A Sunday Evening Rant

     While not harness related this rant is definitely Froggie related. It has to do with breastfeeding. It also has to do with dealing with "the public".
     If you keep up with my posts about Froggie you know that we had to re-learn how to breastfeed once we got the harness. You also probably read about the stares we get about the harness and the sometimes brave individuals that do more than stare. If you read the post about diapering you know we use cloth diapers, and I have mentioned in more posts than not that we love our carrier!
     Some may call me a hippie, others "crunchy" or "granola", and some will say I'm just flat out weird. I'm ok with all of that, I'm also ok with those who aren't "brave" enough to do anything but stare. One thing I don't think I would handle well is being told I can't meet my daughter's needs because someone else is uncomfortable.
     Yes I nurse Froggie in public (usually with a cover) and thankfully I've never been told I can't feed her wherever it is that she decides she's hungry. I've fed her at work, in restaurants, at the park, while walking aisles at the store, at the doctor's office, at church and on occasion in my car. In an effort to keep Froggie's attention I use a cover when feeding her if there are distractions (people or things to look at, grab for, play with, etc.) The use of a cover, in my opinion, is like hanging a sign on yourself saying "my chest is sort of exposed under here, stare at me", not to mention the older Froggie gets the less tolerant she is of the cover and tries to take it off (this could also be due to the fact that it's the middle of summer).
     I have people stare at me but it's hard to know when I'm breastfeeding in public if the funny looks are because my daughter is eating or because she's wearing something that is obviously NOT a fashion statement. I typically ignore those around and continue doing what I'm doing whether it's talking to those I'm with, eating, shopping or working. The way I see it I'm caring for my child in the best way I possibly can.
     This was not always my opinion. I did not always just "whip them out" and feed my child. When Big Brother was an infant I would pump and tote along bottles of breast milk. I was able to hand him off to be fed by another person and then go lock myself away someplace for the duration of his feeding. He was terribly distracted when I did try to breastfeed him and it was a frustrating experience; primarily because I wanted to nurse him but I was "chicken". So instead I became best friends with my pump and missed out on a lot of conversations and cuddle time with him.
     I'm not one for wasting time... So if I can just be confident in the decision I have made I can continue to eat my dinner, do my shopping or whatever it is that I'm in the middle of. I can give Froggie whatever she needs without having to excuse us and hide.
     This rant came about not because I was finally approached by someone after 5 months of feeding Froggie wherever (though I'm sure my bubble will burst eventually and someone will get brave enough to say something to me), but because of a video circulating on Facebook.

     Holli McNish is a poet who released a video of her take on the shame breastfeeding mothers experience for nursing in public. She's very talented (and british so her experiences come from the UK but I believe they are still relevant)! Her rant was pretty catchy and I listened to it twice while nursing Froggie during Big Brother's nap time.

Here's a smiley Froggie to close out your weekend

Release the... ducks?

     Today way the rescheduled duck race. Like I said on the 4th the local Kiwanis Club floats TONS of rubber duckies down a creek, each duck has a number and you can purchase a duck for $5 and the chance to win one of a bunch of prizes. The money they raise goes to a bunch of youth programs including two local marching bands. 

     We headed over a little early because there are normally a lot of people there. I'm guessing since it was rescheduled people were busy today since there weren't many people there. Then on top of that some of the ducks got through the net so they had to let them go early so no one was really prepared. Big Brother really liked seeing the ducks float down the creek and once they were all released we walked down the road to see them "cross the finish line". They pull all the ducks out and call numbers until they run out of prizes. None of our ducks crossed the finish line before the prizes ran out but it was fun to watch and Big Brother doesn't really care as long as he gets to see fun stuff. Froggie was pretty interested in the ducks as well and watched the people standing in the creek pretty intently. 

A cute, sleepy Froggie laying on my lap and holding hubby's hand.

Heading down to the creek accompanied by some REAL duckies.

Sleepy Froggie

Escaping duckies!

Hubby and Big Brother watching the ducks.

Walking to the "finish line"

Hubby and Big Brother heading to the finish line.

Collecting ducks

Froggie and I watching the ducks come in.

Happy Froggie while we sat and listened to the rain.

Fourth of July Follow Up

     A little late due to internet connectivity issues but here's a little bit about the rest of our fourth.      
     We had headed north to Hubby's hometown to visit with friends and watch fireworks. We had some great food and did a mini photo shoot with all the kids and headed outside to listen to the band play across the street. When it started to get dark we headed out back to wait for the fireworks to begin. Froggie was hungry so I fed her and of course she fell asleep! Big Brother and his friend ran around with glow sticks (we even found one with a flag on it for Froggie and Big Brother). Froggie slept until fireworks started, which work her up. She nursed again and fell asleep through the finale!      Over all it was a great day and I think everyone had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures - my camera battery died so a lot of the pictures from the end of the night came from my phone.

Froggie and Big Brother all decked out for the 4th!

Glow stick fun

More glow stick fun

Froggie with her glow stick

Froggie and her glowstick (with flash)

Fireworks!

