Happy Birthday to Ma!

http://flickr.com/photos/hendersonfamily/227085790In honor of my mom's birthday today, I wanted to write a few words about her. I had a really nice childhood, and have amazing memories of my mom when I was growing up...things like her making fruit leather in the back yard , making special birthday cakes each year for our birthdays, giving me my first home perm so that I could look like "Annie", bringing me and my sister to NYC to the Cabbage Patch Kid store, making biscotti, Thanksgivings with cheesy potatoes, smocking beautiful dresses, getting me Tigger!!!!! My mom is an amazing person. She is strong, courageous, beautiful, inspiring and a wonderful Nana. Since I became a mother in April, I have a new outlook both on life and on being a mother. I never realized how much work went into being a great mother. I am sorry for being a cranky teenager and for ever being rude to my mom (those damn teenage years), as I know my mom was always on my side. My mom has said that I wasn't that bad, but of course she would say that, she's my mother. One of the most wonderful moments in my life was when I called my mom from the hospital right after I gave birth telling her "Mom, I had a little girl". I am so very lucky to have her as my mom and for my daughter to have her as her Nana. Happy Birthday Ma!!!

My little Remora

A couple weeks ago my husband commented that Piper, our little one, was a bit like a remora when she was nursing, which I thought was very true. Growing up I never had big dreams about being a mother or having a baby, yet they were always in the plan. I guess I just thought that I would have kids, but didn't think too much about the whole process. When we found out that we were expecting our little bundle of joy last year, we were very surprised to say the least. I decided to try breastfeeding, as my sister had chosen to do the same with her first child 7 month's prior , and my big sis and I are well known for doing things that the other does... I got all the books and the fancy pump, as I knew that I was planning on returning to work after 3 month's and would still try to solely nurse her. I never imagined that it would be such a process to breastfeed. I then had to get the fancy hooter hider http://www.hooterhiders.com, and the nursing pads, and the special bra's. I thought that by breastfeeding we would save a lot of money because we wouldn't have to by formula. I thought of all the cute tu-tu's and fuzzy onsies I could get her....but my goodness, all the bells and whistles sure were expensive. In the hospital, the process of getting Piper to latch on was insane! The nurse squirted sugar water on my nipple to try to get her to latch on, which was no help. We only realized that Piper didn't enjoy having her face shoved onto my boob hours after she was born, not enjoyable for either of us. Once we got home, everything went much smoother. Piper learned to latch on, one boob at a time. She preferred the right one for quite awhile, causing a bit of a size issue, but they both caught up to each other. Then I needed to get Piper to start taking my pumped milk in the bottle, as daycare would now be feeding her. And yet again...an ordeal. Miss Piper, being the remora that she is refused to accept the bottle. We tried every single nipple and bottle contraption that is out there, even one shaped like a boob, check it out here: http://www.adiri.com/products_html/nurser.aspWe resorted to bringing her to a speech pathologist, recommended by our pediatrician, which was extremely stressful. She was very unhelpful and seemed to be sponsored by playtex. I think there was an ad on the wall in her office even. She couldn't understand why our 3 month old daughter screamed when she came at her with plastic gloves (so she wouldn't get contaminated by my breast milk, I guess) and a playtex bottle. I think the doctor was used to working with kids that were of walking age. Piper finally got the hang of the bottle, the day before I had to return to work. She just wanted to make sure that I understood that she wasn't happy about the whole bottle thing. Point well taken, Miss Piper. I still nurse her the rest of the time and love being able to provide nourishment for her . I have many lovely stories about pumping since I have returned to work. The best was one recently...I had to use the battery pack and pump in my car and had parked facing a wooded area. I figured that the area was pretty remote. Well, I did until some guy came wondering out of the woods with a view of me pumping in the back seat. Oh, well, could have been worse I guess. I would do it all over again and hope I get the opportunity someday. I am amazed how much time and stress and craziness all went into breastfeeding, but I imagine my little Remora thinks that it was worth it.

day before turkey day

This will be a Thanksgiving of firsts....the first Turkey day at our housethe first Turkey in our oven ... the first Turkey day as a new mom .... and the first Turkey day with blueberry cranberry sauce!!!! Brian and I will be hosting Thanksgiving in Quincy, in our quaint little house. We will be having a total of 13 people including the little one and of course our two doggies, Emma and Boo Boo. I was a bit overwhelmed about all that goes into hosting such an event. From picking a menu, to realizing that our kitchen table only comfortably holds 6, to our futile attempt to remove the excess dog hair from our house, as not to freak our guests out too much. I would have preferred to skip the whole dead bird thing, as I have been a veg head for so long, but my hubby is very excited to be cooking his first turkey. He has researched all the cooking options, and has decided against stuffing it, as he is concerned about bacteria......so he is going to inject it with a butter sauce. They actually sell these large syringes just for injecting birds....only $5 at Target. My mom has been a big help getting everything ready at our house. We just recently renovated our kitchen, so it will be nice to finally use it. With the little one, I am amazed how exhausted I am after working all day that even warming up a can of soup takes too much effort.Since I am writing about Thanksgiving, I should write a few words about what I am thankful for. I am thankful for having such a scrumptious hubby who loves me dearly, a wonderful baby who is the spitting image of my hubby, a lovely family near and far, and our gingerbread house that my husband got instead of the apple pie I asked him to get for dinner. Happy Turkey day all, have a couple blueberries in your cranberry sauce to mix it up a bit. Gobble Gobble