WANTED.

Just a few items on mama's wish list.....I do have a birthday coming up, ya know!?!? ;)

Nursing necklace from Mommy Necklaces - Not only absolutely stunning to wear, but also completely functional for nursing moms and moms in general. An excerpt from the owner herself describing how she came about the idea of these gorgeous pieces of jewelry.

The owner of Mommy Necklaces writes:

"Despite a degree in early childhood, reading numerous books and attending a breastfeeding class, not once was it ever mentioned that nursing would change into a wrestling match between baby and breast. My daughter was distracted by the smallest sounds, the slightest movement, and I had to kick my husband out of the room just to nurse her. She was pinching me, pulling at my hair, and interested in exploring anything she could stick her finger in, at, or around.

As I watched her nurse, I noticed her interest for my jewelry. In particular, she would grab a necklace, of great sentimental value, that my grandmother had given to me. In fear that she would soon figure out a way to destroy it, I decided I needed to create something that was safe for her to twiddle. It was then I created a nursing necklace for her (or should I say me). She was mesmerized, interested in nursing, and she had permission to touch this necklace without me brushing her hands away. She loved it and so did I! From that moment, Mommy Necklaces were born."

Whether you're a nursing mom battling a wiggly baby or a mom looking for cute, trendy jewelry - Mommy Necklaces are for you! Join the jewelry revolution!

The below photo illustrates all of the different necklace styles available and as you can see, they are all very fashionable and stylish. I'd love to own several different styles and also in different color combinations as well.

They actually offer a large variety of different color collections, but the four below are probably my favorites with Cherish being my ultimate favorite and most versatile pick.

 

Teething bling from Smart Mom - Another brilliant idea utilizing fun jewelry pieces designed to also have a multi-purpose as a teether for your little one. Babies and toddlers love to play with, tug and chew on your jewelry intuitively in the first place, so why not just make it safe and beneficial for them, right?!? Here's a little more detailed description about teething bling from their website.

Made from the same material as many teething toys, Teething Bling^® looks great on Moms, Grandmas, Aunts and Caregivers but is safe for curious babies to handle and chew.

Teething Bling^® products are non-toxic, phthalate, BPA, PVC and lead free and all pendants come with a breakaway clasp. CE marking approved.

They offer numerous different styles / colors of necklaces and bangles and even combination gift sets with both. Below are two of my favorite color combinations that they offer.

 

 

Mama's Little Helper

Almost a week after David put our Christmas tree up and it remains undecorated for the most part. Although, Hudson has insisted on gradually adding ornaments to the tree for the past few days and we worked on it some together today as well. Hopefully, we'll get our act together and finish decorating it tomorrow and I've already made the executive decision that we would keep it up through the New Year in order to enjoy it more than one week since we had to put it up so late. Strangely enough, Hudson did not even break any ornaments thus far in his quest to help decorate the Brodt family Christmas tree and has been relentless in attempting to work on it every day since his daddy put it up. This kid is WAY into Christmas and has been talking about Christmas trees for the past month or longer, so I can't really say that I'm surprised, ha!

 

 

 

Our New Love

I know that I am completely and absolutely biased, but isn't he just about the cutest little baby boy you've ever seen??? And how about those pouty lips, chubby little cheeks and deep blue eyes....such a handsome little man at barely over a week old, just think about what kind of heartbreaker he'll be once he grows up! ;)

 

 

 

 

Landon Jacob - One Week Old

Sweet Landon boy, you are one week old today and I already feel like you are growing far too fast for me! Or at least it seems that way! I know you must be growing well because you seem to be a bit heavier and you definitely eat often enough that you should be packing on the pounds in no time. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't stay in newborn clothing for too long, which will be a shame since we've purchased SO much stuff in newborn sizes, but not a whole lot of anything else. You are a very good and mild-mannered baby and for the most part, you seem to only cry when you are either wet/dirty or if you are hungry. You sleep really well and already smile at mama and daddy all of the time too which I absolutely adore! I just want to hug and kiss you all of the time and your big brother Hudson does too. He actually loves on you quite a bit, although I will be honest and say that I think he was *slightly* surprised and disappointed that you aren't older and bigger to where you can actually play with him, but I am quite positive that he'll get over that pretty quickly. Speaking of surprises, you've even surprised us by trying to hold your head up even though you are far, far from being old enough to be able to do so, yet somehow, you still seem to do it! I keep saying because you have done so well with everything from eating to sleeping that you might just be our little over-achiever, but I'm sure that's just the proud mama in me doing the talking! You've already started to look a bit different over the past week as well and I just know that you will continue to look even more different week by week over the coming weeks and months. So that I don't forget and am able to remember all of your ages and stages and all of the other milestones along the way, I am going to try to take and document lots of photos in the future and will definitely share as many as possible here on our family blog. In fact, below are some photos taken today in order to document you turning one week old and I must say that you've already become a quite the little model for the camera as well, ha!

