Part 1--First Grade
Today was Kai's first day of first grade. Yesterday afternoon was his school's open house/meet the teacher day. While I wasn't thrilled with his teacher assignment, I do feel that this can be a good growing experience for him. It was interesting to hear the range of reactions from people when they asked which class Kai was in. And as far as Kai knows, his teacher is awesome! (At least that's what I'm telling him!) When we walked into the 1st grade pod yesterday I found that I was actually getting emotional again, gosh darn it. Seeing his name on the "Look who's Popping Into First Grade" was the trigger point. I'm glad I was able to collect myself, though, as Kai has had a rough time of it. He spent the day moping around the house and not eating. And then this morning he slept in and when we were ready to leave he said, "Bye, Dad. You were the best Dad I ever had." Seriously, did he think he wasn't coming back??
This morning I got him up and ready to go. Even Bree cooperated and slept in a bit so that I was able to pack a lunch, feed and dress the kids, and get Finn hooked up to treatments before she got up. After treatments we headed outside for pictures and then loaded up in the car for the drive over. Because Kai is wary of school right now he wants me to drive him both ways. For now, I'll oblige, but we'll see how long that lasts. The pick-up line today was awful! Apparently we had a huge increase in the number of students at the school and it was pretty obvious this afternoon.
Anyway, Kai found his teacher's line and joined the crowds this morning. And then we waited for him to walk away. It took a while, but he finally did and then Finn, Bree, and I were left to ourselves for 7 full hours.
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| The day before school started we went over to meet his teacher. This is the bulletin board outside of his grade's pod. It says, "Look Who's Popping Into First Grade" and then everyone has their own popcorn kernel. See Kai? |
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| Eating popsicles after the teacher meet and greet. |
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| First day of school |
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| Lining up with his teacher |
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| Someone was a little bummed about going to school |
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| Waving goodbye! |
Part 2--Play group and More
After dropping Kai off, we ran home for a bit to nurse Bree and get ready for play group. About 20 minutes after getting home, we went back to play group at the park for Finn. It was a small group today, but it was good for Finn to be distracted after saying goodbye to Kai. We enjoyed a full hour and a half at the park before heading back home for a 30 minute lunch. After lunch we were out again. This time I was dropping Finn off at a friend's house before heading back to the hospital for a lactation consult with Bree.
Part 3--Lactation Consult
It seems that since early July my milk supply has been dwindling. I would have periods where I would recognize what was going on, increase nursing and occasional pumping to accomodate it, see it come back decently and then have it dwindle again. It has been a crazy rollercoaster. The Friday before school started I began taking a supplement of Fenugreek to see if it would help and finally this Tuesday (the 20th) I decided to call the lactation consultants for help.
It was interesting to go back to the labor and delivery floor for this appointment. And it was a good experience to see the consultants. They weighed Bree and then had me nurse her and weighed her again. (She initially weighed 11 pounds 5 ounces and then after eating she weighed 11 pounds 6 ounces.) She ate all of one ounce! And then I couldn't get her to latch on again. So, we pulled out a pump and pumped a bit, and got very little. My supply had tanked again! The consultant advised adding another supplement, More Milk Plus, and then pumping after every feed. She also advised that we start teaching Bree to take a bottle (silly little thing refuses, even if it's expressed breastmilk). She told me that it would take a week to see if everything was working but we were both hopeful that since my supply had been fluctuating that we would be able to get it back again. We decided that my body is super sensitive to supply and demand as well as very responsive to stress. In order to make sure my supply came back I realized that I needed to cut a lot of outside appointments out of my life. Reducing stress is important for Bree, so if it's not essential these days, I'm going to try to not do it.
After an hour, we left the hospital and made a quick trip to the store to get the supplement and then headed back to pick up Finn. From there it was back home to nurse Bree again, and then back in the car to pick up Kai from school. Poor Bree did not want to go back in her carseat! And I didn't blame her!
Part 4--Surprise!
While going through Kai's backpack and reading all of his paperwork I had Bree on her playmat. Finn was wanting to play with Kai and was hanging all over us. I kept trying to send him off so I could have a few minutes with Kai and all of a suddne I hear Finn exclaim, "Bree rolled over!" I looked over and wouldn't you know, she had rolled over and none of us had actually seen it. There she was on her tummy all by herself.
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| On her tummy all by herself |
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