As Isabella naps in the Moby (I've got to get a pic of this soon), I'll recap our busy week. Those without children, please note what a busy week for me looks like -

Sunday:
I know we went someplace during the day, but can't for the life of me remember where. Nice. That night we went out for my friend Jessica's birthday to El Loro in Crystal. The food was awesome as always and it was so fun to be with friends. Isabella even joined us and slept the entire time. I'm still amazed at how she blocks everything out - the fiesta got a little loud at times!

Monday:
Stayed in all day because we were pooped from the day before (ok, maybe Mommy was more pooped than Isabella...but she's a good exuse). That night we took a trip to Target after a pretty traumatic feeding session.
Around 7:00 I tried nursing Isabella before we went out and she just started hollering at the breast. I wasn't crying or yelling, it was like these frustrated little hollers. She'd pause to holler, then try to eat more, pause to holler, try to eat more. I decided I was either empty or the milk wasn't coming fast enough for her. Either way it was pretty stressful for both of us. Jeremy was outside tending to the lawn (yes, I said tending) and it would have been harder to rope him in...so after 20 mins of this back and forth I made her a bottle (of milk I previously pumped - we are still staying away from formula). However, in process of making the bottle I heard the loudest, most frantic cries from my baby. It was horrible to listen to.

The only thing I can figure out is that the bottle we gave her on Sunday night (while at dinner/at Jess's afterwards) spoiled her since the milk comes out so much faster from a bottle than a boob.

Anyway - that was the drama on Monday

Tuesday:
The La Leche League (LLL) is an organization that promotes breastfeeding and there is a local group nearby that has meetings once a month. I decided it'd be good for me to check it out to a) get out of the house and b) try to get some questions answered about BFing/become more at peace with it.

So I packed up Miss I and attended the meeting in Andover, even though I was pretty nervous. I've read a book from the LLL and they seem to be on the one extreme of BFing - meaning no bottles, nurse until toddler age, no pacifiers, etc. I wasn't sure what to expect. But everyone was very nice and some met my expectations (I think most moms there used cloth diapers and I did see 2 toddlers being nursed), but other expectations were proven wrong. Everyone used pacifiers, for example. Thank the lord.

I didn't participate in the meeting much, I just listened to the other moms talk about their experiences - both with BF and about general 'mom' stuff. So overall I am happy I went even though I didn't feel like I quite 'fit in'.

That night we spent a quiet night at home w/ Dad. Isabella went to bed in her bassinet at 9:30 so we thought we were scott free - but nope. She woke up at 10:30 right as we were getting into bed! At least she was only up for about another hour - but it was nice to have that quiet time with Jeremy for a bit.

Wednesday:
I stayed home ALL day waiting for the Champlin Community Service Officer to call me about doing car seat checks for our cars. We've been playing phone tag and his last message said he'd call that day - but no call! I was a little irked as I thought a trip to the mall would have been nice.

We had another quiet evening home with Dad.

Thursday:
This was my truly busy day. Jeremy had the day off from work (to make up for a holiday that he had to work recently) which was great. I love having him here even if he isn't necessarily right with the baby and me. It's just nice having him in/around the house.

In the morning a teacher from an Early Childhood Family Educational (ECFE) program though our school district came by for a free visit. She talked with us about everything from feedings to sleep to games to play with Isabella. It nice to have someone with a lot of experience listen to our questions about what is normal or what might not be normal.

She observed Isabella a bit, too and determined she's the smartest baby she's ever seen. EVER. Either that or she seems 'on track' - meaning she made eye contact with her even though she was a stranger (meaning Isabella heard her voice, recognized it was new and looked at her to associate it/figure her out) and has good control of her neck right now.

Then in the afternoon, I went to a 'New Parent Connection' group held at Mercy Hospital sponsored by the same ECFE program. There were about 6 other moms there with babies from 2 weeks to 4 months old and a leader. The topic this week was fathers (in honor of father's day), so we each went around and talked about fatherhood. We also were able to just ask random questions we had, which made for good conversation.

I really enjoyed it as there was a good mix of moms. One mom claims her husband has yet to change the diaper of her 3 month old (she was serious), another was struggling with having to go back to work soon, another still BFs her 2 yr old (I never knew there were so many that did this), you get the idea. There were also a few that seemed to be in the position of me - just a brand new mom trying to figure out how to take care of this precious little being while keeping her own sanity (meaning not going crazy with worry about if we are doing everything right and/or fighting any leftover 'baby blues'). I'll definitely go back to this group.

In the evening, Jeremy had 2 volleyball games so he headed to Blaine to play and I headed to Mpls to visit Aunt Michelle and Uncle Pete. Their friend Abi was there so Isabella got a break from Mama's arms and I got to meet the new hedgehog, Socrates. There was also an awesome Baby Einstein gift for Isabella - one that we determined any adult would like as well. It makes a very satisfied 'BLEAHHHH" sound when it's tummy is squeezed.

Today:
Today we are going have a visit from Auntie Lissa who will watch Isabella while mom gets a much needed haircut and eyebrow clean up. Who knows what the night will bring..

But, this concludes the busy week for Mom and baby. In the future I'm going to try to update this day by day to avoid these 3 page posts.