The hunting widow

It's that time of year..hunting season. I become a widow of some sorts.

But I expect it so it's okay. Bill really didnt hunt much the first year Cooper was born, I think

he was pretty anxious to hunt this year. Hopefully he will have better luck this year :)
(below i have a pic of his latest hunt...you can roll your eyes when you see it i did!)

Today, if the weather stays nice, we are going to go to a pumpkin patch. Cooper loves pumpkins, we bought him a tiny one at the store, and he held onto it throughout the store, the car ride home, and then some. I'm kind of excited to go, I love when we have a little family outting, they are few and far between it seems.

I cut my hair!! about 8 inches, more than that in the back. The poor girl at the salon...I went in so sure I would cut my hair, I needed a change badly! She said she could feel me shaking, I was pretty nervous to change my style. I've pretty much had the same hair for 10 years, give or take a few random cuts in between.

Cooper is sleeping through the night!!!!!!!!! YAY for him! He has been doing it for a couple of days, just waking once at night, but it is easy (most of the time!) to get him back to sleep.

I know people put pressure on kids to sleep through the night early on, and I dont believe in Cry-it-out, so I just waited. I knew he would when he was ready. It never really bothered me to still get up several times at night. Iw as used to it. We did some gentle encouraging about a month ago, when we started officially weaning.. (we've been weaning through out the past couple of months really, but we were both ready I think to stop)

One of the great things about Child-led weaning is that it is so painless for the child, it happens on their terms. I think I gracefully handled the jokes about still nursing him until he goes to college. Eh..at least he would still need me! ;)

A lot of people dont know that the World Health Organization recommends at least 2 years. The American Acadamy of Pediatrics recommends 1-2 years. So at 21 months and some change, my son has weaned himself. We've been down to once at night for almost 2 weeks, and last night not at all. Its very bittersweet for me. I was ready, I knew he was ready. But its something thats been a huge part of our relationship for his whole life. I was worried he wouldnt need me anymore (silly, right?) or that he wouldnt want me to comfort him in any other way.

But this morning, he crawled into bed with me adn we cuddled for about 10 minutes or so. Geez its making me cry just thinking about it. he just curled up into my arms, and layed there with me. I know he needs me, just as much as I need him. Man, I love that little boy. He is so sweet.

So I am proud of us for having made it this far. I couldnt have done it w/o him, and the support of my friends and family, and for being respectful of our decision of extended breastfeeding.

I know its really more common now, its just people are afraid of saying they are still doing it out of fear of others lack of knowledge on teh subject. But thats okay. Some day it wont be that way!

Anyway enough of my blabbing.

here are some pictures :D