Weaning

My baby is 10 months old. He looks more and more like a little boy every day. It's thrilling and heart breaking.

Like those two little teeth coming in there. (The blur on the bottom is his thumb, not mine. All other pictures are either obscured completely by his hand or his tongue. He has that kind of relationship with the camera.)

They have caused me more pain than I've ever experienced...and I say this as someone who a)never labored but b) had a swollen brain.

I'll spare you the details...ok: pus, blood, open wounds, mastitis (AGAIN)....and just a touch of thrush.

The consensus is in: voracious eater. He's figuring it out so it's not as painful as it has been, but I'm paying attention. The writing is on the wall.

"Mama," he's saying. "Vlah, vlah, vlah, gah, grooo"

And I get it. The bottles and cups mean that he can graze, he can look around, he can continue to be busy and still get his 15-20oz of mama milk every day.

But I am going to pick a session and keep it for as long as he'll let me. Here's hoping it's not the 3:30am one.

I ran across this today on my mommy board and it made me teary. So of course, I'm sharing with you:

Wean Me Gently 
by Cathy Cardall

I know I look so big to you,
Maybe I seem too big for the needs I have.
But no matter how big we get,
We still have needs that are important to us.
I know that our relationship is growing and changing,
But I still need you. I need your warmth and closeness,
Especially at the end of the day
When we snuggle up in bed.
Please don't get too busy for us to nurse.
I know you think I can be patient,
Or find something to take the place of a nursing;
A book, a glass of something,
But nothing can take your place when I need you.
Sometimes just cuddling with you,
Having you near me is enough.
I guess I am growing and becoming independent,
But please be there.
This bond we have is so strong and so important to me,
Please don't break it abruptly.
Wean me gently,
Because I am your mother,
And my heart is tender.

A little bathroom project

We have our diaper/potty station set up in Steve's bathroom for a few reasons.


1) I want all potty/bathing/hygiene related activities to happen in the bathroom. My theory is that it will then just be that place where those things happen rather than someplace we have to introduce and explain later. And if he knows that potties are for pooping in and not playing in then I'm hopeful we can avoid having our pipes clogged with matchbox cars later down the road.

2) It came with a conveniently sized counter for just such a purpose.

3) It keeps dirty diapers out of his room, which is the most child-safe spot in the house. Thus allowing him to explore unfettered...and without offending us all with the amazing stench that has recently associated itself with his back-end. Luckily - not only does our bathroom have a window, but the wet bag pretty much contains the stink.

The downside was our changing pad. It was a hand me down from an amazing friend and it is perfect for our purposes...but it didn't have a cover. So it was just plain ol' white plastic. And I *needed* to cover it.

Thankfully, Baz has started taking some semi-decent naps, so over the course of THREE FREAKING DAYS - I managed to sew 2 seams and get it on there. Behold:

 I used THIS tutorial. It's a quilting fabric on top - I can remember neither the make nor the model, but it's from the Bobbin's Nest - and a plain white terry on the bottom, which I got in 3 boxes worth of cloth diapering fabric I scored a few months ago.

 

I also managed to whip out a pre-fold belt...but that's another story.


Happy Thursday!

Another Test

PA040150, originally uploaded by EmmieB1.

I think this size is better.

Testing

PA040151
Originally uploaded by EmmieB1
Testing the flickr-to-blog link :-)

I've been a bad blogger.

Really, what it is, is that I've been a busy mommy who's let her blogging slide.
Oops.


Let's see...what's new....we went to a Mama's and Movers class on Thursday and will go for the next two thursdays. It's at Harmony Birth and Bunny just LOVED it. It's a little bit of pilates and yoga for moms and playing for the crawlers/early walkers. He's never been around so much chaos. Next Thursday I will take pictures. I wanted us to be comfortable this time rather than my worrying about catching his reactions.

I bought a big car seat. There are pictures on my F75.

Speaking of which, one of the blogs I follow - Life With my 3 Boybarians (how great is that name?) is doing a 31 days to better photos series... I've decided to give it a whirl.

Step one: I did some serious googling and actually found the F75 users manual. And am now printing all 67 double pages of it.

I've started up the flickr...we went to a wedding (which I was in) in Maine...I carved a clay pumpkin....Bunny learned to crawl....and if these teeth don't break through soon I might scream.

The end.

In which I pimp products

ok, 2 products*

A few days ago, in order to beat the insane (for South Bay) heat, we headed to the mall. It was full of people who had the exact same idea. I know you're shocked.

Normally, my child hangs out in his stroller for about a mile before he either passes out completely or lets the entire world know just what kind of injustice he  is suffering at the hands of his (very mean) mommy.

