Speaker 1: Hey, friends, welcome to this midweek mom chat. I am
Speaker 1: going to be talking to you about breastfeeding, pumping, feeding,
Speaker 1: all of it. So I've been reluctant to do this
Speaker 1: episode even though I get so many messages from you
Speaker 1: amazing ladies about breastfeeding and feeding in general and what
Speaker 1: my schedule is, um, how we do it, because to
Speaker 1: be honest with you, it has changed weekly. I feel
Speaker 1: like every single week of Sunny's four and a half
Speaker 1: month life, we've done kind of something different. I mean,
Speaker 1: sometimes I'll get in a groove for like a few weeks,
Speaker 1: but it is evolving and changing, and I'm sure that
Speaker 1: you all feel that same way. So when Sunny was
Speaker 1: first born, I actually did a whole episode on this
Speaker 1: when she was firstborn, like within the first month of
Speaker 1: her life, and then I deleted it and never posted
Speaker 1: it because I changed. I was we changed right after that,
Speaker 1: and I was like, this isn't what we're doing anymore.
Speaker 1: I can't post this. So I wanted to start with
Speaker 1: that it changes all the time. And if you're trying
Speaker 1: to find your groove and you feel like you can't
Speaker 1: find your groove, UM, just know that's how I am
Speaker 1: also I've sort of found a groove, and I'll get like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I'm in my groove, and then my group
Speaker 1: just changed last week, so my supply dropped last week.
Speaker 1: Like I was having this excess supply, feeling so confident
Speaker 1: and my milk supply, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: I cannot make enough bottles to save my life. So
Speaker 1: I'll be trying something new starting today. So let me
Speaker 1: just get into it. When she was first born, UM,
Speaker 1: I was only breastfeeding. I breastfed her. She latched right away.
Speaker 1: It was awesome. But she would only feed for like
Speaker 1: ten minutes on one side and then maybe five minutes
Speaker 1: on the other side, which was totally cool when she
Speaker 1: was just a little bitty baby because she wasn't needing
Speaker 1: that many ounces, and we did that probably for the
Speaker 1: exclusively UM, and I would time it. I would try
Speaker 1: to make it even on both sides. My night nurse
Speaker 1: did tell me that you should try to feed as
Speaker 1: much as you can on one breast because your breast
Speaker 1: milk is like layers. And Paula Power as my night
Speaker 1: nurse at Nashville Baby Boss. She's the best. UM. Check
Speaker 1: her out if you are in Nashville. And need and
Speaker 1: you need a night nurse. She totally changed the game
Speaker 1: for me and taught me everything I needed to know
Speaker 1: about parenting, being a mom, baby schedules. I actually have
Speaker 1: a podcast up with her, so check that one out. Um. So,
Speaker 1: she told me that your breast milk comes in layers,
Speaker 1: Like the first little bit that your baby is getting
Speaker 1: is the skim milk, and then you have like the
Speaker 1: two percent, and then you have the good whole milk
Speaker 1: at the end. So you want to feed on one
Speaker 1: breast as long as you can, preferably until empty. Um.
Speaker 1: You don't want to necessary switch at like half. You
Speaker 1: don't want to just switch in the middle and just
Speaker 1: go to the other boob, because you want to keep
Speaker 1: it even. You want to go ahead and get that
Speaker 1: one breast all the way empty because that's where the good, strong,
Speaker 1: thick milk is. I would never have known that. So
Speaker 1: I would try to feed as long as I can
Speaker 1: on one boob until I until it was as empty
Speaker 1: as I could get it, and then I would just
Speaker 1: top off the other one. Um top signing off with
Speaker 1: the other boob. So we did that for the first
Speaker 1: solid month to two months, and it was great. I
Speaker 1: was only breastfeeding, although actually that's not true. See this
Speaker 1: is what I'm telling you, It changes all the time.
Speaker 1: At about when she turned one month, I started working
Speaker 1: in bottles, and so I would be I would breastfeed only,
Speaker 1: but then I would pump like once a day. Um.
Speaker 1: During that time, I would pump like after her first feeding. UM.
Speaker 1: I would pump, and I was still only breastfeeding. In
Speaker 1: the beginning with, I would pump and I was building
Speaker 1: up a supply. And then about one month I started
Speaker 1: working in bottles and what I would do then as
Speaker 1: I would breastfeed her and I would top her off
Speaker 1: with a bottle afterwards, just to make sure she was
Speaker 1: getting enough, and she would always take like an ounce
Speaker 1: or two. So I felt really good about that. I
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, this is good. I just wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure she's getting enough milk. So we did that
Speaker 1: for about the first month. In the second month, we
Speaker 1: really started working hard on trying to get her to
Speaker 1: sleep through the night, because that was a huge priority
Speaker 1: for me being an older mom. I have seeing so
Speaker 1: many and my friends struggle with getting their children to sleep,
Speaker 1: and so that's why I hired Paula Power My Night
Speaker 1: nurse um to really teach me how to set up
Speaker 1: methods for Sonny to sleep well, and she knocked it
Speaker 1: off the park. And Sonny is an incredible sleeper and
Speaker 1: I's been sleeping through the nights and she's two months old.
