completely weaned

Friday morning was the last time I nursed baby Doodle. Saturday morning he had whole milk from a sippy cup, then he had Cheerios a little later. Today is Tuesday and he's been satisfied with this new routine. I thought I would be more sad when I stopped breastfeeding completely, but it hasn't been that hard. I was a little emotional when I cut out the second-to-last feeding, which was the one right before baby Doodle goes to bed. I liked feeling the closeness with him at the end of the day. It was calming for both of us and I enjoyed it. The morning feeding, on the other hand, was more of a drag because it would be 6:00 a.m. and I would reluctantly pull myself to a sitting position with my head leaning back on a pillow trying to sleep a little longer while BD was sucking down nourishment and energy. When he was finished eating he wouldn't want to lie next to me and cuddle or sleep he wanted to get up and play. So cutting out the last feeding wasn't that emotional for me.

My breasts didn't become engorged. They're actually pretty limp. Last night they ached a bit, but not like they did when they were engorged. I think the milk ducts are drying up and what ever milk was left has been absorbed by my body.

As difficult as breastfeeding was for the first few months, it has been a wonderful and meaningful journey with my son. Not to mention the immense health benefits he now has. I'm so glad I stuck with it -- thirteen months and four weeks. I'll definitely do it again with our second baby, should we be lucky enough to have another.

bath time

Why is it that they say baths calm people, especially babies, down? They have the opposite effect on baby Doodle. Almost every night we eat dinner together the Mr. Doodlebug brings BD upstairs for a bath. I do the dishes and clean the kitchen. Then I join the boys upstairs for our nightly routine. When Mr. D takes baby Doodle out of the tub he wraps him in a towel and brings him into our room to get lotioned up and diapered.

It is after he is rubbed down with calming lotion that he starts acting like a wild man -- baby Doodle that is, not Mr. D. He turns over, crawls around, stands up and then throws his body down onto the soft mattress. Last night, for the first time, he stood up without pulling himself up using a prop. He squatted on the bed and lifted his body to the standing position by the pure power of his legs. It was great. Then he stood there for a few seconds not holding onto anything. Then launched his body forward landing on the bed face down. Then he laughed and giggled and did it again.

Baby Doodle's excitement and energy is infectious. Mr. Doodlebug and I are laughing and tickling baby Doodle exacerbating his hyper mood. Finally, I put a stop to the fun and we go downstairs to read some books, drink some whole milk, and brush BD's teeth before putting him to bed.

That reminds me of another thing I wanted to write about. Is it possible that BD has learned how to prolong wakefulness? After we've read about six books and I say, "okay, it's time to brush your teeth" baby Doodle reaches for another book and holds it out to me. I usually say, "okay, one more book then we're going to brush your teeth." I, or Mr. D, read the book then one of us carries him off to the bathroom while he whines and tries to reach for another book to distract me from my mission of getting him to bed so I can eat my dessert already! I can't believe he's already this manipulative.

Philly will have a new mayor come January

I am completely thrilled that Philly's new mayor is going to be Michael Nutter after November's general election and the swearing-in in January. He won the Democratic primary and in Philadelphia that means you basically have it in the bag, since the vast majority of residents are registered Democrats.

I was on Long Island visiting my mother and aunts, and cousin, the night of election day -- I voted before I left, of course. My grandparents' house, where I stayed, sits nearly empty and is on the market. Mr. Doodlebug had to call me several times to update me on the election returns. He was in DC on business and was checking the Internet regularly for results. I went to sleep very happy knowing that Nutter had secured the nomination, and therefore the job. He was by far the best candidate. I won't get into the personalities of the other four candidates. Lets just say they were either just as corrupt or just as arrogant as our current mayor, John Street.

I come from a political family and I know how exciting it is to win an election on which you've worked so hard. Nutter played by the rules and spoke articulately and intelligently about real issues. He had an actual, written-out plan for how to pay for his proposals and he knows his shit. I am thrilled for Nutter personally and for the city of Philadelphia. Hopefully now we'll be able to recycle corrugated cardboard and plastics on the curb. Maybe the murder rate will go down. Maybe our neighbor across the street who works for the City and wastes our tax dollars will get fired. By the way he came in fifth out of fifteen in his Traffic Court Judge race -- not good enough to become judge. He was also on the ballot as one of three Republicans, he won that race but will likely lose due to the aforementioned Democratic majority in this city.

Congratulations Nutter!

