There is without a doubt that motherhood takes a tole on everything that is you!
From your health, to your physical standing, to your emotional state, to your eating habits, to your washroom routine, to your sleeping routine, to everything else in between.
I don’t know how many times I’ve had carpal tunnel from the repetitive work of motherhood.
I don’t know how many times, I’ve missed meals from making sure my kids are fed, and whatever I have decided to eat instead..made it into their tummies and I’m not even mad about it. Sometimes, I sneak it into the bathroom by the kitchen because I don’t have a walk-in pantry that I can lock and my bathroom in my room, doesn’t lock..just so i can take a quick min to eat something. When i say quick, i mean quick before they noticed you’re gone.
I don’t know how many times I’ve gotten sick from the germs they bring home, only to not get any rest time because, that’s not what motherhood is about (Am I right, or am I right moms)!
I don’t know how many times, I’ve had to sort of “forget” my emotions, or at least I think I’m forgetting it, only to seep in on times I’d rather not have it. AND I LOSE IT, every single time!
I don’t ever take my washroom breaks seriously, because I always have a full audience, mischievously going through my monthly stacked of pads, make-up, and other things I store in a washroom/bathroom.
Don’t even get me started on sleeping. What is that? Who does this?
Amidst all this that seem so hard to sacrifice on days when I literally wish I can just be alone for the rest of my life, my precious children who drive me nuts on the daily, are everything I can ever ask for in life. The blessing, to be their mother, their friend, their provider, their protector, the teacher of love, understanding, care, and everything we moms are responsible for on the daily, is everything I could ever want out of my life.
I am always grateful, and thankful for being able to be a mom and have the opportunity to have my own little mini-me’s to live life and to be my legacies, if nothing more.
For the sake of memories. For the sake of being able to scream, and daily, confess the love for the blessings of being a mom.
For as long as I can remember, I wasn’t a celebrated child. I didn’t have birthday parties, every year, nor had one because I meant a lot to someone. I had a couple that i recall; for the sake of photos that’ll eventually find its way to my adopted father, elsewhere in the world. I wasn’t treasured, the way you treasure someone, with tangible memories like photographs, or letters, or daily blogs of confessions about how much they are loved and cared for.
I wasn’t fussed over. I wasn’t valued. I wasn’t worth enough, for anyone to claim me. I wasn’t enough, for someone to ‘keep’ me. No one cried for me. No one hurt for me. No one would have given their life for me, the way you do when you love someone so much.
Because of this…
I am one of those individuals, who flood your Facebook news feed, instagram, twitter, and tumblr, of photographs, status’, notes, and shared articles about my children; about having children; about being a mom; about the struggle of being a parent; about the chaos of marriage, and everything in between. I AM THAT INDIVIDUAL, because I want to be able to look back at the memories I’ve built with my family. I want my children to be able to find these memories when they’ve grown, and one day they’ll wonder what, who, how, why, they are who they are. It isn’t merely for the sake of bombarding others, or attempting to show I’m better than anyone, or that my family values are better than yours. I do this for me. I do this for the legacy of my family . I do this so that my children will remember to value what is most important in our family, each other. I do this so that they remember what it means to fight for those you love, to always give heart, to always be humble, to find meaning in real life, and so much more.
One day my children will have questions. One day they’ll wonder about all sorts, one day these memories will become reminders, it may bring us together when time is distant, or when our minds have found heart elsewhere. It will rekindle deeper appreciation for one another when that is lost or forgotten, it may be a light that helps redefine relationships in each of our lives, maybe it’ll help recall values, or find comfort, bring smiles, provide happy tears, but one thing for certain, it will always bind us together, always and forever.
I have yet to do review posts on anything, since it requires a lot of research and time to put together information. That’s time I don’t really have, but I will share my experience on using a variety of different types of baby bottles, since I’ve got seven years under my belt of pass and fail with baby bottles. (*insert wink emoticon here*)
Here are five types of bottles that I have used:
1. Playtex VentAire Advanced Bottle
My son used these when he was born back in 2009. At the time, it seemed like every mom had colicy, gasy babies. So every mom was using these bottles. Apollo was a gasy baby. It seemed like he was always eating after the first few months, so we had to make sure we invested in bottles that was going to help with the bubbles, and reduce gasyness.
Cost:Walmart $16.99 / Babies R Us – Gift Set $23.17
Cleaning & Convenience: When you have a baby that constantly feeds, you cannot wash bottles enough. This bottle had 6 parts. So if you’re not sleeping through the night, and you’re exhausted, that 3 a.m. washing bottle time is not exactly fun. It’s like zombies trying to get through a door without opening the door. My husband stood by the sink, half awake several times, ready to just scream BREASTFEED instead. After washing 6 bottles x 6 parts which is 36 parts in the sink and then waiting for it to sanitize, you’re better off buying ready milk in those disposable plastic bottles. Especially, if you’re feeding your baby warm milk. That means, heating the milk in the microwave, after washing all those parts, and sanitizing them. WHO IN THE WORLD HAS 2 hours, when you’ve got a screaming, crying baby?
Gasy and Colicky Fix: It did help with the colic aspect and my son was no longer gasy. So it did its job.
2. Evenflo Classic Glass Bottle + Vented Bottles
Apollo had to use these after the Playtex VentAire bottles, because we got sick of having to wash all the parts. I mean, like my husband says, just like Coke, it taste better in a glass bottle. I don’t know how formula taste in a glass bottle and a plastic one, at that, but I would assume, like most drinks, it taste a lot nicer from a glass.
