Baby's First Christmas

 
 Despite all of the sadness we have endured during the past couple of weeks (see previous post), there has also been a lot of joy. Claire is such a wonderful distraction from grief because you just cannot be sad while hanging out with her. She is so joyful, curious, inquisitive, and happy. She gets excited about the simplest things...and that makes me excited.

  

Christmas Eve we went to church with Jared's parents, Aunt and Uncle, and Papa. Then we had soup and Claire opened up her presents at her JuJu and Zo's (Jared's parents) house. It was a fun evening spent with family. 

 

We have really only celebrated Christmas with my side of the family. Jared's siblings have not come to town yet, so we are waiting to have Christmas with them once they are all here--although Claire has already opened the presents from Jared's parents.

Christmas morning we got up and had our family Christmas. We opened presents from each other and Santa and we also looked in the stockings. Claire like the jingle bell on her stocking. It was a nice morning with just the three of us and the pets. Then we headed to my parent's house.

We spent most of the morning/early afternoon with my family at my parent's house. Claire really didn't get into the unwrapping of the presents like I thought she would. She tore a few bows off and ripped some paper, but it was mostly off of other people's presents rather than her own. She did love seeing all of the colorful paper and has played with most of her new toys. However, she really enjoyed having all the people around. She loves being the center of attention and having people interact with her. She made laps from person to person and showed them her new things. It was a really fun morning. I love Christmas with my family. It is my favorite time of year -- probably because we are all together.

 I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and is looking forward to the new year.

A Road Trip and a Funeral

I didn't post last week...I had a lot to post about, but very little time to actually write anything down. I guess I should start with our road trip to Benton. My Grandmother's sister (Peggy) lives in a nursing home in Cabot and my Aunt and Uncle live in Benton. Peggy is over 90 years old and her health is definitely declining. They even asked her if she wanted to go on Hospice, but she told the doctors that she wasn't ready for that step yet. I still think she is a little spitfire - considering her age and deteriorating health - she is doing pretty well.

We decided that Aunt Peggy needed to meet Claire sooner rather than later, so we took a little trip down to central Arkansas. We drove down Friday night and stayed with my Aunt and Uncle. They loved Claire and it was really good to see them - it had been too long. Then on Saturday we drove to Cabot and visited with Aunt Peggy. I love watching my Grandmother and her sister. They are hysterical together. They just laugh and talk. Peggy loved little Claire too. Claire sat on her lap and grabbed her cheeks. It was precious. It was a really good trip and I am so glad that we decided to go.

Our adventure to visit the relatives was less than two weeks ago, but it seems like a lot longer.

Jared's grandmother (Verna Beatrice Dixon Edwards) passed away the Saturday before Christmas (the same night we got back in town). Everything was a whirlwind after that. Sunday we went to the funeral home with the family to be there for support while they made arrangements. Tuesday was the visitation and Wednesday was when they held the funeral.Verna B. was a lovely lady and wonderful grandmother. The funeral was really nice, but also really hard. She will be missed. Here is a story in memory of Grandma:

Jared always used to do yard work for his grandparents and they would pay him good money for it. One day he went over and his grandmother told him that the hedges needed trimming. He had already trimmed one set of hedges a few weeks prior, so he went outside and looked around for the other hedges that needed trimming. He found some that looked grown out and trimmed away. His grandmother came out later to check the progress and realized he had trimmed her Crepe Myrtle. Jared said that she didn't even get mad and still paid him anyway.

 

During the tumultuous week before Christmas I used all of the spare time I had to get all of my last minute Christmas shopping and wrapping finished. Claire had her first Christmas this year and I'll post about that in the near future.

Birthday with a Baby

I had my first birthday post baby this past Sunday. The hubby had his first birthday when Claire was under a month old, so I sort of new what to expect, or at least I thought I did.

All Jared got for his birthday last year (and by all I mean mostly) was clothes for the baby. In fact, Claire wore one of her "daddy's" birthday presents to my birthday dinner. I did get a few baby related items (a safety gate), but I also got some grown-up presents too. One thing that is definitely different about birthdays when a baby is around is the shift of attention. I am not the first person everyone says hello to on my birthday with Claire around...they all ooh'd and aahh'd over her first. I didn't mind that too much. I am not a big fan of being the center of attention.

I had a really great weekend celebrating with family and it was an extra special birthday because I got to share it with Claire. She really does make every event/occurrence more exciting and enjoyable. I love that little monkey.

I stole these pictures from my mother-in-law, but they are the only ones I could find of the festivities.

Little Food Monster

So Claire has ventured into the world of self-feeding. It has been difficult to get her to eat anything from a spoon. This is both good and bad. I no longer have to steam, puree, freeze, thaw, serve everything she eats, but it has been challenging to find things that are soft enough for her to chew, but that she can also pick up with her fingers.

