Super-cop

That's our nickname for Finnian.

He thinks he's in charge of what Elle is and isn't allowed to touch. SOMETIMES he will ask "is baby Elle allowed to suck on that?"... but most of the time he will just decide she isn't allowed and he will take it upon himself to rectify the situation.

BIG NEWS: Elle started crawling yesterday!

But what should be a momentous milestone is just exacerbating the "super-cop" issue... and wearing this momma out!

I think I could handle it if it was just a "sharing" issue. I've told Finn that if he's built a train with Lego or anything and really doesn't want Elle getting it then he can play in the music room (it's up a couple steps from the living room, and has a door, so even when Elle can manage the steps he can just close the door). But it's not that, it's everything!

In the kitchen I put her on the floor while I'm doing stuff and if, heaven forbid, she tries to open a cupboard, super-cop is there to slam the door closed! (thankfully no tiny fingers have be in the way... yet!)

So that and a long weekend and a couple other things have left me a little irritable today, so Conor let me go out for lunch and regroup... he's a great guy :)

Sweeney Singers Concert TONIGHT!

Here's the info about the concert tonight, more info on the Sweeney Singers website. Proceeds are going to BC Teen Challenge.

The spring practice season for the Sweeney Singers is in full swing. We are working on a range of brand new pieces, and old favourites from our latest recording. As always, we’ve planned a wide variety of genres, which include Sicut Cervus by Palestrina, (for all you early music buffs) Blue Skies by Irving Berlin, and Espiritu de Dios, a sacred Spanish piece. 

In addition to our choral pieces we’re working on a mixture of trios, and quartets to add some variety and give the singers a chance to showcase their individual voices. 

A particular favourite in the practice room so far is This Marriage by popular American composer and conductor Eric Whitacre. It’s hard to resist the straining harmonies of the piece that are so characteristic of Whitacre. 

The concert will be held at Bakerview Church on May 30, 2012 at 7:30 pm. All proceeds of the concert will go to a charity soon to be announced with admission by donation. 

Long but fun weekend!

Sorry I still don't have any pics up... I looked at the ones I had taken and they really aren't the best, so I think I'm going to go through some pics on Facebook that other people put up and ask them if I can put them on my blog... For you, but also for me, because I would like something for myself to look back on, which is the whole point of this blog!

Yesterday afternoon my mom and brother and family had a BBQ at their place. My moms two sisters came for the wedding, so this way we could all visit a bit more before they went home.

It was great! The weather was still nice and the food was so good, I ate too much!

At one point I was wondering where Finn was (he would randomly go inside for a bit to play trains), but when I looked behind me I saw him sitting at the top of a little slide that was there. For anyone who knows Finn, he does NOT go down slides, not by himself at least.

I thought for sure he was just going to get up and climb back down again, but to my shock and amazement he went down the slide!!

I didn't say anything, but I watched him do it again, and then I casually went over and asked what he was doing and he asked me to watch... and then he just did it over and over again!

And there was another slide and he went down that one later. Seriously, such a little thing, but I loved watching him do it and get out of his comfort zone a little but!

Tonight the Sweeney Singers have their dress rehearsal for their concert on Wednesday... I can't remember the time, but I'll post it later for anyone who wants to come! After that we can all relax a bit!

A beautiful wedding

Well my brother Dan has tied the knot!!

I'm just at my moms hotel until the reception, so I'll post some pics tomorrow.

It really was beautiful though... it was so "them". Cute, quirky, crafty, funny.. And special :)

After the ceremony they had a reception at the church. I don't know exactly how many people were there, but Dan was expecting around 300!! After that they had a sideshow, and then an open mic (even *I* got up to speak!) and the cake cutting.

Poor Elle was exhausted! She hadn't slept on the way in, and then it was after 2pm and she fell asleep cuddled up to me - so precious!! We still had to do family photos so I couldn't leave.

We finally got those done and mom came with me and the kids to the hotel and the kids ate a bit.

I tried to get Elle to sleep again but it was taking awhile, mom had left and Finn started calling my name, so I laid Elle on the bed and went to Finn... he had gone out into the hallway of the hotel! I got him back in and tried to get a DVD on for him when I heard a bang - Elle had fallen off the bed!!

