Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts
what I've learned about breastfeeding...
- A lot of people, surprisingly even women, find breastfeeding offensive and gross. I remember one day having lunch with a friend and reaching for a bottle of pumped breast milk for my son to drink. She asked me if it was breast milk. (Yes, it's white just like milk but has the consistency of skim milk, really! It's not some odd orange colored concoction. Looks like milk.) I told her it was. Her reply? "Gross." How did it make me feel? Sad that the idea of the very fluid perfectly and miraculously created by God by my body (if He created me, right?) was gross or offensive. I thought about the comment for a long time spending a lot of time reminiscing about the first four months of Lucas' life where he didn't have the ability to suck very well (NICU babies sometimes have this issue as the sucking reflex is one of the last things (along with their lungs) to develop) and how I'm so glad I didn't find it gross giving him the very best I could.
- Not everyone's experience with breast feeding is the same as the next mother's. Some mothers have no issues at all with it. Some experience engorgement. I never experienced engorgement but I'm told that it felt like her breasts would explode with so much heaviness and milk, and she even said she felt it in the rest of her body. Some women don't produce enough milk for various reasons. There are positive and negative experiences just like with everything else. Breast feeding is certainly not as natural in terms of how to do it properly as to not damage your nipples! I also don't like to hear either side of the spectrum -- the extreme opinions about it. The staunch formula moms who discredit the breastfeeding moms and the breastfeeding moms that view formula as if it were poision. I try to remain in the middle. Do the best you can for what you can. If that means doing what I did, I can certainly encourage you. If you decide to wean because of WHATEVER reason, I will support you. More with #3.
- Breastfeeding moms, at times, can feel that they are providing the best for their babies compared to their formula feeding moms. Sometimes, this can translate to a sort of, "How could you not give your baby the best?" You have to remember, however, that #2 is true. Just because you have had no problem nursing your child, the very mother that you are judging had reason to stop nursing. It's her choice, after all, just like it will be her choice on becoming a stay-at-home mom, continuing to work while placing her child in daycare, and on and on in life. A formula fed baby can become just as smart as a breastfed baby, I'm positive... I wasn't breastfed, and I certainly don't feel shorted or that mom didn't love me less. It's quite common in the first child for breastfeeding to fail. Just having a child is a huge change in life. Adding breastfeeding with problems can really complicate things. Believe me on that one! I wish mothers didn't judge one another but supported one another. There's nothing worse than reading some post from someone or hearing someone go on and on about how great a mother they are because they are breastfeeding or not. I don't really think breastfeeding is the only thing that can make a great mother!
- Mastitis and yeast are horrible. I had mastitis twice, and would never want it again. Your temperature can go above 103F very quickly, and the treatment can cause another problem... yeast infection in your breasts. It sounds gross, but just imagine feeling glass shards inside your breasts. That's how it feels. Just reminiscing about it makes me cringe. I learned to love diflucan tablets, gentian violet tincture, and vinegar. I will say because I was exclusively pumping the first four months of Lucas' life, these two problems were exacerbated. Oh yeah, the baby can get yeast infection, too. Lucas had a yeast rash that cleared up rather quickly, but the baby CAN get the candida infection in his/her mouth as well.
- If you really really want to breastfeed exclusively, you have to remember that the baby will eat more often while nursing. Even today, Lucas probably nurses 4-5 times daily vs babies his same age that are on bottles are down to 2-3 a day of whole milk. The baby will use your breast for not only the nutrition but for comfort. There IS quite a bond and it is difficult to take time away from the baby while he/she is still nursing. Lucas and I have still not been apart for more than 3-4 hours really.
- And my biggest advice of all, this time goes by quickly. We're toward the end of this breastfeeding journey, and I have learned quite a bit from it. I'm also ready to get to a twice daily (morning and night) schedule with him. Ironically, after all the trouble we had in the first four months is as if Lucas has decided that he wants to make up for those four months and doesn't have it in HIS plans to wean anytime soon. Lord help! (laugh)
getting into everything...
