Hey! I got the monthly thing done ON her monthday. That never happens.

ANYWAY. A little blurb about breastfeeding:

Still going strong, here, still pumping, still loving it, no plans to wean.  The longer I nurse, though, the more plugged-in I feel to this secret society of nursing mamas, past and present.  One of Ingrid’s daycare teachers was CLEARLY a big BF’er, but I wonder of a non-nursing mama would pick up on that. It’s little comments — last week, at dropoff, there was A Stink, and she said "oh, it’s not Ingrid, she’s breastfed… that smell must be from a formula baby!" And to Dave, today "Once those big nursing cheeks thin out, she’ll look even MORE like you…" and when I had Ingrid doused in gentian violet for thrush (yeah, I’ve been dealing with itchy nipples, thinking it was from the eczema — remember last year’s cancer scare? — that I couldn’t treat because the ointment for that isn’t safe for nursing babies, and when it got worse with abx, LIGHTBULB! Ingrid’s asymptomatic, and I’m so used to itching… well, everywhere, I was just dealing with it. I may be the first person to ever be EXCITED to have thrush, because it meant I could TREAT it) anyway, the GV didn’t make her flinch at all.  And, there’s a look, I swear, that nursing mamas across the generations exchange.  Of Ingrid’s classmates, (granted, the young toddler room, and Ingrid is almost the youngest, there’s a new one that’s 3 days younger than her…)only 2 of the 12 are getting EBM, and I had totally pegged the other one (coincidentally, the 3days younger one) based on her cheeks. And again, the cheeks thing was pointed out to me by my grad school advisor, when I defended my portfolio with Ingrid in the room, I mentioned her big cheeks (she was 7mos then) and G said "Oh, yeah, those are the big breastmilk cheeks!" Now, I see what she means…

And? I’ve picked up on celebrity nursing habits. Jennifer Garner? Totally doing  the ‘extended nursing’ thing, when you read clips of her interviews at the Celebrity Baby Blog. And Gwen Stefani, whose baby was born around the same time Ingrid was, is still nursing.

I mean, feeding your baby is not a race, or a contest, or whatever. But I am so happy that it’s worked out for us, and it makes me happy when I see others for whom it’s worked out. I’ll be glad to stop pumping, only 42 more sessions, but who’s counting? but I’m in absolutely no rush to wean.