Jan. 7 - Mixed-up enchiladas & the strike is over!

As of 5 p.m., Luke has finished his nursing strike! Yee-haw! I tried every trick suggested by lactation consultants and as I was nearing the end of my rope, I decided the "warm bath" trick - take a bath with the baby, get a lot of skin-to-skin contact and try again. Luckily, it worked! We've had a few sessions since then, so I'm confident he's back on the wagon.

We have some pizza leftover from dinner last night, but only enough for one person. I figured we'd do a "leftovers" Friday, so I wanted to make something tonight that would leave some extras. I decided to do the mixed-up enchiladas - pretty much a mixture of everything you'd normally find in enchiladas, served over rice. It's, by far, one of my favorite dinners - but definitely not diet-friendly. It may not look entirely appetizing, but good lord, it is DELICIOUS!!

Mixed-up Enchiladas
Ingredients
1 - 2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 small onion
Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
1 can enchilada sauce
1 small can chopped green chilies
1 can cream of mushroom soup
10 corn tortillas, crushed
1 - 2 cups cheddar cheese
Rice

Directions

1. Brown ground beef. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.
2. When complete, add green chilies, enchilada sauce and cream of mushroom soup. Mix well.
3. Add corn tortillas, cover and simmer 10 minutes.
4. Cover with cheese and let melt.
5. Serve after a few minutes over rice.

Give it a shot when you aren't feeling diet-conscious and let me know what you think!

Day 5 of the Nursing Strike

It's really hitting me today that Luke hasn't nursed in five days, and I'm very bothered by it. I have always taken great pride in the fact that Lindsay never had a drop of formula and I hoped it would be the same with Luke. I love breastfeeding and it was something I was good at...and since I'm no longer working and accomplishing great things in my career at this time, the things that I kick ass at in my mommy life are great sources of pride. But now that Luke is refusing to nurse and I can't coax him back, it's a total blow to my ego.

And it's not just all about me - this pumping thing is taking time away from my kiddos. I'm sitting here, tethered to this machine for 20 minutes every 2 or 3 hours to keep my supply up, and then I feed Luke the bottle I just pumped out (because I'm barely getting enough out to feed him at a time). It's almost 35 minutes between that and cleaning the parts. Poor Linds probably feels like she is being ignored, and that eats away at me, too!

I think the worst of it is how much I miss the little things...the feeling of his hand brushing my chest as he nursed, the look in his eyes he'd get as soon as he started sucking, the smile he'd give me mid-session that just spoke a, "thanks mom" in volumes.

I'm praying that this ends soon because part of me is ready to just give up, but I know I'll regret it the second I do...we aren't even half-way to our goal of 18 months. I'm going to go down to the basement and dig out more bottles (they are buried deep underneath the steps) in hopes that all that work jinxes it and he goes back to nursing?!? Wishful thinking!

Luke has an allergy

We got our results from Monday's allergy tests and they are surprising, to say the least. The foods we thought would be flagged (rice and peaches) showed no signs of Luke being allergic to them. On the other hand, they ran a whole panel of other common allergens that he has not yet had (tree nuts, shellfish, etc.) and he tested positive for a peanut allergy. UGH! It's a class 3 allergy, which our doctor described as a "mid-class." From what he explained, class 1 and class 2 allergies are likely to be false positives or to go away as children age, but when you move up to class 3, it's more serious. He didn't mention anything regarding an EpiPen, although he did tell me to cut back on the peanut products I'm ingesting while nursing.

On the nursing front, we have gone through four full days without him wanting the breast. It's still pretty frustrating - I'm not pumping nearly enough for him and I don't have much of a freezer supply. I'm going to get in touch with a lactation consultant tomorrow to see if there's anything else I can do.

Otherwise, he's continuing to do well with some new solids. He ate pears and applesauce for breakfast and a almost an entire jar of apricots/pears/apples for dinner. Hopefully this progress continues! Here's the happy guy post-dinner.

January 5 - I *finally* went grocery shopping!

It was leftovers AGAIN today. So, I bit the bullet, put Linds to bed early, downloaded an episode of Preston & Steve to my phone to listen to, bought a decaf coffee, and went to Wegmans around 8:00 tonight. It's a bitch going out that late, but the fact that the snobby Main Line customers aren't there (hell, NO ONE is there!) makes it tolerable...and not having the kids there with me makes it even more tolerable! Bought my usual 10 meals worth of items (I menu plan for 10 meals which lasts us at least 2 or 3 weeks at a time) and then the obligatory breakfast and lunch items and it only came to $137 (used $7 worth of coupons - yay!).

I'm pretty excited about what we'll be eating (baked potato pizza, chili, mixed-up enchiladas, chicken & dumplings, and pasta primavera, just to name a few!). Tomorrow I'll be doing the baked potato pizza for both myself and a friend who recently had a baby.

On the Luke front, the kid housed some serious solid food today! He ate a 1/2 Gerber container of green beans and another 1/2 container of pears. I bought 16 jars of Beech Nut 2nd stage food, too, that I hope he'll enjoy (nothing with rice or peaches), as well as some Gerber puffs (sweet potato flavor that he ate three of tonight and managed to get down). He's still not nursing, but he's eating almost 5 ounces at a time?!? I pumped just enough today to cover his milk habit. I tried nursing a few times with him, but nothing came about of it - just refused altogether. I'm trying hard not to get discouraged or frustrated, but honestly, it isn't easy. Any and all encouragement or advice is welcome right now!

January 3 - Leftover Monday & Update on Luke

Little man has decided to go on a nursing strike...so, that means the primary form of nutrition for this little guy he no longer wants. Luckily he'll take a bottle, but pumping and bottle feeding is a lot of work! I much prefer popping a boob in his mouth and going from there. We are about 36 hours in, so we'll see how long this lasts.

Luke did go in for a follow-up regarding his issues with solid food and they decided to draw blood for allergy testing after hearing of his continued symptoms and seeing the dozen or dozen and a half patches of eczema all over his body. Drawing blood from a baby is probably the most awful thing I've had to witness, but with any hope, it will provide some answers. On a separate note, Lindsay had her 3 year check-up, too, and passed with flying colors at 37 inches tall and 31 lbs (50th percentile for both height and weight).

With Luke's nursing strike, we slept just shy of four hours last night, so needless to say, I'm barely functioning right now. We're going to eat the leftover pork and sauerkraut tonight (at least I am). I also desperately need to grocery shop, so I'm going to try to get there Wednesday or Thursday. Far more interesting meals are to come next week!