Lucas has a way of crawling really fast toward something new and finding new ways to open things. We have the kitchen completely baby-proof with Tot Locks. Sometimes I do open one of the cabinets to let him pull out pots and pans as that is something ALL babies should have the chance to try. Here he is in the foyer just figuring out how to open a drawer.
I'm so thrilled to celebrate this day with my little man and list all the things he can do. Lucas can:
- Wave to people. Who knows if he knows the difference between Hi and Bye, but he loves to wave. It's usually when the person isn't looking so I think it's more of a "Hey you..." wave.
- Pulls up and stands unassistant. Apparently this means that walking is anytime now. I'm not in a rush to watch Lucas teeter about wabbling, etc... but he's growing up!
- Says a multitude of consonants including: Mama, Dada, Nana, Gaga, Nono, Doo, Goo, Go, Doe, Moe, Ss, St, Ts (weird I know), and so forth. He babbles a lot.
- He's still not a big eater. We're working on that.
- Cruises all over the place with his various toys. His aunt bought him a really cool dump truck that makes all the truck sounds like backing up, the horn, starting the truck, etc... It's really neat, and he can store his toys in the back. He got an elmo, a Corduroy bear, etc... What a lucky little guy...
- He points to things he wants.
- He tends to have a little bit of a temper. I'm wondering if this is from me? LOL
a perfect sunset
Before heading off to the gym to try and pound out 5 miles... (I only made it to 3 before exhaustion), I captured this shot of father/son in the backyard. How sweet! The training for the half marathon is WAY behind, and I've already signed up so no backing out now. Wow. It seemed like it wouldn't be SO hard to train for it since I've done a full marathon twice, but I am SO out of shape. I feel like one of those people on the Biggest Loser looking so out of place on a treadmill. I will say that it was easier last night than a couple of weeks ago. I have to do that five miles this weekend for sure. Of course, my goal is to finish, but I'd like to finish with no injury from not training. Ugh, I'm such a procrastinator!
I returned home from the gym last night with Jeff showing off Lucas standing up on his own. Wow! Slow down little man! I'm not ready for you to grow up so fast. Believe me, just having this last year go by so fast really makes me understand why someone would have a baby back-to-back! I wish it was so easy to get pregnant just when you want to, but sometimes it takes longer when you are oldies like Jeff and me. *laugh* Anyway, Jeff was bribing Lucas with some gerber yogurt smoothie treats which he loves. It's so much fun watching the changes almost daily in his personality, etc...
Lucas has 6 teeth! When he smiles he does a little bit of a crossbite and winks both eyes almost like he's learning how to flirt so soon! He points to everything and says several words. I will admit it's hard to understand what he's saying sometimes, but he says "dog" for Jake, Theo, and Pate. He calls me mama and Jeff dada. There are other words and points at things he wants. How fun! He plays peek-a-boo, and he loves for us to read him books. (Cordoroy Goes to the Doctor being his favorite at the moment).
sweet baby boy
I cannot believe we are approaching Lucas' first birthday. True to my nature, I haven't planned his birthday party very well. I'm just NOT a planner. Hopefully it'll be small and work out fine. Lucas can stand by himself now with no assistance though still not walking, thank goodness! His favorite thing right now is to get in his walker and chase the dogs. He's a hilarious little man!
love of dogs and pointing
Lucas never ceases to amaze me with his continual growth and personality peeking through. As most know, I have three dogs. I have two that are very old (17 and 13) and a maltese that is 7. Lucas has this knack for crawling toward both Theo and Pate and head butting them, as seen above. Neither of them can move very quickly to get away. Lucas also likes to use them both as a pillow to lay his head on. It's hilarious! I'm sure they don't enjoy it, though, but maybe Theo looks pretty happy above. I videoed Lucas feeding Pate puffs last night. I figure Lucas will never remember these two old dogs, but I'll have the memories.
