Our "Bestfed" Baby

I will preface this blog with a disclaimer:
It has taken me three months to write this blog with lots of pondering and thinking about others' feelings and how much our choices may/will be judged.  Either way, this blog contains personal choices that Eric and I have made as parents and by no means is meant as a way of judgement toward others' choices as parents.  We are ALL lovingly feeding our babies.

Most of you know a few simple facts about me:
1. I am a new mother to beautiful 3 month old Adalyn
2. I am BRCA1 positive
3. I chose to have a prophylactic double mastectomy two+ years ago to reduce my risk of developing breast cancer from 87% to 2%

Now, given those facts, it should be obvious that I am not breast feeding my daughter.  I cannot breast feed and in fact, I chose not to.  I chose to preventatively take off the part of my body meant to feed my babies in order for them to have their mom around.  I spent countless hours, well before becoming pregnant, accepting my choice and coming to the conclusion that if I could still have my mom alive today, I would without a doubt, rather have been bottle fed than a breast fed baby.  So I made my choice over 2 years ago to bottle feed my daughter. 

Here is where, for me, the lesson in surrender takes over.  I surrendered to my truth of not breast feeding.  Eric and I spent dozens of hours shopping and researching formula for Adi.  We scoured the island to make sure that we found the best formula for our little baby.  We settled on our formula two months before she was born, I had a stock ready to go to the hospital so we wouldn't have to switch formulas when we brought her home.  I was ready, formula and bottle in my bag, ready to feed my baby.

Shortly before Adi's birth a friend approached me and offered the precious gift of mother's milk.  She, without hesitation or solicitation, offered to help feed my baby the magic elixir that I never thought would be on her menu of choices.  I graciously accepted whatever amount she could give. Then another friend mentioned that her pediatrician, Dr. Hwang, was passionate about breast feeding and starting a milk bank.  I knew I had to meet her.

With the help of Dr. Hwang, I have a breast milk donor, who we call our milk angel.  This amazing woman, has been pumping milk for me since Adalyn was born.  Without fail, she pumps and brings it to the hospital for me to collect.  Today I collected 33 - 12oz bags, that Adalyn will eat over the next few weeks.  Our milk angel does this out of the kindness of her heart.   Our donor is not paid to donate her milk and she does not know me.  This selfless act has aided in our baby's health and growth since her birth.  I am forever grateful to her for helping feed our precious girl.

Our Bestfed baby's supply

At the hospital and for the first two weeks of her life, Adi ate 100% breast milk. Since then she is on a formula/breast milk combo that has lead to her doubling her birth weight and having the cutest chubby checks in town.  She and I still bond when I feed her, gazing lovingly into each others eyes.  My baby girl doesn't care how she gets her milk, as long as she gets it and trust me, she knows what her bottle looks like!

This is what our happy breast/bottle baby looks like!

To all of the mothers out there that are lovingly feeding their babies or have lovingly fed their babies, you are doing a great job! 

Adalyn's 3 Month Update

Yikes, she's 3 months already!  That was quick.  Adalyn has continued to be a great baby!  She is eating up a storm and now weighs 11.9 lbs, almost double her birth weight!  She's slowly filling out and her chubby cheeks are super cute. 

Happy Baby!  Adi, is one happy baby.  She gives away smiles to almost everyone she meets and really only fusses when she's hungry or tired.  This month she has played with her friends Amelie, Henry and Dia.  She still loves to play under her play gym and is able to entertain herself with her "friends".  She is a great in the car seat and stroller, which makes taking her places fun for both of us.  We have been walking in the botanical gardens two days per week and occasionally make it up Pearl Hill. Adi also spent her first day at "the beach".  We spent the day at the Hard Rock Hotel with our friends the Hamiltons.  We had a quick swim in the pool before it was time to eat and the sleep. 

Here a few pictures of our growing little bean!  Enjoy.

At the Hard Rock Cafe pre swim.

Post swim snooze!

This month she has found her hands and all of her "friends"

Playing with Morris the dog :)

Crazy beautiful sunset.  We couldn't resist some pictures

Our Staycation

 We are still grounded, as we wait for Adalyn's Malaysian Visa and Eric and I's Visas are in the process of being renewed. Last weekend Eric had two extra days off for Hari Raya, so instead of going any where we decided to make this long holiday weekend a staycation.  We took advantage of the extra days to catch up on sleep, hang out with friends, swim in our pool and enjoy our ocean view.  It's ironic how much life slows down and speeds up after having a baby.  It was so nice to just be home, instead of checking into an unfamiliar hotel and exploring a new place.  Don't get me wrong, we are looking forward to some travel, soon I hope, but it was nice to just hang out.  Here's a little glimpse of our long weekend at home.  Enjoy!

