Success!!

I've posted about a couple of baking fails...most recently my battle with blueberry muffins.  Well, I tried again this morning, and this time it was a success.

My biggest problem last time was that in  my hurry to eat delicious, homemade muffins, I forgot to add baking powder.  This time I checked, double checked, and triple checked the ingredients before I put them in the oven.

Evie loved them!!

They turned out great!  I will definitely try this recipe again.  And I will definitely follow the direction closely next time too!! 

Why I Dread Fridays

I coached cheerleading for the past 6 years.  I fell into the job my first year teaching.  The former coach was leaving and someone somehow heard that I was a cheerleader in high school.  That qualified me for the job. 
The first year was rough, and  I wasn't sure if I would coach for a second season.  I'm glad I did though because I had a fresh start with new girls, who were "my" girls. 

In my third season, I started a competition team.  We never did the best, but we sure had fun!!  I was more nervous than most of the girls were when they performed.  I really loved those girls, and I still keep in contact with a couple of them that graduated a few years ago.  Even my most horrible day in my classroom was always better when I could go to cheer practice, have fun, and just forget about everything else for a while. 

I quit after competition season ended in February this year.  The time commitment was just too much.  The season begins in June and ends in late February/early March.  Practices 4 days a week, and games on Fridays during football season.  Practices, games, and competitions all day on Saturday during basketball season.  I actually had to pick Evie up from daycare, to bring her to another babysitter so that I could go to practice.  (My daycare closed before my practices ended.)  She and I got home after 6:00 most nights, and I felt like it was just a rush to eat dinner and put her to bed.  As much as it killed me to quit, I knew that I was making the right decision for her.

Fast forward to Fridays at school.  The past two Fridays I've been miserable.  I see "my" girls in their uniforms, and the football players in their jerseys.  I miss being on the sidelines, I miss riding the bus to away games, I miss spending time with "my" team.  I've even secretly hoped that the new coach (a great girl, fresh out of college like I was when I started) quits so that I can take over again next year. 

Most people look forward to Friday all week, but I'm dreading tomorrow. 

Wordless Wednesday - An Evening Stroll

After dinner most evenings, Evie, Keeka, and I take a walk down Main Street to our public library and back.  It's about 3 miles round trip, and it's great exercise for me and the dog.  M goes with us every other day and he goes for a run on the opposite days. 

Evie loves to wave and say hi to everyone we pass!

Keeka gets winded just thinking about going for a walk...lol!!

The view down Main Street

The city renovated this part of town a few years ago so that it looks more like it did in the late 1800s.  Our town is pretty old, and I love to look at the old fashioned buildings and store fronts.  The "downtown" section of Main Street is paved in brick like it was back then too! 

I feel like a newlywed again!!

Not because of anything my husband has done for me (he's great, but the honeymoon phase ended quite a while ago for us!), but because of all of the questions about "Baby #2." 

Since Evie turned 1, I feel like the world expects me to be pregnant again immediately.  In the past few weeks I've gotten questions from several co-workers, my mother-in-law has hinted she'd like more grandchildren, and even my own sister (who knows we're not planning to TTC for a while) has said something about it.  It seems like just because we have one child, everyone feels like they have the right to ask when we'll have another. 

M and I have discussed adding more children pretty extensively, and we both wholeheartedly agree that we will be a family of 3 for a while longer.  I am really enjoying our time with Evie, and to be honest, I don't really know how I'd get around with another child.  Obviously, I'd adapt.  Right now I enjoy being able to take shopping trips, driving to see my parents (a 2 1/2 hour car ride), and going out to eat relatively easily.  Evie and I do great on our own.  M works very different hours than I do, and we've gotten pretty good at maneuvering pretty much wherever I feel like taking us. 

Some days I even wonder if we will have another baby at all....  Overall, things are pretty awesome right now.  Why fix it if it isn't broken???

Maybe I'll feel differently if/when we're truly ready...

Oh yeah, I was supposed to be weaning my child

I have written about cutting back on how much I'm breastfeeding Evie a few times (here and here, for example), but it's really not going like I expected.  I thought that I would have completely weaned her by now.  I'm not upset/disappointed/happy/sad or really any feeling at all about it.  I honestly kind of forgot that I was "trying" to wean her. 

My whole breastfeeding goal was originally "as long as I can possibly do it."  I hoped we'd make it for 6 - 8 months.  After that goal was obviously attainable, my new goal became one year.    In June when she fought me at every feeding, I just started dropping a feeding here and there, and eventually we found our new rhythm.  I've been nursing her only in the morning and before bed since late July.  It works really well for us...until I tried to screw it up.

I'm not very happy on the mini-pill, so, at my physical last month my doctor prescribed the regular pill because I thought that I would be done nursing by the time I finished the current pack of mini-pills.  Of course, silly me, in the time between my doctor's appointment and running out of the mini pill, I forgot to cut out those last two feedings and actually wean my child.  Oops!!!  

So my new plan was to take the regular pill and see what happens.  That lasted two days.  My supply dropped very quickly.  (It was already a little low because I had had my period.)  Evie was not happy with fruit and cheerios minus the boob for breakfast, and seeing her upset made me feel awful. 

M and I had a pretty serious talk about how long we were both comfortable with continuing to breastfeed.  I want to keep going until Evie is ready to be done.  I was very worried that M wouldn't like that idea.  He's been amazingly supportive of breastfeeding, but he has had a hard time with some of the struggles of nursing an older baby (the biting, squirming, distractibility stuff).   I was easily frustrated until Evie and I found our groove, and he took the brunt of my frustration.  Did I mention he's a pretty good guy to put up with that??  

Fortunately, after talking it over, we realized that we are on the same page.  I called my doctor and switched back to the mini-pill.  Weaning will happen when it's supposed to, and it feels good to know we're all happy to take it at Evie's pace.     

1/2/12 - Edited to Add:  Evie is now completely weaned.  The last time she nursed was around Thanksgiving.  I miss our quiet breastfeeding time, but I'm happy to have a running, jumping, bouncing, talking toddler to spend my time with now.  :)