Las

Landon and Mommy Time

Some of my favorite photos of Landon and myself that were taken during our hospital stay.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cute & Crafty.

Isn't this the cutest thing ever?!? It's a door hanger wreath that Aunt Jessica made for my hospital room to celebrate Landon's birth. Unfortunately, there wasn't a door hanger for it and no room on the outside of the hospital door to hang it, so we hung it inside of the room on the wall instead. It's made of fun ribbons and fabrics all in coordinating colors she selected to go along with the color palette of Landon's bedding and even has a couple of adorable vintage cars on it which go perfectly with the vintage transportation / toy theme that we are doing in his room. I plan on hanging it somewhere to display in his room once we hang the wall canvases and find other decor items to finish decorating his nursery. Oh, and I cannot forget to mention how much the nurses at the hospital loved it too! I swear, every single one of them commented on it and asked about who made it, how it was made, etc, etc, and even one nurse went and brought THREE other hospital employees into our room just to see it, lol! So, it was an absolute hit even outside of our cozy little hospital room, ha!

I do love it though and can't wait to hang it in Landon's room!

My Sweetness - More from day one.....

More sweet pics of our baby boy, Landon Jacob, from his birthday.....birth story and even more pics coming soon!

 

Introducing.....Landon Jacob Brodt

Our newest bundle of joy, Landon Jacob Brodt, entered this world on Monday, December 7th at 8:39 a.m. and we are just so excited and beyond happy to finally have him here in our arms! He is simply perfect in every way and is the most handsome, sweet little baby boy. (Well, besides my other perfect little boy that is!) I will share his birth story and all of the details my labor and surgery later this week, but for now, here's a small collection of photos documenting his journey into our lives thus far.

Last Belly Pics - 39 Weeks 2 Days

Last belly pics taken on Monday, December 7th @ 39 weeks 2 days - about to head to the hospital...baby Landon was born just a few hours later!

39 Weeks

Today marks the "official" start of my 39th week of pregnancy and I am thrilled to say that in just over 36 hours from now we will be meeting our baby boy! I am scheduled to go in on Monday, December 7th for my c-section and the surgery is scheduled for the early morning hours so we will be new parents once again very, very soon! Tomorrow is our last day as a family of three and we will actually be dropping Hudson off at his Nana's house late morning before heading to the hospital mid-day for me to have blood drawn and do pre-reg stuff before having to check in @ 6 am on Monday. Hudson will be spending the night with his Nana and I won't see him again until after my surgery Monday morning. I will definitely miss him and can't wait to officially introduce him to his baby brother either! He has been much more excited and verbal this weekend about the arrival of his baby brother and I just can't wait to see them together! After our visit to the hospital tomorrow, we'll likely finish up last minute tasks, go grocery shopping to ensure the house is stocked for a while with food and other items and then make sure we've got everything packed in the car and ready to go for Monday morning. David and I are planning on going out to dinner for a "last supper" of sorts just the two of us and then will hopefully, be able to turn in early since we will likely be getting up around 4:30 am if not earlier. Right now I am just so excited, but also a wee-bit nervous and anxious for Monday to get here and to just get through surgery and onto meeting my new son. If you have a moment to spare, please pray for a quick and safe procedure, for the health of our new son and for a healthy and swift recovery for both baby and myself. 