We started off the long weekend with dinner at Northam Beach with delicious dim sum and Syrian food!

Adalyn already loves Michigan and she can't wait for football season!

On Saturday, Adi played with Cade and Cara and we all went for a swim!

Adalyn hung out under her play gym during the weekend.  She loves the octopus!  He's her favorite.

Saturday Night, Yasmine, Sean and Amelie came by for dinner.  Adalyn and Amelie are getting to know one another and will be little playmates soon enough.

Amelie is 4 weeks and Adalyn is 11 weeks.  What a difference 7 weeks makes!

On Sunday, we visited our friends Zahara, Tina, Dos, Dia and Damia.  They are family friends.  Their father, and my favorite local, Eusope, passed away in June.  Euspoe was the morning guard at our building and always filled my day with sunshine.  He is greatly missed.  This was our second year celebrating Hari Raya with them (the end of the Holy month of Ramadan).  It was much more somber this year.  Tina had her daughter, Dia, one week before I had Adalyn.  It was very sweet to have the energy of new life in the house.  We enjoyed a huge feast prepared just for us. 

Adalyn and Dia playing

And in case you haven't seen enough pictures of Adalyn, here are a few more!

We LOVE those cheeks!  I can't wait to see how much she's gained this month.  She's finally getting chubby!

Water Baby

Adalyn is officially a water baby.  She had her first swim in our pool on Tuesday and LOVED it!  It's not a big surprise to me, since I love swimming and swam almost everyday I was pregnant.  Adi may be following in my footsteps (or waves) if she keeps this up and I can't wait to start teaching her more about swimming.  She "swam" for about 15 minutes with her mommy and daddy and never cried because she was cold or scared.  A true natural. And now some pictures of her swimming debut.

Adalyn's 2 Month Update

It's hard for both of us to believe that Adalyn is already two months old.  I think we've been living in a time warp.  On one hand, it seems like we just had her yesterday and on the other hand, it feels like she has been a part of our lives forever.  We have had a very busy month, Aunt Jo and Uncle Alasdair spent the last four weeks with us.  It was great to have them here and Adalyn enjoyed meeting and cuddling with family, other than her parents. 

Adalyn is growing well.  She gained a little over 2 lbs last months and now weighs 9lbs 8oz.  She is still a long skinny baby but is eating up a storm and we can see where little chubby rolls are forming.  She is still a great sleeper waking a few nights per week for a quick feed and cuddle and then back to sleep.  We can't complain at all! 

Adi has found her smile and likes to join in to our conversations, often cooing at us when we talk to her.  She loves going for walks in the botanical gardens and is pretty happy in her favorite bouncy chair, which we have nicknamed the dookie chair.  It does the trick almost 90% of the time.  She still loves bath time with her daddy and her pool debut is coming soon.  She has had a few play dates this month with her friends.  Her first best friend, Ellie moved back to New Zealand and her newest friend, Amelie was born this month.  Adi also toured National Instruments to see where her daddy works and visited her first hawker center.  She's a social little baby.

We are looking forward to this month's milestones and spending time as a family of three. Enjoy our pictures!

Adalyn with her Aunt Jo and Uncle Al

Look at that smile!! So precious!

A little engineer in the making.

Daddy teaching Adi how to use chop sticks

Adi in her magic chair

Play time with Henry and Ellie and coffee time for the mommas

Supporting her favorite rugby team...thanks Uncle Leon

Those eyelashes...

Story time with Uncle Al

Auntie Jo

Adalyn says, "Cuddles with daddy are the best!"

Happy Happy Baby!

She's Legit

Last week, Eric flew to KL for the day to collect Adalyn's Passport and Certificate of Birth Abroad.  Yes folks, she is officially and American Citizen!  Now to obtain her Malaysian Visa so she won't get deported from her home.  As soon as we get that Visa, Adi can start collecting stamps in her passport.  Hopefully she will have her first international flight in early August.  Fingers Crossed!

Here a couple of shots of Adalyn celebrating her first 4th of July.  She was very patriotic and had multiple costume changes!

Seriously, Mom.. you are going to dress me in that and take pictures??!!??

Adalyn and her best friend Ellie even matched.  (Note Ellie is 25% American and 75% Kiwi)

Matching girls!  Thanks Auntie Sharon!