Nursing

I named this blog "The Joys of Familyhood" because, as I thought of what I would write, I considered that I might want to chronicle some parenting or family experiences in general.

Before I had Lucas, I can honestly say that I hadn't made a decision on whether or not I would nurse him - perhaps because I wasn't sure if it would work for us. Well, once he was born, it seemed the right thing to do even though it wasn't the easiest. We worked until we got a hang of it and once I returned to work it was also a committment on my part; I ended up nursing him until he was about 14 months old.

A negative observation I made during my nursing experience is that not a lot of people are understanding of this natural choice. I was really surprised to see how the public sometimes looks at nursing moms in a disapproving way - I felt peering eyes on more than one occasion even though I would make a great effort to maintain modesty.

So, I think its great that celebrity nursing moms have, in a way, said "take this!" by nursing, and sometimes in very public settings.

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/angelina-breastfeeding-and-me/

http://www.breastfeeding.com/celebrities/celeb_main.html

The BIRTH of my Blog!

About six months ago, someone suggested that I begin a journal to chronicle special moments in Lucas' childhood. But, starting and maintaining a hand-written journal has been a slow start. I probably have eight entries, at the most, so far. Since I'm usually fiddling on a computer, I thought a blog would be an easier avenue for me to record my joys of familyhood on a more regular basis. So here it goes...

Lucas does little things that astound me almost on a daily basis! He's such a sweet little boy and I wonder how this happens - is it nature or nurture?

Yesterday, I picked him up from school and his teacher, Ms. Sandra, told him to go give Ms. Cristina (his other teacher) a hug. He did...no questions asked. But, what got me thinking about this nature/nurture question was that, as he headed toward me to leave, he looked around and gave all his classmates hugs and said "bye-bye." I called my mom to share and she commented that he's just so "thoughtful." He really is. I hope that he never changes this way about him.