First Day of School

Donovan and the girls, ready for the first day of school! Lindsay's going into 3rd Grade and Josie's going into 1st Grade. They're so excited--and Donovan's excited about 'alone time' with Mommy!

New Hairdo's

Here are a couple of pictures, in the last days of summer, with the girls in their long hair. They're both sporting some new outfits, as well. While they couldn't wait for school to begin, they were more excited about chopping off their long hair and going "short". I made an appointment with my hairdresser of about fifteen years, Wendy. The girls have gone with me several times when I've gotten my own hair done--Wendy's salon is in her house. So the girls got ready.....

...and off we went to their first hair appointment....

The result..... Simply STUNNING!!!

Thanks, Wendy! You did a great job, as always!!!

You WIENER!!!

Back when my oldest, Lindsay, was a baby, we were taking her to my sister-in-law's for daycare. It was a fantastic arrangement! Lindsay got to spend time with her godmother and cousins, we got a very good price on daycare, and we were so very comfortable with how our baby was being taken care of while we were at work. I remember when Lindsay was approaching her 1st birthday, Jim asked Mary (my sister-in-law) how we were supposed to get her to stop taking her bottle (we had switched from breastmilk to formula around 5 months, seemingly with no problems). Mary replied, "You wean her!" like it should be obvious. (Really, it should have been, but we were new at parenting and hadn't probably put much thought into it.) At first, Jim and I looked at each other with perplexed expressions. "Wiener?" we asked Mary. "No, no, no. You WEAN her." Oh... we got it then. But we've always loved remembering how we'd thought she had called Jim a wiener.

I'm just getting ready to try weaning Donovan from breastmilk to formula. I honestly don't remember having problems doing that with Lindsay, and it was actually a good thing for both Josie and me (we made the switch when she was five weeks old--breastfeeding didn't go well with her). However, I've gone much longer with Donovan, so I'm a little nervous that he's going to resist it.

It just seems to be the right time for me, though. We're going to Canada in about a month, and I think it'll be easier to have him on formula. I know--logically, you'd think it'd make more sense to keep him on breastmilk, since I have that with me wherever I go. But D has become a very, um, sensitive eater. He's very particular about his surroundings when he nurses. If the setting isn't exactly perfect--quiet, comfortable positioning, zero distractions--he gets fussy, doesn't stay latched on, cries and squirms, and ultimately, he bites. I really don't want to mess with any of that (especially being bitten) on an airplane, so I'm hoping to get him to take a bottle with ease before that. Plus, I've got a few physical reasons why it'd be a good time to wean him from breastmilk.

I'm not ready to wean him 100%, and he's not ready for that either. But I am thinking about that "wiener" comment a lot anyway. It helps me make light of the situation when I start getting stressed out. Thanks, Mary!