The Beautiful Letdown

“Oofta!”

2008-12-04T03:15:16Z

Yes, apparently one or both Jason and I say “oofta.” Yes, we also live in North Dakota, so it probably happens more than we ever realize. This fact was hammered home to us the other night at supper when Jason said, “oofta” after A had a coughing spell. K looked at him and said, “Asa poopy?” So apparently, we not only use the word oofta, but we use it as an expletive when changing a smelly diaper.

More and more over the past few weeks, we’ve been hearing K repeat things that we have said to him. One night, Jason was giving him two choices for getting his diaper changed. K kept telling Jason that he didn’t want to have his (poopy) diaper changed. He wanted to wear it. (On a side note, you can tell we’re not exactly steaming down the road of potty learning :-). ) Jason told him, “That’s not a choice.” Later that night during the bedtime routine, K and Jason were talking and at one point, K said to Jason, “No, Daddy, that not a choice.”

Last week, we spent a little time with my mother-in-law and father-in-law. One of the days, my nieces (ages 6 and 4 were over). At one point, I heard them arguing, and the six year old was saying, “That’s fair!” to her sister over whether or not she needed to share some toys with her. Fast forward to this morning. I was showing K the new library books we had checked out for this week. He was pretty excited about them, and he kept pulling them out of the bag and saying, “That very fair!”

Then, there are the things he picks up that I’m not sure where they came from. “You know better, Mommy!” “A, you being bad!” “No, no, no, no, no!” These are not things we say to him. I know that now that his peers are speaking more and we are around more and different people, his pool of experiences to draw from also grows.

He’s at an age where he is such a sponge. He doesn’t have preconceived ideas of what is fun or not fun (video games vs. books) or what music is good or not good (pop music vs. opera). He loves so many different things. I think that his new tendency to repeat things that we say at just the right time is good for us in more than one way. While it reminds me that he’s always listening to what we say, it also reminds me that he is picking stuff up All. The. Time. I am raising a little sponge, and I want him to be able to absorb all that he can before this time ends.

How Do You Get Diaper Cream Out of Hair?

2008-12-03T04:02:20Z

You know that whenever your spouse says, “Do you know what your son just did?” something hasn’t gone quite right. This morning, I was laying in bed nursing A, and Jason said those words. I didn’t answer, because I knew he was dying to tell me. Sure enough, the answer followed almost immediately. “He put Magic Butt Cream in his hair.” For those of you who don’t know, Magic Butt Cream is the diaper cream that we get from our doctor for a diaper rash that isn’t controlled by the regular over the counter stuff. A few weeks ago, K and Jason had a talk about how we don’t eat the Magic Butt Cream. It’s only for sore butts. It’s not for eating. Well, he didn’t try eating it again. This time, he took about 1/2 of what was left, and he smeared it in his hair. Ugh.

Unfortunately for me, Jason was on his way out the door and on his way to work. I was lucky enough to take over the emergency bath. In addition to having a head full of grease, K did not want to take a bath, and he had a poopy diaper! I managed to talk him into the bath. Then, I started in on his hair with Dawn. Dawn cuts grease, right? I figured that was my best chance at getting some of that stuff out of his hair. He was patient enough to let me lather and rinse his hair twice. THen, he lost patience, so I took him out of the bath, and he spent the rest of the day with the wet look.

Tonight at supper, he continued on with the hair experiment and decided to try applesauce in his hair. I told Jason that it was his turn to work on K’s hair. He did the 2nd bath of the day with both boys. While they were in the bathroom, I checked the internet and found that some people suggested using cornstarch for getting Vasaline out of hair, so we tried it. K thought it was pretty funny, and I figured it couldn’t hurt. I didn’t get a chance to see his hair after it dried, so I’m not sure if the cornstarch solved our problem or not. I’ll be interested to see how it looks tomorrow.

All About Nursing

2008-12-01T03:43:22Z

If you don’t want to read about nursing, today’s a good day to take a break from the beautiful letdown.

First, nursing bras. Who makes these things? Why do they all sag? I have yet to find a nursing bra with good support. Even when I take the little adjuster things (the plastic clasps on the bra that make the straps longer or shorter) and push them over the back of my shoulders, I am still not getting decent support. I have been wearing nursing bras since November of 2005, and I’m still unimpressed. Any suggestions?

Secondly, nursing in winter. I need some new winter clothes or something. Nursing in clothes that keep me warm is a tough job! Sweatshirts are too bulky. Some of my undershirts are a little too tight. Some shirts don’t work out that well with a nursing tanktop. Sigh… Apparently, I’ve been having apparel issues lately.

