Baby King

Today my little prince nursed at 4am and 6 am, wasn’t interested in banana at 7am. At daycare throughout the course of the day he finished three 4-5 ounce bottles (he usually only takes two, but I always send three just in case), had fish with mixed veggies, about an ounce or so of mango-apple-carrot puree, and “snacks.” At home he nursed both sides and then one side again and then had some mum-mums (rice crackers). He finally nursed to sleep around 8pm. If this is what he eats now, what will it be like when he’s a teenager???

(I was writing this as part of my previous post on Attachment Parenting, but it was getting long so I decided to make it it’s own post.)

I’ve been hearing people say that there must be no way that Attachment Parenting can work for a family where both parents work. Being in a family where we both work and yet practice AP, I want to let you in on what my life looks like these days:

It starts in the morning when Darius gets up to go to work. Around then LP usually wants to nurse, so I figure out where he is in our monster queen-twin-on-floor bed and see if I need to switch sides. Then we both fall back asleep. When my alarm goes off a little while later, I bring him to me to breastfeed again as this will be his last nursing session before daycare. If my alarm goes off during this time I gently unlatch him, turn off the alarm (it’s across the room), and then see if he wants to nurse more (he usually nurses through at least 2 rings of the alarm). I like this nursing session because he’s usually super cuddly and sweet. Then when I am sure he is back asleep, I get out of bed, take a shower, brush my teeth, get ready for the day, and turn on the cheep baby monitor. Then I pick out his clothes for the day and head downstairs.

Downstairs I turn on the other half of the baby monitor, get out three 4-5oz bottles of expressed milk, a clean nipple, and any food I’m sending with him, make sure it’s all labeled and put it all in a bag, which then goes in his to-daycare-diaperbag. I also get four clean empty bottles for me to pump into in the pump cooler pack with their special cooler thing and put that in my pump bag. Then I make my lunch and put that in my backpack. I then run all of this quickly out to the car (now along with the car seat if it’s not already in the car). Sometimes I also have to feed the girl-cat. Then I usually get a chance to sit down and eat breakfast. If LP hasn’t woken up by 7:30am, I go wake him up. I don’t like the fact that I have to wake him up, I’d rather let him get up naturally, but I have to get to work. I get him out of bed and bring him into “his” room. There I take off his PJs and change him into a new disposable diaper (daycare doesn’t take cloth and we also use disposables overnight) while singing him “Good Morning” from Singing in the Rain with lyrics that I’ve made up. Then I get him dressed, often while trying to keep him away from the boy-cat (who often comes into LP’s room to see what’s going on). Then it’s grab any last minute items, get him into his car seat (sometimes play peak-a-boo or tickle his toes), and drive him to daycare. At daycare I spend a bit of time with him and give him good-bye hugs and kisses. Lately I’ve been wearing him in in my mei tai. I have a new theory that he’s more willing to let me go if I wear him in and wear him while I’m putting away his bottles and filling out his daily form, etc.

Then I head off to work. At work I pause twice to go down to the Mother’s Room and pump for 20 minutes each time. Since this takes up a good chunk of my time, I generally work through lunch (so I can leave a little earlier). Most days Darius picks up LP from daycare. When I get home I have to put the milk I just pumped into the fridge. If I’m home before the guys, I’ll check to see if I can put any milk in the freezer. I often try to get some bottles washed then. When I get reconnected with my guys, I look over LP’s sheet to see how much he ate, when he napped, when he last had a change, and if there are any other important notes. By then LP usually wants to nurse. These days he’s very “vocal” about it: pulling at my clothing, signing “milk” and saying “nana.” Sometimes I change his diaper first (into cloth while at home) if I think he really needs it. Then I sit on the couch with him and breastfeed him. More often than not, this is a long reconnecting nurse that turns into a nurse-nap. Once LP is asleep, I’ll play on my iPhone or watch TV. It’s a great way not only to reconnect with him, but it also helps me unwind from the day.

