I'm Weaning!

Last week my two year old began the weaning process.  It wasn't planned.  He's been nursing less and less often the past few months and eating a larger variety of foods…and more of them.  But the weaning kind of caught me off guard. 

I've nursed all of my babies.  Due to their many food allergies, discovered as nursing babies, this seemed like the best option nutritionally for them.  I could tell when foods bothered them as young as a few weeks old because when I would eat the problem foods, they would affect my milk and cause tummy complaints, eczema, respiratory symptoms, ear aches etc.  When I avoided those foods myself my babies were happy and healthy.  As they got older I could test those offending foods by actually offering them to the babies, and then determine if they had outgrown the allergies or still had problems.  Because there were so many foods that a typical toddler would eat that my children could not, I tried to nurse them longer than what is often seen.  I wanted them to get the nutritional benefits of my milk as long as possible, until their tastes and teeth and ability to chew allowed them to get their nutritional needs met without me. 

David is 28 months old now.  He is what we believe to be the last of nine children.  So weaning him is not without its emotion filled moments.  I don't know how many months or years of my married life I have spent nursing children, but I am sure I have spent more time nursing than not nursing.  It has been an enjoyable and satisfying part of being a mother.  I have nursed in every setting imaginable…in a bathroom stall, at amusement parks, on the beach, waiting for a valet to bring our car, at concerts, at very noisy BYU volleyball games, on airplanes, on the top of "Y" mountain, at cross country races, next to Old Faithful…you name it I have done it. Babies have to eat and since I chose not to ever use a bottle, to ensure the crucial milk supply for babies who could not use typical baby formula, I had to feed those babies wherever I was.  I've always tried to be discreet and stay covered, but this post is not about that. 

Last week, due to an extremely busy day, David did not nurse once from early morning until bedtime.  When bedtime came I had a thought come to my mind that I should ask Jerry to put him to bed that night, without his regular nursing.  Jerry offered him a snack and drink, brushed his teeth, sang to him in his darkened room and lay him down.  He went right to bed.  He slept well that night and did not wake early morning to nurse.  When he did wake up I offered him oatmeal.  He jumped at it.  Throughout that day I had these little feelings (kind of like the same feelings I get when I just know that the time is right to potty train) that David was weaning. 

A few days later he still hadn't nursed again.  He'd asked a few  times for "milky" (his name for nursing) but when I offered to read him a story or get him a snack or cup of almond milk, that always made him happy. 

It's been ten days now and he isn't even asking for "milky" anymore. 
 
And now, I am going through my own "weaning" process.  I still have milk but no one to drink it.  Emotionally I am weaning as well.  I have always enjoyed the bonding I feel with my babies while nursing and I will miss that.  There will most likely not be another baby for me and that thought makes my heart a little tender.  No more waking up for middle of the night feedings, but also, no more of that quiet sucking little baby looking up at me with absolute adoration in his eyes. 

There are benefits though.  Our babysitting age children can attest to that.  David will be much easier to put to bed when we go on dates from here on out.  And Sophia, who is four, decided this week that if David is done with "milky" she is done with her binkie.  Hallelujah!!!!  Just last month when I asked her if she would think about getting rid of her binkie she told me she needed to wait until she was five!!!!  But Sophia has been binkie free for over a week now.  I promised her a pack of gum all to herself this week as a reward.  We will go to the store together so she can choose her favorite flavor.

My babies are growing up so quickly.  Brandon, our oldest is 23 and fulfilling his dream flying for a living, Kyle is getting married soon, Benjamin has only 10 months left of his mission, Jacob has had his first date and will soon have a driver's license, Nathan is soon to be a Teacher in the Aaronic priesthood, Olivia will "finally" be in Young Womens in just a few weeks, Emily is baptized and becoming a great little babysitter, and now Sophia has relinquished her binkie and David is weaned.  It reminds me of a quote that my sister in law had on her wall, "A mother holds her children's hands for a while... their hearts forever."  The time with our children goes so quickly.  We must cherish every second.

Jerry and I have many years of child rearing ahead of us and look forward to every year with anticipation.  We were talking the other day and are grateful with our decision to have these 9 wonderful spirits come to our family.  What better way to spend our life together. 

Psalms 127:3 states that "children are an heritage of the Lord."  We truly believe that children are a gift from God.

Eagle Project

It is Eagle Project time again.  Having five boys in a row means that you have a lot of encouraging and supporting to do as they work their way through the Boy Scout program.  Yesterday was Jacob's Eagle project. 
 