We went to the doctor yesterday because I wanted the doctor to check out his eye. The doctor suspects eczema but found out Lukie weighs about 19 pounds now. He's just so darn little! Another new thing is that Lucas points to everything. It's amazing watching him grow and communicate more and more with all of us. What a joy!
mommy group
We met together today and decided to post the pics to enjoy! Here's Evangeline, Marley, and Lucas playing together. Marley is demonstrating how to play her toy.
Lucas is a big boy showing off a block!
Big grins from Evangeline. She makes this face often; she's so expressive!
Group crusing. Showing off the skillz.
Here, take this...
Of course, have to end the photos with my little one:
Lucas is a big boy showing off a block!
Big grins from Evangeline. She makes this face often; she's so expressive!
Group crusing. Showing off the skillz.
Here, take this...
Professional crawler...
Of course, have to end the photos with my little one:
what i learned and what i would do different
I would relive the last year in a heartbeat. This is what I learned, or at least a part of what I learned. If I had to go back and tell myself any advice, it would be this:
1. Get ready to be sleep deprived. Yes, you are sleep deprived in the last trimester due to being so dang uncomfortable. I remember waking up every hour or two to go to the bathroom. I thought it was neat how mother nature helped prepare me for sleep deprivation. But, that sleep deprivation in the last trimester is NOTHING like the sleep deprivation when little baby comes home. I didn't sleep well for three months. That's a lot of sleep deprivation and I see why prisoners of war are subjected to this type of torture. It is plain torture both physically and mentally. How moms of more than one do THIS with more than one child is beyond me... they are deserving of some sort of congressional award.
2. Because of the sleep deprivation, the mind doesn't work normally. Things that would be no big deal are suddenly major big deals. That means if your husband is snoring in while you are getting up to tend to the baby, one cannot help but look at him in disgust. I remember thinking constantly, "Must be nice...." The baby crying longer than usual, choking on milk because it goes down the wrong way, a weird poop, etc... can all be interpreted as medical emergencies. Delusional thoughts of how frail the baby is and the thoughts of how easy it would be to harm the baby happen, too. Most women don't want to talk about it, but it's true. Thoughts of how frail Lucas' neck was, etc... constantly bombarded me. It seemed to happen more the less sleep I got, and I learned to use that as a cue to get some rest. Call a friend. Seriously. The best baby gift anyone got me was coming to my home about 3-4 weeks out and keeping Lucas from 6pm-10pm while Jeff was out of town to give me time to catch up a little on sleep. It was the BEST GIFT. Kelley Work you rock! A break is all she needs. If her husband doesn't travel, offer to help her during the day during the week. Take a day off work and go to her house and either help her with all the house stuff or have her go to bed and take care of the baby. I wasn't able to ask for help because of my pride. Luckily Kelley being a mom of three was able to recognize what I needed more than another baby blanket...
3. LET YOUR HOUSEWORK GO. Seriously. Let it go. You will NOT be able to take care of the baby, yourself, and the HOUSE in the first several months. If you can let it go, it will make this experience so much better. If you can't let it go, you are going to be completely frazzled and will look back and regret it. I let it go half and half. Wish I had let it go completely.
4. All babies, for the most part, are colicky. They spit up, cry, whine, and the like. Just be calm. Breathe deeply. Pray. Rest. It gets better every single day.
5. Take pictures every day. Don't let it go by without pictures. Last count: I have over 2,000 pictures of Lucas. He's only been on the planet about 330 days. That's a lot of mammarazzi.
6. Get a good video camera. Some of my best memories are memories in motion. At count I have about 9 full video tapes of an hour each. I wish I had done more, but there's only so many times I could capture a little coo early on. When Lucas started crawling at 8 months, it got a lot more fun and interesting.
