BFF's (Breast Friends Forever)

Maia and I are still nursing, and there are no signs that she's ready to stop any time soon. I get some comments at the restaurant about it when it's brought up- "You've got to get that child off the tit!" I just smile and walk away. Wean her? Weaning is for quitters! And anyway, my little firecracker would never allow it! While some days she's happy for just a couple sessions, and to nurse to sleep at night and then again early in the morning, there are some days when I have to simply shut her off. These past few days have been such a time. She's so incredibly "nurse-y" lately because she's getting her I-teeth. All four of them, all at once. Last night, she again illustrated how important nursing still is to her. We had been nursing for over an hour at about 2am, when she wanted to switch again ("I sitch. I sitch.") and I cut her off..."Maia, mama needs to sleep! Milks are sleeping, and you should, too." And from the dark comes her desperate plea..."Peas! Peas!" and even more sad "I yuv it! I yuv iiiiit!" She's in love with my breasts, and will tell you that they are hers. Any kind of stress, and her hand is down my shirt to hold one. At night, she takes them out herself and is nursing while I still lay sleeping.

It's funny that I feel like I live in two worlds- during the day, at the shop, extended nursing is something I advocate for, and we nurse while we work, and nobody thinks twice. At night at the restaurant, I'm the weird one. They love me there, but they still think I'm a little weird for the way I parent (I'll post more later about their opinions on co-sleeping!). I'm always trying to convert them to "my side", but it's slow going. ;-) A professor of mine, and shop advocate- Juliana Acheson- said I'm working against a hegemony when it comes to breastfeeding. It's so true.
For a great article on extended breastfeeding and its benefits to your child, check out Mothering Magazine.

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Welcome To Maine

Here are few pictures of spring in Maine, and the sunset in my own back yard.

Green Shopping

Reusable Bags for Green Shopping.

A small, easy, yet huge impact step to living greener is to switch to reusable shopping bags. Did you know that anywhere from 500 billion to one trillion plastic shopping bags are consumed each year? These bags end up in the landfills, along the highways, and in the oceans, contaminating our world. Environmental clean-up crews site plastic bags as one of the 12 most common items polluting our earth, and are responsible for the deaths of thousands of marine animals annually as they eat them thinking they are food.

Plastic bags are made using one of our currently most expensive, non-renewable, incredibly polluting resources- petroleum. They are seldom recycled, so although they are cheap for the stores to use, the environmental cost is incredible. So let's join the "BYOB" campaign- Bring Your Own Bag! It's simple- bring your own bags when you go shopping to tote back your goods.

Some good choices:
*Book Bags
*Large Purses
*Canvas Totes
*BackPacks
*Diaper Bags

You may already have a good starter stash at home, and can find many cheap options at thrift stores and online! Now our local Hannaford and WalMart are offering fairly cheap options as well, and Hannaford offers you a small discount for each fabric bag you bring to the checkout and use. Something else to consider as you build up your stash- the small plastic grocery bags don't hold much, so you will need far fewer fabric bags to hold the same amount of food and goods. Bonus if you want to save trips from the car to the house when you get home!

Another way to go green is to choose a fabric gift bag instead of paper. A fabric gift bag can be given, used over and over by the recipient, and re-gifted. Blessed Baby has many options in-store for green shopping- come and see!

Snow and Sun Bread

Seriously, I've had it with snow. We have had 140+ inches of snow this winter already, and it's snowing again. It's bad for business, and it's just not any fun after a while.
For a while, it snowed almost every Monday or Friday. Now it's every Wednesday, and it's been every Wed for a few weeks. It's pretty weird.

But yesterday, I friend of mine loaned me a book that she absolutely loves, and it's the perfect day for it. The book is called Sun Bread, by Elisa Kleven. It's got a lilting rhyme and beautiful illustrations, and it speaks about a dreary day full of snow and grumbles. The baker bakes a sun bread, "and filled them up from toe to head, With puffy, hot, delicious bread. Bread so brilliant, bright and sunny, Summer seemed to fill their tummies." So today, we will make sun bread, and pray for summer to come quickly!

