Rebellin

I was really looking forward to spending quality time with Madelynn over the next two weeks, but unfortunately, someone took my happy baby and replaced her with SCREAMING, inconsolable baby.

I’m pretty sure it’s teething, but she is waking up in the middle of the night, and waking really in the morning SCREAMING. She doesn’t seem to want milk, as she’ll take a few sucks and start SCREAMING again, and nothing seems to console her.

I’ve been told that teething can last for 3-4 months before they even get a tooth, and I have to wonder IS IT LIKE THIS FOR EVERY TOOTH?! I just never imagined that teething would be so extreme. I’m planning to call the doctor tomorrow to confirm, but geesh, this is absolutely miserable.

Anyone have tips for the mom of a teether?

It was my goal to pump for six months, and I hit that milestone ten days ago. I keep waffling on whether or not I should continue.

I have a friend who gained a ton of weight after she quit pumping for her baby, which got her back to her weight at 9 months pregnant. Yikes! That alone makes me want to pump into infinity.

But it’s just not practical. It’s increasingly becoming more and more annoying to be strapped up to a pump for 2.5 hours a day. My old job was very amenable to on-the-job pumping, which made things easier. Now that I’m on a two week break, it’s hard to fit pumping into my schedule. It seems that once I get Little Miss all fed and changed and happy and I’m ready to go on an outing, it’s time for me to sit down and pump for a half hour, which gets really annoying.

I’m also hesitant to pump at my new job. I think it’d just be strange to be the new girl, and have to disappear for two half hour breaks each day to pump. I don’t want to be labled as Pump Lady or Milk Maiden. It was easy at my last job because I worked with all women that had known me for four years, and I had a private office. My new office will be in cubicle land, so it won’t be nearly as easy to incorporate it into my life.

So, my conclusion is I’m going to start the stopping of the pumping. I think I’ll be weaning myself back to three times a day over the next two weeks, and after I return to work, I will pump before work and once before bed and see what that does to my milk supply. I had a clogged duct this morning that seems to have cut my supply in half, so perhaps my little plan will result in my milk drying up completely.

The main reason I want to keep pumping a bit is for the antibodies for Little Miss. She has been sick pretty often as it is with daycare, that I dread her getting more sick because she won’t be getting breast milk. But, that’s a risk I’m going to have to take eventually, because I can’t pump forever. The providing of milk part is great, but sometimes I dream about throwing my pump out with the garbage.

Sorry to all my male readership for so much talk of mammory glands today, but that is what has been on my mind.

For the past week, Madelynn has been getting up in the middle of the night, which is challenging when you have to work the next day. Luckily, my sister-in-law has been visiting and helping with the night feedings. Unfortunately, she left today, so it’s back on our shoulders.

Madelynn has had all of these symptoms in the past week, so my money is on a tooth at the root of our problems (ha — root!).

Typical symptoms include:

• Irritability, fretfulness and crying

• Disturbed sleep
• Dribbling, which may make the chin chapped and sore
• Flushed cheeks
• Loss of appetite
• A desire to chew on anything they can get into their mouths, including their fist
• Possibly a slightly raised temperature

Check out my Bad Parenting entry at RookieMoms.com. Those girls rock!

Little Miss turns 6 months old today. Can it be possible that half a year has already passed? So much has happened, yet it went by in a flash. Motherhood is like putting your life in fast forward.

Every day I’m in awe of my daughter. I just love to have conversations of her (mostly da da da and ma ma ma right now), watch her play with toys, and help her practice sitting up or rolling over. But mostly, I love holding her, smelling her (dear God, I love the baby smell), and smothering her with kisses. I know that one day she won’t allow me to do so.

I never understood the depth of my Mother’s love for me until I had my own daughter. She has brought so much joy to our lives that the sleepless nights and crying fits blur in my memory, and it’s the smiles, coos and giggles that really stand out.

Part of me is excited for her to grow up, so that I can have conversations with her to see what she’s thinking and how she interprets the world. But another part of me wants to slam on the brakes, because she is at such a fun, special age right now. Already, memories of her as a newborn seem so distant, and I marvel at how different she looks in pictures from the day she was born to how she looks now.

So happy half birthday, my little tiny baby love. Know that you’re the answers to your Momma’s prayers, and her very own living dream come true.

