Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Weaning - 17 Months

I don't know where I've been or why I haven't been here.

Some days I really want to sit down and write some shit out on here...but most days I'm busy with life and really don't have the energy to come here.

We've been away from home since August and now that we're officially back home with no plans to go ANYWHERE until July we've been busy reintegrating ourselves back into our old lives.

It's good to be back home.

And it's nice to sit down and put pen to paper and throw some shit out there.

Here's where we're at.  Jett is 17 months old, we're still nursing, we'd like to get going with Baby Deux but I still have not had a postpartum period.

This bums me out.

I would have liked to get my fertility back without having to fully wean.  The fact that one seems to be dependent upon the other SUCKS ASS.

I'm not ready to wean.

And neither is Jett.

We still nurse like a million times a day.  Minimum nursing sessions are probably 5 and max is like he's a newborn with 8 or 9.  He goes 12 hours at night no problem but during the day he'll nurse every few hours.

Seventeen months old and he won't go more than a few hours without a least a little boob snack.

Awesome.

I did have a bunch of friends with kiddos around the same age who were all still nursing as well...at 16 months, then suddenly we hit 17 months and one by one they've all managed to successfully wean WITH ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEMS and now I'm the last man standing.

I've tried everything that they and others have suggested.

Don't offer and Don't refuse, yeah...we've been doing that since 12 months.  He asks for milk A LOT and since I'm not refusing, we nurse a lot.

Offer alternatives when he wants milk...we've been doing this since 15 months when he started eating again (4 molars came in at the same time and he didn't eat much from October - December and breastmilk was once again his main source of nutrition) but alternatives such as snacks or activities only keep him distracted for a few minutes at which point he realizes once again that he requested milk and hasn't had it yet.

Remove nursing sessions one by one...this one requires more of a schedule than we have as only morning and bedtimes are the ones that happen with any semblance of regularity.  But we're trying this.  Dom has taken over mornings, gets Jett up and takes him downstairs for breakfast and I come down about half hour later.  Jett has a full belly at this point and will still nurse but he doesn't nurse AS LONG.  Baby steps people, baby steps.

A big part of the problem I know is that I'm not ready to be done.  Most people who have weaned have expressed a desire to be done...and they make it so.  It's their motivation.  I have no motivation other than Baby Deux and with Baby Deux being such an unknown ie. could never happen, it's hard to stop something that I love doing for a something that may or may not happen.

But in the interest of being more proactive rather than just sitting back and waiting for a period that may never come, aside from the attempt at cutting back on nursing I'm also back on Vitex and started acupuncture and herbs again.  

This is all too familiar territory.  

It takes me right back to 2010 when I tried every trick in the book to get my body to ovulate on it's own. 

With NO success.

It took Clomid to get me to ovulate for Pregnancy #1 and a miscarriage to get me to ovulate for Pregnancy #2.  I was really hoping Pregnancy #2 would be enough to let me ovulate so we could move on to Pregnancy #3.

Clearly that was too much to hope for.

Jett is just shy of 18 months, I figure we've got about 6 months before we a) wean, because Jett and I just really aren't ready yet and b) try more drastic measures if AF never shows up, ie. Clomid.

Sigh.

In other news because I had a boy instead of a girl Baby Jett gets his hair did with mommy in the mornings now.

So stylish right?


Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Baby Jett Walks Into a Wall

I walked into the living room to find him with this blanket over his head...he then proceeded to walk into the wall while I laughed so hard I cried.

That's good parenting right there.



Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween!

For the 2nd year in a row we've found ourselves in Oregon for the month of October.

Which means we could reenact the cuteness of Baby Jett's first Halloween from last year.

This year I put him in his skeleton jammies and pretended it was a costume.

He wasn't too sure about the terrain, it made walking a bit tedious.  But he seemed to enjoy himself!


We rode in wheelbarrows with cousin Parker.


 We watched Aunt Jill pull stupid faces for pictures with giant sunflowers.

 We walked with Grandma through the pumpkin patch.

 We turned our noses up at baby pumpkins.

 Deciding we wanted a bigger one instead.


 We watched Daddy find the biggest pumpkin he could find.

 And we tried to reenact our photo from last year...we were only kind of successful.


Happy Halloween Everyone!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Mom Chop

Guys...I think it's time to chop my hair.

Not TOO short, but shorter.

My hair is long and obnoxious and I can't remember the last time I wore it down.

I shit you not I just went through the last 6 months of photos and could not fine ONE single picture of me with my hair down.

Sigh.

So, it's either wear my hair UP for the foreseeable future or chop some of the length off and see what happens.

I'm thinking something like this:


And here's my hair now...

Alright, you're right, that's from last Christmas! But my hair looks THE SAME.  All the more reason to DO something to it as I haven't changed it in a few years.

OMG how cute is Baby Jett, so tiny!

Anyway, I need some feedback, should I chop it?  Anyone else chop off inches and inches of their hair lately and NOT regret it?  I feel like every time I cut my hair I just want it to be long again...

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Our Journey to Parenthood

I'm over here today guest blogging for Leah at Everyday Love.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance

Today, October 15, is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day.

Most days I am well past the heartache of losing our first pregnancy 2 years ago but as we contemplate embarking on this journey once again the scars from the past come to the surface.





Jett will get some extra snuggles from his mama today for all those mamas who never got to hold their babies.



Friday, October 11, 2013

All the Baby Deuxs

It seems nearly everyone in my blogroll, both fertile and infertile are either:

Pregnant with Baby #2,
Trying to get pregnant with Baby #2 or
Talking about trying to get pregnant with Baby #2.

Is there something in the air?

Or do I just happen to only follow bloggers who gave birth roughly a year ago and the logical next step once your baby hits a year is to get pregnant again?

I fall somewhere in between the last two categories.  We haven't been using any protection but I have yet to have a postpartum period.  That means theoretically we're trying because I could ovulate at any time but really I'm pretty sure I'm not ovulating so it's more talking about trying!

I must admit, the fact that I have yet to have a period is starting to make me anxious.

I know people who didn't start ovulating again until 15 months, 18 months, 2 years or until they fully weaned.

I GET IT.  Some people, NORMAL PEOPLE even, don't get their fertility back right away.

I shouldn't worry yet.

It's the fact that I have an anovulatory disorder that has me worried.  Am I already all cysty?!  Am I not going to ovulate at all?  Or am I just one of those people who's not going to ovulate until I've weaned?

THERE'S NO WAY TO KNOW.  And short of weaning there's not a lot I can do about it.

If I'm being really honest with myself it makes the most sense to wait until after we get back from London which will be the end of December to worry about this.  In fact we've decided to not DO anything (no temping, no OPKs, no Vitex, etc etc) until after the New Year. 

Should we fall pregnant on our own between now and then?  So be it, obviously that would be awesome.  BUT I DON'T REALLY WANT TO BE PREGNANT ON A 10 HOUR FLIGHT WITH A TODDLER. 

And...I want the wee ones to have a little bit bigger age gap than 2 years.  Somewhere around 2.5 years would be ideal.  Which means waiting another 6 months or so.

All that being said, I can't help it, I've started worrying.  And obsessing.

ISN'T THERE SOMETHING I CAN PEE ON???

At least I know I'm not alone, basically ALL OF YOU have started obsessing again too.

So let's discuss, if you had the power to choose, what is the ideal age gap between your kiddos?