Here's what is going on with both me and baby this week according to BabyCenter.com

How your life's changing:

At each of your now-weekly visits, your caregiver will do an abdominal exam to check your baby's growth and position. She might also do an internal exam to see whether your cervix has started ripening: softening, effacing (thinning out), and dilating (opening). But even armed with this information, there's still no way for your caregiver to predict exactly when your baby is coming. If you go past your due date, your caregiver will schedule you for fetal testing (usually a sonogram) after 40 weeks to ensure that it's safe to continue the pregnancy. If you don't go into labor on your own, most practitioners will induce labor when you're between one and two weeks overdue — or sooner if there's an indication that the risk of waiting is greater than the risks of delivering your baby without further delay.

While you're waiting, it's important to continue to pay attention to your baby's movements and let your caregiver know right away if they seem to decrease. Your baby should remain active right up to delivery, and a noticeable slowdown in activity could be a sign of a problem. Also call if you think your water may have broken. Membranes rupture before the beginning of labor in about 8 percent of term pregnancies. Sometimes there's a big gush of fluid, but sometimes there's only a small gush or a slow leak. (Don't try to make the diagnosis yourself. Call even if you only suspect you have a leak.) If you rupture your membranes and don't start contractions on your own, you'll be induced.

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

See what your baby looks like this week.

Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby's development.

Holy Indigestion!

Yep, it's striking yet again....that horrible, unGodly bout of indigestion that is not only keeping me from my precious sleep, it's also very painful and persistent to the point of being a complete and total annoyance. Most of you are probably thinking that as a woman who is nearly full-term in what is not her first pregnancy that I should be very familiar and used to this common pregnancy symptom, but no, not so much for me. I'm known to have an iron stomach and am one to eat jalapeños like candy, so although I have previously had the occassional bout with heartburn / indigestion, it's certainly not something that I've had to deal with very often or on such an acute level. I mean, this pain is unreal and feels like my entire chest, throat and esophogus is burning...it really hurts and has the tendency to pop up in the most inopportune if times, like when I am trying to go to sleep. Ugh.....I guess the bright side is that is should be gone after I have the baby so hopefully I will be forever rid of it very soon! If it doesn't go away then I have to admit that we are going to have a real problem on our hands since I am anti-bland food and very much like to "spice it up" when it comes to what I eat. I've already had to become much more docile in my eating habits lately already because of these recent cases and would hate to even think that they might not go away...for my sake, let's hope that they are indeed pregnancy related and vanish from my system (and my memories) very, very soon!

Hudson-isms

So, numerous people I know do posts about the funny things their toddlers / younger kiddos say and use the reference of the child's name followed by an -ism, so now that Hudson has been talking our ears off for a while now I'm starting to hear some very humorous and post-worthy things come out of his mouth and have decided that I would *try* to remember them or write them down from now on and then post them here to document them and share them with my readers as Hudson-isms. I can only remember one that he's said over the past couple of days, but there's sure to be many, many more gems just like them in the future! I am certain of it with all of the chatting and story-telling he's had going on these days!

So, here's somewhat of the dialogue from one conversation between Hudson and I yesterday afternoon....

Hudson - "Mom play blocks, Hudson build T-Rex"

Me - "I can only play blocks for a minute and then have to finish working. We've played a lot today and now I need to do some work."

Hudson - "No, Hudson want to play blocks...no work." (he's pouting and getting angry at this point)

Me - "No, I can play for a while, but remember how mommy told you that I won't be going to work anymore and will be staying home with you and baby brother?"

Hudson - Nods and says "O-tay...."

Me - "So, since I'm not going to go to work anymore I have to still do this other work to help make money though."

Hudson - He then says in a very angry, annoyed little voice - "NO! No work, Daddy work, Daddy make money!"

LOLOLOL!!!! Seriously, my jaw dropped to the floor and I could NOT believe he said that! It seriously was one of the funniest things ever and even David couldn't believe it! SO funny!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Pregnancy Week 38 Appointment

Monday was my weekly OB appointment and thankfully, everything went fantastic and it was an overall positive appointment. I finished my last week at work last week, so my appointment was actually a little later in the morning on Monday and I had asked my mom to watch Hudson while I went to my appointment and ran a couple of errands since David was working. So that way I wouldn't have to worry about those couple of things later in the week. I'm just relieved that the appointment went so well and that we are still set to meet our baby boy next week!

HIGHLIGHTS

• My blood pressure was good again which was a relief since I had that recent scare when it went up and had to be admitted into L&D, but it's back to normal and I haven't really had any measurable swelling in a while so that's good too.
  
• Baby was active and heartbeat sounded good at 152.
  
