A different kind of Match-Up

Now I bet you're all thinking I'm gonna get soft and charitable on you here.... and with good reason... I mean... like I've said before... there's plenty of things that we can be doing to help our fellow brothers and sisters in the Katrina affected areas.



But the answer is no.


No.... unfortunately, I'm back to being a selfish biatch for the moment.



Today, or this week, rather... I have my own little match-up going on...


I'm weaning Rhena.



Yeah... it's been time in my head for quite a while now... but Rhena has shown no signs of taking to a bottle. SINCE JANUARY.


so, she's been doing really good with her varying shapes of sippy cup things... so I tried to slip a little formula into one of those thingamabobbers. NO DICE. When Rhena tasted the formula, she gagged and cried as if someone was pulling her toes off.


So lately (past month or so) she's been snacking on whole milk, and since she's near that first-year milestone, I figured it would be ok to just stop nursing and give her whole milk.... without having to go through the gag-cry-scream-gag-formula routine again.

Now when I say ok, I mean it looks good on paper, and all things being equal, we shouldn't have a problem. Drinks milk... check. uses sippy thingamabobbers....check. Hungry in the morning.... check check check. ....Even Troy agreed it was a logical time, and how often does THAT happen??


so this morning, I tried to give Rhena a thingamabobber full of warm milk, instead of the glorious Christmas Hams.

oh, sorry... for those of you not familiar with my mammories; I've been referring to the milk-bags as Christmas Hams. They're about the same size (34DD) and Rhena takes to them in the same fashion as Tiny Tim with his new cane at Christmas Dinner... hence, the HAMS.



So after about 20 minutes of ear-bleeding screaming and choking on her own tears and snots, Rhena convinced us she wasn't quite ready to give up the Hams...


I mean... can you blame her??? LOOK at these pups!!! I could feed a small village off of these things!

So anyways... my challenge then becomes one of how I get her to go from the hams to the cup. without it being a traumatic experience for all involved. By October 14th.


First step I'm taking is to not nurse her AT ALL during the day... no matter how much she cries. Susie mentioned going somewhere for a distraction... so we're going to try going for walks. ...I still have 10 more pounds to lose, so walking is good. It's probably a better idea then what I had... which was to drink a few beers or wine coolers throughout the day which would REALLY prevent me from just giving in to her. Don't get me wrong.. I still LIKE the drinking idea better... but on paper and all that... the distraction method may be healthier. .....and at least I can legally and safely drive with that method.


Second step is to cut back my length of time I allow her on the hams in the morning and before bed.


the morning one I can deal with her not getting enough, cause she'll be awake, and I can give her the thingamabobber later if she's still hungry. the before-bed feeding is tricky, though... if she's hungry... will she wake up in the middle of the night? after over 6 months of sleeping through the night... do I really want to jinx this???

I mean, I KNOW the answer is that you do what you gotta do.... but that doesn't mean I'm not envious of the babies out there that decided on their own they were tired of nursing, or those that were switched over at a younger age, where they hadn't formed a strong opinion/attachment.


in the end, though... it's time. whether or not Rhena knows this or is willing to accept it easily... it is time.

No comments necessary, but if you want to cheer me on, please do. I imagine Johnson-ville is going to have 2 cranky bitches on its hands until we get settled in a new routine.... so if you're not going to be a supporter, then kindly please fuck off... I'm not in the mood for criticism. I'll gladly let you know when I'm ready to hear opinions again, but for now... if you ain't being nice.... you's gots to go elsewhere.

.....now where's my drink??? oops... I mean DISTRACTION......