life now & my thoughts on weaning

My daughter has been away for almost a month now. While I miss her tremendously, I also have really treasured the time I have had with just Elliot. I feel like he has grown up so much this month! He is almost one... AHHGG. I can't believe we made it a year.

I had a goal to nurse Elliot for at least a year. With my daughter, I didn't make it that long. She started walking around 9 months and after that, she became pretty independent. We kept it going for about two more months, but she just wasn't interested. She was on the go! When she turned one, I switched her over to almond milk.

Elliot, on the other hand, seems to be a LOT more attached (no pun intended, HA) to nursing. He has probably taken a bottle from me, like, twice. He still gets up at 11 pm and at 3 am to nurse and after almost a year of this, I am tired! I am craving some serious sleep. That is not the reason I want to start weaning, not at all. But I think it's time to start eliminating a day time feeding or two. He is ready, and I'm feeling ready.

I have been so much more relaxed with Elliot as far as introducing foods to him. It hasn't been an issue because this little dude can eat, but with Eve everything was scheduled. She had all her meals at the same time, all of her snacks, had perfect portions of vegetables, etc. Elliot gets to nurse as often as he wants. This is great, but I don't think it would be bad to start a schedule of sorts for him.

So, I guess this is it... We are entering the weaning stage. Not only is he being weaned from me, but I am weaning myself from him. Truthfully, getting up all of those times in the night has never really felt like a chore. I love that little boy. I suppose it could be a few weeks or a few months more of this, who knows, but I feel like it's time. He won't be a little baby forever.