She’ll be hanging out at home with N while I go to an all day marching band rehearsal.

N wasn’t jazzed about spending the day hanging around the school taking care of E (so I could breastfeed her on demand) while I am working. I don’t blame him, if I were him would rather spend my Saturday at home relaxing.

Besides It’s better that she’s not out in the heat and blazing sun for that long anyway… So the two of them will be relaxing at home without me all day.

This is why we’ve been trying so hard to get her to take a bottle lately. There are gonna be days when she’s home with him and I am out working. We also would love to have a date night once in a while. If she refuses a bottle it kind of makes it impossible for me to leave her side for very long.

N and E had another successful morning while I was left to catch up on some sleep. I guess N took her down to the nursery where she took her morning nap in her crib. Crib sleeping is not something that happens often as she’s still pretty attached to swing sleeping.

N said after her nap in the crib she took a bottle with hardly any fuss, she even smiled at him while he was giving her it. This is a great change from the frantic screaming she was doing during bottle time days before.

It appears N and Everly are geared up for tomorrow and this makes me pretty happy. I love her to death but it will be nice to go to work and have 2 hands to teach with as opposed to only the one (since I’ve been holding her the entire time I am teaching).

Now I need to get back to my BPA obsessing, I’ll post more about that in a few days though, stay tuned.

The post This mom is flying solo tomorrow. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

She ended up taking the Adiri BPA Free Natural Nurser Bottles I won via a blog/ twitter contest back in May.

Unfortunately I hadn’t pumped that much milk the night before so the bottle didn’t fill her up, she did drink all the milk that was in it though and I breastfed her afterward to be sure her tummy was full.

It took N about an hour of her fussing and refusing before she was tired enough to doze off in his arms. Once she was dozing he could get her to drink the bottle.

It’s a good thing she’s getting the hang of occasional bottle feeding because I have some all day weekend rehersals coming up with the colorguard and N will be home with E the entire time, ideally He’ll be able to bottle feed her while I am off teaching all day. Woot, she wont starve!

Also, we bought Everly this Cradling Bouncy Seat and to our surprise she like it very much! It’s nice to be able to spend time with her without having to hold her the whole time.

Oh and we dealt with some very maddening health insurance/ birth cost crap today. Remember how I had a 4th degree tear after Everly was born?

Well I transported to the local hospital for stitches since a 4th degree tear is a bit more complex to repair than anything the midwives had done.

Normally they can stitch up minor tears but since I tore straight through they wanted a surgeon to do the repair work to insure all the muscles and tissue were repaired properly, you know so I wouldn’t leak and have resulting lack of control down there…

Anyway, we paid $3500 (100% out of pocket) to our midwife for Everly’s birth. That is pretty cheap compared to what it costs to birth in a hospital.

Now guess how much the bill for all my repair work was from the hospital, after insurance discounts and whatnot…

Lets just say the bill is about 52% of what the total cost for Everly’s birth was. Isn’t that crazy? It just goes to show how super inflated hospital & insurance billing is compared to paying a alternative provider directly without the hospital or insurance involved. I thought medical insurance was supposed to help us financially…

Also, remember how much of a stink my ex OBGYN made about me not getting the RhoGam shot during pregnancy? They told me I was endangering my baby and my future fertility and that it wasn’t really an optional thing…

Well after Everly was born and her blood type was determined I did get the RhoGam shot while I was at the hospital being stitched up.

Insurance will billed for it and apparently between the insurance company and the providing physician out in Tennessee that shot is somehow not deemed “a medical necessity” and insurance is now refusing to pay for it. Nice huh?

The post Small victories and insurance battles… appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Plus, I would prefer to leave her with a sitter sometimes while I am working… Anything to keep her indoors and cool as opposed to the 80 degree temps and 50% humidity that I am working in while teaching a colorguard. I am worried about her getting dehydrated, overheated, sunburned and bug bitten.

Anyway, we’ve been working at getting her to take pumped milk from a bottle now that breastfeeding is well established and risk for “nipple confusion” has passed. We’ve read books, stocked up on different nipple/ bottle types and I have pumped breast milk.

N tries to give her the bottle when I am still asleep in the mornings. He takes her in a different room or even outside so she’s away from me and my scent. Everyone says that she’ll be more likely to refuse the bottle or pacifier if she knows the real thing is near.

He would love to be a part of the feeding process and has been eager to begin bottle feeding her. Unfortunately she screams bloody murder like he is torturing her each time her tries to offer the bottle to her.

He’s tried the walking around with her in the facing out position like The Nursing Mother’s Companionsays to, she still wont take the bottle. We also read The Complete Book of Breastfeedingfor advice.

We have both tried our hand at the cradle hold and a few other positions, different nipples, feeding at different times etc. We have both tried everything we can think of to ease her in to bottle feeding. We are even offering her a pacifier to get her used to the artificial feel.

We have the Adiri Natural Nurser Bottle,a Gerber Nuk Bottleand the bottles that came in the Medela Breast Pump Accessory Set. We have a Nuk, a Soothie and an Aventpacifier that she’s also refusing.

She simply will not have any part of bottle feeding or pacifiers! She only wants the real thing, which is a nice compliment but at the same time I am worried I’ll never be able to leave her side till she’s weaned of breastfeeding.

I welcome any advice or tips you might have to help get her to take an occasional bottle of pumped milk every now and then.

The post She only wants boob! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

1 Arizona State ASU 1987 Rose Bowl Champ Coca-Cola Bottle

This 1987 ASU Sun Devils Rose Bowl & Pac 10 Football Champions Coca-Cola Full Commemorative Bottle! 10 FL OZ. Coke Tab on Top of Bottle! Sealed! Add this item to your Sun Devils Collection!

In 1987 ASU led by MVP Jeff Van Raaphorst defeated the Michigan Wolverines in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California! Arizona State led by Jake Plummer, Pat Tillman, Jeremy Staat, Derrick Rodgers, JR Redmond and the rest of the team went perfect during the 1996 pac-10 Season and a trip against the  Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl! Mint Condition! ASU plays Football at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. The current team is led by Rudy Carpenter, Ryan Torrain, & Keegan Herring.

We are selling this for $48.00 for the 1 bottle (includes S&H)

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6 Superbowl XXX 1996 Unopened Coca-Cola Classic Bottle

Each 8 oz. bottle of Coca-Cola Classic is unopened and full. This is a collectible bottle with one side marked with the Coca-Cola logo and info, and the other marked with Superbowl XXX (30) info. for Sunday, Jan. 28th, 1996 – perfect condition. A rare commemorative item, we have 6 of them.

We are selling each one for $12.00 (includes S&H)

So, are you a football memorbelia collector? Want to buy these items and help us pay for our move? Common, you know you are itching to buy these!

The post Found some collectors items, wanna buy them? appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.