Oh Mother, I heart thou

"Arts in the Park" was today at Lakebottom.  Walked across the street with the girls in the wagon to ride ponies and see clowns, pet some baby animals...oh, and look at art from local artists.  I don't know.  Does it get any better than that?  Ponies right off your front porch?  I guess it could get better than that...they could be there everyday but then we might have horseflies or something...I'll settle for this...and the knowledge that the girls have a really handsome pony at PJ & Kiki's house.   

Speaking of handsome!  Charlotte came home from school on Friday announcing her marriage to...the "handsomest" boy in class.  I played along.

Angie/Mom:  Charlotte if you get married you won't be able to live her anymore!  And we will miss you terribly!  You can't get married yet!

Charlotte:  MOM!  You can come and visit me every once in a while.  Don't be so dramatic.  I'm ready for that white, fancy dress.  

One more week of school!  Then all the sleeping in, lazy mornings we can hope for...Charlotte wakes up whenever she wants to, wanders into the playroom, sets up a "world", or more accurately, starts back playing with the "world" from yesterday (and the day before that) for hours and hours.  Ruby heads outside to play or sits in on Charlotte's world and mom enjoys some summer reading.  Hmmm...This might be day 1.  She'll be bored by day 2 and telling me so.  Every activity I suggest Charlotte will whine because it will undoubtedly involve getting her shoes on.  Ruby will already have her shoes on and she'll be jumping up and down, or galloping around the room hollering,'go bye bye!' 

We'll have speech and swimming lessons, tennis clinics (I hope, I hope)...Adam took the girls on a date night last week.  Then to the sporting goods store.  I was hoping he'd pick Charlotte out a tennis racket.  They came home with a baseball glove and mitt.  Ruby wants to wear the mitt like a hat and Charlotte keeps asking me to throw the ball with her.  Now what am I suppose to do with a baseball?  I don't know how to throw the darn thing much less teach her how to catch with it.  No idea.  Do you hold it up or down?  Do you throw the ball with the mitt or is that solely for catching?  Camp. We have several camps lined up.  Ruby's coming with us to VBS this year too!  So excited.  I'm going to volunteer with the younger kids so she can be in my "class".  Princess camp is in June.  Charlotte gets to dress up like a princess every day and dance and have tea parties.  She's excited.  I'm dreading the drop-off because Ruby is going to hissy fit every morning "Charshe" goes into dance school dressed like a princess and she can't go with her.  That's where we are with school.  Ruby cries for Charlotte when we drop her off and then she asks after her the whole time we're running errands.  We do a lot of shopping together...Roo loves to shop!  But she wants to know where Char Char is and when we're going to get her. 

I'm excited about summer.  I'm shocked that next year Charlotte will be in 5-day a week preschool and Ruby will be starting Mommy's Morning Out.  My babies are gone!  I've got a toddler and a preschooler.  My heart hurts a little.  I've got a knot in my stomach.  But I'm so proud of our girls.  They're amazing.  We're thriving...so happy...the 4 of us.  Two kids.  Two adults.  One-on-one.  Seems like a good number for this family.  I've got friends having babies every which a way.  That's good.  I'll be able to hold and squeeze and love on some little bity's then hand them back to the mommies. 

I had a great Mother's Day.  We went to Hampton last Saturday night, mom and dad kept the girls - swimming, trampolining, and pizza.  I got to see mom for Mother's Day, which was nice - not only is she my mom but she's one of my best friends too.  She prepared a meal with daddy's instructions (sling) and I baked a red velvet pound cake with cream cheese icing...and Charlotte like it! What a gift...  Adam and I had a date night. 

