Mold Sorrows

Well, I don't know exactly where to start. :( This post will not involve pictures as it would gross most of us out. Ok... Not long ago, I noticed that my pump equipment had mold on it where the valve connects. I used to disassemble it completely to dry every time I washed it. But lately I started leaving it connected to dry thinking it would be fine. Well, it wasn't. Pumped milk had been passing the mold and yes, sadly, Alex was drinking that milk unbeknownst to me that mold was in there. I was upset about this and did an overhaul clean job on my pump stuff.

I am still breastfeeding, but only 1-2 times a day as she has gotten too distracted and busy to breastfeed every time. I pump for the other feeds (and starting this month, I sometimes supplement formula with it), and use defrosted milk with her dinner. Sometimes, Alex has not been wanting to drink all of her milk from a sippy cup even when she wouldn't breastfeed. At her 9 month check up, her pediatrician stressed the importance of her needing at least 24 oz of milk a day right now. Yikes! So, I've been making a conscience effort to get more milk in her. Today, as I was unloading the dishwasher, I decided to look closer at the holes on her sippy cups thinking maybe she needed a "big girl" sippy as hers are the beginner ones. When I pulled the valve off, mold covered the inside. :( I almost threw up and cried at the same time. I checked all her sippy cups and it was only on the oldest 2, but 2 others had a sour smell. They are now in the trash. Unfortunately, I had never taken the valves off. Yes, you can call me stupid, but don't get too proud because you will make a dumb mistake, too! Anyway, this is embarrassing to share and I am only doing it so no other new moms will do the same thing. This is so out of my character as most of you know that I can be a borderline clean/health freak. Needless to say, Alex guzzled her milk today in a fresh clean sippy cup and gets more new ones today! Even though Alex probably has a rock solid immune system after all this, I am still sad about it all. :( btw...I did talk to a neonatologist (pediatric specialist) friend in MS today about this and he said Alex would be just fine.

If any of you know of anything else with a valve on it, please let me know! I need to check it. I was told today that bathtub toys that hold water probably have mold in the inside and you might not be able to even see it until water is squirted out with black in it. :( I'll be checking her rubber duckies next.

Pool Time

Layla and Reagan came to the pool with us last Thursday. We had a good time. Well, Reagan did after her fear of the pool subsided (see her story under The Ramsey Family).

Father's Day

Alex and I met Layla and Reagan at Firefly to paint something for the Dads. Alex painted her footprints for Mother's Day so we planned to surprise Daddy with her hand prints for Father's Day. Since Daddy got off work early, we told him to meet us there as we had just finished. Daddy was surprised. We'll post the final product after it is fired in a few weeks. btw...Alex and Reagan had a good time while there. :)
The worker is painting Alex's first hand.
Pressing hand down. Alex did great! We only had to rinse off one tile and redo the hand print. :)
Time for the other hand. Alex's face is priceless...
Daddy showed up to see his surprise. (The footprint plate is the finished product from Mother's Day. The hand print tiles will be fired which will darken the green background on the border.) Reagan and Layla's finished product (pre firing)

This is hilarious! Reagan sneezed for real which made Alex laugh. So, Reagan started fake sneezing which had Alex cracking up. I did the best I could to capture it on video as it happened so fast and many "sneezes" and laughs happened before I started videoing. I think Reagan enjoyed entertaining while Alex loved being the audience of this comedy show.

The Latest

Well, time keeps getting away from me and this blogging. I always have tons of entries in my head and some get posted. This time I have a little bit of an excuse...we were out of town last weekend. So much seems to happen in life these days. Since I last blogged 3 friends (Ashley, Iris, and Jennifer...check out on the right: The Finton Family, The How Family and The Glasgow Family) had babies, Chris' mom (Mimi) flew here and traveled to Birmingham with me, spent time with college friend, Kristen, was in Cathy's wedding, Chris turned 31 (June 10)and Alex turned 9 months today! That's a lot!!! Unfortunately, I didn't get pics of all this. I can't believe we didn't get any of Mimi and Alex, Kristen, or birthday pics. :(
Our Sweetheart
Reading before bedtime
Alex realizing her sun hat doesn't come off
Alex playing hard...(check out that tummy)
Alex wearing Daddy's hat
Cathy getting ready to walk the aisle
Jeff and Cathy
at Cathy's bridesmaid luncheon
Daddy and Alex at church nursery a couple weeks ago
Grace and Jennifer Glasgow
Grace Lillian Glasgow
Kekoa How
Iris, Matt and Kekoa How
Ashley Finton's son, Hutchison Pierce
Sister Tess and Hutch