Nursing

When I was pregnant with Mia, I remember being horrified that my mom asked me if I was planning to breastfeeding her. It was still MY body and I wasn't privy to discussing it. Cut to 7 years later and I basically have to modesty anymore when it comes to nursing. I stay covered and go to the other room now for other people's comfort, not mine. Ill do it anywhere. My breasts have become, after 4 out of last 7 years nursing, no longer my own. I shared them with Mia for a year, then she chose the bottle. Eleanor kept her relationship with milk for almost 2 1/2 years, which I lived but honestly it was getting old and I was ready to be done. This was what I had envisioned with little Lyla as well... So it has caught be by great surprise that I think she is weaned. Or weaning. Right at 11 months. She is still such a baby duckling, and I think she still NEEDS to nurse, she doesn't eat enough to not be fussy and hungry. Everyone though that I try to nurse her, it's like she has forgotten how overnight. She goes to latch but then just bites. Bites bites. Not nips. Not playfully squeezes with her teeth. Chomps down. Hard. Enough to make me scream and cry lady night, which scares her into not wanting to even try again.
It's such a sad thing, her crying wanting to nurse but not knowing how, me crying wanting her to nurse but being so afraid to let her. We are kind of at an impass. Part of me thinks it is ok, she's almost a year. That is a respectable amount to time to nurse, night times are bound to get better, I'd have more freedom. The other part of me thinks she is way to young, and i will be so sad to not have that sweet cuddle time.
I'm not sure what is going to happen, but it is a transition for sure. We shall see. My life as a nursing mom may be over, and that is so so bittersweet.

Phone blogging?!!!

So I don't know how, after having a smartphone for 2 years I just found out that I could blog from it! I quit blogging altogether because it was such a pain to plug in my phone, transfer pictures, sit and think of something thoughtful or profound or useful (because while I feel that Facebook is the place up make random, meaningless statements, for some reason I feel that blogging must be of some import). Anyhow, yeah! Can't Fence in the Klentzmans is back in business!

The last 24 weeks

Alright, I've posted/text these to folks in bits and pieces, but here is my collection of belly self-portraits so far.  I have 6-ish weeks to go, so I'm sure there will be more.  Just a warning, if you don't like seeing bare pregnancy bellies look no further.  I'll put covered up ones in my facebook album.  I tried to take the pictures in the same kind of pose each time so that I could really see the growth.  It is pretty amazing!

4week belly.  Dude I was tan!

10 week ultrasound

10 week belly.  I already don't remember being this slim.  

11 week belly

19 weeks: it's a girl!

Baby girl #3!

22 week belly.  Sorry for the mess in the background... we were rearranging our room.

My favorite thing about this picture is the HEB sticker on my arm.  Proof of the other two children.

25 week belly

26 week belly

28 1/2 week belly

I don't remember... 28 weeks?

31 weeks

33 weeks

34 weeks.  Again, dude. and I have 6 weeks left?

Life as a 5 year old

For any Mia fans out there... this is classic, classic classic.  I can't stop watching it.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyRAfwDeHhY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Favorite quotes from the day

(me, pushing my stomach out): hey Mia does it look like I have a baby in my tummy?
Mia: no it is your fat. No you are not fat, it is just your hungry.

Mia: you wanna hear about today? Well I ate some lemonade, then I tried to go potty and that didn't work out so well. Then that was it.

Conversations today with the girls... updated.

These things happen every day.  Oh my life is full of laughs!

Mia: (while chasing ants around the driveway) you know, mom, girls just have a particular way of killing ants.
Me:  oh yeah, come take a bite of your dinner.
Mia:  mmmm.  You know, girls just have a particular way of eating chicken, too.
(spoken from a true animal rights activist! ; / P )

Mia: So, why can't you marry your cousin?  Kj and I already promised that we would marry each other.
Me: Well, you know how when a man and a woman get married, a little bit of the mommy and a little bit of the daddy mix together to make a new baby?  Well if a cousin marries a cousin and little bits of them get mixed together it would make... (insert pause here while I try to think of a more PC term than the R word)
Mia:  Another Cousin!! Yeah!
Me:  well, yep, another cousin.  Therein lies the problem.

Mia:  Well, when we get big we are still going to get married because we promised each other and big people never break their promises.
Me:  Oh my sweet love it makes my heart so happy that you still believe that.

Earlier that day...

Eleanor climbs in bed with us this morning all sweet and sleepy and as I'm laying there kissing her cheeks she says, "Elephants kiss me.  The elephant kisses me."
Me:  Oh, did you dream about elephants kissing you with their trunk?
Eleanor:  yeah.  Elephants kissing me.  But not kissing dada.  His face is too scratchy.

More to come.....

Great Urban Race!

Jessica and I ran in the Great Urban Race on Saturday.  If you don't know what that is, here is the link.  

http://www.greaturbanrace.com/clues.php

Anyhow, it was super duper fun and I would highly recommend it, however be prepared for some pain because we ended up running about 10 miles all over Austin.  

I don't know if you have tried before, but it is very difficult to get two people and another item into a self portrait.  Here are our little eyes pokin' up into some scavenger hunt items.  Above, "take a picture of all team mates with a mural."  check.  Below, "take a picture with all team mates and an out of state license plate."  check.  

 "Take a picture with both team mates pretending to dive into 'this specific fountain on campus"  check.  This was not a self portrait.  Also, I was actually about to fall into said fountain in this picture.

Most favorite picture of all time.  Jessica holding a madagascar hissing cockroach.  She was such a good sport about it.  The only real outward complaints I heard were, "Well I guess I have to do it, because she'll (pointing at me) cry."  and, "I wasn't even supposed to be here!  I am just a fill in!  Why do I have to do it! "  but she did.  : ), so "Take a picture with your new crawling friend," check.  

 Our little eyes pokin' up with the Texas flag, check.

 Our little eyes pokin' into this shot for "Take a picture with all team mates, with a mustached man, wearing this disgusting fake mustache." (my interpretation)  check.

 "Take a picture of all team mates in front of a band playing live music", umm... does this count?  sure.  check.

It was great fun, not too too hard but very tiring.  My feet still hurt a bit and I am still sore, but next year I know we can do better.  We'll get our results tomorrow... we didn'thttp://www.greaturbanrace.com/clues.php win anything, but we did pretty darn good for our first year!