Adam got me an iphone which I probably wouldn't have picked out myself because the data plans are expensive and the phones are expensive and I don't need an iphone but MAN IT IS AWESOME and as soon as I had it and spent 5 minutes with it, I knew I was totally worth it.  Adam helped the girls make me a pillow case with their hands and feet in the shape of a butterfly and it said, "Sweet Dreams".  OH!  I loved it!  They also made me a t-shirt covered in their hand prints.  So, yeah, when I put it on I have little hands all over my boobs which is how I feel most of the time anyway.  Yes!  To all you wondering, I am still proudly nursing Ruby, I tried to wean her at 18 months but it didn't go over too well.  Charlotte was a lot easier to wean but I nursed her until she was two.  I know ya'll think I'm nuts BUT here are some big reason why I'm still a bf'ing momma:

In the second year (12-23 months), 448 mL of breastmilk provides:

•29% of energy requirements

•43% of protein requirements

•36% of calcium requirements

•75% of vitamin A requirements

•76% of folate requirements

•94% of vitamin B12 requirements

•60% of vitamin C requirements

--Dewey 2001



The American Academy of Family Physicians notes that children weaned before two years of age are at increased risk of illness (AAFP 2001).
 Nursing toddlers between the ages of 16 and 30 months have been found to have fewer illnesses and illnesses of shorter duration than their non-nursing peers (Gulick 1986).
 Extensive research on the relationship between cognitive achievement (IQ scores, grades in school) and breastfeeding has shown the greatest gains for those children breastfed the longest.

"Meeting a child's dependency needs is the key to helping that child achieve independence. And children outgrow these needs according to their own unique timetable."  - big one for us, because she's just not ready to be weaned, and I don't mind...I'm reading a book and she's nursing and it's quiet and it's easy.
 Children who achieve independence at their own pace are more secure in that independence then children forced into independence prematurely.
 A US Surgeon General has stated that it is a lucky baby who continues to nurse until age two. (Novello 1990)

The World Health Organization emphasizes the importance of nursing up to two years of age or beyond to greater reduce the risk of cancer: (WHO 1992, WHO 2002).

•Breastfeeding reduces the risk of breast cancer by 94% (References)*.  I had a grandmother die of breast cancer and I'm a cancer survivor.  This (*) is a big deal.   

•Breastfeeding reduces the risk of ovarian cancer (References).
 •Breastfeeding reduces the risk of uterine cancer (References).
•Breastfeeding reduces the risk of endometrial cancer (References).
•Breastfeeding protects against osteoporosis.

The most fascinating studies show that the longer and more frequently a mom nurses her baby, the smarter her child is likely to become. The brain grows more during the first two years of life than any other time, nearly tripling in size from birth to two years of age. It's clearly a crucial time for brain development, and the intellectual advantage breastfed babies enjoy is attributed to the "smart fats" unique to mom's breast milk (namely, omega-3 fatty acid, also known as DHA). From head to toe, babies who breastfeed for extended periods of time are healthier overall. --Sears 2008
 (see http://www.kellymom.com/)

 And yeah, it gets her to sleep quick and easy.  And I can eat a bag of rolos everyday and drink coffee with lots and lots of creamer and stay a size two. 

So I thought the t-shirt with the hands all over the chest quite apropos.  Of course Adam didn't want to get "in trouble" so he helped the girls create the art on a "small, fitted t-shirt"  one I definitely won't be able to fit into once Ruby's weaned.   

We met Gigi yesterday in Warm Springs to eat lunch at Bulloch House and then tour the fish hatchery.  Adam spent the day before bass fishing a stocked and managed pond and probably caught 250 large mouth - so he was looking for bass everywhere...the turtle pond, the carp pond, seeing if there were any in there with the goldfish...I think he spotted one in with the gar...

I didn't know you could eat bass.  I'm leary of any fish not sold at Publix but Adam was offering to cook Friday night and I certainly wasn't going to turn that offer down.  While he was cooking Charlotte & Ruby were out frog hunting.  I cannot believe I have two little girls that catch and play with frogs.  I can't help it...I still scream every time Charlotte surprises me with one. 

I had a great Mother's Day.  I am loved.  Wife.  Mother.  Daughter.  Friend.