Here's a picture of Max's teeth! Not great, but he doesn't show them for the cameras, so we'll be happy with what we got:Flu season is completely insane this year. I overheard one woman talking to one of my clerks this week about how she thought it was so much worse this year. I agree, but the next thing she said completely floored me. First of all, let me mention that this woman was wearing an Obama t-shirt...which makes the things that came out of her mouth next hilarious to me. She said she thought this was something that the government was putting out there...you know, like all that syphilis. She was seriously comparing the swine flu (ahem, excuse me..H1N1 influenza) to Tuskegee! I mean, really? That one had me going for hours! The things I hear people say. Yes, Tuskegee was reprehensible and unforgivable. Definitely not laughing at that, just the comparison.

The last couple of days I have really been wanting to go off the cleanse and just eat whatever. My milk supply is suffering and I have been craving FOOD! Not really sweets, though, so that's a plus. Except I have eaten a lot of dates lately. Man, they are good! Okay, so I guess I have been. Anyway, except the dates, I've been doing well. I think my milk supply has suffered because I'm not pumping for as long at work as I used to...no time. Sometimes I can't pump as often and when I do, I'm so wound up that it's hard to get decent letdowns. It's really frustrating, since I am scrambling to keep up with Max. I have no extra milk in the freezer, and so I'm having to pump all day today to get enough for work tomorrow and the next day. Also, I'm not drinking enough water and I don't think I'm eating enough. Again, at work...there is just no time. I'm often struggling to keep up because it's so crazy lately and then when I pump I get behind, so most of my day is spent struggling just to keep my head above water. Max is so worth it, though.

This morning I scrambled 2 eggs with some spinach in olive oil, butter, salt and pepper because I was starving and it's cold outside and inside and I just couldn't drink a smoothie. Probably too many eggs to be cleanse-friendly, but it was yummy!

The house hasn't seen any new visitors lately, I am told that the construction people are still interested but they haven't been back either. I hope this house sells soon, I really want to be able to save some money like we said we would, but we can't as long as we're living here and I'm part time. November would have been when I go back full time but I'm not planning to. So I really really hope it works out soon.

So, Max is completely down with the crawling and pulling up. He still hasn't pulled up on any furniture though. And he is almost 8 months old, I can't believe it! I got him a new potty the other day because I think it will help him go, since he always goes sitting down or standing in the ExerSaucer...it's a Baby Bjorn Little Potty. He can sit unassisted on this one and his feet touch the floor, so I think it will help. So far so good, except that it slides on the tile floor really easily, so I can't leave him unattended (not that I would). I'm going to have to figure out some sort of grippy to put on the bottom of it so it stays put.

Lots of new things happening this week with Max! Saturday, we both had an appointment with Dr. Jim Bob and the office happened to be having some classes and a garage sale, and that meant we got to see Dr. Cindy and Harper, too! I was so excited to be able to see them again, she's been so busy with births we haven't had a chance to get together since May. Harper and Max were excited to see each other, and there was much grabbing and growling that went on between them. Harper would grab Max's shirt and babble to him and Max would growl back. These boys and their growling! Max had his first little temper tantrum that I've seen: Harper was sitting in the floor playing with a little plastic basket and so I set Max in the floor so they could play together, since now Max is old enough to notice other babies and be interested in playing. Max tried to take the basket, so Vicki, the LFWC receptionist, gave him a couple of plastic bowling pins to play with. Harper took his bowling pin, so Max took the basket. Then Harper took the basket back from Max, and he screamed and started crying! I thought he had somehow been pinched or hurt, because that's what it sounded like to me, but Cindy was laughing and saying "welcome to the temper tantrum stage". Oh no! I thought my sweet boy would always be gentle and loving, but it turns out he can get mad just like anyone else. I was not expecting that at all!

Yesterday I took Max to the State Fair with Lauren and her new boyfriend, David, and Max had been napping on the way to her house. He had just woken up when David got in the back seat next to him, and so Max was just staring at him in that groggy just-woke-up way for about 10 minutes as we drove to Dallas. All of a sudden I heard him start crying pathetically...his first bout with stranger anxiety! I guess he couldn't see me and so he was just freaking out a little. We stopped, I nursed him (it was worse I'm sure, because he was hungry too), and Lauren got in the back seat with him and he was fine after that. Again, not expected...in fact the other day I was just telling someone that Max had never met a stranger. I guess he has now! Poor baby!

It was really hot out there, they said it would be about 94 or so but it was easily 100. I'm glad I took the stroller, because I don't think either Max or I would have been comfortable in the Moby or Dr. Cindy's mei tai she let me borrow. The food was good, as usual, I had roasted corn, a jalapeno cheese corny dog, Green Goblins, aguas frescas, and a deep fried peanut butter cup macaroon that was to die for! I did not touch the deep fried butter though...I can't believe they actually had that this year. Yuck!

