14 posts tagged “breastfeeding”
It's funny, when your time is split into 2-3 hour chunks it goes amazingly fast. I close my eyes and it's a week later. We've been working really hard on our routine. And by we I mean me. Chewie has been on EASY (the baby whisperer) since I brought her home--I nursed her, changed her diaper to wake her up a little, and then put her down to sleep. Eat, Activity, Sleep. The Y is supposed to be You time, but with 2 older kids there is no You time. She's starting to be awake longer... and thus is now able to get overtired and then have to scream herself to sleep. Joy. In addition to the sudden and random blood curdling screams brought on by gas, she also enjoys crying in her sleep. I am so glad I got that video monitor because I would think that the Princess was sitting on top of her. Oh no. She's completely asleep. Crying. I do think she's been overtired and that I've been misreading her cues a bit and feeding her when she just needs to sleep. Ah well, tomorrow is a new day. She'll be a month old tomorrow and all things considered she's doing really well. I do remember with the Princess that I thought she would never go longer at night and settle into a routine, but she did her first 7 hour stretch at 7 weeks old, followed shortly thereafter by ALL night long. So I have hope.
This is what I have been waiting for.
I did not nurse the Princess last night.
The little Princess is now a year old. Her birthday was on Thursday and I am still in shock. It's been a year since we brought her into our lives and we became a multi-child family. It's been a year since I stopped working full-time and left that drama behind.
She's been on whole milk since Thursday. I am so proud that we lasted that long. She's still nursing morning and night and we'll keep that up as long as we can. I'm shooting for July. She'll be 14 months then and that's when my sister's wedding is so it would be a good time to stop. I made it to 15 months with SkyWalker and by the end it was just the morning feed. I think we can do it. She's doing okay with the milk. She has a bad diaper rash right now, but she didn't get it immediately after having the milk... she got it after pooping 4 or 5 times on Friday. Her check up is tomorrow so we'll see what it is. Wouldn't it be funny if she was somehow lactose-intolerant and I needed to start breastfeeding again? Ha.
She and her brother get into all sorts of trouble, making messes every where they go, and it's both frustrating and wonderful. There are disagreements but for the most part they get along really well.
I took that picture last year as I was preparing for the Princess's birth. The newborn diaper and SkyWalker's size 5 side by side. Guess what the Princess is wearing now? Yup, she and her brother are wearing the same size diapers. To be fair, she could probably still be in 4s but when you sleep 12 hours a night you need a bigger diaper. SkyWalker only wears his at night so he doesn't need a whole bunch. So they are both wearing the same size. Which is just too funny.
Also funny--SkyWalker insisted the other day that he needed to check his e-mail. I told him he didn't have e-mail. He said "I need e-mail" in a very matter of fact voice. So I said fine, and made him a new gmail. I only have 95 invites left. He now has his own e-mail and he e-mails his grandparents. He does all the typing--like dog and fart--and will ask me how to spell other words and then he'll type them.
He's also been making cards for everyone. I had him make a card for his sister for her birthday. So now he takes paper, draws happy face balloons on them, writes the first 2 letters of his name on it, folds it in half, and then comes up to me and says "what's it gonna be?" which means "I have a surprise, what do you think it's going to be" and then pulls a card from behind his back. He also says "what's sticking out?" I'm assuming from behind his back. He has made cards for everyone he knows, including all the dogs in the family and Nana's cat. They are all on display in various places in the house and we will soon run out of room.
Good times.
I caught him looking at pictures on our computer all by himself (he opened them up. He is too smart). And saying "Awww.... Awww Ruby." He wants to buy her a present and he has told me at least 5 times how he loves her. "I just love Ruby dog." Ruby is my brother and SIL's dog. She is the cutest little puppy.
The Princess is 1 tomorrow. She'll celebrate by having her first cup of cow's milk. I held on to the end! We'll still nurse at wake-up and bedtime for as long as we can. But she'll get her cow's milk at meals. I stopped pumping a while ago but last week was the first week I would have had to pump and didn't... I'm not sorry to see the pump back in the closet but I am sorry to see our nursing days coming to a close. There's not much difference between 2 and 3 times a day but I'm sure that once she starts getting cow's milk she'll be less thirsty for me... although she may very well want to keep it up for comfort. Wouldn't that be funny? She gets it less and wants it more. We'll see...
