5MinutesForMom is having a sleeping angel contest. They are giving away a South Shore Children’s Bedroom Set from Home & Bedroom Furniture. They are asking people to post pictures of their sleeping babies, and the winner will have their choice of either the Lily Rose or the Summer Breeze set. I would definitely choose Summer Breeze if I were to win.

So, here is the picture. It’s adorable, and it’s one of my favorites. We were at Jason’s parents’ house one day this summer. I ran a few errands, and when I came back, I walked in the front door and saw this…

My Sleeping Angels

Last night, Jason tried to turn the tv on, and nothing happened. It died. Unfortunately, it happened just in time for all the new season premiers and right before winter (and lots of inside time). It couldn’t have happened during the summer when there was nothing on, huh? K is pretty sure that Grandpa will know how to fix it when he comes for a visit this weekend, but I’m not so sure.

When Jason and I talked about it, we decided that we were going to try to take advantage of this time. I want to read more, sew a little, and organize! I know several families that either don’t have tvs or watch very little. I’m excited to see how my quality of life will change without the tv as an option.

Well, like I said last month, I don’t have a nightstand. There’s one on Jason’s side of the bed, but we don’t have books on that one either. I just have my books all over the house. There are a couple in our room, a couple on the back of the couch, one behind the couch, one in my purse, one on my end table, and tons downstairs on our bookshelves.

Last month, I was reading The Breastfeeding Answer Book, Reclaiming Nick, and Happiness Sold Separately. I have made some good progress in the Breastfeeding Answer Book. I read Reclaiming Nick and the two other books in the series, Taming Rafe and Finding Stephanie. I did not finish Happiness Sold Separately. It fell behind our couch, and I sort of forgot about it. Whoops. I did start it, though, and it’s pretty good from what I remember.

In the last month, I also discovered PaperBackSwap and BookMooch. I wouldn’t say that I am obsessed with them, but they are so fun! I put 20 of my books on the sites (10 on each) and so far, I’ve received 4 books with a 5th on the way. I also thought I would try a swap with anyone on here who wants a book that I’ve read, but so far no one has taken me up on my offer. Since I wrote the post, I have decided, I will just give those books away, so if you want one, let me know. If you have any you’d like to swap, I’m open to offers, but I guess it’s now a giveaway!

I have a trip coming up in about 1 1/2 weeks, so my reading list is a bit more ambitious this month. I have some high hopes that I will be able to read a lot on my trip. So, here is my list for October:

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper (from PaperBackSwap)- I was looking through available books on PaperBackSwap, and I saw this one. I hadn’t heard anything about it, but if it’s John Piper, I figured there’s a pretty good chance it’s got quality content.

Breaking Free by Beth Moore (from PaperBackSwap)- My friend from college purchased this study, and she has done it several times. I love Beth Moore, so I figured if my friend can do the study 5+ times and find it valuable, I would probably enjoy the book.

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian (from BookMooch)- This is a book I had heard about, but I’m not quite sure what I will think of it. It’s a subject I have pretty strong feelings on (midwives and homebirths). I suppose it could really go either way.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (from BookMooch)- I was in Target wandering around one night after a stressful evening trying to put A to sleep. I picked up this book and read the back of it. I had actually forgotten about it for quite a while, but when I was trading away my books, I decided to look it up.

Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson (received from Monica’s giveaway on her site Paper Bridges)- I actually found this giveaway last month when checking out others’ lists.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (borrowing it from the library)- After hearing about this one for so long, I decided to find out what all the talk is about.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (don’t have it yet, but will be getting it from the library and hope to be a part of October Book Club on 5minutesforbooks.com)- I have heard about this book, but I don’t know anything about it. Maybe it’s time I start learning what the classics are all about!

The Problem with Breastfeeding by James Akre (borrowed from a friend)- She said this book is a must read. I guess I’ll find out.

Don’t forget to check out www.5minutesforbooks.com for a list of people who have shared what they are reading this month!

Welcome to the September Breastfeeding Carnival! Thanks for visiting, and be sure to read all the way to the end of my post so you can visit others who have shared their thoughts on Learning to Breastfeed.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. I did some reading. I searched the internet for what I felt were informative articles. By the time my breastfeeding class at the hospital rolled around I felt pretty confident. My confidence increased when I went to the class. She didn’t tell me one thing in an almost two hour class that I didn’t already know! I knew I was going to be able to do it. As a sort of insurance, I found a breastfeeding forum/message board and asked if there was anything else I should do to be prepared or informed. The answers were pretty run-of-the-mill. “Just keep on going!” “Don’t let anyone talk you into quitting.” “You can do it!” I knew that I was set.