Anyways, I finally got Elle to sleep, Finn is watching Thomas the train, and I'm laying on the hide-a-bed typing this after I had a rest!

I'll get the kids ready soon to go to the dinner reception.

Oh, and they both did REALLY well during the ceremony! We didn't have to leave the sanctuary at all, and I even got to take some pictures!!

10 years ago...

Conor asked me out! I can't believe it's been 10 years.

And today we are heading off to Ladner to witness my brother Dan and his awesome fiancé Amy, tie the knot!!

There will be a lot of things that we will miss by moving so far away... but I am so so so happy that we won't be missing this!!

Good girl!!

When Elle woke up in the night I was confused. Light was coming in through the windows. I racked my brain trying to remember what time it was that she had her OTHER wake up in the night, only to realize that she had not woken up any other time.

It was 5am and she hadn't woken up at all before then!!! AND what's even better was after her bottle I only had to giver her the soother once and she slept until 8am!!

When I finally turned around she was as pictured below... all to way in one corner of the crib, sitting up, and trying to get things off my night stand!! (and trying to pull herself up, time to lower the mattress!)

And right now she is playing peek-a-boo with me. Lifting up her blanket to block her face and then pulling it down and giggling hysterically when I act surprised and say "oooh! There's the baby!)

New tricks make for sleepless nights

The more mobile Elle gets, the more disruptions to night time sleep we get.

First it was rolling from back to front. Something most babies do at 6 months, Elle did at 10. So whenever she woke up at night she would practice her new trick... but she didn't want to sleep in that position, so I would have to keep going over and putting her on her back... she used to be able to roll front to back, not sure why she doesn't now!

Now it's sitting up. When she is on all fours she can get herself into the sitting position. She CAN get herself back onto her stomach from this position, but I think she enjoys the viewpoint too much to do it, so she just mucks around until I get up and put her on her back. It's normally not such a big deal when she was only waking up to eat, but last night she was waking up every hour. I think I only really slept well from 2-5am.

When she woke up this morning she wasn't crying so I just left her in the crib for a while. When I finally went and got her she was sitting up and had taken everything off my nightstand! Guess I'll have to watch what I keep on there now!

I don't even want to think about what it's going to be like when she can crawl and pull herself up! Oi!

The only consolation is that she isn't crying... when she wakes up in the night she is just awake and starts blabbing and laughing. But she's in our room still, so it keeps me up (Conor sleeps through everything!)

I had been wondering why I've been so tired lately (and sleeping 2.5 hours in the afternoon!) - now I realize why.

The well is dry

As I write this on my iPod, Elle is drinking her very last bottle of breastmilk :(

The last time I pumped was Saturday morning. Before then I was pumping once a day, sometimes twice. But then yesterday I just didn't feel like I had to pump in the morning... or before bed... or this morning.

So I guess we are done with pumping. I wish that I could have continued but it just wasn't working for us.

I'm not really feeling MUCH "mommy guilt"... but I am in mourning! I breast fed because I do believe that breast is best... but also because, to me, it is so easy! I especially miss breast feeding when Elle wakes up in the night to eat.

Anyways, I think it's all done, so that is that. My plan now is to try introducing milk at 11 months (very very slowly... Maybe just an ounce a day for a week and then increase by another ounce) and then hopefully by the time we fly to Australia she will be completely off formula. Although we'll see what's easier for flights... the ready to go liquid stuff might end up being a better option.

The good and the bad

The good: Elle only needed one bottle in the night (at 3am)

The bad: she woke up at 6 and it was too bright to get her back to sleep!

I need black out blinds but I don't think it's in the budget :(

Elle - 10 Months Old

Ten Months Old - and I'm glad I only have a couple more of these to go, because they are getting more difficult!

Yes, this is two days late. Bad mommy! I'll use Mothers Day as one excuse :)

Elle is finally rolling back to front, but I've never actually seen her do it because she only does it in her crib as she's trying to fall asleep!

