I know I'm jumping the gun by 13 days but I'm pretty sure I will make it to the finish line. That finish line is one year of breastfeeding. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would breastfeed for an entire year. It started a little rocky with my milk not coming in right away and Dylan losing more than 10% of his body weight while in the hospital. I think we might have given him a total of 4-6 ounces of formula between being at the hospital and the first few days at home. Once my milk came in, there was no more supplementing. I will say that there is no book, class or mother that can help you prepare for actual nursing. They can guide you in what to do but until you put an actual baby to your breast, you really have no idea what to expect. Those first few weeks were very trying. There were quite a few tears and toe curling cries. I can't even being to explain the kind of pain I endured to provide my little guy with the best. Once we got past those first 6 weeks it was smooth sailing. We were in a routine. I always had enough milk for him. Once he started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks, I continued to wake up and pump in the middle of the night to start building my freezer stash. I am so happy that I did because without that stash, there is no way I'd make it to a year! My period didn't come back until Dylan was 10 months old. My supply tanked! I went from pumping 15-17 ounces at work to pumping 10-12 ounces at work. I am now barely pumping 5 ounces while I work. Dylan is only taking two 5 ounce bottles while at daycare so he gets one bottle of freshly pumped milk and one frozen milk. It just amazes me that I have supplied him with the nutrients that he's needed for the past year!! I feel very fortunate that it has been easy for me to provide him enough milk each day. I knew I wanted to make it to a year and if we make it longer, then I'm okay with that. I'm thinking we probably won't go past year because I'm pretty sure Dylan is self weaning. He's refused to nurse the past few mornings and refused the past two night nursing sessions. I can still pump, so I'm okay with it but I always thought that we'd make it to a year and then I'd continue to nurse him in the morning and night until 18 months, maybe two years. I was going to let him be the judge but I guess he's deciding now. I have built an incredible bond with my child and am so thankful for the support and encouragement Jason has given me. Thank you Jason. I would not have made it without you!!
This has been an incredibly fast year and I will have many memories to carry on in years to come!!
I will say that I will NOT miss my damn pump and cannot wait until the day I can go to work with a PURSE and not some nasty black "bag" that I'm sure every single person knows is a boob milker!
Until the next child, I can enjoy having my body back. I can enjoy a glass of wine, eating onions and broccoli. We can go places and not have to worry about me having to nurse Dylan somewhere or make sure we have a bottle and enough milk if we leave him with someone.
BUT I would not have changed one single moment!!!
Our Wedding Day
May 1st, 2010
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
11 months old!
Dear sweet Dylan -
I am so sorry that I missed your 10 month blog. Things have just been so crazy around here! By the time I was going to get around to it, you were already 3 weeks into 10 months! There is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for how lucky I am to have you as my son. You are perfect in so many ways. As I sit here and watch you nurse, it brings tears to my eyes to think that our bonding time is almost up. We have almost reached a year of this amazing experience and I am overjoyed that we worked through this together and have made it this close to the finish line! I will never get this time back with you but the memory will stay with me forever. Thank you for being perfect and so well natured. You make me look like a pro :)
Age: 11 months old (what?!)
Size: 12 month pjs. I can get away with a few 9 months but they're getting pretty tight. It's been super freaking hot this past week so I busted out your 12-18 month summer clothes and they somewhat fit. You definitely have room to grow but you can get away with wearing them to school. You're still in size 3.5 shoe. Probably will move up I the next month. Still size 3 diapers. I don't see that changing anytime soon.
