How I Quit Breastfeeding

A few months ago, I wrote about the last time that I nursed Evie.  At the time, I had mixed emotions about being done.  I knew that it was time.  Evie was ready.  I was ready to have my body to myself for a while.  But I knew that I would miss sharing the bond that only she and I could have.  Oh, and I would miss the ease of calming her down just by nursing her. 

In truth, the process to wean started about 5 months before that, when Evie was 11 months old.  We went through a rough patch when she became more mobile.  Evie was a late crawler, and up to that point, breastfeeding had been easy for us.  We didn't have latch problems when she was a newborn.  I was fortunate to never experience thrush or mastitis.  Aside from a nasty dairy allergy that prohibited me from eating any dairy for about 6 months, nursing was a piece of cake for us. 

About a month before Evie's 1st birthday, nursing became a huge battle.  Probably because it had been so easy for so long, I really didn't know how to handle it.  My supply was dropping.  I cried when I wrote this post, because I thought that I would wean her and breastfeeding would just be over for us.

I toyed with our schedule and I dropped a couple of feedings in which Evie was most distracted.  This worked great for us!!  I was so relieved that I could continue to nurse her.  From June to November, we gradually dropped feedings.  In mid-November, I knew that the end was near.  I was only feeding her every other night before bed, and my supply was awful. 

Evie went through the transition without noticing the difference.  At least, it didn't seem like she noticed.  That made me feel better.  It was probably harder on me than on her.  I still miss our quiet time, but I know that I did the right thing all along.  I did what she needed, and I'll always feel good about that. 

My Baby's Baby

There's a new baby in my house, but good thing, it's just a toy.  Evie received a baby doll for Christmas from a little friend at daycare.  I was amazed at how quickly she took to "taking care" of her baby. 

Giving Baby a hug.

Baby does not have a name; we just call her "Baby."  (It makes me feel very "Dirty Dancing."  M and I joke about not putting Baby in a corner.  It's tons of fun.)  Evie loves to hug, kiss, and feed Baby.  She also reads books to her in our rocking chair. 

I was actually a little hesitant about the doll at first.  I've tried to limit the amount of princess-y pink things that Evie has.  I honestly don't really know why.  I was never a super girly-girl, and I just want Evie to play with whatever she wants to play with, not be bound to playing with Barbies and (God forbid) Bratz dolls just because she's a girl.  Then I saw how much she genuinely loves this doll.  I guess that's what she wants to play with.  :)

Evie putting Baby in the stroller. She always buckles her in.  Safety first!

M's parents gave Evie a doll stroller when they found out how much she loves Baby.  It's so cute to watch her strap baby into the stroller and cruise around the basement with her.  She also likes to take her grocery shopping. 

Shopping sans Baby, but Baby often goes with her.

I just love seeing Evie's imagination beginning to come to life.  I guess if a doll has helped that, maybe they aren't all bad.  :)

P.S.  I apologize again for the terrible picture quality.  Our camera in on the fritz, and my phone camera is ok, but not great.  Oh, and I am a terrible photographer.  I promise I'll get better soon. 

Something I said I would NEVER do as a parent

Okay, well, it's not that big of a deal.  My title may have been a little dramatic, but it is one of the few  parenting opinions I had before becoming a parent.

I swore to myself that I would NEVER take my child into one of those play place things at the mall.  I walked past them in disgust: the yelling, the crying, the screaming, the kids wiping their noses with their hands and then touching everything. in. sight.  Nothing about the play place seemed like a good idea.  

Then, just a few short years later, I became the parent of a toddler.   Now I know why parents love these things - because kids love these things.  I'm over the yelling, crying, and screaming; that just comes with raising a toddler.  They will do that at the play place in the mall or at home or wherever they are.  The noise distributes better at the mall. :)

As far as the germs, I'm kind of over that too.  Toddlers are kind of gross sometimes.  I clean her up as best as I can, and always wash/sanitize hands when leaving the play place.

Climbing on some giant dominoes.

