My First Mother's Day

Hello again! I'm back for another update. Today Justin and I took Sam over to Raising More Money to show him off to the people I used to work with. Everyone crowded into Laurie's office to coo over him, I should have some pictures soon from today with Sam and my ex co-workers, and from Laurie's visit to our house on Saturday. Afterwards we went over and hung out at Laurie's for a while, and picked up a disk from her with pictures from the day Sam was born, and met her adorable dogs.

So, what's been going on since I last posted? Thursday the 11th was Justin's birthday! We took Sam to his first doctor appointment, which went well. He barely even cried during the PKU test when they poked his foot to get blood, and everything is looking good. He was still underweight, but he's eating like a champ now so I'm confident he's gaining the weight he's supposed to. That night we went out to Thai food for Justin's birthday. Sam slept through the entire meal, and through a short trip to Borders for a little shopping.

Mom came down again last weekend to hang out with Keith & his friends and to spend Mother's day with Kira, Sam, Justin & I. On Saturday we hung out with her, then in the evening we went over to Tara & Phil's house to celebrate Justin's birthday with Tara, Phil, Jen, Brooke, Dave & the kids. We had some delicious cake and had a good time.

Sunday was my first Mother's Day! We went on a picnic at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. It was very nice, and not too crowded even though there were a lot of people there. We had a good time. Kira got Mom & me tickets to see Shawn Colvin with her at the Zootunes in July, which I am looking forward to.

Sam is doing great. He's starting to use his arms more, and be more aware of what he's doing when he's moving them. In the last 2 days he's started making noises, not just when he's hungry or crying, but when he's awake and just hanging out. I think soon he'll be "talking" up a storm! He is also starting to learn to smile on purpose, which is very exciting. I am just loving spending so much time with him. He's still a great baby, and for the most part very calm. Plus he sleeps enough in large stretches that we are able to get plenty of sleep, though it may happen at odd hours (mostly during the day for Justin).

We're looking forward to lots of visitors this summer! Sam's Great Aunt Becky will be flying to Washington on June 20, his Great Great Aunt Anna & Uncle Dick will be flying in in the beginning of July, and his Grandpa Bill, Grandma Helene & Aunt Lianna will be visiting mid-June. We're also looking forward to having Jason & Stormy around, they're moving to Washington sometime at the beginning of June.

Update on Breastfeeding Stuff:

Just wanted to post an update to the entry I wrote the other day about breastfeeding and Sam. I am feeling much better in the last 2 days about making some kind of decision and not being so stressed out about the whole thing. I've stopped using the pump, and unless I change my mind, I'll be returning it to the hospital this weekend when the rental runs out. I don't think it was doing too much for me, and I was not getting nearly enough that I could bottle it and feed it to Sam. Now that I'm more relaxed, I've been able to get Sam to nurse a couple of times a day for the last couple of days. I don't know how much nutrition he's getting, but that's okay because he gets plenty of that from his bottles. Mostly I just want him to get at least a little of the benefits of breastmilk. I'm taking Fenugreek to help my supply what little I can, and I'm just going to let things run their course. When the milk is not there for him any more, I'll stop. I know that I am doing the best I can, and having a relationship with my baby depends on so much more than nursing. I know that either way I'm a good Mom and it doesn't matter if strangers think so or not. On a side note, I'd like to point out that formula companies seem to be almost as bad as pharmaceutical companies! I went to CostCo to buy formula for Sam. The lactation consultant told me it was fine to buy the Kirkland brand stuff (store brand) and that it's made by one of the major companies, but people get nervous about feeding their kids generic stuff. I compared the ingredients & nutrition facts - almost identical. Only the CostCo brand is HALF AS MUCH. Literally. Holy cow. I think my CostCo membership paid for itself already!