Pregnant and Parenting Pt. 2: Weaning, Whining and Walking (well, kind of) by Shannon Doss of My Mommyhood

The Lily Cafe is pleased to present Shannon Doss of My Mommyhood.

Shannon is the mother of one little boy and is currently expecting her second child. She is a Christian stay-at-home mom who runs My Mommyhood, which provides a glimpse into real-life motherhood. Her intention is to be relatable to all moms who seek to raise upright children.

For Part 1, look here.

Welcome, Shannon!

This last month has been a rollercoaster of emotions and milestones (even “almost” milestones”). Drew (now 7 months old) has been growing and developing, and me (and baby Doss) have been doing the same.

Weaning

As briefly mentioned in Pt 1, I have started (and now finished) the process of weaning Andrew from breastmilk because this new pregnancy has caused a drop in my milky supply. It actually wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be to wean a 6 month old from the exclusive milk source he’d known his whole life (I know, I sound a tad dramatic- I think I took it harder than him).

Drew did just fine. I slowly stopped offering breast for one feeding at a time and progressively went up on number. Instead, I offered a formula bottle (yes , breast is best but ain’t no shame in my formula game!).

The only trouble we had was finding out Andrew is allergic to milk/dairy. As a newborn in the NiCU, he was able to drink milk based formula with no problem but after being exclusively breastfed, he’s developed some kind of allergy or lactose intolerance. When we tried , different brands, of milk based formulas, he would projectile vomit within 2 hours of drinking it. When we switched to soy based, he was just fine. So now, he is exclusively fed soy based formula (from our fave store Aldi).. it’s affordable and he loves it. (Of course he’s also on solids).

Whining

Whining! Teething! Ahh! There will be a longer blog post on teething (once his teeth have come all the way in) but the process has begun! Drew has two bottom teeth and they are so precious. Only the tips are out but he’s behaving so much better since they’ve popped through the gums.

Before, he was whining to be held, and NOTHING worked other than putting him on the breast (yes , AFTER I had already weaned him). I had to sort of rewean once he was okay and started biting me.

My advice for a mom of a teething infant, just thug it out. Nothing we did comforted him, it was all just going with it.

Walking

Okay. So this is his “almost” milestone. He pulls up on any and everything and uses adults hands to walk. He of course doesn’t have balance of his own at 7 months but I think he’ll be walking soon. He refuses to try and crawl and prefers to stand. So we’ll see what he does first in the upcoming months.

What about pregnancy ?

well, this pregnancy, like my first, has been relatively breezy. No morning sickness, and no real bad food aversions or cravings. The hardest part of this pregnancy is parenting an active infant. He doesn’t want to sit down like EVER so I’m constantly holding him up or making sure he doesn’t fall over when standing .

Also, picking Andrew up a lot has strained my back a few times and left me with really bad aches. But I can’t NOT tend to my baby so I deal with it and take pregnancy safe Tylenol (only when absolutely necessary). Also, he’s not sleeping through the night so the pregnancy exhaustion is SO MUCH MORE real because I wake up in increments at night, not as bad as before but still a few times at night.

I am officially 18 weeks pregnant, almost halfway there! My midwife has an idea of what baby Doss might be, but I’ll save that reveal for a future time. My midwife also says that Baby Doss 2 will be a tall baby, idk where the height comes from but I’ll take it Jesus.

In Other News

Hubby and I are about to make yet another big move. We are in the process of buying another home and selling our condo. He’s handling it so wonderfully, however, that little stress is on me (which is key for this pregnancy). I’m excited to move into a bigger space. We currently live in a one bedroom condo that we bought 2 years ago. With one, almost two, babies, we’ll need at least two bedrooms.

Our plan, since we’re on one income, is to buy a 2 bedroom townhome (an upgrade for us) and in 3-5 years when I go back to work, use our earnings from work and selling this current condo to buy our dream home. A dream deferred but it will still happen, and I’m so excited for it! So pray for us in this process.

Through all the pregnant and parenting madness, my trust in God has wavered. I’ve been back and forth with anxiety but trying to rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS and clinging to this verse:

Proverbs 3:5-6:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

6

in all your ways submit to him,and he will make your paths straight.

This isn’t just a verse in the Bible but a promise from God! He will make my paths straight, just gotta trust Him, moving forward!

Pregnant and parenting is harder on both fronts for sure, but depending on where you get your strength, it is more than doable!

Any of you have stories of pregnant and parenting?

Thank you so much for sharing, Shannon!