March 7th: Passports and Nursing Strike

Dennis and Lael shared an experience last night that I was not allowed to be a part of. They went to a passport clinic to get their Canadian passports. It felt really weird for me to see them go off, and to know that I could not share that time with them. Dennis and I agreed that Lael's passport picture is the cutest one we've ever seen. Dennis reported that she sat up on a stool and held his hand to get her picture taken. One of the requirements of a passport pic is that the person have a closed neutral mouth- not smiling or frowning. Lael was sitting there with her mouth open, so Dennis said, "Close your mouth, Lael." She closed it, but the funny thing is that she closed it crooked. Made for a cute picture. :)

Yesterday Aria went on a nursing strike. She decided she didn't want to have anything to do with my milk. I would have to say this was the most frustrating thing I have yet experienced when it comes to breastfeeding. And as you all know, I've certainly had struggles before! But the different thing this time was that I couldn't do anything about it except pray. It was terrible all day. It took an hour to get her to eat each time. I would try and try to get her to latch and then I'd finally feed her some previously pumped milk out of a bottle (a miracle itself that she'd take it) and then pump to get rid of the milk I had. It was exhausting. I sat down last night almost in tears and prayed in frustration, "Why, God?!?! I'm trying to do my best here, I'm trying to be committed to breastfeeding, and now this?! WHY?" And the answer came to me so immediately it was almost funny. "It is for your sanctification." I prayed and prayed and tried to thank God for the trial and for what it was teaching me. Praise the Lord, today is going much better! She decided that I'm not so bad after all.