Making the Commitment

I love Thursdays and teaming up for the Blog Hop with Life With Levi...

This Week’s Topic: Breastfeeding #2 (or 3 or 4…)

Share your stories and tips for women trying to breastfeed with an older child (or children) at home. How do you juggle schedules, keep the kids occupied/involved, and make it all work?

I've never been a fan of scheduling kids or setting strict routines.  I know families that can't be home 15 minutes late or the kid has a meltdown.  For us, that wouldn't do.  While I always try to put my kids first, I recognize that they need well rounded, rested, happy parents.  Meaning, hubby and I need to do what we need to do without worrying about being home at 7pm sharp.  Usually this works great for us.  Little Man wakes me up at 7am for a feeding.  Then we get out of bed, we all get ready and take Sissy to school.  Now, while I have not tried to schedule him at all Little Man has put himself on a schedule.  I like this because it gives me some idea of how our day will go but he's not so tied to it that if he misses it he'll freak out.  And it offers me flexibility on weekends when I may want to do something with Sissy and he obviously has to come along since I'm his food source. 
It was much harder at first when I wasn't getting much sleep.  I went from doing everything with my daughter to not having as much time with her.  I think I felt the change more than she did though.  I am lucky that I have a year off work for mat leave so I was able to keep her home with me and spend the summer with her.  That extra time together helped ease the transition. 
Sadly, I think the only one really suffering right now is hubby.  I know he missed having just the two of us in bed.  And we still go out for dinner alone but not for as long and not as often.  But he is a very understanding man and knows that for now this is our life.  Breastfeeding isn't just a committment that the mom has to make, it's one the whole family makes.  I can't just take my daughter out for a whole day alone.  Hubby and I can't go to a hotel for the weekend.  For at least a year Little Man comes everywhere.