Bye Bye Breast Milk?

For a week and a half now, my milk supply seems to have dramatically diminished. Sorry to any guys who may be reading this (which I'm sure is very few), but my breasts have shrunk in size, Noah has been fussy, and when he latches on he releases to relatch multiple times. I can tell he's searching for more. This lessening of milk has made me exceptionally sad, and I've been doing everything I know to increase my supply. I've been nursing Noah a lot throughout the day so that my brain knows to make more, and just yesterday I picked up a prescription my doc ordered for me. However, it only has a 30%-40% chance of working and I won't know if it is working for 3-4 days. I bought some formula yesterday and gave it to him a couple of times today...he gulped it down. Which makes me feel like I've been depriving him for a week now. He just hasn't been getting enough. I wonder if he'll sleep better tonight. He hasn't been sleeping well this last week and a half. I've been trying to figure out how this has happened, and I've only been able to come up with two possible reasons. The weekend of the baby shower, I missed a few nursings. Usually, when I miss a nursing, I just get really full and that's that. However, I missed a couple, two days in a row. Secondly, I got super sick at the beginning of last week and it lasted for several days. Could either of these two reasons be the downfall of my milk supply? I'm sick just thinking about this. Formula is not the devil, I know...but I just love nursing him, and I've been his provider for the last 7 months, and now I don't have that ability. Someone tell me there's a solution!

Shower and Tea Cups

Sarah's baby shower was last Saturday...it had been in the works for several months. The day arrived, all the food was prepared, the house was adorned, and Sarah's popularity was proven by the enormous amount of guests that showed up. There was over 50 in attendance! All went pretty well; Sarah received a lot of needed items, we played a few small games, people wrote a good combo of witty and sweet sentiments to she and the baby, and then we all went home to crash! With all of the busyness of the weekend, I did not score many points in the wife and mother categories, as I was quite preoccupied with getting everything done for the shower. Matt was apparently very ill (the likes of which he did not clearly communicate to me), and although I had been prepping Matt for weeks that he'd need to be completely in charge of Noah during this time, I still felt neglectful. My sis-in-law says that this is only the beginning of the guilt. That as mothers, we feel guilty for a lot we shouldn't. That's another topic for another day...well, may be if I have time, I'll expand on that today as well. Anyway, I have to say I put more pressure on myself about this shower than I'm sure Sarah would have wanted, and there were a few 'failures' in way of decoration; however, overall it went pretty well, and now we're just waiting on our little Gypsy (or whatever her name may be!) to show up! I don't have any pictures of the shower yet (I'll post when I do), but Sarah did give me these beautiful Anthropologie tea cups as a thank you gift. I love love love them, and they are so photographic!! Had to show them off! Thanks Sarah!

School for a 6 Month Old?

When Noah was first born, I was dead set on reading to him every day, singing his ABC's every day...even counting to ten in English and Spanish every day. I would do other little things as well, such as point to his nose and say "Noah's nose" and then point to mine and say "Mommy's nose." However, a month or two into his little life, I slowed down on those sorts of things because I thought I was probably jumping the gun, I didn't see any recognition of understanding, and I read an article from Baby Center that said that loving, touching, laughing, and holding your baby was teaching him so much in and of itself. Noah is 6 months now, and after a conversation with Matt the other night, I think it is time for me to begin incorporating these little "lessons" back into our routine. Where should I begin though? What types of activities are appropriate for this age? I know my friend Vanessa does some schooling with her 4 year old every day, and I'd like to do a bit of the same. Just seems harder with a 6 month old. I don't exactly know what to do. Any thoughts?

Home Cookin' Baby Style

I've really enjoyed making Noah's food, and I've been inspired by one of my old students (read blog entitled "Proud Teacher" for the whole story) to capture some of my recipes on camera. I love the beauty of simple (well, and complex for that matter) food, so it was fun to take some pictures of the process this morning. I've spent much of today making Noah's food for the week and catching up my blog. This morning before I got the other food diced and steaming, I chopped up some bananas and strawberries (an idea given by Deb, Noah's Nana), and pureed them in the food processor. I made enough to freeze two trays of them. After breakfast, I started on apples and sweet potatoes. I simply peeled, diced and steamed them (separately), and then pureed them (also separately). I need to get more trays, so while the bananas and strawberries are chilling, the apples and sweet potatoes are awaiting their freezer time in the refrigerator. Today, I still have yellow squash and zucchini to peel, dice, steam and puree, and then Noah will have yummy, organic, healthy food for the rest of the week!

