La Leche League Conference in Chicago

say cheese (she never used to pose for the camera, now we get this silly grin)
in the kids play room
fuzzy photo under the sign at lunch
Maddy the red nosed toddler
mama slinging a sleeping Maddy

red nosed lunch ladies
totally focused on Nils Bergmann's discussion on kangaroo care for preemies
silly Maddy throwing her head back under the sign at lunch

clap clap clap - I love learning about breastfeeding! yay nursies!
look at my cool chair
my teeth hurt, thankfully grandma is right here to hold me
hard at work
with Kitty Franz

Whew! What a trip we had! Here are some photos of the fabulous time we had learning the latest and greatest about breastfeeding and parenting at the LLL International 50th conference in Chicago. My mom and I attended the 25th together years ago so it was a nice tradition to attend again as a family with a new generation included. Maddy had a blast, she couldn't have been happier with literally thousands of babies and toddlers to play with. She was perfectly well behaved in the sessions and (much to my delighted surprise) simply crashed out in the sling for several hours when she was tired. I think it was heaven for her to be surrounded by so many young families, and of course I enjoyed meeting like-minded mamas from all around the world. I was able to hear speakers like Kitty Franz, Dr. Sears, Ina May Gaskin, Peggy O'Mara, Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, Dr. Nils Bergmann, Kathleen Kendall-Tackett and Nancy Mohrbacher. I also met (for the second time really) Chele Marmet who pioneered the Marmet technique for hand expression and the field of lactation consulting. So all of you who have ever been helped by a lactation consultant - this woman is the one who helped launch that profession a mere few decades ago. There were many other fascinating speakers and it is still all a blur that I am trying to process.... Maddy came home with a slight cold and one new 2 year molar (hence the hands shoved in the mouth for pretty much all our pictures). I came home with a bout of the stomach flu but we are all on the mend now and ready to get resettled and maybe even unpack a little. We can't wait for the next conference here in Oregon next year and another International Conference sometime in the future!