An Update

As you might notice, yes, it really is almost 2:00 in the morning. I usually have to pump once or twice at night, especailly now that Valin is eating more, so I can keep up my supply. Pumping is just umcomfortable enough that I can't sleep during it but also something that requires I do something instead of sitting there begging for the time to pass quickly by. I've tried reading which sadly gets my mind too awake so that it takes me an hour to get back to sleep. So I decided to update my blog -something I really need to do anyway- and hopefully it won't wake me up too much.

Anyway, to start off, everything is going great. Patxi has one final (on Tuesday)and, though he would never show it or express it -true to Patxi's style- he is worried about it. It's his anatomy one which is his difficult one and he spent over five hours studying for it today, but I'm just praying that he can remember all that he needs to. After this, Patxi is done with school until the fall. He had thought to take a summer class, but since his National Guard drill is three weeks long and in the middle of the summer this year, he decided that he missing three weeks would be a bad thing. He hopes to find a part-time or volunteer job with some fire station so he could get some experience as a paramedic. It would keep him busy and bring in some extra income, so I'm up for it.

Pumping-
It going. It just got some more Lanolin so feels a little less than a titty-twister everytime I pump now. But now since Valin is eating more I have to pump for longer times so I'm sore anyway. My goal is to keep my sanity for 2 more months. I have tons of frozen milk and by 6 months, Valin will be eating soilds, which will be offering more nutriation besides breastmilk. That's the plan at least. Sometimes I feel like a slave tied to that medcine, but I love giving my son the best thing for him. Luckily, formula is so good now a days that I feel okay with stopping to pump when he is six months old.

Valin-
Oh, he is such a cutie! Here is a video of Patxi making him laugh. It's the funniest thing!

He is four month this last Saturday. It's crazy to think that a little more than four months ago I still had him growing in my tummy! But he is so much fun! My heart just leaps everytime he smiles at me. He's now into squeelling and last Sunday he of course tested out his lungs during Sacrament Meeting and Relief Society. Before the meeting started, while I was waiting on the stand to lead the music, the organist leans over to me and asked, "Is that one yours?" But what do you do? cover his mouth? or spend all of Scarament meeting in the foyer for sproatic screaming? Luckily everyone enjoyed his noises in Relief Society, but I sure he was very distracting. This is someting I'm challenged with, knowing when to take him out. It's not an exact science.
But other than that everything is going great.

Sorry for not posting sooner!

Our internet now only work at night and life is getting even more tricky because Valin is at a stage were he doesn't like to be on his back for long, or on his stomach, so that leaves us holding him. We really need a jump-y-jump or something. But I happend to have an ingenious idea so I could get the dishes done tonight. I put him, sitting up in the stroller with pillows so there was on real chance of him falling out. I placed his toys on the tray and he was happy the whole time. It was great!
Anyways, here are a few of the little things he can do and a few pictures:




He is now rolling over whenever he gets the chance which is okay for a few minutes. But now he can push himself up with his hands and get on his knees, but not at the same time. Whenever he get to his knees his head falls down and the oppsites happens when he pushes up on his hands. So I think that it will be a few weeks before he's up and crawling. Crazy huh, and he's just 4 months!

He changes so much on a daily basis. He can now pull out his own binky and put it back in (though not very accuratly). Then in the bathtub today, he just had to sit up, grab everything, and try to taste it too. There are somehtings that just make me laugh out loud. Just the other day I was burping him just after his nap and his head was resting on my chest. All of a sudden, Valin pushes himself up with his hands and stares at me dead in the face. Then, with a huge grin on his face, he lets rip a big burp. I just couldn't contain myself. I laugh right out loud, with Valin smiling along with me. Man, I love being a mother! He is so fun!

Mr. Dimples

I was so happy that I got these spat shots of our little bunddle of joy. Mostly I just wanted to show off his dimples! He has such an infecious smile; reminds me of his father.

Where's his pacifier?

He will take a pacifier to go calm down so he can go to sleep but then spits it out so he can fall asleep. But while he's out- he continues to suck on his tongue. It's the funniest thing.


He also ends up sleeping in this position when he can get his hands out of his wrap.

