Breastfeeding

This is a momentous day. My days of breastfeeding Mr. Caleb are over it seems. Today was the first day in over 15 months that I did not nurse him. WOW! I just can't believe it. This last week he had dropped all but his morning nursing and I just thought it was going to take him forever to give that one up. He's been kind of sick the past couple of days, so I thought that would prolong it even more. Interestingly enough, however, when he woke up this morning I was able to feed him his cereal and we skipped the nursing. Since Caleb has tested positive for a number of food allergies (cow's milk, eggs, wheat and questionable oats) and I have continued to nurse him, not only has Caleb had to avoid those foods, but so have I. It has not made for a fun diet as so many things contain one of those foods! Thank goodness our local Kroger has a special food section of allergen free stuff. Today I was able to treat myself to all kinds of stuff I've had to avoid- sweet potato casserole with nut topping, coconut cream pie, homemade rolls, chocolate cake and pizza- YUM YUM YUM. My mom had a dinner party last night and so it worked out perfectly that this was the day for Caleb to give up nursing so I could pig out on the leftovers. It's funny, I'd challenge anybody to do without some of your favorite foods for about a month and then set a day to eat them and truly taste how good they are! I so hope Caleb outgrows his allergies so he'll be able to enjoy these same foods someday! I have to tell you though, kudos to all of you breastfeeding moms. I cannot believe my mom did it with each of her 5 children and my sister did it with all 3 of hers (oh, and I should mention 2 of those 3 were twins and she nursed them for over a year with very little supplementation- IMAGINE 2 at the same time!!!!!!). What a faith-building experience it has been. I hope if Jeremy and I are blessed with other children I will also be able to breastfeed them, but until then I will enjoy the freedom of not breastfeeding!