Nursing Antics, Anniversary Hike

My blog has over ten thousand views since it's creation last year. I find it hard to believe that that many people have cared to read and or just gloss over my rantings, but there it is in numerical form: 10462.

Wow.

My daughter is 9 months old and doing absolutely fantastic! She's growing like a sunflower and learning all sorts of wonderful things. She is currently fervently trying to walk and gets very frustrated when the process doesn't go according to plan.



Here are some pictures of the recent goings-on around our house:

Kathryn discovers pure, refined white sugar while Mom washes dishes. 

Kathryn loves to help with cloth diaper laundry. 

Kathryn and her big brother, T. I love this picture of them. :) 

Happy Father's Day! 

Nursing before a nice hike at Clifton Gorge on our anniversary. 

K was sneaking in pics. 

My girl and me. 

K on the mossy bridge. 

Look at her cute face! 

She loved the hike. 

Partial family picture. 

Kathryn has, for sure, entered the what I call, "Goat Stage" of infant development. She eats every thing she can manage to pick up between her index finger and thumb. Today, it was a dead centipede that K dragged in after working on his bike in the garage. I have an insane fear of insects with lots of legs, so imagine how it went with me trying to scoop that thing out of her mouth with my pinky. Yuck! 

My boys are both here. M lives here, as you well know. T is here for the week and I'm loving every single second of seeing his sweet face. I love that boy so much. I love all my kids, but he has a special spot in my heart. Maybe because were are so damned much alike or maybe because he is my sensitive one, even though he'd deny that all the way to the grave. It's been fantastic having him here. He leaves for Nationals on Monday. 

I go up and down these days. Some days I find Kat's new nursing antics humorous and other days (like today), I find them incredibly annoying and want to figuratively (and literally...like this morning) run away as quickly as humanely possible. Today I rushed from the bed, threw on my robe, fled downstairs, was pissed to find the coffee not ready (so I made some), then found a bit of sanctuary in the back yard, where I sat on a dew soaked chair and listened to the birds sing. 

It was fucking sheer heaven. 

She is to the point where sitting still to nurse NEVER happens. She is always trying to stand and nurse, trying to turn onto her belly to nurse, kicking me, pinching my other nipple, rolling the skin of my breast between her fingers (and razor sharp nails...I have so many scratches from this!), pulling on my nipple, etc. I could go on. She has also taken to nursing all. night. long. 

Joy. 

Motherhood is hard. That or maybe I'm just not that good at it or not cut from the fabric that makes the good and patient mothers who smile through all days, no matter how mundane or redundant they may be. 

What makes it even harder is the fact that it is not socially acceptable for a mother to complain about the challenges of motherhood. No one likes to hear that. Mothers who WANT to complain don't even like the fact that they feel the need to complain. Children are not a JOB, after all! Moms think, "How could I complain about my precious baby?! I'm a terrible mommy." 

No, I say you're a human being. 

A lonely one, a hard as fuck working one. 

And one who is most often taken for granted by everyone around her. 

Chin up, mamas.