Can you believe this little lady celebrated 5 months yesterday!?
Clara is rolling both ways now, making all sorts of cute baby noises, smiling at almost everyone, and grabbing anything she can reach (which means everything she can reach goes into her mouth).
She continues to slowly lose hair on top of her head, while her thick mullet continues to grow down the back (don’t worry, I trim it regularly)!
Also, she finally has eye lashes… and just like my other kids, they are SO long!
She’s still sucking her thumb (and often her first 2 fingers), but it seems to pacify her most of the time — I tell Dave she cries the least of any of our babies, but he says I just can’t hear her over all the other noise in the house!
Clara is starting to realize when she doesn’t know someone — which means she has been very attached to me lately. She will happily smile at “strangers” from a distance, and she’ll even let more familiar faces hold her, as long as she knows I’m right there!
Ah… I am so loved! 🙂
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Since we’re almost half way into Clara’s first year of life, I figure it’s a good time to answer the questions I’ve gotten about how I decided to feed her.
Many of you know Nora’s long journey to finally eating food… and that (for my own sanity) I decided to use bottles and formula for Simon. Then I switched back to nursing for James, and (after contemplating what I felt would be easiest for me at this point in my life) decided that nursing Clara would be the fastest, easiest, and most convenient option.
So that’s what we went with — and it’s going really well.
We have tried a bottle 5 or 6 times over the past few months…. unfortunately, it didn’t go so well. Dave got her to drink an ounce or two a while back, but that’s about it.
I haven’t totally lost hope yet, but I have a feeling I will eventually be passing all my bottles on to my sisters and sister-in-law, as Clara won’t be using them.
At least she sleeps well!
There are definitely days when I feel somewhat trapped and confined because she relies on me for all her eating needs. However, there are many other times when feeding her is a fantastic reason for me to slip away into a quiet room when the kids are being crazy or when I’m tired of being around people.
It’s a convenient excuse for quiet — which I am grateful for these days!
That said, I know I’ll be ready to be DONE whenever she’s ready.
One VERY different aspect of nursing this time around is that I frequently need to feed Clara in a public setting as I’m gone so much more with the older kids.
Whether it’s something for Nora’s school, something at church, a playdate with neighbors, or even just visiting friends and relatives, I don’t always have the comfort and privacy of my own home to feed her (I usually did with all my other kids).
It has definiteliy been a learning curve for me, but I’m getting so much better at it, and feeling so much more comfortable.
So far, I’ve fed her at:
- church
- the library
- the mall
- many friends’ and relatives’ homes
- Nora’s school
- the park
- in the van
- and probably a few other places I don’t remember
And yes, other people have been around me while I fed her!
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I know this might not sound like a big deal to many of you — but it’s a BIG DEAL for me. Even typing this and seeing how many different public places I’ve fed Clara is pretty amazing for me.
After realizing I’d be feeding her in more public places (and knowing how much I hate nursing covers) I decided to find a few new nursing tops.
My go-to nursing outfit is one of my beloved Glamourmom Nursing Tops with a v-neck shirt, cardigan, and scarf. I can hide almost all nursing activity with this combo.
However, this time around, I was fortunate to stumble across the super cute nursing tops from Latched Mama online.
I currently have the Cross-Back Nursing Tunic (black) and the V-neck Nursing Tee (bright pink) and LOVE both of them so much.
Black and bright pink are 2 of my favorite colors to wear all year long, and the soft, stretchy fabric could work well for any season.
They are super stretchy but not clingy, they are thick but not too warm, and they hang really nicely. They would be perfect for traveling too because they don’t wrinkle easily.
I wear these tops every week (sometimes multiple times a week with different pants or cardigans) and I get compliments on them ALL the time.
The black top looks more like a nursing top since it has an empire waste, but the pink top looks like anything else I might by for myself — so I can definitely see myself wearing this as a regular top, even after I’m finished nursing.
If I thought we might have a couple more kids, I’d probably invest in a few more Latched Mama tops — but assuming I only have a few more months of nursing left in my life, I can probably get by with these 2 super versatile tops!
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Happy 5 Months Doll Baby…
Renee says
I just had baby 4 this week! I’ve seen the latched mama ads and seriously considered getting some nursing tops – thanks so much for the helpful review. I love following your family.
Andrea says
wow — congrats Renee! Yes, I LOVE their tops!!
Mrs.M in MI says
Gurl, I feel ya on refusing bottles! Baby #2 (born 9/25/2016) would NOT take a bottle no matter how or what or who we tried. My office was a nursery and I fed him everywhere.
At six months we tried the Nuk 5 oz Learner Cup and the heavens opened and angels sang and he sucked that formula down like I’d been holding out on him all those months! That dang baby was lucky he was so cute.
Andrea says
haha — well maybe I’ll have to try that cup soon!
Also, your baby’s birthday is exactly 1 year before Clara’s! Fun!
Teresa johnson says
She is just a cutie pie! At first I thought she had her own look but I see more of Nora at times now. Thank you for sharing all of your adventures. I love your blog ♥️
Tina says
Too cute! When she is sleeping she looks like Nora but when her eyes are open she looks like Simon! I just can’t tell, lol. Beautiful girl.