Evenings are varied depending on if we’re going out or not or what’s for dinner. Generally these days Darius makes dinner because I’m breastfeeding LP for a good 45 minutes, if not longer, while he nurse-naps. Sometimes if LP wakes up or if he doesn’t nap, I’ll wear him on my back and make dinner or help out by cleaning dishes (it seems like there are ALWAYS dishes to clean) or sit and play with LP. Then dinner. After dinner we may all play downstairs or maybe Skype with my mother or other family members or whatever. Sometimes LP wants short breastfeeding nips during this time, sometimes he doesn’t. Then it’s bedtime (usually) and every other night LP gets a bath given by both of us. Then back into a ‘sposie and daddy puts him in pajamas and we both pray that LP will fall asleep quickly while nursing so we can get some time together to wash more dishes, or fold laundry, or watch some adult TV, or read and blog or something. Some nights it works (like tonight, which I why I’m getting a chance to write this) and some nights (like last night) it doesn’t. On those nights LP doesn’t want to go to sleep, so one of us will wear him while doing the night time chores (washing bottles, making lunches, feeding cats, etc). Generally this makes him sleepy enough that we can all go to bed together.

Overnight LP still (half-)wakes up 3-5 times to nurse (counting the one that I mentioned at the beginning of this post). I’m so thankful that we’re co-sleeping because it’s just so easy to roll over, feed him, and go back to sleep.

So, would I prefer to be able to stay at home? Yes. But I’m so thankful for AP because I feel like I am still able to connect with my son when we are together and without it I know I’d probably not be getting even half as much sleep as I do now.

There has been a lot of talk recently about Attachment Parenting (AP). Most recently this picture graced the cover of Time, causing shock (as it was intended to) on both sides of the issue.

There have been some great responses to it already published. Here are two: No. I’m Not Mom Enough & Time Magazine and “Extreme Parenting

It may come as no shock to those who know me, but in my household, we practice AP. Here are the eight principles of AP. I just sort of fell into AP naturally. My parents practiced many of these things back in the 80s before there was a term for it because it “felt right” to my mother (she says that we should call AP “natural parenting” since everything else is outside of what is normal in most of the world and for most of human history). These principles also feel right to me. I am also thankful for a friend who passed on her copy of The Baby Book (which I’ve mostly read through) because it gave me the term to use for doing what felt right to me and helped me find others who parent the way I want to.

I had a natural birth at a birthing center. We breastfeed, which I plan on doing until it is something LP and I both decide is no longer for us.

We co-sleep, which makes it so much easier as a working mom of a baby who reverse-cycled at about 4 months to get any sleep.

We practice babywearing. LP loves being worn (most of the time) by either parent. And it sure can make doing things like shopping, housework, or even playing WoW (once he’s asleep) easier. We also have a stroller, which we do use for things like long walks to the park.

Recently I borrowed from the library and read Beyond the Sling by Mayim Bialik. It was interesting to read her book. I really liked her voice and the way she told her story. When I was reading bits about parts that I agreed with already, I found myself nodding my head or saying “yes! exactly!” out loud (good thing I read it while pumping in the Mother’s Room at work so there was no one around to hear me). There were some things that were a little “out there” for me, such as Elimination Communication (which sounds cool…but we’re renting a place with lots of carpets and I know it’s something daycare would never go for) and lots of holistic medicine. I did love her chapter on gentle discipline (also known as positive parenting), which I made Darius read. I actually got out from the library the book on Gentle Discipline that she recommends in her resources section. My two biggest take-aways from her book was the idea of not saying no, but saying “Not for LP, but this over here is for LP” instead and when the kid starts to cry when hurt asking in a caring tone “hurt, surprised, or both?”

Does AP work for everyone? No. Does it work for us? Yes. One of the biggest tenants that I’ve noticed amongst AP people and La Leche League people is that they are aware that every family and every mother is different and so they say do what you can and what works best for you and for your child. No need to be “mom enough.”

Part Two: Attachment Parenting and the working mom.

I can’t believe that my Little Prince is already 11 months old! The last time I weighed him (about a week ago), he weighed 18.5 lbs. He’s still on the tiny side of things and still in the 6-9 month clothing.

