Special Times with Touch

When Boo was an infant I bought this infant massage book. We rarely got through an entire massage when he was an infant and I wasn't overly consistent with it, but it was always very special when I made time to do this with Boo.

As Boo grew older, massage kind of fell by the wayside and I kind of forgot about this special way of connecting with my little man. Enter pregnancy and third trimester fatigue and irritability. I know I've written a lot of posts lately about this fatigue, struggle to be a loving mom, and associated stress. So pardon me another such post please!

In my brainstorming efforts, massage resurfaced and beckoned to me. I got out my Aromatherapy and Massage for Mother and Baby book and made up a basic pregnancy massage oil. The recipe called for Almond, but I didn't have any almond oil in the house. So I used apricot oil for mine instead. I added my tangerine and lavendar essential oils, which were the suggested ones. I must say that it smells a bit on the heavenly side!

Starting this past weekend and several days since then Boo and I have had special massage times during which I attempt to massage his feet or "footies" as I like to call them in the moment. He's very ticklish on his feet, so sometimes this works and sometimes not. But he's always pretty eager to try. Then he gets very excited to hold his little hands out for a bit of oil and rub it on mommy. He loves to massage my preggo belly for me. This feels great on my stretchmarked belly and we talk to baby while we massage. It's been wonderful to hear Boo talk to his sibling while he rubs my belly and it's such a relaxing time for both of us.

This all made me very curious about massage with children. The book that I have is pretty specific to infants, so I decided to do what I always do when I get curious. I googled. Here's an article that talks about the benefits of massage for children. I thought it was pretty interesting anyways. I guess it's just one more resource that links human touch to positive outcomes.

Here's another one. This isn't specific to massage. But it's about human touch. This is a blog written about skin to skin touch for siblings. It made me cry - not hard to do when you're in your third trimester of pregnancy, but whatever!

Skin to Skin Bonding

Isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever read? I admit that I'm a huge believer in skin to skin bonding. When Boo was a baby I gave up on the baby bathtub - I HATED every single one that I tried. So into the tub with mommy he went. And he LOVED it and so did I. It was so relaxing to settle into the warm water with my little one. He would often nurse during this time when he was an infant. It was much more relaxing to me not trying to hold up a squirming baby in an akward position in a baby bathtub contraption. As he grew he eventually started taking baths on his own. But even now we still enjoy the occasional bath together and it's still a wonderful bonding experience. In fact, last Saturday we had one of those dreaded meltdown moments where nothing seemed to work. I had just arrived home from a pampering session at a salon and was resting on the couch when Boo woke up from nap. He came downstairs and sat on my lap and just cried. And cried. And cried. And cried. I tried everything under the sun. Are you hungry? Still tired? Have a bad dream? You name it.I know that he really really had not wanted me to leave earlier that day and so I suspect that may have had something to do with it. Finally I said, do you want to take a bath with mommy? He cried for another minute, then hopped up and ran to the bathroom and started stripping. Crisis over. We happily reconnected and both of our stress levels plummeted. It will be a bit bittersweet when he outgrows this kind of connecting, so for now I will attempt to delight in these special times.

Nursing into Toddlerhood

There's been a lot of change for Boo in the past month. We've pretty successfully night weaned. He still wakes up now and then and cries for milk in the night, but not nearly so often. And it doesn't take him that long to go back to sleep. I'm also working on setting more parameters around his daytime nursing. I'm really wanting to keep it to an "at home" thing now. We have our usual times - naptime and before bed. Additionally, mornings where there's no daycare kiddos when he wakes up and sometimes in the evening when he wants the extra comfort.

I feel bad though. We went out the other night and stayed out past his bedtime. He could not handle the fact that he wasn't getting his milk while we were not at home. And in his defense, it was bedtime. I stuck to my guns, but I'm not sure that was the best decision. He was horribly upset. Perhaps a more sensitive decision would be to not plan to stay out way past his bedtime until he's gotten used to these new rules. At the time I didn't feel as if I was being horribly insensitive...just firm. Looking back on it, I think it was too much too soon.