Next, falling asleep while nursing. Neither of my boys have ever been the nurse to sleep type. A did for a while, but he stopped that quite a while ago. K never really nursed to sleep even as an infant. I’m not sure if it was the turkey or what, but in the past few days, both K and A have fallen asleep in my arms while nursing. It’s such a sweet feeling. They’re just so sweet and pure and loving.

Then, there’s three years of nursing and almost eighteen months of tandem nursing. After three years of nursing K and about 18 months of nursing K and A, I’m starting to feel ready for K to get ready to wean. At this point, I don’t think that I will do anything about my feelings. If K isn’t ready to wean, I won’t push him. I’ve considered limiting the number of times he nurses in a day, but I don’t think that’s fair to him. If he did it out of boredom or habit, I might consider it. I don’t think he does though. I think he really needs to nurse in order to reestablish a connection with me. This morning, my parents were up with the boys while Jason and I got a bit more sleep (thanks a lot, Mom and Dad, we appreciate it). I heard Kael outside the door at one point asking for “mommy milk.” I heard him asking for me a while later just as I was about to get up. When I came out to the living room, he said, “Kael needed you. My wanted mommy milk to feel better.” Now, really, how can I argue with that? I don’t, because I know he’s telling me the truth.

Finally, support. I have the best family. They are all great about the nursing and tandem nursing. My mom nursed me for at least a year and a half. She nursed my brother until he was almost three. She’s always been very supportive of the boys nursing. She encouraged me to check out the local breastfeeding support group which I have really enjoyed, and she was a huge help when both of the boys were newborns. She sat up with me and helped me with diaper changes and burping. WONDERFUL! I know that some people are fortunate enough to have support when their babies are young, but as the baby grows, their support fades away and they hear “when are you going to start that baby on formula/solds/cows milk?” or “when are you going to stop nursing?” I have yet to hear either of those questions. Of course, my boys both eat solids, but I *never* get asked when I’m going to wean! That means a lot to me. Also, over the weekend, my parents stayed here as did my brother and sister-in-law. They don’t have kids yet, so I’m not really sure what their thoughts on nursing are, but I would never have had any reason to suspect they are anything but positive and accepting. K nursed several times over the weekend, and A nursed MANY times. In fact, he nursed a couple times at the dinner table on Thursday during our Thanksgiving dinner, and no one batted an eye.

A Book Meme

2008-11-26T13:36:15Z

Heather at Not a DIY Life tagged me for a book meme.

These are the rules
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next two to five sentences.
5. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the intellectual one. Pick the Closest.
6. Tag five people to do the same

The closest book I have to me is called Artemis Speaks: V.B.A.C. Stories & Natural Childbirth Information written and compiled by Nan Koehler. I have no idea what I’m going to get on page 56.

“Most obstetricians use technology defensively in VBAC labors, in spite of the fact that there is no more justification for routine intervention than in any other labor. If a horizontal scar separates, it does not cause massive hemmorage, so there is no need for prophylactic IV. The uterus usually continues to contract normally, and an electronic fetal monitor will not pick up a scar separation.”
There you have it. I did want to break rule #5 by the way, but I didn’t do it.

I’m supposed to pick 5 people to do this meme, but instead I’m going to say if you do it, leave a comment and I’ll come read your meme.

What’s on Your Nightstand?

2008-11-25T20:36:49Z

: 5 Minutes For Books

It’s time for my favorite carnival! It’s the 5 Minutes for Books monthly “What’s on Your Nightstand?” carnival. Yay!

This is so hard for me. I have so many books I want to read. I have told my husband several times recently that there are just too many books and too little time. Last month, I spent most of my reading time reading the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. It was okay. Yes, that was a lot of time to allocate to something that is just okay. Generally, I’m not the type of person who sticks with something and follows it through if I start to lose interest, so I decided that I was going to read all 4 books no matter what. Also, I was curious. I liked some of the characters, and I liked the first book quite a bit, so I wanted to see how she wrapped it up. It seemed to me like there was a LOT of room for another book in the series and that it wasn’t really wrapped up. I know the movie just came out, but I don’t go to movies so I most likely won’t be seeing it for quite some time if at all.

This month, I’m back to my pile of books from BookMooch and PaperbackSwap. I’m also thinking a lot about homeschool, parenting, and breastfeeding toddlers, so maybe I’ll read some of those types of books, too.

Do you have any homeschooling, parenting or breastfeeding books you’d recommend?

Perspective

2008-11-25T17:22:05Z

I have a Facebook friend who often updates her status. She’s a homeschooling mom, and often her status will say things like, “Helping the older ones with a project on Mesopotamia” or something like that. However, it also says things like, “Thankful for the legos on the floor, the crayons on the wall, and all my blessings.” It seems like the days she writes those things are the days I most need to read them.

Is there someone in your life who helps you keep your perspective from becoming skewed?