We celebrated by going out to Eeyore’s Birthday party, where LP experienced his first drum circle.

So, what’s been going on in our life? Well, I missed the 10 month update because I was too busy playing with LP:

And running after him, as he started walking on his own at 10 months and about a week. And as soon as he started walking he wanted to try to run (which doesn’t work so well).

In March we went to Ren Faire and my Dad and Step-Mom visited. Then in April we went to our yearly retreat in the woods. LP made some new friends, two boys who just adored him.

These days he is walking all over the house and torturing the cats. He still doesn’t have any teeth, so I like to call him “Toothless.” I also call him “Fearless” as he just doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything. This weekend’s antics involved dropping a toy over the side of the couch and then trying to follow it. At least he was doing one leg and then the other, instead of going head first. He can climb up stairs and down from the bed (which is on the floor)

He’s started to get more into food lately. He loves apples, raspberries, avocado, fruit purees, hummus, carrots, and chicken. He’s not so huge on broccoli, but I keep trying it. He’s also starting to get the idea of sippy cups.

We’ve been doing more signs with him and watching some Baby Signing Time. He knows and can do the sign for “fan” and will look up at the ceiling fan when he does it (but he may think any lighting fixture is a “fan”). He’s signed “more” a few times while saying “na,” which is his word for milk (no idea where it came from…unless he’s trying to say “more”). He sometimes will sign milk when he nurses. Over the weekend, I signed diaper and while we were doing a diaper change and he sort of made the sign for “milk” (but with his fists pointed down so it could kind of be “diaper”) and clearly said “diaper.” Since then, at least 5 other people have heard him say “diaper.” I am officially calling it his first word, because all of the other sounds he makes he says in relation to many things, such as “da” or “aaada” or “dat” when excited and “ooohhh” when he sees something he’s interested in. He also has this absolutely fantastic giggle, especially when being tickled.

Recently I got a new-to-me-and-barely-used-by-previous-owner mei tai which I’m loving. The back carry is great for doing things and being out and about, and I can nurse in it pretty easily with a front carry.

As for sleeping, my Little Prince still wakes up often at night to nurse (although I think the first stretches are often longer). We’re trying a bedtime of 8:30-9pm. Sometimes it works…and sometimes it doesn’t, no idea why, when we keep the routine generally the same.

Still working on combating thrush. Boo. I thought it was all gone, but then I ran out of probiotics and it came back. Double boo.

Lastly, we’ve signed our Little Prince up for swim lessons, since he loves the water so much. They start this Saturday (during what is often his morning nap time) … so we’ll see how that goes).

Or how Triple Nipple Cream saved my nursing relationship.
Or how I should have listened to my instincts and to others.

About a month and a half ago I noticed that my left nipple was starting to hurt a bit. It felt sort of like thrush, but wasn’t quite the same, and the right side was getting sore too. So I made an appointment with the Birthing Center to get it all checked out. They confirmed that it wasn’t yeast or bacterial. The lactation consultant (who was also our post-partum midwife) was there. She agreed with me that it could be because I’d switched horns on my pump to the Pumpin Pals about a month before and the smallest ones they have are too big for me. I should have guessed this myself when they wouldn’t hold suction so I had to turn my pump up and hold them on (I can usually pump hands-free). But I was stubborn and really liked how they were ergonomic, even when they were damaging me. (Anyone want a set of Pumpin Pals horns? I know a lot of people who say they’re great.) So I switched back to the regular horns and started coating them in lanolin to help with the friction.

While the left started to feel somewhat better, the right started getting worse and worse. I started getting vasospasms on both sides. I mentioned it at my La Leche League meeting and my friend recommended I get this Triple Nipple Cream. Someone else mentioned “Soothies” breast pads. But I sort of ignored them thinking things were under control.

