Audrey: 6 Months

Mark it in the books. This post is on time!

I refuse to accept that Audrey has been with us for half a year. This cannot possibly be true. It seems she was just born a few weeks ago. It can not be her half birthday already.

Seriously though, every milestone is such a happy and sad experience. I really didn't think I would be an "oh my gosh you are growing up way too fast, STOP" sort of person. But it is hard not to be. The time soars by.

Audrey is doing so many new things these days. She continues to be an absolute joy in our lives. I honestly have very few complaints. I wish she cuddled a bit more. More sleep would always be good, but she usually only gets up once to eat. Every day when we pick her up from daycare we get "she was so good." All in all such a good little lady.

She celebrated her 6 month birthday with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Merlin. They came to see Audrey and to watch my derby bout. They figured they better get out here to see me play while I am still able. Grandma, grandpa, and Audrey all had fun at the bout. Though by the end Audrey was very tired and not at all in the mood to pose for a picture with mom. We won the bout, by the way. We were total underdogs and we won by a hundred points. Way to go Corruption.

Watching mom.

Sad baby is ready for bed.

We love how much more interactive Audrey gets each day. It is so fun to hear her belly laugh and see her look around a room to find mom or dad. It is also so fun to see her develop favorite toys and seek things out rather than just grab whatever is closest.

She loves her new exersaucer.

She continues to change every day. She is getting really close to sitting up on her own. She can do it for about 10 seconds before she tips one way or another, but she is getting better at leaning forward and using her hands to stabilize, so I'm sure she'll get it soon. She knows how to roll towards an object she wants and she likes to sleep on her side with her monster. She also has found her feet with her hands, which of course is very fun. Basically, she is turning into a big girl before our eyes.

She also has very strong opinions and she is not afraid to voice them.

Right now she LOVES

• Her monster
• Her exersaucer (And the damn singing chameleon, I swear auntie Jess chose the exersaucer with the most lights and sounds in the world. She loves it though.)
• Her little electric piano
• Daddy trying to play songs on the electric piano
• Her wooden duck teether
• Milksicles
• The pets
• Outside
• Being naked
• Waving her arms and legs all over the place
• Chewing on all of the things (we think she may actually be working on some teeth, time will tell)
• Bath time, she has been indifferent until now. Now she loves to splash and play with toys.

Right now she HATES

• Getting strapped in to anything, once she is in she is fine.
• Still hates getting her face and nose wiped
• Bright sunshine in her eyes
• Cuddling, especially with anyone who is not mom.
• Being on her tummy in her crib
• Sore teeth
• Mosquitos

Sun and Fun

Here is the fun picture post I promised last week. It is a bit late, and there aren't all that many recent pictures. I need to get the camera out more.

Doots has been spending lots of time outside lately. She loves to hang out outside at daycare and at home. She really loves to lay in the yard watching the pets run around. She also loves watching tree branches blow in the wind and birds. She does not love bright sunshine in her eyes, hence the sunglasses.

Audrey and Shasta are also starting to become good friends. Audrey loves "petting" Shasta and Shasta likes to be close to Audrey.

Doots continues to change every day, just like she should. She is starting to get very interested in her toys, she just started to learn how to throw them. Fun for everyone.

She also has found her feet, though only on her changing table, and she is getting pretty close to sitting up on her own. She seems to be starting a mommy phase. She does not like it at all when I leave the room. If you have been following you know doots is not so cuddly, so I can't say that I hate this new found love for mom. I may eat these words in a few weeks, but for now I like the extra snuggles.

She also got her first taste of banana. The little lady is still a bit young to start eating solid food but she loves eating breastmilk ice cubes out of her mesh feeder. When we do start food we plan to start with fruits and veggies rather than cereal. Banana and avocado will be some of her first foods. So, even though we haven't really started giving her food yet, we stuck a chunk of banana in her mesh feeder one day to see how she would react. She was a little put out when she realized it wasn't milk, but she did warm up to it eventually and even swallowed some, I think.

Doots is super excited for this weekend. Grandma and grandpa are coming to visit and she gets to go to my derby bout. So many fun things!

A Breastfeeding Update

I will write a fun post with lots of pictures and updates later this week, but for right now I would like to do a quick breastfeeding update. There are a couple nursing pictures at the end. Don't worry not boobs are showing.

I know this post will not appeal to many of you. I feel compelled to write it for myself, for Audrey, and for the one or two people who may see it and feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I say I am writing it for Audrey because she may one day have a breastfeeding struggle like I did. My mom brought me a box of stuff from when I was kid the last time she visited. In that box was a calendar with daily notes from when I was a newborn baby. It was really fun to see what my parents were thinking when I was a wee little one. It was also really comforting to find that my mom had similar issues nursing me as I had with Audrey. I didn't want to eat or latch and she was constantly worried I wasn't getting enough. It was helpful to me to know I was not the only one who struggled during those first weeks. So, hopefully these breastfeeding posts will provide some comfort to Audrey if she ever has kids and has a challenging beginning to their nursing relationship.

On to the update! Breastfeeding has gotten easy for us. I CANNOT believe I just wrote that. If you told me when Audrey was three weeks old that I would be able to nurse her anywhere, anyway with very little effort I would have called you crazy. But it's true we are doing great! Nursing truly has become easy for us.

Until Audrey was about 3 or 4 months, when we got off the shield and things started to get easy, I did not enjoy breastfeeding at all. I did it because breastmilk is the best food for Audrey and I felt it my duty to provide that to her. I continued to nurse rather than exclusively pump for the convenience factor. Though at the time I was pumping a lot and nursing just enough to keep her coming back to the boob. I could not relate to those who loved to nurse their children and were sad when it came time to wean. I considered exclusively pumping many, many times. The only reason I kept breastfeeding is because I was too lazy to make bottles to take with us when going out.

And then everything changed.

Nursing started to get easy. We gradually stopped using the shield (I'm not even sure where it is right now).

I was able to feed her in bed while lying down. I never thought this would happen. Ever.

Audrey also began to get less and less cuddly, unless we were nursing. And I started to understand the desire to breastfeed and the feelings of sadness that will come with weaning. The feelings that seemingly every other mother has. And I started to feel like a "normal" mom.

I will miss getting close cuddle time with that baby girl every day.

I wanted to share this because my view of and satisfaction with breastfeeding have changed so much over the past 5 months.

I want to let any moms who are struggling or  who don't love breastfeeding to know

1) It will get easier. Also, see a lactation consultant if you haven't.

2) It is OK if you don't love nursing your baby. You don't have to love it. It's fine if you see it as one more thing you have to do to care for your baby.

3) you might start to like it a little bit more as time goes by and things get easier. Or, you might not. Either way it is OK and there is nothing wrong with you. You don't have to love breastfeeding. Not everyone does.

I am really glad we stuck it out. I love having some time each day when I get to snuggle Audrey close and listen to her sweet, milk gulping sounds while she nurses.

The early, harder days when we were still using a shield.

Current days. Things are easy. Nursing outside on a blanket under a tree.