Breastfeeding Mamis, this is for you. Thought it appropriate for this Thanksgiving week…  (more…)

Mothers everywhere are now choosing to breastfeed. While breastfeeding is instinctive in many ways, knowing some things ahead of time can help you be successful. Here are 10 steps to success.

Read the rest of the article at the Expectant Mother's Guide website.

Wow!  I can't believe you are nine months old!  This month has gone by so fast it is hard to remember everything that has been going on.  You are crawling at what seems like the speed of light now and getting into everything.  We were going to try to not say "no" to you, but that has pretty much flown out the window.  It is pretty much the only way to keep you from doing dangerous things. You are starting to understand what we mean when we say it to.  Hopefully this will not lead to you saying "no" back to us in the future, but that is a risk I am willing to take.

You have finally started to eat solids!  Your favorite foods right now are peanut butter sandwiches, pasta, and yogurt melts. You also love feeding the dogs from your high-chair.  I think we need to start feeding them less, because they are being fed three times a day by you.  If we let them outside while you eat, you just stare at the door until we let them back in.  You love the dogs so much!  

Nine months and still breastfeeding!  I am thinking that you are going to nurse for a while.  It is still your main source of nutrition.  You also use nursing for comfort when you take a tough spill.  I love playing with you while we nurse.  I am trying to teach you how to high five right now and that seems to be the best time to do it.

We started giving you a sippy cup last month, but now you have it figured out.  You love to lay on pillows on the floor and drink juice while we read books.  Daddy calls this your "Juice Time."  

I am not 100% sure that you know what you are doing, but when you are upset and whining you say "Err Mama."  It is the sweetest thing, but this is the only time you say it.  Every day when Daddy gets home from work you crawl over to him and reach up for him, it just melts his heart.  I have been working with you on waving hello and goodbye, as well as blowing kisses, but you don't seem very interested.  You are a pretty serious kid and I really love that about you.

You are very active and do not like sitting in one place for too long.  Thankfully you have figured out how to sit down from a standing position without falling.  This allows me to not have to constantly follow you around the room with a pillow.

Now to talk about sleep...you don't seem to want to sleep through the night consistently.  Maybe 2-3 days a week I can get you to sleep from 7:30-11 then 11:45-5, but most of the time you wake up about 3 times at night and stay awake for about 45 minutes each time.  You are no longer nursing at night though.  The only time I let you nurse is at 5.  I am crossing my fingers that you will sleep through the night by your 1st birthday.

You love making music, which generally means you are banging your toys on different surfaces to see how they sound.  The air conditioner vent has become your latest attraction, because you love the sound it makes when you run your fingers down it. We will listen to music during the day and you love to hear me drum on the tub with all of your toys.

I took you to ToysRUs for the first time and made the mistake of handing you some sensory balls to see if you liked them.  Well you loved them and refused to give them back to me.  In fact you cried when I took them away to get you in your carseat.  We ended up buying them and now they are one of your favorite toys.  You also still love your stacking toys.

Okay, I've read the phrase 'breast milk' as 'beast milk' at least three different times in different contexts in the past few days, and here's the thing: would it be such a bad idea to feed babies beast milk? Not beasts in the generic 'all animals' sense, but truly ferocious, horrifying beasts?

You know any kids that drank the milk of this monstrosity would turn out to be the greatest warriors who ever lived. They would brush their teeth with fuckin' pine trees and eat whole live chickens as snacks. The world would be better.