Patrick Henry Block

I love his occasional giant whacks on my chest as he starts nursing.  The whacks make me laugh, as do his chuckles as he knows he’s about to get a nipple in his mouth.  “heh heh….hehhehheh….heh heh!  (Hurry up, Mama!  I love your milk!)”

I love his grins and laughs as he nurses if I do something he finds humorous.  (“Mama, you are silly!!”)  The way he smiles with a nipple hanging out of his mouth is absolutely hilarious!

I love his deep-sounding giggle that doesn’t seem like it should be coming from a baby that young.  He’s always had that giggle.  The first time he REALLY laughed so hard, we played peek-a-boo behind the couch with Daddy.  He thought it was hilarious and laughed so hard for so long that he spit up a little milk and gave himself hiccups.

I love his soft caress at night when he nurses.  His soft hand feels so good on my skin as he moves it back and forth on my bare arm or chest.  It almost sends shivers down my spine, and it always makes me smile in such bliss.

I love cuddling him at night with his body curled into a ball facing my belly.  I love sleeping with him, even though our bed is TINY, lumpy, and wiggly with all three of us in it!

I love his butt freckle!!!  I also love his chubby butt and thighs….and knees…and arms…and chin…and…pretty much every inch of him!

I love that he had a safe, healthy birth, and how we are so close because of all the Mother-Baby bonding things that took place because of his natural birth at home, things that may not have happened in a hospital setting.  I love how God orchestrated the finding of a midwife, the researching and learning of birth and breastfeeding, and so many other things.  I wouldn’t change a thing, except make labor a lot shorter.    I love how God designed labor and birth to be!!  I am so glad we had a home birth WITHOUT dangerous man-made drugs that have side effects we may not see til years later (and many that can happen immediately).  I am so glad we questioned and learned about everything, and to do what makes the most sense without worrying about what other people think….especially, in this case, what the mainstream hospital policy states.  I am glad for the wisdom of so many people God put in our path who are so much smarter and better for the Mother-Baby than hospital policy!!  They all contributed to his wonderful birth!

I love how excited he gets when he sees the puppy and we chase after him while I hold Patrick upright, close to the ground at puppy level.  He can say “dog” in ASL, you know, although we call it “puppy.”  I think it’s funny that he knows that but not the sign for “milk” or anything else.  We’re trying “more” at the dinner table, but mostly he screeches for food.  Sometimes he claps, a delightfully cute habit he picked up after being in church, and I wonder if he means “more” sometimes because they are so similar.

I love when I am getting dressed and he is wanting to nurse, that he will see his “bottles” and reach for them from the ground while chuckling.  He *knows.*

I love that he knows how to get down feet first from the bed and couch.  He is so smart and it seemed to have instantly come upon him how to do it, although we have been teaching him for months!  It is exciting to see his new skills “click” in his brain….which is probably quite large, if you have seen his head.  I’m excited about that, because his large head means his brain has the potential to grow and be of lots of benefit to others if it is put to good use from the start!

I love that his first “trick” was dancing….he stands (or bobbed his head while on his belly at first), and bends his knees up and down.  Not in rhythm, but sometimes it is for a few beats.  He does it to any music he hears: on the radio, tv, guitar, little xylophone, spontaneous homemade percussion instrument….I will make it a point to get him to as many concerts as I can to get him involved in the music that he enjoys so much!

I love that I have sacrificed a lot of “career stuff” and making money to nurture my child in the best ways possible while he is young.  Best choice ever, even if it was/is frustrating at some points to not be able to keep my site updated or to get pictures edited and out as fast as I wanted.  No amount of money I could contribute to our family income is worth sacrificing his optimal health and well-being.

I love that he loves his daddy and loves to play with him.

I love that he loves me and I am his favorite person in the whole wide world.

I love that that will change someday as he gets older…and the first woman in his life is replaced with the woman he chooses to spend the rest of his life with.  And that is the way it should be.  She will be the one he looks to for comfort and advice, the only other one to know about his butt freckle (besides the world wide web, to whom I just spilled the beans), and the one who will nourish him with good cookin’ (if he doesn’t end up the Head Chef himself!).  They will make decisions that I may or may not approve of, but I will have to trust then that God has helped us raise him well.  I will have to trust that the decisions they make were not taken lightly, and much thought (with that big brain!) was given to them.  As that day approaches when I am replaced by his wonderful wife – whom I am SO excited to meet – I will pray that God helps me to adjust accordingly to all that comes with that change in my relationship with my son.  I love that God has designed it that way!

We went to the doctor today for a checkup for the first time!  (Well, besides the ones Mrs. brenda did for a while after I was born.)  It was alright…I had to get nekked and they pulled my legs and checked my thighs.  That tickled, so I laughed at the silly lady.  They put me on a boat-looking thing and said I was “21 pounds”….whatever that means…..then they stretched me out and said I was “27 1/2 inches.”  they looked in my mouth with a flat dry thingy, and it was kinda funny at first.  But then I didn’t care for that because I was hoping it was a boobie, and it was not.  So then I cried until I got some milk, and that was nice.

The doctor lady was very quick, and didn’t really play with me much.  I peed on her table after she didn’t put my diaper back on tight enough and it leaked out.  heehee…  I wish Mrs. Brenda did my checkup!  She always had lots of time for questions, and she played with me more.  Mommy says we will have to look into this, and also some other things the doctor mentioned that she isn’t sure are true and/or wouldn’t be best for me.

I still didn’t nap for a while until after noon in the car on the way home.  I think Mommy left me in the car for a while when we got home because I was finally sleeping.  (She kept checking on me every few minutes, though.)

Then this evening I got to lick some homemade bread!  I tried to grab it and stick it in my mouth, but Mommy wouldn’t let me very long.  But she did let me have some polenta from her plate at dinner!  It tasted like Herbes d’ Provence, or however you spell it.  I think I kept most of it in my mouth.  I licked some homemade salad dressing off her finger, too.  All in all, a pretty eventful day!

And here’s to everyone who thought I was having a girl (the majority of guessers) “because of the way I was carrying.” Better luck next time.