March 2004 Archives
I have just passed the most Full, Tiring, Busy, Exciting, Sleepless, Fullfiling, BESTEST six months of my life.
It just dawned on me that I had reached the end of an era without posting about it.
The end of breastfeeding. Goodbye boobies. Goodbye mommy milk.
Well I did (more or less) the six months that I had in mind, so I am really pleased I reached my goal. I thought I would be really emotional at the end and find it really hard. But with two razor sharp teeth biting your nipple a couple of times (and once even drawing blood!) I find it a lot easier to stop.
For some reason I thought we wouldn't cuddle as much or that the closeness of breastfeeding would go away. But it doesn't of course, I realise that now. It is quite liberating not to have to wear breastfeeding bras or loose-ish t-shirts finally, and it is lovely to see Emily actually grabbing the bottle with both hands when we feed her now - the weeks of screaming and perserverance with bottle feeding finally payed off and now she can't get enough!
How weird to be a recipient on Mothers Day! So I guess it is true then, I really am a mom (it doesn't matter how long goes by, this thought still catches me by surprise!) and I have a card to prove it!
I feel quite proud actually - its great being a parent, responsible and all that, and maybe in years to come Emily will call me and ask me how long the beef needs in the oven or how many spoons of flour is needed to make pastry - and it doesn't matter whether I truely know the answers to all her future questions because I am her mom and thats what moms are for.
Although hopefully she will call and ask me what colours are needed to recreate that burnt red colour she saw at the last exhibition she was at, or whether I think Freehand or Illustrator would be best to finish the set of illustrations she is doing for her art degree....(hmmmm no conditioning there then! hehe).
So just when I thought she was too young to make it down the shops to get me a Mothers Day card, there it was next to her changing mat. Complete with a lovely smelly candle (raspberries & cream - yum) and a frame with photos of us both in (apparently she picked them all by herself). She's a clever girl, my Emily!
Warren bought me what was possibly one of my best Christmas pressies yet - a LC-A compact Lomo Camera, originally from Russia. It takes beautiful pictures, which sometimes reminds me a bit of cine. But as this is Emilys' blog I will not rave on too much about it - but those of you who are interested can take a look at the Lomography site, where I have a homepage.
So I thought I would put up a few of the pics I have taken so far. Not many, but its a start. They are low res so are not great for printing purposes, so if you want to print any (namely mom!) then let me know and I will email a high res version to you.
Being in the house everyday with no adult company except Phil & Fern from This Morning can drive you batty. Especially after five episodes of the Fimbles and then the rest of the day with Roley Moles song going round and round and round in your head!
So I took the plunge, put Emily in the pram and walked up to the mother and baby group, held in the local church. What a strange experience! At first I wondered what I had let myself in for as it was full of crazed toddlers with their grans or nanny/childminders. Not quite what I expected, especially as I was hoping to make at least a couple of friends nearer to my age and in walking distance to the house.
But it didn't turn out too badly. Emily was the youngest there and so was I for that matter, but I did meet a couple of people who seemed quite nice and one was from England, so that definately gives us something to talk about.
So I think I will perservere and go to the next one...its definately interesting being a mom!
Go out to the garage at 1:45am in the cold to fetch two little ice-cube size blocks of potato and carrot.
