1. What foods does B eat? How did you transition him from baby food?
-B was exclusively BF but around 5 months (or so?) he started really showing an interest in our food. Not just your typical, interested in it because it's there but interested in it because it was FOOD. He knew he was missing out. So while we had big plans of baby led weaning, we let him have some pureed foods. We held off on cereal (for a lot of reasons but mostly because of digestive reasons) until about 8 months and started him with applesauce and other baby foods. We didn't do homemade per say but we did mash up a lot of foods that we were eating so he could have them (bananas, avocado, sweet potato, etc.). Soon after (6 months) he was able to pick things up and mash them well with his gums. I know a lot of people say to wait until they have teeth to give them more solids but everything I could learn about baby led weaning says babies mash food with their gums. So I gave him solids and wouldn't ya know it- he mashed it right up with his gums! We did wait until he had his two top and bottom teeth for meats and of waited until after a year for allergen foods (though a lot of research says you don't have to do that anymore.. we did anyway).
Feeding has been pretty simple and an easy transition for us and he currently eats basically everything we are eating. You can read more about foods we've given him if you click the baby food tag below.
2. When did you stop breastfeeding?
-Oh my! This is a popular question! A lot of people want to know! And I've been getting this question for a long time- way before I quit BFing.
I always thought I would go one year. Then I started and my goal was 6 months. I'll be honest- I basically hated it in the beginning. But it was important to me and I knew it was good for B so I forced myself to do it. I do NOT recommend that route for everyone. Obviously forcing yourself to do it could turn out to be worse for you and baby so if it's not something you really believe is going to be beneficial for your baby and family than you should probably not go that route!
But I'm stubborn. And cheap. I did the math and figured if I BFd for 3 months I would get my money out of the pump we bought so that became my new goal. I stuck it out and by 3 months we had the hang of it and BFing was easier than I could have imagined! We kept going at that point and by 11 1/2 months I was ready to start weaning. B was still nursing 5-6 times a day at that point (which is more than what they say is normal but not more than what other stay at home nursing moms have told me). My goal was to have him down to twice a day by his birthday then start weaning him down from there. Soon after his birthday we were successfully down to only nursing before bedtime.
......and then he got sick. Other than some ear infection, this was his first real illness and of course I felt bad for wanting to quit BFing! The Dr actually suggested letting him nurse as he wanted while he was sick (because he didn't want anything else and we were worried about dehydration) so my supply came back and he was nursing full time again. As soon as he got healthy, I quickly weaned him off (it wasn't as bad this time so obviously I wasn't making as much milk as before). On January 4th (at almost 14 months), B was nursing before bed and I asked him if we could be done nursing. He nodded his head yes and climbed off my lap to go get a sippy cup. And that was that! (Had I known it was that easy I probably would have asked a long time ago. Haha!)
I am SO glad that he was able to nurse as long as he could but I cant say that I miss it. He still likes to snuggle while he has his sippy cup so I guess if he didn't like to snuggle for that I might miss nursing but I really don't. I DO miss the safety net of nutrition it provides and I feel like being done nursing really forces me to step up my game in the toddler meal planning arena.
3. What do you think of the teething necklace?
-I have no strong beliefs for or against it. But it definitely doesn't hurt! When we lost his original one, we did notice a lot of discomfort with a tooth coming through and since getting a new one we haven't noticed much discomfort with teething again. (I should point out during the time he acted like his tooth was bothering him, he was also sick.) B actually 'requests' to wear it these days so he has it on almost daily. (As I get him dressed he sees it on his dresser and points to it then tries to put it on himself.)
4. Is that a temporary tattoo?
-Yes. My baby has a trucker belly and a temporary tattoo. And he sprawls out in his lazy boy with the remote while wearing only a diaper and socks. No. We do not live in a trailer down by the river.
