Pumpkin Patch

I had gotten a Groupon for the corn maze at Bella Organics Farm. We had to go this weekend because the Groupon was about to expire. Mike and I got there early because I wanted to do a pumpkin photoshoot with the tiny squee. I'm not sure why the pictures are sideways. They were pointed the right direction in iPhoto.

Tiny Squee in a pumpkin hat

And in a flowered headband.

She's just too cute!

Even when she's mad about being in the sun.

"Noooooo, don't leave me in this bin of delicata squash!"

World Milksharing Week

It was World Milksharing Week last week. I meant to post earlier, but somehow was busy, what with it being the first week back at work and all.  Before I had Sterling, I didn't know that milksharing was a thing, much less that there was a whole week where one could celebrate it. If you look closely at the picture of the two nursing women, one of them is using an at-breast supplementing system similar to what I use with Sterling. I really like the fact that the two babies are holding hands. If we assume that the two babies are both getting milk from the blue mother, that makes them "milk siblings". That's not really a thing in our culture, but it still is in many cultures where infant formula isn't readily available and having a wetnurse or milk from another mother can really be the difference between life and death for a baby.

Wikipedia (my favorite source of information) says that "In Islam those who are fed in this way become siblings to the biological children of their wetnurse, provided that they are less than 2 years old. Islamic law (shariah) codifies the relationship between these people, and certain specified relatives, as rada'a; given that a child is breastfed five fulfilling (satisfactory to him) times, once they are adult, they are mahram, meaning that they are not allowed to marry each other, and the rules of modesty known as purdah are relaxed, as with other family members. But, laws of inheritance do not apply in the case of milk siblings." I think that's a pretty neat idea. If we were to follow that, Sterling would have a huge family. Let's count them up.

1. We got fresh (unfrozen) milk for several months from a wonderful woman with a baby girl only 3 weeks older than Sterling. It was really neat to watch the baby grow. It was like a preview of what Sterling would be doing in a few weeks. I saw them twice a week for several months and we spent a lot of time talking. It was nice to establish a relationship beyond just picking up milk. 
2. We picked up milk twice from a woman in Eugene with a baby boy a couple of months older than Sterling. She was the first person to agree with me that S had at tongue and lip tie (she'd had the same issue with her baby). That agreement led me to seek help from one more person, my wonderful Lactation Consultant Melissa Cole.
3. One of my colleagues from work was pregnant at the same time I was with a baby boy. We got into a discussion one day about nursing: I mentioned that I wasn't producing a lot of milk and she mentioned that the last time she was pregnant, she produced way more milk than she needed. When I decided to try donated milk, she was one of the first people I emailed. She's been pumping 4oz of milk for us a day for months now. She and I have gotten to know each other much better since our original discussion and we have a lot in common. I really enjoy getting together with her. 
4. We got milk from someone who lives very nearby and has a baby boy several months older than S. She pumps and donates to different mothers every time she collects about 100oz extra. When I walked into her house with S, her son was sitting in his Bumbo chair eating sweet potatoes and had them all over himself.
5. I picked up a whole bunch of milk from a woman in Vancouver. She was so sweet - we were meeting at Starbucks and I had the wrong one because I'm not familiar with Vancouver. It was about a thousand degrees that day and she drove to meet me (out of her way) at a second Starbucks to give me two full grocery bags full of frozen milk.
6. A woman who is hoping to adopt a baby has given me milk twice. She's induced lactation by taking medication and by pumping extensively. She's worked up from pumping a few drops to pumping about 13oz a day. Her plan is to continue pumping until they call her to tell her that they have a baby for her to adopt. It could be tomorrow or it could be a year from now. That's dedication. She always says she's happy that the milk can be used: she called a milk bank and they wouldn't take it because of the medication she has to take to induce lactation. 
7. When we were in Virginia, we got milk from three different people. The first was a friend who has a baby girl about a year old. I've gotten to see the baby grow up through picture on facebook, but haven't ever met her in person.
8. A work colleague of my mother-in-law's gave us milk before we got there and while we were there, when we started running low. She has a very healthy baby boy a few months older than Sterling. When we went to pick up emergency milk the second time, she was holding him and he looked at us very seriously.
9. I found someone in Sterling, VA through Human Milk 4 Human Babies - Virginia. I don't know whether she has a boy or a girl, but she was willing to share her milk with a baby that she'll never meet.
10. Another friend of mine from work brought over a 5oz bottle of milk that she had pumped (she exclusively pumps and then feeds her baby via a bottle because he finds nursing to be frustrating). It was an amazing gift because up until that point, she hadn't been pumping enough to fully cover his needs and she'd had to supplement with formula. That bottle was one of the first times that she'd produced over his needs for the day. Since then, she's gotten her supply up past his milk needs for the day and has offered to share the excess with Sterling.