We've also had other changes in the house. In the past two weeks I enrolled three kiddos in the daycare. Woo hoo - that's good news. And so far I think it's going really well. But of course that's a lot of change for a little 2 year old to handle. Now instead of sharing me with one child, he's sharing with four kiddos. Plus, one is an infant who gets to be held and fed bottles of milk. Boo has definitely noticed this and has tried to ask for his milk when the infant is being fed. A simple "not now...at naptime" or "not now...after daycare" does the trick. He's pretty used to that rule.

"Mothering Your Nursing Toddler" is a book that I read awhile back and it's a great read for anyone who chooses to nurse into toddlerhood. One thing that is great about this book is that it talks about setting limits when children are over 2. The author supports mothers setting limits that they feel are necessary to make themselves more comfortable with nursing their toddler. I think it's important for mothers who choose extended nursing as the right path for them to realize that extended nursing does not mean they have to be a 24 hour snack bar. I've actually felt really great about the limits that I've set. I still enjoy our nursing relationship, but I was starting to feel a bit burned out on it. Having parameters that I'm comfortable with have made a huge difference in how I feel about nursing my little Boo right now.

Well, remember that busy daycare home I mentioned? I must get back to it. No one's awake from nap yet, but there's a few more things I'd like to do before they are!

Milk Goes Night Night

Well, we've been working on night weaning Boo. We've had 4 nights of night weaning so far and he's doing a wonderful job. My main reason for night weaning is that Boo has this habit of clamping down once he's asleep and I have one side that's constantly sore for that reason. I don't mind nursing through the night because he climbs into bed with us partway through the night anyways. So it's not like I have to do anything other than turn the right direction and I can do that while half asleep. That's much easier than having to get up and bounce him, rub his back, sing to him, or whatever other method that would be necessary to soothe him back to sleep. However, since I'm now in pain on one side all the time it's not relaxing to nurse at night because the pain wakes me up. So we've decided that now is the time.

The first night he screamed and screamed and screamed for 45 minutes. Poor guy. I kept repeating that "milk goes night night". He was not happy about it. But with some singing he finally went back to sleep. The second night he cried for maybe 20 minutes and then fell back asleep. The third night he cried a little bit, not for very long at all. Then he turned away from me and cuddled up to daddy. I wonder if that was his way of being mad at mommy! Last night he didn't wake up and ask for milk at all! I think he will be pretty well night weaned by the end of this week. Yay! I'm so proud with how well he's doing with this!

It's hard as a parent to withhold something that your child loves so dearly. But I can see that he's adapting very well. And he still seems very secure in our relationship. So I hope that means that I've done some things right along with all of my lovely mistakes!

Well, I'm off to vacuum the downstairs before daycare starts this morning. Fun fun!

The Conference

Well, the conference was pretty great. It was long and exhausting, but in a good way. It was a bit of a challenge being at sessions with a toddler, but lots of other moms had young children with them also. I think Boo enjoyed seeing and playing with the other children. I found myself juggling attending to Boo and listening to the speakers, but I think I came away with some great information. An unintended result is that I came away with increased confidence in my ability to mother my child in a manner that is appropriate and loving.

Some of my favorite sessions were Nursing Fashionably in Public, Babywearing why and how, and The Science Behind Attachment Parenting.

I won a sling too! That was pretty exciting. I entered a raffle and won a sling. Boo seems to like it. It allows him to be on the side of me - where I'd be carrying him with my arms if I was carting him around somewhere. The babycarrier that I brought with us to the conference was my Ergo carrier. I LOVE this carrier - it's so comfortable for my back and it's my carrier of choice when I know he's going to be in there awhile. He really enjoys being on my back too. I have my homemade wrap that I never use. I figured out why at my Babywearing session. I need to cut the width of my fabric in half. It's just way too wide, which makes it incredibly cumbersome to use.

