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I’ve grown to love two products that lend a helping hand to the lactating girls in their time of need.

The first product I want to present is the Cushie Pushie. The Cushie Pushie is a plush little wedge which allows the breast to be pushed up while allowing your arm to provide additional support to help keep it in place throughout the feeding. The instructions explain how to use it well, however I was a little slow at catching on to them, lol. It’s one of those things that an actual picture could help, but due to the nature of the product, it’s best left illustrated. The Cushie Pushie can be really beneficial to breastfeeding mothers with a little more up there than me, but luckily I have just enough to make it work. When nursing Jayden, I tend to slouch. Yes, I know there are stools to prevent slouching. But in certain situations, like when I’m out and about, a stool wouldn’t be of much use anyway. When I slip the Cushie Pushie underneath the girls, it lifts them up so Jayden is able to latch on instantly. Me slouching down on the Cushie Pushie feels great, it make nursing even more enjoyable :-). The Cushie Pushie comes in many fun fabric colors. There’s even an organic solution for the eco-conscious mom!

The next product I want to present are Lily Padz. Lily Padz are non-absorbent nursing pads that keep breast milk off your clothes. I use disposable nursing pads, but under some bras they look crunchy. The last thing I want to do is go out into public with boobs that look like I put tissue in them. So when I pop on the Lily Padz, I have seamless nursing pads. Sometimes I can fill up a whole nursing pad, which eventually leads to leakage. With Lily Padz, the pressure they on my nipples temporarily stops the milk from leaking all together. Lily Padz are also good in situations where you don’t want to wear a bra, but you don’t want nipple imprints on your clothes. It’s a 2 in 1 with Lily Padz!

I’m sure there will be more products that I will grow to love (nursing apparel perhaps) and I will be back with an update!

1. Win a Bum Genius Starter Kit!
2. Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

Now that things have calmed down a little, it’s time for an update on Jayden who will be one month old on May 26th! I can’t believe our little man is almost a whole month old! Time surely does fly!

On May 2nd, Jayden made tears.

On May 6th, Jayden had his 1 week check up. Generally newborns lose some of their birth weight after being born. He weighed 7lbs 0.7oz fresh out the womb and 6lbs and some ounces (I will have to check his chart next visit for exact ounces.) on April 28th when discharged from the hospital. So when he was weighed at his 1 week checkup, he had gained it all back and then some! He weighed 7lbs 3.5oz. His length remained the same, 20in.

On May 12th he had his 2 week checkup and weighed 7lbs 15.5oz with a length of 20 3/4in.! His pediatrician let me know that I’m doing a great job breastfeeding and to keep it up. Breastfeeding is so rewarding to me, to think that a few years ago, I found it disgusting. I thought that it would feel strange having a baby sucking on my boobs, anyone for that matter. I’m very modest about the girls, they are tender, lol. Since I’ve started breastfeeding, I now see that it isn’t that bad and I can hardly even feel him nursing. I guess your nipples lose their sensitivity after a few feedings. There’s nothing like watching your baby nurse, knowing that he/she is enjoying a nutritious meal that your body has made naturally. Watching Jayden nurse, makes me want breast milk the way his eyes daze as he takes big gulps at a time.

Speaking of breastfeeding, I have a fast let-down on my right boob. At times the milk comes squirting out like a water gun. Of course it’s not fun for Jayden who gets frustrated when this happens. He can’t keep up and sometimes he ends up taking a breast milk shower. We always end up pausing until the shower slows down. I just started something like the football hold, but I hold his head up higher so that he has less of a chance of choking. My left boob is fine, however it needs to catch up with the right or the right needs to shrink. I’m in a constant battle with the girls trying to make sure they are both the same size. I try nursing more on the left because the more you nurse, the more milk is produced. I guess my left boob is just slower at producing. It’ll get it together.

I love my I make milk. What’s your superpower? raglan shirt from Attached At The Hip. I was lucky enough to win one during the 5 Minutes For Mom Ultimate Blog Party. These shirts are currently a best seller! You’ll pick one up if you want to be part of the cool lactating moms club!

The SuperMomz Blog is having a giveaway for a Comfy K Nursing Tank. I’m hoping to win since summer is near and I don’t have much any nursing wear. TEN winners will be chosen May 27th!

If this isn’t the sweetest thing ever, I don’t know what is: Wet nurse feeds China quake babies.

On May 18th, Jayden had his first bath. We were still in Chicago so we didn’t get to use his little tub. He did really good, although he didn’t like it! I still can’t believe all that baby came out of me and I’m walking around now like nothing happened, lol. I’m 2lbs away from being back down to my pre-pregnancy weight. I was hoping to keep at least 10lbs. Aw well, maybe next time.

Jayden’s baby acne’s gotten muuuch better, but here’s a taste of what it looked like May 16th:

I was hesitant to show Jayden’s baby acne at first, but I changed my mind. I want other new parents to be able to see that yes it looks horrible, but it’s normal, and it will clear up in a reasonable amount of time. There’s nothing to freak out about although I almost blew an internal gasket. I just didn’t want people thinking we didn’t take the time to wash our laundry and things in hypoallergenic detergent or that we’re rubbing icky stuff on his face or something.

