I ♥ Faces - At the Beach!

This week at I ♥ Faces the theme is "At the Beach". Today, the first beautifully sunny day without rain since... I can't remember, maybe May?... we went to the beach with some friends. Unfortunately they had some car trouble and ended up not getting to the beach with us, but we still had a great time getting out and enjoying the SUN! I took a bunch of pictures, but wanted to share this one for the I ♥ Faces contest. I love seeing my husband in one of his greatest callings- being a father!



If you like the beach, photography, or just want to be a little nosy, head on over to I ♥ Faces to check out everyone else's beach pictures!

I heart faces FEET!

As I continue to develop my photography, I've been researching photography sites for inspiration. One of my favorites is I Heart Faces, which typically focuses on faces in photography and offers great tips and examples. This week they're switching it up a bit, and focusing on FEET! I just couldn't resist posting this pic of Lydia's toes. She constantly touches her toes together, playing footsie by herself! I love how her little tootsies curl in... SO sweet!



Thanks for stopping by! You can head over to I Heart Faces to check out everyone else's toes too!

A little update leading to a prayer request...

Lydia at 3 Months

Height: 23 inches
Head Circumference: 15 inches
Weight: 9 lbs. 7and 3/4 oz.

Tuesday Lydia and I headed to the pediatrician's for a weight check. At her 2 month well baby visit she had crossed several percentages, and was tracking at 25% for most of her measurements. Dr. D, her pediatrician, was not overly concerned because both of Lydia's sisters had fallen into a similiar growth pattern, but at 6 months (Grace) or 4 months (Ella), not 2 months. He was most concerned about her head circumference. So, Dr. D asked us to come back this month just to keep an eye on her growth. Unfortunately, the results are less than desirable. While she did increase in her height and head circumference measurements, her weight decreased. I was shocked to see the scale, as she had been just over 10 lbs. last month!

Dr. D ruled out malabsorption and "failure to thrive" and concluded that we needed to add more calories to Lydia's diet. To do that, he decreed that I must start her on formula, at least 10-15 oz. per day. This was incredibly upsetting to me, as a solely breastfeeding momma. Our beloved pediatrician, who has been part of our lives since Day 1 of each of our girls' lives tried to make me feel better about the situation by reminding me that lots of children do "just fine" on formula, and "at least it's not 100 years ago, when we'd have to find a wet nurse for you." Seriously.

He did also acknowledge that I was upset. (DUH!) And I still think he's a great pediatrician. Just maybe not so breastfeeding friendly when he's concerned about his patient's growth.

Dr. D recommended continuing to breastfeed for about half of Lydia's feedings, and to supplement with formula by skipping an at the breast meal and giving her a bottle instead. I am concerned that my milk supply is low- and that skipping feedings will make it even worse. Since the 2 month check up I've tried adding another feeding, but Lydia just fusses and cries and ends up turning away and falling asleep. She's very determined not to eat when she doesn't want to!

So, after this not so little update, I ask for your prayers... please pray for Lydia's growth and our feedings together, as well as strength and energy for me! I am determined to return to solely breastfeeding, but to do so I'll have to increase my milk production. That means resurrecting my love/hate relationship with my pump. I love my daughter, and want to provide the best nutrition for her, but I HATE pumping!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

In our idyllic life, we are always the epitome of perfection. HA! So, of course, NONE of the following took place here at the stream.

We were not woken up by our older children announcing that they had "painted themselves". And certainly not on the morning of our family pictures. And I definitely did not get photographic proof of such disobedience.





I most certainly did not have to recrop those pictures so that the toilet was mostly out and repost them!

Oh, and those family pictures? Definitely not what I've been waiting on to send out Lydia's birth announcements. I mean, she's almost 3 months old! I'm certainly more on top of my game than that!


So, that's all that's happened lately... because there's no way that at the wedding I photographed recently they had to hold up the cutting of the cake because their photographer was in the bathroom! Ugh! Certainly not me! I'm way more professional than that! Especially since, you know, it's their day and everything.

And, it did not dawn on me on the way to church that those pants I so conveniently found in the kitchen where they were supposed to be were there on the way to the laundry for a reason. I absolutely was not wearing jeans doused in eau de baby to church!