• Dr. P. gave me the results from the blood draw I had taken about a week and a half ago and those were excellent as well. My blood count had gone from a 7 to 30! So, it seems as if the iron supplements I have been taking have been working and my body is actually absorbing the iron, so I won't have to have a blood transfusion prior to my c-section after all. I will still have to go in the day before to have another blood draw done so that the hospital can begin sourcing blood in case I need it for after my surgery, but I won't have to stay overnight before my scheduled c-section to get a transfusion like we thought might happen. (I haven't had time to document my second visit to the L&D at the hospital, but basically I was sent in by my OB for high blood-pressure, that actually corrected itself while I was there, but my blood count came back dangerously low and I ended up having to be admitted and even stay overnight in order to have a transfusion and receive 2 units of blood. It was a scary mess combined with the possibility that I could be borderline of developing preeclampsia too, which after doing a 24 hour urine catch and my blood pressure recouping, it was discovered that I was not at risk for preeclampsia after all which was an absolute relief because I was NOT ready to be having my baby boy at 34 weeks!)
  
• Most importantly ----DRUMROLL!!! ----- my c-section date and time is confirmed for next Monday, December 7th and I am scheduled for surgery early that morning, so I have to arrive at the hospital by 9 am.
  

CONCERNS

• None really....besides for me to continue taking 2 iron pill supplements daily up until my surgery date in the hopes that it will continue to improve my blood count and decrease the chances of me having to have a blood transfusion after the c-section. Which of course, I would absolutely love to avoid as much as possible.

That's about it really, so we are officially set to meet our baby boy this upcoming Monday and we cannot be any more thrilled! I'm a bit nervous too, understandably so I guess, but trying to remain positive and calm that all will go well with the surgery, that we will be blessed with a beautiful, healthy new baby boy and without complication allowing us to leave the hospital after the minimum stay requirement so that we can return home and begin our life as a family of FOUR! I know I've said it before, but I'm going to most certainly have to say it again, and that's that I absolutely cannot wait!

REWIND - Halloween 2009

Only about a month late....I am now finally posting some pics from Halloween this year. Hudson was our own little friendly neighborhood Spiderman and had a blast this year from beginning to end! He hasn't been *too* into Halloween the past couple of years and has always acted less than thrilled to be in costume, but not this year! This year he was all about helping pick out his costume and then couldn't wait to wear it either, heck, he even wore it before Halloween just to try it out and pretend to be Spiderman before the big day. This year we did our traditional visit to see my parents (Grandma and Grandpa) and over to David's mom's house (Nana), but we also actually took Hudson door to door for a little real trick-or-treating this year which is something that we had not done in the past. We went to the small neighborhood across the street from my parents house and let me just tell you, Hudson LOVED trick-or-treating and had SO much fun! He was so excited going up to each and every door and would say TRICK-OR-TREAT! real loud, tell them he was Spiderman, he said thank you for the candy every time too and would then proceed to tell them he was going to the next house, lol! It was great and he was very, very well-behaved and courteous which was a bit of a shocker for our little hellion! I'm just glad he loved it so much and was able to behave so that he could enjoy it and that we could actually enjoy him enjoying it too. It's hard to enjoy these times if the kiddos aren't cooperating or behaving so the fact that he was so good made it so easy for us ALL to have a great time. Here's some pics of our little man in his full-on Spiderman attire....I would have to say I think he's the cutest little Spiderman I've ever seen too! (even though I know I am totally and completely biased in saying so!)

Excited about all of the candy at Grandma & Grandpa's house

 

Gotta have neon glow sticks!

 

Mommy and her little Spiderman

 

Daddy and Spidey cutting it up...

 

Daddy fixing Hudson's super mask

 

Fun with glow sticks....

 

The battle of the century and Brea trying to get in on the action too!

 

Nana giving Hudson a pumpkin FULL of candy!

David and Hudson decided to have a superhero battle and David was supposed to be the Incredible Hulk taking on Spiderman, lol!

Exchanging brutal blows, ha!

  

Is that a body slam coming on??? Nah', just a little intimidation.....

  

And Spidey wins!!! Daddy was down for the count!

Belly Pic - 38 Weeks 2 Days

Belly Pics -- Last Week's Pics -- 37 weeks 3 days