At the same time as all of this, I noticed that my Little Prince looked like he did, in fact, have a tongue-tie. So when we were at his nine month check-up, I asked his pediatrician to confirm it. Yup, he had minor tongue-tie alright. This got me a big “I told you so” from Darius and a recommendation for an ENT doctor from our pediatrician, who I made an appointment with for the next week. I also found this article on tongue-ties and realized that LP had over 20 of the listed symptoms at one point or another.

The last week things went from bad to worse. The left was sore and wrinkly. The areola on the right has this shiny blotchy part and when I pumped or nursed, skin was actually pealing off and I could see deep cracks all over my nipple. I starts wearing nursing pads again, but I was sticking to them and when I took them off, there was some skin and a bit of blood on them. On Tuesday of last week I got some Soothies and while they helped a bit with the vasospasms and the rubbing, it was still bad. On Friday morning when LP latched on the right, it hurt so much I actually started crying.

That Friday was also the day of my Little Prince’s ENT appointment. The doctor took one look and confirmed the tie. He said it was minor so we really didn’t need to do anything about it. But he gave me the option of snipping it right then. I took it.

The procedure was very quick. They numbed under LP’s tongue, then got him crying (poor thing) and took a thin pair of scissors and snipped it super fast. He cried until I got him on my breast (all of 5 seconds, because I was already holding him). Then he nursed for about five minutes and was perfectly happy after that. No blood or anything. It was so simple. I wish I’d had it done right after he was born. I bet it would have helped with our early latching problems.

After I dropped LP back of at daycare, I called my doctor and asked them to call in a prescription of the Triple Nipple Cream. I picked it up after work and started using it right away. I also tried using the nipple shields again, but LP refused to nurse with them, so I just grinned and bore it. I also started to once again refuse a latch that felt super painful or uncomfortable.

What a difference a week can make. My nipples are healing. Pumping doesn’t hurt anymore. The red shiny spots on my right areola are gone. Today I’m wearing regular breast pads instead of Soothies and I’m not sticking to them at all. And best of all, nursing on the left almost doesn’t hurt at all and nursing on the left is hurting less and less every day. And even though the cracks in my nipple are still there, they are on their way to healing.

Finally, LP loves sticking out his tongue now. He’s exploring a whole range of motion with it that he never had before. And I’m pretty sure his suction has gotten better and his nursing more efficient.

Sorry about not updating when my Little Prince turned 8 months. I got just a bit involved with the Facebook Nurse-In stuff .

So, LP is now 9 months old! At his checkup last week he was 27″ long & weighed 17.5lbs. He’s been a person in the world longer than he was a collection of growing cells/a fetus inside of my body. It still blows me away.

LP continues to grow, change, and amaze me. He is now crawling like a maniac (much to the cats’ dismay), cruising around the furniture, walking for a good while while holding our hands, and even standing for several seconds all by himself. He’s also a little thrill seeker and loves getting tossed around, thrown up in the air, and being placed on shoulders.

 (Drat, I had just added a bunch of stuff and WordPress just ate it! Boo! Hopefully I can remember most of what I wrote.)

When he’s excited, LP makes the cutest “gah” noise. He also says lots of “da/dat” “ba” and “agg” sounds. Still not much on the “ma” front . He also signed milk once or twice, but not consistently… then again, we’re not very consistent with it.

When he wants to show affection (or when he’s super tired), he’ll lay his head down on you. It’s so cute. Here he is giving the boy-cat some love:

 Grandma (my mother) came into town the other week. She spent a few days watching him, which was nice. She found a great little park for smaller kiddos nearby, which we have since taken him to a couple of times. She also taught him to raise his arms up when someone says “touchdown” (even though it’s not football season anymore). Here he is doing “touchdown” for Grandma when we were out at dinner:

On the eating/sleeping front, LP is still mostly reverse cycled, although he does take more milk at daycare than he use to (probably because he’s more active these days). So we dream-feed several times a night. He still isn’t super interested in food. He does about 2-3 oz of baby puree at daycare every day. Apples or sweet potato seem to be his favorites. He’s okay with banana, pears, and carrots. So far not a fan of green beans. At home we do more baby lead solids. We went out to Olive Garden over the weekend and got him a side of steamed broccoli and he had fun squishing it and dropping it on the floor, but I’m pretty sure he got some in his mouth. Here he is with two slices of an Empire apple. He really likes apples and other fruit.