7. Don't sweat the milestones. Don't sweat the decisions that seem to divide many moms. Don't sweat the vaccines. Be informed and make a decision. No decision is correct or wrong. Seriously. I can argue that vaccines do NOT cause autism and I can argue that delaying if not in daycare is not a big deal either. If vaccines caused autism, we would have much higher rates than we do. That's my personal opinion on it. I did opt to skip all hepatitis vaccines. Research hepatitis and how it's spread and you'll understand why. Hepatitis A is spread through food mostly. Last time I checked, Lucas isn't eating McDonalds. Hepatitis B is spread through bodily fluids. All hospital staff are vaccinated against Hep B as hospital policy. Find out if you have Hep B. If you don't, your baby won't. The only other way he/she could get it as a baby is through blood, etc... I suppose if Lucas was in daycare I would go ahead and give Hep B vaccine because of cuts, scrapes, etc... that can happy and the sheer number of children there; otherwise, wait. If someone tells you to cloth diaper because it saves the environment? Last research shows that either comes out in a wash... in other words, yes it takes hundreds of years for our diapers to degrade. However, the amount of water it takes to wash the cloth diapers is wasteful as well. Probably the better choice would be to find a diaper that is environmentally friendly AND disposable. That would actually be the best choice, but high on the pocketbook and so far haven't found one that didn't leak for Lucas. I don't know about you but a leaky diaper is not something I have the time for working AND taking care of him. Moms are SO opinionated, me included. Take some advice... try it out... find your own way. Don't sweat it. We all love our babies.
8. Get ready to discover that you never knew what love was until you met your child. It goes beyond the love you have for your spouse... not that it's more, but that it's different. You suddenly understand the love that God has for you and that God had for His Son. Just today, I have to add as I type this, a technician was here to put in a new phone jack so I can move my home office downstairs later, and he told me before he left that he had been under the house praying for me. I suppose in his line of work he finds a way to incorporate his faith, which I appreciate, into his work. He told me as he prayed for me that God told Him to tell me how precious I was to Him... like the love that I have for Lucas. I have been thinking about that love lately. I'm super glad that he felt comfortable to share that with me today because in this world, a lot of people would meet that word with skepticism and negativity.
It actually made my day.
Having a child is going to change your life for the better. You will discover how to be less selfish (hopefully). You will be amazed at the amount of love your parents showed you and how much they loved you. If your parent was not in the picture you will wonder how they could even leave.
It has been amazing.
1. Get ready to be sleep deprived. Yes, you are sleep deprived in the last trimester due to being so dang uncomfortable. I remember waking up every hour or two to go to the bathroom. I thought it was neat how mother nature helped prepare me for sleep deprivation. But, that sleep deprivation in the last trimester is NOTHING like the sleep deprivation when little baby comes home. I didn't sleep well for three months. That's a lot of sleep deprivation and I see why prisoners of war are subjected to this type of torture. It is plain torture both physically and mentally. How moms of more than one do THIS with more than one child is beyond me... they are deserving of some sort of congressional award.
2. Because of the sleep deprivation, the mind doesn't work normally. Things that would be no big deal are suddenly major big deals. That means if your husband is snoring in while you are getting up to tend to the baby, one cannot help but look at him in disgust. I remember thinking constantly, "Must be nice...." The baby crying longer than usual, choking on milk because it goes down the wrong way, a weird poop, etc... can all be interpreted as medical emergencies. Delusional thoughts of how frail the baby is and the thoughts of how easy it would be to harm the baby happen, too. Most women don't want to talk about it, but it's true. Thoughts of how frail Lucas' neck was, etc... constantly bombarded me. It seemed to happen more the less sleep I got, and I learned to use that as a cue to get some rest. Call a friend. Seriously. The best baby gift anyone got me was coming to my home about 3-4 weeks out and keeping Lucas from 6pm-10pm while Jeff was out of town to give me time to catch up a little on sleep. It was the BEST GIFT. Kelley Work you rock! A break is all she needs. If her husband doesn't travel, offer to help her during the day during the week. Take a day off work and go to her house and either help her with all the house stuff or have her go to bed and take care of the baby. I wasn't able to ask for help because of my pride. Luckily Kelley being a mom of three was able to recognize what I needed more than another baby blanket...
