Tag Archives: baby

Sungolds for my golden boy

A little less than a year ago, Gabriel arrived with a good bit of fairly dark brown hair.  I assumed he would have Matthew’s nice, deep brown hair color, but over the past year, G’s hair lightened quite a bit.  I now describe it as “golden,” especially when the sun hits it, and in this picture, it looks red.

Moving day photo in front of our first home

Anyhow, Sir has been vacationing in Iowa with Baba (Czech for “Grandma” — Matthew’s mom’s side of the family is Czech) for the past few days.  We’ll be apart for over 72 hours (previous longest separation was 27 hours), which made me a bit apprehensive.

Fortunately, Baba reports that things are going very well.  Sir’s only complaint is that she didn’t bring enough sungolds.

I headed to the garden this morning for a picking session, since Sir said he would refuse to see us if we did not come bearing gifts.

Sungold cherry tomatoes

Happy 4th of July!

Breastmilkin’ it

So, breastfeeding.  I may have mentioned it here in passing, but that doesn’t accurately reflect something that’s been a pretty major part of my life for the past eleven months.  Here we are, and I’ve almost made my goal of breastfeeding for the first twelve months.

In the beginning
Since the Cesarean birth was completely unplanned, I didn’t have much time to worry about the negative effect that it could have on initial breastfeeding.  Gabriel and I has a few minutes of skin-to-skin time in the OR, while I was being sewed, cauterized, and stapled back together, but he did not have the chance to latch on immediately.

When we were reunited in the recovery room an hour later (I’m not really sure how much time passed — I know Matthew was really fighting to get us together immediately), Gabriel snuggled up and latched right on.  With a bit of help from the lactation consultants in the hospital, we were off to a good start, despite our separation while he was in the NICU.

While there was some initial discomfort, I made the transition to breastfeeding fairly easily.  As for Gabriel, well, we never got around to it, but we wanted to make a custom t-shirt with “Born to Suck” printed on it.  Sir liked his mama’s milk.

Back to Work
I headed back to work when Sir was fourteen weeks old.  We intentionally chose a daycare that is literally located right across the street from my office.  With the exception of Monday when he stayed with grandma, I walked across the street and fed him during the day instead of pumping.

I honestly can’t say that I would have continued breastfeeding this long if I was pumping all the time, and my hat is off to those work-outside-the-home mothers who do so (and to those moms who stay home full time, because I don’t think I could do that, either!).

Six months and beyond
We introduced solids, using BabyLed Weaning methods, just after the six month mark.  It was a slow start, but Sir gradually became as enthusiastic about grown-up food as he was about milk.

By the time he was nine months old, we went from five to four milk feeds a day, plus three solid meals, which is where we currently stand.

Bumps in the road
My breastfeeding experience overall has been smooth and positive.  I credit the initial early help from the hospital lactation consultants and the support I received at La Leche League meetings for that.

I have had a few bouts of mastitis.  The first, and probably the worst, prompted a visit to the doctor, where I accepted, and even filled, an antibiotic prescription.  I gave myself twenty-four hours to start feeling better without the antibiotics, and, sure enough, my body cleared the infection on its own.

We’ve also gone through some rough patches with frustrating nursing strikes, mostly due to teething, I suspect.  I was tempted to call it quits during some of these periods, but I’m glad I stuck it out.

Then there was the wondering if my dairy consumption was giving him problems.  My dairy-elimination trials were inconclusive — at this point I would say that either dairy wasn’t the issue, or he outgrew it.

While breastfeeding has been a good thing overall for my mental health, I struggled at times feeling tied down, frustrated with the inability to do anything that took me away from my baby (or my breast pump) for more than three or four hours.

Size Doesn’t Matter
Though I’ve always been a bit self-conscious about my lack of cleavage (“nearly” A-cup, to be specific), I always thought I would have babies and breast feed and never really worried that my small breasts would be a problem.

Turns out, my “too small” breasts produce more than enough milk to adequately nourish a big, healthy baby.

The Future
I remember going through rough patches in the early days, telling myself that I could make it to the six month mark and then reevaluate.

Now that I’ve almost made it the full twelve months (my original, long-term goal), I’m pondering next steps.  While I won’t go cold-turkey at the twelve-month mark, neither do I see myself nursing a five-year-old.

A story from a friend inspired the title of this post.  She found her nephew (who sees her breastfeeding her baby) with a stuffed animal held to his chest.  When asked what he was doing, he replied, “I’m breastmilkin’ it.”