Top 100 Pediatric Health Blogs

2008-11-25T04:22:32Z

I found out today that I have been listed on a list of the top 100 pediatric health blogs. Wow! That’s very exciting! Thanks, Kelly! I’m #78.

Since I have been having a harder time thinking of topics related to breastfeeding, I was wondering if you have any specific topics you want me to write about. My posts tend to be broad and shallow, so I can go into more depth in an area if there are any requests. Let me know.

“And David Was Dancing Before the Lord With All His Might”

2008-11-24T03:13:24Z

This is a quote from the book of 2 Samuel in the old testament of the bible. Through October and November, I was attending a bible study at my church studying the life of David. One of the day’s homework was about this verse. “and David was dancing before the Lord with all his might.” At first, I read over it and blew past it. Then, when I went back, I thought about how it must feel to be doing something with all his might. Then, I thought about how he was praising the Lord with all his might. To me, that sounds like a very beautiful picture. Although, I’m sure to some of those around him, it probably looked more strange than anything else.

One of the questions in the study was “When was the last time you saw someone doing something with all their might?” or something similar. I thought about it for a while, and I really didn’t have many examples. The one thing that came to mind was thinking about how athletes celebrate after winning a championship game. Seeing them jumping and screaming and crying and just laying on the ground in awe is what came to my mind. Then, I wondered when was the last time I did something with all my might. I apologize in advance to anyone who thinks this is more than they want to know. The last time, I did something with all my might (here’s your last chance to stop reading) was childbirth and pushing. Most of you other moms who have been through labor know what I’m talking about, right? That was great, because it was for my kids. Of course, I would do all that I could for them.

So, again, I was thinking, thinking… This month, I committed to NaBloPoMo. I missed two days, but I have definitely blogged on days when I would rather have skipped. I mentioned at the end of last year that Jason’s sister is doing a photography project that involves taking a picture every day for a year. She’s sharing them online at her Flickr account. It’s called Project 365. It got me wishing that I had some sort of neat project that I could commit to like that. I’m actually still wishing that, and since it’s coming to the end of the year (can you believe it?!?!?), I’ve started thinking about it again. Unfortunately, last year, I didn’t do much about these thoughts. I’m hoping and praying that this year, I will make a commitment to something. I’d like to do something meaningful and challenging. For a year? Maybe not. I’m not committed to a year, but I would like to do something that stretches and challenges me. Maybe, I can do something with all my might.

The Move

2008-11-23T04:26:31Z

Since he was born, A has been sleeping in our room. He slept in a pack n play for a while. Then, for a while, he slept with us. Then, back into the pack n play. Last week, we decided to move him into a crib in the same room as K. I thought that it would be a rough transition for A. He’s always been a baby who needed to be close to Jason and to myself. I figured it would take two good weeks before we could tell how things were going. Well, he surprised us. After a couple initial struggles, he has done just wonderfully. He nurses. Then, Jason takes him to bed where he lays down and falls asleep. K has been struggling with the transition more though. Unfortunately, I think this came at a bad time for him. He’s also at a stage where he’s kind of ready to start potty learning. He’s not able to get through the day without a nap, but if he does take a nap, then he struggles to fall asleep. I think that having both of those things to deal with and this transition of A moving into his room has been tough on him. Poor guy. I’ve been trying to give him some extra love and mommy time. He has ramped his nursing up, too. Now, I just have to laugh at my worries a few months ago that he wouldn’t still be nursing at 3. I think he nursed 5 or 6 times yesterday, and 3 or 4 today. Sometimes, I wonder if A will wean before K.

Starting a Family Tradition

2008-11-22T05:53:15Z

With Thanksgiving coming up and having two children, I have started thinking again about traditions for our family. When I was younger, my family wasn’t huge on tradition other than getting together. THAT was our tradition. Spending time with family was the most important thing. That is still important to me. I still want our extended families to be a big part of our kids’ lives and our lives, too, of course. I also want something of our own though. What do other people do for family traditions? How do you start one? Do you just ask around and try something that sounds good? Do you just happen upon it and keep doing it once you decide you liked it?

A couple things I’ve heard of doing are to put the Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving as a family. Get a table cloth and use it every year at Thanksgiving (or Christmas or another holiday) and write one thing that you are thankful for on it. A friend of mine told me that she had 24 Christmas books. She wrapped them up, and starting December 1st, she read one of them each night with her kids while they all had hot chocolate. I think that’s a great idea, by the way. I just don’t have 24 Christmas books yet.

Are there any other great ideas floating around out there? Now that this is becoming more important to me, I’m actually feeling pressure to make my traditions great. I know that making them traditions is really what makes them great, but I just really want them to be meaningful.