Reopening the blog

After a VERY long hiatus from blogging I have decided to *try* to blog again. Mostly for myself to document my life, our kids lives and put some of my random thoughts on paper  screen.
I have deleted a few posts for privacy reasons and decided to keep it open this time.
As for a quick re-cap?
We now live in Abilene, Texas. We moved back in May 2013. Anderson is now almost 3 and half years old. Time really does fly. And on January 26, 2015 we welcomed our baby girl, Aubrey Nicole to the world.  My first official post will be her birth story.

10 months!

As usual I am late with this post. We've been busy busy around the Saksa home! We traveled to Denver for a wedding over Labor Day weekend and then the following weekend we traveled to Texas for the Aggie football game and to see family.
Anderson is still just as fun and active as can be! He's still crusing EVERYWHERE and standing a little on his own and taking a few steps on his own but overall he's still pretty content with his cruising.  He gets into everything and especailly loves drawers. He loves the dishwasher, the refridgerater and the pantry and especially pulling ziplock bags out of a bottom drawer in the kitchen.  I always laugh because we have alphabet magnents on this fridge and he pulls them off and I find them in the funniest places :)  He still babbles all the time, says 'mama' and 'dada' and 'ella' for Bella and 'mmm' for more.  He waves and claps and sings. Makes my heart smile :) He loves to eat finally after getting his reflux meds figured out and is really good at feeding himself now. Unfrotunately the poor guy still only really has 2 teeth that he can use. He's now nursing just twice a day and drinking a cup of breast milk at lunch.  Over the next month and a half we will completely wean from breastfeeding and start transitioning to whole cow's milk.  I can't believe we're so close to havinga  toddler!! He still sleeps and naps great and loves going to daycare. Somedays I feel like my heart could just bust with how much love I have for this sweet little boy!

Todd is busy busy busy with work. He'll be going back to Vegas in October for Green Flag as an instructor to prepare his squadron for their January deployment. He'll also find out in October if and when he'll get into Weapons School. So lots of change may happen soon OR none at all.

As for me, still working 2-3 days a week and loving that. Started my first two doctoral classses and loving them. It's a great challenge and just enough balance in my life.

We're looking forward to Todd's parents visiting in a few weeks. Overall Octrober should be a quiet month around here then November brings Anderson's first birthday and then the holidays!

Milkin Mama

I'm very proud to say that Anderson and I will meet my goal of breastfeeding for the first year! We're at 9.5 months and he's still nursing well and I'm still able to pump enough when I'm at work.  I had to take "inventory" or my freezer stash last weekend because I found a few almost too old bags of milk so I needed to organize.  I currently have over 300oz of frozen breast milk! Holy cow right? While it seems like a lot, in actuality if it were all he was to drink it would only last about 2 weeks. Shocking huh? Anderson is actually not a huge fan of frozen milk and now that I feel confident we'll make it to the 12 month mark I decided to start the steps to donating the frozen milk and just sending him fresh milk to day care.  Milk donation is actually in very high demand because premature babies need human milk and most mother's of premature babies have a really hard time establishing and maintaining a milk supply for their babies because they have to exclusively pump. Talking with our wonderful lactation consultants at our hospital they recommended going through a company called Prolacta. They take human breast milk and turn it into "Human Fortified Milk" specifically for premature babies and send it to NICUs all over the country.  I've filled out the initial donor "interview" and now wait for them to send me a kit where I'll send blood and milk samples for them to test. Once that gets done and processed and they deem my milk "worthy" they'll send me pre paid coolers, gel packs and all essentials to ship the milk.  The whole process takes about 2-4 weeks. As an added bonus. If my application goes through successfully by September 30 and I donate 300oz of milk then I'll receive a $300 "pump reimbursement" check! Talk about a win-win situation! Help premature babies, get my freezer space back AND get a little extra cash :)

Moo!

