December Times

On Thursday afternoon Zach did "The Blazin' Challenge" at Buffalo Wild Wings. He had to eat 12 wings in 6 minutes. No water, no wiping and all that topped with the HOTTEST of HOT BBQ sauces ever invented. He's either insane or just really cool:)


I had wings myself with the 3rd hottest sauce: Mango Habanero. It was not smart. My mouth was permanently on fire, burning. My lips, my mouth, my tongue. So yeah, I got a to-go box since I couldn't eat them all and uh... "forgot" to bring it home with me.


Ah well! Zach got his picture on the wall and a free T-shirt! He was so proud of himself. He actually finished all the wings with almost 3 minutes to spare but on the last bite of the last wing he flicked sauce IN HIS EYE!!! He was bawling but couldn't wipe them until the 6 minutes were up. He sat there with his eyes pinched shut and could barely talk it stung so bad. I couldn't' help but laugh, he looked so funny. Even with all that he was feeling "hot" about his accomplishment.

I'm just glad it didn't blind him.

On Tuesday we are leaving for Utah for 3 weeks, leaving Cheetah here. The Pet Nanny, Judy will be coming over every few days to feed her, clean her litter and give her loves. I hope Cheetah will be ok, I'm sure she will, I guess I just feel bad leaving her for so long. But I feel it's better than boarding her at the vet where she'll be anxious and out of her element. She should be just fine and Judy will call if there is any kind of problem at all.



That's all for now, I'll be posting later..
Merry Christmas!!!!!




These last two pictures are of Naomi contemplating the grapefruits. She tried to carry them around, they were too heavy for her....

Check out all my latest pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tlowchamp/

Napping NO-how?

Well,

Right now Naomi has been in her crib talking, crying, whining, sitting, standing ect. for over an hour. She is refusing to nap. She is very tired now and I don't know what to do to get her to sleep. I tried staying by her, that calmed her but she wouldn't sleep. She freaks out when I leave. Naps have been easy so far. Just put her down, give her a kiss and shut the door.

Not today. Sleeping has been a little bit of an issue lately. Last night was great, she didn't wake up once but the past two nights she was up several times, meaning literally UP. She's standing in her crib and can't get herself down. It's great.....

So right now she's doing the sleep talk, uhhhhahhhmmmm. Hopefully it works for her now. I was considering weaning her soon but if sleep is going to be an issue, I might wait a bit.

We are flying home to Utah next week, a week from today exactly to visit for Christmas. It's going to be fun but a little hectic I think. I'm wishing Naomi was weaned allready so we could leave her for the evening with Grandma(s). Right now I need to be the one to put her to bed because she needs to nurse and will NOT take a bottle. We'll see, maybe she will next week.

Ha.

Ok, I think she's finally down! Really! Crossing my fingers for it to last.

Collage

These are a few great shots I go of Naomi, She's such a doll-face!
-November 2006

November

What a sweetie, I love this outfit. It's Gymboree of course.

STANDING!!!!!

Naomi and Grandma Stevie. Halloween in Nauvoo, IL 2006

Naomi playing with Cheetah

all dressed up....

Naomi's little "feetsies"

Clapping, Clapping, Clapping. Naomi even will stop nursing for a moment or two to clap a few claps. Maybe just to let me know she's happy:)

