Patrick at the Beach

Here is Little Bear at the beach in RI. It was too chilly to actually get in the water on this day (the previous two days were very warm -- bad timing) but we still took him to dip his toes in the water and lay on the beach naked for just a few minutes and get great pictures.

Parker and Paige are absolutely adorable and Parker was just the best playmate with Patrick -- engaging and very gentle at the same time.

Road Trip

Early tomorrow we start on our journey to RI to see the Gates clan (Alan, Jessica, Parker, Paige and Alan's mom, Pat). Just today Patrick started screaming the entire time he was in the car while I ran errands. LOVELY! Should get some great pics out of this trip. More later.

It IS easy being green (or not your mother's cloth diapers)

I always wanted to start off with cloth diapers. Just about everyone laughed at me. Then the breastfeeding was difficult and I had to hook myself up to a pump like a dairy cow and then the skin issues started and on and on. Well, in March I ran across these daipers from www.cottonbabies.com. They are just the best. Almost as easy as disposables and so much better for Patrick. I don't have to worry about weird chemicals near his important parts and his diaper area eczema is completely gone. They have elastic, velcro stretchy tabs, and a nice waterproof outer fabric. There is one catch -- you cannot use Tide, All, or any typical grocery store brand. You also can't use the fancy environmental detergents. Almost all these detergents have chemicals that coat the fabrics....like water off a ducks back! They leak. The good news is that there are many simple, cheap detergents out there that work wonderfully. We found that Trader Joe's "......Next to Godliness." works for us. It's cheap AND environmentally friendly! Every few weeks I put a 1/4 cup of bleach in the load and the diapers are like new.

The Great Poopy of '07

Patrick had the biggest poop we have ever seen. After days of not having any action, he let it all hang out -- EVERYWHERE. This was definitely a two-parent, half the box of wipes and then a bath to top it off clean-up. I am still doing the tainted laundry. We are talking feet, hands, and even ears -- COVERED. It was so tempting to toss the cloth diaper but I was good. We think he lost a good half lb, easy.

I think no pictures this time around is a good thing.

9 Month Well-Check

All is well with Little Pat. He is doing everything on the pediatrician's list of what a 9-month-old should do with the exception of crawling and that is no big deal. Wendy did give us some exercises to do with him because she thinks he isn't using his abductors like he should. He did those exercises fine so there's nothing wrong.

His newest trick is pulling up and he will support himself on a piece of furniture and stand there, ultimately loosing his balance.

Spring pictures

The ones of Patrick sleeping and in the stroller are from March and the two in our backyard from the last couple of weeks. He loves Bette so much!!

Our Little Pat of Butter

Patrick is approaching 9 months of age. Can't believe in three months he will be 1 and no longer a baby. The two questions everyone asks are "Does he have any teeth?" and "Is he crawling?" No and no are the answers. Patrick hates being on his belly but thinks he can walk. He manages to walk across the room while hanging on to our hands. He may never crawl. As to the teeth, well, anytime between 6 and 12 months is normal for the first appearance of teeth. Our pediatrician assures us everything is on target. Patrick babbles every consonant and vowel sound, stringing many together. I think he said "bottle" the other day when I made the sign for it and he is the most social baby I have ever seen. He says mama and dada all the time but I don't know that there is any meaning behind it. He turns pages of books but mostly prefers to chew on the corners. I guess that's about it for now.

I will post pictures soon (we have made some office space adjustments in our house and the computer with the pictures is not always readily available -- going to have to alter that)