He also likes to try and drink water from our glasses. It’s pretty cute and usually ends up with water everywhere. He’s starting to figure out sippy cups too. I think we need to get a few different types to see what he takes to.

As perfectly developmentally appropriate, LP has occasionally exhibited some mild signs of separation anxiety when we put him down. So we babywear him more. Currently there are three baby carriers in this house: a Moby wrap, an Ergo, and a Mei Tei that I’m borrowing for a friend. I’ve started to become a big fan of the back carry. I’ve also started to get addicted to baby carriers. They are so awesome. And different ones are needed for different situations! The other week we were at CostCo and Darius had LP in the Ergo on his back. LP totally fell asleep and Darius kept getting double-takes from people as they realized that he wasn’t wearing a backpack, but a sleeping baby.

I’m sure I have more to say, but he’s waking up and it’s way past time to get him to daycare and me to work.

Since it’s half way through February, I guess it’s time I finally get to this post, since I promised I would…and then got busy with things like chasing around a crawling baby and all of the Facebook Nurse-In stuff.

In our house we celebrated three winter holidays: Chanukah, Yule/Winter Solstice, and Christmas.

For Chanukah I continued the tradition that my parents started: a book (well, he got a set of Dr. Seuss books) on the first night and that’s the only present. He seems to like the books.

Yule/Winter Solstice is our family holiday. All of the presents were from us to each other. Ok, most of the presents were from Darius and I to LP, but that’s how it should be, right?

Christmas we do as an extended family day. This year for Christmas, my father and step-mother came into town. On Christmas, there are presents from extended family (the In-Laws got us “revenge for getting their kids loud toys” presents ) and gifts from Santa.

I’m pretty sure that LP had no idea what was going on most of the time. He sometimes seemed to like the paper and the boxes more than the gifts.

Lastly, for NYE we were in New Orleans, since tante’s birthday is NYE. We got LP in his tux onesie and he slept through the whole party until it was almost midnight. We brought him outside and I forgot they always set off fireworks until they were going off. I was worried he would freak out, but he loved them! He would track them up in the air and then watch the colors in the sky. He was actually kicking his feet impatiently when none were going off.

And now, since I know y’all are really here for the pictures, here is a slideshow of all of the holiday pictures:

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I’ve been reading a lot of articles and responses to the articles about the February 6th “Nurse-Ins” at the various Facebook offices around the world. I’ve noticed one question that people keep asking in the comments is “Why is it so important for you to post these pictures of such an intimate moment?” I’m going to do my best to try and answer that question here.

I want to start by changing one word in the question. I want to change “intimate” to “normal.” Intimate implies an done privately between two people in a closed setting in a cherishing way. For any mom who is trying to feed a screaming one week old at 2am and trying to find her nipple shield because he’s having latching trouble, and it’s dark and you’re over-tired, this act is anything but intimate. Frustrating is what comes to mind. For any mom who’s out and about and who has a hungry kid, and decides to feed him right there in public, while sweet, this is not intimate. Natural comes to mind. For any mom who is sitting for over an hour while her child nurses himself to sleep, but she knows he’ll wake up screaming if she tries to stop the nurse-nap, this is not intimate (at least not after half an hour). Lonely comes to mind (if no one else is there for her to talk to) or distracted (if she is watching tv or surfing the net). But all of these moments are normal. Because all of them happen in the normal course of a breastfeeding mother’s life. Are there private moments where she looks at her child and is overcome by love and affection and amazement at how she can feed a tiny thing with only her breasts? Of course. But in my experience they are a lot rarer than some literature would have us believe.

Now, why would someone want to take pictures of such a normal activity and why would we want to post it on the internet? Because it is a part of our normal activity and we want to share it with our family and friends. The quotes in this article explain it even more eloquently than I can, so I’ll pause for a moment so you can go read it. Done? Ok, let’s move on.

