Ruth,

And I thought that perhaps if I had just ONE more child, THIS TIME I would
get it right and I would be the perfect mother.  Because we are not perfect
human beings, and because our children are not perfect, we can't be perfect
mothers.  We just have to be the best we can be with the knowledge that we
have at that time.  Would I change anything about my parenting my babies?
 With what I know now?  Absolutely.  But my "babies" are 21, 17 and 11, and
it's a bit too late to change my baby parenting methods.  But, I can learn
from my mistakes and hopefully help other mothers to be better mothers than I
was.  I have a distinct feeling that one of these days, I'll be looking back
at my parenting of preteens & teens and think that, "Yeah, I should have done
this or that better.  I wish I had known."  But, I can only do what I do now
according to the knowledge I have or am given.  So I pray a lot, and rely on
God's grace & wisdom to carry me -- and my beloved children -- through my
mistakes.  And I'm not the first mother, nor will I be the last, that will
have to ask my children's forgiveness for some of the parenting techniques I
used in the early days that I thought were right.  I've talked about it
(probably ad nauseum) with Jill & Torrey especially, and what I hope they
learn from it is that I know better now than I did then, and I want to be
able to pass on some of the wisdom I have learned from other mothers and from
my wonderful lactational friends so that they will mother better when the
time comes than I did.  Of course, that means they will have to listen to me
pontificate as a grandmother, but oh well.  And I have warned them about that
too, and am trying to learn how to be a grandmother BEFORE I am faced with
that situation.

I wonder, when the world as we know it comes to an end, and there is a new
heaven and a new earth, if there will be breastfeeding....  I bet there won't
be lactation consultants!  :)

Jan B.  Pontificating on a Saturday morning after consoling Torrey who
"messed up" her routine with Falconettes at THE basketball game of the
season.