Speaker 1: And I owe all of that to Paula for teaching
Speaker 1: Sonny and me how to get on a great rhythm
Speaker 1: and routine. So at two months, I started working in
Speaker 1: bottles because she was having that middle of the night
Speaker 1: feeding at like three am, and if I would breastfeeder,
Speaker 1: she would just eat for like five minutes and then
Speaker 1: go back to sleep. If I would bottle feeder, she
Speaker 1: would eat the full bottle. And I think at that
Speaker 1: point she was eating four ounces um, so she would
Speaker 1: eat the full bottle and I wanted her to get
Speaker 1: that full bottle so she would sleep the rest of
Speaker 1: the night. And I also around two months started giving
Speaker 1: her a bottle as the last feeding of the day only,
Speaker 1: so instead of feeding her on my boob that last
Speaker 1: feeding of the day, around two months, I would feed
Speaker 1: her a bottle because I wanted her to get a
Speaker 1: full feeding before entering into the night's sleep. Because we
Speaker 1: were really working hard to get her to sleep through
Speaker 1: the night. So we did that and it started working
Speaker 1: and she started sleeping through the night and we dropped
Speaker 1: that middle feeding. So I actually if she started sleeping
Speaker 1: through the night at two months, we probably started doing
Speaker 1: that around a month and a half, where I was
Speaker 1: giving her a bottle. At two months, I mean at
Speaker 1: the end of the day her last feeding, and then
Speaker 1: in the middle of the night feeding, I was giving
Speaker 1: her two bottles without breastfeeding. So that's what we did
Speaker 1: probably starting a month and a half, and then at
Speaker 1: two months I was just giving her a bottle only
Speaker 1: at that last feeding. I was breastfeeding all day, topping
Speaker 1: off with a bottle to see if she wanted any,
Speaker 1: and then that last feeding of the day before bedtime,
Speaker 1: I would give her a bottle. Okay, So now we're
Speaker 1: at two months. Um the book I'm following is Moms
Speaker 1: on Call, and I can't remember exactly what It's so
Speaker 1: crazy how you forget so fast because now we're at
Speaker 1: four months and we're on a I'm on this schedule,
Speaker 1: so I can't totally remember the schedule that we were doing,
Speaker 1: but I think it's always been about five bottles that
Speaker 1: we give her UM or five feedings, and so I
Speaker 1: just really go by those feedings and I will make
Speaker 1: sure that I give her um whatever the ounces is
Speaker 1: that she's supposed to be getting based on her age.
Speaker 1: I would really work hard to make sure she got those,
Speaker 1: and I would I kind of figured out how many
Speaker 1: ounces are in my breast because I would pump them,
Speaker 1: and I would know, like when you pump that you
Speaker 1: start to learn your boobs. So like in the morning,
Speaker 1: they're my mostful because I do. I pump at ten
Speaker 1: thirty at night and then I go all night and
Speaker 1: I won't pump again until like eight thirty in the
Speaker 1: morning because Sunny wakes up. She is a great sleeper,
Speaker 1: so she'll wake up like seven thirty or eight, and
Speaker 1: I always feed her first and get her on her
Speaker 1: play mat, and then I'll pump afterwards. And so my
Speaker 1: and so I had been just strictly pumping and doing
Speaker 1: bottles for this past few weeks, but now we're back
Speaker 1: to breastfeeding again. So I'll talk about that because it
Speaker 1: changes every single day. So I would pump in the
Speaker 1: morning and I would get I mean, I would get
Speaker 1: a lot of milk. I'm talking like eight or nine
Speaker 1: ounces in my power boob, which is my left boob,
Speaker 1: and then like five ounces in my right tube until
Speaker 1: this past week when it has dropped significantly, which is
Speaker 1: stressing me out. But that was my normal as I
Speaker 1: was getting just a ton of milk in my left
Speaker 1: boob and then in my right boob, I would be
Speaker 1: getting a solid amount and then I would pump again,
Speaker 1: so that would be like at nine um thirty nine pump,
Speaker 1: and then I pump again around one thirty and I
Speaker 1: would probably get four or five ounces and my um
Speaker 1: left boob, and then about three ounces in my right boob,
Speaker 1: and then I pump again around sixty seven and I'd
Speaker 1: probably get like four ounces of my left boob, like
Speaker 1: three ounces in my right boob, and then I pump
Speaker 1: again at ten thirty and I'll get like kind of
Speaker 1: the same or a little bit less. So that was
Speaker 1: my schedule, and that's been my schedule for the past
Speaker 1: um month and a half, I would say, and it's
Speaker 1: been going great and over the over Chris Smiths holidays,
Speaker 1: So the past three weeks, I kind of stopped breastfeeding
Speaker 1: because we were traveling on planes so much and we're
Speaker 1: around people all the time. We took three trips over
Speaker 1: the holidays. We went to South Carolina to see Michael's family,
Speaker 1: went to Texas to see my family, and then we
Speaker 1: had a band retreat that we do every year with
Speaker 1: a thousand Horses band family because all you guys who
Speaker 1: follow me know my husband's in a band of thousand Horses.
Speaker 1: There's four guys in that band. And then all the
Speaker 1: guys are married and we're all best friends. The wives
Speaker 1: and the um husbands were all best friends. We've been
Speaker 1: in this band together now for like ten years, and
Speaker 1: so we have this band retreat every year in Aspen
Speaker 1: because Amanda, who's married to Bill, the guitar player, her
Speaker 1: family has a house in Aspen, and so we've made
Speaker 1: it a tradition to go there every year and just
Speaker 1: like reset our intentions be with the band, um get
Speaker 1: clear about you know, just united and clear about our
Speaker 1: visions for the year. It's really amazing and awesome. It's
Speaker 1: really cool that it's become a tradition. We love it.