She is getting more comfortable on her stomach, and getting up onto her knees, and rocking. But no crawling yet! Yesterday after bath time she had a bit of a rashy bum so I was letting her play naked. I put her on her hands and knees and she straightened her legs so that she was on her hands and tiptoes, with her bare bun straight up n the air! It was so funny, and every time I tried to get her onto her knees she would straighten her legs again. Monkey!

Haha, not the best pic ever, but I have quite the mover to work with.

This month due to a cold, she quit nursing cold turkey.  I really really hoped she would start again, but she is still not nursing, so I'm calling it now... all done. I'm just pumping twice a day, in the morning and before I go to bed. I started "weaning" from the pump two Sundays ago, so I'm hoping to be done soon. I actually haven't pumped yet today (it's almost 1pm as I write this). Pumping was just a lot more work than I anticipated. So formula it is. She gets one bottle of breastmilk in the night, I usually get about 5-7 ounces for her, and the rest is formula.

I'm actually STILL trying to figure out how much formula to give her. Previously she would devour every bottle I gave her and then cry as soon as it was done. It wasn't until yesterday and today that she would sometimes leave an ounce or two and be done. So she's getting 4 - 7 ounce bottles during the day. And then whatever breastmilk I have during one feeding in the night (usually around 1am) and then a 5ounce bottle of formula (around 5am).

Love that face

Another change since her 9 month update also has to do with eating AND the previously mentioned cold.  During the cold I noticed that she was gagging more on food, and just not wanting to do the work.  So I mushed up some banana for her and fed her with a spoon and she devoured it!  I think the baby-led weaning was great for getting her into food, but now she wants more than what she can chew on her own.  I can't believe how much she is eating now!  And anything I give her.  I pureed brocoli and carrots, and then cauliflower and carrots and she just kept eating and eating and eating.  So now I try to give her one pureed thing per meal as well as one thing she can hold and eat (or play with).  This is good because then she is eating more, but then I still have that time while she's got her own food so that I can eat my food, or clean up my dishes.  And then she's still getting to work on her chewing skills.

Sleep has taken a bit of a hit since the introduction of the bottle.  She would never fall asleep nursing before, but she would at least get relaxed enough that I could lay her down and she would virtually fall asleep on her own, but now it's a bit more work sometimes.  For her morning nap I wrap her up and rock her for a couple minutes just to calm her down, and then I lay her down.  Sometimes I have to pat her a bit, sometimes not.  She usually sleeps for 20 minutes, but sometimes longer.  Her afternoon nap I give her a bottle upstairs first, and then when we go down I can sometimes just wrap her up and lay her down, sometimes I have to pat her, and other times I have to do what I do for the morning nap.  She still naps for at least 1.5 hour then... sometimes up to 3.5 hours!

Bedtime I give her the bottle upstairs, and then bring her down, wrap her up and put her in bed.  Sometimes that's all... sometimes I have to go in and keep re-wrapping her or giving her the soother.  I KNOW I should start getting her used to not being swaddled... but it's just too much work! haha.  Maybe as it gets hotter out.. because right now it is cold enough in our room at night that if her arms are out the whole time, or hands will get really cold.

It took a while to figure out how to get her back to sleep after her night feedings.. but for her, it works best if I just turn on the lights and let her feed herself with the bottle and then wrap her and put her back to bed.  If I try to keep her wrapped while I hold the bottle, she needs rocking or patting before she can fall back asleep.

What else... well her personality is definitely coming through.  When we eat out on the sundeck (love the nice weather!) I usually sit in between her and Grandpa, she LOVES to play peek-a-boo with him.  It's so cute, and her giggle is just adorable.  On the other end of the spectrum, if she isn't happy about something she has taken to throwing her head back and whining/crying.  It's kind of cute, but I don't want to encourage it! haha

Anyways, I think that's enough for now!  She's napping at the moment, so as soon as she gets up I'll take her pic and then post this by tonight :)

No energy

At this moment I have no energy.

I meant to post Elle's 10 month update yesterday, but I didn't.

So I meant to do it today, but I still didn't.

Hopefully tomorrow... I still need to take the pics of her too.

Right now I'm attempting to get her to sleep without swaddling... It's been about 20 minutes of going on constantly to give her the soother... I can probably only hold out for another 15 minutes... Maybe.

