I am a breastfeeder/pumper. I struggle with it every day. It's a beautiful thing. It's the best provider of nutrients to your baby. But, it's also ugly. It hurts. Your nipples become unrecognizable. Personally, I became a pumper pretty early on. My girl was losing a good amount of weight and it drove me crazy that I could not SEE how many ounces she was getting in a feeding. Beyond that, it took us both some time to figure out what we were doing. In the meantime, my breasts were extremely engorged, and I had a cracked, bleeding, excrutiatingly painful nipple on one side. I could NOT feed her from that side, she wasn't getting enough from the other side. She was hungry, I hurt...I turned to my pump. (Medela Pump In Style, I love you and I hate you.) It was SO nice to put myself on a schedule and work out the engorgement while giving my poor nipple time to heal....all while still getting milk to feed the baby. Three months later, and now that I'm back to work, it's nice to be on such a schedule. M has had no "nipple confusion." I know that happens, but for us....so far so good. I still breastfeed my girl in the evenings and on the weekends. We're much better at it now. And sometimes, that girl just wants the boob! I can only talk about my own thoughts and experiences here. Maybe it's helpful, maybe it's encouraging, maybe it's just nice to know that someone is out there who understands? I hope so to all of those things. "Right" or "wrong" in the eyes of La Leche League, I don't care. This is what works for US! I came across this Hello Giggles article yesterday by Bethany Joy Galeotti. (I just love BJG. She just seems like a cool chick. And, let's face it....so am I. I totally think we'd be friends, but I digress.) It's just a word of encouragement to breastfeeding moms who feel like they want to give up. Like I said, I struggle with this every day. My goal is to make it to 6 months, then use whatever freezer supply that's left at that time. But if I should need to stop sooner, or if you are reading this and feel guilty because you have stopped. DO NOT FEEL GUILTY! Of all the benefits of breastfeeding, I can think of one thing that IS better for your baby. That's a happy and healthy momma. This article was encouraging to me and I wanted to share it, which prompted this blog posting. I thought about keeping all the bloody details to myself instead of posting them here. But...that's me, Milk Machine, honestly.
My 30 before 30 list got me thinking about travel. I love to explore, I love to road trip, I love to learn. And so, I love to travel. I have lots of places I hope to see one day. Here is my immediate list. I think I could manage it in the next 10 years.
1. Take my girl to Disney World.
2. Michigan in January. (Take M to NAIAS and to see snow…and visit her family, of course.)
3. Kentucky (I go here every year for a family reunion, but I really want to work in some site-seeing one of these years.)
4. Hawaii: cruise for 1 week, island for 1 week (to be determined if we’ll do Maui again or a new island.)
5. New York---Road Trip: NYC, Niagara Falls, Cooperstown, Queensbury (We plan to go to see Ken Griffey Jr. inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame….so this IS happening in 2016! Although it's a ways off, I’m as excited for this trip as I was for either of our HI trips.)
6. Vegas/Grand Canyon (I realize they’re not THAT close, but I figure if I’m going to 1, I may as well work them both into one trip. They’re a lot closer to each other than I am to either of them.)
7. Washington DC.
8. Go somewhere just to see the autumn colored leaves.
9. New York. We need to do a separate trip to NY that includes M. We don’t plan to take her on the “road trip” one. (of course….that’s 4 years, off so who knows.)
10. Cruise with my honey. I don’t care where, just go!
1. Take my girl to Disney World.
2. Michigan in January. (Take M to NAIAS and to see snow…and visit her family, of course.)
3. Kentucky (I go here every year for a family reunion, but I really want to work in some site-seeing one of these years.)
4. Hawaii: cruise for 1 week, island for 1 week (to be determined if we’ll do Maui again or a new island.)
5. New York---Road Trip: NYC, Niagara Falls, Cooperstown, Queensbury (We plan to go to see Ken Griffey Jr. inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame….so this IS happening in 2016! Although it's a ways off, I’m as excited for this trip as I was for either of our HI trips.)
6. Vegas/Grand Canyon (I realize they’re not THAT close, but I figure if I’m going to 1, I may as well work them both into one trip. They’re a lot closer to each other than I am to either of them.)
7. Washington DC.
8. Go somewhere just to see the autumn colored leaves.
9. New York. We need to do a separate trip to NY that includes M. We don’t plan to take her on the “road trip” one. (of course….that’s 4 years, off so who knows.)
