False Alarm

I don't think I ovulated.

I also don't think I'm pregnant in case that was going to be the next question from everyone...ok I KNOW I'm not pregnant because I finally peed on something.

And got a big fat NOT PREGNANT flashing at me =)

Luckily this was in no way devastating like it used to be as I've said before 2 babies under 2 is NOT actually desirable at this point.

Anyway, temp is still up, no period, no BFP, day 18 of high temps...I have no idea what's going on.

But guess what?

There's no way for me to find out what's going on because they don't make a Pee on This Stick to Tell You What Day of Your Cycle You're On.

So instead of obsessing I'm going to go back to not worrying about it until my period shows up.

I'll keep an eye out for EWCM but NO MORE TEMPING.

I feel like the last new mama who hasn't got her period yet at 10 months postpartum.  ALL the new mamas I know in real life got theirs months ago and more and more of you bloggy ladies are blogging about the return of your red friend and most of you have babes younger than Baby Jett.

BUT I'M NOT GOING TO OBSESS ABOUT IT.

Instead I'm going to be thankful that 1) I don't have to worry about dealing with my period and 2) I still don't have to worry about getting pregnant.

Moving on.  It has NOT begun again...now back to our regularly scheduled programming in which all I blog about is Baby Jett.

Excuse Me But Did I Just Ovulate?

Guys...I think I ovulated.

My disclaimer for anyone who has been happily following along while I chat about all things baby and may not have been around before I had the baby, I'm just gonna let you know that before baby I liked to chat about cervical mucus and constipation.   So go ahead and skip this post if you have no desire to read about cervical mucus, from now on known as EWCM (oh the acronyms!)...I'm not gonna talk about constipation.  Though now that I've broached the subject I am going to let you know that it took until 4 months postpartum to poop normally...it doesn't all end with the baby coming out unfortunately!

I've gone off subject... we're not talking about constipation, I'm going to talk about cervical mucus today!

So...ovulation.

I am 9.5 months postpartum, still nursing like crazy and have had very few signs, if any of my period making a comeback. Which I was totally ok with as nursing is our only form of birth control these days and I always told myself that I would wait until Baby #1 was a year old before trying (or thinking!) for Baby #2.

But lately every few weeks, maybe once a month, I would have some EWCM.  It would stick around for just a day or two and then gone.  It was very reminiscent of my cycles when they would last for 90+ days, as though my body was attempting to ovulate, gearing up for it and then just never quite popping the egg out and starting all over.

UNTIL 2 weeks ago I had GOBS AND GOBS of EWCM that lasted for DAYS.  I thought to myself HMMM, MAYBE I'M ABOUT TO OVULATE, but didn't REALLY believe that.  Just the ol' infertile mind coming back to haunt me (I'm ovulating, let's make more babies!)

Then the EWCM disappeared and I decided to take my temperature.  Oh yes, I BROUGHT MY GODDAMN THERMOMETER OUT OF HIDING.  Turns out you can't keep the crazy at bay for long, no matter how much you tell yourself that you're not ready for another baby, the second you think about ovulating you think MUST. MAKE. BABY!

Lo and behold, my temp was up....

Interesting.  But not conclusive.

So I started temping.  Every day.  Well, I'm temping as well as one can temp when one is up at least once every night...I admit my temps might be less than accurate.

But I'm at 10 days of high temps. 

DID I OVULATE?

IS IT TIME TO MAKE MORE BABIES?

Not ideal, but if eggs are popping out on their own, then it's GAME ON. 

Truth be told it wouldn't be the end of the world to get the babies out of the way quickly...my husband isn't getting any younger...and I REALLY didn't like the newborn stage, why prolong that hell, let's just do it now!

As far as I remember I have a 16 day luteal phase...which means I've got 6 more days to obsess over my temperature until AF arrives...or pee on something.

It's been a long time since I peed on something in the desperate search for information.

WHY ISN'T THERE SOMETHING TO PEE ON TO TELL ME IF I OVULATED 10 DAYS AGO?

So here we are, just 9 months after baby and I'm already back writing about EWCM, taking my temperature and thinking about peeing on ALL THE THINGS.

 And so it begins again...I think.

Because There Wasn't Enough to Worry About Already

There's lead in keys.

Are you kidding me?!

I try hard to not be a worrywart when it comes to what goes into Jett's mouth because EVERYTHING goes into Jett's mouth and I actually like his exposure to lots of germs.

