Not Going Down Without a Fight

So, the week we moved, we started Aaron on formula. As sad as it makes me, I am happy that I was able to supply all breast milk for him for 5 months (with Ben, I started supplementing at 3 months; when I went back to work). For that, I am thankful. Unfortunately, as soon as we started formula, I dried up quick!! It was a matter of weeks before we was formula all day. I'm really, really disappointed. I think I'm just very stressed out right now - I'm super busy at work and I was missing my daily appointments to pump. I reduced my appointments to two a day because I was feeling awful when I'd pump and get 2 oz. At least twice a day it seemed like I was getting a little more. Moving was a stress (although J.R. definitely had the brunt of it) and I'm stressed about finances as our rent is now higher, and J.R.'s unemployment runs out very soon. Stress reeks havoc on my body, so I think that was a big part of it.



However, I'm not going down without a fight. Two Fridays ago, Aaron was up twice overnight. I nursed him the first time he got up, and just knew that was going to be the last time. It was very sad for me, but at the same time, I felt OK. Then Sunday we were out, and he was hungry, so I tried to nurse him to see if that would calm him while the bottle warmed. He seemed OK. Monday I went pumpless to work. Tuesday morning I woke up and my t-shirt was a little wet on one side, then I saw a drop of milk on the other side after my shower. I took my pump to work and got 4.5 oz!! I was thrilled - literally dancing! That was the last time I pumped, which I have to say, does not make me sad. Since then, I have nursed Aaron three times. I'm not sure how much he got, but at least once, he had milk dripping down his cheek, and two nights ago he almost fell asleep. So, he is at least getting enough to hold him over until a bottle warms. This makes me happy!



Again, I'm happy I went all breast milk for 5 months, but I'm disappointed it took only weeks to go all formula. There were many days at the beginning I thought of how it would be so much simpler to not breastfeed. I was tired in the middle of the night and wanted help. I was sore and felt like I couldn't do anything else. I knew I just had to work through it. I did, and now, I'll miss it so much.



We started rice cereal over the weekend. He's not a huge fan, but we'll work on it. On the bright side...he's sleeping through the night!

We moved!

We did it, we offically moved into our new apartment. We didn't move too far away; we are only two miles from our old place. This apartment is bigger. We are in a complex, which I'm ok with. I've lived in complexes before, and they are nice. There are several perks. One being maintenance! I don't have to call the landlord and not have him show up. In this place, they'll actually respond. There is a gym and a lending library also. There is a swimming pool, but we have to pay for it. We probably won't because the Philadelphia swimming pools are free, so we will just go there. There is a nice one pretty close to us.

As for the apartment, the kitchen is small, but there is room to move around and there is plenty of cabinet space. Ben seems to approve of the space.

The living room/dining room area is much, much larger. There is lots of room for the kids' toys. The 2nd bedroom is bigger than the old nursery. We can fit Aaron and Ben in there. Our bedroom is a little smaller, but there is still plenty of room, and I get to keep my scrapbook area! The closet space here is unbelievable. That is one thing we definitely didn't have in the old place. We have a storage locker, but I have so much stuff to store, we are quickly running out of space. Parking is decent, even late at night. We can hear some traffic from the main road we live on, but it's not to bad. It gets loud when the windows are open, so I can't leave the kids' window open when they are trying to sleep.

We are so blessed to have the friends we do who helped us move. We were able to get the keys to the new place on Sept. 16 and we didn't end our old lease until Sept. 30. It was nice to have two weeks to move. We spent almost every night moving over a carload of stuff at a time. On the 19th, our friends Jerry and Sharon drove up from Maryland with a box trailer and grabbed all our big furniture and everything we had boxed up to that point. My friend Pete from work came over that day too, so we had some hands helping lift and move and keep two kids occupied. Then a former student came over one night, and current student came over on her day off, and watched the boys so that we could bring some more stuff over and unpack. Then the weekend of the 25th, J.R.'s parents came up and took the boys all day Saturday and by the end of the weekend, everything was out of the old place and into the new.

We still have tubs to unpack and things to put away. I'm sure it'll take us a while to get completely settled in. Mostly the stuff to put away now are the things that we just don't know what to do with yet. Although there is a lot of closet space, things are just laid out differently so it's hard to find room for some things. We also lost the desk and the paper stand, so J.R.'s computer is on an old night stand in the living room and the printer is on top of the entertainment center.

We have a lot of stuff. I have a lot of stuff. I've done three yard sales and I'm doing another one in two weeks. For a packrat (I prefer to call myself sentimental) I'm doing very well at getting rid of stuff. I've sent quite a bit to Salvation Army as well. I want to go through my holiday decorations and the toys to see if there is anything to get rid of at the next yard sale. Among other things, I also have all the baby clothes that are too small for Aaron...which by the way, means anything under 6-9 months! I'm even selling some scrapbook stuff. See, I am doing good!

A friend asked tonight if I missed the old place and without hesitation, I said NO! We are adjusting well. I love the space, it's clean, there are no mice and it feels so good to be out of the bedroom! We are enjoying actually being in the living room each night! We ate dinner at our kitchen table once! Since then, it's been covered up by stuff, but we've been doing some cleaning so we can see most of the table top again. I'm sure by the end of the week we'll be eating there as a family again.