Campus Lake, early October 2006

This month I've been so busy. I can't say exactly with what, just busy. I have a new calling in the Young Women in our ward. I am the Mia Maid advisor. I teach each Sunday and help plan and carry out activities on Wednesdays. Stephanie Gunnell is the Mia Maid leader, she's great with the girls, super laid-back but in control. We are planning on going to the SUI vs. SUU football game this Saturday, and I'm trying to figure out when to go with Naomi or to bring her at all.
We are also having Thanksgiving at the Gunnells, super nice of them to invite us, four little families in all and we will all make and bring food. It will be a fun get-together. So far I'm making mashed pototoes.
So the latest new things with Naomi is that she is WALKING! Well, kinda. She can get to standing on her own now and she will toddle a few steps on her own before she stops and realizes that she NOT HOLDING ON, she loves to walk with me and Zach, everywhere, all the time. She's getting so OLD and BIG! She took her first steps on Sunday night the 10th, I stood her up after getting her pjs on her and said "just stand there for a second", and I turned to hang her towell up and she took 3-4 steps towards Zach! It was so cute, we had her do it again and again, we got it on camera too. It was so exciting and I still can't quite figure out why, something about learning to walk is so HUGE. Naomi sure was happy. Also, she will mimic sounds (finally), she will mimic, repeat gestures/sounds using face and hands(a little). It's fun to do and so funny sometimes too. Naomi is so cute too. People EVERYWHERE stop me and tell me how beautiful, cute, adorable, sweet, darling she is, etc, etc, etc. I also get a lot of comments on her 'beautiful skin tone.' She does have nice coloring, a little olive with HUGE dark chocolate eyes. She's a hottie! I just love her and everyday her personality is more and more prevelent. She likes to 'talk' to me and will cock her head to the side while she jabbers, like she's telling me a story. She knows what she wants too, and is super-observant of EVERYTHING. Not much gets by Naomi.
I'm excited to go home for Christmas, we are leaving IL on the 19th and returning on the 9th of January. It will be a little bit of a challenge with Naomi feeling comfortable and keeping her normal routines but it will be great to see everyone. I want to show her off! I also want to see the other little babies born this year; Max, Dawson and Drew. Jakob too but he won't be in the States this Christmas.
Zach's first semester of Law school is wrapping up, or rather coming to a head. He has next week off (study, study, study) and then one week more of classes and then two weeks of finals. His last final is on Thursday the 14th. After that we're home free for a MONTH! yeaeahhhh.
I have been planning a vacation for two for this May after Zach's finals are over with. We will be leaving out of SLC, Naomi with one of the sets of Grandparents and us on a airplane for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico! Sweet huh. I'm so excited, I just haven't finalized on a hotel yet. Zach wan't all-incusive, I'm not convinced it's worth the extra money. We'll work it out.
K, enjoy the pics!
A few are from the trip to Nauvoo when Mom and Natalie came to visit. They were here over Halloween. We had a fun time shopping, hanging out and of course visiting Nauvoo!

Nauvoo Temple, October 31, 2006

Pictures of St. Louis Arch-Naomi

Zach and Naomi in St. Louis - Sept. 2006


Naomi looking HOT! :)


A new view of the arch in St. Louis

pictures...

Naomi in her Halloween costume-2006


Low family at Mom and Dad's house after Dawson's blessing

Picture updates!!! naOmi

The "LOW" girls..... Holly, Ginger, Aimee, Trisha (me) and Natalie


Up close cutie- Naomi


Just a few pics of Naomi to keep updated.

Rain, cats and dogs

Well, life has settled into a somewhat normal routine for Naomi and me here in Southern Illinois. I still am tying (in vain) to have a more regular daytime schedue.... Oh well. Naomi is wearing her new Halloween GHOST HAT from Grandma Champlin. BOO!
We get up at about 7 am and Naomi nurses, then comes out with me after her diaper change to see Daddy! and the kitty too of course. Zach has been studying at home in the mornings lately. He gets up around 6 to study. We take him to school at about 8:45. Naomi has cereal for breakfast, usually rice and oatmeal mixed, sometimes the mixed grain kind. She LOVES the gerber cereal. She eats about 1/2 cup every morning.
Today it's rainy. I love it when it rains. It smells like rain and everything looks so green. It's really very pretty here in Illinois. The trees are huge and there are a lot of them.
Usually we go on a walk around our neighborhood, or rather- trailer park. There 98 residences in all. We make a couple of loops and Naomi looks at all the animal life. There are usually several cats that slink around us as we walk, a stray gray kitty that is super friendly, a few big dogs tied up that sometimes bark at us, Naomi loves that even more! And there is almost always this adorable, loveable little puppy that follows us for about 1/2 our walk. I usually talk to Naomi a little, point out different animals or things we see and most often talk on my cell. My phone dosen't get a very strong signal inside our "mobile home" my mom theorised it's becasue of the metal roof. Could be- regardless, it helps me not chat all day on the phone rather than playing with Naomi.
It looks like it will be showery on and off today so we will take a walk during one of the wet sunny gaps in the day. Puddles are less daunting when your child is contained in a stroller!
Maybe today I will take a picture or two of the animal friends we see along our path.
Tomorrow I will write about the walking trail around Campus Lake at SIU, there is a lot of animal life there- more of the natural type, but just the same to Naomi.

check, check, check!