Slowly, but surely I am expanding our repertoire of finger foods. She loves beans and they are easy to cook and serve. She has had and loves ground turkey, ground beef, tiny bits of chicken, and ham. We tried carrots, but I don't think I got them soft enough and she had a lot of trouble chewing them. I will have to try again this week sometime. She still eats peas (but isn't very fond of them) and she loves green beans which are pretty easy to cut into small chunks.

I think it is the fruit I am struggling with. Anything soft enough for Claire is so slick and mushy that she really has trouble picking it up and getting it to her mouth. I have been experimenting though and we have had some success getting her to take some cooked pears and apples by spoon and a couple of the chunks she successfully fed to herself. Learning how to feed a baby - soon to be toddler - has been an adventure. We have had trials and successes every step of the way and each stage has been a fun adventure.

What is not so much fun is trying to eat my lunch anywhere near the baby. She is constantly trying to get a hold of my plate and anything she can on it. It doesn't matter if she has just had an eight course meal of her own food. When I try to eat she wants some of it. So I try to make lunches that have at least one food item that Claire can eat. I share with her and eat, or I eat while she is napping, or I hide in a corner and eat while she is playing in baby jail.

What you do as a mother to take care of your self and a baby is pretty hilarious sometimes. So Claire is now officially my little food monster. If she sees you eating it, it must be good, so she wants it. Watch your plates!

Christmas prep and no more excuses...

Christmas is just a little over two weeks away. Usually I would be in full shopping, wrapping, and preparing mode. However, having a curious ten-month old changes everything. It is hard to get the usual stuff (cleaning, straightening, cooking, etc.) done--let alone adding Christmas shopping and wrapping. I have mostly been gathering things during the week and then dealing with them on the weekends when the mister is home to help baby wrangle.

We attempted a Christmas craft with Claire yesterday (alliteration anyone?) and let's just say it did not go as well as mommy had hoped it would. I am rethinking our "homemade" gifts from Claire. I am sure they will turn out fine, but I am so disappointed that they did not work out the way I had hoped. I know I am being vague, but the craft is supposed to be part of the family Christmas presents this year, so I have to keep them under wraps until after December 25th.

I have also decided that I am not going think about starting to get back in shape--I am going to do it. I woke up this morning at 6:00 to go for a run. I just happened to pick a time when we got to bed late (midnight) and it was freezing outside (literally--the temperature was below freezing)--awesome. The mister asked me if I was sure I wanted to go as I was getting ready this morning. I was thinking, of course I don't want to go, but there will always be an excuse not to and I am done with excuses. I think I will try running 2 - 3 mornings a week and Pilates or yoga the other 2 - 3 mornings (I will take a break on Sundays). So wish me luck on my road to fitness.

This post is kind of all over the place, but that is how I am feeling today...probably due to my lack of sleep (I am used to nine hours a night). : )

My baby is amazing...(10 months)

Claire has just started doing some of the cutest things within the last few weeks/months. I just have to post them, so I will remember when all of this fun stuff started happening.

- Waving hello and bye bye (I still can't decided whether this or her clapping is the cutest thing ever)
- Covering her eyes with her hands for peek-a-boo
- Cruising along the furniture
- Standing for VERY brief periods when she forgets she is supposed to be holding on to something
- She refuses to eat from a spoon because she wants to feed herself
- Finding her standing in her crib waiting whenever we go get her up in the morning or from naps

I am sure there are others, but those are the things I can think of at the moment. Claire had her ten month birthday a couple of days ago. I don't know what is harder to believe--that she is ten months, or that she will be a year old in two. I am soaking up and loving every minute of it.

Claire's First Thanksgiving

Claire had her first Thanksgiving this past week. The hubby's parents went out of town to visit his sister in Florida for Thanksgiving, so we spent the holiday with my family. We had a really great meal and lots of socializing. Our family friend Lazarus was in town visiting and celebrated with us. He is a really amazing man that has a ministry in India (I am pretty sure you will be able to tell who he is from the pictures.) It was a pretty great day...until Claire's elbow dislocated.

My sister (whom I do not blame in any way and still love very much--because this could have just as easily been me) was helping her toddle around the room (Claire's new favorite activity). Claire was doing so well, that my sis decided to try and help her up some steps. There was a little too much tension on Claire's arm and her elbow joint popped right out of socket. I didn't even know this was a thing, but apparently it is called nursemaid's elbow and is somewhat common in children under the age of five. Claire has had a runny nose for all of about two days of her existence and that is the extent of her illnesses and injuries, so to say her daddy and I were panicking is putting things lightly.

