Saturday, January 3, 2009

Claire signs for food!

Claire has woken up the past three mornings and requested "CRACKA!" "CRACKA!" It's really cute! She will now go to the table once I start setting it for mealtimes. She has signed for food for awhile, but now is saying and signing cookie and cracker in addition to drink, eat, and milk, which she has been doing for quite some time. She also requested a cracker at 2:30 in the morning. Odd. She has said other words randomly in the night, but this was the first for cracker! She was hungry though! She nursed well and went back to sleep, but got one when she woke up.

We say cracker for anything light and crunchy like crackers and these rice rusk things I found called "Baby Mum-Mum." We use cookie for anything harder to chew like a cookie, or more often--a teething biscuit! I have stopped offering her to nurse. That is of course a way to wean...don't offer, don't refuse. I'm not actively trying to wean her, but she will let me know when she wants to nurse. Of course she could always ask to do so by crying when a baby. (Of course for a newborn, that is a late hunger sign...rooting, fist sucking, etc...come first.)

Starting about 7-8 months I would try to feed her all the time, and I would think she wasn't interested...well...she wasn't...she was slowing down, and by 12 months I had stopped offering altogether as she is pretty good at knowing what she wants. At this point in time I do think I believe in child-led weaning. Haha. I know a lot of people who have said that early on, then changed their minds for various reasons. I definitely can't force Claire to nurse if she doesn't want to, nor would I want to. I often offer her a sippy cup of water or a cracker sometimes too, again, not trying to actively wean, but just let her know there are other options and things to ask for, which she is doing.

Why am I so passionate about breastfeeding? I think a variety of reasons...we had a rough start and I just feel strongly about things. Also, I went through several rounds of biting and broken skin from about 8 - 12 months and I was determined not to give up, although there were several times it hurt so terribly, I could hardly stand it. I now totally 100% know why women stop because of biting. After reading more about it now, I realized some of the things I was doing could have actually been encouraging her to bite. Ok. Enough on nursing for tonight!

Opening Gifts from Tante Anja

Danke Tante Anja! :)

Friday, January 2, 2009

Extended Nursing

Here is a great blog by the "Crunchy Domestic Goddess." http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/2009/01/02/breastfeeding-until-age-3-4-or-5-more-common-than-you-think/#comment-17108 I think she has some great posts!

This morning Claire and I went to the Carmel LLL group. There were a bunch of "veteran" moms which was nice as we could discuss more than "new" baby stuff. We also played a round of Jeopardy all breastfeeding question related! I feel like I learned a lot.

We talked about "What is normal?" Basically...weaning at one and putting baby on cow's breastmilk. is. not. normal. WE are the only cultural who weans so prematurely and puts the kids on cow milk. WHY? I don't really know. It's just what people do.

Then the discussion was NORMAL is sooo far removed...we don't KNOW what normal is anymore! I think the whole "First Steps" crap I'm doing is crap. We started the "enrollment" at the end of October. It took 3 appointments to set things up. We will meet with a Nutritionist once a month to have her weighed, etc. I say ETC. because I don't know what the ETC. is yet. And then we will meet with a "therapist" every week for awhile, then maybe every other week.

I say "therapist" in quotes as I met ours. She is a dumb-ass. I will give her one more chance, but I don't think my opinion of her is going to change. They say you can learn a lot about people in the first 30 seconds. I think this is 100% true. There is just no good "conversation"--I would never elect to go out to lunch with her. The first appointment was for her to get to know Claire and I. Next week we will start on "eating" therapy. I don't think it's really needed. WHY? Well, because I think Claire eats what and when she wants. She has had an increased appetite in the past 2 weeks. I don't think she really has texture issues. She hasn't gagged/choked in over a month, and frankly, I feel like all these people that have been here are idiots. Am I the only one who feels surrounded by idiots?

Why do I say idiots? Because all of the 4 women who have been here to "evaluate/meet with her" have not breastfed their children. NORMALLY, I could honestly give two shits less about this because really, if you want to not, fine, don't whatever, I'm over here MINDING my own business. I won't say anything about you not bf'ing yours (for whatever reason) if you don't say anything about me bf'ing mine until 4 or whatever (who reads this that doesn't, I don't know because you've never left a comment)...BUT what HAS ticked me off, is that they are basically asking me stuff like, "Do you think she prefers nursing over solids" (yes, duh, it's superior and I think her body knows it's better than ANY solid). It's not that I don't want somebody to "help" us, it's just that I think I've realized she doesn't "need" help. Haha...I need help...lots of it...somebody please help me clean my house, etc... ;) I just feel like they don't "get" why I'm still nursing her and that if I weaned her, it would force her to eat solids. Sorry, ladies, this is the best food on earth.