Speaker 1: And Sunny came this year to Aspen. So we're traveling
Speaker 1: now for three weeks over Christmas. We had some space
Speaker 1: in between each trip we'd come back to Nashville, but
Speaker 1: it's just like so much traveling, so many airplanes. Um,
Speaker 1: I just I don't know. It was stressful for me
Speaker 1: to think about trying to breastfeed with all that travel,
Speaker 1: because we were in planes, were in cars, were around people,
Speaker 1: were She's off her schedule like crazy, and I just
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just didn't want to be whipping
Speaker 1: up my bob and trying to make sure she got
Speaker 1: a full feed when we're in some place that I
Speaker 1: can't find a good place to settle into and get
Speaker 1: her really comfortable. And she's a great bottle feeder. So
Speaker 1: over the holidays, over those three weeks, I found myself
Speaker 1: not breastfeeding, and I kinda was sad about it. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my gosh, is it over? Are we
Speaker 1: done breastfeeding? Like I'm mourning this loss a little bit.
Speaker 1: And I talked to my sister Catherine, and she is
Speaker 1: such a positive in influence in my life. Katherine's like, listen,
Speaker 1: if something is working for you and things are going well,
Speaker 1: then don't mourn it. Like the goal is always to
Speaker 1: have a healthy baby, Like, yes, you can just let
Speaker 1: it go. Try not to look at it is a
Speaker 1: sad thing. Look at it is I'm still I'm providing
Speaker 1: for my child her nutrients. However, you do that even
Speaker 1: if you can't breastfeed or pump and get milk, if
Speaker 1: you're using formula, you're providing nutrients for your baby. You're
Speaker 1: doing the best you can and just let it go.
Speaker 1: If something has left your life, then don't mourn it.
Speaker 1: Embrace where you are. And that really helps me. Every
Speaker 1: time I want to feel sad about something, I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, is this over, I'm just like, no,
Speaker 1: it's okay. This is what we're doing right now. This
Speaker 1: is working, Sunny is thriving, and I'm not gonna be
Speaker 1: sad because I want I want to be I'm mourning
Speaker 1: the loss of breastfeeding. We're healthy, We've got something that's
Speaker 1: working for us. So I'm gonna be happy because we
Speaker 1: are having health. And I'm always gonna be thankful for health.
Speaker 1: And that is always my my truth and I always
Speaker 1: come back to that, I am thankful for health because
Speaker 1: health is wealth. And if we can be healthy and
Speaker 1: we have something that's working for us, then praise God
Speaker 1: because that is just a blessing. And we all know
Speaker 1: how much of a blessing health is. And if we
Speaker 1: don't have our house, we deal with it. But if
Speaker 1: we have our health, I'm going to be thankful. And
Speaker 1: so that is my mantra always and Katherine, my sisters
Speaker 1: really helped me get there. Um And so we're only
Speaker 1: bottle feeding over the holidays, and she was eating seven
Speaker 1: ounces because she is a good eater, six to seven
Speaker 1: ounces every time, and that was around three months we
Speaker 1: started traveling. She turned three months December tenth, and we
Speaker 1: started traveling probably a week after that. So she was
Speaker 1: three months eating six to seven ounces, and I was
Speaker 1: giving her five bottles a day. She's having three naps
Speaker 1: a day, so she still has five bottles a day
Speaker 1: and three naps a day. Over the holidays, we I
Speaker 1: had to let go of control because we'd be on
Speaker 1: planes sometimes and she would just have to take cat naps,
Speaker 1: or we'd get in a car and she would take
Speaker 1: like a thirty minute nap here with it at a
Speaker 1: family dinner, or a forty five minute nap here in
Speaker 1: a car, or she would take a thirty minute nap
Speaker 1: on a plane or we've been an airport, and like
Speaker 1: she was a champ. I had anxiety obviously, because I
Speaker 1: love to have anxiety about new things with her, which
Speaker 1: I'm working on this year, letting go of my anxiety,
Speaker 1: um and just trusting the process and just trusting Sonny
Speaker 1: because she's got this, so let's just roll baby, that's
Speaker 1: my goal. Um. So we had to let go of
Speaker 1: our schedule. So, but what I always stuck to was
Speaker 1: the five bottles. And that's another reason why I wanted
Speaker 1: to do bottles, because I couldn't depend on my knap
Speaker 1: schedule anymore. And so with the knap schedule, you can
Speaker 1: like feed nap feed nap feed nap feed, feed nap feed,
Speaker 1: not feed nap feed. Is that and so that I
Speaker 1: don't know, it ended up being when you have a schedule,
Speaker 1: it's easier to like stay on track with feedings. But
Speaker 1: since we didn't have a schedule, I stayed on track
Speaker 1: with my bottles. So I always had five bottles that
Speaker 1: I would get her during a day. And that's how
Speaker 1: I knew she got enough milk. And that gave me
Speaker 1: just more peace of mind knowing that, Okay, this is
Speaker 1: this is what I can control, is the amount of
Speaker 1: milk she gets each day. So we would do five
Speaker 1: bottles a day. Uh really, I mean most of the time,
Speaker 1: it's six seven ounces, but sometimes traveling it would be
Speaker 1: five ounces. I would always try to get five to
Speaker 1: seven ounces in during one of her five feedings during
Speaker 1: the day. Her schedule that she's on now is she
Speaker 1: goes to bed or between seven thirty and eight thirty.