I'll let you know how it goes, tomorrow, with her 10 month update.

Heart attack

I almost had a heart attack when Finn's #2 was blue!

Yes BLUE!

I was freaking out, racking my brain to try to figure out what he had eaten differently.

Then I remembered the BLUE ICE CREAM yesterday!  So if your kid ever eats blue ice cream, don't be shocked when you see it come out blue the next day :)

Sleeping like a baby

... a newborn baby... who still wakes up twice to eat!

It didn't bother me so much when I was breast feeding. I didn't have to turn in the lights... and she would go right back to sleep. There were no tears involved, I would just grab her and feed her if she woke up.

Now she wakes up... if she has come unswaddled (yes, she stills sleeps swaddled) I try to re-wrap her... Or just give her the binky. That's when the crying starts, the loud frantic crying.

Conor goes upstairs to get the bottle ready and the crying continues... until said bottle is in her hand.

Last night I even tried giving her bigger bottles... 7ounces instead of 5. She devoured it at bed time and then had a 4 ounce bottle and then STILL devoured another 7 ounces at 4am.

UGH double ugh! That first week she stopped nursing she was only waking once to eat... It was awesome.

Also, if I try to keep her swaddled while she has her bottle with the lights out and then put her back to bed she just cries and cries and I have to jiggle her to sleep. But if I turn on the lamp, let her hold the bottle and the swaddle her and put her in bed she generally will go right back to sleep... I might just have to give her the soother once.

Any tricks that I should try. She is in our room, so cry-it-out is not really an option.

Adjusting

Well we are starting to adjust to this whole bottle feeding thing. I'll update more at the end of the week as to how it's all going down.

On Thursday we went into Burnaby to do our required health exams for the Australian visa... $800 later! Yes, it was over $800.

It was an awkward day because we went to metrotown first, since it's right across the street. So I had to pump in the car on the way there! Haha... Another use for the nursing cover :)

The kids did really well! Conor and I had to have blood drawn and chest x-rays, but luckily the kids didn't.

My plan was for Elle to nap on the drive in (her usual morning nap time), because the exam was at 1:30, which is her afternoon nap time. She, however, did not fall asleep on the drive in! I thought she would be a basket case by the time the appointment came, but she did relatively well. Then she conked out in the car on the drive home, but only for about 45 minutes! Crazy kid.

We took the kids to moms on Sat morning and then went to Superstore and out for coffee :) Mom gave Conor a Mocxies gift card as a belated bday present, so I'm looking forward to using that! (she will take the kids, of course!)

To "celebrate" my new found freedom from Elle I'm getting a manicure-pedicure on Saturday! I had bought a groupon for it awhile ago and wanted to do it before my brothers wedding. Mom was so excited because it means she gets the kids again! Haha - I love my mom!

I also had already booked a hair cut for Friday morning, and now Conors brother and sis-in-law are having a housewarming on Sat evening. Conor is going to stay home and I will go, since it's in North Burnaby. It will be a nice weekend for me!!

Anyways, I'm still making some adjustments to this bottle thing this week, I'll tell you about it later, but pray that it goes smoothly!

Baby-led Weaning Part 2

So the funny thing is, now that I'm FINALLY getting around to posting this, Elle is being spoon fed and loving it!  When she had her cold she was gagging a lot more on foods that she previously hadn't been gagging on, so I tried giving her some green beans that I had blended and put in the freezer awhile ago, and she devoured them!


Some foods she will still take whole... but I tried to give her an asparagus at dinner and she just looked at it and tossed it on the ground!  So it looks like we're going to be doing some half-BLW, half-Spoon... but shhhh, don't tell!


Here's part 1, if you missed it.

Hello again!  So, do I have you all waiting with bated breath??  Have you ditched the blender and spoons??

I’d guess probably not, unless you did some more of your own research, because it’s really not a new thing by any means.