Do you ever have one of those days where it seems like "everything's goin' my way.." It's like "check, check, check!" That would be my never ending check list.
Today I had a to-do list, just like every other day and I GOT IT DONE! Well... almost all of it. I got the major things done and I would have to say I'm proud of myself. And there's a bonus point. Naomi's sleeping and Zach will be home any minute. He's coming home from school early today. So like I said, it's been a good one today.
Well, signing off for now. I got one more thing to do to be the ultimate master of check lists- fold the laundry:)
-Trisha

Naomi and Daddy

Well.....
It's been a while since I posted an entry here I thought it's about time I caught up. We have moved to Illinois. Zach started law school last week here at soothern Illinois University, or SIU. The Salukis are the mascot and EVERYONE has a SIU shirt on here.
The drive out here was horrendous. I entered my story in a housewife awards contest at mommasaid.net and I won! It will be posted this Sunday, 9/3/06. It was a crazy three-day and well over 22 estimated hour drive. I will NEVER drive cross-country with a baby/child again. Having Naomi nursing made things even more complicated since we had to stop ALL the time it seemed and it took forever and she didn't like nursing in the car AT ALL. In fact she was taking at least one bottle a day on the drive out here just because she wouldn't take enough in nursing. And then there was Cheetah- our cat. That's a whole other story by itself.
So, we've been here in Murphysboro in our big 'ole trailer for almost three weeks now. It feel like home more and more each day. Although some days I miss the mountains so much it hurts. The humidity here is kinda awful, it's so sticky sometimes but even that I think I'm getting used to. We have visited the library and taken advantage of their video and book resources. We have tried out a few different grocery stores and decided that Kroger is the closest and a good price with a sweet 10cent off per gallon of gas discount when you spend $100/month on groceries. We have been to WalMart WAY too many time to call ourselves not white trash and we have frequented the mall as many as 4 or 5 times! All in all not bad for the new kids on the block. I have made a few friends and will do my best to keep them and get to be great friends.
When I say "WE" I mean me and Naomi. Zach is super busy at school. He's out of the house be about 5:30 a.m. and then is home for the night and if lucky done with reading ect for the night by about 7p.m. It's been so far so good with Law School. Zach seems to enjoy it and is really putting 200% into his work. I'm proud of him.
Well, time to sound off. Naomi is sleeping and Zach and I are going to go to be early tonight.
-Trisha the mommy of one (and she's super cute too!!!!)

travel with a baby

WOW
Traveling with a baby is HARD! I knew it would be but it was difficult:)
Ok, so I knew it would be HARD but I didn't realize how exhausted I would feel.
Zach and I traveled to Carbondale, IL to search for housing for the next few years. Zach will be going to Law School at Southern Illinois University. We sold our house here in Utah in just 6 weeks and we were looking to buy a home/condo in Illinois. Well, we got there, looked around, called a realtor and started looking at houses. The cheap ones we saw online were definatly yucky up close and we ended up falling for a more expensive house than we had planned on. It was new but very reasonibly priced and we made an offer. The house is less than a year old, ranch/rambler style and had 3 beds, 2 baths, fenced yard. Anyway, it was great. They were asking $116,000, yes I know, that's cheap, so we offered 113 and they countered at 114, we accepted and went home. THEN we stared looking in to financing, which wasn't bad but the closing costs (high for the price of the home) and the taxes (outrageous 2100/year) and what those factors did to our "low monthly payment." Welllllll. We backed out, lost our earnest money and we are renting a new mobile home on a 9 month lease. That way we can leave for summer internships and not pay mortgage and rent elsewhere. OK, so that's the story. Our home here is just over a year old, and I love it. We put it under contract for $220,000 and are scheduled to close July 10th.
That's the story of our travel- kinda or at least the results.

