Aoife turned 8 months old yesterday and I can hardly believe it! In a four short months, she will be 1. What the heck? I know people say "time flies" but you never believe that when you're pregnant because, well, you feel like you're pregnant forever. At least I did! She is now a professional eater -- even without teeth! She can pretty much eat anything I give her. She still nurses and has breastmilk but she snacks a lot during the day too. Her favorite food is avocado (still), and she loves the HappyPuffs line of puffs - apple, sweet potato, greens and banana. She's eerily close to crawling! Just hasn't quite figured out the mechanics of it yet.


We love our sweet girl soooo much. Every day I am so grateful that we were able to have such a sweet little girl that fills our lives with joy. On days that are particularly rough for me, I come home and she dances and smiles when she sees me - that lifts my spirits up right away! Sure, some days are really, really tough with her but most days she's an absolute angel. Thomas and I are SO lucky! Now we wish all of our family members and friends could meet her!

It all started when I was a few weeks from returning to work after having my daughter. The Army gives you 6 weeks post-partum to stay at home, but I had taken an extra 2, so that I would go back to work when my daughter was 2 months old. It was then I realized that my supply definitely wasn't enough to pump, especially enough for me to leave with my husband to feed her while I was at work. I hadn't even acquired a pump yet! I was so nervous.

I can't remember exactly how I came upon Human Milk 4 Human Babies online but I did, and it was the greatest thing I ever did. If there was one thing in life that I wanted to stress about the least, it was providing the best nutrition for my daughter, no matter what. My supply was enough for me to nurse her but not enough to fill a bag in less than a week! I immediately started scanning the page, seeing how this informal milk sharing thing worked. A woman would post saying that they had expressed breastmilk frozen that they wanted or needed to get rid of (either because their freezers were full, or their baby didn't drink expressed milk), and women would respond or message said woman for milk. Also, women would post asking for milk. It was truly a beautiful thing to watch.

Brenda posted about having a whole deep freezer full of milk, and she lived about 45 minutes south of me. I decided to jump on the opportunity! I explained that I was an Active Duty mom who was just about to return to work, and had no milk saved up to feed Aoife. She was more then happy to supply me with a few hundred ounces of expressed breast milk. I made the 45 minute drive. Brenda is the nicest woman ever! She was SO welcoming and kind to me.

At the beginning of our journey.

For the past 6 months we have relied on the kindness of other women to supply our beautiful growing daughter with their breastmilk. At first Aoife was slowly gaining weight, and doctors were worried but now she's a powerhouse! I credit her healthy growth to the many women who selflessly gave us their milk. Sometimes I don't even know how to express my gratitude but... Thank you so much, ladies. Thank you SO much! There is nothing sweeter then a woman who selflessly helps another mother, especially in such a beautiful way! Every time we get our freezer full of breastmilk, it's the happiest day of my week.

Nearly 6 months into our journey!

Countless times I've suggested milk sharing to mothers that are friends of mine because I know how happy it makes me to get breastmilk for my daughter!

I will always be indebted to these women. You women mean so much to me, and I hope that you feel that way when we meet!

Thank you Brenda, Patricia, Jennifer, Jamie, Tricia, Rachel, Kelly, Kelly's S-I-L, and Kristine!







*If you'd like more information on Informal Milk Sharing, check out Human Milk 4 Human Babies on Facebook, as well as Eats on Feets. Each have a state/country page!