The day I hit 30 weeks was the day we said good-bye to Del Rio, Texas! Definitely mixed feelings about this: we met a lot of great people, made some wonderful friends, and will be leaving with lots of memories. But I’m excited for the next chapter, to get to know a new base/city, and to see some family while we’re close-ish. And I seriously can’t believe we only have about 10 weeks until we meet the newest member of our family!
Not a great picture, sorry. It was the morning we left TLF, so we did it quickly before we packed up the car. And I’m very basic when it comes to photo editing haha.
How far along: 30 weeks on 20 March 2018 Approximate size of Baby: the size of a cantaloupe or a platypus (about 15.7″ long and almost 3 lbs)
Gender: No clue, but you can now go make your guess on our Baby Pool!
Weight gain: 15 lbs (hoping the weight gain slows down soon… it’s been coming on fast these last few weeks!) Symptoms: fatigue, back pain, eczema, eye issues, nasal congestion, nausea, SPD?, Braxton Hicks contractions
Gerrit has been up more again recently. I think he’s having dreams (he says weird things when he does wake in the night), but he’s also been more clingy. He often wants me to lay with him when he’s falling back to sleep. And then when I try to go back to sleep in my own bed, it takes awhile. So lots of fatigue.
I’m noticing more back pain again. I’ve been trying to be more aware of my posture, doing more pelvic tilts, and resting when I can.
Still limiting my contact lens use. I didn’t even try wearing them this week.
Nausea come and goes. Usually in the evening like it has been throughout this pregnancy, although I’ve been dry heaving some mornings again too. Low appetite at dinner seems to be coming back again too.
I’ve definitely been overdoing it with lifting and bending while packing. I’ve had some pretty painful SPD symptoms on those days.
Maternity clothes: All the time. Down to only what I packed for this TDY, so hopefully I chose wisely haha. Stretch marks: no new ones Belly button in or out: in but getting shallow Sleep: Depends on the night Best moment this week: Heading out of Del Rio! Like I said above, LOTS of mixed feelings here. The reason it’s my “best moment” is because I hate being in limbo. Waiting in TLF had us all on edge, and I’m ready to feel settled again. But leaving Laughlin AFB for the last time? I had tears in my eyes. I know I complained about the Texas heat, the lack of things to do here, and being far from family, but the community here was amazing, and I will miss so many things about the squadron and our neighborhood. 😦 Miss anything: Not waddling, bending over, and rolling over easily in bed Movement: Sometimes I feel like it’s ALL the time! The baby has to sleep once in awhile, but there are days where the movement seems nonstop. Cravings: Nothing new. Green apples still just taste amazing to me. Looking forward to: Getting settled in Little Rock — I’m really excited to set up a new (temporary) home and explore the city!
With a little extra free time being in TLF right now, I’ve been going through some old drafts that didn’t get published when I started working on them! Here’s one that I started in early December:
Well, we’re done. After over three years of breastfeeding, I have packed up my nursing tops for the time being. As much as I kept wanting Gerrit to self-wean, the end was bittersweet.
I’m not going to recap our nursing journey too much, except to say that we had a rough start, Gerrit was never predictable and never followed any type of schedule, and after all that he surprised me by starting to want to nurse all the time a few months before his first birthday. I was pleasantly surprised when he started nursing better, and thought maybe we’d actually make it to two years (the recommendation by WHO).
My photo for World Breastfeeding Week
Well, we definitely made it to two years! I kept hoping that sometime after he turned two, he would start to self-wean. Not a chance haha! I ended up cutting out the majority of his night nursing shortly after his 2nd birthday, but I didn’t push any other weaning until I got pregnant this fall.
I’ll be honest, part of the reason I wanted to get pregnant was to give me a good reason to wean Gerrit. I figured being pregnant would dry up my supply at some point, and I knew I definitely did not want to tandem nurse. Well, it worked! Between my supply drying up and the pain that started accompanying Gerrit’s latch, I knew we needed to wean. Fast.
