Freedom in the name of a Bottle

Takin' Time on Tuesdays with Joni

When I was pregnant with my first, I thought I knew a lot. For one, I had gone to school to be an elementary teacher. I had taken a lot of child development classes. Also, I had three months off before Vienna was born so I spent a lot of time reading books. I was well-educated when she came and thought I was well prepared. All that seemed to go out the window when they handed me this little package and expected me to know how to take care of her. There were a lot of phone calls to my mom and sisters asking about how to do this or what to do about this. Somehow we all survived and she is a happy, growing five year old.

Then came my second. I now really felt prepared on how to care for a baby. I had been doing it for 18 months and it all seemed so familiar. I had just done the baby thing. What I didn't know was how to do a baby and an 18 month old. That brought on a lot of new challenges, a lot of missed sleep, a lot of days with no shower, and a lot of days spent in dirty clothes. The one thing I did really wrong with my second, Clark, was I didn't teach him to take a pacifier or a bottle. I was just trying to survive. If he cried, I fed him. He also had reflux, so usually he would cry, I would feed him, he would throw it all up and I would feed him again. He wasn't interested in taking a bottle or pacifier and I was ok with it. I just did what I needed to to get through the day. I paid for this when he started to get older. I soon learned that I couldn't be farther than an hour and a half away from him because there was nothing for a babysitter to do to sooth him. Until he was one years old and I weaned him, we were tied at the hip. The only advantage we had was he went straight to drinking from a cup. We didn't have to stop a bottle addiction, but it was difficult to be his sole source of food and soothing.

Now I am pregnant with my third. I should know everything about babies, but I feel a little nervous. Clark is now 4 years old. It has been a few years since I did the baby thing and I am hoping it all comes back to me. Though I don't know everything, the one thing I do know is this baby is going to take a bottle and pacifier. I still will nurse the baby, but I do want to do a daily feeding from the bottle. Life is busier than when I had my first two little ones. I can't sit around all day feeding a baby. So I want my little one to take a bottle. Jaron and I went shopping for baby stuff and we went to the bottle aisle. There were so many choices. Ones that promise to be just like nursing. Ones promise to prevent colic. Ones with drop ins and ones that are cheap. Jaron said to just get the cheap ones but I said NO. We are going to be successful about bottles. We didn't get any because I want to be smart about my decision. So my question is, "What bottle have you had success with?" I want to make an educated decision because we will, we will be successful about the bottle! WE WILL!!

(And if anyone is counting, I have 8 weeks left! YIPEE!!)

Recipe of the Week: Pamela's Bread Mix (Gluten Free)

I have really struggled with bread since I have been off of gluten. It doesn't always taste good and I miss a yummy piece of bread. I tried this bread mix and really liked it. It felt like a nice loaf of wheat bread. It is kind of expensive, so I don't always have it on hand, but I have enjoyed some bread with jam and some sandwiches. I am excited to try her other products because I have heard good things!