going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

Guess what? We went to the zoo. Again. I am enjoying our membership. This time, we went with auntie Beth, auntie Lisa, and cousin Taylor. To keep us occupied, Lisa and I did a photo challenge (I totally stole your awesome idea, Danielle). We looked for things that were representative of each color in the rainbow (the roygbv rainbow, not the roygbiv rainbow). It was fun, but more difficult than I thought. We also brought our kiddos to the zoo's splash pad. HOLY. COW. Joel (and Taylor) were ecstatic about it! Grinning ear to ear. I thought Joel would freak out when the water sprayed him in the face. Apparently, it was the most hilarious thing ever. Oh, and we saw a couple animals, too. The kids were pretty tuckered out by the time we left. So much excitement. Yup. All of that random stuff is from the zoo. Orange was my fav.

moo

My current completed project: milk (WARNING: if the words "breast milk" or "pumping" offend you, than come by another day). Remember my got milk post? Well, I just (and I mean just) met that ridiculous goal I had given myself; once Lucas hits 9 months, he will remain exclusively on breast milk, yet no longer be nursing. Lets go back in time, shall we? In January, I decided to pump enough for Lucas to have one bottle per day from 4 months of age to 6 months of age. 60 bottles pumped in 30 days. The first of February came (Lucas' 4 month mark) and I was grateful for having pumped so much; Lucas wasn't fond of the transition into rice cereal at first. He needed to be prompted to swallow, hence the bottle. In February, I decided to pump enough for Lucas to continue to have one bottle per day from 6 months of age to 9 months of age. 91 bottles pumped in 31 days. The first of April came (Lucas' 6 month mark) and I was grateful for having pumped so much; a bottle for lunch gave mommy a little more free time (that was spent pumping. imagine that). In March, I decided to pump enough for Lucas to have four bottles per day from 9 months of age to 12 months of age; the BIG project. 368 bottles pumped in (an amazing) 76 days. Today was my last day. I AM a cow. Before you try to do the math on how much I pumped per day with that last one, let me say that I started in January with pumping 4 - 6 ounces per day. Nothing big. Average. With a LOT of water and fenugreek (lactation supplement), I increased pumping by a couple ounces every several days. In the end, I was pumping about 26 - 28 ounces per day (Sarah, I know that is like one sitting for you, but you had freakin' triplets). I know I am about to lose your interest in this post, so let me just share the stats with you.

Milk Storage Stats

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I have pumped enough for: 242 days

Number of storage bags used: 518 bags

Number of ounces pumped: 2,478 ounces

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-breast milk for mixing with whole milk- (I call it "maintenance"; to be completed over the next 9 days)

I will pump enough for: 12 days

Number of more storage bags: 48 bags

Number of more ounces: 105 ounces

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GRAND TOTAL

-254 days

-566 bags

-2,583 ounces

Just to give you a visual of how much milk I have pumped:

20 Gallons, give or take a glass. Disgusting, huh?

carousel

Last week I took Joel (and Lucas) to Superstition Springs to ride the carousel with a friend. It was his first time on a Merry-Go-Round and he enjoyed it, though he didn't know what to think at first.I have been having fun playing with my boys. I don't feel quite as productive, but my relationship with my children has deepened (especially with Joel). We are looking forward to next week when we get to visit with aunt Lisa and cousin Taylor: ZOO trip!

splash pad

For the last few days, I have been wanting to take Joel to a splash pad. I had the intention of going yesterday, but we never made (mommy got side-tracked at JoAnn Fabric). Today we had success! Joel's initial reaction: FEAR. He screamed. Uncontrollably. Why? I scarred him for life with the zoo's splash pad. After MUCH coaxing, I was able to get him to stand near a little fountain (by coax, I mean bribe with a sippy full of apple juice). He saw other kids playing and laughing, so decided it was okay for him to have fun too. Lucas wasn't so sure what to think. I love it. Just chugging the sippy.So, being the mean mom I am, I wouldn't let him go down the water slide. There was just no way for me to help him onto the slide and make it to the bottom while carrying a baby. Joel SCREAMED. Big time. This kid has lungs. I told him if he didn't stop, we would have to go home. He didn't stop. We went home. While dragging Joel away from the splash pad and to the parking lot, I noticed a guy kind of standing around. He looked... average. Average height and built. Wearing average cloths. Tan. Hat. Goatee. Sunglasses. Average. The only thing was, we didn't appear to be with any of the moms and kids at the splash pad. Just hanging out, by himself, fully clothed. And looking right at me. Weird. I began walking to the parking lot. When I looked back, the average guy was following us. Weird. We continued on to the parking lot (which of course, was on the opposite side of the park as the splash pad). I looked back again; the guy was still following us. The moment I stepped into the parking lot, I pulled my phone out of my bag and called my best friend. I knew it would take several minutes to load BOTH babies into the car. I wanted someone to know if something happened to me. The entire time I was loading up, the guy kept pacing back and forth in front of the parking lot, occasionally glancing at me. WEIRD. Creepy weird.
Driving home, I took University so I could pass underneath the ASU bridge. I feel such pride when I see the bridge. I remember being a little little girl, riding in my parents car, driving under that bridge. I would think to myself, "I will NEVER be big enough to go to that school!". I transferred to ASU in the Fall of 06. I graduated from ASU (Summa Cum Laude... yeah, I like to boast) in the Fall of 08, 2 months after giving birth to Joel. Robert will be graduating this Fall. It still amazes me that I did it. I had our last set of family photos taken at ASU just for the bridge.