It's All Mine!

My body, that is.

Yes, that means that we are officially completely done with breastfeeding.  I was down to only nursing  him in the morning when he woke up for the day, but starting last week he would barely even go for more than a minute per side.  Friday morning last week was the last time he nursed at all.  On Saturday (his 14 month birthday) he refused me altogether.  Apparently my minuscule milk stores were not enough for him first thing in the morning.

He'd rather have peanut butter pancakes.

I haven't even attempted to nurse him in the last few days.  He seems ok with it and to be honest, so am I.  It's weird, I really thought I would be sad when we were done.  I was sure that it would hit me hard.  That I would shed at least a few tears upon the realization that he no longer "needed" me - at least for a little snack.

On the contrary it's been a slight relief.  It's less time spent in the morning trying to get him to cooperate and more time hanging out eating breakfast.  I would much rather spend time with the happy pancake monster than the fussy kid who's pissed about not getting enough milk.

I'm proud of what we did.  We made it to a year with him getting mostly breastmilk (with a little formula thrown in in a pinch). Then at a year he transitioned to cow milk except for nursing in the morning.  Now at 14 months he is totally on the cow and that is just fine with me.

So now my body is all mine.  I've been digging through my drawer to pull out all the cute bras that I haven't worn in almost two years (my already sizable 32Ds got ridiculous during pregnancy and bordering on obscene when they were milk filled).  And I'm really hoping now that milk production can totally shut down that just maybe my body will take the hint and let go of the last couple pounds that seem to have been holding on.  Of course I'll need to have a little willpower to help that out  :)

I will say that it was an amazing journey and I will always cherish the time that we got to spend, just the two of us, quietly rocking in the recliner and cuddling.  I definitely plan to do the same thing with any future child that we may have, but for now I am going to enjoy having my body to myself.

And wearing some cute bras.

I Think We Have a New Favorite

After having it laying around in one of his toy bins for months and pretty much ignoring it Andrew has finally discovered the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Love to Play Puppy.

Last night after his bath when he was having a little more playtime out in the living room he dragged it out of the bin.  I don't know if he hit it on purpose, but the little heart on his chest got pushed and the puppy started talking and singing.  And talking some more. And singing the same song again. And again. And again.

I know the puppy says many different things (in a somewhat annoyingly cheerful voice), but since the heart is the only thing that flashes that seems to be the only thing Andrew wants to press.  He sits there with one chubby little finger poking that heart over and over again.  I went to bed last night with that song replaying over and over in my head ("I love you, I love you, morning, noon and night.  I love you, I LOVE you, you make the world so bright")

Giving the heart a nice poke

I'm assuming that the munchkin was also dreaming about the puppy because as soon as I plopped him on the floor after breakfast he hauled butt into the living room and dragged out the puppy again.  While I cleaned up breakfast I heard the puppy asking him for hugs and singing his favorite tune.  Something tells me I better get used to hearing that song.

Anyone else have this toy?  Are you ready to toss it out the window yet??

Our Long Weekend

I love long weekends. I know I've said it before, but I wish every weekend was three days.  This past one was a bonus one since it was four days. Of course that made it even harder to get up and get ready for work this morning, but I guess all good things must come to an end.

Anyway, here is the recap of our weekend:

Friday we took a stroll over to the park so the munchkin could swing and slide. Then we walked over to the big lawn so I could try to get some cute pictures.  Instead I spent my time making sure he wouldn't fall off of the bench since his new mission in life is to climb everything.

That afternoon we blew up his baby pool (birthday gift from daycare) and we let him splash around on the back deck for a while.

The elephant slide sprays water. He loves it until it sprays him in the face

Is it just me or is my little munchkin getting a bit of a milk gut?

Saturday we got up and went downtown to the farmers market for some fresh produce and his favorite treat - a cinnamon soft pretzel.

Cinnamon sugar deliciousness

After a long nap at home we went to dinner with our friend, Jay, and his son, Collin. They were doing an adoption drive at the restaurant so Andrew got to see some cute puppies and dogs while we were there. And no, we did not bring home a new pet.

Sunday we considered going to the beach, but with tropical storm Beryl out there the winds were strong and we decided we didn't want to get sand blasted.  Instead we went back downtown to the farmers market and to check out some of the artwork for Spoleto. I saw some really cool fish pictures I would have loved to have gotten for his nursery, but they were really pricey ($45 for one little picture and we'd need several) so I didn't get any.

We hung out, had some snacks

Walked over to the tent where they were having a singing exhibition:

Hung out on the lawn for a little bit:

And shared a real strawberry popsicle:

Andrew climbed around like a monkey until it was time to head home:

Yesterday we relaxed around the house for the morning before heading out in search of a glider for the porch and a wagon for the beach. We got the wagon, but they sold out of the glider (damn!).  On the way home we stopped at the park for some more swinging and sliding fun.

Andrew had a blast until he took a header down the steps of the slide and did a complete somersault.  Yeah - mommy of the year award winner here  :(

He was fine - no blood or (major) bruising.  After a little more time in the swings to make up for my mommy fail we headed home for dinner.

Oh, and our attempt at transitioning him completely to the sippy is not going all that swimmingly, but we're working on it.  Hopefully daycare sticks with it today and maybe by the end of the week we'll actually have him drinking milk out of it.

So there you have it - a fabulous and relaxing extra long weekend with our little munchkin. I hope everyone out there had a just as fabulous weekend - minus any playground mishaps  :)

14 Months

Today my little munchkin butt is 14 months old. Oy!

Here is a list of his current favorite things:

Love this kid!

I'm Ready!

That is, I'm ready to spend the next four days with the cutest little munchkin I know.