Dinner at Local Harvest and a winery trip

After some house and apartment hunting on Wednesday afternoon, our hungry crew (our little fam + Matthew’s mom and sister) needed a place for an early-bird dinner.  Enter Local Harvest Cafe.

Although I’ve been there many times, this was the first visit that necessitated a high chair.  In reply to my tweet asking if they had high chairs — they do (funny how you don’t notice these things when you don’t have kids), they also said they had wooden veggies for baby entertainment.

Sir enjoyed the real food far too much to need the wood version, and I don’t blame him.  We started with some wonderful vegan meatballs made from sweet potato and eggplant, served with a chimichurri sauce.  This was my favorite dish, but also the one thing we didn’t photograph.  Fortunately, the rest of the meal was well-documented.

Matthew and I split the house made gnocchi in cauliflower-pea soup (above), which was that evening’s green plate special, and the chard-wrapped tamales with mushroom filling, served with a side of purple slaw (below).  I love the colors on the tamale plate.

Pam and Rachel shared the wild mushroom stroganoff.  Matthew tried a bite, and proclaimed it the best stroganoff ever, with lots of mushroom flavor — we plan to return soon and order this dish ourselves.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get any photos of Sir enjoying the delicious offerings, but if you’re hoping for a cute baby picture, don’t despair!

We started the holiday weekend early with a trip to Montelle Winery on Friday afternoon.  Despite buying local wines almost exclusively since I’ve lived in St. Louis, I’ve never actually visited one of the wineries.

Gabriel checked things out from the floor while we tasted wines, and later enjoyed the scenic view from the large deck.

While at the winery, we were in the midst of negotiating a verbal offer on a FSBO house.  Between that and a fussy, refusing-to-nurse baby, it was pretty impossible to focus on the wine or relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

I’ll admit that I was longing for some baby-free time to really enjoy the wine and setting, but I guess we’ll just have to make another trip to wine country, sooner, rather than later, I hope!

All photos in the post courtesy of Gabriel’s Aunt Rachel.

Green baby strategies

While I’m far from having everything figured out on the “green parenting” front, I have learned a few things over the last ten plus months.  So, in no particular order, here are eight strategies to help you and your baby go green.

1. Buy Used
Okay, this one is rather obvious, but it bears repeating.  The million (or billion?) dollar baby industry spends a lot of time and effort telling us (especially first-time moms) that we need a big, custom nursery with shiny new furniture, a dresser AND closet full of brand-new baby clothes (that will acquire stains and be outgrown in the blink of an eye), and a whole array of toys and entertainment devices that a newborn could care less about.  Their strategies prey on our insecurities as new parents, trying to convince us that we can make up for perceived deficits in our parenting knowledge and skills by spending money.

Baby Bjorn potty, like-new condition, $8 on CL ($30 new)

Since most baby stuff is used for a relatively short period of time, you can find many items in pretty good condition at regular thrift stores, baby/kid-specific consignment shops, Craigslist, and/or garage sales.  Make a specific list (but be flexible on things like color), and then ask family and friends to keep an eye out for things as well.

2. Something Borrowed
Even better than buying used, check with friends and family about borrowing items.  Your cousin may not want to SELL that baby swing or bouncy seat, preferring to keep it for a future baby, but she may be willing to loan it to you for the few months that it will be useful.

3. Skimp on Laundry
A new addition does not have to mean tons of extra laundry.  Sure, there will be some additional laundry in the form of diapers if you use cloth, but there’s no reason you should be averaging over a load a day!  A shirt or blanket with a bit of drool, or pants that are slightly damp at the waist from a minor diaper leak, can be removed, aired-out, and re-worn.  Comfortable shirts and pants can transition from daytime to bedtime, with no need for an extra change of clothes.

Basket case

4. Be Flexible
Sir graduated from the [second-hand] Moses basket to a Pack ‘n Play that my sister picked up for us at a garage sale.  Our initial assumption was that it would be a temporary solution while we worked on finding a crib and making room for said crib in our small, one-bedroom apartment.  He slept well in the playpen, so we decided to forgo the crib. 

5. Think Outside the Box
Instead of a big, bulky high chair that separates baby from the table and keeps him from really being part of the meal, we started with a small, portable seat that clamped on the table.  It seemed safe enough, but I was a bit worried, especially as Sir often demonstrates  his enthusiasm for food by kicking and bouncing in his seat.

