Being a mom

Becoming a mom changed me.  I never imagined I could love so deeply.  I love my son so much it sometimes makes me cry.  Tears of joy.  It makes me want to be better just so I can be an example for him.  It makes me love my husband more because I want him to see love, and know that he came into this world as an expression of our love for each other. Being a parent is by far the greatest joy i've known.  And I'm glad I'm able to appreciate it enough to know its a privilege not to be taken lightly.  I want to do right by my son in so many ways sometimes I don't even know where to start but I know the greatest gift I can ever give him is my unconditional love.  But that love has to extend to everything else because its all connected somehow.  I have to be the loving person I hope he will one day be.  I must make myself better in order to show him better.  The fallacy in parenting is we believe we can teach our children one thing yet act a different way. That's gotta be confusing to a child.  I act like my mom, I've noticed. I realized I learned mostly by what my mom did.  I remember how she reacted in certain situations and trend to react the same.  Simply knowing that makes me want to stop acting like a fool cause I know my son will learn it from me.  What do you think? Do your kids make you want to become a better you?

Momma Mia!

So my mom made out to Hawaii to visit on Tuesday!  I am so glad to see her because I missed her and because she is so helpful.    She can be a little crazy sometimes but I love her cause she is my mom and she is great.  When I was a teenager and thought I knew it all we bumped heads a little but now that I've grown older and actually know everything (haha) I've come to appreciate her very much.  She saved me from this mess of a house I was living in, well it was more just boxes everywhere, so little by little we are putting stuff up where it belongs.  Baby boy is still a very frequent nurser and don't anticipate that going away anytime soon at least till after 6 six months.  i am reading up on baby led weaning so that's most likely what we will do, but I haven't completely made up my mind yet. Heres some info on it.

Kai in his Beco

In other news Kai is getting plump, last night I was looking at pics when he was little and he was skinny and now i see him and he is a chubster!  He loves being in his Beco, and it's super comfy and easy to nurse in.  I am very happy with my purchase and totally recommend it.

Two more things I wanted to talk about today, I am little extra scattered brain today, one was I wanted to brag about getting my first $5 amazon giftcard through swag bucks!! Woohoo!  And all because I use it as my search engine, and I am always looking up stuff so it gives you swagbucks randomly and I keep getting them.  Even though from time to time I do have to go and look on google.com cause the search engine is not as good as the good one.  Even though it says its a mix of the google and other search engine results.  I answer the poll every day and also watch videos from time to time, and I am almost gonna be up to 450 points again so I should be getting another $5 soon..woohoo!  Sign up here if you are interested

Things are sometimes meant to happen...

I wonder sometimes if God reassures us when we are in doubt.  Often times I wonder if what I'm doing is what is best for my boy, I fall into self doubt.  About breastfeeding on demand and cosleeping mostly.  Sometimes I see other moms with their babies who seem to be so calm and not attached to their boob every 45 minutes like mine is.  but I think its natural for all of us to feel this way from time to time after all what we want is what's best and sometimes we are aware that we aren't perfect so we doubt ourselves. Or when it gets a little tough, the grass always looks greener on the other side.

So I recently had one of these episodes where I doubted myself but just last night I had some reassurance.  I met someone on facebook who wanted to "friend me" because she said we were like-minded in our parenting styles and she hadn't been able to find many mommies like her on the island.  I was happy about that, but that wasn't it, so I accepted her request and was talking to her. When I saw her picture she didn't look familiar or anything but i was browsing through all her pictures and I came across one where was wearing a green ergo, and it stood out cause she said that she loved it the only thing she regretted was it being green, it was lime green, but very nice.  And she also bragged about having bought some teething necklaces online that her son loved!  So when I found the picture with the ergo i kept looking and it thought to myself if i find a picture of her wearing a teething necklace then I know it's definitely her!  Sure enough she was wearing a teething necklace on one of her pictures!  What a small world!  When i first go on the island like about a month and a half ago I went to this store called Baby Awearness, where they sell baby carriers and cloth diapers, and I remember having a conversation with the sales clerk and another customer.  Well she was the other customer!  She hasn't yet confirmed to me that it was her, I don't think she's online right now but I am 99% sure it was her.

Back to my original point, don't think I forgot but I take that as a confirmation that I am not the only one (even though it feels like it sometimes) and that what I am doing for my baby is what I know is best for him.

Update:  Yes it was her!!! Yay!

Breastfeeding Rocks!

So I found this totally cute picture!  This actually looks like my son and I think i have picture of him doing the same thing but i have to find it maybe I'll post it later!  But this baby has the right idea!  Breastfeeding rocks!  I went to the website on the top right of this pic and found some pretty funny other pics if you are bored and wanna look at some.  Click here.

Amazon is Amazing!

So I am addicted to shopping on Amazon.com sometimes I have to go on there and look at my orders just to see what I am waiting to receive next...it all started because of my cloth diapers, ordering online because fun when i was waiting for the mail man or the ups man to come and then I would get to open my new thing!! The feeling of buying something new but without having to have left the house, and I got to do some serious price comparison so I was always confident that I was getting a great price, so there isn't too much guilt.  Wow, I sound like I seriously have a problem!  But I am not too bad, right now I just checked my amazon account and all I have pending is little tripod that I ordered for my camera!  Woohoo and it was only $2.37, and free shipping to Hawaii!!  So I was happy and ordered it, lets see how it is when it gets here.

My latest acquisition that I love is my Beco Butterfly II infant carrier, I used it today at the Dole Plantation and it was great!  I love the color cause its not too boring yet it's not too wild, because they have some beautiful designs but I couldn't use those everyday at least in my opinion.  Maybe one day i'll get one just to be wild!  But anyway I even learned how to breastfeed while wearing it!!!  Which was AWESOME!! I watched this video check it out!  Here is this picture he is a sleep, and yes he can breathe!

Beauty

As I sit here in the beach, holding my son watching my husband play in the waves, I can't help but think ” this! Is the life!”  I'm completely happy with what God gave me and infinitely thankful!

My Gowalla love

Me in my Gowalla shirt!

So I am psyched about the new gowalla app for Android!  I am an avid user of Gowalla since I don't even know when, I was invited to it by my cousin, Guero and at first didn't fall in love but when I started using it more and more, I realized how cool it was.  I've always been a role playing game fan, not to say this is like a role playing game but I love the idea of collecting XP and building up your character, I think thats why I really like gowalla. You collect stamps each place that you go and the stamps are super cool, and you get pins and items!  It's just fun then you can always go back on their page and look at where you have been and the pictures you posted there, you can also leave notes for your friends on suggestions and they get the note when they check in. It definitely encourages me to go out and check in.  So they updated they app and the website and it's even better than ever, took me a little while to get used to it, still learning it but I am getting there.  Here's a link to Gowalla. My user name is SandraGriffin.  You can follow me if you like and check it out cause the more people using the more spots that exist and the funner it is!! Now we are going to go check in to some places out here on the island.....

Gowalla on Amazon App Store