10. Cruise with my honey. I don’t care where, just go!
I'm a list maker. It's ridiculous, actually. I have lists all over my house. My husband loves it. (ha.) I thought it would be fun to jump on the "30 before 30" wagon. I have 18 months (what?!) to complete these items and/or work them in to my every day life. In addition to making lists....I LOVE to check things off of those lists. So, I had to throw a few easy ones in for encouragement.
1. Try one new recipe every month.
2. Complete one item from Pinterest every month. (No cheating challenge!: item cannot count as my new recipe of the month. If the Pinterest item IS a recipe….I must make 2 new recipes.)
3. Use my canvas shopping bags.
4. Update my blog in some way once per week.
5. Become a stay at home mom and wife….domestic diva extraordinaire!
6. Make money doing something I love.
7. Read more.
8. Workout three times per week.
9. Train for and complete a 5k.
10. Visit a winery. Will they let me stomp grapes?
11. Stomp grapes.
12. Shoot a gun.
13. Develop my photographic skills. My camera and I are capable of way more.
14. Speak up.
15. Go on a cruise with Adam!
16. Successfully make my own sushi.
17. Pay off designated debt.
18. Do something with my hair.
19. Learn how to better use my makeup.
20. Buy good makeup.
21. Get professional photos made of my little family.
22. Make it to Michigan at least once.
23. Brunch more often.
24. Bring back “date night.”
25. Learn to coupon effectively.
26. Meal plan.
27. Take M to the beach.
28. Go bike riding.
29. Get organized and stay that way.
30. Go to a new concert….and probably a few oldies but goodies. (Ahem, LP?!)
1. Try one new recipe every month.
2. Complete one item from Pinterest every month. (No cheating challenge!: item cannot count as my new recipe of the month. If the Pinterest item IS a recipe….I must make 2 new recipes.)
3. Use my canvas shopping bags.
4. Update my blog in some way once per week.
5. Become a stay at home mom and wife….domestic diva extraordinaire!
6. Make money doing something I love.
7. Read more.
8. Workout three times per week.
9. Train for and complete a 5k.
10. Visit a winery. Will they let me stomp grapes?
11. Stomp grapes.
12. Shoot a gun.
13. Develop my photographic skills. My camera and I are capable of way more.
14. Speak up.
15. Go on a cruise with Adam!
16. Successfully make my own sushi.
17. Pay off designated debt.
18. Do something with my hair.
19. Learn how to better use my makeup.
20. Buy good makeup.
21. Get professional photos made of my little family.
22. Make it to Michigan at least once.
23. Brunch more often.
24. Bring back “date night.”
25. Learn to coupon effectively.
26. Meal plan.
27. Take M to the beach.
28. Go bike riding.
29. Get organized and stay that way.
30. Go to a new concert….and probably a few oldies but goodies. (Ahem, LP?!)
Does anyone remember this show? The baby always wanted "the momma" despite the dad's best efforts. I mentioned in my previous post that things have changed. Among those things....I am now a momma. My girl is 3 months old. 3 months old TODAY in fact. Yesterday, she very much had a "not the momma" day. She was either asleep, eating or crying for the bulk of the day. I can't blame her, the poor thing is enduring this current growth spurt like a champ. When she was alert, she only wanted me and I whole heartedly obliged. Adam, try as he may, could not console her. He's a great dad. GREAT! But, she just wanted me, and selfishly, I absolutely loved it.
I tried to take some "3 Month" pictures of her yesterday. I didn't get what I envisioned. She wasn't in the mood. But, I thought these were kind of funny and cute (obviously.)...
She was completely fixated by something on the ground...
She thought for a minute...
Then, gave it her best "duck face"...
Being so cute got her feeling tired, so she had to lay down...
Then she said, "Momma, enough already or I will punch you." As you can imagine, I was pretty scared...so we stopped.
The take away: These pictures are not what I had in mind. But, they still make me smile. And there's always tomorrow to take pictures. Ending the "photo session" allowed for what M needed... more cuddle time. It's what I needed too.
And MY how things have changed. I realize I have no grand following here, and that's ok. There's not been much to follow. I plan to work on that, it's part of my 30 before 30 list of goals. I have been inspired by my friend, Whitney to make some goals I hope to accomplish by 30...and really, as an avid list maker, why shouldn't I have such a list?! More on that later. Sometimes, I have stuff to say....sometimes I don't say those things when I should. I thought if I use my blog as an outlet, maybe some of those things can help someone out there? Or at least make them laugh. Maybe. This blog will be used for my various ramblings, musings, advice, recipes, etc....whatever strikes me. Because that's me. That's all I can be.
