High Tea

The Birthday girl and her familyall the Momans girls (though one became a Marks and another was born a Marks)

I was probably 12 the last time I had a tea party and I believe I made a fort at the top of the stairs and prepared sandwiches, cookies, and of course tea, served on moms fancy china to Lissy, Medori, and Ashley. Beck came up with the idea of having a tea party and watching Jane Austen videos all day for her birthday, it was great I am hereby thoroughly 1800s romance brainwashed. It's just to bad we didn't have time to watch them all though it would probably take another entire day to finish the rest of them.

On the way home Lissy, Medori, and I where in a car together, Wesley slept in her car seat the whole way. It felt like we where the three little girls again, Lissy and Medori where pestering each other and talking about ridiculous things.
Melissa: "I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth"
Medori: "Lissyyyyyy" =_=;
Melissa: "Could I get salt all around that rim-rim-rim-rim? Trey? I was like, “Yo, Trey? Could I get salt all around that rim-rim-rim-rim"
Medori: "Lissssyyyyyyyy" @_@;

I was ignoring it, or teaming up with Lissy against Medori, or with Medori against Lissy I believe though, I've matured enough to just do it for fun now and to know when to stop, not to enjoy seeing someone pestered as I used to.

From our drive we concluded that Medori makes a straightforward snow whisperer but my methods seem more mystical.
Medori: "the snow says there's a van in front of us"
Meghan: "The alighnment of the flakes tell us the road is clear and we should make it home safely"

Since Whitefish last summer I was trying to describe the kind of fog we saw on the road in and driving home I think I finally found the right words, "the fog clustered in transparent pools above the road" Lissy and Medori had some conversation about the fog too.
Medori: "the fog is dense like Lissy"
Melissa: "what do me and fog have in common?"
Medori: "mostly the dense part with fog being a more distant relative"

New Mom Update

Me and my little girl having a momentStaying warm by the fire after a bath
So being a mother has consumed most of my life as of late... actually, all of my life has been taken over by this new joyous task of baby raising. She's over two months old now and it has been two months with some of the most amazing and most stressfull moments in my own 22 years of life.

One of the most precious moments in my life was when she was born. I asked to hold her immediately and as the screaming little body was placed on my belly she calmed down and silently rested there, we both where so content. I looked down at her and instantly loved the little warm infant, I thought she was beautiful.

Ten minutes felt like seconds and the doctor was asking to cut the cord and take her away to do their check up stuff I didn't want to part with her but I hesitantly allowed them to take her away. The next afternoon we headed home and I set up my room like the hospital with everything near by so that I didn't even need to leave the bed to care for her it was very convenient. Mom came over and helped out with a lot of stuff.

To forwarn you, an account of my breastfeeding exprience ahead,

After three days we discovered she wasn't gaining weight properly and wasn't sucking well so whenever she wasn't sleeping she was crying and after three more stressful days of trying, waking her up every two hours to try get her to eat, I finally had to start using some formula, feeding her has been the most stressful aspect of these few months I've had with her, I can only imagine how simple things would have been if breastfeeding had gone smoothly.

As it is, I had to start pumping and couldn't get Wesley to latch or if she did she didn't suckle much at all. Over the course of time I've tried all kinds of things, waking her every three hours, cup feeding, finger feeding, nipple shield, kangaroo care, chiropractor visits all to get her to latch and pumping, herbal supplements, and domperidone to keep my milk supply up. Over the course of time I spent hours reading up on all the information I could find on what other people have done in my situation. Sometimes I figured I would just have to accept my role in her life as a mom who was going to pump milk for her and bottle feed her for the first year of life, sometimes I was close to giving up completely. I don't know what's wrong with me but somehow giving up just isn't an option I supose I'm incrediby stubborn that way and it finally seems to be paying off!!

At just about three months she is finally a latching baby and it takes a bit of training on my part to get used to this idea, I always nurse her before bottle feedings now and she is needing less and less bottle feedings all the time. Bottle feeding is so much more convenient in public right, so I have to train myself not to resort to it out of embarasment. I have a nursing baby I just have to get used to the idea of being a nursing mama.

Thoughts that kept me going:
"It's not going to happen quickly this will be two steps forward one step back" A breastfeeding friend of mine from church told me that her son got frustrated with bottle feeding because it was to slow for him so I figured aha! "A key component to this is getting enough milk for her to prefer me to the bottle." And when I did get her latched on and she was barely sucking (as usual) or just sitting there I would just leave her there as long as it wasn't time for me to pump or she wasn't searching for some sustinence "comfort nursing first, then as she begins to associate the breast with food nutritive nursing would follow naturaly" I also left her there thinking to myself, "she's learning, this is learning time for her as she figures this out"

Once she hit 12 pounds I let her set her own sleep schedual and wake and sleep all she liked. I believe our first real breakthrough happened when I sat on the couch, put her on a pillow latched on and lay my head on the back of the couch and fell asleep. Over time we found out how to lay down on the couch with her on my stomach resting in my one arm which was suported by the back of the couch, our most recent accomplishment is the side lying possition which we both love.

Eventually I believe it was shear persistance and some grace from God for all the patience that made it work.