Carseat Covers

Before i had Oakley I caught the "sewing bug". I made myself some nursing covers (which was a waste since nursed for like a minute), a few carseat covers and changing pads. Now that we are out and about doing our daily routine, I get stopped at least twice a day by women asking me about my carseat cover. So I have decided to sell them. Here are a few that I have made, some for friends, anyways, if you or someone you know is interested leave me a comment or email me at k24morty@yahoo.com . They will start at $40 for carseat covers, $20 for nursing covers and $25 for changing pads. Also, there is a pic of some fabrics I have at the moment

6 Weeks and the 4th of July!

For the 4th we went to the Children's Discovery Garden at Thanksgiving Point. We met my mom, stocked up on snacks (which we smuggled in...) and headed over. Laker had such a great time. he loves water, at home we have kiddie pool that he lives in!!! the routine at home is to strip down naked and splash, pee and play all day. We had to keep reminding Laker that that we have to keep our thomas undees on. It was so fun, just to sit and watch him play. Oakley hung out with Nana while we wondered through the garden and played in the tunnels. It was soo much fun! That night we headed over to "The Culdesac of Fire". It was so fun, they had the "Bonus Brothers" come and perform, a few dance numbers and of course fire works. It was great!

Oakley is officially 6 weeks old! My how time flys!! She is such a good baby and she is starting to sleep through the night. she is a creature of routine for sure, she is on a 3-4 hour feeding schedule, then is awake for about 30 min after eating and then down for the count till her tummy wakes her up. Laker is a really good big brother. He is finally calling her Sis Oaky instead of sisy anne, which we have not a clue where it came from even though her middle name is anne, we never told him that.... he likes to help me change her bum and feed her and his favorite this is to give her kisses and stroke her face while saying "awwe". It is soo funny. all in all life is pretty good with 2 so far. We also got Oakley's newborns pics back, my good friend Britty did them, there is a link to her website on our blog but she does such an awesome job!!!! here are some of the pics!!

Mortensen Family Reunion

Sorry for being a slacker, but we have been busy!!! Last week was the Mortensen Family Reunion. Typically it falls every 3 years, but this one came a year early...only because Steve's Parents are leaving in September to serve another mission, this time they are going to South Africa!!! We are so excited for them and are hoping we can make a trip there when they are finished.

Anyways, the reunion kicked off with all of the boys golfing, they play as many holes as they can fit in, and i was the lucky one who got to feed them all lunch, did I mention there are 8 boys, plus his dad and cousin that played???? It was great!

Saturday we headed up to Aspen Grove for a whole week. There were 62 Mortensen's up there!!! and that is just Steve's brothers and sisters and their kids. We actually were missing one, my nephew, Mac. He is doing his Basic Training for the Army. We had a great time, all the kids split off into their age groups and were gone all day. Laker had a great time with his cousins in his group and it was nice to have a break!!! Oakley was a champ!!! she slept great and just hung out. I could not do much because of our 3-4 hour schedule, but we did manage to hike to the waterfalls. I wrapped her in my Moby Wrap (which is awesome by the way!) and Steve hauled her up the mountain, she slept the whole way. all in all we had a great time and of course each night was filled with card games...rook, mormon bridge, texas holdem, you name it, we played it! Steve and his brothers dominated in the basketball tournaments as well as water b-ball. Actually it was a pick up game amongst the bro which turned out to be a major brawl. It was hilarious to watch. the lifeguard on duty awarded them the most ferocious game of water ball, but highlighted the point that they don't "encourage" this behavior, but she was not about to interrupt!!! It was great! So get ready for the pics!!! There is a few, oh, on a side note, for those of you who commented, and thank you...I ended up drying up while we were up there...not on purpose but i was not able to pump for 12 hours and that pretty much did it for me. It hurt like hell and i was soo lopsided you could tell from a mile a way, but i'll tell you what, i felt soo much better the next day. I lasted 5 weeks...thats better than nothing. Now i can enjoy my baby instead of stressing and being in pain, plus steve can help with the feedings even though she is going 6-7 hours through the night!!!

