Forever Endeavors

I am almost 6 weeks into my maternity leave (following a 6 week vacation) and I cannot believe how quickly time has flown by! This could be due in part to my complete and utter exhaustion, my inability to determine what day of the week it is, or just a complete lack of awareness outside of feedings, diapers, the occasional showers, etc. In any case I am enjoying part 2 of Kids: I Have Some Now. Liliana seems to be completely enamoured with Evangeline with no signs of jealousy yet...my biggest concern is how aggressively she loves her sister - fogetting how delicate she is. They say not to leave your dog alone with your baby, but I think I'd be more confident leaving the room with Dex in there vs Lil. I caught her trying to feed her sister craisins the other day (I was in the room - to be clear I haven't left them alone together, save yous tsks :-).

I am finding breastfeeding strange this time around, which in itself is strange. It hasn't been that long since I stopped breastfeeding Lil. The issue isn't with the feeding itself - that part is going fine, it's with the reactions from strangers when i am out. I don't recall feeling like I was being judged, watched, or (ick) oogled when I fed Lil (which I did at airports, restaurants, checkout lines, wherever she requested it (I think a lot of people have seen my boobs, sadly)). This time it seems like people are more aware of me feeding in public...more stares at restaurants etc from disapproving old people or overly curious males. The strangest experience yet was this week at my pediatrician's office. I had just finished Evangeline's check up and asked if the examination room was going to be used right after or could I stay in there to feed the baby (which I have done before). They had the room booked for another kid so the doctor suggested using her waiting room, where most moms fed their babies. No problem, I said. I went into the waiting room and was happy to see it fairly empty - just a mom and 2 school aged children. I sat away from them and started feeding baby E. All of the sudden the mom yelled shrilly "girls! look away from that - you don't need to see that!" and then looked at me venomously and huffed her disgust. Seriously, of all the places you'd expect someone to object to breastfeeding you wouldn't think a pediatricians office would even rank on the list...especially from a mom. Not a great example of female empowerment for her kids.

We're slowly starting to get back to normal in terms of figuring out how to manage 2 kids while keeping the house in relatively decent order. The interior is looking good (well, my standards of good...) and we've managed to plant a vegetable and herb garden too. We seem to have somehow forgetten that lawns grow - quickly - and ours is no exception. Andrew couldn't even get our mower through it last weekend (it started to smoke!)when he finally attempted it...I think we may need to hire a farmer to hay it at this point.