Adventures in Weaning

I mentioned in a previous post or two that we have begun the weaning process. I still have really mixed feelings about the whole thing and I also think that it's going to take a lot longer than I'd planned, for a few reasons.

I've always had kind of a borderline supply, so I'm nervous about dropping too many feedings before she hits her first birthday because I don't want to have to stop breastfeeding early. This is completely mind thing. I NEED to make it to one year.

I struggled so hard for so long to breastfeed in the beginning. I dealt with six months of awful painful blisters before I finally figured out something that worked to keep them at bay. Since around the 6 month mark, breastfeeding has been a largely positive experience. We've had a few hiccups with pulling and biting and distractability, but generally, it's been wonderful.

The closeness with my little girl is so special. We've finally gotten pretty good at the side-lying thing (just in the last couple of months. I'm not sure how anyone does it with a newborn) and when she lays there and wraps her whole arm around me while she nurses, I just melt.

But it's not all rosy, or I'd keep nursing her until middle school. She nurses 6 times a day. Her nursing sessions have finally shortened, but it's still difficult. I plan outings and shopping trips around where I'll be able to nurse her when it's time. And, I'm tired of wearing plastic cups over my nipples because if I don't I get friction blisters. I need to be able to spend a whole day away and not worry about pumping. And, it's time. I'm ready. Well, I'm ready most of the time.

So, two weeks ago, I dropped a feeding. Then we dropped another one last week. However, I've given in a couple times when she wanted to nurse or forgot when I got her up from a nap and nursed her. So, I am sabotaging my own attempts at weaning, but we're getting there.

Sprout is drinking whole milk from a straw sippy cup now. She won't drink out of a regular sippy cup. Maybe once she realizes what good stuff is in there, she'll make more of an effort. She's a big girl and she can handle it. I may try to drop another feeding or I may hold off a week. I don't want my supply to drop too soon.

In my dream world, I'll be able to hang on to her early morning feeding and her late night feeding for quite some time, while letting the others go. I'm not sure my body will cooperate with that, though. So, we'll just keep taking things one step at a time and see how it goes.

Things I Don't Want to Forget

Yesterday, I helped Sprout up to her push toy as I have on many occasions. Yesterday, she actually walked with it. Fast. All over the living room. Whoa!

She thinks it is great fun to pretend to feed anyone who looks at her. At first she was actually doing it only when she was hungry, but I guess the reactions were so good, that she decided to do it all the time.

She is saying "mama" and "dada" with purpose now. She knows who we are! We've been wondering for a few weeks if she really knew what she was saying, but now it's pretty obvious. Melts my heart to have her reach for me and say "mama." Often "dada" is actually, "dad."

She is also trying to say "book." It sounds more like "buh," but she's definitely talking about her books, because she points at them. We read before every nap and bedtime. She points to her books and says, "buh!" When I've read a couple and it's time for sleep, she protests, "buh, buh, buh! while pointing to her books. I hate telling her, "no," but she would happily read stories all through her nap time if I let her! I love that one of her first words is "book."

I took her to my mom's quilt show over the weekend and all the sewing and quilting ladies loved her like crazy and said how beautiful she was. Mommy was very proud.

We have dropped the lunchtime feeding and switched from formula to whole milk. Sprout takes it all in stride. She hates regular sippy cups, but is doing really well with a straw, so we're just going with it for now. We may try a regular sippy again a little later, or we may just skip it. I'm feeling a little strange about weaning, especially when she clearly wants to nurse and I go offer her a cup instead. Yesterday, I caved and let her breastfeed. If I do that too much, it's only going to make things harder.

She takes off her bib when she's done eating. "Enough!"

Yesterday, I bought a straw hat to make a scarecrow. She was holding it. I put it over her head so that it covered her face and then picked it up and said "boo!" She loves to play peekaboo. Anyway, for the first time, she did it herself! Picked up the hat and then brought it back down with a big smile. She didn't say, "boo," but she was clearly waiting for it. She made several people along the sidewalk laugh out loud as we walked by.

I can't believe she'll be a year old in 2 weeks! How is that possible? A year ago, we didn't even know she was breech and then 2 weeks later, we met our little girl. What an exciting time it was and what an exciting time it is now. She learns new things every day and I am amazed at how much she understands and how she plays and interacts with us so much more. I'm excited to see her grow into a little girl, but I'll always remember and miss my itty bitty baby.

Dropped off the planet?

Well, not quite, but life got crazy, and it still feels that way! We spent a week traveling and then the last week was just full of activity and I was just tired and had no desire to blog. Today is a whirlwind. We had our first Kindermusik class this morning and I'm leaving Sprout with a babysitter besides my mother for the first time tonight so that DH can go to his meeting and I don't have to miss my church class. I'm super nervous, but she will be in very good hands.

Here are some short updates. I hope to elaborate on some of them soon.

1.) Sprout stood by herself again, but did it by accident (wanted to hold a toy with both hands) and didn't realize she was doing anything special. She's had no desire to do it since.

2.) We had a great vacation, even though much of the time Sprout and I spent going it alone while DH attended his seminar. We had a blast. She loved the museums and the zoo and especially the aquarium. A juvenile sea lion even tried to play with her (see above picture). Experiencing these things with her was really special.

3.) She's sporting two new bottom teeth. They've cut through, but aren't quite in yet. She decided to cut them while on vacation. Fun times. It might have been better that way, actually because there was so much going on to distract her.

