Patrick Henry Block

Here is a collage we put together for a canvas gallery wrap we ordered!  I can’t wait to see it on our wall!

What’s cuter than a sleeping baby? A baby that makes noises in his sleep!

So here’s a little video where you can enjoy some Noisy Sleeping Baby Patrick cuteness.

Last Monday, Rebecca, Patrick, & I all went to Columbia, MO to see Bowfire on the Mizzou campus. It’s a really great show featuring all different types of violin & fiddle music. Patrick seemed to really get a kick out of all the lights, color, dancing, & music. Rebecca & I loved the show too!

Afterward, we got a hotel room & ordered some pizza. From the picture, it looks like Patrick decided to take that chance to really chill out on the hotel bed in his first hotel stay!

Me and Mommy looked at black and white fractals today.  We both liked it.  She also uploaded pictures from my first official photo shoot the other day!  You can buy nice professional prints of them here.  Mommy says they look much nicer than printing small ones off the computer or going to Walmart.  I believe her!

Here is just one:

Hmm…I guess that was my hand and not a boobie after all…

(Part one: clothed  – haha)

All images by Heidi of Freedom Photography.  Thank you!!!  You were awesome and I am so so so grateful that we have these pictures!  God was totally using you being there….

They are tweaking a few things with their new monitor, so we’ll have the other half later.  I hope it gives you a good idea of what a home birth can be like.  There’s a lot more than this in the first half, so some of you may get to see more if you ask.  I really want to make an album from his birth!

I had my first campfire experience tonight.  Mom & Dad had a bunch of friends over for a party & they roasted marshmallows around a fire outside.  Mom even let me come out & enjoy the experience for a while. Of course, I was in a blanket the whole time so I could stay plenty warm, but it was still a pretty cool first campfire.

I'm under the blanket, but you can see the red hat from my Cardinals hoodie!

My friend Branch is under a blanket on the left side of the picture. He’s just a few months older than me. We had a pretty good time. I think the grownups did too.

Not that i’m an expert, but there are 3 big things I would have to say I highly recommend to any new mom.

#1 – You know your baby best! Thank you, La Leche League, for this wonderful bit of advice that is so true.  From the moment your baby is born, YOU know him/her best.  You will learn to know his/her habits, patterns, facial expressions, and what they all mean.  You are the parent; you decide what is best for your child.  Do your own research on baby care, because some of the stuff people tell you isn’t true or comes from poorly done studies (ex: studies on the “dangers of co-sleeping” or what to do about vaccines).  So make your own decisions on things like that.

#2 – Commit to being successful at breastfeeding while you are still pregnant. I mean really commit to it.  Don’t just say you’re “going to try.”  Say you’re going to do it no matter what it takes.  And set a time goal, then plan to exceed that goal.  For example, I set a goal of at least a year, and I plan on going beyond that.   Read books like “The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding” and attend La Leche League meetings before and after your baby is born.

Yes, your nipples will hurt at first.  Mine took about a week to get used to nursing.  So when you hear that breastfeeding isn’t supposed to hurt, they mean that if you feel pain in the whole breast, there’s something wrong with the latch-on.  I thought the nipple soreness meant we were doing it wrong at first, until my midwife explained that to me.  And then I felt a bad latch, so I knew the difference.   It may drive you crazy to nurse so much at the beginning, but a little bit of pain on an adult’s part is nothing compared to the benefits of a healthy, happy, content baby.

Oh, and learn to breastfeed while lying down in bed!  It is a lifesaver!

Also, see #1 when it comes to other people’s advice on breastfeeding.  You will be judged no matter what, it seems.   Some people think you’ll be breastfeeding for too long of a time period (even though the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for at least 2 years…)  Feed your baby when s/he is hungry.  They know when they are hungry, and they will tell you.  (The day Patrick was born, he started making mouth movements [which we call Boobie Face] that I knew meant he was hungry, even though I had never seen or read about them before.)  You are NOT “spoiling” your baby for either feeding them too often or for too long.

#3 – Make or get a comfortable baby carrier and practice using it all day from the day your baby is born. Wow, I cannot believe how much I’ve gotten done once I started wearing the sling pretty much all day.  Yesterday I did YARD WORK with him in the sling.  Today I made chili, baked a cake, ate breakfast, and ironed all within a few hours.  Before, it would have taken me all day to do that without the sling on!  The other thing is that Patrick, like most other babies, are soooo much calmer inside the sling.  This morning he was fussing and I put him in it and he pretty much immediately settled down.  Oh, and while I’ve been typing this – with BOTH hands, thank you very much, we’ve also been nursing.  Huzzah!

…for not being afraid/offended/bothered/etc. by seeing a breastfeeding baby.

After church today, Anita wanted to see Patrick because she hadn’t yet.  He was nursing in the sling and you couldn’t really see any skin at all because my sweater was pulled up top and my tank shirt covered my belly and back skin.  I told her he was eating but if she wanted to see him, it didn’t bother me.  She said promptly, “It doesn’t bother me!”  So for this I commend her!

Giving birth in front of several people that saw me butt naked made me not care about breastfeeding in public.  I didn’t expect that.  As long as my skin in back and front is covered and nothing pops out in the process, I am totally cool with walking around in public feeding my hungry baby.  I also don’t care about other women seeing a little more skin if I’m in private or if they look at him while nursing in the sling.  It just doesn’t matter and it’s not offensive at all.  Yesterday I walked around Target and Other Mothers nursing him without a sling.  I just turned towards the wall in case something accidentally showed that I didn’t want showing, got him latched on, and went about my business.  It really looked like I was just holding a baby, and unless you noticed that the bottom half under the baby was a different colored shirt than the top, it was not obvious at all.  And I didn’t even have to mess with a blanket or getting him just right in the sling.  Yay!

I’m headed to church for the morning. No pictures this time, just an update.

I hear grandma made some pumpkin pie for dinner; I don’t think I’ll get to have any though.

Here are some family pictures from this evening.  Thanks to Angie & Catherine for helping us take some of these pictures!

*We’ll be using at least one of these pictures in our Christmas cards this year.  Check out www.PureCaptures.com to learn more about our family photo Christmas cards.