You’ve come a long way, baby. (Here she is at 3 days old.)

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Little Miss turns 6 months old today. Can it be possible that half a year has already passed? So much has happened, yet it went by in a flash. Motherhood is like putting your life in fast forward.

Every day I’m in awe of my daughter. I just love to have conversations of her (mostly da da da and ma ma ma right now), watch her play with toys, and help her practice sitting up or rolling over. But mostly, I love holding her, smelling her (dear God, I love the baby smell), and smothering her with kisses. I know that one day she won’t allow me to do so.

I never understood the depth of my Mother’s love for me until I had my own daughter. She has brought so much joy to our lives that the sleepless nights and crying fits blur in my memory, and it’s the smiles, coos and giggles that really stand out.

Part of me is excited for her to grow up, so that I can have conversations with her to see what she’s thinking and how she interprets the world. But another part of me wants to slam on the brakes, because she is at such a fun, special age right now. Already, memories of her as a newborn seem so distant, and I marvel at how different she looks in pictures from the day she was born to how she looks now.

So happy half birthday, my little tiny baby love. Know that you’re the answers to your Momma’s prayers, and her very own living dream come true.

You’ve come a long way, baby. (Here she is at 3 days old.)

There is a local woman of whom I’ve known for about a year. I have never known her personally, but I knew her story.

She has a daughter, then got pregnant again, but ended up delivering a stillborn. She then got pregnant for a third time, and found out that there was a problem with her baby’s brain.

She and her husband decided to go through with the pregnancy, and their son lived and seemed to be a miracle baby, so much so that he was featured in a local hospital’s television advertisements.

That little boy died last August at eight months of age.

Yesterday, I came in contact with this person for the first time. I didn’t tell her I knew her story. I didn’t tell her how much my heart bleeds for her. I know it would just bring her pain back to the surface. But I listened to the cheer in her voice, and was taken by how strong she must be.

And as I held my own little girl last night, who is only two months younger than this other baby was when he died, I thanked God that my baby has been healthy so far, and prayed for her well being. I can’t phathom how horrible it would be to lose my baby, and I hope that I never have to know that pain. Becoming a mother has made this woman’s story really hit home for me, and I wish there was a way that I could let her know I mourned for her even before we ever actually met.

If you have children, your homework for tonight is to go home and hug them. Smell their hair, and give them kisses even though they may protest. Cherish their very being, and remember this woman who knew her baby for eight months before she had to say good-bye to him. I can’t think of anything more heart wrenching.

Poor Madelynn is sick, yet again. (Thank you, daycare.) Her cough kept her up most of the night. I spent a good chunk of the night holding her on the couch while she struggled to sleep and I didn’t get any.

One thing that did boost my mood this morning was stepping on the scale. I decided I needed to see what damage our trip to wine country had done to my diet when I discovered I had lost three pounds.

That leaves TWO pounds left to get me back to pre-pregnancy weight. My goal is to reach that by my birthday at the end of the month, which I think is going to happen!

I had been told that things are “different” after you have a baby, even once you lose all the baby weight. I now know what that means. My stomach and waist are still bigger, so I’ll continue to need to work on those areas.

Back to my coffee cup.

We spent the weekend in Petaluma, California, which is about twenty minutes outside of Sonoma. We stayed with some good friends that have a 21 month old daughter. The trip was great during the day — hanging out with friends, enjoying the slow pace of Petaluma, and tasting some wines.

The nights were hell, as Madelynn decided she just wanted to stay up and SCREAM since she was in a new place. Since it was JB’s birthday weekend, I sucked it up and sacrificed many hours of sleep, but am feeling functional yet again.

Here are some pictures from our weekend.

My new favorite picture of Madelynn.

This is Madelynn looking at her father. Oh, how she lights up when he’s around.

Some of the few winks of sleep Madelynn got this weekend. She was having a “milk dream”, where she sucks in her sleep.

This is JB with his friend from elementry school and his daughter and Madelynn, of course.

Vineyards at Ravenswood in Sonoma.

Our little family at Ravenswood winery.

Daddy’s little girl (on Daddy’s birthday).

And finally, a gorgeous bird we saw on the Petaluma River.