Wordless Wednesday.

Mulberry Monsters!

From two to one.

Lucy weaned.


For all intensive purposes, anyway. She still asks maybe 1-2 times a week, and I humor her, but she seldom even latches anymore.

Our first nursing session. It was so cool that everyone wanted to watch.

I wish I could tell you a sweet sentimental story about her last "real" nursing. 


But the truth is, it happened so gradually that I don't remember it. 

We nursed everywhere- like on a plane.

I think that's the beautiful reality of extended breastfeeding and child-led weaning. Nursing has become so ingrained into daily life that you don't think about it- it just is. Because she's not dependent on you for nutritive purposes, you're not keeping track of when she nursed last. Then sessions are occasionally dropped as her interest in everything else grows. Still the nighttime and morning nursings hold her close.


Then she starts falling asleep on her own, and creeps into your bed for a morning nurse less and less frequently.

I was nervous to start you on big-girl food.

One day you realize you can't remember the last time she was at your breast. 


Thank you, Lucy, for the journey. The past 32 months have tested me, taught me, and brought me more joy than I could have ever imagined. We nursed despite the necessary pump and bottles, despite my pregnancy with Junie and the formula supplementation that came with it. 

We even nursed at Clemson baseball games!

I'll never forget the first time you nursed after Junie was born and my milk came back- the joy on your little face. 

Some tandem-nursing love.

And I'll always remember how gracefully you shared your "nums" with your little sister, who, at 18 months, looks as though she is dangerously close to following in your weaning footsteps. I love how you finished your most recent nursing attempt with, "Junie's turn next."

One of our daily before-work nursing sessions.

Please, time, slow down. 

All grown up!

Lots o' Wordless Wednesday Love.

Dresses I whipped up for the girls.

Baby Nolan #3 at 22 weeks.

Junie likes to garden...

...and so do I! 

20 weeks = halfway!

Finding our rhythm.

When I decided to leave my job and become a stay at home mom (with plenty of doula work on the side, of course), I sat down and came up with some goals for our family, as well as some ideas to work towards those goals. One of those goals was to begin some sort of education with the girls.


Now, I'm not a big believer in structured education for young children; I'd rather see my kids playing creatively and exploring outside. Along those same lines, there's absolutely no evidence that children who attend preschool (or any kind of structured activities apart from their parents) develop better socially or academically in the long term than kids who don't. Please don't misinterpret this as judgment for those who send their kids to preschool early- nearly everyone I know does, and there seems to be more and more pressure to do so. These are simply my reasons for choosing not to. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure we will send our kids to mainstream schools when they're older, for reasons too numerous to list here (another blog post for another day).


Anyway, after doing a lot of research, I decided that a Waldorf-type program would be a great fit for us. Now, Waldorf-based homeschooling generally doesn't start until 5 or 6; however, if you are familiar with Waldorf, you likely know that it's not just an educational philosophy. It really encompasses the larger issue of family life. To put it bluntly, Waldorf can be really intimidating when you're first starting. So, in our case, I decided to spend the next two years or so learning as much as I can, slowly incorporating Waldorf principles and activities into our daily life. In this way I can prepare myself in the event that we do homeschool, the girls will enjoy the activities in the meantime, and we all will benefit from a gradually move towards the schooling years.

I learned about a program offered by A Little Garden Flower/Waldorf Essentials called Thinking, Feeling, Willing. The basics of the program are that it takes about a year to work through it,  it focuses on educating parents on the basics of Waldorf, and it gradually incorporates those practices into family life. It also includes lots of perks, like monthly (seasonally-appropriate) lessons, inner-work for moms, a discount on future purchases, and lots more.


Last month I learned about "rhythm" and for the past few weeks have focused on that. I definitely feel that our girls are benefitting from having a daily rhythm, and it helps me to better organize my day. We are also incorporating a seasonal nature table, music, stories, and related recipes into our home. More about that in later posts, too.


On a side note, the first couple weeks after we moved were a bit rough. The girls were used to having Brett home during the day- not me- and reacted accordingly. Think two young children wanting constant attention, nursing around-the-clock, etc. Lucy was acting up quite a bit as well- there was a lot of limit-testing going on. Now, though, things have settled down. For the most part, our days are going a lot more smoothly, time-out is working more effectively for Lucy (more on that later), and I am spending a lot less time with instruction and discipline and more time on just enjoying the girls. 

