Everett has been breastfeeding for 18 months and 6 days.  My first son Fletcher weaned at 18 months and 5 days old.  I can still vividly remember the moment I realized he would never nurse again.  We were rocking together in the glider and each night I would nurse him while doing so to get him to fall asleep.  That night he didn’t need to nurse to fall asleep and he never did again.  I shed a few tears as an important chapter of our lives came to a close.

Today means I have been nursing Everett one day longer than his brother did and weaning seems like a faraway concept and there are no plans in place.  He is still my baby!  I still wear him in my ring sling, I still nurse him many times a day and night, he still sleeps in my bed, and he even still looks like a baby to me!  When Fletcher was this age he seemed so much older.  I believe part of this is because he had quite a bit more hair and part was that he was my first and I wanted him to be “older” because his little brother would be earthside soon.

With no plans for another baby I want to keep Everett mine as long as I can.  I don’t know how long we will nurse but I don’t think it will be initiated by me.  We both find a great deal of comfort in our nursing sessions and he is easily soothed when a boo-boo happens or his brother hurts his feelings.

We’ve beaten tongue-tie, work trips away, new teeth, and even the dangers of toddlerdom (ya know, crazy acrobatics at the breast, ninja kicks, fun stuff like that) to make it this far.

I’ve put together a gallery of my favorite photos from our nursing adventure so far starting with a photo from his first latch all the way up to yesterday.  (I did the same for Fletcher to celebrate our 1 year milestone) You might see a boob (or two)- be warned.