Speaker 1: Whenever she's tired, she lets me have her tired cry,
Speaker 1: and I know when she's ready for bed. We're in
Speaker 1: a sleep sack now, so that's awesome. We're out of
Speaker 1: the swaddle. We got out of the swaddle a little
Speaker 1: a little bit before three months. She sleeps great, um,
Speaker 1: and then she'll wake up around seven thirty, between seven
Speaker 1: thirty and honestly sometimes nine. She loves to sleep, and
Speaker 1: I'm knock on wood. I am grateful for that. We
Speaker 1: worked hard on that though. And you can follow moms
Speaker 1: on call that book and they will really help you
Speaker 1: get on a good sleep schedule. Or talk to my
Speaker 1: night nurse Paula Power, she does consults Nashville Baby Bus,
Speaker 1: and she'll help you get on a good schedule. Um.
Speaker 1: So when she wakes up, we feed and then study
Speaker 1: goes speed um five to seven ounces, usually it's seven
Speaker 1: because she's hungry. Then she plays and then she'll go
Speaker 1: down like an hour and a half later, for about
Speaker 1: an hour and a half to two hours. That's her
Speaker 1: big nap. We have one big nap, then she wakes up,
Speaker 1: we feed again, five to seven ounces, Um, we play,
Speaker 1: she goes down again, and she'll normally go down for
Speaker 1: like forty five minutes to an hour. Then we wake up,
Speaker 1: we feed again, we play. Then she'll go down again
Speaker 1: for like forty five minutes to an hour, and then
Speaker 1: we wake up. We feed, we play, and we stay
Speaker 1: up then and then I'll give her a bath and
Speaker 1: then we'll play some more, walk around, owned um, just
Speaker 1: do whatever. And during the afternoon, I always if I can.
Speaker 1: Obviously with holidays, we were traveling and I couldn't do that,
Speaker 1: but if I can, I love to get her that
Speaker 1: big nap at home, just that solid nap, because that's
Speaker 1: when she has her hour and a half to two
Speaker 1: hour nap in the morning. And if she can get
Speaker 1: that one, I feel great. And then we catch the
Speaker 1: two other forty five minute naps to an hour. We
Speaker 1: can catch those in a car, we can be mobile.
Speaker 1: I don't worry so much about those because they're quick.
Speaker 1: So that's been awesome, is just to be able to
Speaker 1: be free in the afternoons, and I can take her places,
Speaker 1: Michael and I can take her places because she's just
Speaker 1: getting this little forty five minutes in our naps, so
Speaker 1: that's awesome. And then I'll feed her again after the
Speaker 1: bad time, and then we do bad time, and we'll
Speaker 1: do a quick story. We'll do maybe a little more
Speaker 1: playing Michael Holder. We watch a little TV and then
Speaker 1: I feed her that bottle, get her cozy, put on
Speaker 1: a lotion in and brush her little hair, her little
Speaker 1: bald spot. She doesn't have much hair. And then I
Speaker 1: will rock her just kind of like hold her and
Speaker 1: rock her and seeing to her, and then put her sleep,
Speaker 1: and then she sleeps in the morning. So that is
Speaker 1: our schedule. That is what we're doing now. And I
Speaker 1: was only doing bottles. So once we got back from
Speaker 1: a holiday, so I was like, man, is breastfeeding over
Speaker 1: for me? Like? Is it done? I feel sad a
Speaker 1: little bit, like I'm fine with it because like I
Speaker 1: told y'all, I don't want to ever feel sad for health,
Speaker 1: So I don't feel set. Let me reframe that. I
Speaker 1: was like, man, maybe I would like to try to
Speaker 1: breastfeed again. Maybe it's not over. Maybe we can work
Speaker 1: it back in just a little bit. Even though she's
Speaker 1: thriving on the bottles. So I started breastfeeding her again
Speaker 1: in the morning and now when we wake up her
Speaker 1: first feeding off, feed her for like quick, it's not long,
Speaker 1: five to ten minutes, and it's sweet and I love
Speaker 1: it and I'm glad we're doing it right now. And
Speaker 1: if it changes and we can't keep doing that, that's fine.
Speaker 1: But I'll breastfeeder in the morning only that's the only
Speaker 1: time I'm breastfeeding her, and then I'll give her a
Speaker 1: bottle and she'll feed on me for like five to
Speaker 1: ten minutes, probably get two or three ounces, not much,
Speaker 1: and then she'll take a bottle and she'll take another
Speaker 1: like five ounces. So I definitely top her off with
Speaker 1: a bottle, like four to five ounces she'll take And
Speaker 1: I've really enjoyed that. And that's what we're doing right now,
Speaker 1: and we'll do that as long as it works, and
Speaker 1: as soon as we need to change, we're gonna change,
Speaker 1: because that's how it goes to the baby. And my
Speaker 1: grandmother also always says, enjoy life's pleasures when you have them,
Speaker 1: and when you don't don't mourn, and I think it's
Speaker 1: really sweet and I'm loving breastfeeding just a little bit
Speaker 1: with Sunny, and we're gonna keep it up until it
Speaker 1: doesn't work or until we need to change. So that
Speaker 1: is how that goes now. Pumping, I um, when I
Speaker 1: was getting my most milk, which I'm about to start
Speaker 1: doing again, I was pumping, like I told y'all, after
Speaker 1: she wakes up and I feed her in the morning.
