Weaning

We decided a while ago that we wanted Molly weaned by the time I start back to work so that on the days I am working Bill and Molly will have a pleasant day, rather than experiencing a meltdown that lasts most of the afternoon, resulting from Molly's inability to access the breast. Well, we have modified that just slightly to have her, by the time I return to work, only nursing first thing in the morning and right before bed. My first class is a week from tomorrow. We have been having two daytime feedings for a few weeks now (in addition to the morning and bedtime ones), and that has been going fine. Yesterday I denied Zelda the boob all day, except for the morning and bedtime feedings. It did not go so well.

I thought it was all going well until around 2:30 or 3:00. I was really proud of myself for fending her off. She has developed the habit of just pulling up or pulling down my shirt, depending on the day's attire, when she is ready to nurse. It is kind of cute and endearing, and it does not bother me at all because she was obviously communicating her desires. I was able to successfully distract her until the middle of the afternoon. Around this time, I could not calm her down. She was screaming and arching her back and pulling on my shirt and crying and crying and crying and crying. I took her to see our neighbors. I turned on cartoons. I gave her milk from the sippy cup. I gave her a snack. I tried everything (except M&M's, Kim--maybe today I will resort to that. :) ). She would calm down very briefly, but SHE WANTED THE BOOB! Bill got home around 5:45. (Usually he gets home a little after 6, but I called and begged him to come home before 6.) She seemed to calm down a little when he got here and I was able to escape to another room. It seems to be worse if she knows the boobs are in the same room as she is, but she just cannot have them. When she was finally able to nurse right before bed, she was a happy camper. She went to bed exhausted and slept later than usual this morning, until around 6:45.

Hopefully today will be better. She had a teeny little meltdown an hour or so ago, but nothing too big. I distracted her, and now she is napping. I am not quite sure of our schedule for fully weaning her, but I suppose we will probably be on two nursings a day for maybe two weeks, then cut out the morning one. The bedtime one will be the last to go, as is usually the case when weaning.

It will be kind of sad for me to be finished nursing. My whole life has pretty much revolved around it for nearly the past 15 months (well, taking care of Molly in general has been what my life has revolved around). I will not have to pump on my teaching days anymore, and Molly will be able to be away from me for more than a few hours. This was much more intense, obviously, before she started eating solids and drinking milk. My wardrobe can also change now, which is not something you really think about. You have to wear shirts that allow easy access for nursing or pumping, and a nursing bra is a must. These are not too big a deal either, but it's something different. I think about everything I eat and drink because of nursing. Probably not to the extent that some mothers do--I have not denied myself spicy food or caffeine or alcohol (I drink both caffeine and alcohol in moderation)--but I do eat a LOT. And I make an extra effort to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and to get plenty of calcium. These are all things (except the alcohol) that I did when I was pregnant, of course. Very soon, Molly will be completely independent of me, physically speaking. That is very strange to me. We have been connected physically since November of 2007. Bill calls us ET and Eliott. I know she will still need me emotionally, though.

She's awake--gotta go!

2 posts in 2 days?????

Molly is napping right now so I thought I'd do a quick post. Molly was coughing a lot last week, so I took her to the doctor toward the end of the week. She apparently has a little lung condition where her lungs seem to overreact to minor irritants, such as viruses, pollutants, and allergens. They tend to produce a lot of extra mucus, and they get inflamed, causing her to cough. The doctor is treating it as a mild form of asthma, but she is not giving the diagnosis of asthma. She has a steroid inhaler that we have to give her twice a day for a few weeks. Then we will take her off of it, and see how she reacts. If she seems better, that's great; if she gets worse again, we will just restart it. She also has another fast-acting inhaler that we give her as needed. She only needed that for a couple of days, except for this morning when she was coughing some. Otherwise, the inhalers seem to be doing their jobs. The doctor said she is a little concerned about the winter, when there are more irritants around. She is not very worried about it for the long run, though, so I'm not either.

