Breastfeeding question

So, this is a question about how you know if the breastfed child is getting enough milk once you start on solid foods and you are at work. I know at least some moms who read this have breastfed and worked.

Without getting into tons of nitty gritty details, I pump while away at work, and I know as they get older babies eat other foods (Mirabel does really well with that) but I don't know resources about how much milk she "should" be drinking daily. She takes everything I pump, but I wonder sometimes if she's getting enough. Any wisdom from the masses?

There's always room for one more....

So, we haven't posted in awhile, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy. We currently have two renters- Eric and Betsy. Eric has lived with us for just over three years and Betsy moved in this summer and also babysits Mirabel a couple days each week. Eric is getting married just before Christmas and his (soon-to-be) wife, Candace, is moving in after the wedding. So we've been busy with all sorts of preparations.

Eric and Betsy are swapping bedrooms this weekend, but that doesn't really impact us. We've been focused on clearing out extra stuff from the basement to create some storage space for Eric and Candace and tidying up the living space down there. They are going to have a "living room" downstairs, the bigger bedroom upstairs (not ours- but we have a 10x12 and 10x10, and they get the 10x12 now.) We're also clearing out a bit more space for their pantry stuff. And they are going to get the house one night a week, but that is just a schedule change.

Well, I'm off to clean, sort, and organize in the basement. We're getting a whole new pile of sell/giveaway/recycle stuff (we sold most of what we placed on Craigslist before...so now it's off to round two!)

Trick or Treat!

Here's a picture of us from Halloween (I was Dr. Crusher from Star Trek: the Next Generation, Dave was a construction worker, my friend Lisa was a woman from the 1950s, and our little sweet pea!)

Mirabel also had her 6 month appt today. She is long and lean...85th percentile for length but only the 5th for weight. But she's hitting her developmental milestones well and I'm not really worried about it. Breastfed babies are often behind the curve on weight gain. She's a little under the weather after getting her flu shots (and the 6 month series). Poor little thing.

Mountain Monkey

Have you ever gone on a trip and found out that someone (or something) just seemed to pop up all over the place? Well, that's what happened to us on our recent trip last weekend to Colorado. We took off from the airport (yes, we still managed to travel with carry-on luggage only, even with a kid!) and right from the start, mountain monkey inserted himself into all our photographs! I guess he saw that Hammy got to go along with us to Canada and he wanted his moment in the sun. Click here to see our pictures.

We had a lot of fun in Golden, Colorado. It's the last stop on the public transit bus from the airport. It's a very walkable little town, with excellent nature trails, fun restaurants and boutiques, and enough historical feel to satisfy me. We spent a good deal of time outside walking around (kudos to Dave for taking Mirabel in the baby carrier!). We hiked up a mountain and walked up and down the creek. The fall colors were gorgeous and we had unseasonably warm weather.

We were invited to join a Mamas for Obama walk by some people we met in the ice cream shop (we didn't go with them, though we were at the river that day), we saw the Coors factory (let me just say that the snow capped mountains on the label are NOT actually there), and we stayed in Pansy's Parlor (in Pansy's room). We ate at Woody's Woodfire Grill every day- not at all typical for us, but they had an all you can eat salad and pizza bar. It's hardest to get veggies and dairy on a trip, so we loaded up on that buffet and with breakfast at the B&B and snacks, we got through with two and a half meals a day. We also went to story hour at the library and saw a ton of bronze statues throughout the town. A few of them are in our pictures.

All in all a fun trip! We recommend going to Golden if you ever have the chance.

Come on, baby, do the locomotion

We went to our first ECFE class this morning. (Early Childhood Family Education). It meets at our local school- close enough that we can walk. We had a nice stroll outside on a beautiful fall day and we also got to learn some fingerplays and songs- things that help you interact with your baby and help them develop. We also met some nice parents. While we were at class, Mirabel fixed her eyes on her rattle and couldn't quite reach it. She pushed off her feet and did the classic "scootch" forward. Then she repeated several times when we were at home.

Must babyproof...must babyproof...we haven't much time, I'm afraid....Really we just have to pick up some things that we've been lazy about leaving on the floor in our living room. We've got the list of what to look for- I think that's what I'll focus on tomorrow afternoon.

In other news...I'm going on a road trip to Chicago Mon-Wed. I have a conference there on Tuesday, and my friend Lisa is coming along with me and will take care of Mirabel. I get to see one of my college friends and also stay with the family I babysat for through my four years at college. I'm looking forward to that (and the conference, too!)

We've moved to solids

Mirabel had her first taste of squash yesterday and I'm uploading a video of it. She made the funniest faces! But she ate all of the teaspoon or two we gave her. Her sitting up skills have increased exponentially over the past few weeks and she can do it for multiple seconds at a stretch, she has been watching our food intake intently for weeks, she's almost 6 months old, and she started waking up at night after months of sleeping through. Signs pointed to starting solid food. We're going with veggies first, then cereal, then fruit in an attempt to gear her taste buds toward less sweet things...we'll see if it works. She does have a mom with a monster sweet tooth (but I also love my veggies!)

Denied

I received a notice from my county district court today...notifying me that cases settled that were scheduled for trial next week, they have too many jurors and "YOU DO NOT NEED TO REPORT ON MONDAY OR ANYTIME DURING THAT WEEK." Followed by "Your service will not be rescheduled. No further action is needed from you. Thank you for your understanding."

Wasn't that nice of them to thank me? :) I'm looking forward to having the time at work as it was hard to figure how I could possibly get my work done as well as my jury duty. But I'm a little bummed to miss out on the juror experience. I think I would make a great juror.

I guess this means next week will be my first 5 days in the office stretch since April 21.