He chose to do a community clean up.  Last week he prepared a flyer to hand out at church, then the scouts helped to distribute flyers to every home in our ward boundary on our Young Men's night.  He arranged for several big dumpster bins to be stationed in a couple of locations. Saturday morning at 8am, he and many of the other scout age boys and leaders, as well as numerous other members of the community, including the missionaries serving here, showed up to help.  Members of the community could bring their trash to the dumpsters and there were boys to help unload it for them.  Jacob also arranged for trucks and trailers that could come directly to people's homes if they needed help getting their junk to the bins.  A member of the ward donated the use of the bins (part of his personal business) and took them to the dump to empty them as they filled.  Donations were collected to help offset the dump fees.

As it got closer to lunchtime the little ones and I showed up with boxes and boxes of pizza and drinks for refresh all the hard workers.

It was a great success.  4 great big bins were filled with trash and junk.  Another slightly smaller bin was filled with recyclable metal.  Another large trailer was also filled and taken to the dump.  We estimated about 120 man hours of service were given throughout the morning and for the prior flyer delivery.

An Eagle Scout project is supposed to be a leadership project that is service based.  The idea is for the boy to come up with a project that will benefit the community and then organize the bodies needed to help bring it to fruition.   This was a great project for that.  So many people helped.  Several people mentioned when they came to dump their junk that this was a great idea for a project and thanked us.  I am so grateful for all the scouts and leaders and members of the community who supported Jacob in accomplishing this great project.  It was a great day!!

Spaghetti Sauce and Swim Goggles

It is harvest time again.  Last week we froze bags and bags of peaches for our winter green smoothies.  We also ate all the fresh peaches we could possibly want.  Our family looks forward to peach season every year for this very reason.  When there are boxes and boxes of peaches ripening in the basement, we all get to enjoy peaches for breakfast, lunch and dinner….and in between as well…if we want.

We are bringing in quite a few tomatoes from the garden.  Last Saturday I had the girls help me turn them into spaghetti sauce.  We roasted some in the oven with garlic, onions and olive oil for our special roasted sauce, and then we got out the "Goliath" pot and made a great big batch of our neighbor's special spaghetti sauce recipe.

The first step is to cut up mountains of onions and bell peppers.  We did this in the food processor and got the job done quickly.  But the odor of onions was filling the kitchen and our eyes soon began to water.  Olivia and Emily had a great idea.  They ran upstairs after their swimming goggles.  Now they were prepared.  Olivia cooked the onions and peppers without so much as a tear with her new eye protection.  We added tomatoes and seasonings and after it had simmered for hours and filled the house with a wonderful smell we let it cool and froze it in bags for dinners through the winter. 
 
I was so grateful to have my daughters' help in this project.  It made the work much more enjoyable as we talked as we worked.  We were also able to get done so much quicker.  But I also hope that by including them in the process,  they will find satisfaction every time we pull out sauce to use for a meal, knowing that they were part of creating it.

Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that:

“Teaching children the joy of honest labor is one of the greatest of all gifts you can bestow upon them” (“The Joy of Honest Labor,” Ensign, Nov. 1986, 62).

Never Too Young

The other day as my husband was getting ready to leave the house to drop off our boys at Scouts, he offered to take David along.  Whenever David notices that someone is getting their shoes on or grabbing a sweater he knows that they must be going to go somewhere exciting and he is always game.  Just dropping brothers off at the school for cross country practice is awesome to him.  So he was thrilled when Jerry told him that they were going to go "bye bye" together.

I was sitting at the kitchen table and Jerry walked past on his way out and said, "Bye sweetie," and squeezed my shoulder as he went by.  A few seconds later I was surprised by David (just two years old) as he swaggered by me like a big grown up man, arms swinging, (anyone who knows David very well will immediately know the "walk" I am describing) and said to me, "Bye sweetie," and reached up and squeezed my shoulder. 

Way back when I was three years old and Harold B. Lee was the prophet, a pamphlet was put out by the church that was republished in the June 2002 Ensign.  It was called, "Father, Consider Your Ways."  In this it says:

"It must be emphasized that as a father, you are always teaching. For good or ill your family learns your ways, your beliefs, your heart, your ideas, your concerns. Your children may or may not choose to follow you, but the example you give is the greatest light you hold before your children, and you are accountable for that light."

Even a two year old is not too young to learn a ton from his Dad about how to love, honor, and respect his mother.  And as he grows he will learn to always honor and respect all women.