Anyways, it was a good time. It was so great to see so many other mothers wearing their children around and nursing their toddlers. Sometimes I feel a bit like the "lone ranger" because of my parenting choices. But that's a result of the culture I live in. I would fit right in other places in the world. So it was nice to feel like I "fit" for an entire weekend!

Off To My La Leche League Conference Today

As I posted previously, I'm going to a local LLL conference. I'm commuting with the local LLL leader. I'm super-excited. It will be like "mommy school", "lactation school" and some other things all rolled into one. I'm really looking forward to expanding my knowledge in the field of breastfeeding and attachment parenting. One of the sessions I signed up for is Attachment Parenting focused and it's taught by Dr. Bob Sears - Dr. William Sears' son. I'm super excited for that one. I think this will be a nice weekend to spend with Boo and to focus on my continuing education. It's something positive that I can throw my thoughts and energy into while feeling the loss of my pregnancy.

La Leche League Conference!!!

Woohoo...I'm officially signed up for the La Leche League conference this month. YAY! Three days of breastfeeding/parenting/La Leche League education! Dr. Jack Newman is going to be there for the first day. I'm super excited to hear him in person. I watched some videos on his website to help me through some breastfeeding issues I had when Boo was younger. This will be a great weekend. I'm going to be commuting with the local LLL leader, so I'm excited to get to know her better also.

Maybe La Leche League??

I went to my LLL meeting last night. I haven't been in forever. It's not that I don't want to go or anything. I just get busy and well, if I'm being honest, sometimes my couch is beckoning to my butt in the evening after doing daycare all day long! ;) However, I've really been wanting to go back for several reasons. One, the leader is super nice and down to earth and we have similar thoughts on a lot of parenting, breastfeeding, birthing type issues.

The other reason is that I remember being so upset when Boo was first born when I was having problems with breastfeeding. It was hard to get going and there's soooo much misinformation out there. Thank goodness I didn't listen to the hospital nurses who told me he NEEDED formula because he was jaundiced. And also Boo's pedi at the time who said that he probably would need to be supplemented with formula due to weight gain issues. Not to mention that I was pretty much told I was "doing it wrong." Boo took a LONG time to nurse when he was little and I was told that I had to cut him off on each side after 15 minutes. I was told not to allow non-nutritive sucking. Hmmm....I would think if a LO is having a weight gain issue more time at the breast would be BETTER and less time would be WORSE. So...I didn't listen to them. I got advice from a local Attachment Parenting International group that has a bulletin board online. I ended up nursing him a lot more often. So for awhile I fed him every hour and a half. And he continued to take about 45 minutes to nurse. Do the math. Pretty much half of my day was spent on the couch. So he nursed about 12 times a day. But...guess what? It worked. He got what he needed. He's a happy, healthy toddler who's growing as he should! Anyways, I say all that to say this. Without the advice and support I received from this Attachment Parenting group who knows what would have happened to our nursing relationship. Would I have given up completely? Would I have supplemented, which ultimately does lead to early weaning for a lot of women and babies?

I didn't discover LLL until several months after all of this crisis! But, having gone through that, it makes me want to give back. I think more women would breastfeed if they had proper information and support. Anyways, for this reason, I missed American Idol last night - yes, this was very hard for me...lol! I went to LLL, enjoyed visiting with the leader there, and she actually presented me with a pamphlet about becoming a leader myself someday. The idea appeals to me and I'm mulling it over. I'm NOT an expert in any way, shape, or form...so the idea is a bit intimidating to me. But in the same way, I'm a mom who nurses my child. I'm a mom who knows how important that breastfeeding relationship is. I'm a mom who was in tears the first week home from the hospital because my child REFUSED to nurse. And I guess I hope that because of all that I can be a mom who can come alongside someone else and support another mom that's frustrated, provide information when a pediatrician attempts to tell a mom that a baby NEEDS formula, and give a pep talk when one is needed.

