A Necessary Moment in Time

When I was growing up there was a time of year every late spring early summer that I will always remember. It was the time of year when the neighbor was weaning his calves. Our house would be awakened early by the sound of the mother cows muffled bawling from within the barn and the calves strong cry from the pasture just outside as they were newly separated from each other in the weaning process. The sound always broke my heart and the sight of the calves lined up at the gate just outside the barn was so sad. At times like these I can always hear my Grandpas voice saying "its the way of the farm" and so I knew that our farming neighbor was doing what was best for his heard. In those early hours of the morning I knew that for the next few days this would be the sound that I would wake up to, but that the process was a fairly short one and the Calve and Dam would eventually stop bawling and go on with life.

I decided this week that I am ready to ween Annie Girl. Again life as a mother is full of mixed emotions and second guessing decisions that I am making. I have seriously frustrated Joe in the process because he can't keep up with my head or emotions (or gigantic engorged breast size:)
I had heard of people who drop day time feedings and just nurse in the morning and at night for a while to ease the process. So that I what I decided to do. However after a day and a half I decided that was too painful! A friend suggested dropping a feeding a week, but that seemed like it would be a longer process than I was looking for. So yesterday I decided to do every other feeding for a week and then see if I can go to morning and night a little easier. As I fret and worry about this process I have to be reminded how blessed I am that Annie is such an easy baby. She takes a bottle beautifully, she didn't like Similac the one time I tried it so I tried Enfamil and she took it just fine. She hasn't been constipated that I have noticed however she has been acting a little fussy and has a runny nose and her eye (the one with the blocked tear duct) is red. I wondered about the coincidence in the timing of being sick and weaning. I wondered if her immune system was compromised in the process.

Out of curiosity I googled weaning calves because I was curious about the actual process. The article I read actually said that weaning is so hard on the calves that some actually get sick and have to be treated during the process! How interesting!

So my week will consist of questioning, second guessing, wondering, wiping nose, making (stinky) bottles of formula and all the while happy that I am moving on to the next stage and done with the nursing thing for a little while.

With all of that said I have a request. I get coupons in the mail as well as sample canisters of Enfamil. I was wondering if you get the same and if you don't plan on using them if you wouldn't mind setting them aside for me. My bank account would certainly appreciate it!