I am also trying to increase iron intake for both Molly and me. Her one-year blood work indicated her iron was low, and I think my iron level is also low (I have diagnosed myself, based on some internet research. :) ) Today we picked up a cast iron skillet so we will start using that to see if it makes a difference, in addition to eating lots of iron-rich foods.

This morning we went to the farmers market, and we saw a lot of our friends, who all have little babies. Molly got to give some hugs to her buddies. In a few minutes we are leaving for a picnic with some friends from my mommas group.

As for the tomatoes, I have decided to make a fermented salsa and some tomato sauce to make eggplant parmesan (we also got a big eggplant from yesterday's farm delivery). Those will both make good use of my extra onions and the peppers I also got yesterday.

14 months!

Wow! It has been so long since I posted. Molly is an extremely energetic baby, and she really needs constant supervision. By the time she goes to bed, I am ready to just kick back and relax. She is still not napping in her crib. We have tried really hard, but it is not working. She will sleep in her crib all night, but she will only nap in the car, stroller, or the carrier. She is napping on me right now. I guess we will try again in a few weeks. She just will scream and scream in her crib during the day. Maybe it has something to do with the light? I don't know. Anyway, we will try again soon.

Otherwise, everything is really great! Molly is having so much fun. She is almost walking by herself. She can walk pretty far holding one hand. She can also take a few steps by herself. I know it is going to be so crazy when she does start walking, and then running.

We are going swimming this afternoon. I've been trying to find outings for us every day. We have mommas group on Tuesdays, we usually go to story time at the library on Wednesdays, and we go swimming on Fridays. In between, we have play dates at the swings or other outings. this week was busy, but it's difficult to think of things to do all the time. I am a little anxious about wintertime when we will not be able to go outside as often. Right now, though, Molly is pretty happy to just be outside. I think things would be a little easier if Molly actually napped in her bed because I could get some stuff done around the house, or I could just sit down and relax for a little while. But...as my mother-in-law said, if this is the worst thing I've got to worry about, we're doing really well. SO TRUE!

Molly is turning into quite the comedienne. She loves to make faces and crack her parents (and herself) up. She really is a funny girl. She has started imitating us. This morning, I was turning my head away from her, and then turning it back toward her quickly and making a face. She started doing the same thing! It was hilarious. She will also play peekaboo with us, covering her face with her hand.

I start back to work a week from Wednesday. I will be back to teaching one day a week, and Bill will resume his weekly Wednesday duties. I'm looking forward to it, though I know it is going to be really hectic and busy. We are heading to Texas next week to see Bill's sister and her husband, and our month-old nephew, Alexander. It will be really sweet to see Molly and her cousin together. She has been hugging other kids, so I hope she gets to give the little guy a hug.

What else has been going on? Hmmm...I've been making a lot of food, like yogurt and bread. I'm getting into fermenting a little bit. The bread was the most challenging, other than the first time I made sauerkraut, but it turned out pretty good after I figured out what I was doing. My friend, Abby, who also is Molly's godmother, is a really good break maker, so she gave me the inspiration to make it. The first loaf tasted okay, but it was about as dense as, um, what was it as dense as? I don't know, but it was really dense. I think I didn't let the starter ferment long enough the first time.

We started to get our farm delivery again because it seems a little cheaper than going to the farmers market for everything. The downside, though, is that we end up with tons of things that pose a challenge to full consumption. Last week, for example, we got about five onions. We ate two in the week, but that was kind of pushing it. What can I do with the onions? Any ideas? I am thinking either French onion soup or...wait for it....fermenting the onions! Onion pickles anyone? Sounds pretty good (in moderation, of course). This week I got a bunch of tomatoes. Normally I love tomatoes, but I am running out of things to do. I'm thinking tomato pie or just a big vat of (possibly fermented) salsa.

This post is getting pretty long and rambling so I will sign off. I hope to update more frequently. I am going to try my best to get back in the habit of posting more often!!!