A Little Update

So i know everyone loves to hears about my boob problems, but i thought i would give an update. my doc gave me an antibiotic and told me to take Ibuprofen and lortab for the pain. it worked great for like 3 days and then it hit again, this time higher up on my boob. yes, this meant more tears of pain came flowing!!! along with a few choice words that i won't mention. My doc sent me to the er to get a shot of a stronger antibiotic. So they shot me up in one leg and sent me on my way. the next morning all i got was more pain in the boob and now i have sore leg...fantastic!!! so of course i have to go back to the er the next day for another shot in other other leg. Wonderful!!! one sore boob and 2 sore legs, oh did i mention that Laker now has a bad cold with a fever that makes him radiate heat???? sick kids are so fun!!! but good news is this time the shot worked, my boob does not hurt AS bad, still a little sore and i am no longer walking like i am 90! The outcome gave me a bad case of lopsided boobs every time i need to feed, so now i am just waiting to dry up. The devil boob only gives about 1/2 oz of milk while the other gives like 4!!! can you get a mental picture of me when my milk drops.....pretty i know and we leave tomorrow for a week for the Mortensen family reunion. It will be one interesting week as far as feeding goes since i am only pumping. At least i am no longer delirious!

Oh...did I mention.....

So on top of having all the nursing issues, i woke up saturday morning with extreme pain in my right boob, the one boob that has been a champ - no soreness in the nipple- I thought it had to do with the Reglan I have been taking since it is supposed to increase my milk supply. I did all the things you would do to treat engorgement and nothing helped. Well, after attempting to nurse Oakley and about 15 minutes of both of us bawling.....I called my doc and my lactation specialist, the conclusion......I have mastitis!!!! Life just is not fair I tell ya!

I thought natural labor was painful, well i lied! This is a pain that i wish on no one! and for those of you that have experienced it, you know what i mean. And to make matters worse, steve was gone all day for a golf tourney up in Heber, it just happened to be called "the longest day" tourney. So my poor mom had to come down and take care of me and the kids till he got home. What would i do without her!!!!

So, now that my milk supply is low do to going off the Relgan and both boobs are sore for different reasons, i really have no clue what to do about this whole feeding situation.......I really want to stick it out as long as possible, but come on....how many people purposely torture themselves and for how long?????

Breast feeding Vs. Formula

Ok...so I am looking for advice on this. Oakley is now 3 weeks old and in these 3 weeks we have seen our lactation specialist 4 times!!! I am pumping right now and am getting around 5-7 oz per session.

The problem: Well first of all, i have the sorest nipples ever!!! she is a great sucker which brought on the problem and now i am paying for it. then on top of it I am having a "let down" disconnect. She can nurse for 40 min and then still suck down 3 oz of pumped milk. My doc put me on Regalon to help with the let down, but i am still having to give her a little extra after i nurse her. I think so far, we have had maybe 3 or 4 successful nursing sessions where she is completely satisfied and zonks out. Now we are starting to get the colic symptoms.

So my question is: how long should one endure 1- pumping and nursing and sore nipples and 2- the fussy baby that may be brought on by colic? i don't know if it is worth the pain and frustration of doing this or if i should switch to formula or every other feeding use formula?

With my first - he was a horrible baby because of this very problem, only i had no clue. i lasted 5 months with nursing and did i mention they were hell??? once he was on formula he was the best baby ever. Don't get me wrong, Oakley is leaps and bounds better than laker was but i was able to get help a lot sooner with nursing with her. i just don't know if i should make the switch now and save myself the agony....

any advice or input would help!!!!

Monkey #2

Sorry for the delay...we have been a little busy! So here is a little documentary of the delivery....My doc was going out of town so he induced me that friday. We got to the hospital at 2, they broke my water and got me started at 3:45. Oakley was born at 6:45!! super fast. Here is what happened in between.....as soon as the drugs started i was immediately having contractions. My doc had to run back and forth between Jordan Valley and Alta View. He checked me when I was about a 4 and then took off to Jordan Valley. In the hour he was gone i went from a 4 to COMPLETE!!!! I was having double-decker contractions that cause me to dilate that fast in like 10 minutes. So needless to say, I was complete for 20 minutes!!!! My doctor was racing to get back. the nurse did not realize we were still on speaker phone with my doc so he heard me go through the contractions and trying NOT to push. I was about to pass out because lets face it....the pain of natural child birth is a bitch! Once my doctor arrived I pushed for 5 minutes and little Oakley was out! Steve was awsome and a great coach and I had the best nurses and doc. I am just glad she is out!

Life with two so far has been pretty easy. This little girl just eats and sleeps all day and she already has her daddy wrapped around her finger. Laker is really good with her too. We have not had any poking of the eyes and face yet but he loves giving her kisses.