Mommas' Minutes: Guten Tag auf Deutchland!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Guten Tag auf Deutchland!

So I guess I'll start by introducing myself. My name's Carrie, I have a 5 month old little boy, a full grown great dane, and an Active Duty Air Force husband. We are currently stationed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Let me tell you, being a military wife is hard. But being a military wife and mom is harder than I could ever have imagined. We have no family around. Our closest friends live about 15 minutes away. The majority of our village doesn't speak English (we don't speak German), and hate us because we're Americans in the military and they don't want us here. I would love to be able to call up my mom and ask her the million questions I have during the day, but I have to wait till it's not 2:00 am in Utah. I can't just take my lil man to Grandma and Grandpa's when I need a break. With Taft in the Air Force, 80% of the time I'm basically a single mom. And I have no idea what I'm doing! I love my little family more than anything and am absolutely loving being a mom. My house is messy more often than it's clean, laundry piles up to overflowing, and dinner is rarely gourmet, because I'd rather spend time with my family discovering the latest trick Parker's mastered.

Parker is starting solid foods and is starting to struggle with breast feeding, and I have no idea what to do. I was working for a little while so he got used to bottles and now doesn't want to work to eat from me. How do you go from breast milk to formula? I'm so grateful Erika invited me to be a part of this blog! Hopefully I can get some help and figure out what I'm supposed to be doing (hint hint :) ).

1 comment:

ErikaSeptember 14, 2010 at 11:43 AM
Ooh that's a tough one! I know a few mom's who will try to just breast feed at night and give formula and baby food during the day. Make sure whatever formula you use is iron-fortified. Also, if you make sure to use "slow flow" bottle nipples he'll be a little more used to having to work for the milk/forumla. (My favorite brand is NUK)

Here's another thought...When my baby was brand new, we were having trouble breast-feeding. I didn't want to switch to formula at the time, so a lactation specialist had me pump multiple times a day to increase my milk supply and so I could supplement her with my own milk in a bottle. I noticed after a while, my baby's suck got stronger and I didn't need to supplement her anymore. She gets quite a bit out of me pretty quickly now. This is takes a lot of work, so I don't know if you would want to even try it, but it's a thought! Let us know how it goes!
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The Concept

At one point in my life, I thought being a mom was going to be mundane. I thought that it was going to be all work and no play and that everyday was going to be exactly the same boring routine. Boy, was I wrong! Being a mom has thrown more curve balls at me than my bachelor's degree and corporate chaos combined--and it's only been 5 and 1/2 months! My baby is consistenly changing, my bank account is consistenly changing, my homemaking skills are consistenly changing, and my emotional stability? You guessed it--consistently changing.

So, with some help from friends, I've started this blog. I'm sure the concept of the blog will continue to morph as we all talk about the "celebrations and frustrations" of mom-hood. I want to know what tips, tricks, and oops my mom-friends have made. I want to know, as my friend Natalie put it, how do you do it? I want to know what you've done to love the home you've created. I want to look at the comments and recognize that I have friends that know how I feel whether it is a happy moment, or a "I want to strangle somebody!" moment. I also noticed, when I was in school, I would do a project and get a grade. When I was at work, I would do a project and get feedback and/or results. At home, I can do a project that may never get noticed. So, this blog will be an opportunity for me and my friends to tout their "Look at me! I did it!" moments. I love telling people they did a great job and I'm not even going to lie, I like to hear it too.

So, I need authors. Want to join? Email me at missprovo06@hotmail.com and I'll be more than happy to add you to the list. We'll try to have guest bloggers from time to time because we really want to know how you are doing and how we can help. We want you to ask questions, give answers, start discussions, give ideas, share talents, and tell stories that make us laugh, cry, and pause to think.