Mr. Smiles

Valin is now becoming more active and I thought that I might share with you the smile that warms my life (besides Patxi's of course). He is the cutiest thing in the world!

Oregon Coast

For Spring Break Patxi and I decided to go to the coast since we had the time and it was an hour away. We wnt to Lincoln City and bought a much wanted Kithen Aid mixer at the outlet stores. (I had to make bread with it when we got home. It was great!) We drove up the coast to Tilamock and found a cool beach full of tide pools. here are the picutres.

I've made a decision

Last Tuesday, we tried to wean Valin off his bottle, cold turkey. He nursed like normal at first and fell asleep (like normal) so we let him sleep and hope that he took enough to last him an hour before he was hungry again. After about 25 minutes he was awake again and we nursed. After a moment, he started to cry and pull off. I would try to latch him again but he would continue to cry, harder by each try. He was crying for his bottle. My milk supply was up and I was compressing it into his mouth, so the flow wasn't what dissatisfied him. He continued to cry, since we refused to give him his bottle, for the next 3-ish hours until I buckled and finally gave it to him. The next few feedings, even getting into the position to nurse, he would cry hard.
After that Patxi and I re-grouped and thought that a gradual weaning might work; give him the bottle every-other feeding and them gradually change to every-third, forth and then stop completely. The next day we tried that and twice he would nurse, and then fall asleep. We prayed that he would get enough milk to sleep for and hour before he was hungry again. We would than nurse him and feed him his bottle. But the other 6 feeding that day he would nurse and then cry for his bottle after a few minutes. I would of course try to calm him and nurse but he wouldn't have it.
This is the pattern that we've continued. I deliberated for the next three days wondering what I should do. I prayed a lot, knowing that I knew so little of what would work and what was best for Valin. I would have three options: continue the way we were (spending an hour and a half feeding him every three hours, seeking a goal of exclusively nursing which now didn't seem likable), just feeding him a bottle of milk I've pumped (which isn't the most convenient -just knocking 30-45 minutes off the feeding time- but he would still get my milk -the best for him) or bottle feed him formula (which isn't the best for him but not bad). Patxi and I decided that formula wasn't something we wanted to feed him and I was willing to nurse, but Valin wasn't really up to it. So that meant that I would only bottle feed him pumped milk and let go of my desire to nurse (until our next child comes and will try agian of course). I felt a huge release once I decided. Suddenly all the stress of struggling to nurse left me. At church today I smiled so much, I felt so good.
I hope that this option will work until I wean him with soild food. And I also hope that the WIC pump I have I'll be able to have on loan until then as well. I'm grateful to finally make tha decision and let go of the stress.

Trip to Utah

Last week Patxi's Grandmother past away and her funeral was on Monday in Bountiful, Utah. I was alittle worried about traveling for 9 hours with a newborn, but we went with Patxis' dad in their van so there was enough room to nurse. I also worried about the cold I caught the day before we left. Saturday I could barly carry on a conversation because I coughed and sneezed so much. But luckily, aside from feeding and changing my baby, I slept for those 9 hours. I felt ten time better by Monday morning. The one cool things about the trip was that all of Patxi's Grandma's prosparity was there. So that meant that all of Patxi's 10 brothers and sisters, Californian cousin and their famlies came together. It was great to see everyone and show off my adorable baby and the newist Waite. It's sad that a funneral was the reason why we all got together.

We were all able to stay at a hotel which meant swimming adventures for everyone. I got some great pictures









This is Rowen. He swallowed too much water and threw up in the pool.


Everyone was forced to jump into the jacuzee while the pool was cleaned. Rowen closed the pool down for a full 24 hours.



The next day, Elliot was in the jacuzee in just his platic pants that cover his cloth diapper when he messed and it leaked. Everyone was forced out. The Waites didn't seem to have good luck with public pools.

I was also able to see my sisters, which was so awesome being with them; bantering like no time had passed.

I was so happy to have them see Valin. It meant so much to me; to have them apart of my life. I loved to see them love and adore him. He really is the cutiest thing in the world! I love them so much.

Breastfeeding Update

Things are going alright. I just went to the Support group at the hospital and he took only one ounce. He had been grasing during the two hours earlier. He also would lacth, suck for a little while and then cry. Generally he would either cry or fall asleep. To me I would think he was done or just didn't want it anymore, but he still acted hungry. I fed him from the bottle next and he didn't cry but ate quickly and finnished it off. We guessed that he would be getting mad because he wasn't getting the amount of milk he wanted per suck. So we thought that if I up my milk supply, than he'll be more active and drink more. So this is my goal for this week. I am to pump for longer periods of time and at a higher pressure and even try using lactation enhancers, like herbs and teas. Once that happens, then hopefully breastfeeding won't be a struggle. Then the week after that I plan on winning him from the bottle. So...soon I hope he will exclusively be breastfeeding. I see the light at the end of that tunnel! I feel like, those I must sacrifce a little more sleep and the house can be dirty, Valin and I will succeed. Wich us luck! and keep us in your prayer.

more pictures!

taking a nap with grandpa.






Poor baby, he has newborn rash. I hope it goes away soon




Like father, like son


Patxi gave Valin a mo-hawk



my sister Jen and Patxi's also sucked on those fingers