Fortunately we are part of this program at Claire's pediatric clinic that gives us access to a 24-hour on call nurse. So we dialed up the number and talked to one of the very sweet, program nurses. She told us about nursemaid's elbow and a little maneuver to try and fix it. She also said that if we had to we could go to the ER, but she recommended trying to wait until we could come in to the office. Sometimes the ER docs aren't specialized in pediatric care and cannot do the special arm maneuver. At any rate. she managed to calm us down and talk us off the ledge. We gave Claire some ibuprofen and tried to get some sleep.

I was up until about midnight praying for and fretting over my poor angel. When I did finally get to sleep Claire started waking up every hour on the hour fussing and fidgeting. Let's just say we have had better nights of sleep. We did make it through the night and called our nurse again in the morning. She set up an appointment for us first thing and an hour later we were seeing one of our amazing pediatricians. He fixed Claire's arm right up.

We could tell Claire was feeling better before we went to the doctor, but after we left the pediatrician's office Claire was her bubbly, playful self and she was using her arm normally. I cannot describe the relief her daddy and I felt wash over us when we realized Claire was going to be okay. It is not a good feeling to have a baby that doesn't feel well--especially when you know it was a preventable injury.

I know Claire is going to have bumps and bruises. She is going to fall down and she is going to get hurt, but knowing that does not make it easier to bear when it happens. I am such a thankful momma for a happy, healthy, and back to good as new baby girl.

Four generations of women:

Baby Jail

Claire has decided that she likes to play in the pets' water dish (which is not exactly where her mommy would like for her to be playing). A few days ago I captured my little sweetie making a break for her all-time favorite spot, so that her Grandparents, Aunts, and Uncles could all see what a little stinker she is. (See video below.)

I also mailed out our Christmas/Birthday wish lists and had listed several different types of baby/safety gates to block off various parts of our home. After seeing the video and our wish list, Claire's JuJu decided that it would be prudent not to wait until Christmas for one of the items. So she ordered us a SuperYard from Wal-Mart. It was not supposed to arrive until Monday, but it got dropped off yesterday -- not a moment too soon might I add. It has already deterred the baby from the fireplace and her old favorite--the water dish.

Don't let this picture fool you. It appears as if Claire might actually be enjoying her confinement, but I am sure that in time Claire will grow to hate the baby jail. I know this is probably not a good thing, but can I just say that I am in love with our new baby jail. I adore the peace-of-mind that it gives me when I need to go to the bathroom or make lunch and my little monkey is not sleeping (which happens more and more of the time everyday).

Claire's funny, funny joke...

Claire has started to do some really cute tricks. She claps, says mama when I ask her too, she has this snuffly laugh where she scrunches up her nose, but the funniest new trick is that she has started to stick out her tongue.

The best part is that if you stick your tongue out first she will then copy you and stick hers out...then she giggles because she thinks it is so funny. Sometimes Claire grabs her tongue and sometimes she even tries to grab mine.

My baby girl makes me laugh. I hope you enjoy her new trick as much as I have/do.

Halloween 2011

The mister and I are not super big into Halloween. I think we secretly wish we were because we come up with great costume ideas, but we just don't have the motivation to actually put forth the effort to create or find costumes.

Luckily for Claire we already had an Arkansas Razorback cheerleader uniform for her and her JuJu (Jared's mom) bought her a pumpkin outfit too. We didn't do much over the weekend, but Sunday afternoon we went to the First Baptist Fall Festival (@ the Razorback Gardens). Jared's parents were working one of the registration tables (they go to church at FBC) and they wanted to show Claire off to all of their church friends. She wore her pumpkin costume for this event.

Claire was the cutest little pumpkin. Most of the games and activities were geared towards older kiddos, but Claire did get her face painted (with a pumpkin) and she threw (more like dropped) some bean bags at the bean bag toss. She watched other kids ride the miniature ponies and the train. I thought about taking her on the train, but I am pretty sure I would not have fit in the little cars.

Jared and I also took our little pumpkin up to the U of A campus to get some picks next to our names on the senior walk. I wish we had taken her while she was in her Razorback uniform, but that is just not the way things worked out. We got some really great pictures of her though. I even found this patch of ivy and we set her in it for some photos.

On Monday I took Claire up to the Tyson 412 office. She was dressed in her Razorback uniform this time. They do a trick-or-treat thing for employees children every year. They had some of the aisles decorated with different themes: Cat in The Hat, Fishing Hole, Scary Halloween theme, etc. Most of the employees had candy sitting in bowls next to their cubicles. It was fun to take Claire up to see where daddy works. We got a couple of treats for Claire and some really cute pictures of her and her daddy at his office.

Monday night (true Halloween night) we hung out at home and passed candy out to the neighborhood kids. Claire even helped me answer the door a couple of times. She also thought she should get to pick some candy out of the candy bowl and subsequently demolished a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. (I think Jared ate it later).