Am I letting my former self down??  Maybe, but I don't really care.  Evie loves the opportunity to run around, climb on things, and play with other kids.  She is so excited about it that I get excited too.  Plus, it's so much fun to see her interacting with the other kids. 

Crawling through a tunnel to greet my sister on the other side.

The weather is turning spring-like, even here in Wisconsin, and we'll be going to the park a lot more in the coming months, but the mall playland helped us through the winter when the park wasn't an option.  I have learned my lesson, and I'll never say never again.

What have you said you'd NEVER do as a parent??

Top 5 Laughs of the week

It was the least busy week we've had in a while...thank God!!!  I didn't have parent teacher conferences or meetings or fundraisers or anything of that extraordinary stuff that goes along with being a teacher keeping me at school until 7 or 8 at night.  Luckily, this coincided with a week that M didn't have any late promotional meetings either.  Woot woot to quality family time!!!

So, we managed to have a few laughs.  In no particular order:

• We have been trying to teach Evie the words for the parts of her body for some time now, and she has had a real problem with "nose."  Whenever you ask her where her nose is, she points to her ear, eyebrow, or chin.  I always laugh when she does this...it probably only encourages her to point to the wrong spot.  :(
• Related to the "nose issue,"  I recently started pushing her nose and saying beep, and then saying, "nose."  (I don't know if I thought this might help her figure it out...I'm not really worried that she'll never figure out where her nose it or anything...but it was just something goofy to do.)  Anyway, so the other day, I was holding her and she pushed my nose and said, "beep."  I cracked up.  Now she pushes everyone else's noses and says beep, but she still doesn't know where her own nose is.
• We keep Evie's toys in an old laundry basket in our living room.  Lately she has been into emptying the basket and then climbing into it herself.  I just think it's cute.
 

Please ignore the gray part at the bottom of the picture...still figuring out how to edit pics from my new phone. :(

• She has also figured out how to climb into her princess chair that she received for her birthday last summer.  I think she just likes to have a place of her own to sit!  She pulls herself onto the chair, and then she yells for one of us to give her a book.  She will load herself up with 5 or 6 books, and just sit in the chair and look at them.  

Again, ignore the gray thing...uuuugggghhh!!!

• M and I refuse to let the other one do the grocery shopping.  I know he'll miss some of my food, or I'll miss some of his and it causes a monster fight.  (We're protective of our food around here!), so the solution is to go grocery shopping together.  We went shopping last night and Evie was being a major crab.  She wanted to walk with us, not stay in the cart.  So, we let her try it in an aisle without too many other people.  She was in heaven, and then she heard the piped in grocery store music.  She started dancing in the middle of the frozen food section.  HILARIOUS!!!! 

What I've been reading

I have done book "reviews" in the past, but I hesitate to call them that.  More than anything, I love to read, and I like to share what I believe are good, interesting books with others. 

Recently, I finished The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008) by Suzanne Collins.  With all of the Hunger Games "hysteria" about the movie coming out later this month, I had to read the book before the movie came out.  The book is written for young adults, so many of my students have read it too. 

 My students had been bugging me to read the book for a while.  They told me the plot, and I hardly believe that this could be a book written for young people.  Basically, a group of twenty four 12 - 18 year olds are chosen to compete to the death for the entertainment of the "Capitol."  The Capitol controls the whole country and they use the Hunger Games as a way to exhibit their dominance over the lesser "districts."  The storyline seemed too gruesome for a young adult novel, but that's what it is.

While it was gruesome, this book was also incredibly addictive!!!  I couldn't put it down, and when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it.  I'm really curious as to how they are going to make a movie from this book.  It's very futuristic, and I think that seeing the movie would ruin the vision that I have of the District 12 (where, Katniss, the main character is from), the Capitol, and the arena in which the Games take place. 

I really enjoyed this book, and I made M go buy me the 2nd book in the trilogy the day after I finished The Hunger Games.  I am about 50 pages into that right now, and I'm excited to see how everything turns out.  It's been fun to chat with my students about the book too.  Every day they come into class and ask me what part I read the night before. 

Have you read The Hunger Games?  What did you think of it?  Are you planning to see the movie?