Speaker 1: I pumped so like around anywhere between eight and nine,
Speaker 1: I pump, and then I'll probably get it one thirty.
Speaker 1: Then I'm probably at six thirty. Then I'm pumping in
Speaker 1: at ten thirty. On vacation and got we were traveling
Speaker 1: so much it was hard to find a place to pump.
Speaker 1: I dropped one of my pumps in the middle of
Speaker 1: the day, so I was pumping in the morning and
Speaker 1: then I would pump around between five and six, and
Speaker 1: then I would pump between like ten thirty. And it
Speaker 1: worked for me over the holidays, but I guess it
Speaker 1: really told my boobs that, oh, you don't need as
Speaker 1: much milk, because now my milk supply has dropped dramatically,
Speaker 1: and I am like diving into my reserve milk that
Speaker 1: I have in the freezer, and it's freaking me out.
Speaker 1: And so now that we're home and I'm not traveling
Speaker 1: again for a long time, I am adding that fourth
Speaker 1: pump back in. So instead of trying to get by
Speaker 1: with three pumps a day, I will be moving back
Speaker 1: to four pumps a day. So I'll be pumping between
Speaker 1: nine eight nine in the morning, around one thirty in
Speaker 1: the afternoon, around six thirty in the afternoon, I mean
Speaker 1: in the evening, and then ten thirty at night. And
Speaker 1: That's what I'll be doing. And I was talking to Paula,
Speaker 1: my night nurse, and she um told me I should
Speaker 1: power pump to build up my milk supply. So y'all
Speaker 1: google that. Basically what it is is you during one
Speaker 1: of your pump sessions, you pump like every ten minutes,
Speaker 1: like pump your full boob and then wait ten minutes
Speaker 1: and pumping in and then wait ten minutes and pumping
Speaker 1: in for that full hour, and just like do that
Speaker 1: for a few days to let your boobs know we
Speaker 1: need more milk. So I'm gonna start power pumping um
Speaker 1: for the next few days until my supply builds back up.
Speaker 1: Because I do not like not having a full supply.
Speaker 1: So I feel for all your mom is out there here,
Speaker 1: like I pump and pump and pump and pump, and
Speaker 1: I don't get any milk. That is so frustrating because
Speaker 1: I am feeling that frustration right now, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do everything I can to get it up. But you
Speaker 1: know what I told him, Michael, last night, when I
Speaker 1: pumped and I got like three ounces, it was so defeating,
Speaker 1: or maybe I got like four ounces. I felt so defeated.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm not getting any milk. Like it's
Speaker 1: a defeating feeling feeling. But I told him, I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm gonna do everything I can to
Speaker 1: get the supply back up. I'm starting today, like I
Speaker 1: told you, I'm gonna add that fourth pump back in
Speaker 1: and power pump, and I mean, if I need to,
Speaker 1: I'll try to take some supplements. I don't have any
Speaker 1: supplements to recommend to you guys, but um, I know
Speaker 1: there's a lot of good ones out there that help
Speaker 1: your milk supply. Actually, her drinking a beer helps your
Speaker 1: milk supply, like a head a heavy beer. So I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna drink a beer every day after one of
Speaker 1: my pump sessions just to just see if it helps.
Speaker 1: We'll see. Um. But I told Michael last night, if
Speaker 1: we have to add formula into Sunday's life, that is okay,
Speaker 1: even though like it's why is everything scary with your
Speaker 1: especially with your firstborn? I'm like, how's it an affect her?
Speaker 1: She hasn't been a formula. Is it gonna cause her
Speaker 1: stomach to her? Is it gonna give her gas? Like
Speaker 1: all these things? So it's like, you know what you
Speaker 1: gotta do, what you gotta do, and if life calls
Speaker 1: for you to add something in change something, it's okay.
Speaker 1: And that's what I tell myself every day. It's okay.
Speaker 1: I'm doing the best I can, the best I can,
Speaker 1: and I know you guys are doing the best you can.
Speaker 1: And that is like my mantra I'm telling myself this
Speaker 1: year because as the first few months of Sunny's life,
Speaker 1: I was just overwhelmed with anxiety that I had to
Speaker 1: do everything right and if I do anything wrong, something's
Speaker 1: gonna happen and it's gonna be my fault. And I
Speaker 1: put all this pressure on me. This year, I am
Speaker 1: turning it over to God. I am turning it over
Speaker 1: to God. I am turning Sunny over to God. Sonny
Speaker 1: belongs to God. She is God's child. I have been
Speaker 1: the lucky mama who gets to walk with her during
Speaker 1: her life. I get to be her died and I
Speaker 1: get to be her support. And I was chosen to
Speaker 1: be her mama, And what a blessing for me. I
Speaker 1: was just rocking her to bed before her nap, and
Speaker 1: I was just singing to her, you are my son shine,
Speaker 1: my only sunshine. Always seen that to her before she
Speaker 1: goes to bed, and then I was just going through
Speaker 1: how much I love her, how grateful I am for her.