We had a really fun time celebrating our first Halloween as a family of three. Like I said at the beginning of this post, Halloween is not a holiday we put much effort in to, so I am really excited for our first Thanksgiving and Christmas together. : )

Happening lately...

October came and went. I cannot believe that it is already November. I cannot believe we have a nine month old baby. I cannot believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. This year has flown/is flying by.

I started making a pair of shorts for Jared earlier in the year (August-ish) and was planning on getting them done in time for our trip to Austin over Labor day. Yeah, that did not happen. It is November 3 and I still have not finished them. Ha! I thought I would be able to work on them during Claire's nap times. Unfortunately, Claire is not a super napper--although her naps have gotten a lot better lately. During the end of the summer she was mostly taking 45 minute naps. I tried not to complain because she was/had been sleeping for at least 8 hours most nights since she was three months old. (Which is a very good thing, because I am a very cranky momma when I don't get my sleep).

Suffice it to say if I ever want to finish those shorts--maybe he can wear them next summer--I am going to have to cart my sewing stuff over to my mom's house, so she can help watch Claire while I sew.

Claire has lately decided that she will take hour long naps, but that in exchange she is going to wake up at least once a night at some point. Last night it was 3:30 am. Thanks Claire. I blame it on all the changes that are happening with her. She is growing and changing so fast. I cannot keep track. She is getting her third tooth! (One of the top ones.)

We had her nine month doctor's appointment yesterday. She weighs in at a whopping 18lbs 7oz. (She is kind of a small baby). She is in 6-9 month clothes. Which is nice, because she has finally caught up with her age. She used to be two to three months behind clothing-wise. A few weeks ago my mom and grandmother met Claire and I at the new Carter's store in Fayetteville. It was a really fun morning and we got some super cute outfits for my little girl. (I have a little girl!)

As for the rest of her doctors appointment she looked healthy and wonderful. She is growing well and doing all the things a healthy nine-month old should. She is a really smart baby and has good fine motor skills. She is probably going to be walking by twelve months, but she hasn't been in a hurry to start crawling. It is funny. I am terrified of having an independently mobile baby, but I still find myself worrying that she is not crawling yet, or meeting a certain milestone by such-and-such age. Even though she is still within the average age range. I am such a worry wart. So instead of worrying here are some of the amazing things my daughter does and loves:


- playing peek-a-boo (since she was 4-months old)
- clapping her hands
-reading books (turning the pages)
- standing up (if we don't help her stand when she wants to she gets a little irritable)
- saying mama or dada on command
- eating puffs by herself (she thinks she is pretty big stuff)
- petting her puppies and kitties (and putting their ears/paws in her mouth)
- rocking on her hands and knees (hasn't quite got them coordinated to move together yet)
- her forward motion army crawl (hilarious)

It is awesome how much she has grown and changed since we brought her home last January. I am loving all of her new tricks. She is just so much fun to hang out with and play with. Sometimes I wish she was more of a cuddler, but she is just so busy playing, standing, learning, and discovering - and I enjoy watching that too. : )

P.S. We had a really great Halloween (I'll post pics and details later, but my little angel just woke up, so I have to run for now).

Veggies are delicious...

We started our foray into solid foods when Claire was about four or five months old. We started off with some rice cereal once every week or so. A little after she was six months old she started to get really good at eating the rice cereal, so we started to make sure she got at least one cereal feeding every day - usually in the evenings. So then we decided to start trying some vegetables.

I had determined to make all of Claire's baby food from scratch. So Jared and I got some fresh vegetables from the grocery store and I looked up some basic recipes. I also have this really great rice cooker that comes with a steaming basket insert. I can steam all of Claire's veggies and then use my food processor to make purees.

Jared and I decided to start Claire off with some peas. Claire was getting really good at eating the rice cereal, so I hoped veggies would be no problem. I spent a good 45 minutes preparing fresh, homemade peas for that baby. I was so excited about letting her try them. Jared and I sat down with her at the table and gave Claire her first spoonful. She stuck out her tongue and made the most horrendous face. She acted like we were torturing her. I think we did eventually get her to swallow about three spoonfuls. However, soon after she started gagging and I am pretty sure at least two and a half of those spoonfuls came right back up. She hated the peas.

I was a little miffed, but still determined...she would like the next food better.

Three nights later we tried some green beans. She ate about two baby-spoonfuls. She didn't throw the green beans up, but she still made all of these horrible faces. She acted like we were asking her to eat feces or something. No green beans.

Three nights later and we tried some broccoli. Same thing. I was starting to wonder if it was worth all the effort to make the food if she wasn't going to eat it. I decided to try something yellow next. I got a nice squash and prepared it for her. She did a little better with the squash, but still didn't seem to like it.

