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Julia's bottle strike.

Suddenly Julia won't take the bottle anymore. She drank it on Friday and Tuesday she started to refuse it. It is like she has figured out that I have the goods on tap so why settle for less. Why eat Hershey's when there is an unlimited supply of Belgian chocolate available?
Where are the bottle consultants? If you have trouble breastfeeding there are any number of places where you can get help. Lactation consultants or La Leche League... But there is no one to call about a bottle strike. I think if formula companies or bottle manufacturers set up a bottle feeding consultation hotline the breastfeeding community would get outraged.
So we are trying different times of day and also the bait and switch method. We will keep trying and trying. I think that the general advice is to let her go hungry till she takes the bottle but I don't want to really do that. It seems like it is needless crying. But the alternative is that I can't leave her alone for a very long time... Which means no Mommy's nights out for a long time.
My online advice community is split over wether to persist or to wait and see if she will take a bottle when she gets older and is interested in solid food. And several people have mentioned that their babies never took the bottle and were fine being left with daddies and sitters because they simply waited for the good stuff to come home.
Whenever I have a mothering challenge like this the world just looks bleak and I feel like none of this will ever work out and I forget to stay centered in my mind about these minor things. So I decided that it was time to take a Yoga class and so we went to mother baby yoga this morning. It was so loud it was funny. All the babies squealing and laughing and fussing. But for savasana it was quiet... Because everyone was nursing :D And now I feel centered and confident again that everything will work out.

Naomi's ideas

Kids Naomi's age (about 3) are full of their own ideas and it is really obvious in Naomi now. She loves to tell stories and to be involved in conversation. She really explores a theme in conversation too. For instance she talked moms ear off about cuts. Mom had a bad cut on her finger which clearly fascinated her and she talked and talked about cuts and all the cuts she had and the cut Grandma Carol had on her stomach too. She said that she had grown up and drove grandma Carol to the hospital because she had a cut on her stomach.
Then tonight she spent ages exploring cutting paper. They were kites I guess. It was just such an idea she locked onto and just played and played with it in her own mind, I love to see that kind of play. Funny that I love to just watch her instead of finally getting something done now that she is finally entertaining herself.

Our weekend

We had a busy weekend. Oma and Opa were here as well as Tante Sara. It was Oma's birthday and on Friday we met her in Menlo Park for lunch after her spa appointment. Then Saturday we went to the beach and had a picnic. The beach is pretty much the best place in the world as far as Naomi is concerned. She found a stick which was the toy du jour. Funny how she loves some simple thing like that and comes up with all sorts of games to play with it while the sack of toys brought from home were not interesting. In spite of the fact that the bulldozer could finally be used.
Julia was lulled to sleep by the ocean sounds I guess and napped most of the time. I was worried that Julia would get sunburned but I guess we managed to keep her in the shade.

Mermaid

Naomi in her swimclass, looking like she enjoys it but really thinking about cheese! 

Julia's sleeping (or not)

Last night Julia was squirming and punching and kicking in the middle of the night. I thought she wanted to eat so I offered her a nipple which was refused. I turned on a little night light and she gave me a big grin. She was ready to play. Needless to say I turned the light off and tried to get back to sleep which is hard to do if someone is practicing karate on your belly. Today she seems sort of tired and cranky... Or is that me?

Naomi's swim class is going well although we have been lax about practicing at Steve's pool with her. She does have new swim goggles because Adam got her some at Costco. She resists going to the swim class and I promised her that we would go to McDonalds afterwards. Once she is there it is hard to get her to wait to get into the water till the actual start of class though.

I offered to go to McDonalds not so much as a bribe but rather as a "I am too lazy to make lunch" moment. We get back so late from the swim class that it is always hard to get the lunch made before Naomi disintegrates with hunger so I think this may become a regular thing. McDonalds (or Old Macdonald's house as Naomi calls it) offers apple slices in their happy meals now but of course I had already told her she would be having fries. Oh well, maybe next week...

Brain Disconnect!

Yesterday I picked Naomi up from Kathy's house
with Julia in the car. Of course as I am trying to get Naomi into the
car, Julia starts crying and since she had been asleep for a while she
was probably hungry. So while Naomi has the task of getting herself
into her seat where she was to find a cookie I go to check on Julia to
see if I can give her the pacifier (she doesn't actually like it, but
hope springs eternal). The person who parked behind us is moving their
car so we can get out so I hop into the drivers seat and start backing
out. Naomi suddenly calls out "Mommy Mommy! you forgot to close the
door!" Indeed, her door was open and she was not strapped in either.
She had been so happy sitting in her seat, with her cookie, that I
assumed she was taken care of. This morning while Adam was taking her
to Kathy's house Naomi told him all about how I had made a big mistake
but that it was OK. I may never live this down.

Julia smiles

I got a wonderful smile from Julia today. Finally. I think it took so
long because she really is just along for the ride most of the time.
Yesterday she napped in the sling all day while I was doing things with
Naomi and we went to the park. She seemed to have a hard time settling
down in the evening.
I got a yoga class in today and I feel good even though I didn't get to do much of the Yoga.

A day by ourselves

I spent the whole day with Naomi and Julia by myself. Quite a hurdle, but I made it. Naomi was a little testy today, but overall everything went well. First I gave Naomi a haircut and mopped the floor and then we delivered thank you notes to the neighbors. We played mailman and suddenly Naomi was very interested in the mailman when she saw him on our route.
I had scheduled a playdate at the park so that is where we went this afternoon. No other people showed up but Naomi likes Maddux park. She did want to know where Maddux was.
We did have a moment when we had to leave where Julia was screaming from being hot, overtired and overstimulated. Naomi did not want to go and then pooped in her diaper. I told her to wait by the car while I put Julia in her seat and she decided to take off down the street. We had a psycho mother moment...

Naomi and Julia are wearing their sister shirts

I don't like this carseat! But look how big I am getting

bye bye alligator

Quote of the week: Bye bye alligator

Betty, from across the street, said "see you later alligator" to Naomi. First she was upset saying she is not an alligator. I explained that it is just an expressing and nobody is calling her an alligator, but she still didn't like it She really hates it when she thinks you are calling her names even if they are complimentary. Later Steve and Gretchen and Mark and Mia were over and when Steve was leaving she told him: bye bye alligator!