Mommy Milestons

Monday was a big shift; I left the pump at home. Production is somewhat low and I am only nursing in the morning and bedtime and my body says that’s okay... I have to say it’s rather liberating not carrying that black bag to and from and having a half hour of my day back.


I’m going strong for at least another week and a half and then it may be time to sign-off from nursing. Like I said, I’d be proud with 8 months - especially after all the hurdles and tears those first few weeks!


In other Mommy Milestones®, I packed away the B-cup bras today. Bummer : )

Babble Babble

7 Months, Week 4

8 Month Checkup

7 Months, Week 4


We had our 8-mo checkup yesterday. Our pediatrician has an office in Sharonville right next to a womens’ center - where protestors camp out... makes for an uncomfortable entrance - !


Apparently there’s a urinalysis at this age which I was not provided with the urine sample bag at our 6-mo visit. They gave it to me this visit and this contraption has to adhere to Nora’s bottom bits and collect her urine - that’ll be interesting - geezum! 


Nora is 27.25" long [75%] and 18lbs [60%] now! The pediatrician said she’s a happy, healthy baby - woo! 


The pediatrician again [yes, again] told me I should just whip up some meatballs with ricotta, mush up some lentils, make up some dried beans and just let Nora nosh away. Meatballs? “Have you given her Indian food yet?” Huh? Well I’m all for adventurous food, but I’m still cautious, especially with a baby with no teeth yet! 


And she said we should be off bottles in 2 months - 2 months! What happened to my baby? Nutty! Got to get down with the sippy cup now. 

And finally, Nora has regularly been on her hands and knees and the knees are starting to make forward movements before falling to her belly. The crawling is looming... 

Garage Sale

7 Months, Week 4


We held our first ever garage sale Saturday - Amy and Dottie added onto our loot so it felt fairly rounded out. We ran from 8am - 4pm and did okay I think. The Kieffer boys were very helpful, entertaining Nora and even mowed our grass for a video game system! 


Essentially, Tim and I are purging the house and finishing up some small projects to get on the market by [if not before] March... if a second baby were to come, there’s no way we could comfortably stay in this house. Not to mention mortgage rates are great right now!


It’s been fun “window” shopping online and realized that school district now has to be a main driver - ! We still like the idea of staying in West Chester - we could move fairly far and still be in the Lakota school district. Or maybe Mason or Loveland... we’ll see! 

Highfield Discovery Garden

7 Months, Week 4


Last weekend we met up with friends at the Highfield Discovery Garden in Glendale Gardens Park down the highway a bit - why haven’t we been here before? The Discovery Garden is an amazing children’s park with an awesome treehouse and various gardens for kids to walk through. Nora of course just looked around, but we’re excited to continue visiting the park.

Keeping Myself Entertained

7 Months, Week 2


I’m glad she can keep herself entertained!

Sippy Cup

7 Months, Week 2 


At our 6-mo checkup, the Ped said we could start to introduce the sippy cup... Nora’s taking her time.

Babies & Music

7 Months, Week 2


We’ve slowly rid ourselves of the summer colds. Thankfully it never hit Nora. 


Tim has set lunchtime basketball aside and is now joining me in running which I really enjoy - I’ve never had a running partner! We flip flop on weeknights and on Sunday mornings we take the baby jogger out - talk about a workout - it’s like swinging a weighted bat. The front wheel doesn’t steer and it pulls a bit to the left, so we may need to re-jig some things... 


This past Saturday we had some free tickets to the Bunbury music festival downtown. We went with our good friends, the Sheehans - their little one is 10 months old. We met up with another couple and their 5-week old, so it was fun getting the three girls together! Just 3 years ago the six of us would go to music festivals together and now we go for a short time with our daughters : ) 


Nursing seems to be winding down a bit... my flow ain’t what it used to be so I’ve been following up some nursing periods with a little bit of formula. I have my first business trip coming up the third week of August, so if I haven’t dried up by then, that will be my sign-off. I’m actually going to miss the specialness of nursing. However, all the tasks that come with it will be nice to move on. So if she gets 8 months total of the boob, I’ll be happy.