When K was born, I had a bit of a surprise. Maybe shock is a better word. He was born nearly 4 weeks early and he wouldn’t latch. He looked at my breast. He half-heartedly opened his mouth. Then, he fell asleep. What?!? This wasn’t the plan. He was supposed to know what to do, because I had done my part to get informed about breastfeeding. Well, after three days in the hospital, we were discharged. I had a nipple shield and a baby who ate for 45-60 minutes every 3 hours. Not exactly fitting my plan.

Fortunately, my mom had breastfed both myself (for around 18 months) and my brother (for nearly 3 years). She was an amazing support. She kept telling me, “Trust yourself. You know best. You know what is right for you and your baby.” She got up with me for the middle of the night feedings and held K afterwards until he had his burp and could fall back asleep. She visited with me when I thought I was too tired to do another feeding. She was wonderful, and that was a major component for my success. I am sure of it.

When she left and I was home alone with my baby, I began to doubt myself, so I went back to the message board where I had asked for help so many weeks prior. I began posting question after question after question. I got wonderful support, and I got great information. There was one person in particular on that message board who I still feel a debt of gratitude toward. Her name was Joan, and she was a moderator of the breastfeeding forum. Sure, other people would answer my question, but I didn’t feel like I had the real answer until I heard from Joan. Over the weeks and months, I gained confidence, and I also gained a friendship. Joan is still one of my close on-line friends. She and I have kept in touch over the past few years, and when a friend of mine had a baby who had nursing troubles (oversupply and overactive letdown, something I knew very little about) Joan was available over the phone to help her out, too. I also began reading www.kellymom.com during any spare moment I had. I loved that website. It was so easy to navigate and so easy to read and understand. It is where I got the bulk of my early breastfeeding knowledge.

Almost two years later, when I had my second son, I was pretty confident again. I had been through so much with K that I thought I should have it under control. But, as almost anyone who has breastfed knows, every baby is different. With A, I had different issues, and again I turned to www.kellymom.com and a supportive on-line community to help me get through the first weeks that were tough.

Now, I’ve been nursing K for almost 35 months, and I’ve been tandem nursing K and A for 14 months. I feel like each day I can learn something about breastfeeding whether it be from a book, a website, a friend, another nursing momma, or one of my kids. I think it’s one of those things where you can keep learning more and more, but I’m not sure that you can ever say that you have “learned to breastfeed.” To me, it’s a journey more than a destination.

Check out these blogs for more thoughts on Learning to Breastfeed (updated throughout the day):

• BreastfeedingMums.com
• Breastfeeding123.com
• Hobomama.blogspot.com
• Breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com
• KateWicker.com
• Babyfingers.blogspot.com
• StopDropandBlog.com
• NurturingNotes.blogspot.com

I think over the course of the next several months, I will probably be changing my blog topics up a little. When I was breastfeeding K frequently or when A was born and I was feeding both boys frequently, I felt like I had a lot more to say about nursing specifically. Now that they’re getting older, it’s just something that’s an every day part of our lives. It just is. I don’t think or worry about it too much. We’ve gotten over most of the hurdles and pitfalls. A is sleeping better, and K has kept up his 2 a day nursing routine for the past few weeks.

Some of the topics that I have become more interested in lately are healthy eating, green living, cooking, exercise, and expanding my reading repertoire. Maybe I’ll finish a book (without reading the ending ahead of time) and do a review of it. Who knows?

A while ago, I wrote about our new compost bin that Jason and his dad had made. I was a little skeptical that we would be able to fill it all up. Who throws that much food? Well, it’s pretty much full. We have some of our lawn clippings in there and some food with it, too. Jason goes out once in a while, and he moves it around and turns it. I guess he waters it, too.

When we first started the project, I thought it was just something fun to do. I also thought it would be nice to eventually have the compost for our garden. I didn’t realize until today when I was reading on 5 Minutes for Going Green (a fabulous blog, by the way), that composting has another benefit. Food that is thrown away is the largest component of landfill waste. When food is thrown away, it does not become compost. The conditions in the landfill are anaerobic (oxygen-free), and instead of becoming fabulous fertilizer, it breaks down to become methane gas. Methane gas is a greenhouse gas, and it is three times more potent than carbon dioxide. In an era where global warming has become an everyday conversation, it seems like composting is one small thing that the average person can do with little extra effort and expense.

