A special thank you...

**disclaimer** This post is about breastfeeding, so if you don't feel like reading about breastfeeding you might want to skip this one ;) And it's pretty long too ;)

I wanted to give a special thank you to my sister-in-law Amy. ** A little backstory, Amy and I have been best friends since 4th grade and ended up marrying brothers! How lucky are we?!?! **I would have never made it through breastfeeding both kids without you. You have no idea how much you helped me and it wasn't just with breastfeeding~parenting advice (ALL THE TIME!), friendships, marriage advice...you name it and I go to Amy. But, I mainly wanted to thank you for your help with breastfeeding b/c I am weaning Bailey right now and I have been thinking a lot about all your help. As it all comes to an end it's so bittersweet. I had always planned on weaning her at 6 months. I am so blessed that it went so much better this time around (it still hurt like nothing I have ever felt before for the first 3 weeks, but much better compared to 8 weeks of hurting with Jackson) Jackson stopped BF on his own after about 4 months, then I weaned him until about 7 months. At about 4 months he would just scream and scream anytime I tried to feed him and when we would give him the bottle he was fine. I remember vividly crying sitting in our recliner one day trying to BF him and he was screaming, I just didn't want to give up. John came in the room and said "if you don't give him a bottle, I will". And he was totally right, what was I doing to myself and Jackson?!?! Why are we so darn hard on ourselves about breastfeeding?? I promised myself this time around that I wouldn't be like that, and I wasn't. I try to be the calming voice of reason for other Mom's I talk to that are having issues with BF. I try to repay the favor and knowledge that Amy gave to me. It is not the end of the world to give you baby formula and you are no less of a mother! Amy helped me to see that and she did not sugar coat anything either. She told me how bad it hurts, how often you have to do it, and how dedicated you have to be. She also comforted me & told me how good of a mother I was when I had to stop with Jackson. And she is doing the same this time around with Bailey. She never made me feel like less of a mother, and you would be surprised at how many woman do make you feel like that! I will be excited to have my body back to normal size again soon. Also, Bailey has been biting me like CRAZY all the time! Jackson only bit me one time and I naturally screamed, he cried, and never bit me again. Bailey on the other hand laughs and smiles when I yelp...go figure! I started weaning her on Saturday. I thought that weaning would take a while like it did Jackson, but I am already down to 1 feeding a day and then 2 when she wakes up at night. I am excited that other people, including Jackson (as you can see from the pics above, he is soooo excited about Bailey's milk) get to feed her now!! I don't want to leave anyone out that also helped me...also a big thanks to Janet and even other people that were just there to just lend an ear like John (who had to hear it even when he didn't want too ;) my Mom, Mrs. Moe, Jessi, and all my high school girls. I can't believe she will be 6 months old in a few days! I gave all my maternity clothes and breast pump away and can't believe how emotional it was for me to part with. Who would have thought those clothes that I hated to wear and that breastpump I hated to use would make me emotional?!? I guess we had been through a lot together ;)

Thank you again sister! Love you!