First off, the first thing I did after getting an idea of what Baby-led Weaning was look for a book… that’s when I found “Baby-led Weaning” by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett.  I bought it on Kindle for $9 and read it in one day!  Would I recommend it to others?  Yes and No.  The first 3 chapters are VERY repetitive, but there are little goodies of information in them still.  It’s written based on personal experience of the authors, and by mothers contributing their experiences of BLW, BUT there really is no real research (from what I gathered at least) to some of the claims they make, other than being “anecdotal”.  Also, if you are not a breast-feeder, you might get a little wearied by how “preachy” the book can be towards promoting breastfeeding, but if you can get past that, it still has a lot of good info.  Also, there are probably a lot of blogs and such on the internet to learn more about BLW, some of which I link to in this post, BUT sometimes a good old book is the way to go! All in all I’m glad I bought and read it.

This post is a bit long and wordy, sorry!  But I wanted to include as much as possible.  One this that I found very interesting from the book was a little history of how mothers used to introduce solids (hint: it wasn’t purees!) to how we got to where we are today with baby cereals and purees.  I didn’t include it in this post, but if you are interested, read this post on my personal blog.

Now onto the big 3, in my mind, of what to know about baby-led weaning.

1.     Gagging vs Choking

2.     How to start

3.     What not to feed

Here is the website that I got this info from.  Definitely follow the links to the specific posts, but I’ve added a few basic notes if you don’t get a chance to read it right away.

1. Is it gagging or choking?

·      This is a great post talking about probably the biggest fear in BLW – that your baby will choke.

·      Basically your baby is going to gag.  It is natural and completely safe.  It’s a reflex that they have to keep food (other other objects) from getting to the throat if they are too big.  But the most important thing to note is that the babies gag reflex is far closer to the front of the mouth than an adult. Initially your baby probably won’t even get any food to the back of their mouth.  The food will be handled, and brought to their mouth, but if anything enters the mouth it will probably just get pushed right out.  As they develop their skills, they will begin to learn how to chew (or gum) their food, and learn how to move the food around their mouth.  This is when gagging will start.  But they will learn.

·      This is not for the faint of heart! People will ask if she is choking, if she should have pieces of food in whichever size or hardness you choose to give them.  Be prepared to get some questioning looks!

·      My favorite part of this post is this “In fact the transition from purees to mashed food and then onto lumpy and finger foods, can cause problems for babies who become accustomed to eating in a certain way. They learn to swallow before they can chew, whereas baby led weaned babies learn to chew before they swallow.”

·      Although that gagging reflex is there precisely to prevent the child from choking, it’s a good idea to take infant CPR… even if you don’t do BLW you should know infant CPR (and I should probably practice what I preach!)

I was at my moms the other night for dinner and Elle start gagging and coughing more than usual.  I finally just picked her up and brought her to the living room where she proceeded to throw up on me “dislodging” whatever was causing her to gag, and then was as happy as could be!

So now that you aren’t afraid of the choking problem, how do you start?

2. Starting baby led weaning

·      I started Elle on a chunk of apple and she loved it.  She got NOTHING out of that thing but the juice… now about 2 weeks later she is gnawing out little spots here and there.

·      Important things to remember: The baby should be sitting upright (so that if they DO gag, they can more easily move the food to the front of the mouth), and it’s best to give solids AFTER the baby has had their milk feeding (especially when you first start, BLW is about learning about the food, not actually eating it…yet)

3. Lastly, what not to feed your baby.

·      BLW throws a lot of concerns about what not to feed out the window.  Generally doctors recommend that you introduce one food at a time for at least 3 days before introducing something else.  But the book I talked about earlier says that this is only because people introduce food to their babies before 6 months, when a babies immune system is not as advanced.  It states MANY times that babies should NOT start any solids at all until 6 months.  Then at that point, unless there is a history of certain allergies, you shouldn’t be worried about introducing things at a faster rate.

·      It also mentions that another reason you don’t need to restrict how many foods you introduce is because the amount that the baby actually ingests from each item, if they ingest anything at all, will be very small, and will gradually increase as they get older and better at eating.  This is different than spoon feeding where what you give them, if they eat it, could be many spoon-fulls.

Here are a few other little random things that I got out of the book:

·      There used to be a thought that once a baby reached 12 lbs they needed to start solids… but it’s becoming more and more clear that isn’t the case, and that 6 months is still the benchmark for the earliest to start solids.

