Breastfeeding Still and TMI

Desi-boo is now over 16 months old and we are still breastfeeding. He nurses several times during the day still and during the night we are still co-sleeping and nursing. I will put him to bed in his crib (sometimes asleep and sometimes awake still) and then around 3 or 4 he normally wakes up crying and I bring him into my bed nurse him back to sleep and then he stays in my bed til he wakes up, normally around 10 or 11. (Just depending on when he goes to bed, he typically sleeps 12 hours a night) For awhile he was sleeping through the night from bedtime til about 8 or 9, then he started getting in 4 teeth. At the same time. Two of those have finally popped through, but there are still two of them lingering just below the surface. I'm hoping that he will start sleeping all night again after they pop through. My pediatrician told me that I can give him medicine every night to help with the pain of teething, but I don't feel comfortable drugging up my baby every single night just to stop him from waking up in the middle of the night.
For me, one of the best things about breastfeeding has been no periods. I know for a lot of people this isn't always the case, some people get them back about 6 weeks postpartum, but for me it has been 16 glorious months,16 months + the 9 months of pregnancy. My last period started December 25th, 2011. Well, last one until yesterday. :( It has been nice having over 2 years with no period, I have been much happier, I am nicer, and well, it is just great not have to do deal with those things. I think it's pretty good timing though. One of our new friends recently asked me if we are some of those weird people that breastfeed until their kid is 2 or 3. Not quite, but almost. I have to have Desi weaned by the end of April  and I have mixed feelings about it. I think he will do okay, I decided a couple of days ago to start the process so I was giving him sippy cups of milk whenever I could and did he pretty good as long as it was chocolate milk or strawberry milk. I decided he did pretty well, but I'm not quite ready yet, so I will keep breastfeeding for now as long as he wants and am not going to push the sippy cup. But we have to him weaned by the end of April, so regardless it will happen by then, just not yet. It's so Steve and I can go on a trip we have been wanting to go on since before we were married, and were supposed to go on a couple of weeks after we married. We have now been married for 6 years, so this has been a long time coming. And there is no way I am going to pump during it. We are going to be gone for 17 days and I can't pump enough before we go to feed Desi for that long, and I also don't want to pump while we are on vacation snorkeling in the Mediterranean, going to the Italian Opera, seeing the oldest freestanding ruins on earth, staying in little bed and breakfasts in the countryside, and going to lots of cool churches. Just not my idea of a fun vacation listening to the sound of the pump and saying sorry honey, can't go yet, gotta pump. Oh and we are just going to have one backpack each, where would that thing fit!?
I am so excited to go Malta, not as excited about weaning, and not as excited about periods again, but kind of am, because I am ovulating again and can get pregnant again, and I am just about ready for another baby!

Weaned

So back in mid-January Steve, Simon, and I went to see my sister Leslie and her family. After that trip and having a hard time with getting Simon to take a bottle in my presence or even a sippy cup we decided it was time to finally wean Simon. It's really not much fun to spend your vacation trying to get your son to take a bottle and I didn't wan to spend the whole time pumping and trying to nurse him still It was hard for me the first two days, but we did it very quickly and Simon never even seemed to notice, so I would say it went very well for us. I did enjoy breastfeeding Simon and I think we ended perfect timing for us. It was getting really stressful for me pumping at work and I was just really tired all the time. Since weaning, I feel more energetic and happy, I am less stressed, I actually get to hang out and do nothing during my breaks at work, I get to eat lunch with both hands, I don't have to stress about getting enough to eat and drink so I can produce good healthy milk, and I feel like I have more time to spend with my son at home. Granted, we have just as much time to spend together, but now we can spend it together playing! At nighttime I do still rock him to sleep and give him a bottle, but it just feels more relaxing now. I let Steve put Simon to bed at least once a week now which I think is nice for Steve because it isn't something he ever got to do in the past.
All in all, breastfeeding was wonderful. I am huge fan of breastfeeding and plan to do it with our next child also. The other day Steve was studying for his OB class and asked how long I want to nurse our next kid, and I said just as long as we did with Simon, and maybe even to 18 months. Yes, I am one of those people... Simon was weaned at about 14 months, and I think if I hadn't been working it would have been a lot easier, it is definitely a huge commitment and lifestyle decision, but for anyone willing to do it, it is totally worth it. I think as a working mother I enjoyed it even more because I felt like since my son is in daycare I don't get to be around him as much, so for me, pumping was a way for me to still provide for my son and take care of him even though I couldn't be with him all day.