SANTA
Today Lewis goes to see Santa with his cousin! My SIL and I are headed downtown with the kiddos after work. But we’re not seeing normal Santa. We’re seeing hipster Santa. Because this is Portland, guys. (UPDATE: Hipster santa never happend. line was too long)

DIY-PARENTING
I saw the “recycling” pile at daycare for the first time the other day. In the infants classroom, where Lewis is, the pile is mostly glass baby food jars. The jars all have lids on them, and the lids are all labeled with the children’s names for whom they were intended.

95% of the jars have Lewis’ name on them. Apparently I’m the only mom who doesn’t make her kid’s food herself.

I felt bad for a second, and then I stopped and mentally slapped myself for comparing myself to other moms. Buying baby food from the store is awesome and convenient.

If I could, I’d cook more for both Lewis and us grown ups, too. But I can’t. I am still “triaging” my life in order to survive each day. DIY-parenting sounds very lovely, in theory. And good for those other moms who find a way to “do it all”. But to me, it also sounds completely exhausting and I just can’t do it. And you know what? My baby isn’t deprived. He doesn’t seem to think he is missing out on anything.

MORE FOOD
As we all know, Lewis is 8 months old now. I had a revelation recently that perhaps the ratio in his diet of solid foods to breastmilk isn’t where it should be.

I did a search online, and it seems the conventional wisdom is that he should be having three people-food meals plus 2 snacks. And then breastmilk 5-6 times a day. Lewis still only has a couple jars of baby food and maybe a few bites of
other stuff each day, consuming breastmilk for the vast majority of his
calories – maybe 7-8 meals of breastmilk?

Conclusion: I should probably start feeding him more people food. Which feels both exciting and very challenging at the same time. Breastfeeding is sooooo easy and convenient. No preparation, no packaging, very little mess. I somehow have to figure out how to bring enough solids AND enough breastmilk to daycare now.

Plus I’ll miss breastfeeding him. I can’t explain why. But I will miss it an awful lot. It hurts my heart to think of giving it up.