The most painful nursing session for me was the first of the day. I usually would let Gerrit come to bed with me around 5 or 6 in the morning, and he would nurse/snuggle until he was ready to get up for the day. Sometimes it was 30 minutes, sometimes it was 2 hours. As my first trimester progressed, that long nursing session became increasingly painful. I got to the point where I couldn’t even sleep through it, so it was clear that it had to stop. I can’t remember when exactly I cut this session out, but it was shortly before Gerrit turned 3, so I’ll say mid-October. I told him he could still come to bed and snuggle with me, but no more boo-boo (nursing). He was mad about it, but he had been telling me that there was no more milk left, so he didn’t fight me too much on it. He probably only came to bed with me a couple more days after that to snuggle before he decided he’d rather just stay in his own bed. We had some early mornings for awhile there, but he quickly got used to going straight to eating breakfast in the morning instead of nursing.
The next nursing sessions to go were the daytime ones. These had been decreasing some days anyway, but it seemed like when I cut out that early morning session, it set the tone for the day. Gerrit basically stopped asking to nurse at all during the daytime! It helped that my parents were visiting, since they were a good distraction, but I was really surprised by how easy it was to stop the daytime nursing.
Last to go, and the one I figured would be the hardest, was the bedtime nursing session. I think the thing that helped the most with weaning off of this one was talking about it with Gerrit. We talked about how my milk was going away because he was a big boy now. I really didn’t want to bring the pregnancy into it, because I didn’t think it was a good idea for him to think the baby was “taking away” his milk. I also told him that he had his water cup in case he got thirsty. We would still rock together in the glider before bed, and I would still sing him a bedtime song, because I thought keeping things as similar to what he’s always known was important. It got to the point where Gerrit would nurse for awhile, then stop and tell me, “Hm, no more milk.” Then we’d either keep rocking together or he’d ask me to put him in his bed and just rub his back.
I think I’ll always remember the last time I nursed Gerrit, because it was the day before Thanksgiving. We had friends over for Thanksgiving dinner, so he stayed up a bit later than normal. He was so tired when we finally got him ready for bed! And that was the first night that he didn’t ask to nurse at all. I was so shocked, but I didn’t say a word… just rocked him to sleep. The next night, he did ask to nurse, but I reminded him that he hadn’t nursed the night before, and he just said, “Oh, okay.” And that was that.
Once Gerrit was done nursing, he did still ask for boo-boo once in awhile. I would tell him that my milk was all gone now, and he pretty much just accepted that answer. We gave him some “big brother” books for Christmas, and while reading those he realized that I was going to be breastfeeding his baby brother or sister. So that’s when I told him that I still didn’t have milk, but that when the baby was born, I would make milk just for him/her. He occasionally suggested that they could share: “One boo-boo for the baby, and one for me!” But I told him that the baby would need all the milk to get big and strong so they could play together.
As for me? It’s hard to say how weaning affected me physically. I feel like the symptoms that can come with weaning are also symptoms of pregnancy, so I’m not sure how much they overlapped! I didn’t really have any uncomfortable physical symptoms, since I really had pretty much just dried up. Plus it was very gradual anyway. I had nausea and headaches, but I attributed that to pregnancy without realizing it could also be from weaning. Emotionally it was tough. I definitely went through a depressed phase, although I didn’t really realize it until later. It felt like Gerrit didn’t need me the same way anymore. I felt like I wasn’t as much of a mother as I had been. I didn’t realize what a difference it would make to not nurse my child anymore. I was glad to be done: my breasts and nipples were so sensitive at that point. But I just wanted him to need me that way again. I missed the snuggles. I missed that special bond.
And now it’s 4 months later! I feel like so much has happened in those 4 months: Gerrit potty-trained himself, he started becoming more social, and he is now out of his crib. I feel like he has just grown up so much since turning 3. I have no idea if weaning played a part in all the changes, but it’s been emotional for me to see him leave toddlerhood behind. I’m amazed at the little boy he’s becoming, and the shift I’ve felt had a bigger effect on me than I thought it would.
I always knew I wanted to breastfeed. I never knew how hard it could be. As we left infancy and moved into the toddler stage, we encountered new challenges. I had fewer and fewer friends to talk with about nursing as more and more weaned their little ones. There were days I hated it, and there were days I loved it. All in all, I would definitely say I loved breastfeeding my son. There were so many tears, smiles, hurdles, and snuggles. I will always appreciate being able to nurse Gerrit as long as I did, and I will savor all those sweet memories we made.
