Monday, June 27, 2016

Half-Birthday!!!

why is it people feel they can ask "are you breastfeeding?" as if it isn't a private question - like, whether you feed your baby from the boob or bottle should matter or be public knowledge...

at a glance, it's a benign question, with a simple answer... but the more I get asked, and the more I think about it, the more I want to answer - "what does it matter?? that is a personal decision made by the mom/parents, and what does it matter to you, stranger/parent-at-daycare/whoever-is-asking, if I'm breastfeeding?"
Maybe because I've been asked by a variety of people - men (my husband's friends) and women.  And interestingly enough, I never feel judged or like I have to explain anything when I answer a man - you get the succinct "oh ok, cool, my sister/wife/cousin did too..."
And then I get the moms who ask, and I get the sense they feel judged by my answer/choice... like when the fellow daycare mom asks, and I answer yes, she seemed to feel the need to defend why she's not BFing her baby  - "I tried with the twins, I had no milk, I had no milk this time either..." or another fellow daycare mom with an almost-1-year-old in Ms. Mack's room, when she saw me nursing one morning before running to work: "yea, I tried for a few weeks with him - my milk never came in..."

Not to sound harsh or unkind - but I didn't care! Not that I didn't care if they fed their babies, but I didn't care if they tried for 6 months, tried for 6 hours, didn't try and started immediately with formula - be a proud momma that you're taking care of your baby, yourself, AND working!!! That 'ISH IS HARD!

But thanks to a recent traffic-filled commute (hey, carride chronicles!), I think it's a personal choice, kind of like being asked, "do you use tampons or pads?"  ((neither, thanks for asking - still no PP period, wooooooot!))
(((and same thing - I don't care what you use, nobody else should either - as long as you do something to rein in that crimson wave... or - well, I guess you could "free bleed" ... technically...)))
wow I really got off-topic...
anywho...

Moving on to the most important part...

Eating: still nursing when together (evenings/nights, mornings, weekends) and takes (on average) two 3.5-oz bottles at daycare.  (Still pumping at work, twice a day - averaging every 3 hours...)
Eats breakfast at daycare - 4oz of food (bananas, peaches, mangos, yogurt) and cereal (mixed with formula), and then will nurse when we get home and have dinner with everyone (around 6:30/7) which is 4oz of food (yellow squash, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, spinach&apples)
I'm still making the food (saves mad money! one bag of carrots (will last a few days) is on average $1.00, while a single jar of babyfood is about the same - $1.00!) and will soon start some mixes: carrots&peas, apples&banana, peaches&banana, etc... This weekend we also tried Gerber's yogurt melts (broken into 3rds) and the all-famous multi-brand puffs... she makes the funniest face at the texture...

Sleep: OMG you guys I think we turned a corner... (or maybe her 5th WonderWeek Leap ended!) but the night of her doctor's appt (Wednesday night) she slept ELEVEN STRAIGHT HOURS! And did it again the next night... "PRAISE JEEBUS please don't be residual effects from vaccines!"
Well we were down the shore this weekend, and so had laaate bedtimes (around 10pm) but she slept straight through until 6am each night! And last night?!?!? 7pm-6am! WOOOOOOOT MOTHA-F*CKA!


Length:  at 26.75" this girl is now over the 80th percentile for length... just as I was "worried" she was going to take after my petite Italian in-laws...LOL  ((I'm all, "Dr are you sure you measured her right?!"))
Weight: drum roll please.. at 14lbs12oz, we jumped up percentiles!!! ((conflicting info from different growth charts, lol but we definitely jumped up!))
I won't lie and say I wasn't nervous at all as we waited for the scale to register her weight, but I definitely felt more confident than past appointments - that girl got some nice thigh rolls! And I still don't quite believe I did it - we made it BFing!!!
Wearing: still size 2 diapers. no more size 3 clothes (the leggings/pants, sure they fit, but are snug on the belly and are total high-waters...)
6M sleepers (and I wager we won't make it very much longer until 9M sleepers!)
Some 9M hand-me-downs, mostly 6M onesies and pants...
0-3M shoes (lol still petite feet! like her mommy!)
It's not summer without a good pair of jellies!

Hates: still doesn't like getting her face/boogies wiped (which sucks, she has teeny-tiny nostrils and constantly has boogies!)
She also doesn't like avocado, after two tries... (WAH!) we'll still keep trying, as I think it's the texture of it, being a semi-solid...

Loves: bananas! (had bananas, mango & yogurt at a recent breakfast, and each time eating bananas she would grunt and squeal for more!)
loves summer weather (the sun, the sea-wind, the warm pools!)

Milestones: is completely sitting independently (sat the entire doctor appointment! MD was like, ummm... DAYUM GIRL!)

Ms. Mack is also pretty strong on her legs - if we prop her, she'll stand for at least a few minutes!
big brother helps her stand up!                                     Daddy helped her stand on our recent trip to Woodloch...


6@6

  1. you can recognize a bowl and spoon, know that it's time (or time soon) to eat, and you get so excited and start to grunt!
  2. You're ahead of your curve big girl! You've mastered sitting up, and in fact get upset when you have to lay down, trying to raise your head in a semi-sit-up/crunch position for awhile...
  3. When you sleep - you love to curl up on your side, fetal position like an adult... I swoon...
 4.  For some reason, Pops (FIL) scares the ba-jeesus out of you! each time you see him, or he pops up in front of you, your frowny-pout begins, and it's just seconds until you start crying for momma...
 5.  you've become enamored with my necklaces while you nurse... (you broke one yesterday!) and each time you're nursing, I can't resist - I start to sing, "Ma-de-line" and you grin, nip still in your mouth...
 6.  you still light up every time you see your big brother... I cannot wait to see how this adoration/affection develops!
(He's not a big fan of you playing with his toys, and frequently says, "Don't let Mad-oh-line put it in her mouth!!"






BIG BROTHER:


Button's adjusted well to being a big brother - he loves his little sister, and frequently will run a toy over to her to play with...


He is definitely a three-nager now, with the first crying fit sometimes hitting before his feet have even come out of bed...


He loves the summer weather, and had a blast on the beach with his auntie when we went down the shore this past weekend!

(Except when he threw sand all over his nursing sister... I.  WAS.   MAD)

Invitations just went out last Friday for his THIRD birthday party... (GAH!)


Can't wait to throw this little boy his Splash-Bash!

1 comment:

  1. That picture of Button looking at Madeline... OH LOVE! It's so clear that he loves her too. I am actually tearing up at it. So cute!

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