3. LET YOUR HOUSEWORK GO. Seriously. Let it go. You will NOT be able to take care of the baby, yourself, and the HOUSE in the first several months. If you can let it go, it will make this experience so much better. If you can't let it go, you are going to be completely frazzled and will look back and regret it. I let it go half and half. Wish I had let it go completely.
4. All babies, for the most part, are colicky. They spit up, cry, whine, and the like. Just be calm. Breathe deeply. Pray. Rest. It gets better every single day.
5. Take pictures every day. Don't let it go by without pictures. Last count: I have over 2,000 pictures of Lucas. He's only been on the planet about 330 days. That's a lot of mammarazzi.
6. Get a good video camera. Some of my best memories are memories in motion. At count I have about 9 full video tapes of an hour each. I wish I had done more, but there's only so many times I could capture a little coo early on. When Lucas started crawling at 8 months, it got a lot more fun and interesting.
7. Don't sweat the milestones. Don't sweat the decisions that seem to divide many moms. Don't sweat the vaccines. Be informed and make a decision. No decision is correct or wrong. Seriously. I can argue that vaccines do NOT cause autism and I can argue that delaying if not in daycare is not a big deal either. If vaccines caused autism, we would have much higher rates than we do. That's my personal opinion on it. I did opt to skip all hepatitis vaccines. Research hepatitis and how it's spread and you'll understand why. Hepatitis A is spread through food mostly. Last time I checked, Lucas isn't eating McDonalds. Hepatitis B is spread through bodily fluids. All hospital staff are vaccinated against Hep B as hospital policy. Find out if you have Hep B. If you don't, your baby won't. The only other way he/she could get it as a baby is through blood, etc... I suppose if Lucas was in daycare I would go ahead and give Hep B vaccine because of cuts, scrapes, etc... that can happy and the sheer number of children there; otherwise, wait. If someone tells you to cloth diaper because it saves the environment? Last research shows that either comes out in a wash... in other words, yes it takes hundreds of years for our diapers to degrade. However, the amount of water it takes to wash the cloth diapers is wasteful as well. Probably the better choice would be to find a diaper that is environmentally friendly AND disposable. That would actually be the best choice, but high on the pocketbook and so far haven't found one that didn't leak for Lucas. I don't know about you but a leaky diaper is not something I have the time for working AND taking care of him. Moms are SO opinionated, me included. Take some advice... try it out... find your own way. Don't sweat it. We all love our babies.
8. Get ready to discover that you never knew what love was until you met your child. It goes beyond the love you have for your spouse... not that it's more, but that it's different. You suddenly understand the love that God has for you and that God had for His Son. Just today, I have to add as I type this, a technician was here to put in a new phone jack so I can move my home office downstairs later, and he told me before he left that he had been under the house praying for me. I suppose in his line of work he finds a way to incorporate his faith, which I appreciate, into his work. He told me as he prayed for me that God told Him to tell me how precious I was to Him... like the love that I have for Lucas. I have been thinking about that love lately. I'm super glad that he felt comfortable to share that with me today because in this world, a lot of people would meet that word with skepticism and negativity.
It actually made my day.
Having a child is going to change your life for the better. You will discover how to be less selfish (hopefully). You will be amazed at the amount of love your parents showed you and how much they loved you. If your parent was not in the picture you will wonder how they could even leave.
It has been amazing.
11 months old!
