Tag Archives: alone

Breast Milk Kefir and Ninja Turtles

Day two of our time without Going Mom is complete! I know I’m a stay-at-home parent, but geez, times can be a little rough! I don’t know how you parents with multiple kids do it, but my hat goes off to you.

I’ve been making our own kefir with kefir grains I bought back in July and haven’t become slightly good at making the cultured, probiotic-rich milk. So, I had the bright idea to make kefir with Kelley’s breast milk and give try it out on Avery.

The last kefir grains I will ever put in a breast milk bottle.
The last kefir grains I will ever put in a breast milk bottle.

I only made about 4 oz worth and tried giving Avery the bottle first thing this morning. Emphasis on “tried”, she wasn’t having it.

Mad at the sight of the bottle.
Mad at the sight of the bottle.

Not only that, but it took a while before she trusted to take any bottle from me! So, I had a pissed off and hungry,  untrusting baby to tend to for the better part of the morning. Not the fun morning I had envisioned, but eventually things returned to normal when we went to the garage for a workout.

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I felt bad, really bad. In retrospect, why would I give a 10.5 month old baby that’s used to sweet breast milk a full bottle of sour, albeit healthy, milk? #fail

Wasting my wife’s precious milk is something I refuse to do, so I boldly hesitantly (with a super scrunchy face) added a small amount of the kefir to a regular bottle in an attempt to mask the taste. The result was a success and I have been adding a little to each bottle now without protest, so I’m glad to have saved the breast milk kefir!

With that said, I do not plan on making breast milk kefir ever again! Really, breast milk is already the perfect source of nutrition for your baby, and, well, “If it ain’t broke…..” Basically, I now know to leave well-enough alone.

To the breastfeeding mothers out there (you’re awesome!), if you want your baby to have the probiotic goodness of kefir, just consume it yourself and pass on the benefits through your breast milk that way. In my opinion, culturing breast milk is unnecessary since it already has so many gut-nourishing goodness to offer, so don’t waste your time like I did.

After our kefir quarrel, Avery and I had a pretty good rest of the day and even ended it by watching a classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoon from 1987 on YouTube. I’m pretty sure I owned the cassette tape to the one we watched and plan on watching more very soon! Hopefully Going Mom will allow a little TMNT action!

Well, I’m tired, here are my pics to share from today. So excited to have my wife return home today!! Too bad it’s late at night and Avery will be asleep, but at least she can see me!

Never sure of things upon first waking up.
Never sure of things upon first waking up.
The view at my feet for most of the day.
The view at my feet for most of the day.
Excitement when I get down on the floor with her.
Excitement when I get down on the floor with her.
The result of trying to take a picture after getting down on the floor with her.
The result of trying to take a picture after getting down on the floor with her.

Have you ever tried (or even thought of) to make breast milk kefir?

Would you try if you could?

Putting My Stay-At-Home Dad Skills to the Test

Remember how I recently wrote about how my wife is leaving us? Well, she left hours before most people wake up to start their day and by the time you’re reading this, she should be in Boston.

Are you there, dear? Text me! 🙂 Oh, and pick up some Yuengling to bring back home please!!

For the next 3 days, Avery and I will be without Going Mom, but hopefully we’ll still have a great time. I’m excited and nervous about testing my true ability to go it alone, but I know many parents do wayyyy more than this on a daily basis. So what’s 3 days with just one baby?

Guess I’ll find out.

In the meantime, my 3-day plan is to focus on taking a lot of pictures and posting the good ones on here for my wife, Kelley, to enjoy. Of course, I hope that all viewers will enjoy the pics too.

If you’re a baby-loving person who enjoys pictures and not a lot of yapping, I’m positive you’ll like my next few posts. Since I plan on focusing more on my time with Avery, the posts will be less talk and more walk pictures.

Maybe just a few words about the pictures I am posting for the day, but nothing extreme. You’re welcome.

To kick things off, I’m posting several photos I’ve taken lately and simply love how they turned out. Kelley has already seen these, but they’re cute nonetheless, and don’t you try to say otherwise! Even that crazy baby selfie.

 

 

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She was determined (hence the tongue) to reach the ground, but just couldn’t quite make it.

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Everybody’s happier when their almost naked, right? Oh, and they have a blue ring and look like a boy when they’re really a girl. Oops, did I say that?
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Just in case she misses me already, here I am with my makeshift cape before she gave me a haircut the other week. Note to self: hair is attracted to the static from a plastic trash bag.
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When it’s been a rough day, there’s nothing like Mommy’s fluffy sock and an even fluffier bear to make things all better.

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Hopefully, both my wife and Avery and I are having a great start to the week and will be able to FaceTime tonight.

Check back tomorrow for pictures of our first day alone.

To those of you laughing at my measly 3 days when you do this every day, any tips/advice you care to share?

Any stories from when you used go it alone or did at least once?