T-Minus 15 and Counting

OK, so I don't normally talk about breasts or what comes out of them, but bear with me.

Erica's wedding is in 17 days. As much as our whole family would love to be there, it isn't financially feasible for all of us to travel to Texas for the affair. I will be going as the matron-of-honor and representing the Motz clan. I have been given the go-ahead to take Natalie with me, but I'm deciding against this one. I think I would be overly stressed traveling with an infant on the 2nd and 3rd heaviest traveled days of the year. I know I can manage the airports, but it's the idea of sharing a hotel room with other women (with an infant), finding someone to care for her while I'm in the wedding, and a reception that lasts until midnight. I know my limits, and this would do me in for sure. I would much rather go there and be useful to the bride and her family during such a special time. I would love to be able to give undivided attention to them. That and returning home with my sanity intact would be nice as well.

I felt like this was a good time to get my child on a bottle and off of me. Not just because of the wedding, but for a number of different reasons. Every mom has her "right" time to wean and it has become clear to me that my time is now. Unfortunately, Natalie's time is "somewhere down the road."

So here I am. I have 15 days left until I leave, and am working on weaning my exclusively breastfed baby to a bottle. This is the child who has refused a bottle for 7 straight months, and in my stupidity, I thought it would be an easy and blissful journey. I don't want to bore you all with the details, but Natalie's not the happiest baby in the world right now. Things are looking up though...she started drinking minimal amounts of breastmilk from a bottle. (We've tried breastmilk, fomula, and rice milk). Right now I'm doing one bottle a day (which equals about 1 hour of her crying, hitting, and being downright pitiful). The goal is to get her on 3 bottles of formula per day. She detests formula, but I still think I can swing this somehow. Please pray for my sanity!

I'm trying to keep my eyes on the prize: First time away from the family since I've been married (7 years). Not that they're bad, but everyone needs some "me" time, if only once a decade. I envision meals without trucks and crayons sprawled all over the table, conversations with multisyllabic words, being able to walk as fast as I want, waking up to an alarm clock instead of a child's voice (or cry). The list goes on and on, and that's what gets me through the pint-sized cries.