But basically, I realized this at the meeting this morning when the gal said that our culture has so totally destructed WHAT NORMAL IS...that the "NORMAL" isn't what is world-wide normal (eg: child-led weaning at ages 5-7). I know if I would have read that 2 years I ago, I would be like, weird, nursing at 5. SICK...nursing at 7! But now I'm thinking...maybe this is what is so wrong with our society? WHO KNOWS? I don't know how long Claire will want to nurse. I don't know how I'll feel about things a year from now or a month from now. I don't know what kind of situations or circumstances will be around either. But what I think is awesome is something like that post by the Crunchy Domestic Goddess that she talks openly about nursing a preschooler. This morning I talked to a gal whose girl self-weaned at 5 and 1/2. I think that sometimes LLL gets a rep for nursing kids until they are really old. Really. Since when is 5 and 1/2 old? And I'm sick of the competitive parenting. I'm sick of reading all these posts on CafeMom about bf'ing moms judging other bf'ing moms about nursing older children. REALLY? IF you can't get support from other bf'ing moms who the hell are you going to get some support from? Why do you need support? Well, it's not like "support" but rather a lack of "bashing" more or less. This is why I can't do long blog postings. Once I start going, I can't shut up. LOL! I know that opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one. And if you don't like my opinion...close your freaking browser. I'm irritated by stupid people daily. Cashiers that can't count change; therapists that show up late because they "forgot" what time it was; people that can't drive....and the list goes on. Oh, and family members that comment, "You write too much." SHUT UP and just look at the pretty pictures. Just scroll down to the pretty pictures if that's all your simple little mind can handle. Haha. Ouch. Did you actually read that?!? You know I still love you. I have to. You're family. Just don't piss me off, or I'll set this blog to private and ban your ass. ;)

So what was normal before the advent of formula? Nobody spoon fed babies processed crap from a jar before they could lift their own heads up. I'd love to go back in time, see how women did things in 1940 before the big formula push and learn. I think that kids nursed longer, got solids later, and that was normal. We've fucked normal. Bottles and pacifiers are just "breast dildos" as more than one other LLL mom has referenced. HAHA. Now every time I am at the store and see a bag or wrapping paper or other baby item with a bottle on it, I think of that image. Normal is not sticking a baby in daycare. Normal is not separating the infant from it's environment. Infant primates environments = the mother. We've fucked that normal too. Society fails us all in so many ways. Any solutions?

END OF RANT!

Christmas Eve Dinner

Here are some photos from Christmas Eve Dinner at my parent's house.















Christmas with Claire

Daddy, Mommy, and Claire at Christmas from 2007 and 2008! The first picture is from last Christmas. The rest are from this year! Enjoy this little slide show that Josh made!

Catrece and Claire

Claire and Catrece had fun playing together shortly before Christmas. Christy and I swapped some babysitting hours, which worked out really well for us to get to some appointments.
Catrece arrived in a pretty pink outfit that Claire happened to have as well, so I had to put her in it too!

Catrece likes to give kisses! This is so sweet!
Catrece shows Claire where her ear is! RIGHT THERE!


Claire is trying to take off her sock. As always!




Claire, "Oh, look! A BABY! WOW! I can poke her!"





Well the are both looking, but not smiling...









Thursday, January 1, 2009

Sweet Treat

Claire loves candy. What baby doesn't? I'm trying to give her lots of snacks as last Monday the Nutritionist from First Steps came to weigh her and she was 23.11, which is down a few ounces. It's funny though because she's been eating and sleeping A LOT.

I think she's having a growth spurt!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy in Hats

Considering SEVERAL of Claire's outfits have coordinating hats, it is not a big surprise that she is in love with wearing them all the time. Even. In. The. Bath.
This is the little hat that matches a onesie. The hat is a tad small, but she loves wearing it and playing with it around the house. She also loves to dump water with her cups in the tub.

And she still loves to look at her reflection. Doesn't this get old? She has a real mirror she can see into easily, but I guess this is still entertaining.


Our little Claire is definitely Happy in Hats! And she's always eager to run down the hall and take a bath! YAY!




Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Still Kicking

Well, we had a nice Christmas! We have many pictures and videos to post. Too many actually. I probably won't post the majority of them! We're still alive and still kicking! Just too busy to do any justice now!

It's good to be home and back on a semi-regular routine! I also managed to make, hand-address, stuff, seal, stamp, and mail out not only all the shower invites, but the bachelorette party ones too. I also scored some really great prize favors and found my gifts to Holly for her shower.

I also dealt with a dead phone. BOO! More hopefully sooner than later!