We went through peas, green beans, broccoli, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, avocado, apples, and finally tried some banana. Claire really like the banana - she ate half of a banana in one sitting (which led to the The Big Poop) and probably would have eaten more if we had let her . I really wanted to get Claire eating veggies and a variety of fruits. She couldn't eat bananas for every meal for the rest of her life. I tried mixing some of her veggies with rice or oat cereal. Which helped some, but I could still not get her to eat even half of a serving of most things. After about three or four weeks of eating and trying new things we finally got into a rhythm.

I think I was feeding Claire some apples. The first bite was pretty typical Claire. She made a horrible face and acted like she wasn't going to have anything to do with me or the food I had made. Then she leaned forward and opened her mouth. I gave her another bite. She ate it. She leaned forward again and started reaching for the bowl. I gave her another bite. Pretty soon the whole bowl was empty. She had eaten two tablespoons full of apples.

At lunch that day I tried some sweet potato. She ate a whole serving of sweet potato. So at dinner I went back and tried peas. She gobbled up an entire serving of peas. I couldn't believe it. She still makes a funny face on the first bite of some foods, but she usually eats a whole serving of just about anything we try with her now.

Claire is now eating three solid food meals a day and still taking about 25 oz of breast milk. She has become a super eater. I can't believe that just a few months ago she was gagging up pretty much everything we tried to get her to eat. I never thought she would turn in to such a good eater. It just goes to show you that persistence pays off.

Nursing Strikes and Clogged Ducts

I pumped exclusively for five months. This is something that I do not recommend to anyone. Here is why it happened/where it all started:


At Claire's two-month doctor's appointment we found out that she wasn't gaining a whole lot of weight. She hadn't lost weight, but she still wasn't even a pound over her birth weight. I was producing plenty of milk (I was pumping in between nursing sessions to store up milk for my return to work) and Claire was still nursing well with the aid of a nipple shield.

The doctor said not to worry about it, but to bring her back in a month - they didn't want two months to go in between weight checks. I wasn't worried when we left the doctor, but over the next month I could tell that Claire wasn't growing like she should be. My return to work was also fast approaching, so I was getting more and more anxious.

Claire was not quite three months old when I had to return and finish out the school year. She started getting bottles of breast milk for three feedings during the day and then I nursed her once or twice in the evening, once at night, and once in the morning. I was also pumping at least three times during the day while at work. (Let's just say I was one tired momma).

Jared took Claire to the doctor to be weighed at the three month mark - I was back at school at this point. This weight check confirmed what I had known for the past month. Claire was still not gaining weight. She had gained an ounce in the month since her 2-month appointment.

The doctor wanted us to make sure she was getting at least four ounces during all of her bottle feedings, nursing frequently in the evening, and that we woke her up at least once in the night to nurse. They also wanted us to bring her back in a week for another weight check. We complied and Jared returned with our baby in a week.

She had lost 3 oz. I was devastated. 

The doctor decided that for a week we needed to make all but one of her feedings bottle feedings - to make sure she was getting 4 oz at every feeding. I was allowed to nurse her during the middle of the night feeding. The doctor also wanted us to add half a scoop of formula to Claire's bottles in order to increase the total calories Claire was getting.

I cried for two days. I was so disappointed. Being at work was so hard during this time. I felt like a failure. My breast milk was not fulfilling our baby’s needs. Deep down I knew that there was nothing I did wrong, but it was really hard to not feel like a complete failure.

When your baby is not growing and you are her main source of nutrition it is really easy to be convinced (by the enemy) that you are the problem. Poor Jared tried so hard to be supportive, but this was a really difficult time for me as a woman and a mother. I am not sure a man could ever really understand, but he did try and was very supportive.

I still had five or six weeks until the end of the school year.

Jared took Claire back to the doctor and the plan had worked. She was up over a pound. I was told I could go back to nursing her in the evenings/mornings as long as we supplemented after nursing and made sure she was getting at least five 4 oz. servings.

I was really excited to get to nurse my baby again. Unfortunately, Claire did not feel the same way. After a week of almost exclusively bottles, Claire wanted nothing to do with me and my slow let-down. She screamed like I was torturing her every time I tried to nurse her. I read about all these different techniques to try and end a nursing strike. I started with a bottle and then switched to the breast halfway through. I tried pumping to start letdown and then trying to get her to latch. They all worked okay temporarily, but eventually she realized what I had done and started screaming at me again.

I was still working and exhausted from lack of sleep and dealing with students all day, so I just decided to pump until the end of the school year. I had the whole summer and next year (I had decided through all of this to take a year off) to end the nursing strike. I would worry about it when I wasn't working full time. I started making a whole lot more milk when I gave up the battle over nursing. (Stress reduces milk production). Ha!

