Monday, October 31, 2011

Weaning Part 2

So weaning has gone very well. Avalyn no longer asks for Mama's milk, except in the morning... not that there's much (if any) left. She's been sleeping from about 11pm to 10am, then taking a two to three hour nap in the afternoon. It's amazing how well she's sleeping lately. She'll still wake up around six in the morning and crawl over to me and snuggle into my arms and steal my pillow, but she's not fully awake and not screaming bloody murder for mama's milk so it's more than okay. In fact I welcome it, I love snuggling with my baby girl.

I miss breastfeeding though, that closeness and bonding with Avalyn was such a wonderful gift. I knew it would be hard soon after that relationship began, but I know the timing is right and Avalyn is ready. She doesn't seem to miss it at all. In fact she seems to enjoy being able to suck on her bottle and watch me turn the pages of her books as I read to her. Also, car rides have been easier, she can drink while she watches her Baby Einstein and I don't have to duck away when we visit places to nurse her. She can do everything on her own!

We'll see where we are in a week or two with this journey. I hope Avalyn knows how much I love her. I really need to find a new way to bond with her now that our breastfeeding relationship has ended. Maybe more playtime is in order!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Milestone Update

I haven't done one of these since September!


New words:

42. Duck
43. Pumpkin (kumpkin)
44. Bunny
45. Get it
46. Come here (comere)
47. Cereal
48. Book
49. Cup
50. Straw
51. Step
52. "Moo" as an answer to what a cow says
53. "Mow" (said like cow) as an answer to what a kitty says
54. "Rarr" like a lion or bear
55. Stair
56. Bed
57. Eye
58. Ear
59. Good girl - instead of "thank you"
60. Look
61. See
62. Stuck
63. Yucky

October 3-7 - Grandma came up to visit for a week, it was so much fun!
October 14 - Went to GR to visit grandpa and grandpa
October 15 - State wins against Michigan! And we visited Aunt Penny, Jake, and Andy. Then went to dinner and had goulash at Nana's house
October 16 - Went to Romeo's first birthday party
October 17 - Switched back to the bottle to start weaning - slept in crib for 8 hours. Whoa!
October 28 - Visited Grandpa and Grandma at the cottage
October 29 - Went to the pumpkin patch! Then off to Hofbrau with Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Jim and Aunt Janice. Everyone was dressed up and Avalyn and Keith played games.
October 30 - Grandpa and Grandma visited before heading home, Avalyn painted her pumpkin

Picking pumpkins out!

Sitting in front of a little barn at the pumpkin patch

After making our way through the corn maze. Fun!

Part of the barn - it was so cool!

Keith dressed as a ninja for Hofbrau's Halloween bash!

Avalyn painting her pumpkins

Everyone spending time together and slicing apart pumpkins. Except Avalyn of course!

Our pumpkins! Matt's up top, mine in the middle, and Keith's at the bottom with the spooky eyes!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Weaning Part 1

After this weekend, I've decided to wean Avalyn. She only asks for "Mama's milk" when she needs comforting, and I love comforting her, don't get me wrong, but when it's still upwards of twelve times a night it starts to make it so Mama can't be the best mama she can be. So, I switched Avalyn back to the bottle. The comotomo bottle is supposed to be natural and act similarly to the breast and I love it! Well, Avalyn loves it! It's the only bottle she'll take, and she likes soothing herself with it.

I know it's a tiny step backwards, but she still takes the sippy cup. Not to mention, she drinks a lot of milk this way. She really tanks up during the day, so at night there's no fuss! Last night she slept for 9 hours! Oh, my goodness, total amazingness happening!

I miss breastfeeding already, though. Now I only nurse her first thing in the morning when she's waking up and needs some mommy time. I'm totally okay with that. We'll see how long that lasts, though. I'm so proud of Avalyn for weaning like a champ, no fuss at all! Not even asking for "Mama's milk" during the day. If she did ask, I wouldn't refuse though. Baby steps. :)

Monday, October 17, 2011

Fall has come and gone

Fall was in Northern Michigan for all of a week before it decided it was done. Now we have leaves everywhere, well... except on the trees. I'm really glad I took pictures at the cottage when I did, because two days later it was cold and so windy the colors left us!

The family cottage in the fall. Coming soon... green siding!

Not a view I would ever get sick of!

Avalyn loves the flowers in the planters up there.

"Oooh, pitty."

She was pretty happy to be at the cottage that day,

Another view of the lake, this one is from the front deck.

A view going down the stairs.

A view from the dock. Wasn't it a beautiful day?

A little photo-op on the bench. :)

Here Avalyn is in the backyard looking at the "boodie's!" (birdie's)

And back home where we had a lot of yellow trees.
Our sprinklers are being winterized tomorrow. Hopefully I will be able to share some of those pictures, too.

Friday, October 14, 2011

MIA

Wow so two weeks have passed since I  posted last. Nice work, Gwen! We have been busy here, my mom visited last week when Matt was out of town for training. We went into town most days and shopped around thrift stores, something that is definitely not Matt's cup of tea, let me tell ya! I ended up buying a great wingback chair at the Women's Resource Center's thrift store. Mom is going to show me how to reupholster it. She also brought up this great hutch to fill the blank wall in my boring dining room. Sweet!

Matt and I also decided not to paint the kitchen cabinets, instead we're going to stain them a cherry color and do a metallic subway tile as a backsplash. This is down the road (when we save up), so don't expect pictures any time soon!

Matt and I got started on the upstairs bathroom, too!






 I also did some family pictures last weekend. Yes, Avalyn is (once again) in her cow harness. She loves him/her.

This one is my favorite:

My kiddos:

Such a silly little girl, and Keith looks like he's ready to be done!
 Avalyn and I also visited the cottage to take some fall photos and document some before pictures of the house itself. In this picture Avalyn is saying, "boody," which means "birdy."
So, that's what we've been up to! More next week. This weekend we're going to be very busy. I can tell this fall/winter/spring is going to be eventful!