Breastfeeding, I am so over it!

Well not really!  My nursing relationship with my daughter is so sweet!  Yeah whatever, not only am I about over it, I think she is too.  (please don't judge unless you are an animal who lives in a barn and you also work a full time job).  She has so much more to do these days like unlatch herself and look around the room for her big brother.  If she could talk I imagine she would be all,

"Seriously lady, I got better things to do than to lay here under that big ole boob of yours all day!  This working so hard for my milk is overrated.  Hey mom, I got a better idea, why don't you just get that little black bag of yours and hook them babies up and let that machine do the work for me so I don't have to use my jaw muscles so much!"

On a more serious note, I chose to breastfeed both of my children out of pure love for all things natural and for their health.  I remember supplementing big M at avery early age because we had so much going on around here with my mom being on hospice.  I also look back and feel like I really had no clue what I was doing.  If I remember correctly big M did get sick with upper respiratory stuff a good bit.  He never had an ear infection though and I'm pretty sure he has a high IQ ;0).   Little M has not had an antibiotic yet (knock on wood).  The only medicine I have ever had to give her was Tylenol once for a low grade temperature after shots.

In 2 days little M and I will have made it for 8 months as a nursing duo.  She hasn't had 1 oz. of formula and for that I am very proud.  Even when she was hospitalized 2 months ago for a head injury (that's another post), I pumped and the nurses stored it for me and we fed it to her when she could eat and we made it through without a drop in my milk supply.  Yay!

Being a mom at work pumping is a true labor of love.  This has been my biggest hurdle, making sure I pump enough when I'm working.  Thankfully, I have some very supportive and understanding co-workers.  I have only had 1 person make a negative comment to me and it was a guy and it was just about how long it took me.  Oh what I wanted to say to him!  I won't even go there!  I have had a couple of scares when she has gone through growth spurts but thankfully I had stocked the freezer when she was younger and didn't drink so much.

I was very surprised to read an article here recently about a woman in Ohio who lost a case that went to the supreme court against her employer which was Tote/Isotoner.  She was fired from her job for taking unauthorized  breaks to pump.  I read the article over and over thinking this is insane.  How could this be?  My eyes did not deceive me, it's a true story.  You can read about it here at salon.com.

Anyways, I just thought you might want to know that on Sunday me and little M will celebrate her 8 month boobday birthday!  Hip Hip Hooray!  And yes, good Lord willing and the milk don't dry up little M and I will continue on this journey for at least 4 more months!

It's not goodbye, It's see you later!

Today I went to my Uncle Ed's funeral and while between my husband and my aunt amongst many other sobbing family members and a screaming preacher, all I could think about was growing up in the country. When my Mom and Dad separated as they did so many times Ed always welcomed my mom and her children into his home.  The memories that were made at these times are priceless to me.  The memories are enriched by a family that my Uncle and his wife Melissa had created.  My cousins, their daughters, taught me how to cross-stitch, knit, sew, dress up like a clown, lay in the sun by the barn using Crisco as sun oil (ewww), sleep in a camper beside the house, deliver newspapers in the middle of the night, use the outhouse, paint with watercolors, raise animals, bake, make funnel cake, brew tea, walk country dirt roads and most importantly they taught me sisterly love.  You see, I would have never known that kind of love.  I would have never known how to do any one of those things without them.  I am my mother's only daughter.
These memories can't be anywhere near as many memories as Ed's children have of him and for that I am grateful and I know they are.  I am praying that God will be with them as they travel through the rest of their lives here on Earth without my Uncle Ed.  I am so grateful for Ed, Melissa and their family, grateful that I shared a life with them as one of their own!   Without them I may not know what family really is!

NOT ME MONDAY

Just yesterday I did not tell my husband that we had friends coming over just to get him to clean the house even though I knew they probably weren't. Nope not me. I would never do that on my wedding anniversary. This week I did not take little M to a Doctor's appointment with me and breast feed her and change her diaper in the lobby just to see the reaction on people's faces, nope not me. I would most certainly not try to entertain a waiting room full of grumpy patients just cause I knew I could.



I also most certainly did not clean off my buffet and sit little M on it in front of a mirror to get her picture.  Nope not me, I would never sit her on something high off the ground and stand back with my camera praying that she didn't jump off just to get these most lovely pictures of her.

Dear Jamey,

6 years ago today, we started our lives together. It has been beautiful, blissful, amazing, fast, bittersweet, strange, hard at times and unimaginable. For better or for worse, you have frequently reminded me.  Through the good, the bad and the ugly.
Oh dear, how could we have known what the weeks following that ever so amazing day would bring?  We I want to remember that day as oh so special and we I do but we I also remember that day as one of the last that we I might have ever seen my mom so happy.  She was so proud of you and I us!  Those dreadful 11 months (bad and ugly), you stood by me every single step of the way.  You are my rock.

Just 2 months later we would learn that I was we were pregnant with our first child (the good).  How that happened we will never know, I mean we hardly slept in the same bed house together.  I remember calling you from the breakroom at work,  I could almost hear your smile over the phone.  I think both of us thought it would never happen.  M was a true heaven sent.  He was our rock.  We pushed forward for him.  He needed us and God knew we needed him.

5 years later we welcomed our sweet baby girl into the world.  MEH, she is her brother's pride and joy.     Now our family is complete!  Just to think all this is the product of our love for one another!  I love you so much!  I hope we are blessed with many more years together!

Seriously, You're sleeping and I'm starting a blog!

So previously I had a post here that just talked about why I wanted to start a blog and I had to go and try to make my blog all cutesy and I accidentally erased the whole post.  Jamey was sleeping on the couch and both kids were asleep in their beds.  I  was all excited this being my first blog post and all! I guess enough already about all that.  I am totally excited about starting this blog so that we may look back at these days and remember how they were and to document this most precious journey of life we are own!

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