Martha Lawson says
Another cutie!! I so enjoy the pictures of the little ones growing up..
Liane says
Oh my goodness this little girl has stolen my heart. All of your children are adorable but this one seems to just love the camera. Maybe it’s a better camera LOL. Those eye and eyelashes!
My last baby was nursed in the 70s and early 80s. Maybe it was a leftover or holdover of the 60s hippie movement or maybe because I lived in extremely hippiefied Berkeley… but I was able to nurse pretty easily in public. Those shirts are great! I made do with lots of shawls and scarves and nursed my little one a long time. She had surgery and was totally traumatized so she wanted me and like the former hippie childbirth educator midwife that I was I basically told the evil look delivering prudes to stick it in their ear.
Andrea says
haha! I really did laugh out loud at your comment 🙂
And yes, Clara is a doll — she’s a keeper for sure!
Linda says
Ha! I loved Dave’s comment about Clara and her crying. You can’t hear her cry over all the other noise in the house. I have two boys and they are so loud!
Clara is as cute as she can be. And Andrea you look good too!
Andrea says
yes, our house can be VERY VERY loud at time!
Stacey says
I’m on my third and last baby but asked for latched momma shirts for Christmas. I LOVE them! I now have three shirts all gifts. I wish I would have had them for all three kids. I always wore nursing tanks so no belly was showing but it’s so much easier to pull my shirt up from halfway rather then from my waist or below.
Andrea says
I know — I wish I would have had these shirts sooner. That said, I think I saw on their website that they’ve only been in business since 2014 — so I would have already had Nora and Simon by then 🙂
JJ says
She is absolutely adorable! Love the nursing tunics!!! I wish I had thought of that!!! I was sooooo shy at first to nurse in public but like you had to many times. My best friend has no shame and whips it out anywhere. While at the apple orchard ON THE HAYRIDE she nursed!?! Haha!
Andrea says
yeah, I don’t think I’d be nursing a baby on a hayride! But at least I feel more comfortable in a few public places now!
Christin says
We’re on baby #5, and I just brought him to and nursed him at an NHL game. 😉 You definitely get more adventurous with each kid! And the husband gets more comfortable with it too. Except for restaurants, he can’t get past that one! Ha!
I can never do nursing tops – maybe it’s my body type – so I just wear an under shirt with a stretchy top and a shirt on top. Same effect, I’d imagine.
Andrea says
haha — good for you!
Elizabeth says
I nursed with my last daughter and loved every bit of it! She’s 2.5 years old now and I miss spending that time with her. It was hard for me at first to nurse in public. She nursed for a little over a year and it got easier. Not once did I get any rude comments or stares. Just yesterday I sw a Gap Ad on Facebook that showed a mom nursing! I thought how awesome is that!
Andrea says
I know — I’m really not worried about other people. No one has ever been rude to me about nursing or bottle feeding (ever). I’m thankful for that! It’s just my own weird privacy issues that cause me to feel anxious about nursing in public!
DeeDee says
Andrea, she is so gorgeous. She reminds me of a Precious Moments doll 🙂
Andrea says
Thanks so much 🙂 We think she’s pretty cute too!
Lynn says
Adorable! Love the top! What a great invention!
Jen says
I nursed in many cars, dressing rooms, and even handicapped bathroom stalls. Gross-but ya gotta do what ya gotta do! Three of my four would never take bottles so, unless I wanted to stay home 24/7, I had to figure it out. Nursing in public never bothered me (and I was nursing LONG before there were cute things like nursing covers or nursing tops!). I was always discreet and never had an issue.
Clara is a doll and it seems like you’ve adjusted to 4 kiddos just fine–as we knew you would! 🙂
Andrea says
Thanks Jen 🙂
I honestly hate the nursing covers. I feel like they just draw all kinds of attention to me — so I actually never wear them!
I just stick with nursing tops, cardigans, and scarves!
JoAnn C. says
Such sweetness. Thanks for sharing, Andrea. Happy Monday.
Stel says
Good on YOU, girl!!!
Pashminas also works great.
I decided to nurse when out and about from the start, as I wanted to try and continue with our ‘normal’ life. One day we sat in the corner of our favourite coffee place, me with pashmina at the ready, back to the rest of clientele, when suddenly my husband flew up with he receiving blanket, holding it out as a screen…”WHAT are you doing?”, I hissed. “Screening you, so no one sees”, he said.
“Well – everybody is looking now”, I came back. And he dropped down and never tried that one again.
😀
Andrea says
haha — I thought I wanted to continue with my “normal” life until Nora was approximately 4 days old. Then I realized, I would never go back to my “normal” life before kids again. It took me a lot longer than you to FINALLY find my groove with kids, but I’m in a sweet spot now 🙂
Sherry says
She is so cute! And the tops look great!
Andrea says
Thanks Sherry! I’m loving the tops!
Stephanie says
She is adorable!!
Andrea says
we think so too 🙂