Mission accomplished!

Started: 2009-07-29 21:11:25

Submitted: 2009-07-29 21:49:35

Visibility: World-readable

When Calvin turned four months on Sunday, Kiesa started ramping down pumping breast milk to transition Calvin to pure formula until we start introducing solid food sometime in the next two months. While we believe breast milk is important, we've done everything we possibly could and Kiesa was barely scraping by with a small fraction of Calvin's daily nutritional requirements. After indulging in every mainstream, alternative, and fringe therapy that presented itself, the time had clearly come to make a strategic retreat. (As my father once said, "That's not the mountain I want to die on.") Kiesa has already doing a bit better; it's been strange to see Kiesa up past 20:00. (Earlier this week I nearly beat her to bed.)

Any solution to my other ongoing challenge -- trying to balance competing demands for self, house, and family on my weekends -- continues to elude me. At any given time, I can pick one, and I usually end up feeling guilty for not picking one of the others. Last weekend I spent most of Saturday doing useful things around the house; the weeds were starting to develop intelligence and the lawn was about two weeks overdue. (My shrub roses were also in desperate need of dead-head removal of spent blooms, and the maple in the front yard continues to encroach on the entry path.) I did most of the week's laundry Saturday evening and surrounded myself in guidebooks trying desperately to find some worthy mountain to find myself on. (Every time I think I have too many maps and guidebooks out, I discover I need a couple more.) I finally settled on the Sleepy Lion loop at Button Rock Preserve on Sunday, returning in time for an afternoon grocery run.

I'd like to go hiking with Calvin, which might let me mix two of my weekend objectives, but he's not yet old enough. (Calvin's pediatrician wants to give him another two months to develop more neck control before signing off on the backpack carrier.) In lieu of the carrier, we have BOB, which works great on flat trails -- whether paved or unpaved -- which account for roughly 10% of the places I want to go. We have a pair of Baby Bjorn infant carriers that we can carry Calvin in front, but it's not clear how long he likes riding in the carriers.

I can only presume my weekends are going to get messy before they get better.