17 (er, 18!) Weeks

This post is so named because I took this pic last week when I was 17 weeks preggo, and now I'm technically 18. When you feel as crappy as I do, every week counts.

In case you can't tell by the pic, or you just haven't seen me in person in a while (ever?), I've lost almost 15 pounds so far. Yup. Fun stuff. Between the daily vomiting and the constant nausea and food aversions, I just can't seem to eat enough. Not that I really feel hungry much.

I hate that I really don't enjoy pregnancy. It makes me feel guilty, and I'm sure anyone who's dealt with infertility hates me (she gets pregnant at the drop of a hat! and has short, easy labors!) But the truth is that while I *love* the process of labor and birthing, and I *adore* my newborn babies, pregnancy itself is just no fun for me. That's what hyperemesis does to you, I guess.

On the bright side, everything looks like it's lining up for my homebirth. I have a midwife, my tax refund will cover the costs, and as long as no major complications arise, it looks like we'll be good to go. After years of fighting for it, it's almost unbelievable that I now actually have a chance.

When it comes to breastfeeding...yep, both girls are still nursing. I'm sure that's not helping with my weight gain, but I went through the same thing when I was pregnant with Lucy, and I'm confident that I'll be able to eat more soon. Besides, the baby needs so few extra calories at this point, I try not to sweat it. I really feel as though my body would tell me if I needed to wean.

I really thought Lucy was moving towards weaning completely...but then my supply rebounded a bit and her interest was renewed. She's only nursing *maybe* once a day, sometimes skipping days, but it's clear she's not ready yet- and that's fine with me. That's the beautiful thing about extended breastfeeding- by the time your kids are older, nursing is so infrequent that you can just enjoy the time you have together and not stress the "are they getting enough?" part. Emotionally, I'd be okay with her weaning now or later. I am only hoping that she is satisfied with occasional nursing once my milk comes back in, rather than going back to wanting to nurse more frequently. I need to get one more picture of them nursing together before she does, though.

Junie is still nursing several times a day, and I can tell she's still getting milk. She nearly always nursing to sleep for bedtime and naps, and besides signing "milk," she also calls nursing "nums," which I find adorable. I'm so happy we've been able to continue our breastfeeding relationship with very little stress on my part. She's old enough and so great with eating regular food that I haven't had to worry about her weight, unlike Lucy who needed to be supplemented towards the end of my pregnancy with Junie.

Well, that's all for now. Junie is already napping, Lucy is about to doze off, and even though dinner's already cooking in the CrockPot (LOVE that thing!), there's plenty that needs to be done. This whole "stay at home mom" thing is much harder that I anticipated! But more on that later.

I have chickens!

Lots of upcoming posts about our move and new home...but I'm excited to talk about our new pets, so here we go.

For my birthday this year, my awesome in-laws gave me the gift cards I needed to purchase my long-awaited chicken coop and run. With the girls in tow, I ran over to Tractor Supply about a week after we moved in to pick up the kit and other necessary chicken supplies.

Next, I scoured ads (mainly Craigslist) for chickens. Initially I planned on getting new chicks, but none of the local stores carried the breeds I was interested in, and the minimum order from hatcheries is 25- about 22 more chicks than I was able to handle. Additionally, I realized that chicks would take more equipment and care than I really cared for, and it would be several months before they started laying. For these reasons, I decided to purchase older pullets or younger layers.

After a few days, I saw an ad pop up for Ameraucana chickens- exactly what I wanted. Ameraucanas are reputed to be cold and heat hardy, good layers, and handle confinement well. Of course, their most famous characteristic is the fact that they lay blue eggs! Brett made the trip while I took the girls to Mass, and when we arrived home, we met our new hens: Hettie, Bettie, and Nettie.

The breeder told us that our girls were *almost* ready to lay. We were reassured that they like their new home when they started laying a few days later. Right now, we're averaging 2 eggs every-other-day, as two of the three are now laying pretty regularly. I haven't eaten any of the eggs yet, so I will update as soon as I do. So far, I've really enjoyed having them around, and I'm looking forward to starting to give them free-range time in the yard soon.