(The temporary tattoo was for a special occasion. I'll post it soon over on {cb}h!) :)
5. Will you go back to work next year?
-Well I never really stopped working so 'going back' doesn't quite sound right. If you mean going back to teaching, the answer is I'm not sure. I do miss teaching and the awesome teachers I worked with but I LOVE being home with B. If money wasn't an issue, I would definitely be staying home with B. I just feel like I will never get these years back. I spent so much time working at daycare where I got to see all the awesome milestones kids were reaching before their parents go to see them. I got to see that light bulb go off as they learned something new- their parents missed it. I just know there are going to be so many of those things I'll miss out on once he's in school full-time that I'd hate to miss out on all these in the younger years. I love being his mama AND his teacher and I cant imagine giving up part of that job to some one else. That being said, insurance and bills have to be paid and teaching is a great way to meet that need so I may be going back to school. Unless we win the lottery. Then I'm totally staying home. :)
6. You had mentioned a post about Baptism Vs. Dedication- have you typed it yet?
-Yes! About ten times. It's one I actually have proofread and I just cant seem to get it right (see what I mean in #6?). I am not opposed to infant baptism but we had strong feelings and reasons for infant dedication instead and R had strong feelings as to why he wanted to experience a believer's baptism even though he'd been baptized as an infant. So I'm not sure if that post will ever make it to the Hickstionary but long post short- we believe in a believer's baptism and it was really, really, really cool to get to see R experience that.
7. How do you find time to blog?
-I cash in my 'me time' for it. I gave myself 0-little me time last year and one of my goals this year is to give myself more of it. Blogging is the easiest way for me to get it because I can do it while waiting for images to upload for work (and I work while B sleeps). I also blog from my phone while I'm waiting or in the car (not while driving or on baby duty of course) or while I'm laying in bed trying to fall asleep at night. Most of my posts are about 5 minutes worth of effort with little to no proofreading these days (sorry about that) but I enjoy doing something versus nothing (which is what would happen if I pressured myself to have well thought out, well edited posts). It used to be important to me to have posts with a clear beginning, middle & end. Posts that had a point. And posts that (mostly) followed the grammar rules rather than the H rules. But one of the great things that happened when my blog was locked and I was just writing it for me was that all those things flew out the window. I stopped caring about numbers and stats and while my post quality has gone down (and maybe my readers), I'm totally okay with that!
I know there are others in my inbox so I may add to this again in the future (and for the photog ones, I'll try to update the {cb}h blog with those). Maybe. :)
-Yes! About ten times. It's one I actually have proofread and I just cant seem to get it right (see what I mean in #6?). I am not opposed to infant baptism but we had strong feelings and reasons for infant dedication instead and R had strong feelings as to why he wanted to experience a believer's baptism even though he'd been baptized as an infant. So I'm not sure if that post will ever make it to the Hickstionary but long post short- we believe in a believer's baptism and it was really, really, really cool to get to see R experience that.
7. How do you find time to blog?
-I cash in my 'me time' for it. I gave myself 0-little me time last year and one of my goals this year is to give myself more of it. Blogging is the easiest way for me to get it because I can do it while waiting for images to upload for work (and I work while B sleeps). I also blog from my phone while I'm waiting or in the car (not while driving or on baby duty of course) or while I'm laying in bed trying to fall asleep at night. Most of my posts are about 5 minutes worth of effort with little to no proofreading these days (sorry about that) but I enjoy doing something versus nothing (which is what would happen if I pressured myself to have well thought out, well edited posts). It used to be important to me to have posts with a clear beginning, middle & end. Posts that had a point. And posts that (mostly) followed the grammar rules rather than the H rules. But one of the great things that happened when my blog was locked and I was just writing it for me was that all those things flew out the window. I stopped caring about numbers and stats and while my post quality has gone down (and maybe my readers), I'm totally okay with that!
I know there are others in my inbox so I may add to this again in the future (and for the photog ones, I'll try to update the {cb}h blog with those). Maybe. :)
