Sunday, March 30, 2008

Of Pukes & Poops

Well, judging from the title I'll bet you can guess we didn't have the healthiest weekend. When I say "we" I mainly mean little Miss Payson. She was fine until Friday night when, after her bedtime nursing, I stood up to put her in her crib and she threw up all over me, several times (sorry to get graphic, but upon washing out our clothes when P and I were in the shower, Matt had to wash vomit out of my socks!). It was a LOT of vomit; I was covered from neck to ankles. Yuck.

So, I tried to nurse her back to sleep after our shower and she threw up all over me... again. So, it was off to the shower again and then to bed, late, with an empty tummy. She was up at night to nurse but it not for too long or too many times, and no more vomiting, thank goodness. Saturday she had a low grade fever, cresting 100 only once, and Sunday she didn't have a fever except at bedtime (99).

The worst part about all of this is that the poor thing isn't eating. It's during times like these, which luckily haven't been too many, that I am so happy I am still nursing Payson. She wouldn't eat anything practically all weekend, and didn't drink much either. Luckily she was very interested in nursing as I know dehydration could be a concern.

However, the exclusive nursing caused poor Matt to revisit the newborn days of poop and blowouts. I went skiing as Matt put Payson down for a nap. As they were reading, Payson had a humungous blow out - up to her armpits. Poor Matt had to strip her down and give her a bath and get her to take her nap, which after all that excitement she wasn't too thrilled about. Good timing on my part! Apparently this all happened about 10 minutes after I left. I felt so badly!

Perhaps as some of you are reading this you are shaking your head in disbelief that I am still nursing Payson. Yes, she's almost 16 months old! Before becoming a (breastfeeding) mom, I never really thought I'd nurse Payson past a year. Not that I was opposed to it, but I just thought I'd nurse to a year and then it would somehow mysteriously stop. But, as life has a way of doing, things have just kind of worked out on their own and here we are, still nursing. Typically, when Payson's healthy, she's only nursing 2 times a day. I am STILL pumping once a day at work, 4 days a week. God, I hate pumping. I'm still doing it because Payson still requests a nursing session after her nap during the weekends, so I feel I need to keep my supply up. I was going to try and distract her this weekend so I could stop pumping and really only nurse 2 times a day, all week, but then she got sick. We'll see for next weekend.

Since I am only nursing so infrequently, my supply has really dwindled. It's really neat that when Payson needs it, my supply bounces right back. In general, it's odd to have a smaller supply because with so many other things in life we're always used to producing more and better - and to have it go down is kind of counterintuitive. But it's natural, and it's really cool that our bodies are designed to do this.

Enough about nursing for now. I will just end by saying I've loved the experience but I am ambivalent about stopping - I am excited to regain some freedom, but also sad about the closeness that will be lost. Payson's not the cuddliest kiddo, so it's nice to have that time together. And it's also great nutrition for the little skinny peanut (and a nice balance for my weight, too!).

Here's the part you really are coming to this blog for - the pictures. As you can see, even though Payson was sick, she certainly wasn't acting like it! We still managed to have a fun weekend, and luckily we didn't have many plans. We did miss out on a playdate with our friends the Kramers but we didn't think it would be best to infect them and little Leah. Hopefully we can reschedule soon.

I was able to meet my exercising goals this week, which I was very excited about! I try to get out 2 out of my 4 working days, and I went on two 40 minute runs this week, a walk on Sat. (my belly was feeling a little weird so I didn't push it), and a 50 min. cross country ski today in gorgeous 40 degree weather. I'm looking forward to running tomorrow with P & Z and to attending my 2nd yoga class!


We have to fit a lot of laundry in on the weekends - Payson helps by wearing it...



..and riding in it! She LOVES riding in the basket!

We took a walk on Saturday - doesn't she looked thrilled?

Good thing Matt has long arms!



Zoe's favorite swimming spot in warmer weather.

These boots were made for walking...

Helping me make corn bread! It actually turned out to be the best I've made. Perhaps it was Payson's skills, or perhaps it was the whole milk (we usually use low fat).

Sunday morning Payson didn't get enough sleep & took an unprecedented nap on the couch while Matt read up on climbing & rigging.

We put some old toys away and brought up some new stuff, like this chair.

This kid loves to be outside, climb stairs, play in the mud, & swing! Can't wait for more warm weather!

We wore poor Matt out. Phew! Dad, are you still alive?

This last picture is of our family quit square that all the families made for daycare this week. We were pretty pleased with how it came out!

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