Speaker 1: I was speaking that over her. I was kissing her
Speaker 1: because I think it's really important to speak that over
Speaker 1: your child. I really do me personally. I think they
Speaker 1: feel that love and I think it makes them feel
Speaker 1: safe and secure. This is just my thoughts. But I
Speaker 1: speak over Sonny how much I love her, how valuable
Speaker 1: she is, that she has a purpose on this earth
Speaker 1: to accomplish, and I'm going to be here to support her.
Speaker 1: That we Michael and I love her and she is
Speaker 1: special and important and needed and wanted, and she is
Speaker 1: on this journey and we are here for it. And
Speaker 1: I always love to kiss her. I like to have
Speaker 1: her tons of kisses and tons of hugs because I
Speaker 1: just think that makes the baby feel safe, because that's
Speaker 1: what makes me feel safe. I mean, how good does
Speaker 1: it feel when anyone speaks over you and tells you
Speaker 1: how valuable you are and how needed you are and
Speaker 1: how important you are, and then hugs you and kisses
Speaker 1: you and makes you feel seen and loved. I mean,
Speaker 1: don't we all love that? So I just want to
Speaker 1: start sending off right now with all that, letting her
Speaker 1: know she's seen and loved and important, and she is
Speaker 1: meant to be here, and she has a purpose and
Speaker 1: that purpose is beyond me. I am here to help
Speaker 1: her achieve her purpose in any way I can. But
Speaker 1: she is on her own journey. It is between her
Speaker 1: and God and her soul's purpose. And so I'm trying
Speaker 1: to remember that every single day that she is her
Speaker 1: own individual, beautiful creature that came from Heaven and the
Speaker 1: Greater Force, and she is having a life experience and
Speaker 1: I get to be a part of it. And so
Speaker 1: instead of me stressing out and missing all of the
Speaker 1: joy that she is bringing into my life and the
Speaker 1: blessing that she is for me and Michael, that we
Speaker 1: get to experience this child instead of missing it because
Speaker 1: I'm stressing out, worrying about every single thing that can
Speaker 1: go wrong living with this yucky not in my stomach
Speaker 1: of fear because I'm sitting here thinking I gotta control everything.
Speaker 1: It's up to me, or else everything's gonna go wrong.
Speaker 1: I'm done with it. I mean, knock on wood. I
Speaker 1: literally knocked on wood. I am making a conscious choice.
Speaker 1: My sister told me again, she's such a great asset
Speaker 1: in my life. She said, listen, every time you have
Speaker 1: a fearful thought, say three things that you're grateful for
Speaker 1: and counteract it and push that fear away. Do not
Speaker 1: hang on to the fear. I want to enjoy Sunny's life.
Speaker 1: I want to be present for her life. I want
Speaker 1: to soak up all of the new things that happened. Yes,
Speaker 1: breastfeeding and feeding is a huge part of it, and
Speaker 1: we have to feed our babies, and it's something that
Speaker 1: we stress out and worry about. But I'm not going
Speaker 1: to get hung up on worrying about every little thing.
Speaker 1: If things change, it's going to evolve that's fine. The
Speaker 1: things I want to get hung up on are the
Speaker 1: joyful moments that are happening in Sunny's life that I
Speaker 1: get to experience. That is what I want to get
Speaker 1: hung up on. I don't want to get hung up
Speaker 1: on the news and seeing something terrible that happens to
Speaker 1: a kid, because you know what, if something happens, I'm
Speaker 1: going to deal with it when it happens. I Am
Speaker 1: not going to worry about it before it happens. Once again,
Speaker 1: my sister sent me Um Jesus Calling today. I want
Speaker 1: to read it to you guys and all your mamas
Speaker 1: who are having anxiety. This is from Jesus calling. It's
Speaker 1: an app It's amazing. Here's what it says. I want
Speaker 1: you to list into this. I want you to internalize this,
Speaker 1: and I want you to live by this because this
Speaker 1: is what I'm trying to live by. It says. It says,
Speaker 1: Um God speaking, Come to me and rest in my
Speaker 1: loving presence. You know that this day will bring difficulties,
Speaker 1: and you are trying to think your way through these trials.
Speaker 1: As you anticipate what is ahead of you, you forget
Speaker 1: that I am with you now and always rehearsing your
Speaker 1: troubles results and experiencing them many times. Rehearsing your troubles
Speaker 1: results and experiencing them many times, whereas you were meant
Speaker 1: to only go through them when they actually occur. Listen
Speaker 1: to that, rehearsing your troubles results and rehearsing your troubles
Speaker 1: results and experiencing them many times, whereas you were meant
Speaker 1: to go through them only when they actually occur. Wow,
Speaker 1: do not multiply your suffering in this way. Instead, come
Speaker 1: to me and relax in my peace. I will strengthen
Speaker 1: you and prepare you for this day, transforming your fear
Speaker 1: into confident trust. And my word this year is trust.
Speaker 1: I want to cry. I'm sorry, y'all know how I
Speaker 1: get emotional. I really, this really really hits me. I
Speaker 1: will strengthen you and prepare you for this day, transforming
Speaker 1: your fear into competent trust. Isn't everything negative in our
Speaker 1: life that we do based on fear? Our husband isn't
Speaker 1: acting the way we want him to. We get upset.
Speaker 1: We're what are we upset about? Fear that life isn't
Speaker 1: going to play out the way we wanted to. Our baby,
Speaker 1: We're worried about is our baby getting in a food?
