At 22 months, this was the first year Lucy could actually make me a gift for mother's day.  Her class painted flower pots, and hers was smeared with purple and green, which is coincidentally one of my favorite color combinations.  She and I stopped at the "flower store" (our favorite little nursery) on the way home and picked out a hot pink dahlia to plant in it.  Today, about 90 seconds after planting and admiring it, I dropped it on the concrete sidewalk and broke that adorable little pot into several pieces.  At which point I also fell to pieces.  DH promised that he would glue it together for me, but I'm doubtful.  

I'm fighting the "what a crappy mother I am" feelings, mostly successfully.  The "what a clumsy ass mother I am" feelings are still lingering...  So much for the "I'll have this pot when I'm 90" sentimentality I had been harboring.  

I bf DD for about 14 months, until about 8 months ago.  While I didn't nurse in public often, sometimes it was necessary.  In principle, I knew we had a right to bf and people who didn't like it could piss off.  In practice, despite being as discreet as possible, I always felt conspicuous and embarrassed.  I never heard any rude comments, just a few dirty looks here and there.  

Before I breastfed, I didn't pay attention to moms in this position.  Now, of course, I have a whole new awareness about breastfeeding moms in public.  When I see one, I wonder if I should show my solidarity.  Should I smile as I walk by?  Should I say something encouraging to her?  If so, what?  I think I would have liked this, as my tension was due to being worried that strangers were going to be hostile or judging me.  Maybe if someone had said, "good job, I know that's hard to do," I would have relaxed a bit.  But maybe others want to be left the hell alone to nurse in peace.  

So what do y'all think?  Should progressive moms show solidarity to public bf moms? How?

Life is back to normal. Blissfully, thankfully, mundanely normal. But 7 months ago, our sweet 15 month old girl went from being diagnosed with stomach flu one day to a trip to the ER with concerns about dehydration the next. After several hours of trying to figure out why she wasn't improving, one doctor finally suggested it could be sepsis and all hell broke loose. Luckily we were at the ER at Children's Hospital. She was upstairs in the pediatric ICU on a ventilator with a central line and all manner of monitors within 30 minutes. Meanwhile, her confused parents who had been pushed to the waiting room sat there thinking WTF?!? Those first couple of days were the worst days of my entire life.

My baby almost died, but she didn't. The doctors and nurses all said that her infection was caught in the nick of time and she recovered. She (we) spent 3 weeks in ICU, then 2 more in a regular room, then another 6 weeks with home health IV meds. Now, she's a very chatty and happy 22 month old who is back in school and seems to remember nothing of her ordeal. If only her parents could be so lucky...