Beach Weekend

We planned on going camping up north last weekend with Dave, Chaos, and Fiona, but with the weather expected to be 105 - 110, we made a change of plans. On Friday my parents were amazingly willing to drive Max and I to the coast to try and get a camping spot on the beach instead. The no-reservation sites are really competitive, people get there very early in the morning to try and catch a camper leaving so we wanted to get there as early as possible. After he was done with work around noon, Ron drove over to meet us (we were pretty optimistic about getting a spot). By that time we knew that we didn't have any chance of getting a spot, so we finally gave up and drove back home. It was a lot of driving, but Max did remarkably well and slept almos tthe whole drive there and back. The traffic wasnt bad, and it was a beautiful drive.

Chaos, Dave, Fiona, and their dog Jezabel all drove down from Seattle to our place and stayed here for the weekend. Since it was supposed to be in the hundreds here and we dont have AC, on Saturday morning we slathered the babes with sunscreen (and neglected to cover ourselves, resulting in some bad sunburns all around) and went back out to the coast and hung out for the day at Cannon Beach. We had a great time!

Fiona (8 months old and full of smiles) and Max hanging out in the morning... they are almost the same size!

At the beach...





And just for fun, this was taken last week after crazily brushing Max's hair to get rid of the last of the cradle cap. What a cutie!

4 Months Old

Max turned 4 months old on Monday! He had his 4 month check up on Tuesday... he's huge! 17.5 lbs... 28 inches. That's in the 90% for weight, and off the charts in length. She had to measure him twice cause she didn't believe that it was right. How did we get such a tall baby??? Well, my grandpa Brooks was very tall, and apparently so are several of Rons uncles... so Max may be towering over us all before we know it. Or not, his growth could slow. But it's pretty funny that we have such a long baby since Ron andI are both under 5'8"

We have had to retire all our 3-6 month clothes, he's now in 9 month stuff. We had been waiting for him to fit into his Ramonster coveralls only to find that they are already too small. It's been so hot that he wasn't able to wear them much, but we did get a really cute picture in them. Ramonster is a line of clothes that Max's Auntie Kathie makes. The cute Bug Hat and Sun Hat that he often wears are old Ramonster stuff, we get compliments about them whenever he wears them. He sure has a talented Auntie!

Lately Max hasn't wanted to nurse on his side (in the usual cradle hold) unless he's really sleepy. We think it's because he's swallowing air and is pretty gassy, so it hurts his stomach to lay down. We are working on that, but in the meantime, the Ergo Baby Carrier has saved us. Its better for baby and mama than the Baby Bjorn, we knew that, but we discovered last week that if we loosen the straps he can nurse in it- upright! So the last few days I've been nursing him and getting him to sleep in the Ergo, while standing up. Last night was a spectacle at 11:30 at night when he was suddenly wide awake and wanted to eat, but not on his side. There I was in just my underwear and the Ergo and Max bopping around nursing! Things we do for love...and sleep!

We are hoping to head to the coast this weekend to go camping- another adventure! I'll post pictures when we get back.

Oregon Country Fair

Today we went to the Oregon Country Fair. This is like no other fair you have seen! Some people described it as a "Hippee Fest", and there was definately more tie dye than I've seen all in one place, but it seemed more like a place for ANYONE to go and have fun. There were people in all kinds of fun and fanciful costumes, many in regular street clothes, and a few in only body paint and a skirt (men and women). There were several music stages, a circus stage, puppetry, spoken word, and a ton of kids' stuff. We had a great time, and look forward to going back next year!

Circus Contraption

Rich and Kylin

Nadine, Josie, and Naia (peeking around her mom) came down from Portland. Jen (aka Naked Jen) came up from Santa Cruz for the 18th year in a row! It was really great to get to see her again!

Kylin and Rich Hanging out having lunch

The Purvis Family at the fair... oh, and Kylin peeking out! Us again... and who is that smiling in the background?

Our Little Lactivist

On Saturday there was a "Nurse-In" at Victoria's Secret stores all across the US. A few weeks back VS told two separate women in two entirely different states that they could not nurse in their changing rooms or the store. They were told it was unsanitary, and told to use the mall bathroom. They compared it to changing a diaper on the store floor. Here is an article that was written in the Oregonian about the location Max and I went to.

It may sound like a petty complaint, however all too often women are made to feel uncomfortable when feeding their babies. I mean, yes, breasts are sensual, but aren't they also practical? It should be no big deal to see a woman feeding her child anywhere! New moms often have enough challenges with breastfeeding- they don't need to be made to feel uncomfortable on top of things. Some moms even choose not to breastfeed because they are worried about feeding their baby in public! Given the fact that feeding a baby artificial milk can result in more allergies, colds... even lower IQ and higher risk of breast cancer in mom, we should be doing everything possible to make breastfeeding easy for new moms. Hopefully with more educating the public, and more and more mammas happily nursing their babies when and wherever necessary, it will become just a normal sight. I mean, really. You see more cleavage on teenagers walking around the mall than you do on those of us nursing there!