I was looking back over my blog and realized the last time I posted about breastfeeding I was still actively in the middle of doing it.

I just thought I would update that I made it to 10 months pumping what I could and supplementing the rest. I finally gave up because as he was getting older I could go out with him in public but I didn't feel comfortable pumping in public and was having to go longer and longer between pumpings. My chest was constantly aching and I didn't want to hold him, I would leak if I went to long (which was usually) and I wasn't making enough milk to justify me going through all that with him. I'd been afraid I wasn't going to make it past three weeks at one point so to have gotten as far as I did I'm very proud of.

Do I want to try breastfeeding again? Absolutely, if I ever have another kid I hope to exclusively breastfeed. I had lots of resources and help but looking back I can see mistakes I made, I didn't get help right away. I went a week before I went to a lactation meeting because the first one I could have gone to would have been the day I was out of the hospital. Then I felt too anxious to keep going back and getting the support I needed because I was supplementing and sore from my c-section and just overwhelmed.

While I don't regret supplementing, I don't know that it was necessary. I think if we had gotten the help we needed I would have easily made enough milk with him getting the proper latch, but for a long while I was convinced my body just couldn't make enough for him and I do think that by supplementing and making excuses I wound up never getting the hang of it or catching up.

I hope to have a positive breastfeeding experience if we wind up having a second child, and I think I will knowing what I know now.

I realized I haven't updated since April, but I've just been so busy. I realize other mommas manage to do blog posts plus parent multiple kids, I'm just not as talented. 

It's amazing the difference a year makes

Wiley has turned one, he's actually 16  months old now. We threw him a Tumford themed birthday party because he adores our cat, Abel, and I wanted something cat themed. I also think Tumford is super adorable and honestly, he still doesn't have a favorite cartoon character because we don't really watch TV and even though we have lots of books, he doesn't like sitting through them. If you're not aware, Tumford the Terrible is a book by Nancy Tillman, who has quickly become one of my favorite children's authors with her books like The Crown on Your Head, Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You, On The Night You Were Born and The Heaven of Animals (her newest, which I am still anxious to get for Wiley, it actually came out a few days after his birthday).

I wish we'd gotten a good picture of his birthday outfit but I don't think we did, although we got professional photos from Amy P. Photography  in Birmingham. 

What you can't see is that the diaper has a matching waist to the blue on the bow tie, so cute! Wiley's Yaya made it for him (while I watched, lol). I plan to learn how to make my own diaper covers at some point once I figure out  my new (used) sewing machine (it's a 1940s cast iron Kenmore we got at an estate sale!)

There were so many good pics, I think I'll try to make a separate post another day with all of them.

I'm excited to say we finally started cloth diapering, something I had been aching to do since I was pregnant! I'm still working on my stash but I have enough to wash every day to two days, depending on Wiley. I love it and only wish I'd started sooner!

Wiley is still a big boy, in the 90+ percentiles for height and weight. At his 15 month checkup he was almost 3 feet tall and 28 lbs. 

Patrick had changed jobs, then lost his new job but he's now working again and so far it seems to be going well. We luckily had enough money to make it for the month he was without before my friend kindly recommended him for a position at her office. Hopefully we'll get back to where I have extra money to get a full cloth diaper stash (I have approximately 14 and I want 25-30). I've discovered the trading sites for cloth diapers and so far gotten some cute ones! 

The super cute diapers I've gotten so far

I've mostly dealt with Bumgenius brand, it was the one I chose to start out with and bought the majority of brand new. I'm hoping to branch out and try Grovia and Applecheeks among others. 

About a month ago we rescued an adorable cat. Somebody posted about her on a local trading page, it was when it was going to be really cold outside but the girl who found her was allergic and couldn't take her in. She asked somebody to come get the cat and after seeing all these people just say they hoped somebody would get her I stepped up and offered. Patrick had just lost his job and I assured him we'd be looking for a home for her as she was a young cat and beautiful, of course we fell in love with her right away. She was so good with Wiley, too, and so sweet! Lupe was fine with her but Abel hated her guts, though I felt he would eventually be happy to have another cat around for those times when we go off and take Lupe and he's all alone in the apartment otherwise. Another lady offered to take her after I had already gone to get her and so the next day when Patrick and I sat down to talk about what to do, to keep her even though it would be irresponsible (what we wanted to do) or to give her to the lady as we felt like it would be a good home. We ended up giving her to the lady and I know it was the right choice but I still feel so sad, I adored her. 

We had to feed her in Wiley's room where we were hiding her when we felt bad trapping her in the bathroom.

I guess I'll leave it at that for now, though. I'll try to be better about updating from now on and maybe play catch-up on posts about our Christmas and whatnot. I'll just have to tell my husband to keep on me to keep up with it.