Weekend in Maine - Toddler Style

This weekend we spent a few days at my parents' house in Maine, right on Sebago Lake. The kids loved spending time with their grandparents and it was wonderful to have other people to distract the kids. One morning my dad got up with Ned and Penny at 5:30 am (!) and let Husband and me sleep in. Josephine even shocked us by sleeping through the night both nights we were there (time will tell if this was a fluke).

Lunch at Two Lights Lobster Shack - where the kids enjoyed putting rocks on the benches.

Leaving the dock for an afternoon cruise:

Ned driving the boat:

Penny didn't like the boat as much as Ned did but she did look adorable in her life vest.

Josephine fell asleep both times we went on the boat - immediately - even if she just woke up from a nap.

Ned with the ducks that came over to say hello:

Sometimes Ned and Penny play together nicely:

Family dinners can be chaotic but baby wearing can help. I'm sure Josie didn't mind the corn kernels.

Bath time - hot tub style:

Breakfast - Bumpa style:

Perusing his Thomas the Tank Engine catalog:

Visiting a local train store:

Seeing a Maine moose:

Drops of Gold

Josephine Alice is now 10 weeks old. She's a smiley baby, relatively calm and happy. She loves her bouncing chair with the whirling fishes and her playmat. Her eyes are lightening a little so maybe I'll have a child with blue eyes (Husband and I both have recessive blue genes since our dads have blue eyes). Bedtime is a complete disaster for Josie unless we indulge her in the swing. With the third kid I don't worry about tummy time very much - we just hang out and smile at each other a lot.

Unfortunately for Mommy, Esq. my breastmilk dried up. I have no idea what happened - it could have been the antibiotics that I took for almost 3 weeks or some issue when my milk started to regulate but suddenly I can't pump anything and she's refusing to nurse (I've been trying to pump after each feeding). Its been going on for 4 days and I started giving her formula bottles after trying her on the breast. I feel like she's a newborn again. It's really weird - I went from pumping 5 ounces in the morning after a breastfeeding to 1.0 oz and that is if she doesn't eat for 3 hours so it is not linked to a growth spurt.

After some agonizing I decided that we're switching to formula. For my sanity I just can't nurse and pump a million times a day with the hope it will rebound and I don't really want to take any of the drugs that enhance supply. My milk doesn't freeze and I was planning on switching her to formula when I went back to work anyway. I was hoping to eek out a couple more weeks to get us to 3 months but it's become very clear it isn't working. I know she'll be fine on formula but it's disappointing - of course I worry if she'll have the same good start that Ned and Penny had with 4+ months of mostly breastmilk.

It will be nice to get her on a schedule and I suspect that will happen with formula. Well, it looks this is my last breastfeeding post ever!

Josephine had a lovely visit last week in Ohio visiting her grandparents and aunt and uncle.

With Aunt Rachel:

With her grandparents:

In the garden:

Tales from OBX: A Boy and His Bumpa

My dad was on grandfather duty all week in Nag's Head. Ned would only go in the ocean with his Bumpa and monopolized his pool time too. Ned stuck to Bumpa's side like glue - or in the case of one of the photos below, his backside.

My dad was smart enough to take a real vacation when we got back - he's spending two weeks at their house in Maine on the lake.