Looking back on it, out of the over 400 photos of LP I’ve put up on Facebook (this is what happens when you don’t live near your family and you have the first grandbaby) only about 16 pictures are of me actually breastfeeding LP. That’s less than 4% of the pictures. I’ve posted a large number of pictures of him sleeping blissfully post-nurse in a “milk-drunk” state, but very few (comparatively) of him engaged in the act of nursing. After the event on Monday I’ve posted two more.

I want to explain the story behind five of the photos, why they were taken, and why I chose to post them.

I believe this to be the very first breastfeeding photo I posted:

This is the very second time I ever breastfed my Little Prince. He was no more than 10 or 11 hours old. It was right before we were about to take him home from the Birthing Center. That look on my face is a look of relief that he is nursing at all. We had trouble with his latch and my nipples in the beginning, so this good nurse was a very important part of the day for me. As you can see, there are at least two other people around us (my sister’s legs are in the photo, so she must be watching, and someone had to take the picture). Plus right before this there was at least one midwife around helping us. And another midwife came in the middle of this feeding to say hi. So, not sure how intimate it is. Also is part of the “First Day” set of photographs, as it was something that happened on day my Little Prince was born. As you’ll notice from that set, there are a lot of times my nipple is showing in a photo and I either blurred it out or covered it up with a big purple dot. Why was my nipple showing in so many pictures? Because I gave birth naked in a tub (you can even see the edge of the tub in this picture). However, there is a lot less skin showing in this picture than in many of the others.

So why did I post it? Because it was a natural part of the day my son was born. Because it was a moment that happened in that day, along with holding him, making silly faces at him, bathing him, and falling asleep with him in my arms. I didn’t even think “should I or shouldn’t I post this.” It just made sense to, along with everything else.

As almost any breastfeeding mom can tell you, sometimes you end up nursing in really funny positions.

In this case, my little prince had just started to figure out how to sit up (he was just shy of 5 months). So what happens? He latches on while sitting up, without me having to hold him. I tell my hubby to grab the camera and do a “look-ma-no-hands” kind of thing. I think the look on my face is priceless. It’s a pretty far cry from many of those intimate breastfeeding images we see.

I posted it because, well, it was funny. At least I thought it was funny. Looking back now, I’m actually more impressed that I was willing to post a picture showing my post-pregnancy belly much more than I was at showing my child breastfeeding. In fact, most of the skin you see in this picture is a baby in a diaper and my belly.

This next photo was posted for educational/desiring for kudos purposes. It is of me successfully nursing in my Moby wrap:

While I love love love my Moby wrap, one of the things I’ve never been good at is figuring out how to breastfeed LP in one. Oh I watched videos and tried a bunch, but I never could get the hang of it. Until one day it all clicked. So once he was settled, I took a picture to prove that I could do it. I’m still not great at Moby nursing and now that LP is older, if I have to nurse hands-free, I tend to use the Ergo instead. But at least I can say that I did it.

I posted this picture because I was proud of the fact that I finally got something that had plagued me for so long. Also so that other moms could see how it was done. BTW, if I hadn’t told you he was nursing in this photo, would you have even known?

Ok, I’ll admit it, I do have one “political” picture that I posted before the Nurse-In:

This was taken back in August, during World Breastfeeding Week. I took it and posted it to show my support of breastfeeding and how important I think it is. Although all the caption said was “Happy Breastfeeding Week.” I like how LP’s nose is all smushed against my breast in this picture.

Lastly, this is my favorite picture I’ve taken (so far) of breastfeeding LP:

Ok, I’ll admit it, this looks a lot like an intimate moment. It actually started out as a funny moment. LP was nursing to sleep one evening and placed his hand on my other breast, as if to say “I’m using this one now, but I’m saving that one for later.” I wanted to get a picture of that. Then I decided that I should be looking at him and not the camera. Somehow I caught this. I think it’s absolutely beautiful. The composition is nice, the lighting is just right, and the look on my face is a cross between loving and amused. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if I could have someone turn this into a painting for me to hang in my house, I would. It reminds me of many of the beautiful pieces of art of breastfeeding mothers that I’ve seen over the years.

