Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The light at the end of the tunnel

My days of breastfeeding are almost over. I am down to nursing twice per day - in the morning and before bedtime. I have very mixed emotions about this! On the one hand, I am very much looking forward to being done with breastfeeding. I am very excited to have my body back to myself for a while. I won't have to think about how everything I put into my body is going to effect my daughter. I can enjoy a beer or two without worrying about pumping and dumping or waiting so many hours before nursing. I can quit wearing these super sexy nursing bras!! On the other hand... I think I'm going to miss breastfeeding!

I have been looking forward to being done with breastfeeding for a while now. About a year, give or take. I do enjoy the special bonding time with my daughter, I love that she's getting the health benefits from it, it was super easy to prepare her meals in the middle of the night or when we were out and about (although sometimes it was a little difficult finding a place to nurse. Didn't so much enjoy nursing while perched on a gross toilet seat covered with toilet paper and trying to not let her touch anything. Ew.) And even though we had LOTS of trouble in the beginning with latch issues and not getting enough milk sometimes, I was also blessed to not have to deal with chapped or cracked anything, even though I usually forgot to apply the Lanolin cream, and I never had to deal with engorgement or mastitis. Its not like I dispised breastfeeding. Obviously not or I wouldn't have lasted as long as I have.

My goal always was to go a year. When she was around 9 months old, I considered weaning. I just wanted to be done. But I was so close to my goal. I had already made it 75% of the way, so I decided to keep going. Now here we are, past a year! I realized the other day that I made it to my goal! It kind of shocked me. I am so glad I continued.

I did have a freezer full of expressed breast milk. Well, around 65-70 oz anyway. But since I have only been nursing twice per day, we've gone through the freezer milk pretty fast. Even when mixing it with whole milk. I am down to only 2 bags left. This is really depressing to me! After these two bags, the only breast milk she'll get is twice a day from me. And that's not lasting much longer either.

Its really weird to me that after this whole year of wanting and waiting to be done, I'm going to miss it.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

My new favorite thing

When I say "good girl!" or "whoo hoo!" or anything like that, Elizabeth will start clapping! She'll stop whatever she's doing and drop whatever is in her little baby hands and smile real big and clap. I LOVE IT.

It is REALLY fun watching Iowa games with her. She'll be playing in her little Iowa cheerleading outfit, or whichever Iowa outfit she's wearing that week, and minding her own business. Then when there is a good play and we start cheering, she gets all excited and crawls over and starts clapping with us. Hilarious.

I just didn't want to ever forget this. Oh man I love this little girl.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Its Party Time!

Here are some pictures from Elizabeth's 1st Birthday Party!
The invitation I made for the partay.

The drawing that my 16 year old cousin gave to Lizzie. Girl's got some talent!!! I may or may not have cried when I first saw it.

This balloon shows the design on all the stuff at her party- "Hugs and Stitches."


Playing on the rocking chair from her grandparents.

"I like presents!!"

The cake. They put "Happy 1st Birthday Girl" on it. We scraped off "girl" because that's just stupid.

Elizabeth's cake - Before
"Happy Birthday 1st Elizabeth" Grrrr....

Mmmm... frosting.

I think she likes it!

"HEY! Who took my cake?!"

Elizabeth's Cake - After

Hanging out with Uncle Mitoe

Hugs for mommy!

"ooh, something shiny!"

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Just some stuff


  • Elizabeth got her second tooth on September 21st!

  • In mid to late September she started standing on her own for 20-30 seconds at a time. We were ridiculously impressed. Now she can stand all day long like its nothing.

  • FIRST STEP! - October 7th, 2009 - She takes one step at a time and then falls down. So cute!

  • TWO STEPS! - October 9th, 2009 - Now she takes two steps before falling or sitting down.

  • Yesterday she took 5 steps in a row!

  • Elizabeth turned one year old yesterday!!!

  • Lizzie clicks her tongue! If we do it first, she'll smile really big and take her binky out (if she has it in) and click her tongue back at us. Sometimes she'll smack her lips. I love this.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

Happy 1st Birthday, Elizabeth!

Dear Elizabeth,
Today you are one! I can’t believe we survived this first year with you! You, my dear girl, are quite the handful! =) I am amazed at how fast the past year has flown by. It feels like yesterday that I held you in my arms for the first time. You were so tiny and adorable and awesome. You depended on me to take care of your little baby needs. And now you’re trying to climb into the trash can. Even though you still need your mommy, you are very independent.

I don’t think I can accurately put into words how much I love you. I didn’t know my heart could be so full! I feel so lucky and blessed that I get to be your mommy. I get to hang out with the coolest person ever, every single day. I get to watch you learn new things, reach milestones, explore. (And explore you do! You don’t know how many times you’ve made my heart skip a beat or two, or how many times my heart falls to my knees. You fail to see any danger in anything you do. This worries me. A lot.)

You are such an amazing person. You are so funny. You are weird and ornery and adorable. I have never in my life seen anything more beautiful than you. Your smile instantly makes me happy. Your cries break my heart. (Not so much your fake cries that you have learned recently. Those are kind of funny. But your scared or hurt cries are gut wrenching). I watch you every day as you play, dance, climb on anything and everything that you can, and I am amazed at how smart you are and how fast you are learning and growing.

You made me a mommy one year ago today and it has been one heck of a year. You scared me more than I have ever been scared. You made me laugh more than I have ever laughed and cry more than I have ever cried. You made me love more than I have ever loved.

You are my world. You are my heart. I love you with every fiber of my being.

Happy 1st Birthday, Elizabeth!

Always and Forever,
Mommy