Product Review: Babies Beyond Borders

Today I received shipment of 2 products from Babies Beyond Borders:
Bambino Soft Infant Shoes
Mei Favorite Mei Tais

What fun I've had!
The soft shoes, which are made of 100% fair trade leather, and made by fair-wage paid seamstresses and designed by a WAHM, are beautiful. The quality of the stitching is great, and the Double Suede Padded Soles make them hartier in the sole than the IsaBooties. They also come in sizes up to 7-8 years old, which makes them a great investment for older kids, too. In my shipment, there is one pair of 7-8 yrs old, and I have very small feet. So guess what? They fit me and I wore them for a few minutes. The fit was nice- nothing binding or tight (and I have wide feet!) Also, the DSPS made for a soft walk around the shop! LOL The styling is lovely as well- some really great designs! Great colors, and a huge variety for both boys and girls. If I hadn't just bought Maia some new IsaBooties, I'd buy her a pair of these. Maybe I will, just for the sake of having a child-tested review...we'll see:)

As for the mei tais, I instantly saw a difference between my current mei tai (a Kozy, which I still love love love) and this new one. The waist is a well-padded and clipped strap (much like the Ergo), which makes for quicker and simple putting on. And it's incredibly ergonomic that way. As for the straps, they are less padded than my Kozy, but wider and longer. This provides for a Tibetan tie if you'd like, and more flexibility for a larger person.
Maia was happy in it in the back carry for a while, then wanted to nurse ("I need milk!") so we switched her the front. I had a little bit of a hard time fixing the belt on the front, but sometimes you need some practice I guess. And, she was fidgeting and trying to get to her milk, so she made it tough. But, she nursed and fell asleep...and voila. I love it.

Ooops...

Last night at the restaurant, a mom came in with her baby in a carrier, and in her haste she bumped it- pretty hard- on the stools on the way by. Thankfully, baby was sound asleep and had no idea she had just been jostled. I wondered why this mom was in such a hurry, and how she could be so careless with her newborn. But, after some chatting, she revealed her current personal situation, and I could see where her stress was coming from. I wanted to help, but could only offer a listening ear, which seemed like enough. After some coffee and pie, she was able to leave more slowly and seemed a little more settled. It simply illustrates- over and over- that you can never really know at a glance what's going on in people's lives, and what influences their behavior and reactions. And even the most attentive moms can have moments of inattentiveness when the going gets tough.
This makes me think of Brittney Spears and her current situation. From the outside, we see all these crazy things she's doing. We see only what the media allows us to, which isn't pretty. But do we really know the whole story? As a mother, is she really any different than the rest of us? Should she be held to higher standards just because of her social status? No- nobody should be partying to the point of neglecting their children. Safety should always be our first concern with our kids. But could you, in a moment of incredible stress, make one of the same mistakes she has made recently with her boys? And what has she done, really? I only hear vague allegations of neglect, but what was it really? Has anyone considered post-partum psychosis? I hope, truly, that she receives whatever support, treatment, and care she needs to come through this time in her life.

Blessings

Recently, my car has been showing its age. I can't seem to leave the county without coming home in a tow truck (with 2 children, no less!). I'm wondering if AAA doesn't think I just don't LIKE to drive home! I've been telling DH how much I need brakes, and he has resisted fixing them due to time constraints. So last week I went to a dealership and came home in a $10,000 car on an extended test drive. Oh was he mad about me looking at such a car! He said it was junk, so the next morning I went back, and came home in a $13,000 car. That made him even more angry, but the next day he went and bought brakes to put in my car!

When he checked my brakes, they were fine. He says there's nothing wrong with them. So he put it back together, and i got ready to head for the restaurant. I get in, put the key in the ignition, and step on the brake. SQUISH. Right to the floor. Now I have NO brakes, where before I just had very grindy noisy brakes that worked. Come to find out, there's a hole in my brake lines. All this time, driving all over creation, and my brakes have been noisy but functioning. They could have gone at ANY time. But they didn't. And we are all safe. And I am grateful. Funny how blessings come in strange packages.