Milk mommies

The month of March has been kind of crazy and Wyatt has definitely been keeping me on my toes.  He keeps changing his schedule around.  He wants to eat a lot and then he doesn't, make up your mind kid! haha I'm trying not to stress about it but I'm at the tail end of my breastmilk supply and it kills me to have any of it wasted.  I tried for a little while to get my supply back by taking fenugreek & mother's milk & pumping every 3 hours... but I'm thinking it's not going to happen for me.  I've resorted to trying to find donor milk.  A friend of mine told me about Human Milk 4 Human Babies and so far I've met 3 lovely ladies that have donated some milk to Wyatt.  Their donations will feed him for about 2.5 weeks! (:  I'm so grateful for the generosity they have showed me and hope to be able to find more mommies that can help us out.

One of my sisters is kind of grossed out about me giving Wyatt milk from other moms, but here's my 2 top reasons for doing it.

1. Nothing beats breast milk.  Formula companies are always looking for ways to make their 'recipe' as close to breast milk as they can get so why not try to give your kid the real thing?

2. Wyatt doesn't tolerate formula.  At. All.  I've tried giving it to him and almost every time he throws up the entire bottle.  His little tummy just can't handle it.

Before I ever had a child I thought the idea of milk sharing was gross.  Now I realize what I blessing it is and that it really isn't 'gross'.  Breast milk is food, whether it's from you or from someone else.  Back in the day they used to have wet nurses and it wasn't gross then! (:

Anyway, I love that there is a place where women can go for support like this and plan to give back to other mommies when I have my next baby.

If you have access milk that you are not in need of, please consider finding a mommy in need.  The gift of mothers milk just doesn't compare and you will be able to help a little baby somewhere grow and thrive.

Parents of preemies day

Today is Parents of Preemies Day.

 We are the proud parents of an amazing preemie.

who beat the odds

and survived

Our preemie is now almost 11 months old

and he is such a joy in our lives.

Born at 2lbs. 4 oz. he now weighs 15lb 3oz!

We love you little man!

Extended family

Over the last 10 months my extended family has grown to be sooo big.  You see, anyone and everyone affected by ichthyosis in one way or another, I immediately consider as family.  I started building this family the moment Wyatt was diagnosed with EHK.  I haven't had the privilege of meeting most of my new extended family, but I have had the opportunity to meet a few.  Today was one of those special days.

This morning we packed up Wyatt and met up with two other families for breakfast.  Hugo & Claudia with their boys Gabriel & Ethan, and Isaac & Alicia with their son Efrain.

{Jared & I met Hugo & Claudia last June at FIRST's regional conference, but this was our first time meeting Isaac & Alicia.}

For me, today was like a mini family reunion.  As soon as I saw everyone, it felt like I was seeing family I hadn't seen in a long time.  It was so fun to see how big Gabriel and Ethan are now, compared to last year, and it was awesome to finally meet Isaac, Alicia & Efrain in person. 

Ethan has Lamellar Ichthyosis

Efrain has Harlequin Ichthyosis 

{which is the rarest form of ichthyosis. In fact, it's so rare, it's exact incidence is unknown}

 Aren't they so cute?!  I LOVED seeing the three of them together!

The restaurant didn't have a table big enough for all of us, so us girls sat together and the boys sat together.

It was soooo nice to be able to talk with two other moms that just get it.  We talked about our birth experience with our babies, {all very different, but all very traumatic}, the different lotions we use and the skin care routine, how we deal with the stares of unknowing strangers...  I loved being able to just talk with them and to hear how it is for them too.  I'm so grateful that we all got to get together this morning.  And luckily Wyatt was a good boy the whole time (:  Actually, all 4 boys were!

I'm looking forward to more get togethers in the future and am even more anxious for it to be next year already so we can see more of our 'family' at the regional conference!

p.s. if you haven't already, please consider donating to our fundraiser.  Just click the donate button at towards the top right of this page and you can donate through paypal.  Thank you!  Only 64 days left until race day!