Happy Mother's Day

I have had the best Mother's Day weekend ever. Friday night I went out, that's right I went out without my baby and husband. I went to the Manayunk Brewery where I met some other moms I mostly know from our local playground. I drank four Absolut and tonics -- Absolut because I'm too old to drink the shwag and too cheap to drink Grey Goose at a bar -- and had two pieces of pizza and some meatless nachos. Then I joined some of my friends at the foot of the stage where the band was playing music you would hear at a cheezy wedding (Brown Eyed Girl, You're the One That I Want, Greased Lightening, American Girl etc . . .). We danced and sang along for a while. I haven't danced like that since I was at a wedding a week or two after I started teaching and was completely trashed.

Then I woke up Saturday morning with a little trace of a hangover. I nursed baby Doodle then Mr. Doodlebug took him Mother's Day shopping and I got to sleep until 9:15 a.m. When I awoke my trace of a hangover was gone. I ran on my trampoline and got ready to go to our friend's first birthday party. Baby Doodle had a fabulous time playing with his friend's toys and being admired by the other guests.

Then we left for Spring Lake, NJ, where my in-laws live. Baby Doodle absolutely loves my father-in-law. He didn't care whether I was around or not when he was with his Grandad, which was a nice break for me. I, again, got to sleep in, this time until 8:30 a.m. I love sleeping.
My mother-in-law made a fantastic meal late this afternoon. We went to the playground near their house and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

I never really knew what people meant when they said that their kid(s) have taught them so much about life. Now I know. I am so fortunate to be baby Doodle's mommy. He has given me life rather than the other way around. Not that I didn't have a life before he was born. I had a fantastic life before BD joined our family. But my life now is different. Baby Doodle has shown me how to love someone more than I thought possible. On this Mother's Day I feel like I should be celebrating baby Doodle for making me a happy mother.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Girlfiend, the only one who tags me (this is the second time), and possibly the only one who reads my blog.

So I have to write eight things that you might not know about me. Here is the intriguing list:

1. I have high expectations for my birthday each year and am usually sad at some point during the day.
2. I watch Oprah regularly even though I used to denounce TV.
3. I like to cook, but usually don't use recipes. I like to throw together a meal from whatever ingredients are in my kitchen at the time.
4. I don't mop my kitchen floor nearly as often as I should, especially with a 13-month old baby crawling around.
5. I am a pretty slow reader, probably because I read every word on the page. That is the main reason I didn't score well on my SATs in high school.
6. I absolutely hate football, and I have been working on being better about Mr. Doodlebug's obsession with it, especially the Eagles.
7. On most nights I prefer to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen than give baby Doodle a bath. After the whole day with him, I figure Mr. Doodlebug can have a chance at some quality time.
8. I'm a pescatarian, meaning I'm a vegetarian who eats seafood. I used to be a full-on vegetarian but wasn't getting enough protein so now I eat fish too.

I'm not going to tag anyone because the people I would have tagged are mainly the same people Girlfiend tagged. You're welcome.

Update

I don't have a good reason for not writing in a while. Here are a few updates to catch you up on my incredibly interesting life.

I love the weekends, even when I spend a lot of them weeding and gardening. It is such a great break to have Mr. Doodlebug home to help care for baby Doodle. Two parents to one child is a fantastic ratio. I don't know how I'll do with two parents : two children, or during the weekdays, one parent : two children. I'm enjoying just having one baby for now. Eventually I would like to have two kids but not yet.

I hurt my back weeding yesterday. I have a bad back. Ever since I threw it out when I was 19 years old my back has been fragile. It's hard to pick up an 18 pound baby when your back goes into debilitating spasms. It's harder yet to put baby Doodle into his crib. I hope I'm able to do it for his nap. I really don't want to hold him for his entire nap.

On the brighter side, our yard is looking quite nice. We weeded and pruned the ivy hill we have in the front of our house, weeded the side garden bed and planted some basil, dill, red and yellow pepper plants, and I planted grass in the huge section on yard that was covered by a bush that was killed by enormous vines. Next weekend I'm going to tackle yet another flower bed and plant a couple of azalea bushes and at least one hydrangea bush.

Baby Doodle is incredibly cute and infinitely fascinating. He is constantly doing new tricks demonstrating that he's learned many things we didn't think he was paying attention to. Yesterday he crawled backwards to get off the slide at the playground. I've been trying to get him to crawl backwards down the stairs but he never showed any interest always wanting to dive down head first. The other day I asked him where his toes are and he reached down and touched them. I asked again and he repeated the action. Last night I warned baby Doodle not to throw his sippy cup on the floor. He looked down at the floor when he heard the word. He's picking up on so much. It's amazing to watch.