Oh Happy Day

Nearly exactly one year to the day from when I started pumping, I brought my pump home from work.  I haven't used it--at work or at home--for about two weeks now.  We're down to just two feedings--one in the morning when she wakes up, and one at night before she goes to sleep.

I seem to be maintaining enough of a supply so far, though I can tell that it is indeed dwindling--as it should.  My plan is to cut out the morning feeding over Thanksgiving when my husband can wake up with her each day and offer her a sippy-cup of milk in place of the breast (he has agreed, but I know that he'd rather sleep in).  Assuming that I can keep my supply on just one feeding, I would then nurse her through the holidays in Montana, and then try to eliminate that bedtime feeding once we're home and back into a routine. 

I confess that I did very little to work out during this year while I have been nursing, but I know that this "nursing diet"--in which Ella sucks everything right out of me--is going to have to change soon.  I've started doing my push-ups and crunches each morning again, and I plan to start my yoga in the mornings when we eliminate the morning feeding.  Until then, I'll continue to enjoy the holiday treats and let Ella "help" me keep my figure.  That all being said, I firmly believe that my healthy diet and exercise played a big part in helping me conceive and carry her to term, and once I get a cycle back, I'll "be good" again.  But until then, I feel that not having a cycle (due to nursing) gives me a free pass for now.

I'm sorry that I haven't posted much lately.  I've been busy busy busy at work and at home with Ella.  I've also been battling a little cold for the last week, so I've been trying to get as much sleep as possible.  But we're doing well, and I think of you all often.

Today's blessing was the chance to take an early lunch break and hang out with Ella.  It's been a change to only visit her once a week at daycare after spending nearly every lunch break with her.  I definitely look forward to these lunch dates with her, and I recognize that I'm blessed to have a job that is flexible enough to allow me to have this time with her.