Stream of consciousness thoughts on failing at breastfeeding — and surviving
I barely pump anymore, although I can still feed my baby about an ounce of breast milk from one breast every other feeding or so. I’ve given up on my right breast — she’s such an underachiever. I’ll keep taking the prescriptions and supplements and keep hoping that I’m giving my baby girl SOME antibodies and nutrients, but for the most part, my child is fed, and yes nourished, by formula.
Tips for new parents: augmenting your pre-baby beauty regimes
Today I would like to publicly celebrate an unpredictable effect of that very predictable phenomenon: the way in which my beauty routine did not disappear at all as much as it mutated in strange and wonderful ways. It is now wholly different to what it previously was: it would be unrecognisable, probably, to my pre-parenthood self. But, I venture to assure you, it’s quicker. It’s cheaper. Hell, it might even be better.
Deciding whether or not to go back to work after my child was born has made me a less judgmental person
In the United States a woman who has a child can take up to 12 (unpaid) weeks off under FMLA. Today is the start of my 13th week. I was supposed to go back to work, but I stayed home. I simply decided it did not make sense for me to return to work.
My prenatal expectations of parenthood caused me to lose track of my marriage
I thought I would immediately know how to do “do it all,” even after a gargantuan life change. And I also expected a lot from my husband. Because, for some reason, I thought that he would just know what I needed from him, especially when I didn’t know what I needed from him, and how to help me once the baby was home with us.
7 ways motherhood shocked the hell out of me
Full disclosure: I have been a mother for nearly six weeks now. I didn’t think it’d be easy, but when my pregnancy went extremely smoothly I got to thinking that maybe, just maybe, my baby would be easy and being a Mom wouldn’t be too hard. Lo and behold, there are definitely a few things that shocked the hell out of me in both regards.
Finding happiness in the unexpected serenity of new parenthood
I’m new to it all — breastfeeding, changing diapers, not sleeping through the night because every cough and rumble makes me jump. I feel pretty inept at all of it. Happiness, I guess by its nature, is a fragile kind of thing — poised on some sort of ledge ready to go either way.
Bring on the awkward: how I’m defining my parenthood
There was a wonderfully beautiful post on Offbeat Mama the other day — one that resonated with me on several levels — as an adoptee, as a parent, and as a person who loves to ponder the intricacies of identity, of transitions, and of family.
Shit’s getting real: what baby poop has taught me about being a parent
Now that my daughter is two months old, it’s becoming more and more tempting to post about poop.