I wrote a post similar to this about Little Bug. Now it is time for Sweet Pea’s post.

I LOVE feeding my babies their bottles. Although it would actually be very convenient for Sweet Pea to learn to hold her own bottle, I don’t try to teach her and encourage her to feed herself. I just love having four times a day to hold and feed my babies, especially once they become mobile and don’t really enjoy being held as much!

It has sometimes been challenging to keep Little Bug occupied while I sit and hold and feed Sweet Pea, but it is worth it to me to have to be creative in keeping my 2 year old (who until just recently, wouldn’t play on her own unless in “room time”) occupied while I feed Sweet Pea for 15-30 minutes!

Right now, Little Bug is still in bed when Sweet Pea eats at 8am. She is usually awake but she just plays and talks in her crib. She watches Word World when I feed Sweet Pea at noon. The past few days we have gone outside while I am feeding Sweet Pea her solids and that has worked well. The 4pm feed is the most challenging because instead of using the pack n play as I had done in the past (still using the pack n play for an almost 3 year old is a bit ridiculous! I do still have to use it on occasion though.), I am really trying to encourage Little Bug to play with something in the living room while I am feeding her sister. If I didn’t keep my eye on her the entire time though she would inevitably go off somewhere and get herself into trouble, which is why she has the rule of “stay in the living room”. Sweet Pea’s 7:45pm feed, Little Bug is playing with her Daddy.

I also do not want to always use the TV to entertain Little Bug while Sweet Pea is eating. We did not allow Little Bug to watch TV until she was two years old and even still, I limit her television viewing to 20-30 minutes a day with hopefully a day or two of no TV each week.

Little Bug didn’t start holding her bottles until she was around 13 months old, I think it was! Sweet Pea will probably be the same. When Little Bug started holding her bottles, I still sat down and held her while she drank for every feeding. And now at almost 3 years old, I still hold Little Bug for her four “milk times” per day.

When Little Bug was sick recently the doctor told me to cut out dairy while she was so congested. Little Bug sincerely missed her milk times. I let her have some diluted juice but it just wasn’t the same to her, I think. Once she was all better we started milk time again and Little Bug was so happy about that.

I told my mom, “I wonder how old she is going to be when she gives up milk time?”!! I know the days are numbered, as with anything to do with children because they grow up SO FAST.

So, I will cherish “milk times” with Little Bug and Sweet Pea’s four bottle feeds a day because before I know it, my babies won’t be babies anymore.

And I will look back on all those occasions of taking the time to sit and hold and rock my babies while they ate and be so thankful I did that.

Babies grow up SOOOOO fast!!!

Today, I am packing up winter clothes and pulling out the summer clothes for both girls. I can’t believe I am already pulling out 9 month and 12 month clothes for my baby! She is definitely a bigger baby than her sister was, but Sweet Pea’s first year is going by so fast.

It really is bittersweet.

- Elaine