Go Bananas!

Anyone who knows me, knows that since college I have been VERY allergic to bananas.  I mean I'll be in the vicinity of bananas and the hives and breathing problems start almost immediately.  I blame it on the organic chemistry lab I had my sophomore year when we had to make banana oil.  

When I was pregnant, I found that I could be near bananas again and not have any sort of reaction.  Then I tried banana bread again and no reaction!  Still, I didn't try eating a banana during pregnancy, just in case.  I did wonder if pregnancy hormones helped though.

Yesterday, I had my first banana in at least 7 years!  I decided I wanted to try it again and had the Benedryl nearby just in case.  Chris bought greener looking bananas (they used to bother me less than more ripe bananas) and I pealed one...no reaction....bit into it....no reaction...ate the entire thing and NO REACTION!!!  I don't know if it's the hormones from breastfeeding or if pregnancy changed me permanently, but I don't care!

You have no idea how amazing that banana tasted.  I can't believe I can eat them again!!!!  I mean I had no itchy mouth, no tingling lips, no hives, no breathing issues, nada!  Go bananas!!  I really hope this sticks and I won't ever be allergic to bananas again!

I'm starting to feel a little more like me again...kind of like coming out of a fog.  Or maybe I'm just learning to balance everything better.  It feels like for so long now being a mom has dominated everything else.   

Heather and I used to have a wine night together once or twice a month.  We would each buy a bottle of wine and drink it while we talked on the phone for hours on end.  Somehow we never talked about the same thing...even when we were on the phone for over 6 hours!!  Well, since she is pregnant and I am breastfeeding, wine is out.  She mentioned she wished I was in town so we could go have ice-cream...and there you have it, we have a new thing--an Ice Cream Date.

On Sunday afternoon, I left Cooper with Chris and went to the bookstore while waiting for Heather to call.  If she wouldn't have called, I would have spent at least 3x the money I did!  Come to find out Ben and Jerry's closed at the shopping center so I had Pinkberry instead...yummy frozen yogurt!!!  We chatted for 3 hours and I loved every minute of it.  It was wonderful to talk about things unrelated to being pregnant or being a mom.  Thanks, Heather, for reminding me about me!

Tonight I went out to dinner with Christina and then went shopping.  I love that girl!  We have the best time together!!  I'm going out to a club on Saturday with her to celebrate her birthday.  I'm looking forward to going out....this is a big step for me.  I haven't been to a bar or club in over a year!!

Cooper is sleeping a lot better.  I decided not to drag him all over this week and instead have some downtime.  He sleeps 9-10 hours a night, gets up to eat and goes back to bed for another 2-3 hours.  We've been taking 2-3 hour mid day naps together.  It's been so nice to just hang out and do nothing.

Cooper doesn't like to be reclined much...or maybe he is practicing to start sitting up.  He does baby crunches when we recline him even a little until we sit him up straight.  It's cute to watch.

His new thing is being independent and distracted nursing.  He has decided that he doesn't need my help to keep his head still to latch.  He would rather bob around until he gets on himself.  In fact he cries when I try to help.  The side laying position in the early morning works great for this (he even rolls to his side on his own to latch), but I can't do the cross cradle during the day anymore.  So cradle position it is. 

The distracted nursing drives me nuts!  It's super cute for about 2 min, then I start to get impatient.  It goes something like this: nurse, pull off, grin like an idiot, play with boob, look at the ceiling.. "oh yeah I was eating!" nurse again, try to coo & talk while nursing, pull off, dribble milk, grin, play with boob, grin, look all around for daddy...