Don't You Love It When...

You are walking through Kroger, happily grocery shopping, Baby loaded in to the sling, sleeping peacefully, your coupons in the front of the cart, saving you lots of money, the cart loaded with food, diaper bag, 16 boxes of Free Chocolate Honey Bunches of Oats (not really 16, but a lot), cloth bags to take Free Chocolate Honey Bunches of Oats home in, a blanket to throw over Baby when you go outside, and every lady stops you to coo and laugh and TOUCH THE BABY'S HAND, and the occaisonal man asks you how old your little boy is, and you get to the check out, talking to the cashier about how long it takes you to shop and how much you save with your mountains of coupons, and you look down and realize...



YOUR NURSING BRA HAS BEEN UNSNAPPED AND IS BUNCHED DOWN ON YOUR B**B AND IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE YOU HAVE A THIRD N!PPLE!!!



And you wonder to yourself how long it has been like that? and how many stores you have been to since you last nursed Baby? and if the older gentleman who asked about your baby really was interested in the baby or just wanted to get a look at your third n!pple? and, oh my, was my shirt pulled up too?



Don't you just love it when that happens???

It's A Vicious Cycle

The Princess went to her first concert last night! Nope! Not The Wiggles! Not any kid-type concert at all actually.


Yep! We took our 4 1/2 month old baby princess to see Skillet. Well, not solely Skillet. We actually took a couple of teens to
Winter Jam 2008!!

It was fun! Very different for me. I am a concert lover. I like to get crazy and jump around and scream (not too pretty for someone closing in on 30), but I couldn't really do that wearing the Princess. Plus it was LOOOOOUUUUUUD! (Someone please tell me when I got this old!) I honestly was concerned about the Princess's ears, so we walked around the vendors most of the time.

All considering, it was a great time. We saw

Barlow Girl

and

Mercy Me.

Which, to me, is a good day!

As I already said, it was different for me being at a concert with the Princess. And a big majority of that was the process of getting the Princess fed. It turns out that the venue where Winter Jam was held, was not very breastfeeding friendly. Basically there were no chairs!

Sure there were chairs in the arena where the concert was being held. But there were three problems feeding her in there. 1. I restate: It was LOOOOOOUUUUUUD! 2. and squished! 3. and lots of teenage boys (as the concert was geared for teenagers) including the two with us. Now, while I generally have no issue breastfeeding in public, the idea of my breast being the first one that some teenage boy sees is not fun for me. It scares me quite honestly.

So the Princess and I were in search of a bathroom. One for women, girls, of the female gender. We found plenty, and while they had baby changing stations (thankfully), there was no place to sit. So we stood.

Thankfully I am a proud, baby wearing momma, and I had the Princess in the sling. Unfortunately I have not yet mastered the art of breastfeeding in the sling. Last night, it was trial by fire. That was the only option we had.

And it worked out pretty good. The first time around, we were the only ones in the bathroom. It was difficult to figure out sling feeding, but since we had our privacy, I did not mind, and we took our time.

The second time around, I picked the busiest bathroom in the place. By that time we were pros! And we found a quiet corner in the bathroom.

But I found myself turning around or pulling the sling up, when anyone was around. I didn't want to embarass anyone. Especially some teen girls. And then it hit me.

It's not! At all! And I shouldn't be ashamed or embarrassed or worried about offending someone. It occurred to me that the reason people are embarrassed is because of exactly what I was doing, hiding. It is not common or "normal" to breastfeed in public. Therefore others are offended or embarrassed. So we hide it. See the cycle?

Then this morning in church, I realized I had done it again. The King had asked me to find a picture of a baby eating for an illustration. So I found this cutey little baby. Notice: drinking from a bottle. Why would I pick a baby drinking from a bottle, when the baby illustration he used was of our own baby, who never drinks from a bottle? I'm glad you asked.

The reason: I was afraid of offending or embarrassing someone with a picture like this:Or this gorgeous picture.Again, why would someone be embarrassed or offended? Because they don't see it. It's not common or "normal." And therefore we hide it! Are you seeing the cycle? Please tell me you are.

Of course the question becomes, what are we going to do to change the cycle?