Almost done!

My goal for breastfeeding was to continue until Annabelle was 12 months old. I reached that goal, and now I'm ready to be done. I've been putting it off since Belle has still been asking to breastfeed, but now I think we're almost there. I've been putting her down for her naps with a sippy cup of whole milk, but still feeding her before bedtime and when I bring her to bed with me in the morning. Since the very beginning, Belle's night-time routine has been to nurse then go to bed (I don't nurse her to sleep though). Over the past few weeks I've worked a special nite-nite book into the routine ("You're My Little Love Bug"... it's so cute and short enough to go through it quickly when she's super tired), and for the past few nights I've given her a sippy cup instead of breastfeeding! She went to sleep pretty easily too! She's still nursing in the morning, but I think it's mostly because of my laziness. Bringing her into bed with me in the morning to feed gives me a few extra minutes to rest, and since my mom was here that meant that if I could keep her in bed with me until my mom got up, she would take Annabelle and I could go back to sleep. Now that Grammy isn't here, I'll have to get up anyway, so I guess I can start trying to wean in the mornings too. It's going to be so strange not breastfeeding Belle any more after having done it since I've known her! Guess the fact that I'll be doing it again in less than 6 months will help me cope. :)

The architect who has been drawing up our changes/addition emailed me today to say that he put his first draft of plans into the mail today. Hopefully it'll get here tomorrow 'cause I can't wait to see it! I met with a new design guy today who we will probably have take over though because he has worked with metal buildings and partners with a general contractor who has too. He also works closely with the structural engineer who we had evaluate our home when we first moved in. We'll probably go with these new guys because of their metal building experience. Hopefully all of this will happen soon!!!

Tomorrow I'll be taking Belle to Tumbleweeds (a gym for kids... think Gymboree-type thing) for the first time. She'll be in a class with 1-2 year olds. From what I understand they'll basically just be using the bigger gymnastics equipment with the parents' help. With how she loves crawling and running all over playgrounds, I think she'll really like it. Tomorrow is our "trial" day, but if we like it I'll probably sign her up to keep going. I also registered Annabelle for an ISR (Infant Swimming Resources) class that is supposed to start around April. They teach babies how to swim while flipping over periodically to take a breath. Hopefully Annabelle will never go into the pond by our house, but with it being right there, I thought it was important that she learn something like that. Hell... just the fact that we live in Florida where there are pools everywhere makes it important that she learns to swim. Plus, with how much she loves the water already, I think she'll really like it. I've been needing some things to get me on a schedule and force me to get out of the house, so hopefully these things will help me too.