Big Bother thought they were too loud

Nursing covers have multiple uses

Hoppy 4th of July!

Happy Fourth of July from our family to yours!

     Well the late night construction paid off. We were able to pull a completed "Airplane" down the hill this morning for the parade and 4th of July festivities. We were joined by lots of family and the rain held off so we could enjoy the morning.
     At 10am we kicked off the morning with the National Anthem followed by the Trike, Bike and Group parades (our kids were in the group parade because they both were in the airplane/wagon). I know you're all curious to see the completed project so here it is (and some pictures from the parade).

Our decorated wagon

Hubby pulling the kids in the parade

Getting their prize

Hubby, Big Brother and Froggie with the trophy

Froggie and her ribbon

Big Brother with the trophy

     We won 3rd place! Big Brother was kind of grumpy to start off the morning but as it went on he seemed to have a good morning. In addition to the kids parade there are swim contests, a watermelon race, tug of war, a sack race and a water balloon toss.
     Most of the activities are self explanatory, you may be curious about the watermelon race. It happens in the lake and is done twice, once for the girls and again for the boys up to age 13. The kids who want to participate are divided into two teams and placed behind a rope. Someone walks out into the water with a watermelon covered in Vaseline and drops it into the water when the ropes are raised. Both teams then fight over the watermelon and try to get it to the opposite side.

Watermelon race

     While the water activities were going on Big Brother splashed around in the water and Froggie fell asleep in the Ergobaby.

Froggie and I

Sleepy Froggie

     The rain ended around 8am and held off for the morning. We headed home and grilled up some lunch before Big Brother laid down for a nap. When he woke up we headed over into town to watch them release the ducks for the duck race. The local Kiwanis Club floats TONS of rubber duckies down a creek, each duck has a number and you can purchase a duck for $5 and the chance to win one of a bunch of prizes. The money they raise goes to a bunch of youth programs including two local marching bands. However, they postponed the duck release until Saturday at 5pm. No reason was really given but it looked as though there was too much flooding/fast moving water from the creek to release them.

     Now we're headed up to visit with friends and wait for the fireworks to begin!

And the Building Begins

     Well our town does a series of events in the morning of July 4th which was a small part of a larger celebration including fireworks, food vendors, etc. Over time the size of the celebration has shrunk and all that really remains in our town is the morning events. 

     One of these events is a parade for the children where they decorate their bikes, trikes and wagons and parade around near the beach to be judged. When I was growing up this was an all out event and many years my sister and I struggled to navigate our bikes (one year I even hit the judge!)

     I, once again, waited until the last minute to begin preparing the wagon. Though I don't know how much work I could have actually done before today anyway since the structure will probably last for 24 hours or less since it's attached with duct tape. 

     Anyway, I'm not one to give away my end product before it's big reveal - Big Brother was in bed WAY before it was finished. And honestly it's not even finished yet, I'm just taking a break to feed Froggie. So far we've made it through a downpour and are working on the porch with limited lighting. 

My materials (some at least).

How the boys stayed entertained before bedtime. 

Sleepy Froggie

Another Milestone

     I mentioned a few of the things Froggie is currently doing yesterday. Well today I have another thing to add - Froggie had her first food experience!
     Yes I know the current advice is nothing but breast milk or formula before 6 months but we take a "baby led" kind of approach. Both with Big Brother and Froggie we watched for cues they may be ready for food; imitating chewing, reaching for food/cups, getting upset when others are eating, etc. It helps that both kids also had teeth at about the same time (4-5 months).
     After Froggie "yelled" at one of my co-workers for eating crackers I figured that was a good enough  cue to attempt something additional. She did a great job with it and smiled and giggled about her dinner  the entire time. She didn't "tongue out" the cereal and she ate the little bit that I made for her with no problem at all.
     I know there are varying opinions of when to feed infants, what to feed infants, and whether or not to feed infants cereal period. We had success with giving Big Brother cereal and we've decided to follow the same feeding pattern with Froggie. Check out this happy little girl!

     There was one set back to this experience - Froggie does not fit in a high chair while wearing a harness. Since Froggie is still pretty tiny and fits well in our infant seat we decided to use that as a make shift feeding seat. We would have used the modified Bumbo seat but I left it at work this afternoon when I came home.
     Off to start decorating a wagon for the 4th of July. This is a very intricate process, especially if you're part of my family. There will definitely be a post about it in the next day or 2.

Another Rainy Monday

Monday is a lot more difficult when you wake up to cooler weather and gray skies. As the day has progressed it has gotten darker and begun to rain. I'm VERY sick of rain! We've been having (almost) daily downpours for the past few days and the cloudy skies have made everyone sleepy - especially Froggie!

     Well, June is over and July is here. Froggie is officially 5 months old today! She's getting so big and doing so much! 

          She can now roll from front to back AND back to front. 

          She has 2 teeth! 

          She talks up a storm!

          She loves to stick out her tongue. 

          She holds on to everything

          AND she's starting to get mad when people eat around her (and tries to steal their food)