End of an Era

I took a ticker off the bottom of my page tonight. Likely no one will notice but it makes me a little sad. Before I deleted it, it said "Proud Mommy, Happy Baby - I've been breastfeeding for 9 months, 4 weeks and 2 days". That wasn't completely true. I just deleted it tonight, but Nathan hasn't nursed in about 2 weeks. His teeth were the deciding factor. He stopped biting almost as quick as he started, but those little top teeth just kept causing inadvertent damage. Plus, the supply was way, way down.
He finally started taking formula without much of a fight, but I stubbornly kept pumping my 4-6 ounces per day until his nine month birthday. Then, with a huge sigh of relief, I left the pump behind. I loved feeding my baby but I never loved the pump. I don't believe anyone who says they do.
I gave up the pump and kept the bedtime feedings until he seemed to want volume more than comfort and then, even bedtime became bottle time.
Now, he's learning how to drink out of a cup and he's stopped pulling my shirt down when he's tired or thirsty. Big steps forward in my little man's life. I honestly miss my tiny baby curled up on my chest but I my active explorer doesn't give me much time to look backwards. Gotta keep looking one step ahead of him to keep him out of harms way.

Thanksgiving #2

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving I finally had the day off and got a chance to cook the traditional holiday feast. Dave's parents were there as were our friend Emily and Dave and their baby Samone, but somehow with the cooking, the baby carrying, the Bellini drinking, and the eating 'til our buttons popped I only managed to get pictures of Dave with his turkey.


Before it went on the grill.


And after. (Try a grilled turkey sometime. It was delicious, and I didn't have to do anything with it!)

Thanksgiving #1

Nathan crawls, yes, honest to goodness crawling, around friends Ann and Dave's house on Thanksgiving afternoon.

He enjoys a pre-dinner carrot snack while hanging out in the kitchen (where else do people congregate?)

After dinner things got a little weird when Cecilia tried to pants Nathan and we all laughed and took pictures

And we ended the evening with a little snuggle.

We ate Ann's first turkey (way better than my first was), gorged ourselves on delicious stuffing (Nate's favorite), and topped it all off with a tasty pie. Considering I worked a lot of the day it turned out to be quite a lovely holiday.