Unsolicited: Parenting Stories and Advice

This graphic or variations on it were not helpful at all for me.  It looks like an alien eating a stalagmite.  I totally advocate hiring an LC. When you are pregnant, you hear the phrase "Breastfeeding is hard." a lot. In my experience, however, you rarely hear the specifics of why it's hard(or you know, more intensely difficult than anything, ever).*  Maybe it's post-traumatic stress.  Maybe it's that nursing moms don't want to scare away other potential nursing moms. I don't know.  I do know that I was blissfully unaware of everything that can go wrong when you breastfeed. My attitude was sort of, maybe it won't be hard for me? Maybe they just mean you'll be up all night?  If I had been smart, I would have realized that any time there are consultants and support groups for something, it's obviously not going to be a case of "just staying up all night." So, I thought I'd write about the ways that breastfeeding sucked for ...

Leo continues to figure out new ways to explore his world as he has hit his eight month mark. He officially can never be left alone and unrestrained - what he does may not always meet all the requirements of "crawling", but he's gotten very good at setting destination goals and achieving them, even if those goals are not always on the same vertical plane that he begins on. On the downside, his first two teeth started coming in this month, which led to some of the toughest nights for him (and us) since the first couple of months at home.  Hair: Developing an undergrowth of hair for a layered look. Also seems to be stickier and clumpier, but that relates to the increase in hand-held foods.  Eyes: Maybe settling into a brownish gray? The tone seems to depend on the ambient light.  Likes: Leo continues to love to eat, listen to music, and tickles! He loves Remote, Octopus, and Phone. Still putting everything and anything into his mouth!  He's definitely e...

One of the funny things about the strange adventure of keeping Leo alive and reasonably happy is that things can matter SO MUCH at any moment, and within weeks he has outgrown them (or maybe we just can't take them anymore). I'm sure this will be true for his whole life (just like I moved on from Brio trains...right?), but maybe it won't cycle so fast when he stops doubling in size in a matter of months. In any case, here are some memories that already seem so distant. Swaddling - Leo was not a good sleeper at the beginning of his life, so we had to keep him burrito-ed up. Of course, he had outgrown the standard issue hospital swaddle in about a week, so we had him in progressively bigger blankets until the July heat wave when it all ended. Bouncy chair. First as the only place he would sleep, and then a second round as the only place he could sit after eating without refunding the meal. Then he grew like kudzu, and it just felt mean to strap him down. Thanks to Eli...