·      The idea that babies need more iron – the book mentions the fact many times that mothers breast-milk is not going to be depleted of all iron overnight, nor is the baby suddenly not going to have any more stores of iron from birth in it’s body.  It’s a GRADUAL thing, so starting solids at 6 months gives you more than enough time for baby to start getting enough iron from food before it really starts needing more, at about a year old.  It’s also starting to become apparently that the iron in iron fortified cereals is harder to digest, especially if the baby is under 6 months old.

·      This part I found interesting, but I’m not sure how much to believe it.  The book talks about phases of eating that babies will go through and proposes that babies know what their bodies need at any given time.  In turn, they will turn down foods that do not give them the nutrients that they are needing at that time, and will eat a lot of things that the body is needing. Eg. If they are going through a growth spurt, they will instinctively eat things that will aid in this.  Or if they are getting a cold, they will go for foods that are good for staying healthy and warding off sicknesses.

·      The book proposes that spoon-feeding purees can lead to obesity in children (because you are feeding them, you don’t always listen to them if they really aren’t hungry, and the child will be coaxed or force to eat more than they need)… it also suggests that this form of feeding can lead to picky eating… as opposed to baby-led weaning where they child will naturally get more variety, and because they are in control of what they eat and how much, you may avoid battles later in life. I really wish I could go back and do BLW with my now 3 year old son and see if he would turn out to be a better eater… because dinner time is our own hell half the time!  On the other hand, I guess we will see how it all turns out with the baby girl… but then she might have turned out to be a better (or worse) eater either way.

So that’s my overview of baby-led weaning.  In the end you really have to go with what you feel is right.  When my son started eating, he really did love cereal and purees so much, if I had known about BLW I can’t promise I would have been sold on it.  Although I’m sure it would have helped me introduce finger foods earlier. Since Elle would not eat purees, I found this, and love watching her eat now.  Either way, feeding babies is so much better when you can SEE that they are enjoying whatever it is they are eating… whether it’s purees or solids.

I have a feeling that many mothers of 2 or more children eventually get to the point of doing baby-led weaning with their children just for the convenience of not having to spoon feed a baby while looking after yourself and your 1+ other children.

Oh! And before I forget, there is an AWESOME facebook group for people who have questions about baby-led weaning, or just want to connect with other mothers (from all over the world) who do BLW.  It’s from the same people who do the website I linked to earlier: “Baby led weaning – Let your baby feed themselves”

Still on strike

Yep, Elle still hasn't nursed.  I have been passively trying to get her to, but she won't.  I might wait a couple of days, make sure her cold is definitely gone, and then try a bit harder.

I really really love nursing... and it's just soo much easier.  But right now I'm a bit happier because I have a bit of a system going now.  Tomorrow might wreck it a bit, because we are going into Vancouver to do our medical exams for the Australia Visa... but otherwise I'm trying to pump regularly, and pump to the point where no more milk is coming down, to hopefully coax my body to start producing even more milk.

A lady I talked to who exclusively pumped and bottle fed her second child said that she would get 9 ounces of milk every 3 hours!  I'm getting around 4 or 5.  This is basically just keeping her fed for the day, but I would LOVE to be able to pump more and start freezing it.  That way if she really HAS stopped nursing, I won't even have to pump for the rest of the time we are in Canada.  If I can pump double what I need, then I only really have to pump for 1.5 or 2 months.  I still just have the rental pump, but I'm looking into buying a used one off someone for only $20, so that would be more motivation for me to keep pumping (as opposed to switching to formula) to save $$$.

There were two things that were really annoying me about the whole pumping thing.

1. Having to take the time to PUMP and still having to FEED Elle.  She drinks slower from a bottle than she does nursing, so this means that the process takes more than twice the normal time.

Solution:  I hope to get into a schedule where I can pump WHILE she has a bottle.  She is really good at holding it herself and being able to finish the whole bottle without any help.  So this should work fine, if I can get the timing right.

2. Bottles.  Cleaning bottles, organizing bottles, cleaning the pump parts.  This has been a pain in the butt!  And since we live in a house with so many people I can't always get to the kitchen sink to wash stuff when I want to.  On top of that, I hate creating more things taking up counter space up there.