Food: you've come so far in the past two months! You're pretty much on all table food with the exception to 1/2 jar of food at lunch and 1/2 a jar of food at dinner. At school for breakfast you have a mixture or Cheerios, french toast sticks, waffles and pancakes with some kind of fruit and a whole container of yogurt. Then you have some type of snack, graham cracker, animal crackers, ritz crackers, or puffs. For lunch you have so many different foods: tortellini, beef tacos, hamburgers, English muffins with cheese, chicken quesadillas, chicken salad sandwiches, and many other things. You also get a fruit and veggie for lunch which lately you've been having 2 servings of!! When you're at home you usually get: peas, carrots, blueberries, corn, chicken, cheese or meatballs. You're still nursing in the morning and nights and all weekend. You take 3 bottles of BM at daycare. I still have a full freezer of milk so we will definitely hit our one year goal of breastfeeding! (doing the happy dance)
Milestones: you took your first steps on Sunday, march 18th!!! We were out I the grass and you were freaked out by it touching your feet so you took like 3 steps and then fell into me! Then, tonight (march 23rd) we were upstairs and you were hanging onto the ottoman, let go and took 4 steps all by yourself!!! Daddy and I were both there to watch it!! You seriously amaze us every single day!! You love saying "ugh-oh" and "wow". Dada is still your go to word while momma slips out every once in a while. You've started to finally get some more teeth! You've got two on the bottom and one on the top (right eye tooth). Your front left has broken skin and your right front and left eye tooth are about to break the skin! So crazy that you're not going to be my gummy kid anymore!!
Sleep: you are back to sleeping through the night but if you do wake up, you fall back asleep within minutes of being awake. Your bedtime routine starts around 7-7:15 and you're completely out by 8pm. You sleep until 5:50-6:15am. It usually varies but for the most part it's 6:15. You're the happiest baby when you wake up too. It amazes me :) your teachers at school always comment about how happy you are when you come in in the mornings.
You and Parker are becoming best friends. It's so cute how he comes trotting over to you and gives you a big kiss. You sometimes will crawl over to him and pull up in him. It's so cute!!
I can't believe my next monthly update is going to be for your 1 year birthday!!! You are growing up way too fast :(
We love you, Dylan!!
Pic is from this morning while he was watching little Einsteins :)
I am so sorry that I missed your 10 month blog. Things have just been so crazy around here! By the time I was going to get around to it, you were already 3 weeks into 10 months! There is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for how lucky I am to have you as my son. You are perfect in so many ways. As I sit here and watch you nurse, it brings tears to my eyes to think that our bonding time is almost up. We have almost reached a year of this amazing experience and I am overjoyed that we worked through this together and have made it this close to the finish line! I will never get this time back with you but the memory will stay with me forever. Thank you for being perfect and so well natured. You make me look like a pro :)
Age: 11 months old (what?!)
Size: 12 month pjs. I can get away with a few 9 months but they're getting pretty tight. It's been super freaking hot this past week so I busted out your 12-18 month summer clothes and they somewhat fit. You definitely have room to grow but you can get away with wearing them to school. You're still in size 3.5 shoe. Probably will move up I the next month. Still size 3 diapers. I don't see that changing anytime soon.
Food: you've come so far in the past two months! You're pretty much on all table food with the exception to 1/2 jar of food at lunch and 1/2 a jar of food at dinner. At school for breakfast you have a mixture or Cheerios, french toast sticks, waffles and pancakes with some kind of fruit and a whole container of yogurt. Then you have some type of snack, graham cracker, animal crackers, ritz crackers, or puffs. For lunch you have so many different foods: tortellini, beef tacos, hamburgers, English muffins with cheese, chicken quesadillas, chicken salad sandwiches, and many other things. You also get a fruit and veggie for lunch which lately you've been having 2 servings of!! When you're at home you usually get: peas, carrots, blueberries, corn, chicken, cheese or meatballs. You're still nursing in the morning and nights and all weekend. You take 3 bottles of BM at daycare. I still have a full freezer of milk so we will definitely hit our one year goal of breastfeeding! (doing the happy dance)
Milestones: you took your first steps on Sunday, march 18th!!! We were out I the grass and you were freaked out by it touching your feet so you took like 3 steps and then fell into me! Then, tonight (march 23rd) we were upstairs and you were hanging onto the ottoman, let go and took 4 steps all by yourself!!! Daddy and I were both there to watch it!! You seriously amaze us every single day!! You love saying "ugh-oh" and "wow". Dada is still your go to word while momma slips out every once in a while. You've started to finally get some more teeth! You've got two on the bottom and one on the top (right eye tooth). Your front left has broken skin and your right front and left eye tooth are about to break the skin! So crazy that you're not going to be my gummy kid anymore!!