Of course I couldn’t showcase my poor baby’s face looking all pimpled up on printed photos, so with the power of Photoshop, I was able to create the after to send to family. If anyone needs some photo editing done, I’m taking requests!

Speaking of photos, we haven’t forgotten about the ones that we took in Chicago. I just have to “tag” them. I can’t bring myself to uploading our pictures without writing our website address on them. If a weirdo decides to do something with them, at least people know who they stole them from.

I now look forward to seeing what the next month of Jayden’s life brings! In the future I hope to be a little more on top of things with updates. Maybe I can be like Tanyetta, who blogs like 4 times a day, lol.

In the prenatal months, a baby’s brain is at its most receptive stage of learning. This would explain why pregnant women are constantly told to talk to, sing to, and play music to their bellies. When hearing the same sounds outside of the womb, babies tend to react to them positively. The sounds that they’ve heard inside of the womb help them relax once exposed to the world outside.

Daddy and I talk to my belly and in addition we use a product called BabyPlus. The BabyPlus is a device that introduces patterns of sound to a prenatal child. The BabyPlus is programmed with 16 one hour lessons that resemble the rhythm of a heart beating, a language that a baby recognizes best. The rhythms gradually increase when advancing to each new lesson. It is recommended that pregnant women start BabyPlus lessons at 18 weeks. At 18 weeks a mother should start on lesson one and should play each lesson for one hour twice a day for 7 days. After an hour has passed, BabyPlus will cut off automatically. BabyPlus comes with a chart which lists allow you to record your week of pregnancy, the day and times you had your lessons, and the baby’s response to the lessons. There is also a chart that tells you how many days to use BabyPlus according to the week of pregnancy you are in. So if you are past 18 weeks, you can still use BabyPlus!

Studies have shown that babies that have been exposed to BabyPlus prenatal curriculum are born more relaxed and alert. They are more responsive, interactive, and are ready to start observing the environment around them. Parents who have used BabyPlus have reported that their babies nurse more readily and self-soothe more easily. As they grow older they demonstrate earlier developmental milestones, have longer attention spans, and improved school readiness. Check out what parents have to say about BabyPlus.

BabyPlus can be compared to a prenatal vitamin. Prenatal vitamins encourage strong physical development and BabyPlus encourages strong, cognitive development. This being said, don’t expect BabyPlus to turn your baby into a genius; BabyPlus just simply strengthens the foundation for learning.

I started using BabyPlus at 24 weeks and I will admit to missing quite a few days due to being overwhelmed with business and tasks at home. Since I threw my BabyPlus schedule off so bad, I decided to start over because I wanted to do it RIGHT. I found that the best time to do BabyPlus lessons are while doing housework or exercising, that way the beating sounds are less distracting. It is said that babies inside of the womb may react while BabyPlus lessons are in session. Some babies will move to the rhythm of the beats and some may settle down as if they are observing the sounds. When I use BabyPlus, I don’t notice a significant change in Jayden’s movements. Jayden’s really frisky, so he twists and turns during BabyPlus lessons as he would when lessons aren’t in session.

This is my experience with BabyPlus thus far. I still have 6 weeks of pregnancy and 10 BabyPlus lessons to go. I don’t know if we’ll be able to determine the effect, if any, BabyPlus has on Jayden since he is our first child and we have nothing to compare it to. But of course we’ll be documenting all of Jayden’s developments here on Mommy Daddy Blog. So we’ll see!

I recently received coupons to try YoMommy and YoBaby Yogurt, so on our latest trip to the grocery store we picked up a 4 pack of YoMommy in raspberry and blueberry flavors. I’m saving the YoBaby coupon for when Jayden is old enough to eat yogurt. As for YoMommy, it is a low fat, organic yogurt that is formulated to meet the special nutritional needs of moms and their developing babies. YoMommy is ideal for expecting and breastfeeding mothers. YoMommy is formulated with DHA, Folic Acid, and vitamin D and contains no artificial colors or sweeteners. YoMommy is available in packs of 4, with two flavors per pack: strawberry and peach; or blueberry and raspberry. Each flavor contains organic fruit pieces at the bottom!

So I bet you are wondering how YoMommy tastes. Well, YoMommy yogurt is full of flavor perhaps more flavor than ordinary yogurts. The only difference that I noticed is that YoMommy is a thinner yogurt, so it kind of drizzles off of the spoon, which isn’t a problem.

Each year Stonyfield Farm gives away 10 percent of its profits to organizations and projects that work to protect and restore the earth. In addition, Stonyfield Farm will be donating $1 for every click to Environmental Working Group to help protect families from harmful chemicals in foods. Stonyfield Farm will donate up to $20,000 to this cause, and you can help make this possible by visiting their donation page. Enter your email address in the form and click the cutie pie underneath. When you do this you will be taken to a page where you can download a Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. This wallet sized guide will help determine the fruits and vegetables that should be purchased organic based on their pesticide levels.

If you’d like to try YoMommy yogurt, I’ve included a link to a printable coupon below. YoMommy is available in all major grocery stores. If you plan on trying YoMommy yogurt, or already have, I’d love to know what you think of it!