Bye Bye Breastfeeding

So, it has come to an end - my bouncing little cherub of 7 and a half months is coming off the boob. I feel liberated but a bit sad that I may never breastfeed again - it's such a beautiful feeling to produce your baby's milk and satisfy their demands with your body. Their sounds of indulgent gulping throughout, and contented cooing after they've finished a feed - all produced by you. I loved how easy it was (after the first week's soreness hurdle) to feed my baby and not need to sterilise bottles and buy powder and have water ready at a time when Elias needed feeding the most often. Milk on tap, portable, warm and forever ready beat night-time formula prep and also gave me an extra hand free to pick up my coffee (it's OK during a feed!), browse online, stroke baby or fend off a toddler. Oh, and it gave me massive boobs for a while, which is such a change!

Although he's forever developing, I feel as though Elias has entered a new phase of mobility, exploration, and communication that ties in well with a severence of our special bond. I too, am entering a new phase of independence and freedom, allbeit due to my own disorganisation of not expressing milk or leaving my baby for too long. Most mothers balance breastfeeding well with normal life, my response was to just involve my baby with everything I did and everywhere I went, thanks largely to babywearing - but now I want to burst free and go out dancing, drinking, stay out late, largely because I can - but mainly because I miss it. (err I haven't yet but want to! On the hunt for a babysitter ;)

Gosh this sounds dramatic and life-changing but it's a just a new phase of so many others: he's commando crawling, loves holding our hands and going for a little walk, leading the weaning and I had almost forgotten how messy that gets! His night-time sleep is always interrupted by a need for 2 bottles which is frustrating and tells me he needs to eat more during the day, but this is part of our journey to make him a strong little boy and I'm happy knowing that I started it the best way I could.

Now, to wait for les boobs to settle and go underwear shopping!

Wriggles, parties, eating, sleeping...

My little 7 month old is now wriggling around the living room - not crawling yet - no bum-shuffles, but wriggling on his tummy and he manages to get quite far! It's changed my life to see him playing happily on his own- although I've stopped working for a bit, at least I can get on calmly with other things around the house and don't need to entertain him nonstop!

Since coming back from holiday he's still been wonderful and we've managed to have a few evenings out with him sleeping peacefully in the pram or in an upstairs bedroom. Having a baby also means getting the master bedroom at friends house parties ;) At a party in York my friends fed him, got us drinks and we danced like there was no tomorrow - I think it was easy to 'spot the parent'... Though we had to put a sign on the door telling guests to come and find us if he woke up as the hostess picked him when she heard him crying. He was a very happy chappy.

The one thing that has struck me is how much he's eating! I'm following a book I picked up at the library full of meal plans and ideas from Annabel Karmel and it's been useful - though I'm doing pretty much what I've been doing from the beginning and whizzing together loads of steamed veg, lentils, cheese etc. Leon LOVES food. There's no trouble getting the spoon in his mouth and sometimes I can't keep up. I'm looking forward to him saying "more please mummy" or "MAS!" rather than grunting at me like I'm an idiot.

I was struggling to leave him to drift off to sleep on his own... I'm determined to kick the habit this week and it's going well so far. Last night I didn't pat him to sleep - yay! I just sat in the chair next to his cot and he went off to sleep! Miracle. We even let him cry when he woke up again- and he managed to go back to sleep himself. Amazing...

World cup watching tips?

The World Cup is getting interesting now - Ghana have gone through against USA in the first knock-out game and tomorrow England V Germany AND Mexico v Argentina!! Will be a tense but brilliant day I can feel it!!!

Thanks to Js insistent watching of every game, I've got much more into the World Cup - I feel like a kid again when I used to collect those Panini stickers and paint my toenails a different World cup country flag each (with my big toes being the Mexican flag and my fingernails all ENGLAND!) -though this time I'm enjoying dressing Leonsito in football colours, and trying to find a way to celebrate without howling and making him cry - if anyone has any tips of how to get them over the celebratory yelps would be great!

However. Although it's been fun, I haven't yet watched ONE match out of my or my parents' house! I'm craving a pub and some proper atmosphere for the England games so they'd better win against our dear German friends. Next Friday we're going out for Js birthday after he finishes work and will need to watch Uruguay V Ghana quarter-final in a pub somewhere - does anyone have any ideas? Anywhere central London with a good vibe is ideal!

Found this link on timeout http://www.londontown.com/London/World-Cup-2010-Where-to-watch-in-London but is there anywhere else that's better and FREE!?