Baby Laughter & Body Tricks

Rossleigh has this rocker chair that we call "the mouse chair".  Why?  Because it is a baby chair with a picture of a mouse princess on it.  Anyway, the mouse chair pretty much stays in my office so that she can hang out with me while I am working on stuff from time to time.  She doesn't sit in it often, so she usually is not a huge fan and when she does sit in it, it doesn't last long.  Today, however, she was rocking out in the mouse chair!  THEN, when I pulled the little flower on the toy bar for the music to play, her face lit up in a smile and she would coo!!  She did it every time!!  Watch the video to see what I mean.  :)

I think I mentioned yesterday or the day before that Rossleigh breastfed for the first time and that my friend, Nicole came over.  So while she was here, she was trying to teach me about the art of hand expression.  I just couldn't master it (it truly is an art, and one that can only be appreciated if you need to know how to do it).  So I have been trying unsuccessfully ever since, but failing miserably.  What's worse is that I haven't been able to get Rossleigh to breastfeed anymore since that day - until today.  I watched YouTube videos per Nicole's suggestion and FINALLY mastered it - on one breast anyway! When you can do this, you can literally spray milk from your breast across the room.  It truly is a sight to be seen...or not. 

FUNNY STORY - So I was so excited, I ran downstairs to show Lance my new trick!!  I went to express the milk...and accidentally sprayed him in the eye!!  Needless to say, he was not amused.  Nope, not one teeny tiny bit.  I apologized and tried to comfort him by letting him know that he should really be thanking me.  After all, breast milk does have healing qualities.  What if he had an oncoming eye infection he was unaware of?  I probably just healed it!!  He smiled, but still wasn't too impressed with my new trick.  I'm pumped though (no pun intended).  :)

Success!!!

Mark this date down on your calendars - December 11, 2012:  the day Rossleigh Dewey breastfed for the first time!!  Okay, so probably not something you'll want to mark on your calendar, but definitely something to go on ours!!  Since we've been home from the hospital, I have periodically attempted to get Rossleigh to latch on so that once she was able to tolerate the consistency of milk, breastfeeding wouldn't be a foreign concept to her.  I would always wait until after I'd emptied my breast via pumping and also tried to wait until after she was satisfied from eating (but still wanting just a little more) so that she wouldn't get too frustrated.  She's latched on before, but lost patience and unlatched.  This wasn't a huge deal in the past because she wasn't physically ready for milk consistency anyway.

Anyway, since Rossleigh tolerated milk consistency well at the swallow test, but did have those "flashes", they suggested we wait about 3-4 weeks before making the full switch to breast milk/regular formula.  Since the last swallow test, I've been having her practice a few times a week (well, it's only been a week, but still).  She would lose patience easily so I was feeling a little discouraged.  I started feeling like I was sentenced to a year or more of exclusive pumping...I won't lie - pumping EXCLUSIVELY really kinda sucks, but I'm still thankful that I have milk coming in so I would do it if I needed to.

So today, we were practicing again...except this time I was a overdue for pumping (so I was full of milk) and she was pretty hungry.  Wait for it....she latched and continued to feed from the breast!!!!!!  Yippee!!!  For those who have never dabbled in pumping or breastfeeding, this probably seems like no big deal (because I know I probably would have felt that way before I had RSD), but I assure you that it is HUGE!!  :)

On top of it, my friend (and one of Rossleigh's Godmothers), Nicole came over this evening to help us out with latching on correctly and gave me some tips to get me to increase my supply.  We're so lucky to have her in our lives!!