9 Months!

Where does the time go? Seriously?! Has our sweet, busy boy been with us now as long as he was inside of me?? Are we really only 3 months away from his first birthday?
It's fun and exciting but also sad in a way to see the days/months just tick away before my eyes. It truly does feel like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital.
So what's going on with the little man? At his well baby appointment he was a healthy, long and skinny busy boy! Weighing in at just about 19 lbs and measuring just shy of 29".  I'm hoping he'll put on a few more pounds now that we finally got him switched from zantac to prilosec to better manage his reflux. He is as busy as ever! From the time he wakes up with the exception of his two naps he's on the GO! Crawling, cruising, climbing and getting into EVERYTHING! Side note on his crawling- for months he did what we called the "lurch"-something between an army crawl and a bear crawl but suddenly this month he decided to crawl "normally".  He is starting to stand on his own for a few seconds and getting really brave cruising one handed pushing his truck. Walking is just around the corner!! He's still a smiley, happy boy that waves "bye bye" babbles at everyone and gives them huge grins. He has two solid teeth now and 2 that have still just barely cut.  His teeth seem to be in no huge hurry to make a grand appearance.  He nurses or takes a cup 4 times a day, eats three solid meals and at least one snack.  He's getting really good with table food/finger foods and loves cheese, blueberries and mini raviolies the best. He loves cruising from sofa to sofa antogonizing the dogs and banging anything together to make the loudest noise possible. He is obsessed with climbing on the dishwasher. He still loves his daycare and Ms. Nicole who takes such good care of him while I work. He plays so hard that he usually cat naps on the way home! He's still a great sleeper- takes two naps that are usually 1-2 hrs each and sleeps from 7:00pm-6:30 am on average. He's definitely an early riser. I've tried putting him down later and he's still up bright and early so for now that's just how it is.  As usual, I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff but that's all I can think of for now :)

Work is still going good for me. Will likely get busy with the rally coming up this week.  I was officially accepted to the University of Utah to start my doctorate this fall! Very excited/nervous!

Possible exciting changes coming with Todd and work, will update as we know more! He succussfully completed his "Package Commander" and "Mission Commander" upgrades at Red Flag.

Sunday Todd and I have a babysitter and are going for a date night rally style to see the Zac Brown Band in Sturgis! Very excited!

Until next time....

7 & 8 Months

Yes, I'm behind. I'm sorry. Somebody in this house is a VERY busy boy that doesn't give mama much time to sit and blog!

I can't remember exactly when he started doing things now so I'll just give you the list of what he's doing how at just about 8 1/2 months :)

-climbing anything he can
-crawling everywhere
-pulling up and cruising on anything he can
-saying 'mama', 'dada', 'baba', 'lala', 'gaga' and I'm sure a few more combinations I'm forgetting
-starting to sign "more"
-starting to mimic
-waving 'bye bye'
-getting very close to clapping but is more slapping one hand of the back of the other
-still taking 2 solid naps and sleeping 11-12 hours a night. He did recently go through a period of thinking 5:30am was wake up and play time but fortunately h'e back to his usual wake up.
-Still breastfeeding or taking a bottle of breastmilk 4 times a day (but still hates the bottle), eating three meals and one snack. We've recently starting letting him try all sorts of table foods and he's loving that.
-Self feeding himself bread, cheese, pieces of fruit, pasta and beans.
-Has the beginnings of 4 teeth but they still haven't decided to make a great appearance yet.
-plays, plays, plays! The boy does NOT like to sit still!

I think that's all the big things. He's growing like a weed! I can't wait until his 9 month well baby check to see where he is height and weight wise, last we weighed him he was close to 19 lbs but we haven't measured him.  He is just so much fun right now I can't stand it. So curious and smart and busy. Exhaustingly busy!

I'm still working 2-3 days  a week and Anderson loves his daycare. Big news for me and work is that I've officially decided to start my doctorate at the University of Utah! I may be crazy but when we really talked about it and looked into the program it really is the best time to do it. It's all online and will take about 2 years to finish. I'm excited and nervous all in one! I'll start my first 2 classes in August.

Todd leaves for Red Flag in Vegas on Friday for 2 weeks of training. He recently completed his Multi Ship Mission Lead (MML) where he basically can now be the mission lead for a 2 jet mission.  While at Red Flag he's going to get his Mission Commander upgrade where he will be the mission lead for not just B1s but all aircraft in the mission usually including F15s, A10s, AWACs and KC135s. He's very excited about his new roles and abilities in the B1.

My sister was here the entire month of June and it was WONDERFUL spending so much time with her and having the extra set of hands with the little man! We miss her tons!