He seriously is the cutiest thing on the planet!

Valin playing, smiling, and laughing

Valin seems to be camera shy so this is the best I can do to capture his cute smile and laugh. Enjoy! I know I do every time I see it


This laugh isn't even his big-hearty laugh. Patxi can really get him to laugh so hard his gets hiccups. It is the cutiest thing in the world! But I just thought that my family would like to see how much he is growing. He can hold his head up and sit up with little support now.





He perfers sitting up and now kicks and screams if I lay him down with his toys. Laying seems now to be a fussy event. Now, every time he is on his back he'll rolls over. But the problem is that he doesn't like being on his tummy and doesn't know how to roll back over. Has anyone got a Jump-y-jump or swing chair we can borrow? Our sanity would very much appreciate it.

It's really offical! I'm grad-e-ated!

I got my diploma in the mail the other day. So now I can now...stay home and take care of the most important thing in my world (besides my husband of course).

95...75...50...and rolling over!

Last week Valin went to his two month check up where he got his shots :( and the doctor told me how he was progressing. His head size is in the 95 percental, height: 75% and weight: 50%. the doctor wasn't worried about his weight because Valin has been gaining an ounce a day which is average. I had to come to grips with the fact that I wasn't going to have a chubby baby. There's no way that we are underfedding him. I practically shove the bottle in his mouth and make sure that we give him the bottle before anything else, but he is the one chooses to suck and swallow. He really never has been a big eater -which is a shock considering his parents -so I guess that's just how he is. He might be one of those people who's physical development is seconded to the development of his brain. He might just be the smartest kid around considering he's in the 95%. Who knows. No matter what, I'll love him whether he is an Enstien or Olympus.

Other than that, everything has been going great. I don't really know if you call the sounds he makes cooes because they have distinct consonant and vowel combinations. Since he was a month old he has been saying "Mum" though he doesn't connect it with me. He's been smiling since he was 6 weeks old but now they are more in response to what we do then just because he's content and sees one of us. Oh, yesterday I was changing his diaper and started to tickle his tummy and he started laughing, I mean laugh-out-loud, more-than-just-giggling laughing. He laugh so hard he gave himself hiccups. It is the cutiest, more rewarding sound in the world. I plan on getting it on video soon. Oh it is so cute!

Yesterday I had laid Valin on his back with some toys while I was in the kitchen. After a few minutes I heard him cry and came into the room. I found him on his stomach reaching for a toy I had laid to his right. He totally rolled over on his own and he's not even 3 months yet! I wonder if he knew what he was doing, probably not. Boy, is he growing up. This part is so much fun! I love every minute of being a mother, well almost every moment.

Valin's Baby blessing

Today was Valin's baby blessing. My family (Mom, Dad, Jen, Nick, and Jill) came up for it as well as Patxi's Parents, brother Tice and sister Seren and cousin Joesph and his wife Ivy. It was great to see them all again.

Saturday my fam came up and we went out to dinner and hung out at the pool of their hotel. It was so much fun. Even though I still haven't lost the weight to fit in my swimsuit, I was able to get over it and have fun anyway.





Then for the blessing, Patxi's family met us at the church. My calling is to lead the music in Sacrament Meeting so I was very watchful, waiting for my family to come. So then after a few hymns preformed by a chorus of bells, a comfirmation, and 20 minutes of annoucments, we were up, but my family wasn't there. Patxi gave a wonderful blessing and my fam still didn't show up. It turned out that they got lost. It was sad and ironic that they didn't get there because they were the reason why we changed it. But what can you do? Valin won't remember, and it'll always be an interesting story.

Then after that Patxi and I had cooked an Easter lunch for everyone (yes, 13 people) which was a little stressful trying to fit everyone into our little apartment. But we got wonderful complaments from everyone so I think it succeeded everyone's Easter Dinner expectations.

Then afterwards, we played games, watched movies, and I pumped; it was great fun!

Cutiest laugh

He is so interactive now and loves to makes sounds while laying on his back. It is the cutiest thing! We were so luckly to capture his cute little laugh.

Sorry that the picture isn't the best. Patxi played with the settings and I just haven't had the time to put it back.

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