I’ll also admit that I wasn’t sure about posting this one to Facebook at first. Because it is such an intimate moment. Because only for the grace of LP’s hand is it within their terms of service. Because I’m naked and my boobs look huge. But I did it anyway, not to make a statement, but because I thought it was so beautiful and would make a good painting. I was actually nervous that I’d get some negative comments, of the type I am seeing in the comments in news article after news article about the Nurse-In, after I posted it. I guess I’m lucky that my friends and family are so supportive because I got nothing but “lovely pic” and “it would make a good painting” comments from them.

And just to prove a point, here is a picture of my Little Prince falling asleep at the dinner table after sort of eating avocado:

Other than I’m not in the picture, I’m not really sure how this is any different than one of him nurse-napping or dream-feeding from my breast.

Yesterday Little Prince and I protested the way that Facebook handles breastfeeding pictures by attending a Nurse-In in front of the Facebook office in downtown Austin.

It started almost like any other weekday. I got up before LP, showered, and ate. But this time I also spent time checking the internet for news of the nurse-ins that were happening all over the world and also seeing if there were any last minute planning things to get done. Eventually LP woke up and I giggled and played with him in bed for a bit before changing him into a cloth diaper/cover and putting him in his outfit for the day. We played around for a while and I slowly got things ready. Eventually he had his morning poop (he’s a morning pooper) and it was almost time to go, so I changed him from cloth to a disposable. I was getting the last few things ready and LP was on the kitchen floor torturing the boy-cat, when I heard the unmistakeable sound of another poopsplosion. I scoop the boy up and head upstairs with him to change him. Without thinking about it, I put him on my hip. Next thing I know I feel wetness through the three shirts I’m wearing. Oh yeah, I’d squished the poop out of the diaper and through his pants, onto me. It was all over the special shirt I’d ordered just for this. Clean up baby, clean up mommy, change our outfits, bundle us up and we’re finally out the door (still on time).

We head downtown and I’m actually pretty nervous. Find parking close to the building the Austin Facebook office is in, put time on the meter and head over to the building right at 10am. I pick up a reporter from the Statesman on my way over. There are two moms out there already. They’re surprised that the building wouldn’t let us in, but that’s how the Austin rules go. Very soon after a few more moms show up. We had about a dozen moms/supporters come through throughout the time we were there. We just hang out in the chilly weather (it was about 45° F out) talking about being a mom and what we’re doing. We talk to the reporter too. Another reporter from KVUE shows up. He says that they want to come back with other people and put us on the 6pm news. I promise that we’ll be around at 11am. I’m trying to talk to people and take pictures and tweet/Facebook and keep up with other events and take care of my baby all at the same time. It’s a little hectic and I’m no longer nervous to be there, but proud to be supporting a cause I believe in so strongly. I did manage to nurse him a bit while we were out there .

At some point some nice women from Facebook come down with water bottles for us and Facebook hats for the little ones. My co-organizer gives them the letter she wrote explaining why she is doing this. We also make sure the news people get copies of the letter. At 10:45 many of the moms want to leave, but I explain to them that another news crew is coming and to please wait just a bit. At 11am the other news crew shows up. They take some pictures and interview three of us (myself included). We all leave around 11:30am.

My pictures:

Stop by Darius’s work to say hi and find out that there was already a segment on about us on the 11am news! Head home and LP totally passes out. Eat lunch and check the networking sites. I see on one of the protest Facebook groups that a news reporter from Austin is looking to talk to a mom who was at the protest. I give him my number. He calls me right after LP finished his lunch-nurse. I try to sound more articulate with some of the answers that I came up with for the first interview after I was in the car heading home. I hope I do.

I head out with LP and run some errands. On the way home from the last one, I actually hear a quick sound bit of my interview on the radio. A bit about how breasts are sexual, but they are also used for feeding babies, which is their primary function. The DJ then goes on to talk about the overly sexy/sexist Super Bowl ads.

