Goodbye to Breastfeeding

We have officially weaning David....after only 19 months. If you would have told me a few years ago that I would breastfeed David for almost two years, I would have laughed at the thought. I remember reading articles and watching videos when I was pregnant about women who breastfed for years and thinking what an odd thing to do. Matt and I took the breastfeeding class offered by the hospital and, as most new moms these days, I planned to breastfeed for at least six months and would try to do so for a year. Then David was born and, after a few struggles, breastfeeding seemed so natural. It was also easy and super convenient, especially for getting David back to sleep in the middle of the night. When I went back to work, I complained about pumping (it is not exactly a glamorous process), but I secretly welcomed the break from work every few hours and enjoyed the conversations that Matt and I would have on the phone as I killed time during pumping sessions. I always tried to pretend I was just calling to say hi, but despite hiding the pump in my desk drawer, he always seemed to know what was going on.

As David got older, I cut out the pumping and only fed him when I got home from work, at night and in the mornings. It was such a nice way to reconnect after being separated all day and it served as the basis for our own special routine at bedtime and a good way to start the day. As much as I thought it would be weird to continue to breastfeed, as time passed, it just seemed natural. Even when he starting talking and would ask to nurse, it was cute rather than creepy. As a working mother, there are so many things that you miss in your child's life. Nursing was a great way to focus my attention entirely on David and to spend some quality time together.  As he got older, it became much less about nutrition and more about comfort and bonding.

I probably would not have weaned David without some encourage (i.e. Matt made me and rightfully so). I originally said I would do so after a year, which turned into 18 months, which turned into two years. The week before last, I had to go out of town overnight leaving Matt to handle bedtime. This was, by far, the most difficult part of weaning as David was in the habit of using nursing to put himself to sleep. That night was rough and, from what I hear, Matt didn't get much sleep. When I got back, Matt figured he was already through the worst part...or so he thought.. and he banished me to the guest bedroom for a few nights. Within a few days, David had a new bedtime routine (which included sleeping with Monkey- the stuffed animal he got while on vacation this past December) and he only occasionally asks to nurse. Even when he does want to nurse, he is easily satisfied with a quick explanation about how the milk is "all gone".

I know that only family and friends read this blog, but being that it serves as David's baby book, I thought it appropriate to document and properly lament the end of our breastfeeding times.

Memorial Day - Lots of Catching Up to Do

We had a nice long 4 day weekend and spent it making up for lost time with David. Here are some pictures to catch everyone up on recent David developments.



We are still "working on" potty training. Until now, it has been a casual "working on" but, because David is starting school in August, we are going to get focused this week. His school uses a true Montessori style teaching method, meaning that use of the potty (and thus being potty trained) is a key requirement of the independent learning process. In layman's terms, this means the kids that are not potty trained have to wear cloth diapers and can not wear pants (for ease of changing the wet diapers) until they learn to go in the potty. It is actually pretty cute to see the toddlers in the classroom as they wear things called baby legs that look like decorated thigh highs to protect their knees during play (since they don't get to wear pants).

Speaking of school, we went to David's open house for his new school on Friday. He was a little skeptical of the classroom at first, but he saw one of this friends from little gym (as well as the class fish) and was all in. He played in the room and on the play ground and was actually upset when we had to leave. I think it will be an adjustment, but we are really excited for him to interact with kids, etc. Plus, we LOVE the teacher and her assistant as well as the staff at St. James. It is also located very close to our house- another plus.

Here is David working on his potty skills.

David has become really independent. He wants to do everything himself and I do mean everything. On Friday, Matt and I were laying in bed having coffee and heard David go into the kitchen. He took out the cereal, got a bowl from the cabinet and poured himself a bowl of cereal. We were really impressed with the numbers of steps in making his own bowl of cereal (and too busy grabbing the camera) to stop him before he poured a little more than he needed.

Over the holiday weekend, Matt's roommate from college (he had the same roommate all four years and they remain good friends- for those of you that remember, he was the one in the wedding from Chicago) was in town and we got to meet his new baby- Anna Marie. She is adorable and such a good baby. David was a big fan --well, at least until he was not the center of attention, then not so much.  This did not last long, however, as baby Anna was super sweet and fell asleep in my arms. David spent the entire weekend asking about "Baby Anna."

We have transitioned David to his toddler bed now and he has gotten into a nice routine of falling asleep with a story and some slight tickling of his tummy. He is getting so big that his legs usually hang out the bed.  He also,as you can see, insists on sleeping with Monkey.

On Sunday, we got up early and went to the zoo. Lots of fun and David even got to feed a giraffe (which is pretty darn cool) and a goat.

Here is David ready to head out again after his post-zoo nap. We made a trip to the furniture store where mom and dad picked out a nice new king size bed and new dining room table. It should be delivered sometime in the next few weeks, so I will post pictures. The most exciting part is the new mattress we picked out is awesome. Plus the bigger bed will be a nice upgrade - especially when we have to share with both Emma and David.

David at dinner wearing daddy's sunglasses. He says "cool dude" when he puts these on.

On Monday, we drove up to Pump It Up, Jr. in Plano to let David jump off some energy. It is basically a large room with lots of different bounce house type things (slide, obstacle course, etc.).

Just like Dad

David has a new habit of resting his hand in the top of his diaper. We have no idea how this started, but he looks just like Al Bundy lounging around with his hand rested in his shorts. He even fell asleep yesterday this way with Granny D, so she got a picture. It is just too cute not to share...

Happy Mother's Day

It has been busy around the Waterman house and I find myself, once again, behind on blogging. To summarize events of late, Granny D has been here a few weeks now and it is AWESOME. She has been such a life saver and her and David are quite the buds.Matt and I even had a few date nights. I have some pictures to upload to show all the good times Granny D and David have been having, but I don't have them uploaded yet. So... until then, here are the pictures from our mother's day celebration (taken with my new camera that a certain great husband and little boy got me for mother's day). We went down to Corsicana to Grandma Gil's house and met up with my family for a super fun pinic. David really enjoyed playing with his counsins and it was nice to visit with everyone.