Kelli Nicole gifted us T1′s birth and newborn photos, but I knew we wouldn’t be able to pay someone for both types of photos when T2 was born. Photographing my own birth was impossible, so I hired Kelly M for that, and crossed my fingers that I would recover fast enough from the birth to be able to manage a DIY newborn session before T2 outgrew the cuddly/sleepy newborn stage.

On Valentine’s day my sister and I quickly made the bed, gathered up the photo stuff, and prepped both kids for our photo session. We shot for about an hour (could not have done it without Shay, thanks my dear!), kept it very simple, and ended up with what you see below.

Look how light her hair is! I think she might actually have a little bit more than T1 did, but it’s so light that it’s harder to see. Read more →

I want to be a terrific cook and baker, but as I keep reminding That Husband, it’s going to take me a few years to get there. I’ve had a few successes, but more often than that some part of my attempt at a fabulous dinner is a fail. I rarely make the same thing again, and TH has been telling me for years to focus in on a few recipes and stop jumping around so much. The probablem with my approach is that whenever we have people over I agonize, make huge mistakes, and feel embarrassed when dinner is served because things didn’t go quite right.

Source

And so I’m embarking on my recipe mastery project. I’m going to pick classic dishes (think pot roast or chicken curry) and attempt the same dish once a week until I’ve found a recipe that turns out stellar results three times in a row. Once I’m conquer one dish, I’ll move on to the next. I thought I could create a blog series out of it by putting up an initial post asking for recipe ideas, and then putting up a recipe post once I’ve found the perfect fit.

My first pick is beef stew. I made this one on Sunday, and we want to try something else because neither of us really liked the mushrooms. Do you have a favorite beef stew recipe? Link to it below and I’ll work my way through your suggestions until I find the perfect fit.

Written in response to this.

To the leadership of the LDS Church,

I am a born and raised member of the LDS Church. My mother wasn’t able to breastfeed me, and I don’t have many memories of women breastfeeding around me when I was young. In 2006 I had a breast reduction, and when they asked me if breastfeeding was important to me I said it wasn’t really, because I didn’t know anything about it. I had no strong examples of breastfeeding women to want to emulate. Growing up in the LDS Church I was consistently told that motherhood was my most important role in life, but I knew nothing about how the act of feeding my baby from my own body, or how much I would want to make breastfeeding work once I had children of my own.

In 2010 I gave birth to our first child, a son. I poured all of my time and energy into trying to make nursing work, but after three weeks I decided it wasn’t going to work and switched to formula. I was devastated, and believe I missed out on crucial bonding opportunities with him. I am grateful for the women in my life, like my visiting teacher who loaned me a breast pump so I wouldn’t have to figure out where to rent or buy one, who helped me through that difficult time.

In February of 2013 our second child, a daughter, was born. This time around I have a much stronger support system made up of women with a variety of experiences related to breastfeeding, and though I don’t know how long I will be able to keep up my current schedule of nursing/pumping/formula, it is incredibly reassuring to hear over and over that the challenges I am facing are not unique, and that others have persevered. This culture of support has made feeding my first newborn and feeding my second newborn as different as night and day.

I haven’t been back to church yet but when I do go I want to be in a place that cheers me on for every moment spent trying to feed and bond with her. My husband travels for work on a weekly basis, and sometimes he has to work on Sunday. I don’t even know how I would manage gathering up my 2-year-old and keeping him entertained in the mother’s lounge while I tried to nurse our second. I want my priority to be her and her needs, and I don’t want to spend a single second worrying that I might offend someone who mistakenly believes that there is anything gross, sexual, or inappropriate about feeding my child.

Please make a public statement that encourages the membership of the LDS Church to support women as they attend to the needs of their children. Please revise the Church Handbook of Instructions to make it clear to local leaders that the only appropriate message to give in response to a woman breastfeeding at Church or Church-related activities is “You are a wonderful mother.” Because no matter how a woman feeds her baby, she is doing a beautiful thing

Jenna Andersen

I have only a handful of images of me with my mom growing up. She says she tried, but no one ever wanted to take over the camera. I’m trying to make sure this doesn’t happen with me and my own kids, but I’ve realized that the same thing is happening once again with my own kids! There really aren’t that many photos of T1 with his grandma, and I want to make sure that doesn’t become the status quo for us.

So four days after T2 was born we cleared out a corner of my bedroom and did a quick photo session with T1, T2, and Nana. I was tired, sweating, and exhausted afterward but these pictures are so worth it. My parents are coming back in early March and I might try and convince them to do one more quick session with the kids while both Nana and Papa are here so they have nice pictures with grandpa as well. Next time we visit Poland I want to do the same thing with That Husband’s family as well!

When I launched Jenna Cole, my mom told me “No matter what kind of success you find with your business, you’ll be so glad you have this equipment and these skills when you have kids.” She was so right.

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T1 started his life out sleeping in a First Years Close and Secure Sleeper (it actually goes in your bed and I plan on using it with T2 as well), moved into the swing, and then transitioned to a pack-n-play at 4 months. Until October of 2012 he slept alone in a crib, and then we decided to potty train, which meant he needed to be in a bed where he was freely able to use the bathroom whenever he needed (of course, he still won’t go pee alone, but that will come with time I hope!). I liked the Montessori approach that puts the mattress directly on the floor, which meant we didn’t have to buy a bed frame, he would be able to easily get in and out of bed (and he loves being able to lay on his side and play with his trains as he goes to sleep!), and also gave us the space to keep the futon in his room that we use for guests and reading books.

On October 20th we put him in a big boy bed for the first time.

The first few nights, he came out a few times to ask for milk* or tell us he had to go to the bathroom again, but things were going surprisingly well. I thought maybe this was it. He was both potty-trained and sleeping in his own bed at night!

Ha!

Two weeks later, he started coming into our bed in the middle of the night. He was starting in his own bed, but then I’d be tapped by a little hand in the middle of the night asking to sleep in mama’s bed.

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