Sorry, I've been a little behind, so I apologize in advance for the long post that is coming. First of all, Easter was fantastic. On Saturday, we went to my aunt's house. Then on Sunday, we went to church with my dad and then played around outside for the rest of the day, since it was so nice. Here's a picture of Noah's first Easter basket. I plan to get a nicer one next year and then he'll have that one each year as a keepsake.

Here's a picture of us right before we went to church. Look at Noah all dressed up!


Here is a random picture of Noah chilling with his best "Buddy".


The next big event was a trip to the Zoo with Mom and Grandpa (Dad had to work). This is Noah all ready to go. He is also displaying his favorite new activity...putting his hands in his mouth.


Here he is playing with the penguins. I'm thinking he was pretty cold at this point. It was only 45 degrees in there.


And finally a cute picture with Grandpa:

All in all, we had a great day and it was beautiful outside. I can't wait to take him in the future when he actually understands what is going on.

The next "first" was Noah's first Cardinals game (hopefully the first of many). Here is Noah with Daddy on our way to the ball park. He looks excited!!!


Here's the whole Porter family having a good time. He really did so good, even despite the fact that it was pretty warm that day. Sadly, the Cardinals lost.


This last picture is Noah playing on his activity mat, which he absolutely LOVES! He has also started grabbing onto things and holding them. In this picture, he has his ball in his hand. He's just too cute!


My last little piece is on nursing, or rather the struggles of nursing. It seems that Noah is suffering from thrush. Basically this is a yeast infection. Typically this occurs when there are antibiotics during labor or delivery (which neither of us had) and it will affect the baby's latch and can cause him pain and also cause mom lots of pain. Luckily, neither one of us seem to have much pain related to thrush. Most of our issues are from bad latch which is what the trips to the chiropractor are supposed to fix. Hopefully just a few more visits will do the trick. In the meantime, we are giving him antifungal meds for the thrush in his mouth (white tongue). If we need to, we will do a few other treatments including gentian violet, grapefruit seed extract, all purpose ointment, and probiotics.

I want to put this out there to show just how much issues and trouble we have had with breastfeeding. It is not by any means easy. However, I would never ever trade the experiences and bonding we have shared. My goal isn't to scare women away from breastfeeding or to make it sound horrible, instead I want to show them that if I can do it and get through this, then surely anyone can. I used to think that I would "try" breastfeeding and see if it works, since I had heard so many stories about problems and why you can't breastfeed, but after reading this book (So That's What They Are For) and learning about it through our birth class and other group meetings, I learned that there is basically few reasons why a woman can not breastfed which mostly fall into the category of severe medical issues like chemotherapy, etc. There are ways to help milk supply, latch, and basically any other issue that comes up in breastfeeding. I wish more women would try harder to make it work rather than just throwing up their hands and saying "well I guess we'll go to formula now". I feel like sometimes the little baby needs an advocate and all I'm asking is for women to just try a little harder. Sorry, I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings. I realize we all have our parenting choices and of course, we all have to live with those choices. I just needed to get this out there.

David is having eye surgery today, so I'm going to be solo parenting for most of today. He's also going out of town on Mon and Tue, so I'll do round two of solo parenting then. I go back to work in a week and a half.

9 weeks

Noah has been doing pretty good lately. The biggest thing is that he has been sleeping all the way through the night now. At first I thought he had just moved his 3am feeding to 5am, but now I'm pretty sure he's just dropped that middle of the night feeding all together. We put him down around 9 or 10pm and he doesn't get up until around 7am. I'm not sure what schedule we will have him on once I go back to work, but we may have to wake him up to feed when that happens. It would be nice to have time to work out, eat, and get ready while he sleeps in the morning.

Currently as I type this, Noah is napping WITHOUT his white noise. We usually put on "womb sounds" as he sleeps in his crib, but he seems to be doing ok without it. I think we'll still do it at night but it would be good to learn to nap without it since the daycare won't have it. Also in the next 3 weeks, I would like to really develop a good napping schedule during the day so the daycare can continue that and he won't feel so out of place there.

The most popular question I get these days is about how I will feel when I go back to work. The plan is to go back April 28 which is a Wednesday. Since our daycare starts April 26, I'm going to take him in on Mon and Tue for half-days so that we both get used to it and Mommy can have some time to herself. Sometimes I feel like the worst mommy in the world because I'm actually looking forward to going back to work. I look forward to adult interaction time as well as the work I will be doing when I go back. I'm sure I will miss him, but I feel like that will make the time we do have together that much more special. I have also decided I don't really care if the house is spotless or the bills get paid the day they come in, my son is much more important. I'm sure there will be several take out meals and going out for dinner, but we'll get in a routine eventually.

Tomorrow is Kangaroo Kids Breastfeeding group day...the day I look forward to every week!!! We are also going to the doctor for our 2 month well baby visit. Poor Noah has to get some shots. Here's a few pictures for you:

This is one of Noah sucking his thumb. He usually uses a pacifier but I turned around and saw him doing this and snapped the photo really quick. It was too cute.


I decided to put Noah in the wrap facing outward. I don't think you are supposed to do this until he is 4 months old, but I still wanted to try. He seemed to like it.

Sleeping

I may jinx myself, but for the last 2 nights Noah has slept completely through the night. We put him down around 9pm and he sleeps until 5 or 6am. It feels so good to sleep all the way through the night - I don't care for the 3am feeding. If he can keep this schedule, it'll be great for when I go back to work. I should also mention that Noah does really well in going to sleep in general. At night, around 8 or 8:30, we start his bedtime routine which includes a bath, lotion and massage, nursing, read a book or two, diaper change, then into the sleep sack. We also put on his womb sounds from an mp3 player next to his crib. Most nights we put him down still awake and he puts himself right off to sleep. Sometimes he grunts and moans but hardly ever cries. Same for the 3am feeding, although hopefully we will get rid of that one now. He does almost the same for his naps, although those aren't so much scheduled right now. He basically takes one big nap in the middle of the day, around 3 hours. Otherwise he cat naps here and there. I'd like to get him in the routine of 2 big naps, but we'll see.

Here's a picture of Noah taking a nap this morning (thanks to Jackie for the cute lovey):

8 weeks - Rolling over and feeding issues

Noah rolled over!!! I didn't believe it at first and thought he did it by accident, but he's done it several times since and I honestly believe he does it on purpose. He enjoys tummy time but I think he likes being on his back more. He really bats at his toys and likes looking in the mirror. Here is a video of him rolling over:



Also, I've been having some soreness while and after feeding. This was happening before the Mastitis. I finally asked a lactation counselor at Kangaroo Kids and she informed me that not only can I improve his latch but that he would benefit from additional adjustments from the pediatric chiropractor. Unfortunately, I can't get an appt until almost 2 weeks from now. In the meantime, I'm going to try and improve his latch, which he absolutely hates since he was used to the other way he latched before. Hopefully we can finally get these feeding problems fixed. I wouldn't say I'm in intense pain or anything and he's getting milk, so this isn't necessarily a serious problem. BUT it would be nice if they weren't sore and sensitive all the time.

This weekend is Easter. We are going to my Aunt Amy's on Saturday and then spending the day at church and with my dad on Sunday. Noah even has his own easter basket!!!

Baptism

Sorry I didn't update sooner after the baptism. Everything went well. It was busy at church since it was Palm Sunday plus there were 3 other baptisms and new member welcome. Noah did a very good job, he didn't cry at all. He did get fussy after but that was because he was hungry. After the church service was over, everyone came over to our house for food and cake and we all had a great time. Enjoy the photos: