Mary’s World
Yes, necklaces are a necessity and must now be worn in the bath. I can’t get her to take them off. This morning, she hid two necklaces under her shirt so I didn’t realize she still had them on until I dropped her off at grandma’s house. She is a sneaky little girl.
Mary Rene has added four new words to her list: Boo, night, my sister’s name, Tara and my brother’s name, Joe. Tara sounds more like ‘ter’ and Joe sounds more like “doe.” We practice all family member’s names and she is starting to try and verbalize them more. Tara and Joe have the easiest names so I figured those would be coming first.
Mary Rene has decided that she likes when daddy puts her to bed and now as soon as she is done nursing, she sits up, picks up her blanket up and stares at the door. She knows that I start off putting her to sleep and then daddy comes in about 20 minutes later. So now she will just sit and wait for him. He can put her to bed in 15 minutes easily so now we have decided to switch it up and let him come in sooner. That’s what she wants after all! Every night this past week, except last night because she is teething again, Frank has put her to bed. She really enjoys her daddy time. Do I mind? Are my feelings hurt? Not at all! This is a much welcomed break and couldn’t come at a better time. When bedtime arrives I am beat myself and sometimes wrangling her to bed can be tiresome. Now I’m given the opportunity to relax on the couch while daddy wrangles. Works for me! Plus, I can start attending both La Leche League meetings each month because I don’t have to worry about her not going to bed for daddy. I used to only attend one meeting and lately it has been hard to get to those on time because I was working to get her to bed. Now, daddy does such a good job that I can leave! A little bit of freedom for me.
Do you like Mary Rene’s new pillow?
I bought this material nearly a year ago and never used it. When she was an infant, Frank used to talk to Mary Rene in his “Kermit the Frog” voice so I thought it would be cute to make her an outfit out of it. But a dress? I thought that would be too loud. I still might make her a pair of pjs out of the rest but for now I made two pillows for her. She loves her little pillow. She was carrying it around the house and kept putting it on the ground and setting her head on it. She then would give the pillow to Sophie B and tried getting Sophie to sleep on it. She knows the pillow belongs to her and she kept hugging her pillow and carrying it around the house. I could eat her up.
Regarding the nursing, I’m not sure how much milk I am producing anymore. Mary Rene is still nursing about five to six times a day but I don’t hear her swallow at each session. I was making her laugh during one of the sessions and I saw some milk dribble from her mouth so I know there is milk. Regardless of the amount there is, Mary Rene hasn’t slowed down and stopped asking for it. I think for her, it is not about the milk. She seems to enjoy being in my arms and me talking to her and playing with her while she nurses. So who knows, maybe there isn’t much there but she seems happy still.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:29 am
Hi Mary… I found your blog from a search I was doing on human milk banks in Missouri. I came across a post of yours that said you were looking into this. Did you come up with anything? I have recently found out that I will no longer be able to breastfeed my baby and I have an insane amount of stored, frozen breastmilk that I would love to be able to donate. If you have an helpful information, would you please send it my way? Thank you!
January 26th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Hi Laura! Thanks for visiting my blog. I did a lot of research as well and never found anything in Missouri. I looked into starting one up but I would have to be backed by a hospital or some affiliate and I haven’t gotten to that point yet. From what I understand, the closest milk bank to Missouri will actually let you ship it to them. I believe that they send you the necessary materials that are needed to get it shipped properly. You don’t pay this cost, it is eventually figured into the amount the mother will be paying for your milk.
The best of luck to you and I hope you are able to donate your milk! I ended up using all my extra milk for smoothies and mixing with cereal or snacks.
What a great opportunity if you could donate to the Haiti children! I hope they get that up and running soon. I told my husband that I wanted to fly down there and nurse those babies myself. It just breaks my heart to see them in such distress.
January 26th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
aww..such cute pics of her! and ur right, today she has not taken off the necklaces.
January 26th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Hey Trina! Thank you for your advice and suggestions on my blog today. I have actually been going to LLL meetings since halfway through my pregnancy and I have really enjoyed them and found them to be very helpful. Also, I do plan on continuing to pump for quite a while to make sure that I can no longer give her breastmilk. I believe that is the problem though because every time she nurses, immediately afterwards she stiffens up in pain and begins to scream and cry. I have been using all hypoallergenic everything since I was 8 mos pregnant just to prepare for her arrival as my sister’s baby had very sensitive skin and I wanted to be ready just incase, so I don’t think that could be it. If she gets bad again within a week or two while on the formula, we will definitely be going back to nursing and looking for alternative solutions! I just want her to feel better…. that is all that really matters.
January 26th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Laura, I don’t know your situation, but have you tried omitting all dairy and/or gluten from your diet? My niece did a similar reaction, when my SIL cut out the dairy and gluten, it helped greatly. I hadn’t heard too much of that before, so I just thought I’d pass it along from one nursing mama (14+ months) to another.
Hey Trena, my birth doula/chiropractor posts a lot of natural parenting, birthing, etc info on her facebook page. I think of you sometimes as you have a lot of common topics in your blog. She posted a blog about natural parenting. http://www.drmomma.org/ I thought you might find some of the post interesting. (I do!)
January 26th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Thanks Jamie! I just added her blog to my Google Reader and will be following her. It always nice to read people’s blogs who share the same values that you do as a parent!
January 26th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Jeremi started putting Nathan to bed when I became pregnant, and it was a well needed break before little Autumn came into the world. For one, I was pregnant and sick and, two, I needed a break before starting the whole process back at square one again (you know, nighttime nursings, etc., etc.) It worked out so well that Jeremi still puts Nathan to bed every night and I put Autumn to bed. Nathan is pretty easy to get to bed now, but he wasn’t when Autumn arrived… so thank goodness Jeremi had taken that burden off my shoulders. However, if Jeremi goes out or if he has to work late, I do put both to bed… and thankfully we can just read Nathan a book now and lights are off. I cannot wait until we get to that stage with little Miss Autumn… she loves her necklaces too!! BTW, adorable pillow!