Story of a co-sleeping family

I'm not sure that I've posted on co-sleeping as of yet, and since it's a pretty big deal as far as attachment parenting goes, I thought I'd attempt a post on this topic.

We started out when Boo was a newborn co-sleeping. At that point he was in a co-sleeper that was attached to our full-size bed. Our co-sleeper looks similar to this:

Co-sleeper pic

When Boo was younger he was pretty content to be in his co-sleeper. I would curl up next to the co-sleeper and he would curl towards me. He liked to sleep curled right to the inner edge. I would take him out when he needed nursed during the night and swaddle him and lay him back down when we were done. I had to sit up to nurse him because we couldn't seem to figure out side nursing at all! As Boo grew he decided that the co-sleeper wasn't close enough. He'd start out the night in the cosleeper and was usually okay with that. However, once he was out for that first nighttime feeding he preferred to stay in bed with mommy. So I'd hold him while we slept.

As he grew he started to move more and sit up and crawl and all of those wonderful things. Then it was time to put the co-sleeper away. :( At that point in time Boo would usually fall asleep on my lap for the night while I was downstairs watching a movie or tv program with the hubby. So we'd take him to his crib in his room and let him start the night there while we got to have some time to ourselves. This didn't work every night, but some nights it did. Once he woke up and let us know that he was hungry, unhappy, etc... he would come into our bed for the remainder of the night. At some point after putting the co-sleeper away we learned how to side nurse. Yay - oh happy day. What a difference it made!

When Boo was 7 months old, I went to work full time during the day. That was a very hard time. I did not enjoy being away from Boo at all and the money that I was making (not much) was hardly worth it. I was so happy to have my nighttime to reconnect with him. There were fewer nights that he started out in the crib as a result. As a working mom co-sleeping really helped me to get plenty of sleep. Even though Boo was waking to nurse, I didn't feel tired from this. Boo's food supply was lying right next to him so neither one of us had to fully wake for him to nurse. Once he was done he'd turn over and drift right back to sleep and so would I.

I quit working full time when Boo was 13 months old. I decided I'd had enough and wanted to open a home daycare so that I could be home with Boo, but still bring home some necessary income. As Boo got older we continued with the starting the night in the crib thing, with him spending a good part of the night in our bed. Except for now. I decided to clean out our bedroom and my way of doing this was moving everything into Boo's bedroom so that it could get organized before coming into this room. Problem is I ran out of money for this project (see part where I quit working above) and I still need tons of containers, shelves, etc... to make this work. So now we can't really get to Boo's crib because his room is so full of unnecessary crap. So, for the time being, Boo gets the whole night in bed with us. I must admit that I look forward to having that little bit of time at the beginning of the night where I get to stretch out in bed. It does get pretty cramped in a full size bed with three people! BUT, I do feel like it has been the best choice for us and we're happy with it despite some of the challenges.

Here's some articles that I found online. At some point I'll try to move some of these to my permanent links on the right side of this blog.

Ten Reasons to Sleep Next to Your Child

Cosleeping

Mothering's List of Articles

Enjoy!

Boo had a bottle today

I've been having an ongoing issue with breastfeeding for over a week and a half. I was bit while nursing Boo awhile back. Since that time nursing became more and more painful and finally nearly unbearable. I tried Lansinoh. At someone's suggestion I tried a nipple shield. That just encouraged him to chew because it must've felt like a teether to him! Soooo...with the wound continuing to not heal (every time it seemed on the path to healing it got reopened), I finally chose the method of last resort. No nursing on that side. It's terrible because Boo always wants both sides. So I really didn't want to go this route because I knew how incredibly sad he would be. So today's been a bit rough. He's been eating on one side only and I've been pumping and giving him what I pumped. Earlier today he took it in a sippy cup. However, after his nap (which is when he usually cuddles and nurses while dc kiddo sleeps) he pitched a fit when I put the milk in his sippy cup. Soooo...I had to get out the bottle and give the milk to him in the bottle and I held him just like we were nursing. It was kind of weird as I haven't given him a bottle since he was several days old. I had some issues getting started with breastfeeding back then. Anyways, so it felt odd giving him a bottle. But he was much happier with the bottle and all cuddled up to mom. So, whatever works, right? Anyways, I'm hoping this heals fast as this really is a pain and I know he's rather sad about one side being off limits!

