6 Weeks

Yesterday little P hit the 6 week mark.

He's been smiling more at things that make him happy, and laughing more at what he thinks is funny. Most of yesterday was spent playing and laughing with me and Jeff. He also got to meet his Aunt Bonnie and cousin's today. Bella really loved him, and I got some cute pictures, I'll post them once uploaded.

Yesterday Jeff's dad Dennis came and met Porter and took us out to dinner. He drove here from Redding and got into town in the afternoon, and spent some time here. This morning they both left at 6 am. He drove Jeff to Bend, where he's staying with his friend Lily and her boyfriend Patrick's for a few months. His dad drove back to Redding.

Yesterday was my friend Logan Mattox's 19th birthday. He recently left for basic training and it's the first year I haven't spent his birthday with him since we were 10/11! I talked to his mom, though, who is like another mother to me. I wrote him a long letter that hopefully he gets soon, just about how crazy it is that he's 19, that he's in the army and I have a baby. Just how much different our lives are now then they were 8 years ago.

Anyways I know it's a short post but it was mainly to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN! I love and miss you and can't wait for you to come home!

5 weeks

Today Porter is five weeks old, and my how time flies! It's quite apparent that he's older, bigger, chubbier, and definitely a Gentry. It's funny how often people say that when they meet him. Last night Aunt Kary met him and instantly said he looks like me, which I love to hear =] It's getting kind of crazy feeding him, he seems to be eating more and more! He averages like 8-10 oz each feeding and eats pretty frequently. So when I say he's getting chubby, I sure mean it! He's also staying more awake during the day time and talking to us a lot, not so much any "goo"'s or "coo"s but definitely some baby babble. Usually it sounds like grunts and snorts, but it's pretty obvious he's talking to us.

October is a great month for this family. We usually spend more on haunted houses, pumpkin shakes from Burgerville, halloween candy, and costumes/decorations then we do on Christmas. A great addition has been made this year to our October fun, probably the softest, most cuddly pumpkin you could ever find.

He seems to like his little outfit, he's been smiling all day in it! =]

Well, I think I've done enough blogging for now, I'm going to go lay with my soft little man and maybe get a nice nap in!

-Ashley

11 lbs, 3 oz

Today Ryan drove us (mom, Amber, Porter and I) up to Shriners Hospital for Amber's 3 month scans with her surgeon to make sure everything is looking good down there. It was an early morning for us, not to bad, but definitely early for Ryan. He likes to tease about having the baby in tote everywhere but obviously loves having him around during the day. Amber's scans looked good, everything seems okay. Her bone isn't growing back yet, which is kind of a downer but they said she should start walking with one crutch or a cane! That's kind of exciting! While we were there EVERYONE was coming in to see Amber's new nephew Porter, and everyone loved him. One of the nurses asked how much he weighed, and I really didn't know because it's been a couple weeks since his last weigh in (8 lbs 4 oz) and she found that unacceptable so she took me and my mom to weigh him (and myself)... I weigh 141, and Porter weighs 11.3! Big ol' boy growin fast, it's crazy.

In other news, homing situations are going crazy. Everyone is moving out and it's gonna be just me and my family for the first time in a lon

g time. Mike, who was staying with us for about a month, made his move out to Hood River and is living with his son Zack; David, our housemate of almost two years now, is moving out to who knows where right now, he hasn't really said anything; and Jeff, Porter's dad, is moving out to Bend to see if his luck with jobs and life and such is any better there then it is here. He's going to stay with his friend Lily and her boyfriend Patrick, and possibly with his friend Davey some of the time. Who knows what life will bring him there. I should be heading back to work pretty soon, and school after that. Mom is working in the mortgage industry still, trying to find people who need to refi or loans. Amber wants to find a weekend job and start saving up money, which is pretty cool and we're trying to help her with ideas.

Uhm... Not much else to share right now. In the mean time, here's a pictures of me and Porter sleeping =]

What a big ol' boy!