The summer came and I went back to trying to get Claire to nurse. I tried a number of different things, but Claire was not going to give up her bottles easily. Eventually, I decided that it was not worth the battle to continue to try and get her to nurse, so I resigned myself to pumping exclusively. When Jared was home he gave Claire a bottle while I pumped. When he was at work I would pump thirty minutes to an hour before Claire needed to eat and then feed her. It was a lot of work - she was eating every three hours and I had to pump as often as she ate. Over the next few weeks I would occasionally resurrect my attempts to get Claire to nurse, but it was to no avail. She was having none of it.

We had a family vacation planned for the end of July and I had to come to some sort of decision, so I officially gave up on trying to get Claire to nurse (I threw away the nipple shields). We started giving her five ounces and I extended the time between her feedings to four hours. It gave me a little bit of a reprieve in between pumping and feeding.

I did NOT enjoy pumping during our vacation (See Orlando Vacation Posts). If it wouldn't have been unbearably painful I might have quit. Even Jared was starting to question our resolve to stick with it - it had been pretty easy up to this point for him to convince me to continue on. There was no way I was going to attempt quitting cold turkey, so I stuck with it. After pumping for a week in Disney World I decided I could make it through pretty much anything. The rest of the summer went by quickly.

Even though I was not going to be teaching I still attended teacher inservice at the beginning of the school year and brought my pump along with me. I did get some much needed professional development hours, but the most beneficial thing I gained that week was reassurance that not working during the next year had been the right decision. I was walked in on twice while pumping and struggled to juggle all of my meetings and pumping schedule. Pumping and school teaching are just two very difficult things to blend. I also got a clogged duct - a precursor of mastitis - during the last day of inservice. I cannot imagine if I had had to be in the classroom teaching the next day while trying to get my duct unclogged (which requires frequent pumping sessions, ice packs, heat packs, and occasionally ibuprofen).  

The clogged duct threatened my resolve to stick with the pumping, but somehow I managed to stay strong.

The first week of September I got another clogged duct. We had a trip planned for a few days later. We were going to be driving to Austin to visit my siblings over Labor Day weekend. Luckily, I got the clog cleared after a day and I reset my pumping schedule to try and alleviate any future clogs.

On the drive down I got another one and spent the entire drive trying to resolve it. The next day it was clogged again. I spent most of my vacation trying to get rid of clogged ducts. (They are pretty painful, so it was not a pleasant way to spend the vacation). By the end of the weekend I had cleared all of the clogs and was feeling better, but I had decided that it was time to wean. I could not handle any more issues with my breasts. I skipped my first pumping session that day. It was liberating.

I am still in the process of weaning, but I am down to just two pumping sessions a day. Claire is eight months old and I think I will continue to pump twice daily until she is at least nine months. I cannot tell you how freeing it feels to not be tied to my pump all day every day.

Every time I have questioned my decision to wean I have gotten a clogged duct. I am pretty sure that even if that isn't a sign it is a good enough reason for me to continue along the weaning path. Claire is eating a lot more solid foods now and I have other issues to deal with (see The Big Poop), so I am not concerning myself over the decision to wean. It is the right decision for me and for Claire.

My adventure into breastfeeding...

I went in to breastfeeding not really understanding what I was getting myself into. I had signed up for the "breastfeeding class" through Willow Creek to learn more about it - my mom never had good letdown and was not able to breastfeed, so I didn't have much in the experienced veteran department to rely on. I did, however, have a fantastic cheer-leading section. Jared and my mom, a lot of good friends and family were all very supportive of my decision to breastfeed - I would never have made it as long as I did without them. Anyhow, the breastfeeding class I signed up for got cancelled because the instructor was sick, and then the make-up class got cancelled because of snow, and then on the day I was supposed to have the make-up, make-up class I went into labor and little Claire Marie was born. (Suffice it to say I didn't make it to the breastfeeding class).

During the hospital stay I asked to see the lactation nurse, but she always had an obligation and was "coming" to see me when she was free. I am pretty sure that I never saw her. The pediatric nurse was pretty helpful and we did manage some latch on, but it was with the help of a nipple shield. I never could manage to get Claire all the way through a nursing session without a shield. If I had been more diligent I would have seen a lactation consultant after we left the hospital, but the two weeks after we took Claire home we had two "900-inches of snow" snow storms. (Okay maybe it was only twenty inches of snow.) When you have a newborn infant to transport any amount of snow seems like a good reason not to leave the house.

On our second or third night home from the hospital I had a really high fever and had to go to the emergency room. My milk was just coming in and as it turned out I had developed double mastitis, and a urinary tract infection. (Not fun!) They gave me some antibiotics and I pumped like a madwoman in between nursing sessions with Claire. The nurse in the ER was really helpful too. She gave me some literature about mastitis, clogged ducts, pumping, etc., and some really good hints about dealing with those issues. She and Claire's pediatrician (who was a breastfeeding mother) were probably the most helpful people I talked to about nursing. After that nursing went pretty smoothly until about the time that I had to go back to work.