Ugh, another very late birthday post! At least this one is coming before he hits his half birthday…
Do we still have a toddler? Is he a preschooler now? I don’t know, but we have a THREE year old!
Age: 3 years old on 27 Oct 2017 Weight: 29.5 lbs Height: 36.5 inches Teeth: 20 Clothing Size: 3T Diaper Size: size 4 Milestones: I don’t even know…what are 3-year-olds supposed to be able to do?? He talks up a storm, he loves being active, and we think he’s pretty smart. He knows all of his colors, including a few less common ones (cyan for example); he can easily count to 10 but tries counting to 20 (the teens mess him up a bit); he recognizes a lot of letters in the alphabet; he can spell his name; and he can tell you a LOT about dinosaurs.
Sleeping: Shortly after Gerrit turned 2, I decided to night wean him in hopes of getting more sleep. After that first rough week, sleep did improve! It took a couple of months, but he did sleep through the night once in February. And then he started cutting his 2 year molars, so sleep went downhill again. As we approached his third birthday, he was sleeping fairly well (for him) most nights though: 1 or 2 night wakings, and he usually ended up in bed with us around 6am for a couple of hours.
A couple of weeks before he turned 3, I decided to really push full weaning. I was about 8 weeks along in my new pregnancy, and nursing was really getting uncomfortable for me. It was to the point where I was clenching my teeth as he latched on, so I knew we needed to cut back. A lot. The biggest issue for me was his early morning nursing. He would more or less stay latched on for over an hour, and it was becoming too painful for me to sleep though. So I told him he could still come and sleep with us in the morning, but boo-boo was done. He was mad, but honestly he didn’t throw a big fit or anything. And then he started sleeping through the night! They were short nights at first (he’d wake over an hour earlier than normal, but wouldn’t go back to sleep since he couldn’t nurse), but they eventually got longer.
I think napping more or less ended this summer. When I could get him down for a nap, he would stay up way too late in the evening, and I was getting really frustrated with bedtime taking an hour or more. Plus waking him from a nap was horrible: he was so crabby! So we started just not doing naps. It was a gradual change. He’d nap one day, skip a few days, nap another day. I was fine with car catnaps. By the time he turned 3, naps were done though.
Eating: Gerrit eats like a typical toddler. He wants what he wants, and refuses a lot of things that I make. I’ve worked in two “safe nights” in the menu each week: Mondays are always pizza night and Thursdays are always spaghetti night. Those are two nights that I know he will eat well! The other nights he gets what I make with no substitutions. The only thing I have caved on is letting him have ketchup with his meat if he doesn’t want to eat it. Ketchup apparently makes everything better in Toddler World.
For breakfast Gerrit loves “mama cereal” (Special K Red Berries) and “dada cereal” (Frosted Mini Wheats) as well as pancakes. His favorite lunch is leftover pizza, leftover spaghetti & meatballs, and “purple mac” (Annie’s shells and white cheddar). Gerrit loves apples, strawberries, and raspberries, will occasionally eat some banana, and enjoys sharing oranges, grapefruit, and pomelo with Andrew. He used to love broccoli and cauliflower, but now it’s hit or miss. He has discovered a love of ranch dressing though, and he’ll eat a lot of spinach and celery if he has ranch to go with! He’s warming up to carrots, and he enjoys beets because they turn his tongue purple. 🙂 One thing we really don’t have an issue with is Gerrit eating enough meat: he often asks for seconds…thirds… as much as he can get when it comes to the protein portion of the meal. His favorite snacks are “blue Goldfish” (the vanilla cupcake kind), “Mimi Goldfish” (flavor blasted cheddar), graham crackers, and pretzels. He mostly drinks water, but he also likes whole milk, orange juice, apple juice, and lemonade. Just no “poke-poke” drinks (anything carbonated)!
Mommy Update: The third year definitely had some new challenges. We saw the start of tantrums and meltdowns, Gerrit started showing more aggression toward peers, and I’d say we just went through the “terrible two’s” in general. This year tested my patience, pushed my buttons, but gave me a lot of laughs too. Despite the hard times and bad days, two-year-olds are just plain fun too. Hearing Gerrit’s verbal skills develop was amazing, and I was fascinated by the things he would say and ideas he came up with. It’s pretty entertaining to see your mannerisms come out in your toddler, and I loved seeing his personality develop more.