Speaker 1: Why is our baby crying? Our baby is fussy? We
Speaker 1: hear something in the news that really freaks us out,
Speaker 1: or something, I mean, who, I don't even know. I
Speaker 1: don't even like to speak to these things out loud.
Speaker 1: But it's like, isn't everything that feels bad and gross
Speaker 1: and yucky and in our life fear? And isn't fear?
Speaker 1: Doesn't that come because we feel the need to control? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it does. So I don't want to control. I want
Speaker 1: to do the very best I can. I have desires
Speaker 1: that are put on my heart that I feel like
Speaker 1: come from God. I want to follow those desires. I
Speaker 1: want to trust my journey, and when I feel called
Speaker 1: to do something, I want to do it. I'm going
Speaker 1: to do the best I can with Sonny every single day.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna wake up and choose what's right for her
Speaker 1: the best I can every single day. But then I'm
Speaker 1: going to let the rest of it go because I'm
Speaker 1: going to enjoy her life. I'm going to enjoy this experience.
Speaker 1: I Am not going to be plagued by fear and anxiety.
Speaker 1: I have declare that in the name of the Lord
Speaker 1: right now I will not be plagued by fear and anxiety,
Speaker 1: and I encourage you guys to say the same thing
Speaker 1: out loud. I will choose love. I will choose to
Speaker 1: embrace this journey. I will choose to embrace the beauty
Speaker 1: in my life, in Sonny's life, in my marriage with Michael.
Speaker 1: I will choose to embrace my friendships. I will choose
Speaker 1: to embrace all the blessings in my life and choose
Speaker 1: to see the blessings in my life. Yes, there are
Speaker 1: areas in my life that I want to change that
Speaker 1: I that do cause me stress, but I will not
Speaker 1: focus on those. Instead, I will focus on the love
Speaker 1: in my life. And I encourage every single one of
Speaker 1: you guys to focus on the love in your life.
Speaker 1: Even if you feel like you don't have any love
Speaker 1: in your life, you do. There's something in your life
Speaker 1: that you can love. Whether it's a pet, whether it's
Speaker 1: a TV show, whether it's a podcast that you're listening
Speaker 1: to that brings you love, whether it's a book that
Speaker 1: you're reading that brings you love. Who knows what it is.
Speaker 1: There is something in this world that can bring you love.
Speaker 1: So focus on that and then keep bringing more love
Speaker 1: into your life, because that is what is going to
Speaker 1: be about for us, my friends, telling you that is
Speaker 1: the goal of this podcast for me this year. To
Speaker 1: focus on the love, to focus on the life, the light,
Speaker 1: to enjoy our lives, to enjoy our lives and trust
Speaker 1: that God has got us and that He will not
Speaker 1: bring us as far to leave us. That is another
Speaker 1: one of my favorite quotes. I don't know what the
Speaker 1: verses in the Bible, but it says I did not
Speaker 1: bring you this far to leave you. God did not
Speaker 1: bring us here to leave us in the dirt. We
Speaker 1: are meant to thrive, We are meant to have a
Speaker 1: great life. We go through struggles, we go through hardships.
Speaker 1: Look at any verse in the Bible, look at any
Speaker 1: spiritual leader. Nobody goes through life without having trials and
Speaker 1: tribulations and really hard things happened to them. But there's
Speaker 1: always a bigger message. There's always a beautiful flip side
Speaker 1: to it. If we can commit to God, commit to
Speaker 1: trusting Him, and commit to finding it. And that is
Speaker 1: my goal. And I am not going to live in
Speaker 1: fear this year, and I pray that you don't either. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna answer a few questions about breastfeeding them. Gonna
Speaker 1: wrap up. I love y'all. Okay, someone is wanting to
Speaker 1: know what bottles do I use? My three month old
Speaker 1: refuses all of them so far. Um, we love the
Speaker 1: Dr Brown's bottles. There's a lot of pieces and parts
Speaker 1: to it, so I know a lot of people get
Speaker 1: turned off by them, but Sonny has never had gas
Speaker 1: issues with them, and she took them right away. So
Speaker 1: those are the ones we use. I did, I'd have
Speaker 1: the advent Ones and um like a Tippy Tommy or something,
Speaker 1: or the I don't know the Kuma Como. I don't
Speaker 1: know what they're called. That. We have only used the
Speaker 1: Dr Brown's bottles. I've never tried the other ones because
Speaker 1: these worked for us. And I say, when you find
Speaker 1: something that works, why shoul to get up? So that's
Speaker 1: what we use and we love it. What is your schedule?
Speaker 1: When do you breastfeed versus bottlefeed? Okay? Holly asked me
Speaker 1: that I answered that in this podcast already. Um, someone
Speaker 1: says all your breast milk bottles? Are all your breastmolk bottles?
Speaker 1: Are you mixing breastfeeding to how many bottles per day? Okay?
Speaker 1: So like I said, I answered that already I'm doing
Speaker 1: five bottles per day, But follow Moms on Call that book.
Speaker 1: If you're having questions. Moms on Call spells it out
Speaker 1: to me the best of anyone. It is so simple.
Speaker 1: They tell you exactly how many bottles and how many
Speaker 1: ounces you're supposed to be feeding your baby depending on
Speaker 1: their age UM, and they tell you the times to
Speaker 1: do it. They talked to you about the nap schedule,
Speaker 1: sleeping schedule, how to get them to sleep through the night.