Working and nursing is a whole different ballgame - and will have its own post. : )

My (unsolicited and possibly unwanted) advice to new mothers:

1) Make up your mind about breastfeeding before the baby arrives. 

Decide you are going to do it (or not) and for exactly how long you want to continue with it. If you are wavering it will be really difficult to stick with.

2) Surround yourself with support.

See a lactation consultant whether you are having trouble or not. Make sure your family knows your decision and supports it whether they agree and understand or not.

3) Educate yourself. 

Read all of the articles, books, Facebook posts, etc. about breastfeeding that you can find. The more you know the better off you will be.

4) Do not beat yourself up about when you decide to wean. 

You have to do what is best for you and the baby. The baby isn't going to be in good shape if you are not in good shape.

5) If you have to go back to work...God help you. 

Working (especially as a school teacher) and breastfeeding do not mesh well, but if that is what you want to do then you can make it happen. You just have to be really determined!

Breastfeeding is hard, but it is worth it - however long it lasts. I will never regret my decision to breastfeed.

Claire giggles are the best giggles...

I have found that, no matter what is going on or what the day has been like, when Claire laughs it is like a magic wand wiping away all the frustrations/sorrows of the day. Since her laugh is so rejuvinating I thought I would share it with you. Here is a video, that Jared took, of Claire laughing*:

*Disclaimer: Laughter can be contagious.

Claire's Photo Session

A few weeks ago a long time acquaintance of mine (who happens to be a fantastic photographer) was going to be in town shooting a wedding. She agreed to meet with our little family and take some photos of us/Claire. If you ever have a baby and need to hire a photographer I strongly recommend Rachel Blackwell (http://rachelblackwellphotography.com/).

I probably spent more hours than I should have trying to figure out what we were all going to wear--I wanted us to coordinate, but not be matchy, matchy--but we ended up having a great time getting our pictures taken. Rachel made the shoot so much fun and we just really enjoyed the moment. Claire was such a good sport and pretty much went along with anything we or Rachel wanted her to do.

We got some great photos out of the day and we had a really great time while capturing those memories. Here is a link to Rachel's blog post about our photo session (it includes several images from the shoot):

http://rachelblackwellphotography.com/blog/claires-6-month-session-san-francisco-childrens-photographer/

There are so many great shots that it is going to be really tough to pick favorites to order. It is so hard to believe how quickly Claire is growing and changing. I am so glad that we got to capture this moment in time of her. 

The Big Poop

(Yes this blog post is about poop - if you are uneasy, stop reading right now)



I worked as a certified nurse's assistant for six years in high school and through college. I am not a reserved person when it comes to stories about bodily functions. Keep that in mind and let me also warn you that motherhood does nothing to discourage/reduce discussions about poop, pee, vomit, and the like.

Claire has never had issues with digestion. She has always been a very good pooper. She always wets the appropriate amount of diapers and such. (You keep track of the strangest things when you have a baby, or work in a hospital). About the middle of last week Claire started to become a little fussy. I chalked it up to teething, or a developmental, or cognitive milestone...at first. About the third day I started to brainstorm all of the things that could be wrong with and/or bothering her. I started to think about naps - was she sleepy, skills - was she doing something new, and then I started to think about her bowels.

Claire normally has a nice soft poop (or two) every two or three days, so I hadn't really thought about when she had last pooped until she had been fussy for a couple of days. The longer I thought about it the more worried I became. I couldn't remember the last time she had pooped. I don't change every diaper, so I waited until I talked to Jared. He hadn't seen a poopy diaper in a few days either. Then I started to fret about constipation. I "Googled" constipation in infants. I read at least two articles all about poop consistency and regularity and settled on the fact that Claire was probably constipated.

I have an acquaintance (we went to high school together and both recently had babies) who recently dealt with a constipated infant and after reading her blog post about suppositories I started to get a little nervous. I looked at causes and suggested treatments and decided to start with the things I could do at home by myself before getting too worked up.

Claire has just recently started eating solid foods on a more regular basis and some of those are definitely culprits in the constipation game, so I decided to try less rice cereal and more fruits and veggies. I even made some applesauce (it is supposed to help loosen bowels--is it gross that I know this). I started giving Claire some water in addition to her breastmilk, applesauce, oatmeal, peas, green beans, etc. (You are supposed to encourage extra fluids).

I had also read something about applying pressure to the abdomen about three finger-widths below the belly button, so I tried it. Claire made some faces and grunting noises, so I checked her diaper. (You should probably know that I had been checking her diaper every ten minutes since feeding her the applesauce and water.) She had pooped! Unfortunately it confirmed my suspicions. It was the tiniest, hardest little poop I had ever seen (come out of Claire, I worked at a hospital remember!). Poor Claire.

