Dagyn Beannacht Mason

 Thanks everyone for the kind words and congrats!!  We are really enjoying our little guy!  On his 1 week birthday last night we all laid hands on him and thanked God for a safe birth, a healthy baby and for future health and happiness for him.

A minute or so after birth

 I have been informed (thanks KM) that I neglected to announce the name we chose for our little one! (bad Kelley, bad Kelley).  At about 2 days old we settled on Dagyn Beannacht.  

With his placenta, a few hours after birth

Dagyn is pronounced Day-gin (like Meagan).  There are many different ways you can spell it and apparently each spelling can also be pronounced differently.  This spelling is often pronounced like da-jin but that was a bit 'Sweedish' for us so we are sticking with pronouncing it our way.  The name is Hebrew for 'grain or wheat' or gaelic for 'dark haired'. Since neither of those applied to our Dagyn we went with the Gaelic word Beannacht, which means "blessing".  It is pronounced like Bannock but with a "t" at the end.

first bath, less than 1 day old

I have really enjoyed my week in bed!  I am pretty sad the week is over, it went by WAY too fast.  I loved just cuddling up with him and nursing and having everyone take care of me and bring me food (and we have SO much great food here . . . which is good because I am always very hungry and everything tastes SO good!!).  I plan to continue to take it easy for as long as possible.

We actually went out for the first time today.  We went by a friends house, the chiropractor, and to JoAnns so I could get some fabric to make him a baby blanket.  I usually love going out with my newborns and showing them off to people.  But I was really anxious to come home and crawl in bed and cuddle again.

1st picture of the family together . . . 1 day after birth

Hopefully this weekend I can get the new blog up and running, get some 'stills' off of the video camera and get the birth story (which is pretty much finished) posted.

It is March 10! Today is my EDD!

(been trying to post this all day, but my internet went out so it is going out a bit late).

I figured I'd still be pregnant today, but instead I have this . . . .

And if I were to still be pregnant, I suppose it would be something like this . . .

Still working on the birth story.  Just because the labor was shorter apparently doesn't mean my story is, LOL! For those of you who have read my birth stories, you know that they are like novels!  I am so long winded but I just want to make sure I get all my thoughts and feelings down so I don't forget them. 

I'll try to post more pictures soon though, assuming my internet doesn't crap out on me again, ugh.

World Breastfeeding Week

OK so I know I have been MIA (super busy summer here).  And of course I am behind on breastfeeding week too (which was this past week) but in honor of the occasion I put my breastfeeding stats on facebook and figured I may as well blog about them too!

 Me nursing 13mo old Thrace in Yellowstone, June 2010

OK, so here are my Breastfeeding Stats . . . . 

• I started nursing with my first child in 2000
• I have been nursing for almost 10 years non-stop
• I have been tandem nursing (nursing 2) for over 8 years non-stop
• I have nursed through 4 pregnancies
• I have tandem nursed through 3 pregnancies
• I have nursed 3 kids for a total of a year (6mo after #3 was born, 6mo after #4 was born)
• I have nursed a child to sleep every night for almost 10 yrs straight (and almost every day for nap)
• I have nursed 2 kids to sleep (for bed and nap) for 8 yrs straight
• So far, my 3 kids who have weaned did so at 4.6, 5, and 4.8 yrs old
• I am currently nursing my 1 and 3 yr old (to bed and for nap ;0)
• I started pumping to donate milk after #4 and 5 and have pumped 1000's of oz
• All of my kids nursed exclusively for a min of 6mo (till they insisted on eating table food)
• None of my kids has ever had a drop of formula 
• None of my kids has ever had a bottle, not even of expressed milk (nor a paci)
• And I am very grateful that I, or my babies, have never had any 'issues' or problems nursing, other than the occasional 'episode' of mastitis, ugh.

So I suppose all of this makes me 'special' or some amazing person right?  Uh no!! LOL!!  There is nothing amazing or special about me.  I just do what I have to do and what I feel is best.  What is amazing and special is the fact that God created our bodies so wonderfully and perfectly!  That we can make the most perfect food for our babies!  That breastfeeding has a host of benefits not just for baby but for mom too!

I happen to feel very strongly about nursing, and I also happen to be pretty stubborn and determined and idealistic about some things too.  No it is not always easy (especially when you are 9mo pg nursing a toddler and just barely being able to tolerate it) but I am just so convinced that allowing them to nurse as long as they need to is not only the most natural choice, but it is also so beneficial to them, that any 'issues' I may have are simply minor inconveniences and I can suck it up and deal with it (even if it means I spend over an hour every night nursing kids to sleep, LOL).  It becomes normal, it becomes natural and it is like second nature.

It is life with little ones and I wouldn't change a thing!

Hairy Hot Dogs

 Or as the kids have been calling them, squid dogs (on the count of they look like squid)!  Sounds gross but it is a really cool twist to the traditional hot dog (and spaghetti for that matter).  I saw them in the latest issue of Family Fun Magazine and after having a stomach bug last week (always fun right?) I figured we were due for something special.

They are super easy to make (takes a bit longer than regular hot dogs or spaghetti) and the kids LOVE them!!

All you have to do is . . . .

• Cut
• Insert
• Boil
• Enjoy

 Cut your hot dogs into pieces.  I did 5 pieces per dog but you could do more or less.

 

Insert uncooked spaghetti into the hot dog pieces. 

  

The kids had fun with this which definitely saved me time (I was shoving like 3 in at a time to go quicker).  

  

We did like 5-7 strands of spaghetti per piece.  You could do less.  I guess it depends on how much pasta you want.  It ended up being quite a load of spaghetti.

  

Then boil.  I just boiled according to the spaghetti instructions.

  

Enjoy!!

  

As you see the kids had fun eating this!

