Izzy at her first beerfest!!!

Izzy went to her first (of many, if she's anything like her Mamma and Pappa :) beerfest yesterday. There is a festival called Freudenfest in Oldenburg, Indiana, which is a little German town about an hour south of us. Joacim and I went to this festival a couple of years ago when my friend Mike told me about it. We had a really good time then, so we decided to head back down there this year with our friend Stefan. Stefan's wife, Patricia, and their kids (Bianca and Oliver)are still in Sweden for their summer vacation. Hopefully they'll be able to join us next year.

I knew the weather was going to be hot and humid, so I was doing whatever I could think of to prepare. I went and bought 2 portable, battery-operated fans. One of them is just an adjustable, hand-held fan, and the other one has a "mister" feature. I figured that these would come in handy while we were there, and they did.

Izzy slept the entire way down there, and also slept for the first couple of hours that we were there. Eventually, though, she woke up and was HUNGRY! We were sitting in a tent with hundreds of people around us, but I knew I was going to have to feed her, and I didn't exactly know how this was going to work. I'm breastfeeding Izzy, and I haven't had a lot of practice doing it out in public. It's one thing to do it in the comfort of your home. But it's an entirely different story when you're out in public. I've only had to nurse her one other time in public, and that was last Friday when Joacim, Stefan and I went out to dinner at Wishbone. I had brought a bottle along with us because I knew she'd wake up hungry. I wasn't worried about her taking it, because she had taken a couple of bottles before without any problem. Unfortunately, Izzy's a bit fickle, and was having NOTHING to do with the bottle that time. I ended up nursing her right there while my lovely dinner got cold from the ridiculous air conditioning there, but she was happy, and that's all that matters. Anyway, back to the beerfest. I felt like I was about to embark on some clandestine operation, because I didn't exactly feel like whipping it out right there. There was a group of people standing right behind me, and the air was so thick and hot that I was afraid she would overheat if I covered her head. I eventually had to get up and walk around with her to find a quieter spot where I could at least keep her head uncovered, and it wasn't too much of a problem. I wonder if I'm ever going to get better (or more comfortable) with this part of nursing.

I just helped Joacim give Izzy a bottle, and I realized that I'm not going to like it when I have to give her one. I had taken a shower and given Joacim a bottle to try to give to Izzy. My doula suggested to give Izzy a bottle ever couple of days to help her remember how to take it. That could explain why she wouldn't take it at Wishbone, because it had been a week or so since I had tried. I mistakenly thought that, since she was so great the first time, that I didn't really have to worry anymore. Guess I was wrong! Anyway, when I was in the shower, Joacim did everything he could think of to get her to take it, but she wasn't having it, so I decided to give it a try. That was the first time that I had actually given her a bottle, and it made me realize how lucky I felt to have had such a positive experience nursing her. I've been able to have so much one-on-one time with her, and I'm going to miss that when she starts taking the bottle more. I thought that I would introduce the bottle and then have Joacim start taking over more of the overnight feedings, but it hasn't really worked that way. First of all, I don't think a freight train would wake him up sometimes (not everytime, but SOMETIMES he sleeps pretty soundly), and secondly (and selfishly) I like the time I get to spend with her then. It's completely silent, and sometimes she's really awake but just looking around, and it's so very special to me. It's funny, because looking back at when I was pregnant, nursing was the thing that scared me the most!

Okay, enough about nursing. I had my 6-week check-up on Wednesday, and everything's great. I'm back to my pre-pregancy weight (which is super), but I'd like to get down to my pre-steroid weight. I never lost all of the weight before I got pregnant, but I'm ready to try again. I was getting pretty bored this week, so when I got home on Thursday, Joacim suggested that I go to the Y. I was a bit hestitant at first, because it's a lot easier to find an excuse that to actually get off my butt and go, but eventually I went, and I DID feel much better. I'm totally out of shape, but it did feel good to run for a while. Hopefully I'll get to go back tomorrow.

OMG...almost forgot the best news of all....Thursday night was the first time that Izzy slept through the night!!! I couldn't believe it when I woke up and saw daylight Friday morning. At first I freaked out because I thought something might be wrong with her, but then I heard her grunting away and knew that everything was OK. That's the first time that I was actually happy to hear her grunting!! She slept a solid 6 1/2 hours...normally I wouldn't have considered that a lot of sleep for me, but I was so refreshed!!! And she did it AGAIN this last night! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she's starting her own little trend, but we'll have to wait and see.

Ok, on to some photos...

Here's Izzy and me in the tent:


Here's Izzy with Stefan:


Here's our little family:
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I got this outfit for Izzy the day after we brought her home, and she's finally big enough to wear it, so I had to get a photo. Check out her hair..I think it's actually getting crazier!


Here's Miss Izzy trying to stand up. She likes to do this more nowadays...I told her that this was one of the few times where it was okay for her to puut her feet on the table :)


Joacim took this one today of her...too cute!!!