Tax Break for Nursing Mothers

Who doesn't love Tax Breaks!?!!

Everyone has their opinions on breastfeeding, but we have been breastfeeding for the past {almost} 8 months. Although we are weaning now, which breaks my heart. I read this amazing article that now states there are tax breaks for nursing mothers on breast pumps and other nursing supplies!!

Check it out here!! Tax Break, and just incase you are skeptical of silly sites here it is on the irs.gov site.  

Enjoy ;)

Happy New Year!!

I took a blog hiatus for a while. With going back to work & being a new mommy, I didn't really have time to shower & eat let alone think of creative topics to blog about! 

Now that I am getting into the actual swing of things and {G} and I have a good routine, my creative juices are back flowing!

I am so excited to be in 2014. One because I have an odd fascination with even numbers and two I love new years and everything that there is to look forward to.

2013 was a great year & I am even more excited about 2014. 

Look back at my 2013 resolutions: 

1. Get myself more involved with my spirituality. -  We did really well with this until the baby was born & we started house shopping. Now we unfortunately have not been to church in quite sometime. We say prayers every night with our cute little buddy, but we really need to get back into church on a regular basis. 
2. Keep up with cleaning- I have been doing excellent with this one. Our house has been quite cleaned and picked up more of the time!!)
3. Lose the baby weight/ Work out regularly- Well all of the baby weight is lost, but this dumb hernia has slightly been preventing me from working out. Running is no pleasant and sadly I don't have a bike or elliptical to use. Hopefully in 2014 this will be better. 
4. Save More/ Spend Less- Eh.. I would say this was a fail. 
5. Blog More- I did very well with this until the baby was born {see above}

2014 Resolutions:

1) Be the best mom I can absolutely be. My little man is so important to me. He is my my sunshine, my best friend, my inspiration and my dream come true. I want to give him the perfect life. I want him to experience every possible thing that he can. I want him to travel, to play instruments, to play sports, to dream big, to take chances, and be brave and I want to help him get to every goal he has ever had. This will always be a resolution of mine because I am always going to constantly strive to be better!!

2) Stop biting my nails- This is a goal that I come back between and that was not on my list last year because I was kicking so much butt. After the baby was born I must have become anxious because I began biting them again. I am determined to stop!

3) Stop drinking soda- I don't drink coffee or tea really, so at times when I am really tired I resort to soda. I love soda. It is amazing. Sadly I know how unhealthy it is and I am determined to stop drinking it for one entire year. 

4) Continue blogging-  My family is more important to me so I am not going to focus on how many readers I have or how many times I blog a week. I will blog when I want to and when I have something to talk about. 

5) Be a better wife- Just like with being a better mom, I can always strive to be a better wife. I really want to be there to help support my husband and build our lives together. 

6) Read 50 books 

7) Move into a bigger place - Our apartment although AMAZING is too small for us now. We need something bigger.

8) Keep my hair short for one whole year - I always grow mohair back out super long and I really want to keep something fresh and different!

Book Club Friday

Love me some book club Friday!!

I have read like 12 books in the past month!

What do you do?

Grab the button and then link up here!!

This weeks:

Flat-Out Matt (Flat-Out Love #1.5)

by Jessica Park

Matt is a junior at MIT. He’s geeky, he's witty, he's brilliant.

And he’s also very, very stupid.

When beautiful, cool, insightful Julie moves in with Matt’s family, why (oh why!) does he pretend to be his absent brother Finn for her alleged benefit? 

It seems harmless enough until her short-term stay becomes permanent. And until it snowballs into heart-squeezing insanity. And until he falls in love with Julie, and Julie falls in love with Finn. 

But … Matt is the right one for her. If only he can make Julie see it. Without telling her the truth, without shattering them all. Particularly his fragile sister Celeste, who may need Julie the most.

You saw Matt through Julie’s eyes in FLAT-OUT LOVE. Now go deeper into Matt’s world in this FLAT-OUT MATT novella. Live his side of the story, break when his heart breaks, and fall for the unlikely hero all over again.

Take an emotional skydive for two prequel chapters and seven Flat-Out Love chapters retold from his perspective, and then land with a brand-new steamy finale chapter from Julie

Last time I talked about Flat out Love & This week Flat Out Matt

I loved this book almost as much as I loved Flat Out Love. 

This book is not a "full" book. Its like certain chapters of the first one from Matt's point of view. But still its amazing and its fun to see the different point of view. Similar to Walking Disaster, but not a full book.

Lovee, 5 stars. Def. read :)

Maternity Photos

If you follow me on twitter (here)

then you know I was having a very difficult time with my photographer getting our maternity & newborn photos in a timely manner. 

Well a couple weeks ago we FINALLY got them all, and I am quite happy with how they turned out!!

We did a sneak peek of them when she had sent us a few, but here are some of my favorites from the day!

Waiting for them sucked but they sure are pretty :)

Book Club Friday

Haven't done a book club Friday in quite some time. 

But now that I have passed my licensure exam and don't have to study, 

have gotten into a better mommy & baby routine & am able to get more done I have more time to read. 