Mothering Your Nursing Toddler and Hair Pulling

I just finished reading the book "Mothering Your Nursing Toddler". I got it from the La Leche League here. They have a lending library. Isn't that nice? I like when I get to read books for free! Anyhoo, it was a great read. I found it to be just the sort of thing I've been looking to read as Boo and I move into a different stage here. Toddlerhood of course presents some challenges that infancy does not. Boo has a pretty spirited will, which I think is wonderful by the way. It will serve him well in life. So my goal is to guide him through childhood in a way that instills in him morality and all that good stuff without squelching the spirited personality inside. As he gets bigger I find myself having to remind myself to get off my butt and not just yell "no" or "not for Boo" from across the room. Especially challenging right now is his love of hair. Anyone that has really beautiful hair watch out. Boo wants to touch it and play with it. And he's not so gentle, even though he does try to be at times. So we're working on that. Anyways, this book, while about nursing, had enough reminders in it to give me hope that my child will not be pulling hair forever. In fact, this phase will pass all too quickly. So while it's a nuisance, I must remember to be gentle and respectful of him as I educate him in appropriate touch of someone's hair. This is easier some days than others, all depending on how much sleep I've gotten and my current mood, hunger level, etc.. Yelling, instilling fear, and shaming could perhaps squelch the behavior more quickly. But using a gentle approach that is respectful of him as a person will help him to change his behavior. I'd love for him to learn that it hurts others and not pull hair out of his affection for others. I don't want him to stop pulling hair for fear that mommy will be mad at him or he's afraid of being punished. My goal is to use discipline methods that focus on intrinsic reasons for changing behavior as opposed to extrinsic motivators.

I see that this post is turning into a mish mash of several ideas. Oh well, that's the way I write sometimes. Anyway, back to the whole nursing thing. I do love the book that I read and feel that it's got some great information for those who nurse longer. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone considering nursing past a year.

Dr. Seuss for Nursing Mommies

Dr Seuss for Nursing Mommies Would you nurse her at the park? Would you nurse him in the dark? Would you nurse him with a boppy? And when your boobs are feeling floppy? I would nurse her in the park. I would nurse him in the dark. I'd nurse with or without a boppy. Floppy boobs will never stop me. Can you nurse with your seat belt on? Can you nurse from dusk til dawn? Though she may pinch me, bite me, pull, I will nurse her til she's full. Can you nurse and make some soup? Can you nurse and feed the group? It makes her healthy strong and smart, Mommy's milk is the best start! Would you nurse him at the game? Would you nurse her in the rain? In front of those who dare complain? I would nurse him at the game. I would nurse her in the rain. As for those who protest lactation, I have a perfect explanation. Mommy milk is tailor made It's perfect food, you need no aid. Some may scoff and some may wriggle, Avert their eyes or even giggle. To those who can be cruel and rude, Remind them breast's the perfect food. I would never scoff or giggle, Roll my eyes or even wiggle! I would never be so crass or crude, I KNOW that this milk's the perfect food! We make the right amount we need, The perfect temp for every feed. There's no compare to milk from breast- The perfect food, above the rest. Those nursing smiles are oh so sweet, Mommy milk is such a treat. Human milk just can't be beat. I will nurse, in any case, On the street or in your face. I will not let my baby cry, I'll meet her needs, I'll always try. It's not about what's good for you, It's best for babies, through and through. I will nurse her in my home, I will nurse her when I roam. Leave me be lads, leave me be ma'am I will nurse her, MOM I am. I'm not sure who wrote this. I got it from one of my yahoo groups that I belong to. Enjoy!