Solution:  I made a little washing station in our bathroom downstairs!  We just share it with one of Conor's brothers, so I don't think he minds!  This is just for the pumping things, because I need to get them washed right after I'm done so that they are ready to go for the next session.  Upstairs I got a container and labeled it "bottles" so then when the dishwasher is being emptied, the bottle things can all just go in that container and then I can bring it down and keep it in our bedroom.

Basically I'm being pessimistic and expecting that Elle is done nursing.  This way I'm mentally prepared to do this pumping thing, and I have a plan for the future (since we are leaving the country just after Elle turns one, i will have to transition her out of breastmilk by then anyways, if she isn't nursing).  Then if she DOES magically start nursing again, it will be a pleasant surprise :)

My boyfriend saves the day

My boyfriend

Conor likes to call my iPod my boyfriend.

Today we were just talking about that... and he was making fun of me.

Then as I walked away he said "you know what else?" and he went to smack me on the butt, but my iPod was in my back pocket, so he hurt his hand!

Haha, the boyfriend sticks up for me!

Hunger Strike

The last few days have been the hardest ever for me! Ugh!

Elle still has her cold.  After the post I wrote on Friday, she nursed again at bedtime and again at midnight.

Since then she has nursed ONCE, on one side only.

That's more than 2.5 days of no nursing!

I didn't own a pump and I only owned two bottles (mainly so that if I wanted to pump one bottle here or there so that I could go out - like to see the hunger games!)

I went and bought a manual pump off someone, and it ended up not working, thankfully she said I could return it to her, which is really nice of her.

I finally went to the hospital yesterday and rented a breast pump.  I'm torn between wanting to make sure she eats (especially since she is sick), and wanting to make sure she doesn't get used to a bottle (I read things that said to try giving the milk in a cup or something other than a bottle, but she just wants to grab the cup from me and doesn't know how to drink from it, so bottle it is).

Today I went and bought some used bottles off someone, and some breast milk storage bags so that I can freeze the milk in those instead of using up my precious supply of bottles to freeze them (actually I got so desperate yesterday that I had to use two jam jars to freeze my milk!)

Like I said before, thankfully she is taking the bottle.  Usually just a couple ounces, but one of the feedings yesterday she drank 5 ounces!  And she actually really likes the bottle!  If it weren't so infuriating it would be so cute, she grabs ahold of the bottle with both hands.  She cries out if you try to help her - how independent!

I keep trying nursing first, during the day I might even hold out until naptime and hope that if she is sleepy she will nurse... but again I've had no luck.

I feel so out of sorts.  Luckily I'm a lot more comfortable now that I've been pumping, and I'm slowly getting a bit of a system for pumping and storing (freezing some, refrigerating the rest), washing bottles.

Seriously it is SOO much work.  I'm a firm believer that breast is best... but obviously there are times (like now) when you have no other choice.  But at this point I can't see why anyone would choose to bottle feed if they can nurse! haha... too many dishes to do, and especially with pumping.  You have to take the time to pump, then take the time to feed the baby, and THEN you have to wash/sterilize the pump and bottles.  And I still don't know how exactly to do the middle of the night feeding without a lot of stress.  Luckily Finn has been sleeping well (even though he has a cold too), so Conor is in our room all night to help me.  We sleep downstairs so if I have to heat up a bottle for Elle I have to go upstairs.  Or rather, Conor has to go upstairs!

Last night Elle woke up and wouldn't nurse.  So I decided to just go ahead and pump and if she was still awake I would give that bottle right to her, but she fell back asleep.

Anyways, this is just so annoying, and I really hope she gets over this very soon.  Today, tomorrow, please!

I couldn't sleep at nap time (too many annoying thoughts in my head - what if she never nurses again?!?!) so I at least got my laundry finally folded, and this post written, and I pumped... so I'm feeling a bit more organized.

Life interrupted

Life has been interrupted by my little girl refusing to nurse (except once) in the last 2.5 days!

Thankfully (but hopefully not permanently) she is taking a bottle of breast milk.

I'll tell the whole story soon.