They were able to get me in on short notice Monday morning, and I’m thankful for that.  However, I didn’t have time to pump before I left, so I ended up thawing out one of my emergency supply bags.  I guess we will count this as an emergency.  I was nervous about leaving Don & baby alone.  They haven’t been left alone together for months!  My little bug takes a sippy cup on random occasions, but never often so I was worried he would get hungry.  The appointment also happened to be during nap-time.

Don’t worry, I called the Infant Risk Center to be sure that the medications for the dental work were Ok while nursing.  I also double checked on some pain meds for after.

As I sat in the dental chair, I could see my precious milk split and lots of crying.  I envisioned the chaos as I pulled into the garage and ran into the house.  To my complete amazement my baby had fallen asleep by his daddy shortly after I left and hadn’t even needed the sippy cup!

For the rest of the day, Don took care of everything but mealtimes.  I’m so blessed to have such a wonderful husband!

One major downside to nursing and dental work is those swift, flailing arms to the jaw!  I’m still in pain and I think it’s mostly because someone keeps bumping my face…..oh well at least he’s a cutie!

The wood stove gate makes the best place to dry cloth diapers!

Laundry Day

All dressed, reading a book, and waiting for momma……

Ready To Go

My happy baby boy!

This Puppy Sings

We started solids at 6 months old and it was a breeze after the first few attempts.

He’s eaten his was through lots of new veggies and fruits.

• sweet potatoes
• butternut squash
• zucchini
• carrots
• avocado
• apples -> gas/fussy baby
• bananas -> gas/fussy baby
• PEARS  *loves*
• oatmeal

Over the last week I’ve been extremely frustrated.  He used to gobble down about 3 oz of baby puree, but now you come at him with a spoon and he shuts his mouth!  Not only will he not open is mouth, but he also turns his head away.

I keep trying to remember that solid food during the first year is only for fun and just to get a taste of new things.  I double check Dr. Saenz notes on starting solids to make sure I’m doing it right…. I am!  I also LOVE this graph on kellymom that shows what complimentary feeding really means.

I’m sure he will come back around to solids again.  One thing I’m learning is that babies do their own thing and you are really just along for the ride.

Anyone ever experienced this? ANYONE???

Today’s topic for the Breastfeeding Blog Hop: Online Breastfeeding Safety

 I thought long and hard about how to keep myself and my nursling protected before starting my blog.  I knew the majority of my blog would be about breastfeeding my son since that is a BIG part of our daily life.

I came up with some guidelines for our family:

• For my son – I will not use his name on here EVER.  He desperately needs a blog nickname soon!!!
• For myself – no last names of anyone, address, or phone number will be posted on here.
• Pictures -  if I wouldn’t put it on a billboard in front of my house I won’t post it online.

This does NOT mean that I will stop posting a few wonderful breastfeeding pictures.  These photos are important to me!  I feel that they help breastfeeding become mainstream and really normal. In fact you should go check out this beautiful uncovered photography.

I would personally have been very lost and depressed without Lori over at The Gnome’s Mom demonstrating how to nurse in public so I could get my butt out of this house. I’ve learned so much about breastfeeding from other women putting themselves out there and I don’t believe any of us should stop.

We will revisit our family guidelines and safety again in the future but for now this fits us.

What are your thoughts?  Do you post breastfeeding photos of yourself online?

I’m so exhausted!

For the last 5 nights we have been up EVERY 2 hours from 8 pm until 6 am.  I’m not sure what’s going on, but I feel like the living dead.  We have been through reverse cycling and I thought we had recovered from that experience, but perhaps not.  The key thing in the last five nights has been that he is not hungry. 

I offer, but he’s already fast asleep.

He’s just waking up crying every 2 hours.  I pick him up, sway with him or sit down and rock him, and he’s back to sleep in a few minutes.  After the first few nights of this we just let him fuss a few minutes to see if he would just go back to sleep.  He did NOT.  Then we tried a moderate CIO approach of letting him fuss/cry and not picking him up.  We just patted him in his crib….. this was a stupid idea because it didn’t work either and only resulted in a baby that was awake LONGER!