  

We just ate them like we would regular hot dogs, they had ketchup to dip them in.  But you could totally serve it like spaghetti (especially if you use a lot of spaghetti like we did) and do it in a bowl with pasta sauce (assuming you can keep their fingers out of it, LOL).

  

 The kids are drinking Tibicos (aka water kefir lemonade . . . more on that in another post)

Thrace absolutely freaked out and threw his apple on the floor when he saw them, so I had to give him some.  He preferred the hot dog unfortunately (wasn't really planning on feeding him hot dog at 8mo but he was screaming for it) 

 

We don't do hot dogs often, but this will definitely be the way we do them from now on!!

3 Christmas greeting from the kids!!

Well I had this scheduled to post on Christmas day but for some reason it didn't. So I am posting it now (late).

The kids wanted to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a great holiday season!!

Merry Christmas from my elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Who can resist a disco

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Yee-Haw . . . Merry Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

More Jackson Pictures!

Ok, so yes, I know it has been a while. But seriously I have been so busy here. After Kristi had her baby we had to get ready for a birthday party for the kids. We always have some project to finish before a party, this time we were building cabinets!! We finished them at 7am the day of the party (we went to sleep at 7.30am, woke at 10, the party was at 2, LOL!! Crazy!). We ended up having 9 kids and 4 parents spend the night. It was a ton of fun!! Then, after a few days of recuperating, we had to head out of town again for my sister Karla's bridal shower. We are going to GA for her wedding next weekend! I am so not used to having so much going on! I don't think I have even checked facebook in like 2 wks!! LOL!! I have like a list of things I want to blog about and no time to do it! I try to blog after the kids are in bed (which is my only time to really sit and do it uninterrupted) and I end up falling asleep every night!

Anyway, here are the pictures I promised. Kristi and Jackson in the Kozy. These were taken when he was like 12 hrs old!! I didn't want Kristi to have to get out of the bed but I was anxious to capture his first "ride" on camera so we just had her sit up in bed and tie him on!!

Ah, I love it when they are so close you can just lean over and kiss their little head!!!

Here are some pictures from 2 wks later, at my sister Karla's Bridal Shower
(which we had at Kozy)

Jackson and mama

Jackson and GG
(his great grandma, our moms mom who recently turned 80)

Jackson and his aunt Karla
(our little sister who is getting married next weekend)

The 3 newest grandbabies (numbers 12, 13 and 14). Jackson (2 wks) Thrace (4 1/2mo) and Shiloh (3mo)

OK so NOT Jackson, LOL!! But I had to throw this in because they are cute! Ever and Thrace lying with Polywhirl (the cat who really isn't supposed to be in the house but he is such a good sweet and tolerant cat that sometimes I let it slip).

Little Rascals

Over the years I have taken pictures of the kids doing various, well, interesting and messy things . . . sitting in a pile of flour on the floor, rubbing lipstick all over their faces, tearing into a fully iced cake, LOL!! (I need to dig up those pictures somewhere). They all got into 'trouble' but for some reason Arah and Ever have been the biggest hand fulls. They go through this stage, usually from the time they can walk or climb to they are 3-4, where they are into EVERYTHING!! I am not even going to mention the roof story for fear that CPS may end up knocking at my door, LOL!! (and for those who know the roof story, it happened again a couple times, once just the other day).

I often wonder if they get into more 'trouble' because I am busy with other kids and they are more independent and don't care to wait for me to get them things. I mean that is how Arah learned to wipe his bum, he got tired of always waiting for me to come wipe him, LOL!! (which reminds me that Ever has been trying to wipe himself lately . . . he is 2 1/2, I don't think so!!) And once they realize that they can push a chair to the cabinet and get food . . . well then there is NO stopping them, LOL!!

Arah has grown out of most of it (he is almost 5, though he still likes to write all over himself) but now Ever is proving to be just as much of a little rascal as Arah was, and ya, it started when he could walk. It isn't uncommon to have a box of cereal dumped out on the floor (and stomped in) chocolate syrup (left over from making 'Duggar' cake) poured on the carpet, and wonderful marker artwork all over the walls (or sharpie on the sofa, that was last month) and that is all in one day!!! OF COURSE I stop them and tell them that we do NOT do that (and sometimes I get really frustrated and loose it, usually if I am overly tired and it is the 5th mess of the day) but I usually handle it well. I don't blame them. They are just being kids! I blame myself for not locking the cabinets, not putting the syrup on a higher shelf and for leaving the markers out where little hands can find them. I know that, like the others, they will learn self control as they mature and then they will no longer do these things because they know it is not right. But for now, though it is a lot of work, it is also a lot of fun to see their personalities, how creative they can get, and how much trouble they can get into, all on their own!!

That said, today Ever was trying to wipe himself again so I went into the bathroom to stop him and take care of it. Afterwards I had him wash his hands. He also wanted to wash his bunny cracker (don't ask, I have no clue) so I put some soap on it and left him. A few minutes later the water was still running, which is not uncommon, he and Arah love to play in the sink (and stop it up with toilet paper as they make creations, or Arah likes to make giant wet toilet paper balls). I SHOULD have gone in there to check on him but I was trying to clean the kitchen and make lunch. So I sent Xian in and I heard him yell. This is what he saw . . .


You'll have to excuse the messy bathroom (our only full bath, I can't keep it clean to save my life). What you can't see in the picture is the water was running, and overflowing and covering the floor, in the drawers, cabinets etc. I tried to hold back my laugh and was thinking . . . it could be worse, I mean water is clean and easy to get up with a few towels (a lot easier than Sharpie on the sofa). Ever acted embarassed because we were making a big deal about it. I guess the warm water seemed really inviting and he thought he should just jump on in, LOL!! Ah, gotta love them!!!