Who, me?

I was all ready to visit a local baby consignment store to look for a booster seat that we could use with a chair at the table, when Matthew came up with the solution in the above photo: phone books stacked on a chair underneath the clamp-on seat.  His idea transfers the weight to the chair instead of the table, allowing us to continue to use the clamp-on seat, but making it safer and more stable, no purchase necessary.

6. Seek suggestions
When I wrote about our crunchy diaper problem and my search for used cloth diapers, several readers responded with helpful suggestions.  Based on your ideas, I contacted a local diaper service and purchased thirty of their “seconds” for twenty dollars.  Despite some signs of wear, these are good quality, thick prefolds that are more than adequate for our needs.

7. Wait on It
Sometimes not having the time or energy to do the research for a purchase, or actually get to a store [or online] to make the purchase, can be a good thing.  Babies’ needs change very quickly, and something that might seem absolutely essential today may well be old news in a week or two.  Waiting gives you time to find a more long-term solution and avoid an unnecessary impulse buy, but you may also discover you can live without a what’s-it or thing-a-ma-jig.

8. But Don’t Drive Yourself Crazy
I’m NOT so good at following my own advice on this one, but I’ll toss it in anyway.  If you’re spending lots of time and energy trying to hunt down a particular item, or burning gallons of gas driving to far-flung garage sales, you’ve probably hit a point of diminishing returns.

The bottom line is that having a baby is WAY less green than not having a baby, and, as I continue to discover, parenting is all about compromises (my friend writes a blog devoted to that subject).  Sometimes buying new does make sense — in these cases, try to keep the item in good condition to loan, sell, or donate once you’ve finished using it.

Your Turn
I’m sure there are lots of other ideas out there — what are YOUR tips and tricks for minimizing your little one’s carbon footprint?


Related post: A basket for baby (my pre-baby thoughts on baby stuff)

Weekends these days

So I was all prepared to write a post comparing recent weekends to past April weekends, complaining about how I don’t get to bike or do anything anymore but after last weekend, I can’t truthfully write such a post.

Matthew, in his infinite cleverness, discovered that we don’t actually have to disassemble the trailer to get it in and out of the basement.  If we partially flatten it and remove the hitch arm, we can then take it through the door sideways, with the wheels still in place.

While carrying a bicycle up the stairs, then hauling up the trailer, then attaching said trailer to my bike is not exactly easy while keeping tabs on a nine-month-old, this new discovery makes it a bit less of a production.

Last Friday morning, I loaded Sir into his chariot for our first solo bike outing.  On previous outings (here and here), Matthew pulled the trailer, so it was also my first time pulling the trailer with him in it.

(The hardest part was getting him into the darn baby supporter — there’s this piece that you have to pull over the baby’s head, and it’s very awkward.  They really need to tweak the design to make it more user-friendly.  I think I can modify it, but I haven’t had a chance to see if my idea will work yet.)

Anyway, we biked to the park for a short visit.  On the way home, while waiting to make our left turn onto Kingshighway, I got some kind of, “You’re not seriously going to [something unintelligible] on Kingshighway . . . ?”

Why, yes, I am going to operate my vehicle on this street, just like you’re going to operate your vehicle on this street, thank you very much.  I really need to remember to carry Cycling Savvy flyers with me and be ready to hand them out.

Later that day, we were back on the bike to check out some real estate.  I looped a cable through part of the frame of the trailer for locking up, and Sir grabbed it and seemed to be using it as an “oh shit handle” during our ride.  Sir, please, I’m not that crazy of a driver.

Our new Saturday routine involves sending Gabriel out to the garden with Matthew, which gives me some much-needed time to myself.  I spent last Saturday biking around gathering ingredients for Matthew’s birthday dinner.

Despite no baby on board, I hitched up the trailer, which allowed me to easily carry my final load of a 3+ liter tin of olive oil, a half gallon of soy milk, a half gallon of dairy milk, some bulk bin dry goods, a gallon of apple cider vinegar, and  few other odds and ends.  With just my milk crate, or even my milk crate and panniers, that load would have required some stops back at the apartment between stores.

After all the biking with the trailer, my Sunday morning ride, just me and Bub was a breeze.

While life IS very different these days, I reclaimed some of the joys of weekends past, and I hope to do more of it in the future.