I can't seem to find the time these days to do much beyond milk myself, then attach a little tube to my finger attached to a bottle of the pumped breast milk and shove it in Lucia's mouth as she frantically wraps her tiny little hands in the beloved tubing that provides her nourishment. It seems to be a constant cycle that is daunting to fathom day in and day out for the next several months at least. It's a darn good thing that Jeff's around and that people have been bringing us food because I really just basically sit around naked all day with milk dripping out of my breasts with repeated futile attempts to get Lucia to latch on the right way. The big kids have been patient and Jeff is working his butt off and helping tons. I am not ready to give up yet.

A most excellent breakthrough was achieved tonight though, as she latched on and sucked/chomped and bit me for about five minutes! Maybe she will get it one of these days... I cried the other day thinking about carrying around my breast pump wherever I go, imagining all of the lovely situations where I would need to go plug myself in, like taking the older two to the park or something. It's one thing to discreetly nurse your baby in public which is apparently difficult enough, but I started to imagine the horror of asking a waiter or someone comparable for an extension cord so that I can slap a big plastic flange onto my breasts while the machine cranks out a "ree, ruh, ree, ruh, ree, ruh" sound.

I did get the opportunity to take D and E trick or treating downtown today in the homemade costumes made by abuela - D is a parrot and E is a hawk. They got lots of attention and got their picture taken by the local newspaper. Plus, they acquired lots of candy in a short amount of time due to frigid rain conditions (42 degrees) that other less diehard about Halloween parents must have deemed too cold and miserable. This was reportedly E's first time trick or treating and he was an old pro. We are hoping for decent weather on Tuesday so that Lucia can experience her first Halloween too.

I will post pictures tomorrow...

Katie