I watch the 6pm news. Sure enough, I’m on it. It makes me really happy that we’re newsworthy enough to be getting this kind of attention!

Local news reports of the Nurse-In:

• KVUE 11am News (you can see my back)
• KVUE 6pm News (I’m being interviewed here)
• KLBJ News Radio (A different bit of the interview than what I heard on the radio is posted)
• Austin Statesman (very short, no pictures )

My absolute favorite piece of coverage that I’ve read about the Nurse-In comes from the Houston Chronicle. It explains in much better words than I ever could exactly what were doing and why it is so important.

In ironic news, the picture of my friend L smiling at the camera while nursing her daughter, who is wearing a Facebook hat, has already been removed from one of the groups that I posted it to.

Our Little Prince turned 7 months right before NYE. At his Doctor’s appointment the day before, he weighed in at around 17lbs (they didn’t take his length).

I feel like LP is currently existing in a state of in-betweens, not-quites, and almosts.

He’s almost crawling. He has flipping both ways, getting on all fours, and moving from sitting to all fours and back down pat. He’s doing the rock back and forth and the push the his butt into the air (a la downward dog). He’s also really good at going backwards. Unfortunately, he really wants to go forward so this will eventually upset him. He hasn’t figured out that he could turn around and go backwards and get to where he wants.

LP is almost pulling-up, standing and walking. He can pull up with fingers and his daycare has said that he can pull-up in his crib there. But he’s not pulling up on furniture at home. When standing, he can stay up for a little while and sometimes even balance for a few seconds with one hand. And in this past week he’s actually taken a few steps forward when we hold his hands, which seriously surprised both Darius and me.

Because of this our LP is in between the Infant A and Infant B rooms at daycare. He’s still officially in Infant A, but he spends time in Infant B (with the crawling and walking children) getting use to that room and the teachers there.

LP is not quite eating solids. So far he’s not a fan of sweet potato. He likes avocado, but mostly as an item to play/make a mess with. He has gotten some in his mouth and seemed to enjoy it. He also likes to suck on apples, either ones I’m eating or if I put a chunk in a mesh baby feeder, but he’s not interested in apple sauce. He also takes sips of water from a cup if Darius is drinking, because he wants to be like daddy. We’re not worried. We’re letting him explore at his own pace.

LP is currently in-between clothing sizes, diaper cover sizes, and disposable diaper sizes. Hitting all of these at once is annoying me. The clothing he was wearing (0-6/3-6/6 month sized for the most part), fits fine with a small tug over disposables, but needs a few tugs and sometimes a bit of pulling to be put on over cloth diapers. The 6-9/9 month sized clothing is too long for his arms and legs, but fits torso and around cloth diapers. When it comes to pajamas, the 6 months are pulling on him, but he’s swimming in the 9s. As for our diaper covers, the Thirsties Duo Wrap size ones are starting to not fully cover the pre-folds and the sometimes the velcro pulls off a bit. So we got some of the size 2s (snaps) and snapped all the way down, they fully cover his pre-folds with a bit of extra room. Talking about diapers, the size 2s are getting small, but not too small, on him (he is getting a bit of a plumbers crack in them sometimes, but there is so much room in the size 3s that it’s ridiculous. So you can see why this is all very frustrating. I wish he’d just grow already so I can put away all of the smaller sizes.

Over the holidays, LP had his first big cold with a wet cough and a runny nose (of course he got it when he wasn’t at daycare). He had it when he went in for his shots, so the doctor listened to his lungs and declared it just a cold. However, driving 10 hours in a car with a baby who has a cold and got his shots the day before was not fun. We got through it though. And it was nice to be at my mother’s house where there were extra people around to help take care of LP and our sanity. Also, around that time LP and I developed thrush. We’re treating it and seem to be doing much better, even if he hates taking his medicine for it.

Lastly, here is my favorite picture that I’ve taken recently. I call it “I’m using this one now and I’m saving that one for later.”