Too Tired for Outrage

Mostly, that is. I've been told to get back to blogging, mostly by those who view me as an entertainment monkey, tirelessly grinding my organ (so to speak). However, childbirth has the unfortunate effect of draining my energy, and distorting my sense of time, so that I can happily gaze at the wall for two hours or more and feel fully occupied while doing so. I have noticed one thing in the first week of the new kid's life: feeding her is expensive.

I'm going natural at the moment, which is a bit of a high-wire act since nursing takes a lot of time I normally don't have, can be a little frustrating, and is generally perceived negatively by the viewing public. One wonders why that is, since I've heard for a lifetime that men (and some women) want nothing more than to see my naked chest. Now that I'm ready to let random strangers catch an occasional glimpse of my rather stupendous (at the moment) assets, no one is interested. Typical. Anyway, the point here is that I have found it surprisingly difficult to obtain the necessary accessories- mostly foundation garments* and shirts. My favored brands for normal lingerie don't even produce nursing wear, which is a bit of a statement, I think. Funny that they make the sexy little things for the young and the seriously structured intimidators for the gravity stricken, but the mother of the maiden/mother/crone trio has been kicked to the curb. So apart from the offensively ill-made products at the local maternity rip-off store, the only option is mail-order. The current tally for garments to contain my aforementioned stupendities is:

2 x $15, nightwear only, just good enough to keep me from hurting someone if I roll over in bed;
1 x $49, good enough to walk around in without looking freakish;
1x $50, intimidator, professionally fitted by a little old lady who took really unwarranted liberties.

That's $129 for a little bit of material. This is just the foundation, we aren't talking about auxiliary machinery, parts, bits and pieces. Then the current bill is inching toward $300. This is a lot of money to tap a free source of infant food.

I've been comparing this to the price of formula to convince myself that I am saving money. In the long term, I obviously will- formula costs about $1 per powdered ounce, and a kid can use more than 16 oz a day when they are at full strength. For now though, my costs equal 12 cans of formula, which would translate into a lot less time for me to sit around and watch the walls.

Good thing for this kid that I am just granola enough to grit my teeth and stick with this exercise. Eventually, my native thriftiness will come through and keep me going a while longer. At some point though, the health and wealth benefits line is going to intersect the line of my convenience and desire to graduate, and a certain little princess is going to come to earth in a bit of a powdery cloud.

*forgot the postscript: my mother is here helping with the baby, and I find myself incapable of using plain language when writing about my underwear on the internet, given that she would undoubtedly tell me to stop writing about such a thing in any terms, even the mealy mouthed ones I've used here.

**also, forgive the run-on sentence. Grammar has taken a vacay around here.