On Baby Number 2

Pretty much since before we even physically had Cade, we had been discussing how/when we will pursue having a second child. Our plan had been all over the place - before he was born, we would go back in January of 2018, then up until he was 10 months old we planned to go back in October 2017, and we began financially preparing from the moment we had Cade. As with all plans, they change. One day, on the way home from family dinner, we had a pretty deep discussion. I had planned to have Cade weaned by his 1 year birthday so that my body could get back to baseline, what I feel is best when having an embryo transfer. I began that process at 9 months only to find that once he began cutting his top teeth, he completely reversed his previous enthusiasm for solid food and went back to almost exclusively breastfeeding.

Well, that wouldn't work.

The doctor says that by 12 months he should be getting almost all of his nutrition from solids, but as with sleep training, the modern philosophies have proven contrary to everything my mother heart believes and hasn't at all been the case for Cade. I can put anything in front of him, and he'll take a couple bites and then refuse. Except for raspberries - and he could eat a whole case in a single sitting. Because of this, he still nurses every 2-4 hours and usually twice at night. He's still fat and happy and almost always game to try one bite of anything, but I can clearly see that he's getting most of his nutrition from me.

So we had this discussion and found that we both were completely on the same page. We don't feel that it would be fair to Cade to force him to stop when he's clearly not ready and depends on nursing for so much of his nutrition. It's also a comfort thing for him. We decided to re-evaluate at the beginning of next year and see a) how Cade is doing, b) how we feel about it, and c) maybe hope that it's happened naturally. I don't want to look back in 10 years and regret that I pushed my first baby to grow up just so that I could have another.

Baby Number 2 is still very much on our minds, and I feel like there's a little girl who wants to come down to be with us. Hopefully we'll get to meet her next year. For now, we're focusing on loving this sweet little boy of ours and help him transition at his own pace from infant to toddler.