Three things

Lillian's first masterpiece and my first Mother's Day present, proudly displayed on my cube wall:


Photographic evidence of our hammock fun last night:


And lastly (and most importantly) she STTN last night! She went to bed at 7:30 and I barely heard a peep out of her all night. I guess the little slice of an eruption on her tooth was enough to let her sleep peacefully... thank god!

Someone put out an amber alert!

Seriously--has anyone seen the teething fairy? Because for realz, she needs to march her happy ass right back to my house and let this sweet babe cut her next tooth. About two weeks ago we went through our first round of serious teething hell. She was up all night screaming in pain and couldn't be consoled. Then we saw those two front toofers break through and BAM! Our baby was back! She even slept through the night for 2-3 nights.

And then it all came crashing down. Since last Wednesday (Thursday? God only knows at this point, I'm so effing tired) she's been screaming again. Not quite as loud, but just as consistently. It's draining! This morning we saw the swollen white tooth bud and this afternoon I saw the tiniest little slice in the top of the gum line, so I'm hopeful that my baby is back.

Yesterday was my first Mother's Day, but admittedly it was not celebrated until today. DH had a lot of things going on this weekend with friends and family and apparently it fell through the cracks. I was a little hurt and admitted so last night, but came home to a cooked dinner, my new favorite summer wine (Mouton Cadet white Bordeaux) chilled, a hand painted card from Lilly, and the hammock hung up so that Lil and I could take a nap after dinner. HEAVEN! Absolutely perfect. Exactly what I wanted.

In other news, we are almost 7 months along now and I'm still nursing. I am really proud of this, but have no fear: I am not the person who is running around mentioning this to people. I'm been struggling with supply lately since she started solids and it's started to dip, but apparently her appetite has not wavered just yet. There have been some rough days where it takes me 5 pumping sessions to get the 3 bottles she needs for the babysitter's and I'm operating with no freezer stash to back me up. It's been a wee bit rough.

I tried fenugreek, which produced zero results. However, I was pleased that it made not only my armpit smell like maple syrup, but every other part of my body! WHEE! Isn't that exciting?!?! LOL I guess it could be worse though.

So my 2nd option was to try out the MotherLove herbal products and picked up the MotherLove More Milk tincture. I'll admit it, my cheap ass balked at the $17 price tag because when I did the math it appears to be like a 10-15 day supply. But what can ya do? I'm one committed nutbag!

So I tried it. Within a day, my night and a.m. supply were way better. Midday and afternoon continues to suffer, but this is a big improvement. Next up is to add in the tea, try to increase my water intake some more, and to try the More Milk Plus. I really, really would like the ability to go to bed early instead of staying up until 10-11 to get another pumping session in.

BTW, anyone shopping for this stuff, please know that the tincture is effing disgusting tasting. Like icky faces and 20 minutes of an awful aftertaste that vaguely resembles smoker's breath. Again--what can ya do? Maybe I'll pony up the cash for the pills which are more expensive just to avoid this torture.

Anyway, I should probably get working on her 7 month post and I've also been wanting to write some entries about products that I've completely fallen in love with [without receiving any sort of compensation from the makers because (so far) I am not an asshole like that.] So maybe I'll write those soon, on the off-chance that you give a shit. ;-)

xoxo,

SHE SAID MAMA!

I swear, I could scream it from the rooftops--and I damn near did this weekend.

I do not care that she's 6 (okay, almost 7) months old and has no idea what she was saying. I DO NOT CARE. It was effing magical. Like unicorns and rainbows and Cabbage Patch Kids being birthed out of mother-freaking-Earth. There were harps playing and special heavenly lighting. And Cheetos falling like raindrops. That kind of magical.

We were hanging out in the living room with her in my lap when DH was assigned the task of suctioning out her nose because she had been so stuffed up she was having trouble nursing. She writhed about, moaning and trying to avoid his nasal secretion removal efforts when suddenly she said very loudly in a voice I've never heard her use, "MMMMM... MAMA!"

Heart.melt.

I'm so glad that there were witnesses to this event to share inthe magic, as my younger sister was there as well. DH damn near cried.

The thing is, we all gasped and started cheering so loudly that I think we scared her into never saying it again. But even if I never hear the word again, that one moment was enough for me. ;-)