So I let him chew on disgusting things which includes my keys.  I thought everyone did this.

He LOVES the keys.  He starts kicking and laughing like a maniac as soon as I pull them off the hook.

And my thought was that they were totally disgusting and dirty but...I'm sure my parents gave me keys to chew on and I'm fine, doesn't everyone let their kid chew on their keys?  What's the harm?

So he chews on my keys.

BUT yesterday while I was out and about and my kid was chewing on his car keys some random dude who worked at the frame shop says "Be careful about those keys, there can be lead in them." 

Are you kidding me?!

I was skeptical but took the keys away because I didn't want to be THAT mom that lets her kid chew on lead laden keys...but I didn't REALLY believe that there was lead in keys, why would they take lead out of paint and gasoline and leave it in keys?!  A KNOWN baby toy!

So I googled when I got home and....

It appears to be true.

There's lead in keys.

Motherfucker.

Guess Baby Jett just lost his favorite toy.  And mama found one more thing to worry about.

Did I give my baby lead poisoning???

I'm sure he's fine and I'm not going to freak out but...damn...just...damn.  What a ridiculous place for lead to be hidden.  WHAT ELSE HAS LEAD HIDDEN IN IT THAT JETT CHEWS ON?

How many of you out there let your baby suck on your keys?  Please tell me I'm not the only one that may have mistakenly poisoned my baby.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/03/cdc-advisers-call-for-less-allowable-lead/index.htm

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Lead_Keys/

http://www.thesmartmama.com/ii/

Baby Jett - 9 Months

The rapidly approaching 1st birthday is both exciting and scary at the same time.

Only 3 more months?

That's crazy!

So here's Baby Jett at 9 months.

I have no stats because our 9 month checkup isn't for 2 more weeks, but if I were to guess I'd say he's still tall and skinny and is definitely no more than 18 lbs, he hasn't chunked up any but he seems taller as he can reach much higher on shelves!

His hair is still brown/blonde.  He looks pretty bald most of the time, just look at those pics on the stairs, but I swear he has tons of hair in those bald spots it's just blonde and you can't see it!  I imagine when he gets his first hair cut all the brown will be cut away and he'll officially be blonde...but we'll see.

Eyes, still blue...I still think they'll turn gray. 

He lets go of everything and stands on his own.  Usually it's to better hold onto whatever object he's shoving into his mouth, ie. spatula, spoon, Cheerios, etc etc. and I'm not even sure that he realizes he's standing most of the time...I think he thinks the object is holding him up cause after a little while of standing he'll just sort of sink back to the floor and sit down.  Like oh shit...I'm not holding onto anything, better sit down.

He cruises, cruises and cruises some more.  He's like a half second away from walking.  I'm in trouble when that happens...

Case in point, he can do the stairs.  And unfortunately he'll start crawling up them without warning...usually in the half a minute when no one is watching him.  This morning he did them with this ball in his hand.

He loves to unpack.  Drawers, suitcases, shelves, laundry, dishwasher, anything with stuff in it.  Sometimes he puts things back, the spoons from the dishwasher that I let him "help" unload end up in his drawer sometimes, but mostly he just pulls everything out and puts it on the floor...so helpful.

He has officially retired from all bath chairs, seats, etc. and now takes baths like a big boy.   He should of been out of his little chair months ago but every time I took him out he'd try to get back in.  Now I leave it in the bathtub for him to play with and to keep him away from the nozzle which he finds endlessly fascinating!  If I'd let him he'd spend all of bathtime just standing and playing with the nozzle...ugh, so dangerous!

He comes when called...kind of like a dog...so cute.

He's up to eating solids for 3 meals a day and 1 snack now.  He's becoming kind of a picky eater and will not eat just anything I set in front of him anymore.  Boo!

He's still on an anti-meat kick unless it's you know CHICKEN SCHWARMA from the Mediterranean place or MEATLOAF...weirdo.

He might not eat meat but he has discovered the joy of Cheerios.  LOVES Cheerios...and so does the cat.  They share.

He still enjoys boob every hour or two all day every day.

He flushes the toilet and will play in the toilet if the lid is left up...which means bathroom doors are now always CLOSED.