That day, however, I was prepared. I had a whopping FOUR OUNCES of breastmilk in a brand new sippy/bottle from ThinkBaby (pictured above)...also known as Bunny's favorite new toy. It's the only bottle/cup that he drinks from with minimal fussing and playing. It's the only time he's ingested a significant amount of milk from anything that isn't my boob when I've been around. The kicker, though? He fed himself.

He fed himself.

Four ounces.

Happily.

 Happy Baby = Happy Mommy.

I think it's the spout and the kid-sized handles. It will convert from a bottle, too, which is a total bonus. If only I'd heard about them sooner. But now we know.

So how did we hear about them? I'll tell you. I want to kick myself. After you read, you'll do a facepalm, too.

I was in one of my favorite baby boutiques (BabyBuzz) about to buy shoes for my child who wants to stand all the time, even on wood chips - which is the ground cover at both close parks. The owner, who is fantastic, was having a meeting with the owners of ThinkBaby. They wander out and tell me all about their product. I am intrigued. They coo over Bunny (because he is very coo-worthy, but on this day we were both sleep deprived from the teething that seems to never end and he wasn't his high wattage self) and then the very nice ThinkBaby owner says something along the lines of: "Hi, Sebastian, would you like to be a Thinkbaby model?'

Did you read the part about sleep deprivation?

Because I apologized for our general demeanor and told him how tired Bunny was.

The answer I should have given?

(it's about 1:52)

Right. The answer is YES.

sigh.

He's a cranky pants,  but he could earn his keep. 

I kid.

Anyway - I love this sippy. I'll have to pick up at least one more so we can rotate.

The other product in that shot up there? A Mommy Necklace. Cute, carcinogen-free, durable, guaranteed for 3 years....I don't know what they did, but when Bunny yanks it doesn't even hurt my neck. I wear it a lot. It helps focus him while he nurses (sometimes.) And when necessary, it doubles as a sippy leash.

(I can't for the life of me remember who makes this place mat, but it is also awesome. It suctions to the table and has a trough for catching fallen star noodles.)

*I am not employed by anyone mentioned above. I'm not employed at all. Nothing was swag. Being a card-carrying member of the suburban housewife set, I paid for these. And they were worth every penny.

An Ordinary Day

A friend of mine challenged us to post up a "day in the life" blog entry. 

I accepted her challenge and devoted Wednesday to snapping an almost minute-by-minute account of what it is we do all day. 

First: we get up. And by "we" I mean "Steve and Bunny." I roll out of bed anywhere from 5-90 minutes later, depending on the morning and the quality of sleep the night before. 

Steve and Bunny make coffee and read the news.

We say goodbye to Steve (who cycles to work) and then we get dressed.

We put on sunscreen

And go to the park:

This day, we swung by Pizza My Heart for my lunch, which made the walk about 2 miles. 

So we found a shady spot and got settled.

While I munched on my (mushroom) slice, we pondered why anyone would want to play golf on a baseball diamond.

Then we wondered why people play golf at all...

Then we read. (review to come - I highly recommend it.)

We practiced crawling. Then there were people playing pickup basketball on the court so every ounce of our practice stopped while Bunny tried to figure out just how tall he would have to be to get the ball into his mouth.

He settled for my finger.

And when I took it away to get out the bubbles, he decided to try his hand at a selfie:

I distracted him by blowing bubbles at a squirrel.

 bubbles not pictured.

If it takes all day, he's going to get this ball in his mouth. (Note the tongue and the determined expression.)

After a while we decided that our blanket had been played out, so we hit the swings, aka: Bunny's newest addiction.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "sheesh, how idyllic. What a charming and delightfully well behaved baby. What a deliciously relaxing life. I'd like to slow down and have lovely warm afternoons in the park, too..."

Well, there are two sides to every baby.

Above: happy park baby.

Below: what happens when he falls asleep in the stroller and wakes up too early with tooth pain in our boring house.

(actually, this is what extreme separation anxiety looks like. The treatment is to walk out of the room anyway.  This behavior, which in reality lasts a total of however long I'm out of reach, is nearly my undoing. We are all hopeful that once his gnarly little teeth cut he will chill the fuck out. Until then, I wear a scarlet A on my nursing bra. A for Asshole.) 

Of course, once he's blown that out and plays some more and gets a little more milk in him, it's time to feed the outdoor kitties.

 Cylon.

Toaster.

Not pictured: Wookie (also small and grey), Widget (black and white), Scarface (black and white), and Hunley (all black.) If you're interested in adopting one or all of these little guys, let me know. They could use a nice warm lap. Once they get over being terrified of humans, that is.

Also not pictured are the indoor kitties (Polly and Kipper) - probably because they spent the day outside under the neighbor's bushes...stalking their chickens. 

Then there was another "nap"

After which we just gave up and played more until Steve came home and we had dinner*.

Yes. This is what my living room looks like 90%of the time. We've covered this.

*not pictured. Fried Chicken.