I guess he's a Boob Man

If you had asked me 13 months ago how long I planned to nurse Noah, I would have said "I hope to make it to a year, but then we'll be done."  Shoot, if you asked me 3 months ago I would have said the same thing.  And here we are, at 13 months, still going strong. 

It's a conundrum.  I know it's good for him... if I am being honest, I know it is best for him.  The research is there.  He isn't drinking whole milk because of some suspected allergies, and there really just isn't a replacement for a whole milk...  Except breast milk.  The World Health Organization's official recommendation is to breast feed until your child is at least 2 years old.  Breast milk coming from a mother who  has been lactating for over a year has significantly increased fat and energy contents (probably good for my lil' energizer bunny!)  Nursing toddlers (I just realize Noah now fits into that category.... ahhh!) have fewer illnesses and illnesses of shorter duration than their non nursing counterparts.  I could go on and on of the benefits for Noah... not to mention, the benefits for me.

But on the other hand, I miss my body being MINE!  Because, let's face it, nursing is kind of a mutual understanding between mom and child that her boob is just as much theirs as it is hers.  I miss being able to have more than a glass of wine and not having to worry about how long I need to wait before nursing.  I look forward to the day when anyone can put Noah to bed without having to worry about having pumped milk in the freezer.  I think about all of this, and then I stop, dead in my tracks.  All of those reasons are about ME.  Selfish, much?!

A week ago, Noah didn't nurse for an entire day.  I was convinced that he was weaning himself.  I was sorta kinda crushed.  I kept thinking about how I was going to miss the snuggle time, getting to sit down for a few minutes, and the sweet moments of getting to just stare at eachother.  I realized that I have a life time for my body to be mine again... to get to drink as much wine and cofffee as I want whenever I want... But the days I have nursing Noah are limited.  I need to love the time and embrace the season.

It baffles me that I am one of those women who has a nursing toddler.  But I am.  And I love it.  I promise I wont start wearing hemp skirts or growing my own kefir on my kitchen counter, though. 

xoxo,
~The Grant Gang

Bad photographs make the best pictures!

Despite the bad iPhone photography, here are some great pictures of what we have been up to!

Noah wearing a silly hat at Lolly's.  He LOVES this thing!

Cuddling his blanket.  Kid LOVES his blankets.

The mighty ZEBRA!

Austin's in the dog house!

All snuggled up for an early morning jog with momma.

Noah's swing!

I'm going to start calling him Linus.

Of course, the shower.  Where else would one play?

I got crafty and sewed up a little sling.  We are loving it!

"LEAVES!!!!  Mom, these leaves are so FUN!!!"

As my mom said... "Only Noah could figure out how to put a square peg in a round hole."  Luckily momma worked her magic and nursed it back to life.

xoxo,

~The Grant Gang

The little turkey that could...

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving Noah went from happy and giggly to pathetic and cuddly in about an hour.  Out of the blue he got hit with a fever, and he got hit hard!  He would not eat or drink, and just wanted to be held and cuddled (a FAR stretch from my normal run-around-the-house-and-never-stop child!) 

1 year old and the Sleepy Wrap is still a comforting place!

Typically I would have given it some time to see how things played out, but this one made me nervous for a few reasons:
- Fever + No food/drink = dehydration

- Thanksgiving was coming up = closed offices.

Passed out waiting to see Dr. Dennis

So, we scheduled an appointment to see the doc.  She looked him over and said that although he looked pretty pathetic, she figured he just had a virus.  Our prescription was rest and fluids!  Thankfully the little dude would still nurse... otherwise I think we would have been in trouble.  We tried Sprite, Gatorade, Apple Juice... even POPSICLES!!! He didn't want to have anything to do with any of it.



Look at that pathetic face!

Wednesday rolls around... still nasty fever.  We weren't sure that we were going to have a very Thanksgiving.  Thursday morning rolls around... NOTHING! Fever free, and a happy, smiley little boy.  He ate an excellent breakfast, played non stop until his normal nap time and had a smile the entire time.  I guess he knew that there was going to be a party!

Our initial plans got the ax because there were some fears of him still being contagious, so we went over to my mom's and ate a delicious meal.  Great Mor-Mor is in town, and Noah had a blast playing with her and all of MorMor's balls and toys!

 We got to take a 4 Generation picture like we did last year... he sure has changed!!

I'm so thankful we have such a little trooper.  The doctor said that this virus had been keeping kids down and out for a good part of a week... not Noah!  This little socialite wouldn't miss a party for anything!

xoxo,
~The Grant Gang

A new kind of swimming

....swimming in leaves!!

Food Strike

When Noah turned one (literally, the day after...) he decided he could make his own choices on when/what/if he was going to eat.  My happy little eater who ate anything and everything suddenly, out of the blue, decided he would skip meals all together.  It's my mom's fault... stubborness is in her genes. 

So now I am resorting to being really creative.  If I can blend it up and stick it in his sippy, my chances are WAY higher that he will eat it.  This morning he had a pumpkin, banana, applesauce, kefir and flax seed smoothie.  Why, oh WHY would one choose this over pancakes?!?!??! 


xoxo,
~The Grant Gang

King of the Jungle

The Saturday after Noah's birthday (November 6), our family and closest friends gathered to celebrate the King of the Jungle's first year of life!  It was important to me that the people who made the first year possible celebrated with us.  We have such a strong support network, and Noah's life has been beyond blessed because of that!

We had some fun decorations to get in the mood.  Gara's mom has this amazingly awesome machine, so we got crafty with it!  I made a banner and she (on her own initiative!) made some super cute centerpieces!  I probably would not have had the patience to do these, but I was SO thankful she made them.  I think they really put everyone in the mood! ha!

I also made Noah a little lion shirt and a crown... a King is not a King without his crown!

And then there was the cake.  I came really close to bailing out on making a cake and just making some cupcakes.  I found some different animal cupcakes that were SUPER cute, but then I realized that the CAKE LADY could not forgo a cake on her own son's first birthday.  I am SO glad that I decided to do a cake!  It turned out super cute!

Unfortunately, when it came time for the party, Noah was not feeling very well.  He had a really nasty, nasty diaper rash that popped up while he was taking his afternoon nap (his skin just pealed off his little toosh when we wiped it... VERY sad!) and you could tell he was just not feeling up to par.  He did his best to hang in there, but just was not his happy self.  He was not even very interested in his cake!! (That is when I knew something was wrong!!!)  He did dig into it some, but don't let the pictures deceive... most of the cake on his face is from us trying to get him to eat it.  Ha!  The ice cream, on the other hand, was a different story.  He thought it was pretty awesome...

Noah's friends and family had a good time, though!

Opening presents was pretty exciting... lots of fun things!!!

Tita and Uncle Jason brought over a fun tent and tunnel for the kids to play in.... they definitely enjoyed it!!

I hated that he was feeling crummy, but I know that the grandparents and aunts and uncles didn't mind the extra cuddle time...

I'm not sure how Cappy escaped getting his picture made... probably because he was hiding behind a camera himself!  He was there, too, lovin' on Noah and giving lots of "Wooo"s!  Uncle Buck was going to come in for the party, but decided to come in a week earlier so he could catch the Rangers in their first ever World Series appearance!  We had fun while he was here.  Aunt Dianne and Uncle Rawrr were also going to come in to meet Noah for the first time, but they got held back due to some work stuff.  We sure missed them... Noah was practicing his "Raaaaawwrrrrrrr" so he could impress his great Uncle!

xoxo,
~The Grant Gang