Michael and Jaspenelle

Exploring life, spirituality, and so much more
11:35 am

Photos from Manito

familyThis past Saturday, our photographer friend Andrea did some family photos of us in Manito Park. It was really fun. I really love how the photos turned out, Andrea did an excellent job.

We are hoping to get her to take a set every few months for the first year. We are going to be getting prints of a few of our favorites from this shoot. I can’t wait to see them! (and frame and scrapbook them. I have been working on Damian’s “First Year” scrapbook lately.)

This one of us is one of my favorite of the three of us (we are getting a couple extra prints of it for family too.)

These are a few of the others from that day:

(more…)

12:14 pm

Flying solo

Michael went back to work today so I have been flying solo with Damian since 8:30 this morning. So far we ate breakfast (both of us), napped for 2 hours, changed a cloth diaper, breastfed, changed another diaper (almost resorting to a disposable due to flailing baby), gave some comfort boob, and then he fell asleep on my chest. If I had a third arm I would take a photo in the funny balancing pose I have the laptop in so I can type this both hands…

I am going to have to extract myself from this pose shortly to make myself some more food. It hasn’t been too difficult so far but afternoon is approaching, his most active time. Maybe I will take him for a little walk in one of the wraps.

real men wear their childrenA few days ago, Michael, Damian and I drove out to Mother’s Haven where we got a breastfeeding pillow (made by Luna Lullaby, it is amazing) as well as a Maya Wrap. I love Mother’s Haven, I don’t think I will be buying any mother/baby stuff anywhere else if I can find it there. The owner is an amazing woman and the quality of her products are outstanding.

We got the Maya Wrap for Michael because it is very easy to put on and get use to. Damian loves it, we went for a walk around the Farmer’s Market with him after we bought it.

I have a Moby Wrap which is a bit tricker but better to secure Damian while I do housework. We are both getting use to it and how tight or loose it has to be. Still haven’t tried breastfeeding in either one.

Michael and I have been handfasted for one year today. We decided this morning that Damian is the best gift ever.

And the best gift ever needs a diaper change now.

8:52 pm

Is eating your mother anti-Darwinian?

perhaps not, after all the babies of the Australian social spider eat their mothers.

damian wallet
(Ooooo wallet!)

Anyhow, so about my first 11 days of breastfeeding Damian…

I started off using nipple shields, though I only used they for a couple days, I got really nasty bloody blisters on my nipples from them. Surprisingly enough Damian latched on right away without them. Super suck reflex!

Damian definitely does not have any form of nipple aversion but I might be getting it! Don’t get me wrong, I love breastfeeding him, it releases all kinds of happy hormones in my body but my left nipple is a leaky bucket. I am not engorged or anything, if anything it is less full then the right side! I can completely soak through a cloth prefold diaper stuffed in my bra in 20 minutes if I am feeding him on the other side, or if I am sleeping. I also have developed a small cut that has scabbed over on my nipple. Wow that hurts when he latches. I don’t know what I would do without Lanolin (it is a greasy yellow skin ointment made from wool. It moisturizes and it safe for to use while breastfeeding.)

I also have been writing this journal entry since 2 this afternoon, it is now 7. Damian is constantly feeding today and my poor breasts are sooo sore. I’ve read he naturally does this just before a growth spurt (he should be having one about now, then again at 2 or 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, etc) but wow, today has seems to have been totally about my boobs and his wet diapers. Damian has been sleeping for about an hour now though and Michael is napping too. I probably should be but I need to take some me time (so I blog…)

Michael is being so awesome about it all, he is becoming the cloth diaper changing king. He was wearing the baby in a sling for awhile today which was really cute. If only he could help breastfeed too… Still I love breastfeeding.

Damian and I also took a bath today, which was really fun. Babies float! I totally didn’t know that, he loved being in the tub with me, he was so mellow and great (and didn’t want a boob for 25 whole minutes!)

Yesterday we had our first outing. We went out and got me some more nursing bras (so long B cup, hello D cup. A country could get lost in this cleavage) and then had a lunch stop over in Friendship Park, where Damian decided he wanted to poop and have lunch too. I fed him in the van, I am not comfortable enough with nursing to do it in public yet… Then we went grocery shopping, he was fantastic in the store, unless he stopped the cart for too long (he had this problem with the van stopping as well) then he started getting restless.

My main goal for this week before Michael goes back to work (next Monday) is to get Damian use to being in the moby wrap so I can wear him around while I work.. He doesn’t like the newborn wrap so I am going to try the kangaroo wrap tomorrow.

One handed typing now, just finished another feeding, sleeping (kinda) baby in arms. I’m going to post this now, sorry if it sounds disjointed.