Upcoming breastfeeding series!

As discussed and promised for a couple friends, I will soon begin a series of informational posts of one of many topics I plan to begin covering. The first series being breastfeeding. Its going to be a vast series that at the moment has many parts to it. It'll cover the things you've heard over and over again plus hopefully those things that no one tells you about, or what until you're having trouble to help you with.

I often share information on breastfeeding (since its also, quite literally, my job) on my personal Facebook page but now I figured I start a series to share with the internet world.

I'm hoping to have at least one post per week, but we will see how that pans out. Feel free to ask questions in the comments, or leave a suggestion for a topic. I'm willing to read breastfeeding stories and even share personal experiences in my stories. I'd love to use pictures of families and nurslings, too! Keep your eyes peeled for the first installment; "Boob Basics, and What They Don't Tell You!"

TGI WEEKEND.

Okay, like..everyone else who has a blog is posting about how amazing their weekends are going to be so I thought I'd share too!

My weekend isn't going to be anything TOO exciting. I'm planning on laying back a bit and relaxing since I've been having weird back spasms that, well quite frankly, hurt. Which is telling me I'm doing something wrong right now and that I probably need to get back into my chiropractor. Sadly, that will have to wait until my van is fixed. Damn. Oh well, I suppose.

Anyway, my little brother's (in law..) birthday party is tomorrow. It was supposed to be a surprise, but oh well. He's turning 16. :) Good kid, good kid. Other than that, the weekend will be slow. We'll be going grocery shopping and..that's about it. Maybe another trip to the library for some more books sometime before the birthday party, but that's about it.

Lame blog post is lame. Oh well. ;D One day, I'll throw out a blog post that will knock your knickers off!

What a week, so far.

Sorry for the delay in posts, but I've just gotten really busy since my last one.

Let's see, I did finally get to the library to get some books for Teagan. Of course, she's not interested right now. This is typical toddler behavior, I think. Either way, at least we had books for the trip we took down south to Monticello for my training for my peer counseling position with WIC. (In case you didn't know, I'll be teaching and educating basic breastfeeding stuff). That was definitely a trip from hell. I won't even talk about it, just know..it wasn't too enjoyable.


Other than that, nothing really exciting happened. Just..its only Tuesday and it feels like it should be a Thursday, but its not. Teagan is getting sick again, I think. I woke up feeling like crud today...and Zander is just Zander. He's all about the boob and he's happy with that.

Short post is short. Not too much to say today.

The stars, the stars.

Ever since yesterday when we took a trip to the orchard, Teagan has been talking non-stop about apples, picking them, and eating them. Today I decided that we would do something fun. You see, my daughter? Yeah, she LOVES to paint. If I put a paint brush and a palette (which I don't have) in front of her, I bet she would paint FOR HOURS. Does this mean I need to get an easle and palette with lots of paper? ...yes, it does. But for now, we make due with a table or highchair. ;)

So, I don't know if you remember back in elementary school (if you went to public like me, that is) where you talked about autumn. With autumn always comes apples, right? Right. Well, my teacher decided she would show us something amazing. She took an apple and...cut it in half width-wise. That's right, you guessed it. For the star. I was amazed. I never knew that! Here I was, 7 years old and thinking starts came from apples now. I learned otherwise, but it was awesome to me! Later I learned about the chambers in the core for the seeds, but for now...we stamped apple stars on paper with paint. And that is exactly what I showed my daughter.

She was amazed. "Apple star! Apple star!" The delight made me so happy. So we took paint and painted. Zander joined, too. Although he didn't quite get it. He still sat in on the lesson about seeds and chambers in the apple. They both thoroughly enjoyed being creative with not only apples, but a couple slices of cucumber and potato plus paint brushes. Yes, weird. Using food as stamps? Well, my children also saw differences in visual texture today. Which was also enjoyable. Besides, in case Zander ate it, I wanted it to be good for him. Haha.

After the painting was over with and everything was cleaned up, we tried to find something about apples on Netflix Instant. Yeah, right. So I got on the computer and found some apple charts about their cycles and we watched a short video on planting apple seeds to grow. This means I really need to get to the library for some apple books. Today was a great day for learning and I think my babies learned a lot. :)

Mmm...apple donuts.

You know that autumn (ITS AUTUMN IN MY BLOG PEOPLE) is in the air when the apples start to turn red...or when County Line Orchard opens and begins baking apple donuts. That's right...'round here, apple and pumpkin donuts signify that autumn is near. Well, I guess the cold air says that too. But seriously, have you ever tried a pumpkin or apple donut? No, I'm not talking about the donuts from Dunkin' Donuts. These donuts are amazing. Probably completely unhealthy for you, but they're made from fruits so good for you...right? Either way, we look forward to these donuts every year. And painstakingly fork over 8 bucks for a dozen (6 apple, 6 pumpkin). Ouch, but well worth it.

Mmm..donuts, says Zander. ( I guess that actually kind of looks like "Eh??" but trust me, he enjoyed it.)


