Christmas, pumping, sleep, etc

Andy has been super busy with side work this month. We prayed for extra side work, and his phone wouldn't stop ringing. It actually got to the point where he told me that if his phone rang and he wasnt around, not to answer it because he had to tell no to so many people!! Our plan is to have him stay home for 2 weeks at Christmas. 16 days in total (not that we're counting!!) so we needed to save up enough for him to stay home. Needless to say we have enough and more for him to stay home for the 2 weeks. Now that we're on our budget, we're saving more money, and a whole lot motivated to save as well. Its such a great feeling!! Next we're hoping to save up to buy a minivan. Yup, I said it. A minivan! Id love the space & easier access into the vehicle!

Judah is finally back to his normal health. Its so great to have him feeling better. However, I think he has started to teeth because he is constantly drooling (just like Eli!!) and his fists are always in his mouth, sometimes both at the same time! Last week we attempted to give him some rice cereal. He loved it, however come Monday he was miserable and moody! He wouldn't eat or sleep. I think that physically Judah is ready for solids however I dont think his digestive system is ready for it. So we'll wait a bit longer. Im considering trying baby led weaning, and generally you dont start BLW before 6 months.

His sleep has started to get a bit better. There was one night last week that I was up 7 times! Weather it was to feed him or to pop a soother in his mouth because he was whining. However the last 2 nights he slept fairly well. Put him to bed at 7pm, slept till 12:30am the one night, had a full feeding, and then slept till 8am. The next night he went to bed at 7pm, slept till 2:15am, had a full feeding, and then slept till 7:30-8ish. This I dont mind. One feeding a night, I can handle. Obviously, our babywise sleep training hasnt worked out quite how I wanted. My struggle with it was that Judah doesnt like to have a full feeding in one sitting, and so it makes it a bit more difficult.

Iam still exclusively pumping and bottle feeding. Im loosing steam though. I spend so much time hooked up to a pump. I know that breastmilk is so good for him, and whats best, but every day is a struggle to keep at it. Ive done it exclusively for almost 4.5 months (other than the first few months of breastfeeding before I started pumping.) and Im tired of it. My supply is dropping because I am getting lazy with pumping during the day, and I barely am keeping up with how much he is eating. When I first started pumping I would have 10+ oz left in the fridge at the end of the day. Now, Im lucky if I have 6 oz ready for our night time feeding. We've been dipping into the freezer stash which is quickly dwindling, and once its gone Im not sure how we'll keep up. I picked up some mothers nursing tea, which has some herbs to increase your supply, as well as some fenugreek which is also a herb to increase milk supply. For a few days I believe it helped, however now Im feeling stressed that Im not keeping up as much.

Eli has been so excited about Christmas. This year is different than any other. Eli remembers last year, and understands what its about. We're not going all out for gifts, but we do plan on making some special memories. We set up our Christmas tree, and I think Eli had the most fun vacuuming up the needles that fell on the floor! So precious!