Cost:Babies R Us $11.99 (3 pk, 8 oz size)
Cleaning & Convenience: Cleaning these bottles were fairly easy. It was four parts, and no crazy crevices to tediously wash. The only negative I found was, when sanitizing them, it was a pain. You sanitize it with boiled water, that means you had to wait to cool them before touching it, unless you had super gloves. Then, you had the actual milk warming process, it wasn’t recommended to heat up the bottle, so warming the milk separately was the thing, and then having to cool down the milk was another. It was too long of a wait. Being out, it was hard to serve the baby warm milk. This meant, you had to have a thermos of warm water at the right temperature before leaving the house. So that led us back to the Playtex VentAire.
3. Gerbers First Essentials Clear Bottles
When Artemis, our second child was born. We wanted some easy to clean bottles, where we can use and go right out of the hospital. We had figured we’d use a different type of bottle after a month or so, since these Gerber First Essential bottles were tiny, plastic and small nipples, it was easy and go kinda bottles.
Cost:Walmart $5.96 (3 pk)
Cleaning & Convenience: Cleaning it was easy, it’s got your typical four parts, the only negative aspect was, you can’t really sanitize it well since it’s cheap and plastic material. The nipples wore out so quickly. It leaked at the bottom of the nipple if you close it too tight. I’ve had Arty look like she just downed 3oz of milk in 2 mins, little did I know, the bib soaked it all up. While the cleaning was easy, and not really too complicated, the convenience turned into a nuisance.
4. Playtex Nurser with Drop-Ins Liners
We switched to these for Arty, after we got fed up of the wasted milk.
Cost: Walmart & Babies R Us $19.99
Cleaning & Convenience: Cleaning these bad boys are pretty easy, because it uses liners, you really are just cleaning the cap, nipple and twist cap thoroughly, and quickly washing with soap the body part. I actually bought a microwave-sanitizer for this, so it’s quick. The only extra aspect is buying the inserts every month. The convenience is great! You don’t have to constantly clean the bottles itself. But you do have to change the inserts often, to make sure the milk isn’t gross from several usage and old residue.
Cost:Walmart $9.97 (4 oz.) $11.97 (8 oz)
5. Philips Avent Classic Bottles
With Cassi, I have decided to switch a totally new brand. With Arty just a year old, I didn’t want to have to mix up their bottles and the nipples. It would make it difficult to keep everything sanitary, with the same kind of bottles. So, the other day I picked up these bad boy. The box set I bought is currently on sale at Babies R us. It came with three of these 4 oz size bottles, and two 8 oz bottles. It also came with a pacifier, a brush, and a milk dispenser for when you’re on the road.
Cost:Babies R us $55
Cleaning & Convenience: Cleaning this bottle is pretty straight forward, it’s like cleaning the Gerber First Essential bottles. Good thing I got the sanitizer with it. Two minutes in the microwave, and bam ready bottles again. Convinient? Yeah, so far it’s good. No complains. Aside from Cassi trying to get used to the nipples.
I haven’t been able to blog the way I want to, because I seem to be in a funk. The days of Cassiopeia’s arrival is coming very close (37 days to go), and I guess my body is just preparing for it. Thus, I’ve been feeling a lot of things lately. One with aches, two sleeplessness, and three, just exhaustion from my daily grind.
I got braxton hicks the other night, it was a lot more painful that i’ve ever gotten them before. With aK & Arty, they didn’t really interfere with what I had to do physically. This time around, I had to literally lay down. I just wanted to crawl into a ball, and squeeze my stomach. It hurt so much, I literally fell asleep.
I know I’ve said a few times in my previous posts, but I’m literally starting to get really tired, I just don’t want to mommy from now until I give birth to this baby. It’s so hard to get through the day with all that I have to get through, and be eight months pregnant. It’s crazy. But, I’ve got a month and a bit left. I’m just going to have to push through this.
We had our last ultrasound yesterday to check on the growth of the baby before birth to make sure everything is good to go. Its all waiting time now. We were able to get a proper confirmation (even with the not 100%) of the sex of the baby.
Yes, arriving this March (aaaah, two months away), we are welcoming ‘Cassiopeia (Cassi-o-pe-ia) Reine’! 🙂 In case you still don’t know if thats a boy or girl..IT’S A GIRL!
We are so excited to be welcoming another bundle of joy into our family.
Although it’s been super crazy with being super pregnant, and keeping up with everything else with the kids.. Its a blessing for us to be receiving another baby to help grow our family, and have more fun.
One of my resolutions this year, is to give myself time. Time to do, whatever. It is so important for moms to give themselves time. Not just to shower, sip on hot coffee, or to comb their hair. Moms need time to breathe, enjoy the moment for themselves, reflect on themselves, their life with kids, as a wife, as a person. It is crucial to the sanity, and abilities of moms to have that in order to keep loving in the way the people in their life require from them. So please, take care of yourself, too!
Hanging out with this one at Starbucks by our place. It’s almost 1pm, and I had hoped I’d find my “me” time happening earlier today. J, had nothing planned for the day, except rounds of Black Ops, so I had taken the opportunity to spend some time writing (Journal, Blogs, Book). I was up at 4:30 this morning, and I had checked the weather for today, along with the time Starbucks opened. They opened at 6am, but I had obviously taken all the time in the world to get everyone else figured out before I headed out.
I made breakfast for the kids, and J this morning before I decided to head out. Arty is due for a nap shortly, which should make it easy for J, to have some “me” time while aK, and I are out hanging out on our technologies?!
Even at seven and a half months, I still get blown away that I’m pregnant. But its becoming more real, the harder time I have with trying to keep up with Arty who just turned one. But its definitely exciting to be meeting this little bundle soon.
I,Mommy 