The ABCs of Mommyhood: B

There are so many possible B words when it comes to being a mom: baby, bottles, breastfeeding, burping, bouncing, Ben. I cannot choose a favorite, so you get a few words about a couple of these topics.

Baby

We were extremely lucky. We decided to have a baby, and then we were pregnant. Seriously. We discussed having a baby at the beginning of May. The baby came in February. If you do the math, you'll notice that there are just about 40 weeks between the beginning of May and the beginning of February when Alex joined our family. I am not a religious person, but I do think that the stars must have aligned perfectly. If God is making plans for us, then God knew my family would need all the babies it could get to make it through the months of July and August. My father passed away in August, but Alex and my sister's little 10-month old daughter, Taelynn, kept reminding us to smile despite our heavy hearts.

How babies are made...Hawaiian style

Beautiful family

Breastfeeding

Do I love breastfeeding or hate it? I had always heard that people were very opinionated about this little miracle, but I'm much more ambivalent. I do not love it - mostly because I get beat up by my kid almost every time he nurses. Some people may be able to gaze adoringly at their child while he calmly nurses himself to sleep, but that is not my child. One leg and one arm are almost always moving when Alex eats. The kid never sits still. But, I also do not hate it. Breastfeeding came relatively naturally to us. It took us a couple weeks to really get the hang of it, but I never had to deal with some of the major hurdles that other women have.

I insist on breastfeeding because I believe it's the best thing for my son. However, it works for us because I am at home with my son. If I worked full time or had a job that was not supportive, I think that it would be much more difficult to accomplish.

Bottles

We used Dr. Brown's bottles right at the start. Then, I stopped pumping regularly after about a month, and Alex didn't take the bottle again for at least a few months. Once we hit June, I knew that I needed to get him to take a bottle again before I moved to California. He would have babysitters, including my friend Lauren and Alex's Gamma, Sonja, who would need to be able to rely on the bottle. I did not want him to cry forever while they watched him. He wanted nothing to do with the bottle when we first started. We tried many different kinds of bottles - Dr. Brown's, Medela, Nuk, Playtex. We tried giving him the bottle at different feedings. We tried giving it to him when he was not hungry, when he was just starting to get hungry, and when he was ravenous. It was one of the most frustrating things I have had to do yet. Ultimately, it came down to giving him the Playtex Nurser every day at dinnertime with milk that was really warm. After I traveled to Missouri, I didn't give him a bottle regularly. Now he hasn't had a bottle again in almost a month. If he doesn't take the bottle again readily, we're just going to move on to the sippy cup.

Ben

Walking in California

The best "B" word. Ben has been amazing throughout this journey. He's a great dad and an awesome husband. He gets up in the middle of the night to bring Alex to me. He changes diapers. He plays. He snuggles. He tells me that I'm a great mom. He reminds me that he loves me on a regular basis. He makes me feel like I'm a sexy woman despite the nagging thoughts in my own head that make me fear my body will always be a little lumpier.

Snuggles