Speaker 1: To me, that is the book. If you're having questions
Speaker 1: about feeding UM, sleeping, all of it, go to Moms
Speaker 1: on Call. When did you start pumping? I started pumping
Speaker 1: right away, UM. I started pumping right when Sunday was born.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't even
Speaker 1: know what pumping was. I just started pumping, and then,
Speaker 1: like I said, it's changed over the course of Sunday's life.
Speaker 1: Right now, I'm about to be back to four pumps
Speaker 1: a day. To me, for if you're mainly exclusively pumping
Speaker 1: and not breastfeeding UM, but mainly pumping and doing bottles,
Speaker 1: I personally think four times is the magic number for me.
Speaker 1: When I pumped three times. That is one of my
Speaker 1: supply has dramatically dropped, So I will be pumping four
Speaker 1: times a day as long as Sunny is needing a
Speaker 1: lot of breast molt. And I don't know about y'all also,
Speaker 1: but I feel so much more confident when I have
Speaker 1: a reserve of breast milk and the freezer and my
Speaker 1: I've been going through that reserve this week and that
Speaker 1: is stressing me out, so I want to fill it
Speaker 1: back up. So I don't just want to pump enough.
Speaker 1: I want to pump an extra bottle a day so
Speaker 1: I can feel my supply back up. So four times
Speaker 1: a day is a magic number for me pumping. Um.
Speaker 1: I love you guys. I wish you all he's this week.
Speaker 1: I wish you joy, I wish you contentment. I hope
Speaker 1: that you trust God or whatever higher power that you
Speaker 1: believe in. If you don't have a higher power, I
Speaker 1: encourage you to try to see if you can feel
Speaker 1: something bigger outside of yourself. Because I talked to my
Speaker 1: girlfriend's all the time, my sister and my mom and
Speaker 1: pretty much any woman in my life, especially if you're
Speaker 1: a mom. It is there are so many things to
Speaker 1: worry about. There is so much fear to have, and
Speaker 1: I lean on God for all of it. If I
Speaker 1: did not have God in my life, I would not
Speaker 1: be able to make it through in a happy, peaceful way.
Speaker 1: And so I encourage you to find a greater source.
Speaker 1: If you haven't, um, I don't know, I really. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you're looking for some inspiration, anything Oprah does is amazing.
Speaker 1: I am currently reading this amazing book called Vibrate Higher Daily,
Speaker 1: Live Your Power. It's by I'm gonna say our name wrong,
Speaker 1: La La Delia l A l A h d E
Speaker 1: l i A. She is a beautiful spiritual writer. It's
Speaker 1: not it's nondenominational. It's all about just finding the power
Speaker 1: within yourself and connecting to something bigger. If you want
Speaker 1: to start your year off right, I would recommend this
Speaker 1: book Vibrate Higher Daily. It is bringing me peace, it
Speaker 1: is bringing me light, it is bringing me joy. If
Speaker 1: you are having anxiety, I just encourage you to reach
Speaker 1: out to outlets that get you outside of yourself and
Speaker 1: your brain and that that terrible self talk um tornado,
Speaker 1: that we can get in where we just have fear
Speaker 1: and worry and anxiety and anger and all of it.
Speaker 1: Get out of there, Get out of their abort, abort, abort,
Speaker 1: Do not stay there. That is not the place to be.
Speaker 1: That is not where we want to live. Fear is
Speaker 1: everywhere we can cling to it because it is easy
Speaker 1: to cling to it. The world is feeding us fear.
Speaker 1: But you know what the world is also feeding is
Speaker 1: joy and beauty and light and adventure and love. And
Speaker 1: we have a choice. There's a flip side to everything,
Speaker 1: so you can choose to like dive into that fear. Which,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, I have many times. Like I
Speaker 1: told you, I'm coming out of a very anxious season
Speaker 1: of my life, and I declare again in the name
Speaker 1: of God, I will not live in fear this year.
Speaker 1: I will live in the joy because I'm choosing the
Speaker 1: other way. I do not like the way I feel
Speaker 1: when I'm wrapped up in anxiety. I do not like
Speaker 1: the way I fear feel when I'm wrapped up in fear.
Speaker 1: And I do not like the way I feel when
Speaker 1: I'm angry and frustrated and trying to blame anything but
Speaker 1: myself for my feelings. I do not like that. So
Speaker 1: I am walking in trust this year. I am letting
Speaker 1: God lead. I am walking in love with Sonny and Michael.
Speaker 1: I'm trusting that God is going to open the right
Speaker 1: doors for me and close the wrong ones, and I
Speaker 1: am going to have a peaceful, happy year of enjoying
Speaker 1: my life and not worrying. Things slam in my face
Speaker 1: and something closes that I thought I wanted, I'm to say,
Speaker 1: thank you God, Praise God. You took that away from
Speaker 1: me that was not meant for me. Praise God. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to get upset about it. Maybe for a
Speaker 1: second before I remember to praise God, I'll get upset,
Speaker 1: but I'm going to quickly turn it back to him
Speaker 1: and be like, Lord, you you blessed me. I appreciate
Speaker 1: that blessing because something better is on the way, and
Speaker 1: I encourage you all to live that way. I love y'all.
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for you guys, and let's just keep making
Speaker 1: this year the best year we've ever had, full of
Speaker 1: the most loved, filled filled with joy, hope, and trust.