James the cuddler

yesterday James found his ears. He discovered how nice they are to hold, how soft and flexible and what a comfort they can be :) He's so precious, I love to just watch him.

Today James was being a little bit fussy (not even crying, though, he's such a good kid!) when I tried to put him in his swing and later his bed to nap. Both times I picked him up, laid him on my chest and he calmed down to sleep there almost instantly. I love being the mom! He just wanted to be with one of us, not in some silly old swing :) I postponed some chores and rested with my baby. I have to say, I think I may be spending a lot of time like that in the near future, and I won't consider it unproductive or wasted. I have waited to be the nurturer, and I already feel like these moments when he is so little are just going to slip by so fast.

So any time James wants to cuddle (I really wanted a cuddler, too!) is ok by me...

Goodman family update :)

Just a little update, to let you know how we've been doing...

James is a wonderful baby! He cries when necessary, but is really a pretty laid back kid. He eats well, and sleeps well, and loves to be around Mom and Dad. To be honest, I thought the transition would be harder than it has been. It's tiring being up during the night so often, but I'd like to think that even after only a week we are developing some sort of routine, and he is not a night owl, so we do get a decent amount of rest. Ron has been home this whole time, and has been helping me to rest up. He's been taking very good care of us. He is so natural at being a dad, it blesses my heart to see. We all knew he would be a great dad, but now he is and I love how he loves his son.

Tonight and through Friday evening Ron is out of town on a business trip. The timing is less than ideal, but it was an important trip that only comes around once a year, and since the baby was born a week ago we had decided that I would be ok by myself by now. The truth is, I am! For the most part! I have two friends, Ashley and Cara, that are offering to take care of me and James every waking (or sleeping) hour if need be! It is so good to have that assurance that someone is close by thinking about me and keeping their phone near in case I need someone. A lot of other people have also let me know that they're willing to bring stuff over or get anything I may need... Ashley came over to visit today and we had a wonderful time. She helped with some household chores, and then we just hung out and talked all afternoon :) Tomorrow Cara and Ashley will be coming over and we'll have a girls day :) In addition to all the helpfulness with having people around while I'm recovering and taking care of James, this will also help with the loneliness from missing Ron. I am going to enjoy the next couple of days even while I look forward to getting my husband back. Ron is going to take off next week, too, and maybe do half days the week after that, we'll see how we all feel.

My mom is coming down next week! We are really looking forward to that :) I am feeling so much better only a week after the birth that two weeks out sounds great and I think we will be up to doing some more things and taking a couple outings to uncrowded places :)

Since I have previously blogged (perhaps excessively) about the merits of natural birth, I must touch on this! I will perhaps expound in a future post, but I am pleased and blessed to have had a natural birth. I went into labor before I even expected to (though I was already 40 weeks and 6 days) and the timing was perfect. God's perfect timing. For so many reasons I had opted out of getting pain medication during birth, and I did not have to be induced, either. It was not more than I could bear. After birth, I have been taking some pain meds, so I feel like I'm cheating a little. But I am much more comfortable taking some pain relievers that are considered to be safe during breastfeeding than while in labor. My thoughts are that now that James is not inside of me, the risks and situation has changed. The pain medicine I am now taking won't enter directly into his blood stream, and any trace amount he may get will be filtered quite a bit through my milk and, as best as I know, only make him a little drowsy at the worst. I did, however, quit taking one of the medications today, and hope to be done with the other one in another week or so. It's amazing how God designed our bodies and how resilient we are! When I think about what just happened, what James and I both went through last week, it amazes me.

I love to look at him and hold him and touch him. I love that he is a part of me and a part of Ron, and that God made him just perfectly. I am still amazed!

Off to get to bed now and take care of my baby. MY baby! MY son!! Thank you, Jesus, for this gift!

James Christopher!

As you all know by now, we have that baby!!

James Christopher blessed us by coming into the world last Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 at 1:40 pm. He was 8 pounds, 8 oz., 20 inches long, and looks (by all accounts:) like his daddy.

Thank you Jesus for a safe, healthy delivery and for a precious baby boy!

Monday.

Still pregnant.

Experiencing some things that make me think labor is imminent. But it may not be. Because everyone is different. Blah Blah Blah.

Ok, I will shed the bad attitude. Now. I have turned this birth over to God, told Him that I trust Him for His perfect timing. So that's what I should do! Graciously! If God knows just when our little boy should be born, as He does, then I should rest in that and put up with the discomfort with a better attitude. God is setting me up for a successful and healthy delivery and baby!

Do you know what it is? I have become Americanized about this! As much as I read about natural delivery and plan for that, there's the flip side where I have been hearing other things. For the past couple of months people have been asking me when I'm going to have that baby, or telling me I look like I'm about to pop! Aside from the negative feelings associated with hearing these things OVER AND OVER AND OVER, there's also that sense that... hey, maybe I should be having this kid by now. After all, anything else we want at a whim can be almost instantly gratified. Can't find it at the store? Order online, ship it faster. Don't wait until you have the money, use credit! But guess what? I am only a few days past my estimated due date and that is perfectly normal. Now, I can't make anyone else believe that is perfectly normal. Some people are really good about it. Most people I encounter in public are not.

I was thinking about it. God has designed our bodies to be so amazing as to produce life that He grows inside of us. It takes a good long nine months to complete, but that's pretty amazing, too. Most people can't build a custom house in nine months. So when it comes about the time for the baby to be born, why shouldn't we be more patient? God is just putting some finishing touches on my kid. Why shouldn't I embrace that? Yet we live in a society that will schedule inductions for the sake of convenience. People do this all the time when they don't have a legitimate medical reason to even be induced. I can understand the getting impatient part. The wanting to meet your kid, the longing to have your body back for simple things like... putting on socks. I'm there. But look at what God has made! How much better His timing than mine! Birth is a miracle, why would I want to tamper with that if I didn't need to? Thank God for medicine and doctors and help where we need it.

But first, I thank God. Just because He is. And He made my child, and I will try my best now to wait patiently for him.

p.s. remind me of this if I'm still pregnant next Monday :)

Goodman progress...

Joie's "progress report" was fun, so I thought I'd follow suit. Here are some things that Ron and I have recently accomplished or done...

• Finished reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" together. It took a little while to read it together, but I really enjoyed it, so did Ron. It's already one of my favorite books, so it was fun to share it with him. Next on our list is "First Light", a Brock and Bodie Theone book. Again, I already read most of that series, and thought those books were particularly spiritually good for me. I'm looking forward to reading them again and sharing them with Ron.

• Put up one shelf out of three that need to be put up in the baby room. We got shelves from Lowes the other day but Ron needs a new screw gun and things go a lot slower by hand, pounding the nail, threading the screws...

• Progress: I have my cloth diapers here! Still need to wash them!

• I cleaned out the medicine cabinet/added baby medicine stuff :)

• The study is cleaned out and getting organized!

• And ooh! The freezer is sufficiently stocked. I think I will put a few more things in there, but I am really pleased with what we've got going.

• At my doctor's appointment today I learned that I'm still "ripening" :) I like to think of it like that, actually. Like I'm a banana, and I'm done being green, I am nice and yellow. Or I have just started to get a couple tiny brown spots, so I'm almost at the perfect time to eat :) Is that too odd? I like the visual, personally :)

Off to make dinner for Ron before he gets home early today. We are heading to the hospital tonight for a tour of the maternity wing, I guess it's better late than never! I figure the kid might get excited and get some ideas about making an appearance...? We can all dream a little dream!

interesting article

go ahead and read this article :)

yay for breastfeeding!