Sleeping, while shitty this week, has generally been good.  Down at 7pm, sleep for 6-8 hours, up once in the middle of the night for a feed and then up for the day between 6-7am.  Morning naps are almost always an hour and 15 minutes and afternoon nap is anywhere from 45 mins - 2 hours.  SO MUCH BETTER THAN WHERE IT WAS and basically we're done fighting it.  It is what it is and I can work with this schedule.

Now that sleeping has been resolved some of my brain space and energy has opened up and I've decided to fill it with ECing and sign language.

We started ECing (that's Elimination Communication ie. early toilet training) a few weeks ago and he's pretty good about pooping in the potty...pees less so, but we catch some...which is better than none! So far we're catching morning potties and after afternoon nap potties...the rest of the day I've yet to catch even one pee.

Sign language...he doesn't seem to get the sign language AT ALL.  But we'll keep trying.  I'm working on "more", "done" and "milk"...if he ever gets those three I'll start doing more.

He says "mama" and "dada" but I don't know if he REALLY know what they mean, but he says them all the time.  The kitties he calls them "kuh"  or "key" and then squeals at them.

And FINALLY we have some teeth!  Two days after he turned 9 months old (and a week of shitty shitty sleep!) the left bottom tooth popped through and the very next day the right bottom tooth.  So we have both of our front bottom teeth!  I kind of thought he was going to be one of those freak kids who didn't get any teeth until 18 months...luckily that's not the case, though I must say TEETHING SUCKS and I really hope we don't have to go through that shit sleep with EVERY tooth!

Dude really wasn't cooperating for his photo session this month...he wouldn't sit still.  Luckily he's pretty cute so I forgive him.

Breastfeeding - 9 Months

As promised in my last post, here's an update on breastfeeding at 9 months.

In a nutshell, we're still breastfeeding A LOT at 9 months.

I started out this nursing gig ready to go the whole nine yards, nursing for at least a year but weaning sometime before 2 so that we can get preggers again and start the whole thing over.  I realize one can breastfeed and be pregnant at the same time but I have NO desire to do it...only one baby using my body at a time please!

Breastfeeding has gone relatively smoothly for us.  I had WAY too much milk in the beginning that caused infinite amounts of stress as it took Baby Jett FOREVER  to learn how to deal with the forceful letdown and the gobs and gobs of milk that would spray into his mouth like a firehose.

But it was never painful (other than those first few days as the nipples adjusted!), we had no latch issues and I've never had supply issues...unless you count TOO MUCH as a supply issue.  So, all in all breastfeeding has been a pleasant experience for me.

At 4 months the boobs finally got the message that my ONE baby did not need enough milk for THREE and really eased up with the milk they were producing.

My letdown however never eased up at all and I can still spray milk across the room. Luckily this isn't a problem for a 9 month old...he doesn't seem to mind gobs of milk spraying down his throat anymore.

So for 6.5 months Baby Jett was exclusively breastfed, I don't even think he had water until 6 months.

Just before 7 months we took the leap and began introducing solid food into his diet.  And now at 9 months he is up to 3 meals and one snack of solids a day...but he still enjoys some boob every hour or so, SERIOUSLY.

Even after the introduction of solids he continues to rely heavily on breastmilk for nourishment as well as comfort.  Some days I feel like I nurse him more now than before we started solids.

For instance, it's 10:30 in the morning as I'm writing this and I have nursed him 4 times already this morning.  Yeah...we do a lot of nursing.

I am eternally grateful to the boob and feel very blessed to be able to breastfeed my baby...I don't know what I would do without it.

There are so many circumstances in which the boob is MAGIC.

Baby only slept for half an hour and needs to sleep more?...boob him.

Baby is being picky and won't eat any of the solids he's offered but is still obviously hungry?...boob him.

Baby falls down and bumps his head?...boob him.

Baby getting shots?...boob him.

Baby won't calm down for any number of different reasons?...boob him.

I have discontinued the use of the boob to PUT my baby to sleep as that was causing all sorts of problems, but to put him BACK to sleep?  Still magic.

Ok that's a lie, I just put him down for a nap an hour ago with my boob...but as long as he's not waking up after half an hour anymore I think it's OK!

As I said in my last post I honestly can't imagine in just 3 months weaning him off the boob, so more realistically I'm thinking breastfeeding will continue until 18 months?  But hopefully still less than 2 years! 

 I used to be able to nap with him NOT attached to my boob, he was just a few weeks old here...

 Not anymore!  But look how big his head has gotten!