My Birthday

My 30th birthday was in early February, and even with our lack of finances my husband, my best friend, and my parents managed to make it wonderful! Matt had to work on my actual birthday, and then that evening we had community group, but he still made the day special by giving me my favorite flowers (pink roses), treating me to a fabulous lunch at Maggiano's, and he surprised me with a cookie cake at group. I actually requested a rather quiet and relaxing birthday celebration, so the weekend after my birthday, we went to Springfield to spend time with Sarah and Jay. We met them at Lola's for an early lunch and our first desserts of the day...chocolate and strawberry cake! Sarah gave me three cards, and entitled them each differently "Evie The Mother", "Evie The Best Friend", and "Evie The Woman Warrior". She's so creative! She had a sweet message in each, along with money for shopping in each! Way too much, but boy were those fun cards to open! After Lola's, Sarah and I split from the boys and spent a little time shopping. We cut our shopping trip shorter than we may normally have done, because Sarah was after all 7 months pregnant at the time! And I have recent memories of how quickly one can tire while carrying around a pregnant belly! We went back to her house, where the guys (mostly just Matt:) were preparing the meal that she had set out. She had notes on everything, giving explicit directions on what should be done and how it should be done. So funny! We had a fantastic meal, followed by a game of Settlers and then some hot cider and Milkyway cake. It was quite the chill day of delicious food and good times.

In addition to my at-home (Missouri home that is) celebrations, my parents sent me a Bible. I've been wanting a new slim Bible, and they sent me one that belonged to my dad, which of course I love way more than I would have a brand new one. For those of you who don't know, my dad gave me a Bible in '94 that was his, and I hold that one very dear; so now to have a second from him is quite special. They ALSO, bought me a plane ticket to Florida, so Noah and I traveled there on Feb. 23 and returned to St. Louis on March 6. Mom jokes that it was a mutually beneficial birthday gift, as she got to see us (us meaning Noah!) and I got to get out of the cold. (Yes, mom, I know you wanted to see me too!) We had a great time. Noah started sitting up fairly well while we were there, and he learned to take his pacifier in and out on his own. Mom bought him this Leap Frog drum, and he sat on her bed and beat that little drum like he knew what he was doing. I can see his development almost daily it seems. Mom and Dad really enjoyed spending time with Noah, and of course it was very sad to say goodbye yet again.

These last two pictures were taken last weekend at Steve and Debbie's. Check out Noah's excellent posture. Why isn't my back that straight?

First Foods and Daddy Time

I'm so behind here! January 12, Noah had his first experience with rice cereal. The picture above is literally his very first taste of it, and he seemed to like it...this "seeming to like it" has turned into LOVING it. He was definitely ready for a little more substance I think. I would mix the rice cereal with some breast milk, and he ate it up.

Carrots came in mid February. His furrowed brows here are hilarious. It's almost like I can read his little mind..."what the heck is this mom?"

Seriously? His face here is so cute, and his bib says it all.

I LOVE these pictures of Noah and Matt. Noah is in love with his daddy. When Matt greets him in the morning or when he comes home from work, Noah gets this huge open mouth grin on his face. It's one of the sweetest things I've witnessed.

Proud Teacher

Facebook is pretty amazing in its ability to hook us up with those with whom we may have otherwise stayed out-of-touch. I know I have some major catching up to do on my blog here, but before I tackle my second trip to Florida and Sarah's baby shower, lend me your ears for a quick reflection on one of my favorite students from my teaching years. Her name is Courtney, and she and I have been "walling" each other on Facebook. She was 15 when I met her and was a student in my World Literature class in Tampa. She and a close friend of hers, Nikki (now goes by Nicole...why must they grow up?) were excellent students and super sweet girls, and we formed a close connection. We have sent an email here and there over the years, but she recently shared with me her blog, http://www.hungryyogini.com/. I've been reading through it for the past few minutes and have found myself just bursting with pride at her growth. Obviously, people change between the years of 15 and 20, but I really noticed the maturity in her ideas and writing. Although I'm a tiny part of her past, I'm still finding myself swallowing hard with a huge grin and a scrape of sentiment.

Over the last couple of years, I've really become intrigued with the beauty of food, and Courtney clearly has this passion too. She couples the aesthetic of good food with it's healthy benefits and writes all about this in a very accessible way. Check out her blog. It's really great!