Easter

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. You probably got either Friday or Monday off and are therefore refreshed. I did not (it is a state holiday but not a bank holiday apparently). But I still had a great weekend!

Saturday was my Dad's birthday. The fam-bam all got together for dinner at my parents' house. Three somewhat odd things about the day:

1) It's not only my Dad's birthday, but his younger sister's and their mother's (but she passed away several years ago).

2) After dinner as we were all hanging out in the living room, the picture over my parents' mantle just fell off the wall and went crashing to the floor out of nowhere (loud bang, glass shattering...). We think Grandma was upset that she was missing out on the festivities. :)

3) Lainey got her first tooth for her Grandpa's birthday!



(You can't see it but it's there!)

Then Sunday was obviously Easter. My Mom bought Lainey an Easter ensemble, complete with one of those headbands with the giant fake flower, white sweater and matching sandals. The sandals were the only thing she actually wore (besides the dress, of course).



She was surprisingly good in church. I did have puffs though...and timed it to give her a bottle during the sermon. Sneaky sneaky! But she also enjoyed just people watching and playing with the bulletin so that works too.

After the service, everyone got a flower to put in the big cross outside. Lainey really got a kick out of that!





I know you're probably thinking, "Aw, what a cute family!" but it takes work to get a shot like that. Most of them turned out something like this:



Yeah...

Brace yourselves...

You will no longer have to hear about my boobies! I can hear the blogosphere cheering.

Yup, that's right folks...we're officially done nursing. It really just kind of...happened. The day before Lainey turned 9 months, we just stopped nursing. I had figured for awhile that she wasn't actually eating when she would wake up around 5-ish. Then the other morning, she just didn't wake up until it was time to get ready for work. So we just left. And she was fine! And that was that...no more nursing.

It's been a little sad but kind of like when I quit pumping, I got over it quickly. I can get drunk and take Advil and drink lots of coffee now (which, incidentally, would need to be done in that order). Not that I have. But I can! I have my body back. Although, quite frankly, I'm not sure I want it. It's rather, um, soft. And things aren't where they used to be. I certainly don't remember needing to tuck my boobs in my pants before (I kid!).

So that's it folks! I know we're all happy not to have to worry about or discuss my chestal region any more. I think I see rainbows and bunnies and happiness. Oh, or maybe that's because it was just Easter...guess that leads to my next post...so stay posted (pun intended)! ;)

This cow barely has any milk

I am in such a happy place with the nursing now, let me just tell you. When Lainey turned 7 months, we started supplementing with formula (mainly just for her last bottle before bed but every now and then I'd have to send one to April's too). Apparently if you give my boobs an inch, they take a mile because by the time Lainey turned 8 months, she was getting formula for every bottle except I nurse her first thing in the morning (and I mean first, like, around 5:15). And you know what? I'm perfectly happy with this. I quit pumping at work about 3 weeks ago and that has been great. I no longer have to lug that big pump bag around with me or stress about when during the day I'm going to sneak away for 10 minutes at a time or any of that. So much better! But I also love that I'm still nursing her in the morning. For one thing, it makes getting up that early a little easier because I get to spend some uninterrupted time with my baby. Plus, it's also just a lot easier than getting up and going downstairs to fix a bottle. So if this arrangement could last until she's a year old, that would be awesome! Or, until she gets teeth and starts biting me. At this rate, who knows which will come first! Just teasing...actually, we're thinking Lainey might be teething (for real this time). There's a distinct bump in her lower gum line and she had a total meltdown out of nowhere last night but seemed to be explained when she was trying to get anything (even grabbing the front of her pjs) and trying to get it in her mouth. We gave her some Tylenol and she almost instantly calmed down. So we'll see! Maybe she'll have a tooth sooner rather than later.

Speaking of my fears of her slow development...she still isn't moving either. She still hates tummy time so we're thinking the chances of her crawling are getting pretty slim. She does get so mad about being on her stomach that she now can kind of wriggle herself in a circle and Troy reported some backwards movement this morning. Progress? Who knows. I know everyone says to not wish for her to be mobile (and I really don't mind...it's nice to just plop her on the floor with toys and know she's good!) but she's 8 1/2 months old now and I can't help starting to feel like we need to get something happening before she's 1. And I'm not really worried about her developing slowly. I know every baby is different. And she is perfectly healthy in every way! I just like to pick on her about not having any hair or teeth and not being able to move. That's normal, right? But I absolutely love my little nugget. She's a great baby and is so smart. She loves sitting and playing and talking and being read to. And her new favorite thing is the dancing. Oh man...that is funny! I gotta say, she's got a lot of rhythm for a white girl! (Coming from a white girl.) I'll be sure to post a video soon...it is too cute! In the meantime, here are some pictures: