"Confrimation" of Attendance.

As I have said before, I am sending Ella to a charter school. Today, I received an email with instructions to confirm her attendance of the next school year. With the subject line of "Confrimation of attendance".

Um, maybe I should think twice about this school?

Teething and the evils of oraj.el.

Teeth.

Evil, evil, little teeth.

I can see 2 white bumps and hope and pray they stay under the skin (I really, really, really love my babies toof-less).

As I have already mentioned, Ella had her full 'front' set (no molars) by the time she was 6 months old. And Allison stayed toothless, although there were a few times I saw those bumps, until she was a year old. Yup, a year old and a gumby. yay!

Karl is teething and then he's not. The poor boy. I just need his teeth to make up their minds. Until then, I'm making sure he's got something to chew on, a rag/cloth his chew thing of choice.

One thing I will ~not~ do for teething is or.ajel. I learned about the evils of o.rajel with Ella. My pediatrician explained how or.ajel, while helping for the moment, hardens the gums ever so slightly, causing the tooth that is trying to come through have an even harder time. So you use more or.ajel, causing it to become harder, more or.ajel, etc, etc, etc. It can be evil stuff if you use it on your teething baby. If you do use it, use it sparingly like right before they eat so they ~can~ eat (if the teething pain is making them refuse food), but just be careful. Don't fall into or.ajel's corporate ploy! heh. I totally sound like one of those conspiracy theorists! All I can say is it makes sense to me and I can feel how the gums feel harder after using it. Of course I can be totally incorrect on this, I'm just taking lead from my pediatrician.

~whew!~

We are back to breastfeeding.

I haven't talked much about breastfeeding lately, mostly because I'm so very disappointed with my abilities this time. Let me catch you up ...

Due to the surgeries and sicknesses, I wasn't able to keep up with karl's demand of breastmilk. I still was nursing everyday and night, I had to supplement with formula. Of course I would rather him have 100% breastmilk, but I do what I have to do to keep my son healthy. I pump at work and nurse him whenever I'm around him (and not on any medications). We were making due.

So this stepback in him wanting to nurse when I got back from my trip really freaked me out. No way would I be ready to stop breastfeeding at just 5 months. No. Fucking. Way.

But, as of last night and this morning, I'd say we are back at 100%. I think my milk supply is even in better than it was before I left. I'm eating a lot, drinking a lot and nursing a lot. It was frustrating him at first to suck without much of a reward, so I focused on letting him "sleep nurse" to stimulate my own milk supply, so there would be more milk, faster, the next time he'd nurse while awake.

~Whew~.

I still have at least 7 more months of breastfeeding left. I'd of been heartbroken if it just ended before I knew it.

I have a post brewing about breastfeeding into toddler-hood and beyond. I've spoken about it before, but I've got some new thoughts I'd like to share. Stay tuned!

The newborn honeymoon

I have spoken about it before. The newborn honeymoon. Its the first few weeks after a baby is born, often tricking the first time mom.

It usually consists of the baby sleeping, only waking to eat or be changed. The only complaint tends to be the baby stays awake longer at night, parents determining the baby has his nights mixed up. Which I personally think the baby knows exactly what time of day is it, as most babies, in utero, sleep while mommy is awake, lulled to sleep my the movement, only to be active at night when mommy is trying to sleep. This is only compounded once born, being subjected to the same stimuli, being held, bounced, etc.

Anywho, it makes me laugh that in almost all first time mommy blogs, message boards or in simply talking to most brand new mommies, they will say "my baby is such a good baby..." only to be shown their true nature in a few weeks.

Now, I was also one of these mommies when ella was born. I'm totally not talking smack about anyone without also pointing the finger at myself.

Like I said, I have talked about this before. And each time, I'd always get the handful of comments saying "not ~my~ baby. ~My~ baby stayed a perfect baby." Each me I would see that, I would roll my eyes and say "bullshit". Babies all act like babies. I have seen babies with autism, literally never crying and being a very self content baby, but in general, the baby honeymoon ends.

And then I had karl. While the newborn honeymoon did end, him having a few weeks of crying fits, his temperment, in general, is fucking amazing. He is, what I have rolled my eyes at, a GOOD baby. Its incredible.

He doesn't sleep through the night the majority of the time. But its easy to get him back to sleep. And like the girls, when I see him getting sleepy, all I have to do is lay him in his crib wide awake and he will go to sleep. He doesn't cry much, and when he does cry, all it takes is a smile to get a big smile right back. Its amazing.

I guess the third time is a charm. I apologize for the blatant bragging, but its so amazing, I had to document it. And, of course, admit just how wrong I was when I called bullshit on those other mommies.

You know what it really does? It makes me want a 4th.

He is refusing to nurse.

Oh crap.

I'm gone for 5 days and the boy refuses to nurse. REFUSES.

I'm pumping to keep up supply, but this is horribly aggravating.

Still alive, I think

I am out of town on a business trip. Working my ass off and missing the children dearly.

I will won't be in my mommy shoes for five whole days. FIVE! Three more days to go.

I called to check in on kids yesterday and was met with "something is wrong with karl."

Heart stopped.

As he explains he thinks he maybe teething, I picked my heart up from ground and promptly rattled off med dosages. He seems better now.

Well, I am on my blackberry, so typing is a chore. Just wanted to drop a note to you all!

Why?

Ella (5 yrs) is starting to ask "Why?" to a variety of questions. And she really wants an answer, making my brainpower tested on a daily basis.

Today was "Why do we light off firecrackers on the 4th of July?"

Does anyone realize how hard it is to explain how firecrackers are representative of the explosions during the American Revolution which are set off on the anniversary of our Independence from England?

Yeah. It's tough.

I used the phrases "trying to be the boss of us" and other kid friendly terms, but I am ~very~ firm on the fact I will always explain any question in real ways, no matter what the question. I may explain in terms they can understand (ie: during my FET, we put 'baby eggs' in mommy's belly), but the truth is told.

I'm suddenly reminded of the X Files. "The Truth is Out There."

(is that even from the x files? and am I even right in my explanation of firecrackers?)

Just one of the boys.

No, I don't know why I decided on that title, it's got nothing to do with what I wanted to blog about.

I am home alone tonight and got the girls to bed. Then cleaned up a bit and it was just me and the boy, hanging out. He started rubbing his eyes, I knew the end of his day was soon, so I lowered the lights and laid down with him on the couch for some cuddle time. Him, being a boy, decided my breast was too near him to ~not~ have in his mouth, so he rooted around. He just finished an entire jar of bananas (oh yeah, we started solids this past week) and I knew he wasn't hungry, but what the hell, I gave in.

There he is, half nursing and half playing. Then it got funny. He'd nurse like 3 mouthfuls, let go, yell in his new found baby scream, then grasp back on for some more milk. It went on and on like this.

You'd think that was the funny part. But after doing this for awhile, I wondered if I even had a good flow coming out so during one of his yells, I grabbed my nipple between my fingers, tugged and squeezed a little bit, and promptly squirted myself in the eye.

Awesome.