The Joys of Breastfeeding (said with sarcasm)

Ugh...I have mastitis. I started feeling like someone had kicked me in the chest about two days ago, and then the redness began. I called my OB/GYN on Saturday morning to tell her my symptoms, and she said it sounded like it could be mastitis, but to wait the rest of the day to see if it improved. It didn't. My doctor actually called ME back later that evening to see how I was doing. She ended up prescribing me high-dose antibiotics that I have to take 4 times a day for 10 days! Doesn't that seem like a lot? Fortunately, the drugs seemed to have done the trick. I felt better by Sunday morning. I find it strange that this happened 6 months later, rather than in the first 2-3 weeks, like I've read about. On a positive note, the biting has improved.

Ella has learned how to take off her clothes. ALL of them. She apparently learned this new skill while she was supposed to be taking a nap. I went upstairs to check on her (as I had heard her yelling quite loudly in her room) and found her completely naked, standing at the gate. All I could do was laugh. It was the funniest sight! This girl will do anything to avoid taking a nap. Seriously, why don't kids understand that sleep is so awesome? Nathan's naps leave something to be desired as well. Some days he only takes two 30 minute naps. From what I've read, that is not nearly enough sleep for a baby his age. I try to be consistent with his naps, but I also don't want Ella to suffer...meaning, having to stay in the house a lot to try and get Nate to nap. He has been going to bed at night fairly well, but has been waking up 1, if not 2, times during the night to feed, and he seems legitimately hungry. I'm just going to go with it, and hope that as he gets older, the nighttime feedings will decrease. For about 1 week, he really was sleeping through the night. It was nice while it lasted.

This past weekend was a busy one! Saturday was beautiful! Sunny, high 70s...it felt like Spring. We started the morning off with breakfast with our friends Alison and Sean. I lived in the same house with Alison for 2 years during college. She and her husband now live in West Allis (only about 10 minutes from us). We try really hard to get together once a month, but it had been almost 3 or 4 months since the last time! Alison is a nurse and works at the same hospital as I do. As usual, Ella put on a great show. Whenever anybody comes over, Ella likes to "show off," either by climbing on the outside of the stairs, or standing on the couch, or really doing anything she's not supposed to. We were able to get to the park and even did some yard work. Lots of flowers are starting to come up around the house. Our friends Brian and Jenny came over Saturday evening for dinner. And again, Ella was the star of the show. Both kids went to bed and we were able to have some adult conversation. On Sunday, the cold, rainy weather returned, so we were looking for things to do. It's always hard trying to keep Ella occupied when we're cooped up in the house. We decided to try a place called Monkey Joe's. At first, Ella was a little scared of the really big blow-up slides, but by the end, she was a pro! It was so much fun watching her climb up and slide down all by herself. She's such a big girl! And forget the toddler area...she was right there with all the "big kids." We're going back this Wednesday with Aunt Liz and cousin Henry. Here's a video of Ella going down one of the small slides:

Today was another cold, rainy day. So again, I was trying to think of something fun for us to do. A few months ago, the newspaper published this article, and I decided to try one of the places mentioned. We visited Lotza Fun Room this morning, and it really was "lotza fun!" Except for one other little boy, we were the only ones there. We had the whole place to ourselves! And now it's nap time. I think I'll probably have 30 minutes of naps overlapping before the fun begins again for the evening. Is it 4:30 yet? (That's when Joe gets home on Mondays!)