Max is also just so close to crawling, not going backwards so much and scooting forward a little bit. I guess he's wanting to practice as much as possible because the last couple of nights he's been a hard sell on sleep, wanting instead to roll and play and practice crawling, and finding new positions to nurse. Night before last I didn't get him down until 10, and tonight not until 9:15. His new game is to get on his hands and knees and launch himself at my breasts with his mouth wide open. It's all I can do not to laugh! If he's not doing that he's grabbing my nipple and trying to use that to pull himself to them. He also will lie on his stomach and nurse that way. On the other hand, once he's asleep he's sleeping much more soundly, and I don't have to be as careful getting out of bed. That's a relief, and he's also able to fall back asleep by himself more often if he wakes up a little. He'll wake up a little and cough or sneeze, often roll onto his stomach and go back to sleep instead of fussing to nurse more.

Speaking of coughing, he had a bit of a snotty nose and cough last week, and ever since then he's doing this fake cough that he thinks is hilarious!

In other news, John went for his sleep study last night. I'd been telling him for the longest time that he's got sleep apnea. For the last several years, some nights I'd wake up and he'd be snoring and stop breathing for a few seconds. So after he's been so fatigued lately he was ready to get some help, and especially after a couple of weeks ago with a hypertension scare. He came home this morning and said the lady told him he slept fine! Ugh. He had used some Afrin last night before he left and so now he's thinking it's probably just a result of allergies/sinus problems. I hope it's that easy, but dang! That test wasn't cheap! The doctor will look at the reports and let him know something soon. We'll see. I just want him to get better rest and be able to breathe well; I don't care what is causing it, as long as we can fix it.

Last but not least, I am going to start a 21-day purification program through Jim Bob's office. Dr. Cindy has been blogging about it here, and she's got me motivated to do it and get healthy for me and Max, too! I'll try to blog about it as I go along. But for now, I'm going to relax before bed. Good night!

A bit of venting...

I fully intend to write a longer, more cheerful post at some point in the near future, but something is just bugging the devil out of me and I've got to vent.

I should make a sign to wear or just tattoo this somewhere on my face: "I believe that babies should be breastfed exclusively. I believe that ALL WOMEN can breastfeed their babies. DO NOT talk to me about why you 'can't' breastfeed your baby. I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR your excuses, and I AM HEARTBROKEN for your baby that you make horrible choices for his/her nutrition."

There is a girl that works at the same place I do, that is a young, single mother who was pregnant at the same time as me. I don't really talk to her too much as she tends to be a little high-strung for my taste. She came to work a few days after her baby was born and we passed over the topic of breastfeeding, and she said she wasn't going to. I do not know of a tactful way to urge people I don't know well to breastfeed. I tend to get confrontational when faced with excuses for not doing so, especially because these excuses tend to stem from ignorance, so I kept my mouth shut. Her baby is now 5 weeks old and I ran into her at work today. She began a conversation by asking me, "How much does your baby weigh?" I replied, "Oh, last check, about 16.5 pounds." She says, "My baby is 10 pounds [some-odd] ounces." (I wasn't really paying attention.) I said something non-committal like, "Oh, really?" Then she goes on to say that some friend of hers's baby is [some amount of time] older than her own and he doesn't even weigh 9 pounds or something. I said something to the effect of all babies being different, at which point she replies, "Well, we're feeding him stuff we're not supposed to. We feed him applesauce, and baby cereal." This baby is Five. Weeks. Old. She continues about how it helps him sleep at night, and he had been eating like, "every 2 hours". "Well," I said, "their tummies are very small, so that's quite normal." But then she said how much happier he is. I am so dumbfounded I can't even put together a complete sentence at this point. I think I said something like, "Well, you're happier" as I booked it out of there before I went off on her.

I do not get this. Where does this logic come from? I really wish women would educate themselves. I am so sick of hearing about these babies who are given all this extra "food" (if you want to call formula that) in the effort to make them sleep longer! And that doctors recommend it without trying to get to the bottom of why a breastfeeding baby is having trouble, if that's the reason (if they even tried it to begin with). I was talking about this with my friends Jim Bob and Cindy and how it's just basically putting them into food coma. It makes me sick about these babies getting empty calories or inferior products because their parents are either uneducated, do not care, or are just plain lazy! Human milk for human babies, people! God made our bodies to do it, but it's not easy! It's hard work to teach a mama and a baby to become an efficient breastfeeding pair, but it's so worth it! Take Max for instance. I never once entertained a thought of not breastfeeding him, but it was a lot of work at the beginning. He had to have a chiropractic adjustment in order to be able to latch on correctly, and I also had to meet with a lactation consultant. These people are worth their weight in gold.

At the pharmacy where I work, the door to get in is right next to the Great Wall O' Formula, and I shudder every time I go in or out. I guess people nowadays are just believing what they are spoon-fed by the mass media, doctors, and marketing giants as to how they should feed their child. It's just ridiculous, and I wish I could make a difference. I am just so incensed by it I tend to step on people's toes. I guess I either need to get over stepping on people's toes or figure out a way to educate people in a tactful and loving way. It is, after all, for the babies. They are the ones benefiting or suffering from a poor choice made by the parent.

That's all. I wish I could say I feel better now, but I don't. Ugh.