Me personally? This was my year of successful weight loss! I started working at losing weight around the time Gerrit turned 2, and I was able to drop 15 pounds in about 9 months or so. I lost the first 10 pounds pretty steadily (2 lbs a week or so), maintained that loss for about 6 months, then slowly lost another 5 pounds. Getting pregnant made me lose another 7 pounds, but I’m sure I’ll gain that back in the near future!
September 2016January 2017
Likes & Dislikes
Gerrit is still a very active kid. He loves being outside! Living on base, we have several playgrounds in walking distance. I feel like we went to the one closest to our house at least once a day when the weather was good (so 90% of the time). He developed a love of being pushed on the swing. He would swing for hours if we would agree to push him for that long! Gerrit still enjoys getting wet and dirty: he loves his water table & sprinkler, he is always in the dirt and rocks, and he will make mud whenever he can.
Between 2 and 3, I definitely saw a decrease in wanting to look at/read books and an increase in wanting to watch TV. I’ll be honest, I usually let him watch TV so I could get things done or just get a break. With Andrew gone all the time with pilot training and studying at home, I used the TV as a babysitter way more than I’d like to admit. His favorite shows on Amazon are “Stinky & Dirty,” “Team Umizoomi,” “Dinosaur Train,” “Dino Dana,” & “Tumbleleaf,” and his favorites on Netflix are “Octonauts,” “Super Wings,” and “DinoTrux.” We also depended on TV shows and movies to get us through long car rides… another thing I’m not proud of, but traveling alone with a toddler can be trying.
As for favorite toys, I’d say Gerrit played with his cars/trucks, dinosaurs, and train set the most this year. Despite the different things I’ve gotten for him to build with, he definitely still preferred destruction! If we played with blocks, he wanted me to do the building so he could knock down towers with his trucks. He usually wanted to instruct me to build things with his bristle blocks, although as he neared age 3, he started building his own airplanes and boats!
Gerrit really enjoys playing with Play Doh & painting. We basically had Play Doh out almost every day. It was fun watching him learn to use the different tools to manipulate the dough over the year. He started out always wanting me to roll the dough or cut the dough, but he slowly started getting the hang of doing those things himself. Gerrit loves finger painting. I tried watercolors once or twice, but he really prefers getting in there with his hands and using different textures to mix colors. We always had plenty of artwork up on the wall to look at!
Dislikes? He never liked getting his diaper changed or getting dressed. Both were usually a chore for me. Gerrit definitely dislikes not getting his way; he is very stubborn too. His third year was full of tantrums & meltdowns over very minor things (to me) that were a huge deal to him: getting ready for bed, leaving the park, not being able to be held while I cook, not being able to wear sandals in cold weather, taking shoes off in the house, etc. I learned to pick my battles some days.
For awhile, Gerrit disliked leaving the house for any reason, especially in the mornings. Most toddler activities here are scheduled in the morning, and getting him out of the house was next to impossible some days. He’d fight me on going to weekly play group at the park, I’d have to practically drag him to the library for Story Time, and he hated having to go run errands with me. Most of the time, he was fine once we got in the car or got to our destination, but actually getting out of the house was so hard some days. It was just a phase, but it seemed like a really long phase. I’d say he definitely just had issues with transitions for awhile.
Memorable Events
I feel like I touched on quite a few memorable events when I did my recap of our first year in Del Rio, so I’m not going to mention them all again. Plus it’s tough to remember everything that happened in a year! I also did a separate post for Gerrit’s 3rd birthday party, but that was definitely a fun event for all of us!
Happy 3rd birthday, Gerrit! Everything with you is an adventure, and we love watching you learn and grow. For every terrible two tantrum you had, we also had a great snuggle session. I’ll definitely remember the times you pushed me to the end of my rope, but I’ll cherish all the giggle-filled tickle fights, the way you always fit perfectly in my crook of my arm, and your sweet smiles. I appreciate (even though I don’t always like) every way you challenge us, because it make us better parents. I know your strong personality will be such a great asset to you as you get older, and I hope we are nurturing your skills as best we can. We love you so much, Gerrit.
On An Even Kiel 