I forgot to mention this a while ago.... I got a charge on my verizon phone bill from ILD teleservices for some type of voice mail I never set up. The phone company provided the phone number for ILD and said I had to contact them directly to remove the charge and that they couldn't prevent it from happening again! Isn't that crazy! They couldn't prevent fraudulent charges! I was able to get in touch with ILD and they removed the charge. The next phone bill had the credit and then another charge and credit! I was so irritated that I started looking into doing the digital phone with the cable company. I already have digital cable and high speed internet. I called and set up the appointment for next week. So soon I too will be able to look at my TV and know who is calling! HA! Call waiting and caller ID and long distance are included. And the price is less than what I pay for verizon and AT& T together. We get to keep our phone number too.
I leave you with the funniest picture we took on vacation. Any guesses as to where we took it?
2 weeks will not hurt the Princess. I will switch her to cow's milk during the day before we go to NC to make both the road trip and the actual trip easier and just continue to nurse first thing in the morning and at bedtime. I'll be giving her yogurt as soon as her diaper rash clears up (if it ever frickin' does) so I'll be able to see if she has any problem with dairy... and if she does, well 2 weeks wouldn't have mattered anyway. She should have seen the ped. for her 9 month check up this week but her doc had the nerve to have a baby herself and is on maternity leave. So she's going next month. I'll get permission then. ;-)
I realized today why this is such a decision though... when SkyWalker turned a year old I switched him to cow's milk during the day and nursed him morning and night. Same plan right? But it was different because I was working full-time. So what I was cutting out was pumping during the day! He was getting bottles at daycare anyway... who cared what was in them? It did hurt on the weekend but not tremendously. (Poor bookishbiker had to read all about that too!) Now, I am home all day with the Princess. So I'm going to be cutting out... myself. Sure I can stop pumping at 6 am and at work and that will be nice (although if I'm doing the bedtime feed would I still pump at work? Hmmm), but for the most part I will be replacing myself. I'm giving up a lot more.
Of course I am talking about 2 months from now so why am I even thinking about this?
Because I am a planner. And a worrier. I'm always thinking ahead of myself.
Funny things SkyWalker has been saying:
while loading his cars into the little bathroom garbage I have, "Now, don't get in my way."
"Don't drop your hot tea Mommy." (I wasn't even close)
"Don't get in trouble." I don't know who *I* would get in trouble with. But he keeps saying this one to me.
"You member? You have to..."
After snacky-snack he asked for a chocolate (V-Day buttercups). I asked him what he had to do for a chocolate and puckered my lips waiting for a kiss. He said "Pee?" I laughed and said "No, what do you think you have to do?" and puckered my lips again even more exaggerated. He said "Drink water?" And I lost it laughing and did the whole thing again and he finally said "Kiss Mommy??" It was just hilarious. It's not like I routinely ask him to kiss me in order to get chocolate but I thought the puckered lips was a dead give-away. Although he's right in that I ask him to pee before he does ANYTHING. It's a wonderful tactic and I highly recommend it. Want to eat? Pee. Want to watch TV? Pee. Want to play downstairs/outside? Pee. Want to leave this house? Pee. It's great.
We've pretty much decided we're all going to North Carolina at the end of April. I do not want to be left alone for such a long time, particularly since Vader will have gone to Buffalo at least TWICE between now and then, leaving me alone with the kids and the dogs. His trial is in April and I just don't think him being gone so much would be good for the kids. Or for me. So I am picking my anti-traveling ass up and we're going. We'll be driving so we can have our stuff and set our own time table. It'll take 2 days to get there and then another 2 days back, and that will suck, but what are you going to do? I'll need to get off work and that will also suck but I have to keep reminding myself that I am part-time now. If I'm not here I don't get paid so a sub can. I am not full-time. It is not a big deal for me to not be here as long as I give enough notice so someone else can get the hours.
Now I need to decide what to do with the Princess and breastfeeding.... when we take our trip she will be 2 weeks shy of 1 year. I can't even believe that. But anyway, she's been doing 4 feedings a day since she was 4 or 5 months old. I can't remember. Instead of every 4 hours (SkyWalker was always every 3) she is now feeding at 7, 11:30 (because I wake her/make her), 4:30 and bedtime which is usually 7:30. She doesn't take much at 7:30 and I have a feeling that the middle 2 feedings will start to merge... Where was I going with this? Oh, the trip! So who knows how often she will be breastfeeding by then. I'm wondering if I should just plan on switching her to cow's milk earlier than her birthday to make the trip easier? It's not like there's a magic button that says "she is now 12 months and can have cow's milk". 2 weeks will not be the end of the world. You know my problem right? I like following rules. But I've been giving her finger foods much sooner than her pediatrician recommended... It would be so much easier to just feed her in the morning and then at bedtime (which she might actually do more of if she's down to 2 feedings) and then do cow's milk during the day. I managed to keep breastfeeding another 3 months doing that with SkyWalker. I can do it with her too...
