Five Minute Friday

Okay, I'm going to type away for five minutes then later today I hope to get some photos up. 
I have been breastfeeding/pumping for 20+ weeks now, yay me!  I am a little less strict on my pumping schedule, going closer to 3 hrs than my previously rigid 2-2.5 hr schedule.  I don't mind if Ellie is no longer on exclusive bm like she had been just so she can keep the taste of formula in her mouth because it is super nice to have formula as a back up.  She still does not like the breast during the day, I gather she prefers the steady flow of a bottle.  In other Ellie news she learned to roll back to front!!!  I am elated that she is learning new tricks to gain a little more independence.  She is also sleeping a bit better at night.  She has done 6,7, and 8 hrs this week, with a few nights of waking up after a few hours.  I'll take it, I think we are on the right track!

Yesterday we had a welcome home ceremony for our BIL Lee whom had been deployed to Afghanistan for a year.  It is such an occasion of mixed emotions.  You are so happy to see Soldiers reunited with their loved ones, yet so saddened when you think they had to go without each other for a year.  That's some tough stuff.  With that said, we are so thankful Lee is home safely and is together with his wife and kids as a family unit.  Many others in Lee's Brigade were not so lucky, it was a tough deployment for the Iowa National Guard.

I agreed to let Wade buy some more land at Lake Sundown in southern Iowa, where we currently own 19.75 acres.  There is  a plot right next to us of 9.51 acres that opened up for sale and we were given a good deal being previous land owners, supposedly.  I get super nervous about debt, especially since Wade also got a new truck.  Some people buy nice clothes, houses and furnishings, and vehicles- we buy dirt.  And trees and grass.  Wade says "we are adding to our empire".   I say, "oh boy!"

Wade has his "man surgery" today.  Or rather his "un-man surgery" lol, I'm so funny!  Our decision to be done with two kids will be final in a matter of a few hours.  I think it will be a relief not to have to think about it any more.  Some times I hold Ellie a little longer than necessary and give her extra hugs and kisses knowing she will be our last baby.

Whitney is talking in paragraphs now.  Her vocabulary is expanding every day.  She can string together two 5-6 word sentences.  Sometimes she stutters and jumbles up the order of her words as she tries to piece everything together.  We are constantly laughing at the things she says!