My Girl Is One: Celebrating a Year of Breastfeeding
It’s crazy how fast time flies. It’s even crazier how fast time flies when you're a mom. It’s hard to believe that it was an entire year ago when we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our second baby. We waited and waited, past my due date, and when the day finally came, it felt both excruciatingly long and astonishingly quick. One night, I was pregnant, and by the next morning, I had a baby - my sweet girl, Kelly Rae.
Only one year ago, we didn’t know our sweet Kelly Rae. We didn’t even know she would be a girl! Oh, what a year it has been.
In the past year, we've watched Kelly Rae reach so many milestones and discovered all the ways she resembles her brother while also being uniquely herself. She loves being rocked to sleep (especially in the middle of the night), always finishes her plate of food, and can be found right in the middle of the action. She's spunky and fearless, yet incredibly sweet and loving. Kelly Rae is the missing piece that our family didn't even know we desperately needed. She makes us laugh and smile that much more.
Reflecting on a Year of Motherhood
Reflecting on this past year as a mom of two, there's so much to think about. It's been a big year for our family with new schedules and jobs. Looking back, the transition from one to two kids was easier than going from zero to one. We were fortunate to already have our lives set up for kids with naptimes, daycare schedules, and bedtime routines. However, even with Kelly Rae becoming more independent - walking, eating, sleeping through the night, and taking big girl baths - I now realize how much we were still in an exhausted fog during this past year. Having two little ones slowed down our lifestyle, and we traveled less as a family, spending more time at home. Coming out of the fog, I can now truly appreciate how special and challenging that first year was.
The Journey of Breastfeeding
The one-year birthday was not only a big milestone in Kelly Rae’s life, but also in our breastfeeding journey together. I have countless close friends who had very different breastfeeding journeys than my own, so I’m cautious of others’ feelings while celebrating my own when I say I’m so proud of my girl and me for making it one full year exclusively breastfeeding.
With my first child, breastfeeding and my milk supply came relatively easily. I was lucky to be able to breastfeed him for around 10 months. Although the milk production came easily, the time commitment and hormonal toll did not. I never truly felt like myself until after I was done breastfeeding him. As a first-time mom, I put a lot of stress on myself to provide for him in every way which ended up making me feel a lot less like myself.
This time around, I knew I wanted to breastfeed again (if I was able) but wanted to put less pressure on me and her that I had to be everything. Having done this before gave me the confidence to actually enjoy the breastfeeding journey this time around. I loved the moments of just me and her and the fact that no matter what craziness went on throughout the day, her and I would get alone time together—which we sure did end up getting a lot of! I was able to successfully exclusively breastfeed Kelly Rae for an entire year. Adding up 5 or more feedings a day for 365 days is a whole lot of thousands of hours feeding and and hours together.
This past year of breastfeeding has been special and something I would wish for anyone who wanted to experience it. But I also acknowledge that my previous breastfeeding experience and having a good milk supply made the process even sweeter.
The Challenges of Working & Traveling
Was breastfeeding exclusively for an entire year easy? Not at all.
In some ways, yes, but in others it was still a challenge. Despite getting quality time together, all of those hours breastfeeding were also hours that I wasn’t spending doing other things. There was also still the hormonal factor and physical toll that breastfeeding took on me day in a day out.
But for me, the hardest part of the journey was when I had to go back to work and could no longer just feed Kelly Rae when she needed me. Mamas who exclusively pump are a whole other type of superwoman. Trying to find the time to step away from work to pump and then properly store milk and clean the pump was not something I enjoyed. I honestly don’t think I would have made it the entire year if I didn’t invest in my Elvie Portal Breast Pump which at least allowed me to be mobile while pumping.
Even harder than having to pump when I wasn’t with Kelly Rae was having to travel while pumping. Over the course of the last year, I’ve gotten the opportunity to travel all over the country for both work and personal reasons. Keeping up with pumping and then traveling back with milk was when I found it the hardest to keep up my efforts. Almost all my friends have seen me at one time or another pulling out my Elvie breast pump, transferring milk from bottles to bags and finding some sort of refrigeration option. My friends also came to expect that I would be stopped by TSA and have milk inspected.
I want to assure all moms that traveling or returning to work doesn't have to mean the end of breastfeeding. It is possible to continue breastfeeding while being away from your baby. I’ve written entire blog posts about traveling while pumping, but I would highly recommend investing in a Ceres Chill (Use Code “MCKENZIE” for 10% off), Wet/Dry Bag, Breast Pump wipes, and portal cleaning kit/drying rack to make the process a little easier.
Of course, traveling or working makes breastfeeding harder, but in my experience, it was still worth it. However, I would want every mom to do what’s best for them and their baby. If I’ve learned anything with becoming a mom of two is that there is no right way to parent and most of us are just making it up as we go along anyway.
As I wrapped up this first year breastfeeding, it was bittersweet having our last feeding session. Like most “lasts”, the last time was hard. However, I’m not going to lie and say that there aren’t parts of this next chapter that I’m really looking forward to. It’s going to be great to not have to travel with my supplies and milk anymore and to have all that time back that I used to devote to feeding and pumping.
Looking Forward to the Future
Besides new normal feeding habits, there is so much I’m looking forward to in this next year ahead with Kelly Rae. Having experienced the 1 to 2-year-old phase before, I know it's an exceptionally special time. I’m so excited to see many more first for my girl as she continues to develop her little personality. I can’t wait to see the magic of the world through her eyes. I’m also so excited to see her and her brother grow up together. In the last few months (especially since Kelly Rae started walking), I started to see their friendship form and can’t wait to see the bond that will develop with their 2-year age gap.
In summary, I'm filled with nostalgia as I look back on the past year. It may sound like a broken record, but it truly went by too fast. However, I refuse to believe that this year will be anything less than even better than the last.
Happy Belated Birthday, Kelly Rae, my girl. XXX, Mom