I have been on a blogging kick these past few days and have read quite a few books. 

What do you do?

Grab the button and then link up here!!

This weeks book is:

Flat-Out Love (Flat-Out Love #1)

by Jessica Park

He was tall, at least six feet, with dirty blond hair that hung over his eyes. His T-shirt read Nietzsche Is My Homeboy.

So, that was Matt. Who Julie Seagle likes. A lot. But there is also Finn. Who she flat out loves.

Complicated? Awkward? Completely.

But really, how was this freshly-minted Boston transplant and newbie college freshman supposed to know that she would end up living with the family of an old friend of her mother's? This was all supposed to be temporary. Julie wasn't supposed to be important to the Watkins family, or to fall in love with one of the brothers. Especially the one she's never quite met. But what does that really matter? Finn gets her, like no one ever has before. They have connection.

But here's the thing about love, in all its twisty, bumpy permutations—it always throws you a few curves. And no one ever escapes unscathed.

Source: Goodreads.com

I absolutley loved this book. From the second I began reading it I couldn't put it down. I loved its twists, the love story and everything about it. I loved its nerdy references and was terribly sad when it ended!! Such a good book!

 

Momma Guilt

Some of you already know by reading {G's} birth story, I didn't exactly have the easiest delivery. 

Once the little man was out of my belly, I began to hemorrhage causing me to get super dizzy and nauseated. 

So when my sweet little man was brought up to me although I was beyond words happy to see him safe and healthy, I was really concentrating on trying to NOT throw up on him. 

As soon as my husband had to tae him out of the room, I told the anesthesiologist, I felt guilty for not being happier when I saw him. 

That was Momma Guilt Number 1.

Momma Guilt Number 2: 

I was discharged from the hospital WAY to soon. My hemoglobin levels were only 7 and although I felt fine when I left the walk to the car and rest of the day was spent with me trying to not trip or pass out from dizziness and cue horrible migraine that started that night. 

For 3 days I was SO SICK in bed, and had his daddy change his diaper and do a lot of the talking care of things while I laid helpless only being able to nurse him. After my blood transfusion i FINALLY felt better and could take care of him, but I look back on those 3 days and feel so guilty for not being able to take care of him the way I felt I needed too and that his daddy had to do most of the work. 

& now we are on to 

Momma Guilt Number 3:

I got back to work tomorrow.... That means that I go from being with him almost every single second of the day (minus going to the store a few times and once to the movies) to him having to be without me for 40 (plus drive time) hours a week. Thankfully he will be with his daddy most of the time, but come on he needs his momma. He gets sad when he is away from me for a few minutes let alone a few hours. I am dreading so much that fact that I have to go back to work tomorrow. I just want to stay home and cuddle, play and teach him everything he has to know. I don't want him to have to bee mostly bottle fed now. I LOVE breastfeeding and I am so sad that it will be reduced to just evenings. I can imagine that these next 4 days back at work are going to be tremendously hard, and I am thankful my husband will be sending me lots of sweet little pictures of my little man, but it is not the same as me being there. I am so sad that he will not get to wake up and see me :( So sad that he will be looking for me and wondering why I am not there as much. So much guilt. But at the same time I do know that this is good for him and I will teach him that working is important, and I do LOVE my job. But I love my baby more. 

SO today my sweet 12 weeks old baby and I are spending quality time snuggiling with lotts of hugs and kisses!!

I know in his life I am going to have more guilty moments, but right now he is too little. Three is enough. 

Postpartum Me.

I've been trying to write this post for a while now, but just couldn't get myself to do so. 

After {G} emotionally postpartum me was and is still great. 

I love my little man, I am happy as can be, energetic (although tired) and good. 

My body however, not so much. 

I wish wish wish that I could be like some of the other awesome bloggers that I follow and look amazing after baby!!

I would love to wear a bikini again, but that will never happen. 

Before baby I was TINY!

I loved it!

Here I am at 7 weeks pregnant with just a little belly forming. 

I know I will never have the same stomach back. Will I get back to being super tiny.

Maybe not. 

Although I weight less than I did before I got pregnant (thank you gestational diabetes)

My stomach will probably never look the same. 

I currently can not work out as much as I am use to due to an AWESOME (not) hernia that I have to have repaired. 

But on top of that, I am like most of society and have these awesome stretch marks to deal with. 

I mean come on how could I not being THIS HUGE:

Omg, I laugh just seeing that giant belly. 

Thankfully my stretch marks are ONLY right by my belly button so I can get away with a pretty hot one piece, but I will miss the old me!

However, I wouldn't trade it for anything!!

My little man is def. worth the stretch marks, the hernia surgery and the intense work outs I will be getting too. 

This little man is too cute for anything else.

But the new postpartum me, will need sometime to be truly happy with itself. 

& that is okay. I am not going to sit there and say I love my stomach. 

Because I don't. DO I hate it?

No. 

Am I happy about it?

No.

But was it worth it?

WITH OUT A DOUBT!

So this is the postpartum me. 

Stretch marks, belly pudge, huge boobs & all

& that is okay :)