Disription

A place for family and friends near and far to keep up with our growing family.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

To my sweet 7 month old....



My dear sweet Annaka,
I can't believe that I am sitting down to write your 7th month blog. For some reason this month seemed to fly by faster than the others. Maybe because we had a lot going on this month. We threw a 30th birthday party for you daddy. Your dad's traveling has slowed down and we traveled with him one week so that was nice. We also are currently under contract for a two unit apartment in Portland Maine. So I guess that is a lot on top of the normal day in and day out events.

You are changing and growing so fast. I simply adore you. You do things all the time that I never want to forget. Things that I don't quite know how to capture. you recently started to do this smacking noise, it's not with your lips but with your tongue, I love it! When you sleep you hold on to your tiny little clammy feet with your sweet little clammy hands, we bought a monitor this month and your father and I love to just watch you. At first when we realized we could hook it up to the TV I said "Why would we do that to just sit and watch her, lame." and then that is exactly what we did. We don't have too many pictures of you sleeping since we don't want to wake you (the sleeping beast). One day we will have to be brave and snap the once in a lifetime shot of you in those adorable positions and suffer the consequences before we miss our opportunity. When you were very, very tiny still sleeping on our bellies you use to make this face when you work up it was like a stretching face, you would press your lips together and move your head side to side like Steve Wonder then your head would collapse back on to our chest like your head was the heaviest object you had ever lifted, it probably was at the time. It was adorable I hope I never forget since every time I pulled out the camera that was the time you decided not to do it. When I am watching Gilmore Girls I mean, when we are watching Gilmore Girls, you always stop whatever you are doing and stare at the TV while Carol King plays and the credits roll. I hope never to forget this sweet little things that make you so special.

So this was a big big month for our little angle. We moved you from the co-sleeper bassinet to a full size crib, well a pack and play until we move and you get your own room. You stopped using your baby bath and are using the WHOLE tube. you love it! You started solids, we are taking a baby led weaning approach which I will post about in more detail in a later post. You love avocados, zucchini, strawberries, watermelon cantaloupe, sweet potatoe and bananas. You try everything that we put in front of you. I think that your all time favorite is the avacado though you have one everyday! You also tried an egg for the first time yesterday made in coconut oil with some pepper and spinach. You are also learning to express yourself with your voice. You had a little tantrum the other night in front of your dad and I, we couldn't help but laugh. You have also gone down to two naps. We'll we just started that yesterday. I am sure I will have more to say about it next month. You also are getting your two bottom teeth, very exciting!

I love your relaxed personality you go with the flow, are never really fussy unless you are tired, wet or hungry for the most part. You are smiley and loving. You love to cuddle with people you are comfortable with. When you enter a room or come across a new space I love how you need a minute to asses the environment before you leave my side. Even though you don't rush into anything you never shy away from new experiences.

Annaka your father and I adore you, We are so grateful to God that he picked us to be your parents. We pray everyday that God will give us wisdom when it comes to making choices for your sweet little life. Thank you for being you, we love every single bit of you and we are already so proud of the little person that you are turning out to be.

With all the love in the world,
Mommy

This is us at the Alabama Zoo. You seemed to enjoy yourself.

You love your avocado. 

Our little girl getting bigger!



Friday, July 6, 2012

A glance at my breastfeeding adventure


Most women who think about having babies, talk about having babies, are trying to have babies and never want babies know exactly, well maybe not exactly, what they will and will not do once they become a mother.  I had my fair share of things as well. So far many of them have come and gone, I have given some of them a try, some I never attempted and others I have stuck with, breastfeeding is one of them

Breastfeeding, I DO NOT enjoy it, some of you mom's out there are gasping at the thought. Sometimes I think that I may be the only mom in the world who is looking forward to the day that my little angle is weaned and I no longer feel that my only purpose in life is to me milked by my sweet little girl. Now it's not that I want her to get any older I still want to enjoy all her first and soak up all the baby time I can get but without the breastfeeding. Now is it possible that one day I will look back on these days and wish for them back, it's possible but feels unlikely most days. There may be something wrong with me, I'm okay with that.

I wanted to breastfeed for a few reasons: breast is best, it's FREE and all my mom friends said it was convenient, all positives for me. So like anything I did my research, talk to other mom's, took a class, found useful websites. I wanted to be successful at this and be prepared for what I was about to do. Of course you can never be completely prepared for anything that has to do with baby but I felt that I had all the knowledge I could find. Of course I had to make sure Kyle was full of all this knowledge too because I knew I would forget half of it because of my baby brain, which I have yet to get rid of. 


Now it started off like most things when you are a newly sleep deprived walking corpus wondering how in earth you are surviving off of and hour and a half of sleep, I mean parent. It had it's up and downs times I cried, yelled, swore at my poor infant daughter, wondering if my breast would ever look the same and begged my husband for formula. But like most things as a new parent after a couple weeks, and many calls to the wonderful Lactation Consultants at Wentworth Douglas Hospital, we all got the hang of it and mommy began to heal both physically and mentally and we were on the road to success, it was a long road with a few detours but non the less we were making progress. It's hard to move forward quickly when you are tired. 

Annaka is still exclusively breastfeed at 6 months and we are starting to introduce yummy veggies and fruits. I still don't get warm and fuzzy when she is nursing, I don't look down and wish for that moment to last forever and as amazing as it is, the fact that God made my body to nourish this little one, I still feel unattached to breastfeding. I feel that this is my job I am her mother and that is that. 

I have wondered if it is because Annaka and I get lots of time alone together, I am grateful for this, so It's not that in the midst of a busy day we are searching for time to connect. We still have plenty of opportunity to be close. We play together while she is awake during the day. For this I am so thankful for and love every minute of it, well maybe not EVERY minute. 

Maybe if/when we have more children when things are crazy and hectic I will cherish the time that I get to spend with a little one. Maybe it is now you go into it. While I was doing all of my research I looked at breastfeeding as a job that I mother does if she is able. I was able so it was my job and I like to do my jobs with excellence. For now I am thankful I can feed my daughter for free and give her lots of healthy antibodies. But I don't think that come a year I will be sad to say goodbye to breastfeeding. 


Stay tune 6 months from now I may be eating my own words.