Did you miss out on the 15th Anniversary membership promotion that was running in the month of June? We’ve decided to continue to provide a membership special for you during the month of July as well. Buy one family, professional associate, or gift membership for a 15% discount. Don’t let this membership promotion pass you by! (Support groups will retain their $15 portion of the membership).

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Bye Bye Mama Milk

by Scylla on July 3, 2009

Last week Otter and I said goodbye to nursing. He was two months past his second birthday.

The decision to wean was not made lightly. He had been growing more independent for quite some time, blossoming the way breastfed babies do. Then suddenly he began to regress, demanding more and more milk, becoming less willing to eat solid foods and becoming violent and angry when I wouldn’t let him nurse. I started feeling as though keeping him on the breast was doing him more harm than good, a feeling that started inside me, and grew. One day he and I had a huge fight about nursing, and we decided, together, that it was time to stop. I told him, in one week, we say bye bye to Mama milk.
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Weaning: What If Mom Isn’t Ready?

by shelly on June 30, 2009

My daughter is 2.5 years old and showing signs of weaning. At times when she would normally nurse, she is now telling me that my “na nas are broken” and is starting to nurse less and less.

She is completely ready. I, however, am not.

She is my youngest, my baby. When my oldest daughter weaned at 22 months old, it didn’t bother me as much; probably because I was pregnant and knew that another baby was coming to take her place at the breast.

This time, there is no baby. There was going to be a baby boy born in about two weeks to take her place at the breast, but we sadly lost him in the second trimester.  July 4th was my due date, and as that day looms closer and my youngest nurses less and less, I realize that for the first time in over five years I will have both an empty womb and empty breasts.
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Stay at Home Mondays

June 27, 2009

We recently added a new event to our schedule: Stay at Home Mondays. The start of the week was being hard for us. Most often, we’d end up staying home anyway, but only after I felt like I’d failed to get us to the standing park playgroup Monday mornings with all our AP buddies, only [...]

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Special Edition of The Attached Family Magazine

June 24, 2009

The special Attached at the Heart edition of The Attached Family Magazine (PDF) magazine is now available.
This edition features a preview of API’s 15th Anniversary Celebration, an interview with API co-founders and book authors Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker, information on a free drawing, details on the $15 API Membership Special, and so much [...]

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Following the Principles (Part 1 of a series of 8)

June 18, 2009

Principle Number One: Prepare for Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting
“Look at this,” I mumble out of the corner of my mouth as I shove the white and purple plastic stick in Sir Hubby’s direction. The two younger kids are nearby and it is too soon to clue them in yet.
“Uh. What exactly am I looking at?” [...]

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What’s Wrong With Parenting Books?

June 17, 2009

Of the many things that changed in my life after my children were born, one of the biggest was my attitude towards food.
Once my son started eating solids, I was careful to avoid artificial sweeteners, food dyes, certain types of fat, etc. One day, while peering into my refrigerator and seeing “his” organic ketchup on [...]

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Changing Touch

June 16, 2009

My son, my oldest child, is 7 1/2 years old and a rising second grader.  For his entire life, he has always been the child who would never stray far from me, loves cuddles and physical contact.  And he has stopped holding my hand in public.
Since his toddler years, our rule has been that hands [...]

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Soon they are best friends (Part 4 in a series on having baby #2)

June 15, 2009

This is the fourth and last post in a series on preparing for a second baby. If you haven’t read them already, check out the first part What on Earth Were We Thinking? and the second part To tandem or not to tandem, and third part Move over: making room for one more in the [...]

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Move over: making room for 1 more in the bed (Part 3 of a series on preparing for baby #2)

June 14, 2009

This is the third post in a series on preparing for a second baby. If you haven’t read it already, check out the first part What on Earth Were We Thinking? and the second part To tandem or not to tandem.
…there were four in a bed and the little one said
“roll over, [...]

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To tandem or not to tandem (Part 2 of series on preparing for baby #2)

June 12, 2009

This is the second post in a series on preparing for a second baby. If you haven’t read it already, check out the first part What on Earth Were We Thinking?
In attachment parenting circles nursing into toddlerhood is common. A lot of parents strive for child-led weaning or at the very least gradual and [...]

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