It's over

Date: May 24, 2006
Time: 11:27 a.m.

Naomi is sleeping, she will be up any second.
Just a quick post to let the world know that her nursing strike is OVER and we survived!!!
We are flying to Carbondale IL to look for a place to live- today. I hope traveling with Naomi goes well!
Keep ya posted later

Breast-fed BABY!

Naomi and Daddy



Date: 5/17/06
Time: 9:36 p.m.

Feeling: Relaxed
Hearing: my fingers typing...

Ok, so today went sooo well I can hardly believe it. Naomi nursed so very well. I was more confident and that really helped with my ability to 'let-down' quick enough for her. It wansn't perfect, and what day could be, but anyway- Naomi nursed the last time at 7:40 p.m. and right after she started on the second side she started pulling away and acting uninterested. It was like she suddenly remembered half-way through her feeding that she dosen't like to nurse after 5 p.m.! I encouraged her to feed a little more, but she was done. I let Zach change her diaper and get her ready for bed, she was still hungry- we could tell by the way she was acting so I decided to try once more, she refused, arched her back and wouldn't even latch on at all. I made her a 1/2 bottle of formula and tried to pump the rest out. I wasn't able to get much with pumping, I still need to purchase an electric pump.
I had Zach feed her, which he was glad to do, he dosen't get to participate much with feedings when she nurses. She took the whole bottle and then we put her down for bed. She's sleeping now but she struggled a little getting there tonight.
I hope tomorow goes as well, maybe we are getting through this nursing hitch...

Sleep baby, sleep

Date: may 17, 2006
Time: 10:53 a.m.

Feeling: Energized
Hearing: same-old construction across the street.- it's getting closer to being finished!

I put Naomi down for her morning nap at about 9:20 and she had been struggling to get past the 45 minute mark in her naps. Until lately. With everything in the nursing sense going wrong it's nice to have so many other things going well with her. For example with slepping, and naps. Naomi has been waking a little after 45 minutes into her nap and then going back to sleep on her own to finish off the full nap, anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 3 hours. It's been helpful for her schedule and also she has been sleeping pretty well at night. We put her to bed (usually) around 9 p.m. and she gets up only once to eat during the night. But besides that, Naomi will go to sleep in her crib. We put her down, swaddle her (yes I know, we can't do that forever, she's 3 months) and then we give her a binkie and she's sleeping after a few minutes. It's not alway perfect, she like to go to sleep with her binkie and sometimes we need to go back in a few times and give it to her but that's better than rocking her for every nap and going to bed, she's able to go to sleep on her own!
So right now Naomi has been asleep for about 1 1/2, good for her :)

Bottle Baby

Date: May 17, 2006
Time:9:48 a.m.

Feeling: Good
Hearing: construction next door- eternally!