Last week, I signed up to join The Lipstick Challenge on a fellow NaBloPoMo mommy blogger’s site. I got my samples in the mail today. Thanks, Heather! So, for the next 7 days, I have at least one guaranteed post for each day!

I’ll be posting a picture a day through the challenge. Come back and check out my lips!

I think it’s been pretty obvious in previous posts that A has not made it a priority to spend any great amount of time asleep either at naptime or at night. In fact, there have been times when I’ve wondered if even as a teenager he would be waking ever hour or two for something. I know that’s not going to happen, but sometimes it’s hard to see further ahead than the next day or week or month.

So, in a (successful) effort to get more sleep, we decided that we would start sleeping with A in our bed. There were definitely mixed reviews on our decision, although we weren’t really asking for others’ opinions. We heard things like “Oh, do you really want to start that?” “That will be a hard habit to break.” “Oh, you should get so much more sleep that way!” and a few other variations of those sentiments. After about six months, I ended up sleeping on the couch for several days while I suffered through some pretty annoying allergies. A slept in his bassinet in our room for those nights and seemed to do better than he had been in our bed, so we went with his cues and kept him in there.

Because we were a sleep sharing family, I have been reading other people’s thoughts on co-sleeping and sleep sharing with a different point of view lately. I have been noticing that there are usually a few people in any discussion or debate on this topic who offer the “I knew someone who slept with their children, and now they are four and seven and still can’t sleep well” point of view. Hoping that wouldn’t be me, I got stuck thinking about it over and over.

One day, I realized something. Many parents who sleep with their children, don’t set out to have that happen. I think a lot of parents visualize a child coming home from the hospital, sleeping in the bassinet for a couple weeks or months, and then sleeping in their room after that. That’s what I thought would happen. It did not. So, many parents who sleep with their children start out doing so because their children are not great sleepers. They sleep with them because it’s the only way anyone gets any sleep. They have a family bed for a while, then eventually, the child goes on to sleep in their own crib or bed. Will this child suddenly become a great sleeper? Probably not. Will they still struggle getting to sleep or staying to sleep? Maybe. Will they be a “bad” sleeper? Possibly. Will the fact that they are not a good sleeper or some may even say bad be because they shared a bed with their parents for a couple weeks or months? No, not in my opinion.

That was what I was thinking earlier while I was laying down with A to help him fall asleep. Unfortunately, now I cannot remember just what that great idea was. I’m sure it will come to me as soon as I post this one or even better, while I’m in the shower. So, be on the look out. I may have a flash of brilliance coming up in one of my future posts!

It’s always nice for us when the 4th of July falls near the beginning or end of the week. We don’t have any family in town, so if it is near a weekend, either we or they can make a 3 day weekend out of it and take a trip. This weekend, Jason’s mom and dad came to visit us.

They drove up yesterday, and brought A a sandbox as a gift for his first birthday. It is very nice. They even bought sand that feels like beach sand! WOW! I want to go play in there once the kids are in bed. K seems to have made more use of it than A has so far. A sat in it yesterday for a while and then started eating the sand. Once he got tired of that, he was tired of the sandbox. K, however, was happy to play in there all afternoon and again this morning for almost the entire morning.

Part of the reason that they stayed overnight is that we are still trying to do a few odds and ends jobs around our house, and sometimes those jobs are easier with a second set of hands. This morning, Jason and his dad worked on installing a fan in our main bathroom. This afternoon, they worked on building a compost bin. Jason found the plans for the bin on Lowe’s website, and I have to say it is much bigger, nicer, and sturdier than I anticipated. We will have to do some serious composting though with this thing.

Jason and his dad were only able to finish about half of the compost bin project. It said that it was a five hour project on the plans, but I think if I were helping, I could easily help them turn it into a ten or twenty hour project. Just think of the family togetherness that could result from that help! So, now the bin is in our garage with the rest of the lumber waiting to be finished. In fact, those things are right next to and on the cement pavers that we will be using in our next big project of re-landscaping the front of the house. That project may have to wait for our next long weekend…Labor Day!

Happy 4th of July!