4.) We've begun the weaning process. I hope I get the chance to do a separate post about this because I've got so many conflicting thoughts and emotions. I'm ready, but I'm not, but I know it's time, so we've officially dropped two feedings now and she's doing well. We'll drop another next week. Maybe. If I can do it :)

5.) Sprout has a death wish. She's fallen off a bed (totally DH's fault), fallen down the stairs (that one's on me), tried to eat a penny and plenty of other non-food choke hazards. I used to silently judge people who let stuff like that happen to babies. Ummm, yeah, now I get it. How she went from barely crawling to qualifying for the 40 yard dash, I don't know, but we have some definitely cleaning, reorganizing and additional childproofing to finish. More on this later. In the meantime, we are incredibly grateful to her guardian angel.

6.) She crawls like crazy, pulls up, cruises, and is officially "into everything." Here's something else I didn't understand before I was a mom of an almost-toddler. I just thought it was something parents said. No, it's quite literal. She is really into everything she can be.

7.) We are planning her first birthday party. I can't believe it. She's going to be a year old on October 13. How is that possible? We're doing a farm theme. I sent out invitations today and am having a lot of fun planning.

Okay, gotta go get dinner ready so that I really can go to my class tonight!

Things I don't want to forget

So, I'm failing at the 30 day blog challenge and we're leaving town tomorrow, so it's only downhill from here, but maybe it at least inspired me to be a bit more active! Maybe I'll do 30 posts in 60 days instead?

Anyway, Sprout has been busy, as usual:

1. She is cruisin' crazy. She is moving all over and up into everything. No turning your back for a second.

2. She managed to empty the buffet cabinet where I keep all my table linens today. That little girl is quick!

3. This morning, she reached out just to give her daddy a hug. Sweetest thing ever.

4. Looks like she's popping another tooth. Just in time to hop on an airplane tomorrow. Wish us luck!

5. She has decided that it is fun to smear food all in her hair. This makes meal time clean-up quite a challenge.

6. We're starting to plan a birthday party. I really can't believe it! She will be 11 months old next week. She's looking so grown up.

7. I am so amazed when I look at her sometimes. She seems so knowing. She understands things. She has such personality. I wonder what she's thinking all the time. She just studies things so carefully all the time. Looking them over, turning them around. I love seeing her explore and learn.

Uh oh! She's singing into the monitor now. I guess that means it's lunch time. Better get the garden hose ready.

Sleep

Okay, so I know I got off easy. Don't throw anything at me. I have a baby who slept through the night really early with only a few hiccups. I am incredibly grateful for this. I know how lucky I am and it's one of the reasons I'm really scared to start trying for baby #2. I figure there's pretty much zero chance we'll be so lucky again.

However, I still think it's completely unfair that last night, Sprout woke up pretty much every hour. Started crying - just long enough to wake her mother out of a nice, sleep, get out of bed and go to the bathroom. Then she zonked back out, but I was wide awake. After the second time, I couldn't go back to sleep. Sprout was sleeping. I was awake. So unfair.

So I'm dragging today, but at least Sprout is in a good mood. She's playing with her books while I blog and sip a caffeinated beverage. We both napped a bit this morning, but not nearly enough.

And, lack of sleep is seriously bad for the diet. You want to eat more, you crave bad things, and your willpower diminishes. It's a recipe for disaster. Or in my case a trip to McDonald's. Oops. I haven't even wanted a burger in weeks, maybe months, but today I had to have one. And fries. Oh well. Let's hope for better sleep tonight so that I don't blow it completely before we even leave on our vacation!

Play Date

So, I actually managed to invite someone over for a play date today. I met her and her son at a local group for cloth diapering moms that just started. Her son is 3 days older than Sprout, so we hit it off right away. She friended me on FaceBook the next day. We did the usual "we should get together sometime" thing and then never followed through. Finally, after accidentally stealing her wipes case (it looked just like mine) at our last meeting and seeing her frequent posts about how lonely she was after her husband's deployment, I figured I had my chance, so I invited her.

So funny how much it really is like dating. What if she doesn't want to come? What if she only pretended to like me? Then she accepted, "yay!" What if she hates my house? What if she judges me? What if we can't find anything to talk about? What if Sprout whacks her son over the head with a book?

I needn't have worried. The kids were great. We had a nice time and kids help to keep conversation going. It was so nice to have some adult interaction and maybe start making a new friend. She said she'd like to do it again and I'm going to try to convince myself that she really meant it. When we get back from our vacation (we leave next week) I'm going to invite her over again. And we'll see how it goes.

Things I don't want to forget

1. Sprout stood by herself today! It was only about 5 seconds, but she seemed pretty solid, so I let go and she just stood there. Finally she plopped down on her bottom, but she was definitely standing.

2. We think she is trying to say "dog." It figures that would be her first word. I'm not 100% committed to calling it, but she pretty consistently says "da" and when she sees the dog and gets really excited.

3. She loves The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. I often choose two books and let her pick the one she wants to read. Today, she started laughing as soon as I started pulling it off the shelf. She loves the silly animal noises, I think.

4. She also loves any book with baby faces or real pictures in it. It is so cute when she turns a page and just laughs at the baby with the basket on his head or in the bathtub.

5. Sprout loves it when daddy carries her on his back in the Ergo carrier. And DH loves the extra attention he gets with her. Baby carriers/baby wearing are definitely not the norm where we live. It's nice for me to be baby free when we're together, too, so it's a win for everyone!

6. Grandma (my mom) made Sprout the most adorable pinafore dress. I didn't get a good picture because it was just a fitting, but it is sooooo cute! We were planning on using it for her birthday, and making themed pinafores out of birthday, Halloween, and thanksgiving fabric. But after seeing her in it with a plain pinafore (dark red tiny checked fabric for the dress and a cream colored pinafore), I think we have a Halloween costume, too! My mom is going to make her a bonnet to go with it. I can't wait to post a picture. Serious cuteness.