This is what breastfeeding looks like for us.

All of these women are fabulous and I appreciate their generosity every day when I'm able to feed my baby on exclusively human milk. She's growing up happy and healthy and amazing. How could she not, when she's getting love from all of these amazing mamas?

Back to work

I had my first day working full time yesterday. It was a day of meetings.

I discovered that I have a window in the door to my office, so I had to quickly cover it with paper so that I'd have somewhere to pump privately. I managed to pump twice, but actually had to skip out of one meeting to do it. Orientation days are not designed with the breastfeeding mother in mind.

I'm excited to be back to work. I love teaching and I think working full-time is going to have a lot of benefits. I did miss my tiny squee by the end of the day, though.

Yesterday was also Mike's first day working full-time as stay-at-home dad. He was quite successful. Two good naps and no one died.

Mobility, we almost has it.

Today, she managed to scoot forward about a foot towards something she really wanted. The "something" was an envelope, which she chewed into a soggy purple wad within a minute of reaching it. She's still better at turning around in circles than she is at moving forward, but I believe good progress was made today.

Teething, big-time

We're in the middle of teething. Sterling has been drooling like a fountain and I can feel lumps in the middle of her bottom gum. She also hasn't been sleeping very well. Since we got home, she's been on a schedule where she goes to bed around 8:00, then wakes up at 1:30am wanting a bottle. After eating, she wakes up again at 4:30 and then really never goes back to sleep. She's been waking up and crying, too, which is unusual. I'm guessing that one of the reasons that she's waking up so frequently is that her teeth are bothering her.

This afternoon, I could actually see the whitish outline of tiny teeth on her bottom gum. These two teeth have to show up in the next day or so. I just can't imagine them taking much longer. Hopefully the disposition of the TS will improve as well. She was a total crankypants today and then only took two little naps.

I think several things are combining to create her nasty disposition of today. She's teething, she's ready for another developmental leap, and I think she's also having her 6-month growth spurt. Poor Tiny Squee.

Busy Month!

September was our month of travelling.

First, we went to Garibaldi, OR for two days. Garibaldi is on the Tillamook bay. I had a groupon for two nights (Sun-Thurs) motel there and this was our last chance to use it because I start working full-time at the end of September. The groupon came with free rental of a crab trap and a bottle of wine.

We got full use of our crab trap rental. I had thought that we woud go walk on the beach and do a little touring. What we did was try to catch crabs. We caught three eventually: 2 Dungeness and 1 red rock crab. Red rock crabs are an invasive species and you can keep any that you catch; only male Dungeness crabs over 5 3/4" can be taken. All of them were tasty. We cooked them at the hotel and ate two of them for lunch. The third we brought home (cooked) and ate later. Sterling was the smallest crab hunter we saw.

Last year, before I even got pregnant, we had made plans to go to the Out N About Treesort. We had reservations for the Peacock's Perch treehouse. We were back from Garibaldi for one full day before we left again for the Treesort. I hadn't fully thought through the idea of taking a Tiny Squee to the Treesort when I made the reservation. It's 5 hours away, which is a lot for a baby who is in a carseat-hating phase. We did successfully make it there and back, and a good time was had by all. Something else to consider: when you put a baby to bed at 8pm in a treehouse, someone has to stay with her. Early bedtimes for me.

Anna, Chelsea, Lisa, Sterling, and Mike at the Treesort

Mike up in our treehouse

Anna, intrepid baby-watcher

TS of the pointy hat

Less than 24 hours after arriving home from the Treesort, we headed off to VA to visit with TS's grand and great-grandparents. We had direct flights, which was awesome. There's no way that I'm going to do connecting flights with the baby until she's much older. It was a fast trip; only about as long as to the Treesort. TS slept for 2 hours on the first flight and 2.5 hours on the second flight. Apparently planes make her nap. She was very well behaved for the rest of the time we were in the air as well.

We visited her Namau's school. TS was very popular with teachers and students alike.

We visited Chocolate World in Hershey, PA. We flew up on top of the building to be photographed with the sign.

Sterling with her GranNamau and Pop-pop

Sterling with her Grumpa

Namau and TS

GranNamau and TS

TS flying after visiting the Art of Video Games exhibit at the American Art and Portrait Museum in Washington, DC

Everyone loved her and she had an excellent time. We brought home many more toys than we brought out with us, so she will be well entertained for a long time to come. I have to go unpack, but my toybox isn't big enough any more.