My new BFF, Dr Newman

Three weeks of painful nursing have come to an end thanks to Dr. Newman’s Magic Nipple Ointment. With a name like that you gotta know it’s gonna work and it did. What an amazing product. I tried various other things, none of which worked. In two days of using this magical cream I am almost completely better and pain free. No man has ever done so much for my nipples as him.

Bedtime in Brown

March is brown in Offering of Loves photo project. For info click here. Here is our bedtime last night shot with the retro camera app! How fun. I love things like that.

 

Little brown striped feet.

Every night before I get Bee ready for bed, I eat Nutella out of the jar on a spoon.  One night Bee caught me. In a moment of usual quick thinking for that time of the night, I pulled out a jar of peanut butter and gave her some on a spoon. Now we both hang out in the kitchen licking our spoons. She hasn’t yet noticed that one of these things is not like the other.

 

Milk and Monkeys

 

Fine tuning fun

I kind of read a book. Read is a bit of a generous description. I looked at a book and read a little in the first chapter.  I can’t really recommend or review the book* since I have read so little and will be returning it to the library tomorrow, but the idea the author has is inspiring.   Each month she picked a theme and then focused on it for the month. A month is such a good length of time. Enough time to change some habits, but not so long that it will get forgotten or no longer apply like a New Year’s resolution. Some of her themes were: boost energy, lighten up, aim higher and make time for friends.

I love this idea on a micro scale. I love my life right now and am not looking to make any big changes. Having Bee has been the one of the biggest and best changes ever. At the same time I am tired. I have probably slept through the whole night a dozen times since I had her. I am also super busy at work.  I think it would be fun to see what little things I can do to bring more balance and greatness into my days.

My theme for April is going to be Refreshment. I am picturing drinking refreshing beverages once she is in bed,  walking and getting fresh air on my lunch breaks at work, doing yoga with Bee after work and who knows what else. I will be on the look out for mini refreshing moments and will post them as I go. Join me this month if you like. Pick your own theme or use refreshment if it fits for you.

 

* The book is called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin in case you are curious

Milk troubles

I was in denial until it really friggin hurt for her to nurse that there was something wrong with the left milk machine. How could we have breastfeeding problems now? We are in the winding down time not in the crazy beginning times or even the eventful middle times.  I finally saw the nurse and she talked with the doctor and they decided that I have thrush, but only on the left side. One side looks and feels completely normal and the other side is a mess. Which is weird, but good in a way because one painful side is better than two.  They don’t even think Bee has it, but I might have to treat her as well if I don’t get better. Anyone have any advice on dealing with thrush?

Then tonight while Bee is nursing on the good non hurting side she sneezes and her teeth shut on the choo part of ah-choo.  Holy Batman and Robin that hurt. I breathed through the pain like it was labour. This was so unintentional on her part, but so not good on my parts.

May tomorrow be a better breastfeeding day and boy will I ever be using distraction techniques so that it is a minimal nursing day.

Hope

Candles for Linus and his family. They have been in my thoughts all day.

http://astoryoftwomoms.blogspot.com/

 

Potty and how it happened

This is F doing a “guest” post. Seems that there are requests for details on how Bee came to pee and poo on the potty at her age. Well, I wish that we had some magic training plan, but to be honest, we didn’t. It was chance to begin with, coupled with years of listening to my Chinese mother saying how in Asia, mothers just put their babies on the potty starting at 6 months. We had laughed at that, but as it turns out, my mom was right (but don’t tell her I said that!).

It all began when Bee started solid foods at 6 months. E (i.e. NextInLine) couldn’t deal with the new “output”. So in a moment of serendipity when Bee turned 7 months, was sitting in her Bumbo eating, and suddenly turned red in the face, instead of thinking “she’s choking!”, E thought “she’s pooping!” E promptly snatched Bee from her Bumbo and plunked her on the toilet (well, gently holding her up). Bee went.

And just like that, every time we saw her get her “poopy face”, we just put her on the potty and sure enough, she went every time. So no more poopy diapers to deal with (we use cloth) and no poopy wipe-wipe. We’re lucky, we know. We then gave Bee her new ducky potty seat, and just started having fun on the potty (it’s amazing what toys you can make from empty toilet paper rolls, toothpaste containers and so on …).

The days went by and Bee started holding her poo till she’s on the potty seat. For example, when we went away or when she’s at her lovely caregiver’s home, she would just hold it till she came home. So we started putting her on the potty seat before naps and before night sleep.

More days went by and she started peeing on the potty. The playing evolved from empty toilet paper rolls to a stack of books that she loves to read.

She still doesn’t really tell us when she needs to go, but I can sorta tell now. She pees almost every time I put her on now and it’s great fun.  We don’t really have a plan for how to take it from here, but hopefully, she’ll just get to the developmental stage when she’ll tell us if and when she needs to go.

When we’re home together, I now regularly put her on after she wakes up, mid-morning, before her mid-day nap, after her nap, mid-afternoon, before bedtime. Basically, whenever it’s naturally time to change her diaper. It’s “no-pressure” and if she doesn’t go, it’s just fine. We still have fun reading books and playing with other little toys.

Hope that helps. I can’t say that what we did was planned nor that it would work for everyone. But somewhere in another city, I’m guessing that my mother is smiling.

“Potty uf a laiftime”

Bee’s text message to me the other day: Mamaa, me peed un pood the pottee uf a laiftime.

Translated: Mama, me pee and poo on the potty, it was an experience of a lifetime.

She has been doing number two on the potty since seven months and increasingly when we put her on she pees. F and her are having diaper free mornings with regular potty stops. She loves running free with her naked bum (Bee that is, F wears pants).

Missing

One afternoon nap has gone missing. Was last seen on Saturday and hasn’t been seen since.

Main suspect is Moumee the cat burglar who has been caught napping frequently. Generous reward and no questions asked for the return of the afternoon nap.

Wanted cat nap burgler