Last night Don & I got on the same page and agreed that regardless of whether or not it’s an ear, tooth, or sleep problem he needs our attention and care.  Our goal now is simply to get him back to sleep as fast as possible even if that means picking him up and rocking him as soon as he fusses.  Don took the early evening “pick me up” shift and I took the rest of the night.   We are taking a trip to the doctor Thursday to double check those ears.

I’m a mom zombie for sure – during my shower tonight I even question if I had shampooed my hair 1 time or 3!  It is entirely possible that I conditioned it 3 times on top of what ever I did (or didn’t) do with the shampoo.

Ideas? Advice?  Reassurance that this is normal and will pass with time…..

We had a HUGE playdate this weekend.  There were 9 babies and 15 adults.   All of the moms know each other from the breastfeeding support group, but the dads have never met.  It was great for Don to at least see the people that I go out to coffee, lunch or walking in the park with.  Naturally, I forgot to take any pictures!  Hopefully, someone else did and will share with me *hint hint.*

After the big playdate we joined friends for dinner OUT!  Don & I have realized it was the first dinner we have eaten out since our son was born.  We’ve done lunch out but never dinner.

Dinner Out

Sunday was mostly hanging out around the house and just enjoying the day.  Of course, there is always something baby related that has to be done.  Since our little man has started pulling up on objects we decided to go ahead and drop the height of the crib mattress.

New View

Isn’t he cute?!  The problem here is that I’m 5 foot tall so that is a LONG stretch for me to get him down onto the mattress day and night.  I need a step stool on the outside!!!!

After we made our first batch of sweet potatoes we started purchasing some “certified organic” baby foods at the store.  I thought it would be easier and faster to just buy a few jars of different things to see if he liked them or not.  Store-bought was easier, but I really want to make the majority of my child’s food.   After all, he will be eating from my kitchen as he grows up!

We decided to start with something simple and EASY to puree —> Zucchini!

Since summer squashes are # 26 on the EWG’s pesticide residue list, I purchased 3 medium organic zucchinis that were grown in the USA.  It’s right in the middle on level of pesticides so I figure it was best to go with organic.

Making the puree was SO EASY!!!!  No extra liquids needed.

• In a large pot put in a steamer basket and about an inch of water brought to boil
• Wash then slice the zucchini into 1 inch rounds.
• Steam the zucchini in the pot with a lid for 5-7 minutes.  They should be tender when pierced with a fork.
• Allow to cool and put them into your blender and puree!  No need to peel.

Total time from prep to ice cube trays was about 20 minutes.

Check it out we have 39 ounces of zucchini puree.  I calculated the cost to be $0.13 per ounce!  That’s for organic, USA,  zucchini purchased in February!  Much less than paying $0.23- 0.30 per ounce at the store (actual price depends on brand & sales).

39 ounces of zucchini puree

It made WAY more puree than I expected!  My 7 month old might eat 3 oz of puree per day, at that rate I have nearly two weeks worth of zucchini.

It’s a good thing that once it has been frozen it will be good for three months!
Did you make your own baby food?  What other foods are easy to puree?

Today’s topic for the Breastfeeding Blog Hop: Top 5 Breastfeeding Snacks

Breastfeeding makes me super hungry!   When my baby was first born I would snack all the time.  Those late night feedings weren’t just for him!  I used to worry that snacking all the time would sabotage losing all that baby weight, but it hasn’t.  After 7 months of nursing I’m actually a little below my pre-baby weight!  When you see what I’ve been snacking on your going to be shocked!

• Peanut butter-  In the hospital and at home my favorite snack was graham crackers and peanut butter.  This combo was at my nursing station every day and during EVERY night feeding for weeks.  When I had to cut the dairy I opted for regular crackers and peanut butter.  Now that I’m able to ease back into the dairy graham crackers are making a comeback!

• Fruit-  Giving birth in the summer was wonderful as far as fresh food goes.  I had TONS of choices of fresh fruits.  I’d eat any and ALL fruits put in front of me.  My favorites were/are watermelon, pineapple, blueberries, apples, and pears!