Man, things are crazy in the development of this boy! He seems so much older and bigger now! You can definitely tell that he is 4 weeks! He's up a lot more during the day, and so aware of everything. He likes to look around at the things around him, especially the lights. It's so amazing looking into his eyes, pure love. The past few days he's been eating like every hour, I feel like I have nothing in me! It's sure showing that he's eating so much, though. I have been trying to get him to latch without the nipple shield, but not much luck. I don't really mind using it, but it's messy.

Jeff has a friend in Australia named Charlie who sent a letter and we just got it the other day, it was a package for Porter, a postcard for all of us (really Jeff) and a little booklet about South Australia. It was pretty cool getting such long distance mail! She

sent Porter a stuffed animal, a super soft platypus! I think it's pretty cool, as does Jeff, and P seems to dig it. The little booklet is pretty cool, also. Says a lot about South Australia, I can see it in Jeff that he misses it there a lot. Charlie is a nice lady and hopefully we'll get to visit her someday. Jeff caught this picture of P & the platypus the day he got it

Friday night me, Jeff and Porter went to Grandma Polly's so she could meet him. It was okay, grandma is crazy, but we had fun. Grandma has completely torn up her house, 100% and couldn't stop working on it! A couple rooms have new carpet in them, but you know her, she's got them covered up with plastic so no one can dirty them. The rest of the house is torn up, half put together, and torn up again. She was in high spirits the whole time, though. Jeff's never met her before, and most of what I told him proved true. She kept us very entertained all night, singing, joking, dancing. She made fun of Jeff's tattoo and asked if he could wash it off, and also started singing "I'm to sexy for my shoes". John (her boyfriend, not Uncle John) got a Mac desktop for his birthday last month. It's very nice, I wish I had one. We all sat together and took silly pictures on photobooth, Grandma loved it. Also, Saturday morning sometime between 3:30 and 6:30 I was changing Porter and he started saying little "goo"s and "coo"s between grunts and snorts! I was so excited and tried to wake up Jeff, but he's a hard sleeper and missed it. He hasn't done it since then, and I wish he would, it was really exciting!

Here's mine and Porter's first mac photo, taken with my laptop:

We had fun taking pictures, most of them didn't turn out to well, but oh well. I wish I had some of them from Grandma's computer, they were quite funny.

Not much else to say right now, more later!

-Ashley

The PIG blog

Hey all, Ashley here. I created this blog to keep you updated on the life of Porter, how his appointments go, how he's doing each week, weight updates, etc. etc. Right now things are pretty calm, Porter's asleep in the vibe chair his Great Aunt Bonnie gave him, I just gave him his nightly vitamins and am just relaxing. Porter has been such a bundle of joy, he's quite the perfect baby. He's kinda sneezy and congested right now, hopefully that clears up soon, and he's a snorty little guy. He hasn't been to the doctor for two weeks, but at his 2 week appointment he was 20 inches (I know, he shrunk two inches since birth! That big ol' head!!) and weighed 8.4 lbs. They were worried about his weight at first but he's catching up now. I wish I had a scale to weigh him on, I'm getting very curious as to where he's at now. Today I really realized how much bigger he's gotten, he's so long! And his chubby cheeks and arms and legs, total Gentry! It seems I am not the only one to notice, everyone else in the house today has mentioned it too.

I decided to start this blog today because today it's been one month since I drank Castor oil and really got things moving with my labor. Castor oil is kinda nasty, tastes like lipstick, and didn't give me the runs like most people. It did pick up my contractions though, and I only drank two tablespoons! I took it around 5 pm, and twelve hours later I had my bloody show, and knew it was time! I waited until 9 am, when Amber went up to her appointment, to catch a ride with her. I knew, given my run with labor so far, that this was going to take time. It's crazy that it's been a month, it makes me teary to know its going so fast, I can't really remember what it was like without Porter!

Well, another post to come soon, and pictures with it!

-Ashley