Dads and their girls!

Poor nugget never fell asleep for nap #3.

Ava rocking the ear protection.

New Moms and their lovely ladies!

In Da Club[house]

7 Months, Week 1


Thursday after the holiday, Tim and I both woke up with “fuzzy” throats - ruh-roh. Thursday night I nixed my run because I was feeling achey and maybe even chills? Friday was more of the same - I just wanted soup and crackers for dinner, was wrapped in a blanket and laid down at 9:15 after downing some Alka Seltzer. 


Saturday felt fairly better, but still a sore throat. We ran loads of errands and even a stop into IKEA - the best place to go on a Saturday afternoon! *sarcasm* I felt better Saturday PM so stayed up later with some wine... Which never pairs well with a baby who wakes up at 5:30am on a Sunday - booo!


My throat is still not right today. If I’m still not in shape in the morning, I guess I’ll resort to calling the doctor - ugh. 


In the land of Nora, she had lots of floor time today and rolled herself to and fro - more time in her favorite new spot - the “Clubhouse” - under the coffee table. It’s cute for now until her head reaches bumping height! 

I also love dumping over my toy basket now!

4th of July

7 Months, Week 1


Our few vacation days went by very fast and fun. Tuesday morning we did our first family run together with the Baby Jogger - holy cow, that’s tough. You can’t really swing your arms and just the extra weight going uphill is rough. I also was a nincompoop and didn’t bring water so I only reached 4.5 miles. 


Wednesday we were invited to a friend’s lakehouse down in KY. Tim and I were both pretty anxious just about making sure Nora was taken care of and additionally with our decision to treat Ailo and bring him along as well. The poor guy doesn’t get as much exercise and interaction with his pals as he used to. 


The day actually went splendid. Ailo was never on his leash and was well behaved and honed his swimming skills. Nora napped for 2.5 hours which allowed Tim and I to enjoy a little lazy rafting with a beverage and lunch all before she woke up. 


We put her in the lake for about 10 minutes - she didn’t hate it. I mainly wanted to keep her in the shade and kept dripping cold cooler water on her, as well as giving her extra bottles to keep her hydrated. She did great and by 3:30 we decided we’d had our fill and packed up. 


We thought with a 1-hr drive, Nora would certainly nap the whole way home. And being the typical wildcard, she fell asleep 5 minutes from home. Another nap in the pumpkin seat on the couch!


While the day was really great, we were exhausted and in bed by 9:30!

After my day at the lake, I rolled around naked to cool down!

Weebles Wobble...

6 Months Week 4


Not too much to report - Nora is very close to sitting on her own - she’s fairly stable but falls here and there. Still very roly-poly and pivots on her belly - she likes to wiggle under the coffee table and is not tipping over her toy basket. 


Today was all over the place - she was very happy most of the day, though very tired and yawning between naps. After waking at 12pm, she was a grump. Wouldn’t eat her cereal and kept crying... I tried nursing her and was straining to poop - which was successful. She was still grumpy and did not nurse afterwards. We made up a bottle and she only drank about half of it before turning it away.


She has no fever and we can’t see/feel any teeth. So I nervously loaded Nora and I into the car to visit some friends - she fell asleep within 5 minutes in the car! When we arrived to our destination she was just fine and enjoyed playing on the floor with toys. We left after 1 hour and again, Nora fell asleep within a few minutes in the car!


Of course I left her in the pumpkin seat when we got home and she’s been sleeping in it since! It’s been 1hr 20 mins now.... Who knows what her deal is today - just one of those “off” days!


*Edit: She slept until 4:20 in her pumpkin seat! Was in a great mood for the rest of the evening - my conclusion is that she just had to poop to feel better!