• Oatmeal-  I’m big on enjoying oatmeal for breakfast with some blueberries mixed in.  I also make a lot of oatmeal cookies that are dairy free.  Rumor has it oatmeal is good for your supply and since it’s also heart healthy it can’t hurt.

• Pecans-  Living in the south has it’s advantages and I have gallon bags of frozen pecans in my freezer. They are a great snack!  I even take a few with us when we leave the house as a healthy snack.

• Newman Os- Did you think it was all going to be healthy? I am HUMAN after all!   Newman-Os and Fig Newmans are my favorite cookies since I can get them dairy free!

One day I plan on making some lactation cookies, but since they contain dairy those will have to wait for a few more weeks/months.

I can also say that I was a little afraid of my appetite and thirst in the beginning.  So I brought up the topic during a support group meeting and was reassured that I was not alone.  If you are feeling more hungry or thirsty than you did your entire pregnancy I understand and I’m right there with you!

Do you always feel hungry while breastfeeding?  What are your favorite snacks? 

I did a quick search through the public breastfeeding laws in states that are close to us and those we might visit on vacation.

Just browsing through the list, I have decided that Mississippi‘s breastfeeding law is fairly straightforward, but like most other states, it has no enforcement provision!

In legal terms an enforcement provision explains how the state will enforce the law with fines or other penalties for those who break the law.  Most states don’t have an enforcement provision written into their laws – who knew?

Missouri a state which we visit on a semi-monthly basis to see grandparents and family states “with as much discretion as possible.”  Now how exactly are you supposed to do that?  I’m all for discretion, but the lawyers who wrote this law have obviously never met a baby who fights a nursing cover or just likes to look around.

Other states that are in our region:

• Tennessee says something about 12 months or younger, so I guess extended nursing got overlooked when they wrote that law.
• Alabama and Arkansas are pretty standard and straightforward.
• Louisiana has a law so long that I didn’t even bother reading past the first 3 lines!  That said, they do have enforcement provisions, so WAY TO GO Louisiana!!!!

Places far away:

By far the funniest state law that I took the time to read over was California.  You know the progressive, liberal, state over on the west coast…. they aren’t supposed to breastfeed in a friend’s home without permission!  Of all the special circumstances to consider why did your friend’s home make it into the law?  Does anyone read these things?

Vermont’s law  is detailed and comes with enforcement provisions!  Hiking in Vermont this summer would be fun although traveling there probably not so much.

Hawaii is looking really great now!  Not only is it warm and sunny, but they have great breastfeeding laws backed up by some decent enforcement provisions!  AWESOME!!!!  That’s a long plane ride for adults so I doubt we would tackle that with a baby, but we did miss a few things last time…. a girl can dream big, right!

Please go check out breastfeedinglaw.com to read the laws on public breastfeeding and pumping in the workplace for your state or any state you plan on visiting.  There is a lot of legal info all on one website which I LOVE, love, love!

Don’t forget to look for the enforcement provisions.  Why are enforcement provisions important, basically no provision means the state or police can’t write a ticket or fine against those not following the law.  Want to know more about enforcement provisions go read about it here!!!

I have never encountered a problem with breastfeeding my son in public in MS, TN, or MO over the last 7 months, but I’m certain other people have and that is very sad!

Did you ever have to fight for your right to breastfeed in public?  Were you forced to cite state and federal laws to be able to pump at work?

Over the weekend it was gloomy and raining here so we all piled into the car and went shopping in the city!  I went armed with a list of things we actually needed for both Don and myself.  At the end of the day we only ended up buying things for baby?!?!  This kid has been to Toys-R-Us more times in 7 months than I ever did during my entire childhood.

Riding

After Shopping

Don’t worry we didn’t buy out the store!  We will leave that to the grandparents.

See-n-Say

Sunday was the usual chaos of trying to prepare for the work week that lies ahead for Don & myself. The last photo before the sun went down was walking around the neighborhood.

You’ve got to love a babywearing dad!!!!

Babywearing