at first, colostrum does and it can be very hard to hand express. I didn't think I had anything to offer my newly born son and the hospital staff wasn't much help to educate me. So we went straight to formula and Ben was the first one to feed him. I was also all wired up from my c-section w...

I'm just going to put it out there. I hate Valentine's Day. What a worthless holiday. Honestly, we don't even celebrate Valentine's Day unless we really need an excuse for a date night. To us, it's just a Hallmark Holiday that is set up to get you to feel obligated to spend money. We feel there are more important things to spend money on and more important events/holidays to celebrate.  That's what works for us. But... giving that we have a preschooler now (eek!) and he just so happens to have a Valentine's Day Party, I decided to sign up for something cutesy.  So I chose... Special Treat I had to pick the brains of my fellow mommy's group who so cleverly came up with an easy but cute treat! Heart shaped Rice Krispie treats dipped in chocolate and drizzled with pink!  Well, I got everything BUT the "drizzled with pink" because there wasn't anything sufficient unless I did some extra steps and dyed white chocolate. ...

Little did I know how much Bentley's birth was going to shape and mold me as much as it did. Shortly after his birth, I knew I never wanted another c-section. My recovery wasn't bad... I know many mother's who have much worse recoveries; but it just wasn't something I wanted to go through unnecessarily again. Ever since Bentley was born, I have had many regrets around his birth. I regret letting the doctor induce me. I regret letting my "researcher" side down and not researching that my fluid levels of an 8 is normal at 39 weeks pregnant. I regret letting the nurse talk me into an epidural when I was in no shape or form needing it at the time. I regret having so many people in the room... there were 30 conversations going on at one time while I was laboring on my own. I regret not having a vision in my head for how I wanted my birth to go.  So many things have ate at me since Bentley's birth, so I was determined to have a much better birth with Bailey...