36 weeks Belly Love

Here is a picture of our little one at 36+ weeks. It is so hard to pose and make it look even close to natural, I always feel like a doofus. But since we squeeze in pictures when we can, we'll take what we can get when Jason is home and Maddy is not trying to steal the camera.

Sling Baby

The other day I was watching Alayna and had her in the mei tei wrap on my back (yes it is comfortable even at this stage of pregnancy). Maddy decided that she needed to sling some babies too while she rearranged Alayna's diaper bag. She had the pig in the back and two little bears snuggled up front. Of course as soon as I put Alayna down, Maddy was done slinging her babies too. Such the little AP mama!

Oregonian Article on my LLL group

Bringing La Leche closer to her home
Breastfeeding - Melissa Zollner, who's expecting her second child, helps in Gresham
Thursday, September 27, 2007
MELODY FINNEMORE Special to The Oregonian
The birth of Cyndi Smith's second daughter last May brought back a familiar dilemma for the Gresham mother of two. She wanted to breastfeed, but she had experienced pain that had forced her to pump her breast milk and bottle-feed her older daughter.
This time around, Smith turned to Melissa Zollner for guidance. Zollner is a volunteer leader with the La Leche League, an international not-for-profit organization that provides breastfeeding advice, educational resources and support for parents.
"Melissa asked me what my goals were, and she understood that I didn't want to have to pump to solve the problem," Smith said. "I just needed that extra assurance, and she came to my house rather than meeting me in a clinic where things are sort of thrown off anyway."
Smith also began attending monthly meetings of a La Leche group recently formed in Gresham. Zollner organized the group, which meets at 10 a.m. the third Monday of each month at Mountainview Christian Church, 1890 N.E. Cleveland Ave. The group is not affiliated with the church.
Zollner, who has a 2-year-old daughter and is pregnant with her second child, previously led a La Leche group for parents who live in North and Northeast Portland. She's lived in Gresham for about four years and wanted to form a group closer to home.
"I really felt like there was a need for support and encouragement for moms who breastfeed in east county. Since I live out here, it seemed a logical choice to start a group here," she said. "It's grown every month. The first month we had three mamas, the second month there were five, and last month there were six moms and a dad."
Zollner's mother was a lactation consultant and a La Leche League group leader, so Zollner attended her first La Leche meeting when she was just 2 weeks old.
"I was definitely raised in a breastfeeding culture, and I grew up with the understanding that breastfeeding is a natural thing," said Zollner, who also leads Portland meetings that provide support for mothers nursing toddlers and preschool-age children.
Zollner said the growing array of information about breastfeeding on the Internet and the increasing number of support groups is helping people learn about its benefits for both babies and mothers. According to the La Leche League, the benefits of breastfeeding range from boosting infants' immune systems to helping prevent breast and ovarian cancer among nursing women.
"I definitely think more moms are breastfeeding," Zollner said. "We have a very good breastfeeding initiation rate, especially in the Northwest, with more moms breastfeeding from birth."
Smith, who has attended the La Leche League of Gresham's meetings since the first one in June, said she appreciates the support network.
"It's just nice to talk to other moms and ask questions, especially since most of my friends live in Portland and I live in Gresham," she said. "It also gives me the chance to make friends closer to where I live."
For more information about the La Leche League of Gresham, call Zollner at 503-492-3168.

Pizza!

Pumpkin Patch (part 1 for this year)

pumpkin hunting is serious work requiring great attention to detail and the right equipment

enjoying the ride (except the few times we dumped her out on accident, sorry, Maddy!)

feeding the goats with Kellie

focused on the driver during the hayride

chase me Grandma!

can't catch me racing through the beans!

hhmmmnnn, which one to pick...

let's look some more over there....

We traveled back up to Seattle with my Mom (after the canning) since Jason was still out of town hunting. Today we went to an organic farm nearby in Redmond to do some pumpkin hunting. Maddy loved the tractor pulled hay ride, shouting "Go!! Go!! Go!!" the whole time. We picked some apples and beans and hung out with the goats and horses too. It was a super nice, non-commercialized farm experience for her, full of dirt and bugs and all the wonderful real farm smells. A lot of other ones I looked at online charged an arm and a leg for every little thing and it all just seemed so over the top since we wanted something a little more authentic. This place was perfect! My cousin Kellie lives in the area now and is a teacher, so she joined us and Maddy loved getting to know her on the outside of the womb. When I saw Kellie last it was at my grandma's funeral in Spokane when I was 36 weeks pregnant with Maditude. Funny how I am about ready to hatch a baby every time we get together!

We'll be going to Jason's family's farm, Bauman Farms, sometime next week when we get back home, so stay tuned for more fall farm adventures. Mmmnnn, fresh apple cider and doughnuts, can't wait!

Canning Pears and Peaches

treasures for Grandma's apron, I think this time it was a peach pit

mmmnnnn... pears!

baby Jake/Karis 33 weeks

ta da!

getting the jars ready
snuggling with Grandma
check out the pears, naked baby butt and the belly!

While Jason was away hunting my Mom came down to stay with us for a while. I had a wild hair to do some canning so we got down to business on that. I remember helping my Mom and Grandma can when I was little, but had yet to try it since being out on my own. It was a fun couple of days, Maddy's help being instrumental of course. I think she ate more fruit than made it into the jars.... she loved being in the middle of the excitement as always.