Attachment Parenting - The ABC's

Well, I've mentioned attachment parenting (AP) quite a few times and you may have noticed that I've got a few links to sites here on my blog. But in updating my profile I've realized that I've never really discussed attachment parenting in much depth. So, I've decided to write a little ditty today about what attachment parenting looks like in my family. I've decided to do an ABC format as I thought this would make for a fun writing exercise. So since my ankle is sprained and my parents took Boo for me, what better way to spend my time?

Disclaimers

This is going to have more of a personal focus, so I won't be quoting research and such. That's easily accessed by a google search.I'm also not going to waste my writing defending my choices. Maybe in another post. So, this post will probably be best received by those who practice AP or are really interested in the ideas of AP, not those who would like to debate. If you know you're not AP and not interested in AP, this post might just piss you off. That's not the intent of course. But I've noticed that sometimes we as moms get defensive and pissy when our ways are different from someone else's. So, this post isn't meant to be an attack on those who choose a different way. But as I've already said, this will be well-received by those who practice AP or are really interested in learning more about AP. I am also not trying to imply that everything I've listed is part of core AP theory/philosophy. This is what it looks like in our home.

A - Attachment - my days are spent letting Boo know that his relationship with mama is secure. One example is that I'm his attachment object. A lot of times this might be a blanket, a pacifier, a stuffed animal, etc...Right now, it's mama. Boo has no special relationship with any other object. He goes to mama for comfort. And I'm more than happy to provide this.

B - Breastfeeding - I continue to nurse as this promotes a close relationship. There is something about holding Boo physically close in this way that is very bonding.

C - Cosleeping - Sleeping at night is very cramped and squished as we all pile into a full-size bed...and I wouldn't have it any other way. I get to turn over and see a sweet little Boo all cuddled up next to mama and sometimes cuddled next to dadda.

D - Demanding - Boo is allowed to demand my attention. When he wants to be held in the middle of my fixing supper, cleaning, etc...I put him in a wrap on my back and we're good to go.

E - Effort - I have to choose every day to put forth the effort in maintaining AP principles. Sometimes it's easier to use a harsh "No" than redirect my child. I can do that while sitting on the couch. Redirection usually involves my getting up. Bummer. But,it is worth the effort.There's no doubt in my mind.

F - Feeding on demand - Boo knows the sign for milk and lets me know when he's hungry or thirsty. He's very adamant about it and makes sure that mama notices his sign!

G - Gentle - Discipline is gentle. Boo has recently discovered the sadness of leaving the swing behind at the park. Redirection/songs/tickling are all gentle methods that work. Last time we were at the park, the grass was a great distraction. He thought pulling it out was sooo fun!

H - Happy - Boo is a very happy child and I think part of that is definitely his nature, but I think having his needs met and feeling secure also have something to do with that.

I - Immunity - Boo is allowed to build up his own immunity, rather than being subject to the onslaught of childhood vaccinations.

J - Juice - I'm pretty anti-juice. Boo gets water besides breastmilk. He occasionally gets whole milk if I'm not around for some reason (date night, mom's night out, etc...). I look for natural ways to feed my child and that means trying to keep processed sugar out of his diet as much as possible.

K - Kindness -Boo is very kind. He gave me a hug yesterday when I was crying. In the same way I try to be empathic to his feelings by acknowledging his feelings and that they're valid. Ex - "You're so sad (mad,happy,frustrated,etc...)."

L - Listening - I try very hard to respond to Boo as quickly as possible. And when I can't get to him right away I often say, "Yes mommy hears you" or "Mommy's coming" so that he at least knows I'm listening to him.

