A breast feeding breakthrough! Two twenty minute frantic half-screaming latch on sessions in which some milk was ingested directly from my breasts... Now I feel like there are red hot poking skewers piercing my nipples, but hey, that's progress. This really can't be what everyone experiences can it? All of my breastfeeding books lead me to believe that I should count myself to among the lucky ones, with chapters on cracked bleeding nipples and fevers induced by breast infections that result in cottage cheese like substances that need to be surgically removed from one's milk ducts. Again, we are reminded of the woman in the bush of Africa. Does she get cracked bloody nipples? Does her baby just die when it refuses to latch on? My conclusion is that she must be really bad ass and her cracked bleeding nipples are nothing compared to the parasite that burrows into her eye or the bout with malaria she has had for the past year. So, my role is to persevere and allow my eight pound child to chomp with her little vice grips on my nipples until the pain is psychologically manageable.

On a lighter note, Lucia rolled over onto her stomach today. She prefers to lie on her side instead of her back, in the same configuration that she was in my uterus. Anyway, Jeff put her on the bed and she rolled onto her side like she always does, but then he tucked her arm underneath her and she pushed over onto her stomach. From there, she bent her knees like she would try to crawl! It looked crazy. Jeff is hoping this is a sign of superior strength and agility.