Ok, so last night was so crazy I don't even know where to begin. First of all Naomi woke up from her afternoon nap cranky, I thought maybe she didn't quite get enough sleep, but she was uninterested in going back to sleep. Then we tried to nurse, she would latch on for about one suck and then arch her back, pull away, push away and cry- a mad, angry cry. This sure is fun... From that description is sounds like maybe I ate something that she dosen't like and it's making my milk taste funny. Well I don't think so, she took from a bottle what I pumped for the next feeding. Anyway, So right in the middle of this my mom drops in to visit, Zach was home and he chatted with my mom for a few minutes and she held Naomi while I make a bottle of half formula and half pumped breast milk. I would do all breast milk but I can't seem to pump that much.
So then told my mom I was going to nurse Naomi, or at least try, so I went into Naomi's room. My mom talked for a few minutes more to Zach about our house selling and when we are moving etc.
Meanwhile I tried to nurse again with the same results. So I gave Naomi the bottle- with the slow flow nipple on it, I don't want the bottle to be sooo easy and attractive for her. Well once she had eaten she was super happy, and so sweet. It makes me wonder why I'm trying so hard when we could both be just as happy bottle feeding. I don't know...
Well she was happy and loving life, took a short night nap, like she always does before her last feeding before bed and she woke up hungry but again- wouldn't nurse! This time I just took a deep breath and gave her a bottle like she wanted. I only did 4 oz, allthough I know she can take up to 6 sometimes.
Well here's where things got crazy and I probably made some lame decisions. Ok, so it's about 8:20p.m. and I decide I am going to buy a breast pump. I want an elecrtic one, I rented one from the hospital before and it worked great so I know that the problem is probably me with the stupid hand pump. Ok, so Naomi and I head off to WalMart, about 15 minutes away. She decides she HATES the car tonight and cries the whole way there, won't take her binkie either- which she usually loves. Ok so now we are at WalMart and guess what, all of the sudden they don't carry electric breast pumps anymore, like as of today. AHHHH. I was frustrated and Naomi could tell, she was unhappy too. Mostly it was because she was now tired and ready for bed. I had dropped Zach off at an appointment that he should be dont with by 9:15. I decided to quick check ShopKo a block or so down, no luck there either.
Ok, so now we headed back home with NO breast pump and both of us very tired and upset. Naomi had spit up an insane amount of milk on our way to WalMart, she does spit a lot but she was soaked by the time we got there.
Once at home Naomi had fallen asleep in the car, I transfered her to her crib but she woke up and wouldn't hear of going back to sleep. In fact she was acting hungry. I decided to try it again. I sat down with her in the rocking chair to nurse and WOW she nursed! My let-down was taking forever so I switched sides so she could get more foremilk before she got too impatient and then it came and she nursed a full feeding, both sides and then went to bed. - A little late to bed but it ended ok just the same.
The middle of the night feeding, at 4:30 this morning went great and so did the 8:00 a.m. feeding. So just 3 or so more feedings to go today and hopefully she will nurse!
Naomi just seems to like the bottle especially for the late afternoon feeding and sometimes for the last feeding. I'm going to order a breast pump online today, wish me luck!
Here's a link that has some interesting and helpful breastfeeding/pumping info. http://niyafsbfgroup.blogspot.com/

Naomi Naomi Naomi

Here's my little sweetie looking all serious:)
She's a cutie!

nursing....what's the problem?

Date: may 16, 2006
Time: 12:36 p.m.

Feeling: rushed
Hearing: construction next door and my baby's sleep sounds

Wow, here's my first blog. My baby girl Naomi Natalie is three months old now, she is really a very pretty baby. All wonderful things considered-- lately I've been struggling a little with breastfeeding. Thats why I decided to start a blog.
Naomi has been feeding like a champ since day one, latching on wonderfully and eating great but the past week and 1/2 has been hellish at times. She started to refuse to nurse about once a day and I would get so worried that she was starving that I would cave and give her a bottle of either formula or breast milk that I managed to pump (I'm not the world's best pumper). Anyway this continued and I had been racking my brain to figure out what was going wrong. Did I eat anything new or weird that was irritating her? No, Did I smell different? No, no new deoderant or shampoo or soap or lotion. What I have finally decided the issue has been and still kind of is, is that she is dropping a feeding session, she has gone from 6 to 5 a day and also she had been a "nursing strike". That term, as unhelpful as naming the problem is did seem to make me feel better, basically because other moms have encountered the same breastfeeding problems I am now dealing with.
So because of all my worring I would pray that she would nurse so she would be happy and able to sleep and not start this vicious cycle of being hungry and tired and refusing to eat of sleep. Well, that's not entirely true, she will ALWAYS take a bottle but I have been tring to get her to nurse exclusivly, I think she prefers the bottle because it's easier- who doesn't like things to be easy. Anyway so with all this stress and worring I started to have trouble with my milk let-down which made the problem worse, she would latch on and then get impatient when working for a time and the let down wouldn't come. I just need to remember to relax, have confidence and my let-down will come naturally quickly.
So, each feeding I try to be calm and confident. I really want to nurse her for at least a year and would rather have the trouble to deal with later when I actually WANT to wean her.
So, there's my blog for the day- I'll keep updating with my nursing status. I love my baby and you know, as important as nursing is to me, it dosen't mean I will be a bad mom if Naomi wants to be bottle fed instead- so with that out on the table here's to nursing, wish me luck, I'll probably need it, if not I'll appreciate it:)