M - Maternal Instincts - Do I believe everyone has them? No. I think sometimes people who grow up in extreme dysfunction do not. However, I think most moms do. And these instincts involve listening to the heart instead of to the "experts." My maternal instinct tells me to get Boo when he cries for me. Boo has never had to "cry it out."

N - Nice - Boo is very nice and likes to pet my head and say "nice". This is how he's been redirected from pulling hair. He still lapses into pulling hair sometimes, but is getting much better at being "nice".

O - Open-mind - Since I'm choosing to raise Boo in a way that is different from how I was raised, it's important to keep an open mind as I explore alternatives.

P - Parenting to sleep - Boo is allowed to cuddle and nurse to sleep (gasp). Some nights we're in bed when this happens. On weekends it's not too uncommon for T and I to be watching a movie together with Boo nursing to sleep on my lap.

Q - Quack - Boo's favorite animal says quack. Getting to know Boo's likes/dislikes and favorites is so much fun.

R - Reading and Research - I'm constantly reading and researching parenting topics. As AP is different from how I was raised and different from how most do things, I'm constantly trying to learn and this does take a fair bit of effort on my part.

R - Respect - I felt there had to be a second "R" for this. At the heart of AP is respect for the child. One way this is done in our home is the way that Boo is fed. He gets a little bit of everything we're eating (and he has since he was six months old) and gets to try what he wants and leave what he doesn't. I don't try to shovel in something he doesn't like. I respect his choice to eat what he likes. I continue to expose him to a variety of healthy choices. Baby-led weaning has helped with this.

S - Silly Comments - This may not be a positive aspect, but I feel that it's a reality. I feel that I must bite my tongue often. I'm subject to comments about "he's getting too big" for the wrap and "it's probably about time to move him to the crib" and other such silly comments.

T - Touch - Boo is very affectionate and likes to be cuddled and held. I hold him when he wants to be held and put him down when he's all done being held.

U - Understanding - Boo is communicating all the time. Even tears of rage communicate something. I tell Boo "You're mad about (fill in the blank)." when he's mad so that at least he knows his feelings are understood.

V - Villify - Often I feel villified due to some of my choices. I'm "endangering" my child by letting him sleep with me. He's not going to learn to comfort himself because I don't let him cry it out. He's never going to be independent because I coddle him...and the list could go on and on. If anything, AP has helped me to have a thicker skin when it comes to insensitive comments of others.

W - Wrap - I have a woven wrap that I made for $16.50 by buying some clearance fabric at the craft shop. I love babywearing and I love my wrap. Boo has been in it while I've been cooking, mowing the lawn, walking downtown, you name it. He likes to sleep there too!

X - Xtra - Yes, I know I spelled it wrong, but come on, it's "X" for crying out loud! I feel like I must go the extra mile in being present with my child, actively engaging all the time. I'm not saying I succeed at this all the time, but it is the goal.

Y - Yahoo - This helps me keep my sanity. Likeminded yahoo groups.

Z - Zebra - We saw a zebra while we were at the zoo. Enjoying fun activities together helps to promote those feelings of love and attachment.


Whew - "Q" was pretty tough! Anyways, I think I did sneak in a few defensive remarks. Oops! I tried to keep them at a minimum though. I enjoyed creating this list of ABC's. I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Extended Nursing Zone

So it's just now occurred to me that I've entered the "extended nursing zone". This is somewhere that I never thought I'd end up. In fact, while pregnant, my goal was nine months to a year. And here I am at 13 months and we're going strong. I've looked at a lot of information regarding breastfeeding and feel that a review of available information supports breastfeeding beyond one. In fact we're one of the few countries that ends so quickly. Other parts of the world breastfeed much longer and view that as NORMAL. We Americans are the exception. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until the age of two, so that is my new goal. Breastmilk continues to provide nourishment to my child's growing body and it is also an important part of my relationship with my son at this present time. I plan to revisit this subject when I have more time and when I don't need to get to bed. But this is a little preview of more to come.