Happy Birthday Levi!!

Yes Levi is ONE YEAR OLD!! YES it's been that long since I blogged about anything!  Our little man turned one on 4-4-12.  He weighed in at a whopping 19 lbs even :)  We had dinner with cupcakes on his REAL birthday.  Levi immediately picked up the cupcake, flipped it over, took 3 bites out of the bottom, & proceeded to throw the rest on the floor bit by bit.

For Levi's big birthday bash we decided on "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" for our theme since Levi loves books, and this book in particular.  The invitations were precious, and done by my girl Ashley.  Aren't they so cute?!

Of course after many years of "retirement" my mom, G-Mom made the cake!

I got most of the decoration ideas from Pinterest.

I didn't have the time or the inclination to do the entire "menu" from the book.  So we served BBQ from a local place, plus had the fruit that the caterpillar ate Monday -Friday and the "nice green leaf" he ate on Sunday for people to make salads.  The rest of the cards of all that he ate on Saturday were just for decoration on the table.

I had a friend of mine take pictures, which was a big load off of my shoulders.  She did a great job and it was one less thing for me to worry about.  We had her come early and do pictures of Levi with all of his grandparents (and my godmother).

Levi and "Binda" (my godmother Brenda)

Levi with Grandma and Grandad

Levi with Gramps and Nana

Levi with G-Mom

Levi with Mommy and Daddy

Matt and I went back and forth on what to get Levi for this very special birthday.  I still have the Jenny Lind rocking chair that my parents got for my first birthday, Levi loves it.  We decided that every little boy needs his very own little red wagon...

Levi and his buddy Franklin (they are 10 days apart)

It's called IGT

I feel like I finally have answers after over 8 months of part-time, or in my mind unsuccessful, breastfeeding.  I listened to this pod-cast about insufficient glandular tissue (breast hypoplasia) and it all started to make sense.  I don't have all of the common physical characteristics.  Between the characteristics I do have and our journey of Levi's weight loss and my inability to stimulate my supply, there is enough to cause me to believe I have a mild-moderate case of IGT.  I make about 2-3oz of milk every feeding, with the help of herbs AND Domperidone.  After joining an IGT support group on Facebook, I realize that my IGT is nowhere near as bad as it could be.  Some women only make that much in a DAY.  I'm very lucky that I can give Levi as much milk as I do.

But being part of the group has also helped me redefine what successful breastfeeding is.  I thought that because I couldn't give him all the milk he needs that I wasn't successfully breastfeeding.  But really, whatever I'm able to give him and keep going is worth it.  I AM a breastfeeding mother.  It may not look like what most people think of as a "normal" breastfeeding relationship, but that doesn't matter.  I don't need to qualify myself as a part-time breastfeeder, or a supplementer.  I give Levi every drop that I can.  I breastfeed, and that's important for me to say.

If you think you may have IGT, if you struggle with chronically low milk supply in spite of great efforts to boost production, go here as a start for self-diagnosis.  Hopefully, as more people learn about IGT, more mothers like me can get the help they need to be SUCCESSFUL, no matter what that looks like.

Merry Christmas!!

We had a lovely Christmas with family.  We started at home opening gifts from Santa and exchanging gifts as a family.  We headed to Christmas Day worship service at The Vine, which was awesome.  We had brunch after church at G-Mom's house... we should definitely make Christmas Day french toast a tradition!!  And we ended the day by traveling up the mountain for Christmas dinner at Grandma and Granddad's house.  Here are some pics from the day!!

Mom had a quilt top made by my great-grandmother quilted by my great-aunt.  So special.

The YEAST monster

I've been a little behind on blogging, and I've been putting off writing this post for some unknown reason. But several weeks ago, heck it may have been a couple of months now, Levi and our diapers had YEAST! We were visiting the pediatrician for something totally different and he very nonchalantly said, oh and this is a yeast rash on his bottom, just get some whatchamacallit cream and it's no problem. He said basically any diaper rash that lasts more than a couple of days is yeast. 

Yeast rashes can be a REAL problem when using cloth diapers. First, you can't use any of the tried and true creams that really knock out the yeast rash with cloth. Second, it can be a real ordeal to get the yeast out of the diapers so that baby and diapers don't keep passing it back and forth.

My first priority was getting Levi some relief. So we ran out for a pack of disposables (BOO) and started using the cloth safe cream we had. I also ready here that disposable wipes (which is what they use at daycare) can feed yeast.  They were great about me bringing cloth wipes to school until the rash was gone.  The cream we had didn't work after a few days, so I started scouring the internet for other yeast solutions. But our friend Meghan stumbled upon this blog and suggested coconut oil.

Coconut oil is a miracle worker!!  It has anti-fungal properties and cleared Levi's rash up in less than 24 hours.  Plus it's cloth safe, so we can continue to use it in the future!  I bought a big jar at our local organic grocery store for $7.  I scooped some out and sent a small container to school, put a small container in the diaper bag, put a small jar in the nursery, and still have about half the jar in the kitchen!  We've also had a problem with a yeast rash around his mouth on his face from his lala, coconut oil is safe to use there too (I had been using my nipple cream, which is much more expensive).

Next was the diapers.  I was afraid to put the diapers back on Levi until our whole stash had been washed a couple of times with the yeast regimen.  I continued to use the yeast washing regimen for 2 weeks after his rash was gone on his bum to make sure it was gone from the diapers too.  I pulled from several articles and blog posts online and came up with the following routine:

1. Cold rinse with 20 drops Grapefruit Seed Extract dissolved in 2 oz of filtered water
2. HOT wash (turned water heater up to 130 degrees from 120) with regular cloth detergent and OxoBrite oxygen cleaner
3. Extra cold rinse
4. Dry on high in dryer (most recommend sun but my laundry line is still in the box, hopefully we can put it out next spring)

This is what worked for us.  I will forever sing the praises of coconut oil because I saw how quickly it brought Levi relief... and it's super CHEAP compared to other diaper creams!  I hope your baby never gets a yeast rash, but if they do, I hope this blog helps you!!