Now I knew what was bothering her and I wasn't sure what else to do to alleviate her suffering. Luckily I didn't have to worry for too long because pretty soon there was more grunting and more strained facial expressions. Claire and I took a trip to the changing table and she had the biggest, craziest looking poop I have seen in a good long while (I am trying to resist the urge of explicitly describing every aspect of the poop). Let's just say Claire had to feel better after getting all of that out of her system.

I cannot believe how invested I am in the bowel movements of such a tiny human. It is weird...yes, but it is motherhood. Claire didn't poop today - the giant poop happened a day ago. I am anxiously awaiting a regular poop tomorrow, so I can quit worrying about her bowels (temporarily)...wish us luck.

Austin Road Trip

Over Labor Day weekend we decided to drive down to Austin to visit my brother David and his wife Ashley (my other sister Dorothy was going to be there too). On the way there we stopped at my Uncle Grey Horse's and Aunt Sissy's house. Joyce Norman (Sissy) is my dad's sister. They live right outside of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was a nice way to start our trip to Austin and a great short little drive that we could accomplish in the evening after Jared got off work.

They loved getting to see/play with Claire. It was a really good, short little visit.

On Saturday morning we packed up early and hit the road. The ride down to Austin was pretty uneventful. Traffic wasn't too bad until we got past Waco, TX. However, we made it in to Austin right about the time we thought we would and David and Ashely were preparing a delicious feast for us at their house. They have the cutest house and they have done such an amazing job decorating it and making it home. In fact, I loved it so much that I have now enlisted Ashley to start a Pinterest board dedicated to redecorating my house. : )

On Sunday we got up and had some breakfast tacos (which were pretty yummy) and then headed to David and Ashley's church. Their pastor teaches at a different campus, so they stream video of him in onto this huge screen - he is literally life-sized and digital. I spent most of the service out in the hallways trying to get Claire to fall asleep, so I missed most of the preaching, but it was a neat little church. From what I can tell it is really missions-oriented.

After church we had lunch with Ashley's mom and one of her sisters at Tres Amigos. Jared and I had fajitas that were pretty delicious. Also, Claire got loved on by everybody there.

Next we relaxed at David and Ashley's for a little bit before packing up and heading out to the Sutton's ranch. It is called Loma Grande and is in Llano, TX (right outside of Austin). On the drive to the ranch we saw a huge plume of white/gray smoke. Texas has had a horrible hot/dry summer (I think one of the worst since the 1800's) and they have a fire ban and water restrictions going on. There are wildfires breaking out all over the state and this was a new one that had just started. It was nuts. In fact on the way back in to Austin we had to turn around and take a detour that was about half an our out of the way to avoid a road that was closed due to smoke (making visibility poor).

That evening at the ranch we got settled in our rooms (this ranch is palatial) and then went out on an electric cart to tour one side of the property. This was the side with free-range deer, cattle, and wild pigs. Claire got to go strapped in to a front carrier and she LOVED it. She giggled every time we hit a bump or the wind blew her hair. That evening we had a late dinner of Opey's bar-b-q and salad.

The next morning we were up bright and early, so we went to see the deer operation. They have a really neat handling facility and all of the does are sectioned off and penned with their fawns by sire. There was also a pen with the young bucks. They are trying to determine which to use as breeding bucks and which to release into the free-range parts of the property. It was really neat to see and the baby deer were so cute.

After that we relaxed at ranch house dos for a while (yes there is more than one house at the ranch and an enormous barn). Then we went to the rifle range and shot at some targets for a little while and then drove up a big hill to the top of the property where there are some amazing views of the surrounding area.

We headed down, had lunch, and then headed back to Austin (which took longer than anticipated due to the smoke mentioned previously). Dorothy needed to head back to Dallas, so she took off at this point, but the rest of us headed to downtown Austin to see the famous bats of Austin. Apparently, it is the largest colony of bats in North America and they take flight daily around dusk. It took a little longer than we though, but they did eventually take off and it was a sight to see. I have never seen so many bats at one time. As they flew out from under the bridge they looked like giant swarms of insects. We got some video, but the bats are so small that it doesn't really do it justice. I recommend that if you are ever in Austin you go to the Congress Street bridge and see the bats.

Swarms of bats

The haze is the smoke from all of the wildfires.

On the way home we grabbed some burgers and shakes at Hopdoddy's (an local restaurant - Keep Austin Weird) and then called it a night. Jared and I got  up early the next morning, packed, said our goodbyes, and headed out. It was a really great trip and I am so glad that we got a chance to visit David, Ashley, and Dorothy in Austin.