This is my first pumped bottle! It took me about 24 hours, but I am, like, unusually proud of it. Why? Because, to me, this represents freedom and flexibility. Two very exciting words for me at the moment! Of course, the next hurdle is seeing if Ali will take a bottle but tackling the pumping issuea was obviously the first step. I didn’t have a pump until she was about a month old and when I tried pumping I got nothing. Now, this may be weird, but I can’t feel when my milk lets down. Which is good (because some people say it’s painful) but bad because I could tell, when pumping, if I was out of milk, or if I hadn’t let down. Since then my supply has been really consistent and I worried that if I pumped I’d run out and there wouldn’t be any when Ali was hungry. Yesterday I finally bit the bullet and decided to pump, nurse, or both every two hours to get my supply up so I can pump more (or at all). Now that I have a back-up bottle the whole thing seems so much easier. If I pump and there’s none left for Ali, there is something to feed her.  

Ugh. Techinical difficulties are such a drag. We’ve been really busy around here though, so it may not have mattered much anyway. Though, now that I think about it, I’m not sure what exactly we’ve been so bust with. Tony, working of course. Ali, being two months old an incessantly needy (which is FINE and expected and most of the time adorable, but also exhausting and trying to one’s patience). Me, trying to let Tony work, trying to keep Ali happy and healthy, trying to keep the sink empty of dishes, trying to get back on the treadmill, trying to get out of the house once in awhile! Somehow, the mundane seems to fill the day.

We have been venturing out to a lot of nearby parks. Walking, exploring, last night we even picnic[ed]. The weather has been glorious the last week or so and I am doing my best to take full advantage while the option still exists. The nights are getting longer, but darkness at eight doesn’t phase me much when we move into the bedroom about that time anyway. Now, when that becomes six, five, and (ugghhhhhh) four-thirty it will be a completely different story. And now……PICTURES.

Um, just kidding. It seems some TDs remain and, as you can tell by Tony’s post, we tend to keep different hours. I’ll wait for him to awake. Stay tuned…..

Yesterday was painful for all of us, but Ali really did do great. She got three shots (which included five vaccines) and one oral whatever-you-call-it. She screamed andher face turned bright red. The kind of scream where they’re so into it no sound even comes out for awhile. Afterward she was so exhausted from missing her morning nap that she immediately fell asleep in the car. We stopped at Walgreens on the way home for our first bottle of baby Tylenol (cherry flavored). When we got home she was still having the after-sobs from a hard cry. She slept most of the day and was really good about taking the medicine. It was obvious when it wore off because she had this sad, pathetic cry but otherwise did amazingly. Today all is well, we took the band-aids off and haven’t needed to fill the dropper wil awkwardly chunky red stuff at all.

Monday night, enjoying her tummy time.

Naked is always a plus.

Tuesday evening, walking in the park.

Such a growing girl.

Holding her rattle this morning.

Ali is getting a whole slew of shots any moment now. I’m super nervous and wish this would just get over with. She weighed imn at 10lbs. 9.5oz. Twenty two and a half inches long.

Yesterday at Anthony’s Beach Cafe.

Tony’s MySpace pose. Ali is a devil child? At least her eyes match her outfit! 

On our two-plus mile walk today.

Two months old…already?!?!

With mommy.

Primping.

Competing to be the prettiest.

This is me as a baby. Ali is starting to look more like me sometimes. I’m not sure if she got overly exhausted in Oregon, kind of sick, or has started teething(!) but Ali was really strangethe last few days. Especially Saturday…she was really whiny, would randomly burst into sobs, HAD to be held and mostly just wanted to nurse. I was also feeling strange, not exactly sick but overly chilly and tired. Ali’s also been drooling WAY more than she ever has and seems unable tokeep her fingers (and often entire fist) out of her mouth. If she’s been feeling badly I sure hope she feels better soon. And it she’s teething then God help us all.