Besides donuts today, we also went to the U-Pick orchard as part of the trip..to the..orchard. Right, anyway. Teagan sang the whole way about how she was going to pick some apples (oddly and morbidly chiming in that Super Man is dead, too..which was creepy). We rode a tractor, which Teagan LOVED. I'm not too sure about Zander, he had a grin on his face that kind of said, "I have no idea what's going on but I'm not stuck at home so...yay!" Teagan was completely enthralled in the opportunity to pick apples. We had to tell her a couple times not to pick up apples off the ground. It was a great learning opportunity as we showed her and explained the colors of apples and how to get them off the tree (without pulling the entire branch down. Apple trees aren't very sturdy, apparently...) She was really interested in hearing about worms inside apples with holes. In the end, after all the learning, we got roughly 4 pounds of apples. Mommy and daddy got kisses ( >3< ), Teagan got to pick her first apple...and so did mommy! Zander was chill the whole time and didn't care. Haha.

Bob the Tractor Guy! He was such a gentleman. ;)

The day went rather well, despite Ryan having most of it off. I was glad we got to go, and would've bought out the entire barn if we had the money. We can't wait to go again next month for pumpkins (and more donuts and granny smith apples!!) Right now, I'm having a time keeping myself and the kids out of the donuts that we want to make last. Our boon of apples is going to be turned into caramel apples. Now THAT is bad for you, oh well. Teagan loves to help me cook and I'm sure they'll both love to help me eat them.

Cheers! <3

Sad Ending

Recently, a young girl in our area was reported missing. Within just a few hours, an entire community of people collected together to help find her. People who didn't even know her got together to form search parties all over the area. Even I tried to help out as much as I could, making an attempt to join a search party but had to go back home. Her name is Amanda Bach. She was recently found dead, but most of the details are skewed as to what really happened and where she was really found. Its very said. She was a gorgeous young girl, just two years younger than I and already an amazing life planned out for herself. Two jobs, and college on the horizon for her. Its very sad. I hope they find the person that did it and bring them to justice. May her soul rest in peace and find happiness.

On another note, I walked in the Out of the Darkness walk today at Coffee Creek in Chesterton. Its a suicide awareness and prevention program that is trying to bring light to suicide. (Wow, murder and suicide in one post, huh?) I walked with my good friend Emily and took my son Zander along for the ride. It was a great day for a walk, and a great day to bring light to this cause. Emily and I (mostly Emily) raised $50 dollars and I bummed $4 off her for a hotdogs, drinks, and cookies. <3 She loves me far too much. While there I talked with another mama of a 17 day old (dear god, my uterus). Her family walked away from her because she was nursing (wow, what a GREAT time to be discriminated again) so I sat down next to her to keep her company. And here I thought I was the only mom in our area that nursed. Haha, kidding, of course. But I talked with her a bit, helped her out with her kids. Her newborn spat up on me, which is new because my kids never really did that. Looking back, I wish I had gotten her e-mail address or something. Her name is Lindsey, though.

This blog post is pretty somber. I honestly have no clue how to brighten it since not much else has happened today. Besides the fact that my kids are normally amazing children, they didn't do anything out of the ordinary today so I don't even have a funny story to share. Sadface. You'll find that when reading my blog, its going to contain a lot of funny stories involving my children. Maybe even some pictures! Look forward to that!

A fresh sheet, or freshly baked cookies?

At the moment, I really feel like a freshly baked cookie but since it would seem I'm fresh out (ba-dum), I'll take a fresh sheet. Of pixel paper.

Anyway, so fresh paper. This is my new(er) blog that I'm going to write on about stuff. I'm not too sure WHAT stuff just yet, but stuff. Stay tuned to see what kind of stuff. Gosh, that sounds enticing, doesn't it?

I suppose right about now, you're just dying in your seat to know more about me. My name is Jessica. I'm a 21 year old mother to two, gorgeous children named Teagan and Zander. Teagan, my daughter, is the eldest and Zander, my son, is obviously my baby.

I'm sure you've read my little bio over there to the side and are wondering just how crazy I am. If you're still reading this, you're either a good friend of mine, or are crazy..just..like..me. But enough of that.

If you already know me, then you know what genital integrity and breastfeeding rights, etc. If you don't, then you need to know this: genital integrity is believing that babies of both gender have the rights to keep their genitals (ie, penis and vagina) intact and not mutilated. Yes, I said it. Mutilated. Which means, circumcision! Oh, the dreaded c-word which means I'm ANOTHER "crazy" INTACTIVIST. Oh dear me. Well, if you don't like that, you've probably stopped reading. As for breastfeeding rights, I believe that ALL babies should have access to their mother's milk and those mothers who chose to breastfeed should be supported in that decision. This means that a mother should also have the right to feed their babies where ever they are currently sitting, without a COVER if they so choose. Oh gasp. Now I'm absolutely crazy, right? Right. I am. But I'm crazy about the right things, I think. But no, that doesn't mean I think formula is poison. My own daughter was formula fed. I know both sides of the coin, dearies.

And, by now you've realized I'm also a sarcastic butt-hole. You'll learn to love me if you haven't already. :)