Our daycare is closed tomorrow because Andrea and Marc are going to Colorado for the high school graduation of the first girl that she ever nannied.  I thought about working from home for the day (for about 2 seconds) and then I decided to just take the day off and have a four day weekend.  So, what's on our agenda you ask?  In no particular order, here is what I have in mind for us:

• Hitting the beach for the first time this year (not that I am feeling ready to be seen in public in a bathing suit).  Something tells me it's going to be interesting this year trying to keep him from eating sand.

• Blowing up the baby pool that munchkin got from Andrea and Marc for his birthday and letting him have some fun in the back yard.

• Going to the farmers market downtown on Saturday morning for some fresh produce (still waiting on veggies from our garden) and to let the munchkin dance to the music.

• Doing some hard-core bottle to sippy transitioning.  I feel like I really need to get him to drink milk out of one - and soon.

• Possibly hitting up some of the Spoleto events.  We didn't do any last year, but maybe we'll venture out this year.

• Doing some around town bike rides with my little co-pilot in tow.

• Getting in some outside runs with my little munchkin so I can quit feeling so icky about myself.

So there you have it - my plans for the next four days with my little cutie. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!

We (Finally) Have a Fence

After years of having to chase the dogs all over the neighborhood anytime they decide to haul ass when I let them out we finally have the back yard fenced in.  Well - most of the way at least.  We still have one section to finish after we figure out how to do the gate, but at least now I can corner them and head them off if someone walks by and distracts them.

The posts and 2x4s had been up for a little while. I'm sure the neighbors were loving our "fence" for the last few weeks.

I had Andrew in the around-we-go in the driveway while I was marking the pickets.  I tried letting him crawl around and play but he kept crawling into the garage and/or under the boat.

His patience wore thin after a while.

The section along the road was coming along nicely.  We have the corner lot so our back yard is along the road. Not the best thing with a mobile munchkin.

I set Andrew in the grass while I was fetching more pickets.

He was already trying to make his escape.  This is another reason we need a fence!

Entertaining himself playing with the air compressor hose for the nail gun.

I moved him further from the edge and he started to have a meltdown.

He started to realize that we were building him a big jail.

So he decided he'd had enough and it was time to go inside for some grub.  For a non walking little munchkin he can climb the stairs really quickly.

Some views of the (almost) finished fence.  Really not looking forward to painting it, but we might just give in and hire someone to do it.  I think it's going to wait until the fall though - it's already getting too damn hot to do it now.

Toddle Along Tuesday ~ Favorite Firsts

This week's Toddle Along Tuesday topic is Your Favorite Firsts.  I swear I think everything that he does the first time is absolutely amazing, but here are a few of the things that I will never forget.

His first real smile.  I remember that my husband had stopped by the house during lunch to spend some time with us.  He was holding Andrew and the little munchkin looked at him and gave him this little grin. I thought my heart might explode.

Then there was the first time he popped up on his elbows when I put him on his tummy. It was after a bath and I rolled him onto his belly so I could lotion up his back. He normally raised hell about being in that position, but this time he popped right up on his elbows with a surprised look on his face. I screamed for my husband to get in there to see and we both sat there with goofy grins on our face watching him.

The first time he sat up on his own.  It was on J's birthday - December 17th.  I was getting things ready for the party I was having for him at our house and I had Andrew playing on the floor.  The next thing I knew he rolled and pushed himself to a sitting position - I was so proud.

And finally - the first time he crawled.  For months he had been doing this thing where he laid on his belly kicking his legs and looking like a penguin.  Then he spent a lot of time on his hands and knees rocking back and forth, but not knowing how to go anywhere.  Then on January 5th he put it all together and took off across the room. I was so excited to catch his actual first time on camera.

So there you have it - a few of my favorite firsts.

How about you?  What are some of the firsts that you hold near and dear to your heart?  Pop on over to Growing Up Geeky and share.

It's Bocce Time!

Saturday I took part in the 12th Annual Bocce Bash for Special Olympics.  I played in this two years ago, but last year I was out on maternity leave so I missed all the fun.

Our company is a big supporter of this and was actually one of the main sponsors this year. We had 5 teams in the running to go for the championship. Unfortunately none of our teams did very well, but a good time was had by all.  Over $60,000 was raised for Special Olympics, which I think is pretty awesome.

The weather was a little overcast and chilly, but I actually preferred that to us sweating our asses off like the last time I played.

32 courts with 4 teams per court equals a lot of people out for a good time.

Pictures below are from Shanacott Photography

 

Games were played to 12 points.  In our first of three games we were shut out 12-0.  In our defense we were playing the team that won it all last year.  Still, I can't believe we put up a big goose egg.  Embarrassing.

The guys on the left were on one of our teams.  

The sun started to peek out after a while.

The beer was flowing and the balls were flying

Mike and Rob, deep in concentration

The judges were very official. At least some of them were. I think ours screwed us out of a few points.









I'm an idiot and don't have a picture of our team.  We were "Holy City Bocce Babes... and Some Guy".  It was me, Karen, Rhonda and Clayton (the 'some guy').  Clayton is a big time bowler so we thought we might have an advantage. Not so much.  We lost 12-0 and 12-6 in our first two games and won the last one 12-10.  Not good enough to move on to the afternoon rounds.

Instead of playing more bocce we took advantage of the beer truck and the free lunch and spent the early afternoon hanging out and listening to the band.  J was supposed to bring Andrew out, but his napping was all messed up so that didn't happen. I was kind of bummed since I wanted to show him off, but oh well. He can come out next year and chase the balls around.

All in all it was a fun day and a good way to spend a Saturday.  Much more fun than the way we spent Sunday (building the fence), but that's for another day.