Blackberry Picking [part two]

A few more from our weekend with Hadar! <3 I LOVE these photos. 

Breastfeeding at 15 months

One day old, 15 months old.

In honor of World Breastfeeding Week and National Breastfeeding Month, I'd like to write a little post on our nursing story. I'm definitely passionate about nursing and try to encourage new mothers to breastfeed. Unfortunately (like with any parenting choice), there is much drama surrounding nursing. Everyone seems to have something to say about another parent's ways. Nursing too much, too little, too long, weaning too soon, in public, not in public, etc. It seems to me that if we were all to mind our own business a little more and accept each other's choices, then we, as mothers, could support one another more readily. Not to say that there aren't specific points of view that annoy me. Recently, a friend had a baby and when reading through her Instagram comments I read that she chose not to breastfeed because she thought it was "creepy." This sort of uneducated decision makes my stomach turn and makes me feel a little sad for the state of humanity. We're so far from our roots that some women consider breastfeeding to be creepy. That truly frightens me.

As a mother who is passionate about nursing and doing what's best, I try to educate as I learn of a friend's pregnancy but at that point it is the other mother's choice to act on the information I've shared. It's the other mother's choice to do some research of their own. Some of my mumma friends truly tried to nurse and things didn't quite work out. I sympathize with that and wish that I had maybe done more to help. Many times I feel that a breastfeeding relationship falls through because of the support system around that mother. My mom was a LLL leader when I was a little and I remember nursing my dolls. I had a 2 inch wide binder filled with bits of paper and brochures on nursing when I was about 5. I was formula fed because of things the hospital did beyond my mother's consent after I was born, but as a young girl I knew I wanted to breastfeed because my mother became so passionate about it.

When Odin was born, I said I would nurse for the first year. Odin turned one 3 months ago and he's actually nursing as I type this. I'm not sure how much longer we will go, but I know we'll both stop when we're ready. We'll keep nursing until it is no longer working for our family or until Odin decides he's through. I love breastfeeding and I love the relationship it's created. Don't get me wrong, there are weak moments. Often. Sometimes I'd like to be able to go out on the town with Zak, but Odin nurses to sleep and through the night. That drives me pretty crazy, honestly. The work it would take to transition him away from that seems to be more trouble than it's worth. For every frustrated night I have, there are twenty nights where there's no other place I'd rather be.

Odin was born ten pounds, was an eager nurser, and had gained two pounds by his one week check up. I am very fortunate in the fact that I have never had an issue with breastfeeding. Teething was a breeze because we nursed right through it. He bit once or twice and that was that. Odin and I seem to have a very gentle breastfeeding relationship and I'm very grateful. This is what we chose and I am very happy with that choice.

first swim

...and the first walking tumble. 

Picking raspberries from our raspberry patch outside our house, Odin took his first tumble and hit his head on the pavement. Poor babe cried for quite a bit but once we finally made it to the beach, he was all smiles. Before now, he's been a little afraid of the water. This time he was ready to splash and play and it was really exciting to watch. Our little earth baby loves the water after all!

And some photos from my cell phone, because I like them so much!

a short walk

We walked to the oldest house tonight. It's only a few minutes walk from our house. It has a huge grassy yard and a beautiful garden in the back that it open to the public, I love going to pick bouquets of flowers from there! There's also a terrific apple tree nearby that Zak is stalking in order to pick the apples to make some cider in a few months. 

We walked down there tonight so that I could take some photos of my beautiful doula's beautiful daughter for a feature she has in the Nantucket magazine, which is exciting for her but also for me! I'll take a photo of the photo in the magazine when it prints. ;) Odin wasn't thrilled about me being so busy but yet so close, so papa threw the sling on (upside down) and Odin nestled in and stopped fussing immediately, like always. Then we nursed on the way home and he fell asleep soon after.

Sooo, this is a super boring post but I liked the photos! 

summer solstice

Happy summer solstice!

This week has moved slowly and I can't quite recall any remarkable details. In fact, all of the days since our fantastic father's day are really quite fuzzy. I've paid no attention to anything other than Instagram, really (It should've been Jitterbug Perfume though, after finding it again). Odin's been feverish all week which I'm going to attribute to teething. We're working on his canines now and they are treating him much more poorly than his molars even. I feel so bad that I can't take his pain away, but with a mix of skin to skin, babywearing, and tons of mama milk, he is quickly mending. Today was our third day with fever (lower than the past few days though!) and the first day of summer. We attempted to play at the park, but Odin really was miserable. After a third nap we made it outside into the garden to play for a little bit before going on a short neighborhood walk wrapped in our sling. 

We'll properly celebrate the solstice this weekend and bask in early summer's glow. What did you do to celebrate? Hopefully not many of your bubs started their summer out teething like mine!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Zak. We're so grateful for you and I hope today was as perfect for you as it was for both Odin and I. We took our first summer swim (finally). I woke you up with blueberry-strawberry pancakes and coffee and we hooked up your new record player. You and Odin danced all morning long and we made the most fantastic dinner (the BEST pizza we've ever made and an OMGDELICIOUS strawberry-rhubarb pie).

I love you so much, and we both know Odin does too.