Time flies when you are having fun, no doubt about it. Lucas turned 11 months old today. He has six teeth already, cruises around and crawls everywhere. He loves his exersaucer, you know the one that many books tout as very dangerous and babies have "died" in them! Yeah, they sure have... something about a rolling object and stairs just doesn't go together. You'd think sometimes that people would have common sense, but unfortunately they don't. Case in point, look at how everyone is trying to blame someone for the economic crisis. My number one group to blame is the American consumer. Ugh, don't get me started. It's like if I went to the bank and they approved me for a million dollar loan for a home. Some people like the idea of government helping those with no common sense. I used to think that government didn't need to be so big... but geeze... maybe I assume people are smarter than they actually are.
Anyway, I digress. Lucas is a joy. Some of the things he does is make noises like a sqwack when he's happy. He smiles a lot, but he's not a big eater. You almost have to feed him little things all the time. He's just not interested in food. That in itself is NOTHING like his mother. I loved, love, and will love food as long as there is breath in my body. Thus the reason I am on weight watchers. LOL
Lucas loves bathtime. He's not fond of naps. He doesn't care for the bottle or sippy cup. I'm sort of sketchy on how to wean this little man. LOL It's a problem I didn't think I'd have back almost a year ago! Funny how one problem can morph into another.
I'd say Lucas weighs about 20 lbs maybe. He's in the bottom of the curve on weight and probably close to middle bottom in height. They never adjust for the 36 week delivery, so I always think in my mind that he's alright if he'd been born May 1st. I do hope he eats better in the future.
He's also stood without assistance. I'm the mother that doesn't want him to learn things so fast as opposed to mothers that show off what theirs can do. If I could go back and relive the past year, I would in a heartbeat. I would do it a bit different though.
I would try to enjoy it even more than I did. That's what #2 is for, right?
happy birthday to my mom!
I meant to post this picture last month but as usual, the time gets away from me. Here's my mom blowing out her candles as her favorite grandson watches. He's ready to dig into some cake... won't be long now!
things i cherish now
1. Big smiles with odd baby teeth sprinkled here and there. Today there are five teeth. He and Theo, our shih-tzu, have a lot in common. "Summer teeth" - some are here and there.
2. Hearing Jeff downstairs "singing" to Lucas and bouncing him on his knee. Hearing him kiss Lucas' head. Hearing anything from them reflecting the bond that a daddy has with his son. So sweet.
3. An awake ten month old standing in his crib first thing in the morning holding his favorite toy. The big smile that fills his face when I walk in the room. Yes, he has me completely wrapped around his finger. This morning, for example, I greeted him with a bigger smile. I didn't get to put him to bed last night because we went out for a Valentines' Day dinner. I missed tucking him in. So glad we are taking him to FL with us in May.
4. Big chubby baby feet. I love tickling him and messing with his feet. He's quite the comedian himself!
5. Seeing my mother and father go ga-ga over Lucas. Seeing family resemblances within Lucas. It's so amazing that a child is a genetic combination of two different families. Both are truly represented.
2. Hearing Jeff downstairs "singing" to Lucas and bouncing him on his knee. Hearing him kiss Lucas' head. Hearing anything from them reflecting the bond that a daddy has with his son. So sweet.
3. An awake ten month old standing in his crib first thing in the morning holding his favorite toy. The big smile that fills his face when I walk in the room. Yes, he has me completely wrapped around his finger. This morning, for example, I greeted him with a bigger smile. I didn't get to put him to bed last night because we went out for a Valentines' Day dinner. I missed tucking him in. So glad we are taking him to FL with us in May.
4. Big chubby baby feet. I love tickling him and messing with his feet. He's quite the comedian himself!
5. Seeing my mother and father go ga-ga over Lucas. Seeing family resemblances within Lucas. It's so amazing that a child is a genetic combination of two different families. Both are truly represented.
what are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy-dogs' tails,
That's what little boys are made of.
Case-in-point, Lucas discovering his first bug.
That's what little boys are made of.
Case-in-point, Lucas discovering his first bug.
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