I had a bunch more to say but it is now 8 and I am done pumping and need to get back to work. I expect numerous comments telling me what to do by tomorrow. By all 3 of you that read my blog.
The jedi and I went to a meetup at an indoor play area that we haven't been to since his birthday--with his little best bud who is now a Texan. It was jam-packed with kids. He ran away from me and climbed on things and said "hi" and "peekaboo" to other kids and their moms (!) and smiled at people and had a wonderful time. He didn't play with anyone for real, but he climbed next to kids and didn't let them stop him from doing things. The Princess lured many a mama my way with her amazing beauty. For reals, yo. I know I'm biased, but every single mom was drawn to her and said the same thing "Wow, she's so beautiful." She sat and looked at people and smiled and crawled toward me and was perfectly fine. I made the obligatory small talk and tried to not be myself. On the way home SkyWalker said he had fun and "we makin' friends. I say hi."
I think I've reassessed what I want out of these things. I don't want friends for me. I don't even necessarily want friends for him--not real ones anyway. He'll make his friends once he gets to school. Right now what I want to do is just expose him to a bunch of different kids so that he's comfortable in social settings (unlike his parents). I don't want him to hide--physically or mentally--when he gets in with a group of kids. We're not looking for best friends. I think we're just looking for acquaintances really. We have our weekly playdates with our old friends and that's going well. It doesn't even matter if the boys become friends--each will have a familiar face on that first day of kindergarten.
The Princess is officially crawling. No more belly flopping halfway there... let the games begin! Maybe now Vader will do something about a real gate at the bottom of the stairs. One that SkyWalker can open but the Princess cannot.
It is wicked busy at the library tonight. I got blindsided when Bee went on dinner and now I'm in here pumping. I hope it has slowed down some and she's not overwhelmed. I'm actually been working in addition to the reference! So there, it happens people. Sometimes I work.
LOST starts in one hour. Sigh. I hope the DVR doesn't mess up.
The tap is dry. I'm running out of milk. The Princess is more interested in waffles and peas (what the dilly-o?) and everything but mama. Either that or she is just wicked efficient... which could be the case. She was always quicker. In the beginning she would nurse for 10 minutes but she was awake and actively nursing the entire time. Now she's down to 3-4 minutes. 5 if I'm lucky. I know she's getting something because I can feel it and she's swallowing... but can she really get what she needs in 5 minutes? She hasn't been finishing her bedtime bottle when I'm at work but I've been feeding her more often because she's so quick... so maybe she's just snacking now. Taking 2 or 3 ounces here and there instead of the 5-7 she used to do. She is getting 6 ounces mixed in with her cereal everyday... as much as I love breastfeeding I hate the insecurity and doubt that goes along with it.
SkyWalker came in the bathroom today as I was taking care of some ahem, feminine issues... He looked at the maxipad and said "what that is?" I decided to bombard him with information to make him go away so I started by saying "Well, Mommy has her period..." and I kid you not, his "I'm a male and don't want to hear it DNA" kicked in and he said "Okay" and ran out saying "I'm a piggy bank" and hitting the top of his head like he was putting a penny in it.
And now... back to work.
I just got back (a little while ago) from my court date for that speeding ticket I got back in October. I walk into the village court and ... it's a hallway. It was so funny. I met with the police officer who asked me if I was hoping for a reduction (um, yeah) and he immediately changed it to a parking ticket. No points on my license. No insurance problems. No surcharge. Just a $75 fine. Oh yeah. I'm glad that's over with!
I mentioned a couple of posts back about wondering whether or not closure was needed when ending a friendship. Is it necessary to say "I am no longer friends with you and here's why..." or do you just let it fade away and avoid drama? If someone has done something that you just cannot condone, that crosses the line so much that you can't ignore it, that you can't pretend that it isn't happening, what do you do? Do you quietly walk away? Or do you confront your friend? Which is worse?
On to other topics...
I think part of the reason I've been getting headaches is from not eating enough. I'm eating the same I was before but the Princess is not. She's nearly doubled how much she's been nursing. I don't think I can hold out until 6 months to give her cereal. :-( This saddens me. I'm not starting it before her surgery though... which means that in the meantime it's all ME all the time.
It's funny to think that last October I was worried because Isaac was having his surgery (his first) and now I've got the Princess's surgery on Monday. I was also puking every day. Apparently October just sucks ass for me.
Moo time is over. Back to "work."
