Born Bad?

Last Saturday we got a new dog for Miss L. Well, its of course a family dog, but our hope is that she will be able to start sleeping in her own bed if she has a dog to sleep with with. We already have 1 dog, a Silver Lab named Mater (yes, he is named after Mater on Cars... Pumpkin named him when he was 2).

Mater is an amazing dog. I got him when he was 6 months old from a puppy mill. He was malnourished, covered in feces, and scared of his own shadow. He has been such a great dog, and so loyal and loving. We didn't really even train him, but he comes when called, sits, lays, stays, and if we let him out the front door, he doesn't leave our yard. Pumpkin sleeps with Mater every night. We really could not have gotten a better dog, ever.

But Miss L needed a dog too. She needs to sleep in her own room, and there were a couple times when Pumpkin was gone that she slept in her room with Mater. Our thoughts were if we got her a dog, we may be able to get her to sleep in her own bed.

So we have been watching our local pound for the perfect dog. And we think we got her. I took the girls last weekend and we picked her up. Meet Kona (and hairy Mater in the background).

She is about 1 1/2 yrs old. She is still very playful cuz she is young, but she is gentle around the kids, and OMG so loving. All she wants to do is be next to you and give kisses. When LL cries she gets concerned and tries to get my attention. Miss L drives cars up and down her while she sleeps, and today played with her lips and poked at her teeth while she just laid there. She is an awesome dog, and everyone has been telling me that I did such a good job on picking her out. Another bonus? Miss L is getting to where she doesn't want to take a nap unless Kona is in the bed too.

Can you tell what kind of dog she is? If you guessed Pit Bull, you are right, and the poor girl is already getting judged by some. It is obvious that our neighbors are scared shitless of her. They even went so far as to ask me through the window if she would bite them. My sister called me and we were talking and she said something to the effect of how Pit Bulls have a natural instinct in them to attack. Like they are born bad.

I just don't believe it. Growing up, I remember everyone was so afraid of Rottweilers. They were thought to be these horrible, mean, aggressive dogs. And then after that it was German Shepherds. Why in the world would you get one of those large, unpredictable dogs? Now, it is Pit Bulls. And it makes me so frustrated.

I do not believe that any dog is born bad. Yes, ALL dogs have natural instincts, but I do not believe our Pit Bull is any more dangerous then our Lab is. The dog is a reflection of the owner. Because of the Pit Bull's build, they are intimidating looking. Kona is smaller then Mater, but her thin coat show off her muscular build. She has little ears on her huge block head. She looks tough. Therefore you get these people who think they are badasses and tough, and they take this tough looking dog and train it to be aggressive and horrible. And then all dogs of that breed get a bad rep.

It is not fair. I could talk on this subject until I was blue in the face, but bottom line is: I do not believe that ANY dog is born bad. I do not believe that Kona is more dangerous then Mater. I believe the dog is a direct reflection on the owner/trainer/handler. And I believe that all dogs deserve a fair and equal chance.

They were cuddling :)

Catch Up!

I would love to write about our Easter, and our new family addition, but I need to do a little catch up first! 2 weekends ago (oh its been so long!), we had a little family trip to Silver Mountain Resort. It was so nice to getaway for a night, and the resort was amazing!

It took about 3 hours to get there, which was just perfect. I  nursed LL right before we left and she was just starting to fuss as we pulled in. 20 more minutes and we would have had to pull over.

Three kids in the car got a little loud at times!

DVD player = greatest invention ever

The resort had so much to do. We went with my parents and all played at the water park. I honestly felt like a little kid again! Pumpkin and Miss L had a BLAST in the water and going down the water slides! Miss L laughed so much! It was really hard to get them out of the water that night :)

LL got wore out from the fun too

Pumpkin rode this water slide probably 10+ times!

Miss L smiled and laughed the whole time

Papa and the kids in the lazy river... lap 3

I wish we could have gone for longer, but since it is only 3 hours away, we are going to be going back for sure! I love how relaxing and nice a little family trip is :)

Power Pumping Update

So I just completed my 3rd night of power pumping... and I don't think I did it right.

The first night I got an extra 2 oz. Night 2: 1 oz. Tonight: 1.5 oz. Last night (night 2) was my lowest amount of breast milk pumped so far total. *sigh* Maybe I'm not doing it right. Maybe I am supposed to do it multiple times a day? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure my supply is still the same as before.

Source

Does anybody have any advice on this?

My Mirena

I always sing My Maria by Brooks and Dunn in my head when I think about my Mirena!

I had a Mirena put in about maybe 5 weeks ago...? (I'm having a horrible time keeping track of time. I mean honestly, LL is already 3 months old!) Already, I am considering having it pulled. I actually made an appointment to have it taken out, but when I got there and talked to the NP, we decided to have it pulled and something else placed all at the same time. So as of right now, I am still sportin my Mirena.

The reason I want it pulled? I am gaining weight. And breaking out. And am having really odd and vivid dreams. Not sure if that last one is actually from the Mirena, but I am going to blame it on it anyways.

For those of you not sure what a Mirena is, it is a type of IUD birth control. It contains only progesterone, which it releases steadily into your uterus. Pregnancy is prevented by blocking the egg from coming down, blocking the sperm from going up, killing the sperm, and preventing the uterus lining to build up to prevent implantation of said blocked egg. It is shaped like a "T", sits at the top of uterus, has little strings that hang down into your va-jay-jay, and you don't feel it. Over time, you may stop having a period all together, which is a huge bonus. You can keep it in for 5 years, or have it removed at anytime you wish, be it to get pregnant again, or because you are gaining uncontrollable amounts of weight and breaking out like you are going through puberty for the first time.

Source

When I went in to have it pulled, we talked about my other options. Because I am breastfeeding the options are a little slimmer. The only other BC I would consider would be the Paragard. This too is an IUD, but it has no hormones at all, and it wrapped in copper. There used to be a bad copper one, but I guess they revamped and this is the good one. I LOVE the idea of no hormones at all. Having the last 10 lbs of baby weight to lose is hard enough without hormones acting against me. The major down side of the Paragard though? It does nothing for your periods, and can actually make them longer, heavier, and more painful. Ummm... no thanks...

I actually made an appt to have the switch done, but am thinking of canceling it now. Periods suck as it is, why would I want to make them even worse? So I'm thinking I might be stuck with my Mirena *insert song and giggle* and battle my weight gain and zitty face and chest. Ugh. There is just no winning when it comes to BC.

Any suggestions?

Power Pumping

I did my first power pumping tonight at work.

You might remember I work night shifts... 12 hour night shifts. So on the nights that I work, I have to pump. This is fine, but last week, my middle of the night output was lower. It totally makes sense since LL pretty much sleeps through the night, but I am an over panicker, so it upset me :)

To try to get my supply back up during the night, I decided to try to power pump. So I scoured the internet on how to go about it, and found quite a few different opinions. This is the timing I chose to go with:

The reason I chose this timing/session layout is that I like to work in even numbers! My math on 7 minutes pumping 10 rest, etc, gets a little screwy. I like to see solid even numbers so I don't get messed up! Plus, I normally pump for 20 minutes at a time anyways, so the first session would be a typical session for me.

After my first power pumping session, I got a whole extra 2 oz! Seems like so little, but I was pretty excited considering it is extra.

The only thing I am still a little confused/hazy on is how many sessions you do. From the majority of things I have read, it is just once a day... but how many days?! I am going to just do it once a night while I am at work and see if it makes a difference or not, so I will keep you posted!

Have you ever power pumped? How did you do it?