While she was here we made our big summer vacation to Salt Lake City for a wedding, for me to visit UofU and see some new places. It was a lot of fun but very tiring with an 8 month old!

No big plans for August then hoping to head to Texas in September and catch a football game!

Half Birthday!

Yesterday Anderson turned 6 months old! I can't believe he's already half way to his first birthday! He's a very busy boy! He's crawling, bear crawling, trying to pull up, playing and putting EVERYTHING in his mouth. He's full of energy and always looking to do the next thing! I fear he is going to be an exhausting toddler!
At his 6 month appointment he weighed in at 16lbs and almost 27" long. His doctor was pleased with his growth and everything he is doing. Next check up won't be until 9months.
He's now taking 2 naps a day both ranging from 1.5-2hrs on a good day and going to bed between 7/7:30 and waking up sometime between 6:30/7 usually. We certainly have our "off" days but overall I'm really happy with our current schedule.
He's still breastfeeding 4 times a day and eating solid foods 3 times a day. It's still a little hit or miss on the solids. Some days he can't get enough and other days he's not too interested. His favorites are definitely apples, avocados,carrots and yogurt.  We tried a few "puffs" and a "mum mum" yesterday and he was a big fan of feeding himself.
We switched his car seat from the infant carrier to the convertible this past weekend and he loves it so much better. He loves sitting up more and looking out the window. And its nice to not have to lug around the super heavy carrier when we run errands! Now he sits in the basket when we go to Target or the grocery store and he loves it.
His favorite things to do right now are sit and play with toys, crawl and try to pull up on things and blow LOTS of raspberries. He is just so fun right now:)
As for me...only working 1-2 days a week right now because my day care lady is still on maternity leave but thats ok. Todd is busy busy busy at work. So busy that we decided to delay our trip out to Glacier until later this fall. Bummer.
Gosh, I know I'm leaving things out but someone is waking from his nap....

5 Months!

Last week Anderson turned 5 months and he's doing more and more everyday! We didn't have a well baby visit this month but he did have his first ear infection at the end of March and he weighed in right at 16lbs and was around 27inches long.  He is completely in 6-9month clothes now.
We started solids right around 4 months because the boy is also SO HUNGRY! Although he seemed so ready to start he didn't pick up on it and seem as interested as I thought he would but man once he finally decided that food was good and filled up his tummy more he has been LOVING it! So far we've introduced sweet potatoes, Japanese sweet potatoes, peas, pears, apples, carrots, papaya, butternut squash and banana. Carrots are by far his favorite but he eats everything pretty well.  He also loves drinking juice (1oz of pear juice with 2oz of water) from his straw cup and he's starting to drink more breast milk from the straw cup instead of the bottle to so we'll see if we decide to get rid of bottles soon.  He's breastfeeding 5 times a day and getting 2 meals of solids and 1 "snack" a day. I've found giving him the mid day "snack" helps with his reflux a little more. He likes to hold the spoon and put it in his mouth when he eats-such a Mr. Independent.
We finally made the transition between 4 and 5 months to 2 long naps and 1 evening cat nap a day and he's still consistently sleeping 11-11.5 hrs a night! Every once in a while when he stirs around 5am he decides he's hungry and will nurse and go back to sleep until 7 but I'm hoping adding the solids will eliminate this random waking to eat.
Developmentally he is going crazy! He is officially sitting independently for extended periods of time. He loves to sit and play now! He is also currently obsessed with his feet. If he's on his back or on the changing table chances are his feet are in his hands or in his mouth.  He rolls back to tummy and tummy to back both ways, does a little army crawling backwards and is soooo close to crawling that he can't stand it. He does this half roll inch worm that is just hilarious :) I give him another week or two then I fear it will be time to start baby proofing! He is a talking/babbling/screeching/squealing machine lately too! I never knew so much noise could come out of something so little! I love listening to him find all the ranges of his voice and am thankful that at least for now, he's not a screamer.  He loves any toy that lights up/makes sound and anything that he can put into his mouth.

I think that's all the exciting Anderson updates. Work is still good for me but I won't be working as much during April and  May since my daycare lady is on maternity leave. She had her baby boy on April 7. Todd is taking a few days off here and there so I can work and a friend of mine who used to nanny is going to watch him in May a few days a week. Todd is still super busy at work. We had a lovely Easter just the three of us.