Let the weaning begin!

Alright, maybe not right away but there are signs pointing in that direction. Nursing this last weekend while we were in Iowa was less than pleasant. Alert- this may be TMI for those readers (if there are in fact ANY still out there) who had issues with my nursing updates last September.
I had just sent an e-mail out to my lactation consultant to inquire about weaning techniques. She gave my some advise but I wasn't ready to start any time soon because everything was still so perfect...until Friday. I am so sore right now that I can hardly nurse. Liliana has taken the position that I am just a bottle or a toy. She grabs me with both hands and pulls my boob (excuse me, breast) out of her mouth while still sucking. Remember she also has 2 very sharp teeth now. She does this over and over and it hurts so much. Nursing when she is really tired is still okay but even at night she pulls a lot. So, in any case, I think the next step is to continue pumping at work and nursing her mornings and evenings but to give her formula or pumped milk from a bottle during the days of the weekends. Eventually moving to formula only and reduce my pumping until I am only producing enough for morning and evening feedings. This will lead to nightime feedings only and then none. My goal is to complete this transition by August. However, if the pain or behavior does not improve, I may have to move this time line up. Makes me very sad...

As I mentioned, we were in Iowa over the weekend to visit Frank and Beth and Chris' grandma. It was a very short trip and staying with Liliana in a hotel is getting more difficult now that she is on sleep schedule. Basically we either have to go to bed at 7:00 with her or keep her up until a more reasonable adult bedtime which isn't really fair to her. If we are staying in a house, at least we can put her in a room and go into another room to watch a movie or have a glass of wine with company. In any case, it made the trip a little difficult. Still, she traveled great in the car again- no complaints there!

No closer to crawling though she continues to stick her butt in the air while putting her face on the ground - that won't help much with forward propulsion but she will eventually figure that out.

Her personality is really coming out and it is apparent now that we need to really watch our own behavior around her because she seems to be taking it all in. She is sassy for sure. She swipes at me a lot and likes to scratch with her fingernails. I think it feels good to her but obviously not so much for me. As I type this I realize I have to wrap it up b/c she is mad at me for ignoring her. She is yelling at me to come play with her- really she does that.

Bye for now!