Sleep: you are back to sleeping through the night but if you do wake up, you fall back asleep within minutes of being awake. Your bedtime routine starts around 7-7:15 and you're completely out by 8pm. You sleep until 5:50-6:15am. It usually varies but for the most part it's 6:15. You're the happiest baby when you wake up too. It amazes me :) your teachers at school always comment about how happy you are when you come in in the mornings.
You and Parker are becoming best friends. It's so cute how he comes trotting over to you and gives you a big kiss. You sometimes will crawl over to him and pull up in him. It's so cute!!
I can't believe my next monthly update is going to be for your 1 year birthday!!! You are growing up way too fast :(
We love you, Dylan!!
Pic is from this morning while he was watching little Einsteins :)
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
9 months
Well...Dylan is 9 months old now!
New adventures: Dylan started swim class on January 14th. It's a 6 week session. He loves the water and does so well during the class. It's more of a class to just get them used to the water so it's so much fun to spend time as a family :)
Favorite toys and activities: Parker's water dish is his favorite hangout, followed by the stairs :) We also put up his ball pit and he loves that. He's just on the go 24/7 so it really just depends on what we have out of the toy box.
Funny happenings: He's always cracking us up with something!
What I'm looking forward to: Planning his 1st birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MONSTERS!!!
Age: 9 months (and a few days)
Stats: 9 month appt on January 19th he was 18 pounds 8.6 ounces (19%) and 28 inches long (43%)
Size (diapers, clothes, etc.): He's still in size 3 diapers and wearing 9 month clothing. now that he's in the infant 2 room, he must wear shoes. His shoe size is 3 1/2 :)
Stats: 9 month appt on January 19th he was 18 pounds 8.6 ounces (19%) and 28 inches long (43%)
Size (diapers, clothes, etc.): He's still in size 3 diapers and wearing 9 month clothing. now that he's in the infant 2 room, he must wear shoes. His shoe size is 3 1/2 :)
Sleeping: Sleep was pretty bad for about 3 weeks (right around Xmas time) but we are back to STTN so mamma is very pleased with that! there have been maybe 1 or 2 nights where he's woken up a few times but he's fallen back asleep before I even got out of bed.
Eating: Still BFing in the morning, evenings and weekends. He gets expressed BM at daycare. I am still in complete awe that my body has been able to stay up with him and provide him with the nutrients that he needs to develop and grow. He is now eating yogurt for breakfast with some sort of fruit. He eats puffs (or should I say devours them) for snacks. He's eating stage 3 foods for lunch and dinner. I'm slowly introducing finger foods to him. He seems to be doing really well but I'm not trying to force the food down his throat.
Eating: Still BFing in the morning, evenings and weekends. He gets expressed BM at daycare. I am still in complete awe that my body has been able to stay up with him and provide him with the nutrients that he needs to develop and grow. He is now eating yogurt for breakfast with some sort of fruit. He eats puffs (or should I say devours them) for snacks. He's eating stage 3 foods for lunch and dinner. I'm slowly introducing finger foods to him. He seems to be doing really well but I'm not trying to force the food down his throat.
Milestones: This kid is ridiculous :) He's the fastest crawler alive! He cruises along the ottoman and any furniture he's on. He loves his sit to stand walker. He just crawls over to it, stands himself up and walks. He thinks he's the coolest kid ever (he kind of is though). He says "dada" "baba" "at" "wow". Just the other day I was pulling the blanket over his head and saying "where's dylan?" and then pulling the blanket down and saying "there he is!!" well after about 3-4 times, he started pulling the blanket over his own head!!!! It brought tears to my eyes!!!
New adventures: Dylan started swim class on January 14th. It's a 6 week session. He loves the water and does so well during the class. It's more of a class to just get them used to the water so it's so much fun to spend time as a family :)
Favorite toys and activities: Parker's water dish is his favorite hangout, followed by the stairs :) We also put up his ball pit and he loves that. He's just on the go 24/7 so it really just depends on what we have out of the toy box.
Funny happenings: He's always cracking us up with something!
What I'm looking forward to: Planning his 1st birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MONSTERS!!!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
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