Milk and Cookies

Yesterday, Gabe and I made frosted, sprinkled, sugar cookies. It's a family tradition, one I remember fondly from when I was growing up and want to continue doing with my family. However, unlike my mother I do not make my dough or my frosting from scratch. The dough was courtesy of Toll House and the frosting was courtesy of Duncan Hines. And you know what? It's still a lot of freaking work.

I still had to divide out the frosting and color it - I went simple only red, green, or white (also known as not colored). Then there's the dough, you still have to use flour so it does not stick and break out the rolling pin if you plan to use cookie cutters. I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen (mainly because I don't have a lot of time, partly because I have yet to have a decently sized kitchen), so I have a grand total of one baking sheet, which could fix a grand total of 6 cookies. So it took a while to just get the cookies baked.

Then of course there was the entertainment that was Gabe frosting and sprinkling the cookies. Also the mess (SPRINKLES EVERYWHERE - I'll be probably still be finding sprinkles at Easter). I'm not a patient person by nature, I've had to really try since becoming a parent. Gabe tests every shred of patience I am able to muster, and sometimes fail to muster. So cookie decorating was quite a trial, between my lack of patience, and his. Still it was fun, if messy, and he enjoyed it, which was the point, so I guess it was a success. He still needed help with the decorating as he managed to glob frosting on the center and dump way too many sprinkles on each cookie.

As for the milk, I really I am getting tired of pumping. I like breastfeeding my baby, I really do. Especially our cuddles before bed, but the pumping is getting old. I'm working at a different location this week and don't have my office or the spare office to pump in. So I am having to pump in the locker room, in the basement. The only bench in this locker room is on one side of the room and the only plug is on the other and my cord is not long enough to stretch between the two. However there is a little closet just big enough for me to sit in right next to the plug. So that is what I have resorted to - sitting in the closet on the floor while I pump.

I am starting to introduce some formula, just so that Nick is used to it when there are times I don't have enough milk pumped for him. I still hope to have him partially breastfed until his 1st birthday, but foresee formula becoming a little more frequent. However he was still completely breastfed up until his 8th month and has had very little formula since then, only the occasional bottle. My job is starting to get more demanding of my time, so if the time comes I don't want to cold turkey breast milk without him being familiar with formula.

I love nursing Nick in the evenings and I will miss it when we stop. He is so warm and cuddly and content when he is nursing. It's hard to believe he's already 9-months. Time has flown by so quickly and before I know it my babies will be graduating high school, and as eager as I am to see what kind of men they grow up to be, I can't help but ache for the babies they will leave behind. Gabe is already almost 3 and a half and it just breaks my heart to think of how quickly he has grown. That's part of the reason I can't completely rule out a third child, since I am not yet ready to give up my baby days.